Martial Arts News

The grizzled Ultimate Fighting Championship vet known as “The Damage” is not finished yet.

Darren Elkins (27-11) revealed on Thursday on his Instagram page that he will be competing on Oct. 14. His first pairing of 2023 will come at the featherweight division, where he will battle it out with T.J. Brown (17-10) at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Both men are coming off losses, having dropped two of their last three.

The ultra-durable Elkins split his 2022 campaign with a win over Tristan Connelly followed by a December decision loss to Jonathan Pearce. The 17-10 record in the Octagon for the Team Alpha Male product is the exact same as the entire professional record for his opponent. Since joining the roster over 13 years ago, “The Damage” has secured wins over names like Dennis Bermudez, Mirsad Bektic, Michael Johnson and Hatsu Hioki, to name a few.

Brown cannot currently celebrate a winning record in the UFC, as his three victories are opposed by four defeats. M…

A Ultimate Fighting Championship fight previously booked between Chris Curtis and Anthony Hernandez has completely transformed.

On Wednesday, Hernandez announced that he had suffered an injury during training, and that he has been forced out of the Noche UFC event in September. At one time, middleweights Curtis and Hernandez were set to square off, but Curtis also sustained an injury that knocked him out of the pairing. Roman Kopylov (11-2) tagged in to face Hernandez, and now Josh Fremd (11-4) will be taking Hernandez’ place. Fremd confirmed his short-notice appearance on Instagram on Wednesday.

Fremd appeared earlier in August to snag a decision over Jamie Pickett, and in the process put himself on a win streak in the Octagon. In March, Fremd snapped a two-bout skid by tapping out Sedriques Dumas in the second round. Before then, Fremd unsuccessfully debuted in the promotion against Hernandez in April 2022, and Tresean Gore put him to sleep with a guillotine cho…

Clay Collard had to earn his first Professional Fighters League Championship appearance the hard way.

In a surefire “Fight of the Year” contender, Collard held off a hard-charging Shane Burgos to win a closely-contesting unanimous decision triumph in the PFL 9 headliner at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York on Wednesday night. All three cageside judges submitted tallies in favor of Collard: 29-28, 29-28 and 29-28. The UFC veteran will advance to face defending PFL champion Olivier Aubin-Mercier in the lightweight final on Nov. 24.

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Collard (24-10, 6-2 PFL) set the tone early, utilizing his trademark volume punching to the head and body to rack up a lead on the scorecards. He backed Burgos (16-5, 1-2 PFL) into the fence with a left hook-right hand combination in the opening stanza and sat his foe down with a left hook in Round 2. The Team Tiger Schulmann product was undeterred, however. He targeted Collard with inside low kicks throughou…

The 2023 Professional Fighters League Playoff semifinals wrap up on Wednesday in New York City at PFL 9. The undercard airs live on ESPN+ at 6:30 p.m. ET, with the main card starting on ESPN at 9 p.m. Round 1 Featherweight Grimard and featherweight-plus Caldone, who came in heavy for the bout, open up the card under the watchful eye of Keith Peterson. Caldone is southpaw, Grimard orthodox. Grimard goes for a single-leg off a kick immediately, but can’t complete the takedown. Caldone stings Grimard with a jab. Grimard ducks under and shoots a double-leg, running Caldone to the fence. Caldone grabs a front headlock to defend and after a few moments of jockeying, manages to stand Grimard up. They return to the center of the cage. Caldone lands a push kick up the middle. Grimard drops for another takedown and pushes Caldone to the fence once again. Caldone reverses him, shoves him off and throws a flurry of punches. A big right hand gets through, dropping Grimard. Caldone poun…

Sergio Batarelli, the creator of International Vale Tudo Championship (IVC), an event that showcased MMA legends such as Wanderlei Silva and Pedro Rizzo in the 1990s, is starting a new promotion.

Batarelli revealed to Sherdog.com that MMA Fight Sport will hold its debut event in Qatar later in 2023. According to Batarelli, it will be a tournament with qualification matches leading to a "knockout" stage, with a total prize of $1 million in cash per category. In addition, there will be different rules and weight categories, to be announced soon.

"It will be a cage-style event, with weekly editions starting from November 2023 and a pay-per-view event every three months,” Batarelli said. “Anyone who holds or has an official title can send us their information.

Interested competitors can send their fight information via email to [email protected].

#COLLISION6 | NOV. 4 | RICO VS. OSARO

Register for the presale now at https://t.co/mtc7jeFgDP pic.twitter.com/DZIw51XNp1

— GLORY Kickboxing (@GLORY_WS) August 23, 2023

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Rico Verhoeven will square off against Tariq Osaro in a heavyweight championship unification bout at Glory Collision 6 on Nov. 4.

The kickboxing promotion announced the pairing on Wednesday. Glory Collision 6 takes place at the GelreDome in Arnhem, Netherlands, and will be available to view on GloryFights.com.

After a knee injury derailed Verhoeven’s return to action earlier this year, the “King of Kickboxing” will fight under the Glory banner for the first time since a fourth-round TKO win against Jamal Ben Saddik on Oct. 23, 2021. That marked Verhoeven’s 10th successful defense of the Glory heavyweight crown. The Dutchman is undefeated in his last 16 bouts overall, a streak that goes back nearly a decade.

Osaro, meanwhile, is coming off a k…

𝑨𝑳𝑳 𝑹𝑶𝑨𝑫𝑺 Lead To 11.24.23

Washington DC. Get Ready. The #PFLWorldChampionship is 𝑪𝑶𝑴𝑰𝑵𝑮 🏆💰 pic.twitter.com/npeuRSetk9

— PFL (@PFLMMA) August 23, 2023

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Professional Fighters League has a location and venue for its premier event.

The organization announced on Wednesday that the 2023 PFL Championships will take place at The Anthem in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 24. The event will see fighters from six different weight classes vying for titles and $1 million apiece. It was also announced that Celsius Essential Energy drink will be the presenting partner for the event, a sponsorship that includes branding on all championship athlete fight kits.

“We are thrilled to announce the 2023 PFL World Championship is coming to the nation’s capital, at The Anthem in Washington, D.C. to host the richest night in MMA on Friday, November 24,” said PFL CEO Peter Murray. “The PFL World Championship presented by our great partners at Ce…

Zachary Reese thrives on the quick finish.

The undefeated War Training Center prospect was one of three competitors to earn an Ultimate Fighting Championship contract during Week 3 of Dana White’s Contender Series, as he disposed of Eli Aronov with an armbar in the first round of their middleweight headliner on Tuesday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Reese (6-0, 1-0 DWCS) brought it to a close 74 seconds into Round 1.

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Faced with a six-inch height and five-inch reach deficits, Aronov (6-1, 0-1 DWCS) unleashed a multi-punch burst, tripped his adversary to the floor and pressed his advantages with ground-and-pound. Reese kept his composure, isolated the Israeli’s right arm and drew him deeper into his guard before activating his hips to force the tapout.

Reese has stopped all six of his opponents inside one round.

Featherweight Luis Pajuelo and welterweight Oban Elliott completed the latest crop of UFC signees, bringing the season total to 13.

C…

Sherdog's live coverage of DWCS 2023, Week 3 will begin at 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday. Round 1 Jacob Montalvo will oversee the first fight of the evening. Ring begins things with an outside leg kick. Ring sticks a jab, and then Pajuelo makes him stumble with a heavy leg kick. Ring catches a low kick and counters with an overhand. Ring backs up his foe with a combination and then follows him into the fence with a knee. Pajuelo waves him on and they trade more punches. Ring is throwing combinations well early. Pajuelo walks forward and trades with Ring. It’s a firefight early, but Pajuelo buckles Ring with a clean straight shot, who shoots out of desperation. Pajuelo punches the ribs of his opponent but then gets his ankle caught, allowing Ring to land the takedown. Pajuelo scoots to the fence and works his way to a knee. The Pervuian punches the ribs as Ring works to get him back down. Pajuelo stands and lands a knee in close. They separate and get back to trading. Pajuelo works the…

Charles Oliveira will have a chance to regain the lightweight crown when he meets Islam Makhachev at UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi on Oct. 21.

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Diego Lima, Oliveira’s coach, dismissed the idea that the time zone difference and a long flight played a role in the Brazilian’s loss to Makhachev in their first meeting, which was also in Abu Dhabi.

"Charles is a guy who hardly feels jet lag, he adapts to the time zone very quickly. Every individual reacts differently, and Charles adapted well to Abu Dhabi,” Lima said. “If we were fighting in Mexico City, for example, we would have to arrive much earlier due to the altitude. In the case of Abu Dhabi, we didn't need to arrive so far in advance. Also, Charles doesn't like being far away from home."

In his last outing, Oliveira defeated Beneil Dariush at UFC 289 in Canada, a place where he had never won before. Despite not being a local, “Do Bronx” had the support of the Canadian crowd behind him on that night.…

A women’s featherweight showdown pitting Sara McMann against Leah McCourt has been added to the Bellator 300 lineup.

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A promotion official confirmed the pairing to Sherdog following an initial report from Severe MMA. Bellator 300 takes place at Pechanga Arena in San Diego on Oct. 7 and is highlighted by four championship fights on the main card. The event is headlined by a heavyweight title clash between Ryan Bader and Linton Vassell.

A former UFC bantamweight title challenger, McMann enjoyed a successful promotional debut, as she outpointed Arlene Blencowe at Bellator 294 on April 21. The Olympic silver medalist has won three of her last four professional outings, including triumphs over Karol Rosa and Lina Lansberg in the UFC.

After winning six consecutive bouts from 2018 to 2021, McCourt has lost two of her last three appearances within the California-based promotion. Most recently, she dropped a unanimous decision to Cat Zingano at Bellat…

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Carlos Leal Miranda will be facing an uphill climb if he is to advance to the Professional Fighters League Championships in November.

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Miranda tipped the scales at 172 pounds for his welterweight semifinal clash against defending champion Sadibou Sy (170.8) at PFL 9. As a result, Miranda will be fined 20% of his purse and deducted one point heading into the bout. Additionally, John Caldone (148.6) missed weight for his featherweight showcase against Nathaniel Grimard (145.8) and has been fined 20% of his purse. Everyone else on the card hit their contracted marks without issue.

PFL 9 takes place on Wednesday night at The Theater at Madison Square Garden and is headlined by a lightweight semifinal between Clay Collard (155) and Shane Burgos (156). The main card airs on ESPN and ESPN+ at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, while prelims stream on ESPN+ at 6:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT.

A UFC veteran with professional boxing experience, Collard i…