Martial Arts News

In recent months, Derrick Lewis has endured two of the most disappointing losses of his mixed martial arts career in his hometown.

This past August at UFC 265, “The Black Beast” suffered a third-round technical knockout loss to Ciryl Gane in an interim heavyweight title bout at the Toyota Center in Houston. And on Saturday, with a chance for redemption in the same venue, Lewis was knocked out by a devastating Tai Tuivasa elbow in the second-round of their co-headlining encounter at UFC 271.

Despite those setbacks, UFC president Dana White had plenty of praise for Lewis at Saturday’s post-fight press conference.

“He doesn’t always come up short. I mean, up until tonight he was the No. 3-ranked guy in the world, which is a big deal. He’s got the most knockouts in heavyweight history,” White said. “He went in against a guy tonight who’s on a five-fight knockout streak. He fought a 29-year-old guy tonight. Derrick Lewis is a bad boy, man. He’s been a lot of fun to h…

Bellator 274 is down one fight following the cancellation of a light heavyweight pairing between Christian Edwards and Kevin Haley.

MMAjunkie.com initially reported that the bout was off due to Edwards testing positive for COVID-19, and the bout was no longer present on an official lineup released by the promotion Monday. As a result, the card will move forward with 13 bouts.

Bellator 274 takes place at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., on Saturday and is headlined by a welterweight clash between Neiman Gracie and Logan Storley. The main card is televised on Showtime at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. ET, while prelims air on the Bellator MMA YouTube channel, the Showtime Sports YouTube channel and Pluto TV at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT.

Edwards suffered the first loss of his professional career at Bellator 266, when he was knocked out by Ben Parrish 38 seconds into the opening round of their encounter last September. The 23-year-old Jackson-Wink MMA product was victorious in…

Heavyweight champion Philip De Fries will defend his crown against Darko Stosic in the main event of KSW 67 on Feb. 26.

The Polish promotion announced the pairing on Monday. KSW 67 takes place in Warsaw, Poland, and will also see Andrzej Grzebyk face Adrian Bartosinski in the welterweight co-main event.Additionally, a light heavyweight clash pitting Ivan Erslan against Hasan Mezhiev was also confirmed for the card.

De Fries in in the middle of an eight-fight winning streak that dates back to October 2017 and include triumphs in KSW, Bellator and M-1 Global. Most recently, the five-time UFC veteran defeated Tomasz Narkun via second-round TKO in a rematch at KSW 60 last April.

Stosic, meanwhile, has won three consecutive bouts since signing with KSW following a 1-3 stint in the UFC. After scoring finishes of Michal Wlodarek and Michael Kita in his first two promotional appearances, Stosic defeated Michal Andryszak via split decision in his most recent outing at KS…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x88cJAx7zV0&w=560&h=315]

Even in defeat, Roxanne Modafferi ended her mixed martial arts career on a positive note.

“The Happy Warrior” called it a career following a split-decision loss to Casey O'Neill at UFC 271 at the Toyota Center in Houston this past Saturday night. Modafferi exits the sport at 39 years old, with a 25-20 record compiled since the beginning of her professional tenure in 2003.

“I’m very honored and very deeply touched by the reception that the fans gave me,” Modafferi told assembled media after the fight. “And I really tried to remember that moment and know that everyone’s proud of me and is cheering for me and that was really cool, so thank you everybody.”

Though it might sound cliche, Modafferi truly did her best to leave it all in the cage against O’Neill. Though she was outlanded by a 229-to-120 count in significant strikes, Modafferi was pleased with her performance overall.

“I threw a lot of…

The championship clash between Bibiano Fernandes and John Lineker has a new date.

Fernandes will defend his 145-pound belt against John Linker at One Championship “Lights Out” on March 11. MMAFighting.com was first to report the new booking. The event takes place at Singapore Indoor Statdium in Kallang, Singapore.

Fernandes and Lineker were supposed to square off at One Championship “Bad Blood” on Feb. 11, but the bout was canceled when Linker tested positive for COVID-19. The two fighters were originally slated to meet at a Once Championship on Dec. 5, but the title fight was postponed once the card was canceled due to restrictions related to pandemic concerns.

The 41-year-old Fernandes was set to make his first appearance since 2019, when he submitted Kevin Belingon in the second round at One Championship “Century Part 2.” “The Flash” has won 16 of his last 17 professional outings dating back to 2011, with his lone defeat coming against Belingon in a title b…

Tai Tuivasa went toe-to-toe with Derrick Lewis and got the better of the UFC’s all-time knockout king.

“Bam Bam” ended a slugfest with Derrick Lewis in emphatic fashion, landing a standing elbow that caused “The Black Beast” to fall face first to the canvas 1:40 into Round 2 of the heavyweight co-main event at UFC 271. In the end, it was the type of effort that could even win over Lewis’ hometown fans in Houston.

“I thought I did well,” Tuivasa said at the post-fight press conference. “Come to Houston, I got a few boos at the start, but turned them into cheers.”

Tuivasa is currently in the midst of five consecutive knockout victories, making him one of just 24 fighters in UFC history to author a streak of that length. He still has a ways to go before he surpasses Lewis’ knockout mark, but the Aussie can envision a day when that record is his.

“He’s had his time and I think this is the passing of the torch,” Tuivasa said. “If I keep up doing what I’m doing,…

Israel Adesanya had to work a little bit harder to dispatch Robert Whittaker in the UFC 271 main event than he did in their first meeting. At the end of the night, “The Last Stylebender” was relatively satisfied with his unanimous decision victory.

“7 out of 10. Not bad,” he said in giving his performance a grade at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “Good night in the office, good chess match.”

Adesanya became middleweight champion for the first time at UFC 243, when he knocked out Whittaker in the second round. In the rematch, the City Kickboxing star prevailed in a more technical affair, but Whittaker was able to take some rounds on the judges scorecards, so it wasn’t the dominant win Adesanya and his team had been hoping for leading up to the fight.

“It’s easier said than done,” Adesanya said. “I don’t know people, I feel like they have goldfish memories, but when they’re in there with me, they realize ‘Oh s—t’ it’s not as easy as we thought.’ They just…

While Robert Whittaker disagreed with the scorecards in the UFC 271 main event, he nonetheless vanquished some demons even in losing his rematch with Israel Adesanya.

After relinquishing the middleweight crown to Adesanya in a second-round knockout loss in October 2019. Whittaker offered a much better performance the second time around, attacking behind his left jab and lead left hook while keeping his opponent off balance through takedowns and clinch work. Ultimately it wasn’t enough to offset Adesanya’s versatile striking arsenal, which notably included a knockdown in Round 1 and a steady diet of chopping kicks to the legs.

“I thought I did enough, I thought I did enough. Breaking it down, I think I lost the first round. I put myself together and I beat him to every punch. I got takedowns. I thought I did enough,” Whittaker said at the UFC 273 post-fight press conference.

“But it is what it is. That’s how work goes in the office. I’m going to go back evolve so…

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 271 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. The Ultimate Fighting Championship returned to Houston on Saturday with a pay-per-view card anchored by the UFC middleweight championship fight between Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker. However, as intriguing as the main event was, it paled in comparison to their initial meeting and four other fighters on the UFC 271 card racked up post-fight bonuses. The usual Fight of the Night and two Performance of the Night bonuses were handed out and they were well deserved.

Douglas Silva de Andrade and Sergey Morozov captured $50K each for their excellent skirmish that led to their winning the FOTN. De Andrade was rattled badly early on in their bantamweight tussle when he swallowed an uppercut, knee and elbows early. Morozov had the Brazilian battered and bloodied, but de Andrade rallied in the second frame and dropped his foe with s…

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 271 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. Israel Adesanya took a far different route to win his return date with Robert Whittaker. The City Kickboxing stalwart outdueled his rival over five-closely contested rounds to retain his middleweight crown in the UFC 271 headliner at the Toyota Center in Houston on Saturday night. All three cageside judges struck tallies for Adesanya: 48-47, 48-47, and 49-46. It was a far cry from their first meeting, when Adesanya claimed the 185-pound title with a second-round KO of Whittaker at UFC 243 in October 2019.

“I knew he was gonna bring everything because last time I took everything away from him,” Adesanya said. “And he had nothing to lose. Like I said, I’m the champ. If you want it, come get it.”

Adesanya (22-1, 11-1 UFC) was at his best in the opening round, when he repeatedly chopped away at Whittaker’s leg with low kicks a…

43 and still going strong 💪

[ @AndreiArlovski | #UFC271 ] pic.twitter.com/rZEWfZoqsG

— UFC (@ufc) February 13, 2022 Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 271 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. There seems to be no expiration date on Andrei Arlovski’s mixed martial arts career.

The former heavyweight king won for the fifth time in six outings at UFC 271, taking a split decision over Dana White’s Contender Series vet Jared Vanderaa in a preliminary bout at the Toyota Center in Houston on Saturday night. Judges Jeff Rexroad and Douglas Crosby scored the fight 29-28 for the Belarusian, while Robert Alexander had it 29-28 in favor of Vanderaa (12-7, 1-3 UFC).

The 43-year-old Arlovski (33-20, 22-14 , 1 NC UFC) relied on the formula that has brought him consistent success at this stage of his professional tenure. He utilized superior hand speed and movement to keep the…

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 271 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. Sherdog's live UFC 271 “Adesanya vs. Whittaker 2” coverage will begin Saturday at 6 p.m. ET. Check out the MMA Forums to discuss the card or enter your comments and predictions below. Round 1 For the second time this year, the UFC is asking American fans to shell out $75 in order to purchase the pay-per-view, and fans will get five fights plus nine prelims to hopefully whet their voracious appetites. We begin the UFC 271 festivities in Houston with an unexpected heavyweight contest, as late replacement Knight (11-2, 3-1 UFC) tried and failed to cut 36 pounds in two weeks before facing ex-heavyweight Grishin (31-9-2, 1-2 UFC). Missing the mark by 12 pounds and receiving a startling 40% fine for his efforts, Knight will try to revert to his knockout-centric ways and will have some extra weight in his favor. Drawing the first assignme…