Martial Arts News

A high-stakes middleweight clash headlines PFL Pittsburgh: Tune in LIVE, Saturday, March 28 at 10 p.m. ET.

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Bryan Battle could not ask for more in terms of a promotional debut.

“The Ultimate Fighter” Season 29 winner and Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran will draw his first assignment under the Professional Fighters League flag when he meets former Bellator MMA titleholder Johnny Eblen in the PFL Pittsburgh main event on Saturday at the UPMC Events Center. It signals a new chapter in Battle’s life and career.

“I’ll tell you what, it feels so good to be with the PFL,” he told Sherdog.com. “I wish I could’ve fought sooner. I’m happy to be here, and I’m ready to rock and roll. I’m ready to compete. I’m hungry. I’m ready to get after it. I’m happy that the first fight is here.”[embedded content] After departing from the UFC on the heels of a tumultuous, up-and-down tenure with the company, Battle found a new home in the PFL. His only mission…

A high-stakes middleweight clash headlines PFL Pittsburgh: Tune in LIVE, Saturday, March 28 at 10 p.m. ET.

Sumiko Inaba already tested herself against the best the Professional Fighters League women’s flyweight division has to offer, and she hopes to learn from those lessons.

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Inaba will welcome Ultimate Fighting Championship castoff Ariane Lipski da Silva to the promotion when they collide in a featured PFL Pittsburgh attraction on Saturday at the UPMC Events Center. Armed with a Top 5 ranking at 125 pounds, she plans to break through to the top of the weight class. Inaba last appeared at PFL Champions Series 2, where she dropped a three-round unanimous decision to budding superstar Dakota Ditcheva on July 19. Though she fell short in her bid to upset the undefeated American Top Team export, the insight the bout provided was invaluable.[embedded content] “It was an amazing experience to fight someone at that level, to test myself at that level. I …

Relatively new Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter Patricio Freire is looking to pay someone back for their harsh words about his previous organization.

Freire (37-8) spoke to Sherdog this week, who explained his current plan as a member of the UFC roster. The former Bellator MMA great has seen mixed results since coming over in 2025, losing in his debut to Yair Rodriguez but outpointing Dan Ige in July 2025 to earn his first UFC triumph.

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The ranked featherweight will be returning to the Octagon at UFC 327 in April, where he will face fellow former Bellator 145er Aaron Pico (13-5). The American, on a three-fight win streak, fell short in his own organizational debut in August 2025 when Lerone Murphy smashed him with a spinning back elbow. Despite the crushing knockout loss for Pico, Freire is taking him seriously and gives him credit for his initial performance.

“Pico is a very tough guy,” the Brazilian remarked. “From what I’ve heard, if he h…

Ariane Lipski da Silva’s long tenure in the Ultimate Fighting Championship did not end as she had hoped, but it certainly did not prevent her from pursuing opportunities elsewhere.

The former Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki champion will make her Professional Fighters League debut when she meets Sumiko Inaba in a PFL Pittsburgh women’s flyweight feature on Saturday at the UPMC Events Center. Lipski da Silva enters the cage on a three-fight losing streak. She closed out her UFC run with a 6-8 record but sounds like a woman with few regrets.

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[embedded content] “I stayed busy, always accepting every challenge, believing I could reach a higher spot in the UFC,” Lipski da Silva told Sherdog.com. “I always gave my best, despite any physical or mental challenges. I made it a point not to turn down any opponents and to always be fighting. My team and I always gave everything. Looking back, half of my career was in the UFC. I managed to make it to the Top 12 posi…

Vaunted kickboxer Orlando Wiet may have only picked up a single win in the sport of MMA, but it could not have come at a more opportune time.

At the age of 60, Wiet, a champion in multiple kickboxing and muay thai organizations and a competitor on the second-ever Ultimate Fighting Championship event, died after a lengthy battle with an undisclosed illness. As a professional, Wiet’s record stood at a lone win opposite five defeats, but that only accounts for his time as a mixed martial artist. French outlet Les Infos du Fight broke the news on Thursday.

Born in Suriname and trained in the ways of Dutch kickboxing alongside legendary names like Ramon Dekkers, Bas Rutten and Fred Royers, Wiet officially represented kickboxing at UFC 2 in 1994. Inside of the Mammoth Gardens in Denver, “The Gladiator” picked up his sole career triumph when he beat far larger fellow kickboxer Robert Lucarelli so badly that his team had to throw in the towel. This brutal win helped put Europe…

After he fell short of the mark in the 2025 Professional Fighters League World Tournament middleweight final, Dalton Rosta seeks new opportunities amid the company’s changed landscape.

The American Top Team standout will look to get back in the win column when he meets Impa Kasanganay in the PFL Pittsburgh co-main event on Saturday at the UMPC Events Center, not far from where he was born and raised in western Pennsylvania. Both men are ranked near the top of the middleweight division. One of the more polarizing competitors on the PFL roster, Rosta went on a run to remember in 2025, inside and outside the SmartCage. While a Fabian Edwards head kick stopped him in his tracks, he has a chance to climb right back into contention.

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“I’ve got a hell of an opponent in front of me in Impa Kasanganay, and it’s going to be a good fight,” Rosta told Sherdog.com. “I’m expecting him to come out and bring it. I plan on just being ready for everything that he has…

Levi Rodrigues' recent Contender Series victory has been overturned. | Getty/UFC

Former Dana White's Contender Series winner Levi Rodrigues will have to wait to make his Octagon debut.

Rodrigues was suspended nine months by the Nevada State Athletic Commission on Wednesday after testing positive for metabolite of nandrolone, which is a banned anabolic steroid. He was also fined $1,000.60. Rodrigues will be eligible to return on July 14.

The 29-year-old Brazilian earned a UFC contract thanks to a first-round stoppage of Freddy Vidal on the Contender Series on Oct. 14. Rodrigues’ drug test was flagged after the bout. He had not been booked for a UFC debut prior to the NSAC’s sanctions. It’s currently unclear if Rodrigues will remain on the UFC roster.

Injury Recovery? As a result of the failed drug test, Rodrigues’ victory against Vidal has been overturned to a no contest. Rodrigues’ management revealed to MMAjunkie.com that the fighter used nandrolone…

Gable Steveson has finished all three MMA opponents in short order. | Mexico Fight League

Gable Steveson will be staying active between mixed martial arts bouts.

The heavyweight prospect has inked a multi-match deal with Real American Freestyle, according to Yahoo! Sports. The organization announced that Steveson’s debut will come at RAF 9 in Dallas on May 30. An opponent was not revealed.

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An Olympic gold medalist in 2020 and a two-time NCAA national champion, Steveson is one of the top prospects in all of MMA. The 25-year-old, who has worked extensively with former UFC two-division champion Jon Jones, is 3-0 in MMA bouts — finishing all of his opponents inside of a round. Prior to focusing on fighting, Steveson tried his hand at both professonal wrestling and the NFL.

As for RAF, a rematch with Wyatt Henrickson, who defeated Steveson for the 2025 NCAA national championship, is reportedly a possibility down the road — though not for …

Junior dos Santos is looking forward to competing on the first MMA card broadcast by Netflix. | Getty/UFC

Junior dos Santos will face a tall task — literally — when he meets the 6-foot-7 Robelis Despaigne on the Most Valuable Promotions “Rousey vs. Carano” card on May 16.

“Cigano” recently spoke with Sherdog.com about the challenges presented by the Olympic taekwondo bronze medalist and current Karate Combat heavyweight champion.

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“Robelis is a good fight and a great challenge. He comes from taekwondo, he’s very fast, has dangerous kicks, straight punches and I have my background in boxing, so it´s going to be an interesting clash of styles,” dos Santos said.

Dos Santos revealed that 6-foot-8 former Professional Fighters League champion Renan Ferreira has been a primary training partner in preparation for Despaigne.

“The training sessions are intense here with Renan ‘Problema,’ who is even taller than Despaigne. He should also …

The PFL Belfast card has taken a significant hit.

Paul Hughes announced on Wednesday that a knee injury has forced him to withdraw from his main event bout against Jay-Jay Wilson. As a result, Darragh Kelly will step in and face Wilson in the new PFL Belfast headliner, the promotion confirmed. Additionally, Pedro Carvalho will step in to face Kelly’s original opponent, Sergio Cossio.

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PFL Belfast takes place on April 16 at the SSE Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Recent signee Rhys McKee is expected to compete in the co-main event against an opponent that will be announced next week.

𝙋𝙁𝙇 𝘽𝙀𝙇𝙁𝘼𝙎𝙏 𝙐𝙋𝘿𝘼𝙏𝙀 🚨

Paul Hughes is OUT of PFL Belfast due to injury. We wish Paul well in his recovery.

Undefeated lightweight Darragh Kelly⁸ steps in to face New Zealand’s Jay Jay Wilson⁶ in the lightweight main event.

Rhys McKee’s opponent will be… pic.twitter.com/SMNG3nyNpT

— PFL Europe (@PFLEurope) March 25, 2026 Surgery …

Francis Ngannou didn’t want his relationship with the Professional Fighters League to end in the way it did. 

PFL suddenly announced earlier this month that Ngannou was no longer a part of the promotion. Days later, it was announced that Ngannou was booked to fight Philipe Lins on May 16 on a Netflix card under the banner of Most Valuable Promotions. 

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Ngannou claims the PFL announced his release to stay ahead of the narrative, which the former UFC heavyweight champion understands. However, Ngannou claims that the decision to part ways was not his. “The Predator” wanted the PFL to come up with a nicer story to explain his release. Ngannou also revealed that he had originally left the PFL in January. Ngannou claims he had no prior knowledge that the PFL would publicly announce his release before they did.Caught Off Guard “They wanted to get ahead of the story, which is what every organization would do,” Ngannou said on "The Ariel Helwani Sh…

Israel Adesanya says he was the last active UFC middleweight champion. 

Adesanya notes that the current middleweight champion, Khamzat Chimaev, once fought twice within 10 days early in his UFC career. However, Chimaev won the title in August 2025 and will now defend it against Sean Strickland at UFC 328 on May 9. Adesanya sees the division slowing down without him as the champion.

The Last Active Champion “Look at the middleweight division now — Khamzat was a very active guy coming up, smoking everybody, fighting multiple times, I think twice in a month, even at one point,” Adesanya told ESPN. “And now that he’s champion, I’m sure what the deal is – is it visa issues? Is it injuries? I’m not sure… The last active champion was me. The last guy who put it all on the line regardless, every time calling out the best, was me. So that’s one thing that I would say people didn’t appreciate, even I didn’t appreciate. Now that I’m here watching it, I’m like, damn, this game …