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#Bellator284 Official Weigh-In Result: #4-Ranked Flyweight @Ilimanator (129) * pic.twitter.com/qmuidtO218

— Bellator Public Relations (@BellatorPR) August 11, 2022 The Bellator 284 weigh-ins were anything but a formality, with multiple fighters missing weight and one bout scratched as a result.

Bellator MMA's lone event in August will see welterweight contenders Neiman Gracie and Goiti Yamauchi meet in the main event of Bellator 284. While the headliners had no issue making weight, the same couldn't be said for the rest of the card. The most notable miss came from former flyweight champion Ilima-Lei Macfarlane, who came in at 129 pounds for her bout against Bruna Ellen and looked extremely disappointed on the scale. Fellow flyweight Justine Kish weighed in 2.4 pounds over the limit as well, and both she and Macfarlane have been fined a percentage of their respective purses. Finally, prelim competitor Nick Perez clocked in 1.4 pounds over the…

Patricky Freire is expected to defend his Bellator lightweight crown against Usman Nurmagomedov at a Bellator MMA event on Nov. 18.

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MMA Fight Universe was first to report the bout. The Bellator event doesn’t have an official location or venue and has not been announced by the promotion. Freire vs. Nurmagomedov is expected to headline the card.

Freire captured lightweight gold when he defeated Peter Queally via second-round TKO at Bellator 270 on Nov. 5. He was scheduled to make his first title defense against Sidney Outlaw at Bellator 283 but was forced to withdraw from the fight due to injury. “Pitbull” is a long-tenured Bellator athlete who has been with the organization since 2011. He has been victorious in eight of his last 10 professional outings.

Nurmagomedov, the cousin of ex-UFC lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov, is 15-0 thus far in his pro career. He is 4-0 in Bellator, including a first-round submission of Christopher Gonzalez i…

A middleweight clash pitting Jared Cannonier against Sean Strickland is in the works to headline a UFC Fight Night event on Oct. 15.

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The bout, which has not yet been finalized, was first reported by Ariel Helwani. The card doesn’t have an official location, but it will likely take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Cannonier is coming off a failed bid for middleweight gold at UFC 276, where he dropped a five-round verdict to Israel Adesanya on July 2. Prior to that, “The Killa Gorilla” had been victorious in five of six promotional appearances, earning wins over the likes of Derek Brunson, Kelvin Gastelum, Jack Hermansson and Anderson Silva.

Strickland had his own bid for title contention shot down at UFC 276, as he suffered a first-round KO defeat to former Glory Kickboxing champ Alex Pereira. That defeat snapped a six-bout winning streak for the 31-year-old Team Quest representative.

A middleweight clash pitting Phil Hawes against Roman Dolidze has been added to the lineup for the UFC's Oct. 29 card.

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Sentanta Sports first reported the bout. UFC Fight Night is expected to take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and also includes a featherweight clash between Edson Barboza and Ilia Topuria.

Hawes has been victorious in four of five Octagon appearances since earning a UFC contract on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2020. The 33-year-old last appeared at UFC on ESPN 37, where he dominated Deron Winn en route to a second-round TKO.

Dolidze is also 4-1 in UFC competition. Most recently, the 34-year-old Xtreme Couture representative scored a first-round KO of Kyle Daukaus at UFC on ESPN 37 on June 18.

Arjan Singh Bhullar and Anatoliy Malykhin will square off in a heavyweight title unification bout at One Championship 161.

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The Singapore-based promotion confirmed the booking following an initial report on “The MMA Hour” by Ariel Helwani. One Championship 161 takes place on Sept. 29 at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore.

A four-time UFC veteran, Bhullar claimed the heavyweight crown with a second-round technical knockout victory against Brandon Vera at One Championship “Dangal” in April 2021. Bhullar has won four straight fights and 11 of 12 professional outings overall.

Malykhin, meanwhile, is undefeated in 10 professional appearances — including three triumphs under the One banner. He claimed the interim belt with a second-round KO of Kirill Grishenko at One Championship “Bad Blood” on Feb. 11.

Cristiane Justino’s long-discussed professional boxing debut finally has a date and opponent.

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“Cyborg” announced on "The MMA Hour" that she will square off against Simone Silva in the main event of a Fight Music Show card on Sept. 25. The event will take place at Athletico Paranaense Arena in Curitiba, Brazil, and the organization’s middleweight title will be on the line.

Justino has long expressed a desire to make a foray into the Sweet Science, even going so far as to receive her boxing license from the California State Athletic Commission in 2017. “Cyborg” has previously spent time training with boxing champ — and PFL talent — Claressa Shields. She has also dabbled in muay Thai, notably falling to Jorina Baars under the Lion Fight banner in 2014. As far as MMA goes, the heavy-handed Brazilian is coming off a successful featherweight title defense in a rematch with Arlene Blencowe at Bellator 279 on April 23.

The 39-year-old Silva owns a…

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The Ultimate Fighting Championship will return to Brazil for the first time since March 2020.

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The Las Vegas-based promotion announced on Wednesday that UFC 283 will take place at Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro on Jan. 21. It will be the UFC’s 38th event in the South American country and marks the first card there since UFC Fight Night 170 on March 14, 2020, which marked the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. No bouts were revealed for the upcoming event.

Additionally, the promotion announced that UFC Fight Pass, along with Band TV network, will be the broadcast home in Brazil for all UFC events. The streaming service will launch in Brazil on Jan. 1 and includes 12 free events annually on Band. All other UFC events will air in the country via Fight Pass. The UFC’s existing broadcast deal with Globo is set to expire at the end of 2022.

“Anyone who follows this sport knows how important Brazil is to mixed martial arts and to UFC…

It wasn’t quite a full-fledged retirement, but it doesn’t sound like Uriah Hall plans on fighting anytime soon, either.

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The UFC middleweight posted a statement on Instagram announcing that he’ll be “stepping away” from mixed martial arts, a sport where he has competed professionally since 2005.

“It is with great sadness that I will be stepping away from the greatest sport in the world. I’m going to miss the incredible UFC staff that has became like family and the mentors I have met along the way. The UFC has given me the best opportunity to step completely outside my comfort zone,” Hall wrote.

The 38-year-old Hall is coming off a unanimous decision loss to Andre Muniz at UFC 276 on July 2, his second consecutive defeat within the Las Vegas-based promotion. Prior to that, “Primetime” compiled a four-bout winning streak that featured triumphs over the likes of Chris Weidman, Anderson Silva and Antonio Carlos Jr.

“Throughout the years I’ve…

A lightweight clash between Adam Piccolotti and Mansour Barnaoui will serve as the main event for Bellator 287.

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Promotion officials announced the pairing on Wednesday. Bellator 287 takes place at Allianz Cloud Arena in Milan, Italy on Oct. 29 and will see Fabian Edwards face Charlie Ward in the evening’s middleweight co-headliner. Two other contests round out the main draw: Saul Rogers vs. Tim Wilde at lightweight and Justin Gonzales vs. Andrew Fisher at featherweight. The main card will air on Showtime in the United States at 3 p.m. ET/noon PT, while prelims stream on the Bellator MMA YouTube channel, the Showtime Sports YouTube channel and Pluto TV beginning at 11:30 a.m. ET/8:30 a.m. PT.

The announced preliminary card is as follows: Davy Gallon vs. Daniele Scatizzi at lightweight; Simon Biyong vs. Dragos Zubko at light heavyweight; Alfie Davis vs. Thibault Gouti at lightweight; Chiara Penco vs. Manuela Marconetto at strawweight; Yves Landu vs. …

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Gene LeBell, a man who is widely credited for making grappling a popular discipline in combat sports, has died at age 89.

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Lebell was a beloved figure in the martial arts world, and his reach extended to multiple arenas, including judo, mixed martial arts, professional wrestling and as a Hollywood stuntman. He won won the heavyweight and overall Amateur Athletic Union National Judo Championships in 1954 and 1955 before eventually transitioning to professional wrestling.

In more recent years, he become known for being in the corner of former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey. However, the list of people he has trained with includes luminaries from multiple walks of life such as Sugar Ray Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris and Roddy Piper, to name a few. Other notables who trained under Lebell include Gokor Chivichyan, Karo Parisyan and Manny Gamburyan.

Lebell has appeared in more than 1,000 movies and h…

Bo Nickal lived up to the hype and then some, but it was not enough to gain entry to the Ultimate Fighting Championship—at least not yet.

The three-time NCAA wrestling champion submitted Zachary Borrego with a first-round rear-naked choke to highlight Week 3 of Dana White’s Contender Series on Tuesday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Nickal executed an immediate takedown, threatened with a standing guillotine, transitioned seamlessly to the back and bit down on the fight-ending choke. It took all of 62 seconds. Borrego (4-1) never stood a chance. Even so, UFC President Dana White stopped short of welcoming Nickal to the UFC and instead offered him the opportunity to return later in Season 6, where the American Top Team-trained blue-chip prospect could punch his ticket to the promotion with a second win.

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Though they were largely overshadowed by Nickal, three other hopefuls did earn contracts to the UFC: Erik Silva, Clayton Carpenter and Jamal Pogues.…

Sherdog's live DWCS 2022 Week 3 coverage kicks off Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET.

Check out the MMA Forums to discuss the card or enter your comments and predictions below.

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Round 1 Lima, Peru, native Lavado will lock horns with two-time KSW veteran Wojcik after the strawweights had the most heated staredown of any Contender Series bout at Monday’s weigh-ins. Mike Beltran will officiate this clash. Lavado fires a couple straight rights that miss the mark and Wojcik answers with a leg kick. Wojcik is targeting the calf early with several kicks. They tie up briefly and Beltran warns the fighters to watch their heads. Wojcik clinches and drives Lavada into the fence. She drives her head under her opponent’s chin but Lavada is able to create separation in short order. Lavado tags Wojcik with a counter right as her foe moves forward. Wojcik charges forward and drives Lavado back into the cage, just missing a clash of heads. Lavado turns off the fence and reverses …