Photo courtesy Josh Thomson's Twitter

The MMA Show Podcast with Mauro Ranallo is back at it again with the latest and greatest in the world of mixed martial arts.

Today Ranallo will be joined by Josh Thomson, who fights Gilbert Melendez this Saturday for Melendez’ Strikeforce lightweight title.

Then David Rickels will talk about his Bellator bout on Friday night against Karl Amoussou.

And Tom DeBlass will talk about his upcoming fight against Nick Penner.

NOTE: Ranallo is in San Jose for Strikeforce, so there is only a radio show today, not vodcast.

Click Here to LISTEN LIVE to The MMA Show Podcast at 2 – 3 pm EST

Click Here to download any previous episodes of The MMA Show Podcast with Mauro Ranallo

Ever since his unanimous decision loss to Nick Diaz at UFC 137, B.J. Penn has remained firm in his decision to become a retired fighter. Although he has continually stuck behind his retirement, the UFC and UFC President Dana White have been under the impression that ‘The Prodigy” would return to the octagon at some point in time.

Apparently the UFC feels that Penn’s return is in the near future as he has apparently been offered a fight against perennial welterweight contender Josh Koscheck. Koscheck announced that he had been offered the fight on his twitter earlier this morning.

While Koscheck appears excited for a potential fight with the UFC legend, the same might not be said of Penn. Koscheck does say that he is waiting for Penn is accept the fight and as of now, Penn has still yet to officially accept the bout. Guerilla journalist Front Row Brian added some fuel to this story on his twitter page this morning as well.

 

In my mind, this fight makes perfect sense and shows yet again why Joe Silva is the best matchmaker in the business. For Koscheck, he is in an interesting position with the promotion. After his loss to Johny Hendricks earlier this month, Koscheck’s chances of fighting for the welterweight title again are slim. At this point in his career, Koscheck will probably be there for big money fights. The only big money fights I see for Koscheck at 170 are with Penn and Nick Diaz.

Penn is in the same boat as Koscheck. He has said that he has no interest in returning to lightweight and being 1-4-1 in his past six fights at 170, there will be no title talk for Penn. A fight with Koscheck or a rematch with Jon Fitch are the only welterweight fights I see as plausible for Penn.

There may be one situation that would entice Penn to accept this fight. It is no secret that the UFC has wanted to hold an event in Hawaii for some time now. It was just this past February that UFC President Dana White said that he would like to do a show at the Aloha Bowl and would want Penn to headline. I can’t think of any better way for Penn to actually retire for good then to go out in front of his hometown fans.

We will just have to wait to see whether Penn is ready for another fight in the near future.

Rear Naked Links

This is the last image we have of B.J. Penn inside the octagon. I think this will change in the near future.

Some added incentive to watch Friday’s episode of TUF: Live as UFC President Dana White has said he will reveal Urijah Faber’s new opponent on the episode. (MMA Weekly)

UFC welterweight Josh Koscheck announced on twitter that he has been offered a fight against B.J. Penn, but Penn has yet to accept the bout. (MMA Mania)

The ratings are in for UFC on FUEL 3 with 173,000 viewers tuning in to see a classic fight between Dustin Poirier and Chan Sung Jung. (Sherdog)

After his loss at the UFC on FUEL 3, Fabio Maldonado says that the judges were out to get him and that is why he didn’t get a decision win. (Tatame)

Three new bouts have been added to the UFC’s next venture onto FUEL TV in July. (Bloody Elbow)

Suspended Strikeforce female fighter Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos says that when she returns to the cage, it will be as a bantamweight. (5oz of Pain)

Bellator 70 has now been made official for next weekend and as of today, we will finally get to see a heavyweight title fight between Cole Konrad and Eric Prindle. (MMA Convert)

According to multiple sources in Japan, FEG has declared for bankruptcy. (Fightline)

You know UFC president Dana White is a fan of The Korean Zombie (Photo courtesy MMAgearguide.net)

After every night of fights, the question every MMA fan always asks is: “Who should so-and-so fight next?”

Well, look no further for your answer, as here’s the post-UFC on FUEL 3 edition of Fight Fixin.’

Read the rest of this entry »

Today’s “The MMA Show with Mauro Ranallo” podcast featured an interview with Phil Davis, who takes on Chad Griggs at UFC on FOX 4 in a matchup that has left many MMA pundits scratching their heads. Here’s what Davis had to say about fighting Griggs, who is making his 205-pound debut.

“I don’t really mind it. I don’t think about matchups or anything like that. My job is to be the best Phil Davis. I don’t care who Dana White and Joe Silva puts in front of me. I’m just going to go and do my job the way I know how.”

- Phil Davis to Mauro Ranallo on The MMA Show

Photo courtesy MMAjunkie.com

Also appearing on today’s MMA Show Podcast:

  • Daniel Cormier, Strikeforce heavyweight

CLICK HERE to download the full podcast

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How does this keep happening?

Normally, this would be “The Monday After” but FUEL TV cards are landing on some pretty random days. I’m pretty sure UFC on FUEL 4 is going down on a Wednesday night so we will return to normal slightly.

For a card that really didn’t have much buzz, there were a lot of solid fights. Some impressive performances mixed in with some upsets made the night very enjoyable.

Without any more time wasted, here are a few observations coming from the UFC on FUEL 3.

Read the rest of this entry »

Daniel Cormier (Photo courtesy Sherdog)

The MMA Show Podcast with Mauro Ranallo is back at it again with the latest and greatest in the world of mixed martial arts.

Today Ranallo will be joined by Daniel Cormier, who will talk about his big fight with Josh Barnett this weekend.

And Phil Davis will stop by to talk about his upcoming bout against Chad Griggs.

Click Here to WATCH LIVE The MMA Show Vodcast at 2 – 2:30 pm EST

Click Here to LISTEN LIVE to The MMA Show Podcast at 2 – 3 pm EST

Click Here to download any previous episodes of The MMA Show Podcast with Mauro Ranallo