Martial Arts News

Conor McGregor SHUTS DOWN rumors of a fight against Ilia Topuria, and says he's accepted an offer to fight Logan Paul in India

Ilia Topuria responds: "I don't fight nor am I interested in fighting with a r*pist."#UFC #MMA pic.twitter.com/PqHqrGTMMN

— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) December 17, 2024

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Ilia Topuria took a dig at Conor McGregor after the Irishman mentioned his name.

McGregor recently dismissed rumors of a bout against Topuria. The Dubliner instead claims to have initial agreements with the billionaire Ambani family in India for a boxing match against YouTuber turned boxer Logan Paul. However, “Notorious” still plans to eventually return to the Octagon.

“The rumors of a bout with [Topuria] are false,” McGregor wrote on X. “I am in preliminary agreements with the Ambani family to face Logan Paul in a boxing exhibition in India. I have agreed. I will then seek my return to the Octagon.”

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The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s first card of 2025 is now official.

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The promotion confirmed the 14-bout lineup for UFC Vegas 101 — also known as UFC Fight Night 249 — in a release on Tuesday. The card takes place on Jan. 11 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a strawweight rematch between Amanda Ribas and Mackenzie Dern, while Chris Curtis will square off against Roman Kopylov in the evening’s co-main event at middleweight.

Ribas, who defeated Dern via unanimous decision in their first meeting at UFC Fight Night 161 on Oct. 12, 2019, has competed at both strawweight and flyweight in the UFC. The Brazilian is coming off a five-round defeat to Rose Namajunas at 125 pounds in the UFC on ESPN 53 headliner this past March.

A Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, Dern snapped a two-bout skid in her last outing, when she took a three-round verdict over Lupita Godinez at UFC on ABC 7 on Aug. 3. The 31-year-old RVCA representative owns v…

The Vadim Nemkov-Corey Anderson trilogy bout won’t be happening at Professional Fighters League’s Road to Dubai event as originally planned.

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A promotion official confirmed the cancellation to Sherdog.com on Tuesday following an initial report from MMAFighting.com. The PFL is seeking a new co-main event for the card. Nemkov was originally booked to meet 2022 PFL heavyweight champion Ante Delija at Road to Dubai, but the 34-year-old Croatian withdrew from the event.

Road to Dubai takes place on Jan. 25 at Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai and appears to be a rebranded version of Bellator Champions Series. In the main event, Usman Nurmagomedov will defend his lightweight strap against Paul Hughes.

While a reason for the cancellation wasn’t given, Anderson recently took to social media to blame Nemkov for backing out of the fight.

“Woke up to a text this morning from PFL and Bellator saying ‘Vadim refuses to fight you,’” Anderson said in video on Instag…

A pair of competitors on the most recent season of Dana White's Contender Series have been suspended after testing positive for banned substances.

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During a Nevada State Athletic Commission meeting on Tuesday, Francesco Mazzeo and Abdelah Er-Ramy were handed sanctions after failing drug tests in relation to their respective bouts.

Mazzeo was suspended nine months due to a positive test for the metabolic modulator GW1516 and its metabolites. He was also fined $750 and ordered to pay $157.04 in prosecution fees. Mazzeo, who suffered a second-round submission loss to Kevin Christian on Sept. 24, will be eligible to return to active competition on June 23.

Er-Ramy, meanwhile, tested positive for the anabolic steroid drostanolone and was suspended nine months. He was fined $750 as well as $157.04 in prosecution fees. Er-Ramy, who lost to Torrez Finney via first-round knockout on Oct. 1, will be eligible to return on June 30.

Finally, Quemuel…

UFC Tampa was, at least in part, a showcase for the old guys.

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While 41-year-old Cub Swanson’s knockout of Billy Quarantillo in the co-main event deservedly garnered the lion’s share of the attention, 38-year-old Michael Johnson had a spectacular finish of his own, scoring a vicious KO of Ottman Azaitar on the evening’s uncard at Amalie Arena on Saturday night.

Johnson, who was a finalist on “The Ultimate Fighter 12” in 2010, never envisioned his career lasting as long as it has.

“I did not think I would be fighting til I was 38,” he said at the UFC Tampa post-fight press conference (video via MMAjunkie.com). “My plan was to get in the UFC, fight the best guys, win, get a title, be financially able to retire around 30….so eight years past that, and I’m still going. It feels great. I have no problem with missing my first goal. Now I’m on to my second goal and that’s what keeps me motivated.”

While Johnson hasn’t seriously approached championshi…

Khabib Nurmagomedov is confident in cousin Umar Nurmagomedov leading up to the latter’s upcoming title fight against Merab Dvalishvili.

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Umar challenges Dvalishvili for the bantamweight title in the co-main event at UFC 311 on Jan. 18 at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, California. Dvalishvili was initially loathe to fight Umar, deeming him undeserving of a title shot.

While Umar didn’t seem to say anything inflammatory about the bantamweight champion, Dvalishvili claims he felt disrespected by the Dagestani. While announcing the UFC 311 matchup, Dana White revealed that Dvalishvili agreed to the matchup because he was done feeling disrespected by his opponent. While “The Machine” continues to voice his respect for Umar’s teammates leading up to UFC 311, he hasn’t stopped taking shots at his upcoming foe.

Khabib believes Dvalishvili was initially pretending to be nice guy but couldn’t handle his championship status very well. Dvalishvili has re…

Khabib blames DJ for making his cousin Abubakr lose a fight 😭

Khabib: “Because of you, you take him all the time to game, he lose one fight.”

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DJ: “I haven’t seen him play in a long time.”

Khabib: “Because we break his computer.” 😭😭

🎥 @MightyMousepic.twitter.com/WSmRLU3wCl — Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) December 16, 2024

Khabib Nurmagomedov claims his cousin Abubakar Nurmagomedov lost a fight because of Demetrious Johnson.

“Mighty Mouse” is currently helping coach Khabib prepare Islam Makhachev and Umar Nurmagomedov prepare for their upcoming title fights. While Makhachev will defend his lightweight title against Arman Tsarukyan in the main event, Umar challenges Merab Dvalishvili for the bantamweight strap in the co-main event at UFC 311 on Jan. 18 at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles.

Johnson recently uploaded footage from the Dagestani camp where he can be seen spending some quality time with the tea…

Bibiano Fernandes will call it a career in February, but not before he squares off against Kevin Belingon one more time.

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The fifth meeting between Fernandes and Belingon was among a trio of new bouts recently announced for ONE 171: Qatar on Feb. 20. Additionally, former KSW champion Roberto Soldic will face Saygid Guseyn Arslanaliev at 185 pounds, while Shamil Gasanov will meet former ONE two-division king Martin Nguyen at 155 pounds.

The 44-year-old Fernandes is a former bantamweight (145-pound champion) with the Singapore based promotion. He is 3-1 against Belingon, most recently defeating his rival via second-round submission at ONE “Century Part 2” in October 2019. The AMC Pankration-trained Brazilian is on a two-fight losing streak but hasn’t competed since November 2022.

A native of Manila, the 37-year-old Belingon has also been dormant since November 2022 and has lost his last five professional outings — all under the ONE banner. Bel…

The only man to defeat Islam Makhachev has been a valuable presence in Arman Tsarukyan’s camp.

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Adriano Martins, who knocked out the reigning UFC lightweight champion in October 2015, traveled from Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil, to American Top Team to help Tsarukyan prepare for his main event clash with Makhachev at UFC 311 on Jan. 18 in Los Angeles.

"Master Parrumpa [Marcos DaMatta] believes I have a similar game to Islam and could help Arman a lot in this camp. Since I have a fight on Dec. 27 in Russia, he invited me to have my camp here at ATT,” the 42-year-old Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt told Sherdog.com.

After training with Tsarukyan on a daily basis for a month, Martins believes his teammate has the potential to defeat Makhachev. Tsarukyan initially faced Makhachev in his Octagon debut, falling via unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night 149 on April 20, 2019.

"Arman has a pretty solid game: good striking, great wrestling and also a…

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It should come as no surprise that Colby Covington has a different perspective on the happenings at UFC Tampa this past Saturday night.

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The three-time welterweight title challenger returned for the first time in a year, falling to Joaquin Buckley via third-round technical knockout in the evening’s main event at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida. The bout was halted by a cageside doctor at the 4:42 mark of Round 3 due to a significant cut above Covington’s right eye.

It was unclear exactly what caused the wound, but Covington seemed to believe it occurred due to a clash of heads. While Buckley appeared to be in clear control of the fight prior to the stoppage, Covington contends that he was robbed of an opportunity to shift momentum down the stretch.

“We came in close contact, and I felt like there was a headbutt, and as soon as it cut in the first round, I couldn’t see,” Covington said on his YouTube channel. “I had blurred vis…

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Javier Mendez isn’t excited about Ilia Topuria’s lightweight plans.

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Topuria recently said that he might be done competing at featherweight after only one title defense. The undefeated champ wants to instead move up to lightweight and fight Charles Oliveira with reigning 155-pound title holder Islam Makhachev already booked for his next defense.

Makhachev puts his belt on the line against Arman Tsarukyan in the main event at UFC 311 on Jan. 18 at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, California. While Topuria has taken multiple shots at Makhachev in the recent past, Mendez, the Dagestani’s long-term coach, isn’t paying heed just yet. Mendez is more focused on Makhachev’s upcoming defense against “Ahalkalakets,” whom he already beat via a hard-fought unanimous decision in 2019.

Mendez also reiterated Makhachev’s double-champ aspirations with a possible move up to welterweight. At the end of the day, Mendez promises Makhachev will ac…

⚡️ Bryce Mitchell got a DM from his future wife after Bryce had an interview with Tucker Carlson.

They ended up getting married and now their son is named after Tucker! 👏🎥 @dc_mma pic.twitter.com/bvw0FmVPtu

— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) December 15, 2024

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Bryce Mitchell has Tucker Carlson partly to thank for the beautiful family he has today.

Mitchell is quite an interesting character in several ways. The UFC featherweight is a flat earther who loves farming and lives a secluded life on his ranch in Arkansas. Mitchell is married to Erin Handlow, with whom he had a son earlier this year. “Thug Nasty” named his son Tucker after Carlson, whom he credits for helping him connect with Handlow.

While Mitchell has done multiple interviews with Carlson over the years, a particular one from 2022 went viral due to “Thug Nasty’s” wild theories and views on the government. Mitchell revealed that Handlow messaged him on Inst…