Martial Arts News

Brendan Loughnane has been with the Professional Fighters League since 2019 and has grown with the company to a point where both parties are thriving in the present day.

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Loughnane, who has only lost twice in the PFL, has figured out a method to the promotion’s regular season and playoff format, and five years later he’s prepared for business once again.

Loughnane will begin his bid to become a two-time PFL champion when he takes on UFC and Bellator MMA veteran Kai Kamaka III in the featherweight semifinals at PFL 9 on Aug. 23. During a recent media call, Loughnane discussed his veteran status with the promotion and how he feels this is the time for business with the playoffs having arrived.

“Yeah, this is the business end of the tournament now,” Loughnane said. “I’m feeling great. Another great camp, I’ve managed to stay healthy all year.”

When it comes to experience, it’s not just what he’s done in the PFL. Loughnane noted he has more car…

Caio Borralho expects that a title shot could be imminent if he finishes his upcoming opponent.

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The next middleweight championship bout is already set, as Dricus Du Plessis will put his 185-pound strap on the line against Israel Adesanya at UFC 305 in Perth, Australia on Aug. 17. Borralho admits that while he has always mentally wagered against Du Plessis, the champ has proven him wrong time and again. And yet, Borralho predicts that “Stillknocks” will be dethroned by Adesanya due to a stylistic disadvantage.

“I always bet against Dricus you know, but I always lost,” Borralho told MMAjunkie.com. “Not money, but I always think that he was going to lose the fights that he got, but he did an amazing job and won the fights… But this time I think I’m gonna be again against him. I think Adesanya – stylistically I don’t see this fight match. I think Adesanya can manage the distance a lot, can kick him a little bit more. Because all of [his] previous oppon…

A matchup of light heavyweight veterans is in the works for UFC 310.

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Former title challengers Anthony Smith and Dominick Reyes are expected to trade leather at UFC 310 on Dec. 14 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The matchup was first reported by MMA Mania.

Smith is 2-4 in the Octagon since 2022. He is coming off a unanimous decision loss against Roman Dolidze at UFC 303 this past June. Prior to that, “Lionheart” submitted Vitor Petrino in the first round of their bout at UFC 301 on May 4.

Meanwhile, Reyes suffered three straight knockout defeats against Jan Blachowicz, Jiri Prochazka and Ryan Spann following his controversial loss against Jon Jones in February 2020. While “The Devastator” was scheduled to return to action after a 19-month hiatus this past February, his return was delayed due to a deep vein thrombosis (DVT), a potentially life threatening situation. Reyes return to action in June with a first-round knockout win over Dustin …

UFC middleweight Bruno Silva has accepted a six-month suspension for a “likely unintentional” drug testing failure.

The UFC’s drug testing partner, Combat Sports Anti-Doping (CSAD), announced on Friday that Silva tested positive for 3a-Hydroxy-2a-methyl-5a-androstan-17-one — a metabolite of drostanolone — in an out-of-competition sample he provided to Drug Free Sport International (DFSI) on April 11, 2024. “Blindado” also provided negative samples before being informed of the failure on March 30 (the date of his last fight), April 30 and June 14.

Silva’s positive sample also had extremely low levels of the banned substances, which led CSAD to conclude that the Brazilian did not inject drostanolone and was likely exposed to contamination. That combined with Silva’s co-operation during the entire process led to his anti-doping violation being deemed “likely unintentional.”

While this is Silva’s first drug violation under CSAD, he was suspended for two years…

"The guy needs to be Joe Biden'd, he's too old" 🤣

Tom Aspinall says Stipe Miocic should pull out of his fight with Jon Jones 🫣

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Watch Tom Aspinall’s Fight Lab: #UFC305 edition, with @AspinallMMA, @ugomonye & @AdamCatterall on TNT Sports 1 and discovery+ on Sunday at 5:30PM 📺 pic.twitter.com/OA99wzZWMw — UFC on TNT Sports (@ufcontnt) August 9, 2024

While Tom Aspinall respects Stipe Miocic, he doesn’t want the veteran to stall his way to a title shot.

Miocic was originally scheduled to challenge Jon Jones for the heavyweight title at UFC 295 in November 2023 before an injury forced “Bones” out of the event. Aspinall stepped up for a short-notice interim title fight against Sergei Pavlovich on the same card, where he knocked out the Russian in the first round.

Aspinall initially called for Jones to be stripped off his title. “Honey Badger” later changed track and has been calling for a title unification mat…

Tomorrow's #UFCVegas95 main event is official 🚨@MarcinTybura weighs in at 252 pounds! pic.twitter.com/3tUO5lNkPR

— UFC (@ufc) August 9, 2024 Chelsea Chandler just cannot seem to find the bantamweight limit.

After back-to-back weeks overseas, the Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to Las Vegas for UFC on ESPN 61. The 10-fight card will be headlined by a heavyweight fight between Marcin Tybura and Serghei Spivac. Tybura will be the larger man inside the cage, weighing in 14 pounds heavier than Spivac.

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While both heavyweights comfortably made weight, three other fighters on the card did not. Most notable was co-main event competitor Jose Mariscal, who came in 3.5 pounds over the featherweight limit for his bout against Damon Jackson. That wasn't even the biggest miss, though, as Chelsea Chandler came in five pounds over the bantamweight limit for her fight against Yana Santos, with this being her second time missing …

Utah, we're coming BACK 👊#UFC307 is headed to Salt Lake City!

For more info: https://t.co/FLA3QMZl6f@StateOfSport #StateOfSport | @DeltaCenter #DeltaCenter pic.twitter.com/6JbaXCjfcD

— UFC (@ufc) August 8, 2024 For the third year in a row, the Ultimate Fighting Championship is posting up a pay-per-view party in Salt Lake City.

In 2016, the promotion first took to the city once coined “The Crossroads of the West” with a Fight Night card featuring Yair Rodriguez and Alex Caceres. Six years later, the league staged UFC 278 in the same building, then named the Vivint Arena. The company came back for UFC 291 in 2023, and UFC 307 will be the next one in the line of consecutive yearly cards. This show will be held at the Delta Center, home of the National Basketball Association’s Utah Jazz, on Oct. 5, with this venue officially confirmed by the promotion on Thursday. There is currently no headliner on the books.

Several marquee matches …

🚨 BREAKING 🚨

HE'S BACK!👑The Return of @francis_ngannou4⃣𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒2⃣𝗦𝗨𝗣𝗘𝗥 𝗙𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧 𝗕𝗘𝗟𝗧𝗦 𝗢𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘1⃣Gigantic night of MMA

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and it all goes down on October 19th #PFLSuperFights pic.twitter.com/mDHCFd6PBp — PFL (@PFLMMA) August 7, 2024

Professional Fighters League is going big for its second pay-per-view event of 2024.

The organization announced on Wednesday that the card will be headlined by a heavyweight clash between former UFC champ Francis Ngannou and 2023 PFL champion Renan Ferreira. In the co-main event, reigning Bellator MMA featherweight title holder Cris Cyborg will square off against 2023 PFL 145-pound queen Larissa Pacheco.

The PFL pay-per-view event — which is titled “Battle of the Giants: Brace for Impact” — takes place on Oct. 19 and is available via ESPN+. A venue and a price point for the card were not announced. In both bouts, PFL Super Fights Championship Belts will be on the line.

Ngannou…

Former middleweight champion Chris Weidman will return to action against Eryk Anders at what is expected to be UFC 309 on Nov. 16.

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Anders’ management, Iridium Sports Agency, first brought word of the booking. While UFC 309 has not been officially announced by the promotion, it is likely to be held at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Weidman will be making his second appearance of 2024 and third overall since suffering a gruesomely broken leg against Uriah Hall at UFC 261 in April 2021. In his last outing, “The All-American” earned his first victory since August 2020, as he took a unanimous decision over Bruno Silva at UFC on ESPN 54 on March 30.

A former linebacker at the University of Alabama, Anders has competed at both middleweight and light heavyweight during his promotional tenure. The 37-year-old has won two of his last three Octagon appearances, including a three-round verdict over Jamie Pickett in his most recent outing at UFC Fight…

Belal Muhammad doesn’t see himself being very far from a potential move up to middleweight to fight for his second title.

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Muhammad got his welterweight title shot against Leon Edwards at UFC 304 after mounting a 10-fight unbeaten run. “Remember the Name” outdueled Edwards throughout five rounds in front of the latter’s home crowd in Manchester to earn a unanimous decision win.

Muhammad is already discussing a future move up to middleweight to attempt to become a two-division champion. Muhammad believes he is just two more title defenses away from being able to make that goal a reality.

Making his case, the Chicago native argues that neither of the two potential opponents for his first title defense, Kamaru Usman or Shavkat Rakhmonov, is a clear No. 1 contender. Muhammad notes that when he fought Edwards for the title, he was the undeniable title challenger. With Muhammad having already beaten several top 10 contenders on his way up to title c…

Umar Nurmagomedov has fired back at Merab Dvalishvili after the “The Machine” accused him of getting privileges in the UFC because of his connection to Khabib Nurmagomedov.

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Nurmagomedov climbed eight spots to No.2 in the UFC’s bantamweight rankings with an impressive unanimous decision win over top contender Cory Sandhagen at UFC on ABC 7 last weekend. Nurmagomedov is expected to be fight for the title next against the winner of Sean O'Malley-Dvalishvili, which headlines UFC 306 on Sept. 14.

However, Dvalishvili isn’t excited about a potential clash against Umar Nurmagomedov, as he believes the Dagestani has been fast tracked on his way to title contention. Dvalishvili claims Nurmagomedov hasn’t paid his dues as much as other elite contenders and has been pushed because of Khabib Nurmagomedov, who is his cousin.

“He has a push because we all know why,” Dvalishvili recently told heavywgt MMA. “Because he’s Khabib’s cousin. He’s a good fighte…

While Kai Kamaka III hasn’t had the worst of it, the Hawaiian has seen the Professional Fighters League season format take a toll on fellow fighters.

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Kamaka headlines PFL 9 opposite Brendan Loughnane in a featherweight semifinal on Aug. 23 at The Anthem in Washington, D.C. It will mark Kamaka’s third outing within a span of four months, a campaign that began with back-to-back decision wins to advance to the PFL postseason.

“The Fighting Hawaiian” says his gym, Xtreme Couture, which has built a reputation for preparing fighters for short-notice outings, has been of help while fighting so frequently in the PFL season format. However, Kamaka has also seen the format take on toll on others like his teammate, PFL light heavyweight Sadibou Sy. Kamaka revealed that the Swede, who dislocated his thumb in a freak injury loss to Joshua Silveira to start off the 2024 season, has been “banged up” all season. However, “The Swedish Denzel “has since bounced b…