Martial Arts News

Former UFC and Bellator fighter Maiquel Falcao died after being stabbed 17 times early Sunday morning in his hometown of Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil.

Falcao was found by the Military Brigade lying on the sidewalk, surrounded by broken bottles, in front of a beverage distributor located on Major Francisco Nunes de Souza Street. Falcao was still alive when he was transported by ambulance to the Pelotas emergency room, where he was intubated and ultimately died as a result of his injuries. Local police are investigating the crime.

Falcao was 40 years old. He compiled a 40-20 mark in his MA career, with his most recent appearance coming in a first-round technical knockout loss to Nemanja Uveric at Serbian Battle Championship 36 on Oct. 16, 2021.

The Brazilian known as “Big Rig” had a well-traveled professional tenure. His lone Octagon appearance came in 2010, when he outpointed Gerald Harris at UFC 123. However, he was released by the promotion due to i…

.@UFC International Fight Week returns to Las Vegas from June 27 – July 3

— UFC News (@UFCNews) January 23, 2022

UFC 276 will be the featured attraction of the promotion’s 10th annual International Fight Week this summer.

The promotion announced the news during the UFC 270 broadcast on Saturday night. UFC 276 will take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on July 2, while International Fight Week as a whole will run from June 27 to July 3.

“We’re excited to announce the return of UFC International Fight Week to Las Vegas this summer and we can’t wait to provide our fans with greater access, a wide variety of activations and more memorable experiences than ever before,” UFC chief operating Ooficer Ike Lawrence Epstein said in a release. “IFW is our annual event celebrating all things UFC and combat sports, and we couldn’t do it without our partners from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA).”

The week will includ…

Francis Ngannou was the top earner from Saturday’s UFC 270 card, according to salary figures released by the California State Athletic Commission.

Ngannou garnered a $600,000 payday for his five-round verdict against Ciryl Gane ($500,000) in the evening’s main event at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. With the victory, Ngannou successfully defended the heavyweight belt for the first time.

Meanwhile, Deiveson Figueiredo took home $150,000 for his decision win against Brandon Moreno in their flyweight championship trilogy in the evening’s co-main event. Moreno earned $200,000 in defeat.

Michel Pereira was the card’s only other six-figure earner, as he took home a $100,000 disclosed payday for a three-round verdict over Andre Fialho ($12,000) a featured welterweight contest.

Note: The disclosed purses reported by state athletic commissions do not include any performance-based or discretionary bonuses that may be awarded to a fighter by the promotion. Addit…

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 270 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. The first pay-per-view event for the Ultimate Fighting Championship of 2022 is in the books and it was loaded with stellar performances. While the UFC 270 main event between heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou and Ciryl Gane might not have been the barn-burner many had hoped for, the co-feature between defending flyweight champion Brandon Moreno and Deiveson Figuieredo was a virtually-perfect third jewel to their amazing trilogy of wars.

Figuieredo was rocked a few times over the course of five grueling rounds with Moreno, but the Brazilian never wavered in his quest regain the title he lost to “The Assassin Baby” last June at UFC 263. Moreno was on point early and often, but Figuieredo kept coming until he dropped the fan favorite with a hard right to the jaw late in the third. The two closed out the championship rounds going t…

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 270 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. While the outcome was not necessarily a surprise, the same cannot be said of the path Francis Ngannou took to get there. “The Predator” leaned on takedowns, topside control and unwavering determination, as he unified the Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight title with a unanimous decision over Ciryl Gane in the UFC 270 headliner on Saturday at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. Scores were 48-47, 48-47 and 49-46—all for Ngannou (17-3, 12-2 UFC), who put his sixth consecutive victory to bed by showing a resourceful side few knew he possessed.

Gane (10-1, 7-1 UFC) appeared to be on cruise control through the first 10 minutes. Then, quite suddenly, Ngannou changed gears. He caught a body kick from his former MMA Factory stablemate and turned it into a high-amplitude takedown in the third round. He settled in side control…

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 270 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. Sherdog's live UFC 270 “Ngannou vs. Gane” coverage will begin Saturday at 7 p.m. ET. Check out the MMA Forums to discuss the card or enter your comments and predictions below. Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Ben Duffy scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Ben Duffy scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Ben Duffy scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:The Official Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Ben Duffy scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Ben Duffy scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Ben Duffy scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the roun…

Warriors until the very end! 👏 How'd you score it? #UFC270 pic.twitter.com/rQbNrk0IgN

— UFC (@ufc) January 23, 2022 Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 270 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. Victor Henry made quite the entrance. The longtime Josh Barnett protégé looked like a man at ease in his first Ultimate Fighting Championship assignment, as he took a unanimous decision from former Resurrection Fighting Alliance champion Raoni Barcelos in the featured UFC 270 bantamweight prelim on Saturday at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. All three judges struck 30-27 scorecards for Henry (22-5, 1-0 UFC).

Barcelos (16-3, 5-2 UFC) stood toe-to-toe with the onetime Deep champion for 15 minutes, and though he experienced occasional glimmers of hope, they were too few and far between. Henry leaned on overwhelming output, focusing on the body, the head and occasionally the leg…

Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC

A women’s flyweight clash between Maycee Barber and Montana De La Rosa is on tap for an Ultimate Fighting Championship event on April 23.

MMAjunkie.com was first to report the booking. The event is expected to take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, but a headliner has not been confirmed for the event.

Barber last appeared at UFC on ESPN 27, where she halted a two-bout skid with a split-decision triumph against Miranda Maverick last July. The former Dana White’s Contender Series alum began her promotional tenure with three straight wins before falling to Roxanne Modafferi and Alexa Grasso in successive outings.

De La Rosa, meanwhile is coming off a second-round TKO triumph over Ariane Lipski at UFC Fight Night 189 this past June. “The Ultimate Fighter 26” cast member is is 5-2-1 within the Las Vegas-based promotion and 12-6 as a professional overall.

Glover Teixeira’s first light heavyweight title defense will come against Jiri Prochazka at UFC 274.

The championship bout was first reported by ESPN. UFC 274 takes place at an as yet to be announced location on May 7 and airs on pay-per-view via ESPN+. It is currently unclear if Teixeira vs. Prochazka will serve as the event’s headliner.

The 42-year-old Teixiera is currently in the midst of a late-career resurgence that has seen him compile a six-fight winning streak dating back to Jan. 2019. That stretch culminated in a second-round submission of Jan Blachowicz to claim light heavyweight gold in the UFC 267 headliner on Oct. 30. The Brazilian initially challenged for the belt in his sixth Octagon appearance, falling to Jon Jones via unanimous decision at UFC 172 in April 2014.

Prochazka is a former Rizin Fighting Federation champion who enters the matchup with Teixeira on a 12-bout professional winning streak. The 29-year-old Czech Republic native has kicked …

One of the greatest championship fights ever on UFC FIGHT PASS! #LFA122

(C) Charles Johnson via KO in Round 5

[ @LFAFighting | 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆 𝗔𝘃𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 | 📲 on #UFCFIGHTPASS ] pic.twitter.com/SqdE9PVYrj — UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) January 22, 2022

Charles Johnson may have fought inside the Legacy Fighting Alliance cage for the last time as he defended his flyweight title for the third time and in spectacular fashion.

Johnson improved to 11-2 as he eventually wore down challenger Carlos Mota in what is easily an early candidate for Fight of the Year. Mota (6-1) took the fight to the champ, applying insane pressure and throwing punches and kicks virtually nonstop round after round. Johnson obliged, standing both in the pocket and on the outside with pinpoint kicks, jabs and hooks. But while the two tore into each other with a torrid pace from the start, neither man landed anything hard or clean until Johnson did so in the fifth.

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[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2mDuCbBLsg&w=560&h=315] Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the UFC live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. Former Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight champ Rafael dos Anjos may have a fight coming up in February, but that isn’t keeping him from paying attention to current events. Dos Anjos (30-13) will be taking on Rafael Fiziev (11-1) in an all-Rafael headliner on UFC Fight Night 201 on Feb. 19. The two will square off inside the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, and he had plenty of thoughts on that upcoming matchup. Before his fight card, however, will be UFC 270, which takes place on Saturday with a pair of championship bouts at heavyweight and flyweight. When asked by Sherdog to choose his favorites for those title fights, dos Anjos had no doubt pointing to two new undisputed champions.

“[Deiveson] Figueiredo is focused now like he was in the first fight,” dos Anjos no…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au6EhLFnoio&w=560&h=315] Rizin Fighting Federation enjoyed its caged event so much that it decided to stage another.

On Nov. 28, 2021, Rizin put on its first of a new series of fight cards called the “Trigger” series, in which fights would be contested inside of a cage instead of a ring. The rules were otherwise the same, permitting soccer kicks and stomps, just changing the enclosure to a more western setting. Rizin “Trigger 1st” went down with 10 MMA matches, and multiple bouts ended via spectacular soccer kicks, but one fighter was disqualified for grabbing the fence. The end result at the World Memorial Hall in Kobe, Japan, appeared to be a success, so much so that Rizin will be putting on its second Trigger show on Feb. 23.

The organization sent out a press release on Friday to officially announced that Rizin “Trigger 2nd” will be going down inside the Ecopa Arena in Fukuroi, Shizuoka, Japan, towards the end of February. Rizi…