Martial Arts News

Marcando las 204.5 libras en la @brownbearC #UFCVegas15 pic.twitter.com/Lf9pjD3X6y

— ufcespanol (@UFCEspanol) November 27, 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 making the best of a bad situation with a 10-fight offering, and all but one of the fighters remaining made weight. The promotion ends its busy November with UFC on ESPN 18. The card was set to be headlined by heavyweight contenders Curtis Blaydes and Derrick Lewis. However, Blaydes tested positive for coronavirus and the fight has been pulled just a day before it was scheduled to take place.

As a result of the change, the light heavyweight bout between former title challenger Anthony Smith and Devin Clark will serve as the new five-round main event and the card will continue with 10 fights. That wasn't the only drama today, though, …

Wyglądalo to bardzo niedobrze..Szczerze minimalnie faworyzowałem Johnsona no ale to co odwalił to nie mam pytań#ACA114 pic.twitter.com/SG36Xm7rBO

— Tymon Nowak (@TymonNowak5) November 26, 2020 Bellator MMA and One Championship alum Tony Johnson is going to celebrate Thanksgiving in a big way after capturing the Absolute Championship Akhmat heavyweight belt.

In the main event of ACA 114, former Ultimate Fighting Championship competitor Daniel Omielanczuk (24-10-1, 1 NC) clashed with Johnson (14-5-1, 1 NC) for the vacant heavyweight championship. The battle lasted a mere 69 seconds, and saw Omielanczuk aggressively chasing his opponent right out of the gate. At first, Johnson attempted to push away from his opponent’s offensive by extending his fingers towards Omielanczuk, but referee Herb Dean had none of that. After receiving a warning, “The Hulk” clipped Omielanczuk with a deadly duo of punches, sending the Polish fighter crashing to the canv…

Deiveson Figueiredo gets his 50k bonus personally from Dana White...#deivesonfigueiredo #danawhite #ufc pic.twitter.com/Q0JwIsDqfa

— RED CACHE (@redcachenet) November 25, 2020

Deiveson Figueiredo was feeling a little left out when bonuses were announced at the conclusion of UFC 255.

Not anymore.

In a video intially posted as an Instagram story by Figueiredo’s manager, Wallid Ismael, and later shared via Twitter, the reigning flyweight champion can be seen receiving a bag of cash from UFC president Dana White.

“I f—-ed up,” a smiling White says in the video. “I made a mistake.”

Figueiredo made his first 125-pound title defense with a submission of Alex Perez 1:57 into Round 1 of the UFC 255 headliner last weekend. Despite that impressive showing, the Brazilian was initially passed over for a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus in favor of Joaquin Buckley and Antonina Shevchenko.

“I’m the kind of champion who says wh…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKyj_ZD3cUw&w=560&h=315]

Jan Blachowicz can envision an eventual return to the heavyweight division, but the more pressing matter at hand is his first 205-pound title defense.

After Blachowicz claimed the vacant light heavyweight belt with a knockout of Dominick Reyes at UFC 253, he said that March would be an ideal time for him to return n to the Octagon. However, middleweight king Israel Adesanya, the opponent the UFC has targeted next for Blachowicz, wants to fight earlier than that.

Blachowicz isn’t budging on his initial stance.

“I don’t care. I want to fight in March, not earlier,” Blachowicz recently told Submission Radio. “I sent email to the UFC, if they want my next fight, they have to do this in March. March is the perfect month for me. If he wants to fight earlier, it’s not my problem, it’s his problem. I am the champion of 205. So if he will fight against me, my rules, my category — my month is March.”

…

A heavyweight showdown between Linton Vassell and Ronny Markes has been targeted for Bellator 254.

Sherdog.com confirmed the bout, which has not been finalized, with a source close to the situation following an initial report from MMAFighting.com. Bellator 254 takes place on Dec. 10 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, and is headlined by a women’s flyweight championship tilt between Ilima-Lei Macfarlane and Juliana Velasquez.

A two-time light heavyweight title challenger, Vassell moved up to heavyweight in 2019, when he fell to Valentin Moldavsky in his big-man debut at Bellator 218. “The Swarm” rebounded in his last outing, as he scored a second-round technical knockout victory against Sergei Kharitonov at Bellator 234 in November 2019.

Markes has been scheduled to make his promotional debut against Josh Barnett (twice) and Matt Mitrione at two separate events, but on each occasion the fights fell through for various reasons. The five-time UFC ve…

Charles Oliveira has been feeling overlooked in the UFC’s crowded lightweight division, but he’ll get a chance to turn some heads next month.

“Do Bronx” will lock horns with former interim champ Tony Ferguson in the UFC 256 co-main event on Dec. 12. The potentially action-packed 155-pound matchup was a late addition to the card after two title bouts — Amanda Nunes vs. Megan Anderson and Petr Yan vs. Aljamain Sterling — were canceled.

Oliveira enters the bout on a seven-fight winning streak in which he has finished all his opponents inside the distance. Facing a marquee opponent was worth the risk of accepting a short-notice fight, the Brazilian says.

“I’m happy for this opportunity to fight Ferguson; I’m taking this fight on less than 20 days notice, but it’s a chance to display my talent and show I’m ready to fight any Top 5 ranked guy, like I’ve been saying for a while now,” Oliveira recently told UFC.com. “The time has come. I will shock the world on Dec. 12…

Kayla Harrison’s featherweight debut in Invicta FC went much like the majority of her 155-pound appearances in the Professional Fighters League.

That is, the two-time Olympic gold medalist was dominant. Harrison rolled past Courtney King in the Invicta FC 43 headliner, winning via technical knockout 4:48 into Round 2 to run her professional mark to 8-0. Perhaps more importantly, Harrison was able to make weight without issue — though it wasn’t an enjoyable process.

"I got to fight week about 153 pounds and had to quarantine the whole time," Harrison recently told ESPN. "I brought plastics and sat in an Epsom salt bath for the first time ever. It was terrible. But I got down to 146 pounds the night before and ate and drank to help me sleep. I woke up the next morning and only needed 15 more minutes in the bath to be on weight.

"Everybody knows I don't believe in weight cutting. I don't believe it's super healthy. But I also understand I'm in the business of Kayl…

DIVISION ON NOTICE

@AmirAlbazi - welcome to the Octagon!

Action continues on @ESPN / E+ for #UFCFightIsland2 pic.twitter.com/I6NZJCbNCM — UFC (@ufc) July 18, 2020

A proposed flyweight bout pitting Amir Albazi against Zhalgas Zhumagulov has been pulled from the UFC on ESPN 18 lineup.

Russian outlet TASS was first to report the news. The cancellation reportedly occurred because of a passport issue involving Zhumagulov. As it stands now, UFC on ESPN 18 will move forward with 11 fights.

UFC on ESPN 18 takes place on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a heavyweight tilt between Curtis Blaydes and Derrick Lewis. The main card airs on ESPN2 and ESPN+ at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, while the prelims stream on ESPN+ at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.

A veteran of Bellator and Brave CF, Albazi made successful Octagon debut at UFC Fight Night 172, where he submitted Malcolm Gordon with a triangle choke in the opening stanza …

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w04OudFDltM&w=560&h=315]

Joaquin Buckley followed up his “Knockout of the Year” frontrunner with another stoppage victory at UFC 255 this past Saturday, but that doesn’t mean “New Mansa” is going to quit his day job.

Buckley revealed to TMZ Sports that he is working on getting an apparel business up and running, but until that happens, he plans on keeping his gig at national pharmacy store chain Walgreens.

“Besides the UFC, and they’re giving me these big checks, I still don’t have a business of my own,” Buckley said. “I need to just keep working and having that working mentality and work ethic. So I’m just gonna keep holding down the job. Until my business is off the ground, we’re gonna still keep working at Walgreens.”

Buckley likely clinched the top spot for best KO of 2020 with his spinning back kick finish of Impa Kasanganay at UFC Fight Night 179 on Oct. 10. The 26-year-old St. Louis native wasn’t quite as spectacula…

Two contests have been added to the UFC 257 bill, as Shane Burgos will meet Hakeem Dawodu at featherweight, while Umar Nurmagomedov will face Sergey Morozov at bantamweight on Jan. 23.

Burgos announced his matchup with Dawodu on his Instagram story following a report from MMA Empire, and Morozov confirmed his fight against Nurmagomedov in a post on his Instagram account. UFC 257 takes place on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi and is headlined by a rematch between Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier.

Burgos had a three-fight winning streak halted at UFC on ESPN 11, where he dropped a unanimous verdict against Josh Emmett on June 20. The 29-year-old Team Tiger Schulmann product is 6-2 during his promotional tenure and 13-2 as a professional overall.

Dawodu, meanwhile, has been victories in his last five UFC appearances. Most recently, the Calgary, Alberta, Canada, resident captured a split-decision triumph against Zubaira Tukhugovat UFC 253 on Sept. 26. Three of Dawodu’s fi…

With victories in four of his last five UFC appearances, Alistair Overeem is still going strong.

Nonetheless, the 40-year-old Dutchman acknowledges that he is nearing the end of his mixed martial arts career. Overeem laid out a tentative timeframe for retirement in a post on social media Tuesday.

“I’m still improving: even at 40 I think you can clearly see that in my fights,” Overeem wrote. “I’m still on a learning curve. But I have to be realistic. I’m going to have a couple more fights, then I’m going to hang up the gloves. If I win the belt, then the mission is completed.”

I’m still improving: even at 40 I think you can clearly see that in my fights. I’m still on a learning curve. But I have to be realistic. I’m going to have a couple more fights, then I’m going to hang up the gloves. If I win the belt, then the mission is completed #onefinalrun pic.twitter.com/gxQrZrrhhc

— Alistair Overeem (@Alistairovereem) November 24, 2020

Ov…

Getty/UFC

Bantamweight champion Petr Yan has broken his silence on the reason for his withdrawal from UFC 256.

Over the weekend it was revealed that Yan’s title defense against Aljamain Sterling had been pulled from the Dec. 12 card. As a result, the promotion rushed to book Deiveson Figueiredo against Brandon Moreno to serve as the new UFC 256 headliner.

Yan revealed on Instagram Live (translation courtesy of RT Sport) that numerous factors played a role in the postponement of the bout. The UFC is reportedly looking to reschedule Yan vs. Sterling for early next year.

"Everything's in force for the fight. It's going to be postponed for about a month and a half, but everything's in order," Yan said. "There were different problems, with the flight, with the visa, during training I flew away for a visa deadline, lots of factors. 

"We decided with the team to move everything to next year, perhaps the card will be more suitable… Everything is…