Martial Arts News

Sean Strickland believes he has earned his stripes for the next title fight at middleweight.

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Dricus Du Plessis will put his middleweight title on the line against Israel Adesanya at UFC 305 on Aug. 17 in Perth, Australia. The winner of that match is expected to face either Strickland or Robert Whittaker, who are both coming off massive victories.

Strickland made his case for a title shot with a split decision win over Paulo Costa at UFC 302 on June 1. Meanwhile, Whittaker scored a first-round knockout win over unranked prospect Ikram Aliskerov, who replaced Khamzat Chimaev on short notice at UFC on ABC 6 last weekend. Many believe a fight between Strickland and Whittaker is the best way to decide the next rightful title contender.

However, Strickland believes he has already done enough to deserve the next middleweight title shot over Whittaker. Strickland argued that he already beat Adesanya and was robbed of a win against du Plessis. Meanwhil…

Jiri Prochazka has hurled a rather fascinating accusation at Alex Pereira.

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Prochazka and Pereira agreed to a short notice title rematch in the main event at UFC 303 on Saturday after Conor McGregor pulled out of his scheduled matchup against Michael Chandler due to a toe injury.

The two initially traded leather at UFC 295 in November 2023, when Pereira scored a second-round knockout over Prochazka, which could have been considered an early stoppage. Pereira has since defended strap with a brutal-first round KO win over Jamahal Hill at UFC 300 this past April. However, this stoppage was also marred with controversy due a unique sequence leading up to the finish. Pereira brushed off an accidental low blow from Hill and stopped referee Herb Dean from pausing the action moments before putting “Sweet Dreams” to sleep. Hill accused Pereira of capitalizing on the awkward sequence to set up his victory.

Judging by what Prochazka has seen of Pereira a…

UFC on ESPN 59 has a new main event.

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Maycee Barber has been forced out of a proposed flyweight clash against Rose Namajunas for undisclosed reasons. As a result, Tracy Cortez will face Namajunas in the card’s new main event. MMA Mania was first to report Barber’s withdrawal, and MMAFighting.com brought word of the new booking. UFC on ESPN 59 takes place on July 13 at Ball Arena in Denver.

Cortez was scheduled to face Miranda Maverick at on UFC on ESPN 60 on July 20, but will now fight one week earlier than expected. Maverick will reportedly remain on the July 20 card against a replacement opponent.

Cortez has won 11 consecutive professional outings — including her first five UFC bouts. Most recently, the Fight Ready product defeated Jasmine Jasudavicius via unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night 227 this past September.

A former strawweight champion, Namajunas will be making her third 125-pound appearance. After dropping a three-round ve…

Veteran official Herb Dean will be in charge when Alex Pereira and Jiri Prochazka square off in the UFC 303 main event.

Referee and judging assignments for the light heavyweight championship rematch were revealed during a Nevada State Athletic Commission meeting on Tuesday. Derek Cleary, Sal D’Amato and Ron McCarthy will score the contest from their cageside positions.

Dean was also the third man in the cage for Pereira’s most recent title defense, a first-round KO of Jamahal Hill at UFC 300 on April 13. On that same card, Dean officiated Prochazka’s second-round stoppage of Aleksandar Rakic.

Pereira and Prochazka initially squared off at UFC 295 this past November, when “Poatan” captured 205-pound gold with a second-round technical knockout of his opponent. Marc Goddard was the referee for that bout. The rematch is a short-notice replacement for the original UFC 303 main event between Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler.

Igor da Silva has been suspended nine months for biting Andre Lima during the bout at UFC on ESPN 53 on March 23.

The 21-year-old Brazilian was also fined $2,000. The sanctions were announced during a Nevada State Athletic Commission meeting on Tuesday. Da Silva’s suspension is retroactive to the date of his fight, which means he would be eligible to return on Dec. 23.

During a previous commission meeting, Nevada deputy attorney general Matthew Feeley proposed a six-month term for da Silva, who is commonly known as Igor Severino. However, the commision rejected that proposal out of concern that a relatively short term might set a bad precedent for future incidents. While it was initially recommended that da Silva’s suspension be extended to one year, the NSAC ultimately settled on nine months.

Da Silva was released from the UFC for the bite, which occurred at the 2:52 mark of Round 2 and left a visible mark on Lima’s arm. Silva began his professional car…

A highly-anticipated rematch will take place in the main event at UFC 303.

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Eight months after headlining UFC 295 at Madison Square Garden in New York, Jiri Prochazka and Alex Pereira return to the Octagon, this time at T- Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night. The first time Prochazka arrived as the favorite, and after dominating the action in the first round, was knocked out in Round 2 by the Brazilian. This time, the Czech fighter will arrive as an underdog. Several noteworthy figures from the Brazilian MMA community weighed in on the UFC 303 main event with Sherdog.com.

Pedro Rizzo (former UFC heavyweight contender): If ‘Poatan’ were asked to take on a fighter with a style opposite to his, for example a wrestler like Daniel Cormier with a full camp, and he had less than a week of camp, it wouldn't be a smart decision for him to put his belt on the line, but this is not the case. Jiri is a kickboxer and despite having dangerous ground-and-p…

Arman Tsarukyan punched a fan during his walkout to fight Charles Oliveira 😅 pic.twitter.com/DMoX27o8H1

— Happy Punch (@HappyPunch) April 14, 2024

Arman Tsarukyan is facing sanctions for his altercation with a fan during his walkout at UFC 300.

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The Nevada State Athletic Commission announced during its monthly meeting on Tuesday that Tsarukyan has been fined $25,000 and suspended nine months for throwing a punch at a fan on his way to the Octagon at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on April 13. The suspension can be reduced to six months if Tsarukyan releases an anti-bullying message that is approved by the NSAC.

Tsarukyan defeated Charles Oliveira via split decision at UFC 300 to earn his fourth consecutive victory in what was deemed to be a title eliminator bout. Tsarukyan later claimed that he threw the punch because a fan flipped him the bird during his walkout.

“He showed me f—k you [flipped the bird] and wante…

In addition to being paired with a short-notice opponent, Robert Whittaker faced more adversity heading into his showdown with Ikram Aliskerov in the UFC on ABC 6 main event.

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Whittaker’s manager, Titus Day, told Fox Sports Australia that the former middleweight champion underwent emergency root canal surgery just 24 hours prior to the bout.

“Rob has a really bad abscess that flared up a week before flying out,” Day said. “He had headaches, tooth pain — it was like he’d been kicked in the side of the head. He couldn’t train, couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep. It was f—-ing painful.

“The whole side of his head was in pain so we had to rush him in for emergency surgery.”

“The Reaper” appeared to be no worse for wear, as he vanquished Aliskerov via first-round knockout on Saturday at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for his second consecutive triumph.

“Rob had already stopped training a few days prior to the surgery in Sydney,” Day s…

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Alexander Volkanovski seemingly can’t pass on an opportunity to save an Ultimate Fighting Championship card on short notice.

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Volkanovski revealed that he recently offered to step up to save the upcoming UFC 303 card. Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler were originally scheduled to headline UFC 303 on June 29 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas before “Notorious” pulled out due to a broken toe. Rumors of the fight potentially falling off were afloat a week before it became official. Volkanovski was prompt to raise his hand for a short-notice UFC 303 matchup as soon as he heard those rumors.

“A lot happened with this card, obviously Conor McGregor was meant to be on it. I did put my hand up,”Volkanovski recently said on his YouTube channel. “I said, ‘You need a guy?’ I got told, obviously we all heard the whispers as you did… Whispers that they were looking for someone to maybe replace him. So, I was like, ‘Hey, you need someone? Yo…

Ian Garry continues to be disinterested in his upcoming fight with former Bellator MMA standout Michael Page.

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Garry and Page will meet in a welterweight clash at UFC 303 on June 29 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. It was Page who rallied hard for the booking against Garry, who was reluctant to accept it initially.

While the matchup has been made, Garry is still not interested in it with less than a week to go before fight night.

In his seven-fight undefeated UFC run, Garry has already been tested against perennially ranked veterans like Neil Magny and Geoff Neal. Going forward, Garry wants fights which would help him inch closer to his ultimate goal of winning UFC gold. However, fighting a lower-ranked Page doesn’t add to that in any manner, in Garry’s opinion. Garry would have preferred an opponent ranked higher than him such as Colby Covington. Garry explained his point of view during a recent appearance on "The MMA Hour.”

“I’m st…

Sergei Pavlovich has opened up for the first time on his loss against Alexander Volkov at UFC on ABC 6 last weekend.

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Pavlovich was a sizeable favorite going into the co-main event against Volkov in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. While many were expecting an early finish from Pavlovich, Volkov picked his opponent apart throughout the course of three rounds to earn a dominant unanimous decision win.

The otherwise soft-spoken Pavlovich was seen shoving his opponent, also his former sparring partner, after the fight. Pavlovich recently admitted that the loss was an emotional one for him. Having scored 15 of his 18 career wins via knockout so far, Pavlovich believes he made a mistake in desperately hunting for another highlight-reel KO.

“It wasn’t my day; nothing went according to plan,” Pavlovich wrote on social media. “I was ready for anything, but I was too focused on getting a knockout and took too many unnecessary hits. The result was a loss by point…

Kickboxer Asa Ten Pow will return to mixed martial arts for the first time in nearly three years at One on Prime Video 24.

Ten Pow will lock horns with Carlo Bumina-ang in a bantamweight (145-pound) bout at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, on Aug. 2, Sherdog has learned. ONE on Prime Video 24 features an interim 125-pound title clash pitting Jarred Brooks against Gustavo Balart and airs live on Prime Video in the United States.

Known as “The American Ninja,” Ten Pow hasn’t competed in MMA since a two-fight stint under the Titan FC banner in 2021. He defeated Earnest Walls via first-round TKO in his pro debut at Titan FC 72, but his second appearance was ruled a no contest due to an illegal knee. Ten Pow has experience in kickboxing, boxing and muay thai and is the founder of the Florida Kickboxing Academy. He boasts a 2-1 mark in muay thai under the ONE banner, most recently defeating Rambolek Tor Yotha via third-round knockout this past September…