Martial Arts News

It appears that Cesar Gracie won’t be part of Nick Diaz’s camp for his upcoming fight against Vicente Luque at UFC on ABC 7 in Abu Dhabi on Aug. 3.

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Diaz’s longtime coach doesn’t like a few aspects of the booking, including the overseas travel and the matchup against Luque. It will be Diaz’s first Octagon appearance since a third-round TKO loss due to retirement against Robbie Lawler at UFC 266 in September 2021.

“I’m really not involved in that fight. I’m going to be perfectly honest with you. That wasn’t my idea. It wasn’t a fight I would have had,” Gracie recently told Submission Radio. “Like if I was advising Nick, I wouldn’t have advised him to do that fight. It’s in Abu Dhabi. I wouldn’t advise to go fight overseas at this point, especially [because] Luque is a very tough guy. You know Nick is a tough guy, but it just doesn’t make that much sense for me where Nick is at in his career.

“And I don’t know. It’s not the fight I would have mad…

Carlos Leal Miranda delivered one of the biggest highlights at LFA 187 this past Saturday, when he defeated Manuel Mena via first-round technical knockout in a Brazil vs. Latin America-themed event.

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After the victory, Leal revealed to Sherdog that he wants to fight for the LFA welterweight title he once held, but his real dream is to compete in the UFC.

“I showed in this fight that I am already at the level of fighting in the biggest event in the world against the best in the world,” the former Professional Fighters League talent said. “In fact, I didn't lose the LFA belt, I left it vacant when I went to the PFL. The ideal for me is to compete for the title again here at LFA. If the invitation to fight in the UFC doesn't come, I'm going to wait.”

Leal also revealed the reason why he departed from the PFL after losing to Sadibou Sy in the 2023 postseason.

“The PFL is a very good organization,” he said. “I grew and matured as a man and…

Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 59 card will end up looking a lot different than originally intended.

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This includes two late additions to the lineup: a bantamweight clash between Montel Jackson and Da'Mon Blackshear and a women’s flyweight tilt pitting Jasmine Jasudavicius against Fatima Kline. The promotion recently confirmed the bookings on its website. Jasudavicius was originally slated to meet Viviane Araujo before the Brazilian withdrew from the event.

UFC on ESPN 59 takes place at Ball Arena in Denver and is headlined by a 125-pound showdown between Rose Namajunas and Tracy Cortez. The main event was one of six fights on the card that either changed or was canceled entirely, as Cortez is a replacement for Maycee Barber.

Jackson has been victorious in his last four promotional appearances. Most recently, he scored a first-round knockout of Rani Yahya at UFC Fight Night 222 in April 2023.

Blackshear, meanwhile, had a two-bout winning streak …

Bobby Green will have a different name when he makes the walk to the Octagon at UFC 304 later this month.

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The veteran lightweight recently announced in a social media post that he has gone through the process to officially change his name to “King Green.” In a video on Instagram, Green displayed the paperwork that made the name change legal.

“Just to let people know. I wasn’t playing. I really changed my name,” Green said in the video.

“King,” of course, was Green’s nickname as a fighter before he made it his official first name. The 37-year-old former King of the Cage champion is scheduled to face Paddy Pimblett in a featured bout at UFC 304 on July 27 at the Co-op Live in Manchester, England. Green has won three of his last four Octagon appearances and is coming off a lopsided three-round verdict over Jim Miller at UFC 300.

“I worked so hard at Bobby Green, but the point was to show [you] go from nothing to a King,” Green wrote in a c…

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While Dricus Du Plessis has been immensely impressed by Robert Whittaker’s latest wins, he believes “Bobby Knuckles” is still another victory away from a title shot.

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Whittaker suffered a second-round TKO loss against Du Plessis at UFC 290 in July 2023. While Du Plessis was the only person to beat Whittaker other than Israel Adesanya since 2014, many discounted “The Reaper” following that loss.

However, Whittaker rebounded with a unanimous decision win over Paulo Costa at UFC 298 this past February. Whittaker was then scheduled to headline UFC on ABC 6 in a title eliminator against Khamzat Chimaev last month before “Borz” pulled out due to illness. Chimaev was replaced on nine days’ notice by unranked prospect Ikram Aliskerov, who went on to suffer a first-round knockout loss.

Closely watching the fight, Du Plessis was very happy with Whittaker’s dominant win and believes the Australian would have beaten Chimaev as well. For D…

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Aljamain Sterling is latest featherweight to rally for a slot at UFC 306 in September at The Sphere in Las Vegas.

Sterling scored a unanimous decision win over Calvin Kattar in his featherweight debut at UFC 300 this past April. The former bantamweight champ has since been teasing a potential clash against Movsar Evloev. While both parties initially expressed interest in the matchup, that seems to have fizzled out now.

While Evloev has accused Sterling of ducking him, “Funkmaster” claims the undefeated Russian is unwilling to accept his terms. Sterling has now redirected focus to streaking Brazilian Diego Lopesfor a clash at UFC 306 on Sept. 14.

“I’m thinking about Aljamain Sterling vs. Diego Lopes at the Sphere. It has a nice ring to it,” Sterling said on his YouTube channel. “Movsar [Evloev], I don’t know what the hell he’s doing. I gave him a date and he hasn’t accepted yet, started making all these excuses. So, either you wanna fight on my …

Marc Goddard reveals why he’ll never referee a Leon Edwards fight. 👀

Full episode: https://t.co/ISAltc1GC9 pic.twitter.com/eFENek2ISk

— OverDogs Podcast | Kanpai Media (@OverDogsPodcast) July 7, 2024

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Referee Marc Goddard doesn’t want the slightest personal involvement with fighters whose bouts he officiates.

While refereeing is one of the toughest parts of all sports, combat sports referees arguably have a heavier burden on their shoulders due to the lethal nature of the sport. Hence, to avoid any conflict of interest, referees at the highest level are not allowed to coach fighters.

This has also stopped Goddard from refereeing the fights of UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards. The Scottish referee hasn’t been seriously involved in coaching for a while now other than a weekly class at his friend’s gym. However, Goddard revealed that he was Edwards’ first MMA coach back when “Rocky” was just an amateur. To avoid…

Longtime Charles Oliveira coach Diego Lima believes “do Bronx” is the most logical contender for the next lightweight title shot.

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Oliveira was dethroned by Islam Makhachev via second round submission at UFC 280 on October 2022 in Abu Dhabi. Oliveria subsequently knocked out Beneil Dariush to earn an immediate rematch against Makhachev at the same venue a year later at UFC 294. However, “do Bronx” was forced out on 10 days’ notice due to a gruesome cut suffered in sparring. The Brazilian was replaced by Alexander Volkanovski, who suffered a brutal head kick knockout against Makhachev.

Oliveira then dropped split decision against fellow contender Arman Tsarukyan in a title eliminator at UFC 300. While Tsarukyan was offered an immediate title shot against Makhachev, who was adamant on fighting in the summer, “Ahalkalakets” turned it down due the quick turnaround.

Although Makhachev had expressed interest in fighting Justin Gaethje as well, “The …

Alibeg Rasulov is focused on the ONE Championship 170-pound title rather — though not necessarily current champion Christian Lee — after a successful promotional debut on Friday.

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Rasulov made his debut against former lightweight (170-pound) champ Ok Rae Yoon in the main event at ONE on Prime Video 23 at the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Thailand. The Turkish controlled the action against Yoon for the most part of 25 minutes to earn a unanimous decision win and extend his perfect record to 15-0.

“You know, it was a pretty difficult fight,” Rasulov said at the post-fight press conference. “I'm really happy to have won and my opponent, he was strong, but still I won. But I just can say that I can do much better.”

Rasulov and Yoon were originally slated to compete for the ONE Championship interim 170-pound title, with the winner going on to challenge lineal champ Lee. However, Rasulov was ineligible to win the belt because while he passed hydration t…

Nico Carrillo claims he hasn’t hit his peak despite compiling a winning streak against some of the beset muay thai has to offer.

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Carrillo left yet another veteran in his wake with a second-round TKO win over Saemapetch Fairtex in the co-main event at ONE on Prime Video 23. The Scotsman knocked Saemapetch down twice before scoring the final knockdown to secure the finish. Carrillo admitted that he faced initial difficulty with Saemapetch’s unorthodox defense but was sure of securing the finish once he had made the necessary adjustments.

“I'm not surprised [at Saemapetch’s durability]. I think he had a bit of a weird tactic,” Carrillo said at the post-fight press conference. “He was ducking his head when I was coming in close, and I had to readjust to that, because it was taking the power out of my shots. That was a bit strange. But after I readjusted, yeah, I knew he wasn't going to be able to take the shots.”

This marked the second consecuti…

Oumar Kane believes his win over countryman Mamadou “Boucher Ketchup” Kamara firmly established the wide gap in their skillsets.

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Kane and Kamara met in a kickboxing clash at ONE on Prime Video 23 at the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Thailand on Friday. Kamara looked out of his depth against “Reug Reug” before the ONE Championship heavyweight knocked him out at the 2:08 mark of Round 1.

While they both traded several barbs leading up to the bout, for Kane it was nothing more than a fight.

“Yes, but this is [just a] fight. In a fight, you come in hungry. And this is a fight,” Kane said at the post-fight press conference. “You come in [here] all the time and you're hungry. You just gotta beat this guy. He's talking too much, this guy, since [before] the fight.”

Kane noted that his social media influencer opponent, who now lives in the Bronx, New York, continues to have a massive following in their home country of Senegal. Kane wants everyone to kn…

Tye Ruotolo claims to have faced health issues going into his bout against Jozef Chen at ONE on Prime Video 23.

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Ruotolo took on the 19-year-old prodigy in a submission grappling bout at the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium on Firday. While Ruotolo managed to maintain his undefeated record with a unanimous decision win, the South African gave him a run for his money.

Although Ruotolo isn’t proud of his performance, he claims to have had a bad camp to blame for it. However, the 21-year-old is happy to have roped in the decision victory even on his “worst day.”

“For sure, I could have performed a lot better,” Ruotolo said at the post-fight press conference. “It’s not a performance that I'm very proud of. I didn't have the best camp, and I didn't feel the best way going through the fight — unless it's the fact that I won even on my worst day. It makes me happy. But that's not a performance that I like to have, especially in a place like Lumpinee. I have …