Martial Arts News

Former UFC heavyweight champions Junior dos Santos and Fabricio Werdum will square off in a bareknuckle MMA bout under Jorge Masvidal’s Gamebred Promotions banner.

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Conan Silveira, dos Santos’ coach at American Top Team, recently confirmed the news to Sherdog. Dos Santos and Werdum have already signed the contract to face one another. The pairing will come some 15 years after their first meeting, which “Cigano” won via first-round technical knockout at UFC 90 on Oct. 25, 2008.

“‘Cigano' started his camp to face Werdum today,” Silveira said. “I’m not sure if it was already officially announced but it will be at a Masvidal event under Vale Tudo rules, but with no gloves.”

News of the bout was subsequently confirmed by other sources close to the situation.

Dos Santos, who is known for his boxing-based skill set, hasn’t competed since suffering a shoulder injury that caused him to loss to Yorgan De Castro at Eagle FC in May 2022. The former …

Seo Hee Ham and Nong Stamp will square off for One Championship’s interim atomweight (115-pound) belt on Sept. 1.

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The Singapore-based promotion confirmed the bout following an initial report from MMAFighting.com. Angela Lee is One’s reigning atomweight champion but is reportedly considering retirement following the death of her sister, Victoria Lee, this past December.

Ham, the former Rizin Fighting Federation super atomweight queen, has been victorious in her last nine professional outings — including three under the one banner. The South Korean is coming off a unanimous decision win over Itsuki Hirata on March 24.

Fairtex will be making her second bid for a title after falling to Lee via second-round submission at One X in March 2022. Since then, the Thai fighter has scored back-to-back triumphs over Jihin Radzuan and Alyse Anderson in One competition.

The One Fight Night card does not yet have a confirmed location but will air in th…

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A light heavyweight clash pitting Volkan Oezdemir against Azamat Murzakanov has been booked for UFC Paris.

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Promotion officials announced the pairing on Wednesday. UFC Fight Night 226 takes place on Sept. 2 at Accor Arena in Paris and is headlined by a heavyweight showdown between Ciryl Gane and Sergey Spivak.

A former 205-pound title challenger, Oezdemir has lost three of his last four Octagon appearances. Most recently, the 33-year-old Switzerland native suffered a unanimous decision loss to Nikita Krylov at UFC 280 this past October. His ledger includes wins over the likes of Jimi Manuwa, Ovince St. Preux, Ilir La…

Anderson Silva isn’t done with mixed martial arts just yet.

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“The Spider” discussed the possibility shortly after the premiere of the film "Murder City,” which launched on Friday and features a cast that includes the former UFC middleweight champion. In an interview with Brazilian outlet Combate.com, Silva revealed that a farewell MMA bout in Japan is in the works.

“We have a proposal and we are negotiating with Japan. There will definitely be something cool for the fans,” Silva said. “I can't give spoilers. But what we are actually negotiating in relation to MMA is my last fight in Japan. Because it has everything to do with it, it's where I started my international career, where I won my first world title, in Shooto. I think it has everything to do with ending my career in Japan.”

The most dominant middleweight champion in UFC middleweight history also discussed the current state of the division. He does not approve of Alex Pereira’s decisi…

Former strawweight champion Jessica Andrade will replace Virna Janiroba and face Tatiana Suarez in the UFC Nashville co-main event on Aug. 5.

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The promotion announced the 115-pound bout in a release on Tuesday. UFC on ESPN 50 takes place at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, and is headlined by a bantamweight clash between Cory Sandhagen and Umar Nurmagomedov. According to MMAFighting.com, Jandiroba was forced to withdraw from the event due to a knee injury that will require surgery.

Andrade has already fought three times in 2023. After dominating Lauren Murphy in a unanimous decision triumph at UFC 283 in January, “Bate Estaca” has been finished in back-to-back outings by Erin Blanchfield and Xiaonan Yan. The first-round KO defeat to Yan at UFC 288 marked Andrade’s return to 115 pounds.

Suarez, meanwhile, was out of action for more than three years due to injury. She made her return at UFC Fight Night 220, where she submitted Montan…

The fallout from the litany of failed drug tests during Professional Fighters League’s first leg of the regular season continued at a Nevada State Athletic Commission meeting on Tuesday.

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Defending light heavyweight champion Rob Wilkinson was one of seven fighters who received sanctions from the NSAC. Wilkinson, who defeated ex-UFC title challenger Thiago Santos via unanimous decision in the PFL 1 main event on April 1, tested positive for an elevated testosterone-to-epitestosterone ratio resulting from the androgynous origin of testosterone in relation to that bout. As a result, he was suspended nine months and fined $7,500 along with $821 in legal feels. Additionally, Wilkinson’s victory was overturned to a no contest.

Santos, one of the organization’s high-profile free agent signings, did not emerge unscathed. “Marreta” tested positive for clomiphene, an estrogen receptor module, in relation to the bout and was suspended six months and fined $12,…

Herb Dean will be the third man in the cage when Alexander Volkanovski defends his featherweight crown against Yair Rodriguez in the UFC 290 main event.

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Meanwhile, Mike Bell, Ron McCarthy and Sal D’Amato will score the headliner from cageside. The Nevada Athletic Commission on Tuesday appointed the referees and judges for the two championships fights at UFC 290, which takes place on July 8 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Dean officiated Volkanoski title defenses against Max Holloway (UFC 251), Brian Ortega (UFC 266) and Chan Sung Jung (UFC 273) before Marc Goddard oversaw the City Kickboxing standout’s last two efforts.

In the evening’s co-feature, Jason Herzog will referee the flyweight title tilt between Brandon Moreno and Alexandre Pantoja, while Ben Cartlidge, Junichiro Kamijo and Derek Cleary will serve as judges. In recent bouts, Herzog was the third man in the cage for two of Moreno’s four championship meetings with Deiveson Figueiredo.

Kai Kara-France will square off against Manel Kape in a flyweight clash at UFC 293.

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ESPN was first to report the pairing, which is close to being finalized. UFC 293 takes place at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia on Sept. 9. While a headliner has not been announced for the card, reigning middleweight champ Israel Adesanya is expected to defend his title at the event.

Kara-France last appeared in the UFC on ESPN 46 main event, where he suffered a split-decision loss to Amir Albazi on June 3. It was the second consecutive defeat for the City Kickboxing representative, who suffered a third-round TKO defeat to Brandon Moreno in an interim title bout at UFC 277. “Don’t Blink” is is 7-4 in UFC competition, with wins over the likes of Askar Askarov, Cody Garbrandt and Rogerio Bontorin.

A former Rizin bantamweight champion, Kape has won three straight contests after dropping his first two Octagon appearances. Most recently, “Starboy” took a thr…

In approximately 15 months’ time, Jailton Almeida has made a name for himself by winning five consecutive UFC appearances — all inside the distance.

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That run of success resulted in a booking against Curttis Blaydes in the main event of UFC Sao Paolo on Nov. 4. It wasn’t Almeida’s first choice of opponent, but the Brazilian had no issues taking the fight.

"I asked for No. 6 ranked [Tai Tuivasa] anywhere. Hunter [Campbell] offered the No. 4 in Sao Paulo; we immediately accepted,” Almeida said. “He's been in the UFC for seven years. I arrived 15 months ago. He's the one who has all the pressure on his shoulders.”

Almedia looking forward to fighting in his home country and not having to adjust to different time zones for the first time in his UFC tenure.

“I’m used to traveling for up to 24 hours (including connections). It’s going to be great to be able to fight two hours away from Salvador with the support of my fans,” Almeida said.

A…

Bellator veteran Cris Lencioni is hospitalized in the intensive care unit (ICU) after suffering a cardiac arrest during training earlier this month.

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Lencioni’s wife, Marca, revealed the fighter’s condition in a post on Instagram.

“On Thursday 6/8 there was an incident while Cris was training, and he experienced a cardiac arrest. The athletes at the gym were great and immediately called 911 and did their best to address his needs until paramedics arrived,” she wrote.

“We are currently in another state. He has been under the care of excellent doctors with I and much of his family by his side. We are all hopeful for the progress we know he will continue to make … We are currently in uncharted territory and taking everything day by day.”

A GoFundMe page has also been started on Lencionci’s behalf to help with the costs of his medical care. Bellaor MMA released a statement on Lencioni’s condition.

"We are aware of Cris Lencioni's curr…

A pivotal bantamweight clash pitting Henry Cejudo against Marlon Vera has been added to the UFC 292 lineup.

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ESPN was first to report the booking. Both fighters have verbally agreed to the bout, which is expected to be finalized soon. UFC 292 takes place at the TD Garden Arena in Boston on Aug. 19 and is headlined by a bantamweight title tilt between Aljamain Sterling and Sean O’Malley.

Cejudo returned from a nearly three-year retirement at UFC 288, where he lost a closely contested split decision to Sterling on May 6. The Olympic gold medalist and former two-division champion had won six consecutive UFC appearances from 2017 to 2020, bestling the likes of Dominick Cruz, Marlon Moraes, T.J. Dillashaw, Demetrious Johnson and Sergio Pettis during that period.

Vera, meanwhile, had a four-bout winning streak snapped in his last outing, when he fell to Cory Sandhagen via split decision in the UFC on ESPN 43 headliner on March 25. “Chito” owns a re…

When it comes to the best light heavyweights in the world, Vadim Nemkov is at or near the top of most lists.

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According to Bellator president Scott Coker, Nemkov solidified his spot as the best 205-pound talent with his dominant title defense against Yoel Romero in the Bellator 297 headliner on Friday night in Chicago.

“Nemkov to me is the best 205-pounder on the planet in any MMA league, including better than the UFC 205-ers,” Coker said at the Bellator 297 post-fight press conference.

“I think what you saw [at Bellator 297] was his speed, agility, his combinations. He can kick, he can punch, he can take you down, he can defend. He can do it all. I think that’s what you saw tonight.”

Romero, a former middleweight title challenger in the UFC, absorbed a lot of damage from Nemkov over the course of the five-round fight. Other than a late takedown and some attempts to lull Nemkov to sleep with a drunken master style, Romero struggled to au…