Martial Arts News

UFC Fight Night 183 is down to 14 bouts after Belal Muhammad tested positive for COVID-19.

Muhammed announced the news via Twitter on Tuesday. As a result, his welterweight scrap with Dhiego Lima has been canceled. According to MMAFighting.com, the bout is expected to be rescheduled in January.

Woke up yesterday feeling like crap got tested and i was positive for covid sucks but I’ll be back

— Belal Muhammad (@bullyb170) December 15, 2020

UFC Fight Night 183 takes place on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a welterweight clash pitting Stephen Thompson against Geoff Neal. The card streams in its entirety on ESPN+.

Muhammed has won seven of his last eight Octagon appearances and is coming off a three-round verdict against Lyman Good at UFC on ESPN 11 this past June.

Lima has been victorious in his last three promotional outings, including a split-decision triumph over Luke Jumeau at UFC 243.

Blew him a kiss then slapped him!?

@UFCPereira is truly in his element tonight. #UFCVegas9 pic.twitter.com/i80f35cot5

— UFC (@ufc) September 6, 2020 After an impressive performance against Zelim Imdadaev at UFC Fight Night 176 that included a payback slap to the face before his third-round submission victory, Michael Pereira returns to the Octagon on Saturday to face the dangerous Kalinn Williams, who is coming off back-to-back knockout victories.

“Definitely he is a dangerous guy with lots of knock out power who deserves all my respect, but I’m also bringing some surprises to him,” Pereira recently said during a live session on Portal de Vale Tudo. “As always, I´m coming to win, entertaining the fans and, hopefully, getting my fourth UFC bonus.”

When asked about the possibility of repeating his face slap technique against Williams, Pereira promised that is not part of the game plan.

“I have many tools to do my show with…

Tony Ferguson doesn’t seem to be overly discouraged following a lopsided decision loss to Charles Oliveira at UFC 256.

“El Cucuy” was dominated on the ground in a unanimous decision defeat to his Brazilian opponent in Saturday’s co-main event at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. When considering that setback comes on the heels of a fifth-round TKO loss against Justin Gaethje at UFC 249 in May, it might be reasonable to think that Ferguson has seen his best days in the Octagon.

“The Ultimate Fighter 13” winner has other ideas, however.

“My search for that epic word called ‘Greatness’ isn’t over,” Ferguson wrote on Instagram. “Understand crew, we are far from being retired.”

Ferguson’s night went south once the action hit the canvas, and had Oliveira secured an armbar a few seconds earlier in the opening stanza, the fight probably wouldn’t have made it to the judges. Instead, Ferguson displayed tremendous toughness in surviving until the Round 1 horn as his arm was…

Max Holloway has largely been quiet since a controversial split-decision defeat to Alexander Volkanovski in their rematch at UFC 251 this past July.

However, while Holloway is well-known for accepting defeat with grace, he points to the majority opinion regarding that result. Of the 27 media scorecards tracked by MMADecisions.com, 18 rewarded the fight to Holloway.

“Me personally, I don’t really think that it matters if I won the fight,” Holloway told ESPN. “What matters to me is what most people think…It doesn’t matter what I think. But the UFC, you guys, the world — they can see. 80 to 90 percent of the world thinks I won. That’s what matters to them and that’s what matters to me.”

Holloway also points out that many prominent members of the MMA community thought he defeated Volkanovski in their rematch.

"They were sticking their necks out for me," Holloway said. "And these aren't fans, they're fighters. Jorge [Masvidal], Nate [Diaz], Dustin [Poirier], …

After what transpired at UFC 256, it’s hard to imagine that the flyweight division was once on life support in the Las Vegas-based promotion.

Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno put on a show for 25 minutes in Saturday’s headliner at the UFC Apex, battling to a majority draw that was hailed as the greatest fight in the history of the flyweight division. Making it even more impressive was the fact that both Figueiredo and Moreno were competing just 21 days after earning victories at UFC 255.

“I didn’t know, you don’t know [how it’s gonna turn out],” UFC president Dana White said at the event’s post-fight press conference. “Then you start wondering, ‘Well, we’re gonna find out when this thing gets into the fourth and fifth round’ and things like that. Seriously, we throw the word around a lot, but these two are seriously f—-ing savages. Both of these guys are absolute savages.”

Ironically, it was a pair of flyweights who stepped up to save an event that had los…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztl8PLyqpYE&w=560&h=315]

Let the anticipation begin.

Over the weekend, the first official trailer for the Conor McGregor-Dustin Poirier rematch at UFC 257 was released by the Las Vegas-based promotion. McGregor and Poirier will square off in the evening’s headliner on Jan. 23 at Yas Island in Abu Dhabi.

The two rivals initially met in a featherweight bout at UFC 178 on Sept. 27, 2014 in Las Vegas. McGregor defeated Poirier via first-round TKO, cementing himself as a star to watch in the division and putting himself on a championship path.

Plenty has changed since then. McGregor has gone on to become a simultaneous two-division champion and also earned a lucrative payday for a boxing match with Floyd Mayweather. Undoubtedly the biggest star in the promotion, the “Notorious” Irishman returned to the Octagon following more than a year absence at UFC 246 in January, when he stopped Donald Cerrone in just 40 seconds on Jan. 18.…

A flyweight clash between Matt Schnell and Tyson Nam has been rescheduled for a third time, landing on the UFC’s Jan. 20 event.

MMAjunkie.com was first to report the news. Schnell and Nam were initially slated to meet on Sept. 12, but the bout was canceled when Schnell experienced health issues due to his weight cut. The matchup was rebooked for UFC Fight Night 183 on Dec. 19 but was scrapped for undisclosed reasons.

The UFC Fight Night event is expected to take place on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi and could reportedly be headlined by a welterweight tilt between Leon Edwards and Khamzat Chimaev.

Schnell will be making his first appearance since December 2019, when he had a four-bout winning streak snapped by Alexandre Pantoja in a first-round knockout loss at UFC Fight Night 165. The 30-year-old American Top Team representative is 4-3 during his Octagon tenure and 14-5 as a professional overall.

A 32-fight veteran, Nam is riding the momentum of back-to-back f…

It appears that Yoel Romero will be a Bellator MMA athlete very soon.

The former UFC middleweight title challenger is expected to sign with the California-based promotion and make his debut at 205 pounds in 2021. Though Romero has not officially signed a contract, both sides have agreed to terms. ESPN was first to report the news.

Early reports indicated that Bellator was not interested in signing Romero, who will turn 44 years old in April. However, Bellator and “The Soldier of God” were ultimately able to reach an agreement for a multi-fight deal as Romero’s period of free agency lasted less than two weeks. Romero’s imminent signing comes on the heels of the addition of Anthony Johnson, setting up a potentially tantalizing matchup at light heavyweight in Bellator.

Romero, who suffered a KO loss to Rafael Cavalcante in a 205-pound bout under the Strikeforce banner before moving to middleweight upon signing with the UFC, is 13-5 over the course of a professional…

A light heavyweight showdown pitting Khalil Rountree against Marcin Prachnio has been added to the UFC 257 lineup.

Promotion officials announced the pairing during the UFC 256 broadcast this past Saturday. UFC 257 takes place on Jan. 23 in Abu Dhabi and is headlined by a lightweight showdown between Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier.

After recently considering retirement, Rountree re-signed with the Las Vegas-based promotion earlier this year. Rountree last appeared at UFC Fight Night 160, where he suffered a first-round TKO defeat at the hands of Ion Cutelaba in September 2019. The 30-year-old Tiger Muay Thai representative is 4-4 with one no contest during his promotional tenure.

Prachnio, meanwhile, enters the matchup with Rountree on a three-bout losing streak in the Octagon. Most recently, the Tatsujin Dojo product suffered a first-round KO loss to Mike Rodriguez at UFC on ESPN 15. The One Championship veteran has been finished in each of his three UFC ap…

It was not a banner night for either Tony Ferguson or Junior dos Santos at UFC 256.

One bout removed from having a 12-fight winning streak halted by Justin Gaethje at UFC 249, Ferguson had a chance to jump right back into title contention with a victory over Charles Oliveira in Saturday’s co-main event at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Instead, “El Cucuy” was dominated for three rounds by his Brazilian opponent in a lopsided unanimous decision defeat.

That came as a surprise to Dana White, who expected a return to form for the longtime contender. Nonetheless, White still came away impressed with Feguson’s durability after “The Ultimate Fighter 13” winner survived a nasty armbar from Oliveira at the end of Round 1.

“I thought we were going to see the old Tony,” White said at the UFC 256 post-fight press conference. “I thought that the last fight he was affected by weight cutting and we were going to see [the old Tony]. Ten out of 10 people tap to that armbar. The fac…

Deiveson Figueiredo has established himself as a different breed of flyweight, one who can end a fight at a moment’s notice with his power and overall finishing ability.

However, the reigning 125-pound champion threw everything he had at Brandon Moreno in the UFC 256 main event on Saturday, and “The Assassin Baby” still kept coming. Thanks to a point deduction for an inadvertent low blow in the third round, Moreno was able to emerge with a majority draw against the champion.

The longer the fight went on, the more confident Moreno became.

“I think I expected a little bit more power from him. Obviously he has power. It’s obvious because when he threw punches to my body, I felt it. When he threw kicks to my forearms, I felt it definitely,” Moreno said on the ESPN+ post-fight show. “But I started to get more confidence during the fight, and I started to feel comfortable. I think I needed to put more pressure in the fifth round, but it is what it is. Right now I have…

Despite a seven-fight winning streak in which he finished each of his opponents, Charles Oliveira was something of an overlooked commodity in the lightweight division heading into UFC 256.

Not anymore. After dominating Tony Ferguson for three rounds, “Do Bronx” has moved to the forefront of any title discussion at 155 pounds.

“I think everything happens at the right time,” Oliveira said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “Look at the fight tonight: This is the guy everyone calls ‘The Boogeyman,’ and we went in there and we had an amazing fight. I’ve been telling everyone I’m going to be the champion. People don’t believe it, so I have to show them.”

Oliveira grounded the former interim champion with ease and dominated positioning throughout Saturday’s co-main event contest at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. He nearly finished the fight in Round 1, when a late armbar attempt had Ferguson’s arm contorted at a gruesome angle.

“He’s a really tough guy,” Oli…