Martial Arts News

Kai Kara-France believes upcoming opponent Steve Erceg did enough to dethrone Alexandre Pantoja in their UFC 301 title fight.

Advertisement

Kara-France is set to return to action against Erceg at UFC 305 on Aug. 17 in Perth, Australia. Erceg made his UFC debut in June 2023 and racked up a three-fight winning streak to earn a title shot against Pantoja within less than a year. The Australian dropped a hard-fought unanimous decision against “The Cannibal” in the main event at UFC 301 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, this past May.

Kara-France is not only impressed by Erceg’s rapid rise up the rankings but also believes “Astro Boy” did enough to get his hand raised against Pantoja.

“I’m excited for Steve. He’s done a really great job while he’s been in the division,” Kara France told the New Zealand Herald. “It hasn’t been a long time, four fights, and he already had a title fight. It’s pretty impressive, and I thought he did enough to win that fight. It just goes to…

Magomed Ankalaev claims he doesn’t need wrestling to dethrone UFC light heavyweight champ Alex Pereira.

Advertisement

Pereira stepped up on 11 days’ notice to save the UFC 303 card, putting his title on the line against Jiri Prochazka in the main event at the T-Mobile Arena on Saturday. “Poatan” almost knocked Prochazka out cold at the end of the first round before finishing him with a head kick at the beginning of the second round.

Ankalaev, who is the next expected title contender at 205 pounds, called out the champ immediately afterwards. An ace grappler, Ankalaev believes he doesn’t need his ground game to beat the former Glory Kickboxing champion.

“Congratulations champ, I’m very impressed but the boss [Dana White] always says this is the sport of opportunities and all I want is an opportunity,” Ankalaev wrote on social media. “And I don’t need wrestling, I have enough striking to test your chin. I believe I will knock you out.”

…

Alex Pereira is a champion who pays attention to the little things.

Advertisement

“Poatan” made his second successful light heavyweight title defense at UFC 303 on Saturday, when he dropped Jiri Prochazka with a head kick and sealed his victory with follow-up punches 13 seconds into Round 2 of their rematch at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. As it turns out, Pereira saw an opening for the fight-ending maneuver while watching his footage of his opponent’s warmup.

“I was in the locker room talking to Plinio, one my coaches, and he showed me the video of Jiri warming up. I saw he was trying to counter attack the calf kick, defend and counter,” Pereira said through a translator at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “I told Plinio he was doing the wrong timing, the timing was not good. So I saw that he was too focused on not taking that kick and he was keeping his hands down and leaving the head exposed. So I told him, I’m going to explore the high kick.”

C…

Jiri Prochazka’s second opportunity against Alex Pereira didn’t bring many encouraging returns.

Advertisement

After being dropped at the end of the opening stanza, Prochazka was vanquished by a head kick and follow-up punches from Pereira just 13 seconds into Round 2 of their UFC 303 headlining bout at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night. While Prochazka was also finished in their first meeting at UFC 295, he performed fairly well in the opening stanza and also had a legitimate gripe that the bout might have been stopped prematurely by referee Marc Goddard in the second period.

There were no such questions on Saturday night, and now it appears that “BJP has to do some soul searching before his next Octagon appearance.

“Hello everyone, thank you for all your support. Thanks to you Alex for the fight. You [were] better,” Prochazka said in a video on social media. “And only one thing goes on my mind: that I need to evolve to the next level — or …

Payton Talbott claims skateboarding takes even more of a toll on the body than fighting.

Advertisement

MMA and skateboarding appear to have a sort of connection, with fighters like Luke Rockhold, Kron Gracie, Andre Fili and several others having dabbled in the sport. Skateboarding is also one of Talbott’s talents.

UFC lightweight Jalin Turner, who is another skateboarding enthusiast, previously said that the sport takes a bigger toll on the body than fighting. Talbott agreed with that claim, explaining that a fall on concrete hits harder than any shot in a fight. Talbott also claimed to know of several MMA fighters’ careers jeopardized by skateboarding.

“Skateboarding [hurts the body more], for sure,” Talbott said during a post-fight media scrum following UFC 303. “Nobody hits harder than concrete. Skateboarding has derailed so many fighters’ careers.”

Talbott knocked out opponent Yanis Ghemmouri in 19 seconds at UFC 303 on Saturday to score his third con…

Vinicius Oliveira reignited his feud with Umar Nurmagomedov after a victory over Ricky Simon at UFC 303.

Advertisement

Oliveira earned a unanimous decision win over Simon to start off the UFC 303 action at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday. “Lok Dog” subsequently called for a fight against Nurmagomedov, though he doesn’t expect the Dagestani to accept it.

Oliveira and Nurmagomedov have previously traded barbs on Instagram DMs following the Brazilian’s UFC debut back in March. Both fighters had claimed they would best each other in a street fight and expressed interest in a potential clash. However, Oliveira believes Nurmagomedov will be scared to fight him after watching his latest performance against Simon. Oliveira displayed excellent takedown defense against Simon, who is a seasoned grappler. Expecting Nurmagomedov to dodge him, Oliveira called for a clash against Dominick Cruz.

“I would like to fight so much against Umar Nurmagomedov. He was [u…

The commission explains how Ige/Lopes was put together.pic.twitter.com/N2OiP4iAtu

— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) June 30, 2024

A lot went into the making of the eventual matchup for the co-main event at UFC 303.

Advertisement

Khalil Rountree and Jamahal Hill were the originally scheduled co-main event for UFC 303 at the T-Mobile Arena on Saturday before Rountree was forced out due to a failed drug test. Carlos Ulberg stepped in to replace Rountree but that matchup was eventually scrapped entirely when both Hill and Ulberg withdrew from the card. Eventually, Diego Lopes vs. Brian Ortega was booked as the featherweight co-main event. However, Lopes agreed to lightweight matchup against Ortega when he learned that “T-City” wouldn’t be able make the weight cut.

However, it was announced during the UFC 303 broadcast that the card was to have a new co-main event, as a fever forced Ortega out of the fight. Dan Ige, who trains in Las Vega…

Alex Pereira’s bonus request was granted — and deservedly so.

The reigning light heavyweight champion received a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” check for his second-round technical knockout of Jiri Prochazka in the UFC 303 headliner at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night. “Poatan” dropped his foe with a head kick early in Round 2 and then sealed his triumph with follow-up punches 13 seconds into the frame.

Pereira was one of four “Performance of the Night” winners from UFC 303. In addition to the Brazilian champion, Macy Chiasson, Joe Pyfer and Payton Talbott all received $50,000 awards for their work in the Octagon.

Chiasson ended Mayra Bueno Silva’s night by gashing her with an elbow from top position, forcing a doctor stoppage at the 1:58 mark of Round 2 in the bantamweight pairing. Pyfer, meanwhile, rebounded from his first career defeat to score a knockout of Marc-Andre Barriault 85 seconds into the opening stanza of their middleweight show…

The 2024 #PFLPlayoffs are set

Welterweights & Featherweights finally book their tickets to Washington DC ✈️

Advertisement

B2YB @Join_AFReserve | #PFLRegularSeason pic.twitter.com/BJoAcFCMcE — PFL (@PFLMMA) June 29, 2024

Shamil Musaev is sitting pretty as he makes his first venture into the Professional Fighters League postseason.

The 30-year-old Russian secured the No. 1 seed at welterweight by virtue of a second-round technical knockout of Murad Ramazanov at PFL 6 on Friday night at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The KSW veteran is now unbeaten in 17 professional outings, but he’ll have to best the same adversary twice in a row if he is to advance in the 170-pound bracket. His matchup for Aug. 23 at The Anthem in Washington, D.C. will be a return date with the fourth-seeded Ramazanov, who suffered his first professional defeat on Friday. Meanwhile, No. 2 Magomed Umalatov will square off against No.…

In a sport where the term “sniper” is often thrown around too easily, Alex Pereira wields a once-in-a-lifetime blend of precision and power.

In the main event of UFC 303 on Saturday in Las Vegas, light heavyweight champ Pereira (11-2) met Jiri Prochazka (30-5-1) in a rematch of their title fight seven months ago, which the Brazilian won by second-round knockout after likely losing the first round. In the rematch, the first round was a surprisingly tentative affair, most likely due to both men now being fully cognizant of the other’s power. The champ quickly went to work with the brutal leg kicks that had been effective for him in their first meeting, and which had given Prochazka trouble in his subsequent fight against Aleksandar Rakic as well. Prochazka had some success bouncing into range and landing single punches, but his attempts to bring the fight to the floor went nowhere. Nonetheless, the round was a competitive affair—that is, up to the final seconds, when “Poatan” …

Sherdog's live UFC 303 coverage will begin Saturday at 6 p.m. ET. BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Simon (-218), Oliveira (+180)Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Ben Duffy scores the round:Devin Tejada scores the round:

Advertisement

Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Ben Duffy scores the round:Devin Tejada scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Ben Duffy scores the round:Devin Tejada scores the round: The Official Result BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Tsuruya (-485), Hernandez (+370)Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Ben Duffy scores the round:Devin Tejada scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Ben Duffy scores the round:Devin Tejada scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Ben Duffy scores the round:Devin Tejada scores the round:The Official Result BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Buday (-258), Arlovski …

Getty Images/UFC

Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweights take notice: Joe Pyfer is one frightening individual.

Advertisement

In the featured preliminary bout of UFC 303 on Saturday in Las Vegas, “Bodybagz” came close to living up to his nickname, obliterating Marc-Andre Barriault with a hail of punches against the fence that left “Power Bar” prone and senseless on the cage floor. It was barely a fight, as Pyfer waded forward immediately, backing Barriault up with big haymakers. Once he had corralled the Canadian against the fence, the rest was academic: Pyfer unleashed a series of huge punches, with a right hand sneaking behind Barriault’s raised guard to connect on the ear. Pyfer tacked on a left as his opponent fell, and Barriault wound up facedown with his hands at his sides, completely separated from his wits and referee Herb Dean waved off the fight at 1 minute, 25 seconds. The chilling knockout put Pyfer back on track after his first UFC …