Martial Arts News

In an exchange of dueling head kicks, Nico Echeverry landed first, but Le'ville Simpson landed the one that counted, setting up a stunning second-round finish and winning Simpson the Fury Fighting Championship lightweight title.

Fury FC 45, which took place on April 18 at the Bayou Events Center in Houston, Texas, was the second show on Fury's new broadcast agreement with UFC Fight Pass. The main event featured Echeverry in his first defense of the belt, against Simpson, in his second attempt at winning it. The first round was conducted entirely on the feet, characterized by tense striking exchanges as Echeverry switched stances and worked to navigate the taller challenger’s reach. Simpson, perhaps expecting a takedown attempt, used lateral movement, push kicks and his long left jab to maintain distance.

Both men appeared more aggressive to begin the second frame, and 15 seconds into the round the champ threw a hard left high kick that Simpson took on the arm. Simpson…

Marlon Vera will square off against Davey Grant at an Ultimate Fighting Championship event on June 19.

MMA DNA was first to report the bantamweight booking. The UFC Fight Night card takes place at an as yet to be announced location and is headlined by a featherweight duel pitting Chan Sung Jung against Dan Ige.

Vera and Grant initially fought in February 2016, with Grant taking a three-round verdict at UFC Fight Night 84.

Vera went 1-2 in three 2020 appearances, sandwiching a TKO win over Sean O’Malley between decision losses against Yadong Song and Jose Aldo. The 28-year-old Team Oyama representative is 10-6 during his promotional tenure and 16-7 as a professional overall.

Grant has been on a roll of late, posting three consecutive victories in the Octagon — including back-to-back knockouts of Martin Day and Jonathan Martinez. “The Ultimate Fighter 18” cast member has competed infrequently since his appearance on the reality show in 2013, compiling a 4-3…

Bellator MMA has parted ways with nine fighters, notably Brandon Girtz and Roger Huerta.

In addition to those two, the following athletes are also no longer on the California-based promotion’s roster: Callum Ellenor, Arbi Mezhidov, Frans Mlambo, Paul Redmond, Ryan Roddy, Richie Smullen and Gabriel Varga.

Sherdog.com confirmed the news with a promotion official on Monday following an initial report from MMAjunkie.com. It is unclear whether the aformentioned fighters were released or simply did not have their contracts renewed.

Girtz has been with Bellator since 2012, compiling an 8-8 mark over the course of his promotional tenure. During that time, he went 1-2 in an entertaining trilogy against Derek Campos and also posted wins over the likes of Saad Awad and Melvin Guillard.

Huerta, meanwhile, rose to fame in the UFC and even appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated for his fight with Leonard Garcia in April 2007. “El Matador” went 1-2 during a brief s…

Kelvin Gastelum is maintaining a positive attitude following his loss to Robert Whittaker in the UFC on ESPN 22 main event this past Saturday.

Gastelum shared “Fight of the Night” honors with his opponent for a bout in which he lost a unanimous decision at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. While Gastelum pressured Whittaker throughout the fight and displayed a sturdy chin, he had no answers for the ex-champion’s versatile offensive arsenal at the end of the night.

“The Ultimate Fighter 17” winner released a statement expressing a desire to still be “one of the best” on social media.

“Getting an onslaught of amazing messages and I’m glad [people] enjoyed the fight,” Gastelum wrote. “Thank you all for sending even the slightest positive gesture and messages.

I still believe I can get the job done and be one of the best! I wouldn’t say that just to say it, I believe it with my heart. I am learning so much from my opponents and I will make the necessary adjustments f…

Court McGee will square off against Claudio Silva in a welterweight duel at UFC Fight Night 188 on May 22.

AgFight was first to report the booking. UFC Fight Night 188 takes place at an as yet to be announced location and is headlined by a bantamweight showdown pitting Cody Garbrandt against Rob Font.

McGee, 36, has lost five of his last six Octagon appearances dating back to January 2017. Most recently, “The Ultimate Fighter 11” winner dropped a three-round verdict against Carlos Condit at UFC on ESPN 16 this past October.

The 38-year-old Silva began his promotional tenure with five consecutive triumphs before falling to James Krause via unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night 180 on Oct. 17. The loss to Krause was just the second in 16 professional appearances for the London Shootfighters representative.

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Billy Quarantillo will lock horns with Herbert Burns in a featherweight tilt at UFC Fight Night on July 17.

Quarantillo announced the pairing via social media. The event does not have an official location or headliner but is expected to include the return of Miesha Tate, as she faces Marion Reneau in a bantamweight matchup.

Quarantillo had an eight-bout professional winning streak halted at UFC 256, where he dropped a unanimous decision to Gavin Tucker. The Da…

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Legacy Fighting Alliance will crown its third-ever female strawweight champion on April 23.

The promotion recently announced that Pierangela Rodriguez Giunta will face Svetlana Gotsyk for 115-pound gold in the main event of LFA 105 at the Grand Event Center in Shawnee, Okla. The card will air on UFC Fight Pass at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT. The LFA strawweight belt became vacant after Lupita Godinez signed with the UFC.

Giunta has kicked off her professional career with five triumphs on the regional circuit in Panama and Spain. She has finished all but one of those victories by knockout or technical knockout.

A native of Ukraine, Gotsyk is a former strawweight title holder with the World Warriors Fighting Championship promotion. Her 13-4 career mark includes a notable TKO defeat to UFC champ Weili Zhang in 2016 and 12 wins inside the distance.

The rest of the LFA 105 main card is as follows: Jake C…

Combate Global will hold a one-night, four-man tournament to crown its inaugural North American lightweight champion on April 23.

The promotion announced the news in a release on Monday. Anthony Avila will face Alejandro Sanchez in one semifinal matchup, while Tommy Aaron will meet Luis Gomez in the other. Additionally, Cristian Perez will lock horns with Geraldo Rosa Almonte in a tournament alternate bout.

If one of the semifinal winners is unable to compete in the final, the winner of the alternate bout will take his place in the championship round.

“One night tournaments have become a part of Combate’s DNA, and we couldn’t think of a better way of crowning a new lightweight champion than making the champ earn the title by beating two opponents in one night,” said Combate Global CEO Campbell McLaren.

The event airs on April 23 at 12:30 ET/PT on Univision and at 12:30 ET/9:30 p.m. PT on TUDN USA from Univision’s studios in Miami, Florida. Two other bouts …

It’s getting more and more difficult to deny Robert Whittaker a chance to reclaim the UFC middleweight championship.

“The Reaper” earned his third consecutive triumph in the UFC on ESPN 22 headliner, as he put on a brilliant striking exhibition against Kelvin Gastelum for five rounds at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday night. While Whittaker’s lukewarm attitude toward a title shot might have cost him following a victory over Jared Cannonier this past October, the Sydney-based fighter made it pretty clear what he believes he deserves after besting Gastelum in impressive fashion.

“That’s kind of how I’ve always taken to the approach of fighting, is that if you beat ’em all, you’re eventually at the top,” Whittaker said. “It’s a simple path, and there is no other fight that makes sense to me other than that tile shot, and that’s the shot that I want and that I’m getting.”

After losing the 185-pound belt to Israel Adesanya via second-round knockout at UFC 243 in Octob…

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On an evening where UFC on ESPN 22 nearly tied a record for most split decisions on a fight card, Robert Whittaker’s clear-cut verdict over Kelvin Gastelum was an easy choice for “Fight of the Night.”

Whittaker and Gastelum each received $50,000 for Saturday’s middleweight headliner at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Although Whittaker picked his opponent apart with crisp punching combinations and head kicks, Gastelum was a game opponent throughout the contest, and that made for a compelling 25 minutes of action. Ultimately, Whittaker was too much, as he swept the scorecards by identical 50-45 tallies.

Earlier, Gerald Meerschaert set a UFC middleweight submission record, earning himself a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus in the process. Meershaert secured his sixth submission in the Octagon by choking Bartosz Fabinski unconscious 2:00 into the opening round of their preliminary middleweight contest.

Finally, Tony Gravely garnered the card’s other $50,000 “Per…

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. Robert Whittaker is on the verge of getting a chance to reclaim the Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight belt. The ex-champion put on a striking master class against Kelvin Gastelum in the UFC on ESPN 22 main event, sweeping the scorecards by a trio of 50-45 counts. Whittaker (23-5, 14-3 UFC) has now bested Gastelum, Jared Cannonier and Darren Till in succession since relinquishing the 185-pound title to Israel Adesanya in October 2019.

“I’m feeling on top of the world,” Whittaker said. “Obviously this was a very hard fight. I think a lot of people were selling Kelvin short because of where he’s ranked, but I think he’s a very tough fight.”

The PMA Super Martial Arts representative was one step ahead of Gastelum (16-6, 1 NC, 11-6, 1 NC UFC) for the entire 25 minutes. Whittaker set the tone when he briefly dazed Gast…