Martial Arts News

While Deiveson Figueiredo did not want to make any excuses, he nearly pulled out of his recent headliner due to a serious infection.

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight king Figueiredo revealed to Sherdog on Monday that he had sustained a cut during training that almost forced him out of his match with Cory Sandhagen. The Brazilian vows that had he been at full health and had he followed his gameplan more closely, he would have ended up getting his hand raised. Instead, Figueiredo injured his knee while fending off a leglock.

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“Three weeks before the fight I got a jaw displacement after getting hit by a straight punch in sparring,” Figueiredo explained. “Because of that, I had to stay away from striking sparring until last Tuesday. In one of my last grappling sparring [sessions], I got scratched on my leg and the cut got infected, so I had to take antibiotics. On the Monday of fight week, I woke up with a fever and asked my manager to cance…

A pair of flyweights from the Commonwealth of Independent States will settle things in the Octagon this July.

The first matchup for the Ultimate Fighting Championship event in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, is now official. Kazakhstani outlet Sportilinet first broke the news on Thursday that Asu Almabayev (21-3) would be meeting Ramazonbek Temirov (19-3) in a significant clash at 125 pounds. Temirov confirmed the fight on Instagram not long after its announcement. This fight is set to go down in the confines of the Etihad Arena at a currently unnumbered UFC on ABC showcase on July 26.

Kazakhstan’s Almabayev crashed into the promotion in 2023 with a long win streak in tow, and he put Ode Osbourne away in the second round at UFC on ESPN 50 to announce himself. A trio of decision over C.J. Vergara, Jose Johnson and Matheus Nicolau placed him in contention with a number next to his name. In a high-stakes contest against Manel Kape in March, Almabayev ran out of steam. …

Hang on tight, because it’s about to get confusing.

Ex-Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight champ Ilia Topuria (16-0) appeared on Spanish television broadcast “El Hormiguero” on Thursday night to reveal his next opponent. The Spanish-Georgian fighter explained that he would be appearing at UFC 317 on June 28, but that his opponent was not yet decided. Instead, he noted that it was outcome-dependent, namely following the results of the UFC 315 main event at 170 pounds between Belal Muhammad and Jack Della Maddalena.

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As he stated, if champ Muhammad prevailed at night’s end, Topuria would end up facing Islam Makhachev for the lightweight throne. However, if Maddalena won the championship bout, Makhachev would move up to welterweight to challenge Maddalena while Topuria would square off against Charles Oliveira for the vacant 155-pound belt—and Ian Garry would have the next crack at Muhammad. He also noted that he planned on reverting back to his …

The Ultimate Fighting Championship is slowly but surely building a solid card for International Fight Week.

A pair of formerly ranked middleweights will slug it out over three rounds at UFC 317, according to Brazilian outlet Ag. Fight on Wednesday. Jack Hermansson (24-8) will look to regain a number next to his name, and he will have to get past Gregory Rodrigues (16-6) to get there. The Swede’s management team of Chosen Advisory Group confirmed the battle on social media on Thursday. The two will toe the line in the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on June 28, placed in a lineup that is yet to have a main event announced.

Hermansson will be making his return to the Octagon after over 16 months on the shelf, with no fight booked in that span of time. The Swedish fighter who trains out of Norway has alternated wins and losses across his last nine outings. During that erratic stretch, “The Joker” notched wins over names like Kelvin Gastelum and Ronaldo Souza while coming up …

Two exciting showdowns in the talent-rich Ultimate Fighting Championship's bantamweight division will treat fans next month in Hotlanta.

Raoni Barcelos (19-5) announced on social media on Wednesday that he had been booked against former bantamweight kingpin Cody Garbrandt (14-6) in a battle of divisional stalwarts. The two are set to tangle at UFC Atlanta, also known as UFC on ESPN 69, on June 14 at the State Farm Arena. Additionally, another pair of bantamweights will throw down on the same lineup, as Eurosport NL reported Wednesday night that Ricky Simon (21-6) and Charles Jourdain (16-8-1) will throw down as well. Simon has since confirmed the match on Thursday.

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Garbrandt saw a promising win streak built in 2023 come to screeching halt in 2024 when Deiveson Figueiredo tapped him in two rounds at UFC 300. The former beltholder had struggled significantly before beating Trevin Jones and Brian Kelleher, surrendering his throne to T.J. Dillashaw and …

What was once an interesting stylistic clash has become a bitter grudge match between two Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight contenders.

In April 2024, Marvin Vettori (19-8-1) and Brendan Allen (24-7) were expected to square off in the main attraction of UFC Fight Night 240. When Vettori sustained an injury less than a month before the event, Chris Curtis stepped in and ultimately came up short in his rematch with Allen. Over a year later, the promotion has decided to match Vettori and Allen against one another again, with the middleweights now expect to square off at UFC 318 in New Orleans’ Smoothie King Center. The rebooked affair was first reported by MMA Mania on Wednesday and confirmed by multiple outlets.

Vettori will be entering this bout on his first losing streak as a professional, having dropped a pair of five-round unanimous verdicts to Jared Cannonier in 2023 and Roman Dolidze in 2025. The Italian has struggled since vying for the middleweight …

Official statement on PFL Paris.

PFL Europe heads to the ING Arena in Brussels on Saturday 5th July.

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Ticket information to follow.#PFLBrussels | Saturday 5th July | LIVE ON DAZN pic.twitter.com/s0fDPMT1sI — PFL Europe (@PFLEurope) May 8, 2025 The Professional Fighters League Europe slate is transforming in a big way.

On Thursday, the PFL announced that its fight card on May 23 in Paris has been postponed. The reason was not disclosed, but the league did state that tickets would be refunded. Rather than set another event this summer in the City of Light, it will be moving north one country to post up in Brussels, Belgium, on July 5. It is currently unclear if the participants scheduled to compete in France will be shifted to the new event.

The PFL Europe 2 show was set to feature a headliner Mansour Barnaoui vs. Archie Colgan, and the PFL Europe bantamweight tournament was to begin as well. Additionally, soccer st…

الجولة الأولى من بطولة "PFL MENA" | فئة اللايت ويت.محسن محمد صيفي: 156 رطل

أحمد السيسي: 154.8 رطل

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صلاح الدين هاملي: 155.2 رطل

عباس خان: 155.3 رطل

جورج عيد: 155.5 رطل

محمد فهمي: 155.1 رطل

عبدالله سليم: 155.4 رطل

سهيل ثائري: 155.8 رطل pic.twitter.com/vJ5eD9YcpZ

— PFL MENA (@PFLMENA) May 8, 2025 The Professional Fighters League kicks off its second PFL MENA season this week with the start of its lightweight and featherweight tournaments.

All fighters successfully made weight for the card, which is headlined by a lightweight fight between Ahmed El Sisy and Mohsen Mohammadseifi. Both men successfully made weight, as did all of the fighters on the card. There is one late replacement, though, as featherweight Drissi Boualem will replace Abdelrahman Alhyasat and fight Taha Bendaoud in a quarterfinal.

A newcomer to the PFL, El Sisy sports an impressive 6-1 record and is coming off TKO wins over Ab…

Petr thinks UFC gave a present to Omalley as the second title fight after losses:

"Everybody knows UFC gave a present to O'Malley a second time. When I was fighting O'Malley, I beat him. UFC gave him a present there, and now they gave him a title fight. He's a chicken — a guy… pic.twitter.com/WgFzzUU4pF

— Red Corner MMA (@RedCorner_MMA) May 6, 2025

Petr Yan believes the Ultimate Fighting Championship is biased towards Sean O'Malley.

O’Malley (18-2) will try to regain his bantamweight title against Merab Dvalishvili (19-4) at UFC 317 on June 7 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Yan doesn’t consider O’Malley worthy of a title shot and thinks he is being favored by the UFC.

And that is not new to Yan, 18-5, who believes he was robbed in his split-decision loss against O’Malley in 2022. “No Mercy” thinks O’Malley is a “chicken guy” who is privileged as he is a big draw.

“Everybody know[s] UFC give present for O'Ma…

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Belal Muhammad recently revealed his version of what went down between him and Kamaru Usman during a podcast.

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Muhammad (24-3) and Usman (20-4) have recently been engaged in a public beef, a big part of which seemingly resulted from their encounter on a podcast. They haven’t really been on cordial terms since Usman criticized Muhammad for refusing to fight his friend Islam Makhachev. Muhammad responded by slamming Usman’s title reign and said the former champ is washed up.

The two then met on a podcast which Usman shares with Henry Cejudo and things went further down hill. According to Muhammad, he went on the podcast at the behest of his manager Ali Abdelaziz, who also manages Usman. Muhammad claims he was talking about his title reign when Usman started asserting himself as a former champ too. Muhammad then mocked Usman’s head kick knockout loss against Leon Edwards, which “The Nigerian Nightmare” didn’t receive well. Cejudo all…

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The Professional Fighters League’s long-promised foray into Africa is now official, and the promotion appears to be pulling out all the stops to ensure it was worth the wait.

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On Wednesday, the PFL announced the debut of PFL Africa, with the kickoff event on July 26 in Cape Town, South Africa set to inaugurate a tournament across four events in the second half of the year. It will be the third such regional league for PFL, which currently runs a European tournament as well as PFL MENA, which focuses on the Middle East and primarily Arabic-speaking North Africa. The new league will be the first to expressly incorporate talent from sub-Saharan Africa. PFL Africa will be led by Francis Ngannou, the Cameroonian-born former Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight titleholder and crossover boxing star who signed with PFL two years ago as a competitor as well as chairman of the company’s planned foray into his native continent.

In a…

Editor's Note: The article has been updated at 2:00 a.m. on May 7 to reflect the original source of this news.

One of the longest tenured active Ultimate Fighting Championship fighters is currently no longer on the roster.

Social media user FullContactMTWF initially reported the news on Friday that Brad Tavares was no longer a member of the UFC. Other outlets have since confirmed that the Hawaiian who joined the promotion in 2010 had fought out of his current contract. The middleweight may be re-signed by the organization, or he could join another promotion, but for now he is a free agent.

The 185-pound stalwart first reached the major stage when he appeared on Season 11 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” reaching the semifinals in the season that first pitted Coach Chuck Liddell against Coach Tito Ortiz—only for Ortiz to withdraw on the final episode to be replaced by Rich Franklin. Beating James Hammortree and Seth Baczynski to get to the semis, eventual victor Court …