Martial Arts News

Fighting for the first time since his release by the Ultimate Fighting Championship last year, Mark Striegl’s quest for redemption will pick up where his Octagon journey began.

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According to a source with knowledge of the matchup, the 34-year-old Filipino will take on Italy’s Walter Cogliandro in a 150-pound catchweight bout at UAE Warriors 39 on March 18 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. The source asked to remain anonymous since the fight has yet to be announced officially.

Former Universal Reality Combat Championship titleholder Striegl (18-4, 1 NC) joined the UFC in 2020 after compiling a four-fight win streak with one no contest. His debut, at UFC Fight Night 180 in Abu Dhabi’s Flash Forum, nicknamed “Fight Island” by the promotion, ended in a knockout loss to Said Nurmagomedov. His second UFC appearance, at UFC Fight Night 201 last February, saw him lose to Chas Skelly in similar fashion, leading to his release in May.

SBG Ireland representa…

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XTB #KSWColosseum2 | @eBiletPL pic.twitter.com/PG5GnCjplK — KSW (@KSW_MMA) March 8, 2023

Popular Polish strongman Mariusz Pudzianowski will return to action when he faces Artur Szpilka at KSW Colosseum 2 on June 3.

The promotion announced the booking on Wednesday. KSW Colosseum 2 takes place at the PGE Nardowy in Warsaw, Poland, and is available via pay-per-view at KSW.TV.

Pudzianowski had a five-bout winning streak snapped in his last outing, when he suffered a first-round technical knockout loss against Mamed Khalidov at KSW 77 this past December. The 46-year-old Pole is 17-8 with one no contest over the course of his professional tenure.

Szpilka owns a 24-5 career mark as a pro boxer, notably losing to Deontay Wilder via knockout in 2016. He is 2-0 since transitioning to MMA in 2022, including a second-round TKO of Serhii Radch…

Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC

Some 13 months after having a two-bout winning streak snapped by rising welterweight star Shavkat Rakhmonov, Carlston Harris is eager to return to the Octagon at UFC Fight Night 221 on Saturday.

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In order to adapt to the local climate, Harris and trainer Marcio Cromado arrived in Las Vegas two weeks ahead of time of an expected matchup against Abubakar Nurmagomedov. Things changed during the week of the event, however, as the promotion informed Harris that the Russian was out and offered Jared Gordon as a replacement opponent.

"I just signed the new contract to face this guy Jared. I think UFC didn’t even release his name officially,” Harris recently told Sherdog.com.

According to the Luta Livre fighter, Gordon was the seventh prospective foe he had received since the beginning of his camp.

“I can say this was a complete camp since I trained for all type of fighters, southpaws, orthodox…

Kyoji Horiguchi will square off against recent free-agent acquisition Ray Borg at Bellator 295.

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MMA Mania first brought word of the flyweight booking. Bellator 295 takes place on April 22 at the Neil S. Blaisdell Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, and is headlined by a bantamweight grand prix final between Raufeon Stots and Patrick Mix.

A former Bellator and Rizin bantamweight champion, Horiguchi enters the matchup on a two-fight winning streak. In his last outing, the American Top Team product took a unanimous decision over Hiromasa Ougikubo in a flyweight bout the Bellator vs. Rizin event on New Year’s Eve. Horiguchi was also a flyweight title challenger in the UFC, falling to Demetrious Johnson via submission in 2015.

Borg, 29, has been victorious in his last three professional outings. After a 7-5 stint in the UFC that saw him come up short in a bid for flyweight gold against Johnson in October 2017, “The Tazmexican Devil” has earned successive…

[embedded content] Vitor Petrino spent countless hours preparing for this moment.

The 25-year-old CM System prospect will make his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut when he tackles Anton Turkalj in a UFC Fight Night 221 light heavyweight showcase on Saturday inside The Theater at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas. Petrino enters the Octagon with a perfect 7-0 record, with six of his victories having resulted in finishes. He last appeared on Week 7 of Dana White’s Contender Series, where he put away Rodolfo Bellato with punches in the second round of their Sept. 6 pairing.

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In this exclusive interview with Sherdog.com, Petrino traces his path to becoming a mixed martial artist, outlines his plans for the future and touches on his motivations:

Sherdog.com: You are undefeated as a pro and also had at least four amateur fights—a rarity in Brazil. Can you share some details about your career thus far?Petrino: Actually, I had seven amateur bouts, of which I…

After a one-fight stint at 125 pounds, Miesha Tate will return to bantamweight for her next Octagon appearance.

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The former 135-pound champion will lock horns with Mayra Bueno Silva at a UFC event on June 3. The bout was initially reported by Dama de Ferro MMA and later confirmed by MMAFighting.com. The card does not yet have a location or headliner.

Tate made her flyweight debut at UFC on ABC 3, where she dropped a unanimous decision to Lauren Murphy. “Cupcake” is 1-2 since ending a nearly five-year retirement in 2021. She has lost four of her last five UFC appearances overall.

Silva, meanwhile, has been building momentum since moving to bantamweight. The 31-year-old Brazilian is 3-0 in the weight class, with victories over Lina Lansberg, Stephanie Egger and Yanan Wu to her credit.

After a successful heavyweight debut, Jon Jones is a considerable betting favorite in a proposed bout against Stipe Miocic.

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According to online oddsmaker BetOnline, Jones was a -355 favorite against Miocic as of Tuesday afternoon. Miocic, meanwhile, was listed as a +290 underdog. While Jones vs. Miocic is not official, the heavyweight championship fight is expected to take place in July — likely at UFC 290 during International Fight Week.

Jones returned following a three-year absence at UFC 285, where he submitted Ciryl Gane with a guillotine choke 3:04 into the first round to claim the vacant heavyweight title. Due to uncertainty regarding his heavyweight debut, “Bones” wasn't as heavily favored by online oddsmakers heading into the matchup.

Miocic hasn’t fought since March 2021, when he lost the heavyweight belt to Francis Ngannou via second-round KO at UFC 260. The 40-year-old Strong Style Fight Team standout holds the UFC heavyweight rec…

New Jersey, stand UP 🙌#UFC288 takes over the @PruCenter May 6th and we're bringing a HUGE lightweight fight with us!@CharlesDoBronxs vs @BeneilDariush 🔥

[ Register your interest here: https://t.co/ZyP75aSn9y ] pic.twitter.com/J8PHzz3xro

— UFC (@ufc) March 7, 2023

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The Ultimate Fighting Championship will return to the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., for its May 6 pay-per-view event.

UFC 288 will mark the promotion’s first event at the venue since UFC on ESPN 5 on Aug. 3, 2019. That card saw Colby Covington take a five-round verdict over Robbie Lawler in the welterweight main event.

“I am thrilled to bring another massive pay-per-view to Newark,” UFC President Dana White said in a release. “UFC has a long history with New Jersey, which has played host to many huge fights in the past. I can’t wait to rock Prudential Center with another world-class UFC event.”

While the promotion did not announce a headliner f…

Bo Nickal entered UFC 285 as one of the most hyped prospects in recent memory.

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The three-time NCAA national champion wrestler from Penn State University largely delivered on that hype, as he submitted Jamie Pickett with an arm-triangle choke 2:54 into Round 1 of their featured middleweight bout. That performance came on the heels of back-to-back first-round finishes on Dana White’s Contender Series, which seems to forecast a bright future for the 27-year-old.

“I had a lot of questions about him and when you saw his opponent, the guy is huge, he’s got like 25 fights, tons of experience. I thought, listen, he’s a human being. I don’t care what level of wrestling he is. This isn’t wrestling,” UFC president Dana White said at Saturday’s post-fight press confernce. “This is a completely different game here. There’s adrenaline dumps, the nervous energy, all the things of performing in the UFC for the first time, and he blew that all out of the water. He …

Rizin Fighting Federation 42 will feature some of the promotion’s top stars as well as some familiar faces from other organizations.

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The Japanese promotion recently announced the lineup for the May 6 card, which will take place at Ariake Arena in Tokyo and is headlined by a bantamweight clash between Kai Asakura and Yuki Motoya.

In other featured bouts, two-time UFC veteran Naoki Inoue will face former Bellator bantamweight champion Juan Archuleta; reigning Rizin lightweight kingpin Roberto Satoshi de Souza will square off against former UFC and Bellator competitor Spike Carlyle; Rizin super atomweight champ Seika Izawa will meet Miyuu Yamamoto and ex-UFC flyweight title challenger John Dodson will lock horns with Tatsuki Saomoto.

As it currently stands, no titles will be on the line at Rizin 42.

Asakura, a former Rizin 135-pound champ, is coming off a loss to Hiromasa Ougikubo in the promotion’s one-night bantamweight tournament in December.…

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Francis Ngannou was an interested observer when Jon Jones made his heavyweight debut against Ciryl Gane in the UFC 285 main event.

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“The Predator” expected Jones to prevail in the matchup, but he wouldn’t have predicted the bout to end as quickly as it did. After a three-year absence, Jones captured the vacant heavyweight title with a submission of Gane 2:04 into the opening round.

“I knew that if Jon Jones shows up in a good space mentally, not like his last two fights, he’s going to prevail in this fight, but I didn’t see this fight going this short. I think this fight could have been longer,” Ngannou said in a video posted to his YouTube channel. “I was surprised, though. I was surprised the way that the fight ended. And I think even seeing Ciryl’s reaction, he was surprised as well because he wasn’t even defending. He wasn’t thinking that a submission could come from where he was.”

Though Ngannou praised Jones for his victo…

Valentina Shevchenko was winning — that is, until she wasn’t.

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The longtime flyweight champion was ahead 29-28 on all three cageside judges’ scorecards heading into Round 4 of her title defense against Alexa Grasso in the UFC 285 co-main event. That all changed when Shevchenko whiffed on a spinning back kick, which ultimately allowed Grasso to take her back and lock in a face crank for a submission victory at the 4:34 mark of the period.

“This is kind of like what happens in mixed martial arts,” Shevchenko said in her post-fight interview in the Octagon. “You’re winning the fight all around, all around, no doubt. And a stupid situation can change the whole game. This is the part of the game. Congratulations to Alexa, and I know that I’m stronger and if not this spinning kick [it] would be a different result.”

Shevchenko may have been on her way to winning that frame as well. According to UFCStats.com, “Bullet” held a 22-to-13 advantage in signi…