Martial Arts News

Justin Gaethje believes he has faced a tougher opponent than Ilia Topuria. 

Gaethje (27-5) will try to unify the title against the champion Topuria (17-0) at UFC White House on June 14. Topuria is currently on murderous streak with knockouts over Alexander Volkanovski, Max Holloway and Charles Oliveira. However, Gaethje has made a career out of fighting lightweight legends. Gaethje believes he has faced a tougher opponent than Topuria in Khabib Nurmagomedov. However, Gaethje gives Topuria his flowers for his knockout streak.

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“I think he is my second toughest test ever, next to Khabib,” Gaethje said at the UFC White House press conference. “But yeah, those three knockouts: Volkanovski, Holloway, Oliveira — legendary. So it’s just gonna make this win that much more spectacular.” Putting It All on the Line Gaethje was also the interim champion when he made his first title bid against Nurmagomedov in 2020, suffering a second-round submission lo…

Conor McGregor believes fighters are still trying to copy him on the mic. 

While there have been others like Chael Sonnen before McGregor, “Notorious” undoubtedly took the sport to new heights with his mic skills, which were backed up by his performances inside the Octagon. Many fighters have since realized the importance of mic skills and have been trying to capitalize on them. 

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UFC Freedom 250 is a one-of-a-kind card scheduled for June 14 at the White House. A pre-fight press conference for the card was held at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, on Friday, ahead of the UFC 328 ceremonial weigh-ins. The card features UFC’s latest trash-talking sensation, Josh Hokit, against Derrick Lewis. Hokit didn’t miss his chance in the limelight, going all out against Lewis, Alex Pereira and Ilia Topuria. McGregor saw multiple “spin-offs” of himself at the Freedom Fights 250 press conference.The Sincerest Form of Flattery “McG spin offs all…

Steve Erceg is eyeing two very stylistically different opponents for his next fight. 

Erceg is coming off a unanimous decision win over Tim Elliott at UFC Perth earlier this month. “Astro Boy” has been watching suggestions about his next potential opponents. Amir Albazi and Brandon Royval are two of the most suggested names for Erceg, which makes sense to the Australian. Erceg notes that Albazi and Royval are two stylistically different matchups but he is willing to face either.

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Ready and Willing “I have watching and looking up posts of who people think I should fight,” Erceg told heavywgtMMA. “Two that were brought up were Amir Albazi and Brandon Royval. I think they are both coming off losses but they are ranked ahead of me. So I think it would be a good time to meet either one of them. They are obviously two very different fighters. Meet up and let’s have a crash.”  

Erceg (14-4) went on a three-fight slump starting with his failed…

Cody Garbrandt edged Long Xiao at UFC 326. | Getty/UFC

A bantamweight pairing has been added to UFC 329 that has all the makings of a potential banger. 

Cody Garbrandt will face Adrian Yanez at UFC 329 on July 11 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. MMAFighting.com was first to report the bout.

Back in the Win Column Garbrandt (15-7) is coming off a unanimous decision win over Long Xiao in a bout he was essentially losing. The scorecards turned in favor of Garbrandt as Xiao was penalized with two points due to three low blows. The win saw Garbrandt rebound from losses to Deiveson Figueiredo and Raoni Barcelos. 

Meanwhile, Yanez (17-6) fought Ricky Simon to a majority draw this past March. Yanez has only won once in his past five outings, a knockout victory over Vinicius Salvador in 2024. 

Kangjie Zhu won’t face Ramon Taveras at UFC Macau. 

Zhu and Taveras were set to trade leather in a featherweight tilt at UFC Fight Night 277 on May 30 at the Galaxy Arena in Macau, China. However, Taveras is now out of the booking due to unknown reasons. Taveras will be replaced by Rodrigo Vera, who steps in on three weeks’ notice. Vera’s management, Iridium Sports Agency, was first to announce the new booking.

Riding a five-fight winning streak, Kangjie (21-4) makes his debut in his homeland after winning the Road to UFC Season 3 featherweight tournament last year. Meanwhile, fellow debutant Vera (21-1) is also making waves on the regional circuit. The Peruvian is undefeated in 13 straight bouts since 2020. 

Prospects Collide

🚨 We’re very pleased & excited to announce that #TeamIridium’s @rodrigovera3 (21-1-1) is taking his talents to the @ufc & will make his highly anticipated Octagon premiere at #UFCMacau 📃🖊 #…

Ultimate Fighting Championship head Dana White had few answers for his actions a couple years ago.

At a New Year’s Eve celebration in Mexico at the end of 2022, White was filmed slapping his wife in the midst of a physical altercation. As seen in the video, he appeared to grab wife, Anne, by the wrist, and she struck him in the face. He responded by slapping her back, before others intervened. White received no public punishment from his organization, and no charges were filed.

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White and his wife both explained later that alcohol played a factor into tensions escalating between them, resulting in them slapping one another. After regularly declaring that “there is never an excuse for a man to put his hands on a woman,” he did so and did not receive any notable consequences. White suggested that the stigma of him doing so was his punishment, that he would always been known as a man who struck his wife.Rules for thee, not for me Appearing on a recent e…

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: Conor McGregor is coming back soon.

Ultimate Fighting Championship star McGregor has often been a subject for discussion since his last fight in July 2021 when Dustin Poirier broke his leg in their trilogy match. Regularly injecting himself into championship conversations, keeping himself in the news by floating things like vying for the middleweight belt, he has been regularly asked about by fans and media members alike.

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On Thursday, UFC chief Dana White appeared on “The Jim Rome Show,” where he spoke about McGregor’s future with the promotion. White explained upfront that the relationship between McGregor and the company is indeed in a good place. He further noted that the comeback for the Irishman, who will turn 38 in July, is in the works. McGregor himself often posts photos and videos of his training to get in shape for his next match.The cure for the summertime bluesIf what White says comes to fruition…

[embedded content] The Ultimate Fighting Championship's biggest grudge match of 2026 is now official after the UFC 328 weigh-ins.

UFC middleweight king Khamzat Chimaev and challenger Sean Strickland have had a war of words in the lead-up to their five-round fight, and it's clear no love has been lost. However, both men were pure professionals when it came to making weight for the UFC 328 main event, as both came in under the 185-pound championship limit. Meanwhile, flyweight champion Joshua Van and challenger Tatsuro Taira both weighed 125 pounds on the dot for their co-main event fight. In total, 13 fights are now set after all fighters made weight with the exception of Jeremy Stephens, who came in four pounds over the lightweight limit for his fight against King Green and will be fined 30% of his purse as a result.

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The undefeated Chimaev (15-0) will look to make his first championship defense against his one-time training partner. "Borz" is coming…

When looking solely at the revenue statements, the Ultimate Fighting Championship is bigger and badder than ever.

During a TKO-run financial call on Wednesday, TKO Group Holdings President Mark Shapiro shrugged off any concerns that fans and media have raised lately about the quality of its events. All across social media, fans have lambasted the UFC’s matchmaking and card creation decisions this year since the Paramount deal came into play. The claims of fewer ranked combatants on the billing, a smaller number of championship pairings and more fights with athletes on long losing streaks have plagued the promotion as of late.

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Prior to UFC 328 on Saturday, the promotion has only run three championship bouts this year: Justin Gaethje vs. Paddy Pimblett, Alexander Volkanovski vs. Diego Lopes 2 and Carlos Ulberg vs. Jiri Prochazka. Four more are on the books through June, with two of those at UFC 328 and the other two at the UFC White House event.

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Before you read how much it will cost some to attend the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s White House show, you might want to be sitting down.

At the UFC White House card on June 14, approximately 4,000 to 4,500 individuals will be able to attend in the newly constructed arena built for this event alone. It will be held on the White House lawn, with stands for seating and a giant framework overhead for lighting and possibly rain protection in the event of inclement weather. Some have hailed the structure, which was seen being put together in Pennsylvania, as something reminiscent of a roller coaster.

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The promotion has said it will be spending around $30 million of its own money to run this event, reportedly without assistance from the government. Public seating will not be available, although there will be limited opportunities for fans to win contests and earn tickets. Otherwise, those seats will be specifically sold by the UFC in conjunction with …

The four men at the top of the Ultimate Fighting Championship White House card billing can win a two-of-a-kind prize.

On Wednesday, the promotion brought the four headliners of the UFC White House event to the White House for some staredowns, interviews and meet-and-greets with the president. President Donald Trump showed off mockup images of the arena that will be constructed specifically for the event. Additionally, he revealed that there will be custom belts up for grabs.

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Atop the billing is a unified lightweight championship pairing between Georgian champ Ilia Topuria and American interim titleholder Justin Gaethje. In the co-main attraction, Brazilian former two-division champion Alex Pereira will move up to challenge French ex-interim titlist Ciryl Gane for the interim heavyweight strap. All four men were in attendance clad in suits for the big day. Per the reveals, both newly crowned champions will be taking home a specially created gold be…

It was always a question of when, not if, the Professional Fighters League would hold a fight card in Saudi Arabia this year.

Via press release on Thursday, the organization announced that June 19 would be the date of the next Saudi Arabian fight card run by the PFL. The event, which is currently listed as PFL MENA 10, does not currently have a headliner or billing set. Fights will go down at the King Abdullah Sports City Indoor Arena in Jeddah. The promotion announced that a pair of local athletes would be competing at the event, with one of the two making their professional debuts.

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Currently 3-0 as a professional, the PFL has indicated that Jeddah native Malik Basahel will absolutely be part of the lineup. He does not yet have an opponent announced, with that news coming soon. A longtime amateur, Basahel dabbled in the PFL three times as an unpaid athlete until he flipped the switch in May 2025 to enter the professional ranks. Over the course of …