Martial Arts News

Derrick Lewis made sure his UFC on ESPN 56 main event against Rodrigo Nascimento didn't last the full 25 minutes.

In a surprising change of pace, Lewis (28-12, 1 NC) came out looking to clinch with the Brazilian at first but wasn't able to do much in the position. Instead, Nascimento (11-2, 1 NC) secured a takedown and took the fight to the floor. Lewis would survive the frame but ate a number of elbows. Lewis would have more success in the second frame, landing some heavy uppercuts while dirty boxing. "The Black Beast" would then be fully unleashed in Round 3 as a huge overhand right floored Nascimento, and Lewis kept throwing until the fight was stopped 49 seconds into the stanza.

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With the win, Lewis has now won 19 fights inside the Ultimate Fighting Championship's heavyweight division.Buckley Tears Through Ruziboev The co-main event saw welterweights Joaquin Buckley and Nursulton Ruziboev clash. Buckley (19-6) took an early advantage by taking t…

The Ultimate Fighting Championship makes its second visit to St. Louis for the upcoming UFC on ESPN 56 card, set to go down at 4 p.m. ET on May 11 at Enterprise Center.

The main event features a potential slugfest as explosive heavyweights Derrick Lewis and Rodrigo Nascimento take center stage to cap things off at the home of the NHL Blues. Sherdog.com brings exclusive live play-by-play coverage of every thrilling moment, ensuring you don't miss out on any of the Octagon excitement.

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BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Hardy (-135), Aldrich (+114)Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round: Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:The Official Result BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING …

A middleweight clash pitting Kevin Holland against Michal Oleksiejczuk has been added to the UFC 302 main draw.

The pairing was announced during the UFC on ESPN 56 broadcast on Saturday night. UFC 302 takes place on June 1 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, and is headlined by a lightweight championship bout between Islam Makhachev and Dustin Poirier.

Holland began his promotional tenure at 185 pounds but has been competing primarily at welterweight in recent years. “Trailblazer” is coming off back-to-back losses against Michael Page and Jack Della Maddalena in his last two Octagon appearances.

Oleksiejczuk has lost two of his last three bouts under the UFC banner. Most recently, the 29-year-old Pole was submitted by Michel Pereira in the opening stanza at UFC 299 this past March.

A strawweight (125-pound) clash between Koha Minowa (13-5) and Jeremy Miado (12-7) has been added to the ONE on Prime Video 23 card set to go down at the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, on July 5.

The bout was announced by ONE Championship in a press release on the promotion’s website. The card will be headlined by a fight for the ONE women’s inaugural strawweight kickboxing championship, as Anissa Meksen will lock horns with Jackie Buntan.

Minowa will enter the bout coming off a split-decision loss to Gustav Balart in January. Prior to that, the former Shooto competitor suffered back-to-back unanimous decision defeats against Bokang Masunyane and former champion Jarred Brooks.

Meanwhile, Miado will also enter the matchup on a three-fight skid, most recently succumbing to a Round 3 bulldog choke submission at the hands of Keito Yamakita at ONE 166 in March. Prior to the losing skid, Miado was on a four-fight winning streak, recording knocko…

Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC

A bantamweight clash between two promising prospects has been added to the UFC Fight Night event set to go down at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on July.

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Hyder Amil (9-0) will meet Road to UFC 2022 featherweight winner Jeong Yeong Lee (11-1) in his second promotional outing. The news was first reported by Euro Sport NL’s Marcel Dorff in a post to X (formerly known as Twitter). The bout was laterconfirmed by both fighters on their social media handles.

Sporting an undefeated record, Hyder Amil will enter the Octagon fresh off the heels of a Round 2 technical knockout victory over Fernie Garcia in his promotional debut at UFC Fight Night 236 this past February. The California native earned an Ultimate Fighting Championship contract thanks to a unanimous decision win over Emrah Sonmez in his appearance on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2023.

Meanwhile, Lee made his way to the promotion via t…

While multiple outlets recently confirmed that Michel Pereira was set to take on Roman Dolidze in a middleweight clash on the UFC on ESPN 57 card on June 8, “Demolidor” recently took to Instagram to clarify that he’d never agreed to the matchup.

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According to the Brazilian, taking a fight against his training partner and “friend” on a month’s notice seemed impossible, not only because of their camaraderie but also because of the logistical problem of finding a different gym to train in such a short time.

“I didn’t accept that fight, OK?” Pereira said on his Instagram stories (translation via AgFight). “That man, he trains with me every day. He trains with me at UFC P.I. He trains at Xtreme Couture and he fights. Got it? He accepted and I didn’t. For me, now is not the time to fight him. If he accepted, that’s his problem. I was even surprised when he accepted. I didn’t accept this fight, OK? Got it? I said if it was someone else I would take it. Bu…

Abdullah Al-Qahtani made his opponent quit in his latest Professional Fighters League assignment. There can be no greater joy for a mixed martial artist.

Al-Qahtani put away Yazeed Hasanain with punches in the second round of their PFL MENA 1 headliner on Friday at The Green Halls in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Hasanain (3-1, 0-1 PFL) turned to referee Rich Mitchell, waved his arms and indicated he could absorb no further punishment 4:59 into Round 2. The show featured qualifying bouts in the featherweight and bantamweight divisions for the newly established Middle East and North Africa branch of the PFL.

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Hasanain was more or less outgunned. Al-Qahtani (9-1, 4-0 PFL) staggered him with a left hook in the first round, completed a takedown and went about stalking his Jordanian counterpart. He pressed Hasanian into the fence for much of the second round, dodged return fire and unleashed power punches to the head. Damage was cumulative on Hasanain and ultima…

Mongolia’s Batochir Batsaikhan made a spectacular ONE Championship debut, as he stopped Fabio Harada with just two seconds remaining in the first round of their ONE Friday Fights 62 bantamweight showcase on Friday at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

Harada (5-2, 0-1 ONE) came out the gate looking to pressure Batsaikhan (3-1, 1-0 ONE) against the ropes. However, it was not long before the Mongolian reversed his opponent into a corner and landed a series of knees to the body followed by crisp straight lefts, immediately putting Harada on notice. After eating a couple of slick counter straight lefts and a head kick, Harada attempted to take the fight to the canvas but was denied. Gaining confidence in his striking advantage, Batsaikhan landed a slicing elbow on his opponent that clearly hurt Harada. From there, Batsaikhan began to pick Harada apart with stinging counterstrikes to the head and knees to the body while denying the exhausted 24-year-old from completin…

[embedded content] The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to ESPN airwaves this weekend with a heavyweight main event.

UFC on ESPN 56 main event fighters Derrick Lewis and Rodrigo Nascimento both made weight for the 12-fight card. Both men weighed near the 266-pound limit, so there won't be a major weight difference. All fighters made weight except for Jared Gooden, who suffered a medical issue and didn't weigh in, thus canceling his welterweight fight against Kevin Jousset.

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This marks the 12th UFC main event for "The Black Beast." However, Lewis has struggled recently and is on a 1-4 stretch. A win over Marcos Rogerio de Lima is sandwiched between losses to Jailton Almeida, Sergey Spivak, Sergei Pavlovich and Tai Tuivasa. Lewis (27-12, 1 NC) will look to show he still has something left at 39 and officially weighed 264 pounds.

Meanwhile, this is the first UFC main event for Nascimento (11-1, 1 NC). "Yogi Bear" is riding a three-fight win stre…

THIS. FIGHT. 🤧

It’s Xavier Alaoui 🆚 Rachid El Hazoume for the Bantamweight bout.

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Who’s ready for tomorrow? 🥊

PFL MENA | LIVE on MBC Action at 6:30 PM (GMT+3)

Tickets on SALE NOW! https://t.co/NtUBc3UAGX#PFL #MMA #MakingHistory #SaudiArabia #MENA@PFLMMA pic.twitter.com/gFvgUGtldy — PFL MENA (@PFLMENA) May 9, 2024

After a decade in the cage, Xavier Alaoui must prove himself to no one. The Tristar Gym jokester radiates confidence before the biggest fight of his career, but Alaoui knows he’s ready. And for those who don’t, prepare to find out.

“I’ve given up on the idea of being on the cusp of breaking through,” Alaoui told Sherdog.com. “I feel like I’ve already broken through. I’ve fought some of the best guys in the world, and the best guys in the world know who the f*ck I am.”

Alaoui (14-5) is set to make his mark in the Professional Fighters League, aiming to be the first to claim in the inaugur…

A mighty Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight matchup makes its way to a show next month.

At UFC on ESPN 57 on June 8, the promotion will be traveling to Louisville, Kentucky, to post up at the KFC Yum! Center. The main event was recently made official, with the reported pairing of Jared Cannonier and Nassourdine Imavov coming together earlier on Thursday. Serving on the main card will a 185-pound scrap between Roman Dolidze (12-3) and Michel Pereira (31-11, 2 NC), as first reported by Eurosport_NL on Thursday. This muscular match has since been confirmed by other outlets.

Dolidze was initially set to battle Anthony Hernandez at UFC 302, but an injury for Hernandez scuttled the pairing. The Georgian was shifted back one week to accommodate for his opponent’s recent fight. He finds himself on his first losing streak of his career, having dropped back-to-back decisions to Marvin Vettori in 2023 and Imavov in 2024. Prior to the losses, the 35-year-old had rattl…

The Ultimate Fighting Championship is not straying away from middleweight main events, even outside of Las Vegas.

The promotion announced via press release in April the nearly completed lineup of UFC Louisville, also known as UFC on ESPN 57. The fight card held at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky, had numerous previously announced matchups confirmed while bringing light to a few others. Of note, the release stated that Dominick Reyes (12-4) and Dustin Jacoby (19-8-1) would be competing in the light heavyweight co-main attraction, while Andrea Lee (13-9) and Montana De La Rosa (12-9) will throw down in the early prelims at flyweight.

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Shortly after the press release dropped, MMA Mania broke the news that the main event would come at 185 pounds between Jared Cannonier (17-6) and Nassourdine Imavov (13-4, 1 NC). This battle on June 8 has now been confirmed by other outlets on Thursday.

This main attraction appearance for Cannonier will be …