Martial Arts News

[embedded content] A freshly signed Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight is making sure he has the best training camp possible for his upcoming debut.

32-year-old Brazilian heavyweight Jhonata Diniz (6-0) earned a spot on the UFC roster by destroying Eduardo Neves on the 2023 season of Dana White's Contender Series, dispatching his fellow countryman in just over three minutes. The 6-foot-4 slugger spared no expense to prepare for his promotional debut, which will be held at an upcoming UFC Fight Night card on April 27 against Austen Lane (12-4). The Curitiba-born Diniz elected to shift gears from his Santa Fe team to the vaunted Chute Boxe camp helmed by Diego Lima to work alongside greats like Charles Oliveira.

“I was very well received here by Diego Lima, Charles and the entire Chute Boxe team,” Diniz told Sherdog. “In addition to great training, the atmosphere here is sensational.”

The former kickboxer, who stepped away from pure striking disciplines in …

Mongolia’s Nachin Sat on Friday put forth an impressive showing in his sophomore ONE Championship outing by submitting Azerbaijan’s Tural Askerov in the first frame of their featherweight showcase at ONE Friday Fights 53 held at the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

Both fighters came out throwing leg kicks and feints in the opening sequence. Thirty seconds into the round, Askerov (4-2) was on top of Sat thanks to a leg kick that threw his opponent off-balance.

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Despite having the advantageous position, Askerov found it hard to get his ground-and-pound off against the Mongolian, who kept fighting with body triangles and elbows from bottom. Just when Askarov seemed to be content with holding the top position, Sat (6-2) managed to sneak in a triangle choke at the 3:51 of Round 1 to walk away with his second ONE Championship victory.

Meanwhile, Chayan Oorzhak recorded his third consecutive ONE Championship win with a unanimous decision over…

#RIZIN_LANDMARK8 in SAGA📣 Weigh-in 💥

⚔️ 9th Match ⚔️ Main EventRIZIN MMA Rule 71.0kg

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🟥 Luiz Gustavo 【70.95kg】🧍‍♂️ Height: 175cm💪 Reach: 179cmーーー🆚ーーー🟦 Yoshinori Horie 【70.95kg】🧍‍♂️ Height: 172cm💪 Reach: 179cm@yossy05101

📡 PPV available on #RIZIN TV⚡️… pic.twitter.com/2Cm72sd6sS

— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) February 23, 2024 Rizin Fighting Federation makes its 2024 debut with Landmark 8.

Headlining the card, which features eight mixed martial arts fights and one kickboxing match, is a lightweight battle between Luiz Gustavo and Yoshinori Horie. Gustavo (12-2) is riding three straight wins in the promotion, while Horie (13-4) recently rebounded from a loss to Vugar Karamov by defeating Spike Carlyle by decision. All fighters on the card made weight.

Rizin Landmark 8 will be available on the promotion's website as a pay-per-view. The card begins tonight at midnight ET/9 p.m. PT.

Rizin Lan…

On his last visit to Poland, 🇺🇸 @JoshLBarnett beat the lineal KSW heavyweight champ Marcin Rozalski in a bare knuckle battle!

Now he invites the current KSW champion Phil De Fries to the realm of 'The Warmaster' this Saturday! XTB #KSWEpic pic.twitter.com/L7E5oEWg4O

— KSW (@KSW_MMA) February 22, 2024 Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki returns with its most unique offering yet, a star-studded mixed rules card called KSW Epic.

The card is headlined by a boxing match between former boxing champion Tomasz Adamek and former KSW champion Mamed Khalidov. Other fights of note include a submission fighting match between KSW heavyweight king Phili De Fries and Josh Barnett, plus mixed martial arts fights between Darko Stosic and Matheus Scheffel, Rafal Haratyk versus Marcin Wojcik and more. All fighters successfully made weight.

KSW Epic will stream on KSW's website and Canal+ on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT.

KSW Epic Weigh-in Results: Mamed …

🚨𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗡𝗘𝗪𝗦 🚨

𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗩𝗬 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗞𝗘𝗦 For Saturday Night 👀@francis_ngannou will face the winner of the Renan Ferriera vs Ryan Bader bout#PFLvsBellator pic.twitter.com/4dP9RqYiMu

— PFL (@PFLMMA) February 22, 2024 Professional Fighters League star Francis Ngannou has his sights set very closely on one upcoming bout.

Per Ngannou (17-3) on “Sportscenter” on Thursday, he is eyeing his return to MMA in 2024. He plans on taking on the winner of the heavyweight title tilt pairing PFL champ Renan Ferreira against former two-division Bellator MMA beltholder Ryan Bader. The two will square off on Feb. 24 atop the first PFL vs. Bellator event, which will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, at the Kingdom Arena. Ngannou will be in the building, and may enter the cage the challenge the victor and face off against him.

The PFL immediately released a statement to follow, with CEO Peter Murray saying, “The PFL is excited to announced Francis Ngannou’s retur…

It appears that Alex Pereira will be with the Ultimate Fighting Championship for the foreseeable future.

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The reigning light heavyweight champion revealed Wednesday on "The MMA Hour” that he signed a new eight-fight contract with the UFC this past Friday.

“Starting this fight, there’s eight more,” Pereira said. “My relationship with the UFC is very good. I’m very grateful how the UFC and my management team get together. They’ve been doing great things together. I think the UFC also appreciates who I am because I’m a composed guy, I’m focused and I deliver.”

Pereira, who turns 37 in July, is scheduled to face Jamahal Hill in the UFC 300 headliner on April 13 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The booking came together at the last minute as the promotion struggled to find a suitable feature bout for a landmark event.

The former two-division Glory Kickboxing champion has found great success in the UFC, vanquishing longtime rival Israel Ad…

Brian Ortega got to see Alexander Volkanovski at the top of his game.

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He isn’t so sure that was the case when Volkanovski relinquished the title to Ilia Topuria at UFC 298 this past weekend.

Ortega dropped a five-round verdict to Volkanovski in their featherweight title tilt at UFC 266 in September 2021. While Ortega absorbed more than 200 significant strikes in that bout, he also placed Volkanovski in serious peril with with submission attempts in the third and fourth frames. Neither was successful, which allowed Volkanovski to take a clear victory on the scorecards.

Volkanovski’s reign ended at UFC 298, where after winning the first round on all three scorecards, “The Great” succumbed to a right hook from Topuria 3:32 into Round 2 to signal a new era at 145 pounds.

“Props to Ilia. He won. That was a very devastating KO he got,” Ortega said at media day ahead of UFC Mexico City. “For Volk, I’m trying to look at it from both perspectives. Top…

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There will be a special guest on hand to award the newly-created title belts to the winners of the featured bouts at PFL vs. Bellator.

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PFL Chairman Donn Davis revealed to ESPN that former boxing heavyweight champion Mike Tyson will present the Champion of Champion title belt at Saturday’s event in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia.

"I called Mike two weeks ago, because I thought there was nobody more fitting to award the first ever in combat sports belt that goes to a champion beating a champion than the greatest champion of all time in Mike Tyson," Davis said.

The championship hardware will go to the winner of the evening’s headliner, Renan Ferreira vs. Ryan Bader, as well as Impa Kasanganay vs. Johnny Eblen and Patricio Freire vs. Gabriel Braga. The event marks the first cross-promotional venture for both organizations since PFL acquired Bellator last year.

"I'm really looking forward to this because this is the unification of …

#ONEFightNight19 highlight video: Martyna Kierczynska busts up Nat Jaroonsak pic.twitter.com/Bb9WGOYE3P

— Sherdog (@sherdogdotcom) February 17, 2024

Polish striking sensation Martyna Kierczynska delivered a standout performance against Thai star Nat “Wondergirl” Jaroonsak at ONE Fight Night 19, and now she knows her next assignment.

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Sherdog.com has learned that Kierczynska has been booked to face three-time muay-thai world champion Ekaterina Vandaryeva at ONE Fight Night 20. The three-round 125-pound muay-thai clash will go down March 8 at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok.

Jaroonsak was initially scheduled to face Dayane de Souza Cardoso in a mixed-rules contest at ONE Fight Night 19. However, Cardoso was forced to withdraw, and Kierczynska stepped in as a late replacement.

Fortunately for her, the gamble yielded great rewards. Going into the muay-thai rules clash as an underdog, the Polish phenom earned a …

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To say that mixed martial arts fans were disappointed with the announcement of the UFC 300 main event would be an understatement.

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After all, UFC CEO Dana White had promised a mind-blowing headliner, but instead, the revelation of the Alex Pereira vs. Jamahal Hill feature was almost buried at the conclusion of last Saturday’s UFC 298 event.

While the main event might lack the “wow” factor that was expected, UFC 300 is nonetheless one of the deepest cards in recent memory. Hill, who will be making his return from a ruptured Achilles tendon, doesn’t understand the criticism.

“There’s been a lot of outrage, a lot of disappointment and things like that,” Hill said on his YouTube channel. “To be honest, it’s crazy to me because for the most part a lot of these people are the same people that have spent the better part of a year or however long calling me ‘cry baby,’ but it’s crazy to see how a card can be stacked—the main card lit…

Viewers will be able to watch Francis Ngannou’s boxing match against Anthony Joshua for slightly less than they paid to see “The Predator” take on Tyson Fury last October.

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According to PPV.com, Ngannou vs. Joshua will be $69.99 and is available to order now. Meanwhile, Ngannou vs. Fury, which aired on pay-per-view via ESPN+, cost $79.99. Ngannou vs. Joshua takes place on March 8 at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Ngannou made his boxing debut against Fury on Oct. 28. The former UFC heavyweight champion outperformed all expectations, as he dropped Fury in Round 3 en route to losing a competitive split decision. The Cameroonian-born Frenchman is also under contract with Professional Fighters League and has vowed to return to MMA at some point, though a date for his promotional debut has yet to be confirmed.

Joshua meanwhile, owns a 27-3 career mark in professional boxing, with 24 of those triumphs coming by way of knockout. After droppi…

Injuries suffered in sparring have forced Leah McCourt to pull out of a proposed featherweight clash against Sinead Kavanagh at Bellator 302.

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McCourt announced the news Tuesday in a post on social media. McCourt vs. Kavanagh was scheduled to be the Bellator 302 co-main event. It’s currently unknown if Kavanagh will remain on the March 22 card against a replacement opponent.

“Devastated to have to write this and let you know during a sparring accident, I sustained a broken rib and torn oblique. I cannot get medically cleared to fight nor could I physically be able to fight in Belfast. This may require surgery and will know more in the next few weeks,” McCourt wrote.”The muscle has been ripped from the bone and the pain is excruciating. When I didn’t get the title fight, I asked what fight wanted, it was this so especially disappointed.

“I don’t understand the heartbreak and pain of circumstances of everything that’s happened so far this year,…