Martial Arts News

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While Steve Erceg found Alexandre Pantoja to be respectful leading up to their UFC 301 fight, he didn’t like the champ’s post-fight demeanor.

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Erceg earned the opportunity of a lifetime, jumping several spots in the rankings for a title shot against Pantoja at UFC 301 in Brazil on May 4. While Pantoja retained his flyweight strap with a unanimous decision win, Erceg showed that he can hang with the best by giving the champ a real run for his money.

While Erceg had nothing but respect for Pantoja leading up to the fight, the Australian has now developed mixed feelings due to some post-fight comments “The Cannibal” made. During an appearance on the "Show Me the Money" podcast, Pantoja said that Erceg hits like a girl. Taking issue with Pantoja’s comments, Erceg notes that the Brazilian certainly didn’t look like he had been hit by a girl after their fight.

“He’s a nice guy, obviously to his family. I liked the way he carried hi…

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Michael Chandler recently weighed in on his canceled fight with Conor McGregor.

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After months of anticipation, Chandler was finally scheduled to headline UFC 303 against McGregor on June 29. However, Dana White confirmed last week that the fight was off, as McGregor pulled out due to an injury. Chandler addressed the situation for the first time since that announcement in a video on social media.

“Well it’s Monday morning, on the trail right now, getting my mind right, thinking about what has transpired over the last couple of days…Got the rug pulled out from underneath me at the last possible moment,” Chandler said. “I had just got done with my last sparring session Thursday morning. I’d been hearing rumblings since Monday obviously but really got the call about an hour after my last sparring session was completed… The happiest and healthiest and hardest to kill, most dangerous man I have ever been in my entire life in that moment…

A matchup of middleweight prospects has been added to a UFC Fight Night event in August.

Zachary Reese (7-1) will face Bolivian debutant Jose Medina (11-3) at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Aug. 24. The matchup was first reported by MMA Latinoamerica.

It will be a quick turnaround for Reese after he knocked out veteran Julian Marquez in 20 seconds at UFC on ESPN 57 in Louisville earlier this month. The bonus-winning victory saw “Savage” bounce back from his lone pro loss, which came via a slam KO against Cody Brundage in his UFC debut in December 2023.

Meanwhile, Medina gets his UFC call despite coming up on the short side of a unanimous decision in his Dana White's Contender Series bout against Magomed Gadzhiyasulov in October 2023. Medina has finished 10 of his 11 pro wins so far and was riding a six-fight winning streak before the Contender Series loss.

Things definitely haven’t gone as planned for the Ultimate Fighting Championship in June.

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The biggest setback for the promotion occurred last week, when Conor McGregor officially withdrew from his headlining clash against Michael Chandler at UFC 303 due to injury. The former two-division champ is the UFC’s biggest star, but he hasn’t competed for nearly three years since breaking his leg in July 2021. While McGregor vowed to be back soon in a statement released on social media, the exact nature of his injury — as well as a timeline for his recovery — is unclear.

After a hectic couple of weeks, UFC CEO Dana White won’t speculate on when McGregor might be ready to return to action.

“It’s the business, man. This is the way it goes,” White told the Sports Business Journal. “And from here on I’m not going to talk about it until when he’s healed and he’s right. Then we’ll look at the landscape and see what we can figure out.”

The promotion w…

While Khamzat Chimaev has not been especially active in recent years, the Chechen-born Swede has no plans of stepping away from mixed martial arts.

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In a brief statement issued to MMAjunkie.com, Chimaev’s manager, Majdi Shammas, denied retirement rumors that have persisted since the middleweight withdrew from a headlining clash against Robert Whittaker at UFC on ABC 6 due to a severe illness.

“It’s absolutely not true,” Shammas said. “We’re planning on getting to the bottom of this situation, the problems. He will be back.”

Shammas painted a grave picture of Chimaev’s status in a separate post on social media over the weekend. However, he also stated in that post Chimaev’s UFC return would be “immediately rescheduled” once the fighter was healthy.

“The persistent illness that Khamzat has been battling for major parts of training camp could not be cured in time. He has been in and out of hospitals several times,” Shammas wrote on Instagram. “T…

☀️🌍🌘The SUN of Africa is the same sun that lights up our planet.The SUN will set and will rise again until you walk into it. 🌅The SUN, enjoy while it shines. Darkness falls when it’s gone. pic.twitter.com/u5Swlzr6TW

— Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) June 17, 2024

It appears that Israel Adesanya will have a chance to regain the Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight crown later this year.

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“The Last Stylebender” announced on social media that he will face reigning middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 305 in Perth on Aug. 17. Du Plessis subsequently confirmed the news in a series of posts on his Instagram Stories. UFC CEO Dana White later confirmed the pairing during an appearance on "The Jim Rome Show" on Monday.

EXCLUSIVE: UFC President @danawhite confirms Israel Adesanya will fight Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 305 on August 17th in Perth. pic.twitter.com/mUkcGPGxaK

— Jim Rome (@jimrom…

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Bo Nickal claims to have been offered a short-notice booking against Robert Whittaker at UFC Saudi Arabia, which he couldn’t accept due to some unfortunate circumstances.

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Whittaker was originally scheduled to fight Khamzat Chimaev in the main event at UFC on ABC 6 on Saturday. However, Chimaev pulled out of the fight nine days before the event due to health concerns. Chimaev will now be replaced on short notice by Ikram Aliskerov.

While the fight has now been finalized, Nickal revealed that he was also on the list of potential contenders to replace Chimaev. Nickal claims to have received a call to step up for UFC Saudi Arabia, which he couldn’t answer as he didn’t have service. After three days in the mountains of Montana with no network signal, Nickal returned to multiple messages requesting callbacks. However, by then it was too late, as the UFC had already finalized the new main event for Saudi Arabia. Besides, Nickal wasn’t t…

Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran Marc Diakiese recently explained the reasoning behind his move to rival promotion Professional Fighters League.

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Diakiese announced his move to the PFL earlier this month after a 15-fight UFC career. Diakiese revealed that his UFC contract had expired following his second-round submission loss to Joel Alvarez at UFC London in July 2023. While exploring free agency, the Englishman was offered a short-notice clash against Kaue Fernandes at UFC Sao Paulo in November 2023, which he went on to win via split decision.

Diakiese expected the UFC to renew his contract in time for the promotion’s pay-per-view event in Manchester on July 27. However, that offer never arrived, and “Bonecrusher” instead accepted a deal with the PFL.

“So, the fight in London, that was the last fight on my contract,” Diakiese told MMAjunkie.com. “And I got sent to Brazil last minute and it was just there, so I knew I was a free agent. B…

Rose Namajunas recently detailed an “uncalled for” interaction with the father of upcoming opponent Maycee Barber.

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Namajunas and Barber will meet in a flyweight contender matchup in the main event at UFC on ESPN 59 on July 13. Thanks to a six-fight winning streak, Barber is oozing confidence going into her clash against the two-time UFC champ. While Namajunas has no issue with Barber’s confidence, she felt that “The Future’s” father was disrespectful towards her.

“I love when fighters are confident. I like when they believe in themselves,” Namajunas told MMAjunkie.com. “To me, as long as she ain’t being disrespectful I’m cool with it. Her dad was kind of disrespectful I kind of felt, like back in the day. But that’s him. You know, so whatever. But her, I think she should keep doing what she’s doing, and I respect everything that she’s done. I think she’s really developed into an impressive prospect that I’m looking forward to facing.”

The inc…

UFC on ABC 6 has taken yet another hit with less than a week to go before fight night.

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Melsik Baghdasaryan announced via Instagram Stories that he is out of his featherweight matchup against Muhammadjon Naimov due to a torn labrum in his left shoulder. UFC on ABC 6 takes place on Saturday at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It is currently unknown if Naimov will remain on the card against a replacement opponent.

“Hello everyone, I have bad news,” Baghdasaryan said. “My fight got canceled. I got injured, torn labrum on my left shoulder. Thanks everyone for support. I’ll be back as soon as possible.”

Melsik Baghdasaryan confirms he is out of his scheduled fight in Saudi Arabia against Muhammad Naimov. #UFCSaudiArabia

📽 Baghdasaryan IG Stories pic.twitter.com/5bErTE6lMP

— Marcel Dorff 🇳🇱🇮🇩 (@BigMarcel24) June 17, 2024

This is the latest in a series of last-minute blows for the UFC Saudi Arabia card, sta…

Brady Hiestand and Garrett Armfield evidently harbored no ill feelings for each other after their UFC on ESPN 58 clash on Saturday.

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Hiestand survived a knockdown from Armfield in the second round and pulled off a third-round submission win in one of the most competitive outings of the night. Both fighters subsequently shared screenshots of Instagram DMs revealing the mutual respect between the two, along with other things.

After an initial show of respect, Armfield asked Hiestand if his armbar attempt on “Bam Bam” in the first round was tight.

“You got some heart bro. Was the armbar tight at least?” Armfield wrote.

Hiestand replied that an alleged fart from Armfield during the armbar attempt was the most fatal move of the fight.

“Bro that fart was more deadly than anything! All jokes aside that was a good one,” Hiestand replied.

Armfield didn’t dispute the accusation in his response.

“Bahahahhahahhha. I’m dead,” he wrote. Read more

Heading into the UFC on ESPN 58 main event, Tatsuro Taira had designs on testing himself in the championship rounds.

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That goal ultimately went unrealized when opponent Alex Perez suffered a knee injury, resulting in a technical knockout victory for the Japanese prospect at the 2:59 mark of Round 2. The finishing sequence occurred after Taira executed a standing back take and then dragged Perez to the canvas, a move that resulted in his opponent wrenching his knee on the way down to the floor.

“I came here to fight all five rounds. I haven’t got to fight all five rounds yet,” Taira said through a translator at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “It’s a shame he got injured, but I am happy with the win.”

As the flyweights fell to the canvas, Taira wasn’t initially aware of what had happened to his opponent.

“Actually, I didn’t realize that [he was injured],” Taira said. “I was trying to get his back and trying to finish. Then he [started] …