Martial Arts News

UNDISPUTED @ricoverhoeven #COLLISION3 pic.twitter.com/Kuh4Y4J0r3

— GLORY Kickboxing (@GLORY_WS) October 23, 2021

Rico Verhoeven reminded everyone why he is nicknamed the "King of Kickboxing.”

The headliner featured a heavyweight clash between defending champion Rico Verhoeven (59-10) and former two-time rival Jamal Ben Saddik (35-8). The challenger was supposed to be combat sports legend Alistair Overeem, but an injury forced "The Demolition Man" out of the fight. Verhoeven moved around his opponent for most of the time in the opening round, studying his reactions, before Ben Saddik almost knocked him down right before the end of the stanza. Ben Saddik pushed on the accelerator early in Round 2, dropping Verheoven and opening a cut under his right eye.

Verhoeven fought through adversity and made some adjustments after the second stanza as his eye kept swelling. In Round 3, the Dutchman retaliated with several knees, showcased better foo…

UNDISPUTED @ricoverhoeven #COLLISION3 pic.twitter.com/Kuh4Y4J0r3

— GLORY Kickboxing (@GLORY_WS) October 23, 2021

Rico Verhoeven reminded everyone why he is nicknamed the "King of Kickboxing.”

The headliner featured a heavyweight clash between defending champion Rico Verhoeven (59-10) and former two-time rival Jamal Ben Saddik (35-8). The challenger was supposed to be combat sports legend Alistair Overeem, but an injury forced "The Demolition Man" out of the fight. Verhoeven moved around his opponent for most of the time in the opening round, studying his reactions, before Ben Saddik almost knocked him down right before the end of the stanza. Ben Saddik pushed on the accelerator early in Round 2, dropping Verheoven and opening a cut under his right eye.

Verhoeven fought through adversity and made some adjustments after the second stanza as his eye kept swelling. In Round 3, the Dutchman retaliated with several knees, showcased better foo…

Credit: Joao Baptista Credit: Joao Baptista Credit: Joao Baptista

Once it became clear that he wasn’t going to make the middleweight limit, Paulo Costa did everything he could to tilt the odds in his favor heading into the UFC Fight Night 196 main event.

Even though he convinced opponent Marvin Vettori to agree to fight at 205 pounds and he was clearly the larger athlete in the Octagon on Saturday, Costa still dropped a unanimous decision to “The Italian Dream.” As result, UFC president Dana White was singing Vettori’s praises at Saturday’s post-fight press conference.

“We were trying to keep this fight alive and make sure that it happened, and we couldn’t have done it without a guy like Vettori,” White said. “Vettori acted like an absolute professional, stud, a guy that’s incredible to work with. That’s why this fight happened.”

According to White, Costa entered the cage at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday night at 220 pounds, while Vettori weighed 208. De…

Marvin Vettori accepted the challenge of moving up a weight class to fight Paulo Costa at UFC Fight Night 196, and it paid off handsomely for “The Italian Dream.”

Vettori received a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” check for a unanimous decision victory over Costa in Saturday’s headliner at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The bout was originally scheduled to be contested at 185 pounds until Costa revealed that he wouldn’t be able to make weight, so it was then changed to a 205-pound bout. Vettori took the change in stride, as he set a light heayweight record with 190 significant strikes landed in the five-round affair.

Elsewhere, Alex Caceres pocketed a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” award for a first-round submission of Seung Woo Choi in a featured featherweight scrap. After a difficult opening round in which he was rocked by a right hand and an illegal knee, Caceres rebounded to submit Choi with a rear-naked choke at the 3:31 mark of Round 2.

Finally, Gregor…

Let's see that in slow-mo!

Fedor Emelianenko remains undefeated at home.#Bellator269 pic.twitter.com/vOaZOSuMCS

— BellatorMMA (@BellatorMMA) October 23, 2021 If it truly is goodbye, then Fedor Emelianenko gave the Russian fans a memorable farewell.

“The Last Emperor” made short work of recent interim title challenger Timothy Johnson in the Bellator 269 headliner, winning via knockout 3:08 into Round 1 of their heavyweight clash at VTB Arena in Moscow on Saturday. It was the California-based promotion’s first-ever event in Russia and Emelianenko’s first fight in his home country since a controversial majority decision win against Fabio Maldonado at a Fight Nights Global event on June 17, 2016.

The 45-year-old former Pride Fighting Championships title holder demonstrated why he remains dangerous even in the twilight of his professional MMA career. In a bout that was fraught with tension, both heavyweights ventured into the pocket to tr…

Marvin Vettori cut through all the noise, focused on the task at hand and made sure he was the man who got his hand raised when the dust settled.

The Kings MMA rep stayed relevant in the Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight division and rode a high-pressure, high-volume attack to a unanimous decision over Paulo Costa in the UFC Fight Night 196 headliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. All three cageside judges scored it 48-46 for Vettori (18-5-1, 8-3-1 UFC), who accepted the bout at 205 pounds due to the Brazilian’s inability to meet their originally contracted weight requirements.

Costa (13-2, 5-2 UFC) fought well despite the extra baggage and seemed to relish his role as the villain. He rattled Vettori with multiple head kicks and zeroed in on the body with brutal kicks and hooks from both hands. Still, Costa had no real answer for the Italian’s relentless output and also had to deal with being deducted a point for a second-round eye poke. Vettori co…

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.

Sherdog's live UFC Fight Night 196 coverage will begin Saturday at 1 p.m. ET.

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

Round 1 A UFC fight card that may have otherwise been forgotten has suddenly drawn a great deal of attention thanks to the antics of the headliners. Nonsense and shenanigans, drama and genuine anger appears to have reared its ugly head, but it will make the show more interesting. We begin this 14-fight marathon offering that is currently being counterprogrammed by Bellator, KSW and Glory Kickboxing at the same time with a bantamweight bout. “The Dragon” Martinez (13-4, 4-3 UFC) will welcome Georgian newcomer Lazishvili (8-0, 0-0 UFC) to the organization. There is some dispute about Lazishvil…

Sherdog's live Bellator 269 coverage kicks off at 12:30 p.m. ET.

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

The bout has been canceled after Gadzhi Rabadanov missed weight. Round 1 Bellator 269 kicks off in my hometown of Moscow at CSKA Arena, the same venue where the UFC helds its own historic event in late 2019. Kicking off the event, young featherweight prospects clash, as Englishman Aiden Lee (9-5) makes the trip into hostile territory to take on Russian Alexender Osetrov (8-2). Referee Kevin McCarthy will start the evening in Moscow. Osetrov starts the fight with a solid leg kick. Lee is firing technical front kicks, but the Russian avoids them. Lee tests him with a head kick, but Osetrov blocks and tries to counter with a punch, which is blocked. Both men are searching for the range, Lee more with kicks and Osetrov more with punches. Osetrov scores on a body punch and soon after may have hurt Lee with a short hook …

WHAT. A. FIGHT.

[ #UFCVegas41 live on #ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/URRFmKPLvI

— UFC (@ufc) October 23, 2021 Gregory Rodrigues strengthened his foothold in the Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight division, as he struck down Jun Young Park in the second round of their featured UFC Fight Night 196 prelim on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Park (13-5, 3-2 UFC) bowed out 3:13 into Round 2.

Rodrigues (11-3, 2-0 UFC) dictated the terms of their ground exchanges—he advanced to the back with body triangles on multiple occasions—but flirted with disaster on the feet. Park pinned the former Legacy Fighting Alliance champion to the fence in the second round and let punches fly from both hands. Rodrigues seemed to be wilting but answered with a series of precise right hands, pushed the Korean Top Team standout across the Octagon, flurried along the fence and connected with an uppercut that had him out on his feet. It was enough to p…

The featherweight championship clash between Yutaka Saito and Juntaro Ushiku is official for Rizin Fighting Federation 31.

Both the champion and the challenger made weight on Saturday ahead of their 145-pound title tilt. Saito tipped the scales at 145.3 pounds, while Ushiku checked in at 144.8. Rizin 31 takes place at Pia Arena in Yokohama, Japan and will also see Kanna Asakura (107.6 pounds) square off against Saori Oshima (105.7) in the co-main event. The card can be viewed via pay-per-view here.

Saito claimed the featherweight crown with a unanimous decision triumph over Mikuru Asakura at Rizin 25. He has won three straight under the Rizin banner, including a split verdict against Vugar Karamov in a non-title bout at Rizin 28 in his last outing.

Ushiku is the reigning Deep featherweight champion and is coming off a split-decision win over Daisuke Nakamura in a title bout at Deep 102 Impact this past July. He has won seven of his last eight professional appear…

One-half of your main event LOCKED @BorrachinhaMMA

[ #UFCVegas41 | Tomorrow | Live on ESPN+ ] pic.twitter.com/YJLq775mNd

— UFC (@ufc) October 22, 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 drama over the middleweight-turned-light heavyweight Ultimate Fighting Championship headliner came to an end when Paulo Costa hit the scales.

The UFC Fight Night 196 card being held inside the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday was to have a middleweight main event between Costa (13-1) and Marvin Vettori (17-5-1) in a battle of former title challengers and Israel Adesanya foes. On Wednesday, Costa announced he would not be making weight, and after a tumultuous turn of events on Thursday, the two agreed to a 195-pound catchweight limit before shifting it later that night to 205 pounds. Although this is a significant asterisk, every fighter o…