Martial Arts News

Friends and family members of athletes competing at the UFC Apex will have the opportunity to watch them fight under a new ticket policy recently introduced by the Las Vegas-based promotion.

UFC chief business officer Hunter Campbell sent out a memo on Tuesday revealing that fighters will receive four seats to “watch their fight only” at the Las Vegas facility. The policy will begin with Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 240 card. MMAjunkie.com was first to report the news.

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“Beginning with UFC Fight Night this Saturday, April 6, athletes who compete on cards at UFC Apex will receive four (4) seats for friends and family to watch their fight only,” Campbell wrote in the memo. “Following the bout, your guests will be escorted out of Apex. This practice will be in effect for all events at UFC Apex going forward.

“UFC Event Operations VIP Hosts will coordinate all details with you during fighter check-in of your respective fight weeks at the host hotel. All …

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The headliner for Professional Fighters League’s first regular season event of 2024 is now official.

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Heavyweight competitors Ante Delija and Valentin Moldavsky hit their contracted marks without issue at Wednesday’s weigh-ins. Delija tipped the scales at 244 pounds, while Moldavsky checked in at 237.4 pounds.

It wasn’t smooth sailing for everyone on the card, however. Daniel James (267) missed weight by one pound for a heavyweight bout against Marcelo Golm (264.4), while Shanna Young (128.6) came in 2.6 pounds heavy for a flyweight clash against Kana Watanabe (125). Both James and Young were fined 20% of their purse and will receive a one-point penalty toward any league points earned in their respective bouts.

PFL 1 takes place on Thursday night at the Boeing Center in San Antonio, Texas. The main card airs on ESPN2 and ESPN+ beginning at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, while prelims air on ESPN+ at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT.

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— LFA (@LFAfighting) March 28, 2024

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After recently holding an event at Olympic Park in Rio de Janeiro, Legacy Fighting Alliance is returning to the city one day prior to UFC 301.

This time, the event will be held on May 3 at Complexo Ribalta in Barra da Tijuca, an upper class area in West Rio de Janeiro that is just a short distance away where the UFC’s pay-per-view card will take place.

No fights have been announced for the LFA card, but it is expected to include some big names from the Brazilian scene since UFC executives will likely be in attendance.

“The proximity of LFA 183 to UFC 301 creates an atmosphere of international prominence, in …

While Brendan Allen knows his elite welterweight teammates are probably on a collision course, he hopes they don’t have to fight.

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Allen will meet Chris Curtis in a rematch in the main event at UFC Fight Night 240 on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Currently riding a six-fight winning streak that includes five submissions, “All In” will likely get significantly closer to a title shot with a win over Curtis.

Allen considers himself the frontrunner to be potentially crowned the next champion from his gym, Kill Cliff FC in Florida. If not him, Allen believes welterweight teammates Belal Muhammad and Shavkat Rakhmonov are next in line. While Muhammad is undefeated in his last 10 outings, the title shot has inexplicably evaded him so far. Meanwhile, Rakhmonov has finished all 18 of his career wins, six of them in the UFC.

Allen is rallying for Muhammad to receive the next title shot at welterweight. However, the Wisconsin native also ackno…

Dakota Ditcheva has a simple game plan for her upcoming clash against Lisa Mauldin.

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Ditcheva (10-0) and Mauldin (6-3) will kick off the PFL main card in the women’s flyweight category at the Boeing Center in San Antonio, Texas, on Thursday.

A rare knockout artist at flyweight, Ditcheva has finished nine of her 10 career wins — eight of them via knockout. Going into the first flyweight season in Professional Fighters League history, Ditcheva just plans to continue being “vicious.” The Englishwoman also believes that some of her opponents underestimate her power until they get cracked.

While she expects her opponent to inevitably shoot for a takedown, “Dangerous” claims she is as comfortable on the ground.

“Just to be vicious which is what happens when I get in… I kind of, my switch flicks and that’s it,” Ditcheva said during a PFL media day. “I think I’ll just get in there and do what I always do. But I know these girls are gonna come …

Valentin Moldavsky seconds Khabib Nurmagomedov’s past claim that combat sambo is a better base for mixed martial arts than Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

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Moldavsky (12-3) is scheduled to headline PFL 1 against Ante Delija (24-5) at the Boeing Center in San Antonio, Texas, on Thursday.

A former European and Russian combat sambo champion, Moldavsky shares his combat roots with the former Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight champion Nurmagomedov.

Combat sambo has proven to be one of the best bases for MMA throughout history, with fighters transitioning extremely well. Moldavsky believes combat sambo is the more well-rounded discipline than Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

“So when I was in school I was attending different classes, I was doing some wrestling, sambo, judo. And then when I was progressing I realized that fight sambo was something that I really liked and as I was improving, I went all the way to become a medalist. And yeah, I think it's one of t…

Ante Delija was impressed with Tom Aspinall’s caliber after training with the Englishman ahead of his upcoming clash against Valentin Moldavsky.

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Delija (24-5) and Moldavsky (12-3) are slated to headline PFL 1 at the Boeing Center in San Antonio, Texas, on Thursday. Delija trained with Aspinall before entering fight camp and heaped praise on the interim Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight champion’s skillset.

“I trained with Tom Aspinall before my training camp,” Delija said during a PFL media day session. “I was impressed with his physical strength and also he is very, very technical. His father is training him since he was a kid so he deserves the place where he is right now.”

Delija is currently riding a five-fight winning streak topped off by a decision victory over Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran Maurice Greene. Delija went on to win the bout despite breaking his leg in the opening round. “Walking Trouble” was able to mak…

Surging ONE Championship women’s atomweight contenders will meet in a potential title eliminator at ONE Fight Night 22 on May. 3.

Sherdog learned that Japan’s undefeated Chihiro Sawada (7-0, 2-0 ONE) will cross paths with French atomweight contender Noelle Grandjean (5-1, 2-1 ONE) in a three-round meeting at the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok.

Sawada, currently on a seven-fight win streak, is coming off a clear decision win over Jihin Radzuan in March. The Tokyo native made her promotional debut in February 2023, going up against Sanaz Fayazmanesh and it didn’t take long for the 26-year-old to secure an impressive Round 2 keylock submission to announce her arrival on the ONE stage.

Meanwhile, Grandjean will enter on the heels of a unanimous decision over Victoria Souza at ONE on Prime Video 20 in March. The victory marked her return to winning ways after suffering the first loss of her professional mixed martial arts career via Round 2 triangle chok…

Manuel Kape - OUTAlex Perez - IN@NicolauMatheus vs @AlexPerezMMA is your NEW #UFCVegas91 Main Event 🔥 pic.twitter.com/d8Umh7yiNM

— UFC (@ufc) April 2, 2024

UFC on ESPN 55 has a new flyweight main event.

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The promotion announced on Tuesday that Alex Perez will replace Manel Kape and lock horns with Matheus Nicolau at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on April 27. A reason for Kape’s exit from the card was not given. Perez had been slated to face Tagir Ulanbekov on June 15 before the new pairing was announced.

A former title challenger at 125 pounds, Perez has lost his last three Octagon appearances. Most recently, the Team Oyama product dropped a unanimous verdict to Muhammad Mokaev at UFC Fight Night 238 on March 2. The Dana White’s Contender Series alum is 6-4 during his promotional tenure.

Nicolau, meanwhile, had a six-bout winning streak snapped in his last outing, when he suffered a first-round KO defeat to Brandon Ro…

The stakes will be different, but the opponent will be familiar when Liz Carmouche and Juliana Velasquez square off at PFL 1 on Thursday night.

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The flyweight rivals previously met twice in title bouts under the Bellator MMA banner. The first ended in controversial fashion, as Carmouche claimed the 125-pound belt with a fourth-round stoppage of Velasquez at Bellator 278. Velasquez, who was finished with elbows from the mounted crucifix, appealed the ruling on the grounds that none of the blows were significant enough to warrant a stoppage. That appeal was denied, and Carmouche retained the title in more emphatic fashion in the rematch, winning via second-round submission at Bellator 289.

Carmouche wasn’t especially excited to learn that Velasquez would be her first PFL regular season opponent, but she ultimately found the right mindset as she prepared for the trilogy.

“Initially I was disappointed,” Carmouche said during a media call on Wednesd…

It’s been a whirlwind few weeks for Mark Coleman.

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Coleman, who recently risked his life to save his parents from a fire at his childhood home in Ohio, will be in attendance for UFC 300 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on April 13. The UFC Hall of Famer was hospitalized due to severe smoke inhalation — and again for pneumonia — before being released from the hospital last month.

“I’m so excited today,” Coleman wrote on Instagram. “The UFC is bringing me in, giving me and my daughters tickets to the biggest show ever: UFC 300 in Las Vegas. So stoked, let’s go. The BMF belt, that’s the one I’m excited about. The main event is huge as well. The whole card is sick. See you there. What a great day to be alive. Be the best version of yourself you can be. You never know when you’re gonna need it.”

While nothing is confirmed, it’s now possible that Coleman will be able to grant Max Holloway’s request and present the BMF belt to the winner of the …

It will be a new beginning of sorts for Linton Vassell on Thursday night.

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The 40-year-old Englishman will make his Professional Fighters League debut at the organization’s first regular season event of 2024 when he meets Denis Goltsov in a featured heavyweight bout at the Boeing Center in San Antonio, Texas.

It wasn’t initially the matchup “Big Swarm” had in mind, but things changed when Ryan Bader suffered a first-round knockout loss to Renan Ferreira at PFL vs. Bellator on Feb. 24. Instead, Vassell will take part in the PFL season.

“I actually thought I would be fighting him [Bader] next. But he lost,” Vassell said during a media call. “… Who wouldn’t want to be in the tournament where you get a belt, you get money and you get to fight the champion at the end? I don’t think the Bader fight will happen now, to be honest. I’m on a different road.”

While Vassell will be competing under the PFL banner, he stil considers himself a Bellator ath…