Martial Arts News

Demian Maia is back for a potential farewell bout, as he will square off against Belal Muhammad at UFC 263.

ESPN was first to report the welterweight pairing. UFC 263 takes place at an undisclosed location on June 12 and features a flyweight title rematch pitting Deiveson Figueiredo against Brandon Moreno.

After suffering a first-round TKO loss to Gilbert Burns in the UFC Fight Night 170 co-main event in March 2020, Maia expressed a desire to finish out his contract with the promotion and then call it a career after one more bout. Prior to the setback against Burns, the 43-year-old jiu-jitsu ace had won three consecutive fight in the Octagon, besting Lyman Good, Anthony Rocco Martin and Ben Askren in succession.

Muhammad is unbeaten in his last five UFC outings but is coming off a no contest against Leon Edwards on March 13. The bout ended when Muhammad was unable to continue after being poked in the eye by his opponent 18 seconds into Round 2. Although “Remem…

Alexander Volkov will square off against Ciryl Gane in the featured bout of an Ultimate Fighting Championship card on June 26.

ESPN was first to report the heavyweight matchup. The card does not yet have an official venue or location.

Volkov has been victorious in three of his last four UFC appearances. Most recently, the 32-year-old Russian dominated Alistair Overeem en route to a second-round TKO at UFC Fight Night 184 on Feb. 6. His UFC tenure includes wins over the likes of Walt Harris, Fabricio Werdum, Stefan Struve, Roy Nelson and Timothy Johnson.

Gane is unbeaten in eight professional outings — including five in the UFC. The Frenchman is coming off a five-round verdict over Jairzinho Rozenstruik in the main event of UFC Fight Night 186 on Feb. 27.

A pivotal welterweight showdown pitting Gilbert Burns against Stephen Thompson is on tap for UFC 264.

UFC president Dana White recently confirmed the bout to ESPN. UFC 264 takes place on July 10 and is headlined by a trilogy bout between Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor. The card is expected to be held in Las Vegas, potentially at the T-Mobile Arena.

Burns last appeared at UFC 264, where he suffered in a third-round TKO loss against Kamaru Usman in a welterweight title bout. Prior to that, “Durinho” had been victorious in his last six promotional appearances, besting the likes of Tyron Woodley, Demian Maia and Gunnar Nelson in the process.

After a stretch in which he won just once in five bouts from November 2016 to March 2019, “Wonderboy” has rebounded to post consecutive decision triumphs over Vicente Luque and Geoff Neal. The South Carolina native is 11-4-1 during his tenure with the Las Vegas-based promotion.

Chan Sung Jung will lock horns with Dan Ige in a featherweight main event at UFC Fight Night on June 19.

ESPN first brought word of the matchup. The event does not yet have an official location or venue.

“The Korean Zombie” had a two-bout winning streak snapped at UFC Fight Night 180, when he dropped a five-round verdict to current No. 1 contender Brian Ortega this past October. Prior to that, Jung had earned consecutive first-round TKO wins against Frankie Edgar and Renato Carneiro.

Ige, meanwhile, is coming off a 22-second knockout of Gavin Tucker at UFC Fight Night 187 on March 13. The Xtreme Couture product has won seven of his last eight Octagon appearances, with a five-round decision loss to Calvin Kattar on July 15 as the only setback on his record during that run.

Alexander Volkanovski and Brian Ortega will serve as opposing coaches for “The Ultimate Fighter 29.”

UFC president Dana White confirmed the news to ESPN. The long-running reality show, which hasn’t aired since 2018, is expected to begin filming later this month. The latest iteration will feature competitors at middleweight and bantamweight and will stream on ESPN+.

Volkanovski and Ortega were scheduled to square off in a featheweight championship bout in the co-main event of UFC 260 on March 27, but Volkanovski was forced to withdraw after testing positive for COVID-19. Volkanovski will be rebooked at some point after “TUF 29.”

The reality show was initially supposed to premiere in March but was postponed when tryouts were delayed due to the pandemic. The most recent edition of the series, “TUF 28,” premiered in August 2018 and featured Robert Whittaker and Kelvin Gastelum as opposing coaches. The show included men’s heavyweights and women’s featherweights, wit…

Cristiane Justino will defend her featherweight crown against Leslie Smith in the Bellator 259 main event.

The California-based promotion recently announced the booking. Bellator 259 takes place on May 21 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., and the main card airs on Showtime at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT. Two other bouts were confirmed for the card: Adam Piccolotti vs. Georgi Karakhanyan at lightweight and Christian Edwards vs. Ben Parrish at light heavyweight.

Justino and Smith initially squared off at UFC 198, where “Cyborg” earned a technical knockout victory 1:21 into the opening stanza of a 140-pound catchweight affair.

“I believe [after] five years she’s going to be a better fighter,” Justino said. “More training, more working and fighting. More experience. The first fight was very fast, so I think this one is going to be a longer fight. She’s a warrior. She likes to fight and it’s going to be nice to fight somebody like this.”

A former 145-pound ch…

Sherdog's live Bellator 255 coverage kicks off Friday at 6 p.m. ET. Also, free live streams of the prelim and main cards can be watched here.

Check out the MMA Forums to discuss the card or enter your comments and predictions below. Round 1 Sherdog Scores Ben Duffy scores the round:Jay Pettry scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Ben Duffy scores the round:Jay Pettry scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Ben Duffy scores the round:Jay Pettry scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:The Official Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Ben Duffy scores the round:Jay Pettry scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Ben Duffy scores the round:Jay Pettry scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Ben Duffy scores the round:Jay Pettry scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:The Official Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Ben Duffy scores the round:Jay Pett…

Greatness comes in all shapes and sizes. In Bellator MMA, it has taken the form of a 5-foot-6, 145-pound Brazilian.

Patricio Freire retained his undisputed featherweight championship, as he choked Emmanuel Sanchez unconscious with a guillotine in the first round of their Bellator 255 headliner on Friday at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. Sanchez (20-5, 12-4 Bellator), who had never before been finished, lost his grip on reality 3:35 into Round 1.

Champion and challenger fought at a measured pace, their mutual respect evident from the start. Midway through the first round, Freire (32-4, 20-4 Bellator) stepped into punching range and knocked down the Roufusport standout with a ringing left hook. In his haste to return to his feet, Sanchez left his neck exposed. “Pitbull” bit down on the choke, jumped into full guard and let his squeeze do the rest.

In addition to serving as a successful title defense, the win advanced Freire to the final of th…

Dustin Poirier has officially signed his contract to fight Conor McGregor on July 10, sources say. McGregor, as we know, was already in.

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) April 2, 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. It’s on. On Friday, ESPN broke the news that Dustin Poirier (27-6, 1 NC) and Conor McGregor (22-5) had officially signed their bout agreements to compete on UFC 264 on July 10. The two lightweights will headline the pay-per-view event that is expected to take place in the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas with fans in attendance. The two had been targeted for the matchup back in March, and the bout has now been made official. No title will be on the line, but McGregor has suggested a custom belt be created for the victor of this match.

Poirier and McGregor are 1-1 headed into the trilogy match, with each scoring a knockout…

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. After over two years away, Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight Michel Prazeres is ready to get back in action. Late Thursday night, Georgian outlet Ag. Fight reported that Prazeres (26-3) was gearing up to make his return to the Octagon on June 26. The unnumbered UFC Fight Night event on this date does not currently have a headliner, location or venue established, as it could take place in the UFC Apex in Las Vegas or elsewhere depending on the status of the coronavirus pandemic. On this card, he will be squaring off with unbeaten Shavkat Rakhmonov (13-0) in the welterweight division. The matchup has since been confirmed by multiple outlets as well as Rakhmonov himself on his Instagram.

Prazeres was suspended in 2020 for failed drug tests the previous year, with his results showing the anabolic steroid boldenone and i…

Just when you think you’ve seen it all in the great sport of MMA, something new happens – and on April Fools’ Day, no less.

On Thursday night, the first event in a doubleheader for Cage Fury Fighting Championships took place in Philadelphia titled CFFC 94. The event was capped off by a thrilling welterweight championship clash between Evan Cutts and Bassil Hafez, where it became the first bout in the organization’s history to reach the fifth round – CFFC title fights are four-round affairs, with the possibility for a fifth should it be tied up. Even though this was a historic occasion, the biggest story was not about the championship showdown, the omoplata that occurred earlier in the night or the other fun fights on the card. The most noteworthy was that a fighter lost a finger.

The co-headliner saw undefeated Devin Goodale square off against 2012 Olympic wrestler Khetag Pliev in a 180-pound catchweight contest. The two battled it out for ten hard-fought minutes, and …

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzYEqTbwvvI&w=560&h=315] If you thought Full Metal Dojo would run out of wild ideas for its “Fight Circus” series of events, you haven’t been paying attention.

On Tuesday, the Thailand-based organization announced that its third Fight Circus event, titled “Fisting for Dollars,” would take place on April 9 in the U.S. and April 10 in Thailand. Like the previous cards, Fight Circus Vol. 3 will be streamed live and free on the CamSoda platform, with a wide variety of bouts scheduled throughout the night. Although there may not be a single traditional MMA bout on the card, FMD is branching out to many different facets of unarmed combat.

There are currently nine announced matches for the event, with each one under a different ruleset. While more traditional combat sports such as muay Thai, lethwei and bare-knuckle boxing bouts are booked, the intrigue lies with the unusual matchups. Carrying on the trend from the past two Fight Circus…