Martial Arts News

𝗢𝗙𝗙𝗜𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟: Your Updated PFL Sioux Falls Fight Card!

•Laureano Staropoli is out•New Matchup: Logan Storley vs Luca Poclit•New Matchup: Tyler Diamond vs Brett Johns•New Start Time: 6:30pm ET on ESPN+ / 10pm ET pic.twitter.com/b9qDwyjusH

— PFL (@PFLMMA) June 24, 2024

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Logan Storley will be facing an opponent change with less than a week to go before his second Professional Fighters League appearance.

The promotion announced on Monday that Laureano Staropoli, Storley’s original opponent, has withdrawn from the event and will be replaced by Luca Poclit in a new welterweight season bout at PFL 6 on Friday. Poclit was originally booked against Zach Juusola on the evening’s undercard.

PFL 6 takes place at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and is headlined by a featherweight tilt between Brendan Loughnane and Justin Gonzales. Storley vs. Poclit is currently listed as the co-main event. The main card airs o…

"I'm walking in there 100% Conor McGregor" 🇮🇪

Conor McGregor joins Dan Hardy in the Cage to speak on Sinead Kavanagh and his fight with Michael Chandler in the future!#BellatorDublin | LIVE NOW on MAX🌍 https://t.co/Dpuq4Xv6Jh pic.twitter.com/TZPc29fz62

— Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) June 22, 2024

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Conor McGregor was in the public eye over the weekend, attending Bellator Champions Series Dublin in support of SBG Ireland teammate Sinead Kavanagh.

That also meant that the Irish star had the opportunity to address the severity of the broken toe that forced him to withdraw from his proposed matchup with Michael Chandler in the UFC 303 main event. The former two-division champion hasn’t fought since suffering a broken leg in a loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in July 2021.

“The injury is a nuisance. It’s painful,” McGregor told SevereMMA in a backstage interview at Bellator Dublin. “I’m not going to lie, it’s very, very …

Rinat Fakhretdinov wants a ranked opponent after his win over Nicolas Dalby at UFC on ABC 6 on Saturday.

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A heavy favorite going into the fight, Fakhretdinov was in for a rather unpleasant surprise against the underdog Dalby. Notorious for upsetting the odds, Dalby came close to doing so once again as he gave Fakhretdinov a run for his money. Fakhretdinov eventually earned a split-decision victory that many believe could have easily gone the other way.

Fakhretdinov wasn’t satisfied with the nature of the win, as he was looking to secure a finish. However, the Russian realized why his opponent, whom he now considers the most underrated fighter at welterweight, came in riding a four-fight winning streak.

“I’m satisfied with the fight. I’m not satisfied with the result, though,” Fakhretdinov told Red Corner MMA. “I wanted to win convincingly and get the finish. But now I know why Dalby was on a four-fight winning streak. He’s a very solid opponent…

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Brian Ortega had a larger goal in mind while accepting his upcoming fight against Diego Lopes.

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A high caliber featherweight matchup between Ortega and Lopes is set to co-headline UFC 303 on Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. While one might expect Ortega to have been lured by a huge paycheck, “T-City” claims his fight purse for UFC 303 is not much higher than his average UFC salary. Ortega revealed that he had another reason for accepting the Lopes fight.

Ortega, who has spoken up about mental health on several past occasions, attended a camp at his church directed towards improving men’s mental health. After Ortega enjoyed the camp with his kids, the pastor told him they needed to raise $100,000 to keep things running. And the Lopes fight offer came at the right time for the former UFC featherweight title contender.

“Obviously, they changed up the pay a little bit but it’s not more than you think,” Ortega told Sha…

Ikram Aliskerov is all class in the aftermath of his loss to Robert Whittaker at UFC on ABC 6.

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Aliskerov stepped up on short notice to replace Khamzat Chimaev against Whittaker in the Saturday’s main event at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. While many expected a close contest, Whittaker took less than two minutes to knock Aliskerov out.

Weighing in on his loss, Aliskerov said that he was well aware of what he was getting into while accepting the fight. Aliskerov is also a fan of Whittaker and considers it a privilege to have fought “Bobby Knuckles.”

“I have failed but it’s all good,” Aliskerov told Ushatayka (translation via Red Corner MMA). “It’s just a sport, no excuses. I was fully aware of the risks I was taking. To be honest with you, Rob has always been one of my favorite fighters. I’ve been following his career. I’m not sure how to put it the right way, it was an honor for me to fight him as he’s one of those fighters that …

Johnny Walker is looking to go back to the drawing board following his loss against Volkan Oezdemir.

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The light heavyweight clash between Walker and Oezdemir began the main card action at UFC on ABC 6 on Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The Swiss veteran brutally knocked out Walker, rendering him unconscious with one last follow-up shot at the 2:28 mark of Round 1.

Walker has now opened up on his loss while also confirming that he didn’t sustain any lasting injuries. The Brazilian felt that his head was just not in the right place despite having done everything perfectly leading up to the fight. Walker now plans on rewatching the fight to figure out what went wrong.

“I’m good. Just a little scratch on my lips… I just arrived at home with my little champ. It wasn’t really good night for me,” Walker said in a video on Instagram. “I don’t know what happened. I’m gonna have to figure out, watch the fight again and see what I did. I don’t think I…

Daniel Rodriguez may have paid the price for agreeing to face Kelvin Gastelum at 185 pounds, but it wasn’t all bad news for the 37-year-old Californian.

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Rodriguez and Gastelum were initially supposed to square off at welterweight at UFC on ABC 6, but terms of the bout were altered when Gastelum arrived in Saudi Arabia for fight week overweight and requested the fight take place at middleweight. Rodriguez elected to go forward with the matchup and lost a unanimous decision on Saturday at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. However, “D-Rod” did reap some rewards as a result of competing at a heavier weight class than initially expected.

“All right, y’all. I’m done complaining about the fight. F—k it. It happened,” Rodriguez said in a video on his Instagram stories. “I knew the risk. With the risk, came great rewards. I lost the fight but I gained so much more in return: a ton a respect from the fight community, a nice raise, six-fight contract, 3…

Ramazan Kuramagomedov would like for anyone who competes in mixed martial arts to have the opportunity to experience what he did on Saturday.

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The 27-year-old Dagestani took a unanimous decision triumph over Jason Jackson in the Bellator Champions Series Dublin headliner, capturing the promotion’s welterweight title in the process. Kuramagomedov banked the first three rounds on the scorecards, then held off a late surge from Jackson to end his opponent’s eight-fight winning streak. Kuramagomedov is now 13-0 as a professional.

“This is crazy emotional for me. I can’t explain this. I wish for every [fighter] who comes to this sport, I want them to feel this moment, what I feel today,” Kuramgomedov said in a backstage interview with Bellator.

“Every night when I go to sleep, I was thinking about this belt. And every morning when I wake up I was thinking about this belt,” he added. “I was prepared for five hard rounds. Today I did five rounds and I…

Amanda Lemos and Virna Jandiroba will now have five rounds with which to work.

The strawweight bout has been elevated to the main event for the UFC on ESPN 60 on July 20. The news was announced during the UFC on ABC 6 broadcast on Saturday and has since been confirmed by multiple outlets. UFC on ESPN 60 takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and also includes a women’s flyweight showdown between Tracy Cortez and Miranda Maverick.

A former Invicta FC champion, Jandiroba has been victorious in her last three Octagon appearances. Most recently, the 35-year-old Brazilian outpointed Lupita Godinez at UFC on ESPN 54 on March 30. She has also earned decision wins over Marina Rodriguez and Angela Hill during her current winning streak.

After coming up short in a 115-pound title bid against Weili Zhang at UFC 292 last August, Lemos returned to the win column in her last outing, as she took a unanimous verdict against Mackenzie Dern at UFC 298. The 36-year-old Br…

Robert Whittaker appreciates the respect Sharabutdin Magomedov has shown for him.

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Both Whittaker and Magomedov won “Performance of the Night” bonuses for their respective stoppage wins at UFC on ABC 6 at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday. Whittaker took less than two minutes to knock out Ikram Aliskerov, who replaced Khamzat Chimaev on nine days’ notice in the main event of the night. Meanwhile, Magomedov put on a striking masterclass to secure a late stoppage over Brazilian debutant Antonio Trocoli, who took the fight on three days’ notice.

Whittaker, who watched Magomedov’s fight against Trocoli, was impressed by the Dagestani’s performance. However, “Bobby Knuckles” noted that Trocoli started to fatigue after a hectic flurry early in the first round.

“I did [watch his fight]. The guy he fought was tired man, very tired,” Whittaker said at the post-fight press conference. “Not taking anything away from Shara. I like the …

Tensions flared between Alexander Volkov and Sergei Pavlovich following their heavyweight bout on Saturday.

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Volkov picked Pavlovich apart from the outside to score a unanimous decision win in the co-main event at UFC on ABC 6 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. When Volkov walked up to his opponent to shake hands after the fight, Pavlovich shoved his fellow countryman and former sparring partner. Volkov subsequently revealed that Pavlovich cursed at him, which was out of character for the heavyweight. Volkov believes it is Pavlovich who has a problem with him and should be the one to initiate a resolution.

“To be honest this is the first time really that I ever heard Sergei curse because he kind of told me to, well I’m not sure what he said. But basically, I once in a while allow myself to curse, but this is the first time I heard him maliciously use curse words in my direction,” Volkov said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “So, I mean if he’s got …

VICIOUS GROUND AND POUND! 🔥

Paul Hughes stops Bobby King via second round TKO in his Bellator debut! 🇮🇪#BellatorDublin | LIVE NOW on MAX🌍 https://t.co/Dpuq4Xv6Jh pic.twitter.com/B2BbCtlGPZ

— Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) June 22, 2024

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Paul Hughes has a bold prediction for Ian Garry’s upcoming UFC fight.

Garry will trade leather with former Bellator MMA superstar Michael Page at UFC 303 on June 29 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Page, who has built a career off of highlight-reel finishes, expects to outclass Garry on the feet. While it is almost a pick ‘em matchup, Hughes predicts an easy night at the office for his friend and fellow countryman.

“I think it’s a very tough fight, but I honestly think that Ian’s gonna make it look easy,” Hughes said at the Bellator Dublin post-fight press conference. “I think he’s gonna make it look easy against MVP. I think he’s gonna chop him down low, and I think Ian’s obviously …