Martial Arts News

After three years without a major event on Brazilian soil, local fans are eagerly anticipating the UFC 283 card, which is scheduled for Jan. 21 in Rio de Janeiro.

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If former light heavyweight title challenger Thiago Santos has a say, the show will feature at least one Brazil vs. Brazil confrontation. During an appearance on Fabricio Werdum’s podcast “Nem Me Viu,” Santos criticized Paulo Costa’s attitude regarding weight cutting and challenged “Borrachinha” to a fight at UFC 283.

“There was a situation with ‘Borrachinha’ in which I was cutting weight and he and his team got in and started jumping in the cold bathtub, which was next to the hot one I was in, having a party,” Santos said. “They didn't respect that moment of mine there. He even said later that I'm getting beat up by everyone. Since that's how it is, why doesn't he take advantage of it and come hit me too at UFC Rio de Janeiro?”

Although they currently fight in different divisions —…

The semifinals of the Bellator bantamweight grand prix have a date and venue.

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Promotion officials announced Monday that Bellator 289 will be topped a pair of 135-pound pairings from the bracket, as interim champ Raufeon Stots meets Danny Sabatello, while Patricky Mix takes on Magomed Magomedov. Bellator 289 takes place on Dec. 9 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., and airs on Showtime at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.

A two-time NCAA Division II wrestler from the University of Nebraska at Kearney, Stots is 6-0 in Bellator competition. He claimed interim 135-pound gold with a third-round KO of Juan Archuleta in the opening round of the grand prix at Bellator 279.

Sabatello, who wrestled at Purdue University, is 3-0 under the Bellator banner and 13-1 as a professional overall. The former Titan FC title holder punched his ticket to the bantamweight semifinals with a five-round verdict over Leandro Higo at Bellator 282 on June 24.

Mix has los…

A pair of title fights will top the card for Bellator 288 on Nov. 18.

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The California-based promotion announced Monday that a light heavyweight championship rematch between Vadim Nemkov and Corey Anderson will headline the card, while a previously reported lightweight title tilt pitting Patricky Freire against Usman Nurmagomedov will serve as the co-main event. Bellator 288 takes place at Wintrust Arena in Chicago, and the main card airs on Showtime at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.

Nemkov and Anderson initially squared off in the finals of the 205-pound grand prix at Bellator 277, but the bout was declared a no contest due to an accidental clash of heads 4:55 into Round 3. Prior to the foul, Anderson appeared to be imposing his will through wrestling in Rounds 2 and 3 after a solid opening stanza from Nemkov.

Prior to facing Anderson, Nemkov authored a nine-bout winning streak that included seven triumphs in Bellator MMA. The Fedorteam representative…

All 10 athletes slated to compete on Week 6 of Dana White’s Contender Series made weight without issue on Monday.

The Contender Series takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Tuesday night and airs on ESPN+ at 8 p.m. The evening’s featured bout is a welterweight clash pitting Yusaku Kinoshita (171) against Jose Henrique Souza (171).

A native of Osaka, Japan, Kinoshita has been victorious in five of his first six professional outings — with his lone defeat coming as a result of disqualification due to fence grabbing. He has finished all of his opposition inside of a round while competing in the Deep and Pancrase promotions.

Brazil’s Souza is 5-0 thus far in his burgeoning MMA career. The Nova Uniao MPBJJ product last competed at LFA 132, where he defeated Pedro Oliveira via split decision on May 13. His other four triumphs have come via knockout or technical knockout.

Contender Series Weigh-in Results:Yusaku Kinoshita (171) vs. Jose Henrique Souza (171)Mat…

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Robert Whittaker has significant business ahead of him at UFC Fight Night 209, when he is scheduled to meet Marvin Vettori in the middleweight co-main event in Paris.

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While the former champion remains one of the top fighters in the division, he admits to pondering a future at light heavyweight. If Whittaker does make the move, he would want to make sure it’s done the right way.

“I’ve been thinking about 205 a fair bit,” Whittaker said in a recent interview with Submission Radio. “The problem is, I wouldn’t go to 205 to come back down to 185, just because I don’t want to go to 205 as a fat 185, right? You see a lot of guys try that and they just get starched. And then they come back down. It doesn’t make sense.”

Whittaker began his UFC tenure as a welterweight before moving to 185 pounds, where he enjoyed his greatest success. “The Reaper” has won 11 of 13 Octagon appearances at middleweight, capturing championship gold alon…

Clay Guida will square off against Scott Holtzman in a lightweight bout at a UFC Fight Night event on Dec. 3.

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Holtzman initially announced the pairing on social media and it was later confirmed by MMAjunkie.com. The UFC Fight Night card will reportedly be held in Orlando and also includes a middleweight showdown between Jack Hermansson and Derek Brunson.

Barring injury or cancellation, Guida will make his 60th professional appearance against Holtzman. “The Carpenter” is 2-2 in his last four promotional outings and is coming off a first-round submission loss to Claudio Puelles at UFC Fight Night 205.

Holtzman, meanwhile, is looking to snap a two-bout skid after suffering back-to-back knockout losses at the hands of Beneil Dariush and Mateusz Gamrot. The 38-year-old known as “Hot Sauce” will be competing for the first time in 2022.

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It’s been well over two years since Quinton Jackson last competed in mixed martial arts, but the former UFC light heavyweight champion isn’t quite ready to call it quits just yet.

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In a recent interview with TMZ Sports, “Rampage” confirmed his plans to fight again, expressing interest in both boxing and MMA. Jackson last appeared at Bellator 237, where he suffered a first-round technical knockout loss to Fedor Emelianenko on Dec. 29, 2019. Since then, a boxing match with Shannon Briggs has been rumored but has yet to come to fruition.

“No, man. I ain’t done. I’m not happy with my performance in my last fight. I can’t leave MMA fans like that,” Jackson said. “Yeah, I want to leave this sport a little better.

“I’m in talks with fighting Shannon, finally. That fight has been almost a year in the making. I want to do some boxing before I retire. … I might do MMA, but I want to do boxing. I’m getting up there. I’m 44, man. I’m get…

Vitor Belfort will make another venture into the Sweet Science when he faces Hasim Rahman in a boxing match in Sheffield, England, on Oct. 15.

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The bout was announced during on Saturday during an event that featured YouTube personality KSI. Belfort vs. Rahman Jr. is expected to serve as one half of a double main event for a card entitled DAZN X Series 002, with the other featured bout to be announced at a later date.

Belfort’s first boxing outing occurred when he defeated 58-year-old former champion Evander Holyfield via technical knockout 1:49 into Round 1 of their clash at a Triller Fight Club-promoted event in September 2021. Though initially marketed as Belfort’s professional debut, the fight was counted as an exhibition by the Florida State Boxing Commission. Belfort was previously slated to face Oscar De La Hoya before De La Hoya withdrew after contracting COVID-19. The former UFC champion has a 1-0 mark in professional boxing thanks to a kno…

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A featherweight clash pitting Jarno Errens against William Gomis is a late addition to the UFC Paris bill.

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The Las Vegas-based promotion recently announced the bout. UFC Fight Night 209 takes place on Sept. 3 at Accor Arena in Paris and is headlined by a heavyweight tilt between Ciryl Gane and Tai Tuivasa.

A former title holder in the Germany-based National Fighting Championship promotion, the Netherlands’ Errens enters his Octagon debut with a 13-3-1 career mark. The 27-year-old last competed at Brave CF 61, where he outpointed Allisher Abdulloev on Aug. 6.

Gomis, a native of Paris, will bring an eight-bout winning streak into his first UFC appearance. The 25-year-old MMA Factory representative is coming off a third-round TKO victory against Jose Marcos Lima Santiago Jr. at Ares FC 7 on June 25.

Kevin Holland will lock horns with Daniel Rodriguez in a late addition to the UFC 279 lineup.

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Holland initially announced the pairing, and multiple outlets have since confirmed the booking. UFC 279 takes place on Sept. 10 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and is headlined by a welterweight showdown between Khamzat Chimaev and Nate Diaz. Holland vs. Rodriguez will reportedly be contested at a 180-pound catchweight.

Holland has enjoyed success since moving to welterweight in 2022, posting back-to-back finishes of Alex Oliveira and Tim Means in his first two appearances in the weight class. “Trailblazer” is 10-4 with one no contest during his tenure with the Las Vegas-based promotion.

Rodriguez has been victorious in six of his first seven promotional outings. “D-Rod” is coming off a 3-0 campaign in 2021 in which he earned decision wins over Kevin Lee and Mike Perry while defeating Preston Parsons via TKO.

Fight Club Rush ventured from Vasteras for its debut in Stockholm, and the event featured plenty of firepower.

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In the FCR 13 main event, rising star Bernardo Sopai stopped Karlen Minasian with a head kick to capture the promotion’s bantamweight strap, which was recently vacated by Felipe Lima. Sopai took the fight to the ground early, and outside of a couple surprising hip tosses from Minasian in the clinch, the Albanian controlled the first frame.

It was a tentative second round until Sopai turned up the pace with punches and landed a lightning fast right hand that the Ukrainian acknowledged. The Allstars Training Center fighter moved forward and launched a powerful right head kick that sent the Orebro Fight Gym product crumbling to the ground, where the referee immediately stepped in to call an end to the bout at 59 seconds of Round 2.

“I was patient, I know he was hurt.” said Sopai about the finishing sequence. “I just followed my gam…

Rumors of the demise of Ultimate Fighting Championship great Jose Aldo are greatly exaggerated.

At UFC 278, former champ Aldo collided with surging contender Merab Dvalishvili, and he fell short by decision. In his victorious tour around media outlets, Dvalishvili declared on “The MMA Hour” that Aldo told him, right after their fight, that he would retire. Aldo himself has yet to respond to clarify or otherwise discuss Dvalishvili’s statement. On Friday, Sherdog spoke to Aldo’s head coach Andre Pederneiras, who guaranteed the former featherweight champion is not done yet.

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“No way,” Pederneiras exclaimed. “It’s not uncommon that high-level fighters say they are done after a loss, once I had many high-level fighters last 30 years, I can’t tell you how many times I´ve heard that after a loss. The fact is that, unlike many other top champions that finished their career only losing, being out of the rankings, we can see that Aldo continues performing at th…