Martial Arts News

I’m coming out of retirement. I’ll fight MMA again. Idk when, where, or who yet but I’m dropping weight and getting into shape now.

— Kevin Lee MTP (@MoTownPhenom) January 31, 2024

Mixed martial arts veteran Kevin Lee misses the sport and is officially coming out of retirement.

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Lee took to social media on Wednesday to announce that he’ll be returning to competition, likely at a lower weight class with no specific timeline in mind.

“I’m coming out of retirement. I’ll fight MMA again. [I don’t know] when, where or who yet but I’m dropping weight and getting into shape now,” Lee wrote in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter.)

“The Motown Phenom” retired in July of last year after being submitted by Rinat Fakhretdinov in under a minute. The fight marked his return to the Ultimate Fighting Championship after being released from the promotion in 2021. It remains unclear if Lee will still be under UFC contract when he…

The rivalry between former UFC heavyweight champions Junior dos Santos and Fabricio Werdum was once considered one of the sport’s fiercest.

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After spending 15 years taking shots at each other through the media, dos Santos and Werdum buried the hatchet over three rounds at Gamebred Fighting Championship 5 this past September. Despite losing a spllit decision, Werdum was moved by dos Santos’ respectful post-fight speech and decided to end the rivalry by inviting “Cigano to participate on his “Dos Nossos” podcast.

“Last year I recorded 65 editions in Florianopolis, where I live, but it was difficult to bring guests from Rio and Sao Paulo,” Werdum told Sherdog.com. “Now I’m starting a new phase recording in a studio in Sao Paulo, and ‘Cigano ‘was the first one I invited. Even though he’s in the middle of a camp to face Alan Belcher for the Gamebred heavyweight title, ‘Cigano’ immediately accepted my invitation. It's going to be historical. Me and Ci…

A proposed headling bout between Sean Brady and Vicente Luque won’t happen at UFC Atlantic City as originally announced.

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Multiple outlets on Wednesday confirmed the cancellation following an initial report from Harry Mac. According to MMAjunkie.com, Brady was battling injury issues and never signed an official bout agreement. It is currently unclear if Luque will remain on the card against a replacement opponent.

UFC on ESPN 54 takes place on March 23 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City and also includes a pivotal women’s flyweight showdown pitting Erin Blanchfield against Manon Fiorot.

Brady was victorious in his first 16 professional outings – including five in UFC competition – before falling to Belal Muhammad via second-round TKO at UFC 280. The Philadelphia native rebounded in his most recent Octagon appearance, submitting Kelvin Gastelum in the third round of their matchup at UFC on ESPN 52 this past December.

Luque, meanwhile, sna…

ONE Championship co-founder Victor Cui has returned to the Singapore-based promotion.

ONE chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong announced the news in a post on LinkedIn. Cui will serve as the promotion’s CEO of International, where he will help ONE expand into the U.S. and other markets. Deal Street Asia was first to report Cui’s return.

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“We were together on Day ONE of this crazy adventure and it is only fitting that Victor returns back to lead the charge in the world's biggest sports market,” Sityodtong wrote. “Mark my words. We will change the game again.”

Cui co-founded ONE in 2011 and served in a number of roles with the promotion before departing in 2022 for a nearly two-year stint president and CEO for the Edmonton Elks of the Canadian Football League.

“Today I’m excited to return to ONE and lead our most challenging goals to date — our entry and success into the U.S. market and our global expansion,” Cui wrote on LinkedIn.

ONE…

Mark O. Madsen is hanging up the four-ounce gloves at 39 years old.

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A silver medalist in Greco-Roman wrestling at the 2016 Olympics, Madsen recently announced his retirement from mixed martial arts through Danish outlet Ekstra Bladet.

“The time is right,” Madsen said. “…The sport has shaped me as a person, and I am grateful for everything it has given me and my family.”

Madsen made his professional MMA debut in September 2013 and was victorious in his first 12 bouts. This included four UFC appearances, where he secured victories against the likes of Vinc Pichel, Clay Guida, Austin Hubbard and Danilo Belluardo. He ended his career with back-to-back losses against Grant Dawson and Jared Gordon, where he was finished in both outings. His last fight, against Gordon, came at UFC 295 at Madison Square Garden this past November.

“A large part of your identity lies in the job,” Madsen said. “Especially as an elite athlete, where the structure …

UFC Fight Nights at the promotion’s Apex facility in Las Vegas have recently faced criticism from both fans and fighters.

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After lightweight fan favorite Renato Moicano recently claimed that "nobody likes the Apex," flyweight Charles Johnson has followed suit by complaining about repeatedly fighting at the venue. Following his promotional debut at UFC London in July 2022, all of Johnson’s next five outings have been at the Apex.

As the Missouri native goes into another Fight Night clash against Azat Maksum this weekend, “InnerG” feels he has been deprived of the full UFC experience. Apart from not getting an opportunity to compete in front of an arena, even Johnson’s request for a Fight Night ticket for his wife was allegedly turned down more than once.

“For a time, I enjoyed it but now I’m just kind of irritated with it because I don’t feel like I’ve been afforded the full UFC experience. My whole career is gonna be in the f—king Apex, you …

UFC on ESPN 53 has a few updates to its lineup, the promotion announced in a release on Tuesday.

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First, a middleweight clash between Edmen Shahbazyan and Dusko Tudorovic has been added to March 23 card.

Shahbazyan signed with the Ultimate Fighting Championship at the age of 20 and went 4-0 to start his promotional tenure — including three first-round stoppages. However, the once promising prospect has since lost four of his last five, though all of his losses have come against top-tier competition.

Meanwhile, Tudorovic has gone back and forth in his UFC journey since his debut in 2020, notching a 3-4 promotional record. The Serbian suffered a first-round technical knockout loss against Chris Leroy Duncan due to a knee injury in his most recent outing in March 2023.

Meanwhile, heavyweights Junior Tafa and Karl Williams, two competitors who made their promotional debuts last year, will also clash at UFC on ESPN 53.

After starting his pr…

Tyron Woodley claims to have received the same paycheck as Donald Cerrone during his Ultimate Fighting Championship days, and he isn’t happy about it.

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Woodley won the UFC welterweight title in 2016 and defended it four times before losing it to Kamaru Usman in 2019. “The Chosen One” revealed that he made $500,000 for his last title fight against Usman and was planning to part ways with the promotion years prior over fighter pay.

“I was going to leave the UFC after [fighting] Darren Till.” I told them, ‘F—-ing cut me, dog. Ya’ll don’t want me here. Why ya’ll keep holding on to me, dog?’ We [kept] fighting and s—t every fight because you know how I was. I was a gorilla... I knew the numbers so well. I knew what everybody was making. I’m not [going to] go out there and be making the same as 'Cowboy' Cerrone.” Woodley said on the Mighty Cast podcast with Demetrious Johnson.

“That motherf—-er ain’t never touched gold in his life. That’s just a pr…

For those looking for more mixed martial arts viewing options, Legacy Fighting Alliance has you covered.

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The promotion announced on Wednesday that it will stream “live premium regional MMA events” on its YouTube channel, which was already home to LFA’s preliminary bouts and content library. This will begin with Attitude MMA Fights 29 on Feb. 10. It was not specified which regional cards will be streamed in the future.

“The LFA has launched the careers of over 300 athletes that have reached the pinnacle of MMA by competing in the UFC,” said LFA CEO Ed Soares in a release. “We also work with commentators and television talent that are currently working for the UFC or are aspiring to work cage side at UFC events.

“Now we are excited to provide a platform for top regional fighters from around the world by launching the LFA Fight Network on our popular YouTube channel. We currently have over a half million loyal subscribers that are hungry for …

California State Athletic Commission executive director Andy Foster wants to clear all confusion regarding when a fighter is considered grounded.

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Foster is the man credited for taking radical steps like setting up a pension fund for fighters, setting up rules to prevent extreme weight cuts and barring judges from working events on opposite sides of the country over the same weekend.

Fighters competing at UFC 298 on Feb. 17 in Anaheim, California will be advised to move up a weight class if they put on more than 10% of their body weight plus one pound on fight night.

Foster now wants to remove one of the most confusing rules in mixed martial arts: fighters being considered grounded with their hands on the ground.

In a most recent example, Arnold Allen landed multiple knees to Movsar Evloev’s head from a headlock position during their UFC 297 clash. Evloev desperately tried to put one hand on the ground to be deemed grounded. While Evloev’s p…

Jim Miller has never made championship-level money during his Ultimate Fighting Championship career, but thanks to his staying power, he’s done quite well for himself.

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During a recent appearance on "The TRUTH Podcast," UFC CEO Dana White discussed the topic of fighter pay with host Vivek Ramaswamy. During that segment of the show, White referenced Miller as an example of someone who has done much better for himself under the UFC banner than he would in another combat sport such as boxing.

“When you become a world champion, you become a partner. When you got a belt, you share in the pay-per-view revenue,” White said.

That, of course, is limited to only a handful of fighters within the Las Vegas-based promotion. However, competitors such as Miller are their own type of success story.

“Boxing does [it too]. Whoever is the champion in boxing, you get the lion’s share of the revenue. Here, it’s dispersed through across everybody,” White con…

The vacant light heavyweight strap will be on the line when Corey Anderson and Karl Moore square off at a Bellator MMA event in Belfast on March 22.

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Anderson confirmed the pairing on social media following an initial report from Ariel Helwani. The card in Belfast will mark the promotion’s first event since Professional Fighters League’s acquisition of Bellator late last year. Broadcast plans and a venue for Bellator Belfast have not been announced.

Vadim Nemkov officially vacated the Bellator 205-pound belt this year. He will make his heavyweight debut against Bruno Cappelozza at PFL Champions vs. Bellator Champions on Feb. 24.

Anderson twice come up short against Nemkov in title bouts under the Bellator banner. “Overtime” appeared to be winning their first meeting at Bellator 277 before an accidental clash of heads resulted in the bout being ruled a no contest. The rematch went differently, however, as Nemkov captured a clear-cut unanimou…