Martial Arts News

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Curtis Blaydes laid down his gameplan to show Alex Pereira what time it is in a potential matchup.

Pereira (11-2) has won the Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight and light heavyweight title and defended the latter three times in less than three years of his debut with the promotion. The Brazilian’s unprecedented rise to stardom has led to talks of a potential move up to heavyweight to chase three-division glory. Watching Pereira spar heavyweight boxers like Australia’s Demsey McKean and China’s Zhilei Zhang led many to believe that “Poatan” can hold his own against heavyweights.

However, Blaydes (18-4) strongly warned Pereira against a move up to heavyweight. “Razor” explained that his strategy against Pereira would be to immediately shoot for a takedown, which he believes he can get at will. Blaydes believes Pereira is also well aware of that and is seeking specific fights at heavyweight instead of random matchups. According to Blaydes, wh…

Team Mokaev and Team Kape got into a scuffle at the fighters' hotel in Manchester. This comes amid numerous reports about their conflict earlier this year at the UFC PI#UFC304 #UFCManchester pic.twitter.com/3aCBCrzMvo

— Red Corner MMA (@RedCorner_MMA) July 24, 2024 UFC 304: Edwards vs. Muhammad Saturday at 10 ET on ESPN+. Order Now!

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Two of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s most talented flyweights can’t seem to understand that they aren’t allowed to fight until the cage door closes.

On Wednesday during UFC 304 fight week, the teams of Manel Kape (19-6) and Muhammad Mokaev (12-0, 1 NC) threw down inside of the fighters’ hotel in Manchester, England. This is not the first time the two entourages reportedly scrapped, as UFC featherweight Jean Silva claimed that a scuffle erupted at the UFC Performance Institute earlier in the month. Per MMA Fighting, Kape later suggested that rumors of that encounter might have been gr…

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Caolan Loughran is not buying into the hype behind Payton Talbott.

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Going into his upcoming UFC 304 clash against Jake Hadley (10-3), Loughran (9-1) questioned the hype behind fellow bantamweight prospect Talbott (9-0). While the Irishman acknowledges Talbott’s skillset, he has noticed certain shortcomings in the latter’s game. Loughran claims that while all rising stars in history had their ground game doubted initially, Talbott’s grappling actually got exposed in his debut against Nick Aguirre. Talbott was outgrappled by Aguirre in the first round before coming back to score a third-round stoppage win in his first UFC outing in November 2023.

“Talbott is a good fighter – 100 percent a good fighter. Fair play to him going well, but [expletive] man, cool the jets,” Loughran said at the UFC 304 media day. “I watched his debut. Whenever the Mac [Conor McGregor] was coming up, people were saying when he fights a grappler, he’ll get …

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Bobby Green is unhappy about his custom shorts rebuff, while UFC 304 opponent Paddy Pimblett is his own.

Green (32-15) faces Pimblett (21-3) at UFC 304 this weekend in the latter’s home turf of Manchester, England. The two have long been engaged in a feud, which Pimblett claims started with Green secretly recording him while they were in attendance at UFC San Diego in August 2022.

While Green admits that he likely started the beef, he had his reasons. “King” believes he and Pimblett have had a contrasting career trajectory where he had to fight for his dues while “The Baddy” had things handed to him on a silver platter. According to Green, Pimblett doesn’t realize how privileged he is and acts spoiled. Green claims Pimblett caught his attention when he started talking brash, as he let his initial success get to his head.

“I’ve earned my spot. I’ve been here for so long. I think I’m here 12 years now fighting… I call him the spoiled kid,…

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Leon Edwards doubts Michael Page will challenge for a title in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

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Page (22-3) made his Octagon debut at UFC 299 this past March, scoring a unanimous decision win over Kevin Holland. “MVP” most recently suffered a unanimous decision loss against Ian Garry in his sophomore promotional outing at UFC 303 last month.

Meanwhile, Edwards (22-3) will defend his welterweight title against Belal Muhammad at UFC 304 in Manchester, England, this weekend. Page recently said that a potential clash with fellow Brit Edwards in the future would be a massive fight in the United Kingdom.

While “Rocky” admits that a fight against Page would indeed be big in the UK, he doubts the former Bellator MMA star rises up the ranks to cross paths with him. Edwards believes Page could have made his way to title contention if he had beaten Garry and followed it up with a win over an elite contender like Shavkat Rakhmonov…

A welterweight clash pitting Rinat Fakhretdinov against Nursulton Ruziboev has been targeted for UFC 308.

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Both fighters confirmed the bout on social media following an initial report from Marcel Dorff. UFC 308 takes place at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on Oct. 26 and is also expected to include a heavyweight tilt between Ciryl Gane and Alexander Volkov.

According to Fakhretdinov, the booking was not ideal for either fighter.

“Know me and Nursultan were against this fight,” Fakhretdinov wrote on Instagram (via translate). “This fight is not profitable for anyone. I will tell you, we did everything possible to prevent this fight, but we are only fighters. The league always has the final word, so don't throw stones at us. The circumstances have turned out to be. The league has decided for us. But nothing changes, as we were friends with Nursulton, we will be friends, and after the fight I will come to visit him for pilaf (I hope he will invite me)…

Iasmin Lucindo will look to add a signature victory to her record when she meets Marina Rodriguez at UFC 307.

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Ag.Fight was first to report the strawweight booking, and Lucindo has since confirmed the fight on social media. UFC 307 takes place on Oct. 5 and is expected to be held in Salt Lake City, though the location has not been formally announced. A women’s bantamweight title fight between Raquel Pennington and Julianna Pena has been rumored for the event.UFC 304: Edwards vs. Muhammad Saturday at 10 ET on ESPN+. Order Now! After falling to Yazmin Jauregui in her promotional debut, Lucindo has racked up three consecutive victories in UFC competition. Most recently, the 22-year-old Brazilian outpoined former title challenger Karolina Kowalkiewicz at UFC 301 on May 4.

Rodriguez, meanwhile, has faced many of the division’s top talents during her 13-bout UFC tenure. The muay thai specialist last appeared at UFC 300, where she dropped a split decision …

Muhammad Mokaev just wants to fight for Ultimate Fighting Championship gold and is not concerned about how much he is paid to do it.

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Mokaev takes on Angolan contender Manel Kape at UFC 304 in Manchester, England, on Saturday. Mokaev revealed that his upcoming bout is the last one on his current UFC contract.

Mokaev doesn’t have any expectations for his expected contract renewal, and “The Punisher” is willing to have a one-fight contract if that accelerates his path to a title shot.

Mokaev reiterated his grouse with Steve Erceg getting the last flyweight title shot against Alexandre Pantoja after just three fights in the promotion. Mokaev notes that he didn’t receive the gold bid despite having more finishes in the UFC than “Astro Boy” had total fights in the promotion then.

UFC 304: Edwards vs. Muhammad Saturday at 10 ET on ESPN+. Order Now! Mokaev now just wants a title shot as soon as possible and claims his fight purse isn’t a concern.…

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Christian Leroy Duncan’s walkout music was made by his late friend, Joel Daniel Westcarr.

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Leroy Duncan is scheduled to face veteran Gregory Rodrigues at UFC 304 in front of a home crowd in Manchester, England, on Saturday. In a "UFC Connected" video, Duncan was seen visiting the grave of Westcarr, who he refers to as Zozo.

“Come to visit my friend Zozo. We’re here at his resting place, which is a place that I always come to,” Duncan said. “He was a very talented music artist. And we’d always say no matter which way we go, we’re gonna see each other at the top.”

Tributes flood in for much loved Joel Westcarr, 20, who was killed in a motorbike crash https://t.co/6Sv2wJ4biQ pic.twitter.com/4Nvw4BoihM

— Daniel Chipperfield (@DanChipperfield) April 4, 2016

Westcarr was a musician who passed away in a tragic motorbike accident on April 3, 2016 at the age of 20. Duncan, who had just started his amateur…

Curtis Blaydes considers his upcoming interim heavyweight title fight against Tom Aspinall at UFC 304 the real title fight in the division.

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Lineal champ Jon Jones has been sidelined since pulling out of a scheduled title defense against Stipe Miocic at UFC 295 in November 2023. Aspinall knocked out Sergei Pavlovich in a short-notice title fight at UFC 295 and has since been calling for a unification bout against Jones. However, Jones remains adamant on returning to action against Miocic, who hasn’t fought in over three years. With both Jones and Miocic also teasing retirement after their planned bout, Blaydes doesn’t consider the potential matchup a legitimate title fight.

Blaydes has previously admitted that Aspinall should ideally have been fighting Jones in a title unifier instead of defending his interim strap. However, Blaydes considers his upcoming bout against “Honey Badger” the real title fight at heavyweight. For the perennially elite cont…

Belal Muhammad believes Leon Edwards and his camp are afraid going into their upcoming UFC 304 clash.

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Muhammad challenges Edwards for the welterweight title in the main event at UFC 304 in Manchester, England, on Saturday. Muhammad recently ran into Edwards and his crew in an elevator. “Remember the Name” claims Edwards’ coach, Dave Lovell, was the only one talking trash and hopes he attends the press conference.

“I just saw him right now in the elevator. He looked like he was afraid,” Muhammad told MMAjunkie.com. “Him and his brother and his coach, they all look like cowards. His coach was trying to talk a little bit of trash, so I’m hoping that his coach is at the press conference, because I know Leon’s not gonna be able to talk.”

UFC 304: Edwards vs. Muhammad Saturday at 10 ET on ESPN+. Order Now! According to Muhammad, he was with another teammate when Edwards walked into the elevator with a crew of six to seven people. While Muhammad chose …

Finally, the 12 to 6 elbow rule has been eliminated and the grounded opponent rule has been changed.

Andy Foster does it again. pic.twitter.com/uEuY930Mlt

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) July 23, 2024

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The Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts will change in a couple key areas this November.

On Tuesday, the Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports voted unanimously to eliminate a ban on 12-to-6 elbows and update the definition of what constitutes a grounded fighter. The committee included the likes of California State Athletic Commission executive director Andy Foster, Nevada Athletic Commission executive director Jeff Mullen, veteran officials Herb Dean, John McCarthy and Marc Goddard and judges Derek Cleary and Sal D’Amato, among others. Ariel Helwani was first to report the changes on social media.

The downward elbows were often a point of confusion for fighters because it could be difficult to determi…