Martial Arts News

Experience has no substitute.

Jack Hermansson dug in his heels and curbed some of the enthusiasm around one of the Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight division’s fastest-rising stars, as he took a unanimous decision from Joe Pyfer in their UFC Fight Night 236 headliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. All three judges saw it the same: 48-47 for Hermansson (24-8, 11-6 UFC).

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Pyfer (12-3, 3-1 UFC) managed to hold serve through two rounds with booming punches to the body and head. However, he started to unravel when those efforts failed to throw Hermansson off his scent. The former Cage Warriors Fighting Championship titleholder battered Pyfer’s lower lead leg with crushing kicks and marked up his face with a piercing jab, seizing the reins with his guile and grit. Hermansson forced the Dana White’s Contender Series graduate onto his back foot, at which point he became far less aggressive and effective. Pyfer had little left in the tank…

This weekend's showdown at UFC Fight Night 236, set against the lonely backdrop of the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, hopes to deliver an exciting spectacle, anchored by a compelling middleweight contest. Sherdog.com will bring you live play-by-play coverage of each moment starting at 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT, ensuring you don't miss out on any of the Octagon happenings.

Headlining the event is a showdown between seasoned campaigner Jack Hermansson and rising prospect Joseph Pyfer—a clash representing the enduring battle between seasoned expertise and the drive of youth.

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Hermansson, returning to the cage after a hiatus since December 2022, seeks to reassert his footprint in a division teeming with talent. Opposite him stands Pyfer, a product of the revered Dana White’s Contender Series, who has swiftly made his mark within the UFC ranks. With each outing, the Philadelphia native has showcased an arsenal of skills, culminating in a pivotal submission victory over…

Carlos Prates made his one shot count.

The Fighting Nerds welterweight broke into the Ultimate Fighting Championship win column in a successful promotional debut, as he punched out Trevin Giles in the second round of their featured UFC Fight Night 236 prelim on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Prates (18-6, 1-0 UFC) sealed the deal 4:03 into Round 2.

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Giles (16-6, 7-6 UFC) was in charge for a majority of the match. He blasted the Brazilian with jabs, cut loose with power punching combinations and zeroed in on the legs with kicks. While Prates answered with brutal stepping knees to the body, he appeared to be digging a two-rounds-to-none hole when lightning struck. He followed a jab with a clean straight left that sent Giles crashing to the canvas. No follow-up shots were required.

Prates will carry an eight-fight winning streak into his next assignment.

Meanwhile, former Atomic Fighting Championship titleholder Bolaji Oki rode a persiste…

Umar Nurmagomedov will welcome promotional newcomer Bekzat Almakhan to the Octagon at UFC Fight Night 238.

Multiple outlets confirmed the bantamweight booking following an initial report from Frontkicked. UFC Fight Night 238 takes place on March 2 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a heavyweight clash pitting Jairzinho Rozenstruik against Shamil Gaziev.

Nurmagomedov hasn’t competed since January 2023, when he scored a first-round knockout of Raoni Barcelos at UFC Fight Night 217. The 28-year-old Eagles MMA representative was scheduled to lock horns with Cory Sandhagen at UFC Nashville in August, but Nurmagomedov was forced to withdraw from the event due to injury. Nurmagomedov’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, stated on social media that it has been extremely difficult to find a willing opponent for the Dagestani standout. Nurmagomedov is 16-0 as a professional, with four of those coming in UFC competition.

Almakhan, meanwhile, has been victorious i…

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It appears that the Ultimate Fighting Championship is covering all its bases in pursuit of a suitable headliner for its 300th event.

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During an interview with Submission Radio, Jones revealed that he was contacted by the promotion in the hopes that he might be healthy enough to compete in the main event of UFC 300. Jones, who was forced to withdraw from UFC 295 this past November due to a torn pectoral, also underwent elbow surgery earlier this year. “Bones” is expected to be rebooked against Miocic once he is fully healthy, but it won’t be at UFC 300.

“I got a call from Hunter Campbell, one of the head lawyers of the UFC, asking me, he said, ‘Jon I know it’s only nine weeks away but if there’s any chance that you’re feeling up to it, it’d be awesome news for the community that you’re coming back and headlining one of the biggest events ever.’ As honored as I am for the opportunity, I just don’t think I’ll be ready. I just don’t,…

Elijah Johns is the LFA featherweight champion! #AndNew 🏆 pic.twitter.com/CQCzAV4Vmz

— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) February 10, 2024

Legacy Fighting Alliance now has a new featherweight champion.  

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Dallas, Texas, native Elijah Johns fought his way to a dominant unanimous decision victory against Alfred Walker in the LFA 176 main event for the vacant featherweight title on Friday at the Arizona Financial Theatre in Phoenix.  

While the second round was arguably close with Walker (11-7) managing to land a solid head kick-knee combo on his adversary, Johns’ (10-3) relentless takedowns and back control ultimately proved to be too much for “Freight Train” to handle.  

As the fight progressed, an exhausted Walker found himself on the canvas for the majority of the last three rounds, unable to land any offense on Johns. In the end, Johns walked away with the vacant featherweight title tha…

A bantamweight meeting between Joanderson Brito and Jack Shore has been added to UFC 301.

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The news was first reported by Octagon Update and later confirmed by Brito on Instagram.

Brito will look to add to his four-fight winning streak in the promotion against Shore. The Brazilian dropped his UFC debut against Bill Algeo in January 2022 but has looked incredible since then, having recorded finishes against the likes of Andre Fili, Lucas Alexander, and most recently, Jonathan Pearce at UFC Fight Night 232.

Meanwhile, Shore entered the UFC with an 11-0 record — including 10 finishes — and the Cage Warriors bantamweight championship to his name. The Welshman has gone 6-1 in the Las Vegas-based promotion and is coming off a Round 2 submission victory over Makwan Amirkhani at UFC 286 in March.

Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC

Vanessa Demopoulos (10-5) is set to make her seventh Octagon walk against Emily Ducote (13-8) at a UFC Fight Night Event scheduled to go down on May 18 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

The strawweight bout was first reported by MMAjunkie.com. Other matchups for the Fight Night card are yet to be announced.

Demopoulos will enter the bout on the heels of a unanimous decis…

First to the scale this morning 💪@JackTheJokerMMA weighs in at 185lbs ahead of #UFCVegas86

[ LIVE on @ESPNPlus | 7pmET/4pmPT ] pic.twitter.com/XiFySaPCo6

— UFC (@ufc) February 9, 2024 The Ultimate Fighting Championship continues its busy February with UFC Fight Night 236, which is now set after the official weigh-ins took place.

Headlining the 14-fight card is a middleweight fight between Jack Hermansson and Joseph Pyfer. Both men successfully made weight for the five-round affair. As for the rest of the card, all fighters made weight except for Ihor Potieria, who came in over the middleweight limit at 187.5 pounds Potieria will be fined a percentage of his purse, which will go to opponent Robert Bryczek.

Hermansson (23-8) enters his fifth UFC main event having gone 2-2 in his last four fights. "The Joker" is looking to rebound from a TKO defeat to Roman Dolidze. The Swedish fighter holds key wins over Chris Curtis, Kelvin Gastel…

Jason Jackson is the type of guy to make lemonade when handed lemons.

While most fighters would be annoyed by a late change in opponent, Bellator MMA welterweight champion Jackson was ecstatic to hear that he’d be facing Professional Fighters League star Ray Cooper III in place of the injured Magomed Magomedkerimov at PFL vs. Bellator on Feb. 24.

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“The reason I got excited is because I believe [Cooper] is a way more complete fighter than Magomedkerimov,” Jackson said on the PFL vs. Bellator Media Call on Friday. “I strive on adversity, and I know what this guy can do. I look at him like a young Mike Tyson, so it makes me work even harder.”

Jackson is on the best run of his career, having won his last seven fights that culminated with the capture of the Bellator 170-pound crown. Jackson topped the likes of Benson Henderson, Paul Daley and Douglas Lima to get a crack at Yaroslav Amosov’s belt, and he unseated the unbeaten Ukrainian to win the throne a…

We've got a heavyweight battle headlining #UFCVegas87 😤@JairRozenstruik vs Shamil Gaziev

Get your VIP tickets here: https://t.co/cAUu6s8BsQ pic.twitter.com/hWp1kYNAw1

— UFC (@ufc) February 9, 2024 Heavyweight headliners are back on the menu for the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2024.

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Ahead of UFC Fight Night 238 on March 2, an event famously moved from Saudi Arabia to Las Vegas due to a perceived lack of star power, a top matchup was on the docket between Jairzinho Rozenstruik (13-5) and Shamil Gaziev (12-0). The show did not have a main attraction Thursday when Eurosport NL reported that this heavyweight contest had been elevated to the main event. The promotion confirmed this booking would be on the top marquee on Friday.

Rozenstruik has struggled the last couple years, only managing one win—a 23-second knockout of Chris Daukaus—while suffering three defeats to Curtis Blaydes, Alexander Volkov, and most recentl…

[embedded content] A flyweight clash featuring two Dana White’s Contender Series alums is now a part of UFC Fight Night 240.

Brazil’s Lucas Rocha (17-1) is set to make his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut against Jose Johnson (16-8) on April 6 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. News of the flyweight scrap was first reported by Super Lutas on Wednesday and later confirmed by Rocha on his Instagram Stories.

Currently on a six-fight win streak, “Fenomeno” earned a UFC contract by starching Davi Bittencourt with a knee and follow-up punches in an appearance on the 2023 season of DWCS. The 23-year-old has performed 14 of his 17 professional wins via stoppage, including 10 knockouts on his ledger.

Meanwhile, Johnson will drop to 135 pounds after a submission win over Chad Anheliger in late 2023. The triumph put him back in the win column after Da'Mon Blackshear hit a twister on him at UFC on ESPN 51 earlier in the year. “No Way Jose” made his way to the organization …