Martial Arts News

Dana White has an exchange offer of sorts for Eddie Hearn.

As of March, boxing promoter-slash-manager Hearn picked up a major client: Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall. Since that arrangement came into place, Hearn has been harshly criticizing the UFC for underpaying Aspinall. The Matchroom Boxing chairman recently asked for Aspinall’s release from the UFC, promising to increase the Englishman’s earnings substantially more than what he is currently making.

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Responding to Hearn’s comments, White snapped back by asking for the release of one of Hearn’s most valued boxers, two-division champ Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez (23-0, 16 KOs). White said at a Zuffa Boxing press conference:

“[Hearn] said he wanted [Aspinall] released, right? Well, you release ‘Bam’ Rodriguez then. Sounds pretty stupid, doesn’t it? Congratulations again, Eddie. You sound stupid again.”

The current WBC, WBO and “The Ring” super flyweight titleholde…

Jeisla Chaves was surprised by the result in her Ultimate Fighting Championship debut.

Chaves made her promotional debut against Yuneisy Duben at UFC Fight Night 278 on Saturday. “A Braba” earned a hard-fought split decision win over Duben at the Apex in Las Vegas. However, the flyweight was surprised by the split nature of the verdict. While Duben managed to win the third round on all the scorecards, judge Tony Weeks also gave her the first round. While Chaves admits that Duben deserved Round 3, she was confident that she did enough to win the first two. Chaves said in a post-fight interview:

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“Very happy with a win in my debut. It was a split decision. I gotta confess, I was really surprised. I was like, ‘Oh my God. We’re gonna have some emotion. Why not? It makes it more fun.’ Thankfully, the win came… I was confident. My corners came to me and said, ‘You won 2-1.’ I felt that we had done enough to win.”

Chaves (8-0) got introduced to combat spor…

Bryce Mitchell feels like he belongs in the bantamweight division.

Mitchell (19-3) was originally scheduled to fight Victor Henry at UFC Fight Night 278 on Saturday. However, Henry was forced out with an injury and replaced by a previously undefeated Santiago Luna (8-1) on short notice. Mitchell dominated Luna on the ground throughout the fight before securing an arm-triangle choke, forcing Luna to tap with less than ten seconds left. While the fight was not very fan-friendly apart from the finish, Mitchell explained that he largely burned his arms out trying to control his opponent. Mitchell remarked in a post-fight interview:

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“I’m squeezing so hard with my arms the whole fight; it was actually hard for me to elbow and punch him. Because you do that with your hands too… When he moves, I finally get to punch, but I don’t get to do very big punches because he is moving. So, you get a heavy grappling match, an exhausting pace, with very little room for…

Tom Nolan’s only professional loss taught him a lot of lessons.

Nolan closed as a betting underdog going into his lightweight clash against Fares Ziam at UFC Fight Night 278 on Saturday in Las Vegas. Nolan outclassed Ziam on the ground while holding his own on the feet to earn a unanimous decision win. This was Nolan’s fifth straight victory after his lone professional loss in his 2024 promotional debut.

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Nolan made it to the Ultimate Fighting Championship with the reputation of a highly touted prospect. In his UFC debut against Nikolas Motta, however, Motta derailed Nolan’s hype train by knocking him out a bit over a minute into the fight. Nolan revealed that he was inexperienced and doing a lot of things wrong as a 23-year-old. However, the Aussie doesn’t want to take away from Motta’s performance. As his stock fell, he rediscovered his love for the game, slowly building himself back. “Big Train” claims he felt no fear of losing going into his clash…

Four fighters earned bonuses at UFC Vegas 118, which was a card filled with finishes.

Edgar Chairez (14-6) was the only prelims fighter to earn a $100,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus for his stoppage win over Bruno “Bulldog” Silva (15-9). “Puro Chicali” dropped Silva with an uppercut before quickly snapping in a rear-naked choke to earn the tap in the opening round. The Mexican flyweight is now riding a three-fight winning streak.

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Meanwhile, Iwo Baraniewski (9-0) earned the other POTN bonus of the card for his first-round finish of Junior Tafa (7-6). “Rudy” just needed two brutal leg kicks to drop Tafa before raining vicious ground-and-pound to force the referee to show mercy in 85 seconds. Having finished all nine of his career wins in the opening frame, this was the third straight bonus in as many Ultimate Fighting Championship outings for the undefeated Polish light heavyweight. Brendan Allen (27-7) and Edmen Shahbazyan (16-6) earned $100k …

Gabriel Bonfim did not request entry to the Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight elite. He demanded it.

A potent jab and devastating leg kicks carried the Dana White’s Contender Series graduate to a unanimous decision over Belal Muhammad in the UFC Fight Night 278 headliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. All three judges turned in 50-45 scorecards for Bonfim (20-1, 7-1 UFC), who has emerged as a genuine threat at 170 pounds.

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Muhammad (24-6, 15-6) was beaten to the punch over and over again. Bonfim bloodied the bridge of the VFS Academy cornerstone’s nose with repeated jabs, controlled the real estate from the center of the cage and forced the former champion onto his back foot. He did his best work in Round 3, where he snapped back Muhammad’s head with a vicious three-two and later sent his mouthpiece flying with a mean right cross. Bonfim dialed down his aggression across the final 10 minutes but did more than enough to maintain h…

Sherdog's live UFC Vegas 118 coverage will begin Saturday at 5 p.m. ET. The event is also known as UFC Fight Night 278. BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Souza (-300); Carnelossi (+225)Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:

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Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round: The Official Result BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Chaves (-400); Duben (+300)Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:The Official Result B…

Alessandro Costa took a calculated risk, filled in for Imanol Rodriguez on short notice and capitalized on his opportunity.

The Lobo Gym product took built some more momentum in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, as he wiped out Matt Schnell with punches in the first round of their featured UFC Fight Night 278 prelim on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Schnell (17-11, 7-9 UFC) bowed out of their 130-pound catchweight affair 2:32 into Round 1.

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Costa (16-5, 4-3 UFC) bided his time, made his reads and hit the accelerator when the situation called for it. He dazed and felled Schnell with a clean left hook, sprawled on a desperation takedown attempt, pinned the American beneath him and let fly with rapid-fire hammerfists until the job was done.

Meanwhile, MMA Lab mainstay Marcus McGhee outstruck and outmaneuvered John Yannis to a unanimous decision in their three-round bantamweight battle. All three judges turned in scorecards for McGhee (11-2,…

Alessandro Costa took a calculated risk, filled in for Imanol Rodriguez on short notice and capitalized on his opportunity.

The Lobo Gym product took built some more momentum in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, as he wiped out Matt Schnell with punches in the first round of their featured UFC Fight Night 278 prelim on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Schnell (17-11, 7-9 UFC) bowed out of their 130-pound catchweight affair 2:32 into Round 1.

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Costa (16-5, 4-3 UFC) bided his time, made his reads and hit the accelerator when the situation called for it. He dazed and felled Schnell with a clean left hook, sprawled on a desperation takedown attempt, pinned the American beneath him and let fly with rapid-fire hammerfists until the job was done.

Meanwhile, MMA Lab mainstay Marcus McGhee outstruck and outmaneuvered John Yannis to a unanimous decision in their three-round bantamweight battle. All three judges turned in scorecards for McGhee (11-2,…

The Ultimate Fighting Championship is abandoning “opinion” in its upcoming new rankings system.

The announcement was made during the UFC Vegas 118 broadcast Saturday at The Apex in Las Vegas. The new system will be based on “measurable performance instead of opinion or popularity.” The UFC stated:

“Based on measurable performance instead of opinion or popularity. Designed to reward performance & reflect results inside the Octagon.”

The current UFC rankings are decided by votes from media members from all platforms. UFC head honcho has previously expressed his disagreement with the current rankings system while hailing Jon Jones as the No. 1 pound-for-pound UFC fighter. It remains to be seen whether media members will have any say in the new rankings system.

Josh Hokit believes Tom Aspinall should be stripped of his Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight title.

Aspinall (15-3) hasn’t fought since his first title defense against Ciryl Gane ended in a no-contest due to a double eye poke by Gane at UFC 320 last October. Gane (13-2) is now scheduled to fight Alex Pereira (13-3) for the interim heavyweight title at UFC White House: Freedom 250 on June 14. Hokit (9-0) is also booked to trade leather in a heavyweight tilt against Derrick Lewis (29-13.)

Hokit believes Gane and Pereira should be fighting for the undisputed title instead of an interim one. Having recently instigated a one-sided beef with Pereira, Hokit wants to fight the Brazilian next. Considering Aspinall’s claims of being unable to drive due to the seriousness of his eye injury, Hokit doubts the Englishman will return anytime soon. “The Incredible Hok” accuses Aspinall of holding up the division with his “theatrics.”

“To get the division moving again,…

While Islam Makhachev has had several dominant wins, they are not the ones he cherishes the most.

Makhachev (28-1) recently admitted that winning his second Ultimate Fighting Championship title with a dominant unanimous decision win over Jack Della Maddalena last year was an emotional moment for him. However, that is not the fight that Makhachev rewatches most frequently. Makhachev revealed that his lightweight title defense against Dustin Poirier (30-10) at UFC 302 in 2024 was the most enjoyable performance of his career. What adds to the pleasure is that Makhachev was able to finish Poirier despite throwing caution to the wind.

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“Winning the championship was very emotional,” Makhachev told RedCorner MMA. “But the fight I keep rewatching is the Poirier fight. We fought as if it was a street fight. Plus, I managed to finish him. I really enjoyed this fight.”

Poirier made his third and final UFC lightweight title bid against Makhachev at UFC 302. “T…