Martial Arts News

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Merab Dvalishvili has been a UFC champion for less than six months, but he’s already experiencing what it feels like to be a marked man at the top of the division.

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“Since I become champion, it became a lot of drama too,” Dvalishvili recently told ESPN. “Lots of talking online. I don’t know, maybe because everybody wanted to see me fight against Umar [Nurmagomedov]. Everybody talking s—t.”

Dvalishvili claimed the bantamweight throne with a lopsided unanimous decision triumph against Sean O’Malley at UFC 306 this past September. Nurmagomedov was in attendance for the fight, and the Dagestani immediately became the promotion’s top contender of choice — despite Dvalishvili’s objections. While the 33-year-old Georgian wanted to enjoy his championship achievement, he ultimately agreed to defend his belt against Nurmagomedov in the UFC 311 co-main event on Jan. 18 in Los Angeles.

In the meantime, “The Machine” has felt the backlash …

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The stage is set for Rizin Fighting Federation’s traditional year-end extravaganza.

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All three title fights are official for Rizin 49 "Decade" following weigh-ins on Monday. The card is headlined by a featherweight championship tilt between Chihiro Suzuki and Kleber Koike Erbst. Both Suzuki and Erbst tipped the scales at 145.5 pounds.

Rizin 49 takes place on Dec. 31 at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, and features three championship fights at the top of the card. In addition to Suzuki vs. Erbst, Kyoji Horiguchi (125.5) will face Nkazimulo Zulu (125.5) for flyweight gold, while Roberto Satoshi de Souza (156.3) meets Vugar Karamov (155.7) for the lightweight title.

The card is divided into two parts, with Rizin Bangaichi beginning the festivities before Rizin 49: Decade concludes the action. The event can be purchased via pay-per-view via Rizin.TV.

Rizin 49 “Decade” Weigh-in Results: Chihiro Suzuki (145.5) vs. Kleber…

イゴール・タナベに関するお知らせ

RIZINファイターの #イゴールタナベ/@fatninjabjj は、12月はじめに病院にてMRIを撮ったところ、「もやもや病」との診断を受けました。… pic.twitter.com/fP4qr1QrfX

— RIZIN FF OFFICIAL (@rizin_PR) December 28, 2024

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Rizin Fighting Federation prospect Igor Tanabe will be stepping away from mixed martial arts indefinitely after being diagnosed with moyamoya disease.

The Japanese promotion recently revealed that Tanabe received an MRI in early December and was diagnosed with the condition. It is unclear when — or if — the 24-year-old Tanabe will return to fighting.

“Due to the diagnosis that MMA, any sport involving blows to the head, and the extreme dehydration that comes with weight loss are extremely dangerous, Igor has had to step back from competitive martial arts for a while,” read a statement from Rizin in a release. (via Google Translate).

According to the National Institute of N…

A lightweight showdown between Esteban Ribovics and Nasrat Haqparast has been added to the UFC Vegas 103 lineup.

Ribovics confirmed the booking on social media following an initial report from Marcel Dorff. UFC Vegas 103 — also known as UFC Fight Night 253 — takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on March 1 and is headlined by a flyweight tilt pitting Brandon Royval against Manel Kape.

Ribovics is coming off a “Fight of the Year” contender at UFC 306, where he edged Daniel Zellhuber via split decision in an entertaining slugfest. The 28-year-old Argentina native has won three straight Octagon appearances since dropping his debut to Loik Radhzhabov at UFC 285. The Kill Cliff FC representative has been victorious in 14 of his 15 professional appearances overall — with 12 of those triumphs coming inside the distance.

Haqparast, meanwhile, will take a four-bout winning streak into the matchup with Ribovics. In his lone appearance of 2024, the Moroccan defea…

The wheels are in motion for Donald Cerrone’s Ultimate Fighting Championship return.

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During a recent appearance on The Pacman Jones Show, “Cowboy” revealed that he has re-entered the drug testing pool in homes of making a comeback to the Octagon by next summer. The UFC Hall of Famer initially announced his retirement following a second-round submission loss to Jim Miller at UFC 276 in July 2022. The Combat Sports Anti-Doping website shows that Cerrone has submitted to one test session thus far in 2024.

“I just re-entered the testing pool,” Cerrone said on the show. “I have to be six months clean. Probably June, July we will make the comeback. Coming back for two more. Just two more. I want 50 fights in the UFC [under the Zuffa umbrella]. I promised the wife no matter what happens, no matter the outcomes – two more and that’s it.”

While Cerrone has previously competed at lightweight and welterweight during his UFC tenure, he expects to fight i…

[embedded content] According to a coach in the know, the month-long observation of Ramadan should not necessarily preclude a challenger from vying for a Ultimate Fighting Championship belt.

With the main events of the first two UFC pay-per-view offerings of 2025 already on the books—UFC 311 will feature Islam Makhachev vs. Arman Tsarukyan with a co-main of Merab Dvalishvili against Umar Nurmagomedov, while UFC 312 sees Dricus Du Plessis defending his throne against Sean Strickland while the co-headliner comes between Weili Zhang and Tatiana Suarez—speculation quickly turned to its upcoming March card. On March 8, the UFC’s regular stomping ground of the T-Mobile Arena will play host to UFC 313, and no marquee bouts have been announced yet.

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Light heavyweight kingpin Alex Pereira recently stated that he was planning to return in March or April, and his expected opponent would be Magomed Ankalaev. Some put the pieces together, questioning how the UFC wo…

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Great things have been expected of Tatiana Suarez since early in her Ultimate Fighting Championship career.

She’ll get a chance to deliver on that promise when she meets Weili Zhang in a strawweight title bout at UFC 312 in Sydney, Australia, on Feb. 8. The situation is a little unusual since Suarez hasn’t competed since submitting Jessica Andrade at UFC on ESPN 50 in August 2023. However, the 34-year-old Californian isn’t altering her mindset heading into the biggest fight of her career to date.

“I don’t feel any different,” Suarez recently said on UFC Unfiltered. “I just feel like it’s another fight. It’s another challenge for me. I’m really excited because I’ve never had a five-round fight. But if anybody can do it, it’s me.”

Suarez is no stranger to lengthy layoffs. Injuries sidelined her for more than three years after a victory over Nina Nunes at UFC 238 in June 2019, but she returned to the Octagon in 2023 to post back-to-back victories…

As far as PFL providing everyone 2 fights this year, I really hope that’s what’s gonna happen and not because many more will be cut.

I want PFL to succeed, it’s good for the sport and for fighters.

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That said, I want to leave right away. Can we agree to it this week? (2/2) https://t.co/Zvx4NS45H8 — Patricio Pitbull (@PatricioPitbull) December 19, 2024

Patricio “Pitbull” Freire has not been happy with his current situation under the Professional Fighters League banner following its acquisition of Bellator MMA in 2023.

Over the course of several weeks, “Pitbull” has taken to social media to voice his displeasure with the lack of activity he’s seen in 2024, and has stated multiple times that he wants out of his contract to compete elsewhere.

A source with knowledge of the situation talked to Sherdog.com, and said the PFL has exceeded its contractual obligations with the 37-year-old featherweight champion. The sourc…

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The elder brother of UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria will make his Octagon debut Down Under.

Aleksandre Topuria is expected to face Cody Haddon in a bantamweight bout at UFC 312 on Feb. 8. The booking was initially reported by Australian MMA and subsequently confirmed by MMAjunkie.com. UFC 312 takes place at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney and is headlined by a middleweight championship rematch between Dricus Du Plessis and Sean Strickland.

The 28-year-old Topuria will be competing for the first time since May 2023, when he defeated Johan Segas via first-round technical knockout at The Way of the Warrior 9 in Madrid, Spain. “El Conquistador” has won five of his six professional outings, with all of his victories coming inside the distance. He began his professional MMA tenure in 2015 and fought three times that year but did not return to action again until December 2021.

A native of Perth, Haddon has been victorious in eight of his ni…

It’s all good - this guy will get what is coming to him on January 18th. #ufc311 🦾🇬🇪🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/hC8YN6vkX9

— Merab “The Machine” Dvalishvili (@MerabDvalishvil) December 23, 2024

It might be the holiday season, but Merab Dvalishvili wasn’t feeling especially jolly after allegedly being denied entry into the UFC Performance Institute on Monday.

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In a social media post, the reigning bantamweight champion claimed that security wouldn’t let him into the facility because UFC 311 opponent Umar Nurmagomedov was already inside the buildiing.

“I’m here out front of the UFC P.I., and security don’t let me go in because they said, ‘Umar Nurmagomedov is inside,’ and they are protecting him,” Dvalishvili said in a video. “Don’t worry, guys. I’m not going to smash him before the fight. But Jan. 18, different story. I’m not able to go in UFC P.I. because I was supposed to get treatment for my injury. I was supposed to sign some …

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Arman Tsarukyan once viewed fighting in the UFC as an unattainable dream.

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Fast forward to the present day, and he’s less than a month away from challenging for championship gold in the world’s largest mixed martial arts promotion, when he locks horns with Islam Makhachev in the UFC 311 main event on Jan. 18 at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles.

Competing in the Octagon became a reality shortly after Tsarukyan’s last fight on the regional circuit in Russia in August 2018. Sharing a card with the likes of 2024 PFL heavyweight champ Denis Goltsov, UFC veteran Alexander Romanov and ex-Bellator MMA light heavyweight title holder Christian M'Pumbu, Tsarukyan won his 11th straight bout that night — defeating one-time UFC competitor Felipe Olivieiri via third-round knockout.

After that bout, Tsarukyan recalls his manager telling him that he would be in the UFC soon. About eight months later, he was booked in his short-notice Octagon de…

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Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship has something in special in store for the coming year.

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BKFC president David Feldman recently announced that the promotion will hold a $25 million tournament — “the biggest, baddest tournament that ever took place” — beginning in April 2025.

“It’s going to spread out between nine or 12 months. There’s going to be tryouts, qualifying rounds and those qualifying rounds are going to take place in five different continents,” Feldman said during a post-fight press conference following BKFC Hollywood.

“We’re close to locking in a huge streaming platform that’s going to have the rights to this thing, so everything is really falling in place. I can’t give you all the details, but it will be the biggest, baddest, biggest prize money to find the baddest motherf—ker on the face of this earth.”

It’s currently unclear how the prize money will be distributed. However, even the promotion’s biggest stars ap…