Martial Arts News

Not only did Randy Brown have to deal with a game opponent at UFC Fight Night 194, but he also had to battle through a mangled toe for much of Saturday’s co-main event at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

“It just snapped out of place,” Brown said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “The big toe snapped out of place at the joint high up on the foot there. But it kept going back in. I kept putting it back in. Interesting experience.”

The broadcast team pointed out that Brown’s foot appeared to be compromised after landing a front kick to Jared Gooden’s chin early in the fight, but it was unclear how much it would negatively affect the welterweight known as “Rude Boy.” In the moment, Brown just relied on instinct to treat the injury as best he knew how so he could continue competing.

“I put it back in,” Brown said. “It came out and I looked at it. I was like, ‘All right.’ It’s crazy the thought and the instinct just kicks in. [It’s like], ‘Let me just step on tha…

Marina Rodriguez has some history with Carla Esparza in the Octagon, but she also has respect for the UFC’s inaugural strawweight champion.

Rodriguez earned her third consecutive triumph in the UFC Fight Night 194 main event on Saturday, as she put on a striking clinic to earn a unanimous decision against grappling ace Mackenzie Dern at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The Brazilian muay Thai specialist is closing in on a title shot, but she believes that Esparza — the only woman to defeat her in UFC competition — should have received the next opportunity. Instead it went to Weili Zhang, who was granted an immediate rematch against Rose Namajunas at UFC 268.

That said, if the promotion comes calling after UFC 268, Rodriguez won’t pass up a chance to compete for championship gold.

“I’ll never deny a chance to fight for the title, but for me, Carla should be next and not Weili,” Rodriguez said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “But since the rematch is booked …

Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC

For the second time in the past few months, UFC fighter Luis Pena has been arrested.

Pena was arrested Saturday on misdemeanor charges of domestic violence and battery, according to Broward County (Fla.) Jail records. The battery charge comes with a $1,000 bond, while the domestic violence charge does not have an amount listed because a bond hearing is required. Pena was arrested in Deerfield Beach, Fla.

The Broward Sheriff’s Office released the following statement to MMAjunkie.com:

At approximately 12:34 a.m., Broward Sheriff’s Office Deerfield Beach deputies responded to a domestic disturbance call near the 200 block of Southeast 12th Avenue in Deerfield Beach. On scene, deputies made contact with multiple subjects, and Luis Antonio Peña was later detained and taken into custody. Peña was transported to BSO Main Jail and faces one count simple battery and one count domestic violence battery (both misdemeanor). The investig…

It was ladies’ night when it came to post-fight bonuses at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday, as Marina Rodriguez, Mackenzie Dern, Mariya Agapova and Lupita Godinez each took home $50,000 checks.

Rodriguez and Dern earned “Fight of the Night” honors for their five-round strawweight headliner at UFC Fight Night 194. Rodriguez utilized a multi-faceted striking arsenal to control the action on the feet, but she had to survive a couple scary moments on the mat against the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt. Ultimately, Rodriguez was able to avoid serious danger and emerged with a unanimous decision triumph.

Elsewhere, Agapova received a “Performance of the Night” award on the strength of a submission win against Sabina Mazo at flyweight. Agapova controlled the range with her striking throughout the fight before dropping her adversary with a crushing right hand to the jaw in the third round. From there, Agapova wasted little time jumping on Mazo’s back and locking in a re…

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. Marina Rodriguez has begun to make serious headway in the Ultimate Fighting Championship women’s strawweight division. The Brazilian muay Thai practitioner outstruck Mackenzie Dern and withstood a few harrowing ground exchanges with the jiu-jitsu ace, as she took a unanimous decision from the 2015 Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling World Championships gold medalist in the UFC Fight Night 194 headliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. All three cageside judges saw it the same: 49-46 for Rodriguez (15-1-2, 5-1-2 UFC).

Dern (11-2, 6-2 UFC) had her chances. The Checkmat RVCA rep dragged Rodriguez to the canvas in the second round, threatened with a leg lock and moved into side control. From there she applied her ground-and-pound from a reverse crucifix p…

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 194 coverage will begin Saturday at 2 p.m. ET.

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

Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:The Official Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores t…

Brutal ground and pound gets Alexandr Romanov the W

[ #UFCVegas39 | Prelims LIVE on @ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/lm6KCi7EVT

— UFC (@ufc) October 9, 2021 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. Alexander Romanov moved another step closer to relevance in the Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight division, as he disposed of Team Quest’s Jared Vanderaa with punches in the second round of their featured UFC Fight Night 194 prelim on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The undefeated Romanov (15-0, 4-0 UFC) drew the curtain 4:43 into Round 2.

Vanderaa (12-6, 1-2 UFC) never moved out of his defensive posture. Romanov chipped away at the Team Quest product with takedowns in a largely one-sided first round, then turned up the heat in the second. The Moldovan tripped his …

CONFIRMED: Should any fighter miss weight or be forced to withdraw from a 2021 #PFLChampionship title match, these fighters will be ready to step in as the alternate for their weight division. pic.twitter.com/w0RADQeVbG

— PFL (@PFLMMA) October 8, 2021

When there’s $1 million on the line, it’s always good to have a backup plan.

With that in mind, Professional Fighters League recently revealed the six alternates who will be on standby in case any of the athletes who are participating in championship bouts on Oct. 27 are forced to withdraw or miss weight.

The six replacement fighters are as follows: Genah Fabian (women’s lightweight), Brendan Loughnane (featherweight), Clay Collard (lightweight), Sadibou Sy (welterweight), Emiliano Sordi (light heavyweight) and Denis Goltsov (heavyweight).

The PFL championship takes place at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Fla., and is headlined by a women’s lightweight final between …

Hittin' the scales at 114.5

@MackenzieDern is main event ready!

[ #UFCVegas39 | Tomorrow | | Live on @ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/xVfXkDliiD — UFC (@ufc) October 8, 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 UFC Fight Night 194 main event between Marina Rodriguez and Mackenzie Dern and eight other bouts are now official after the weigh-ins took place.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship's latest event is on the shorter side, going on with just nine bouts. Seventeen of 18 fighters managed to make weight, with Jared Gooden missing the welterweight limit by three pounds. Additionally, a bout between Phil Hawes and short-notice replacement Chris Curtis was scrapped after Hawes turned down the opponent change. Although James Krause attempted to step in and face Curtis, the commission did not license or clear Krause to compete on a…

Per sources, Alexa Grasso is out of her flyweight fight against Joanne Calderwood on Nov. 20. Calderwood (@DRkneevil) will now face Taila Santos instead. They are the UFC's Nos. 6 and 9 ranked flyweights, respectively.

— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) October 8, 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. Strictly from a rankings perspective, this change in opponent at the Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight division is actually an improvement. The UFC’s broadcast partner of ESPN announced on Friday that Alexa Grasso will not longer be competing UFC Fight Night 198 for undisclosed reasons. In her stead will be Taila Santos (18-1), who will come to blows with Joanne Calderwood (15-6) at 125 pounds on Nov. 20. While Grasso is the #10 ranked flyweight according to the promotion, Santos is at the #9 spot to Calderwood as the sixth-ranked w…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAlDHb0IK84&w=560&h=315] Longtime Bellator MMA staple Patricky Freire wants to keep the lightweight title in his family.

On Monday, former two-division champ Patricio Freire announced that he was relinquishing his lightweight belt, after losing the featherweight title to A.J. McKee in July. Patricio did not want to interfere in veteran lightweight Patricky’s title run, explaining that he would not face his brother for a championship. Bellator head Scott Coker hen announced that the vacant 155-pound throne would be up for grabs in a rematch between Patricky and Peter Queally in Dublin at Bellator 270. Many were surprised by this news, including Coker, the fans, media, and even Patricio’s own brother. Patricky spoke to Sherdog about this new sudden development on Thursday.

“My brother told me something about that last week and I told him not to do so, believing I had changed his mind,” Freire explained. “But he communicated about …

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. Just like he did in 2021, Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight Calvin Kattar will headline the first show of 2022. On Friday, MMA Junkie announced that Kattar (22-5) and Giga Chikadze (14-2) is the current planned headliner for the UFC Fight Night event on Jan. 15. This unnumbered event is expected to be held inside the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, and this featherweight marquee matchup has been agreed to but the contracts have not been signed. Kattar’s manager, Tyson Chartier, confirmed in an interview with MyMMANews on Friday that Kattar had accepted a main event match in January.

Kattar has not fought since taking a hellacious beating at UFC on ABC 1 that remains a top contender for Sherdog’s 2021 “Beatdown of the Year” award, absorbing an unprecedented 445 significant strikes from Max Holloway. Before the one-sided loss, “T…