Martial Arts News

Only three $50,000 post-fight bonuses were handed out following UFC Fight Night 186 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday night.

Pedro Munhoz and Jimmie Rivera were an easy selection for “Fight of the Night” honors following their entertaining three-round battle at bantamweight. Though both combatants had their moments during spirited exchanges, calf kicks made the difference for Munhoz in the long run as he avenged a 2015 defeat to Rivera and halted a two-bout losing streak in the process.

Meanwhile, just one “Performance of the Night” award was given on a card that saw eight of the nine contests go the distance. The only combatant who finshed a fight, Ronnie Lawrence, got the extra cash as he overwhelmed Vince Cachero with his agression en route to a third-round TKO victory. The American Top Team product set the stage for the finishing sequence with a spinning back kick to the body before suplexing his opponent and moving to full mount. From there, Lawrence unloa…

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. Ciryl Gane’s approach was undeniably effective, but it lacked the wow factor for which many had hoped. The impressive Frenchman kept his perfect professional record intact and moved another step closer to a shot at the Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight title with a tepid unanimous decision over Jairzinho Rozenstruik in the UFC Fight Night 186 headliner on Saturday in Las Vegas. All three cageside judges saw it the same: 50-45 for Gane (8-0, 5-0 UFC).

Rozenstruik (11-2, 5-2 UFC) struggled to pull the trigger for five full rounds, one of his cornermen slapping the canvas in frustration at one point in the middle of the fight. Perhaps the most compelling exchange between the two heavyweight contenders took place in the second round, where Gane tossed “Bigi Boi” off-balance and briefly threatened with a standing rear-naked …

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. Sherdog's live UFC Fight Night 186 coverage will begin Saturday at 6 p.m. ET. Check out the MMA Forums to discuss the card or enter your comments and predictions below. Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Ben Duffy scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Ben Duffy scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Ben Duffy scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:The Official Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Ben Duffy scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Ben Duffy scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Ben Duffy scores the round…

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.

Thiago Moises may have punched his ticket to another competitive tax bracket in the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s lightweight division.

Crushing low kicks, efficient counters and stellar striking defense spurred the American Top Team rep to a unanimous decision over Alexander Hernandez in the featured UFC Fight Night 186 prelim on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. All three judges sided with Moises (15-4, 4-2 UFC): 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28.

Hernandez (12-4, 4-2 UFC) fought fire with fire for much of the three-round encounter. Moises kept him off-balance with kicks to the lower leg, occasional spinning attacks and more basic techniques. The Brazilian hit the accelerator in the third round, invited Hernandez to try to keep up and unleashed his hands and feet in a steady but violent burst of offense that put the …

Matt Mitrione will lock horns with Tyrell Fortune in a heavyweight clash at Bellator 255.

The California-based promotion recently announced the booking. Bellator 255 takes place at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, on April 2 and is headlined by a featherweight grand prix semifinal pitting Patricio Freire against Emmanuel Sanchez. The evening’s main card will air on Showtime.

A competitor on Season 10 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” Mitrone is winless in his last four Bellator appearances. In his last outing, “Meathead” suffered a first-round technical knockout defeat to Timothy Johnson at Bellator 243 this past August. Mitrione began his promotional tenure on a four-bout winning streak that included victories against Fedor Emelianenko and Roy Nelson.

Fortune’s entire professional tenure has been spent under the Bellator banner. The Arizona Combat Sports product kicked off his career with eight consecutive triumphs before a knockout loss to Johnson and a…

A pivotal strawweight showdown between Carla Esparza and Xiaonan Yan is on tap for the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s May 22 card.

MMA DNA was first to report the 115-pound booking. The UFC Fight Night event currently doesn’t have a location or headliner. The card is also expected to included a women’s featherweight scrap between Felicia Spencer and Danyelle Wolf.

The UFC’s inaugural strawweight title holder, Esparza is currently on a four-bout winning streak dating back to April 2019. Most recently, “Cookie Monster” garnered a split verdict against Marina Rodriguez at UFC on ESPN 14 this past July.

Yan, meanwhile, has been victorious in 13 of 14 professional outings — including her first six Octagon appearances. The China Top Team standout has gone the distance in all of her promotional triumphs and has scored notable wins over Claudia Gadelha, Karolina Kowalkiewicz and Angela Hill.

A strawweight clash pitting Angela Hill against Ashley Yoder has been pulled from Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 186 card.

The bout was removed due to “COVID-19 protocols,” the promotion announced Saturday. As a result, Hill vs. Yoder will now take place at UFC Fight Night 187 on March 13. Yoder later revealed in an Instagram video that someone in her camp tested positive for the virus.

UFC Fight Night 186 will now proceed with nine fights. The event takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a heavyweight tilt between Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Ciryl Gane. The card streams in its entirety on ESPN+ beginning at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT.

Hill and Yoder initially squared off at “The Ultimate Fighter 25” finale, with Hill earning a unanimous decision triump on July 7, 2017.

Main event official!

@JairRozenstruik locks in #UFCVegas20 - LIVE on #ESPNPlus pic.twitter.com/fkXo6J0NWw

— UFC (@ufc) February 26, 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. Although typically a formality, the Ultimate Fighting Championship weigh-ins of late have each brought their fair share of drama, this week included.

The UFC's busy February comes to an end this weekend as it puts on its fourth event in as many weeks. UFC Fight Night 186 will see heavyweight contenders Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Ciryl Gane look to make a statement at the other’s expense. The 10-fight card is now official after the weigh-ins took place, but not everyone made their contracted weight.

The biggest miss on the scales came from Maxim Grishin as he missed the light heavyweight limit by 4.5 pounds. The card also lost a welterweight bout betw…

Zhang Weili vs. Rose Namajunas for the strawweight title is in the works for UFC 261 on April 24, per multiple sources.

The fight isn't finalized just yet, however, that's the date the promotion and both fighters are targeting at this time. Hoping to get done in coming days.

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) February 26, 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. Should everything come together, an upcoming Ultimate Fighting Championship will be bolstered by a duo of major women’s championship matches.

On Friday, ESPN broke the news that the promotion was aiming to book champ Weili Zhang (21-1) against Rose Namajunas (9-4) for the strawweight belt on UFC 261. The fight is not official at the moment, but it is in the works for the April 24 pay-per-view card. In addition to the matchup news, the promotion appears to have abandoned it…

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. The very first Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter from Guyana will make his way to the Octagon in May. On Thursday, Christian Aguilera (14-7) announced that he would be facing newcomer Carlston Lindsay Harris (15-4) at welterweight on May 8. The UFC Fight Night card on that date is expected to take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, although its destination is not official at this point. Should this matchup stay together, Harris will become the first to ever represent his home country of Guyana in the UFC cage.

Aguilera suffered his first-ever submission loss when Sean Brady put him to sleep in August 2020. The loss put an end to a three-fight win streak that saw him springboard into the UFC on the heels of a win over Glaucio Eliziario at LFA 81 earlier that year. His promotional debut came some 14 days later, where he k…

Only the prelims are listed thus far so I won’t post the whole thing, but TV listings say Cortney Casey is facing JJ Aldrich on March 13th

— Tom Feely (@omgitsfeely) February 26, 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 couple weeks before the card will happen, the Ultimate Fighting Championship has added a flyweight matchup. On Thursday, the UFC added Cortney Casey (9-8) vs. J.J. Aldrich (8-4) to its lineup on UFC Fight Night 187. The flyweights will tangle at the March 13 fight card at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, per the promotion’s release to cable television outlets. This will be Aldrich’s first appearance since before the pandemic.

Casey has alternated wins and losses in her last five, with losses to Michelle Waterson, Cynthia Calvillo and Gillian Robertson interspersed between victories over Angela Hill and Mara Romero Borella…

Who's YOUR pick for Xiaomi Fight of the Night? #ONEFistsOfFury #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship pic.twitter.com/Wj7ntPmTBe

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) February 26, 2021 The first event in the One Championship “Fists of Fury” trilogy saw most of the fights go the distance.

In the "Fists of Fury" main event, Ilias Ennahachi put his flyweight kickboxing title on the line against Superlek Kiatmoo9. The defending champion took his time to study his opponent in the first round. Superlek had some issues with steadiness early in the first frame as he slipped on the canvas a few times, which may have contributed an accidental groin strike from a back kick. After apologizing, Superlek kept kicking his opponent’s left side, but it was not enough to slow Ennahachi’s offense. The second round saw Ennahachi going in and out with his flashy combinations as his opponent resorted to his kicks.

The third round was arguably the best for the challenger…