Martial Arts News

A women’s bantamweight showdown pitting Miesha Tate against Ketlen Vieira has been targeted to headlined an Ultimate Fighting Championship card on Oct. 16.

Combate was first to report the booking. Verbal agreements are in place, but contracts have not been signed as of yet. The event is expected to take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and also includes a featherweight tilt between Holly Holm and Norma Dumont.

Tate ended a five-year retirement at UFC on ESPN 26, where she returned with a third-round TKO triumph over Marion Reneau on July 17. “Cupcake” is a former UFC and Strikeforce bantamweight queen with notable wins over the likes of Holm, Sara McMann, Jessica Eye, Liz Carmouche, Julie Kedzie and Marloes Coenen, to name a few.

After beginning her promotional tenure with four consecutive victories, Vieira has lost two of her last three UFC appearances. Most recently, the 29-year-old Brazilian was outpointed by Yana Kunitskaya at UFC Fight Night 185 on Feb. 20.

Ares remains undefeated

Brave CF 53 leaves us with this great image #BraveCF53 pic.twitter.com/XpUnGXZDj3

— jamie (@wrestlejamia) August 21, 2021 Brave Combat Federation returned to Kazakhstan with an event that saw Tae Kyun Kim remain unbeaten thanks to his superior striking acumen.

In the Brave CF 53 headliner, Kim (9-0, 4-0 Brave) imposed his will against Nurzhan Akishev (11-4, 0-2 Brave). Akishev wobbled “Ares” early in the first frame, following his jab with a well-placed overhand. “Bizon” then swarmed his opponent with punches and threw Kim on the mat, but the South Korean fighter recovered from the shot and was able to return to his feet. “Ares” recomposed himself and stayed out of his opponent’s range while retaliating with plenty of punches of his own. Midway through the round, Kim began to look more comfortable with his combinations. Meanwhile, Akishev went headhunting in pursuit of the finish, but “Ares” was able to avoid serio…

Main event @KillaGorillaMMA

[ #UFCVegas34 | LIVE Tomorrow on @ESPN & @ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/FguVKZW9vL

— UFC (@ufc) August 20, 2021 Kelvin Gastelum had trouble making weight for his UFC on ESPN 29 main event against Jared Cannonier. After a rare week off, the Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to ESPN airwaves. Twenty-two fighters made weight for the event without any issue, while Saidyokub Kakhramonov came in 2.5 pounds heavy for his bantamweight bout against Trevin Jones. Most notably, Gastelum struggled to make weight, initially coming in a quarter of a pound heavy. However, after 20 minutes had passed, Gastelum hit the 186-pound mark.

This is the second UFC main event for Cannonier (13-5), who defeated Jack Hermansson by second-round TKO in his first spotlight bout. "The Killa Gorilla" is looking to rebound after he lost a clear decision to Robert Whittaker last October. The 37-year-old had no issue making weight and c…

@Kongo4real beats the bell and makes Sergei Kharitonov tap before the end of the nd round!#Bellator265 pic.twitter.com/PnU04aeLUz

— BellatorMMA (@BellatorMMA) August 21, 2021

Cheick Kongo still has what it takes to get the job done under Bellator MMA’s bright lights.

A little more than three months removed from his 46th birthday, the ageless Frenchman submitted Pride Fighting Championships veteran Sergei Kharitonov with a rear-naked choke in the second round of their Bellator 265 headliner on Friday at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Kharitonov (30-8, 3-3 Bellator) capitulated 4:59 into Round 2.

Kongo (31-11-2, 13-4 Bellator) trudged through significant difficulty to get to the finish line. Kharitonov punished him with a powerful jab, hunted his patented uppercut and had him reeling with a kick to the face at the end of the first round. Everything changed in the second, where Kongo dazed the Russian with a thudding r…

Sherdog's live Bellator 265 coverage kicks off at 6:30 p.m. ET.

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

Round 1 Starting the Bellator card, we have a highly unusual 225 pound catchweight affair between Bailey Schoenfelder (1-0) and Kory Moegenburg (1-2). Keeping order between the pair will be referee Bobby Wombacher. Moegenburg begins with a couple of solid leg kicks and Schoenfelder isn't quite able to counter either time. Another leg kick is blocked, and Schoenfelder's right cross almost finds the mark. Moegenburg continues to fire leg kicks, but this time Schoenfelder checks them. Schoenfelder finally finds the mark with a right cross, as Moegenburg stays around the fence. Finally, Schoenfelder pasts Moegenburg with a few punches punctuated by an overhand right. Moegenburg stumbles forward, but Schoenfelder manages to push over his opponent onto the ground. Once there, Schoenfelder begins pounding away, and Moegenbu…

Two battle-tested Bellator MMA bantamweights will look to brawl in October.

The news first came from MMA Junkie, who reported earlier this month that Brett Johns (17-3) would be squaring off against Erik Perez (20-8) at Bellator 268. The two bantamweights will come to blows inside the Footprint Center – formerly known as the Talking Stick Resort Arena – in Phoenix on Oct. 16. The booking was subsequently confirmed by the promotion on Friday.

Johns, a Ultimate Fighting Championship standout that left the organization on a two-fight win streak, joined the Bellator ranks and subsequently dropped a decision to Danny Sabatello in May. Before facing Sabatello, the only two men to defeat Johns were current UFC champ Aljamain Sterling and top-10 contender Pedro Munhoz, while he racked up five victories inside the Octagon. Most notably, he hit a calf slicer on Joe Soto at the “TUF 26” Finale in 2017, thereby becoming the second fighter in UFC history to land such a submiss…

An all-Russian rumble at Bellator MMA's welterweight division will be coming to the Moscow card in October.

Igor Lazorin was the first to announce on Friday that the Andrey Koreshkov (24-4) and Rustam Khabilov (24-4) had agreed to face one another at Bellator 269. The Moscow card on Oct. 23 will be held at the VTB Arena, and the 170-pound matchup was subsequently confirmed by ESPN and then Bellator itself shortly after the news broke.

Since suffering the first decision defeat of his career – a split decision setback to Lorenz Larkin in 2019 – Koreshkov left Bellator for a single appearance with AMC Fight Nights, the renamed league of Fight Nights Global. The former champ hit a first-round armbar on Adriano Rodrigues de Oliveira to put himself back on the winning track, and he came back in August against Sabah Homasi. At Bellator 264, Koreshkov outworked Homasi en route to a one-sided unanimous verdict in his favor. Over the years, Koreshkov has defeated the likes of Do…

LIGHTS OUT from the #RefCam!#PFLPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/By3mSPk89U

— PFL (@PFLMMA) August 20, 2021 Massive heavyweight Renan "Problema" Ferreira is confident that he is going to be a problem for any opponent going forward.

After three appearances in the Professional Fighters League heavyweight season, the most recent a 31-second knockout of Stuart Austin on Thursday, Brazil’s Ferreira is positive about his future with the organization. While an outing against Carl Seumanutafa went his way by one-sided decision, a match with countryman Fabricio Werdum was embroiled in controversy.

During the May bout, Werdum snared his opponent in a triangle choke, and although Ferreira tapped, referee Keith Peterson missed it and Ferreira went on to knock Werdum out. The New Jersey State Athletic Control Board overturned the result to a no contest shortly after it took place. Ferreira, speaking to Sherdog before boarding his flight to Rio de Janeiro, was…

First-round finish for @KaylaH #PFLPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/s6bNP5VYia

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) August 20, 2021

Two-time Olympic gold medalist Kayla Harrison advanced to the 2021 Professional Fighters League women’s lightweight final and made it look easy.

The undefeated American Top Team star disposed of Genah Fabian with punches in the first round of their PFL 8 headliner on Thursday at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida. Harrison (11-0, 10-0 PFL) brought their semifinal to a close 4:01 into Round 1.

Fabian (4-2, 3-2 PFL) never stood a chance. Harrison closed the distance, trapped the City Kickboxing representative in the clinch along the fence and executed a takedown. She transitioned from side control to mount and threatened with an armbar before turning to her ground-and-pound. Harrison then battered the Kiwi with punches from above, floated to the back and continued the assault with both hands until refe…

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. Sherdog's live PFL 2021 8 coverage will begin at 5:30 p.m. ET. Check out the MMA Forums to discuss the card or enter your comments and predictions below. Round 1 Beginning the night's fights, Christian "Hollywood" Lohsen (8-2) takes on Jonas "Joe Nasty" Flok (14-5). Both are newcomers to the PFL and the oddsmakers have this as a pure pick'em. Referee Gary Copeland gets the card's first assignment. Lohsen begins with a side kick, but Flok blocks in time. Lohsen goes for another one, and it lands solidly to the body this time. Flok comes forward with hooks, and Lohsen barely ducks in time. Lohsen throws a right jab, but Flok blocks. They go in for a grappling exchange, with Flok looking for a hip throw, but Lohsen shows nice balance to stay upright. Lohsen is being a little loose with his defense, and …

Living in a small fisherman's village in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Norte, the 13-year-old born Janigleison Herculano Alves decided he wanted to be a fighter after watching classic martial arts flick “Bloodsport” on television. At that time, there were no martial arts studios in his small district, so he boarded a bus to Mossoro about 40 km (25 miles) away, where he was welcomed by professional fighter Assuerio Silva.

After the boy explained that he wanted to be a pro fighter, Silva quickly strapped on his gloves. Silva then instructed Tibau to lay on his back and try to escape from mount, all while Silva was clubbing the young lad in the face with surprisingly heavy ground-and-pound. Any normal child would be traumatized, never passing by any martial arts academy again, but not the little Gleison Tibau.

“I got so deformed that I couldn’t return home,” Tibau reminisced to Sherdog. “Otherwise, my mother would be really mad. So, I stayed in Mossoro and returned t…

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. Former Ultimate Fighting Championship title challenger Roxanne Modafferi will go from one rising talent to another in September. Modafferi (25-18) was linked to a bout with Tatiana Suarez at flyweight at UFC 266 on Sept. 25, but Suarez was forced out due to a knee injury. In her stead, per ESPN on Thursday, will be the once-beaten Taila Santos (17-1). The two flyweights will step inside the cage at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on the pay-per-view prelims.

Syndicate MMA standout Modafferi has alternated wins and losses in her last nine since returning to the UFC in 2017. Ultimately falling short to Nicco Montano for the inaugural flyweight strap in her second season on “The Ultimate Fighter,” “The Happy Warrior” has gone the distance in seven of eight since the Montano fight. The lone stoppage in that stretch came when she batt…