Martial Arts News

Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweights Jonathan Pearce and Joanderson Brito are reportedly set to face off at UFC Fight Night 232, scheduled for Nov. 18 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. News of the pairing broke on Friday and was first reported by MMA Junkie.

Currently on a five-fight winning streak, Pearce (14-4) will look to continue his winning ways as he returns to the Octagon following his decision victory over Darren Elkins in December 2022.

While Pearce was slated to face Bryce Mitchell at UFC 288 after his win over Elkins, the Fight Ready product suffered an ACL, PCL and meniscus tear leading up to the match, ultimately causing his exit from the card.

Brito (15-3) is coming off an impressive Round 1 knockout over Westin Wilson back in July. The Brazilian is on a three-fight winning streak with all wins coming via finish in the first frame.

Stamp Dance x “Fast Forward” 💃🎵

Tune in to Prime Video NOW to catch the rest of ONE Fight Night 14!#ONEFightNight14 | 🔴 Live Now🇺🇸🇨🇦 Watch live on Prime 👉 https://t.co/Il4tPmkSbR🌍 Live TV broadcast in 190+ countries (check local listings)🌍 Also available on… pic.twitter.com/37YUIYrsl3

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) September 30, 2023 Stamp Fairtex picked up One Championship's atomweight mixed martial arts world championship in the main event of ONE on Prime Video 14.

The fight was preceded by an announcement from Angela Lee that she was retiring from mixed martial arts and relinquishing the atomweight title. Fairtex had a stern test in Seo Hee Ham, who withstood many thudding kicks early on. However, Ham would knock Fairtex down with a counter punch and make a statement in the second frame. Fairtex would strike back in a major way in the third frame as a right hand to the body would stun Ham, and follow-up punches to the body and…

Sherdog's live ONE Fight Night 14 coverage kicks off Friday at 8 p.m. ET. Round 1 Lightweights get the party started, as the unbeaten Cooper (2-0, 0-0 ONE) makes his promotional debut opposite Maurice Abevi (6-1, 0-1 ONE) at 170 pounds. Abevi finds himself on the rebound following his first professional setback—a unanimous decision loss to Halil Amir in April. Mohamad Sulaiman draws the officiating assignment. Abevi paws with his jab and tries to use his length and reach to his advantage. Cooper closes the distance with a powerful right hand, shoots on a takedown and briefly capitalizes on a failed flying submission attempt from his counterpart. Cooper clinches, then dives on a single-leg but cannot get it to the floor. Abevi fires front kicks to the body, drifts into open space and once again zeroes in on the midsection with some sharp shin-to-skin contact. Abevi sticks the Hawaiian with a straight right, forces him onto the back foot and denies another takedown. Cooper lan…

OFFICIAL: Updated #PFLParis fight card 🇫🇷

•Alex Chizov is out. Geisym Derouiche is in•New Semifinal Matchup: John Mitchell vs. Geisym Derouiche

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•Manuela Marconetto did not meet the Women’s Flyweight Limit•Valentina Scatizzi v. Manuela Marconetto is off•New Start Time:… pic.twitter.com/3CsQBv0tI5 — PFL (@PFLMMA) September 29, 2023 The Professional Fighters League continues its European season with a playoff event in Paris, France.

PFL Europe 3 will be headlined by a welterweight fight between Cedric Doumbe and Jordan Zebo. Both men successfully made weight, as did most of the card. However, a few last-minute changes were made to the event as Manuela Marconetto did not make weight, and her flyweight fight against Valentina Scatizzi was called off with Scatizzi receiving the walkover win to reach the finals. Additionally, Aleksandrs Chizovs missed weight and was ejected from the tournament, and Geisym Derouiche will re…

[embedded content] Time truly heals all wounds.

When anyone recalls the most remarkable episodes of the jiu-jitsu and luta livre rivalry on the streets of Rio de Janeiro in the ‘80s and ‘90s, three chapters are always remembered as the most violent and tense ones: The fight between the luta livre head Hugo Duarte and Rickson Gracie in Pepe Beach in 1988; the invasion of Gracie Academy by almost 100 luta livre students led by Duarte one week later; and the historic riot of Pentagon Combat in 1997 during the main event between Renzo Gracie and Eugenio Tadeu that led to the prohibition of vale tudo for almost six years.

In all of those instances, Renzo Gracie and Duarte were two of the most important leaders of both sides. In August, Gracie and Duarte shocked the Brazilian mixed martial arts world by announcing a partnership for a new academy in Texas.

“Definitely the world turns around, after years of war, I found out that one of my biggest rivals is such a unique per…

Dan Ige held his own despite not remembering the second half of his recent bout.

Renowned mixed martial arts coach Eric Nicksick offered his take on his student, Ige's (17-7) performance against Bryce Mitchell (16-1) at UFC Fight Night 228. Coming off two back-to-back victories against Nate Landwehr and Damon Jackson, Ige failed to secure the victory against Mitchell, dropping a hard-fought decision.

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“50k” managed to cut Mitchell under the eye in the first round and displayed his defensive grappling by stopping his opponent's takedown attempts until the last few minutes of Round 1. However, it was a left hand landed by Mitchell in Round 2 which seemingly hurt Ige. “Thug Nasty” followed the strike up with a takedown and went on to control the Xtreme Couture product for the remainder of the round.

Discussing his student's performance in his Thursday appearance on “Remember the Show,” Nicksick said:

“Looking back at it now, we watched the fight …

Danielle Kelly and Jessa Khan run it back for the inaugural ONE Atomweight Submission Grappling World Title! 🏆 Who you got?#ONEFightNight14 | Friday at 8PM ET🇺🇸🇨🇦 Watch live on Prime 👉 https://t.co/Il4tPmkkmj🌍 Live TV broadcast in 190+ countries (check local listings) pic.twitter.com/vTvnLvlHcC

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) September 28, 2023 Jessa Khan’s confidence could not be higher heading into her rematch against Danielle Kelly for the inaugural One Championship atomweight submission grappling title in a ONE on Prime Video 14 co-feature this Friday at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore.

Khan captured her first world title in June at the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation World Championship in Long Beach, California. Preparing for the two-day tournament took months of dedicated training and game planning for the best grapplers on the planet. Khan claims shifting her focus from a tournament to a single match ha…

Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC A place in the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s top 15 at flyweight looms for the victor.

On Thursday, Ag. Fight first broke the news that Casey O'Neill (9-1) will be stepping into the Octagon against Ariane Lipski (16-8) on Dec. 16. The two flyweights will tangle likely on the preliminary portion of UFC 296, which will be held at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. This 125-pound affair has been confirmed by both women via their Instagram Stories pages.

Born in Scotland and trained in Australia, O’Neill suffered her first career defeat in March. Her nine-fight win streak, which included four triumphs inside the Octagon, fell by the wayside courtesy of Jennifer Maia. On her way up the 125-pound ladder, O’Neill rapidly ascended when she dispatched Shana Dobson, Lara Procopio and Antonina Shevchenko in the span of less than eight months. A lone 2022 effort against Roxanne Modafferi also went her way by split decisio…

"I think the deal is, when I fight Shavkat, they're going to add on what they owed me for the last fight."@WonderboyMMA explains how the Shavkat Rahkmonov matchup came about and what a win does for him. #UFC296

Full convo w/ @chrisweidman 🔗 https://t.co/beImfQJIXw pic.twitter.com/E9BqEJXcZr

— MMA on SiriusXM (@MMAonSiriusXM) September 25, 2023

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Stephen Thompson was slated to fight Michel Pereira at UFC 291 back in July. However, the match fell through a day before the event as the Brazilian missed the welterweight limit by three pounds. Thompson refused to take the bout at catchweight after weighing in at 170.5.

However, Thompson (17-6) didn’t receive his show money despite having made weight. “Wonderboy” has since remained upbeat that the Ultimate Fighting Championship will do good by him and continues to do so.

Regardless, Thompson believes the perceived debt will be paid along with the payout for his upcomi…

[embedded content] Despite working together in 2017, Ultimate Fighting Championship chief Dana White and Showtime’s Stephen Espinoza are anything but friends.

On Tuesday, following the eighth episode on the 2023 season of Dana White's Contender Series, White conducted a post-fight press conference to discuss various matters from the bouts that night to current events around combat sports. Among the many topics included a rumor that came about on social media regarding Showtime’s future in boxing, specifically that Showtime would be getting out of the boxing business after 2024. White was not surprised.

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“That’s incredibly unfortunate,” White remarked while wearing a wry grin. “Production of that show is fantastic, the guy who runs Showtime Boxing is a great human being…it’s unfortunate to hear this. F--- Espinoza, and it’s about time that sh--ty product is off the air.”

The President of Showtime Sports was not about to let that slide, although his re…

And nowww, introducing, Donovan Lomeli! 9-23-23 😍💙💙💙Best day of my life 🥰.5 hours of active labor, 20 minutes of pushing with zero tearing, and our healthy baby boy was here! We are now resting at home, and loving on our little guy. So in love 🥰💙 pic.twitter.com/ObRQtpECWx

— Carla Esparza (@CarlaEsparza1) September 28, 2023

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship strawweight queen Carla Esparza and her husband, Matthew Lomeli, have revealed the birth of their first child on social media.

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Donovan Lomeli, born at 7:20 p.m. local time on Sept. 23, registered a healthy seven pounds and six ounces and entered the world at 19.6 inches.

“Best day of my life,” the 35-year-old said on X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter. “Five hours of active labor, 20 minutes of pushing with zero tearing, and our healthy baby boy was here! We are now resting at home and loving on our little guy.”

The Team Oyama expo…

A potential middleweight barnburner has been added to an Ultimate Fighting Championship card set in China this December.

Per Jun Yong Park’s (17-5) management team of First Round Management on Thursday, Park and Andre Muniz (23-6) will collide at the UFC’s return event to Shanghai on Dec. 9. The middleweights will meet, presumably inside of the Mercedes-Benz Arena, in what will be the promotion’s first show in China in four years. The matchup has since been confirmed by other outlets.

Currently the UFC’s 14th-ranked competitor at 185 pounds, Muniz started his career with the organization by amassing a five-fight win streak which included three armbars. However, the Brazilian has since been on a rough patch, suffering a pair of stoppage losses to Brendan Allen and Paul Craig this year. While “Sergipano” maintains a finish rate of 83%, however, he has never heard the final bell in defeat.

South Korea’s Park will look to enter the middleweight rankings by adding to…