Martial Arts News

Showtime is getting out of the combat sports business.

Paramount president and CEO Chris McCarthy sent an email to employees stating that Showtime Sports will no longer move forward with its mixed martial arts and boxing content at the conclusion of 2023. Instead, the focus will shift toward “premium scripted services that drive subscribers.” Yahoo Sports was first to report the news.

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Showtime Sports was responsible for showing Bellator MMA cards and numerous major boxing events. This adds to the uncertainty surrounding the future of Bellator MMA, which in recent months has been linked to Professional Fighters League in regards to a potential sale of the California-based promotion. Thus far, promotion head Scott Coker hasn’t offered much information regarding the sale, but he did recently confirm that Bellator was “looking to take a partner” and that PFL was “definitely in the conversation.”

Bellator announced an exclusive partnership with Showtim…

Surging Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight Ian Garry has no doubts about the outcome of the upcoming title fight between Leon Edwards and Colby Covington.

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“Rocky” will defend his 170-pound strap against Covington in the main event of UFC 296 on Dec. 16. Garry, who will face Kill Cliff FC training partner Vicente Luque on the same card, is already plotting a future matchup against Covington, as he believes “Chaos” losing to Edwards is a certainty. Garry has been pushing to bring the UFC back to his hometown of Dublin, where the promotion hasn’t been since a Fight Night at the 3Arena in 2015. The undefeated Irishman is hoping to headline the potential card against Covington in front of home crowd and is confident of delivering a knockout.

“When he loses. I don’t see anyway he beats Leon,” Garry recently said in an interview with The Schmo. “Look, I’m planning a UFC Dublin card soon. So, if they wanna put me and Colby in the main event in UFC…

A lightweight matchup between Jamie Mullarkey and Nasrat Haqparast has been added to the UFC Shanghai lineup.

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Both fighters confirmed the booking on social media. The Fight Night card, which takes place on Dec. 2 at Mercedes-Benz Arena, will also mark the UFC’s first trip to China in four years. The promotion’s last event in the country was UFC Fight Night 157, which was headlined by Weili Zhang vs. Jessica Andrade at the Universiade Sports Centre in Shenzhen in August 2019.

Mullarkey has gone 3-1 in his last four outings, with his lone defeat during that time coming via knockout against Muhammad Naimov in June. The Australian has since bounced back with a decision win over John Makdessi and will be looking to build on it as he makes his fourth Octagon walk of this year.

Meanwhile, Haqparast has gone 2-2 in his last four, dropping hard fought decisions against veterans Dan Hooker and Bobby Green. The 28-year-old recovered from the slump with …

Jake Paul will return to action inside the squared circle before the end of the year.

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The YouTuber turned professional boxer has taken the world of boxing by storm, essentially powering the surge of a whole new genre called “influencer boxing.” Paul is now set to make his ninth walk to the ring on Dec. 15 on a DAZN pay-per-view card. The venue for the event and Paul’s opponent are yet to be announced. “The Problem Child” is expected to reveal his opponent’s name after Amanda Serrano’s unified title defense against Danila Ramos in Orlando, Florida, on Oct. 27.

Who is next? Jake Paul is back December 15th.

Opponent to be announced after Serrano Ramos on Friday, October 27th. Tune in on DAZN!@jakepaul @daznboxing #JakePaul pic.twitter.com/krFSZ2WlnI

— Most Valuable Promotions (@MostVpromotions) October 16, 2023

Paul also expressed world champion aspirations in a press release.

“Eight fights in the boxing game …

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Sodiq Yusuff won’t dwell on his loss to Edson Barboza at UFC Fight Night 230 for too long.

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The two featherweights engaged in an entertaining five-round bout at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday night. While Yusuff started quickly, Barboza ultimately pulled away for a unanimous decision triumph in a clash that was an easy selection for “Fight of the Night.”

Neither fighter was present at the post-fight press conference, but they did share a hospital space together after the bout. Yusuff, who suffered just his second defeat in eight UFC outings, took some time to reflect on the loss from his hospital bed in a video on his YouTube channel.

“Everything in perspective,” Yusuff said. “It hurts a lot right now, but I know at the end of the day I’m going to get past it. I said it on the commentary after the fight: I was a good nail before I ever was a good hammer, and I’m not just saying that. I had a lot of bumps and bruises b…

Macy Chiasson will face Ketlen Vieira in a bantamweight bout at UFC Fight Night on Jan. 13.

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Chiasson confirmed the booking on social media following an initial report from MMAFighting.com. UFC Fight Night is expected to take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas but does not yet have a confirmed headliner.

Chiasson hasn’t competed since September 2022, when she suffered a third-round knockout loss to Irene Aldana at UFC 279. “The Ultimate Fighter 28” winner has competed at both bantamweight and featherweight in the Las Vegas-based promotion, earning victories over the likes of Norma Dumont, Marion Reneau and Pannie Kianzad.

Vieira, meanwhile, has been victorious in three of her last four Octagon appearances. Most recently, the 32-year-old Brazilian outpointed Kianzad at UFC Fight Night 224 on July 22. Her ledger also includes notable wins against the likes of Holly Holm, Miesha Tate, Cat Zingano and Sara McMann.

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Kamaru Usman is by no means leaving the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s welterweight division for good, even as he steps up for a short-notice middleweight debut.

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Usman will face the undefeated Khamzat Chimaev on nine days’ notice in the co-main event at UFC 294 on Saturday. While “The Nigerian Nightmare” has no doubt that the clash is essentially a title eliminator, he also hasn’t completely taken his eyes off the 170-pound. weight class.

Usman even has a fairytale storyline in his mind for his retirement, which would be a first in the history of the promotion. The 36-year-old is currently on a two-fight slump, losing his title to Leon Edwards in a shock upset before being emphatically beaten in a rematch.

Usman now wants to win the middleweight title before moving back down to welterweight to reclaim his strap and then hang up his gloves for good.

“No, no, absolutely not,” Usman told TMZ Sports when asked if he’s l…

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Alexander Volkanovski plans on knocking Islam Makhachev out in their rematch at UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.

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The UFC featherweight king suffered his lone promotional loss against Makhachev at UFC 284 in February in a closely contested decision that many believe could have gone either way. After going toe-to-toe against Makhachev for twenty-five minutes, Volkanovksi claims he has been almost impossible to take down or be submitted inside the gym.

The Australian believes he’ll be a tougher puzzle for Makhachev to solve as he steps up for his second double-champ bid on 10 days’ notice. While the fight is on short notice, it came as a sort of relief for Volkanovski, who has already fought twice this year and was getting impatient to get back in the Octagon. Volkanovski is focused on finishing the fight early and doesn’t plan on testing his opponent’s gas tank even though he claims he could.

“I’m gonna be even harder to tak…

Former UFC welterweight title challenger Darren Till has a rather bold prediction for the upcoming clash between Khamzat Chimaev and Kamaru Usman.

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Chimaev and Usman are slated to fight in the co-main event at UFC 294 on Oct. 21 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. “The Nigerian Nightmare” stepped up to make his middleweight debut on nine days’ notice after Paulo Costa was forced out of the fight due to staph infection.

Till and Chimaev have been friends for a while now, with “The Gorilla” even briefly moving to Sweden to train at the Allstars Training Center in Stockholm. Till recently gave his prediction for the UFC 294 co-headliner while in attendance for the Misfits boxing card headlined by Tommy Fury and KSI in Manchester this past Saturday.

“I love Khamzat, God bless him, I said. Usman’s got balls but I just think Khamzat’s gonna run over him,” Till said in an interview with The Schmo. “As much as I am his friend, I’m his biggest fan. I th…

Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight standout Muhammad Mokaev believes upcoming opponent Tim Elliott is underestimating him las all his previous opponents have done.

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Currently unbeaten in four Octagon outings, the Dagestan-born British prospect is slated to clash against the battle-tested veteran at UFC 294 on Oct. 21 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. Despite his unbeaten record and dominant showings, Mokaev is still in the process of proving himself within the Las Vegas-based promotion. During their back and forth leading up to the booking, Elliott took a dig at Mokaev’s comparatively nascent UFC career.

“The Punisher” believes Elliott will have a different opinion once they start trading leather on fight night. While he has respect for Elliott’s experience, Mokaev is absolutely confident of securing a finish.

“I think he's looked down on me,” Mokaev said in an interview with The National. “He thinks I'm young, overhyped, but my record…

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John Fury admits that the recent boxing clash between his son, Tommy Fury, and YouTube influencer KSI wasn’t a pleasant watch.

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Fury, 24, took on KSI in the main event of Misfits Boxing: The Prime Card at the AO Arena in Manchester on Saturday. Both fans and pundits slammed lackluster clash, as the fighters kept clinching at every exchange. While Fury walked away with a unanimous decision after five rounds of inaction, KSI called it a robbery in the immediate aftermath of the fight.

Fury’s father was left unimpressed with his son’s performance despite the win. Hailing from a long line of gypsy boxers, John admits that the main event of the night wasn’t proper pugilism.

According to Fury Sr., it was KSI’s style that stifled his son’s game. While they had expected that out of KSI, John would have preferred more intervention from the referee. Fury also stated that he wouldn’t have had an issue with the decision going the other w…

Viviane Araujo entered UFC Fight Night 230 with her back against the wall.

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After consecutive decision losses against Alexa Grasso and Amanda Ribas, the 36-year-old Cerrado MMA product desperately needed a victory to remain relevant in the UFC’s flyweight division. Araujo delivered in that regard, earning a unanimous verdict over former title challenger Jennifer Maia in the co-main event at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday night.

“It feels amazing,” Araujo said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “The best part is the camp, the strategy, the game plan. The [key] word was patience. It worked perfectly. I followed the game plan to a T. I waited for her to use her boxing, overextend, so I could use my takedowns to keep her on her back. The best thing is when a strategy works, it makes me really happy. For me and my team, I’m really ecstatic.”

Araujo admitted that she felt pressure to get a win, but she was able to turn that into a posi…