Martial Arts News

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIIkZ9C7EII&w=560&h=315] Bellator MMA lightweight champ Patricky Freire will only step aside for one man: his brother, Patricio Freire.

After capturing the Bellator lightweight belt at Bellator 270 with an impressive second-round knockout of Peter Queally in front of a hostile Irish crowd this past November, Freire has found himself challenged by featherweight champion A.J. McKee constantly on social media. Once his brother Patricio avenged Patricky’s own loss to Michael Chandler, Patricky saw the opportunity as the perfect path to retribution for what his brother did for him then. Patricky spoke to Sherdog on Wednesday about the possible matchup with McKee, and why he can’t take it yet.

“I would love to beat up McKee for [Patricio], but my brother is ‘too hungry’; he told me to stay away from McKee,” Patricky admitted. “That fight is his, and I obeyed.”

According to the lightweight champion, his return is already set up and his…

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. A beloved Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight is getting a chance to fight in front of a home crowd for the first time in 2014. The news first broke from MMA Fighting on Thursday, announcing that Matt Brown (23-18) will be squaring off with Bryan Barberena (16-8) at the UFC on ESPN event on March 26. The currently unnumbered fight card on the flagship network of the UFC’s broadcast partner will go down inside of the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. The two were previously booked against one another in December, but the pairing fell through when Brown contracted COVID-19.

Brown, who has since confirmed this matchup on his Instagram account, rebounded from a pair of defeats to Miguel Baeza and Carlos Condit by starching Dhiego Lima in June. The 40-year-old Ohioan has seen tough sledding the last several years, winning …

A pair of title bouts featuring familiar foes are on tap for UFC 272.

UFC president Dana White informed broadcast partner ESPN on Wednesday that the Alexander Volkanovski-Max Holloway trilogy will take place at UFC 272 on March 5 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, while Aljamain Sterling and Petr Yan will square off for a second time at the same event. Contracts have not yet been signed for either bout, but both are expected to be finalized soon.

Volkanovski owns a pair of victories over Holloway. The 33-year-old City Kickoxing standout claimed the featherweight crown with a unanimous decision triumph over Holloway at UFC 245 before defending the belt with a highly-contentious split verdict in their rematch at UFC 251. Most recently, he defended the strap with a decision win over Brian Ortega in a “Fight of the Year” candidate at UFC 266 this past September to run his professional winning streak to 20.

Holloway has earned his spot as the top contender after t…

.@GLORY_WS @EnfusionLIVE

We are excited to announce a series of joint events with Enfusion, kicking off in May. Full details coming shortly.#GLORYRivals pic.twitter.com/zhFwNpdFFQ

— GLORY Kickboxing (@GLORY_WS) January 5, 2022 Glory Kickboxing has announced a new series called "Glory Rivals."

The new series aims to form relationships with other top kickboxing promotions around the world to do cross-promotion kickboxing events. In the announcement, Glory revealed that “Glory Rivals” will kick off with a cross promotion with the Eurpoean-based Enfusion organization. Glory also announced a partnership with RISE, which is based in Japan.

Executive vice chairman Scott Rudmann weighed in on the motivation behind the decision to push for cross-promotion events in kickboxing, citing fans and promotions wanting to see the best fight the best. Rudmann believes that Glory has the best kickboxers in the world and is ready to pony up and prove it …

Juliana Velasquez’s next flyweight title defense will likely take place in the spring, according to Bellator president Scott Coker.

Velasquez is targeted to face former UFC 135- and 125-pound title challenger Liz Carmouche at an as yet to be announced Bellator MMA event. The exact date is tentative, but Coker told MMAjunkie.com in a recent interview that the if all goes as planned, Velasquez vs. Carmouche will happen by April.

“I believe that fight will happen in April,” Coker said. “I think that’s when we were told Velasquez would be ready to go so. As soon as she’s ready, we’ll get her back in there, but I think April is the date.

“All of our champions, the launch of the tournament, the finals of our light heavyweight tournament, the [Michael Page] fight, Juliana Velasquez, Cyborg – all these fights will happen let’s say between January and April. It’s kind of what we’re shooting for.”

Velasquez claimed 125-pound gold with a five-round verdict over Ilim…

Drew Dober will square off against Ricky Glenn in a lightweight scrap at an Ultimate Fighting Championship event on March 12.

Iridium Sports Agency first brought word of the booking. UFC Fight Night is expected to take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a light heavyweight tilt between Thiago Santos and Magomed Ankalaev.

After winning six of seven UFC appearances from 2017 to 2020, Dober dropped back-to-back fights to Islam Makhachev and Brad Riddell last year. The 33-year-old Elevation Fight Team product is 9-7 with one no contest over the course of his Octagon tenure and 23-11 as a professional overall.

Glenn’s 2021 campaign included a 37-second knockout win over Joaquim Silva at UFC on ESPN 25 and a majority draw against Grant Dawson at UFC Fight Night 196. The former World Series of Fighting title challenger has gone 4-3-1 during his tenure with the Las Vegas-based promotion.

#TeamIridium Fight News

Our …

A bantamweight matchup pitting Brett Johns against Khurshed Kakhorov has been booked for Bellator MMA’s upcoming Dublin card.

TJ Sport News was first to report the bout. Bellator Dublin takes place at 3Arena on Feb. 25 and is headlined by a middleweight championship clash between Gegard Mousasi and Austin Vanderford.

A seven-time UFC veteran, Johns came up short in his debut with the California-based promotion, when he dropped a unanimous decision to Danny Sabatello at Bellator 259 this past May. The former Titan FC and Cage Warriors title holder was coming off back-to-back wins over Montel Jackson and Tony Gravely prior to that defeat.

Kakhorov improved to 8-0 in his promotional debut, as he outpointed Jair Junior at Bellator 267 on Oct. 1. The former German MMA Championship competitor has finished six of his victories by KO/TKO.

HOLY

Danaa Batgerel has thunder in his hands #UFCVegas40 pic.twitter.com/5oLLrrFQ7j

— UFC (@ufc) October 16, 2021 Montel Jackson will lock horns with Danaa Batgerel in a bantamweight bout at UFC Fight Night on March 26.

Jackson’s management, Iridium Sports, first announced the booking. UFC Fight Night is headlined by a light heavyweight duel between Jan Blachowicz and Aleksandar Rakic. The event doesn’t have an official location or venue.

A former competitor on Dana White’s Contender Series, Jackson has won five of his first seven Octagon appearances. Most recently, the Red Schafer MMA product set a bantamweight record with four knockdowns during a unanimous decision victory over J.P. Buys at UFC Fight Night 192 this past September.

Batgerel has been on a roll since dropping his promotional debut to Heili Alateng at UFC Fight Night 157 in August 2019. The Mongolian fighter rebounded to score successive first-round finishes ag…

Tafon Nchukwi will square off against Azamat Murzakanov on the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s March 12 card.

Cageside Press was first to report the light heavyweight pairing. UFC Fight Night takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a light heavyweight tilt pitting Thiago Santos against Magomed Ankalaev.

Nchukwi has been victorious in two of three Octagon appearances since earning a UFC contract on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2020. Most recently, the 27-year-old Cameroon native outpointed Mike Rodriguez at UFC Fight Night 192 on Sept. 18.

Murzakanov will make his promotional debut after securing a UFC deal with a first-round TKO of Matheus Scheffel on the Contender Series this past August. The 35-year-old Russian is 10-0 as a professional, with other notable wins over UFC competitors Andre Muniz and Guto Inocente.

Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC

After winning his first four Ultimate Fighting Championship bouts, Khamzat Chimaev has risen to No. 11 in the promotion’s latest welterweight rankings and is just waiting for a call to confirm his Octagon return.

“If it were up to him, I think he would fight every month. I never worked with someone so competitive,” Alan Nascimento, Chimaev’s Brazilian jiu-jitsu coach, told Sherdog.com.

According to Nascimento, Chimaev will sleep in the academy whenever he has a UFC fight announced.

“He just doesn't want to lose time, so he moves into a room inside the academy during the whole camp,” Nascimento said. “And in training, if he loses one round or gets swept by someone, he always asks me to [do it again], and that's the most difficult part of my job with him. He came from a family where his father and brother were also wrestlers, so he always dealt with a lot of pressure. My job is to make him understand that, in the …

A welterweight showdown between Neiman Gracie and Logan Storley will headline Bellator 274 on Feb. 19, promotion officials announced Tuesday.

Bellator 274 takes place at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., and will also see ex-welterweight champion Andrey Koreshkov face Mukhamed Berkhamov in the co-main event. The main card airs on Showtime at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, while the prelims stream on the Showtime Sports YouTube channel, the Bellator MMA YouTube channel and Pluto TV at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT. Two other bouts were also confirmed for the evening’s main draw: Keri Melendez vs. Veta Arteaga at flyweight and Davion Franklin vs. Said Sowma at heavyweight.

Additionally, five fights were announced for the preliminary lineup: Georgi Karakhanyan vs. Adam Piccolotti at lightweight; Mandel Nallo vs. Nick Browne at lightweight; Jaylon Bates vs. Chris Disonell at bantamweight; Corey Samuels vs. Justin Montalvo at lightweight and Isaiah Hokit vs. Albert Birckhead at feathe…

The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s first card of 2022 is down one bout, as a proposed middleweight tilt between Abdul Razak Alhassan and Joaquin Buckley is no longer part of the lineup.

MMAjunkie.com was first to report the cancellation, which came after Alhassan withdrew from the fight for undisclosed reasons. The promotion is looking to reschedule the bout, but a date has not been finalized. UFC Fight Night 200 takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Jan. 15 and is headlined by a featherweight showdown between Calvin Kattar and Giga Chikadze.

Alhassan snapped a three-fight losing streak in his last outing, as he knocked out Alessio Di Chirico with a head kick 17 seconds into their encounter at UFC on ESPN 30 on Aug. 28. The Fortis MMA product has finished all 11 of his professional victories via knockout or technical knockout, including five triumphs in UFC competition.

Buckley, meanwhile, is best known for his viral knockout of Impa Kasanganay at UF…