Martial Arts News

It appears that Larissa Pacheco, not Kayla Harrison, will be Cristiane Justino’s first opponent on the heels of Professional Fighters League’s acquisition of Bellator MMA.

Advertisement

Pacheco became the first two-division champion in PFL history when she defeated Marina Mokhnatkina in their featherweight final on Friday night in Washington, D.C. “Cyborg,” meanwhile, is coming off a first-round stoppage of Cat Zingano in a 145-pound title defense at Bellator 300.

Although Harrison has long been mentioned as an opponent for “Cyborg,” PFL founder Donn Davis believes it makes more sense for Pacheco to face Justino first. While Bellator will continue to run separately in 2024, it was announced that there will also be a champions vs. champions event featuring both promotions. That could be the ideal time to book Pacheco vs. Justino. In the meantime, Harrison vs. “Cyborg” isn’t off the table — it will just be planned for a later date.

“It’s champ vs. champ,” D…

Further details regarding ONE Championship’s plans for its 2024 schedule have come to light.

Advertisement

In an interview with the South China Morning Post, ONE CEO Chatri Sityodtong revealed that the Singapore organization will return its focus to mixed martial arts following a 2023 that saw a heavy emphasis on muay thai and other combat sports.

“You’re going to see MMA back in full force,” Sityodtong said. “We have our U.S. stadium shows, we have Qatar, Japan. In the Philippines we have one or two shows.

“ONE Friday Fights and the muay thai product are very much on a firm footing now. We’ve laid the groundwork and feel very comfortable it’s running on autopilot, and now we’re able to scale up. We’ve firmly established we have the No. 1 striking property on the planet. The focus will be sharply back onto mixed martial arts.”

If all goes as planned, ONE will have a busy itinerary in the coming year. Sityodtong revealed that Christian Lee will return to a…

pic.twitter.com/P7lUWbVbfP

— Sean Strickland (@SStricklandMMA) November 27, 2023

UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland has posted a video of him holding a man at gunpoint in front of his Las Vegas home.

Advertisement

In the footage from Ring.com, a man is initially seen stumbling into Strickland’s driveway before crouching in between two cars. The UFC veteran — along with another individual in a red shirt — follow the man into the street, where Strickland appears to shove him to the ground while pointing a gun in his direction. “Sit the f—k down,” Strickland can be overheard saying. Sirens also appear to be flashing in the background.

According to Strickland, he initially thought the man was trying to steal his car. Instead, Strickland claims that the man was involved in a domestic violence incident where he “was drunk stomping out a girl.”

“The guy was drunk stomping out a girl, a security guard seen it, he jumped in his ca…

Erin Blanchfield expects her next fight to be against fellow contender Manon Fiorot — preferably for the interim UFC women’s flyweight title.

Advertisement

Both Blanchfield and Fiorot are undefeated in six UFC appearances, making them the top two female contenders in the promotion at 125 pounds. However, the title picture is complicated due to the status of reigning flyweight queen Alexa Grasso and ex-champ Valentina Shevchenko. The two rivals battled to a split draw in their rematch at Noche UFC, and the controversy regarding the scorecards in that bout left the door open for a trilogy. The third meeting could be delayed after both Grasso and Shevchenko recently underwent hand surgeries.

Blanchfield is fairly certain that a matchup against Fiorot is next for her, but she wants it to have interim title relevance if the Grasso-Shevchenko trilogy is delayed.

“Yeah, it’s definitely stalling. I feel like I’ve had a couple No. 1 contender fights now. But you …

Spanish soccer star Ferran Torres recently shared details about what he called a life-changing interaction with Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight contender Ilia Topuria.

Torres had the chance to meet with his fellow Spaniard during a visit to the United States. When the FC Barcelona standout asked Topuria about his expectations from his upcoming bout, the ever-confident fighter said he didn’t see it going past the opening frame. Ferran admitted that he aspires to achieve that same same sense of invincibility.

"I arrived as Ferran and I returned as another…I met Ilia Topuria and saw his circle of trust and how they always made him believe he was the best, unconditional support,” Torres said on "The Wild Project” podcast. “I asked him how he looked ahead of the fight and he said, 'He's not going to make it past the first round.’ I want to be like that.”

Undefeated in 14 professional outings, Topuria has only gone the distance twice in his entire …

Petr Yan believes he needs a new team to bounce back from his recent slump.

Advertisement

The former Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight title holder was undefeated in the promotion leading up to a disqualification title loss to Aljamain Sterling in 2021. While Yan bounced back from that loss with a decision win over Cory Sandhagen, the former champ never managed to fully regain his momentum.

“No Mercy” subsequently went on a three-fight skid, including a unanimous decision loss against Merab Dvalishvili in his most last outing at UFC Fight Night 221.More recently, an undisclosed injury forced Yan out of a rumored headlining bout opposite Yadong Song on Dec. 9.

Yan claims that he is healthy and that he has a date in mind for his UFC return.

“The health is great,” he told XTRA MMA. “There’s no preparation at this moment. Yes, I am ready. I’m waiting for the information [from the UFC]. I plan on fighting in March at UFC 299 ... I’d like it to …

Sean O'Malley believes that Aljamain Sterling might do well at featherweight but is unsure whether we will get to find out.

Advertisement

In an appearance on The MMA Hour, O’Malley expressed his doubts over whether Sterling, whose Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight title he took via second-round knockout at UFC 292 in August, has enough confidence to move up to featherweight. While “Funkmaster” initially lobbied for an immediate rematch, he has since changed course towards a possible move up to 145 pounds. Sterling recently revealed that he has been offered a booking against perennial featherweight contender Calvin Kattar but is keener on a clash against former champ Max Holloway.

O’Malley believes going up makes sense for Sterling given the latter’s natural size. While “Sugar” believes Sterling also the required skillset for featherweight, he believes the former champ might prefer sticking around at bantamweight for the size advantage. O’Malley said o…

Tony Ferguson recently had a misdemeanor DUI charge dismissed in the Superior Court of Los Angeles after reaching a plea deal.

Advertisement

The UFC lightweight star pleaded nolo contendere to a misdemeanor charge of wet reckless driving on the highway and will serve one year of probation as a result of the deal, which was ruled upon by Judge Shannon K. Cooley on Monday. MMAjunkie.com was first to report the resolution of the case.

Ferguson was arrested in May after allegedly crashing his truck into a pair of parked cars in Hollywood, California. The fighter was booked into jail after refusing a field sobriety test, and a law enforcement officer stated that Ferguson “reeked of alcohol” and had “bloodshot eyes.” Ferguson, who initially pleaded not guilty to the DUI charge, was released on his own recognizance.

As part of his probation, Ferguson will not consume alcohol and has agreed to pay restitution to the victim for damage caused as a result of the a…

While Ilia Topuria is the latest in a long line of mixed martial artists eyeing crossover boxing fights, “El Matador” is aiming for the very best.

Advertisement

Topuria is currently slated to challenge Alexander Volkanovski for the featherweight title in the main event at UFC 298 on Feb. 17. The undefeated Spanish prospect hopes to keep his record intact and ideally go on to defend his throne against former champ Max Holloway in front of his home fans.

“So, that’s what I think is going to happen that I’m going to beat ‘Volk’ on Feb. 17, and then I’m going to fight Max Holloway here in Spain. That’s my goal right now, and I think it’s going to happen,” Topuria recently said in an appearance on the OverDogs Podcast.

While defeating arguably the two greatest featherweights of all time would be no small feat, Topuria’s aspirations don’t stop there. Once he has the credibility of a UFC title to make his case, Topuria wants to fight Canelo Alvarez in the future…

A lot has changed for Impa Kasanganay since he was released from the Ultimate Fighting Championship two years ago.

Advertisement

Until recently, Kasanganay was best known for his viral knockout loss to Joaquin Buckley at UFC Fight Night 179 in 2020. While he bounced back with a submission win over Sasha Palatnikov, Kasanganay was released following a subsequent loss to Carlston Harris.

“Tshilobo” fought twice on the regional circuit before signing with the Professional Fighters League, where he went on a six-fight winning streak that culminated in a light heavyweight title win over Joshua Silveira at the PFL World Championships on Friday.

Following his unanimous decision victory against Silveira, Kasanganay proceeded to call out Francis Ngannou. While some dismissed Kasanganay's callout as a publicity stunt due to the difference in weight classes, “Tshilobo” claims he is serious.

“I don’t just say things to say things,” Kasanganay told MMAjunkie.com.…

Although he misses fighting at times, Glover Teixeira is content with retirement and focusing all his energies on close friend Alex Pereira.

Advertisement

Teixeira hung up his gloves in January following a unanimous decision title loss against Jamahal Hill at UFC 283. This marked the second consecutive title loss for the Brazilian, who was submitted by Jiri Prochazka in a nailbiter at UFC 275 last year.

Teixeira has since turned coach and mentor for Pereira, who recently won his second UFC title within a year. While Pereira was walking out for his light heavyweight championship victory over Prochazka at UFC 295, Teixeira admitted to “Poatan” that he misses fighting sometimes.

However, the former UFC light heavyweight champ chooses to stay retired for one major reason: Father Time. Teixeira, who has contemplated coming out of retirement for the right amount of money, claims that his younger self would have easily run through his last two opponents.

“I told …

An Ultimate Fighting Championship event set to go down at the promotion’s Apex facility in Las Vegas will undergo a significant change two weeks before fight night.

Advertisement

Undefeated Russian prospect Azamat Murzakanov (13-0) was originally scheduled to take on Khalil Rountree (12-5) in a light heavyweight clash in the co-main event at UFC Fight Night 233 on Dec. 9. However, UFC CEO Dana White announced that Murzakanov is now out of the matchup due to pneumonia and will be replaced by Anthony Smith (37-18).

Smith is coming off a split-decision win in a rematch against Ryan Spann at UFC Fight Night 233 that saw him bounce back from consecutive losses against top contenders Magomed Ankalaev and Johnny Walker. The former title challenger’s last win prior to that also came against Spann via first-round submission in September 2021.

Meanwhile, Rountree is riding a four-fight win streak, which includes technical knockout wins over Modestas Bukauskas, Karl …