Martial Arts News

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship champion Charles Oliveira has touched down in the Middle East and received a hero’s welcome.

In order to get adapted to Abu Dhabi’s hot climate and recover from any jet lag, Oliveira arrived to the United Arab Emirates with 10 team members, 10 days before his UFC 280 collision with Islam Makhachev. Fighting for his old title, Oliveira made sure to leave enough time in his schedule to get acclimated with the environment, in a locale of Abu Dhabi in which he has never competed. Oliveira’s coach, Diego Lima, spoke to Sherdog on Friday about how “Do Bronx” is handling the final stage of his training camp.

Advertisement

“We did the best we could to get Charles 100% adapted to the time zone and climate,” Lima explained. “Since we arrived, we are doing [one] training [session] in the morning and another at night, just like we do in Brazil.”

According to the Chute Boxe head, what impressed him the most about the area is the positive…

The hometown hero does it!! 🙌

Young 🇵🇱 @robert_ruchala wins in his first KSW main event!! 🤩 #KSW75 pic.twitter.com/6BnjrM7TLb

— KSW (@KSW_MMA) October 14, 2022 Luck was on the side of a few KSW fighters on Friday.

Advertisement

The KSW 75 main event saw Ultimate Fighting Championship alum Damian Stasiak taking on Robert Ruchala in a featherweight clash. The initial headliner was supposed to come as a 205-pound championship collision, but Stasiak-Ruchala was elevated following its cancelation. In their three-round encounter, Stasiak (13-9, 2-3 KSW) kept his opponent guessing early with punches and takedown attempts. Ruchala did not allow himself to be grounded so easily, sweeping “Webster” on a pair of occasions, but he conceded his back to his foe before the end of the frame. Ruchala (8-0, 5-0 KSW) implemented a more successful strategy in Round 2, winning all the wrestling exchanges and landing the most impactful shots. Both contest…

History will be made!

Tomorrow night, #LFA144 is set to be UFC’s first live Combat Sports event in @Meta’s Horizon Worlds 🌎

— UFC (@ufc) October 13, 2022 It appears the unorthodox meeting between Meta executives including Mark Zuckerberg and Ultimate Fighting Championship brass bore some fruit.

Advertisement

The UFC announced on Thursday that it has entered into a partnership with Meta to run events on its Horizon World service. Live MMA events from UFC Fight Pass will air on VR, and they will be viewable through Meta Quest VR headsets. The system will run through VR180, which is a format that gives fans a 180-degree view of the arena. The first fight card from the partnership will be LFA 144, which takes place on Oct. 14 at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D.

“We are excited to offer an unprecedented level of engagement for Fight Pass subscribers and MMA fans around the world by producing a live MMA event in virtual reality…

🚨 JUST IN: I'm told Movsar Evloev got injured while training. 😶

Let's see what's going to happen in Mitchell vs Evloev fight which is about to be held on November 5th. 🔎

— Giorgi Kokiashvili 🇬🇪 ✊ 🇺🇦 (@iHeartGeorgius1) October 4, 2022 A thrilling battle of Ultimate Fighting Championship unbeatens will have to wait.

Advertisement

In September, the organization scheduled Bryce Mitchell (15-0) against Movsar Evloev (16-0) for what turned out to be the main event of UFC Fight Night 214. The featherweight main attraction was only together for about three weeks before a story broke from Setanta Sports on Oct. 4 that Evloev suffered an injury in training. Over a week later, the UFC’s broadcast partner of ESPN Deportes confirmed on Friday that the injury forced Evloev out of the match, and there is currently no replacement on the books.

It is unclear if “Thug Nasty” will remain as the star attraction of this fight card, as Mitchell reported…

A battle between top-five Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweights will go down on its first fight card of 2023.

MMA Fighting first reported the news on Thursday that Ketlen Vieira (13-2) will be squaring off with Raquel Pennington (14-8) at the UFC Fight Night event on Jan. 14. The 135-pound contenders will be facing one another inside of the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on that date, likely placed high on the main card. Vieira has since confirmed this booking on her Instagram Stories shortly after its announcement.

Advertisement

Vieira bounced back from the first decision loss of her career – a three-round setback to Yana Kunitskaya in February 2021 – by overcoming ex-champs Miesha Tate and Holly Holm in five-round headliners over the last year. The finish rate of the Brazilian has diminished significant since joining the roster in 2016, as she has only won once by stoppage while recording six other victories on the scorecards. Beyond Kunitskaya, her only other s…

[embedded content] Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki returns for its monthly mixed martial arts offering with an intriguing featherweight clash headlining KSW 75. All fighters successfully made weight for the card, including headliners Damian Stasiak and Robert Ruchala.

A former veteran of the Octagon, Stasiak (13-8) has won two of his last three fights inside KSW. After putting together back-to-back wins against Patryk Surdyn and Andrey Lezhnev, "Webster" fell short against Lom-Ali Eskiev. He'll look to bounce back by upsetting the undefeated Ruchala (7-0), who is 4-0 inside the promotion and is coming off decision wins over Patryk Kaczmarczyk and Michele Baiano.

KSW 75 will stream on the promotion's official website on Friday at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.

KSW 75 Weigh-in Results: Damian Stasiak (145) vs. Robert Ruchala (146)Michal Martinek (242) vs. Daniel Omielanczuk (260)Henrique da Silva (202) vs. Tomasz Narkun (206)Adam Soldaev (148) vs. Oleksii Polishchuk (147)Madalin Pirvu…

It appears that Lance Palmer’s time with Professional Fighters League has run its course.

Advertisement

During an interview on "The MMA Hour,” Palmer revealed that he is a free agent and is able to sign with whatever organization he chooses. He also indicated that it’s unlikely that he and the PFL will come to terms on a new contract.

Unrestricted,” Palmer said. “Honestly, I don’t think they (the PFL) have interest in re-signing me. That gives me the freedom to kind of do what I want to do. Obviously, I have interest in going other places. There’s a lot of fights that I would like to get involved in hopefully to push myself over this next run of wherever it is. The Bellator featherweight division is stacked, the UFC featherweight division is stacked.”

Palmer was a former World Series of Fighting featherweight champion before the promotion rebranded as the PFL. He went on to win 11 consecutive fights in PFL competition, capturing back-to-back championships …

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

The lineup for UFC on ESPN 42 appears to be nearly complete.

Advertisement

The Las Vegas-based promotion officially announced 12 bouts for the Dec. 3 card, including the previously reported welterweight headliner between Stephen Thompson and Kevin Holland as well as a heavyweight co-main event pitting Tai Tuivasa against Sergei Pavlovich. The event will also include a middleweight showdown between Derek Brunson and Jack Hermansson and a flyweight scrap between Matt Schnell and Matheus Nicolau.

A handful of other fights were also officially confirmed: Eryk Anders vs. Kyle Daukaus at middleweight; Natan Levy vs. Genaro Valdez at lightweight; Angela Hill vs. Emily Ducote at strawweight; Darren Elkins vs. Jonathan Pearce at featherweight and Marcleo Rojo vs. Francis Marshall at featherweight.

Read more

According to Nova Uniao leader Andre Pederneiras, Jose Aldo has received plenty of interest from all corners of the combat sports world since his retirement announcement.

Advertisement

“Not only people interested in helping him to fight boxing but also from MMA promoters willing to sign him,” Pederneiras told Sherdog.com.

Pederneiras makes it clear, however, that leaving the UFC for another MMA organization never crossed Aldo’s mind.

“Aldo had one fight on his contract with the biggest promotion in the world, where he built all his history. No matter the financial proposal, it wouldn't make any sense for him,” Pederneiras said. “Especially since Aldo is already financially comfortable for the rest of his life. He never considered returning in another MMA promotion.”

When it comes to boxing, however, Aldo’s perspective is entirely different.

“I have no doubt that boxing and muay thai bring much more pleasure to Aldo in his daily routine,” Pederneiras …

Aspen Ladd will face an accomplished opponent in her Professional Fighters League debut.

Advertisement

The recently released UFC bantamweight contender will square off against ex-Bellator featherweight queen Julia Budd at the PFL Championships on Nov. 25. MMA Mania was first to report the booking. Ladd vs. Budd is expected to be contested at 145 pounds. The PFL thus far has only had a women’s lightweight division for its season format.

The PFL Championships take place at Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York and feature six title bouts with $1 million at stake. The main card airs on pay-per-view and is headlined by a women's lightweight championship clash between Kayla Harrison and Lena Pacheco.

Ladd and the UFC parted ways following a seven-bout stint after the fighter endured multiple issues making weight ahead of her bouts. The 27-year-old Californian lost three of her last four Octagon appearances, including a decision defeat to Raquel Pen…

A potential light heavyweight title eliminator between Jan Blachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev will go down at UFC 282.

Advertisement

Promotion broadcast partner ESPN reported that the contest is set for the UFC’s final pay-per-view event of 2022. UFC 282 takes place on Dec. 10 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and is expected to include a 205-pound championship tilt pitting Jiri Prochazka against Glover Teixeira, though that bout has not been made official.

A former light heavyweight champion, Blachowicz returned to the win column in his last outing at UFC on ESPN 36, when he defeated Aleksandar Rakic via third-round TKO when his opponent suffered a leg injury. The WCA Fight Team product won nine of 10 promotional appearances from October 2017 to March 2021, a stretch that saw the Pole claim 205-pound gold with a second-round TKO of Dominick Reyes and defend the crown with a five-round verdict against reigning middleweight king Israel Adesanya. He relinquished t…

Niko Price will return to action following more than a year away when he meets Philip Rowe at UFC on ESPN 42 in Orlando, Fla.

Advertisement

UFE Media was first to report the welterweight bout. UFC on ESPN 42 takes place at the Amway Center on Dec. 3 and is headlined by a 170-pound clash pitting Stephen Thompson against Kevin Holland.

Price last appeared at UFC Fight Night 193 in October 2021, when he garnered a unanimous verdict over Alex Oliveira. That ended a three-bout winless streak for “The Hybrid,” who is 7-5 with a pair of no contests over the course of his promotional tenure.

A former Dana White’s Contender Series competitor, Row is 2-1 in UFC competition thus far. After falling to Gabriel Green in his Octagon debut, “The Fresh Prince” has rebounded with back-to-back TKO triumphs against Orion Cosce and Jason Whitt in his last two outings.