Martial Arts News

iKon Fighting Federation is going all-in on Bella Mir, giving the 17-year-old her first headlining spot in her second career match.

iKon FF 4 will take place on Dec. 11 at the Marinaterra Hotel Spa in San Carlos, Mexico, where it will air on UFC Fight Pass. Per a press release sent out on Friday, the event will be capped off by what should be a featherweight tilt between Mir (1-0) and MMA debutant Amanda Quesia Braqae Silva (0-0) – although the organization released conflicting information on its Instagram page the same day. The iKon Instagram account claims that Mir will be facing Alma Cespedes Flores (0-2) instead of Silva.

“We will close out the year with, by far, our best iKon Fighting Federation card,” said the promotion’s president Keith Veltre. “Bella is the future face of women’s MMA. She’s only 17 but already an incredible athlete and a rising MMA star. The co-feature could be the main event on just about any other card, and the rest of this card is stacke…

Another title fight

@AntunRacic (24-8-1) defends his KSW bantamweight title against Bruno 'Garanhoto' Santos (9-1) #KSW57 pic.twitter.com/TVrRGtEmfQ

— KSW (@KSW_MMA) December 4, 2020 KSW is ending the year in style with a trio of title fights on tap at KSW 57. The organization sent out a press release on Friday morning announcing the full eight-fight lineup of KSW 57 on Dec. 19. The event will in Lodz, Poland, likely at the Wytwornia Club, with COVID-19 regulations in place. The two championship bouts already announced include a heavyweight headliner of divisional kingpin Philip De Fries vs. Michal Kita, and a vacant lightweight title tilt between Marian Ziolkowski and Roman Szymanski. The third fight for gold is a bantamweight scrap between champ Antun Racic (24-8-1) and KSW newcomer Bruno Augusto dos Santos (9-1).

Racic has yet to taste defeat in the KSW cage, winning five consecutive decisions including a unanimous verdict over Damia…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EGQUyCbBb4&w=585&h=329] A lot can change in one year. When boxing fans last saw Errol Spence Jr. in action, he had defeated Shawn Porter in a "Fight of the Year" nominee in September 2019. However, a nasty car crash and the coronavirus pandemic kept the pound-for-pound talent out of the ring for over 365 days. He’ll return to pay-per-view on Saturday night as he looks to defend his World Boxing Council and International Boxing Federation welterweight belts against Danny Garcia.

Perfect in his professional career, Spence (26-0) has established himself alongside Terence Crawford as the best boxer at 147 pounds. Spence faced some adversity in his last outing as an aggressive Porter took one judge’s scorecard in their memorable bout. Before that, Spence had little issue defeating the likes of Mikey Garcia, Kell Brook and Chris Algieri. Spence looked great on the scales and came in at 146.5 pounds.

Looking to dethrone Spence is form…

Marat Grigorian avoids a monumental upset, coming back in Round 2 to KO Ivan Kondratev! @MaratGrigorian #ONEBigBang #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship pic.twitter.com/grbNp2N9po

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) December 4, 2020 One Championship returned to the Singapore Indoor Stadium for its final live event of the year titled “Big Bang.”

In the main event of this massively restructured card, Marat Grigorian locked horns with Ivan Kondratev in a kickboxing contest at featherweight. The fight was close to being a major shocker as Kondratev dropped Grigorian with a nasty left hook in the opening frame. Grigorian gathered himself, and found the key to open Kondratev’s defense, landing a vicious liver punch in the next round that folded his opponent in half. The official stoppage time indicated 1:52 into the second stanza.

Has Garry Tonon earned a shot at Thanh Le? @Garry_Tonon @ThanhLeMMA #ONEBigBang #WeAreONE #ONEC…

Now that the #LFA96 weigh-in is in the books, which fight are you looking forward to the most tonight?

https://t.co/szGPn6bN87

https://t.co/EWxu0lmf4M@ShellsDotCom@USENDmoney@Krushmatized@PsoRite@GLCDirect2000@AthleticCBD@IncaKolaUSA@HartmanArena@UFCFightPass pic.twitter.com/MJKqAZuXaG — LFA (@LFAfighting) December 4, 2020 The final Legacy Fighting Alliance event of the year is upon us. Maycon Mendonca will face Batsumberel Dagvadorj for the promotion's vacant welterweight title in the main event of LFA 96. The seven-fight card is now official after the weigh-ins took place and there wasn't much drama as only Mitzi Merry missed weight.

Brazil's Mendonca sports a 10-4 record and struggled early on in his LFA career. Despite suffering three straight defeats, including knockouts to Christian Aguilera and Matthew Frincu, Mendonca never lost his fighting spirit. His full potential is finally coming out as he's bounced back with a four-fight…

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 highly anticipated Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight matchup is on ice for the time being. First reported by MMA Fighting on Thursday, Alexandre Pantoja (22-5) will no longer be competing at UFC Fight Night 183 against Manel Kape (15-4). The reason for Pantoja’s withdrawal is currently undisclosed, but the promotion is looking to re-book the pair in February if possible. It is unclear if Kape will remain on this card with a fresh opponent and make a short turnaround for the Pantoja re-booking, or simply wait a few months longer to make his UFC debut.

Pantoja was looking to rebound from a decision loss to the unbeaten Askar Askarov in July. With alternating wins and losses in his last four, “The Cannibal” has dropped decisions to Askarov and current champ Deiveson Figueiredo, while knocking out Wilson Reis and Matt Schn…

let's go baby!!

— Lerone Murphy (@LeroneMurphy) December 3, 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 now starting the new year off with three events in a week. The news first broke from MMA Fighting on Wednesday night that the promotion is adding an event to its early 2021 calendar. The Jan. 20 Fight Night event is expected to take place on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, between the card headlined by Max Holloway vs. Calvin Kattar and UFC 257 topped by Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier 2. Three bouts have been reported, with two confirmed by other outlets, including a flyweight encounter initially reported by Combate between newly signed Francisco Figueiredo (11-3-1, 1 NC) and Jerome Rivera (10-3).

Figueiredo, brother of flyweight kingpin Deiveson Figueiredo, will make his way do…

Yair Rodriguez Accepts Sanction for Violation of UFC Anti-Doping Policy https://t.co/ClyCcmIgdP

— USADA (@usantidoping) December 3, 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. A prominent Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight contender will be out of action until early 2021. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency announced on Thursday that Yair Rodriguez (13-2, 1 NC) has been suspended for six months after three Whereabouts violations. USADA requires that every fighter on the UFC roster notify them when they relocate or travel, and should the agency come to test a fighter only to find no one there, they get a Whereabouts failure marked. Three Whereabouts failures within one year flags the fighter as if they tested positive, and USADA responds accordingly.

USADA claimed that none of his violations were “suspicious” or that he was trying to de…

It wasn’t the promotion’s most star-studded card to date, but UFC on ESPN 18 still drew solid ratings.

According to Showbuzz Daily, UFC on ESPN 18 averaged 1.055 million viewers during the two-hour broadcast on ESPN. The event aired on the network following the conclusion of a college football game between Texas A&M and LSU. UFC on ESPN 18 averaged 245,000 viewers during the earlier portion of the card that was broadcast on ESPN2.

That initial figure ranks as the fourth-highest rating for a UFC on ESPN card in 2020. The highest rated event this year remains UFC on ESPN 8, which averaged 1.198 million viewers for a card headlined by a heavyweight clash between Alistair Overeem and Walt Harris on May 16. The numbers are even more impressive considering UFC on ESPN 18 was going head to head with the Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones Jr. pay-per-view, which reportedly drew more than 1 million buys.

UFC on ESPN 18 took place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and saw Anthony S…

Though it may have been an exhibition, there was apparently a great deal of interest in the boxing match between Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr.

According to multiple reports, the pay-per-view event drew more 1 million buys. Boxing journalist Dan Rafael revealed that the card drew in the neighborhood of 1.2 million buys, while MMAFighting.com received estimates that the show could even exceed the figure provided by Rafael.

Tyson vs. Jones was promoted by social media company Triller with a price point of $49.95. It was available through Fite TV as well as various television and satellite providers. If those figures are accurate, that would make the fight the highest-selling boxing event of 2020 — the Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder rematch reportedly drew between 800,000 and 850,000 buys — and puts it on pair with UFC 251 (1.3 million) as the top-drawing combat sports card overall.

The card also drew interest thanks to a matchup between YouTube star Jake Paul and form…

It’s been a disappointing 2020 for Leon Edwards, to say the least.

A scheduled headlining clash with Tyron Woodley on home soil in March was canceled, and more recently, Edwards was forced to withdraw from a main event showdown with red-hot prospect Khamzat Chimaev at UFC Fight Night 183 on Dec. 19. In both cases, COVID-19 was to blame. In the first instance, the onset of the pandemic brought the UFC’s slate of events to a screeching halt, and the second time around, the a difficult bout with the virus itself left Edwards no choice but to exit the card.

The welterweight contender released a statement regarding the cancellation of the UFC Fight Night 183 headliner on Twitter.

“Another setback, but when you come from the mud you learn to put everything in perspective,” Edwards wrote. “This virus has affected many lives and families much worse than mine. Looking forward to getting this rebooked soon, thank you all for the well wishes.”

An…

Credit: Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com Credit: Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com Credit: Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com Credit: Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com

Niko Price has been suspended six months and fined $8,500 for a positive marijuana test in relation to his welterweight bout against Donald Cerrone at UFC Fight Night 178 on Sept. 19.

The Nevada Athletic Commission issued the sanction during a meeting on Wednesday. Additionally, Price’s draw with Cerrone was overturned to a no contest.

Price’s suspension is retroactive to the date of his positive test, so he will be eligible to compete again on March 19. Price was previously sanctioned for marijuana in relation to a victory over Alex Morono at UFC Fight Night 104 in Houston. That win was also changed to a no contest.

“Thank you for all the kind words,” Price wrote on Twitter. “I’ll be back and ready to throw down right away after this suspension in March/April.”

Thank you all for the kind words. I’ll be back a…