Martial Arts News

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCdfdlodpCw&w=640&h=360] Anthony Joshua will look to defend his World Boxing Association, International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Organization heavyweight titles against challenger Kubrat Pulev on Saturday. The boxing title tilt is now official after the weigh-ins took place, and both fighters weighed nearly the same amount.

This is the first fight for Joshua (23-1, 21 KO) since defeating an out-of-shape Andy Ruiz in Saudi Arabia to regain his titles. Prior to his shocking knockout loss to Ruiz, Joshua had never tasted defeat. He’ll look to keep his dreams for a unification bout with Tyson Fury alive with a win. Joshua officially weighed in at 240.75 pounds.

Looking to tag Joshua’s chin is Pulev (28-1, 14 KO), whose only defeat came at the hands of Wladimir Klitschko in 2014. Since getting knocked out, Pulev has kept active and defeated the likes of Derek Chisora, Hughie Fury and Rydell Booker. Slightly lighter than his…

Bout class includes fighters who fought in UFC from 12/2010-6/2017. Bout class is around 1200 fighters. Identity included any fighter whose likeness was used over same time in promos merch, etc. Basically means fewer fighters qualify for damages and UFC won't have to defend that. https://t.co/YZyUKK0rsn

— Josh Gross (@yay_yee) December 10, 2020 A federal antitrust lawsuit filed in 2014 by former Ultimate Fighting Championship fighters cleared a make-or-break hurdle on Thursday.

Judge Richard J. Boulware, a U.S. District Court Judge in Nevada, confirmed what he teased in September by granting class certification in Cung Le, et al. v. Zuffa LLC.

The lawsuit alleges that UFC violated antitrust laws by monopolizing the MMA industry using anticompetitive practices in the form of long-term, exclusive contracts that prevented fighters from negotiating deals on the open market, and further controlling the MMA industry by acquiring and then shuttin…

That connected!@JuVelasquezMMA and @Ilimanator are headed into the championship rounds of their #Bellator254 main event LIVE & FREE now on @CBSSportsNet.#USOHolidays #MMA #Bellator pic.twitter.com/XYzq31wFEf

— BellatorMMA (@BellatorMMA) December 11, 2020

Bellator MMA's final card of 2020 was headlined by a flyweight title fight between reigning champion Ilima-Lei Macfarlane and undefeated challenger Juliana Velasquez. In the end, it was the record of Macfarlane (11-1) that received its first blemish.

The main event of Bellator 254 saw both women struggle to land anything of importance over the first two rounds, although a guard pull by Velasquez (11-0) gave Macfarlane control as the second round ended. However, Velasquez started to land heavily in Round 3, which saw Macfarlane go for desperate takedowns she was unable to secure. The fourth frame saw Macfarlane able to put the Brazilian on her back, but it was the challenger that too…

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 popular Ultimate Fighting Championship champ leveled up his grappling recently. On Tuesday, an emotional Israel Adesanya (20-0) was awarded his Brazilian jiu-jitsu purple belt from highly acclaimed coach Andre Galvao. The former blue belt Adesanya sat down to roll with Galvao, the co-founder of Atos Jiu-Jitsu in San Diego, when Galvao surprised him behind his back with the belt advancement. Adesanya had been with the team for a five-week stint along with other City Kickboxing teammates, and he made a promise to the team that once per week, he will train in jiu-jitsu with a gi.

On his Instagram, Adesanya celebrated his accomplishment, writing:

I smoked with Snoop Dogg, I surfed [with] Kelly Slater, I rolled with Andre Galvao. This has been the highlight of my trip so far, being surprised with a purple belt by [Galvao].…

Dana White outlines the plan for three events at the start of 2021. pic.twitter.com/FtEz2IBbEx

— Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter) December 10, 2020 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 is going ahead full-steam with Yas Island cards to begin the year. Per UFC President Dana White in an interview with TSN on Thursday, the headlining plan for the Wednesday event early in the new year will be a rebooking of Leon Edwards (18-3) vs. Khamzat Chimaev (9-0). White was not able to confirm the bout at the time, but that it was in the works. The UFC Fight Night event on Jan. 20 will be held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, between UFC Fight Night 184 and UFC 257.

Should it come to fruition, it will be a month and a day removed from its previously scheduled date, as the two were set to headline UFC Fight Ni…

AND NEWJake Hadley dominates his opponent at #CW117 to become the new CW Flyweight Champion. pic.twitter.com/RcjpbzVfYn

— Cage Warriors (@CageWarriors) December 10, 2020 Cage Warriors Fighting Championship returned with the first of three consecutive events on Dec. 10.

In the main event of CW 117, Jake Hadley (7-0) dominated Luke Shanks (7-2) for all five rounds of their flyweight championship clash. The fight boded well for the fans in the first minute when the fighters brawled. One of Hadley’s shots wobbled Shanks’ legs, and Hadley exploited the opportunity to land a takedown. “White Kong” went nearly finished the fight in the first round with a one-arm rear-naked choke attempt, but the bell saved Shanks before tapping.

Starting the second round, the fight slowed in pace but allowed Hadley to showcase his impressive grappling skills. The former Extreme Fighting Championship titleholder scored repeat takedowns and dominated on the ground…

The U.S. Department of Treasury announced sanctions on Chechen dictator Ramzan Kadyrov's MMA promotion and fight club (Akhmat MMA + ACA).

After five years of reporting on Kadyrov's use of MMA as a soft power strategy to distract from human rights abuses, it has finally happened pic.twitter.com/Tcrb92t4Hk

— Karim Zidan | كريم زيدان (@ZidanSports) December 10, 2020 The United States Department of the Treasury has sanctioned Chechen Head Ramzan Kadyrov for human right abuses, affecting fighters associating with Kadyrov or competing in his promotion of Absolute Championship Akhmat. On Thursday, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has placed sanctions on a number of international figures for “serious human right abuse across several countries in the Western Hemisphere, Middle East, and Eurasia.” Multiple parties in Haiti, Yemen and other countries have been sanctioned, and this includes Chechen leader Ka…

Additional fight announcement for RIZIN.26

Mikuru Asakura vs. Satoshi"Dominator"Yamasu#RIZIN #RIZIN26 pic.twitter.com/4CIkg7yDMz

— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) December 10, 2020 Rizin Fighting Federation is jamming its final event of the year full of MMA fights. Per a press release on Thursday, four new bouts including three under MMA rules and one in kickboxing have been added to Rizin 26. The year-end card will be held in the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, with a limited number of fans allowed in the building. Unlike past years, there will only be a single card for New Year’s Eve, and 12 bouts are currently slated for the card. The event will be buoyed by a bantamweight title fight between Kai Asakura and Kyoji Horiguchi.

The new MMA fights include a 150-pound catchweight contest of Mikuru Asakura (13-2, 1 NC) against Satoshi Yamasu (11-5), a featherweight scrap between Kleber Koike Erbst (25-5-1) and Kyle Aguon (13-9) and…

I can confirm reports that Jared Vanderaa vs. Sergey Spivak is OFF #UFC256. Vanderaa tested positive for COVID-19, per sources.

— Farah Hannoun (@Farah_Hannoun) December 10, 2020 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 hits keep coming for the final Ultimate Fighting Championship pay-per-view card of the year. MMA Junkie first confirmed the scattered reports that Jared Vanderaa (11-4) had tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday. The story has since been confirmed by multiple outlets. He was to face Sergey Spivak (11-2) at UFC 256 on Dec. 12, but the heavyweight match will have to wait. It is currently unclear if the promotion will attempt to keep Spivak on the card against a new foe, but with two days’ notice the options may be sparse in the COVID-19 era of the sport.

Vanderaa’s positive test pushes back his promotional debut after…

Scheduled to face Brazilian Charles Oliveira in the co-main event of UFC 256, Tony Ferguson used his Instagram account to express concern regarding his opponent’s ability to make the lightweight limit.

“I am counting on the Brazilian [Charles Oliveira] and others to come In overweight like usual. So I’m calling it now,” Ferguson wrote. “Case law: Short notice fight, Charles Oliveira will not cut weight all week and show up 3-4 pounds overweight and use the excuse of a short-notice fight.”

“If he shows up that much overweight, we are not competing. So crew, make sure you visit the kid’s page and encourage him to make the weight if you want to see a fight.

Shortly thereafter, Sherdog.com contacted both Oliveira and his head coach, Diego Lima, to get a reaction to Ferguson’s statement. Both guaranteed that there will be no issues on the scales come Friday.

"I am really happy with that statement from Ferguson. It just shows how worried he is about Charles’ si…

RIZIN's sculpted judoka gets her org on the board, as Kana Watanabe (9-0-1) slowly overwhelms a fast-starting Ilara Joanne with her grappling en route to a third-round TKO! She rides seven straight wins, five of them finishes. #Bellator237 #BellatorJapan pic.twitter.com/dWBM8M2pOq

— Kyle Johnson (@VonPreux) December 29, 2019

Unbeaten Japanese flyweight Kana Watanabe has signed a multi-fight deal with Bellator MMA.

MMAjunkie.com was first to report the new addition to the roster, which was later confirmed by Bellator officials. A date for Watanabe’s promotional debut is currently unknown.

Watanabe was an Olympic qualifier for judo in Japan and sports a 9-0-1 career mark in MMA. She has competed for both Deep and Rizin while finishing six of her opponents by knockout, technical knockout or submission. Most recently, she defeated Ilara Joanne by third-round TKO in a crossover bout at Bellator 237 in December 2019.

Watanabe will join …

Rafael de Freitas is denying the sexual assault charges levied against him by one of his students stemming from an incident on Nov. 7.

The Albuquerque, New Mexico-based jiu-jitsu instructor and MMA veteran has been jailed after being accused of drugging and raping a client on that aforementioned date. Bowles Law Firm, which is representing de Freitas in the case, released a statement on the situation Wednesday.

The full statement, which was first obtained by MMAjunkie.com , is as follows:

We represent Rafael de Freitas Barata, a well-loved and very accomplished ju-jitsu practitioner. To date, the public has received one-sided reports of sexual assault based on the word of the alleged victim and a video, which no news agency or the public has seen. We have now watched the video. Let us be clear: these charges are false.

The video proves Mr. de Freitas’ innocence of a crime. We will present evidence that she invited Mr. de Freitas over that morning in text…