Martial Arts News

Merab Dvalishvili has some unexplained animosity towards Umar Nurmagomedov. 

Dvalishvili lost his bantamweight title in a rematch against Petr Yan at UFC 323 this past December. Dvalishvili now expects to challenge Yan for the title in a trilogy. Meanwhile, former champion Sean O’Malley is scheduled to fight top contender Aiemann Zahabi at UFC White House on June 14. 

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Dvalishvili was recently attending a presser for his upcoming wrestling match against Frankie Edgar at RAF 9. Dvalishvili was asked if he would consider a rematch against Nurmagomedov in case the winner of O’Malley vs. Zahabi jumped the queue for the next title shot. Dvalishvili confidently doubled down on his claims of a confirmed trilogy against Yan. “The Machine” then completely dismissed Nurmagomedov.Bad Blood Lingers “What kind of question is this?” Dvalishvsili said. “I’m sure you know I’m fighting Petr Yan, it's gonna be trilogy. He beat me last fight and we have to fi…

Arman Tsarukyan isn’t very excited about the backup spot for the UFC White House main event. 

Ilia Topuria will look to defend his lightweight title against interim champion Justin Gaethje at UFC Freedom 250 on June 14 at the White House. Dana White recently announced that Tsarukyan is the official backup fighter for the lightweight title fight at the White House. 

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However, with no injuries reported, hardly two weeks ahead of the fight, Tsarukyan doesn’t think his services will be needed. Tsarukyan also notes that he is scheduled to wrestle Tony Ferguson at RAF 10 on June 13, which will be the same day as the weigh-ins for the UFC White House card.Booked Until September “I’m booked until September already… I have wrestling match on June 13, we’ll see,” Tsarukyan said while attending a presser for his RAF 9 wrestling match against “Mugzy.” “I am a backup, but everything is going good, two weeks left, I think they’re gonna fight. So, I’m gonn…

Overweight military personnel aren’t welcome to the UFC White House event. 

The UFC is hosting a one-of-a-kind event at the White House on June 14 to celebrate America’s 250th year of independence. The event also coincides with President Donald Trump’s birthday. 

While there will be no tickets for the general public, 4,300 special guests, mostly members of the military, will watch the event at the South Lawn of the White House. Meanwhile, 85,000 free tickets will be available for the general public to watch the event on screen at the nearby Ellipse. 

Good for Optics?Military personnel allegedly need to meet fitness requirements to be eligible to attend the event. According to a screenshot of an invite shared on social media, “Ticket recipients are required to meet the DOD waist-to-height ratio standard of less than 0.55, as well as all service-specific physical fitness test requirements.” The tickets are also not transferable, even to family member…

Things are heating up between Jean Silva and Melquizael Costa. 

Silva and Costa both recently attended LFA 234 at Ginásio do Polvilho in Cajamar, São Paulo, Brazil. Videos have since surfaced of Silva confronting Costa at the event. Costa can still be seen smiling, while an animated Silva points his finger at him and says something in Portuguese. 

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A Recent Callout Costa (26-8) had initially called out Silva (17-3) after a highlight reel spinning-back-kick knockout win over Dan Ige this past September. However, Costa has since suffered a hard-fought unanimous decision loss against Arnold Allen earlier this month. It marked the end of an impressive six-fight winning streak for “The Dalmatian.”

Costa is unlikely to get an immediate booking against Silva, who is coming off a decision win over Allen. Silva’s win over Allen saw him rebound from his only UFC loss against Diego Lopes. 

Oh a treta! 👀🔥

O Jea…

Sherdog's live UFC Macau coverage will begin Saturday at 4 a.m. ET/1 a.m. PT. The event is also known as UFC Fight Night 277. BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Amorim (-120); Lookboonmee (+105)Round 1 Lookboonmee (10-4; 7-3 UFC) and Amorim (10-2; 4-2 UFC) go to work in matching orthodox stances under the watchful eye of referee Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro. The Brazilian walks the foe to the fence, where she closes the distance in a hurry and takes underhooks, looking to drag the muay thai standout to the canvas. Lookboonmee is wise to it, however, and refuses to be taken down, then spinning Amorim against the cage. Amorim turns, nearly turning her back all the way to her opponent, before hauling her down with a brief kneebar attempt. She can’t get it, but ends up on top in the ensuing scramble. A little past the halfway point of the round, Amorim slides into side control at the base of the fence. Lookboonmee fights off a kimura attempt, but Amorim keeps the two-on-one a…

Ultimate Fighting Championship Hall of Famer Anderson Silva still is not seeing eye-to-eye with his former boss.

Speaking to Rolling Stone recently, UFC President and CEO Dana White spoke about a myriad of issues. One included the end of the career of Silva, which White claimed did not go well. In addition to the number of losses that Silva accrued consecutively, White suggested that “The Spider” was difficult to deal with from a negotiating perspective.

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Consider it just another day for “The Spider,” who responded directly to a post by “Canal Punch” about Dana’s comments on Instagram. In Portuguese, Silva repeatedly referred to White as “the bald guy” while dismissing most of what White had to say.The bald guy “The bald guy saying s--t,” Silva remarked. “I’ve been out of the organization for many years, but it seems neither the current fighters nor the bald guy can forget my achievements. Deep down, the bald guy knows that with me there was no whinin…

Who will stay at the top? 🗣️@SongYadongLFG vs @Daico_Deiveson

[ #UFCMacau LIVE MAY 30 at 7amET on @ParamountPlus ] pic.twitter.com/8GyWM4ZgPl

— UFC (@ufc) May 29, 2026 The Ultimate Fighting Championship's return to China is officially set following the UFC Macau weigh-ins.

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The UFC Fight Night event will be headlined by a bantamweight clash between Yadong Song and former flyweight king Deiveson Figueiredo. Both men had no issue making weight, nor did the rest of the card. In total, all 26 fighters hit their marks for a professional weigh-in devoid of any drama.

The "Kung Fu Kid" hasn't fought in his home country since 2018. Since then, Song (22-9-1, 1 NC) has established himself among the top bantamweights, although he's fallen short to elite fighters like Sean O'Malley, Petr Yan and Cory Sandhagen. 3-2 in his last five fights, the 28-year-old will look to show he's still improving and weighed 136 pounds on the dot for…

One major voice inside of the Ultimate Fighting Championship is not a fan of the upcoming spectacle.

Speaking on his podcast of the “JRE MMA Show” on Wednesday with guests “Big” John McCarthy and Josh Thomson, color commentator Joe Rogan aired his thoughts about the UFC White House card coming up on June 14. The event is to be held on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., in an outdoor venue that will be subject to weather and more.

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Rogan has spoken up about the event in other contexts, namely that it will be going on during the U.S. war against Iran at the time. His observations and grievances this time around were largely focused on logistics and giving the fighters the best possible situation to perform for what will be the biggest fight of most of their lives.

“The ‘White House’ thing is odd,” Rogan offered. “I don’t like it. I don’t like the idea of fighting outside, at all. And then there’s June, and it’s D.C., and we looke…

Shavkat Rakhmonov is getting back to work.

A video posted by DAR PRO TEAM on Instagram shows the undefeated UFC welterweight in the gym, moving around and doing what appears to be some light sparring. While that wouldn’t normally be significant by itself, it is for Rakhmonov, who has been out of action since December 2024, when he took a five-round verdict over Ian Garry at UFC 310.

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A knee injury prevented “Nomad” from challenging then champion Belal Muhammad for welterweight gold in the first half of 2025, and he remained sidelined for the remainder of the year.

More bad news hit at the beginning of 2026, when it was revealed that Rakhmonov would be out for at least nine to 10 more months after reinjuring that same knee. While a timetable for the 31-year-old’s return is unknown, it likely wouldn’t occur until late this year at the earliest.

Rakhmonov’s 19-0 professional mark includes seven triumphs in UFC competition. Garry is the only oppon…

Colby Covington says he's on good terms with the UFC. | Getty/UFC

Colby Covington is excited about his future with Real American Freestyle, but he won’t completely rule out a UFC comeback before all is said and done.

The former welterweight contender informed the UFC of his retirement last week, potentially ending a 17-bout tenure with the Las Vegas-based promotion. While Covington appeared to be upset after missing out on the UFC White House, “Chaos” now claims the he’s on good terms with the organization.

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"I wasn't let go. I'm still a UFC fighter. I'll always be a UFC fighter,” Covington said on "The Ariel Helwani Show.” “If I come back to fight again, it will be in the UFC. I'm still under contract with the UFC. All is still good with the UFC. I'm thankful for everything they did for me.

"It's 50-50 [if I fight MMA again.] I know I have a lot left in the tank. I know there's a lot of good miles still left on the tread, but I don'…

In a span of three weeks this August, Brazilian MMA fans will have the oportunity to see four UFC champions in action in national soil — but under diferent rules.

Shortly after Spaten announced that a boxing match between ex-UFC champs Mauricio Rua and Glover Teixeira would headline its third event on Aug. 29, Rafael Cordeiro told Sherdog.com that former heavyweight title holders Fabricio Werdum and Junior dos Santos will square off in a grappling match in the featured attraction at Kings Championship 2 on Aug. 8.

According to Cordeiro, the event will be promoted in Florianópolis Santa Catarina with the full support of local governor. The Kings MMA leader plans to announce the full card, which will also include MMA fights, in the near future.

Finishing the TrilogyDos Santos and Werdum initially squared off at UFC 90 in October 2008, with “Cigano” winning via first-round TKO. Their paths crossed again at Gamebred Bareknuckle 5, where dos Santos defeated Werdu…

Bassil Hafez won't be able to fight until March 2027. | Getty/UFC

Bassil Hafez has been suspended for one year after failing an out-of-competition drug test earlier this year.

UFC anti-doping partner Combat Sports Anti-Doping announced the sanction on Wednesday. The welterweight fighter tested positive for ipamorelin, a prohibited peptide hormone, in a sample collected on March 20 in Las Vegas.

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“During CSAD’s investigation, Hafez provided full and complete cooperation as defined under the UFC ADP,” the statement read. “His cooperation included identifying and introducing CSAD to a wellness clinic he had used to obtain substances he believed were permitted for injury recovery purposes. Hafez has not competed since November 2024 due to injury and did not have a bout scheduled at the time the sample was collected. 

“Evidence gathered during the investigation indicated that, although Hafez claimed he was unaware that a product provi…