Martial Arts News

Week 9 of Dana White’s Contender Series will proceed with four bouts after Lucas Rocha came in heavy for a proposed flyweight clash against Davi Costa.

Rocha tipped the scales at 131 pounds, and as a result his fight with Costa was canceled. Costa made weight without issue, checking in at 125 pounds on Monday.

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The Contender Series takes place on Tuesday night at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and airs on ESPN+ beginning at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. The evening’s featured bout is a light heavyweight pairing pitting Rodolfo Bellato (205) against Murtaza Talha Ali (203.5).

After falling to Vitor Petrino on the Contender Series in September 2022, Bellator has rebounded to earned back-to-back victories under the Legacy Fighting Alliance banner. Most recently, he claimed the promotion’s 205-pound belt with a decision win over Acacio dos Santos at LFA 159 on May 27.

Ali will take a 6-0 mark into his matchup with Bellato. The Bahrain native is coming off a 2-0…

Bellator 300 is down one title fight.

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A heavyweight championship clash pitting Ryan Bader against Linton Vassell has been scratched after Vassell was forced to withdraw from the event due to illness. Sherdog confirmed the news with a promotion official following an initial report from MMAjunkie.com. Bader vs. Vassell was previously announced as the Bellator 300 headliner, but Saturday’s card still features three title bouts on the main card.

Bellator 300 takes place at Pechanga Arena in San Diego, California, and will proceed with a three-fight main card, per promotion officials. That includes the following: a women’s featherweight title tilt between Cristiane Justino and Cat Zingano; a women’s flyweight championship matchup between Liz Carmouche and Ilima-Lei Macfarlane and a lightweight grand prix showdown between reigning 155-pound champ Usman Nurmagomedov and Brent Primus. The main draw airs on Showtime at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.

Bader and…

Sean Strickland challenged Israel Adesanya for the middleweight title at UFC 293 at the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney last month, claiming the belt in one of the year’s biggest upsets.

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As member of the City Kickboxing Gym in New Zealand and training partner of Australian stars like Alexander Volkanovski, it was general perception that Adesanya was the home fighter. However, Strickland started showering praise on Australia from the moment he landed in Sydney. He went on to further connect with the audience during the presser and had them rallying behind him on fight night.

Former middleweight champ Robert Whittaker, who lost his strap to Adesanya in front of his home crowd in Australia at UFC 243 in 2019, believes he knows why the crowd rallied behind Strickland. While the newly-crowned middleweight champ is known for his polarizing opinions, Whittaker believes Australians don’t get offended easily. “The Reaper” also noted that Adesanya just tends to r…

After Sean Strickland’s shocking win over Israel Adesanya last month, Xtreme Couture coach Eric Nicksick is plotting yet another massive upset.

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Francis Ngannou left his previous gym, The MMA Factory in Paris, in 2020 for Xtreme Couture after his loss to Stipe Miocic in their first encounter. “The Predator” would go on to become UFC heavyweight champion under Nicksick’s tutelage.

Ngannou left the UFC earlier this year after failed contract negotiations and is now scheduled to fight heavyweight boxing champ Tyson Fury in a crossover match on Oct. 28 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. If the Cameroonian can beat arguably the greatest heavyweight pugilist of all time in his boxing debut, it certainly would go down in the history books.

Nicksick believes Ngannou has a fair shot. Nicksick noted how Deontay Wilder scored an almost fight-ending knockdown over “The Gypsy King” in their first encounter. According to the Xtreme Couture coach, it is unorthodox sty…

Francisco Trinaldo is looking to venture into bare knuckle boxing following his release from the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

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The UFC parted ways with the former welterweight competitor after a decision loss against Randy Brown in October 2022. “Massaranduba” racked up a 18-8 promotional record over the course of a decade with wins over the likes of Paul Felder, Jim Miller and Bobby Green.

Trinaldo is now looking to dip his foot into bare knuckle boxing and wants to make his debut against Mike Perry, who is arguably one of the biggest draws in the sport today. Perry has made quite a name for himself in recent times under the the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) banner with wins over the likes of Luke Rockhold and Michael Page.

Trinaldo claims he wanted to fight Perry during their UFC days but “Platinum” was always handpicking his opponents.

“I can’t want to beat up this a—hole. I’m sure I can go to BKFC and put a beating on …

Renzo Gracie revealed that he loaned his Abu Dhabi apartment to Paulo Costa and his team ahead of UFC 294.

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“He was using four rooms in a local hotel with his team, and I told him to stay in my apartment,” Gracie said.

Gracie also told Sherdog.com that Costa recently underwent surgery for an injury on his elbow but guaranteed that the Brazilian’s fight with Khamzat Chimaev would still proceed as planned.

“Costa had a little problem on his elbow that required a small surgery,” Gracie said. “But everything is fine now, and later this week he is returning to the normal training. ‘Borrachinha’ brought an excellent team of [sparring partners] to help him there. [Eric] Albarracin brought two wrestlers from Uzbequistan.”

Shortly thereafter, Albarracin sent a message to Sherdog.com correcting Gracie on the nationalities of Costa’s training partners.

“Actually we brought wrestlers from Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan,” Albarracin wrote…

Going into enemy territory to reclaim the lightweight title wasn’t Charles Oliveira’s first choice.

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Oliveira will challenge Islam Makhachev for the 155-pound belt at the Ultimate Fighting Championship's annual event in Abu Dhabi next month. However, UFC 294 on Oct. 21 isn’t the first time Oliveira and Makhachev will meet at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.

The Brazilian was on an 11-fight win streak and the uncrowned champ of the 155-pound division when Makhachev submitted him almost exactly a year prior at the same venue. Even back then, Oliveira had openly voiced his displeasure at having to go to Abu Dhabi, which Makhachev’s mentor and teammate Khabib Nurmagomedov famously labeled “our territory.”

The Brazilian also doesn’t think it's “necessarily fair” that the rematch is taking place in Abu Dhabi. However, having been in the fight game for a long time, "do Bronx" understands his position as a challenger well.

“I don’t necessarily thi…

Aljo has a message for the bantamweight champ 🗣️ #POLARIS25 pic.twitter.com/fUyJ9oY3rh

— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) September 30, 2023

Aljamain Sterling took the opportunity to demand a rematch against Sean O’Malley after winning a grappling match at Polaris 25 in Wales on Saturday.

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“Funk Master” picked up a decision win over Mike Grundy in a 10-minute match to return to the win column after losing his Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight title to O’Malley last month.

“Sugar” floored Sterling in the second frame, ultimately securing a technical knockout victory in their UFC 292 headliner clash on Aug. 19. This also opened up the title picture for Sterling’s close friend and training partner, Merab Dvalishvili, who had avoided fighting for the strap during his friend’s title reign. “The Machine” has since clarified that he will only fight for the title next, even if he must wait for Sterling to get a rematch.…

Alex Pereira has seemingly moved on from the Ultimate Fighting Championship's middleweight division for good.  

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Pereira was just three fights and a year into his stint with the promotion when he secured a middleweight title shot against Israel Adesanya. “Poatan” won the strap, lost it in a rematch, moved up to light heavyweight and is now slated to make another gold bid — all within the span of another 12 months.  

As Pereira goes into his UFC 295 clash against Jiri Prochazka for the vacant light heavyweight belt, the Brazilian seems to have moved on from the prospect of competing for the middleweight strap down the line.  

The former two-division kickboxing champion recently shared that he has no plans of cutting back down to 185 pounds, especially with the recent change in the title picture.  

“Poatan” would have considered a trilogy clash against former champ and long-time rival Adesanya, who w…

A tough fight until the final bell!

[ @FiteTV PPV https://t.co/eEpfmslhPp ] pic.twitter.com/oLif6Jre3Z

— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) October 1, 2023 Grappling specialist Alan Yamaniha outworked 23-year veteran Hideo Tokoro to take a unanimous decision victory in Sunday’s bantamweight main event at Rizin Fighting Federation Landmark Vol. 6 in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan.

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Yamaniha (20-10-4, 4-2 Rizin) took advantage of an early mistake from Tokoro (35-33-1, 3-5 Rizin), who slipped while attempting a stomp and gave up his back in the process. Yamaniha maintained back control for the rest of the round, and then continued his dominance in Round 2 by hurting Tokoro with a punching flurry and following up with elbows to Tokoro’s face after taking him down.

Tokoro’s best success came during the final five minutes. While working from Yamaniha’s guard, Tokoro used body punches to set up a tight shoulder choke that had Yamaniha in s…

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Bobby Green appears to have zero doubt regarding the winner of a potential fight between him and National Basketball Association superstar LeBron James.  

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The 5-foot-10 lightweight is scheduled to take on Grant Dawson in the UFC Fight Night 229 headliner on Saturday.  

Nicknamed “King,” Green recently found out that his opponent’s nickname “KGD” stands for “King Grant Dawson.” That prompted Green to issue a challenge to Dawson.  

“There can only be one King,” Green said in an interview with TMZ Sports. “I just found out that Grant Dawson's fight name is ‘KGD.’ There can only be one king. Let's go find out. The other one's going to get his head cut off!” 

Of course, the most famous athlete to use the “King” moniker is James, the star forward for the Los Angeles Lakers. Although speaking in good humor, Green is confident regarding the outcome of a potential scrap against the NBA’s all-time l…

HOLY 🤬! DOUMBE WITH THE FINISH IN SECONDS!#PFLParis🇫🇷 EN EXCLUSIVITE sur RMC Sport🇪🇺 INTERNATIONALLY LIVE on DAZN pic.twitter.com/UTRWWAF9qL

— PFL Europe (@PFLEurope) September 30, 2023

Cedric Doumbe raised the bar for himself, perhaps exponentially.

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The former Glory champion dazzled in his Professional Fighters League debut, as he punched out Jordan Zebo in the first round of their PFL Europe 3 headliner on Saturday at Zenith Paris La Villette in Paris. Zebo (4-1, 0-1 PFL) crashed and burned just nine seconds into Round 1, a ripple of shock-and-awe electricity rippling through the crowd.

Doumbe (5-0, 1-0 PFL) caught a head kick, countered with a leg kick and sent a blazing left hook crashing into his opponent’s face. Zebo collapsed and ate a right hook on his way down to the mat. A few hammerfists followed before referee Marc Goddard could arrive on the scene.

In the co-main event, former Brave Combat Federatio…