Martial Arts News

The Costello van Steenis vs. Johnny Eblen rematch is the biggest fight in Professional Fighters League history, according to the promotion's CEO.

In an interview posted by the PFL on X, John Martin reflected on the rivalry between Eblen and van Steenis, revealing his disappointment with the injury that forced their scheduled rematch to be postponed. He also recalled the chaotic scene that followed Eblen's interim title victory over Impa Kasanganay.

Advertisement

John Martin points to the bad blood behind Johnny Eblen and Costello van Steenis’ postponed title rematch After Eblen won his fight against Kasanganay, van Steenis unexpectedly entered the cage, setting the stage for a dramatic title unification showdown. Martin's comments suggest the promotion still sees the matchup as a major attraction.

“That was a skirmish in the cage afterwards when Costello unexpectedly climbed in,” Martin said. “And I got a little nervous.” The PFL CEO also recalled Eblen telling …

Professional Fighters League CEO John Martin had nothing but praise for Cris Cyborg after her victory in Tampa, Florida.

Martin hailed Cyborg's performance against Ketlen Vieira at PFL Tampa and called the Brazilian superstar the most accomplished women's MMA fighter in history. Despite the fight being closely contested, Martin believes Cyborg did enough to earn the victory. He also claims a switch to boxing is possible amidst the promotion’s merger with Most Valuable Promotions.

Advertisement

Cris Cyborg vs. Claressa Shields in boxing is certainly a possibility with PFL-MVP merger Martin did not hold back on his appreciation for Cyborg after her PFL win against Vieira.

“If you've never seen Cris Cyborg fight before, hopefully you can get an appreciation and an understanding of what a legend this fighter is,” Martin said in a post-fight interview. “The most accomplished women's MMA fighter in history. She had a really tough fight tonight, but for five rounds, …

Chris Padilla already has an opponent in mind for his next Ultimate Fighting Championship bout.

Padilla (18-6-1) submitted Nasrat Haqparast with an arm-triangle choke at 4:59 of the third round on the UFC Sacramento undercard, extending his UFC record to 5-0-1. He now wants to face veteran UFC star Jim Miller.

Padilla wants to test himself against Miller after submitting Nasrat Haqparast at UFC Sacramento “I need Jim Miller, man,” Padilla told Heidi Androl after his win. “You know, it's a veteran, man. He's been in the game for a really long time. I watched him growing up as a little maggot. So, I just want that, you know what I'm saying? I want fights that are going to give me that little tingle. I got to live my dream, and here I am. The new generation is coming up and I'm here to slaughter every one of them.”

Miller, who debuted in the UFC back in 2008, is coming off a submission victory over Jared Gordon in May, which saw the 42-year-old further extend the record …

Gregory Rodrigues claims his experience and patience helped him avoid a collapse against Anthony Hernandez.

“Robocop” earned a hard-fought unanimous decision win over Hernandez in their recent Ultimate Fighting Championship main event, surviving his opponent’s constant pressure to secure the victory. Rodrigues explained his approach during a post-fight interview after UFC Sacramento, detailing the mental hurdles he had to overcome in the bout.

Advertisement

Rodrigues says patience and experience kept him composed in the UFC Sacramento main event Rodrigues admitted that he has faded and fatigued in earlier bouts in the UFC. While he was doing significant damage with calf kicks against Hernandez, the latter’s relentless wrestling never ceased, despite fighting out of southpaw for the majority of the later rounds. Rodrigues claims he wasn’t discouraged by Hernandez's durability.

“I started calf kicks. I couldn't finish. He came back,” Rodrigues said. “He hit me re…

Anthony Smith has spoken publicly for the first time since his arrest in Nebraska.

Smith recently returned home and posted a message on social media days after pleading not guilty to four felony charges stemming from a July incident involving his wife. His message was accompanied by an image of the former Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter alongside his family.

Advertisement

Former UFC contender speaks publicly after pleading not guilty to four felony charges in Nebraska The incident involved an altercation with his wife that eventually received police intervention. Smith has since returned home and shared a family photo alongside his message.

“Happy to be home with my household full of ‘whys,’” Smith wrote on Instagram. “I’ll be able to tell my story someday soon. Until then…you guys just keep making it up as you go. Character is revealed in chaos.”

Smith faces one Class 2 felony charge, one count of terroristic threats and two first-degree false-impr…

Dana White acknowledged that a serious incident involving Namo Fazil occurred behind the scenes, but declined to discuss the details of what happened.

Fazil alleged last week that he was confronted by a group of Chechens while preparing for his Dana White’s Contender Series bout with Kaik Brito. According to Fazil, the incident interrupted his weight cut and escalated into a physical altercation that eventually drew police attention. The Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO has now addressed the incident.

Advertisement

White acknowledges the promotion addressed an incident Fazil says became physical during Contender Series fight week White was asked about the incident at the UFC Sacramento post-fight press conference and acknowledged that the promotion is aware of what happened.

“You guys have no idea how much sh*t goes on in this business behind the scenes and I said at the press conference that we had kind of a weird week here,” White said.

White was als…

Anthony Hernandez is now on a two-fight skid in the Ultimate Fighting Championship and he’s accused his latest opponent, Gregory Rodrigues, of “cheating.”

Rodrigues beat Hernandez by unanimous decision in a grueling five-round bout at UFC Sacramento. Both middleweights earned Fight of the Night honors, but “Fluffy” has since accused Rodrigues of grabbing his gloves during their grappling exchanges.

Advertisement

Hernandez claims Rodrigues repeatedly grabbed inside his gloves during their Fight of the Night While Hernandez praised “Robocop” for his toughness, he also accused Rodrigues of grabbing his gloves as many as four times during their fight to gain an advantage.

“I hit him a few times, I rocked his sh*t, he’s a tough son of a b*tch,” Hernandez said at the post-fight press conference. “I hit him with everything and the kitchen sink, hit him with some hard elbows, f*cker was cheating and grabbing the inside of my gloves and I told [referee] Herb [Dean] that…

Reinier de Ridder claims that the fight week ahead of his bout against Caio Borralho was the worst of his career.

The Dutchman suffered a lopsided unanimous decision loss in a middleweight matchup against Borralho this past March, his last outing at 185 pounds. He recently revealed that he had already decided to move up to the Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight division during fight week ahead of that bout.

De Ridder decided to leave middleweight during his weight cut before facing Caio Borralho The former two-division One Championship titleholder recently recalled the days leading up to the defeat to Borralho. He was coming off a stoppage loss to Brendan Allen, in which he visibly gassed out, prompting a corner stoppage before the final round. “The Dutch Knight” has now revealed that the weight cut for the Borralho fight was even worse than the one that preceded the Allen bout.

“It was before the fight, during the weight cut I said, ‘This is the last tim…

Two names came to mind for Gilbert Burns when asked about who possesses the best jiu-jitsu in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Burns (22-10) himself was a feared jiu-jitsu artist with nine career submissions. “Durinho” complimenting someone’s jiu-jitsu certainly carries weight and he recently revealed that two of his compatriots have the best grappling in the UFC, although in different aspects.

Advertisement

Charles Oliveira gets Burns’ nod for MMA jiu-jitsu, while Diego Lopes stands out in the pure form Burns believes Charles Oliveira has the best MMA-focused jiu-jitsu in the UFC. However, he notes that MMA-focused jiu-jitsu is very different from pure jiu-jitsu, with the striking aspect completely out of the equation. According to the former fighter, Diego Lopes has the best pure jiu-jitsu game.

“Pure jiu-jitsu – that’s a different question,” Burns told MMA Fighting. “Because jiu-jitsu in the UFC, I would say Charles [Oliveira] is up there. But pure jiu-jit…

30 WINS FOR CRIS CYBORG 🏆

Cris Cyborg defeats Ketlen Vieira by unanimous decision in what could be one of the final fights of her illustrious career.#PFLTampa presented by @visitspc | 📺LIVE NOW on ESPN pic.twitter.com/9J8QPCSCWy

— PFL (@PFLMMA) August 23, 2026

Advertisement

Benchmark International Arena in Tampa, Florida, played host to the Professional Fighters League on Saturday night, as the promotion concluded its Summer Series with an entertaining card.

In the PFL Tampa main event, the legendary Cris Cyborg potentially competed for the final time when she faced longtime UFC bantamweight contender Ketlen Vieira. Because Vieira missed weight, only Cyborg was eligible to win the PFL women’s featherweight title.

Ketlen Vieira gives Cris Cyborg a major test in the PFL title fight The fight delivered in impressive fashion. Cyborg spent much of the opening 10 minutes circling and picking her shots, while Vieira answered with …

RIGHT TO THE BODY 😮‍💨

Carli Judice's striking is SERIOUS in the women's flyweight division!

Advertisement

[ #UFCSacramento | LIVE on @ParamountPlus ] pic.twitter.com/OC6A04x7Kk — UFC on Paramount+ (@UFConParamount) August 23, 2026

An action-packed UFC Sacramento has successfully concluded with a total of 10 finishes, and four fighters will walk out $100,000 richer.

Following the 13-fight card, the Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White handed out a Fight of the Night and two Performance of the Night bonuses. Interestingly, seven bouts ended in the first round, three of those lasted less than two minutes.

Gregory Rodrigues, Anthony Hernandez, Carli Judice and MarQuel Mederos earn UFC Sacramento bonuses The Fight of the Night honors went to the main-eventers, Anthony Hernandez and Gregory Rodrigues, for their hard-fought five-round battle. Although Rodrigues looked in control through the bout, Hernandez did manage …

Robocop letting the right hands fly 👊

[ #UFCSacramento | LIVE on @ParamountPlus ] pic.twitter.com/LgwoSduStk

— UFC on Paramount+ (@UFConParamount) August 23, 2026

Advertisement

An entertaining night of fights concluded with one of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s best main events of the year at UFC Fight Night 285 in Sacramento, California.

UFC Sacramento was headlined by an excellent middleweight matchup between Gregory Rodrigues (20-6, 11-3 UFC) and Anthony Hernandez (15-4, 1 NC; 9-4 UFC), which ended with Rodrigues earning the victory and Hernandez’s stock rising in defeat.

Hernandez kept Rodrigues tied up in clinches against the cage for most of the first round but was unable to take him down. Rodrigues landed a strong right hand that backed up Hernandez, who responded with a combination before clinching once more. Late in the round, “Robocop” connected with an uppercut and two elbows to the side of Hernandez’s head…