Martial Arts News

Flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja traveled to Mexico to watch the main event of UFC Fight Night 237 last Saturday certain of two things.

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First, the winner of the evening’s headliner would determine his opponent for UFC 301 in Rio de Janeiro on May 4 and second, he would receive a hostile reception from fans in Mexico City. As it turned out, Pantoja was in for a surprise.

“I thought I was going to be offended by the Mexicans, and it was exactly the opposite,” he said. “They welcomed me very affectionately and even shouted ‘Hey hermano, Pantoja is Mexicano.’”

The result of the UFC Mexico main event may have altered the promotion’s plans, as Brandon Royval took a split decision over Brandon Moreno in a somewhat surprising result.

“I think the whole stage was set for Moreno to win and come to Rio,” Pantoja said. “The fight was very even and the fact that he beat Moreno months after I won five rounds against him [Royval] shows the level I'm at…

Credit: Getty Images/Zuffa Credit: Getty Images/Zuffa Credit: Getty Images/Zuffa

While some wonder how Anshul Jubli will cope with his lone career setback, his coach, Siddharth Singh, is confident that “King of Lions” will come back with a vengeance as he has done in the past.

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Jubli put India on the world mixed martial arts map by winning the first Road to UFC tournament in the lightweight category last year. The then undefeated prospect then took on Mike Breeden at UFC 294 in October last year, suffering a third-round technical knockout loss after winning the first two rounds on the scorecards.

This marked the first setback for Jubli including his amateur career, leading to some speculations about how it could affect his mindset. However, coach Singh has seen Jubli lose before and cope incredibly well with it.

Singh, the head coach and owner of Crosstrain Fight Club in New Delhi, is confident that Jubli will be hungrier and more complete upon…

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Paulo Costa isn’t wasting any time in plotting his next matchup after coming up short against Robert Whittaker earlier this month.

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While he dropped a unanimous decision, Costa had an impressive showing after a year and a half of inactivity against the former middleweight champ at UFC 298 on Feb. 17. Rather than dwell on his loss, “Borrachinha” has already issued a callout to former welterweight champ Kamaru Usman in a recent interview.

Usman moved up to middleweight for his last outing at UFC 294 in October 2023 for a short-notice clash against Khamzat Chimaev. He was a replacement for Costa, who was unable to recover from an elbow surgery in time to fight. “The Nigerian Nightmare” dropped a tightly-contested majority decision which, according to Costa, doesn’t count for anything.

“He comes from loss, I come from loss,” Cosat told Submission Radio. “So, yes, me and him need to put a win in the records. I think he did already…

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Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran Mike Perry recently went on a rant over Dana White’s stance regarding Merab Dvalishvili’s reluctance to fight his friend, Aljamain Sterling.

Dvalishvili picked up a unanimous decision win over former UFC two-division champion Henry Cejudo at UFC 298 earlier this month, to extend his winning streak to 10. During his post-fight press conference appearance, White praised Dvalishvili for his performance, even confirming that the Georgian earned a title shot with his win over Cejudo.

White had previously criticized “The Machine” for avoiding a title fight during the reign of his close friend and teammate Sterling. Perry, who one of the biggest stars in bare-knuckle boxing, trashed the UFC frontman for publicly criticizing Dvalishvili’s decision to not fight his friend.

“I heard Dana be like, ‘Yeah, ‘cause [Merab Dvalishvili] wouldn’t fight his friend, you know how much we f—ing love that here,” Perry sa…

Ilia Topuria currently doesn’t appear to be interested in defending his featherweight strap against anyone from his division, much to the ire of surging contender Movsar Evloev.

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Oozing confidence leading up to his featherweight title shot against Alexander Volkanovski, Topuria backed up his words with action, dethroning “The Great” via a Round 2 knockout at UFC 298 earlier this month. “El Matador” had previously made clear his unwillingness to defend his strap against any of the perennial featherweight contenders: Max Holloway, Yair Rodriguez or Brian Ortega.

Topuria issued a callout to Conor McGregor in his post-fight interview and more recently, targeted retired lightweight king Khabib Nurmagomedov.

“I would be happy to enter the Octagon with Khabib Nurmagomedov,” Topuria said. “He had an undefeated record at 29-0 and he had an attractive record for me, then also history. He is a worthy and honorable champion for me.”

Topuria also mocked I…

International Fight Week is BACK: June 24th-30th 💥

BE. THERE. #UFCFightWeek pic.twitter.com/tKqm1DdMq5

— UFC (@ufc) February 25, 2024

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Two upcoming Ultimate Fighting Championship pay-per-view events are now official.

Over the weekend, the Las Vegas-based promotion announced dates, locations and venues for UFC 303 and UFC 306.

UFC 303 takes place on June 29 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and will serve as the featured attraction for International Fight Week. The annual tradition lasts for a week and includes a two-day UFC fan experience as well as the promotion’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

No bouts were announced for UFC 303, though Conor McGregor previously claimed he would be facing Michael Chandler in a middleweight bout at the event. UFC CEO Dana White has since disputed McGregor’s announcement while targeting fall for the Irishman’s return.

Meanwhile, UFC 306 will go down on Sept. 14 at …

Tabatha Ricci will square off against Tecia Torres at an Ultimate Fighting Championship event on May 11.

Ricci initially announced the strawweight bout on "Remember the Show," and it was later confirmed by Torres on social media. The UFC Fight Night card doesn’t have an official location or main event at this time, though it will reportedly take place in St. Louis.

Ricci had a four-bout winning streak snapped in her most recent appearance, when she suffered a split-decision defeat to Lupita Godinez at UFC 295 this past November. Prior to that, “Baby Shark” had earned successive triumphs over the likes of Maria Oliveira, Polyana Viana, Jessica Penne and Gillian Robertson.

Torres, meanwhile, will be returning to action for the first time since giving birth last June. In her last outing, “The Tiny Tornado” suffered a split-decision defeat against Mackenzie Dern at UFC 273 on April 9, 2022.

Navy Seal calls out Sean Strickland for challenging the Navy Seals. 👀‼️ pic.twitter.com/050fuccTuX

— DramaAlert (@DramaAlert) February 22, 2024

A member of the Navy SEALs has called out Sean Strickland for questioning their training regimen.

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Known for voicing his unfiltered opinion on almost everything, Strickland recently made headlines by pointing fingers at the Navy SEALs’ training method. While SEALs training is widely regarded some of the most strenuous in the world, Strickland claims none of them will survive a week of training with him.

“I don’t think there’s one f—king Navy [SEAL] who could survive a week training with me,” Strickland said in a video on social media. “I’m kind of sick of seeing it, cause you guys think you’re badass, come train with me for a week. I’ll show you what’s up, I’ll f—king break you.”

While most SEALs likely didn’t take kindly to Strickland’s comments, one in particular decided …

Professional boxing star Ryan Garcia believes he can get the better of UFC bantamweight champ Sean O'Malley in an MMA fight.

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Garcia recently called for a UFC clash against O’Malley while also indicating that he’d need a massive payday from UFC CEO Dana White to make it happen.

“I’d fight Sean O’Malley in the UFC that’s it but Dana you’d have to cut me that real check,” Garcia wrote.

I’d fight Sean O’Malley in the UFC that’s it but Dana you’d have to cut me that real check.

— RYAN GARCIA (@RyanGarcia) February 25, 2024

O’Malley responded with a dire warning, which led to a brief exchange between the two fighters online. Garcia posted a screenshot of the conversation on social media:

Alright rainbow head, There is only one way to find out… Dana let’s do this pic.twitter.com/3MglJYmbhQ

— RYAN GARCIA (@RyanGarcia) February 25, 2024

With the UFC’s apparent opposition to crossover fig…

“You don’t need your eyes.”

Some interesting corner work from Francisco Prado’s team after Zellhuber battered their fighter in the second round.

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Either way, both Zellhuber and Prado are two promising prospects. pic.twitter.com/o1FiEJHSf8 — AFeldmanMMA (@afeldMMA) February 25, 2024

Francisco Prado coach Asim Zaidi stands by his decision to not throw in the towel despite his fighter having compromised vision at the end of Round 2 at UFC Fight Night 237 on Saturday.

Prado took on Mexico’s Daniel Zellhuber in enemy territory in a “Fight of the Night”-winning lightweight clash on the main card. While Prado showed immense heart in going the distance against Zellhuber, he was picked apart on the feet by “Golden Boy” en route to a unanimous decision loss.

When Prado walked back to his corner with a battered right eye at the end of Round 2, his coach appeared to give him a strategy to fight with compromised vision instead…

Update: Raul Rosas Jr. vs Ricky Turcios has been rebooked for #UFCVegas87 on March 2 in Las Vegas. https://t.co/TAbqTQOToT

— UFC News (@UFCNews) February 25, 2024

Ricky Turcios claims nothing has been confirmed regarding a rebooking against Raul Rosas Jr. after their last-minute fight cancellation at UFC Fight Night 237.

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Turcios was originally slated to face Rosas Jr. in a bantamweight affair on Saturday. However, shortly before the fighters were supposed to make their walkout, the broadcast team announced that the fight was off due to Rosas Jr. falling ill.

While it was initially not confirmed, the broadcast team revealed that the promotion planned to rebook the matchup for a week later at UFC Fight Night 238 on March 2. The UFC later announced the rescheduled fight on social media. The matchup is reportedly set to take place at a catchweight so the fighters don’t have to cut weight again.

However, Turcios call…

Whole Santiago Bernabeu is cheering for Ilia Topuria ❤

El Matador introduced his UFC belt in front of the 85,000+ Real Madrid fans! 🇬🇪🇪🇸❤️

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🎥 Setanta Sports pic.twitter.com/ZwgScsVW1D — Giorgi Kokiashvili 🇬🇪 (@iHeartGeorgius1) February 25, 2024

Recently-crowned UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria received some lofty recognition in his home country.

Topuria was honored at the Real Madrid soccer game at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid, Spain, on Sunday. More than 85,000 fans were in attendance as Topuria arrived with his championship belt and performed the honorary opening kickoff to begin the match.

Topuria’s star power in his home country is a major reason why the UFC hopes to bring an event to Spain in the near future.

“I would love to go to Spain so we’ve got to figure that out,” UFC CEO Dana White said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference in Mexico City. “We’ll start grinding and tr…