Martial Arts News

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32uPIGDZupY&w=640&h=360] Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 268 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. Two Ultimate Fighting Championship titles will be on the line at UFC 268 as both championship bouts are now official following the weigh-ins. While the champions and title challengers all showed professionalism, the undercard was a different story as two prelim fighters missed weight. Bruno Souza came in 2.4 pounds heavy for his featherweight bout against Melsik Baghdasaryan. Meanwhile, C.J. Vergara weighed 1.4 pounds over the flyweight limit for his fight opposite Ode Osbourne. Both bouts will continue despite the misses, with each fighter being fined 20% of their purses. Additionally, Vicente Luque was tapped as the alternate in the headliner, but he missed championship weight by 2.2 pounds.

Atop the UFC 268 card is a championship rematch between welterweight k…

The Pitbull legacy continues! #AndNew @PatrickyPitbull joins his brother @PatricioPitbull in the history books as a Bellator Lightweight champion! #Bellator270 pic.twitter.com/8TPMWWD9eF

— BellatorMMA (@BellatorMMA) November 5, 2021

Patricky Freire stands alone after a decade-long climb.

“Pitbull” brought home the vacant Bellator MMA lightweight championship, as he wiped out Peter Queally with punches in the second round of their Bellator 270 headliner on Friday at 3Arena in Dublin. Unable to ride a wave of emotion that saw a ravenous crowd serenade him with The Cranberries’ “Zombie,” Queally (13-6-1, 2-2 Bellator) succumbed to blows 65 seconds into Round 2.

Freire (24-10, 15-8 Bellator)—who debuted with the organization in March 2011—made his intentions known from the start, attacking the Irishman with stinging leg kicks and hooks to the body from both hands. After an eye poke briefly delayed the Brazilian’s march to the title early …

Sherdog's live Bellator 270 coverage kicks off at 2 p.m. ET.

Check out the MMA Forums to discuss the card or enter your comments and predictions below.

Round 1 Opening the card in Dublin, we have local Irish fighter Stephen Costello facing Yusuf Nazokatov, with both making their pro debuts. Costello was 4-3 as an amateur while Nazokatov hasn't even had a pro bout, so it's anyone's guess what will happen here. Referee John English will see it all. Costello starts with a leg kick, but Nazokatov pulls back in time. Nazokatov misses a right hand and Costello just barely misses a counter. Costello partially misses a leg kick but gets reckless for a takedown afterwards, eating a short punch. They clinch against the cage now, with Nazokatov pushing his Irish foe against the fence. They enter a stalemate, with Costello using the whizzer to stay upright as Nazokatov pushes him against the fence. Finally, Costello spins off and they return to range. Not for long, as Nazokatov's …

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zThnRIIbdQQ&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. Two high-flying Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweights will go at it on the first card of next year. On Thursday, Michel Pereira’s (26-11, 2 NC) coach told MMA Fighting that Pereira would be facing Muslim Salikhov (18-2) at the UFC Fight Night card on Jan. 15. The two will likely go at it inside the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Pereira has since confirmed the matchup on his Instagram.

Since his unsuccessful debut in 2017, Salikhov has rattled off five wins over the last four years. Two knockouts of Ricky Rainey and Nordine Taleb springboarded “The King of Kung Fu” into matchups with Laureano Staropoli, Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos and Francisco Trinaldo. The fighter out of Dagestan won all three of those by decision, giving him the second, third and fourth decision …

#RIZIN_TRIGGER at the Kobe World Memorial Hall. Surging Featherweight contenders Shoji Maruyama and Kyohei Hagiwara headline the first event of the TRIGGER series. #RIZIN_TRIGGER 1st2021.11.28[sun]Kobe World Memorial Hall#RIZIN #MMAhttps://t.co/CCKpBqOiSz

— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) November 5, 2021 A new era in Rizin Fighting Federation history is set to begin later this month.

Per a press release from the promotion on Thursday, Rizin is officially putting on its Trigger 1st show on Nov. 28 at the Kobe World Memorial Hall in Kobe, Japan. The event will be unlike any other that the organization has put on, because the fights will be contested inside a cage and not a ring. This fight card is the first of its “Trigger” series, in which Rizin will make its transition to Cagefighting. The “Trigger” series will incorporate both MMA and kickboxing matches in a cage.

“There are many fighters who are looking to compete overseas, where the…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLefGn4y_4g&w=640&h=360] A new Bellator MMA lightweight champion will be crowned at Bellator 270.

After Patricio Freire vacated the 155-pound title, Peter Queally and Patricky Freire will battle for that lightweight belt. Both fighters successfully made championship weight, as Queally (13-5-1) weighed in at 155 pounds on the dot and Freire (23-10) came in at 153.6 pounds. The only fighter on the card that missed weight was bantamweight Patrick Mix, who came in 1.8 pounds over the 136-pound limit. The bout against James Gallagher will continue, although Mix has been fined a percentage of his purse.

Ireland's Queally is on a two-fight win streak and most recently defeated Patricky after their Bellator 258 bout was controversially stopped by the doctor due to a cut. Queally will get a chance to settle the score and add some gold to his waist in the rematch.

"Pitbull" will look to keep the lightweight title within the Freire famil…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmidOdybSQo&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 plans on ending his 2021 campaign with one more knockout. After impressively recording two knockouts in UFC since his debut in June, Brazilian “Blindado” is scheduled to face another tough out in the middleweight division. At UFC 269 on Dec. 11, Silva (21-6) will take on Jackson-Wink fighter Jordan Wright (12-1). Silva spoke to Sherdog on Thursday shortly after news of the bout surfaced.

“This fight was closed 24 hours after my win over Andrew Sanchez and I’m really excited about that,” Silva admitted. “When I heard he never fought more than six minutes, and saw just one video of him, I immediately said yes.”

Fresh off his Oct. 16 demolition of Andrew Sanchez, the Evolucao Thai fighter has already …

Vicente Luque will be on standby in case anything goes wrong with the UFC 268 main event.

According to a report from ESPN, Luque will weigh in on Friday and serve as a backup for the welterweight championship main event between Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington. Top welterweight contender Leon Edwards was reportedly offered the backup role over Luque, but the Englishman elected to remain home to train for his matchup with Jorge Masvidal scheduled for UFC 269 on Dec. 12.

UFC 268 takes place at Madison Square Garden and is will also see Rose Namajunas square off against Weili Zhang in a strawweight title bout in the evening’s co-headliner. The main card airs on pay-per-view via ESPN+ at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, while prelims stream on ESPN+ at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT and on ESPN and ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.

The 29-year-old Luque has won 10 of his last 11 UFC appearances and is coming off back-to-back first-round submission victories over Tyron Woodley and Michael Ch…

A potential all-action lightweight clash with championship implications will kick off the pay-per-view portion of the UFC 268 card.

Justin Gaethje and Michael Chandler will be the opening act for Saturday’s main card at Madison Square Garden, it was announced during "The MMA Hour” on Wednesday. It was generally expected that Gaethje vs. Chandler would be the third bout on the pay-per-view draw just ahead of the strawweight championship co-main event between Rose Namajunas and Weili Zhang and the welterweight title headliner pitting Kamaru Usman against Colby Covington.

Instead, Gaethje vs. Chandler will precede Shane Burgos vs. Billy Quarantillo and Frankie Edgar vs. Marlon Vera.

Gaethje hasn’t competed since falling to Khabib Nurmagomedov in a title bout at UFC 254 in October 2020. During media day on Wednesday, “The Highlight” was adamant that he will deserve another opportunity at lightweight gold if he defeats Chandler.

"If I win Saturday and I don't…

After a week in which four Brazilian fighters captured belts in a span of four days – Glover Teixeira in the UFC and Raush Manfio, Bruno Henrique Cappelozza and Antonio Carlos Jr. in Professional Fighters League – Patricky Freire will attempt to add to that collection on Friday when he faces Peter Queally for the vacant lightweight crown at Bellator 270.

Patricio Freire, who recently vacated the 155-pound title, spoke with Sherdog.com about his brother’s upcoming bout shortly after arriving in Dublin with kickboxing coach Thiago Tourão and boxing coach Everton Lopes.

“We arrived on Sunday here in Dublin and as far as we could see around the hotel area there was a lot of excitement for the event. But they won’t have good memories after this weekend. I can guarantee Patricky is in the best shape ever. For the first time, he did a complete camp for a title fight. In the past, he stepped in as a replacement on short notice.”

According to the former champion, a raucous pro-…

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 268 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. Two Ultimate Fighting Championship contracts were handed out during the final Dana White's Contender Series event of Season 5. Joining the leading mixed martial arts promotion is lightweight Maheshate and the undefeated welterweight Yohan Lainesse, who both impressed UFC head honcho Dana White. The card was headlined by a lightweight battle between Maheshate and Achilles Estremadura, who walked in with an undefeated record seven bouts into his career. Both men came out firing and it was Maheshate (6-1) that rocked his unbeaten opponent just seconds into the bout. However, Estremadura stayed composed and was able to land damaging combinations for the rest of the round. However, Maheshate landed a huge jumping knee in the second frame that hurt the Canadian and stole the round. The third round was back-and-forth with both men having…

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 268 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. Sherdog's live DWCS 2021 Week 10 coverage kicks off Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET. Check out the MMA Forums to discuss the card or enter your comments and predictions below. Round 1 Kicking off the final installment of Dana White's Tuesday Night Contender Series for season 5, we have perhaps the most experienced match-up in the history of the series, as 35 year-old Zhifa Shang, with a glossy record of 32-7, battles 33 year-old Juan Puerta, who is 22-6. Puerta has an 11 fight winning streak and Shang has won 20 in a row. However, Puerta is a solid favorite since he has fought the much better opposition. Referee Mike Beltran presides. Puerta starts out dancing around on the outside, looking very light. He misses an early leg kick. They are both cautious early, not engaging. Puerta throws a testing head kick that is blocked by Shang. Another P…