Martial Arts News

For Dustin Poirier, it was an easy decision to choose a trilogy with Conor McGregor over a lightweight title fight.

"If I am the best in the world, then I'm gonna beat Conor and fight for the belt. It's like doubling down on yourself,” Poirier told ESPN. “I’m a gambling man. I believe in my skills and fighting. So I just doubled down. That’s what it was.”

It seemed like a virtual certainty that “The Diamond” would be next in line to fight for the vacant lightweight crown after defeating McGregor via second-round technical knockout at UFC 257 in January. However, Poirier opted for the trilogy with the Irish star over a title bout, and Charles Oliveira claimed the throne with a stoppage of Michael Chandler at UFC 262.

“I don’t know how much you want to get into the actual contractual stuff with this, but me fighting for the belt, I wouldn’t have got pay-per-view [points]. I”d have got a base salary of probably not even a third of my base salary for this fight,” Po…

#BellatorFWGP finalist @ajmckee101 stopped by the desk to chop up #Bellator263 with @BCusterTV #ColbertNyambayar @BellatorMMA pic.twitter.com/qpAsth4XvE

— SHOWTIME SPORTS (@SHOsports) July 4, 2021

The Bellator 263 headliner between Patricio Freire and A.J. McKee may very well be the biggest fight in the history of the California-based promotion, but McKee is willing to take it one step further.

Not only does “The Mercenary” believe the featherweight grand prix final determines the No. 1 fighter under the Bellator banner, but he thinks the winner also deserves a spot at the top of all pound-for-pound lists, regardless of organization.

“Definitely. Hands down,” McKee said on Saturday’s Showtime Boxing broadcast. “This fight is for the pound-for-pound best, I feel, in the world. At 145 pounds, there’s not too many guys that can stop myself or ‘Pitbull.’”

McKee has kicked off his professional tenure with 17 consecutive triumphs in Be…

HEADKICK ARTIST

Ludovit Klein puts Slovakia on the map!

[ Tune in LIVE on ESPN2 ] pic.twitter.com/0oj8dN5p1Y — UFC (@ufc) September 27, 2020

Nate Landwehr and Ludovit Klein will lock horns at an Ultimate Fighting Championship event on Oct. 16.

MMA DNA was first to report the booking. The event does not yet have an official location or headliner.

A former M-1 Global champion, Landwehr is 1-2 in his first three promotional appearances. In his last outing, “The Train” suffered a flying knee knockout loss to Julian Erosa 56 seconds into the opening round of their bout at UFC Fight Night 185. Landwehr was also knocked out by a knee from Herbert Burns in his Octagon debut but recovered to outpoint Darren Elkins in his next bout at UFC on ESPN 8.

Slovakia’s Klein has split his first two UFC bouts. After knocking out Shane Young in his first Octagon foray at UFC 253, “Mr. Highlight” dropped a decision to Michael Trizano at UFC o…

Former UFC flyweight contender John Dodson and his family were involved in a serious car accident over the weekend.

According to Dodson’s manager, Ricky Kottenstette, the fighter will no longer be able to compete in his scheduled bout against Cody Gibson at XMMA 2 on July 30 following the “near death” crash. A GoFundMe account has been started to help the New Mexico native and his family, and donations can be made here.

“We have started this go fund me to help John Dodson and family. The Dodson’s were headed to Texas on vacation to visit family when they were involved in a near death accident with the whole family inside the vehicle,” Kottenstette wrote.

“They were all released from the hospital this morning but will have a rough month of recovery and financial hardship ahead. They have totaled their family vehicle and unfortunately John will no longer be able to fight in his upcoming July 30th bout. We are asking for assistance to help them with their medical …

Saturday marks a year since Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, the father of former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomeodv, died due to COVID-19 related complications.

Abdulmanap was an integral figure in the MMA career of his son, serving as Khabib’s main coach during his rise to prominence. His death hastened Khabib’s departure from the sport, as the Dagestani grappler retired following a victory over Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 this past October, citing a promise he made to his mother to no longer compete without his father by his side.

Today is already a year since the Father is not with us,” Nurmagomedov wrote on Instagram. “This event increased my conviction that nothing in this world belongs to us, neither our children, nor our parents, nor our property. All we have is all temporary.”

“Everything belongs to Allah alone and to Him will be our return, tie your hearts to Allah, stay more alone with Him, because the time will come and we will all be put in a grave…

Nate Marquardt making his MMA return Aug 6th #TitanFC70 pic.twitter.com/LsPcnzoUb9

— Jim (@ItAlways420) July 3, 2021

Nate Marquardt will return to action for the first time since November 2017.

The former Strikeforce champion and UFC title challenger announced his comeback from retirement during Titan FC 70 on Friday. Marquardt plans to fight at the promotion’s Aug. 6 event. An opponent for the fight was not revealed.

“It’s 100 percent God,” Marquardt said of his motivation to return. “Honestly, I’ve been sent here to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and He’s the only way to be saved and our nation is in desperate need right now to turn back to the Lord. I believe that’s the message God has for me and I’m really excited to fight again.”

Marquardt initially revealed that in December 2019, but it wasn’t until now that “The Great” was able to make those plans concrete. The ex-King of Pancrase first announced his retirement at the en…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHx0QgNVTfM&w=560&h=315]

Sean Soriano will square off against Octagon newcomer Fernando Padilla in a featherweight clash on Oct. 2.

ESPN was first to report the booking. The UFC Fight Night event takes place at an as yet to be announced location and is headling by a light heavyweight showdown pitting Thiago Santos against Johnny Walker.

After winning five of his last six bouts on the regional circuit, Soriano returned for a second promotional stint at UFC 262, where he suffered a second-round submission defeat to Christos Giagos on May 15. The 31-year-old Sanford MMA product is thus far winless in four UFC appearances.

A native of Chihuahau, Mexico, Padilla enters his first UFC foray having won four of his last five professional outings. Most recently, the 24-year-old Team Oyama representative knocked out Cameron Graves with an elbow in the second round of their featherweight title encounter at Fury Fighting Championship…

The LFA 110 main event is LIVE on UFC FIGHTPASS!! #LFA110 pic.twitter.com/132I15oQhh

— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) July 3, 2021 Legacy Fighting Alliance crowned a new interim flyweight champion in the LFA 110 main event that pitted Yuma Horiuchi against Charles Johnson.

The action was fast-paced on the feet, with both fighters having success. Referee Kevin Nix inserted himself into the bout by deducting a point from Horiuchi for a low blow during Round 2. While Horiuchi (8-4) landed damaging leg kicks, Johnson (9-2) was able to find success with his hands. Johnson would come on strong in the championship rounds in order to eke out a split-decision victory with scores of 49-45, 46-48 and 48-46.

The co-main event was a solid middleweight bout between undefeated prospect Chibwikem Onyenegecha going up against an experienced veteran in Renato Valente Alves. While not the most dramatic contest, Alves (8-4) was generally able to outwork Onye…

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. Top Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight contender Rob Font had a major scare from the World Anti-Doping Agency recently. Following his successful performance, a five-round decision win over ex-champ Cody Garbrandt, Font (19-4) failed a post-fight drug test for a metabolite of the noontropic substance known as meclofexonate. Upon learning of this test, Font and his team including manager Tyson Chartier documented every supplement that Font took, submitting his information to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. After an investigation, Font has been cleared of any wrongdoing, although he is currently under suspension from the Nevada State Athletic Commission, which is customary for an active anti-doping case. Chartier released a full statement of the proceedings on his Instagram account on Friday, detailing the steps they took as well…

Now that the #LFA110 weigh-in is in the books, which fight are you looking forward to the most?

: https://t.co/o0b7Vbey3p

: https://t.co/KLUg3OjH5h@ShellsDotCom@Drink9mm@KoiCBD@SheathUnderwear@GLCDirect2000@HowlerHead@TeamSmartStop@GrandCasinoOKC@UFCFightPass pic.twitter.com/hWqsPXqVIU — LFA (@LFAfighting) July 2, 2021 Although several fights fell through during fight week, the Legacy Fighting Alliance will surge ahead with a shortened five-fight offering capped off by a title bout.

A new LFA interim flyweight champion will be crowned at LFA 110. All 10 mixed martial artists that remained on the billing hit their proper marks. The main event will see Charles Johnson face Japanese prospect Yuma Horiuchi for the interim 125-pound championship. The promotion is opening up the title for dispute, as current champ Victor Altamirano is headed to Dana White's Contender Series in search of a Ultimate Fighting Championship contract.

After s…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXmrRla8jqs&w=560&h=315] 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. Top-ranked Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight Thiago Santos knows his back is up against the wall in a few months. Placed at number four at 205 pounds on the UFC rankings and #10 on Sherdog’s official rankings, Santos (21-9) is passing through the most difficult moment of his UFC career. With a record of 13-8 in eight years with the UFC, the man known as “Marreta” is reeling from three consecutive losses to Jon Jones, Glover Teixeira and Aleksandar Rakic. Santos spoke to Sherdog about his upcoming October matchup and his future with the company, and despite his losing streak, he does not appear to be tense or unhappy.

“Anyone who passed through the surgeries I did, after five rounds with Jon Jones, and returned doing good fights with top contenders wo…

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. Two Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweights eyeing a spot in the top-10 will come to blows in October. The promotion will be booking Diego Ferreira (17-4) against Grant Dawson (17-1) on its UFC Fight Night event on Oct. 2, as first reported by MMA Junkie on Thursday. The news of this booking was hinted at and then confirmed shortly after its announcement by Dawson on his Instagram. The two will be meeting at a card that will likely take place in the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Ferreira finds himself on a rare losing streak, having dropped a close decision in a rematch with Beneil Dariush in February and then suffering a knockout loss to Gregor Gillespie in May. The Brazilian out of Texas came into his high-stakes pairing with Dariush on a six-fight win streak that saw him beat the likes of Anthony Pettis, Rustam Khabilov and …