Martial Arts News

⚖️ PFL World Tournament 3 Weigh Ins are underway!

Middleweight Main Event is official!

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Impa Kasanganay: 185.6 lbsFabian Edwards: 185.6 lbs

[ #PFLWorldTournament | Friday, April 18th | 📺 7PM EST | ESPN ] pic.twitter.com/xFALeW9xDq

— PFL (@PFLMMA) April 17, 2025 The Professional Fighters League's 2025 World Tournament continues on Friday, as the first round of the men's lightweight and middleweight tournaments begins.

The PFL World Tournament 3 main event will see middleweights Impa Kasanganay and Fabian Edwards clash. Both men came in under the 186-pound limit for the three-round fight. All 16 tournament fighters successfully made weight for the card.

Kasanganay (18-5) reached the finals last year, where he lost to Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov via knockout. "Tshilobo" will look to rebound and get back to his winning ways as he's won nine of his last 11 fights. Just 31, the Kill Cliff FC product stepped on th…

Can we fast forward to Friday Night 👀🔜

2024 PFL Lightweight World Champion Gadzhi Rabadanov and Marc Diakiese wasted no time in letting each other know how they feel in their first faceoff ahead of Friday 🍿

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[ #PFLWorldTournament | Friday, April 18th | 📺 7PM EST | ESPN ] pic.twitter.com/8f1ivtHE7W — PFL (@PFLMMA) April 16, 2025

There will be no shortage of fireworks heading into the Professional Fighters League lightweight and middleweight tournaments this weekend, two of the most anticipated divisions in this year’s tournament. In one of the premier lightweight tournament matchups, 2024 PFL lightweight champion Gadzhi Rabadanov will face Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran Marc Diakiese, who signed with the promotion last year and made his debut with a victory over Tim Wilde at Bellator Champions Series.

Ahead of their first-round matchup this Friday in Orlando, Florida, the two met face-to-face for the firs…

While the Cain Velasquez murder trial may have reached its conclusion, there are still other matters to resolve regarding the case.

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On Wednesday, judge Elizabeth C. Peterson granted a continuance of a restitution setting hearing, which will now take place on June 3. Velasquez was sentence to five years in prison in March after pleading no contest to attempted murder, felony assault and additional gun charges stemming from a February 2022 incident in which the former fighter fired a gun at a truck containing multiple people. During a high-speed chase, Velasquez shot at the vehicle containing Harry Goularte, who was accused of molesting Velasquez’s son. One of the shots hit and injured Goularte’s stepfather, Paul Bender.

Though Velasquez is currently in the midst of his sentence — which includes 1,283 days of credit for time served — the ex-UFC heavyweight champion will still be required to pay restitution, which is when “a convicted offender may be…

今日、5/31(土)に韓国・仁川にあるカジノリゾートホテルPARADISE CITYにて開催するRIZIN WORLD SERIES in KOREAの対戦カード発表記者会見を実施しました！いきなり11試合を発表しましたが、ビビって、たじろいでませんか？… pic.twitter.com/5zf4lEMe41

— 榊󠄀原信行 Nobuyuki Sakakibara (@nobu_sakakibara) April 16, 2025

Rizin Fighting Federation will hold what is shaping up to be a primarily Japan vs. Korea-themed card in South Korea next month.

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The Japanese promotion recently announced the event, entitled “World Series in Korea,” at a press conference. The event will take place at Paradise City in Incheon, South Korea on May 31. Not every bout on the card follows the country vs. country theme, as the evening’s featured pairing will see Rizin lightweight champion Roberto Satoshi de Souza lock horns with Gladiator lightweight king Won Bin Ki. However, the majority of the lineup does follow the aforementioned format.

Other MMA bouts confirme…

Movsar Evloev isn’t letting anyone jump the featherweight title queue ahead of him.

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Evloev is riding a nine-fight winning streak in the UFC with wins over the likes of Dan Ige, Arnold Allen, Diego Lopes and Aljamain Sterling. However, Evloev is still not the most obvious contender at 145 pounds, which he thinks is due to lack of finishes on his resume.

Meanwhile, the featherweight title picture changed drastically at UFC 314 last weekend when Alexander Volkanovski won the vacant title against Diego Lopes in the main event. Evloev has no doubt that Volkanovski will agree to fight him, which the champ has already admitted. However, the undefeated Russian isn’t sure if the UFC wants the matchup.

Meanwhile, Yair Rodriguez is calling for a title shot after foiling Patricio Freire’s promotional debut at UFC 314. Previously unranked Jean Silva is also rallying for a gold bid after five straight finishes in the UFC. While Evloev is unsure of his tit…

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Khabib Nurmagomedov prefers that Islam Makhachev fights Arman Tsarukyan instead of Ilia Topuria.

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While Tsarukyan is the No. 1 lightweight contender, former featherweight champ Topuria recently vacated his belt to move up to lightweight. Topuria is calling for an immediate title shot at 155 pounds, but Makhachev doesn’t think he deserves the opportunity yet. Nurmagomedov believes Tsarukyan is a more competitive matchup than Topuria for his prodigy.

“In my opinion, not necessarily dangerous, let’s say more competitive, I think it’s Tsarukyan,” Nurmagomedov told Adam Zubayrav. “I think Arman is a more serious fighter than Topuria. Topuria is a good fighter at 145, but we haven’t seen him at 155. I believe Arman is more competitive for Islam.”

Nurmagomedov further explained why a matchup against Topuria isn’t very tempting for Makhachev. Makhachev has already defended his lightweight title twice against Alexander Volkanovski whi…

With Amanda Nunes’ comeback all but official, the former two-division champion will likely be the most interested of all observers when the women’s bantamweight title is up for grabs in June.

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Nunes was in attendance at UFC 314 in Miami, where it was announced that “Lioness” would be enshrined in the promotion’s Hall of Fame this summer. Nunes gave multiple interviews during the weekend, and she often indicated that her UFC return was imminent.

If all goes as planned, Nunes will face the winner of the Julianna Pena-Kayla Harrison championship clash slated for UFC 316 on June 7 in Newark, New Jersey. Nunes already has history with Pena, but a fight with Harrison might be even more intriguing for the Brazilian.

“Kayla or Julianna, I want my belt back, and I’ll fight for it,” Nunes said on UFC Fight Pass Brasil (translation via MMAFighting.com). “I’m driven by challenges. I like to fight for something. Kayla is strong as hell, that’s the one I wa…

The UFC 316 lineup continues to grow, as a couple more bouts were made official for the June 7 event.

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The Las Vegas-based promotion announced on Tuesday that Marlon Vera vs. Mario Bautista will square off at bantamweight, while Johnny Walker will face Azamat Murzakanov on the upcoming card. UFC 316 takes place at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, and is headlined by a bantamweight championship rematch between Merab Dvalishvili and Sean O’Malley. Vera vs. Bautista was originally scheduled for UFC Des Moines on May 3, but it is unclear why the booking was moved.

Vera has lost three of his last four Octagon appearances. Most recently, he dropped a unanimous verdict against Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC on ABC 7 this past August. Prior to that, he fell to Sean O’Malley via unanimous decision in a 135-pound title bout at UFC 299.

Bautista, meanwhile, will take a seven-bout promotional winning streak into the match with Vera. He is coming o…

Marvin Vettori is mourning the death of his younger brother following his death in a fire in Italy.

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According to a report from TGCom24, a fire broke out at Patrick Vettori’s apartment in Mezzocorona, which is in the northern Italian province of Trento. Patrick died of smoke inhalation before firefighters could arrive on the scene. He was 30 years old.

You were and always will be [No. 1] my little brother! You left a void that cannot be filled, I will love you until my last breath,” Marvin Vettori wrote on Instagram. “I don’t think I’ll be the same after today because maybe I never told you but you’ve always been my strength. You were the smartest and smartest of the [two], you were creating a wonderful future for yourself and I can’t get over it.

“It is said that Jesus calls back the most beautiful souls prematurely to have them with him in heaven and then I hope that you are there with him looking and watching over us with that goodness th…

😳Jean Silva said he can KO Volkanovski in 2 rounds:

"I like him very, very much, but I think this would be a good fight for me. I could probably go for a knockout in the 1st or 2nd round."

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🎥 @arielhelwani ▫️ pic.twitter.com/nCNw9IHKO9 — Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) April 14, 2025

Rising Brazilian standout Jean Silva is the latest to join the list of aspiring title contenders at featherweight.

While Silva isn’t among the most highly-ranked featherweights just yet, “Lord” is aiming for the stars by calling for a title shot next. The Brazilian now wants to challenge Alexander Volkanovski, whom he admittedly likes a lot.

“I actually believe that between me and Volkanovski, we would have a fantastic fight,” he told Ariel Helwani. "I like him very, very much, but I think this would be a good fight for me. I could probably go for a knockout in the first or second round.”

Silva submitted Bryce Mitchell in th…

🥵🤕 Chris Gutierrez was brutally honest about the struggles of his extremely long 21 week training camp ahead of his #UFCKansasCity fight

Certainly not your typical “best camp of my life” story that many fighters claim 🤯

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🎥 @LynchOnSports x @Home_of_Fight pic.twitter.com/DLcGK4OPTv — Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) April 14, 2025

Preparing for a postponed fight can be really tasking, as Chris Gutierrez recently found out.

Gutierrez was originally scheduled to fight John Castaneda at UFC 313 on March 8 in Las Vegas. However, Castaneda was forced out due to an illness just hours before the fight. The fight has now been rescheduled for UFC Kansas City — also known as UFC on ESPN 66 — which goes down at the T-Mobile Center on April 26.

Having been in camp longer than planned, Gutierrez has had to overcome certain problems. “El Guapo” revealed that at one point it felt like nothing was working out for him despite g…

Movsar Evloev is making his case for the next UFC featherweight title shot.

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Evloev has long been one of the most deserving contenders at 145 pounds, although the title shot has evaded him so far. Meanwhile, Alexander Volkanovksi won the vacant title at UFC 314 last weekend with a unanimous decision win over Diego Lopes, an opponent Evloev has already beaten. Evloev believes he is now undeniable for the next title shot at 145 pounds.

“I beat Diego Lopes, Aljamain Sterling, Arnold Allen, Dan Ige. No one has a better resume than me in 145 pounds except for the champion,” Evloev wrote. “I have the longest winning streak in the featherweight division. Me vs [Alexander Volkanovski] end of June [International Fight Week]”

I beat

Diego LopesAljamain SterlingArnold AllenDan Ige

No one has a better resume than me in 145lbs except for the Champion.

I have the longest winning streak in the Featherweight Division.<…