Martial Arts News

Denise Gomes is quickly climbing the leaderboard when it comes to knockout victories in the strawweight division.

The hard-hitting Brazilian received a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus for her latest effort — a second-round stoppage of Elise Reed in a preliminary contest at UFC Vegas 106 on Saturday night. Gomes rattled Reed with heavy punches early in the second stanza, putting her overwhelmed adversary away 30 seconds into the period. Gomes is now tied for the second-most KO/TKO victories in UFC strawweight history with three.

Meanwhile, Michael Morales captured the evening’s other $50,000 performance bonus with a first-round finish of Gilbert Burns in the evening’s main event. The Ecuadorian talent put his hands to work early and often, and after he thwarted Burns’ attempt to bring the fight to the mat, Morales dropped his foe for a second time to force the stoppage 3:39 into Round 1.

Finally, Melquizael Costa and Julian Erosa earned “Fight of t…

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Antonio Brown was arrested at the Adin Ross boxing event after allegedly pulling out a f*rearm and firing shots.

Nah this is CRAZY. You can see him running with it and hear the shots 😳

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pic.twitter.com/JZIw3ND8lv — Hater Report (@HaterReport_) May 17, 2025

Former NFL star Antonio Brown was detained by police after gunshots were fired outside of Adin Ross’ celebrity boxing event in Miami.

According to a report from the Associated Press, police responded to an alert from the gunshot detection system ShotSpotter at approximately 3 a.m. local time on Saturday morning. Department spokeswoman Kiara Delva said officers questioned multiple people, but no arrests were made. No injuries were reported at the scene.

The investigation remains ongoing, but authorities are currently unable to confirm names of anyone involved.

As for Brown, video posted to social media appears to show the former wide receiver involved in a f…

#UFCVegas106 main event is OFFICIAL 🔒@GilbertDurinho hits the scale at 170lbs!

[ #UFCVegas106 | TOMORROW on @ESPNPlus | 7pmET ] pic.twitter.com/4v0NgJMHVs

— UFC (@ufc) May 16, 2025 After over a month away, the Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to Las Vegas for UFC Vegas 106.

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Headlining the 12-fight card is a fight between former welterweight title challenger Gilbert Burns and rising contender Michael Morales. Both men successfully came in under the 171-pound limit for the five-round main event. All other fighters also made their contracted weights for the card.

The fight is a must-win for Burns (22-8) if he hopes to stay a relevant figure in the division. "Durinho" has stacked up three straight losses, albeit to the best of the best in Belal Muhammad, Jack Della Maddalena and Sean Brady. The 38-year-old Brazilian will look to show he has more left in the tank by handing his opponent the first loss of his caree…

Andre Pederneiras, coach of Ultimate Fighting Championship great Jose Aldo, had a few thoughts on his fighter’s legacy.

After his loss to Aiemann Zahabi at UFC 315, Hall of Famer Jose Aldo decided to hang up his gloves. A decision certainly motivated by suffering three defeats in his last four appearances—with two of them controversially scored. The Brazilian received ample criticism at how the twilight of his career had been handled, with faithful fans objecting to his acceptance of three opponents who made little sense from a legacy perspective. Pederneiras revealed to Sherdog that he always made the decisions on taking fights alongside Aldo and his wife Viviane.

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“First, I need to explain what goes through Aldo’s head,” the Nova Uniao coach explained. “There is no such thing as fighting just for the sake of fighting, fighting to get the check and go home. For Aldo, the only thing that made sense was to keep fighting to get the belt. After the loss…

In the words of the inimitable Lee Corso, when it comes to Conor McGregor’s comeback, not so fast, my friend.

On Thursday, McGregor teased his return to the Ultimate Fighting Championship, posting on social media that there were “real exciting times again in the UFC” and that he wanted to “get this show started.” Since then, UFC CEO and President Dana White told Adam Glyn on TikTok on Friday that this was not the case.

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With a very succinct answer, the leader of the UFC brass suggested that McGregor was still going to be out of action for the foreseeable future

“He’s not fighting any time soon,” White stated. “I haven’t talked to him in a minute.”

McGregor was initially expected to compete at UFC 303 in June 2024 against Michael Chandler after coaching against him on the 31st season of "The Ultimate Fighter," only for an injury to eject him from the pairing. Since then, Chandler moved on with a pair of fights against Charles Oliveira and Paddy…

The Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight record books might be padded a little more after this matchup transpires.

Per the UFC on Friday, divisional stalwarts Neil Magny (29-13) and Gunnar Nelson (19-6-1) will throw down at UFC 318. The two were initially booked against one another in 2018, only for a Nelson injury to scrap the pairing. The UFC is putting them back together to face off at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on July 19.

The UFC’s 170-pound leader in total fights (34) and wins (22) among his other accolades is coming into this bout on a rare two-fight skid, his first since 2013. Those losses came in the form of first-round knockouts to Michael Morales and Carlos Prates. Before the setbacks, “The Haitian Sensation” alternated wins and losses for a couple years, beating the likes of Max Griffin and Mike Malott while falling short to top talents Ian Garry and Shavkat Rakhmonov.

Nelson too lays claim to a top record in their division, as …

[embedded content] Khamzat Chimaev only has words of praise for Ilia Topuria.

Chimaev and Topuria previously trained together at the AllStars Training Centre in Stockholm, Sweden. The two also competed under the same umbrella of Brave FC in 2019, both serving as prominent prospects worthy of scouting by the Ultimate Fighting Championship. “Borz” noted that the dedication that eventually made Topuria a UFC champ was evident in the Georgian-Spaniard even then. Chimaev told Adam Zubayraev on his “Hustle Vlog” on Thursday:

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“He already was a top fighter at Brave FC, just like me,” Chimaev remarked. “You could see that he is a hard worker and wants to achieve things. And he achieved everything that you can achieve in this sport.”

The fighter formerly known as “La Leyenda” won the title against Alexander Volkanovski last year and defended it by knocking out Max Holloway for the first time. Topuria has since moved up to lightweight and will challenge Charle…

The difference between you and me is that I am a man and you are a coward. I speak and fight. you talk and hide. Run away far, leaving no trace. Ты маленький пацан. https://t.co/kDuhhdIB8t

— Ilia Topuria (@Topuriailia) May 15, 2025

Things continue to heat up between Islam Makhachev and Ilia Topuria.

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Topuria (16-0) recently vacated his featherweight title and moved up to lightweight, rallying for an immediate title fight against Makhachev. Makhachev (27-1) was unwilling to fight Topuria until he proved himself at 155 pounds. Meanwhile, Makhachev was contemplating a move up to welterweight depending on Belal Muhammad’s UFC 315 title fight against Jack Della Maddalena. Maddalena dethroned Muhammad, a friend of Makhachev, clearing the way for the Dagestani to move up.

Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White subsequently confirmed that Makhachev will fight Maddalena next, while Topuria challenges Charles Oliveira …

Sportsbooks have already chosen a favorite for Dricus Du Plessis’ upcoming title defense against Khamzat Chimaev.

Du Plessis (23-2) puts his middleweight belt on the line against Chimaev (14-0) in the main event at UFC 319 on Aug. 16 at the United Center in Chicago. Chimaev has opened as a moderate -190 favorite against the champ, who stands at +150 on the comeback. The odds are a reflection of how Chimaev is perceived, as he gets a title shot just two fights after permanently moving up to middleweight.

Those two wins went a long way in determining the top contender status for the man born in Chechnya. While he had shifted up and down in weight, he made things official in the 185-pound division by taking on an inflated ex-welterweight champ Kamaru Usman. Outworking “The Nigerian Nightmare” for the good part of three rounds, he went on to crush the jaw of Robert Whittaker with a face crank to cement his status as an elite 185er. “Borz” has finished six of his eight UFC…

Daniel Cormier reacts to Jon Jones saying he’d beat him at heavyweight:

“I’m retired. I’m done. I’m 46…

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How about you fight the dude that’s actually waiting to fight you - Tom Aspinall.” 👀

🎥 @dc_mma #UFC #MMApic.twitter.com/eEm5GFrsbt

— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) May 15, 2025

Daniel Cormier challenged Jon Jones to fight the bout everyone knows he should take, instead of ruminating about old rivalries.

Jones (28-1) and Cormier (22-3) shared one of the most iconic rivalries in the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, sharing the Octagon two times. Jones defended his light heavyweight title in a hard-fought unanimous decision against Cormier in 2015. While Jones knocked Cormier out in their rematch in 2017, it was overturned to a no contest due to “Bones” failing a drug test.

However, Jones and Cormier have not settled their feud even after “DC” hung up his gloves in 2020. Jones recently…

🚨BRANDRISK is back on this Friday, May 16th! Be sure to get in on the action on @stake and let us know which fight you’re most excited for in the comments below! 👀 pic.twitter.com/DSybn9ezSD

— Brand Risk Promotions (@BrandRiskPromo) May 12, 2025

Adin Ross’ popular influencer boxing event is back with another card.

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Brand Risk Boxing 7, promoted by YouTuber Ross, will go down at the Brand Risk Warehouse in Miami on Saturday.

Rapper Aaquil Brown, also known as “Slim Jxmmi,” will headline the card against TikToker Christian Beatriz, AKA “Oblivion,” in a three-round exhibition match. Flyysoulja and Kodiyakredd, popularly known as the Island Boys, who were originally supposed to headline the card, will now feature in the co-main event.

While no official start time has been announced yet, the card is expected to get underway around 7 p.m. ET/ 4 p.m. PT (12 a.m. BST) on Saturday. The main event walkouts could begin at a…