Martial Arts News

Those with a weak stomach should avoid Dana White’s Instagram account for the time being.

On Monday, the UFC president posted a pair of graphic photos of welterweight champion Kamaru Usman’s hand surgery. Usman suffered a broken hand prior to facing Colby Covington at UFC 268 this past November, but “The Nigerian Nightmare” was nonetheless able to defend his crown with a five-round unanimous decision at Madison Square Garden in New York.

“Pound-for-pound the best fighter in the world [Kamaru Usman] had hand ligament surgery today,” White wrote. “This is the before and after. See you soon champ.”

Usman's manager, Ali Abdelaziz told ESPN that the fighter is targeting a return at UFC 276 on July 2, which is part of the promotion's International Fight Week.

Usman is in the middle of a 19-fight professional winning streak that includes 15 triumphs in the UFC and five 170-pound title defenses. While nothing is official, Usman is expected to face Leon Edwards …

Chris Leben has been hospitalized for nearly a week due in San Diego to issues stemming from COVID-19.

The UFC veteran revealed in an Instagram post on Sunday that he had difficulty breathing after catching the virus. The post showed an image of Leben’s legs in a hospital gown while hooked up to a monitor.

“So I’ve been in the hospital since Tuesday,” Leben wrote. “I went in after a cough and shortness of breath I developed after Covid. I’m not one to bellyache to the world. But if you haven’t seen me at the gym or around that is why. And if you can shoot some positive vibes my way other than that I don’t really wanna say much until we know exactly what’s going on.”

Leben, who competed on Season 1 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” hasn’t competed in MMA since a loss to Uriah Hall at UFC 168 in December 2013. The 41-year-old known as “The Crippler” has competed multiple times in bare-knuckle boxing since then, most recently defeating Quentin Henry at a BKFC event in Feb…

Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC

Nick Maximov took a big step up in his sophomore Octagon appearance, occupying the co-main event slot opposite Punahele Soriano at UFC Fight Night 200 this past Saturday.

The Dana White’s Contender Series alum seemed to handle the pressure quite well, tying a UFC middleweight record with 11 takedowns landed en route to a unanimous decision triumph at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. It’s well documented that Maximov trains with Nate Diaz and Nick Diaz, two men that know a little something about big fights. At Saturday’s post-fight press conference, Maximov credited the Diaz brothers with helping get him mentally ready for the moment.

“It feels great. I wasn’t worried about winning or losing, I was just about enjoying it,” Maximov said. “And I had a great time. I was built for this moment. The guys taught me what to do and what not to do. It was fun.”

While Soriano opened a cut near the bridge of Maximov’s nose early, the Xtreme Cou…

A strawweight matchup pitting Jessica Penne against Luana Pinheiro has been rebooked for UFC Fight Night on April 30.

Multiple outlets confirmed the booking following an initial report from Canal do Marinho. Penne and Pinheiro were initially slated to square off on November 20 before Penne withdrew from the matchup due to injury.

UFC Fight Night takes place at an as yet to be announced location and is also expected to include a lightweight clash between Donald Cerrone and Joe Lauzon. The event does not yet have a headliner.

Penne returned from a four-year absence at UFC on ESPN 22, when she defeated Lupita Godinez via split decision last April. The former Invicta FC title holder followed up that performance with a first-round tapout of Karolina Kowalkiewicz at UFC 265. Penne had lost three straight Octagon appearances from 2015 to 2017.

Pinheiro enters the pairing on an eight-fight winning streak. The Brazilian earned a UFC deal with a win over Stephanie F…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsRNN2FNBQ4&w=560&h=315]

It would be hard to top Israel Adesanya’s coronation as middleweight champion, when he authored a second-round knockout of Robert Whittaker in the UFC 243 main event in October 2019.

Eugene Bareman, Adesanya’s coach at City Kickboxing, sees one way in which “The Last Stylebender” can surpass that performance when he faces Whittaker in a rematch at UFC 271 on Saturday in Houston.

“People aren’t going to agree with me, but the ultimate thing you can do in fight sports, I think, is not a knockout. It’s a whitewash,” Bareman recently told Submission Radio. “And so what I would like to happen is just a five-round whitewash where there is no stoppage this time. But like, every round, there’s just accumulative, accumulative, accumulative damage and it just leaves no doubt. It just leaves no doubt. There’s 25 minutes of mastery.”

Adesanya has proven to be a worthy champion since that victory, defending the…

Sam Alvey is going to soldier onward with his mixed martial arts career, even if his time in the UFC has probably come to an end.

Alvey’s winless streak extended to eight on Saturday night, when he suffered a second-round submission defeat to short-notice opponent Brendan Allen in a featured light heavyweight affair at UFC Fight Night 200. “Smile’n” Sam hasn’t tasted victory since taking a split verdict over Gian Villante at UFC Fight Night 131 in June 2018, going 0-7-1 in the Las Vegas-based promotion after that triumph.

In a brief video released on his Instagram account, Alvey admitted that something has been amiss in recent fights, but he isn’t ready to call it a career just yet.

“I’m fresh off of my UFC fight and, as I’m sure a lot of you saw, I didn’t get it done,” Alvey said. “I’ve lost a step. Something needs to change and I’m gonna make the corrections. I’m not done fighting. I love this sport, and God has blessed me. I raise God’s name on high and I wo…

For all intents and purposes, it appeared that Sean Strickland would cruise to a unanimous verdict when the fifth-round horn signaled the end of his UFC Fight Night 200 headlining matchup with Jack Hermansson.

It was quite the surprise, then, when it was announced that cageside judge Sal D’Amato submitted a 48-47 scorecard in favor of Hermansson. While Strickland still emerged victorious thanks to a pair of 49-46 tallies from judges Derek Cleary and Junichiro Kamijo, it was nonetheless a close call that should have been avoided.

While D’Amato had a dissenting view of the fight, all 21 of the unofficial media scorecards tracked by MMADecisions.com saw the bout in favor of Strickland. Eric Nicksick, who is Strickland’s head trainer at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, took to Twitter to criticize D’Amato’s scorecard, complete with the hashtag #firesal.

“Not even one media member scored it for Jack,” Nicksick wrote. “I know we won, but if this guy is still judging, he…

As many fighters do following a disappointing defeat, Jack Hermansson took to social media to share his thoughts in the aftermath of a loss to Sean Strickland in the UFC Fight Night 200 headliner.

However, “The Joker” took a different approach to his post-fight statement, expressing his thoughts in poetic form on his Instagram account:

I’m sorry fans, about tonightI had a bad performance, and I lost the fightIt wasn’t pretty, or technically soundI couldn’t get the bastard to the groundSorry Sean this one went to a decisionBest of luck to murder your next competition.

Hermansson failed on all eight of his takedown attempts and found himself on the end of Strickland’s jab for the majority of their five-round affair at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday night. Though the final verdict was a split-decision defeat, it wasn’t as close as the scorecards indicated. Hermansson has lost three of his last five UFC appearances — all of which have come in main event bouts.

Don’t let the split-decision outcome fool you: Sean Strickland was clearly in control during his victory over Jack Hermansson in the UFC Fight Night 200 main event.

However, Strickland’s five-round verdict was not the type of performance that launches a fighter into the next level of stardom. Strickland, who has garnered more than his fair share of attention for his off-color comments outside of the cage, admitted at Saturday’s press conference that the notion of headlining a UFC card with potential title ramifications got into his head a little bit.

“You know what it is, man? I let the pressure get the better of me,” Strickland said. “I knew I was better than him. You guys knew I was better than him. He was a guy that I should have, maybe not finished, but he should’ve been more bloody and messed up after the fight. But he wasn’t. That was because I took my foot off the gas. I just coasted through that fight. I don’t really even think I was trying that hard. I kind …

You already knew who was getting that FOTN honor tonight #UFCVegas47

[ B2YB @ToyoTires ] pic.twitter.com/a9e5pUfqJW

— UFC (@ufc) February 6, 2022 The Ultimate Fighting Championship stayed home for UFC Fight Night 200, where three competitors pocketed some serious bonus money on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Julian Erosa doubled dipped, as “Juicy J” was awarded $100,000 for his “Fight of the Night” with Steven Peterson. The two tore into each other for three rounds, with Erosa walking away as a split decision winner. Peterson was ineligible for his share of the bonus money—it went to his counterpart instead—due to his failure to make weight for the match.

Meanwhile, Shavkat Rakhmonov nabbed a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus for his vicious knockout of Carlston Harris in their showcase affair at 170 pounds. Rakhmonov knocked the Renovacao Fight Team member to the canvas with a spinning hook kick, then finished him…

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the UFC, PFL, Dana White’s Contender Series and “The Ultimate Fighter” live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. It equated to little more than a walk in the park for Sean Strickland. A soul-stealing jab, airtight takedown defense and sublime footwork spurred the ascending Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight contender to a split decision over Jack Hermansson in the UFC Fight Night 200 headliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Two judges saw it 49-46 for Strickland, while Sal D’Amato struck a head-scratching 48-47 scorecard for Hermansson (22-7, 9-5 UFC).

The 30-year-old Strickland (25-3, 12-3 UFC) ate a number of leg kicks from the former Cage Warriors Fighting Championship titleholder but otherwise dominated the vast majority of their exchanges. He slipped out of range with surprising ease, cut off Hermansson’s bids for takedowns and piled up points with one…

Sherdog's live UFC Fight Night 200 coverage will begin Saturday at 4 p.m. ET.

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

Round 1 A whole 13 fights are on the docket for the UFC’s 200th numbered Fight Night card, but the divisional relevance is fairly low despite 26 competitors on the lineup as only the main event includes ranked fighters. Nevertheless, we persist with this all-ESPN+ show that begins in the flyweight division as Canada’s Gordon (13-5, 1-2 UFC) welcomes “Psycho” Bondar (14-2, 0-0 UFC) to the organization. No matter what the UFC and other recordkeepers list, the Ukrainian’s record is not in fact 16-3. Referee Mark Smith clocks them in before the fighters touch gloves, and it’s on with the show! Bondar comes out marching forward, and has a leg kick checked. Gordon is right there to throw back at him, and he absorbs a short, chopping leg kick. Two big punches from Gordon rock Bondar, leading the Ukrainian to s…