Martial Arts News

Count Patricio Freire among those who didn’t agree with the final verdict in the Bellator 267 headliner.

Michael Page defeated ex-welterweight champion Douglas Lima via split decision on Friday in London, but many observers thought Lima did enough to get the nod. Freire is in that camp, and he believes the result would be different if a third meeting was booked.

"The fight was pretty even,” the Bellator lightweight champion told Sherdog.com. “But I disagree with the result, I would give the win to Douglas. And if they make a trilogy, like MVP suggested, I will bet again on Douglas again.”

Meanwhile, it’s been more than two months since Freire relinquished his featherweight crown to A.J. McKee in the Bellator 263 main event. “Pitbull” revealed that he has made a somewhat unconventional proposal to the promotion.

"My desire is to have a title unification bout at a catchweight [of 150 pounds],” Freire said. “The winner gets both belts, but Bellator has not an…

Crazy 1 punch knockout BKFC 20 #BKFC20 pic.twitter.com/1ypGt3qdQi

— SEATTLE MIKE (@fightswfriends) August 21, 2021

Justin Thornton, a veteran of 24 professional mixed martial arts bouts, has reportedly died due to injuries sustained in a knockout loss under the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship banner this past August.

My MMA News was first to report Thornton’s death. Thornton fell face first to the canvas after absorbing a right hand from Dillon Cleckler at BKFC in Biloxi, Miss., on Aug. 20. Thornton was taken out of the ring on the stretcher. He remained hospitalized since the bout and was also on a ventilator, according to various reports. Thornton was 38 years old.

“This morning we were very saddened to be notified of the passing of one of our fighters, Justin Thornton, who competed at BKFC-20 on August 20, 2021,” BKFC president Dave Feldman said in a statement released to MMAjunkie.com. “We join the rest of the combat sports commun…

There was one mishap on the scales during Monday’s weigh-ins for Week 6 of Dana White’s Contender Series.

Joshua Weems tipped the scales at 139 pounds for his bantamweight clash against Fernando Garcia. As a result, Weems has been fined 20 percent of his purse. All of the nine other athletes slated for action — including Garcia (136 pounds) — hit their contracted marks without issue.

The Contender Series takes place on Tuesday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and airs on ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. The featured bout of the evenign is a welterweight clash pitting Shimon Smotritsky (170.5) against Mike Malott (170.5).

Israel’s Smotritsky is just 21 years old but has compiled a 7-0 record since turning pro in 2016. Most recently, “Assassin” took a split decision over Sergey Yaskovets at Russian Cagefighting Championship 8 in December 2020. He also owns a pair of victories under the Bellator MMA banner.

Malott, who is anchored at Team Alpha Male, has been victorious i…

The long-anticipated lightweight championship showdown between Charles Oliveira and Dustin Poirier is a done deal.

Poirier’s representatives confirmed to promotional broadcast partner ESPN on Sunday night that the Louisiana native has agreed to challenge Oliveira for lightweight gold at UFC 269 on Dec. 11. Poirier added his own note of confirmation via Twitter: “Signed, sealed and delivered.” MMAFighting.com was first to report the Oliveira-Poirier matchup last month.

Signed, Sealed, Delivered.

— The Diamond (@DustinPoirier) October 4, 2021

UFC 269 doesn’t have an official location but will likely take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The card is also expected to include a women’s bantamweight title tilt beetween reigning champ Amanda Nunes and Julianna Pena.

Oliveira claimed the 155-pound throne vacated by Khabib Nurmagomedov on May 15, when he defeat Michael Chandler via second-round TKO in the UFC 262 headliner. “Do Bro…

Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC

Tanner Boser will lock horns with Sergei Pavlovich in a heavyweight matchup at an Ultimate Fighting Championship event on Dec. 4.

Pavlovich confirmed the booking on social media following an initial report from TSN. The UFC Fight Night card is expected to take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is topped by a bantamweight clash between Jose Aldo and Rob Font.

Boser snapped a two-bout skid in his last outing, when he knocked out Ovince St. Preux in the second-round at UFC Fight Night 190. The 30-year-old Canadian is 4-3 during his tenure with the Las Vegas-based promotion and 20-8-1 as a professional overall.

Pavlovich will look to return to action after having a 2020 booking against Ciryl Gane fall through due to injury and a September matchup with Tom Aspinall canceled as a result of visa issues. The Eagles MMA representative suffered a first-round TKO defeat to Alistair Overeem in his Octagon debut but has since reboun…

Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC

A lightweight bout pitting Jai Herbert against Khama Worthy has been added to the UFC Fight Night 196 lineup.

MMA DNA was first to report the booking. UFC Fight Night 196 takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Oct. 23 and is headlined by a middleweight tilt between Paulo Costa and Marvin Vettori.

A former Cage Warriors 155-pound champion, Herbert entered his promotional debut on a six-fight winning streak but has since been finished by Francisco Trinaldo and Renato Carneiro in his first two UFC appearances. The 33-year-old Renegade Jiu-Jitsu product is 10-3 as a professional with eight of those triumphs coming via KO or TKO.

Worthy, meanwhile, made a splash in his first promotional foray, as he stopped Devonte Smith in the opening stanza at UFC 241. “The Deathstar” then submitted Luis Pena in his sophomore outing at UFC on ESPN 12 but has since suffered consecutive knockout losses at the hands of Ottman Azaitar and Jam…

Brian Kelleher will square off against Saidyokub Kakhramonov in a bantamweight scrap at an Ultimate Fighting Championship event on Jan. 15.

MMA DNA was first to report the booking. The card does not have an official location or headliner at this time.

Kelleher went 1-1 in 2020, dropping a unanimous verdict against Ricky Simon at UFC 258 before outpointing Domingo Pilarte at UFC on ESPN 29. The 35-year-old known as “Boom” is 7-5 during his Octagon tenure and 23-12 as a professional overall.

A former Cage Fury Fighting Championships bantamweight title holder, Kakhramonov submitted Trevin Jones in his promotional debut at UFC on ESPN 29 on Aug. 21. The 25-year-old Team Top Notch product has won four of five professional outings since falling to Umar Nurmagomedov under the Professional Fighters League banner in 2018.

The UFC Fight Night 193 main event was expected to be a barnburner between two Brazilian light heavyweights with a penchant for finishing.

Instead, Thiago Santos and Johnny Walker engaged in a rather forgettable affair, with Santos emerging with a unanimous decision triumph after five lackluster rounds on Saturday night at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Particularly troubling was the lack of output and aggression from Walker, who recently relocated camps to SBG Ireland. All told, Walker landed just 48 significant strikes.

As it turns out, Walker may have been limited early in the fight. The 29-year-old Rio de Janeiro native revealed via his Instagram story that he may have suffered an injury in the bout. He doesn’t make it clear exactly when the injury might have occurred, however

“I think I broke my foot a little bit,” Walker says in the video. “A little fracture. That’s why I stop kicking.”

Johnny Walker believes he broke his foot.#UFCVe…

Over the past couple years, Thiago Santos has endured double knee surgeries and a three-bout losing streak, but the former light heavyweight title challenger believes he can be a contender once again.

“Marreta” took a step toward achieving that goal with a five-round unanimous decision victory against Johnny Walker in the UFC Fight Night 193 headliner at the UFC Apex on Saturday night. It was the 37-year-old Brazilian’s first triumph after falling to Jon Jones, Glover Teixeira and Aleksandar Rakic in succession. Even in defeat, Santos argued that he’s always been competitive.

“I went through hard times since when I did my surgery – it’s hard to recover. I stopped [fighting] for a year and a half,” Santos said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “I fought against Glover, lost. I took another fight against Rakic, lost. But no one run me over. It’s a tough fight. I fought against them against tough guys. Every single fight I feel better. It’s important to me. I go do…

ESPN+ subscribers will be getting their money’s worth when it comes to Ultimate Fighting Championship coverage this month.

The Las Vegas-based promotion confirmed on Saturday that the UFC 267 main card will air free of charge to those who pay the $6.99 monthly subscription fee. Normally, the UFC’s numbered events are only available through ESPN+ via pay-per-view for $69.99.

UFC 267 takes place at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on Oct. 30 and is headlined by a light heavyweight championship clash between Jan Blachowicz and Glover Teixeira. In the co-main event, Petr Yan and Cory Sandhagen will vie for the interim bantamweight crown. Four other fights round out the six-bout main card: Islam Makhachev vs. Dan Hooker at lightweight; Alexander Volkov vs. Marcin Tybura at heavyweight; Jingliang Li vs. Khamzat Chimaev at welterweight and Magomed Ankalaev vs. Volkan Oezdemir at light heavyweight.

The UFC 267 main card begins at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT on ESPN+, while the preli…

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the UFC, PFL, Dana White’s Contender Series and “The Ultimate Fighter” live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. It may be remembered as memorably unmemorable. American Top Team’s Thiago Santos closed the book on a career-worst three-fight losing streak and recorded his first win since Feb. 23, 2019, as he captured a unanimous decision over Johnny Walker in a shockingly uneventful UFC Fight Night 193 headliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. All three cageside judges scored it 48-47 for Santos (22-9, 14-8 UFC).

Santos lands clean, but Walker

[ #UFCVegas38 | LIVE on @ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/ycK0sBggRc

— UFC (@ufc) October 3, 2021

Walker (18-6, 4-3 UFC) zeroed in on the legs with kicks but lacked the throw-caution-to-the-wind aggression for which he has become known. Santos remained content to throw punches and kicks at a leisurel…