Martial Arts News

Douglas Lima will defend his welterweight crown against Yaroslav Amosov in the main event of Bellator 260 on June 11.

The California-based promotion announced the pairing on Friday. Bellator 260 takes place at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., and will also see Tywan Claxton face Justin Gonzales at featherweight and Nick Newell meet Bobby King at lightweight. The main card will air on Showtime at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, while the prelims stream on the Bellator MMA YouTube channel, Showtime Sports YouTube channel and Pluto TV.

After defeating Rory MacDonald in a five-round decision to regain the 170-pound belt in the finals of the welterweight grand prix at Bellator 232, Lima attempted to become a two-division champion last year. His move to middleweight didn’t go so well, as he dropped a five-round verdict to champion Gegard Mousasi at Bellator 250 this past October.

“I’m pumped to get back in the cage and show everyone why I’m the most-feared welterweight in…

Who takes the W home? #LFA104 pic.twitter.com/nkkwwf0iMH

— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) April 17, 2021 Aaron McKenzie proved that he's one to watch in the Legacy Fighting Alliance lightweight division.

The main event of LFA 104 saw McKenzie (10-2-1) get tested by Brandon Phillips. After a close first round, Phillips (6-4) began hurting McKenzie with body shots and slick striking. However, McKenzie came on strong in Round 3 with an aggressive strategy, and he was able to hurt Phillips with an onslaught of punches. The clutch Round 3 performance was enough for McKenzie to take home a decision victory, with all three judges scoring the fight 29-28 in his favor.

The night's co-main event saw flyweights Donavon Frelow and Yuma Horiuchi looking to each snap their respective losing streaks. In the end, it was Horiuchi (8-3) that got back into the win column. After losing a point for grabbing the cage, Horiuchi was able to lock in a tight armb…

Sherdog's live Bellator 257 coverage kicks off Friday at 6 p.m. ET.

Check out the MMA Forums to discuss the card or enter your comments and predictions below. Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 The Official Result Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 The Official Result Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 The Official Result Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 The Official Result Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 The Official Result Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 The Official Result Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 The Official Result Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 The Official Result Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 The Official Result Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 The Official Result Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 The Official Result Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 The Official Result Light Heavyweight Title Fight and WGP Quarterfinal Bout:Vadim Nemkov (204.5) vs. Phil Davis (205) Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 The Official Result

“The Underground King” was hoping for a quick turnaround, and he’s getting one.

Eddie Alvarez (30-8 1NC, 1-2 One) has a scheduled fight before the end of the month. On Friday morning, One Champi-onship CEO Chatri Sityodtong announced to the South China Morning Post that Alvarez would be com-peting on the upcoming One on TNT 4 card. The former Ultimate Fighting Championship and Bellator MMA 155-pound titleholder will face the winner of the Marat Garufov-Rae Yoon Ok clash, which has already been taped, but will air on the One on TNT 3 event next Wednesday.

In his latest cage appearance, Alvarez was disqualified after landing several illegal shots on the back of the head of Iuri Lapicus (15-1, 3-1 One) at One on TNT 1. Save for his submission victory over Eduard Folayang at One: Dawn of Heroes, “The Underground King” has recorded three defeats in his latest four outcomes. Besides the disqualification with Lapicus, Alvarez has also been stopped by Dustin Poirier in his…

"The Strabanimal" won't be competing on the upcoming Bellator 258 card after all.

On Friday afternoon, news broke that James Gallagher has been forced to pull out of his scheduled 135-pound clash against Patrick Mix at Bellator 258. MMA Junkie reported first the news that several media outlets then confirmed. The promotion is looking for a short-notice replacement to keep Mix on the card. In the meantime, the Patricky Freire-Peter Queally lightweight clash has been promoted to the main card.

Gallagher (11-1, 8-1 Bellator) is riding a four-bout winning streak after losing to Ricky Bandejas at Bellator 204 in August 2018. In his latest cage appearance, the 24-year-old SBG Ireland representative submitted Callum Ellenor via rear-naked choke in the opening frame of their Bellator Milan encounter.

Mix (13-1, 2-1 Bellator) fell short of capturing the vacant divisional championship when he met Juan Archuleta at Bellator 246 last September. That night, "Patchy" also s…

The Lioness will make her return to the bantamweight division in August. Per Dana White (@danawhite), Amanda Nunes (@Amanda_Leoa) will defend her 135-pound title against Julianna Peña (@VenezuelanVixen) at UFC 265. pic.twitter.com/tWLmW2Exmt

— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) April 15, 2021 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. Callouts will get you far in the Ultimate Fighting Championship in the COVID-19 era. Per ESPN on Thursday, Amanda Nunes (21-4) has her next title defense lined up, for her first appearance at 135 pounds since 2019. At bantamweight, she will defend her strap against Julianna Pena (10-4) at UFC 265 on Aug. 7. Pena called out Nunes after Pena’s previously scheduled match with Holly Holm fell through. On a one-fight win streak, Pena will get a crack at gold.

Nunes has looked nothing short of unbeatable on her current, hi…

The Reaper returns!

@RobWhittakerMMA checks in for #UFCVegas24. pic.twitter.com/iVWvCvRk0W

— UFC (@ufc) April 16, 2021 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. A middleweight clash with potential title implications is set after the UFC on ESPN 22 weigh-ins took place, but the story coming out of it was Zarah Fairn dos Santos' enormous weight miss.

Saturday’s card is headlined by former Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight king Robert Whittaker taking on former top contender Kelvin Gastelum. Both main event fighters had zero issues making weight, although the same couldn’t be said for the rest of the card. Fairn dos Santos didn't even make featherweight for her 139-pound catchweight bout against Josiane Nunes as she came in at 147 pounds, and the bout has been canceled as a result. Tracy Cortez also had weight management iss…

Now that the #LFA104 weigh-in is in the books, which fight are you looking forward to the most?

: https://t.co/LyjI7ilKV8

: https://t.co/uAP3l6qfL2@ShellsDotCom@TheDiceTeam@GLCDirect2000@TeamSmartStop@SheathUnderwear@GrandCasinoOKC@UFCFightPass pic.twitter.com/Pcp8SmMrpN — LFA (@LFAfighting) April 16, 2021 All fighters successfully made their contracted weights for Friday night's LFA 104 event.

The Legacy Fighting Alliance's latest event will see lightweights Aaron McKenzie and Brandon Phillips atop the card. Both fighters will look to earn a crack at promotional gold or a call from the Ultimate Fighting Championship with a win. In a rarity for the promotion, all 18 fighters on the card made weight without issue.

A familiar face to LFA fans, McKenzie (9-2-1) is undefeated within the promotion. After choking out Glaucio Eliziario in his LFA debut, McKenzie won a decision over Joe Giannetti his next time out. The 32-year-old offic…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bceYCE8Prpc&w=640&h=360] The Bellator MMA light heavyweight championship is on the line in the main event of Bellator 257, the promotion's third event on Showtime in as many weeks.

The title fight is now official as both champion and challenger made weight. This is the first title defense for Vadim Nemkov, who is facing a familiar foe in Phil Davis. The main event is also a light heavyweight grand prix quarterfinal alongside the co-main event of Corey Anderson vs. Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov. Unfortunately, not every fighter was able to hit their contracted weights as Jay-Jay Wilson came in heavy.

In his lone fight of 2020, Nemkov (12-2) knocked out Ryan Bader with a devastating head kick. Prior to claiming the belt, the Russian had won six straight fights including a split decision win over Davis. Nemkov officially weighed 204.5 pounds.

Davis is looking to get revenge against Nemkov and become Bellator light heavyweight champion…

Christian Lee RETAINS THE ONE LIGHTWEIGHT WORLD TITLE #ONEonTNT2 pic.twitter.com/loVCcGnun0

— Bleacher Report MMA (@BR_MMA) April 15, 2021

Stock in Christian Lee continues to surge under the One Championship flag.

Lee retained his undisputed lightweight crown in scintillating fashion, as he put away Timofey Nastyukhin with punches a little more than a minute into their One on TNT 2 headliner on Wednesday at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore. Unable to build on back-to-back wins over Eddie Alvarez and Pieter Buist, Nastyukhin (14-5, 7-4 One) crashed and burned 1:13 into Round 1.

After failing to secure a takedown, Lee (15-3, 15-3 One) clipped the Russian with a left hook, pushed him to the canvas and unloaded with a barrage of punches. Nastyukhin failed to intelligently defend himself from the assault, prompting referee Mohamad Sulaiman to intervene.

The 22-year-old Lee has won six fights in a row, four of them inside …

Sherdog's live One on TNT 2 coverage will begin at 8:30 p.m. ET.

Check out the MMA Forums to discuss the card or enter your comments and predictions below. Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 The Official Result Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 The Official Result Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 The Official Result Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 The Official Result Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 The Official Result

Eddie Alvarez could move on from a disappointing disqualification loss under the One Championship banner to a potentially lucrative bout against a boxing legend.

During a recent interview with ESPN, Alvarez revealed that he has been in talks to face Oscar De La Hoya in a boxing match this summer. De La Hoya recently confirmed that he will come out of a 13-year retirement to compete on a Triller Fight Club card on July 3.

“Recently we’ve been hearing from Oscar De La Hoya’s guys,” Alvarez said. “Look, I’m fixated on the ONE Championship belt. I’m laser, laser focused on making history and getting my world title, but I feel like there’s gonna be a lull. The champion is gonna sit for a bit—I think he’s having a baby. If that happens, Oscar De La Hoya and them guys have been reaching out and, hell, I’d love to get in there and mix it up with him. That’d be a hell of a fight and I’ve got everyone here in Philadelphia backing me, and the whole Philadelphia boxing [communit…