Martial Arts News

A bantamweight showdown pitting Miesha Tate against Julia Avila has been targeted for an Ultimate Fighting Championship event on Dec. 2.

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Multiple outlets confirmed the booking following an initial report from MMA Mania. A location and venue have not been announced for the card.

Tate, a former UFC bantamweight champion, will return to 135 pounds following a unanimous decision loss to Lauren Murphy in her flyweight debut at UFC on ABC 3 in July 2022. “Cupcake” has lost four of her last five Octagon appearances dating back to July 2016.

Avila will be competing for the first time since June 2021 after motherhood and a knee injury kept her out of action for more than two years. “Raging Panda” has won three of her four promotional outings, including a third-round submission of Julija Stoliarenko in her most recent bout at UFC Fight Night 190.

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Israel Adesanya has been mostly silent since his upset loss to Sean Strickland in the UFC 293 headliner on Sept. 9.

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That changed on Wednesday, when “The Last Stylebender” broke his silence in an interview on his YouTube channel. Though he appeared to be in good spirits, it was a subdued version of the former middleweight champion that appeared on camera.

“How am I feeling?” Adesanya said. “Quietly confident.”

Adesanya was a heavy favorite heading into the matchup with Strickland, who wasn’t the UFC’s first choice of title challenger. However, once the bell rang, it was Strickland who set the tone, dropping his opponent in the opening stanza and then controlling the action with straight punches and consistent forward pressure.

“That just felt like a bad dream,” Adesanya said, while crediting Strickland for his approach.

“He just never let me get into my rhythm at all. I just wasn’t able to get my rhythm because of his p…

While its main event ended in controversy, the Noche UFC concept was an overall success.

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The UFC Fight Night 227 event took place on Mexican Independence Day this past Saturday and was designed to celebrate athletes from the promotion with Mexican heritage. That includes flyweight champion Alexa Grasso, who retained her title after battling Valentina Shevchenko to a split draw in the evening’s headliner.

UFC CEO Dana White wasn’t in attendance for the card, but he raved about the numbers the show did on ESPN+ during the post-fight press conference for the Contender Series on Tuesday. He also announced plans to make UFC events on Mexican Independence Day an annual tradition, which would follow in the footsteps of what boxing has done over the years.

“I don’t care if somebody here in town gets the date at the arena, I’ll go in an opposing arena and go head-to-head with them next year,” White said. “I’m doing this for the rest of my reign here.…

After their first meeting resulted in an unsatisfying conclusion, Edgar Chairez and Daniel da Silva will run it back at UFC Fight Night 230.

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MMAFighting.comwas first to report the flyweight rematch. UFC Fight Night 230 takes place on Oct. 14 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a featherweight tilt between Sodiq Yusuff and Edson Barboza.

Chairez and da Silva initially squared off at UFC Fight Night 227. The bout ended prematurely when Chairez locked his opponent in a standing guillotine choke and referee Chris Tognoni waved off the fight, thinking da Silva was unconscious. After video review, it was determined that da Silva was alert and still defending the choke, so the bout was ruled a no contest at the 3:47 mark of Round 1.

Anchored at Mexico-based Entram Gym, Chairez is still looking for his first promotional triumph. He made his Octagon debut this past July, dropping a unanimous decision to Tatsuro Taira at UFC 290.

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The 2023 PFL Championships card is now complete with a couple of key additions to the preliminary lineup.

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The organization announced on Wednesday that Bubba Jenkins will square off against Chris Wade in a trilogy bout at featherweight, while Biaggio Ali Walsh will continue his amateur career against Joel Lopez at lightweight. Those two fights are part of the evening’s preliminary card on the ESPN+ prelims. Additionally, Khai Wu will face Phil Caracappa at bantamweight, while Jesse Stirn will meet Josh Blyden at featherweight.

The PFL Championships take place on Nov. 24 at The Anthem in Washington, D.C., and features title bouts in six different weight classes along with a showcase featherweight fight pitting Kayla Harrison against Julia Budd. The main card will air via pay-per-view on ESPN+.

Jenkins and Wade are currently 1-1 in their rivalry. Wade defeated Jenkins via unanimous decision in a PFL postseason matchup in August 2021, but “I’m a…

Stipe Miocic will make his return to the Octagon after a hiatus of over two years when he challenges Jon Jones for the heavyweight title at UFC 295. The highly anticipated clash will headline the marquee card set to go down at the Madison Square Garden, New York on Nov. 11.

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Despite having the most title defenses in UFC heavyweight history, Miocic is a massive +340 underdog going into the fight against the -425 favorite “Bones.” However, the Ohio-based firefighter has defied the odds in several of his title fights, like in the rematch against Daniel Cormier and the first clash against Francis Ngannou.

While he is unbothered by the odds, Miocic did issue a warning to bettors about wagering against him.

“It took me a couple fights, but after a while, I just stopped caring what everyone thought,” Miocic told The Fight Guys in an interview for BetOnline. “I just don’t care anymore. You think I’m going to lose? Good for you. You’re going to waste a…

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Valentina Shevchenko (23-4) looked to reclaim the flyweight title from Alexa Grasso (16-3) in the main event at Noche UFC on Sept. 16. However, Grasso retained her strap courtesy of a controversial split draw after five closely-contested rounds. 

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The 47-47 scorecard rendered by judge Mike Bell included a 10-8 fifth round in favor of Grasso, who had controlled only the last 90 seconds of the period. Shevchenko immediately expressed her disagreement with the result, blaming the controversial score on the potential pressure felt by the judges due to the event being held in honor of the Mexican Independence Day. 

Along with a majority of fans and pundits, Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White is also in complete disagreement with the 10-8 score and suggested an investigation of Bell. However, the Nevada State Athletic Commission has seemingly assured White that Bell is a capable judge and this was an honest mistake.&…

Tyson Fury is set to take on former Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou in a crossover boxing match on Oct. 28 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Fellow Brit and UFC heavyweight Tom Aspinall will be helping “The Gypsy King” as a training partner going into the bout. 

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Fury is close to Aspinall and has a high opinion UFC heavyweight contender, who is currently 6-1 in the promotion with all of his wins coming by way of submission or technical knockout in Round 1.

“I’m bringing him in as a sparring partner in preparation for a UFC champion. He’s a good fighter, probably could have made it as a pro boxer,” Fury recently told TNT Sports. “I was quite sure he would have gone on and won a world championship. But he had a derailment with his knee, and that fell out. Now he’s had his comeback trail. I think he can do it. He’s big enough, he’s got the power, he’s a black belt in jiu-jitsu.”

Aspinall recently scored a first-ro…

Jared Cannonier (17-6) is at a crucial juncture in his Ultimate Fighting Championship career.

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Currently No. 4 in the middleweight division according to the UFC rankings, Cannonier’s title aspirations have been reignited by Sean Strickland’s recent title win over Israel Adesanya at UFC 293. 

“The Killa Gorilla” scored a controversial split decision win over Strickland last December, which “Tarzan” contests to this day. Cannonier believes Adesanya’s performance against Strickland doesn’t warrant an immediate rematch and has made his case for the next title shot. 

Cannonier, who was also the backup for the UFC 293 headliner, has now been offered another fight, but he isn’t especially excited about the opportunity.

"They’ve offered me a fight already, and it’s not as tempting as a title fight,” Cannonier told Sportskeeda MMA Originals. “You know what I mean? Hell, it’s not even as tempting as my last fight, to be honest.” 

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Valentina Shevchenko's reaction to Alexa Grasso allegedly throwing illegal knees in 1st round pic.twitter.com/8QAOKD8u6D

— Best MMA Moments (@XcellentMMA) September 17, 2023

Valentina Shevchenko (23-4) failed to reclaim the Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight title in the main event at UFC Noche as her rematch against Alexa Grasso (16-3) ended in a controversial split draw. However, the 10-8 fifth-round scorecard wasn’t the only controversial bit about the highly anticipated rematch that went down on Sept. 16.

During a scramble in the fourth frame, Grasso sprawled out of a takedown attempt by Shevchenko and landed multiple knees to the head while chasing “Bullet.” Shevchenko immediately protested the knees and later claimed the strikes were illegal as one of her hands was on the mat.

When speaking to MMA journalist Ariel Helwani, a Nevada State Athletic Commission Official cleared the air regarding the specifics of the “knees to…

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After the success of lightweight champion Roberto Satoshi and former featherweight title holder Kleber Koike Erbst, another Brazilian-Japanese fighter, middleweight Igor Tanabe (3-0), is quickly gaining a lot of attention in Rizin Fighting Federation. 

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Undefeated in MMA with victories over the experienced Melvin Manhoef and former Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter Daichi Abe, the 23-year-old Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace has his sights set on the Rizin belt. 

“Despite having only had one fight at Rizin, I really like the event. Of course the UFC is a possibility, but I want to be Rizin champion, which even gives me the opportunity to face fighters from other promotions,” said the undefeated prospect in an exclusive interview with Sherdog, referring to the Japanese promotion’s partnership with Bellator.

Tanabe will have a second opportunity to compete in the Japanese promotion on Oct. 1, when he will face Koji Shikuw…

Jingnan Xiong has conquered nearly every challenge set in front of her since winning the inaugural One Championship strawweight title six years ago. With few challengers remaining in her division, the only way for “The Panda” to push herself is to limit her diverse skill set against one of the most dangerous strikers on the planet.

That is exactly what she will have to do when she faces muay thai phenom Nat “Wondergirl” Jaroonsak in a ONE on Prime Video 14 special rules match a on Sept. 29 at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore. The bout prohibits kicks, knees, elbows and grappling but allows all forms of punching techniques. Jaroonsak could pose problems for ONE’s reigning strawweight empress, but Xiong believes her boxing prowess should not be underestimated.

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“I think there will be a different pressure, but I will turn this pressure into motivation,” she told Sherdog.com. “I think pressure is a very good thing and will motivate me to fin…