Martial Arts News

😬Julianna Peña believes Amanda Nunes is waiting for her to lose to Kayla Harrison before coming out of retirement so Nunes doesn't have to fight her again:

"They (UFC) say she wants to fight the winner of you versus Kayla and so she will come back but she's waiting to fight the… pic.twitter.com/XpRRQKqD7f

— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) October 14, 2024

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Julianna Pena continues to level shots at Amanda Nunes in the hopes of a trilogy clash.

Pena captured the bantamweight title with a shocking upset submission win over Nunes in their first encounter at UFC 269. Nunes regained her strap with a lopsided unanimous decision over Pena in their rematch at UFC 277 the next year. While they were slated to meet in a rubber match at UFC 289 in 2023, Pena had to pull out due to an injury. Nunes went on to beat short-notice replacement Irene Aldana via unanimous decision and hung up her gloves.

While recovering from her injury…

Tom Aspinall DOESN'T think Francis Ngannou's next opponent, Renan Ferreira, is elite 😬

"The guy [Francis] is fighting fought a friend of mine... and [my friend] just destroyed him within a minute or two...

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The elite guys are not in PFL... it's difficult to say [Francis] is the… pic.twitter.com/myiQcQD218 — Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) October 14, 2024

Tom Aspinall finds it hard to label Francis Ngannou the best heavyweight in MMA.

Ngannou left the UFC as the reigning heavyweight champ in January 2023 after a failed contract negotiation with the Las Vegas-based promotion. “The Predator” was unable to come to terms with the UFC due to a few key stipulations, which included the allowance to compete in boxing simultaneously and health insurance for fighters.

The UFC heavyweight title picture has been in limbo after former light heavyweight champ Jon Jones won the vacant heavyweight title against Ciryl Gane in Marc…

Dana White ISN'T happy with the latest UFC rankings update and says he has a meeting this week to try and fix the rankings 😬

"The morons strike again. Khalil Rountree fights that bad ass fight against Pereira, and the morons keep him at #8.

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Literally this week I have a meeting… pic.twitter.com/lDPvQMyF3L — Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) October 15, 2024

Dana White is disappointed, to say the least, when it comes to the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s latest rankings.

While White has voiced his displeasure with the rankings in the recent past, it was mostly in regards to Jon Jones’ standing in the pound-for-pound poll. Lightweight champ Islam Makhachev is the currently the promotion’s pound-for-pound No. 1 after having defended his title three times in less than two years. However, White insists that Jones, who is essentially undefeated, should top the rankings despite having not fought since March 2023, which w…

Conor McGregor is advising Sean O'Malley to train at his gym.

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While McGregor and O’Malley have beefed in the recent past, “Notorious” has seemingly risen above that. Despite having traded several barbs with “Suga,” the Irishman is now inviting him to train in Ireland.

O’Malley lost his bantamweight title to Merab Dvalishvili via a lopsided decision at UFC 306 in September. Currently recovering from a hip surgery he underwent after UFC 306, O’Malley is rallying for a rematch against “The Machine” sometime next year. And McGregor believes O’Malley can regain his title by training with him at the SBG Ireland headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, under the tutelage of head coach John Kavanagh. The former double champ is also ready to set up the trip for O’Malley and his long-time coach, Tim Welch.

“Sean is a fighting legend! UFC champion and an incredible superstar! I would love, love, love to see, and I can set it up fully, [for] himself and his lon…

A welterweight bout pitting Bryan Battle against Randy Brown has been added to the UFC 310 lineup.

Battle’s management, Iridium Sports Agency, announced the booking on Monday. UFC 310 takes place on Dec. 7 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and is headlined by a welterweight championship tilt between Belal Muhammad and Shavkat Rakhmonov. In the co-main event, Alexandre Pantoja will defend his flyweight belt against Kai Asakura.

Battle, who won “The Ultimate Fighter 29,” has lost just once in eight Octagon appearances. Most recently, “The Butcher” defeated Kevin Jousset via second-round technical knockout at UFC Paris on Sept. 28. Battle has finished all but one of his six victories in UFC competition.

An 18-time UFC veteran, Brown has been victorious in seven of his last eight outings within the Las Vegas-based promotion — with his only loss during that period coming at the hands of Jack Della Maddalena. “Rude Boy” is coming off a three-round verdict ove…

The final Dana White's Contender Series event of 2024 is now official, as all 10 fighters slated to compete at Week 10 hit their contracted marks at weigh-ins on Monday.

The Contender Series takes place on Tuesday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and airs on ESPN+ at at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. The evening’s featured bout is a middleweight showdown between Nick Klein (186) and Heraldo Souza (185).

Known as “The Amish Hammer,” Klein is coming off a 2-0 campaign in 2023 that saw him earn submission wins over Cory Simpson and Collin Huckbody. He owns a 5-1 career mark overall and has finished four of his five triumphs inside the distance.

Brazil’s Souza is unbeaten in his last six outings dating back to January 2022. In his first appearance of 2024, “Savage” stopped Andre Fischer 1:37 into the opening stanza of their May 11 bout.

Contender Series Weigh-in Results:Nick Klein (186) vs. Heraldo Souza (185)Luis Gurule (125.5) vs. Nick Piccininni (125.5)Yadier Del Valle (1…

What it's all about on October 1️⃣9️⃣th

Everything you need to know about the PFL Super Fights Belt 🏆

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[ #PFLSuperFights | #BraceForImpact | Sat, Oct 19th | 4PM ET | BUY NOW https://t.co/kWyJTEGRvW] pic.twitter.com/q0QVTefMDs — PFL (@PFLMMA) October 14, 2024

Some special championship hardware will be on the line at Professional Fighters League’s “Battle of the Giants” event this weekend.

The organization unveiled its special PFL Superfights World Championship belt, which will be at stake in the card’s two featured bouts — Francis Ngannou vs. Renan Ferreira and Cris Cyborg vs. Larissa Pacheco. According to a video released by the organization, the 12.5-pound belt will feature 10 sides, a tribute to the SmartCage, and side plates celebrating each PFL division, all “culminating in a design that embodies the spirited magnitude of PFL Super Fights.”

PFL “Battle of the Giants” takes place at the Mayadeen in R…

Chris Barnett will replace Justin Tafa and square off against Kennedy Nzechukwu at UFC 308.

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The promotion announced the new heavyweight booking during the UFC Vegas 98 broadcast on Saturday night. A reason for Tafa’s withdrawal was not given. Barnett was originally slated to fight at UFC Vegas 98 but was unable to compete due to Hurricane Milton.

UFC 308 takes place on Oct. 26 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi and is headlined by a featherweight championship clash between Ilia Topuria and Max Holloway.

The 38-year-old Barnett will be making his first Octagon appearance since September 2022 after having multiple bouts fall through over the course of the past two years. In his last outing, “Huggy Bear” scored a second-round TKO victory against Jake Collier at UFC 279. Barnett is 2-2 during his UFC tenure overall.

After competing 11 times at 205 pounds in the Las Vegas-based promotion, Nzechukwu will move to heavyweight for the first time. The…

In most cases, Brandon Royval is someone who doesn’t hesitate to offer praise for his flyweight peers.

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That includes Tatsuro Taira, who gave “Raw Dawg” all he could handle in the UFC Vegas 98 headliner on Saturday night at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. While Taira spent the better part of two rounds attached to Royval’s back, the Factory X product was able to do enough quality work on the feet to earn a split-decision triumph. Though Royval has expected great things from Taira, he didn’t necessarily anticipate the struggles he would have to endure against the Japanese standout to get his hand raised.

“I didn’t expect any of that s—t. I thought I was gonna cruise through him, honestly,” Royval said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “I give that kid a lot of respect. I give that kid a lot of praise. I 100% believe that he’s gonna be a champion one day. I said that before this fight took place. I said that before I even knew we were gonna fight…

Brandon Royval and Tatsuro Taira put on a show in the UFC Vegas 98 main event, and the flyweight contenders were compensated appropriately for their efforts.

Royval and Taira received “Fight of the Night” honors and $50,000 apiece for their back-and-forth battle at the UFC Apex on Saturday night. Royval was able to survive his opponent’s grappling and imposed his will during striking exchanges to emerge with a split-decision triumph in what will likely go down as one of the year’s best bouts.

Elsewhere, Octagon newcomer Ramazonbek Temirov made strong first impression, flooring C.J. Vergara three times en route to a technical knockout at the 2:50 mark of Round 1 in their flyweight pairing. That was more than enough to secure a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” check for the Uzbekistan native.

Finally, Clayton Carpenter claimed the evening’s other $50,000 “Performance of the Night” award thanks to a second-round submission of Lucas Rocha in a preliminary flyweigh…

Brandon Royval showed he still warrants consideration as one of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s flyweight elite.

The resilient Factory X standout called upon superior standup, bulletproof submission defense and a seemingly endless gas tank to outlast Tatsuro Taira to a five-round split decision in the UFC Fight Night 244 headliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. All three member of the judiciary struck 48-47 scorecards: Sal D’Amato for Taira, Chris Lee and Ron McCarthy for Royval.

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Taira (16-1, 6-1 UFC) was stellar in the grappling exchanges through four rounds, as he advanced to the back on multiple occasions, secured his position with body triangles, applied his ground-and-pound and threatened the neck. Royval (17-7, 7-3 UFC) answered on the feet, where he connected with surgical combinations and the occasional knee. He had Taira on the proverbial ropes early in the third round, as he sent two-, three- and four-punch volleys crashing…

The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to its homebase of Las Vegas Saturday at 4 p.m. ET with UFC Vegas 98. The event is also known as UFC Fight Night 244. BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Carpenter (-192), Rocha (+160)Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Devin Tejada scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:

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Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Devin Tejada scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Devin Tejada scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round: The Official Result BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Haddon (-185), Argueta (+154)Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Devin Tejada scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Devin Tejada scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round…