Martial Arts News

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Undefeated Japanese flyweight prospect Tatsuro Taira will make his UFC debut when he meets Carlos Candelario on April 30.

The matchup was first revealed on UFCStats.com. The UFC Fight Night event takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. A headliner for the card has yet to be announced.

Taira has been victorious in his first 10 professional appearances while competing primarily for the Shoot organization, where he is the flyweight champion. The 22-year-old Okinawa, Japan, native has finished eight of his triumphs inside the distance.

Candelario will make his first promotional forway after splitting a pair of bouts on Dana White’s Contender Series, including a split-decision loss to Victor Altamirano in his most recent appearance this past August. “The Cannon” has compiled an 8-1 career mark that includes six triumphs under the CES MMA banner.

We return to San Jose with a !

AJ McKee vs Pitbull 2Vadim Nemkov vs Corey Anderson

’s go on sale This Friday on Ticketmaster. #Bellator277 pic.twitter.com/vinnSdL7RL — BellatorMMA (@BellatorMMA) February 16, 2022

Bellator 277 will feature a pair of championships fights at the top of the bill, as A.J. McKee will face Patricio Freire in a featherweight title rematch, while Vadim Nemkov will defend his light heavyweight crown in the finals of the light heavyweight grand prix.

The California-based promotion announced the bouts on Wednesday. Bellator 277 takes place on April 15 at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., and the evening’s main card will air on Showtime.

McKee claimed 145-pound gold last July, when he submitted Patricio Freire 1:57 into the opening round of the Bellator 263 headliner in Los Angeles. The 26-year-old known as “Mercenary” is 18-0 as a professional, with all of his triumphs coming within the California-based…

@lyotomachidafw vs. @fabianedwards24 is .#BellatorLondon just gained another all-star bout. The action at the @OVOArena will be one for the history books!

May 13th | @BBCThree | s https://t.co/BSY8ceR5Se pic.twitter.com/a0qdUz0zEM

— Bellator Europe (@Bellator_Europe) February 16, 2022 Lyoto Machida will lock horns with Fabian Edwards in a middleweight clash at Bellator London on May 13.

Promotion officials confirmed the pairing on Wednesday. Bellator London takes place at the SSE Arena and is headlined by a welterweight championship tilt pitting Yaroslav Amosov against Michael Page. The evening’s main card will air on Showtime.

Machida will be entering the final bout on his Bellator contact, according to a report from MMAFighting.com. The 43-year-old former UFC light heavyweight champion is in the midst of the second-three fight skid of his professional tenure after falling to Gegard Mousasi, Phil Davis and Ryan Bader in successive a…

Breaking: former Cage Warriors flyweight champion Samir Faiddine will take on Hicham Rachid in the co-headliner of the upcoming UAE Warriors 25: Africa event. The card will go down on Friday, Feb. 25. Story coming to @sherdogdotcom #UAEWarriors

— Tudor Leonte (@MrTudorLeonte) February 15, 2022

It appears that the upcoming UAE Warriors 25: Africa event has just added an exciting battle as its co-headliner.

A source close to the situation informed Sherdog that Samir Faiddine is scheduled to face Hicham Rachid. The source asked to stay anonymous as the organization hasn’t officially announced the match-up yet.

Former Cage Warriors Fighting Championship 125-pound titleholder Faiddine (11-8, 0-0 UAE Warriors) is eager to bounce back after suffering back-to-back defeats in his latest appearances. After stopping Sam Creasey with punches in the third stanza of their CW 106 encounter and capturing the vacant 125-pound belt, “Silverback” dropped de…

A lightweight clash between Donald Cerrone and Joe Lauzon has a new date.

After initially being slated for UFC Fight Night on April 30, Cerrone vs. Lauzon will move one week later to UFC 274 on May 7. The change was first reported by MMAjunkie.com. No specific reason was given for the shift, but on a positive note, it will likely allow the two action-friendly veterans to square off in front of a live audience instead of at the sparsely-attended UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Currently mired in a six-bout winless streak, Cerrone will be competing at lightweight for the first time since September 2019, when he suffered a first-round technical knockout loss to Justin Gaethje. Most recently, “Cowboy” suffered a TKO defeat to Alex Morono in the opening round of their 170-pound clash at UFC on ESPN 24.

Lauzon, meanwhile, snapped a three-bout skid in his last outing, when he stopped Jonathan Pearce in the opening stanza at UFC on ESPN 6 in October 2019.

UFC 274 does no…

Heavyweight Lorenzo Hood has been suspended two years by the Nevada State Athletic Commission for a failed drug test in relation to his bout on Dana White’s Contender Series last October.

Hood tested positive for methenolone, a banned anabolic steroid. The NSAC voted unanimously to approve the sanction for Hood, who did not respond to the initial complaint regarding the positive test. He will not be eligible to return to active competition until Oct. 12, 2023.

Additionally, Hood must also pay a fine of $1,500 — which amounts to 30 percent of his $5,000 purse — along with $489 of legal fees.

The 32-year-old Chicago native fell to Martin Buday via first-round technical knockout at the Oct. 12 Contender Series event, halting a three-fight winning streak for the Strike MMA representative. Hood is 12-5 as a pro, with all of his wins coming via KO or TKO.

After losing his featherweight belt to A.J. McKee last July, it looks like Patricio Freire will get a chance to step into the cage again with “The Mercenary” later this year.

Last week, reports surfaced that Bellator was targeting a McKee-Freire rematch for April, and Freire told Sherdog.com this week that he has already begun his camp for the bout even though it has not been finalized.

“I sent an email to Bellator right after [the loss] asking for the immediate rematch and the only feedback that I had was, ‘We will try, but it may not happen.’ The information was leaked last week, but I cannot confirm yet, but I truly hope it happens,” Freire said.

Freire added that he has essentially been training since he began his mixed martial arts career.

“I never stop training,” he said. “I don’t see any other MMA fighter more motivated than myself. I’m 34 years old. I started back in 2004 and never stopped training. There are many fighters that started after me an…

Although several reports indicated otherwise, Cat Zingano will not be getting a featherweight title shot against Cristiane Justino in her next Bellator MMA appearance.

Instead, Zingano will lock horns with former Invicta FC title holder Pam Sorenson on the preliminary portion of the Bellator 276 card. Sherdog.com confirmed the pairing with a promotion official following an initial report from The Irish Sun.

Bellator 276 takes place on March 12 at the Family Arena in St. Charles, Mo., and is headlined by a featherweight clash between Adam Borics and Mads Burnell. The evening’s main card will air on Showtime.

The California-based promotion confirmed several other bouts for Bellator 276: John Salter vs. Johnny Eblen at middleweight; Derek Anderson vs. Goiti Yamauchi at welterweight; Cody Law vs. Johnny Soto at featherweight; Roman Faraldo vs. Kelvin Rayford at welterweight; Diana Avsaragova vs. Ashley Deen at flyweight and Romero Cotton vs. Lance Wright at middle…

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“The Black Beast” received a 60-day medical suspension after a standing e…

#InvictaFC46 Fight Card Finalized, Tickets On Sale Now

Full Card: https://t.co/pfPmHu4E8V

Tickets : https://t.co/2DMGwS3Wfx pic.twitter.com/VSI3UBgD10 — Invicta FC (@InvictaFights) February 15, 2022

The Invicta FC 46 card has been finalized with the addition of two new bouts.

The all-female promotion announced the full six-bout lineup for the March 9 card on Tuesday. The event will include the following two additions: Kristina Williams vs. Flore Hani at flyweight and Nadia Vera vs. Fatima Kline at strawweight.

Invicta FC 46 takes place at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kan., and is headlined by a flyweight championship clash between Karina Rodriguez and Ketlen Souza.

Broadcast details for the event will be announced soon, according to a release. Invicta’s last event aired on the promotion’s YouTube page.

Kayla Harrison’s free-agent options might have just gotten a lot more interesting.

The two-time Professional Fighters League lightweight champion told ESPN that she is pondering a transition to 135 pounds, a move that will include hiring a chef and consulting with a nutritionist. The two-time Olympic gold medalist has thus far competed primarily at 155 pounds and once at featherweight. If Harrison were able to make the cut safely, it would open the door for some interesting fights — especially in the UFC.

"I'm considering it," Harrison said of the move to bantamweight. "I heard that Julianna [Pena] said she'd move up to 145 if they paid her enough, so that's good news. That means I don't have to chop off an arm. ... I want to be the best. Everyone is talking about her.”

Recently, it appeared that the PFL was the leading candidate to re-sign Harrison, and one of the promotion’s press releases regarding the 155-pound Challenger Series mentioned the appeal of faci…

Two bouts have been added to the Eagle FC 46 lineup, as Ray Borg will face Ricky Bandejas at bantamweight, while heavyweight champ Rizvan Kuniev will defend his crown against Anthony Hamilton.

Eagle FC promoter Khabib Nurmagomedov informed ESPN of the matchups on Monday. Eagle FC 46 takes place in at the FLXcast Arena in Miami on March 11 and is headlined by a 165-pound clash between Kevin Lee and Diego Sanchez.

A former UFC flyweight title challenger, Borg defeated Cody Gibson in his promotional debut at Eagle FC 44 on Jan. 28. “The Tazmexican Devil” has won four of his last five professional appearances dating back to July 2019.

Bandejas is probably best known for handing James Gallagher his first career defeat at Bellator 204 in August 2018. The 30-year-old Catone MMA product has enjoyed only mixed results since then, posting a 4-5 mark while competing for Bellator and Combate Global.

Kuniev captured the Eagle FC belt with a third-round stoppage of Vla…