Martial Arts News

Bellator 262 is down one fight following the cancellation of a proposed heavyweight clash between Linton Vassell and Marcelo Golm.

The California-based promotion announced that the bout was scrapped due to an undisclosed injury to one of the competitors. As a result, a bantamweight scrap pitting Matheus Mattos against Cee Jay Hamilton has been promoted to the main card. Additionally, a lightweight showdown between Charlie Campbell and Nick Giulietti has been added to the preliminary draw.

Bellator 262 takes place on Friday at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., and is headlined by a women’s flyweight championship tilt between Juliana Velasquez and Denise Kielholtz. The main card airs on Showtime at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, while prelims stream at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT on the Bellator YouTube channel, Showtime Sports YouTube and Pluto TV.

A former light heavyweight title challenger, Vassell is coming off back-to-back technical knockout victories against Ronny Mark…

It should come as no surprise that Conor McGregor is one of six fighters from UFC 264 who is facing a lengthy medical suspension.

The former two-division champion suffered a broken left leg late in the first round of his trilogy bout against Dustin Poirier this past Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The “Notorious” one must receive orthopedic doctor clearance or he will be sidelined until Jan. 7. At a minimum, McGregor is suspended until Aug. 25 with no contact until Aug. 10. The Irish star underwent surgery for the injury on Sunday, when he had an intramedullary rod inserted into his tibia and a small plate and screws attached to the fibula.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission recently released a full list of medical suspensions from the event to mixedmartialarts.com. Poirier, who improved to 2-1 in his series with McGregor, emerged with a clean bill of health.

Elsewhere, former NFL Pro Bowler Greg Hardy is also looking at a six-month term follow…

Disney To Hike Price For ESPN+ By A Dollar A Month In August; Bundle, UFC PPV Costs To Remain Unchanged https://t.co/dVi4ysUWj0

— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) July 12, 2021

Access to UFC Fight Night cards is going to cost a little bit extra later this summer.

According to a report from Deadline, the subscription price for the ESPN+ streaming service will increase from $5.99 to $6.99 on Aug. 13. Additionally, the annual subscription rate for ESPN+ will increase from $59.99 to $69.99. As of now, UFC pay-per-views will remain the same cost at $69.99.

When ESPN+ launched in 2018, its price was $4.99 a month. That increased to $5.99 per month earlier this year as the service added more live sports to its offerings. Pay-per-views also increased from $64.99 per event to $69.99 at the beginning of 2020.

In its most recently quarterly earnings report, Disney revealed that ESPN+ had 13.8 million subscribers, per Deadline. The Las Vegas…

Herb Dean’s decision to halt the UFC 264 fight between Sean O'Malley and Kris Moutinho at the 4:33 mark of Round 3 was controversial, but not because Moutinho’s safety was at risk.

In the moment, the veteran official’s ruling was not popular because Moutinho appeared to be reasonably coherent— albeit in an increasingly lopsided bout. One person who believes Dean made the right call is UFC president Dana White.

“I think it could have been stopped three minutes before that,” White said at the UFC 264 post-fight press conference. “He could have stopped in the second round. That fight could have and should have been stopped at any moment. I have no problem with that stoppage.”

When all was said and done, O’Malley set UFC bantamweight records for most significant strikes landed in a single fight (230), in a round (83) and significant striking differential (+160). Moutinho, a short-notice replacement for Louis Smolka, deserves plenty of credit for remaining in the fig…

Lightweight champion Charles Oliveira had a front row seat for the anticlimactic outcome of the UFC 264 trilogy bout between Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor.

Poirier won via doctor stoppage when McGregor stepped awkwardly and broke his leg toward the end of the first round of their bout at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night. Prior to the injury, Poirier had impressed Oliveira by asserting his will from top position, dominance that was evident by a pair of 10-8 scorecards that were submitted in his favor.

“I tought Conor was favorite until the second round,” Oliveira told Sherdog.com. “From the third on, I thought Poirier would take it. But Dustin impressed me a lot, always walking forward, showing a great ground-and-pound game. When Conor stood up, he was already tired when the injury happened.”

Oliveira anticipates that his championship fight with Poirier will be scheduled for December. “Do Bronx” doesn’t expect his strategy to stray much from …

The boxing match between social media personality Jake Paul and former UFC champion Tyron Woodley has an official date and venue.

Showtime Sports announced Monday that Paul will square off against Woodley on Aug. 29 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio, which is Paul’s hometown. The event will air on pay-per-view via Showtime beginning at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT and will also see WBC/WBO featherweight champion Amanda Serrano defending her belts against Yamileth Mercado.

“I can’t believe I get to fight in my hometown Cleveland,” Paul wrote on Twitter. “Aug. 29 [Tyron Woodley] is getting knocked out in front of my closest friends and family.”

Tickets will go on sale July 22. Paul and Woodley are expected to attend a press conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday to help promote the event. Paul vs. Woodley is slated for eight rounds and will be contested at a 190-pound catchweight.

Paul, who recently inked a multi-fight deal with Showtime, is coming off a…

NEW alternate angle of Conor McGregor threatening to kill Dustin and Jolie Poirier “in their sleep” and makes gun sign to his head:

“In your sleep you’re getting it, in your sleep you’re dead, you and your Mrs, it ain’t over” pic.twitter.com/r6nmjZAjQb

— Out Of Context MMA (@oocmma) July 12, 2021 After his victory over Conor McGregor in the UFC 264 headliner, Dustin Poirier revealed that his opponent crossed the line with some of his trash talk in the build-up to their fight.

The American Top Team product said that McGregor not only insinuated that Poirier’s wife, Jolie, attempted to reach out to him, but the Irish star also made multiple threats on his opponent’s life. The trilogy bout ended after one round when McGregor stepped awkwardly after missing a punch and broke his left leg, which prompted speculation that a fourth bout could be in store down the road.

“We are going to fight again whether it’s in the Octagon or on the sidewa…

Dustin Poirier bypassed a recent opportunity to compete for lightweight gold to pursue a lucrative trilogy with Conor McGregor at UFC 264.

Poirier’s gamble on himself paid off, as he defeated McGregor via doctor stoppage when the Irishman suffered a broken leg at the end of the first round of their headlining lightweight bout at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night. Through it all, Poirier is happy with the route he took to get to this point, and he attributes much of his success to shutting out the noise from the outside world.

“It's the fruit of my labor. I’m happy with the position I’ve put myself in,” Poirier said. “I’ve been working so hard for so long. I’ve been dedicated my whole career, but definitely these last few years I feel like I’m coming into my own because I care less about all the noise around me surrounding fighting. Opinions, critics and MMA media can be a toxic place. I got off social media the last month because of that. I feel good.…

One Championship has added a prominent executive with significant ties to the sports world to its Board of Directors.

The Singapore-based promotion announced on Monday that David Levy, who notably had a 30-year tenure at Turner Broadcasting Inc., will serve as Lead Director and be “actively involved in the development and execution of One’s strategy to expand its live events, content platforms, and reach in the U.S. and other key international markets, including assisting in the company’s media rights expansion efforts.”

“David is an industry pioneer who helped redefine how millions of people enjoy sports and entertainment programming,” One CEO Chatri Sityodtong said in a release. “He is the perfect addition to our Board with his proven track record of working with the largest sports leagues in the world, putting together innovative rights packages that create value for broadcast partners, corporate sponsors, athletes, and fans, and deep understanding of how to deliver …

It isn’t easy to look good against Stephen Thompson.

While Gilbert Burns didn’t necessarily win any new fans with his performance against “Wonderboy” at UFC 264, he was able to do exactly what it took to earn a victory and remain relevant in the welterweight division.

“I’m very confident right now because I was able to beat a guy that a lot of guys lost to,” Burns said. “A lot of guys don’t want to fight him. Colby [Covington] doesn’t want to fight him, Leon Edwards doesn’t want to fight him. They offered it and I said let’s go. I was able to get a win. That puts me right back in the title picture. I have a little bit more work to do, but I’m right there.”

By grounding Thompson in every round, “Durinho” landed the most takedowns against the South Carolina-based karateka since Matt Brown secured five takedowns at UFC 145 in 2012. Burns put a lasting stamp on the victory when he maintained top position for the second half of Round 3 and ended the fight with a salvo of gr…

Onwards and upwards we go pic.twitter.com/qKgochlT3t

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) July 12, 2021

Conor McGregor expects to make a relatively swift recovery after undergoing surgery to repair a broken leg suffered in the UFC 264 headliner on Saturday night.

According to TMZ Sports, McGregor had a successful three-and-a-half hour procedure performed by Dr. Neal Ellatrache, the head team physician for the Los Angeles Dodger and the Los Angeles Rams, and trauma orthopedic surgeon Milton Little in Los Angeles where an intramedullary rod was inserted into his tibia and a small plate and screws were attached to the fibula.

McGregor suffered a broken leg when he stepped awkwardly after missing a punch against Dustin Poirier in their trilogy bout at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The bout was then waved off by a cageside doctor before the second round.

McGregor tweeted that he expects to be on crutches for six weeks after the proced…

While UFC 264 was garnering most of the attention in Las Vegas, Khabib Nurmagomedov was adding another award to his trophy case on the East Coast.

Nurmagomedov captured the ESPY for Best MMA Fighter during an award ceremony hosted by ESPN at The Rooftop at Pier 17 at the Seaport in New York City on Saturday. The event honors the best athletes, moments and events in sports over the course of the past year.

The former UFC lightweight champion was selected for the ESPY Award over Francis Ngannou, Amanda Nunes and Rose Namajunas.

“The Eagle” fought just once in 2020, submitting Justin Gaethje via triangle choke in the second round at UFC 254 this past October. Nurmagomedov then announced his retirement, ending an accomplished MMA career with a 29-0 career mark.