Martial Arts News

Rose Namajunas was at less than 100% for most of her flyweight debut.

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Namajunas’ manager, Brian Butler-Au of SuckerPunch Entertainment, confirmed on social media that the ex-strawweight queen suffered a broken right hand in the first round of her loss to Manon Fiorot at UFC Fight Night 226 on Saturday in Paris.

“Rose is in good spirits,” Butler-Au wrote. “Broke her right hand early in the first round and couldn’t fully execute because of it.”

Despite the injury, “Thug” Rose was still competitive against Fiorot in her first 125-pound foray. She outlanded her opponent 60 to 58 in significant strikes and won the third round on two of the three cageside judges’ scorecards. Butler-Au later posted a photo that showed Namajunas’ mangled right pinkie finger once she removed her gloves.

The very first clash in the first round this happened to @rosenamajunas 🤦🏻‍♂️ The mental battle to keep going began right then and varied…

Benoit St. Denis and Thiago Moises received “Fight of the Night” honors and $50,000 apiece for their entertaining lightweight clash at UFC Fight Night 226.

After a frenetic opening stanza that saw St. Denis open a cut near his foe’s eye with an elbow, the Frenchman delighted the crowd at Accor Arena in Paris by punctuating his victory with a barrage of ground-and-pound for a stoppage at the 4:44 mark of the second frame.

Meanwhile, former interim heavyweight king Ciryl Gane captured a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” award for his technical knockout victory over Sergey Spivak in the main event. “Bon Gamin” kept the fight upright, and battered his foe with strikes to all levels before putting Spivak away with a salvo of punches to the head and body 3:44 into Round 2.

Finally, Morgan Charriere garnered the card’s other $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus for his finish of Manolo Zecchini in a featured featherweight affair. A series of kicks to the body sent…

Ciryl Gane operated on an entirely different level from the man on the other side of the cage.

The 33-year-old Frenchman steadied himself among the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s heavyweight elite, as he tracked down and systematically dismantled Sergey Spivak in the second round of their UFC Fight Night 226 headliner on Saturday at Accor Arena. Spivak (16-4, 7-4 UFC) met his end 3:44 into Round 2, losing for the first time in nearly two years.

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Gane (12-2, 9-2 UFC), in his first appearance since being throttled by Jon Jones in March, was virtually flawless in his execution. He shut down an attempted takedown from Spivak with his sprawl in the first round and never looked back. Gane abused the Moldovan with clubbing shots to the head and body, targeted the legs on occasion and broke him down piece by piece. He pinned Spivak to the fence late in Round 2 and slammed a brutal knee into his guts, setting off the finishing sequence. Standing hammerfist…

Sherdog's live UFC Fight Night 226 coverage will begin Saturday at 12:30 p.m. ET. BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Cavalcanti (-375), Fairn dos Santos (+295)Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:

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Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:The Official Result BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Basharat (-325), Rodrigues (+260)Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round: Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:The Official Result BETTING PREVIEW | SCOU…

Taylor Lapilus was not going to let anyone ruin his fairytale return to the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

A crisp jab, clean combinations and stout takedown defense carried the respected French bantamweight to a unanimous decision over the previously undefeated Caolan Loughran in the featured UFC Fight Night 226 prelim on Saturday at a raucous Accor Arena in Paris. In his first Octagon appearance since 2016, Lapilus (19-3, 4-1 UFC) carried all three cards with 29-28 scores.

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Loughran (8-1, 0-1 UFC) had considerable difficulty navigating a five-inch reach deficit. The former Cage Warriors Fighting Championship titleholder secured takedowns in the first and second rounds, only to see avenues to create offense dry up in a hurry. Lapilus stayed upright enough to handle business, firing away with jabs and surgical left hands to cruise to the checkered flag.

Meanwhile, Kill Cliff Fight Club rep Ange Loosa banked two rounds and held on for a unanimous …

[embedded content] No matter where he competes, Demetrious Johnson always seems to excel.

On Thursday in Las Vegas, the 2023 World Jiu-Jitsu IBJJF Championship kicked off, and Johnson was among its numerous competitors. The former Ultimate Fighting Championship great and current One Championship titleholder entered into the featherweight category of 154.6 pounds at the Master 2 division for brown belts. Four brackets needed to be established for the 38 men that took part in this specific tourney, and over the course of the day, Johnson won out to stand atop the pedestal.

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Johnson, who entered as a low 36 seed, started off his branch of the tournament by running the table in the second bracket. His first match came against Lukas Cherep, and the AMC Pankration fighter pulled off the win. A mere 15 minutes later, “Mighty Mouse” faced the overall no. 1 seed, Josue Lopez, and he was not denied the victory. A subsequent armbar over Walter Diaz propelled him…

[embedded content] The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to Paris with an intriguing heavyweight headliner.

The UFC Fight Night 226 main event will see former interim heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane return to the Octagon against Sergey Spivak. Spivak will be the heavier fighter by six pounds, while no fighters missed weight for the 11-fight card.

Gane (11-2) is looking to rebound from a one-sided defeat against Jon Jones that saw "Bon Gamin" submitted in just 2:04. The dangerous striker weighed 250 pounds. Meanwhile, Spivak (16-3) is on a three-fight win streak that saw him most recently submit Derrick Lewis with an arm-triangle choke. The Moldovan fighter weighed 256 pounds.

UFC Fight Night 226 will air on ESPN+ on Saturday. Prelims will begin at 12:30 p.m. ET/9:30 a.m. PT, with the main card starting at 3 p.m. ET/12 p.m. PT.

UFC Fight Night 226 Weigh-in Results: Ciryl Gane (250) vs. Sergey Spivak (256)Manon Fiorot (125) vs. Rose Namajunas (125)Thiago …

When it comes to main events involving Jon Jones, the Ultimate Fighting Championship is leaving nothing to chance.

Prior to UFC 285 this past March, the promotion made certain it had a top contender available to make weight and compete should Jones or Ciryl Gane fall out of their main attraction. That fighter was Sergei Pavlovich, and he hit his proper marks and ended up watching from the stands the next day. First reported by Igor Lazorin, the organization is doing this for Jones’ next title tilt atop UFC 295, and Pavlovich (18-1) is once again the man on standby. This news has since been confirmed by multiple outlets.

Russia’s Pavlovich last competed in April, where he decimated Curtis Blaydes in just over three minutes to put himself in the top echelon of the heavyweight division. Pavlovich’s lone career defeat came in his UFC debut to Alistair Overeem back in 2018. Since then, Pavlovich has crushed the competition, stringing together six consecutive first-round …

Dropping a quick excerpt from Monday’s @MMAOnSiriusXM podcast to give everyone an update on my 🦵.

If you want the full story (and all the 🫖), hit that link below and check out the full episode on @SiriusXM!🎧 https://t.co/OuEwonYM3z pic.twitter.com/TsBqm3tEfK

— Chris Weidman (@chrisweidman) August 30, 2023

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Chris Weidman didn’t emerge unscathed from his first mixed martial arts bout in more than two years — but it’s not as bad as initially expected.

The former middleweight champion revealed on his Sirius XM show that he suffered a fracture in his left leg during a unanimous decision loss to Brad Tavares at UFC 292 on Aug. 19. That comes on the heels a gruesomely broken right leg in a loss to Uriah Hall at UFC 261 in April 2021.

“I got MRIs done on my tibia and fibula on both legs, got MRIs on both of my knees, X-rays, and I’ve been waiting for a result – and I got the results back. There was no ligament tears at all…

After facing adaptation problems in Abu Dhabi for his fight against Israel Adesanya in September 2020, Paulo Costa has a different schedule for his upcoming bout against Khamzat Chimaev in the same city at UFC 294 on Oct. 21.

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In an interview on the Thunder Voice podcast, the Brazilian fighter stated that he intends to arrive in the United Arab Emirates almost two months prior to the fight for acclimatization and adjustment.

"We want to go to Abu Dhabi at the end of August or the beginning of September, nearly 50 days before the event. We'll be there with everything we need," said Costa, who in 2020 famously resorted to wine to help him sleep before the fight against Adesanya at UFC 253.

Always active on social media, “Borrachinha” fired back at Gilbert "Durinho" Burns, who had expressed doubts in an interview about whether his fellow Brazilian had signed an unprecedented million-dollar contract with the UFC.

"Durinho is limited! He doe…

Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 226 lineup has undergone some shuffling.

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The Las Vegas-based promotion announced on Wednesday that Muin Gafurov has withdrawn from a proposed clash with Taylor Lapilus due to visa issues, while Lucas Almeida has pulled out of a bout against William Gomis due to a “medical issue.”

As a result, Lapilus will now face Caolan Loughran at bantamweight, and Gomis will lock horns with Yanis Ghemmouri at featherweight. Loughran and Ghemmouri will originally slated to meet at 135 pounds at UFC Paris.

Lapilus, who previously won three of four Octagon appearances from 2015 to 2016, returns to the UFC riding the momentum of a five-bout winning streak. A four-time Cage Warriors veteran, Loughran enteres his first promotional foray with an 8-0 mark.

Gomis has won 10 straight outings, kicking off his UFC tenure with back-to-back triumphs against Jarno Errens and Francis Marshall. Ghemmouri, a veteran of the Brave Combat Fede…

A lightweight clash pitting Mansour Barnaoui against Jay-Jay Wilson is among six new additions to the Bellator 299 lineup.

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The California-based promotion announced the finalized card — up to a whopping 21 fights — on Wednesday. Bellator 299 takes place on Sept. 23 at the 3Arena in Dublin and is headlined by a middleweight championship tilt between Johnny Eblen and Fabian Edwards. The main card airs in the United States on Showtime at 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT, while prelims stream on the Bellator YouTube channel and Pluto TV at 11 a.m. ET/8 p.m. PT.

The other five newly-announced bouts are as follows: Luca Poclit vs. Roman Faraldo at welterweight; Asael Adjoudj vs. Ibrahim Al-Faqih Hassan at featherweight; Khasan Magomedsharipov vs. Martin McDonough; Davy Gallon vs. Attila Korkmaz at lightweight and Sergei Bilostennyi vs. Kasim Aras at heavyweight.

A former lightweight champion in BAMMA, M-1 Global and Road FC, Barnaoui is 1-1 under the Bellator b…