Martial Arts News

First to the scales, the champ is in at 144.5 🏆

[ @AlexVolkanovski | #UFC273 | Tomorrow | Live on ESPN+ PPV: https://t.co/KOluT78H6K ] pic.twitter.com/o5UFaTomzg

— UFC (@ufc) April 8, 2022 UFC 273's two title fights and main card bouts are all good to go after the official weigh-ins. While headliners Alexander Volkanovski and Chan Sung Jung had no issue making championship weight, a pair of preliminary fighters struggled to hit their marks. The most notable miss came from Kay Hansen, who weighed in 2.5 pounds above the strawweight limit for her bout against Piera Rodriguez and has been fined 20% of her purse as a result. Additionally, Julio Arce missed the bantamweight limit by half a pound, and he will have to forfeit 20% of his purse to Daniel Gustavo Santos.

The defending featherweight champion Volkanovski (23-1) is on a remarkable run, having won every fight he has had in the Octagon. His impressive win streak dates back to 2013, al…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_IeIG8ktQc&w=560&h=315] Count the most recent opponent of Alex Pereira among those that believe the ex-kickboxer will smash his way through the rest of the division.

At UFC Fight Night 203 in March, Pereira (5-1) and “Blindado” Bruno Silva (22-7) threw down for three hard-fought rounds to open up the main card. Pereira ultimately had his hand raised after the judges handed down matching 30-27 scores in his favor. Silva did have his moments in the fight, landing a pair of takedowns and getting off some heavy shots of his own, but he could not so much as win a round. Silva’s loss snapped a three-fight knockout win streak for him, but he very nearly had an opportunity for a high-stakes, short-notice opportunity because of his performance. “Blindado” spoke to Sherdog on Wednesday about his last fight and how he sees Pereira going forward.

“Some fights you enter to win, and others, to make history,” Silva noted. “I promised a great fi…

ONE is back on 22 April with another STACKED lineup headlined by two World Title fights 🙌 Which matchups are YOU excited about?#WeAreONE #ONEChampionship pic.twitter.com/M0koXDTpn4

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) April 7, 2022 With any luck, the days of tape-delayed One Championship fight cards are now completely in the past.

Via press release on Thursday morning, One has announced the entirety of the lineup of its next fight card, which will air live on April 22. Titled both “Reloaded” and “Eersel vs. Sadikovic,” 16 fights of various disciplines will go down inside of the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore. The main event will draw a 170-pound kickboxing title fight between Regian Eersel and Arian Sadikovic, while the co-headliner comes under muay Thai rules when Smilla Sundell and Jackie Buntan vie for the vacant 125-pound strap. Additionally, 10 MMA fights will be sprinkled throughout the card.

The top-billed MMA mat…

Ultimate Fighting Championship star Conor McGregor has been charged with six traffic offenses after his latest incident this March.

According to Dublin Live on Thursday, McGregor appeared in court in Dublin, where he was charged with six driving-related offenses. On March 22, he was stopped in his Bentley and arrested for alleged dangerous driving, where he was handed two counts of this violation. Four more came on Thursday, including driving without a license and operating a motor vehicle without insurance. Per to his lawyer, Michael Staines, the police have subsequently been shown his license and proof of insurance.

Via MMA Fighting, McGregor’s representative, Karen Kessler, stated that McGregor was stopped on his way to his gym for “alleged road traffic violations” and that he had passed his field sobriety tests. McGregor has been released on bail, and he will be due to appear in court in June. His lone statement to reporters was simple: “Just straight back into tr…

🔥 Introducing the new https://t.co/vCNztABJoG @UFC Fan Bonus of the Night 🔥

💰60K in #Bitcoin shared by the top 3 UFC athletes🎁Fans can win exclusive prizes

Check it out: https://t.co/svOHGBUBIp#UFC273 pic.twitter.com/kj8BOAWeBq — Crypto.com (@cryptocom) April 7, 2022 The Ultimate Fighting Championship will put some bonus awards in the hands of the fans again.

At UFC 124 in 2010, the promotion announced that fans could vote on their preferred “Fight of the Night,” which would give $100,000 checks to the fighters that fans selected. In a move subsequently maligned by UFC head Dana White, the fans voted on the headliner of Georges St. Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck instead of the other deserving options. White took the option away after just one event, but according to the promotion on Thursday, a version of fan-voted bonuses will return on Saturday.

The bonuses, which will come from the partnership of the UFC and Crypto.com, will not impac…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFiTxgI1dhU&w=560&h=315] A former middleweight and an ex-lightweight will meet in the middle at the first of two Bellator MMA Hawaii shows in April.

According to sources close to the situation, Bellator 278 will be gaining an interesting preliminary match in the welterweight division on April 22. Dante Schiro (8-3) will be making his return to the Bellator cage, and he will be taking on Hawaii’s Scotty Hao (5-3). The two will come to blows inside of the Neil S. Blaisdell Center in Honolulu.

Schiro made his organizational debut in August 2021 when he took on top contender Logan Storley, and fought the vaunted wrestler to a close split decision. That win snapped a two-fight finish streak for the Wisconsin native, who has previously tapped Victor Moreno in 2020 and then knocked Kenny Robertson out earlier in 2021. As a pro, the Chosen Few Gym representative celebrates a finish rate of 87%, with none of his stoppages coming any later…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxG_eACYQCw&w=560&h=315] Several current or former Ultimate Fighting Championship fighters wanted to weigh in on a hotly anticipated contest this Saturday.

Even having two belts on the line on Saturday in the main and co-main events of UFC 273, much of the attention on the fight card is on the welterweight battle between Gilbert Burns and Khamzat Chimaev. Burns (20-4) will come in as a huge betting underdog despite being in the top three of his division and a former title challenger. He will take on unbeaten wrecking machine Chimaev (10-0), a man has never needed more than two rounds to dispatch an opponent. On Wednesday, Sherdog spoke to several Brazilian fighters that either currently fight for the UFC or did so in the past to get their opinions on the matchup.

Fabricio Werdum, former UFC heavyweight champ: “No doubt Chimaev is one of the most talented fighters that appeared in UFC lately. And it’s not for being undefeated, bu…

The Challenger Series Week 8 Main Event!

Carlos Leal vs @chrisbreezymma #PFLonFuboTVFri, April 8th | Live 9pm ET pic.twitter.com/bFFDXsMzLV

— PFL (@PFLMMA) April 7, 2022 Several fighters ahead of the Professional Fighters League's "Second Chance" event are not making the most of their opportunities. Headlining PFL Challenger Series 8, with a billing that was announced on Thursday, is a catchweight bout between Carlos Leal Miranda and Chris Brown. The main event was initially announced as a welterweight contest on Thursday morning, but neither fighter hit their scheduled marks. Beyond the main eventers coming in over the welterweight limit, Ali Zebian also missed weight, who weighed in 2.2 pounds heavy for his featherweight bout against Aaron Blackie.

Miranda (15-3) is coming off a quick 56-second TKO win over Korey Kuppe and is undefeated since 2015. "The Lion" officially weighed 171.2 pounds for the main event, just a shade over the …

Middleweight Rodolfo Vieira has been cleared to resume his mixed martial arts career after an abnormal brain scan earlier this year forced him to withdraw from UFC 270.

Vieira revealed via Instagram that he was at AdventHealth Orlando to receive a cerebral angiography, which provides images of blood vessels around the brain and can detect abnormalities such as aneurysms.

“After months of waiting I just had the cerebral angiography I needed, everything went well,” Vieira wrote. “Now I'm here in the room waiting for the doctor to come and tell me what I really have and if I'm going to be able to continue fighting MMA.

Without a doubt today is the hardest day of my life. Whatever it is, I trust in my God and I know that he will do the best for my life as hd always did!”

According to MMAFighting.com, Vieira received medical clearance to compete after the examination. The 32-year-old Brazilian withdrew from a proposed clash against Wellington Turman at UFC 27…

Andre Muniz will not remain on the UFC on ESPN 34 card against a replacement opponent.

MMAFighting.com was first to report Muniz’s exit from the card. Promotion officials were reportedly seeking a replacement opponent for the Brazilian after original foe Uriah Hall pulled out of the matchup. While Dricus Du Plessis revealed on “The MMA Hour” that he was among those offered the fight, ultimately no one accepted a short-notice matchup with the Brazilian submission specialist.

UFC on ESPN 34 takes place on April 16 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a welterweight showdown between Vicente Luque and Belal Muhammad. Muniz vs. Hall was slated to be the card’s co-main event.

Muniz, 32, has won his last eight professional bouts. The Dana White’s Contender Series alum has bested his last three UFC opponents — Eryk Anders, Ronaldo Souza and Bartosz Fabinski — via first-round submission. “Sergipano” is 22-4 over the course of a career that began in 2009, wi…

Francis Ngannou is on the road to recovery after recently undergoing knee surgery.

The UFC heavyweight champion shared a video on Instagram of his rehabilitation folllowing the procedure. Ngannou suffered a torn MCL and a damaged ACL in sparring ahead of his unanimous decision victory over interim title holder Ciryl Gane at UFC 270. Ngannou underwent surgery last month and could be sidelined for nine months.

UFC president Dana White admitted that the promotion could create another interim heavyweight title as a result of Ngannou’s absence. “The Predator” fought out his eight-fight deal with the UFC at 270 and hasn’t reached a new agreement with the Las Vegas-based promotion.

The Professional Fighters League has issued a statement pertaining to April 1’s PFL Challenger Series 7 event, which was actually recorded on March 25 in Orlando, Florida.

“Week 7 of the Professional Fighters Leagues' (PFL) 2022 Challenger Series was pre-recorded on Friday, March 25, 2022,” read a statement sent from PFL to Sherdog Tuesday evening. “As such the PFL did not include any betting lines, content, or promotion in connection with the program. Further, PFL did not distribute any betting data, lines, or content to its partners.

“Any sports books that took bets on the prerecorded program did so without the consent or knowledge of the PFL.

“The PFL will further evaluate the matter. The PFL continues to advocate for responsible sports gaming.”

Sherdog staff was able to obtain a recording of April 1’s tape-delayed broadcast and independently verified that PFL gambling personality Ian Parker, who was present for prior editions of the Challenger Series, was n…