Martial Arts News

Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC

Editor's note: The article has been updated at 12:45 p.m. ET on Nov. 17 to reflect additional booked matchups.

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Several bouts have been added to the Rizin 40 card scheduled for New Year’s Eve, including UFC veteran Rogerio Bontorin vs. Yuki Motoya.

Three other contests were also recently confirmed for the card: Seika Izawa vs. Si Woo Park in a non-title affair at super atomweight; Tsuyoshi Kamiyama vs. Junior Tafa at heavyweight and Naoki Inoue vs. Kenta Takizawa at bantamweight.

Rizin 40 takes place on Dec. 31 at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan and will feature five Bellator vs. Rizin matchups on the evening’s main card. The headliner will see former Bellator featherweight king A.J. McKee face Rizin lightweight champion Roberto de Souza in a 155-pound clash.

Bontorin enters his Rizin debut on a four-bout winless streak in UFC competition. The Gile Ribeiro T…

Former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya was arrested and detained for possession of brass knuckles on Wednesday afternoon at JFK Airport in New York.

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According to an initial report from TMZ Sports, Adesanya was arrested by the Port Authority Police Department after going through security with the weapons near the TSA screening area at approximately 1:57 p.m. local time. While brass knuckles are a class A misdemeanor in New York and can be punished with up to a year in prison plus fines, it appears that the situation was a misunderstanding. Adesanya’s manager, Tim Simpson, released a statement regarding the situation.

“Israel was handed a gift by a fan, which he put in his luggage. When flagged at the airport, Israel quickly disposed of the item, and cooperated with authorities,” Simpson said in the statement. “He has complied accordingly, with that the matter was dismissed and he is on his way home.”

Adesanya relinquished his middle…

Ilir Latifi could serve as the poster child for fighters who fail to disclose injuries or illness prior to their fights.

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Latifi was suspended three months by the Nevada State Athletic Commission on Wednesday for failing to disclose that he had a staph infection ahead of a UFC Fight Night 211 bout against Alexey Oleynik on Oct. 1. Latifi revealed the illness in a post-fight interview following a unanimous decision triumph over Oleynik.

“Even this week, my leg is swollen. I didn’t even tell my coaches, but I got a staph infection two days ago," Latifi said in the cage. "As you can see, my leg is all swollen. It’s an amazing sport, but the margins are so small. You put in so much work, and this thing happens the last day. Today, actually when I woke up, my leg was swollen. I was like, ‘I can’t cancel again.’ So I had to fight like this with a fever and a staph infection. That’s part of being a fighter.”

The NSAC stated that the ruling will set a…

🔥 LIVE IN U.S. PRIMETIME 🔥 A World Champion vs. World Champion DOUBLEHEADER goes down at ONE on Prime Video 4!⁰#ONEonPrimeVideo4 | Fri Nov 18 at 8PM ET🇺🇸🇨🇦 Live on @PrimeVideo 👉 https://t.co/XUu9wwDEZb🌍 Live on https://t.co/eBUfsOlZOd pic.twitter.com/Cga3c5s4Xl

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) November 2, 2022

The first year of One Championship’s partnership with Prime Video will conclude with cards in November and December.

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The Singapore-based promotion confirmed the full lineups for One on Prime Video 4 on Nov. 18 and One on Prime Video 5 on Dec. 2 in a release on Wednesday. The main card for both events will air on Prime Video beginning at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, while the lead cards start at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.

One on Prime Video 4 features a pair of championship fights. In the main event, lightweight (170-pound) champion Christian Lee will challenge Kimrian Abbasov for his welterweight (185-pound) belt, while…

Veteran referee Marc Goddard will be the third man in the cage when Jiri Prochazka and Glover Teixeira have their light heavyweight championship rematch in the main event at UFC 282.

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The Nevada State Athletic Commission announced the referee and judge selections for the fight during a meeting on Wednesday. Goddard, who will earn $2,500 for the bout, was also the referee for the first meeting between Prochazka and Teixeira at UFC 275 in Singapore on June 12.

Mike Bell, Sal D’Amato and Derek Cleary will serve as cageside judges for the title clash. They will earn $2,000 apiece for their work.

When Prochazka and Teixeira initially squared off at UFC 275, Prochazka claimed the 205-pound belt with a rear-naked choke at the 4:32 mark of Round 5. Had Teixeira survived until the final horn, he likely would have won a unanimous decision. UFC 282 takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Dec. 10, and a potential light heavyweight title eliminat…

SAHARA Las Vegas to host the 14th Annual Fighters Only World MMA Awards on December 8 https://t.co/himFltuQZM pic.twitter.com/41L1dHqlWj

— Fighters Only (@FightersOnly) November 16, 2022

The World MMA Awards will return to an in-person ceremony for the first time since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic this December.

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Rob Hewitt, CEO of Fighters Only, announced that the 14th iteration of the event will take place on Dec. 8 at the SAHARA Las Vegas to celebrate the achievements from the best of the MMA industry.

“The past number of years have been challenging for not only us but the entire events industry. However, despite the difficulties and obstacles, we never stopped staging the World MMA Awards and each year we have regained important elements to bring back fully, what makes our awards show special,” Hewitt said in a release. “With that in mind, I am really excited for this year’s event to back to a big stage at a ve…

Until recently, the Professional Fighters League has been little more than the Kayla Harrison show at 155 pounds when it comes to women’s MMA.

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That’s going to change for the next season, as the promotion plans to unveil a 145-pound weight class in 2023. The first female featherweight bout will take place on the main card of the PFL Championship event on Nov. 25, with Aspen Ladd squaring off against Julia Budd. Ladd, who recently signed with the organization after a seven-bout stint in the UFC, is thrilled that the PFL has elected to build an oft-overlooked division.

“I’m extremely excited that they decided to do that,” Ladd said. “As I said, going into this it’s like, ‘Oh they have a 155 – which is you walk in at whatever you’re walking around that basically.’ But for them to actually have a 145 division, and the fact that they actually want to put effort in, and they want to flush it out, that is exciting.”

Ladd began her UFC tenure as a promi…

John Lineker and Fabricio Andrade are going to run it back at One on Prime Video 7 on Feb. 10.

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The Singapore-based promotion announced the bantamweight (145-pound) championship rematch on Tuesday. The first meeting between Lineker and Andrade was ruled a no contest when an accidental knee to the groin rendered Lineker unable to continue 2:44 into Round 3 of their bout at One on Prime Video 3. Lineker was stripped of the belt after missing weight prior to the fight, so the One bantamweight throne is currently vacant.

Lineker began his promotional tenure with four straight triumphs, including three via knockout or technical knockout. He claimed the belt with a second-round KO of Bibiano Fernandes at One “Lights Out” this past March.

Andrade had been victorious in seven consecutive outings prior to the no contest. He is 5-0 under the One banner, with all his victories coming inside the distance. The 25-year-old Brazilian is 8-2 since beginning h…

Kleber Koike Erbst has no issue being the underdog in his champion vs. champion bout against Bellator featherweight title holder Patricio Freire at Rizin 40 on New Year’s Eve.

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“I've always admired Patricio as one of the most complete fighters in MMA. A few hours after I captured the Rizin belt I got that invitation. I knew it was a huge challenge but after everything I've been through, a challenge like that is like a blessing,” Erbst told Sherdog.com.

Erbst is a close friend and business partner of Rizin lightweight champion Roberto de Souza. Together they run six branches of the Bonsai Jiu-Jitsu academy around Tokyo.

“Over the past five years we can say that we both have a good life in Japan, living only from the sport, but things were never easy for us,” Erbst said. 

Born in São Paulo into a humble family of Japanese descendants, Kleber decided that he would try to live in the land of his maternal grandfather. At the age of 14, he…

One of these athletes will be crowned our new strawweight champion tomorrow night! Watch #InvictaFC50 LIVE at 9est/7mst on @AXSTV + @fightnet + @facebook + @YouTube! pic.twitter.com/UHxbYzhGuM

— Invicta FC (@InvictaFights) November 16, 2022

The Invicta Fighting Championship strawweight tournament is now official, as all four athletes slated to compete in the bracket hit their contracted marks on Tuesday.

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Semifinal pairings at Invicta FC 50 will see Valesca Machado (115.6) square off against Ediana Silva (115.2), while Gloria de Paula (115.4) will lock horns with Karolina Wojcik (116). Winners of the respective bouts will square off with 115-pound gold on the line later in the evening. Both semifinal and final matchups will be contested over three, five-minute rounds.

Invicta FC 50 takes place at ReelWorks Denver, in Denver, Colo., on Wednesday night and airs on AXS TV and the Invicta FC YouTube channel beginning at 9 p…

Royaltiz, a talent investment platform that allows users to bet on the future earnings of celebrities, musicians and athletes through digital tokens, is banking on the potential of Ultimate Fighting Championship contender Khamzat Chimaev.

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The company recently announced that it has signed Chimaev to a 10-year contract to launch his own talent investment tokens, which are known as ROYs. According to a release, “Chimaev’s ROYs offer UFC fans a unique chance to invest in the illustrious fighter’s career before he potentially becomes welterweight champion.”

According to the release, “sports fans can invest in famous athletes and earn a yield, which is paid monthly based on a portion of the talent’s income.” For example, Royaltiz states that Sean Brady’s ROYs were introduced at $1.99 per token but are now currently valued at $4.42 each, while Petr Yan’s went from $1.99 to $4.28. Chimaev’s ROYs are expected to officially debut on Nov. 22.

“The laun…

Old Foes. Meet Again. One More Time

6⃣World Title Fights6⃣Millionaires🔗 https://t.co/9tors6rrKk

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[#PFLWorldChampionship | ESPN+PPV | $49.99] pic.twitter.com/u4V2ipfAk8 — PFL (@PFLMMA) November 15, 2022

A price has been set for Professional Fighters League’s first pay-per-view venture.

The promotion announced on Tuesday that the PFL Championship event on Nov. 25 will cost $49.99. By comparison, the UFC currently charges $74.99 for its monthly pay-per-view offerings.

The PFL Championship takes place at Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York and features title fights in six weight classes with $1 million on the line in each. The card will be available on pay-per-view via ESPN+ beginning at 8 p.m ET/5 p.m. PT.

The PFL Championship main card is headlined by a women’s lightweight title bout between Kayla Harrison and Larissa Pacheco, while Bubba Jenkins will square off against Brendan Loughnane at…