Martial Arts News

It took seven years, but Israel Adesanya finally has his first win over Alex Pereira.

And oh, what a win it was.

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Adesanya regained the middleweight crown with a massive knockout of Pereira in the UFC 287 headliner at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida, on Saturday night. “The Last Stylebender” brought the show to a close 4:21 into Round 2 with a finish that will likely end up on many “Knocokout of the Year” lists when all is said and done. In victory, Adesanya (24-2, 13-2 UFC) rebounds from a fourth-round TKO loss to Pereira at UFC 281 this past November.

“They say revenge is sweet, and if you know me, I’ve got a sweet tooth,” Adesanya said.

After a measured opening round for both men, the action picked up considerably in the second stanza. Emboldened by his success landing calf kicks, Pereira (7-2, 4-1 UFC) stalked Adesanya after buckling his foe’s legs near the fence. As Adesanya shelled up against the cage, Pereira became careless, unloading…

Sherdog's live UFC 287 coverage will begin Saturday at 6 p.m. ET. BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Amorim (-245), Hughes (+205)Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:

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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 REPORT | ODDS: Nuerdanbieke (-200), Garcia (+170)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 BE…

WHAT A FIGHT TO END THE PRELIMS AT #UFC287 👏 pic.twitter.com/mJEdGcKA5k

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) April 9, 2023

Kelvin Gastelum needed a win in the worst way possible, and Chris Curtis made him go through heavy fire to earn it.

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“The Ultimate Fighter 17” winner went toe-to-toe with Curtis for three entertaining rounds, earning a unanimous decision triumph in the featured UFC 287 prelim at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida, on Saturday night. Gastelum, who had lost five of his previous six promotional appearances, received scorecards of 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27 from the cageside judges. Both middleweights traded willingly for the duration of the contest. Gastelum (18-8, 12-8 UFC) enjoyed success landing quick punching combinations to the head — opening a cut over Curtis’ eye in the process — and low kicks. Curtis (30-10, 4-2 UFC), meanwhile, stood in the pocket and fired back, doing some of his best work digging to the body o…

An instant classic is headed to the #UFCHOF :raised_hands:@Ruthless_RL vs @Rory_MacDonald 2 will officially go down in UFC history!

[ B2YB @ToyoTires ] pic.twitter.com/x546ghwaH8

— UFC (@ufc) April 9, 2023

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An incredible welterweight title clash is being inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship announced during the UFC 287 pay-per-view that Robbie Lawler and Rory MacDonald's incredible UFC 189 fight is being immortalized in the UFC Hall of Fame's fight wing. The five-round war saw Lawler successfully defend his welterweight title against the Canadian that left both men forever changed. The back-and-forth battle would see Lawler eventually overcome his foe and pick up a TKO victory one minute into the fifth round.

One of the most dramatic moments came at the end of Round 4 as Lawler spit blood on the ground and glared at MacDonald. Eventually, a damaged nose of MacDonald became too…

#ANDNEW Middleweight champion of the world! 🏆@stylebender gets his belt back at #UFC287!!

[ B2YB @RE_Games ] pic.twitter.com/WzTsvdP7C5

— UFC (@ufc) April 9, 2023 The Ultimate Fighting Championship awarded four fighters performance bonuses on the UFC 287 pay-per-view card.

Israel Adesanya received an extra $50,000 for his impressive middleweight championship win. "The Last Stylebender" scored an incredible knockout over Alex Pereira in the second round with a series of crushing punches. Additionally, Rob Font pocketed $50,000 for his TKO stoppage over Adrian Yanez.

Meanwhile, fight of the night honors went to Kelvin Gastelum and Chris Curtis. The two middleweights had a back-and-forth featured prelim, with Gastelum ultimately taking home the decision win.

UFC 286 Bonuses: Israel Adesanya - $50,000Rob Font - $50,000Kelvin Gastelum - $50,000Chris Curtis - $50,000

Highly-touted middleweight prospect Bo Nickal will make his sophomore Octagon appearance against Tresean Gore at UFC 290.

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Nickal revealed the booking to Betr Combat, and the fight has subsequently been confirmed by multiple outlets. UFC 290 takes place on July 8 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and also includes a featherweight title tilt pitting Alexander Volkanovski against Yair Rodriguez.

Nickal enjoyed a successful promotional debut at UFC 285, where he submitted Jamie Pickett with an arm-triangle choke 2:54 into Round 1 of their clash. The victory was not without controversy, as Pickett initially considered appealing the result after claiming Nickal turned the tide of the bout with a knee to the groin. Pickett and his team ultimately decided against filing an appeal with the Nevada State Athletic Commission. A three-time NCAA national champion wrestler at Penn State University, Nickal is 4-0 in his pro MMA career, with all of those triumphs …

It was closer than most anticipated, but Larissa Pacheco did enough to get by.

The 2022 Professional Fighters League women’s lightweight champion downshifted to 145 pounds and began her quest for gold in a second division with a unanimous decision over Julia Budd in the PFL 2 headliner on Friday inside The Theater at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas. Scores were 30-27, 29-28 and 30-27—all for Pacheco (20-4, 9-2 PFL).

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Budd (16-6, 1-3 PFL) made it competitive. She punctuated occasional punching volleys with powerful right hands and at times outscrambled Pacheco in back-and-forth grappling exchanges. In the end, she failed to muster enough consistent offense to spring the upset. Pacheco staggered the former Bellator MMA titleholder with a clean left hook in the third round, dragged her to the canvas and secured an advantageous position behind her. Budd escaped and moved on top, only to be reversed soon after. Pacheco eventually settled in half guard, made a …

The 2023 Professional Fighters League marches on with 2023 PFL 2 at 7 p.m. ET. The action airs live on ESPN+ and then continues on ESPN.

Discuss the event in the MMA forums, the world’s largest combat sports community, here.

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Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Edwin Ayala scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Edwin Ayala scores the round: Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Edwin Ayala scores the round:The Official Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Edwin Ayala scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Edwin Ayala scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Edwin Ayala scores the round:The Official Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry sco…

Hey Canada! 😃 pic.twitter.com/7ah0IFQAa4

— danawhite (@danawhite) April 7, 2023 The Ultimate Fighting Championship is officially going back to Canada this year.

On Friday, UFC President Dana White – who was caught on video slapping his wife on Dec. 31, 2022 – announced on social media that UFC 289 will be held at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. White then told Canadian outlet TSN that the main attraction for that show would be the rubber match between Amanda Nunes (22-5) and Julianna Pena (11-5) for the women’s bantamweight throne. Other matches recently booked for the card include Hakeem Dawodu (13-3-1) vs. Lucas Almeida (14-1) at featherweight, and Aiemann Zahabi (9-2) vs. Qileng Aori (24-9) in the bantamweight division.

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The promotion had been rumored to instead be holding the card at Calgary, Alberta, Canada, but due to the playoff picture for the NHL team Calgary Flames, the Scotiabank Saddl…

Two fan-favorite Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweights will battle it out for top-10 contention this June.

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A report from Combate first broke the news on late Thursday that Amanda Ribas (11-3) would be returning to the cage on June 24. The flyweight will be taking on Maycee Barber (12-2), reportedly in Jacksonville, Florida, which would likely put it at the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena. This event is rumored to air on the ABC airwaves in some fashion, and therefore is currently titled UFC on ABC 5. The 125-pound pairing has since been confirmed by both ladies on their respective Instagram pages.

Both women are coming off decision wins in March. For Brazil’s Ribas, she rebounded from her first loss on the scorecards – coming against perennial contender Katlyn Chookagian – to claim a unanimous verdict against Viviane Araujo. Before the 2022 Chookagian setback, Ribas had won five of six in the Octagon, with the lone defeat in her rise a knockou…

[embedded content] The Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight title will be on the line in the UFC 287 main event.

Both champion Alex Pereira and challenger Israel Adesanya successfully made weight for the upcoming championship rematch. All of the fighters except one for the 13-fight card, which is co-headlined by a welterweight fight between Gilbert Burns and Jorge Masvidal, also made weight. The lone miss was Christian Rodriguez, who came in at 137.5 pounds. Due to being 1.5 pounds over the bantamweight limit he has been fined a percentage of his purse for his bout against Raul Rosas Jr.

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Pereira (7-1) has been perfect inside the Octagon and dispatched his former kickboxing rival in their first mixed martial arts meeting. It wasn't easy, though, as it took a late TKO rally for "Poatan" to claim the belt. The Brazilian will look to dispel any notions of the victory being a fluke in the rematch. Pereira stepped on the scale at 185 pounds on the …

⚖️@JuliaBudd weighs in at 145.6 lbs for her main event Women’s Featherweight bout

[ Friday, April 7th | 10pm ET on ESPN 2 | #PFLRegularSeason |🎟 https://t.co/hxZi2fEbA9] pic.twitter.com/fEB6uSO0MX

— PFL (@PFLMMA) April 6, 2023 Editor's note: The article has been updated at 4:15 p.m. ET to reflect that Kolesnyk did not continue cutting weight to reach the featherweight limit.

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The 2023 Professional Fighters League season is about to begin for the heavyweight and women's featherweight competitors.

The 10-fight PFL 2 card is headlined by an intriguing 145-pound women's pairing between Larissa Pacheco and Julia Budd. Both women had no trouble making weight, as did the rest of the event with the exception of Olena Kolesnyk, who came in .4 pounds over the featherweight limit for her bout against Aspen Ladd. Additionally, one fight was moved, as PFL announced that Michal Andryszak was out of his encounter with Patrick Brady…