Martial Arts News

Cat Zingano will square off against Olivia Parker at Bellator 256 on April 9.

Sherdog.com confirmed the featherweight booking with a promotion official following an initial report from ESPN. Bellator 256 takes place at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., and is headlined by a light heavyweight grand prix quarterfinal matchup between Ryan Bader and Lyoto Machida. The card will air on Showtime.

A former UFC bantamweight title challenger, Zingano was successful in her first promotional foray, as she outpointed Gabrielle Holloway at Bellator 245 this past September. The 38-year-old Broomfield, Colo., native is 11-4 as a pro and owns notable wins over the likes of Amanda Nunes, Miesha Tate, Marion Reneau and Raquel Pennington.

Parker, meanwhile, earned finishes in her first four professional outings under the Valor Fighting Championship banner. The 39-year-old Knoxville Martial Arts Academy representative came up short in her most recent bout at Invicta FC 40, …

Decorated jiu-jitsu champion Gordon Ryan has signed with One Championship with plans to compete in both mixed martial arts and grappling.

One CEO Chatri Sityodtong announced the news Monday on Twitter. A date for Ryan’s debut with the Singapore-based promotion was not revealed, but he will likely compete as a heavyweight.

BREAKING NEWS: Gordon Ryan has signed with ONE Championship for both mixed martial arts and submission grappling!

— Chatri Sityodtong (@yodchatri) March 22, 2021

Regarded by some as the best pound-for-pound grappler in the world, Ryan is a three-time ADCC champion, IBJJF no-gi champion and a four-time Eddie Bravo Invitational champion. In grappling competition, Ryan has bested the likes of Josh Barnett, Gabriel Gonzaga, Rousimar Palhares, Dillon Danis and Marcus Almeida.

Ryan is a black belt under Garry Tonon, who has compiled a 6-0 record under the One banner.

A last-minute cancellation led to an emotional pre-fight moment for Max Griffin on Saturday.

When a scheduled lightweight clash between Gregor Gillespie and Brad Riddell fell through due to COVID-19 protocols, Griffin’s matchup against Kenan Song was elevated to the UFC on ESPN 21 co-main event. It was something Griffin had envisioned with his team heading into 2021.

“When I got the call that I was going to be the co-main event, I started crying,” Griffin said. “This New Year’s, I had a conversation with my team and we said I’m going to get a co-main event and then take it over. God made it happen. To be on ESPN, then be bumped to co-main and knock him out bad like that? It doesn’t get any better than this.”

Griffin laid waste to Song, sending his foe face down to the canvas with a flurry of power punches 2:20 into the opening stanza of their welterweight bout. The 35-year-old former Tachi Palace Fights and West Coast Fighting Championship title holder has won …

Luke Rockhold has been talking about making a return to the Ultimate Fighting Championship in recent months, and he could have one of his American Kickboxing Academy teammates in his corner if that becomes a reality.

In an interview with TMZ Sports, Rockhold revealed that retired former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov has talked about coaching him for his next bout. After several attempts at getting Nurmagomedov to come back to the Octagon, the UFC finally acknowledged his retirement and officially vacated the lightweight belt last week.

“He’s assuming this coaching role now. He’s going off on me, wanting to coach me. He wants to be a big part of my comeback so it’s pretty funny to see Khabib assume this role,” Rockhold said. “He’s going for ‘Coach of the Year.’ That’s what he wants. He wants to be the next great thing, follow in his dad’s footsteps. That’s what his dad always did. His dad was always insightful and always had a good eye for the sport and…

The Bellator 256 preliminary lineup has received a pair of bouts, as Cody Law will meet Nathan Ghareeb at featherweight, while Talita Nogueira will face Jessica Borga in a women’s 145-pound clash.

Sherdog.com confirmed the fights following an initial report from MMAFighting.com. Bellator 256 takes place at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut on April 9 and features a pair of light heavyweight grand prix bouts at the top of the bill: Ryan Bader vs. Lyoto Machida and Corey Anderson vs. Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov.

A former Division II national champion in wrestling, Law has kicked off his Bellator tenure with finishes of Orlando Ortega and Kenny Champion in his first two appearances. Ghareeb is also 2-0 and is coming off a 54-second stoppage of Zach Johnson at CES MMA 59.

A former featherweight title challenger, Nogueira has not fought since October 2019, when she dropped a split verdict to Jessy Miele at Bellator 231. Borga enters the matchup on a modest…

Kevin Holland is who he is, and don’t expect that to change following a loss to Derek Brunson at UFC on ESPN 21.

Holland was criticized for his willingness to talk throughout a fight in which he was taken down repeatedly and spent large portions of the contest on his back. The end result was a unanimous decision loss and the end of a five-bout winning streak at 185 pounds.

“Never going to stop talking,” Holland said on Instagram. “If you guys don’t f---ing like it, deuces. … I’m gonna be me till I die, never said I wanted to be the champ I said I wanted to have a good time and that I did on to the next.”

Though Holland was defiant regarding his chatty approach, he did acknowledge in a separate Instagram post that there are improvements he can make regarding his skills in the cage.

“Yes I will talk yes I will have fun but winning is a s--t load of fun as well,”he wrote. “I definitely hate letting you guys down, so fighting smarter, improving position and av…

Derek Brunson did exactly what he needed to do to pull off the upset against Kevin Holland in the UFC on ESPN 21 headliner.

The 37-year-old North Carolina native withstood his opponent’s onslaught during the brief periods the fight was upright, and then relied on his wrestling and top control to carry him to a five-round verdict at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday night. In the past, Brunson had been known to throw caution to the wind and brawl with his opponents, and that’s when disaster would strike.

“He caught me in the first round, if I would have gave in at that moment, then there wouldn’t have been any learning from that,” Brunson said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “I would’ve been just upset, humiliated. He would’ve been talking trash a whole year just off this fight. To go out there and get the win, shut him up — it feels good.”

Holland, who spent much of the contest on his back, seemed content to engage Brunson in conversation, but it…

When Kevin Holland debuted in the UFC, Dana White dubbed him “Big Mouth” due to his talkative nature in the Octagon.

Holland emerged as a serious prospect after losing his debut to Thiago Santos, as he won eight of his next nine bouts within the Las Vegas-based promotion. However, with a serious opportunity in front of him, Holland seemed more interested in talking than he did in fighting, and the result was a lackluster decision loss to Derek Brunson in the UFC on ESPN 21 headliner on Saturday night in Las Vegas.

All too often, Holland seemed content to talk to Brunson from his back after being taken down. Although he had some positive moments on the feet and become the first person to take Brunson down in UFC competition, it wasn’t nearly enough to sway the scorecards in his favor.

White thinks there may have been something more serious going on with Holland.

“I think that was a mental breakdown,” the UFC president told Yahoo Sports. “The only other th…

Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC

A flyweight scrap pitting Montana De La Rosa against Ariane Lipski is on tap for the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s June 5 card.

MMAjunkie.com was first to report the booking. The event does not have an official location or headliner but is expected to include a pair of heavyweight bouts: Walt Harris vs. Marcin Tybura and Ilir Latifi vs. Tanner Boser.

De La Rosa is 4-2-1 in UFC competition since appearing on “The Ultimate Fighter 26.” In her first outing of 2021, she battled Mayra Bueno Silva to a majority draw at UFC Fight Night 186 on Feb. 27.

A former KSW champion, Lipski had a two-bout winning streak snapped in her most recent appearance when she suffered a second-round TKO defeat to Antonina Shevchenkoat UFC 255. The “Queen of Violence” is 2-3 wthin the Las Vegas-based promotion and 13-6 as a professional overall.

Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC

A flyweight scrap pitting Montana De La Rosa against Ariane Lipski is on tap for the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s June 5 card.

MMAjunkie.com was first to report the booking. The event does not have an official location or headliner but is expected to include a pair of heavyweight bouts: Walt Harris vs. Marcin Tybura and Ilir Latifi vs. Tanner Boser.

De La Rosa is 4-2-1 in UFC competition since appearing on “The Ultimate Fighter 26.” In her first outing of 2021, she battled Mayra Bueno Silva to a majority draw at UFC Fight Night 186 on Feb. 27.

A former KSW champion, Lipski had a two-bout winning streak snapped in her most recent appearance when she suffered a second-round TKO defeat to Antonina Shevchenkoat UFC 255. The “Queen of Violence” is 2-3 wthin the Las Vegas-based promotion and 13-6 as a professional overall.

While Dana White left the door open for a Khabib Nurmagomedov comeback for months, the former UFC lightweight champion never truly considered it to be an option.

Nurmagomedov announced his retirement after defeating Justin Gaethje at UFC 254, but White continued to insist that he could lure the Dagestani grappler back into the Octagon. After their most recent meeting, however, White and the UFC made it official: Nurmagomedov was not coming back.

For most observers, the writing had been on the wall for some time. Nurmagomedov admitted that the recent announcement only confirmed what he had known for months.

“Dana called this official, but I retired like four, six months ago,” Nurmagomedov said on ESPN Saturday night. “It’s very funny: Dana told me when he posted that someone commented saying, ‘Hey, he retired not today, he retired about five months ago,’ and I was like it’s funny. We had some conversations with Dana a couple of times and like two days ago we mee…

After an intense war, Ayaka Hamasaki (@kk331ayaka) retains her belt against Kanna Asakura (@a_kanna_)!#RIZIN #MMA #Kickboxing #RIZIN27 pic.twitter.com/mFTMPN60OA

— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) March 21, 2021

Though the rematch was more difficult than the first fight, Ayaka Hamasaki nonetheless seems to have Kanna Asakura’s number.

Hamasaki retained her atomweight crown with a split-decision triumph over Asakura in the Rizin Fighting Federation 27 headliner at Nippon Gaishi Hall in Nagoya, Japan, on Sunday. The reigning champion had previously faced Asakura at Rizin 14 in December 2018, winning via second-round armbar.

After a wild exchange in the bout’s opening moments, Hamasaki took Asakura down, where she landed a couple solid knees on her grounded opponent. The 23-year-old Paraestra Matsudo product turned the tide in Round 2, when she grounded Hamasaki, defended an armbar and ended the frame unloading ground-and-pound from mount.…