Martial Arts News

Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Marcin Tybura will lock horns in a heavyweight matchup at the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s Feb. 26 card.

The booking was first reported by MMA journalist Marcel Dorff. UFC Fight Night takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a lightweight showdown between Beneil Dariush and Islam Makhachev.

Rozenstruik is coming off a rocky 2021 in which he lost two of his three Octagon appearances, dropping unanimous verdicts to current interim king Ciryl Gane and top contender Curtis Blaydes. In between, he scored a first-round TKO of Augusto Sakai in the UFC Fight Night 189 headliner. “Bigi Boy” is 6-3 in UFC competition overall, with other notable knockouts of Junior dos Santos, Alistair Overeem and Andrei Arlovski to his credit.

Tybura, meanwhile, saw a five-bout winning streak come to an end at UFC 267, where he dropped a three-round verdict to Alexander Volkov this past October. Tybura’s resurgence came on the heels of a s…

Former UFC competitor Justine Kish has signed with Bellator MMA.

Kish will compete in the women’s flyweight division, with a debut date yet to be determined. The deal was initially reported by journalist Shakiel Mahjouri.

The 33-year-old North Carolina native initially competed in the UFC’s strawweight division, where she went 2-1, earning a notable win over Nina Nunes. She went 1-3 after transitioning to flyweight, with her lone victory coming against Lucie Pudilova at UFC Fight Night 166.

Kish parted ways with the promotion following a split-decision setback to Tracy Cortez at UFC on ESPN 22 this past April. She is 7-4 over the course of a professional tenure that began in 2010.

Retired from mixed martial arts since a submission loss to Andre Muniz at UFC 262 last May, Ronaldo Souza is planning a return to combat sports – this time under boxing rules.

"I couldn't stay away from my training routine,” Souza told Sherdog.com. “I began to train boxing and I received a proposal to fight that I liked.”

Since he hasn’t signed the contract yet, “Jacare” was unable to reveal the event and potential opponent for his boxing debut, but he confirmed that the deal is close to being finalized.

"I cannot say the name of the event yet. What I can say is that my boxing is being sharpened already,” he said. “Even though I came from jiu-jitsu, I´ve always loved boxing, and if you see my MMA fights, I’ve always had strong hands.”

Considered one of the most respected jiu-jitsu champions of all-time, Souza was a two-time absolute jiu-jitsu champion (2004 and 2005) and one-time ADCC middleweight champion (2005) . In MMA, he compiled a 26-10 career mark,…

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UFC president Dana White and UFC commentator Joe Rogan were recently named to the Variety 500 as two of the “most influential business leaders shaping the global media industry.”

Both White and Rogan were mentioned in the Live Entertainment section of the list, joining the likes of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, NBA commissioner Adam Silver, WWE president Nick Khan, to name a few. The selection process for the overall list can be viewed here.

White’s entry focuses on his stance on vaccinations and the promotion’s approach to holding events during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“White declared the Ultimate Fighting Championship would never require its fighters to be vaccinated, continuing his controversially contrary approach to coronavirus safety,” the entry reads. “Under the UFC’s contract with ESPN, the league was required to stage 42 fights in 2020, and White did his best to deliver,…

After a September bout fell through, Jim Miller and Nikolas Motta have been rebooked for the UFC’s Fight Night card slated for Feb. 19.

Iridium Sports Agency, which manages Motta, initially announced the pairing. UFC Fight Night takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a lightweight clash pitting Rafael dos Anjos against Rafael Fiziev. The initial meeting between Miller and Motta was scrapped at UFC Fight Night 192 when Miller had to withdraw due to a positive COVID test.

A 37-time Octagon veteran, Miller snapped a two-bout skid in his most recent Octagon appearance, when he knocked out Erick Gonzalez in the second round at UFC Fight Night 195 this past October. The New Jersey native has lost three of his last five promotional outings dating back to 2020.

Motta is a former Cage Fury Fighting Championships title holder who signed with the UFC after a decision win over Joseph Lowry in November 2020. The 28-year-old Brazilian has had his debut …

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. The battle for the best Rafael in the Ultimate Fighting Championship is on the books for a five-rounder in February. Twitter user Full Violence posted about Rafael dos Anjos (30-13) vs. Rafael Fiziev (11-1) coming together on Thursday night. The UFC’s broadcast partner of ESPN subsequently confirmed on Friday that this 155-pound encounter would headline the UFC Fight Night event on Feb. 19. The two top-ranked lightweights that had been chirping at one another on social media will come to blows at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Dos Anjos came back to the lightweight division in 2020 after eight bouts at 170 pounds including an interim title fight. His return to the division in which he was champ saw him defeat Paul Felder by a head-scratching split decision in which he likely won all five rounds in the eyes of most observers. The Bra…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVV5c0Jew0Y&w=560&h=315] A talented young Bellator MMA prospect has his next test in front of him this month.

On Friday, Bellator sources confirmed to Sherdog that Lucas Brennan (5-0) would be returning to the Bellator cage on Jan. 29. At Bellator 273, the 21-year-old son of longtime vet Chris Brennan will be facing Ben Lugo (5-4) in the featherweight division. As a pro, every one of Brennan’s fights have come inside the Bellator cage, while Lugo will be making his promotional debut on this fight card.

The man known as “Skywalker” has not missed a step since turning pro in 2019, rattling off four finishes in five victories all for the Bellator promotion. Most recently, Brennan submitted Matt Skibicki with an anaconda choke in June 2021 to continue his win streak. Of note, Brennan’s forearm choke on Jacob Landin at Bellator 233 in 2019 was the first of its kind in organizational history. While the 21-year-old recently told Sherdog…

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. The MMA gods giveth, and the MMA gods taketh away. On Wednesday, Ultimate Fighting Championship head Dana White announced that Alexander Volkanovski (23-1) would be facing Max Holloway (23-6) for the third time atop UFC 272. The two were set to throw down on March 5 inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, but that fight was not meant to be. Per ESPN on Friday, Holloway has aggravated a past injury and can no longer compete on the March 5 card. There is no current word on whether Volkanovski will receive a replacement foe in two months, or if the headliner will shift to Aljamain Sterling vs. Petr Yan 2.

Since a knockout loss in 2013 to Corey Nelson, Volkanovski has looked nigh-unbeatable in the sport. The Aussie has won an incredible 20 fights in a row, including 10 inside the Octagon. On his way up the division, Volkanovski top…

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. It wouldn’t be an Ultimate Fighting Championship card in Houston these days without the inclusion of the great Derrick Lewis. Lewis (26-8, 1 NC) will be back in action less than two months after his last victory when he takes on fellow heavy-handed brawler Tai Tuivasa (13-3) at UFC 271. The news first came from MMA Junkie on Friday, reporting that the two big men will throw down on Feb. 12 inside the Toyota Center in Houston. Other outlets confirmed this booking shortly after its announcement.

“The Black Beast” came back after an unsuccessful effort to vie for the interim strap against Ciryl Gane by shellacking Chris Daukaus in the first round in December. That knockout for the Houstonian put him on top of the list for the most knockouts in UFC history, breaking a tie held by Vitor Belfort and Matt Brown. Over the years, Lewis …

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. The Ultimate Fighting Championship is building up its Houston return to include an impressive offering of matchups, with the latest fun one at 155 pounds. MMA reporter Walter Salcido released news on Thursday of the UFC 271 matchup between Bobby Green (28-12-1) and Nasrat Haqparast (13-4). The lightweights will go to battle inside the Toyota Center in Houston on Feb. 12, and their placement on the billing whether on the main card or preliminaries has yet to be determined. Green has since posted about his excitement to return to Houston, and confirmed the pairing itself on his Instagram Stories.

In his last time out in November, Green punched out Al Iaquinta in 2:25 to earn his first stoppage win since 2013. The victory put an end to a two-fight skid that saw him fall short to Rafael Fiziev and Thiago Moises by close decision in …

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. The new year is starting off troubling for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, which lost a pair of promising Brazilian fighters from the first pay-per-view of 2022. On Thursday morning, MMA Junkie announced that Warlley Alves (14-5) had been forced out of his welterweight clash with the debuting Jack Della Maddalena (10-2) for currently undisclosed reasons. Several hours later, ESPN Deportes broke the story that ranked flyweight Viviane Araujo (10-3) will no longer be facing Alexa Grasso (13-3) due to an injury. The organization is seeking replacements for both Alves and Araujo at UFC 270, which will take place on Jan. 22 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.

Winner of the third season of “The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil,” Alves has struggled as of late to gain any momentum in any direction. The Brazilian has alternated wins and …

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klv2upGSWC8&w=560&h=315] Triller Fight Club is moving full steam ahead to put on another spectacle between boxers and MMA fighters.

In December, the organization announced that Triad Combat 2 would be staged in February. Per a press release on Thursday, this show will be held inside the Toyota Center in Houston on Feb. 26. Headlining the mixed-rules event, as previously reported, is a heavyweight clash between Junior dos Santos and Kubrat Pulev.

The ruleset for this fight card, established at Triad Combat 1 in November, mixes boxing and MMA while not allowing elbows, knees or kicks. These shows will pit boxers against MMA fighters, with the boxing team captained by Shannon Briggs and the MMA fighters coached by Quinton Jackson. As a result of the rules in place, these matches are not considered professional boxing or MMA bouts. The round lengths will vary from fight to fight, and the dos Santos-Pulev tilt will take place across…