Martial Arts News

Kayla Harrison just beat Courtney King into a bloody mess. Opened up a nasty cut on the bridge of her nose midway through the first and the mauling just continued. pic.twitter.com/3J7Cmhui7o

— Will (@ChillemDafoe) November 21, 2020

It was a mismatch on paper, and it was a mismatch in practice.

Two-time Olympic gold medalist Kayla Harrison put forth a near-flawless performance in her Invicta Fighting Championships debut, as she dismissed Courtney King with punches in the second round of their gory Invicta 43 headliner on Friday in Kansas City, Kansas. King (4-2, 1-2 Invicta) packed her bags 4:48 into Round 2, closing the book on her three-fight winning streak.

Harrison (8-0, 1-0 Invicta) brutalized the Fury Fighting Championship titleholder throughout the first round, turning their showcase into a bloodbath. The American Top Team export executed a takedown, settled in full guard and slashed open long vertical gash between King’s eyes w…

HOLY _____! Pereira's power is unreal!!! #LFA95 pic.twitter.com/0EAoY6z4fA

— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) November 21, 2020 Two-division Glory kickboxing world champion Alexsandro Pereira made a successful Legacy Fighting Alliance debut in the main event of LFA 95 main event.

Pereira (3-1) immediately hurt opponent Thomas Powell with a leg kick and started landing huge knees early in Round 1. Powell (4-5) unsuccessfully tried to grapple with the kickboxing great but got demolished with a huge left hook at 4:04 of Round 1.

The co-main event saw Myron Dennis face Dylan Potter, who missed the light heavyweight limit by over six pounds. Dennis (18-7) was able to outwork Potter (8-5) in a tight contest that went the full 15 minutes. While one judge saw the fight 29-28 in Potter's favor, "The Future" took the other two 29-28 scorecards to win a split decision. After the victory, Dennis said he's still improving at 31-years-old and wants a tit…

NO DOUBT

@Daico_Deiveson locks in our main event.

[ Get the #ESPNPlus PPV: https://t.co/246VA65KPH ] pic.twitter.com/596E3v7Ngt — UFC (@ufc) November 20, 2020 Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 255 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s second-to-last pay-per-view of 2020 will take place this Saturday.

Headlining UFC 255 are two flyweight title fights as Deiveson Figueiredo and Valentina Shevchenko look to defend their respective titles. All 12 fights on the card are now official after the weigh-ins took place, although Mike Perry missed weight by 4.5 pounds.

This will mark the first title defense for Figueiredo (19-1), who had to defeat Joseph Benavidez twice in a row to capture the belt that Henry Cejudo left vacant. Making weight has previously been an issue for the champ, whose only career loss was to Jussier Formiga, but …

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. Nova Uniao head coach Andre Pederneiras believes Brazilian greats Rafael dos Anjos, Jose Aldo and Patricio Freire will cement their statuses as all-time greats soon. Right after return from Las Vegas with dos Anjos, “Dede” Pederneiras spoke with Sherdog about his first experience in the corner of the former Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight champion. Aware that dos Anjos was now the #6 ranked lightweight according to the UFC rankings, Pederneiras did not like the idea of dos Anjos as an alternate for the recently formalized Conor McGregor-Dustin Poirier rematch.

“If UFC offers that, [dos Anjos] is the one who should choose, but I don’t think that would be a nice idea. I have no doubt that Rafael is coming to fight for the belt, so he doesn't need to hurry for that”, said Pederneiras, before recalling everything the athl…

Now that the #LFA95 weigh-in is in the books, which fight are you looking forward to the most tonight?

: https://t.co/eJrC4qcSiH

: https://t.co/aiIgZVyko3@ShellsDotCom@FredLoyaIns@USENDmoney@Krushmatized@PsoRite@GLCDirect2000@AthleticCBD@IncaKolaUSA@UFCFightPass pic.twitter.com/d5omcI0Fcd — LFA (@LFAfighting) November 20, 2020 The Legacy Fighting Alliance will still make it to fight day after multiple fights fell off the card.

LFA 95 is now going to be headlined by Alexsandro Pereira (185.8) vs. Thomas Powell (182) at middleweight after several major shakeups to the event. The original marquee matchup featured a title fight between Nick Browne and Arthur Estrazulas, but it and two other bouts have been scuttled from the event lineup due to COVID-19 protocols.

Glory kickboxing middleweight and interim light heavyweight champ Pereira may be a relative MMA neophyte, but he sports an impressive kickboxing resume that has seem him scor…

#InvictaFC43: King vs. Harrison Official Weigh-in Results https://t.co/nyxH3JlsCh

— Invicta FC (@InvictaFights) November 20, 2020 Invicta Fighting Championships lost its title fight shortly after weigh-ins, and it will carry on with five fights.

Invicta FC 43 will now be capped off by the promotional debut of unbeaten Professional Fighters League lightweight champion Kayla Harrison, who made featherweight for the first time at 145.9 pounds. Harrison will face former Legacy Fighting Alliance and Fury Fighting Championship competitor Courtney King, who sports a 75 percent career finish rate. King hit the scales at 145.2 pounds to make their upgraded match official.

Originally the top billing, Emily Ducote (114.5) and Montserrat Ruiz (113.3) were set to square off for the vacant strawweight title. The promotion announced shortly after the weigh-ins that the match has been scratched due to “enhanced COVID-19 safety protocols.”

One fighter…

A jednak ‼️ Już 26 listopada w walce wieczoru gali ACA 114 w Łodzi Daniel Omielańczuk (24-9-1) powalczy z Tony "The Hulk" Johnson Jr. (13-5-1) o mistrzowski pas ACA w wadze ciężkiej! Czy Polscy kibice doczekają się pierwszego Polskiego mistrza w lidze ACA!? pic.twitter.com/JcMz0YJe5A

— ACAMMA (@ACA_League) October 19, 2020 On Nov. 26, top-ranked Absolute Championship Akhmat heavyweights Daniel Omielanczuk and Tony Johnson will fight for the vacant ACA heavyweight title.

According to ACA President Alexey Yatsenko, ACA 114 in Lodz, Poland, will go on without spectators, taking into account the local COVID-19 restrictions in place. The event, which will be available for purchase on pay-per-view through the ACA website, will otherwise be unaffected.

“It will be a real five-round battle of the titans,” Yatsenko exclaimed to Sherdog. “The title became vacant after its owner Mukhomad Vakhaev finished his contract with our organization, and it w…

“Golden Boy” throwing #InsideTheMatrix4 #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship

How to watch ONE: INSIDE THE MATRIX IV https://t.co/XVUI9f1Syb pic.twitter.com/bCO7gwSRkx

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) November 20, 2020 One Championship aired the fourth part of its pre-recorded “Inside the Matrix” series. One: Inside the Matrix 4 was headlined by a kickboxing clash between Aslanbek Zikreev and Wang Junguang. The contenders engaged in a back-and-forth battle that saw exciting moments from both sides. As the fight wore on, the Russian fighter appeared sharper than “Golden Boy,” and two of the three judges rewarded him with the split decision victory. Zikreev’s triumph over the former title contender led him to eye a future championship challenge.

In the co-main event, Joseph Lasiri took home a hard-fought split decision over Rocky Ogden in a muay Thai clash. The pace of “The Hurricane” kept Ogden guessing for the majority of the bout, and the …

What a statement! @ajmckee101 captures career win No. by submitting Darrion Caldwell.

McKee now moves to the #BellatorFWGP finals to face Pitbull/Sanchez. #Bellator253 pic.twitter.com/VyGaXpgYk5

— Bellator Europe (@Bellator_Europe) November 20, 2020 Thanks to Bellator 253's main event, we now know one finalist for Bellator MMA's featherweight grand prix. Darrion Caldwell was thought to be a major challenge for A.J. McKee, but the former Bellator bantamweight champion was unable to mount much offense. McKee (17-0) was able to latch in a neck crank after a successful takedown by Caldwell (15-4) that forced the former champ to submit at 1:11 of Round 1. McKee will now face the winner of Patricio Freire and Emmanuel Sanchez for the featherweight championship.

The welterweight co-main event saw former Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight champion Benson Henderson face off against former Legacy Fighting Alliance welterweight king Jas…

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 out with a bang for its year-end card, with a bantamweight thriller added to an already stacked lineup. According to a report from BJPenn.com on Thursday, Jose Aldo (28-7) will be taking on Marlon Vera (16-6-1) at the UFC Fight Night event on Dec. 19. Aldo and Vera were originally considered to square off at UFC 255, but the matchup fizzled before coming to fruition.

Aldo is in the midst of a three-fight losing streak, the longest of his career. The longtime featherweight king dropped down to bantamweight in December 2019 to take on Marlon Moraes, and he lost a close split decision. With Moraes unable to compete several months later, Aldo stepped over him to face Petr Yan for the 135-pound throne. Aldo reigned over the UFC’s featherweight division for several years after bringing his …

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 big women’s bantamweight contest is coming to the first Ultimate Fighting Championship card of 2021. Sara McMann (12-5) first posted to her Instagram on Wednesday that she would be taking on Julianna Pena (9-4) at the UFC card on Jan. 16. Pena posted news of the matchup shortly thereafter on her own Instagram. The matchup was once considered for the Dec. 19 Fight Night event, per a matchmaking video posted by the UFC, but it has since been moved to the new year for undisclosed reasons.

McMann ended a two-fight submission loss skid to Ketlen Vieira and Marion Reneau by earning a decision win over Lina Lansberg in January. McMann was on the shelf for nearly two years from 2018 to 2020 after having a child, and then suffering an injury to eject her from a bout with Nicco Montano. Pena replaced her in that matchup.

“The Vene…

For the first time since 2006, an Ultimate Fighting Championship legend is no longer part of the roster.

MMA Fighting first broke the news on Thursday that Anderson Silva (34-11, 1 NC) was released by the UFC. Shortly after this story came out, UFC President Dana White disputed the release when speaking to TMZ. A few hours later, White told TMZ that he was mistaken, and that Silva was indeed released from his contract. “The Spider” made his promotional debut at UFC Fight Night 5 in 2006.

The all-time great middleweight started off his UFC tenure by rattling off 16 wins, a record that still stands. Capturing the 185-pound throne by smashing Rich Franklin in his sophomore appearance, Silva went on to defend it 10 times. This consecutive title defense streak record was later trumped by Demetrious Johnson, who retained it in 11 bouts. Along the way, Silva went up to light heavyweight a few times, scoring knockouts of James Irvin, Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar – all…