Martial Arts News

While it might appear that Michael Chandler wasted valuable years of his MMA career waiting on a Conor McGregor fight that has yet to materialize, the former Bellator MMA champion has a different perspective on that time away.

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“Having that much time off, I needed it. I really needed it,” Chandler told the New York Post. “Six training camps in a 26-month period, every single fight was do or die — Top 3, Top 5 guy, world title fights, fights of the night, fights of the year. And I love the sport; I am so blessed to do the sport of mixed martial arts as a professional and get paid for it and feed my family with it, but it was taking a toll on me. I needed some time off.”

Chandler hasn’t competed since November 2022, when he suffered a third-round submission loss against Dustin Poirier at UFC 281. He was then booked to coach opposite McGregor on “The Ultimate Fighter 31,” seemingly setting the stage for a big-ticket fight after the show. However, the b…

A featherweight showdown pittng Doo Ho Choi against Nate Landwehr has been added to the UFC 310 lineup.

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MMA Mania was first to report the booking. UFC 310 takes place on Dec. 7 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and features a flyweight championship bout between Alexandre Pantoja and Kai Asakura.

Choi earned his first victory since 2016 at UFC on ESPN 60, where he defeated Bill Algeo via second-round technical knockout on July 20. “The Korean Superboy” began his promotional tenure with three consecutive first-round finishes but went 0-3-1 in his next four Octagon appearances, though his loss against Cub Swanson was eventually inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame’s “Fight Wing.” The 33-year-old Busan Team Mad representative owns a 15-4-1 career mark, with 12 of those triumphs coming via KO or TKO.

Landwehr, meanwhile, been victorious in four of his last five UFC bouts. In his first appearance of 2024, “The Train” scored a first-round knockout of…

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Joe Lopez can’t wait to see Alexander Volkanovski back in action.

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Volkanovski suffered a brutal knockout loss in a short-notice failed double-champ bid against lightweight champ Islam Makhachev at UFC 294 in October 2023. “The Great” put his featherweight title on the line soon after against Ilia Topuria at UFC 298 this past February, where he suffered another brutal knockout. Many believe Volkanovski knockout loss to Topuria had to do with the quick turnaround from his loss against Makhachev.

Volkanovski has since taken some time off and will seemingly not fight at least before early next year. While Lopez also felt Volkanovski needed some time off, he thinks it’s been too long now.

“I would have said six to eight months was plenty, you know,” the Freestyle MMA Coach told Submission Radio. “Now we’re coming up to nearly 12 months. And it’s a bit too long.”

Meanwhile, Topuria defended his strap by knocking out Max Holl…

A fan told Daniel Cormier that he’s “the son of Jon Jones”, and DC replies “F*** you” 😭

He also explains why he’ll never be cool with Jon Jones:

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“People need to stop longing for the perfect happy ending.”

🎥 @SevereMMA #UFC #MMApic.twitter.com/TKkwVFBBTW

— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) November 3, 2024 Daniel Cormier thinks it’s fine that he and Jon Jones have never settled their feud.

Cormier and Jones share one of the most iconic rivalries in Ultimate Fighting Championship history, which started with “Bones” saying he could take the former All-American wrestler down. They were supposed to share the Octagon for the first time at UFC 178 but the matchup was postponed when Jones suffered an injury in training. Jones and Cormier finally clashed at UFC 182 in 2015, where “Bones” successfully defended his light heavyweight title via unanimous decision. Jones also tested positive for a cocaine metabolite but wasn’t p…

It’s humbling having some of the world’s best athletes supporting me throughout this camp. “Be comfortable being uncomfortable”. pic.twitter.com/q0vqcfiNIF

— BONY (@JonnyBones) October 8, 2024

Jon Jones’ longtime coach Brandon Gibson believes wrestling superstar Gable Steveson could be a future mixed martial arts champion.

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Jones (27-1) will defend his heavyweight title against Stipe Miocic (20-4) in the main event at UFC 309 on Nov. 16 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Many, including Gibson believe that this could be the last walk to the Octagon for “Bones,” who has hinted at retirement on multiple occasions leading up to the bout.

In preparation for UFC 309, Jones has assembled a cadre of talented training partners from various discipines of combat sports. Included in that group are multiple-time jiu-jitsu world champion Gordon Ryan and wrestling Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson. Gibson sees championship poten…

Considered to be one of the biggest stars in mixed martial arts today — despite not speaking English — Alex Pereira put his popularity to the test during an autograph session at Shopping Eldorado in Sao Paulo, Brazil, this past Saturday.

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Up arriving at the mall, “Poatan” was gretting by a crowd that had already gathered in the shopping center’s corridors. With shouts of “Chama! Chama! Chama!”, the crowd waited patiently to take a photo or receive an autograph from their idol. In a video published on Instagram, Poatan spoke of the emotion of receiving affection from his hometown fans.

“It was beyond what I expected, to see all these people leaving their home on a holiday to stay in such a long line waiting to take a picture with me. See a small child crying when taking a photo with me. I´m really speechless,” Pereira said.

The UFC light heavyweight champion also recently participated in one of the most popular podcasts in the country, "Podpah…

After taking some time off, Brandon Moreno came back looking rejuvenated at UFC Edmonton.

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The former flyweight king outstruck Amir Albazi for the better part of five rounds in a clear-cut unanimous decision triumph in Saturday’s headliner at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Albazi, who lost for the first time in six Octagon appearances, was unable to match his Mexican opponent during exchanges on the feet, and he was also unable to ground “Assassin Baby.”

For Moreno, it was a much-needed return to the win column after back-to-back losses. Those struggles prompted him to announce in March that he would be taking a break from MMA to allow his body and mind to rest.

“What can I say? I feel just amazing, All the vibes, all the environment around my training camp was on point. It was just perfect. I wanted to show that in my performance tonight, and I feel I did it,” Moreno said at the post-fight press conference.

“I felt so connected,…

Nothing is set in stone at this point in time, but Brandon Gibson is treating the UFC 309 fight camp like it’s going to be Jon Jones’ last dance.

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Jones will defend his heavyweight title against Stipe Miocic in the UFC 309 headliner on Nov. 16 at Madison Square Garden in New York. “Bones” has indicated on more than one occasion that this could be his final mixed martial arts bout. Gibson, who is one of Jones’ longtime coaches in Albuquerque, New Mexico, isn’t taking anything for granted.

“I think physically, mentally, he could go in there and have five or six more great performances,” Gibson told MMAFighting.com. “There’s nothing left for Jon to prove. I think he really wants this fight with Stipe. I think this fight will help solidify Jon’s status as that great heavyweight champion but it’s not something we talk about every night at the gym. We’re definitely all eyes on Nov. 16. But each time I go to a practice, I’m approaching it as this is my las…

Those planning on watching the final four preliminary bouts for UFC 309 will have multiple viewing options.

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In addition to ESPN+ and ESPNEWS, the featured preliminary card at UFC 309 will also air on FX and Hulu. The promotion announced the options during the UFC Edmonton broadcast on Saturday night. Typically, the main preliminary card for a pay-per-view is only broadcast on ESPN+ and one of the ESPN channels. Like ESPN, both FX and Hulu are owned by The Walt Disney Company.UFC 309: Jones vs Miocic. Saturday at 10 ET on ESPN+. Order Now!

The featured UFC 309 preliminary card is topped by a light heavyweight clash between Nikita Krylov and Azamat Murzakanov. The other three bouts are as follows: Mauricio Ruffy vs. James Llontop at lightweight; Jonathan Martinez vs. Marcus McGhee at bantamweight and Jim Miller vs. Damon Jackson at lightweight. Meanwhile, the five-bout early preliminary draw will air exclusively on ESPN+.

UFC 309 takes place …

Belal Muhammad says an interim title fight at #UFC310 doesn’t make sense, but doesn’t mind it:

“Interim title bro? It’s 6 weeks, not 6 months that I’m off.”

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🎥 @remembertheshow #UFC #MMA

pic.twitter.com/NKIbl1onkK

— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) November 2, 2024

Belal Muhammad believes an interim title fight doesn’t make sense in his absence.

Muhammad was scheduled to defend his welterweight strap against Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310 on Dec. 7 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. However, “Remember the Name” was forced out of the event due to an infection in his foot that caused severe swelling in one of his toes.

Rakhmonov has since been looking for a replacement opponent for a potential interim title fight at UFC 310. While Ian Garry had been calling out Rakhmonov, the Irishman was recently booked against Joaquin Buckley for a headlining bout at UFC Tampa on Dec. 14. That leaves former champ Kamaru…

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It’s unlikely that Max Holloway will compete at featherweight again.

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After going 0-3 against Alexander Volkanovski in their title fight trilogy, Holloway wasn’t in featherweight title conversations until recently. However, the title picture changed with Ilia Topuria’s knockout win over Volkanovski at UFC 298 this past February.

Meanwhile, Holloway went on score an iconic knockout win over Justin Gaethje for the BMF title in a lightweight matchup at UFC 300 in April, securing himself a featherweight gold bid. The former champ challenged “El Matador” at UFC 308 on Oct. 26 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. While Holloway was seemingly getting ahead on the scorecards, Topuria handed “Blessed” his first career KO loss in the third round.

Holloway expressed interest in moving up to 155 pounds immediately afterward. The Hawaiian has now confirmed that he is moving up to lightweight for good. While Holloway had a nice weight cut for…

Jasmine Jasudavicius, Dustin Stoltzfus, Charles Jourdain and Youssef Zalal each garnered $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonuses for their work at UFC Edmonton.

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Jasudavicius secured her third straight Octagon triumph, as she submitted Ariane Lipski with a brabo choke at the 2:28 mark of Round 3 in a featured women’s flyweight bout.

Also on the main card, Stoltzfus got the better of a brief-but-violent exchange with Marc-Andre Barriault to emerge with a knockout victory 4:28 into the opening stanza at middleweight. It was the first KO victory for Stolzfus in more than five years.

Elsewhere, Jourdain dispatched Victor Henry with a guillotine choke 3:43 into the second frame of their preliminary bantamweight showdown. It was the first time Henry had been finished in his professional career.

Finally, Zalal continued his resurgence with a quick finish of Jack Shore in a featherweight pairing. The Factory X product floored his opponent wi…