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Joaquin Buckley gave his best effort to get a finish against Nursulton Ruziboev in the third round of the UFC on ESPN 56 co-main event, but it wasn’t meant to be.

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Despite a dominant third round where Buckley dropped his foe and outlanded him by a 64-to-16 count in significant strikes, Ruziboev was able to make it to the final horn. Still, there was no doubt about the final verdict, as “New Mansa” emerged with a clear-cut unanimous decision triumph on Saturday at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis for his fourth consecutive UFC victory.

“I ain’t gonna lie. I guess (referee Keith) Peterson had his money on somebody else, because he should have stopped the fight a long time ago,” Buckley said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “But it is what it is. He’s a tough guy. He had a lot of motivation to try to win so he stayed in there. His will was strong.”

The performance was especially significant for Buckley, a St. Louis native who had campai…

According to UFC CEO Dana White, Conor McGregor’s return will set an all-time gate record for the Las Vegas-based promotion.

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McGregor will face Michael Chandler in the UFC 303 main event at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on June 29 as the culmination of International Fight Week. It will be the first fight since July 2021 for the UFC’s biggest star, and ticket sales seem to reflect a high level of interest in the former two-division champion.

“It’s already way over $20 million,” White said at the UFC on ESPN 56 post-fight press conference on Saturday.

To put that figure in perspective, the UFC has never held an event that produced a live gate of more than $20 million. However, McGregor has been attached to several of the promotion’s largest gates, including the previous record of $17.7 million set at UFC 205 at Madison Square Garden in New York. At that event, McGregor defeated Eddie Alvarez in the headliner to capture the lightweight crown.…

The lineup for Rizin 47 continues to grow, as the Japanese promotion announced four new bouts for the June 9 card over the weekend.

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The new bookings will include a few Ultimate Fighting Championship veterans, as Spike Carlyle meets Kyung Pyo Kim; Kazuki Tokudome faces Sho Patrick Usami and Johnny Case takes on Noah Bey — all at lightweight. Additionally, Mikio Ueda will lock horns with Przemyslaw Kowalczyk in a heavyweight affair.

Rizin 47 takes place at Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo and features a bantamweight clash between Kyoji Horiguchi and Sergio Pettis. In another featured contest, Kleber Koike Erbst will meet Juan Archuleta at 145 pounds.

Carlyle, a three-time UFC veteran, has lost his last three fights. Most recently, he dropped a three-round verdict against Yoshinori Horie at Rizin 44. A former Road to UFC competitor, South Korea’s Kim is coming off back-to-back finishes of Tural Ragimov and Usami under the Rizin banner.

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Two epic performances came to STL 🙌@UlbergCarlos and @DiegoUFCTX earned tonight's POTN! #UFCStLouis pic.twitter.com/5KLOCayJbZ

— UFC (@ufc) May 12, 2024

Carlos Ulberg padded his bank account at Alonzo Menifield’s expense.

The City Kickboxing standout earned a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus for a 12-second technical knockout victory in a featured light heavyweight pairing at UFC on ESPN 56 at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis on Saturday. Ulberg took advantage of his opponent’s reckless approach, ultimately sealing his victory with a clean left hand during a furious exchange.

Elsewhere, Diego Ferreira garnered the card’s other $50,000 “Performance of the Night” award for his come-from-behind triumph against Mateusz Rebecki at lightweight. After getting dropped in the opening stanza, Ferreira gradually took control, ultimately finishing his Polish adversary with ground-and-pound at the 4:51 mark of Round 3.

Finally, T…

Derrick Lewis made sure his UFC on ESPN 56 main event against Rodrigo Nascimento didn't last the full 25 minutes.

In a surprising change of pace, Lewis (28-12, 1 NC) came out looking to clinch with the Brazilian at first but wasn't able to do much in the position. Instead, Nascimento (11-2, 1 NC) secured a takedown and took the fight to the floor. Lewis would survive the frame but ate a number of elbows. Lewis would have more success in the second frame, landing some heavy uppercuts while dirty boxing. "The Black Beast" would then be fully unleashed in Round 3 as a huge overhand right floored Nascimento, and Lewis kept throwing until the fight was stopped 49 seconds into the stanza.

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With the win, Lewis has now won 19 fights inside the Ultimate Fighting Championship's heavyweight division.Buckley Tears Through Ruziboev The co-main event saw welterweights Joaquin Buckley and Nursulton Ruziboev clash. Buckley (19-6) took an early advantage by taking t…

The Ultimate Fighting Championship makes its second visit to St. Louis for the upcoming UFC on ESPN 56 card, set to go down at 4 p.m. ET on May 11 at Enterprise Center.

The main event features a potential slugfest as explosive heavyweights Derrick Lewis and Rodrigo Nascimento take center stage to cap things off at the home of the NHL Blues. Sherdog.com brings exclusive live play-by-play coverage of every thrilling moment, ensuring you don't miss out on any of the Octagon excitement.

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BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Hardy (-135), Aldrich (+114)Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round: Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:The Official Result BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING …

A middleweight clash pitting Kevin Holland against Michal Oleksiejczuk has been added to the UFC 302 main draw.

The pairing was announced during the UFC on ESPN 56 broadcast on Saturday night. UFC 302 takes place on June 1 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, and is headlined by a lightweight championship bout between Islam Makhachev and Dustin Poirier.

Holland began his promotional tenure at 185 pounds but has been competing primarily at welterweight in recent years. “Trailblazer” is coming off back-to-back losses against Michael Page and Jack Della Maddalena in his last two Octagon appearances.

Oleksiejczuk has lost two of his last three bouts under the UFC banner. Most recently, the 29-year-old Pole was submitted by Michel Pereira in the opening stanza at UFC 299 this past March.

A strawweight (125-pound) clash between Koha Minowa (13-5) and Jeremy Miado (12-7) has been added to the ONE on Prime Video 23 card set to go down at the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, on July 5.

The bout was announced by ONE Championship in a press release on the promotion’s website. The card will be headlined by a fight for the ONE women’s inaugural strawweight kickboxing championship, as Anissa Meksen will lock horns with Jackie Buntan.

Minowa will enter the bout coming off a split-decision loss to Gustav Balart in January. Prior to that, the former Shooto competitor suffered back-to-back unanimous decision defeats against Bokang Masunyane and former champion Jarred Brooks.

Meanwhile, Miado will also enter the matchup on a three-fight skid, most recently succumbing to a Round 3 bulldog choke submission at the hands of Keito Yamakita at ONE 166 in March. Prior to the losing skid, Miado was on a four-fight winning streak, recording knocko…

Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC

A bantamweight clash between two promising prospects has been added to the UFC Fight Night event set to go down at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on July.

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Hyder Amil (9-0) will meet Road to UFC 2022 featherweight winner Jeong Yeong Lee (11-1) in his second promotional outing. The news was first reported by Euro Sport NL’s Marcel Dorff in a post to X (formerly known as Twitter). The bout was laterconfirmed by both fighters on their social media handles.

Sporting an undefeated record, Hyder Amil will enter the Octagon fresh off the heels of a Round 2 technical knockout victory over Fernie Garcia in his promotional debut at UFC Fight Night 236 this past February. The California native earned an Ultimate Fighting Championship contract thanks to a unanimous decision win over Emrah Sonmez in his appearance on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2023.

Meanwhile, Lee made his way to the promotion via t…

While multiple outlets recently confirmed that Michel Pereira was set to take on Roman Dolidze in a middleweight clash on the UFC on ESPN 57 card on June 8, “Demolidor” recently took to Instagram to clarify that he’d never agreed to the matchup.

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According to the Brazilian, taking a fight against his training partner and “friend” on a month’s notice seemed impossible, not only because of their camaraderie but also because of the logistical problem of finding a different gym to train in such a short time.

“I didn’t accept that fight, OK?” Pereira said on his Instagram stories (translation via AgFight). “That man, he trains with me every day. He trains with me at UFC P.I. He trains at Xtreme Couture and he fights. Got it? He accepted and I didn’t. For me, now is not the time to fight him. If he accepted, that’s his problem. I was even surprised when he accepted. I didn’t accept this fight, OK? Got it? I said if it was someone else I would take it. Bu…

Abdullah Al-Qahtani made his opponent quit in his latest Professional Fighters League assignment. There can be no greater joy for a mixed martial artist.

Al-Qahtani put away Yazeed Hasanain with punches in the second round of their PFL MENA 1 headliner on Friday at The Green Halls in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Hasanain (3-1, 0-1 PFL) turned to referee Rich Mitchell, waved his arms and indicated he could absorb no further punishment 4:59 into Round 2. The show featured qualifying bouts in the featherweight and bantamweight divisions for the newly established Middle East and North Africa branch of the PFL.

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Hasanain was more or less outgunned. Al-Qahtani (9-1, 4-0 PFL) staggered him with a left hook in the first round, completed a takedown and went about stalking his Jordanian counterpart. He pressed Hasanian into the fence for much of the second round, dodged return fire and unleashed power punches to the head. Damage was cumulative on Hasanain and ultima…

Mongolia’s Batochir Batsaikhan made a spectacular ONE Championship debut, as he stopped Fabio Harada with just two seconds remaining in the first round of their ONE Friday Fights 62 bantamweight showcase on Friday at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

Harada (5-2, 0-1 ONE) came out the gate looking to pressure Batsaikhan (3-1, 1-0 ONE) against the ropes. However, it was not long before the Mongolian reversed his opponent into a corner and landed a series of knees to the body followed by crisp straight lefts, immediately putting Harada on notice. After eating a couple of slick counter straight lefts and a head kick, Harada attempted to take the fight to the canvas but was denied. Gaining confidence in his striking advantage, Batsaikhan landed a slicing elbow on his opponent that clearly hurt Harada. From there, Batsaikhan began to pick Harada apart with stinging counterstrikes to the head and knees to the body while denying the exhausted 24-year-old from completin…