Martial Arts News

Impressive bantamweight contender Magomed Magomedov will square off against C.J. Hamilton on the Bellator 255 undercard.

Sherdog.com confirmed the booking with a promotion official following an initial report from Cageside Press. Hamilton replaces Jared Scoggins, who was forced to withdraw from the fight. Two other bouts were confirmed for the Bellator 255 prelims: Mukhamad Berkhamov vs. Herman Terrado at welterweight and Fabio Aguiar vs. Khalid Murtazaliev at middleweight.

Bellator 255 takes place at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn., on April 2 and is headlined by a featherweight grand prix semifinal between reigning champion Patricio Freire and Emmanuel Sanchez. The card will air on Showtime.

A former Absolute Championship Berkut title holder, Magomedov made his promotional debut on Dec. 10, when he scored a dominant three-round verdict against Matheus Mattos at Bellator 254 to run his career mark to 17-1. Magomedov also notably owns a victory over former UF…

If Frank Mir is going to showcase his skills in the Sweet Science on April 17, it won’t be against Antonio Tarver.

The Georgia Athletic Commission denied Tarver a license to fight Mir on the undercard of the Triller Promotions event that is headlined by a boxing match between former Bellator champion Ben Askren and social media personality Jake Paul. ESPN was first to report the news.

According to commission executive director Steve Woodruff, Tarver was denied a license because state bylaws dictate that anyone 50 or older must have 10 professional fights on their record with in the last 10 years, "including at least four professional matches or contests of boxing in the immediately preceding four years.” The 52-year-old Tarver has fought just five times in 10 years and not at all in the past six. Tarver won multiple champions at light heavyweight over the course of his career while compiling a 31-6-1 record.

Triller has proposed former IBF cruiserweight champio…

Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 21 main card attracted an audience of 721,000 viewers to ESPN, according to ShowBuzz Daily.

That’s the top figure for a UFC on ESPN card in 20201, surpassing both UFC on ESPN 20 (244,000 viewers) and UFC on ESPN 19 (658,000 viewers). The event didn’t begin on ESPN until 10:25 p.m. ET due to the NCAA wrestling championships. As a result, the main card began on ESPN2 at 10 p.m. ET and averaged 512,000 viewers for the first portion.

UFC on ESPN 21 took place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and saw Derek Brunson defeat Kevin Holland via unanimous decision in the evening’s middleweight main event. The overall main draw wasn’t large on star power and also had the disadvantage of going head-to-head with the NCAA basketball tournament on Saturday night, which dominated ratings with games on multiple networks.

The UFC on ESPN 21 prelims averaged 438,000 viewers on ESPN2. That portion of the card featured a women’s bantamweight matchup between Macy C…

A matchup of former flyweight title challengers is in the works for an Ultimate Fighting Championship event on July 10.

According to MMAFighting.com, Jennifer Maia will square off against Jessica Eye at the UFC Fight Night card, which does not have an official headliner or location.

Maia last appeared at UFC 255, where she dropped a five-round verdict to Valentina Shevchenko in a 125-pound title bout on Nov. 21. The former Invicta FC title holder is 3-3 in UFC competition, with victories over Joanne Calderwood, Roxanne Modafferi and Alexis Davis to her credit.

Eye, who was knocked out by a Shevchenko head kick at UFC 238, has lost three of her last four Octagon appearances overall. Most recently, the Ohio native suffered a unanimous decision defeat to Joanne Calderwood at UFC 257 on Jan. 23.

Henry Corrales will square off with Keith Lee, the younger brother of UFC talent Kevin Lee, on the Bellator 258 undercard.

Promotion officials confirmed the pairing to Sherdog.com on Tuesday, along with two other bouts set for the preliminary draw: Johnny Eblen vs. Daniel Madrid at middleweight and Weber Almeida vs. Johnny Soto at featherweight.

Bellator 258 takes place on May 7 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., and is headlined by a bantamweight title tilt between Juan Archuleta and Sergio Pettis. The card will air on Showtime.

Corrales snapped a two-bout skid with a split-decision triumph over Brandon Girtz at Bellator 250 this past October. The former King of the Cage champion is 6-5 during his tenure with the California-based organization.

After besting Shawn Bunch and Vinicius Zani in his first two promotional appearances, Lee dropped a unanimous verdict against Raufeon Stots at Bellator 253 on Nov. 19. The 24-year-old Extreme Couture repres…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzjuhUojUGc&w=560&h=315]

An amateur mixed martial arts event got out of control in Florida this past Saturday.

TMZ Sports obtained video of the scene, which included mutliple fights outside the cage at “RIZE Fighting Championship: Battle of Warriors” at the Bamboo Room in Lake Worth, Fla. As the melee continued, footage showed a man reaching into a woman's purse, pulling out a handgun and firing it into the air at least once. Based on the video, there appear to be fans in the balcony area just above where the man fires the gun.

“Who knows what his thoughts were, if it was to diffuse the situation, but you can’t do that in the United States, especially at an event packed with fans, with people, you can’t shoot guns in the air,” Rize promoter Armando Gonzalez told NBC Miami.

According to the NBC Miami report, the fighting outside the cage initially began because people didn’t like the officiating in one particular bout. Read more

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCjThNVkTbw&w=560&h=315]

Tsuyoshi Sudario turned heads with quick knockout of Kazushi Miyamoto in their heavyweight bout at Rizin 27, but it’s what happened after the stoppage that has come back to haunt the sumo wrestler.

The Japanese promotion released a statement Tuesday announcing that Sudario has been fined for continuing to throw punches at his opponent after referee Ryogaku Wada attempted to restrain him. Tensions flared after the incident as both corners entered the ring. As a result, Sudario has been fined 25 percent of his purse.

“The incident occurred after Sudario finished Miyamoto with a promotional record-breaking knockout,” the statement read. “Referee Ryogaku Wada waved off the fight in [eight] seconds after Sudario landed a clean right hand to Miyamoto’s jaw. Sudario refused to stop attacking after the official stoppage. Sudario’s corner, Enson Inoue entered the ring and helped restrain Sudario, whereupon Miyamo…

Coming off an impressive sequence of eight straight wins, Charles Oliveira was recently confirmed to face ex-Bellator champion Michael Chandler for the vacant lightweight crown at UFC 262 on May 15.

Shortly thereafter, Oliveira revealed to Sherdog.com the curious manner in which he received the most important news of his fighting career. After Khabib Nurmagomedov confirmed his retirement and rumors of a lightweight title bout between Justin Gaethje and Chandler became prevalent, Oliveira decided to spend some time relaxing on his ranch.

"When some fan asked me what I thought about that fight, I answered it would be a great fight between two killers. I wanted to fight for the belt, so once I didn’t have that fight confirmed I decided to go on Thursday night to my ranch, where the telephone just doesn't work. But my father had to go to the city to buy some stuff and saw many calls from my trainer, Diego Lima, and told me about that.

“At that moment I knew Diego w…

After a dominant victory against Drew Dober at UFC 259, Islam Makhachev is one of the fastest-rising contenders in the lightweight division.

Makhachev, who has won seven consecutive fights within the Las Vegas-based promotion, has been tabbed by former 155-pound king Khabib Nurmagomedov as a future champion. The 29-year-old Dagestani called for a showdown with Tony Ferguson after UFC 259, but with “El Cucuy” now booked against Beneil Dariush, has turned his attention to other potential opponents.

One of those is Rafael dos Anjos, who Makhachev was supposed to face at UFC 254 in October and at UFC Fight Night 182 in November before the bout fell through. Dos Anjos recently said he would only face Makhachev if a victory granted him a rematch with Nurmagomedov, whose retirement was only officially recognized by the UFC this past week.

“I don’t know why his opinion changed so quickly,” Makhachev said in a video interview (translation via RT Sport). “He won a fight a…

Kenny Florian will be on the Professional Fighters League broadcast team for the promotion’s 2021 season.

The organization announced the news via release on Tuesday. After a 17-bout career in the UFC, Florian served as an analyst and color commentator for the Las Vegas-based promotion for several years. Florian will work alongside UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture and play-by-play commentator Sean O’Connell on the PFL broadcast team.

“I’m very excited to be a part of the PFL family and this season looks to be the best one yet,” said Florian. “Breaking down MMA fights and high level martial arts techniques is what I enjoy most, and I’m elated to be a part of the tremendous commentary team to get a chance to do just that.”

Florian rose to prominence on Season 1 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” where he lost to Diego Sanchez at the reality show’s finale. The Massachusetts native went on to challenge for titles at both lightweight and featherweight but never captured UFC go…

A potential flyweight title eliminator bout is set for Bellator 256, as Liz Carmouche will lock horns with Vanessa Porto at Bellator 256.

Fansided was first to report the pairing. Bellator 256 takes place on April 9 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., and is headlined by a light heavyweight grand prix clash between Ryan Bader and Lyoto Machida. The card will air on Showtime.

Carmouche has challenged for titles at flyweight and bantamweight in the UFC, falling to Valentina Shevchenko and Ronda Rousey, respectively. “Girl-Rilla” was successful in her debut with the California-based promotion, as she tapped out DeAnna Bennett in the third round at Bellator 246.

A former Invicta title holder, Porto will be fighting for the first time since November 2019. The 37-year-old Sao Paulo native enters the matchup with Carmouche on a four-bout winning streak. She owns a 22-8 professional mark that includes wins over the likes of Pearl Gonzalez, Roxanne Modafferi, Ta…

Montserrat Ruiz and Cheyanne Buys could be out for up to six months following their main card matchup at UFC on ESPN 21.

Ruiz, who earned a unanimous decision over Buys in their strawweight clash, must have an MRI on her left knee and right shoulder and if she isn’t cleared, will be sidelined until Sept. 17. At a minimum, she is suspended until April 20 with no contact until April 11. Buys needs a right elbow X-ray and doctor clearance or she will be suspended until Sept. 17. She also has a minimum suspension until April 20 with no contact until April 11.

A full list of medical suspensions from Saturday’s event were released to mixedmartialarts.com. UFC on ESPN 21 took place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and saw Derek Brunson take a unanimous verdict against Kevin Holland in the evening’s middleweight main event. Brunson is suspended until April 20 with no contact until April 11 due to a laceration on his right eyebrow, while Holland is suspended until April 11 with …