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UNSTOPPABLE!! #KSW84 #AndStill

The King 🇬🇧 @phildefriesmma 👑 pic.twitter.com/UaqlQst0fy

— KSW (@KSW_MMA) July 15, 2023

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Philip De Fries keeps making history as the Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki heavyweight champion.

In the KSW 84/a> headliner, De Fries (24-6, 1 NC; 10-0 KSW) re-asserted that he’s one of the most dangerous heavyweight fighters in any promotion, as he choked out Szymon Bajor on Saturday at Polsat Plus Arena in Gdynia, Poland, for his ninth consecutive title defense. A Professional Fighters League alum, Bajor (24-10, 2-2 KSW) had some success with his strikes at the beginning of the clash, giving the defending champion trouble with his dirty boxing. When De Fries felt his opponent was taking too much liberty with his punches, the Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran shot for a successful takedown and kept Bajor on the canvas for the rest of the round, landing punches and forcing Bajor to carry his weight.…

Complete destruction!#ONEFightNight12 video: Superlek Kiatmoo9 def. Tagir Khalilov—TKO (Elbows and Punches) 1:42 R2 pic.twitter.com/wD38gAHVYw

— Sherdog (@sherdogdotcom) July 15, 2023

Superlek Kiatmoo9 made a well-respected opponent look like a rank amateur.

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The 27-year-old muay thai star continued his climb on the One Championship ladder and turned away Tagir Khalilov with elbows and punches in the second round of their ONE on Prime Video 12 headliner on Friday at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangok, Thailand. Khalilov met his end 1:42 into Round 2.

Superlek administered a sustained beating for nearly five minutes. He tore into the Russian with an overwhelming assortment of weapons, but his ferocious stepping elbows were a sight to behold. They split Khalilov’s defenses repeatedly and drew a considerable amount of blood. Midway through the second round, Superlek put together one final surge of offense and prompted re…

Sherdog's live ONE on Prime Video 12 coverage kicks off Friday at 8 p.m. ET. Round 1 The kickboxing match begins with Rusu landing some solid kicks to the body. Shumarov attempts to fire back with punches but Rusu is able to keep the pressure on. Shumarov lands a head kick, but it is partially blocked. As the round continues, Rusu starts taking over and having more success. Sherdog Scores Tyler Treese scores the round: 10-9 RusuBrian Knapp scores the round: 10-9 RusuLev Pisarsky scores the round: 10-9 Rusu

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Round 2 Rusu picks off where he left off and starts power punches. Shumarov isn't backing down and starts landing some punches of his own. An overhand from Shumarov lands and appears to rock Rusu, who is beginning to slow down. Rusu lands a nice knee and throws several punches in combination. Shumarov misses a head kick and eats several punches as a result. The round ends with Shumarov and Rusu trading body kicks and short punches. Sherdog Scores Tyler …

Sherdog's live UFC on ESPN 49 coverage will begin Saturday at 7 p.m. ET. BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Perez (-200), Evans-Smith (+170)Round 1 Sherdog Scores ? Jay Pettry scores the round:Edwin Ayala scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round: Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Edwin Ayala scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Edwin Ayala scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:The Official Result BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Munoz (-150), Deaton (+130)Round 1 Sherdog Scores ? Jay Pettry scores the round:Edwin Ayala scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Edwin Ayala scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Edwin Ayala scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:The Official Result BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUT…

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight champ Deiveson Figueiredo is confidently taking the next steps to further his career.

Figueiredo (21-3-1) spoke to Sherdog on Friday about his plans for the future and what will differ following his expected relocation to 135 pounds. The former flyweight king decided that wholesale changes to his life, ranging from getting a new manager to switching camps. “Daico” parted ways with Wallid Ismail in 2022, and his subsequent arrangement with Urijah Faber was not working out the way he expected. According to Figueiredo, the language barrier played a factor.

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“…I don’t speak English, [and] I was having a hard time communicating with Urijah Faber, so I decided to start to work with Alex Davis,” Figueiredo told Sherdog. “Urijah Faber is a great person and friend, and he totally understood my point.”

Figueiredo was recently expected to face Manel Kape at flyweight, but when that fell through, the 35-year-old co…

A pivotal Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight contest is the first official fight booked for the Abu Dhabi card in October.

The promotion intends on returning to the Etihad Arena on Yas Island at Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Oct. 21. No fight had been booked for the show in a little over three months until Friday, when Eurosport NL reported that Tim Elliott (19-12-1) would be battling it out with Muhammad Mokaev (10-0, 1 NC) on the billing. The Missouri-based flyweight confirmed the pairing on Instagram along with other outlets shortly after its announcement.

Triumphant in his last two, Elliott is currently riding the longest win streak of his two UFC stints. On two previous occasions, Elliott had strung a pair of victories together, but he had never been able to amass a third. In 2022, he upset Tagir Ulanbekov to remain a ranked contender. In June, the former Glory MMA & Fitness staple picked up a hard-fought decision over Victor Altamirano. Elliott h…

[embedded content] The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to ESPN airwaves with an intriguing women's bantamweight main event.

The five-round headliner of UFC on ESPN 49 will see former women's bantamweight champion Holly Holm go up against Mayra Bueno Silva. Both main eventers successfully made weight, and so did all the other fighters on the 13-fight card. Initially, Bassil Hafez came in at 171.5 pounds, which was half a pound over the limit for his co-main event against Jack Della Maddalena, but he came back and hit 171 pounds.

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"The Preacher's Daughter" is looking to keep her momentum going after defeating Yana Santos in her last outing. Despite being 41, Holm (15-6) has won three of her last four fights, with the lone defeat being a split decision to Ketlen Vieira. The boxing standout stepped on the scale at 135.5 pounds.

Silva (10-2-1) enters her first UFC main event on a three-fight win streak. The submission artist is coming off impress…

[embedded content] Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki heavyweight kingpin Philip De Fries will have nearly 30 pounds on his opponent in his headlining affair.

July's offering from KSW of KSW 84 will be headlined by a heavyweight championship fight between titleholder De Fries and Szymon Bajor. The English heavyweight weighed in considerably heavier than his foe, and he will be attempting to extend his record among all major promotions for the most defenses at that weight class. All fighters made weight for the show in Gdynia, Poland.

Ahead of the title tilt, the champion weighed 265 pounds. De Fries (23-6, 1 NC) is on an impressive 11-fight win streak that dates back to 2017 and spans his entire KSW tenure. He most recently defeated Todd Duffee in under a round via TKO. Meanwhile, Bajor came in at 238 pounds, and is riding a four-fight win streak that includes victories over Ronny Markes and Bartosz Szewczyk.

KSW 84 will air live on the promotion's website on Saturday, be…

[embedded content] The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s 205-pound throne is once again vacant.

Early Friday morning, UFC light heavyweight champ Jamahal Hill (12-1, 1 NC) posted a video on YouTube channel announcing that he had ruptured his Achilles tendon. Due to the lengthy layoff for surgery and rehabilitation, he has elected to surrender his belt and not keep the division in limbo. In his emotional video statement, Hill explained that the UFC informed him that he would be able to fight for the strap after he completes his recovery, but the timetable for his return is currently unknown other than “as soon as possible…within reason.” MMA Fighting subsequently reported that Hill suffered the injury during the basketball game between MMA fighters prior to UFC 290.

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“I’m here with some news,” a crestfallen Hill said. “I’mma be real, right off the bat, it’s not the good news that we would hope like…everyone knows I’ve been waiting for months now to face …

The Ultimate Fighting Championship was quick to keep its upcoming pay-per-view lineup to a lucky 13 fights.

According to her Instagram on Thursday, Joanne Wood has been forced out of her flyweight fight at UFC 291 against Priscila Cachoeira (12-4). In her place, as first reported by MMA Fighting, is Miranda Maverick (11-5). Maverick confirmed this news of this July 29 pairing shortly after it broke on Thursday, and she will be taking this bout on a little over two weeks’ notice.

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“Gutted to find out that I won’t be fighting July 29th,” Wood wrote on her Instagram page. “It is what it is and I’m going to try not dwell on this as it was out of my control. I invested and done everything I could and was ready for what was maybe going to be my last fight. I loved the extra altitude training that I went all in on to make sure I was best prepared and was feeling great with no injuries. If only fight camps went on your record (and you got paid for them) …

.@BellatorMMA is proud to announce that No. 4-ranked men's pound-for-pound Bantamweight World Champion @sergiopettis and Interim Bantamweight Champion @TeamMixMMA have been re-signed to multi-fight contract extensions. https://t.co/VS8xshuZrd pic.twitter.com/T1UZqwbpWu

— Bellator Public Relations (@BellatorPR) July 13, 2023 Bellator MMA is making sure that the top of its bantamweight division is sticking around for the foreseeable future.

Per a press release on Thursday from the promotion, Bellator has signed bantamweight champion Sergio Pettis (23-5) and interim titleholder Patrick Mix (18-1) to extended multi-fight deals. The league has done so prior to their 135-pound unification match, which is set to go down at an undisclosed date. The terms of the contracts are not being made public, nor how many fights either man has agreed to with Bellator. The fighters will remain exclusive to the organization.

In June, Pettis staved off Bellator…

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship star Chael Sonnen has reached a plea deal after being accused of attacking multiple people at a Las Vegas hotel in December 2021.

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Sonnen pleaded no contest on Wednesday to a charge of misdemeanor breach of the peace in Las Vegas Justice Court and was fined $750, according to a report from the Las Vegas Review-Journal. As a result of the plea deal, four previous misdemeanor battery charges were dismissed by judge Ann Zimmerman. Two misdemeanor charges were also dismissed last September. Sonnen did not appear in court, and the case is now closed without further conditions or jail time.

The former UFC title challenger initially faced multiple misdemeanor battery charges — including felony battery by strangulation — for an alleged incident that occurred on Dec. 18, 2021. The felony battery charge was dropped in March 2022, and five other misdemeanors were dismissed by the court without prejudice. Sonnen was accu…