Martial Arts News

A youthful appearance hides the fact that Leandro Higo has quite literally pursued his passion for decades. He made his pro debut at the age of 17 and has fought virtually everywhere since, from Jungle Fight, the Resurrection Fighting Alliance and the Legacy Fighting Alliance to “The Ultimate Fighter Brazil” Season 4 and Bellator MMA.

Higo now readies himself for his second appearance under the Professional Fighters League flag, as he will face Magomed “Tiger” Magomedov in a PFL Sioux Falls bantamweight showcase on Saturday at the Sanford Pentagon in South Dakota. It has been quite a journey for the 37-year-old Brazilian.

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A world class welterweight clash headlines PFL Sioux Falls: Tune in Saturday, May 2 at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

“It’s been 20 years since my debut, when I started fighting vale tudo in my hometown of Mossoro,” Higo told Sherdog.com. “I started out without any expectations. It was just a dream. I couldn’t imagine getting as far as I …

Karl Williams knows the drill.

The 6-foot-3, 260-pound heavyweight will set out in search of his second Professional Fighters League victory when he squares off with Maxwell Djantou Nana as part of the PFL Sioux Falls undercard this Saturday at the Sanford Pentagon in South Dakota. Williams, 36, holds a 1-3 record with the promotion and last competed on Feb. 7, when he tapped to a second-round arm-triangle choke from Pouya Rahmani at PFL Dubai. It was his fourth consecutive defeat dating back to his exit from the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

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A world class welterweight clash headlines PFL Sioux Falls: Tune in Saturday, May 2 at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

Williams makes no excuses for his recent run of adversity.

“The results have been the results, and every time it’s like that, I can only control what I can control,” Williams said. “I go into the gym, [and] I work as hard as I can [and] get with the best training partners. I’ve been training with …

Liz Carmouche won the PFL flyweight tournament in 2025. | PFL MMA

A women’s flyweight tilt with championship implications will serve as the PFL San Diego co-headliner.

Liz Carmouche will square off against Viviane Araujo on June 27 at Pechanga Arena in San Diego, the promotion announced on Wednesday. Carmouche is currently No. 2, while Araujo checks in at ninth in Professional Fighters League’s 125-pound rankings. PFL San Diego is headlined by a featherweight clash pitting A.J. McKee against Salamat Isulaev. The PFL San Diego main card airs on ESPN 2 at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, while the prelims will be broadcast via the ESPN app at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.

Championship Credentials A San Diego native, the 42-year-old Carmouche comes off a 3-0 campaign in 2025 in which she won the PFL flyweight tournament. During that run, ‘Girl-Rilla” bested Ilara Joanne, Elora Dana and Jena Bishop — earning two of her victories via knockout or technical knockout. Carmouche is a …

Marwan Rahiki has finished all his opponents inside the distance. | Getty/UFC

Saturday’s UFC Perth card has undergone a late change.

The Las Vegas-based promotion announced on Wednesday that Jack Jenkins has withdrawn from a proposed featherweight clash against Marwan Rahiki due to an undisclosed injury. As a result, Ollie Schmid will step in on less than a week’s notice to face Rahiki.

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UFC Perth — also known as UFC Fight Night 275 — takes place at RAC Arena in Perth, Australia and is headlined by a welterweight showdown between Jack Della Maddalena and Carlos Prates. The card airs in its entirety on Paramount plus beginning at 4 a.m. ET/1 a.m. PT.Prospects Collide Rahiki enjoyed a successful Octagon debut, breaking Harry Hardwick’s jaw in a second-round technical knockout victory at UFC Fight Night 269 on March 14. The 23-year-old former Hex Fight Series champ is 8-0 as a professional, with all of his triumphs coming inside the distanc…

Arman Tsarukyan thinks the UFC doesn’t necessarily dislike drama from fighters. 

Conor McGregor (22-6) is credited for taking MMA to unforeseen heights, also becoming the sport’s greatest ever star in the process. While McGregor is known for his legendary trash talk, “Notorious” also arguably crossed some boundaries to promote his fights. 

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The most notable of McGregor’s build-ups was ahead of his UFC 229 clash against Khabib Nurmagomedov. The Dubliner threw a dolly at a bus carrying Nurmagomedov and other fighters at UFC 223 in 2018 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. However, Tsarukyan doesn’t think the UFC was disappointed with McGregor’s actions. According to “Ahalkalakets,” it was the drama leading up to the fight that made McGregor vs. Nurmagomedov the biggest fight in UFC history.Selling the Drama “It’s good for the UFC,” Tsarukyan told Patrick Bet-David. “You think they didn’t like it? They liked it… The sport is getting bi…

Jake Paul claims Dana White was rooting against him early in his boxing career. 

Paul suffered his second professional loss against Anthony Joshua via sixth-round knockout this past December. Paul’s matchup against the former boxing world heavyweight champion was considered one of the biggest mismatches of recent times. 

White was surprised that the fight even came to fruition. The UFC head honcho said that anyone involved with the bout should be embarrassed. Responding to White, Paul recently recalled that the UFC didn’t have any weight classes in its early days, which allowed bizarre matchups like Keith Hackney vs. Emmanuel Yarborough. Paul also claims that White actively rooted against him early in his career. While Paul started his boxing career against fellow influencers, he first made headlines in the world of combat sports by knocking out UFC veteran Ben Askren in the first round of their bout in 2021. Paul claims White was funding Askren’s training t…

Carlos Prates is confident that a victory over Jack Della Maddalena in the UFC Perth headliner on Saturday will lead to a welterweight title shot.

“I think it’s the natural path. I just knocked out a former champion [Leon Edwards]. “If I can knock out another one, even more so fighting in his home country, I think the title shot will come,” Prates said in an interview with Brazilian journalist Laerte Viana.

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The Fighting Nerds standout made it clear that he is prepared for the best version of the former champion.

“I’m coming prepared to face a guy who lost the belt and is coming full of hate and with the support of his fans to reclaim his belt and show that he’s alive in the division, ready to fight for five rounds in the toughest fight of his life,” Prates said. “I prepared for this, but I hope it won’t be. Hopefully I’ll land two punches in the first round and he’ll go with God.”

Planning Another Highlight Prates, who has been victorious in six…

Khamzat Chimaev doesn’t care about his opponents’ game plans. 

Chimaev’s close friend, Arman Tsarukyan, recently explained why the middleweight champion is different than most fighters. Tsarukyan claims that Chimaev never studies tape on his opponents. According to Tsarukyan, Chimaev is only focused on his own game plan in the fight. Chimaev is so confident in his skills that he doesn’t care about what his opponent is going to bring to the table.

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“Borz” is scheduled to defend his title against Sean Strickland (30-7) at UFC 328 on May 9 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Tsaruyan (23-3)  is currently helping Chimaev (15-0) in camp for his upcoming fight. Tsarukyan guarantees that he has watched more tape on Strickland than Chimaev has. Tsarukyan also admits that he naturally has a different approach than Chimaev,  watching a lot of tape on his opponent and making a game plan accordingly.Film Study Overrated? However, Chimaev…

Considered by many to be the greatest ju-jitsu coach in Brazil today, even called the Brazilian John Danahar, Melquizael Galvao was arrested on Tuesday in Brazil for suspected sexual crimes against female students in Manaus.

The father of Micael Galvão (Mica), considered the biggest name in jiu-Jjtsu in Brazil today, Melqui is also a civil police officer in the state of Amazonas.

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The temporary arrest was decreed after complaints gathered by the 8th Women's Defense Police Station (DDM), which is investigating reports of abuse involving at least three victims. According to the police, the complainants presented a recording in which the suspect indirectly admits to the incident and tries to prevent the case from going forward, with the promise of financial compensation. The 13-minute audio recording of Melquizael's plea to the victim's parents went viral throughout the jiu-jitsu community. In the recording, the coach acknowledges his mistake, swears rem…

Sean Strickland will try to recapture middleweight gold at UFC 328. | Getty/UFC

Sean Strickland has serious bad blood with Khamzat Chimaev. 

Strickland (30-7) is scheduled to challenge Chimaev (15-0) for the middleweight title in the main event at UFC 328 on May 9 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Strickland and Chimaev's beef leading up to the fight goes beyond the customary trash talk. 

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Chimaev recently said that Strickland would flee if he confronted him with his gang, as the former middleweight champion has no friends. Known for his controversial take on gun control, Strickland says he would just shoot Chimaev’s gang if they tried to jump him. 

Fighters with even long-standing beefs often bury the hatchet after sharing the Octagon. However, Strickland doesn’t think he will be cordial with Chimaev ever. According to Strickland, the loser of his fight with Chimaev will have to swallow a bitter pill and li…

Belocqua Wera helped mold Alex Pereira into the fighter he is today. | Belocqua Wera

If he manages to beat Ciryl Gane on June 14 at UFC White House, Alex Pereira will be the only fighter in history to win three belts in different divisions in the world's largest MMA promotion.

Before arriving in the UFC, Poatan had already been a double champion (middleweight and light heavyweight) in Glory Kickboxing. Most fans today associate Pereira with his current coaches, Glover Teixeira and Plinio Cruz, who was even elected coach of the year at the MMA Oscars in 2024. Despite always pointing out the importance of both in his career, “Poatan” never fails to recognize the importance of his first coach, Belocqua Wera.

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Ultimately, it was this renowned professional, the former coach of the Brazilian Kickboxing team, who had already trained the famous South American kickboxing champion Paulo Zorello, who extended a hand to him, recognized his talent,…

Aljamain Sterling could feel darkness setting in when Youssef Zalal caught him in a guillotine. 

Sterling (26-5) and Zalal (18-6) traded leather in the main event at UFC Fight Night 274 last Saturday at the Apex in Las Vegas. It was complete domination by Sterling, barring a brief guillotine scare in the third round. As Zalal caught Sterling in a guillotine, “Funkmaster” took him down, leading to an even tighter choke. However, Sterling maintained composure and defended the choke and went on to dominate the rest of the round and the fight to earn a unanimous decision win. 

Difficult to Breathe Sterling recently revealed that Zalal’s guillotine was substantially tight. “Funkmaster” even felt his vision clouding momentarily. However, the former bantamweight champion just didn’t have any quit in him. Sterling admits that he might have tapped to a similar choke in training.  

“It was tight,” Sterling told Home of Fight. “I could definitely feel my trachea; e…