Month: August 2026

Yair Rodriguez is set to make his Octagon return against one of the featherweight division’s most dangerous finishers.

The former Ultimate Fighting Championship interim featherweight champion will headline Noche UFC 4 opposite Jean Silva on Sept. 12 in Glendale, Arizona.

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Yair Rodriguez and Jean Silva headline UFC Noche 4 featherweight matchup in Glendale Rodriguez (20-5) will compete for the first time since defeating former Bellator champion Patricio “Pitbull” Freire by unanimous decision in April 2025.

Meanwhile, Silva (17-3) has established himself as one of the division’s most exciting contenders. He’s coming off a decision victory over Arnold Allen in January. The Brazilian has finished the likes of Bryce Mitchell, Drew Dober and Charles Jourdain since winning a contract on Dana White’s Contender Series.

Silva previously headlined the third edition of Noche UFC in 2025, losing to Diego Lopes. Rodriguez, meanwhile, has never competed at…

Bo Nickal will remain active on the wrestling mats while awaiting his next Ultimate Fighting Championship bout.

The UFC middleweight has been booked for another Real American Freestyle matchup, as the promotion recently announced that Nickal will face Olympic gold medalist Shirvani Muradov.

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Bo Nickal prepares for Real American Freestyle matchup against 2008 Olympic gold medalist Shirvani Muradov Nickal has booked another RAF appearance shortly after his RAF 12 bout with Max McEnelly, which will take place on Aug. 22. He will face Muradov in Moscow on Sept. 5, according to an announcement from RAF on X.

Nickal last competed at UFC Freedom 250, where he earned a first-round victory over Kyle Daukaus to extend his winning streak. Instead of waiting for his next fight, Nickal is continuing to hone his wrestling skills.

The 30-year-old made his RAF debut at the promotion's inaugural event in August 2025, defeating Jacob Cardenas on points. This n…

Joe Rogan believes Rico Verhoeven will financially benefit more from boxing than from joining the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Verhoeven recently asked for Rogan’s suggestion about competing inside the Octagon during an appearance on the UFC commentator’s podcast.

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Joe Rogan says boxing makes the ‘most sense’ as next career move for Rico Verhoeven The former Glory Kickboxing champion noted that Conor McGregor had reportedly earned a massive payday for his return fight last month, which lasted 69 seconds. However, Rogan advised the 37-year-old against signing with the UFC at this point in his career.

Rogan believes Verhoeven can earn more money in boxing. He also claimed that Verhoeven’s friend and training partner Tom Aspinall could have a career in boxing in the future and that the Brit will benefit from working with Eddie Hearn.

“For you, boxing makes the most sense, especially at this point in your life, financially,” Rogan told Verhoeve…

Tommy McMillen claims Alexander Volkanovski has no path to victory against him.

McMillen is currently one of the most hyped featherweight prospects on the Ultimate Fighting Championship roster. The undefeated 28-year-old is high in confidence, as reflected in his recent comments about the reigning champion in his division.

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Tommy McMillen says Alexander Volkanovski has no path to victory McMillen is open to fighting Volkanovski next for the right amount of money. “Gun” doesn’t think the 37-year-old UFC featherweight champion can beat him and the same goes for any other 145-pounder.

“I’ll take Volk. He’s like 42 years old, he’s 5’5”, what’s his path to victory?” McMillen said on the One Night with Steiny podcast. “He’s gonna bang with me for five rounds? I’ve never even seen a fourth or fifth round; those are gonna be my best rounds. If the UFC came to me and paid the right amount of money, yes, I’ll go step in there and fight anybody in the top 15, …

Matt Brown believes the newly announced merger between the Professional Fighters League and Most Valuable Promotions is a sensible business move, but still no match for the industry leader.

Brown’s comments echo Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White’s remarks about the merger.

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PFL, Most Valuable Promotions and UFC compete for MMA’s biggest stage Brown suggested that the new company could find more success by avoiding making the UFC their primary competition. In a recent interview, the retired fighter discussed where the PFL-MVP union stands in comparison to the UFC.

“I certainly think it’s a smart thing for both of those companies to do,” Brown said on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer. “Come together, join forces, try to build something big. Unfortunately, they’re in a space where they’re still just going to be No. 2.”

Brown largely agreed with White’s comments days earlier, where the UFC CEO dismissed the new merger a…

Mateusz Gamrot is looking to feed off Dustin Poirier’s energy in his upcoming bout in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Gamrot (26-4) is scheduled to headline UFC Fight Night 284 against Quillan Salkilld (12-1) on Aug. 8 at Meta Apex in Las Vegas. The Polish lightweight’s American Top Team teammate, Poirier, will serve as a desk analyst for the event.

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Mateusz Gamrot explains why Dustin Poirier’s energy could help against Quillan Salkilld Gamrot recently recalled his conversation with Poirier about his teammate attending the upcoming Fight Night. He claimed that having his teammate in attendance will only boost his performance.

“[Poirier brings] energy, crazy energy, every day attitude,” Gamrot told Full Send MMA. “He texted me and said he wants to come to my fight this Saturday in Las Vegas. I texted him back, ‘Bro, if you come, you give me 100% more power.’ If Dustin comes to this fight, I’ll be immortal.”

Notably, this will be Poirier’s…

Dana White’s recent Instagram Stories blunder has drawn the ire of Renato “Money Moicano” Carneiro.

White, on one of his stories, paid tribute to late Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight Allan Nascimento, who tragically passed away in his sleep at just 34 years of age due to a heart attack. The UFC CEO’s next story showed him smoking a cigar, with the caption reading, “Great Day.”

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‘Dana messed up this one’: Renato Carneiro calls out UFC CEO’s insensitive post While the posts are clearly unrelated, fans subsequently pointed out White’s insensitive order of posts on Instagram, catching the attention of Carneiro, who previously mourned his compatriot after hearing the tragic news.

“Damn, man… Dana messed up on this one, posted the kid's photo and then the cigs and we're just enjoying we're just enjoying!!??” The UFC lightweight wrote on X. “We really are just passing through this cruel big world! Only Jesus saves.”

Carneiro returned to winn…

Robert Whittaker recently listed matchups he’s interested in while dismissing others.

Whittaker (27-9) has a new range of opponents available after moving up to light heavyweight. “The Reaper” is eyeing fellow former Ultimate Fighting Championship champion Magomed Ankalaev, who defeated Bogdan Guskov at UFC Abu Dhabi last month.

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Robert Whittaker discusses Magomed Ankalaev, Paulo Costa and UFC light heavyweight matchups While Whittaker admits Guskov would have been an exciting opponent as well, he also would have been interested in Jan Blachowicz if not for the Polish 205-pounder’s loss to Navajo Stirling at UFC Belgrade. While Paulo Costa has momentum behind him, Whittaker would rather fight others, having already beaten “Borrachinha” in a middleweight bout in 2024.

Whittaker also clarified that he will not fight his teammates Stirling and Carlos Ulberg, the current champion.

“I’d love to get in there with like Ank. Jan just had a loss but …

Bare Knuckle Boxing has made another splash signing to its ever-growing roster, with a former Ultimate Fighting Championship and Professional Fighters League women's contender joining the promotion.

BKB announced Tuesday that Aspen Ladd, who most recently competed in BKFC last November and earned a first-round victory, has signed with the promotion and will make her debut Aug. 29 in Miami.

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Ladd's experience across several of combat sports' top promotions also includes bouts against high-level opponents such as Kayla Harrison, Germaine de Randamie and Raquel Pennington. In 17 professional fights, Ladd has compiled a 12-5 record and will look to add another victory at BKB 58 when she faces Bianca Daimoni in the final event of the "Summer of BKB" series.

Daimoni is a BKB veteran, having made her debut at BYB 36 in early 2025 with a split-decision victory over Ashley Brace. However, she dropped her most recent appearance, losing a unanimous decision …

The mixed martial arts world is mourning the sudden death of Allan Nascimento.

Nascimento (22-7) was reportedly found unresponsive on Monday, Aug. 3. The Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight suffered a heart attack in his sleep and was pronounced deceased at the scene by medical responders.

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UFC and Chute Boxe pay tribute after flyweight Allan Nascimento dies at age 34 The UFC posted a condolence message on social media.

“This morning, Monday, Aug. 3, our beloved flyweight fighter, Allan Nascimento, was found unresponsive after suffering an apparent heart attack in his sleep. Despite the efforts of the responding medical team, he was pronounced deceased at the scene. Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with Allan's family, friends, teammates, and loved ones during this incredibly difficult time.”

His team, Chute Boxe, also took to social media to share a message.

“Today, our team loses much more than an athlete; we have lost a warrio…

The Ultimate Fighting Championship took a significant financial hit by staging UFC Freedom 250 at the White House.

Despite the loss, the promotion's parent company still posted strong overall growth in the second quarter of 2026.

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TKO details the financial impact of UFC Freedom 250 and Q2 2026 earnings TKO Group Holdings recently released its latest financial results, revealing that the White House event resulted in an estimated $30 million loss for the company. Notably, the event didn’t generate any ticket revenue because it was invite-only. The promotion recouped some of the cost through sponsorships and other commercial partnerships.

“With regards to UFC Freedom 250, we incurred significantly higher than normal costs, which we partially offset with sold-out global partnerships inventory,” TKO chief financial officer Andrew Schleimer said during a call with investors. “As a reminder, we did not sell tickets and therefore did not record any live e…

BJJ icons gathered in Rio de Janeiro to honor Murilo Bustamante. | 📷: Marcelo Alonso/Sherdog

Murilo Bustamante’s latest Brazilian jiu-jitsu milestone became a gathering of the sport’s past, present and future.

The former Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight champion and longtime BJJ figure was promoted to 8th-degree black belt, receiving the red-and-white coral belt. This was celebrated at the AABB club in Lagoa, Rio de Janeiro, with many legends in attendance.

Several Brazilian legends attended Murilo Bustamante’s belt promotion Bustamante's promotion was witnessed by major figures from both the grappling and mixed martial arts world.

Among those in attendance were Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Ricardo Arona, Ricardo Liborio, Ricardo De La Riva, Fernando Pinduka, Carlos Rosado and Bebeo Duarte. Former rivals from other academies also gathered to honor Bustamante, including Ralph Gracie, Leonardo Castello Branco, Sergio Zveiter, Hélio Soneca and Vini …