Martial Arts News

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It seems likely that Alexander Volkanovski won’t fight again before the end of the year.

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The 35-year-old Australian is confident that he will be next in line to face the winner of the featherweight championship clash between Ilia Topuria and Max Holloway that is slated for UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi on Oct. 26. Volkanovski hasn’t competed since relinquishing the 145-pound strap in a second-round knockout loss to Topuria at UFC 298 on Feb. 17. Volkanovski had considered taking a bout at lightweight but appears to have ultimately decided against that option.

“That’s exactly what’s happening. So I can wait or if I don’t want to wait, I can do something else. Or just wait, and the UFC has made that clear. Obviously, that’s probably what I’m going to do,” Volkanovski recently told Sky Sports New Zealand.

“I could have maybe done a lightweight fight, I think there’s a lot of exciting fights there, but the UFC aren’t big fans of floating. …

A women’s flyweight clash pitting Veronica Hardy against Eduarda Moura has been added to the UFC 309 lineup.

Ag.Fight was first to report the booking. UFC 309 takes place on Nov. 16 at Madison Square Garden in New York. A headliner has not been officially announced for the event, but it is expected that Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic will top the card.

After beginning her promotional tenure with three consecutive defeats, the 28-year-old Hardy has been victorious in four of her last five Octagon appearances. Most recently, Hardy outpointed J.J. Aldrich at UFC on ESPN 56 on May 11.

Moura, meanwhile, earned a UFC contract on Dana White’s Contender Series in August 2023. The Brazilian then scored a second-round TKO of Montserrat Ruiz in her Octagon debut before suffering her first defeat in 11 professional outings via split decision against Denise Gomes at UFC on ESPN 57 this past June.

A change in priorities influenced Carla Esparza’s decision to retire after UFC 307.

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Esparza will be returning from pregnancy and childbirth for a rematch against Tecia Pennington at UFC 307 on Oct. 5 in Salt Lake City, Utah. While announcing her return fight, “Cookie Monster” also r revealed that it’ll be the last one of her career.

More recently, Esparza elaborated on her retirement decision, citing a variety of factors. Esparza noted that the unforgiving sport has often seen the best of the best take a steep fall from grace toward the end of their careers, like B.J. Penn, Anderson Silva or Tony Ferguson. While Esparza hasn’t reached a point where she is desperately hanging on to the roster, she just isn’t able to make the kind of commitment she used to after the birth of her child. And not being “all-in” feels like doing an injustice to the sport for the former two-time UFC strawweight champion.

“We’ve seen it time and time again, the sport…

⚡️🇵🇸Belal Muhammad told a story how he started in MMA.

I saw my high school teacher fighting in Strikeforce on Showtime. I sent him a message, and it turned out the gym was near my mom's house. I linked up with him and started training. I just fell in love with the sport...

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I… pic.twitter.com/xPu1vTvgkI — Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) August 31, 2024

Belal Muhammad probably wouldn’t have ventured into mixed martial arts if not for his high school wrestling coach.

Growing up in Chicago, Muhammad went to Bogan High School, where he tried his hand at wrestling for two years. Muhammad then joined the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign to study law and had no plans of dabbling in sports.

However, he was intrigued to see his high school wrestling coach competing in MMA at Strikeforce, which was acquired by the UFC in 2011. Muhammad reached out to his teacher and found out that the gym the teacher trained…

Carlos Prates believes Michael Page is having nightmares about him.

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According to Prates, the UFC is interested in matching him up against “MVP.” However, “The Nightmare” accuses the former Bellator MMA star of not answering the phone.

“I heard that the company wants to give me [Michael Page], but he doesn’t answer the phone. You must be having nightmares by now!” Prates wrote on Instagram.

Prates earned a UFC contract with a knockout win over Mitch Ramirez on Dana White's Contender Series last year. Prates has since scored three knockout wins in as many UFC outings this year, earning himself an extra $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus all three times. The Brazilian, who craves for a cigarette after every fight, has finished 18 of his 20 pro wins and is already displaying superstar potential.

Meanwhile, Page signed with the UFC in December 2023 after briefly exploring free agency. He made his promotional debut against Kevin Holla…

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Lerone Murphy claims the “vibe was a bit dead” for the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s return to Manchester this past July.

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UFC 304 marked the promotion’s return to Manchester for the first time since 2016. However, the card was scheduled for the usual timie for U.S. viewers, which meant the main card started around 3 a.m. local time in Manchester.

While Murphy would have loved to fight on home soil as well, the Stockport, England, native was put off by the timing. While in attendance, “The Iceman” was dozing off and could sense a dead vibe at the Co-op Live Arena overall. According to Murphy, the crowd livened up briefly for appearances of stars like Paddy Pimblett, Tom Aspinall and Leon Edwards but was mellow overall. Murphy suggests the promotion instead organize UFC Fight Nights, which can be scheduled as per local time but also understands that people want big pay-per-views featuring championship bouts.

“It was good, …

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Caio Borralho believes former training partner Khamzat Chimaev beats Robert Whittaker in their upcoming matchup.

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Chimaev is scheduled to trade leather against Whittaker at UFC 308 on Oct. 26 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. Borralho was Chimaev’s main sparring partner for a scheduled matchup against Nate Diaz in September 2022, a fight which never came to fruition. “The Natural” believes Chimaev’s opponents can’t gauge the true extent of “Borz’s” wrestling prowess until they are sharing the Octagon with him. Borralho notes that Chimaev is coming off a majority decision win over former champ Kamaru Usman, who has left behind ace grapplers like Demian Maia, Rafael dos Anjos and Gilbert Burns in his wake. While the Brazilian expects Chimaev to beat Whittaker, he isn’t completely counting “Bobby Knuckles” out given his championship history.

“I already training with him, spent some time in Sweden with him for his training camp against…

Belal Muhammad (24-3) recently dismissed Shavkat Rakhmonov’s (18-0) claims that he isn’t keeping his promise of being an active champion.

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Muhammad won the welterweight title with a unanimous decision win over Leon Edwards at UFC 304 this past July. Rakhmonov claims he has since received an offer to challenge “Remember the Name,” which he accepted. However, “Nomad” accuses Muhammad of turning down the booking, which was supposedly offered for UFC 307 on Oct. 5 in Salt Lake City, Utah. According to Rakhmonov, Muhammad rejected the offer due to the timeline. The undefeated Kazakh also accuses Muhammad of not being an active champion.

“Actually I’ve already been offered to fight Belal and I accepted the fight against Belal,” Rakhmomov told MMAFighting.com. “But unfortunately he declined to fight me due to timing issues. He wasn’t ready to defend is belt on that time. So we’ll see what’s gonna happen and when he’s gonna be ready. So I’ll be able to figh…

UFL 5: PHOENIX vs VEGAS is set for AUG 30 👊

Witness Phoenix coach Henry Cejudo and Vegas coach Frank Mir lead top-level talent in a battle for state supremacy 🏆

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🎟 - https://t.co/PprrSI1czQ | 📍 CHANDLER AZ | 🏟 Wild Horse Pass Casino pic.twitter.com/b0jhcwDpdb — United Fight League (@UnitedMMALeague) July 26, 2024 A year and a half after its first event, the United Fight League has ushered a new era in mixed martial arts. As the only MMA promotion to provide health insurance, life insurance and shares in the company to all of its signed fighters, the UFL vows to set the new standard for the fight business.

“We are the first combat sports league to offer health insurance and shares in the company to show that hey, if you help us build this idea, we’ll all win, we’ll all eat together,” UFL CEO Harrison Rogers told Sherdog.com. “It had only been a crazy idea. It’s been like twisting arms to get people to take a chance with…

Bellator MMA’s upcoming card in San Diego is down two fights.

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The promotion recently announced that Raufeon Stots vs. Marcos Breno and Grant Neal vs. Khalid Murtazaliev are now off the Sept. 7 card. As a result, a women’s flyweight clash pitting Sumiko Inaba against Mackenzie Stiller has been elevated to the main draw. A reason for the cancellations was not revealed.

Bellator Champions Series San Diego takes place at Pechanga Arena and is headlined by a lightweight championship clash between Usman Nurmagomedov and Alexandr Shabliy. The event will air in its entirety on Max beginning at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.

Stots is coming off a unanimous decision victory over Danny Sabatello at Bellator 301 and is 8-1 since joining the promotion in 2019. Breno, meanwhile, hasn’t competed since April 2023, when he suffered a second-round submission defeat to Sabatello at Bellator 294.

Neal had a three-bout winning streak snapped on March 22, when he dro…

The PFL MENA semifinals have been finalized for Sept. 20 in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia.

After regular season events on May 10 and July 12, the brackets at featherweight, welterweight, lightweight and bantamweight remain largely intact with the exception of one 155-pound matchup. According to a release from the PFL, Abdullah Saleem has failed an in-competition drug test and has been removed from his semifinal bout against Omar Reguigui. As a result, Georges Eid will step in and face Reguigui.

PFL MENA 3 takes place at the promotion’s studio in Boulevard City and is headlined by a featherweight semifinal clash between Abdullah Al-Qahtani and Abdalrahman Alhyasat. In the co-main event, Jarrah Al-Silawi will lock horns with Omar El Dafrawy in a welterweight semifinal. Winners of the semifinal bouts will advance to a PFL MENA championship event later this year.

“We’re very excited to be heading into the playoffs of the inaugural PFL MENA season. Fighters in the ba…

Norma Dumont recently went off on Julianna Pena, who will receive the next UFC women’s bantamweight title shot.

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Pena is set to challenge Raquel Pennington for the bantamweight title in the co-main event at UFC 307 on Oct. 5 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. According to Dumont, Pena getting the next title shot is a slap in the face of the rest of the division. Dumont believes “The Venezuelan Vixen” has done nothing of significance to warrant a title shot.

Pena’s biggest claim to fame is a submission win over Amanda Nunes to win the bantamweight title at UFC 269 in 2021 in one of the biggest upsets in the history of the sport. Dumont claims Pena’s win over Nunes came on a night when the “Lioness” just wasn’t herself. Dumont also recalled Pena’s lopsided beatdown on the way to a unanimous decision loss against “The Lioness” in their rematch at UFC 277 in July 2022. Dumont believes it is really unfair that the upcoming title shot goes to P…