Martial Arts News

Mexican standout Josue Cruz will look to earn his first ONE Championship win against Sean Climaco in a three-round muay thai contest contracted for 135 pounds at ONE Fight Night 22 on May 3. Sherdog confirmed the bout, which will go down at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, with sources close to the negotiations Thursday morning.

Cruz will be returning to action for the first time since May 2022, when he suffered a first-round knockout loss to Walter Goncalves in his ONE Championship debut. “Tuzo,” the first fighter born in Mexico to compete for ONE, was undefeated in 17 pro outings leading up to his first and only career loss.

Meanwhile, Climaco, a Filipino American based in San Jose, California, is set to make his promotional debut after winning Road to ONE 2023 with a technical knockout over Malcolm Hill in the series finale last September.

ONE Fight Night 22 will air live on Amazon Prime in the United States and Canada on Friday, May 3, and will be headli…

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Xiaonan Yan admits that her upcoming opponent and compatriot, Weili Zhang, continues to garner more support in their home country of China.

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Yan (18-3) will challenge Zhang (24-3|) for the Ultimate Fighting Championship strawweight championship in the co-main event at UFC 300 on April 13 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. While Zhang made her UFC debut almost a year after Yan in 2018, “Magnum” went on to win the title within a year. Zhang also delivered some of the most memorable title fights of all time, sealing her place in women’s mixed martial arts history.

While China has seen its fair share of UFC stars over the years, including the likes of Jingliang Li and Yadong Song, Zhang likely remains the torchbearer in the country. Earlier, Yan had stated that she expects more haters than fans in her homeland as Zhang continues to dominate the Chinese fanbase.

“Nothing has really changed; still more people support Weili,” Yan…

After enjoying a breakout campaign in 2022, Rob Wilkinson was removed from the following Professional Fighters League season due to a failed drug test after the organization’s first event of last year.

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As he prepares to make his return, the 32-year-old Australian has chosen to focus on the positive support he’s received rather than any negativity.

“I've got a lot of support and people around me that love and support me, and I've had a lot of people back home, people I know and people I don't know, reach out and still tell me they're behind me and that's what kind of motivates me,” Wilkinson said during a recent PFL media day. “I don't really give a s—t about people on Instagram and trolls and whatnot, but the people around me love me and support me, and I want to go out there and have a good fight for them.”

Wilkinson went 4-0 in PFL competition in 2022 to become the league’s light heavyweight champion. He began the following campaign with a d…

Charles Oliveira has responded to Arman Tsarukyan’s claim that he only has one way to finish a fight.

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Tsarukyan recently indicated that Oliveira is overly reliant on the rear-naked choke in his fights. In an interview with Diego Ribas from Ag.Fight, Oliveira answered his UFC 300 opponent.

“People have to be concerned with the way they sell fights. I'm 14 years in the UFC, having 21 submissions and 10 knockouts and 44 MMA fights. If he really believes all I can do is take my opponent’s back and [get the choke], he better be careful not to get his back taken and submitted. Actually, I don’t care what my opponents say,” a smiling Oliveira said.

Oliveira is expecting a difficult fight against his American Top Team-trained opponent. The lightweight bout will be contested over five rounds and is considered to be a title eliminator.

"Of course I had [my team] studying my opponent´s game, but my focus has always been what I can take to him not w…

Arman Tsarukyan admits he was slightly taken aback by the massive fan base for his upcoming opponent, Charles Oliveira.

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Tsarukyan is ready for the biggest matchup of his career against the former champ at UFC 300 on Saturday in what is essentially a lightweight title eliminator. Leading up to the matchup, the Armenian-Russian’s comments sections on social media have been flooded with the iconic phrase coined by Oliveira, "The champ has a name."

“I didn’t know that [he has a lot of fans]… And he has a lot of fans so like everybody text me on the comments, ‘The champion has name: Charles Oliveira.’ And send a lot of messages with the Brazilian flag but it’s funny … ,” Tsarukyan told ESPN

Oliveira fans took it to a different level during a UFC 300 Q&A in Miami last month by issuing death threats to Tsarukyan’s face while booing him. “Ahalkalakets” admits being surprised by the incident but expects a different atmosphere at the T-Mobile Arena…

Alex Pereira believes Jamahal Hill’s heart could make him a more dangerous opponent than fighters with more experience or better technique.

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Pereira is scheduled to defend his strap against Hill in the main event of UFC 300 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturay. The clash with mark the Brazilian’s fourth Ultimate Fighting Championship title fight within a year and a half and just his 12th professional mixed martial arts bout.

However, while Pereira might be relatively new to MMA, he has amassed plenty of experience in combat sports over a career spanning more than a decade. According to Glory Kickboxing records, Pereira had a 25-3 amateur kickboxing career with all of his wins coming via knockout. “Poatan,” which translates to “Stone Hands,” made his professional kickboxing debut in 2012 and went on to finish 21 of his 33 wins via knockout in a 40-fight career. Pereira also became the first fighter in Glory history to hold two titles at the…

Justin Gaethje would ideally like to replicate his performance against Tony Ferguson in his upcoming clash against Max Holloway, ideally minus the ruthless beatdown.

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Gaethje is slated to put his BMF title on the line against Holloway at UFC 300 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday. Gaethje looks to be technical instead of letting his emotions steer the wheel, a vital lesson he learned in his failed title bid against Charles Oliveira in 2022. Ideally, “The Highlight” would like to put on a dominant performance like he did against Ferguson but hopes Holloway goes down before “El Cucuy” did.

“The only time it gets dirty is when I get caught up emotional. I think Oliveira, that was the last fight that I really needed to learn that lesson, and I learned that lesson and I’m not gonna go back to being that fighter. You know, if I dream of a perfect scenario, it’s very Tony Ferguson-esque, I think with the intentions of not hitting him as much. I…

🚨 La boutique de l’UFC a publié des shorts exclusifs pour l’#UFC300 ! 🤩🩳

Lequel est votre préféré ? 👀 pic.twitter.com/esqXsU6rhw

— La Sueur (@LaSueur_off) April 9, 2024

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Several fighters will be wearing custom-designed shorts for the upcoming UFC 300 card.

Light heavyweght champ Alex Pereira, strawweight queen Weili Zhang, BMF title holder Justin Gaethje and Max Holloway will all be wearing custom designs on Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

The kits were revealed by the UFC’s official apparel partner Venum on their official website as the “UFC Adrenaline Unrivaled” collection but have since been removed. However, the images of the collection were captured by French outlet LaSueur on social media. Meanwhile, Gaethje and Holloway also revealed their stars and stripes and floral shorts on social media.

You guys asked and @ufc delivered. Get your floral shorts @ufcstore #UFC300 p…

Breaking News 🚨 ONE returns to the U.S. on September 6 with ONE 168: Denver, headlined by two epic World Title showdowns and more massive fights to be announced 🤩 Hurry and register NOW for exclusive ticket pre-sale access at https://t.co/fqhJifFJCP and stay tuned for more… pic.twitter.com/gCQntkWxxJ

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) March 27, 2024

As excitement builds for ONE Championship’s return to the U.S., ticket sale information has been unveiled.

The Singapore-based promotion recently announced that pre-sale tickets for the Sept. 6 event can be purchased here. Meanwhile, tickets for ONE Championship 168 will go on sale to the general public on Wednesday, April 24 at 12 p.m. ET/9 a.m. PT. Stage Front VIP will partner with ONE to provide fans with immersive VIP experiences including premier seating, premium hospitality offerings, athlete meet-and-greets, event collectibles, and more. VIP packages and additional information are av…

Jailton Almeida will square off against Alexander Romanov in a heavyweight bout at UFC 302.

Ag.Fight was first to report the booking. UFC 302 takes place on June 1 at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., and will also include a middleweight clash pitting Anthony Hernandez against Roman Dolidze.

Almeida was originally scheduled to face Alexander Volkov at the event, but Volkov was moved to UFC on ABC 6 in Saudi Arabia against Sergei Pavlovich on June 22. The Brazilian had won 15 straight professional outings — including six in the Octagon — before suffering a second-round KO defeat to Curtis Blaydes in his most recent appearance at UFC 299. “Maladinho” owns notable wins over the likes of Derrick Lewis, Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Shamil Abdurakhimov, to name a few.

Romanov, meanwhile, kicked off his MMA tenure with 16 consecutive victories. The run included five finishes in UFC competition before Romanov dropped back-to-back fights against Marcin Tybura an…

Cesar Almeida, who is considered to be Alex Pereira’s biggest kickboxing rival in Brazil, began his Octagon tenure with a “Performance of the Night” bonus after defeating Dylan Budka via TKO this past Saturday at UFC Fight Night 240.

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“I finished my camp at Xtreme Couture. Since Dylan was a wrestler, my strategy was basically be patient defending his takedowns, hurt him in the clinch and wait for the right moment to knock him out. Thank God, everything went out as we expected,” Almeida told Sherdog.com. “I couldn't hold the emotion. My goal is not to spend anything. I will put that [bonus] in the bank to pay for college for my two daughters.”

In his post-fight interview, Almeida asked to face Chris Weidman. But he revealed to Sherdog.com that he would prefer to face a striker next.

“It was good to face a top wrestler right in my debut, but of course against a striker I could show all my abilities and provide a much more entertaining fight,” …

Aspen Ladd will shift from Professional Fighters League to Bellator MMA for a showdown against Katerina Shakalova on May 17.

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The promotion announced the featherweight pairing on Tuesday. Ladd vs. Shakalov will be part of the Bellator Champions Series Paris card, which takes place at Accor Arena and is headlined by a lightweight championship clash between Usman Nurmagomeodv and Alexandr Shabliy.

A seven-time UFC veteran, Ladd took part in the PFL’s featherweight season in 2023. The 29-year-old Californian last competed at the organization’s championship event, where she dropped a unanimous decision to Kayla Harrison in a 150-pound catchweight bout. The PFL does not have a 145-pound weight class for its 2024 season, which likely prompted Ladd’s move to Bellator.

Shakalova made her promotional debut this past August, taking a split verdict over Dayana Silva at Bellator 298. The 26-year-old Ukraine native has won eight of her nine professional …