Martial Arts News

Eric Nicksick is owning up to his mistake.

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Nicksick recently admitted that criticizing friend and pupil Strickland in public was the wrong decision. Strickland received a lot of criticism in general for his lopsided unanimous decision title loss against Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 312 earlier this month. Nicksick later called Strickland’s effort uninspiring after failing to motivate the former champ to push harder until the end of the fight.

However, UFC veterans like Daniel Cormier and Matt Brown didn’t approve of Nicksick publicly denouncing Strickland. While recently commenting on the issue, Brown noted that there might be a lot more to the whole thing than is visible to the public eye. Regardless, Brown thinks the relationship between a coach and fighter is too personal for their differences to be publicly exposed.

Responding to Brown’s comments, Nicksick admitted to having a made a mistake. While the Xtreme Couture head coach says his real …

Alexa Grasso will be back in action for the first time since losing the flyweight crown when she meets Natalia Silva at UFC 315.

The promotion confirmed the 125-pound pairing on Tuesday. UFC 315 takes place on May 10 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. A headliner has not been announced for the card.

Grasso is coming off a unanimous decision loss to Valentina Shevchenko in a flyweight championship trilogy bout at UFC 306 this past September. The Lobo Gym MMA standout claimed 125-pound gold with an upset victory over Shevchenko at UFC 285 in March 2023 and retained the strap following a controversial split draw against her rival at UFC Fight Night 227 in September 2023. This will be the first non-Shevchenko opponent for Grasso since she defeated Viviane Araujo in the UFC Fight Night 212 main event in October 2022.

Silva, meanwhile, is a rising star in the division who enters the matchup with Grasso on a six-bout winning streak in UFC competiti…

One Shot to WIN. One Shot to ADVANCE. One Shot at a WORLD TITLE 🏆

Get to know the Women’s Flyweights set to compete in the 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣5️⃣ #PFLWorldTournament

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[ Friday , April 11th | 📺 11:30 PM EST | ESPN 2 | B2YB @Cloudbet ] pic.twitter.com/yJ92NHxYJT — PFL (@PFLMMA) February 18, 2025

The field is set for Professional Fighters League’s upcoming women’s flyweight tournament — but one notable name is missing from the lineup.

The promotion announced the eight-woman roster for the 2025 World Flyweight Tournament on Tuesday, and it includes quite a few familiar faces. However, 2024 flyweight champion Dakota Ditcheva will not be part of the bracket. That likely means that Ditcheva, who is one of the PFL’s top stars, will be part of one of the promotion’s high-profile events in the coming months.

The tournament roster will include six fighters who competed in the PFL season format last year (Taila Santos, Liz Carmouche, …

Gregory Rodrigues began the UFC Vegas 102 main event like a man on a mission.

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However, after dropping Jared Cannonier twice in the opening stanza, the hard-hitting Brazilian began to fade, ultimately falling to his veteran opponent via fourth-round technical knockout this past Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. “Robocop” never looked the same after that strong first round, and as it turns out, there might have been a good reason for that decline.

“Cannonier is a highly experienced fighter who taught me a lot in this fight! I saw several details that can be improved—things that will be changed. Winning ‘Fight of the Night’ was a gift for two warriors who weren’t afraid to go to battle,” Rodrigues wrote on Instagram. “Most people don’t know this, but I had serious issues to recovery after weight cut—my body just wasn’t responding. I keep wondering how things would’ve played out if I had been at 100%.

“But no sad stories here—Robocop never d…

One last matchup announcement! (for now)

Team São Paulo's @FabricioWerdum steps into the GFL cage with Team LA's @thefrankmir in a Heavyweight bout! pic.twitter.com/iuSouahE1o

— Global Fight League (@mmagfl) February 14, 2025

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Two fights recently announced by the fledging Global Fight League immediately drew the attention of mixed martial fans.

Fabricio Werdum (Team Sao Paulo) is expected to face Frank Mir (Team Los Angeles), while it was also revealed that Mauricio Rua (Team Sao Paulo) would meet Yoel Romero (Team Miami). No dates and locations have been formally announced for any GFL events at this point in time. When Sherdog spoke to Werdum and Rua, they offered differing points of view on their respective bouts.

"I already started my physical preparation here in Florianopolis,” Werdum said. “It looks like this confrontation between Los Angeles and Sao Paulo will take place on May 11. My plan is to go to Curi…

Justin Gaethje says Khabib is the toughest opponent he’s ever faced, and his dream fight is against Islam Makhachev 👀

“[Islam] is the champ, and I do believe that is a better matchup for me than Khabib.”

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🎥 @Justin_Gaethje #UFC #MMApic.twitter.com/NvMALCtqE4 — Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) February 17, 2025

While both Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev rank among the best fighters in MMA history, Justin Gaethje believes he has a better chance of beating the current UFC lightweight champion.

Gaethje suffered a failed lightweight title bid against Nurmagomedov via submission at UFC 254 in 2020. During a recent Q&A session posted on his YouTube channel, “The Highlight” named Nurmagomedov as his toughest test ever. According to Gaethje, he probably couldn’t have beaten “Eagle” at UFC 254 even if he had performed better.

Nurmagomedov retired after UFC 254, citing the demise of his father and coach, Abd…

Alex Pereira is asked how he’s preparing for the Ankalaev fight:

“I’m training, honestly, as if I were fighting any other guy.

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I think the only thing that changes is that he’s left-handed, but that doesn’t make any difference.”

🎥 @markbouris #UFC313pic.twitter.com/zfk9wR7kJY

— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) February 17, 2025 Alex Pereira (12-2) claims the preparation for the upcoming fight against Magomed Ankalaev (19-1) is just like any other.

Pereira will put his light heavyweight title on the line against Ankalaev in the main event at UFC 313 on March 8 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Despite being undefeated in 13 outings since 2018, the title shot has evaded Ankalaev up until now.

When Pereira last defended his title against Khalil Rountree Jr., Ankalaev accused the champ of ducking him. They have since been going back and forth, with Pereira claiming to have asked for an Ankalaev matchup and the D…

Austin Vanderford, who is perhaps best known for being the husband of Paige VanZant, will get his chance in the Ultimate Fighting Championship this weekend.

The Las Vegas-based promotion announced on Tuesday that Vanderford will face Nikolay Veretennikov in a short-notice, 175-pound catchweight affair at UFC Seattle on Saturday. UFC Seattle — also known as UFC Fight Night 252 — takes place at Climate Pledge Arena and is headlined by a bantamweight showdown between Henry Cejudo and Yadong Song.

Vanderford began his professional tenure with 11 consecutive triumphs — including five wins under the Bellator MMA banner. During that stretch, he attempted to earn a UFC deal on Dana White's Contender Series in 2018 but didn’t receive a contract following a second-round submission of Angelo Trevino. He challenged for middleweight gold at Bellator 275, where he suffered a first-round TKO defeat to then champ Gegard Mousasi. “The Gentleman” parted ways with Bellator follo…

Nine-time Octagon veteran Joe Solecki is calling it a career. The UFC lightweight announced his retirement in an post via Instagram on Monday. The 31-year-old exits the sport with a 13-6 career mark. The Wenonah, New Jersey, native went 5-4 during his tenure with the Las Vegas-based promotion.

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“Today, after chasing this dream for 10 years, I am officially retiring from the sport of MMA,” Solecki wrote.

“I started this endeavor as a kid with a dream of making it to the UFC. It then grew into so many more goals and dreams, some of which I achieved and others where I fell short. In a way, despite falling short at times (especially this past year), I ‘lived my movie.’ Competing at the highest level in the UFC and grinding it out on the regional circuit to make it to the top have taught me more life lessons and things about myself, hard work, and determination than I ever could’ve imagined. This avenue in life has helped me grow in so many ways as a ma…

Miesha Tate will return to action in a bantamweight bout against Yana Santos on May 3.

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Tate initially revealed the pairing in a post on Instagram, and it was subsequently confirmed by Santos. The UFC has not formally announced the fight. The UFC Fight Night event is expected to take place in Des Moines, Iowa.

“I’ve still got what it takes and if you doubt me, please stick around. Mark your calendars,” Tate wrote.

A former Strikeforce and UFC bantamweight queen, Tate hasn’t competed since defeating the recently-retired Julia Avila via third-round submission at UFC on ESPN 52 in December 2023. “Cupcake” initially retired following a loss to Raquel Pennington at UFC 205 in November 2016, but she returned to action in 2021. Tate has fought sporadically since then, posting a 2-2 mark within the Las Vegas-based promotion.

Santos, meanwhile, snapped a three-bout skid in her last outing, when she outpointed Chelsea Chandler at UFC on ESPN 61 t…

Conor McGregor is living up to his vow to challenge the ruling that went against him in a civil lawsuit late last year.

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According to a report from BBC, McGregor filed an appeal of the verdict that found him civilly liable for sexual assault against Nikita Hand in Irish courts this past Friday.

In November, the Dublin High Court found that McGregor sexually assaulted Hand in 2018 and ordered the former two-division UFC champion to pay more than $250,000 in damages. Because it was a civil trial, McGregor did not face criminal charges in the case. He denied the sexual assault accusations during the trial and after the verdict, claiming that it was a consensual encounter.

“People want to hear from me, I needed time. I know I made mistakes,” McGregor wrote in a since-deleted post on social media. “Six years ago, I should have never responded to her outreaches. I should have shut the party down. I should never have stepped out on the woman I love…

[embedded content] The Professional Fighters League has business to conduct beyond the introduction of its new World Tournament format in 2025. Francis Ngannou, the most important fighter on the company’s roster, could take his combat sports career in a variety of directions, with a host of options available to him.

Ngannou ranks as the top attraction for the PFL and also serves as the chairman of PFL Africa, enhancing his long-term importance to the organization. With the PFL looking to find success and build new stars through its international leagues across the globe, Ngannou will have a significant impact—inside and outside the cage. “The Predator” made his long-awaited promotional debut at PFL “Battle of the Giants,” where he punched out Renan Ferreira in the first round of their Oct. 19 pay-per-view headliner. It afforded Ferreira, a rising star within the company, the opportunity to challenge one of the biggest names in the sport and drew plenty of attention.

A…