Martial Arts News

Two more bouts are official for Bellator 257, as Julia Budd will face Dayana Silva at featherweight, and Pedro Carvalho will lock horns with Jay-Jay Wilson at featherweight.

MMAjunkie.com was first to report the bookings. Budd vs. Silva was initially slated for Bellator 256 on Friday but was relocated one week later. Carvalho, meanwhile, was originally slated to fight Daniel Weichel but has received a new opponent for undisclosed reasons.

Bellator 257 takes place on April 16 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., and is headlined by light heavyweight grand prix quarterfinal between reigning champ Vadim Nemkov and Phil Davis. The card will air on Showtime.

After losing her featherweight crown to Cristiane Justino at Bellator 238, Budd bounced back to defeat Jessy Miele by TKO in her last outing at Bellator 244 in August. A former competitor on the Brazilian version of Dana White’s Contender Series, Silva enters her Bellator debut with a 9-5 career mark.

In …

ROSTER UPDATE: @Mmartinez_alex steps in for Johnny Case at #PFL1

PFL 1 Friday, April 235:30P ET ESPN+ | 9P ET ESPN2 pic.twitter.com/eE4X9aSDu8

— PFL MMA (@ProFightLeague) April 6, 2021 Alex Martinez will step in for Johnny Case and face Loik Radzhabov in a lightweight bout at the Professional Fighters League’s season premiere event on April 23.

The promotion announced the news via social media on Tuesday. Case’s removal from the card comes on the heels of his arrest for domestic battery in Las Vegas this past Thursday. TMZ Sports was first to report the news of Case’s arrest. PFL did not make mention of Case’s legal issues in its announcement.

Case released a statement via Instagram denying the allegations against him.

“It is with a heavy heart that I announce I have been withdrawn from the PFL tournament,” Case wrote. “I am absolutely crushed. All of my hard work and sacrifices have been taken away [by] allegations that are n…

Aspen Ladd will return to the Octagon after a year-and-a-half absence when she meets Macy Chiasson at an Ultimate Fighting Championship event on July 24.

ESPN was first to report the bantamweight pairing. The card does not yet have an official location or headliner.

Ladd hasn’t competed since earning a third-round TKO against Yana Kunitskaya at UFC on ESPN 7 in December 2019. In 2020, knee injury forced Ladd out of a proposed bout with Sara McMann on June 27 and sidelined her for the rest of the year. The 26-year-old has lost just once in 10 pro outings, a 16-second stoppage defeat to Germaine de Randamie at UFC Fight Night 155.

“The Ultimate Fighter” Season 28 winner, Chiasson has been victorious in five of her six Octagon appearances thus far. The 29-year-old Fortis MMA representative secured her first triumph of 2021 at UFC on ESPN 21, where she outpointed Marion Reneau.

Erik Perez will clash with Brian Moore in a bantamweight bout at Bellator 258.

Milenio was first to report the pairing. Bellator 258 takes place on May 7 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., and is headlined by a 135-pound championship tilt pitting Juan Archuleta against Sergio Pettis.

The 31-year-old Perez is still searching for his first Bellator win after falling to Toby Misech and Josh Hill in his first two promotional appearances. Prior to that, “El Goyito” had compiled a five-bout winning streak over stints in the UFC and Combate Americas.

Ireland’s Moore is coming off back-to-back triumphs over Binh Son Le and Simone D’Anna under the Bellator banner. The SBG Ireland representative is 4-3 during his promotional tenure and 13-7 as a professional overall.

Oumar Kane will face an adversary who was originally scheduled to take part in a kickboxing match at Wednesday’s One on TNT 1 card.

Promotion officials announced that “Reug Reug” will meet Patrick Schmid in a heavyweight MMA bout at Singapore Indoor Stadium. Kane was originally slated to meet Mehdi Barhi, while Schmid was supposed to face Rade Opacic in a heavyweight kickboxing affair. Both Barhi and Opacic were pulled from the card due to health and safety protocols. MMAFighting.com was first to report the news.

Additionally, a 155-pound kickboxing bout pitting Chingiz Allazov against Enriko Kehl, which was originally slated for One on TNT 3, has been added to the card.

One on TNT 1 is headlined by a flyweight championship clash between Adriano Moraes and Demetrious Johnson, while Eddie Alvarez squares off against Iuri Lapicus in the co-main event.

The One on TNT 1 main card airs on TNT at 10 p.m. ET and the Watch TNT app beginning at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. …

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The Venum era has officially begun in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

On Tuesday, both the Las Vegas-based promotion and the apparel company revealed the fighter uniforms that will be worn by athletes in the UFC for at least the next three years. The UFC’s seven-year outfitting partnership with Reebok ended after UFC 260 on March 27. Venum has been producing combat-sports related gear since 2005.

The UFC has made Venum Fight Night Kits and Fight Week Collection apparel available at the UFC Store. The fight kits will make their debut at UFC on ABC 2 this Saturday for a card headlined by a middleweight showdown between Marvin Vettori and Kevin Holland.

When you find the perfect fit… it just feels right

UFC Authentic Fight Night Kits | @Venum

[ Now on @UFCStore: https://t.co/j5B1Dgf6fJ ] pic.twitter.com/ql5RT64q2C

— UFC (@ufc) April 6, 2021

A description …

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The COVID-19 infection that forced Alexander Volkanovski from a title defense at UFC 260 proved to be a difficult experience for the reigning featherweight champion.

Volkanovski shared the details of his experience battling coronavirus in a video posted to his YouTube account. The symptoms began after the UFC informed Volkanovski of his positive test.

“I started feeling it in the lungs a little bit, and I started feeling uncomfortable,” Volkanovski said “I started coughing up phlegm, and it was coming up pinky bloody with a bit of blood in there … That’s when I thought maybe we should start looking into this. I was having bad fevers and headaches, but that’s sort of common. So I started talking with him about it, and that’s when I was thinking maybe we need a check up.

“They end up doing some scans on my chest and lungs and Dr. Davidson comes back to me and says, ‘Look, we’ve done scans and you’ve …

Tristan Connelly will return for the first time in more than a year and a half when he meets Pat Sabatini at UFC 261.

MMAjunkie.com was first to report the featherweight booking. UFC 261 takes place on April 24 at Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla., and is headlined by a welterweight championship rematch between Kamaru Usman and Jorge Masvidal.

Connelly pulled off a significant upset in his Octagon debut, when he outpointed Michel Pereira in a welterweight bout at UFC Fight Night 158 in September 2019. He has been sidelined since then after undergoing neck surgery.

A featherweight title holder in Cage Fury Fighting Championships, Sabatini enters the matchup with Connelly on a two-fight winning streak. The 30-year-old Pennsylvanian is 13-3 as a pro, with 11 of those triumphs coming inside the distance.

Fabian Edwards is likely to face Austin Vanderford in a middleweight tilt at Bellator 259.

Sherdog.com confirmed that the pairing is in the works with a source close to the situation following reports from ESPN and MMAjunkie.com. Bellator 259 takes place at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., on May 21 and is headlined by a women’s featherweight championship bout between Cristiane Justino and Leslie Smith.

Edwards, the younger brother of UFC welterweight contender Leon Edwards, began his pro career with nine straight victories before dropping a split decision to Costello van Steenis in his last outing at Bellator Milan last September. “The Assassin” had kicked off his Bellator tenure with four victories prior to that defeat.

Vanderford, meanwhile, is 10-0 in his professional career — including four triumphs within the California-based promotion. The 31-year-old Gracie Barra Portland representative is coming off a unanimous decision win over Vinicius de Jes…

Pedro Rizzo has been doing his part to help further combat sports among Brazilian youth.

Since 2016, the former UFC heavyweight contender has led a social project called “Usina de Campeões,” where more than 300 children from the slums of Rio de Janeiro have the opportunity to train six different martial arts styles. The most talented among those kids might get the opportunity to train on the professional MMA team some day alongside the likes of UFC fighters Raoni Barcelos and Warlley Alves.

"Everything that I have conquered in my life is because of martial arts,” said Rizzo, who works six days a week coordinating the project. “I can't describe how happy I´m for being able to  help so many children to escape from drug dealing and criminal life thru martial arts.”

Rizzo was also able to discuss the current state of the heavyweight division, including the recent championship clash at UFC 260, with Sherdog.com.

“I have to admit that I was expecting […

I know first hand that losing a loved one can be devastating, so I’ve partnered with @bolddotorg to launch the $10,000 Cat Zingano Overcoming Loss Scholarship to help a student navigating life after loss. Check it and spread the word: https://t.co/XAs4SN62qa pic.twitter.com/26cmKEjoc7

— Alpha Cat Zingano (@CatZingano) April 5, 2021

Just a few days ahead of her next Bellator MMA appearance, Cat Zingano has started a $10,000 scholarship fund with Bold.org.

Officially named the “Cat Zingano Overcoming Loss Scholarship,” the award will be given to “a student who is fighting through their own loss of a close family member, legal guardian or loved one, and is in need of financial support for their education as they move forward.”

Zigano’s mother was diagnosed with Stage 4 brain cancer when the fighter was in her early 20s, and Zingano struggled to focus on her education due to her mom’s declining health and eventual death in 2005. Zingano also l…

Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC

A strawweight tilt between Amanda Ribas and Angela Hill is in the works for UFC on ESPN 24.

MMAFighting.com was first to report the bout. UFC on ESPN 24 takes place on May 8 at an undisclosed location and is headlined by a bantamweight duel between Cory Sandhagen and T.J. Dillashaw. Both Ribas and Hill have verbally agreed to the fight.

Ribas had a five-bout winning streak snapped at UFC 257, where she suffered a second-round technical knockout loss to Marina Rodriguez on Jan. 23. The 27-year-old Brazilian began her promotional tenure with triumphs over Emily Whitmire, Mackenzie Dern, Randa Markos and Paige VanZant.

Hill, meanwhile, has been victorious in four of her last six Octagon appearances, with her two defeats during that period coming via contentious split decision against Michelle Waterson and Claudia Gadelha. Most recently, the former Invicta FC title holder rebounded from those backt-to-back losses with a decisio…