Martial Arts News

When Dustin Poirier publicly shamed Conor McGregor for not following through on his promised $500,000 donation to his charity, The Good Fight Foundation, it sparked some bitter back-and-forth between the two lightweight stars.

It escalated so much that McGregor claimed to be seeking a new opponent for his next Octagon appearance. However, it appears the trilogy bout will move forward, as Dana White officially announced that UFC 264 will take place in front of a capacity crowd at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and will be headlined by Poirier and McGregor.

Shortly after that announcement, Poirier released a statement in which he expressed regret for calling out McGregor over the donation, which the Irish star promised to make after their bout at UFC 257 in January.

“I am very passionate about my charity as you all know,” Poirier wrote on Twitter. “I jumped the gun and took my private matters between Conor and my foundation public. My mistake, we live, we learn.…

Credit: Pro Fight League Credit: Pro Fight League Credit: Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com Credit: Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com

Two-time Olympic gold medalist and world champion boxer Claressa Shields has an opponent for her first mixed martial arts bout.

Professional Fighters League announced Wednesday that Shields will meet Brittney Elkin at a regular season event on June 10 in Atlantic City, N.J. Shields will compete in one-off bouts during the 2021 campaign before participating in the PFL season format in earnest in 2022. Shields is expected to continue her boxing career while she competes in MMA. She has been training at Jackson-Wink MMA in Albuquerque, N.M., of late alongside the likes of Holly Holm and Jon Jones.

“I am very excited to cement my legacy as the ‘Greatest Woman of All Time,’” said Shields. “I cannot wait to step into the PFL cage for the first time on June 10 and show the world that I never back down from a challenge. I have shown I am the best boxer in the worl…

Jan Blachowicz will make his second light heavyweight championship defense against Glover Teixeira at UFC 266 on Sept. 4.

UFC president Dana White confirmed the bout to broadcast partner ESPN on Wednesday. A location and venue for event has not been revealed. It's also unclear if Blachowicz vs. Teixeira will headline the card.

Blachowicz defended the crown for the first time with a five-round verdict over reigning 185-pound king Israel Adesanya at UFC 259. The 38-year-old WCA Fight Team representative claimed the vacant light heavyweight strap with a second-round technical knockout of Dominick Reyes at UFC 253 in September 2020. Blachowicz has won nine of his last 10 Octagon appearances dating back to October 2017.

This will be Teixeira’s second bid for light heavyweight gold after losing a five-round verdict to then champ Jon Jones at UFC 172 in April 2014. The 41-year-old Brazilian has been resurgent of late, compiling a five-bout winning streak dating back t…

TrillerNet Acquires Premier Live Event and PPV, SVOD, AVOD, and Streaming Platform FITE, Taking Major Next Step in Building Global Content Ecosystem.

Will Use FITE's Platform to Expand Triller Fight Club and Develop Premium Four-Quadrant Entertainment and Lifestyle Content pic.twitter.com/FRoPrcQk3t

— FITE (@FiteTV) April 14, 2021 TrillerNet, the parent company of social app Triller, announced on Wednesday that it has acquired combat-sports and entertainment streaming platform Fite.TV.

The news comes in advance of Saturday’s boxing match between former Bellator champion Ben Askren and social media star Jake Paul, which is available on Fite for $49.99. The pay-per-view draw begins at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT and also includes a boxing bout pitting ex-UFC heavyweight king Frank Mir against Steve Cunningham.

The fight card is promoted by Triller Fight Club. According to a release, the acquisition ” gives Triller a major foothold in the live-e…

Vegas is OPEN!!! Poirier vs McGregor July 10th. tix on sale this week pic.twitter.com/F2VZ0APzrw

— danawhite (@danawhite) April 14, 2021

UFC 264 is official for a full capacity crowd at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on July 10.

UFC president Dana White announced the news via social media on Wednesday.

“I am so happy to finally be able to say Vegas is back,” White said. “This summer, Las Vegas is back open for business and on July 10, UFC 264 will be at the T-Mobile Arena here in Vegas at 100 percent capacity. Ladies and gentlemen, that’s 20,000 fans.”

Tickets will go on sale, and as of now, the card remains headlined by the trilogy bout between Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor, according to White. tensions have risen between the two lightweights on social media this week, sparked by Poirier’s revelation that McGregor never donated the $500,000 he promised to The Good Fight Foundation following their second fight at UFC 257 in Januar…

UFC on ABC 2 averaged 859,000 viewers for its main card on Saturday, according to ShowBuzz Daily.

That represents a decline from the Las Vegas-based promotion’s debut on the network, as UFC on ABC 1 drew an average audience of 1.22 million viewers for a card headlined by a featherweight showdown between Max Holloway and Calvin Kattar on Jan. 16.

UFC on ABC 2 took place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and saw Marvin Vettori defeat Kevin Holland via unanimous decision in the evening’s headliner. The co-main event featured a battle of featherweight prospects, as Arnold Allen outpointed Sodiq Yusuff. The evening’s main draw also included noteworthy names such as Mackenzie Dern and Mike Perry for a card that began at 3 p.m. ET/noon PT.

Meanwhile, the UFC on ABC 2 prelims attracted an average audience of 377,000 viewers for a broadcast that began at noon ET/9 a.m. PT. The featured bout on that portion of the card saw Joe Solecki take a unanimous decision over 37-time O…

Arnold Allen and Mackenzie Dern are among six athletes from UFC on ABC 2 who are facing six months on the sidelines following their bouts at Saturday’s event.

The Nevada Athletic Commission released a full list of medical suspensions from the card to mixedmartialarts.com. UFC on ABC 2 took place at the UFC Apex and saw Marvin Vettori take a unanimous decision over Kevin Holland in the evening’s middleweight headliner. Both Vettori and Holland are suspended until May 2 with no contact until April 25.

Allen, who took a three-round verdict against Sodiq Yusuff in the co-main event, will be suspended six months unless he gets doctor clearance on a left-hand X-ray. At a minimum the British featherweight is suspended until May 11 with no contact until May 2.

Dern did not exit her first-round submission victory against Nina Nunes unscathed, either. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt needs a right thumb X-ray and doctor clearance or she will be out until Oct. 8.

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A lightweight showdown pitting Diego Ferreira against Gregor Gillespie has been added to the UFC on ESPN 24.

ESPN was first to report the booking. UFC on ESPN 24 takes place on May 8 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a bantamweight tilt between Cory Sandhagen and T.J. Dillashaw.

Ferreira had a six-bout winning streak snapped in a split-decision loss to Beneil Dariush at UFC Fight Night 184 on Feb. 6. The former Legacy Fighting Championship title holder is 8-3 in UFC competition with notable wins over the likes of Anthony Pettis, Mairbek Taisumov, Rustam Khabilov and Ramsey Nijem.

Gillespie was scheduled to return against Brad Riddell at UFC on ESPN 21 on March 20, but the contest was scrapped on the day of the event due to COVID-19 protocols. A former national champion wrestler and four-time NCAA All-American wrestler at Edinboro University, Gillespie began his Octagon tenue with six consecutive triumphs before suffering a head-kick KO defeat to…

.@Claressashields is the No. 1 women’s boxer in the world and about to make her MMA debut, but the 2-time Olympic gold medalist says sexism is still a major issue within sport: "It's mind-boggling to me ... I want us to have equal pay, equal opportunity.” @michaelstrahan pic.twitter.com/cZOWoA2Ogu

— Good Morning America (@GMA) April 13, 2021

Boxing champion Claressa Shields will make her first MMA foray at a Professional Fighters League event on June 10.

The date for Shields debut was annoounced during an interview on “Good Morning America.” An opponent for Shields’ bout was not revealed. The PFL card takes place at Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, N.J.

Shields is a two-time Olympic gold medalist boxer and the reigning WBC and WBO light middleweight champion. She improved her professional mark to 11-0 with a unanimious decision victory over Marie Eve Dicaire on March 5, claiming the vacant IBF and WBA titles in the process. …

With seconds left in the first round, @wrestling_Jp locked up a choke, but @Jacobsilva125 protested the stoppage. #DWCS pic.twitter.com/7n8nPOR0qO

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) November 18, 2020

Francisco Figueiredo has a new opponent at UFC on ESPN 24.

After Jimmy Flick unexpectedy announced his retirement over the weekend, J.P. Buys has agreed to step in and square off against Figueiredo at UFC on ESPN 24. AgFight was first to report the new flyweight pairing. UFC on ESPN 24 takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on May 8 and is headlined by a bantamweight showdown pitting Cory Sandhagen against T.J. Dillashaw.

Buys earned a UFC contract thanks to a first-round submission of Jacob Silva on Dana White’s Contender Series this past November. He came up short in his Octagon debut, falling to Bruno Silva via first-round TKO at UFC on ESPN 21 on March 20. Buys is 9-3 as a pro, with all but one of his wins coming inside the distance.

Figuei…

Prosecutors dropped rape charges against Albuquerque jiu-jitsu coach and MMA veteran Rafael de Freitas on Friday.

According to a report from the Albuquerque Journal, the 2nd Judicial District Attorney’s Office entered a nolle prosequi in the case against de Freitas, which means it was unwilling to prosecute. De Freitas, who is known as “Barata,” was jailed and charged with third-degree sexual criminal penetration after allegedly drugging and raping a jiu-jitsu student at her home in November 2020.

"While probable cause existed at the time of arrest, additional investigation has revealed that, at this time, there exists an insufficient factual basis to meet the State's burden at trial," court records state.

When the charges were initially filed, prosecutors were denied a motion to detain de Freitas until his trial after attorney Jason Bowles argued that it was a consensual encounter.

"This obviously is a case of what was consensual sex with a female who h…

After being taken down a combined 17 times in back-to-back five-round losses against Marvin Vettori and Derek Brunson, it’s clear that defensive wrestling is Kevin Holland’s weakness.

That doesn’t mean, however, that he plans on completely changing his identity for his next Octagon appearance.

“Can’t say too much changes,” Holland said during an interview on the UFC on ABC 2 post-fight show on ESPN+. “We’ll see what it is. I honestly don’t know. Go spend some time with D.C. (Daniel Cormier) for sure, work on some of those wrestling things. Go work on wrestling of course. Learn how to stop some of these takedowns. Other than that, same old same.

“I’m not going to change the fighter I am and try and become a wrestler just because all these guys want to wrestle. It’s like, I like to strike, I like to bang. I just [need] to do a better job of keeping the fight up on its feet and deliver some more knockouts to the people and that way they’ll be back on the bandwagon …