Martial Arts News

UFC Fight Night 236 has undergone a couple of changes just a few days before the event.

Advertisement

Melsik Baghdasaryan has withdrawn from a proposed featherweight clash against Hyder Amil due to injury and will be replaced by Fernie Garcia. Meanwhile, visa issues have removed Albert Duraev from a middleweight showdown against Robert Bryczek. As result, Ihor Potieria will step in on short notice and face Bryczek.

The Las Vegas-based promotion announced the new matchups on Tuesday. UFC Fight Night 236 takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday and is headlined by a middleweight duel pitting Jack Hermansson against Joseph Pyfer. The card streams in its entirety on ESPN+ with prelims beginning at 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT followed by the main draw at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.

Garcia has dropped his first three promotional appearances — all via decision. In his last outing, the Fortis MMA product fell to Rinya Nakamura on the scorecards at UFC Fight Night 22…

[embedded content]

Dana White will get some screen time during the most watched television event of the year.

The UFC CEO appears in a commercial for Bud Light with the likes of retired NFL quarterback Peyton Manning and music star Post Malone in an ad that will air during the Super Bowl matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday. The theme of the commercial, according to a release, is “an easy night out with the Bud Light Genie.”

"It was an absolute blast to be a part of Bud Light's Super Bowl commercial this year," White said in a statement. "Anheuser-Busch and the Super Bowl are two of the biggest American brands in the world. The cast, the director and Peyton were fun to work with and it was such an incredible way to kick off my new partnership with AB and Bud Light." 

The UFC signed a multi-year partnership with Anheuser-Busch to make Bud Light the official beer of the promotion. The deal, which became effective…

Bruce Buffer gave the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers a proper, Ultimate Fighting Championship-style introduction on Monday night.

The longtime UFC ring announcer was on hand as the Chiefs and 49ers arrived in Las Vegas for the opening night of Super Bowl festivities. As the teams entered Allegiant Stadium, Buffer provided his usual array of catchphrases on the microphone to give the evening something of a big-fight feel.

Advertisement

Watch video of Buffer’s introductions below:

A proper Vegas introduction for the reigning champs. @Chiefs

📺: #SBOpeningNight on NFLN & CBSSN📱: Stream on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/N2i58DBzaT

— NFL (@NFL) February 6, 2024

Entering the stage... the NFC Champion @49ers 🔥

📺: #SBOpeningNight on NFLN & CBSSN📱: Stream on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/tZRFjoN45Q

— NFL (@NFL) February 6, 2024

Despite a lackluster performance in his welterweight title loss to Leon Edwards this past December, Colby Covington claims to be the division’s top dog.

Advertisement

While many considered Covington undeserving of the third title shot of his career, Dana White insisted “Chaos” fight Edwards at UFC 296. Edwards thoroughly dominated Covington in a forgettable affair in which the American claimed to have broken his foot in the first 30 seconds. Covington also inexplicably believed he did enough to win and blamed political bias for the scorecards.

A couple months removed from that defeat, Covington insists that he is the best welterweight on the planet and wants to prove it more than anything else. Covington even sees himself earning yet another title shot with another victory and is willing to take on whoever the promotion offers.

“I am the title of this division, I’m the welterweight savior,” Covington told “Submission Radio”. “I’m the biggest draw in this …

Ilia Topuria plans on reaching new career highs in 2024.

Advertisement

Topuria is slated to challenge Alexander Volkanovski for the Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight title in the main event at UFC 298 on Feb. 17 in Anaheim, California.

“El Matador” has exuded an unprecedented amount of confidence going into the fight and continues to do so. While oddsmakers have it as a near toss-up, Topuria vows to knock out the Australian standout in the opening round.

“It’s going to be a first-round knockout. You will see. He’s saying a lot of bulls—t, ‘There’s levels, I have this and I have that, dah, dah, dah.’ You’re right, there are levels. There are levels, then there is me. I’m going to show you where the levels are. I’m going to dominate him everywhere. I’m going to make him look like a punching bag. You will see. I will be dancing Feb. 17,” Topuria said during an appearance on “The MMA Hour.”

While Volkanovski successfully defended his featherweight…

Dustin Poirier is glad to have his booking against Benoit St. Denis still in place after a brief period of confusion where it appeared to have fallen through.

Advertisement

Poirier is scheduled to face St. Denis in the co-main event at UFC 299 on March 9 at the Kaseya Center in Miami. This past Thursday Poirier announced that the fight was off, with his teammate Johnny Eblen subsequently accusing the Ultimate Fighting Championship of being “stingy.”

A few hours later, “The Diamond” revealed that the fight was back on after a conversation with his manager that seemingly cleared a “misunderstanding” with the promotion. While the perennial lightweight contender didn’t divulge much about what went down behind the scenes, he is glad to have the booking in place.

“I don’t want to dive too deep into it. There was some miscommunication — not everybody was on the same page, and I couldn’t get a hold of somebody, and things got a little bit confusing for me, and I wa…

Paddy Pimblett and Renato Carneiro are teasing a potential clash after trading barbs on social media.

Advertisement

“Moicano” outgrappled Drew Dober over three rounds to earn a unanimous decision win in the co-main event at UFC Fight Night 235 on Saturday. The Brazilian, who has been amping up his media presence recently, turned matchmaker to propose a clash between Dober and Paddy Pimblett next.

“I want to see Drew Dober fighting Paddy Pimblett next… let’s see how tough is this kid,” Carneiro wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter).

I want to see drew Dober fighting paddy pimblett next… let’s see how tough is this kid…. #ufc

— Renato Moicano UFC (@moicanoufc) February 4, 2024

Pimblett was quick to respond to the Brazilian’s suggestion in a social media post of his own. However, the Liverpudlian didn’t seem too interested in Carneiro’s proposal. Instead, Pimblett claims he can “smoke” Moicano much easier than Dober.

“Why …

Weili Zhang and Joanna Jedrzejczyk went to war inside the Octagon, but the strawweight competitors share a mutual respect outside the cage.

Zhang and Jedrzejczyk recently reunited and captured the moment in a video on social media.

“We are each other’s opponent in the Octagon, we all want to chase our dreams to win the fight, but outside of the Octagon we are friends,” Zhang said. “We can have dinner together, we can talk to each other, we can be really good friends. So I am really happy about it. ‘JJ’ is always a legend in my heart, she is always the champion. I want to learn from her.”

Zhang initially defended her strawweight crown against Jedrzejczyk via split decision at UFC 248 in a fight that will go down as one of the greatest in promotion history. The rematch occurred more than two years later, when Zhang defeated her Polish rival via spinning backfist KO at UFC 275.

Jedrzejczyk eventually retired after the second loss to Zhang, but the for…

𝙉𝙀𝙒 𝙀𝙍𝘼 𝙊𝙁 𝙈𝙈𝘼 𝙃𝘼𝙎 𝘼𝙍𝙍𝙄𝙑𝙀𝘿

Bellator MMA Champion Series8️⃣Global Events🏆Title Fights on Every Card

Advertisement

It all starts on 𝟯.𝟮𝟮.𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰 🔜 pic.twitter.com/mLqcNtd7S6 — Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) February 5, 2024

There’s now a little more clarity regarding the direction of Bellator MMA in the coming months.

Professional Fighters League on Monday officially announced the launch of Bellator Champions Series, which will feature eight events airing on prime time in European Markets over the course of the year. This will begin with Bellator 302 at the SSE Arena in Belfast, Ireland on March 22. Future Bellator Champions Series events will take place in the U.K., Italy, Portugal, Belgian, France and other locations, according to a release.

Bellator 302 will be headlined by a previously-reported light heavyweight title clash between Corey Anderson and Karl Moore. Additionally, Leah McCourt will square off against Sinead Kavan…

Molly McCann believes she shed all parts of her “Meatball” persona leading up to her strawweight debut at UFC Fight Night 235.

Advertisement

McCann rose to prominence in the UFC on the heels of three-fight winning streak from September 2021 to July 2022. However, back-to-back submission losses led to her droping to strawweight, where she made her divisional debut in a rematch against Diana Belbita on Saturday. The Liverpudlian quieted the doubters by submitting Belbita with an armbar in the opening frame.

McCann reflected on her journey during the UFC Fight Night 235 post-fight media scrum.

“It’s just been the hardest 14 months of my life. My biggest dream was to fight at MSG, and [I] got destroyed. I got co-main event at London and got destroyed,” she said.

“I had to really dig in deep to see if I really wanted it. My coach pulled me aside and asked, ‘How much do you really want to be a champion? It’s going to cost that to make this weight and to …

[embedded content]

While Robert Whittaker is coming off a loss against Dricus Du Plessis, “The Reaper” believes he beats the South African “nine out of 10 times.”

Advertisement

“Stillknocks” handed Whittaker a second-round TKO loss at UFC 290 this past July, earning himself a title shot. He went on to defeat Sean Strickland at UFC 297 last month to be crowned the new middleweight champ. While Whittaker admits that he underestimated Du Plessis going into their matchup, the former champ firmly believes he is more skilled than the South African.

“Dricus is a hungry guy, and I think I underestimated that hunger,” Whittaker said during a pre-fight press conference in Sydney. “I still believe I beat him nine times out of 10. I still believe that I’m a better fighter than he is, that I have a better skill set than he does, but [fighting] a big, strong, hungry guy that’s willing to leave it all there, you need to match that. I feel like I didn’t do that in that last figh…

[embedded content]

Renato Carneiro is aiming high after his win over Drew Dober at UFC Fight Night 235.

Advertisement

“Moicano” showed immense grit in enduring Dober’s damaging strikes and went on to outwrestle his opponent over three rounds to earn a unanimous decision win in Saturday’s lightweight co-main event at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. “Moicano” followed that victory with yet another entertaining post-fight interview, which have now become the Brazilian’s signature.

Carneiro was subsequently taken to the local hospital for a precautionary CT scan of his head and face, the results of which are currently unknown. While on the ambulance, “Moicano” went live on his YouTube channel to talk to fans, also calling out a next potential opponent in Dan Hooker.

“Moicano” called Hooker an easy-fight leading up to his clash against Dober and rallied for a booking against “The Hangman” at UFC 301 in Brazil.

“Dan Hooker is in trouble,” Carneiro said. “I want to be…