Martial Arts News

Updates to our upcoming slate of events: https://t.co/EQYcxbxoaH

— Bellator Public Relations (@BellatorPR) March 26, 2021 Two sections of the Bellator MMA light heavyweight grand prix are being pushed back, but the pairings are all still intact.

The organization announced via press release on Friday that two of the four light heavyweight tilts for the quarterfinals of its tournament had been pushed back. Corey Anderson (14-5) vs. Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov (18-5-1), which was booked for Bellator 256 on April 9, has now been relocated to Bellator 257 one week later. Additionally, the highly anticipated battle between Anthony Johnson (22-6) and Yoel Romero (13-5) has been bumped from its previous placement of Bellator 257 to Bellator 258 on May 7.

The reasons for the changes were explained by Bellator President Scott Coker. He stated, “Like everyone, we had a few hurdles with travel issues and had to move some things around, but I'm pleased…

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. Two perennial Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight contenders will lock horns in July. Middleweight Omari Akhmedov (21-5-1) announced on Instagram that his contract had been signed for his next bout. The Dagestan native, per MMA Fighting, will be taking on Brad Tavares (18-6) at UFC 264. The two will throw hands on July 10, and there is no official venue or location in the books for this top-15 185-pound matchup.

Akhmedov rebounded from his first defeat since 2016, where he dropped a decision to Chris Weidman at UFC Fight Night 174 in August 2020, by tapping out jiu-jitsu standout Tom Breese in the second round. The stoppage win for “Wolverine” was his first finish since 2015, and his first not by injury since 2013. Before tapping Breese, Akhmedov reached the scorecards in each of his last seven bouts, and had fought in…

Thank you UFC fans!!!

- Sold out in minutes. One of the fastest sell outs in UFC history.- Arena record for highest gross.- 15k attendanceI will see you in Jacksonville pic.twitter.com/mPwmOf4Saa

— danawhite (@danawhite) March 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. The Ultimate Fighting Championship had no issues filling its first arena back with full fan capacity.

UFC President Dana White celebrated on Twitter on Friday that the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla., has completely sold out. The venue in Florida’s most populous city holds 15,000 fans, and UFC 261 is being allowed 100 percent capacity for the card. Per White, the ticket sales broke the record for the highest gross in the arena’s history, while clocking in as one of the quickest sellouts in UFC history.

The promotion headed to this aren…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sM66QWxyC0&w=560&h=315] The long-rumored Rizin Fighting Federation bantamweight tournament now has all 16 of its participants lined up.

On Friday morning, the Japanese promotion held a press conference where it announced 16 members of the upcoming all-Japan bantamweight grand prix. A notable absence in the tourney is current Rizin 135-pound king Kyoji Horiguchi, and it is rumored that he will be heading to Bellator MMA to pursue his former belt. After that bout, Horiguchi may return to Rizin to face that same opponent in the Rizin ring with his Rizin belt on the line. The winner of that bout may face the tournament champ for the Rizin title.

The tournament will begin on May 23, where four of the eight opening round matches will take place inside the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo. The only bout official for that Rizin 28 event is Kai Asakura’s (16-3), who gets his wish to compete in the massive stadium after speaking to Rizin head Nobuyuki …

Spike Carlyle will return to the Legacy Fighting Alliance this Friday in his first fight since being released by the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Carlyle (9-3) will headline LFA 103 against Batsumberel Dagvadorj. The event caps off a busy March for the LFA, which saw the promotion put on three shows. The eight-fight card is now official after the weigh-ins took place, with all fighters except for Cynthia Arceo making weight.

After impressing in his UFC debut with a TKO victory over Aalon Cruz, Carlyle’s limitations were shown after he dropped decisions to Billy Quarantillo and Bill Algeo. “Alpha Ginger” will look to rebound impressively here by showing off an improved skillset in his first fight of 2021. Carlyle had no issue making weight and officially weighed 155.6 pounds.

Also coming off a defeat is Dagvadorj (7-1), who suffered the first loss of his career in his attempt to win the LFA welterweight title. While he didn’t walk away with gold, “The Mongolian F…

Benoit St. Denis submitted Luan Santiago via submission (arm-triangle choke) in the second round. #BRAVECF49 #Superfights pic.twitter.com/8H1LARqXg4

— BRAVE Combat Federation (@bravemmaf) March 25, 2021 Brave Combat Federation's Benoit St. Denis may be someone to watch out for going forward.

The Brave CF 49 main event saw former 155-pound titleholder Luan Santiago (15-5) taking on St. Denis (7-0, 1 NC) at the company’s super lightweight category of 165 pounds. Santiago adopted a cautious game plan as he preferred to force his opponent to catch him as he moved close to the fence. St. Denis dragged the action down to the ground with an effective single leg takedown, and he easily controlled his opponent while on top. After a few scrambles, the Frenchman took his opponent’s back and sought after a rear-naked choke, only to run out of time.

In the second frame, St. Denis took his opponent down again as soon as the round began. While Santiago…

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. For the first time since 2019, promising Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight prospect Damir Ismagulov will step into the cage. On Thursday, AG Fight reported that Ismagulov (19-1) will be returning to the Octagon on May 15. The Russian lightweight will be competing at UFC 262 at the Toyota Center in Houston, where he will take on debutant Rafael Alves (19-9). This 155-pound pairing has since been confirmed by Ismagulov on his Instagram.

Ismagulov has not suffered a defeat since 2015, where he dropped a decision to Ramazan Esenbaev. Since then, he has rattled off 14 victories, including three inside the UFC cage. He has yet to finish an opponent in his UFC run, with a trio of unanimous verdicts against Alex Gorgees, Joel Alvarez and Thiago Moises in the span of about nine months. Before his signing in 2018, Ismagulov l…

One of the high-profile free agent acquisitions for Bellator MMA has his debut fight set.

MMA DNA first announced on Wednesday that Brett Johns (17-2) will be setting foot in the Bellator cage for the first time against fellow bantamweight Matheus Mattos (12-2-1). The two will toe the line at an upcoming Bellator event on May 21, which will likely be titled Bellator 259. The card will be held at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., like its other events inside the “Fightsphere” bubble. A promotion official was unable to confirm the pairing to Sherdog on Thursday, but Johns did on his Twitter page.

Johns left the Ultimate Fighting Championship on a two-fight win streak with victories over Tony Gravely and Montel Jackson in 2020. “The Pikey” competed seven times inside the Octagon, only dropping decisions to top-10 talents Aljamain Sterling and Pedro Munhoz in 2018 along the way. The Welshmen completed his UFC contract and decided to sign with Bellator a few mont…

BREAKING: Pro Football Hall of Famer @raylewis Joins PFL's Newly Formed Athlete Advisory Board!

— PFL MMA (@ProFightLeague) March 25, 2021 In an effort to grow the influence of both the sport and the Professional Fighters League individually, the promotion is building an all-star athlete advisory board.

On Thursday, the tournament-based organization announced in a press release that it was creating an Athlete Advisory Board. The goal of this, per the PFL, is to “identify and recruit new talent as well as further evolve the PFL’s fighter-first culture and mission.” It is unclear how this board will achieve this, as the specific duties other than media obligations such as “behind-the-scenes access” have not yet been defined. Two key members of this board have been announced: Pro Football Hall of Famer Ray Lewis, and Ultimate Fighting Championship Hall of Famer Randy Couture.

All-time great linebacker Lewis is not completely unfamiliar with …

The UFC 261 card appears to be nearly complete, as the Las Vegas-based promotion confirmed multiple matchups for the April 24 card on Wednesday.

The lineup will include a rescheduled welterweight showdown between Alex Oliveira and Randy Brown, which was originally slated for UFC Fight Night 186 on Feb. 27 before Brown exited the card.

The following bouts, which may have been reported elsewhere, were also officially announced for UFC 261: Karl Roberson vs. Brendan Allen at middleweight; Danaa Batgerel vs. Kevin Natividad at bantamweight; Qileng Aori vs. Jeff Molina at bantamweight; Johnny Munoz Jr. vs. Jamey Simmons at bantamweight; Rodrigo Vargas vs. Zhu Rong at lightweight; Dwight Grant vs. Stefan Sekulic at welterweight and Na Liang vs. Ariane Carnelossi at strawweight.

UFC 261 takes place at Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena and will allow fans to attend at full capacity at the Jacksonville, Fla., venue. In the main event, Kamaru Usman will defend his welterweig…

Ryan Hall will return to action against Ilia Topuria in a featherweight matchup on July 10.

Adjara Sport first brought word of the booking and Topuria later confirmed it on his Instagram account. The event, which is expected to be UFC 264, does not currently have a location or headliner.

Hall hasn’t competed since 2019 after being forced to pull out of proposed bouts against Ricardo Lamas and Dan Ige due to injury. The grappling ace last appeared at UFC Fight Night 155, when he outpointed Darren Elkins in July 2019. He also owns victories over B.J. Penn, Gray Maynard and Artem Lobov in UFC competition.

A native of Alicante, Spain, the 24-year-old Topuria is unbeaten in 10 professional outings thus far. “El Matador” kicked off his promotional tenure with a decision win over Youssef Zalal at UFC Fight Night 179 last October before knocking out Damon Jackson in the opening stanza at UFC on ESPN 19 in December.

Miesha Tate will come out of retirement and lock horns with Marion Reneau at an Ultimate Fighting Championship event on July 17.

The former UFC bantamweight queen confirmed the news to ESPN on Wednesday. Reneau, meanwhile, confirmed that it will be the last fight of her MMA career. The promotion has not announced location or headliner for the card, but it is expected to be a UFC Fight Night event.

Tate announced her retirement following a unanimous decision loss to Raquel Pennington at UFC 205 in November 2016. She claimed 135-pound gold with a submission of Holly Holm at UFC 196 but relinquished the title one bout later, falling to Amanda Nunes by rear-naked choke at UFC 200. Her rivalry with Ronda Rousey, which began in Strikeforce and continued in the UFC, helped give women a bigger stage in MMA.

Since her retirement, Tate has served as an executive and ambassadar for Singapore-based MMA promotion One Championship. According to the report, the UFC has the ab…