Martial Arts News

It may not have been the barnburner they had hoped for, but for the hometown Denver crowd, Rose Namajunas could do no wrong.

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In the flyweight main event of UFC on ESPN 59 at Ball Arena, former strawweight champ Namajunas (13-6, 11-5 UFC) looked to make her case for a title shot in her new division against rising contender Tracy Cortez (11-2, 5-1 UFC). The first round went solidly in favor of “Thug Rose,” who sidestepped Cortez’s advances, denied her the clinch and shot takedown opportunities she sought, and caught her repeatedly with clean punches. One of those, a clean left hook, sat Cortez down in the middle of the round, but she recovered quickly. Cortez had a slightly better Round 2, taking Namajunas’ back in a scramble and briefly threatening before Namajunas shook her over the top. Nonetheless, the story of the first half of the fight was Cortez struggling to find Namajunas on any consistent basis, while Namajunas used her superior footwork and…

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Charles Johnson sent a message to Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweights: Count him out at your own peril.

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Johnson (16-6, 4-4 UFC), who took the fight on 11 days’ notice, capped off the UFC on ESPN 59 undercard with a rousing knockout of red-hot phenom Joshua Van (10-2, 3-1 UFC), handing Van his first Octagon loss and snatching victory from the jaws of probable defeat. “InnerG” got off to a solid start, taking advantage of Van’s penchant for starting slowly and hacking away at his lead leg. However, Van gradually took over as the round wore on, exploding out of his compact stance with his patented body punch flurries and a couple of right hands upstairs that hurt Johnson. Van kept building momentum in the middle frame, marching down the taller fighter and continuing to catch him with clean punches. Johnson was game, weathering Van’s offense and landing some solid blows of his own, but the fight was clearly trending i…

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Belal Muhammad recently slammed Sean Strickland while weighing in on the former UFC middleweight champion’s feud with David Goggins.

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Strickland drew the ire of the Navy SEALs by stating that none of them could endure a week of training with him. Mitch Aguiar, a Navy SEAL turned mixed martial artist, recently showed up to spar Strickland and suffered a one-sided beatdown.

Former SEAL turned fitness influencer David Goggins then challenged Strickland to a training session, which Strickland initially seemed to have accepted. However, Muhammad, who has his own feud with Strickland, dismissed the former middleweight champ as a mere troll. According to “Remember the Name,” Strickland has lost relevance since losing his title and is trying to gain clout by beefing with internet celebrities.

“I wouldn’t call it a beef. That’s what Sean is, right? He’s a troll,” Muhammad told The Schmo. “Nobody cares what he says anymore because he do…

A heavyweight rematch between Ciryl Gane and Alexander Volkov is in the works for UFC 308.

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Multiple outlets confirmed the pairing following an initial report Ag.Fight. Both fighters have verbally agreed to the bout, but contracts have yet to be signed. UFC 308 takes place on Oct. 26 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.

Gane and Volkov initially squared off in the main event of UFC Fight Night 190 in June 2021, with the Frenchman winning a five-round unanimous decision.

A former interim heavyweight king, Gane has twice come up short in bids for the undisputed belt, falling to Francis Ngannou via unanimous decision at UFC 270 and to Jon Jones via first-round submission at UFC 285. “Bon Gamin” rebounded from the loss to Jones by scoring a second-round TKO triumph against Sergey Spivak at UFC Fight Night 226 this past September.

A former Bellator MMA and M-1 Global champion, Volkov has yet to challenge for UFC gold since joining the promotion in 2…

Your BKFC 66 Main Attractions just dropped 🔥#BKFC66 | Sept 13 | Tix on sale now ➡️ https://t.co/LJX5urGkRW pic.twitter.com/FzictmuVql

— Bare Knuckle FC (@bareknucklefc) July 13, 2024

Muhammed Lawal will make his first combat sport appearance in nearly five years when he faces Dave Mundell at BKFC 66 on Sept. 13.

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The promotion recently announced the pairing, which will take place at lightweight heavyweight. Lawal initially retired from MMA in June 2019 but briefly returned a few months later, falling to Andrew Kapel via first-round KO at Bellator 233. It will be the first bare knuckle boxing match for Lawal.

The 43-year-old Lawal is a former Division II national champion wrestler at the University of Central Oklahoma and an NCAA All-American at Oklahoma State University. “King Mo” compiled a 21-10 record with one no contest in MMA and has recently served as a coach at American Top Team.

Lawal was a Strikeforce mid…

A middleweight matchup pitting Brendan Allen against Nassourdine Imavov has been added to the UFC Paris lineup.

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Multiple outlets recently confirmed the booking following an initial report from Fight Minds. Allen initially revealed that he had been offered the bout but wouldn’t accept it unless it was elevated to the main event. However, UFC Paris is still expected to be headlined by a lightweight scrap between Benoit St. Denis and Renato Carneiro.

Allen has won his last seven fights under the UFC banner. “All In” kicked off his 2024 campaign with a split-decision triumph against Chris Curtis in the UFC Fight Night 240 headliner on April 6. The Dana White's Contender Series alum has finished five of his seven opponents by way of submission during his current winning streak.

Imavov, meanwhile, is coming off a fourth-round technical knockout triumph against Jared Cannonier in the UFC on ESPN 57 headliner on June 8. The Paris native is 6-2 with…

A lightweight showdown pitting Mateusz Gamrot against Dan Hooker is in the works for UFC 305.

Multiple outlets recently confirmed that the bout has been verbally agreed to after Hooker initially announced the booking on social media. UFC 305 takes place at RAC Arena in Perth, Australia, and is headlined by a middleweight championship clash between Dricus Du Plessis and Israel Adesanya.

A former KSW champion, Gamrot has been victorious in seven of his nine Octagon appearances. The 33-year-old Pole is currently in the midst of a three-bout UFC winning streak that includes triumphs over Rafael dos Anjos, Rafael Fiziev and Jalin Turner. “Gamer” also owns a victory over current lightweight No. 1 contender Arman Tsarukyan.

After losing four of five promotional outings from June 2020 to March 2022, Hooker has rebounded to post consecutive triumphs against Claudio Puelles and Jalin Turner. The 34-year-old City Kickboxing representative hasn’t competed since a sp…

Welterweights and Lightweights did not disappoint in Riyadh!

All The Finishes From PFL MENA 2 #PFLMENA pic.twitter.com/HalC5XdDNZ

— PFL (@PFLMMA) July 12, 2024

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Semifinals matchups for the Professional Fighters League’s first season in the Middle East and North Africa are now in place.

Welterweights Mohammad Alaqraa, Jarrah Al-Silawi, Badreddine Diani and Omar El Dafrawy punched their respective tickets, along with lightweights Mohsen Mohammadseifi, Souhil Tahiri, Abdullah Saleem and Georges Eid at PFL MENA 2 on Friday at The Green Halls in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A $100,000 grand prize goes to the winner of each weight class, along with consideration to be included on the PFL’s global roster in 2025.

Alaqraa (6-0, 1-0 PFL) made his intentions known, as he disposed of Youcef Ouabbas with punches in the third round of their welterweight quarterfinal. Ouabbas (3-1, 0-1 PFL) met his end 53 seconds into Round 3. The A…

Gokhan Saricam Accepts Sanction for Violation of PFL Anti-Doping Policy https://t.co/U5STdxlebp

— USADA (@usantidoping) July 11, 2024 The 2024 Professional Fighters League campaign for Gokhan Saricam was over before it could begin.

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency announced on Thursday that Saricam had failed a pair of out-of-competition tests in April and May. The heavyweight from Turkey tested positive for clomiphene and its related metabolites, which are banned both in and out of competition under USADA and PFL policies. As a result, Saricam has been issued a one-year suspension effective the date of the first failed test, April 29.

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Saricam last competed under the Bellator MMA banner, doing so for his previous seven matchups. Planning on joining the PFL heavyweight bracket, he was once booked against Steve Mowry as a late addition to the season. When Mowry withdrew from the fight, Danilo Marques stepped in his place, but …

Sherdog's live UFC on ESPN 59 coverage will begin Saturday at 7 p.m. ET. BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: N/ARound 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the Round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:

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Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the Round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the Round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round: The Official Result BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Fremd (-110), Petroski (-110)Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the Round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the Round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the Round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:The Official Result BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING …

With the Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight title picture in flux, the victor of this affair might be a couple wins away from a crack at gold.

Ranked 135ers Karol Rosa (17-6) and Pannie Kianzad (16-8) will toe the line at a currently unnamed UFC Fight Night card on Aug. 10. The two will square off inside of the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, with the first report on Wednesday from Brazilian outlet Ag Fight. Kianzad subsequently posted about the pairing on social media on Thursday to confirm its veracity.

Having alternated wins and losses in her last six, Brazil’s Rosa is coming off of a titanic tussle with Irene Aldana at UFC 296 in December. The two slugged it out for 15 violent, bloody minutes, and although Aldana picked up the nod on the scorecards, both ladies scored $50,000 bonus checks for their handiwork. As the Parana Vale Tudo fighter remained a contender in her division, she has bested the likes of Yana Santos, Lina Lansberg and Bethe Correia, all via dec…

THE WAIT IS OVER 🚨 Tickets are on sale NOW for ONE 169: Atlanta on November 8, featuring THREE World Championship bangers and more massive fights to be announced 👉 https://t.co/UzqKRWrAxK

Don’t miss this blockbuster event as two-division MMA World Champion Christian Lee… pic.twitter.com/HHa7KlGs0r

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) July 12, 2024 One Championship is going for broke in Hotlanta this November.

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Atop ONE 169 in Atlanta on Nov. 8, three championship affairs will sit on the marquee. The main attraction at the State Farm Arena is already released, in a battle for the heavyweight throne between champ Anatoly Malykhin and “Reug Reug” Oumar Kane. The co-main event, first reported by MMA Fighting on Friday and subsequently confirmed by the promotion, will put the 170-pound strap up for grabs between two-division beltholder Christian Lee (17-4) and interim champ Alibeg Rasulov (15-0). Additionally, Tawanchai P.K…