Martial Arts News

Roxanne Modafferi is slated to meet Taila Santos in a flyweight matchup at UFC Fight Night on May 8.

Multiple outlets confirmed the booking following an initial report from Combate. UFC Fight Night takes place at an as yet to be announced location and also features a women’s bantamweight tilt pitting Holly Holm against Julianna Pena.

Modafferi came up short in her first appearance of 2021, falling to Viviane Araujo via unanimous decision at UFC on ESPN 20 on Jan. 20. “The Happy Warrior” is 4-6 in UFC competition with wins over the likes of Andrea Lee, Maycee Barber and Antonina Shevchenko.

Santos, meanwhile, has scored back-to-back decision triumphs against Molly McCann and Gillian Robertson in her last two UFC appearances. The 27-year-old Astra Fight Team product has been victorious in 17 of 18 pro outings, with her lone defeat coming against Mara Romero Borella in her Octagon debut at UFC Fight Night 144.

Although Israel Adesanya is moving up a division at UFC 259, not much will change from his usual middleweight routine.

‘I’m gonna keep the same energy during my fight week,” Adesanya told ESPN. “I’m not gonna go crazy and f—-ing order Uber Eats and cakes and whatever. I’m just gonna keep the same energy.”

The reigning 185-pound king will attempt to become a two-division champion when he faces reigning light heavyweight title holder Jan Blachowicz Saturday’s headliner at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Despite facing an opponent who has competed at 205 pounds for years, Adesanya didn’t adopt a plan to pack on extra weight.

“Put it this way,” Adesanya said. “I could still make 185 if I have to.”

That said, “The Last Stylebender” expects to weight below 200 pounds when he hits the scales and when he stands across the Octagon from Blachowicz.

“Don’t be surprised if I weigh in at like 193,” he said. “Don’t be surprised.”

For Adesanya, maintaining a routi…

JIMMY THE BRICK!!

First round sub to open his UFC career! What a performance #UFCVegas17 pic.twitter.com/iiWqtYC9D2

— UFC Canada (@UFC_CA) December 19, 2020 A flyweight clash between Jimmy Flick and Francisco Figueiredo has been booked for the UFC's May 8 offering.

Multiple outlets confirmed the pairing after Flick announced it on The Corner and The Casual podcast podcast. The event is expected to include a women’s bantamweight bout between Holly Holm and Julianna Pena as well as a welterweight tilt pitting Donald Cerrone against Diego Sanchez. A location has not been formally announced.

Flick turned heads in his Octagon debut when he submitted Cody Durden with a flying triangle 3:18 into the opening round of their encounter at UFC Fight Night 183 on Dec. 19. The 30-year-old Oklahoma native has won four straight fights overall, including appearances with Dana White’s Contender Series and Legacy Fighting Alliance.

Figueiredo is …

Edson Barboza will make his third featherweight appearance when he takes on Shane Burgos at UFC 262.

Multiple outlets confirmed the booking following an initial report from Combate. UFC 262 takes place on May 15 at an as yet to be announced location and also includes a flyweight scrap between Alex Perez and Matt Schnell.

The 35-year-old Barboza has lost five of his last seven UFC bouts but is 1-1 at 145 pounds. After dropping a narrow split decision against Dan Ige in his featherweight debut at UFC on ESPN 8, Barboza rebounded to outpoint Makwan Amirkhani in his most recent outing at UFC Fight Night 179 on Oct. 10.

Burgos began his tenure in the Las Vegas-based promotion with victories in six of his first seven appearances. The 29-year-old Team Tiger Schulmann representative came up short in his last bout, losing a unanimous decision to Josh Emmett at UFC on ESPN 11 on June 20.

Three fighters who competed at UFC Fight Night 186 are facing potential six-month layoffs after their bouts.

Thiago Moises, who took a three-round verdict against Alexander Hernandez in a lightweight contest, must have his right foot X-rayed and if positive, needs to be cleared by a doctor or he will be sidelined until Aug. 27. At a minimum he is suspended until March 30 with no contact until March 21.

After a decision loss to Alexis Davis at bantamweight, Sabina Mazo needs a left leg X-ray. If positive, she’ll need doctor clearance to avoid a being suspended until Aug. 27. At a minimum, Mazo is suspended until March 30 with no contact until March 21.

Finally, Ronnie Lawrence must have his left foot and left ribs X-rayed and receive cleareance or he will be out until Aug. 27. His minimum suspension is the same as Moises and Mazo. Lawrence defeated Vince Cachero via third-round technincal knockout in a preliminary bantamweight scrap.

A full list of medical…

A lightweight showdown pitting Scott Holtzman against Mateusz Gamrot has been booked for UFC Fight Night on April 10.

Multiple outlets confirmed the pairing following an initial report by Kuba Voranek on Twitter. UFC Fight Night is headlined by a middleweight tilt between Darren Till and Marvin Vettori. A location for the card has not been formally announced.

Holtzman last competed at UFC Fight Night 174, where he suffered a spinning backfist KO defeat at the hands of Beneil Dariush this past August. Heading into the matchup the man known as “Hot Sauce” had been victorious in five of his previous six promotional appearances.

A former two-division champion with KSW, Gamrot is looking for his first UFC triumph. In his Octagon debut, the 30-year-old Poland native dropped a split verdict against Guram Kutateladze at UFC Fight Night 180 on Oct. 17. Prior to that defeat, “Gamer” had been unbeaten in his first 18 professional appearances, with a no contest against Nor…

Matt Brown will meet Dhiego Lima at an Ultimate Fighting Championship event on June 19.

MMAFighting.com was first to report the pairing. The UFC Fight Night event doesn’t have an official location or headliner at this time.

The 40-year-old Brown has lost five of his last seven promotional appearances. Most recently, “The Immortal” dropped a three-round verdict against Carlos Condit at UFC on ABC 1 on Jan. 16. Brown has earned wins over the likes of Stephen Thompson, Mike Swick, Mike Pyle, Tim Means, Diego Sanchez and Ben Saunders during a lengthy UFC tenure.

Lima, meanwhile, is coming off a clear-cut decision loss to Belal Muhammad at UFC 258 on Feb 13. Prior to that defeat, “The Ultimate Fighter 19” finalist had won three straight Octagon appearances, besting Chad Laprise, Court McGee and Luke Jumeau in succession.

Rory MacDonald will finally make his highly-anticipated Professional Fighters League debut in the main event of the promotion’s April 29 event against David Michaud.

The PFL announced the bout, along with the full card for its second 2021 regular season event, on Tuesday. The lineup will feature welterweights and light heavyweights, with the main card airing on ESPN2 and the prelims streaming via ESPN+.

The rest of the main card lineup is as follows: Ray Cooper III vs. Jason Ponet at welterweight; Jordan Johnson vs. Tom Lawlor at light heavyweight; and Emiliano Sordi vs. Chris Camozzi at light heavyweight.

Meanwile, the preliminary draw will feature a total of six contests: Magomed Magomedkerimov vs. Joao Zeferino at welterweight; Smealinho Rama vs. Jordan Young at light heavyweight; Cezar Ferreira vs. Nick Roehrick at light heavyweight; Gleison Tibau vs. Alexey Kunchenko at welterweight; Sadibou Sy vs. Nikolay Aleksakhin at welterweight; and Dan Spohn vs. Marth…

Lingering effects from COVID-19 continue to take their toll on Khamzat Chimaev.

The UFC welterweight prospect seemingly announced his retirement in a cryptic statement on Instagram Monday evening.

“I want to say thank you all so much for supporting me in my journey in this sport,” Chimaev wrote (translation via Google). “I think I’m done, yes I know I didn’t take the belt but it’s not the most important victory in his life. It may upset you but my heart and body tell me everything. I want to say a big thank you to my team [Allstars Training Center]. I want to say a big thank you to UFC.”

Additionally, Chimaev posted photos on Instagram Stories of what appeared to be blood in a sink. Chimaev was recently flown to Las Vegas by the UFC to receive additional medical care after he withdrew from UFC Fight Night 187 due to lingering symptoms from the virus. It was the second time he was forced to pull out of a fight vs. Leon Edwards due to COVID-19 issues after cont…

BOMBS AWAY

Michał Włodarek collides with the debuting @DarkoStosic92 at #KSW59 pic.twitter.com/CIdhRPE4gZ

— KSW (@KSW_MMA) February 25, 2021 Four-time UFC veteran Darko Stosic will make his promotional debut against Michal Wlodarek at KSW 59 on March 20.

The Polish promotion recently announced the booking, which will be contested at heavyweight. Four other contests were also confirmed: Damian Janikowski vs. Jason Radcliffe at middleweight; Lukasz Rajewski vs. Mateusz Legierski at lightweight; Sebastian Rajewski vs. Savo Lazic at lightweight and Krystian Kaszubowski vs. Michal Pietrzak at middleweight.

KSW 59 takes place in Lodz, Poland and is headlined by a super heavyweight clash between Mariusz Pudzianowski and Serigne Ousmane Dia. In the co-main event, Antun Racic defends his bantamweight crown against Sebastian Przybysz.

Stosic, 29, debuted in the Octagon with a first-round stoppage of Jeremy Kimball but then proceeded to …

BREAKING: 4 man Welterweight Title Tournament is confirmed

Rostem Akman vs Ian GarryJack Grant vs Madars Fleminas #CW121 // March 19th // #THETRILOGYMore info https://t.co/bIR1I74TFX pic.twitter.com/heo8fyyXWR

— Cage Warriors (@CageWarriors) March 2, 2021 Cage Warriors will begin its journey to crown a new 170-pound champion with the semifinals of a welterweight tournament on March 19.

The European promotion recently announced that Ian Garry will face Rostem Akman and Jack Grant will meet Madars Fleminas at Cage Warriors 121. The winners of the semifinal bouts will advance to vie for welterweight gold later this year.

“The welterweight division needs a new champion and there is no shortage of contenders,” Cage Warriors president Graham Boylan said in a release. “MMA fans love nothing more than a grand prix, and I am so excited to see how this one plays out.”

Garry has amassed a 5-0 record under the Cage Warriors banner an…

Upon further review, Alexander Hernandez believes he deserved to win his lightweight clash with Thiago Moises at UFC Fight Night 186.

The San Antonio Texas native released a statement on Monday via Instagram regarding Saturday’s unanimous decision loss. All three cageside judges sided with Moises after three rounds: 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28.

“Silence the commentary, watch this fight, and convince me I didn’t win 2 1/2 of 3 rounds,” Hernandez wrote. “It’s extremely difficult to rationalize and agree with the outcome, but it is the outcome. Three more fights to come this year. Onward.”

While the fight was competitive — Moises only held a 53-to-50 edge in significant strikes landed — all 21 unofficial media scorers tracked by MMADecisions.com agreed with the judges and submitted tallies for the ex-Resurrection Fighting Alliance champion.

“Just getting used to being in the Octagon, I train at ATT, the best in the world,” Moises said. “I get better every day,…