Martial Arts News

[embedded content]

Beneil Dariush believes “energy conservation” is going to be the differentiator in a potential clash between Islam Makhachev and Arman Tsarukyan.

Advertisement

Tsarukyan earned a title shot against Makhachev with a split-decision victory in a title eliminator against Charles Oliveira at UFC 300 in April. However, Tsarukyan turned down a title shot for UFC 302 last month, citing the quick turnaround. Makhachev, who was insistent on defending his lightweight title in the summer, went on to submit Dustin Poirier in the fifth round of the UFC 302 main event.

Meanwhile, Tsarukyan was fined $25,000 and suspended for nine months for throwing a punch at a fan during his UFC 300 walkout. However, Tsarukyan’s ban will be reduced to six months if he issues a commission-approved anti-bullying public service announcement, making him eligible to compete by Oct. 12. With Makhachev highly likely to be part of UFC 308 on Oct. 26 in Abu Dhabi, Tsarukyan is expec…

Curtis Blaydes is the latest to voice his issues with the odd start time for UFC 304.

Advertisement

Blaydes challenges interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall in the co-main event at UFC 304, which goes down on July 27 at the Co-op Live Arena in Manchester, England. While it marks the promotion’s return to the city after nearly eight years, the card has been scheduled for U.S. primetime. The UFC 304 early prelims kick off at 11 p.m. British Summer Time (BST) and the main card starts at 3 a.m. BST.

Blaydes claims the odd timing of the card makes it feel like a less of a title fight for him. “Razor” notes that it’s unlikely that a superstar like Conor McGregor would be fighting for the title in the wee hours of the morning, regardless of where the card is.

“The money is title fight money, that’s all that matters to me,” Blaydes told media during a scrum at UFC Denver. “Everything else is going to be five rounds. I’ve had multiple five rounders. Biggest diffe…

Charles Johnson claims he had a lot more than five minutes left in him when he turned the switch for a third-round comeback win over Joshua Van at UFC Denver.

Advertisement

Johnson took on Van in the featured preliminary bout at UFC on ESPN 59 in Denver on Saturday. The visuals weren’t looking good for Johnson early on in fight that was otherwise even on the judges’ scorecards. However, “InnerG” came out with guns blazing in the final round, knocking Van out just twenty seconds into the period to score a come-from-behind win.

While Johnson believes he was never quite out of the fight, he credits his coach for flipping a switch in his mind going into the third frame. When Justin Hardy asked him to go all in for five minutes, the former Legacy Fighting Alliance flyweight champ knew he was capable of that and more. Johnson also hailed himself as the best five-round flyweight fighter in the world, though he hasn’t had the chance to show it yet.

“I was never g…

A fight that began with promise quickly turned to disappointment for Abdul Razak Alhassan.

Advertisement

The 38-year-old Elevation Fight Team product had opponent Cody Brundage reeling as he landed elbows after stuffing a takedown early on during their middleweight contest at UFC on ESPN 59 in Denver on Saturday night. Alhassan was warned by referee Dan Miragliotta for landing elbows to the back of Brundage’s head during the salvo, and the fight was halted when “Judo Thunder” continued to land what the veteran official perceived to be illegal blows.

It was ultimately determined that a dazed Brundage would not be able to continue, and the bout was ruled a no contest. It was a bitter pill to swallow for Alhassan, who might have been on the verge of a stoppage even without the fouls. Alhassan reacted to the ruling on his Instagram Stories.

“Sorry to all my fans, all my people. I wanted this bad. I wanted this win. I wanted this fight so bad,” he said. “I have…

Rose Namajunas is gradually getting more comfortable as a flyweight.

Advertisement

The former strawweight champion earned her second victory at 125 pounds, as she captured a unanimous decision triumph against Tracy Cortez in the UFC on ESPN 59 headliner at Ball Arena in Denver on Saturday night. Namajunas dropped Cortez in the opening stanza and then cruised from there, blending striking and takedowns to keep her short-notice opponent off balance.

“Absolutely I’m happy with it. I’m happy with one, having very little injury, two, being able to win and three, I feel like it was a pretty exciting fight,” Namajunas said at the post-fight press conference. “I wanted a finish, of course. It’s been a while since I have finished somebody. It’s been since what like, 2020, [2021] or something? I felt like I was pretty close at least and dropped her at first. Overall, very happy.”

Cortez, who stepped in for Maycee Barber, was a resilient adversary who had some of her b…

Jean Silva’s stoppage win over Drew Dober at UFC Denver took a toll on Brazilian.

Advertisement

Silva stepped up on short notice and moved up a weight class to replace Mike Davis in a lightweight bout against Dober at UFC on ESPN 59 in Denveron Saturday. This also marked a two-week turnaround from Silva’s brutal knockout win over Charles Jourdain at UFC 303.

Silva was faster and cleaner on the feet, opening Dober up above the right eye in the opening round, eventually leading to the finish. Silva continued landing more damage and despite an immense display of grit from Dober, his cut kept worsening, forcing referee Herb Dean to call in the cageside doctors in the third round. Dober was deemed unfit to continue and Silva earned a stoppage win in what was also awarded the “Fight of the Night.”

Silva had missed weight by 1.5 pounds for his featherweight win over Jourdain, which made him ineligible for a bonus. However, the Brazilian has no plans of permanently …

Ultimate Fighting Championship A-listers have come out in support of Donald Trump after an apparent assasination attempt on the former U.S. President.

Advertisement

Multiple shots were fired at the Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday night. Trump was seen dropping to the ground and was escorted to safety with visible blood on the right side of his face. The shooter, identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, was killed by Secret Service agents. Meanwhile, one attendee died in the gunfire, while another was severely injured.

Dana White and prominent stars from the organization extended their support to Trump, who shares a close bond with the UFC CEO and several fighters. A familiar face at UFC pay-per-view cards, Trump was most recently in attendance at UFC 302 in Newark, New Jersey, last month.

White shared a photo of Trump waving at the crowd one last time before being put into his vehicle.

“I’m on a plane right now flying to Italy and my phon…

MONTEL JACKSON 1-2 PUTS BLACKSHEAR OUT COLD IN UNDER 20 SECONDS #UFCDenver pic.twitter.com/NiJI7wxOHX

— Spinnin Backfist (@SpinninBackfist) July 14, 2024

Montel Jackson authored one of the fastest knockouts in UFC bantamweight history on Saturday night, and he received a little extra compensation for his efforts.

“Quik” garnered a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus for his 18-second stoppage of Da’Mon Blackshear in their preliminary bout at UFC on ESPN 59 at the Ball Arena in Denver on Saturday night. Jackson put his foe’s lights out with a straight left hand during an initial exchange, entering the record books as the second-fastest finish in UFC bantamweight history.

Meanwhile, Jean Silva and Drew Dober received “Fight of the Night” honors and $50,000 apiece for their lightweight slugfest. Moving up a division, Silva had a faster and more diverse striking arsenal than his foe, bloodying Dober with lead hooks and spinning el…

It may not have been the barnburner they had hoped for, but for the hometown Denver crowd, Rose Namajunas could do no wrong.

Advertisement

In the flyweight main event of UFC on ESPN 59 at Ball Arena, former strawweight champ Namajunas (13-6, 11-5 UFC) looked to make her case for a title shot in her new division against rising contender Tracy Cortez (11-2, 5-1 UFC). The first round went solidly in favor of “Thug Rose,” who sidestepped Cortez’s advances, denied her the clinch and shot takedown opportunities she sought, and caught her repeatedly with clean punches. One of those, a clean left hook, sat Cortez down in the middle of the round, but she recovered quickly. Cortez had a slightly better Round 2, taking Namajunas’ back in a scramble and briefly threatening before Namajunas shook her over the top. Nonetheless, the story of the first half of the fight was Cortez struggling to find Namajunas on any consistent basis, while Namajunas used her superior footwork and…

Getty Images/UFC

Charles Johnson sent a message to Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweights: Count him out at your own peril.

Advertisement

Johnson (16-6, 4-4 UFC), who took the fight on 11 days’ notice, capped off the UFC on ESPN 59 undercard with a rousing knockout of red-hot phenom Joshua Van (10-2, 3-1 UFC), handing Van his first Octagon loss and snatching victory from the jaws of probable defeat. “InnerG” got off to a solid start, taking advantage of Van’s penchant for starting slowly and hacking away at his lead leg. However, Van gradually took over as the round wore on, exploding out of his compact stance with his patented body punch flurries and a couple of right hands upstairs that hurt Johnson. Van kept building momentum in the middle frame, marching down the taller fighter and continuing to catch him with clean punches. Johnson was game, weathering Van’s offense and landing some solid blows of his own, but the fight was clearly trending i…

[embedded content]

Belal Muhammad recently slammed Sean Strickland while weighing in on the former UFC middleweight champion’s feud with David Goggins.

Advertisement

Strickland drew the ire of the Navy SEALs by stating that none of them could endure a week of training with him. Mitch Aguiar, a Navy SEAL turned mixed martial artist, recently showed up to spar Strickland and suffered a one-sided beatdown.

Former SEAL turned fitness influencer David Goggins then challenged Strickland to a training session, which Strickland initially seemed to have accepted. However, Muhammad, who has his own feud with Strickland, dismissed the former middleweight champ as a mere troll. According to “Remember the Name,” Strickland has lost relevance since losing his title and is trying to gain clout by beefing with internet celebrities.

“I wouldn’t call it a beef. That’s what Sean is, right? He’s a troll,” Muhammad told The Schmo. “Nobody cares what he says anymore because he do…

A heavyweight rematch between Ciryl Gane and Alexander Volkov is in the works for UFC 308.

Advertisement

Multiple outlets confirmed the pairing following an initial report Ag.Fight. Both fighters have verbally agreed to the bout, but contracts have yet to be signed. UFC 308 takes place on Oct. 26 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.

Gane and Volkov initially squared off in the main event of UFC Fight Night 190 in June 2021, with the Frenchman winning a five-round unanimous decision.

A former interim heavyweight king, Gane has twice come up short in bids for the undisputed belt, falling to Francis Ngannou via unanimous decision at UFC 270 and to Jon Jones via first-round submission at UFC 285. “Bon Gamin” rebounded from the loss to Jones by scoring a second-round TKO triumph against Sergey Spivak at UFC Fight Night 226 this past September.

A former Bellator MMA and M-1 Global champion, Volkov has yet to challenge for UFC gold since joining the promotion in 2…