Martial Arts News

Sean O'Malley was one of the big winners at UFC 269, but it could be a while before he makes his return to the Octagon.

O’Malley, who defeat Raulian Paiva via first-round technical knockout, was suspended six months by the Nevada State Athletic Commission pending an X-ray and MRI of his right hand and thumb. If he receives doctor clearance, he can fight before June 10. At a minimum, the bantamweight star is suspended until Jan. 11 with no contact until Jan. 2.

A full list of medical suspensions from the event was released to mixedmartialarts.com. UFC 269 took place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday and saw Charles Oliveira successfully defend his lightweight belt with a third-round tapout of Dustin Poirier in the evening’s main event. Both Oliveira and Poirier are suspended until Jan. 11 with no contact until Jan. 2.

Three other fighters from UFC 269 are facing potential six-month terms pending doctor clearance: Pedro Munhoz (right foot), Miranda M…

With accomplishments that separate her from virtually everyone else in women’s mixed martial arts, Amanda Nunes has earned the right to an immediate rematch following her shocking loss to Julianna Pena at UFC 269.

“It’s a big rematch if she wants it,” UFC president Dana White said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference.

Pena outdueled the heavy-handed Nunes in a slugfest, and when the Brazilian fatigued, “The Venezuelan Vixen” took her opponent down with ease and submitted her with a rear-naked choke at the 3:26 mark of Round 2. It’s an upset that ranks among the greatest in the history of the sport, one that White compared to Matt Serra’s victory over Georges St. Pierre at UFC 69 in 2007.

“Julianna is a person who always believed in herself and that she could win this fight if she got it. She did it [at UFC 269],” White said. “It’s one of the things that makes this sport so incredible, when somebody is that big of an underdog.”

If there was any doubt a…

Sean O'Malley and Cody Garbrandt once appeared to be on a collision course in the Octagon. While they may yet meet, their fighting careers are currently headed in two very different directions.

O’Malley won for the seventh time in eight promotional appearances, scoring a first-round stoppage of Raulian Paiva in a bantamweight clash at UFC 269 on Saturday night. One bout later, Garbrandt was finished inside of a round by Kai Kara France in his flyweight debut — his fourth defeat in his last five outings.

O’Malley has been handled carefully thus far by UFC matchmakers, but White says the Contender Series alum has earned a step up in competition with his latest performance.

“The guy he beat tonight is a real guy, a very real guy,” White said at the UFC 269 post-fight press conference. “And he did it tonight in spectcualr fashion. When you talk to him, two things: He wants to get paid and he wants to fight higher level competition.

“Looks like we’re gonna have…

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

Kai Kara France may have been the so-called “B-side” heading into his UFC 269 matchup with Cody Garbrandt, but he changed perceptions in relatively short order on Saturday night.

Kara France earned the most high-profile victory of his career to date, as he defeated the former bantamweight title holder via first-round technical knockout in a featured bout at the T-Mobile Arena. The City Kickboxing member floored “No Love” with an overhand right during an early exchange and then later put Garbrandt away with a salvo of heavy punches against the fence at the 3:21 mark of Round 1.

“I had to go to the body first. I know he’s got good head movement, one of the best boxers in the UFC,” Kara France said in a post-fight interview. “So I knew the head would be moving a lot, but the chest and the body, it’s gonna stay still. I had to pick my spots. Once I landed the first right hand, he’s wobbled. I thought, OK it could be fi…

After suffering an elbow injury in his last fight against Paul Craig at UFC 255 in November 2020, Mauricio Rua elected not to undergo surgery.

“It was the same place I injured against [Mark] Coleman in Pride,” Rua said. “My doctor thought it was better to recover without surgery and that's what I did. Last August I started to train and now I feel 100 percent, so I´ll ask my manager Eduardo Alonso to set my next fight by March.”

“Shogun” revealed that his plan is to have two more fights before retiring from MMA. He is also interested in the prospect of facing longtime Brazilian Top Team rival Ricardo Arona under submission rules.

“I´m driven by challenges,” Rua said. “My focus is totally on the UFC. I want to fight twice more. But if ADCC or another grappling event promoter invited me to face Arona in submission rules, with all the respect I have for him, I would accept that offer and would fight to win.”

As far as the top of the UFC light heavyweight division, R…

Two fighters who competed on the latest season of Dana White’s Contender Series were suspended by the Nevada State Athletic Commission on Monday.

Lukasz Brzeski was suspended nine months and fined $750 after testing positive for clomiphene in relation to his third-round submission victory against Dylan Potter at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Sept. 14. Brzeski, who received a UFC contract for his efforts, will be eligible to return to action on June 14, 2022. Clomiphene is typically used to treat infertility in women, but it can also help regulate estrogen levels for someone who may have been using performance enhancing drugs.

It’s unclear if the positive test will affect Brzeski’s status with the UFC. The Krakow, Poland native is 9-1-1 as a professional with eight victories coming inside the distance.

Meanwhile, Muin Gafurov was suspended for six months and fined $750 after testing positive for the diuretic canrenone in relation to a split-decision loss to Chad A…

There has already been a change to the main event for Eagle Fighting Championship’s United States debut.

According to an initial report from ESPN, Sergei Kharitonov will step in for Antonio Silva and face Tyrone Spong in the three-round heavyweight headliner. Eagle FC 44 takes place on Jan. 28 at FLX Arena in Miami and is also expected to include the return of former UFC champion Rashad Evans.

A veteran of Pride Fighting Championships, Strikeforce, Bellator, K-1 and Dream, Kharitonov went 1-1 in mixed martial arts bouts in 2021. After suffering a second-round submission loss to Cheick Kongo at Bellator 265, the 41-year-old Russian defeated Fabio Maldonado via first-round TKO at Parus Fight Championship on Nov. 6. Kharitonov also defeated Osborn Machimana in a boxing match at M1 Fight Night this past June.

Spong, meanwhile, has not competed in MMA since going 2-0 under the World Series of Fighting banner from 2012 to 2013. The 36-year-old Suriname native is an a…

One of the biggest stars in Chute Boxe history relished Charles Oliveira’s victory in the UFC 2699 headliner.

A betting underdog heading into the main event, Oliveira submitted Dustin Poirier in the third round of their lightweight championship bout at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night. Mauricio Rua reflected on the triumph of the Chute Boxe Diego Lima product in a recent interview with Sherdog.com.

“What a fight! To tell you the truth, I couldn’t understand the odds having Dustin as favorite after Charles beat all the submission records and has the most finishes in promotion history,” Rua said. “Once again, he had an amazing performance based on his versatility. I hope the critics finally understand why he is wearing the lightweight belt.”

After the bout, Conor McGregor called for a clash with Oliveira in a post on social media. “What date am I fighting Oliveira,” wrote McGregor, who is still recovering from a broken leg suffered in a loss to Poirier i…

Geoff Neal needed a little extra motivation heading into the third round of a closely-contested welterweight clash with Santiago Ponzinibbio at UFC 269.

Enter Fortis MMA head coach Sayif Saud, who delivered a fiery pep talk that propelled Neal into his best round of that fight. “Handz of Steel” outlanded his opponent 46 to 39 in significant strikes over a definitive final stanza, helping seal a split-decision triumph.

“It jarred me a lot. He was being truthful,” Neal said of the corner talk during a post-fight interview. “I needed that round. Just in case a judge wanted to pull split-decision bulls—t, I had to take that round.”

And what exactly was the game plan heading into Round 3?

“Just go forward and punch him in the face,” Neal said. “I wasn’t punching him in the face enough in the first two rounds, so I just had to punch him more in the third round.”

It turns out Neal’s intuition was correct. When the final verdict was announced, the Texan emer…

Ryan Bader and Valentin Moldavsky will square off in a heavyweight championship unification bout at Bellator 273 on Jan. 29.

Promotion officials announced the headlining matchup on Monday. Bellator 273 takes place at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Ariz., and will also see former bantamweight king Darrion Caldwell face UFC veteran Enrique Barzola. The evening’s main card will air on Showtime at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, while the prelims stream at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on Showtime Sports YouTube channel, the Bellator YouTube channel and Pluto TV.

Bader’s last three promotional appearances have come at light heavyweight. After losing the 205-pound belt in a second-round TKO defeat to Vadim Nemkov at Bellator 244, Bader entered the light heavyweight grand prix, where he outpointed Lyoto Machida in the opening round before falling to Corey Anderson via TKO in just 51 seconds in the semifinals on Oct. 16. The Power MMA Team stalwart claimed heavyweight with a grand prix run th…

If Amanda Nunes had won as expected at UFC 269, it could have set the stage for a massive showdown with one of the sport’s top free agents.

Two-time Olympic gold medalist and Professional Fighters League champion Kayla Harrison was in attendance at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday night when Nunes suffered a second-round submission loss to Julianna Pena in arguably the biggest upset of 2021. At the evening’s post-fight press conference, UFC president Dana White addressed what might have been.

“These are those things, man,” White said. “For like a Kayla Harrison, the Amanda Nunes fight was huge. I mean, if they would have faced off, it would have been a massive, you know, mega-million-dollar fight.”

Harrison became a free agent after winning the PFL 155-pound title for a second time this past October. The judoka is 12-0 thus far in her professional career and has rarely been challenged inside the cage while amassing 10 finishes. Her next destination has not been determ…

Even in retirement, Khabib Nurmagomedov looms large over the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s lightweight division.

While Charles Oliveira has respect for the undefeated Dagestani, he believes his accomplishments have allowed him to escape the shadow of the former 155-pound title holder. Oliveira earned his 10th consecutive triumph in the UFC 269 headliner on Saturday, submitting Dustin Poirier with a rear-naked choke 62 seconds into the third round of their championship encounter at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

“[Khabib Nurmagomedov] was a great fighter, a great champion,” Oliveira said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “He had his history and his legacy, but he retired and now legacy and history have a new name at lightweight, and it’s Charles Oliveira.”

Despite entering UFC 269 as the defending champion, Oliveira was an underdog against Poirier, who turned down a title shot earlier this year in favor of a lucrative trilogy against Conor McGregor.…