Martial Arts News

Recent flyweight title challenger Taila Santos will square off against surging prospect Erin Blanchfield at UFC Fight Night 219 on Feb. 18.

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Multiple outlets confirmed the booking after Blanchfield announced the matchup on the "Morning Kombat” show. Blanchfield also revealed that she has signed a new four-fight contract with the Las Vegas-based promotion. UFC Fight Night 219 takes place at the UFC Apex and does not yet a main event.

Santos is coming off a five-round, split-decision loss to Valentina Shevchenko in the UFC 275 co-main event this past June, when she gave the reigning flyweight queen arguably the toughest test of her championship reign. Prior to that defeat, the 29-year-old Astra Fight Team representative had won four straight bouts in the Octagon, with notable victories over the likes of Joanne Wood, Roxanne Modafferi and Molly McCann.

Blanchfield, 23, has emerged as one of the most intriguing talents in the division since makin…

After a couple previous cancellations, a light heavyweight clash between Ovince St. Preux and Philipe Lins has been rescheduled for UFC Fight Night 219.

MMAFighting.com was first to report the rebooked contest. UFC Fight Night 219 takes place on Feb. 18 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The event does not yet have a headliner.

St. Preux was slated to face three different opponents at UFC 282 — Lins, Alexander Gustafsson and Antonio Trocoli — before eventually being removed from the Dec. 10 card entirely. “OSP” was also supposed to meet Lins in November, but that fight fell through as well. St. Preux last competed at UFC 274, where he defeated Maurico Rua via split decision in a rematch of a 2014 clash.

The 37-year-old Lins halted a two-bout skid in his last outing, when he outpointed Marcin Prachnio at UFC Fight Night 205 on April 23. “Monstro” is a 2018 PFL champion at heavyweight and also compiled a 3-3 mark during a short stint in Bellator MMA.

A previously announced middleweight bout between Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa is now not likely to happen at UFC 284, according to a report from ESPN.

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Though the contest is still listed on the UFC’s official website, the promotion has been unable to finalize the bout. The matchup was initially announced in October, and the only hurdle at the time was getting the fight cleared by the Western Australia Combat Sports Commission.

Since then, however, Costa revealed that he was still in negotiations with the UFC for a new contract with one fight remaining on his current deal. As a result, “Borrachinha” had not agreed to face Whittaker at UFC 284 because the promotion had not yet met his financial terms, and he claimed that his contract could potentially expire before he fulfilled the last bout.

More recently, Whittaker’s coach, Alex Prates, acknowledged that there was a "great possibility” that the former middleweight champion would not fa…

A middleweight showdown pitting Andre Muniz against Brendan Allen has been added to the UFC Fight Night 220 lineup.

Ag.Fight was first to report the booking. UFC Fight Night 220 takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Feb. 25 and is headlined by a light heavyweight duel between Nikita Kyrlov and Ryan Spann.

Muniz is in the midst of a nine-bout winning streak that dates back to December 2017. The Dana White’s Contender Series alum is 5-0 in the UFC since his promotional debut in 2019, with notable wins over the likes of Uriah Hall, Eryk Anders and Ronaldo Souza. “Sergipano” is 23-4 as a professional, with 15 victories by way of submission.

Also a former competitor on the Contender Series, Allen has compiled an 8-2 mark during his tenure with the Las Vegas-based promotion. The 26-year-old Sanford MMA export is coming off a 3-0 campaign in 2022 that featured victories against Sam Alvey, Jacob Malkoun and Krzysztof Jotko.

The UFC Fight Night 216 headliner wasn’t the type of bout that produced a definitive winner.

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That was reflected in the final scorecards, as Jared Cannonier captured a contentious split-decision triumph over Sean Strickland on Saturday night at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The verdict drew harsh criticism from Strickland in the aftermath, and not a single round was scored unanimously by cageside judges Derek Cleary, Sal D’Amato and Junichiro Kamijo. Cannonier, whose approach included a barrage of low kicks and occasional bursts of power punches, believed that he did enough to earn the nod on the scorecards.

“I definitely thought I won at least three of the five rounds,” Cannonier said at the post-fight press conference. “I felt confident that I won three out of five rounds. On top of that, I felt confident that I won the fight in general.”

As expected, Strickland did some of his best work with his jab while confounding his opponent with moveme…

The UFC Fight Night 216 headliner wasn’t the type of bout that produced a definitive winner.

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That was reflected in the final scorecards, as Jared Cannonier captured a contentious split-decision triumph over Sean Strickland on Saturday night at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The verdict drew harsh criticism from Strickland in the aftermath, and not a single round was scored unanimously by cageside judges Derek Cleary, Sal D’Amato and Junichiro Kamijo. Cannonier, whose approach included a barrage of low kicks and occasional bursts of power punches, believed that he did enough to earn the nod on the scorecards.

“I definitely thought I won at least three of the five rounds,” Cannonier said at the post-fight press conference. “I felt confident that I won three out of five rounds. On top of that, I felt confident that I won the fight in general.”

As expected, Strickland did some of his best work with his jab while confounding his opponent with moveme…

While beating someone like Damir Ismagulov might not move the needle in the eyes of the casual fan, Arman Tsarukyan was well aware of the significance of his latest victory.

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Tsarukyan relied on takedowns and clinch work to end Ismagulov’s 19-bout professional winning streak in the UFC Fight Night 216 co-main event at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday night. The American Top Team-trained Russian took his opponent’s back in both the second and third rounds, but a finish didn’t materialize.

“I felt like if I get his back I’m going to choke him right away because I heard he doesn’t have good wrestling, grappling. But today I understood he’s tough on the ground too, and it’s difficult to hold him there,” Tsarukyan said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “He was really good. Nobody stopped him or knocked him out in the UFC. Nobody [beat] him in the UFC, and I’m the first guy who beat him here. I think it’s a big fight for me and big name. Ye…

Sean Strickland is admittedly a “sore loser” following his split-decision loss to Jared Cannonier in the UFC Fight Night 216 main event.

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In a bout where neither middleweight made a definitive statement, Strickland did his best work with a consistent jab and movement that at times confounded his opponent. According to UFCStats.com, Strickland outlanded Cannonier in every round but the first — though the totals were close in each frame. Ultimately, Cannonier’s power and varied striking made more of an impression with the cageside judges.

Shortly after the loss, Strickland ripped the scoring in a video on his Instagram account.

“I’m a f—-ing sore loser,” Strickland said. “Hat’s off to Jared, but you have judges that don’t know how to f—-ing do their job. You actually look at the scorecard and you look at the significant strikes and you look at how many times I wobbled him. You have experts in the field come up to me and say, ‘Yeah man, I don’t …

DREW DOBER LAID OUT BOBBY GREEN #UFCVegas66 pic.twitter.com/3z600Cvjk0

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) December 18, 2022

Drew Dober’s knockout power ultimately won out against Bobby Green’s superior volume at UFC Fight Night 216, but both men received a little extra compensation for their work.

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Dober and Green earned “Fight of the Night” honors and $50,000 apiece for their entertaining lightweight clash at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday night. Green ran out to an early lead, as he kept his opponent off balance with punching combinations in Round 1, but Dober struck the decisive blow when he knocked out “King” with a left hook and one follow-up punch at the 2:45 mark of the second stanza.

Elsewhere, Alex Caceres garnered a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” award thanks to a nearly picture-perfect finish of Julian Erosa in a featured featherweight encounter. “Bruce Leeroy” dropped his foe with a head kick that was expertl…

Jared Cannonier’s performance was not the kind that inspires long-term hope in the Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight division, but it was enough to get the job done.

Thudding leg kicks and occasional bursts of power punches spurred Cannonier to a split decision over former King of the Cage champion Sean Strickland in the UFC Fight Night 216 headliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. All three members of the cageside judiciary struck 49-46 scorecards: Sal D’Amato for Strickland, Derek Cleary and Junichiro Kamijo for Cannonier.

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Neither man established much of a framework for victory, hence the discrepancies in the scorecards. Cannonier (16-6, 9-6 UFC) was effective with kicks to the lower extremities for much of the back-and-forth affair. Strickland (25-5, 12-5 UFC), meanwhile, managed distance with a consistent jab, then picked up the pace in the middle rounds. He aimed his shots almost exclusively at the head. Cannonier continue…

Sherdog's live UFC Fight Night 216 coverage will begin Saturday at 4 p.m. ET. BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Morozov (-280), Newson (+235)Round 1 It’s time for the final UFC event of 2022, and what a year it has been. Have no fear, Sherdog will have you covered chronicling all of the glorious and ludicrous happenings the last 350 days plus the next couple weeks to come. Before then, to quote master lyricist Redman, it’s time 4 sum aksion. In the blue corner, we have the funk body snatcher Morozov (18-5, 2-2 UFC), hard enough to chew a whole bag of rocks. Ready to chew an avenue, chew an off street and off block is Newson (10-3, 1 NC; 1-2, 1 NC UFC). Lights, camera, cock back the hammer, it’s fight time. Referee Chris Tognoni clocks in as the bantamweights touch gloves. Morozov claims the center of the cage and ducks into a jab, and he leans back as a head kick whizzes past his face. Newson kicks at odd angles, tossing out side kicks and making Morozov take a seco…

Cory McKenna found the weakness and exploited it.

The Team Alpha Male standout leaned on takedowns, positional dominance and spotty ground-and-pound, as she took a step forward in the Ultimate Fighting Championship women’s strawweight division with a unanimous decision over Cheyanne Vlismas in the featured UFC Fight Night 216 prelim on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. McKenna (8-2, 3-1 UFC) swept the scorecards with 29-28 nods from all three judges.

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Vlismas (7-3, 2-2 UFC) kept it standing for much of the first round, countered effectively and pieced together two- and three-punch combinations. McKenna wisely switched gears in the second, controlled the Xtreme Couture rep in the clinch and slowly but surely turned the tide in her favor. She powered into top position in Round 3 on an ill-advised choke attempt from Vlismas, attacked with short punches and walked away with her sixth win in seven outings.Semelsberger Handles Favored Matthews Crazy…