Martial Arts News

Sherdog's live Bellator 263 coverage kicks off Saturday at 7 p.m. ET.

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

Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 The Official Result Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 The Official Result Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 The Official Result Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 The Official Result Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 The Official Result Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 The Official Result Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 The Official Result Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 The Official Result Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 The Official Result Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 The Official Result Bellator Featherweight Title Fight:Patricio Freire (144.5) vs. A.J. McKee (145) Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 The Official Result

Heavy shots landing early in RD 1 #UFCVegas33 pic.twitter.com/9hloPvVgeA

— UFC (@ufc) August 1, 2021

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the UFC, PFL and “The Ultimate Fighter” live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app.

Chris Gruetzemacher had the deeper gas tank.

“The Ultimate Fighter” Season 22 quarterfinalist on Saturday scratched and clawed his way to a unanimous decision over former Combate Americas champion Rafa Garcia in the featured UFC on 28 prelim at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. All three cageside judges scored it 29-28 for Gruetzemacher (15-4, 3-3 UFC), who rebounded from an Oct. 31 knockout loss to Alexander Hernandez.

Garcia (11-2, 0-2 UFC) had the Arizona native reeling inside the first minute, as he uncorked a clean left hook, powered into top position and applied his ground-and-pound. Gruetzemacher stayed cool under fire and slowly regained his wits. By the …

A lightweight clash pitting Mike Hamel against Bryce Logan is on tap for Bellator 265.

Sherdog.com confirmed the booking with a promotion official on Saturday. Bellator 265 takes place at Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D., on Aug. 20 and is headlined by a heavyweight tilt between Cheick Kongo and Sergei Kharitonov. The main card airs on Showtime at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.

A veteran of Combate Americas and Legacy Fighting Alliance, Hamel has fallen to Adam Borics and Usman Nurmagomeodv in his first two Bellator appearances. The 28-year-old MMA Lab representative has won just two of his last seven professional outings dating back to May 2017.

Logan, meanwhile, had a three-bout winning streak snapped in a split-decision loss to Georgi Karakhanyan at Bellator 251 this past November. The 31-year-old Power MMA product is 12-5 over the course of a professional tenure that includes stints in LFA, Victory Fighting Championship and Resurrection Fighting Alliance.

The semifinals of the Bellator light heavyweight grand prix have a date and a venue.

The promotion announced Saturday that Vadim Nemkov vs. Anthony Johnson and Ryan Bader vs. Corey Anderson will take place on Oct. 16 at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Ariz. The main card airs on Showtime at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, while prelims stream on the Bellator MMA YouTube channel, the Showtime Sports YouTube channel and Pluto TV beginning at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. Addtional bouts will be announced at a later date.

Nemkov claimed the 205-pound belt with a second-round TKO of Ryan Bader at Bellator 244 last August before outpointing Phil Davis in the quarterfinals of the grand prix at Bellator 257 on April 16. The 29-year-old Russian is currently on an eight-bout winning streak.

Johnson returned to action for the first time since 2017 at Bellator 258, where he survived some early adversity to score a second-round knockout of Jose Augusto Azevedo Barros on May 7. The 37-year-o…

UFC on ESPN 28 is down yet another fight.

On Saturday, Rani Yahya announced that he has withdrawn from Saturday’s co-main event bout against Kyung Ho Kang due to a positive COVID-19 test. As a result the card will move forward with 10 fights. UFC on ESPN 28 takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a middleweight tilt pitting Uriah Hall against Sean Strickland. Yahya vs. Kang is the fifth bout that has been canceled from the card over the course of the past week.

“Hey guys, my fight just got cancelled. I tested positive for the COVID-19 test that was made yeasterday, “ Yahya wrote on Instagram. “I feel very good physically, and I believe that everything happens for a reason. Thank you all for the support!!”

Yahya ended a two-bout winless skid at UFC Fight Night 187, when he submitted Ray Rodriguez in the second round on March 13. The 36-year-old Constrictor Team representative is 12-4-1 with one no contest since beginning his tenure with th…

Coming in at 185.5

@UriahHallMMA is all business for #UFCVegas33.

[ LIVE Tomorrow on @ESPN & E+ ] pic.twitter.com/kbXuGMRBED — UFC (@ufc) July 30, 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. For the third week in a row, the Ultimate Fighting Championship will put on a card airing on ESPN, but it lost multiple fights during its dramatic weigh-ins.

UFC on ESPN 28 is headlined by a bout between middleweight mainstays Uriah Hall and Sean Strickland and both main eventers made weight. A middleweight with tremendous knockout potential, Hall (17-9) is always a wildcard when he enters the Octagon. "Primetime" is on the best streak of his career having put together four straight wins inside the UFC. In his last time out, Chris Weidman suffered a gruesome leg injury from the first kick at the beginning of their bout. Prior to that, Hal…

One Championship returned with its first live event in months, and its main MMA fight did not disappoint.

The “One: Battleground” headliner pitted strawweight muay Thai champ Sam-A Gaiyanghadao against Prajanchai PK.Saenchai Muaythaigym. While many expected a surgical performance from the titleholder, his young opponent surprised with his audacity and recklessness. The defending champion did not fare well in the early going, getting dropped right at the end of the round with a big right hand. Sam-A composed himself in the second stanza, but Prajanchai carried his momentum into quick attacks and flashy combinations in the second and third rounds.

As the fight advanced in the championship rounds, the challenger seemed to slow down, with inexperience possibly playing a factor as he fatigued. Sam-A tried to keep his opponent’s aggression at bay with body kicks, and his strategy paid dividends as the clash continued. The defending champion hunted for a knockout, hoping that …

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. An all-action Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight barnburner is being targeted for November. According to ESPN on Friday, Justin Gaethje (22-3) has agreed to take on Michael Chandler (22-6) at 155 pounds on UFC 268. This event, which is slated for Nov. 6, does not official have a venue or location. However, the fight card is being considered for Madison Square Garden in New York. Both men will be coming off of championship stoppage losses.

Gaethje, who posts a stellar 91 percent career finish rate, is coming off the first submission loss of his career. The interim champ looked to unify his strap against Khabib Nurmagomedov in October 2020, and he fell short, getting put to sleep by a triangle choke in the second round. The loss snapped a four-fight knockout streak where “The Highlight” dispatched James Vick, Edson Barboza,…

Thomas Petersen didn't come to wrestle tonight!!!!!#LFA113 pic.twitter.com/crwInLwGlX

— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) July 31, 2021 Thomas Petersen is the new Legacy Fighting Alliance heavyweight champion after defeating Vernon Lewis in the LFA 113 main event.

Petersen made short work of the veteran and proved he's a prospect to watch. A big left hand floored Lewis (8-5) and a swarm of punches ended the bout. Petersen improves to 5-0 with the victory and shared the news that he's becoming a father next rather than calling out any future opponents.

The co-main event saw bantamweight Ricky Camp and Greg Fischer test their skills. The bout went three hard-fought rounds with Camp (12-4) controlling most of the action on the feet while Fischer (10-3) attempted to wrestle. The judges awarded the fight to Camp via split decision with scores of 28-29, 30-27, 29-28.

Welterweights Chris Brown and Glaucio Eliziario had the first competitive bout o…

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. Hours after missing weight for her now-canceled Ultimate Fighting Championship fight this weekend, bantamweight Nicco Montano wanted to clear the air. Montano was set to face Yanan Wu at UFC on ESPN 28 on July 31 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, but the former flyweight champ hit the scales at 143 pounds, or seven above the division’s cap. Upon evaluation, the promotion and commission promptly pulled the bout from the card. Montano previously lost her 125-pound title ahead of UFC 228 in 2018, when she was hospitalized due to her weight cut and it was stripped from her.

Montano posted a statement on Instagram about what happened to cause this issue:

“Hi all of my supporters. I wanted to give a [PSA] on what happened. I was dedicated through camp to this fight, training four hours a day, including my fasted 4-5 mile runs and…

A giant novelty check with a very real prize awaits the winner of the Bellator MMA featherweight grand prix on Saturday.

Bellator 263, which takes place on July 31 at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif., will conclude the organization’s featherweight tournament. To the victor belong the spoils – the winner of the Patricio Freire vs. A.J. McKee clash will earn a tournament title, the promotion’s featherweight championship strap and a $1 million check. Both finalists will also earn large payouts simply for competing in this bout, as the only two on the card that will clear six figures no matter the result. Current two-division king Freire will take home $250,000 to show, and his win bonus is $1 million; his opponent McKee will earn $150,000, plus the possible $1 million prize. The California State Athletic Commission released the event salaries, as first reported by MMA Junkie on Friday.

The next top earner of the card is two-time 145-pound title challenger Emmanuel Sanchez, …

Things went zero to 60 at the #Bellator263 presser

Watch @PatricioPitbull vs. @ajmckee101 in the #BellatorFWGP final SATURDAY on @Showtime: https://t.co/eXPmkdlk5J. pic.twitter.com/DIW9LJEC93

— SHOWTIME SPORTS (@SHOsports) July 29, 2021 Weigh-ins were not just a formality ahead of Bellator MMA's tentpole event this weekend. Bellator MMA returns to Saturday night for one of the promotion's biggest cards of the year, one topped by a heavily anticipated featherweight title fight between Patricio Freire and A.J. McKee. Both men in the Bellator 263 main event did make weight, but McKee had to hit the scales twice after initially coming in .2 pounds above the championship limit. Every other competitor on the card made weight, but one bout was pulled off after Justin Barry did not pass his medicals. Daniel Compton weighed 189.6 pounds for their 190-pound catchweight contest, and he will receive his show money as a result.

Freire (32-4), who h…