Martial Arts News

A positive COVID-19 test for Victor Henry has resulted in the cancellation of his proposed bantamweight clash against Raoni Barcelos just hours before UFC Fight Night 199 was set to begin.

MMAjunkie.com first reported the news of the scrapped matchup. It’s currently unclear if Barcelos vs. Henry will be rebooked at a future event. Henry was a replacement opponent for Trevin Jones. UFC Fight Night 199 will proceed with 13 bouts, topped by a heavyweight duel between Derrick Lewis and Chris Daukaus.

Henry has won nine of his last 10 professional bouts. The 34-year-old Los Angeles native last appeared at LXF 6 on Oct. 30, when he submitted six-time UFC vet Albert Morales in the second round. Henry has competed for organizations such as Rizin, Deep, Pancrase and Russian Cagefighting Championship while compiling a 21-5 professional mark.

Barcelos, meanwhile, had a nine-bout winning streak snapped in his last outing, a majority decision loss to Timur Valiev at UFC Fi…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEM5jAw33AU&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. Rising Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight Bruno Silva believes that Brazilians will soon take over the 185-pound division. After three impressive wins in the UFC in seven months, with two consecutive bonus prizes, former M-1 champion “Blindado” Silva is finally thinking about taking a little time off. The Brazilian recently returned to his hometown of Cajazeiras, Brazil, which took several days to arrive there from Las Vegas. Silva spoke to Sherdog about his most recent performance, a knockout win over Jordan Wright, his style and his thoughts on the rest of his division.

“Less than 12 hours after my win over Andrew Sanchez, my manager got a call from the UFC to face Jordan Wright,” Silva explained about his hectic schedule. “On Monday, I was already traini…

The victor of the very first Ultimate Fighting Championship strawweight fight is hanging up her gloves.

The automated UFC roster tracker on Twitter named UFC Roster Watch noted on Friday that Claudia Gadelha had been removed from the UFC roster. Those announcements do not necessarily mean that the fighter has been let go, but rather that they are ineligible for rankings or are otherwise pulled due to inactivity. In this case, as later announced by MMA Fighting, Gadelha had indeed informed the UFC that she would be retiring from competition. She has since confirmed this news on her Instagram stories, thanking people for their support.

The 33-year-old from Mossoro, Brazil, last competed in November 2020, when she took on Xiaonan Yan and lost a unanimous verdict. The setback ended a two-fight win streak where she beat Randa Markos and Angela Hill at the hands of the judges. Throughout her UFC tenure, she has defeated the likes of Carla Esparza, Karolina Kowalkiewicz and Cor…

According to sources, Sinead Kavanagh vs. Leah McCourt is being targeted for Bellator Dublin on Feb 25th.

This fight is completely insane. I never thought it could happen. Add that to Mousasi vs. Vanderford and Queally vs. Mousah and you have on wild night at 3 Arena!

— Peter Carroll (@PetesyCarroll) December 17, 2021 The Irish faithful will have to decide which Bellator MMA featherweight to root for on fight night. On Friday, reporter Petesy Carroll initially broke the story that Leah McCourt (6-1) and Sinead Kavanagh (7-5) would be squaring off at Bellator Dublin on Feb. 25. News of this matchup has since been confirmed to Sherdog by sources close to the situation. Although the lineup is not yet official, it is likely that this 145-pound tilt will take place on the main card.

Since suffering her first career defeat in 2017 to Rizlen Zouak, McCourt has rattled off six straight victories, including five in the Bellator cage. Three of her…

One Championship ended its year with a pre-recorded event that saw many Team Lakay standouts take on fighters from all over the world.

In the “Winter Warriors 2” main event, Kairat Akhmetov upended Danny Kingad (14-3, 10-3 One) after three rounds of combat. One-time flyweight titleholder Akhmetov (25-2, 6-2 One) made the most out of the very first kick thrown by Kingad, taking Kingad down immediately. From there, “The Kazakh” kept heavy pressure while landing shots and control time for practically the entire round. The Team Lakay representative may not have gotten up in the first round, but he managed to get off some offense in Round 2 as he staved off relentless takedown efforts from Akhmetov. Eventually, Akhmedov did get “The King” down on his back, where he again reigned in top position until the round concluded.

The all-grappling attack of Akhmetov appeared to fatigue him going into the third frame, and Kingad took advantage of this by landing at will on the feet. T…

Second weigh in and he get 267 pic.twitter.com/gADnNxZWEg

— Amy Kaplan (@PhotoAmy33) December 17, 2021 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's final event of the year is now official after the UFC Fight Night 199 weigh-ins, which came with a bit of history being made. The UFC is ending 2021 with a heavyweight showdown between Derrick Lewis and Chris Daukaus. As expected, both headliners had no issue making weight. However, the same couldn't be said for the rest of the card, and shockingly, even the rest of the heavyweights. In a historic moment, Justin Tafa became the first UFC heavyweight to miss weight as he came in at 267 pounds. Additionally, Sijara Eubanks (127.5) and Macy Chiasson (148.5) weighed in heavy for their respective bouts. All three fighters have been fined percentages of their purses. Read more

189.6 for Tyron Woodley pic.twitter.com/YASvjQps5j

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) December 17, 2021 YouTuber turned boxer Jake Paul will continue his combat sports career on Saturday as he once again faces Tyron Woodley.

Both main eventers made weight as Paul (4-0, 3 KO) stepped on the scale at 191.4 pounds and Woodley (0-1) came in at 189.6 pounds for the rematch. Woodley wasn't initially expected to fight this weekend as he is a late replacement for Tommy Fury, who was set to be the first established boxer to face Paul before Fury pulled out due to a broken rib. Despite the late notice, Woodley looked in good shape, and weighed nearly identical to the first fight (189.5 pounds). Paul was victorious in their first meeting as he took a split decision with scores of 77-75, 75-77 and 78-74.

The undercard features women's pound-for-pound standout Amanda Serrano facing Miriam Gutierrez, as well as a battle between pro athletes when former NB…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5mfHxOleBU&w=640&h=360] Top Polish mixed martial arts promotion Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki returns for its final event of 2021, and the KSW 65 weigh-in was filled with drama.

Most notably, former featherweight champion Daniel Torres lost his belt prior to his first title defense. Torres (12-4, 1 NC) came in a pound over championship weight and has been stripped of the title. His bout against Salahdine Parnasse will continue with only Parnasse (15-1-1) eligible to win the belt, and Torres will surrender 30% of his purse as well. Additionally, prelim fighters Hassan Shaaban and Bartosz Rewera failed to make weight. Shaaban has been replaced by Piotr Olszynka, who will now face Patryk Likus, while Rewera has been fined 30% of his purse.

The card is headlined by a champion versus champion bout between middleweight titleholder Mamed Khalidov and welterweight king Roberto Soldic. Both fighters made the middleweight limit as Soldic (19-3…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjFKO4apSjI&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. Rising Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight Andre Muniz has his sights set on who he would like for his next opponent. Recently at UFC 269, Muniz snared an armbar over Eryk Anders to improve his win streak to four in a row. His last three victories inside the Octagon have come by armbar, already putting him with the second-most in UFC history. Currently a top-ranked middleweight, #15 on the Sherdog official rankings and #13 in the UFC, Muniz earned his place largely due to finishes of Ronaldo Souza and Anders. On Wednesday, Muniz spoke to Sherdog about his ranking and who he wants next.

“Darren Till is [ranked #8], but he is coming from two straight losses,” Muniz noted. “I’m [ranked #13] but coming from four straight wins, so I think it would be a fair mat…

Retorno marcado! UFC volta ao Brasil com card no dia 7 de maio no Rio de Janeiro https://t.co/C0GwknRJ8D pic.twitter.com/57dItz3k44

— Combate (@canalCombate) December 16, 2021 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. After over two years away, the Ultimate Fighting Championship will finally be staging an event in Brazil. On March 14, 2020, the UFC held its final event before shuttering for a few months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The show, UFC Fight Night 170, went down in Brasilia, Brazil, and no fans were allowed in the building. Since that fight card headlined by future champ Charles Oliveira and former UFC fighter Kevin Lee, the UFC has held fights in either the United States or in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Recent reports have stated that the UFC will head to England on March 19, but UFC head Dana White has said that it will dep…

BREAKING

@BellatorMMA returns to @3ArenaDublin on Friday, Feb. 25th!

Middleweight World Champion @mousasi_mma defends against No.1 contender @austinv170mma & Ireland's @peterqueally faces @Kane86mousah.#BellatorDublin go on sale, Sat., Dec. 18 at @TicketmasterIre pic.twitter.com/hTCL55Fh6Q — Bellator Europe (@Bellator_Europe) December 16, 2021 Ireland will officially not need to wait very long between Bellator MMA shows.

On Tuesday, news broke that Bellator was planning on heading back to Dublin on Feb. 25, with a headliner between Gegard Mousasi and Austin Vanderford for the middleweight strap. The organization has confirmed this via press release on Thursday, while announcing three additional matchups including its co-headliner. The fight card will be held in the 3Arena in Dublin, just like its Nov. 5 event of Bellator 270.

As Mousasi-Vanderford will take top billing, the second marquee matchup will be filled by a lightweight…

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship champ Jon Jones has received little more than a slap on the wrist for his latest legal entanglement from September.

First reported by TMZ on Thursday, Jones has accepted a plea deal with the prosecutors that will allow him to avoid any jail time. The oft-maligned light heavyweight has pleaded nolo contendere – no contest, which means that the defendant will not contest the charge but will not be admitting guilt – to the charge of a misdemeanor destruction of property damaging something valued between $25 and $250.

As a result, the prosecutors have dismissed the charge of domestic violence against him. Jones will be required to pay $750 in restitution to the victim, seek counseling for anger management, and “has been ordered to stay out of trouble.” Initially, the charge of tampering with a vehicle rose to the level of a felony as the damaged was assessed above $5,000, as Jones allegedly headbutted a police car according to the co…