Martial Arts News

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Stream Nov. 25's 2022 PFL World Championship exclusively on ESPN+. Purchase now at https://plus.espn.com/pfl/ppv.

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After being knocked out by Ante Delija in his first bout of the PFL 2022 regular season, Matheus Scheffel was considered the biggest underdog in the quarterfinals against former heavyweight champion and fellow Brazilian Bruno Cappelozza.

But Curitiba native shocked the world, defeating Cappelozza via unanimous decision in the quarterfinal before knocking out UFC veteran Juan Adams in the semifinals. On Friday, some seven months after being knocked out by Delija, Scheffel will get a chance to avenge that defeat and win a $1 million prize in the PFL Championship at Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.

“This will be the first time in my career that I had the opportunity to dedicate myself 100% to my camp,” Scheffel told Sherdog.com. “As a personal trainer I always needed to share my time between …

Sean O'Malley might not be the next person to fight for the UFC bantamweight title, but he expects that championship gold will be on the line when he makes his Octagon return.

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“I think in talks, Henry [Cejudo] coming back is what everyone’s waiting for,” O’Malley recently told ESPN. “If I had to guess [what’s next], Henry vs. [Aljamain Sterling]. If you’re the champ you should be fighting consistently. You just had a somewhat easy fight against T.J. The people want to see the champ fight. I think Henry vs. Aljo in March makes sense if Henry really is serious about coming back, and then I’d like to fight the winner of that. It’s hard to say exactly what’s going to happen next, but I’m waiting to see where that goes.”

O’Malley is coming off the biggest win of his career to date, a split-decision victory against former bantamweight king Petr Yan at UFC 280. Shortly after that victory, “Suga” met with UFC president Dana White and matchmaker Sean Shelby…

A middleweight clash pitting Dalton Rosta against Anthony Adams has been added to the Bellator 289 main draw.

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Promotion officials announced the pairing on Monday. Bellator 289 takes place at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., on Dec. 9 and is headlined by a bantamweight grand prix semifinal between interim champion Raufeon Stots and Danny Sabatello. Other featured bouts include a women’s flyweight title rematch between Liz Carmouche and Juliana Velasquez and a bantamweight grand prix semifinal between Patrick Mix and Magomed Magomedov. The main card airs on Showtime at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.

Rosta is undefeated in seven professional appearances, with all of his triumphs coming under the Bellator banner. Most recently, the 27-year-old American Top Team representative scored a third-round technical knockout victory against Romero Cotton at Bellator 283 on July 22.

A two-time competitor on Dana White’s Contender Series, Adams is coming off a…

After a campaign of vicious leg kicks, George Hardwick get the second round TKO win.✅ Defends his title, all hail King George 👑#CW147 pic.twitter.com/HUsWThUAhT

— Cage Warriors (@CageWarriors) November 20, 2022

George Hardwick keeps reigning over the Cage Warriors Fighting Championship 155-pound division.

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In the CW 147 headliner, Hardwick (11-1, 5-1 CW) proved once more why he’s one of the most-interesting lightweights in Europe at the moment as he decimated Chris Bungard in their championship encounter. Hardwick studied his foe in the opening frame and patiently worked the legs and body. In turns, Bungard (17-8, 1-1 CW) countered with a knee to the body every time his opponent overcommitted. Hardwick’s strategy paid dividends in the second frame as he started having more and more success with his laser-sharp punches. A few seconds before the end of the round, Hardwick reached Bungard’s liver with a left punch, dropping…

Dan Ige will lock horns with Damon Jackson at the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s first event of 2023.

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MMAFighting.com confirmed the featherweight booking after Jackson announced the fight via social media. UFC Fight Night takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Jan. 14 and is headlined by a middleweight clash pitting Kelvin Gastelum against Nassourdine Imavov.

A competitor on the initial season of Dana White’s Contender Series, Ige was victorious in six of his first seven Octagon appearances. The 31-year-old known as “50K” has fallen on hard times of late, however, with losses in four of his last five outings — a stretch that includes three straight decision defeats to Chan Sung Jung, Josh Emmett and Movsar Evloev.

Jackson, meanwhile, has been trending upward during his second UFC stint. The former Legacy Fighting Alliance champion has won four straight bouts in the Las Vegas-based promotion and is coming off a first-round stoppage of …

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Actor Jason David Frank, a former mixed martial artist who was best known for his role in the show “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers,” has died of suicide at 49 years old.

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Brian Butler-Au of Sucker Punch Entertainment, who was Frank’s manager, confirmed Frank’s death on Instagram, while TMZ reported that the actor took his own life.

“Very sad to hear about my friend and client Jason David Frank’s passing. Jason was a martial artist best known for playing Tommy in the Power Rangers,” Butler-Au wrote. “He was a true martial artist and I had the pleasure of managing him for the fights he competed in. If anyone you know may be depressed please check on them.”

Frank played Tommy Oliver on the “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” television series from 1993 to 1996 as the original Green Ranger and later as the White Ranger. He was one of the Power Rangers ‘most popular figures and appeared on numerous episodes and adaptations of the show.<…

Coach pulled and suspended? 🤔pic.twitter.com/l8pfxVbf3m

— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) November 19, 2022

James Krause was removed from Miles John’s corner ahead of UFC Fight Night 215 due to on ongoing gambling probe involving the Glory MMA & Fitness coach.

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According to a report from ESPN, the UFC and the Nevada State Athletic Commission determined that Krause should not be cornering fighters while the UFC Fight Night 214 bout between Darrick Minner and Nuerdanbieke Shayilan — which he cornered — is still under investigation by betting integrity firm U.S. Integrity. However, Krause was not suspended by the UFC as Johns indicated in a post-fight interview.

Minner vs. Shayilan attracted attention when the betting line shifted significantly toward Shayilan in the hours leading up to the fight, including a significant amount of wagering on the Chinese fighter to win inside of a round. Shayilan won the Nov. 5 bout …

The POTN honors belong none other than to these four 👏👏👏

[ #UFCVegas65 | B2YB @ForThePeople ] pic.twitter.com/Miv1AXkL8Q

— UFC (@ufc) November 20, 2022

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Muslim Salikhov lived up to his “King of Kung Fu” moniker at UFC Fight Night 215.

The Dagestani striker garnered a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” award for his third-round stoppage of Andre Fialho in a featured welterweight showdown at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday. Salikhov put his opponent on the defensive with an impressive offensive arsenal before ending the contest with a spinning wheel kick and follow-up punches at the 1:03 mark of Round 3.

Salikhov wasn’t the only one to use a spinning kick to pad his bank account. Natalia Silva earned a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” for a spectacular knockout of Tereza Bleda in the card’s opening bout. The Brazilian weathered a wrestling-heavy approach from her opponent and as her Bleda fatigued, Silva to…

Kennedy Nzechukwu shined under the glare of an altogether unexpected spotlight.

The monstrous 6-foot-5 Fortis MMA rep overcame an inauspicious start and took another step forward in the Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight division, as he chopped down Ion Cutelaba with a knee strike and follow-up punches in the second round of their makeshift UFC Fight Night 215 headliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Nzechukwu (11-3, 5-3 UFC) finished it 62 seconds into Round 2, stepping up to shoulder the marquee when the original Derrick Lewis-Sergey Spivak main event fell apart in the hours leading up to the show.

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Cutelaba (16-9-1, 5-8-1 UFC) dazed the “African Savage” with a thudding right hand in the first round, tripped him to the floor and climbed to full mount. Nzechukwu stayed composed under duress and worked back to his feet before being returned to the mat via a head-and-arm throw. Cutelaba threatened with a scarf hold armlock b…

Sherdog's live UFC Fight Night 215 coverage will begin Saturday at 1 p.m. ET.

Check out the MMA Forums to discuss the card or enter your comments and predictions below.

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BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Silva (-165), Bleda (+140)Round 1 A week removed from a dynamite pay-per-view offering of UFC 281, the UFC takes refuge back in its headquarters of the Apex for a dozen-fight show. While 281 saw a litany of ranked competitors, and around six or seven bouts that could headline any given Fight Night, this UFC Fight Night 215 is far less stacked and only sees two top-10 competitors and four in the top 15 of their respective divisions – and those are contained in just two fights. Many of these athletes competing today actually lost on their appearance of Dana White’s Contender Series, only to later make it to the roster anyway. We begin in the women’s flyweight division, when Brazil’s Silva (13-5-1, 1-0 UFC) meets unbeaten Czech DWCS pickup Bled…

Jennifer Maia still wants a say-so in the future direction of the Ultimate Fighting Championship women’s flyweight division.

The former Invicta Fighting Championships titleholder outboxed and outfoxed American Top Team’s Maryna Moroz to a unanimous decision in the featured UFC Fight Night 215 prelim on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. All three cageside judges sided with Maia (20-9-1, 5-5 UFC): 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28.

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Maia managed distance beautifully for much of the bout, stringing together efficient punching combinations that were often punctuated by thudding right hands. She sprinkled in kicks here and there—some to the body, some to the head and some to the legs—and reduced Moroz (11-4, 6-4 UFC) to single strikes through superior timing and movement. The Ukrainian rallied in the third round, where she stepped into a right hand, knocked Maia off-balance and started to connect with more than one punch at a time. Alas, her efforts fell sho…

An update to the #UFCVegas65 card. pic.twitter.com/LszdeJT0ym

— UFC (@ufc) November 19, 2022

UFC Fight Night 215 has lost its headliner just a few hours before Derrick Lewis and Sergey Spivak were slated to square off in the Octagon.

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The news was announced during Saturday’s broadcast, with a non-COVID, non-weight cut related illness for Lewis cited as the reason for the cancelation. A three-round light heavyweight clash pitting Kennedy Nzechukwu against Ion Cutelaba was elevated to the UFC Fight Night 215 main event as a result. It is unclear if Lewis vs. Spivak will be rebooked at a later date.

A two-time heavyweight title challenger, Lewis has lost three of his last four Octagon appearances. Most recently, “The Black Beast” suffered a 55-second TKO defeat at the hands of Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 277 on July 30.

Spivak has quietly won five of six in UFC competition since July 2020. “The Polar Bear” is 2-0 in 2022…