Martial Arts News

⚖️ Welterweight ESPN+ main event bout is official!

Sadibou Sy: 171 lbsJarrah Al Silawi: 170.8 lbs

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[ Friday, April 14th | 7pm ET on ESPN| #PFLRegularSeason | 🎟️ https://t.co/hxZi2fEbA9] pic.twitter.com/dBtzzkl0Q9 — PFL (@PFLMMA) April 13, 2023 Editor's note: The article has been updated at 2:10 p.m. ET to reflect a correction made for Schulte and Ray's weights following a PFL error.

The 2023 Professional Fighters League season will kick off for the men's welterweight and lightweight divisions.

PFL 3 is headlined by an intriguing welterweight fight between Sadibou Sy and Jarrah Al-Silawi. Both headliners made weight without a worry, as did the rest of the 12-fight card. Additionally, the promotion is dubbing the lightweight contest between Olivier Aubin-Mercier and Shane Burgos as the "ESPN main event" that takes place earlier in the evening.

Sy (13-6-2, 1 NC) is coming off winning the welterweight divisio…

About two weeks ahead of the Ultimate Fighting Championship card at the end of April, its headliner is in jeopardy.

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The news first broke from MMA Junkie on Thursday, where Renato Carneiro (17-5-1) has suffered an undisclosed injury. His lightweight match atop UFC Fight Night 223 against Arman Tsarukyan (19-3) is off, and there is no current word of a replacement. The co-headliner for this April 29 event at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas is currently Caio Borralho vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk at 185 pounds. The injury and subsequent withdrawal have since been confirmed by other outlets.

“Moicano” was looking to get back in the cage again for the first time since November 2022, when he tapped out Brad Riddell to bounce back from a one-sided defeat to Rafael dos Anjos earlier that year. Dating back the last five years, every victory inside the Octagon for Carneiro has come by rear-naked choke. The six performed by Carneiro in the UFC have him tied with Charl…

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight king Deiveson Figueiredo is not quite so eager to leave his old stomping ground just yet.

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Ex-champ Figueiredo (21-3-1) lost his title in his tetralogy match with Brandon Moreno at UFC 283 in January. and subsequently suggested he was planning on moving to bantamweight going forward. Those plans for the 35-year-old are currently on hold, as instead, he will be staying at flyweight to take on Manel Kape (18-6) this July. Per ESPN Deportes on Thursday, Figueiredo and Kape will battle it out at UFC 290, which is set to go down in the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on July 8.

This will be Figueiredo’s first opponent not named Moreno in over two and a half years – spanning the entirety of his upcoming foe’s UFC tenure thus far. The Brazilian embarked on the UFC’s first quadrilogy series when he first met Moreno at UFC 256 in 2020, and then encountered him three more times in 2021, 2022 and 2023. The fourth mat…

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Alex Pereira is headed to the light heavyweight division.

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“Poatan” announced the move on his YouTube channel on Wednesday night. Pereira is coming off a loss to Israel Adesanya in a middleweight championship rematch in the UFC 287 headliner this past Saturday.

I think I did my work [at] 185 and now I’m feeling good to go up to 205,” Pereira said. “Like I told you, when I’m feeling good — this will be something natural … and now I think it is.

“But as well I want to make one thing clear. This division 185 … I always made weight. A lot of people had doubts, but I always fulfilled my obligation. But not it’s the moment to go up to the next division. This will be better for me.”

It was the first victory for Adesanya against Pereira in a series spanning four bouts in kickboxing and MMA. Pereira had won his previous seven MMA appearances, a run that saw him claim middleweight gold with a fifth-round stoppage of his rival at UFC 28…

Cezar Ferreira hasn’t competed in MMA since a 13-second technical knockout loss to Marthin Hamlet in the 2021 Professional Fighters League playoffs.

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That will change on Friday night after “Mutante” received a short-notice offer to replace Patrick Brady against Denis Goltsov in a heavyweight bout at PFL 3.

"My manager called me Monday night offering a fight at heavyweight,” Ferreira told Sherdog.com. “And I didn’t think twice. The most difficult thing was doing all the medicals on time. It was such a marathon. But here I´m at the airport. The guy has two legs and two arms like myself. I love challenges and I’m going there to take that Russian’s place and get into the $1 million dollar [competition].”

Weighing 228 pounds compared to approximately 245 for Goltsov, “Mutante” thinks speed might be an advantage for him.

"He is heavier but I’m faster,” Ferreira said. “I’ve already fought at welterweight, middleweight, …

T.J. Dillashaw says that ongoing shoulder issues forced him to call it quits before he truly wanted to leave mixed martial arts.

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The former bantamweight champion announced his retirement late last year following a loss to Aljamain Sterling in a 135-pound title bout at UFC 280. Dillashaw admitted afterward that he entered the matchup with a shoulder injury and that it popped out during the fight. He also revealed that he dislocated the shoulder at least 20 times during training camp.

In a post on Instagram, Dillashaw lamented the injury that led to him exiting the sport while revealing that he will likely need a second shoulder surgery.

“This is retirement,” he wrote. “But in all honesty I’m pretty pissed that I didn’t get the chance to choose to retire. I feel that I’m [too] good to hang ‘em up. Haven’t told many people but I have to go under the knife again for surgery because my first surgery didn’t take. Being told that my shoulder will ne…

Defending Professional Fighters League lightweight champion Olivier Aubin-Mercier will get first crack at prized free-agent signing Shane Burgos.

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Aubin-Mercier vs. Burgos will serve as the featured bout for PFL 3: 2023 Regular Season at the Theater at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas on Friday. The main card airs early on ESPN and ESPN+ beginning at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. It will be Burgos’ PFL debut after compiling an 8-3 mark in the UFC.

While Aubin-Mercier is well aware of his opponent’s entertaining fighting style, he thinks that could work against Burgos during the grind of the PFL season, which requires more activity than a typical MMA schedule.

“I think it’s gonna be tough for him since he’s kind of a kamikazee in the ring,” Aubin-Mercier said during a PFL media day. “He’s a really fun fighter. He has a big heart. PFL is four fights in eight months, so I think it’s gonna be tough for his style. Everybody is gonna tune in to see the fight and se…

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Nate Diaz’s first venture since leaving the UFC figures to draw plenty of eyes.

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Most Valuable Promotions and Real Fight Inc., announced on Wednesday that Diaz will square off against Jake Paul in a boxing match on Aug. 5 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. The bout will be contested at 185 pounds over eight rounds, with both athletes wearing 10-ounce gloves, according to a release. The event will air live on pay-per-view via DAZN as well as all major cable and satellite providers.

Diaz ended his Octagon tenure last September following a fourth-round submission victory against Tony Ferguson at UFC 279. That fulfilled Diaz’s contract with the Las Vegas-based promotion. Diaz emerged as one of the UFC’s biggest stars over the course of promotional tenure that began in 2007 after he won “The Ultimate Fighter 5.” He compiled a 16-11 mark in the Octagon and reached the pinnacle of his star power when he submitted McGregor at UFC 1…

A heavyweight tilt pitting Daniel James against Gokhan Saricam is among several additions to the Bellator 297 bill.

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The California-based promotion announced multiple bouts for the event, including the James-Saricam clash that is set for the evening’s main draw. Additionally, the following seven contests were confirmed for the prelims: Roman Faraldo vs. Bobby Nash at welterweight; Gadzhi Rabadanov vs. Pieter Buist at lightweight; Jaleel Willis vs. Ramazan Kuramagomedov at welterweight; Alex Polizzi vs. Karl Moore at light heavyweight; Archie Colgan vs. Emmanuel Sanchez at lightweight; Norbert Novenyi Jr. vs. Kamil Oniszczuk at middleweight and Timur Khizriev vs. Richie Smullen at featherweight.

Bellator 297 takes place on June 16 at Wintrust Arena in Chicago and is headlined by a light heavyweight title clash between Vadim Nemkov and Yoel Romero. In the co-main event, Sergio Pettis will defend the bantamweight strap against reigning featherweight k…

A trilogy of sorts is on tap for UFC 290, as Brandon Moreno will defend his flyweight crown against Alexandre Pantoja on July 8 in Las Vegas.

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UFC chief business officer Hunter Campbell confirmed the booking to promotion broadcast partner ESPN on Wednesday. Freak MMA first reported the title bout. UFC 290 takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and also features a featherweight championship clash pitting Alexander Volkanovski against Yair Rodriguez. According to ESPN, Volkanovski vs. Rodriguez is expected to be the evening’s headliner, while Moreno vs. Pantoja will serve as the co-main event. That likely means that the rumored heavyweight championship showdown between Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic has now been targeted for another date.

Moreno and Pantoja have already squared off twice in MMA, though only one of those was an official bout. Both men were on Season 24 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” and Pantoja submitted Moreno via second-round submi…

Once a highly-touted prospect, Cynthia Calvillo has been released from the UFC roster.

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Twitter account UFC Roster Watch initially brought word of Calvillo’s release, and it was later confirmed by MMAFighting.com.

Calvillo suffered her fifth consecutive defeat at UFC 287 this past Saturday, as she dropped a split decision to Lupita Godinez in a preliminary strawweight bout. Based on a statement released on her Instagram, Calvillo seemed to be in good spirits following the setback.

“Hell of a fight. Physically and mentally this was the best I’ve felt in a long time,” she wrote. “Didn’t get the result we worked for but still gained a lot. It feels good to be back at strawweight and I can’t wait to see what’s next.”

Calvillo vacillated between strawweight and flyweight during a 13-bout UFC tenure. She made her promotional debut with just a 3-0 professional mark and proceeded to go 6-1-1 in her first eight UFC appearances. She fell on hard…

After winning $1 million and the lightweight championship in the 2021 PFL season, Raush Manfio was prevented from taking part in last year’s postseason due to a loss against eventual 155-pound winner Olivier Aubin-Mercier.

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Ten months have passed since that defeat, and now the Brazilian is ready to kick off his 2023 campaign against Alex Martinez as part of the PFL 3 card. PFL 3 takes place on Friday at The Theater at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas. Manfio vs. Martinez is part of the “late card” that begins on ESPN+ at 9:30 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT. The main card airs earlier, on ESPN and ESPN+ at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.

"Since last year I’m working hard in all areas in order to evolve technically, and that’s what I’m bringing Friday, a much better version of myself for this season,” Manfio told Sherdog.com.

Even though close friend and two-time PFL champ Natan Schulte will face Steven Ray on the same night, Manfio says the American Top Team stablemates…