Martial Arts News

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Fifteen votes will determine the new rankings for Bellator MMA in every weight category.

The organization officially released its fighter rankings panel on Thursday via press release, which will allow for 15 MMA media members to select the top-10 fighters in each Bellator division: heavyweight, light heavyweight, middleweight, welterweight, lightweight, featherweight, bantamweight, women's featherweight and women's flyweight. Beyond selecting fighters from seven men’s categories and two for women, the voters will be picking pound-for-pound fighters for both men and women. Bellator will be using a third-party firm called Combat Registry to count the votes and prepare the lists, which will come from votes following every Bellator event. Sherdog.com was asked to join the panel, but opted not to participate in the process.

Twenty percent of the panel will be constituted of MMA Junkie staff members, with Geo…

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 in nearly three years, Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight Johnny Eduardo will be back in action. Per a report initially from MMA Junkie on Thursday, Eduardo (28-12) will be squaring off with Anthony Birchak (16-7) on the March 20 UFC event. The Fight Night card, which does not currently have a designation as it could air on ESPN or the ESPN+ streaming service, is slated to take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The pairing has since been confirmed by Birchak on his social media.

Eduardo will take his first trip to the Octagon since an unsuccessful outing against Nathaniel Wood at UFC Fight Night 131 in June 2018. Since then, the Brazilian has not been booked in any UFC match, nor has he publicly suffered from any illnesses or injuries to keep him out of the cage for this long. Although he inten…

No guts no glory MAIN EVENT MUHAMMAD pic.twitter.com/gqZbHiOzTN

— Belal Muhammad (@bullyb170) February 18, 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. Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight Belal Muhammad is striking while the iron is hot. Courtesy of an ESPN announcement on Thursday, Muhammad (18-3) will be stepping in on short notice to take on Leon Edwards (18-3) atop UFC Fight Night 187. The two 170-pounders will come to blows at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on March 13, with Muhammad replacing the COVID-afflicted Khamzat Chimaev. Muhammad quickly confirmed this booking on his social media.

The bout will be a very quick turnaround for the man known as “Remember the Name,” who bested Dhiego Lima across three rounds on Feb. 13. The win lifted Muhammad to a four-fight win streak that has seem him defeat Lyman Good, Takashi Sato and Cu…

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the PFL live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app.

Even with money tight internationally, the Professional Fighters League has added a significant investment to its already sizeable war chest.

On Thursday, the promotion sent out a press release announcing that a new investment from Ares Capital, Elysian Park Ventures and Knighthead Capital totaling $65 has been added to the PFL’s budget. This addition to the PFL’s funding that already combined for $110 million now totals a whopping $175 million. Per broadcast partner ESPN, a significant amount of this figure will be spent on free agent acquisitions.

The tournament-centric league, which took off the whole of 2020 due to coronavirus pandemic, has bolstered its ranks in its extended offseason. In addition to retaining the services of its previous champions like Lance Palmer, Ray Cooper III and Kayla Harrison, it has al…

Anthony Hernandez soumet l’invaincu (7-0 en MMA jusque là, 100% de finish) quadruple champion du monde de JJB, champion de l’ADCC en 2015, Rodolfo Vieira #UFC258pic.twitter.com/TT7gWaJoX3

— La Sueur (@lasueur_off) February 14, 2021

The UFC 258 preliminary card attracted 794,000 viewers to ESPN on Saturday night, according to ShowBuzz Daily.

The two-hour prelims aired on ESPN from 8 p.m. ET to 10 p.m. ET and saw Anthony Hernandez submit Rodolfo Vieira in the featured matchup on that portion of the card. The prelims also aired on ESPN+, but viewership figures aren’t available for the streaming platform.

UFC 258 took place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and saw Kamaru Usman retain his welterweight crown with a third-round stoppage of Gilbert Burns in the evening’s headliner. Outside of the main event, the card didn’t have the usual star power of a pay-per-view offering.

As expected, the ratings for the UFC 258 prelims came in below thos…

Dana White’s recent revelation that Jon Jones would get to face the winner of the Stipe Miocic-Francis Ngannou bout didn’t come as a surprise to Curtis Blaydes.

Miocic and Ngannou will square off in the UFC 260 headliner on March 27, and if all goes as planned Jones will get a chance to vie for heavyweight gold against the winner sometime in the summer. That leaves a contender like Blaydes, who will be gunning for his fifth consecutive triumph in the UFC Fight Night 185 main event agianst Derrick Lewis, on the outside looking in.

“I expected it. It’s Jon Jones. He's a money fight," Blaydes told ESPN. "If he wants to fight for the belt, yeah, he gets to fight for the belt. I'm not shocked. Do I think it's the most fair thing? No, but that's not what this business is about. It’s not about fair and who’s earned what.”

Jones, who is widely regarded as the greatest light heavyweight of all-time, vacated his belt last year in anticipation of a move to heavyweight. I…

A pivotal women’s flyweight showdown between Katlyn Chookagian and Viviane Araujo is in the works for a UFC event on May 15.

ESPN was first to report the matchup, which is close to being finalized by the Las Vegas-based promotion. A location and headliner for the card have not been confirmed.

A former title challenger at 125 pounds, Chookagian has been victorious in four of six Octagon appearances since 2019. Most recently, “Blonde Fighter” outpointed Cynthia Calvillo at UFC 255 on Nov. 21. The Renzo Gracie Jiu Jitsu representative’s resume also features wins over the likes of Jennifer Maia, Joanne Calderwood, Irene Aldana and Lauren Murphy.

Araujo, meanwhile, has earned victories in four of five promotional outings. The 34-year-old Brazilian enters the matchup with Chookagian on the strength of back-to-back decision triumphs over Montana De La Rosa and Roxanne Modafferi. Her lone defeat in the Octagon came against Jessica Eye at UFC 245.

UFC veteran Bryan Caraway is facing multiple charges after allegedly stealing an ATV from ex-girlfriend Miesha Tate and filing fraudulent insurance claims on the vehicle.

According to a report from the Tri-Cities Herald, Caraway is expected to enter a plea on March 11 forgery, making a false statement on a vehicle application certificate of title, false claims of proof in excess of $1,500 and first-degree attempted theft.

Caraway allegedly forged the title for a 2015 Polaris RZR and reported the vehicle stolen from his home in December 2018. Per court documents, Caraway bought the insurance policy just days before filing the claim. In the claim, Caraway valued the vehicle and its contents at $18,500.

After missing a Feb. 4 court hearing, Caraway appeared on the Washington state Officer of the Insurance Commissioner’s “Most Wanted” list. Caraway was removed from the list when he contacted the Benton County Prosecutor’s Office to schedule a new arraignment date on his c…

The last time Curtis Blaydes was in the Octagon, he landed a whopping 14 takedowns en route to a five-round verdict over Alexander Volkov in the UFC on ESPN 11 headliner this past June.

Considering Volkov’s most recent performance against Alistair Overeem, the victory looks even more impressive in hindsight. However, UFC president Dana White didn't seem to appreciate the means by which Blaydes had his hand raised, especially since the heavyweight contender fatigued somewhat down the stretch.

“He won. He talked a lot of s—t coming in this week,” White said at the post-fight press conference. “I don’t think you can talk the s—t that he talked this week and come in and perform like that. Talking about ragdolling people and not getting paid. Yada yada. He should be getting a title shot. He gassed out at the end of the third round, made it to the fifth and won the fight. Yeah, he won.”

As he heads into Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 185 main event against Derrick Lewis…

A light heavyweight showdown pitting Ion Cutelaba against Devin Clark is set for UFC Fight Night on May 1.

MMA DNA was first to report the booking. The card takes place at an as yet to be determined location and is headlined by a 205-pound tilt between Dominick Reyes and Jiri Prochazka.

Cutelaba is looking to bounce back from consecutive first-round KO/TKO defeats at the hands of Magomed Ankalaev in 2020. The 27-year-old Moldovan is 4-5 during his promotional tenure and 15-6 with one no contest as a professional overall. He’s finished 12 of his wins by knockout or technical knockout.

Clark, meanwhile, had a two-bout winning streak snapped in a first-round submission loss against Anthony Smith in his most recent outing at UFC on ESPN 18 this past November. “Brown Bear” is 6-5 within the Las Vegas-based promotion and 12-5 over the course of his MMA career.

Kamaru Usman could be looking at six months on the sidelines following his latest title defense at UFC 258.

“The Nigerian Nightmare” must have his right foot X-rayed and cleared by a doctor or he will be suspended until Aug. 13. At a minimum, Usman is suspended until March 16 with no contact until March 7. A full list of medical suspensions from this past Saturday’s event were released to mixedmartialarts.com.

UFC 258 took place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and saw Usman retain his welterweight crown with a third-round technical knockout of Gilbert Burns in the evening’s headliner. Burns is suspended until March 31 due to lacerations on his right eyebrow and left orbital.

Seven other fighters from UFC 258 are facing possible six-month sits pending doctor clearance: Alexa Grasso (right knee), Maycee Barber (right shoulder), Anthony Hernandez (right hand), Dhiego Lima (nose), Mallory Martin (right elbow), Chris Gutierrez (nose) and Phil Rowe (left knee).

UFC 258 Me…

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Khamzat Chimaev will continue his battle against the lingering health issues from COVID-19 in the United States.

According to a report from ESPN, the UFC is flying the welterweight prospect into Las Vegas to receive additional medical care. Chimaev was forced to withdraw from a March 13 headlining clash with Leon Edwards due to onging symptoms from the coronavirus. The goal is for Chimaev to fight in June, but his longterm health will be the primary concern.

Last week, in a video released on Frontkick.online's YouTube channel, manager Majdi Shammas revealed that Chimaev “thought he was going to die” after one recent training session.

“He was really bad. He didn’t even do two rounds straight. He did one round and then rested,” Shammas said. “He started coughing, started feeling ill again, and we had to cancel the training. He even went in an ambulance to the hospital.”

Chimaev was a breakout s…