Martial Arts News

The lineup for Rizin Fighting Federation’s traditional New Year’s Eve card continues to grow, as the Japanese promotion recently announced three new additions to the lineup.

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Two of those bouts — Tsuyoshi Kamiyama vs. Mikio Ueda and Shinobu Ota vs. Ryusei Ashizawa — will be contested under MMA rules, while the third —Rukiya Anpo vs. Minoru Kimura — is a kickboxing affair.

Rizin 45 takes place on Dec. 31 at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, and features a bantamweight title tilt pitting reigning champ Juan Archuleta against Kai Asakura. The event will also see Kyoji Horiguchi square off against Makoto Takahasi for the flyweight crown.

Kamiyama has been victorious in eight of his 10 professional outings — all under the Rizin banner. Most recently, “Sudario” defeated Dong Hwan Lim via third-round technical knockout at Rizin Landmark Vol. 6 on Oct. 1. All but one of his triumphs have come by way of KO or TKO.

Ueda has won two straight b…

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Dana White has doubled down on rebooking Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic even after Tom Aspinall won the interim heavyweight title against Sergei Pavlovich on Saturday.

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While Jones and Miocic were originally scheduled to headline UFC 295 at Madison Square Garden, “Bones” was forced off the card due to a torn pectoral tendon. An interim title fight between Aspinall and Pavlovich was put together at the last minute, with White claiming that it would have been disrespectful to offer an interim fight to Miocic.

Aspinall went on score a massive first-round KO win over Pavlovich, with Jones praising the newly-crowned interim champ. Many fans and pundits believe Aspinall and Pavlovich should have been fighting for the undisputed title to begin with, as Jones’ recovery is likely to take a while.

However, White has previously stated that he plans on rebooking the Jones vs. Miocic fight, with the winner potentially facing the interim champ…

Sergei Pavlovich seems to be coping well with his failed bid for interim heavyweight gold against Tom Aspinall.

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Pavlovich and Aspinall were booked to co-headline UFC 295 on less than three weeks’ notice at Madison Square Garden after the originally scheduled main event title fight between Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic fell through. Pavlovich was also supposed to be the backup for Jones vs. Miocic, which many believed could give him a slight edge over Aspinall.

Instead, Aspinall put Pavlovich to sleep 69 seconds into the fight to become the interim UFC heavyweight champ. The defeat marked the end of a six-fight first-round KO streak for the Russian.

Pavlovich has now issued an official statement on Telegram addressing the loss while also providing a health update. The 31-year-old appears to be an absolute sport in the aftermath of his first failed gold bid.

“I didn't suffer any damage to my health, I'm fine,” Pavlovich wrote. “Tom turned ou…

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Israel Adesanya doesn’t seem very interested in Alex Pereira’s light heavyweight title shot offer.

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Pereira won the vacant light heavyweight strap with a second-round knockout win over former champ Jiri Prochazka at UFC 295 on Saturday. “Poatan” called out Adesanya in his post-fight interview, urging the Nigerian-born Kiwi to move up to 205 pounds.

“I know that I’m not going to do what he did to me and make me fight three times to fight him at middleweight,” Pereira said in his post-fight interview. “I know it’s a guy we have a lot of history. I want to make this fight happen. Adesanya, come to daddy.”

“The Last Stylebender” responded with a meme of his UFC 287 KO win over Pereira with the Brazilian dressed up as Elsa from the Disney movie “Frozen.”

“Let it gooo,” Adesanya wrote.

Adesanya lost his middleweight strap to Sean Strickland in a shocking upset at UFC 293 in September. Adesanya has since stated that he i…

Jan Blachowicz took issue with Alex Pereira issuing a callout to Israel Adesanya after his title win at UFC 295 over the weekend.

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Pereira took on Jiri Prochazka in the main event of UFC 295 at Madison Square Garden in New York with the vacant light heavyweight title on the line. The Brazilian scored a second-round TKO win over Prochazka to become the fastest double champ in UFC history, taking just seven fights to win titles in two weight classes.

Pereira then went on to call out Adesanya, inviting his longtime rival to the light heavyweight division. In addition to two kickboxing victories over his rival, “Poatan” also dethroned Adesanya at UFC 281 last November before getting knocked out by “The Last Stylebender” earlier this year.

Regardless of the history, Blachowicz wasn’t happy with Pereira’s callout and voiced his thoughts on social media.

“[Alex Pereira] I know you're a slimy one,” Blachowicz wrote. “Calling out Izzy. Great performanc…

Two-time light heavyweight title challenger Dominick Reyes will return to action against the surging Carlos Ulberg at UFC 297.

The promotion announced the booking during the UFC 295 broadcast on Saturday night. UFC 297 takes place at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Jan. 20 and is headlined by a middleweight championship clash pitting Sean Strickland against Dricus Du Plessis.

Reyes is in the midst of a four-bout skid that dates back to a competitive championship loss to Jon Jones at UFC 247 in February 2020. More recently, “The Devastator” suffered a first-round KO defeat to Ryan Spann at UFC 281.

Ulberg, meanwhile, has quietly been building momentum at 205 pounds. The City Kickboxing representative has won his last five Octagon appearances, including a third-round submission of Da Woon Jung in his last outing at UFC 293.

Alex Pereira believes he has what it takes to motivate Israel Adesanya.

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After claiming the vacant light heavyweight title with a second-round stoppage of Jiri Prochazka in the UFC 295 headliner, “Poatan” called for his longtime rival to meet him at 205 pounds.

“I know that I’m not going to do what he did to me and make me fight three times to fight him at middleweight,” Pereira said in the Octagon. “I know it’s a guy we have a lot of history. I want to make this fight happen. Adesanya, come to daddy.”

Adesanya last appeared at UFC 293, where he relinquished the middleweight crown in a surprising unanimous decision loss to Sean Strickland. Not long after, “The Last Stylebender” hinted that he might take an extended break from MMA. Pereira’s callout didn’t seem to have much of an effect on the City Kickboxing stalwart, as he simply responded by trolling his rival on social media.

Let it gooooo 🎶 pic.twitter.com/gv9ZYliKwH Read more

Tom Aspinall didn’t leave much for Jon Jones to dissect at UFC 295.

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The Englishman claimed interim gold in emphatic fashion, as he knocked out Sergei Pavlovich 69 seconds into Round 1 of their co-main event bout at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night. Jones took to social media to praise Aspinall following the victory. ‘

“Tom congratulations on the interim heavyweight championship belt! That was an awesome performance!” Jones wrote.

Tom congratulations on the interim heavyweight championship belt! That was an awesome performance!

— BONY (@JonnyBones) November 12, 2023

It’s not the first time Jones, the regining heavyweight king ,has praised Aspinall, and the the Team Kaobon product appreciates the accolades. But he’d like one more thing from the man known as “Bones.”

“I’ve seen Jon talking nice stuff about me on a podcast, as well. It’s really nice,” Aspinall said at Saturday’s post-fight press conferen…

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Benoit St. Denis is eyeing a who’s who of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s lightweight division after a spectacular knockout win over Matt Frevola.

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Saint-Denis (13-1) took on Frevola (11-4) on the UFC 295 main card at Madison Square Garden in New York on Saturday. “God of War” floored the New York native 1:31 in the opening frame into with a shin-to-chin left head kick before following up with some ground-and-pound that was hardly necessary before referee Mike Beltran stepped in.

St. Denis claims he was on the lookout for striking opportunities while on the break from scrambles.

“I knew he was not going to exchange too much in the scrambles with me,” the Frenchman said in his post-fight Octagon interview. “… I knew that he doesn’t win the scrambles, there’s going to be opportunities after the scramble.”

St. Denis also put elite lightweight contenders on notice, which included cageside guests Dustin Poirier and Just…

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John Castaneda showed nothing but respect for Adrian Yanez while calling him out in his UFC 295 post-fight interview.

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“Sexi Mexi” defeated South Korean veteran Kyung Ho Kang (19-10) via unanimous decision in a 138-pound catchweight bout on the UFC 295 preliminary card at Madison Square Garden in New York on Saturday night. Castaneda, 31, was almost too polite to call anyone out after his victory but ultimately issued a respectful challenge to Yanez (16-5). The Minnesota native believes a potential booking against Yanez is an intriguing stylistic matchup.

“I’m not gonna call people out but if I were to call somebody out, I really really would love a fight with Adrian Yanez,” Castaneda said during a post-fight media session. “Not because it’s like a disrespect thing, but stylistically I think we can put on a banger. Absolutely… A little hopeful callout.”

Castaneda improved his Ultimate Fighting Championship record to 4-2 with …

Julianna Pena claims the winner of the upcoming title fight between Raquel Pennington and Mayra Bueno Silva will only be “belt warming” until she returns to action.

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Pennington (15-8) and Silva (10-2) will clash in the co-main event at UFC 297 on Jan. 20 at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto with the vacant women’s bantamweight title on the line. For many, the booking came as a slight surprise due to the absence of Pena (11-5), who has been the only other woman besides Amanda Nunes to sit on the 135-pound throne in recent years.

Pena famously submitted Nunes at UFC 269 in 2021 in one of the greatest upsets in the history of the sport before losing the strap via a lopsided decision in a rematch the following year. “The Venezuelan Vixen” was then scheduled to face Nunes in a trilogy clash at UFC 289 this past June but had to pull out due to an undisclosed injury. “The Lioness” recorded yet another dominant decision win over short-notice replacement Irene…

Khabib Nurmagomedov claims he has never fought with money as his primary motivation.

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Nurmagomedov, 35, hung up his gloves at his peak in 2020, retiring as a champ with a perfect 29-0 record. The former Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight king recently hinted that he has received multiple million-dollar payday offers to bring him out of retirement.

While Nurmagomedov admits it isn’t easy to turn down that kind of big money, “The Eagle” refuses to budge from his decision, one he claims he will never regret.

“When you’re the best fighter in the world, when you’re strong enough, when you have money, when you’re famous, it’s very hard to say no to all these things,” he told Daniel Cormier on UFC Fight Pass’ "Ultimate 30” countdown (transcription via MMAFighting.com). “It’s very hard. It’s not easy. It’s not easy [to] just say no to $20, $30, $40 million dollars. But for myself, it’s not everything. This is not most important. It was not an e…