Martial Arts News

The U.S. Department of Treasury announced sanctions on Chechen dictator Ramzan Kadyrov's MMA promotion and fight club (Akhmat MMA + ACA).

After five years of reporting on Kadyrov's use of MMA as a soft power strategy to distract from human rights abuses, it has finally happened pic.twitter.com/Tcrb92t4Hk

— Karim Zidan | كريم زيدان (@ZidanSports) December 10, 2020 The United States Department of the Treasury has sanctioned Chechen Head Ramzan Kadyrov for human right abuses, affecting fighters associating with Kadyrov or competing in his promotion of Absolute Championship Akhmat. On Thursday, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has placed sanctions on a number of international figures for “serious human right abuse across several countries in the Western Hemisphere, Middle East, and Eurasia.” Multiple parties in Haiti, Yemen and other countries have been sanctioned, and this includes Chechen leader Ka…

Additional fight announcement for RIZIN.26

Mikuru Asakura vs. Satoshi"Dominator"Yamasu#RIZIN #RIZIN26 pic.twitter.com/4CIkg7yDMz

— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) December 10, 2020 Rizin Fighting Federation is jamming its final event of the year full of MMA fights. Per a press release on Thursday, four new bouts including three under MMA rules and one in kickboxing have been added to Rizin 26. The year-end card will be held in the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, with a limited number of fans allowed in the building. Unlike past years, there will only be a single card for New Year’s Eve, and 12 bouts are currently slated for the card. The event will be buoyed by a bantamweight title fight between Kai Asakura and Kyoji Horiguchi.

The new MMA fights include a 150-pound catchweight contest of Mikuru Asakura (13-2, 1 NC) against Satoshi Yamasu (11-5), a featherweight scrap between Kleber Koike Erbst (25-5-1) and Kyle Aguon (13-9) and…

I can confirm reports that Jared Vanderaa vs. Sergey Spivak is OFF #UFC256. Vanderaa tested positive for COVID-19, per sources.

— Farah Hannoun (@Farah_Hannoun) December 10, 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 hits keep coming for the final Ultimate Fighting Championship pay-per-view card of the year. MMA Junkie first confirmed the scattered reports that Jared Vanderaa (11-4) had tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday. The story has since been confirmed by multiple outlets. He was to face Sergey Spivak (11-2) at UFC 256 on Dec. 12, but the heavyweight match will have to wait. It is currently unclear if the promotion will attempt to keep Spivak on the card against a new foe, but with two days’ notice the options may be sparse in the COVID-19 era of the sport.

Vanderaa’s positive test pushes back his promotional debut after…

Scheduled to face Brazilian Charles Oliveira in the co-main event of UFC 256, Tony Ferguson used his Instagram account to express concern regarding his opponent’s ability to make the lightweight limit.

“I am counting on the Brazilian [Charles Oliveira] and others to come In overweight like usual. So I’m calling it now,” Ferguson wrote. “Case law: Short notice fight, Charles Oliveira will not cut weight all week and show up 3-4 pounds overweight and use the excuse of a short-notice fight.”

“If he shows up that much overweight, we are not competing. So crew, make sure you visit the kid’s page and encourage him to make the weight if you want to see a fight.

Shortly thereafter, Sherdog.com contacted both Oliveira and his head coach, Diego Lima, to get a reaction to Ferguson’s statement. Both guaranteed that there will be no issues on the scales come Friday.

"I am really happy with that statement from Ferguson. It just shows how worried he is about Charles’ si…

RIZIN's sculpted judoka gets her org on the board, as Kana Watanabe (9-0-1) slowly overwhelms a fast-starting Ilara Joanne with her grappling en route to a third-round TKO! She rides seven straight wins, five of them finishes. #Bellator237 #BellatorJapan pic.twitter.com/dWBM8M2pOq

— Kyle Johnson (@VonPreux) December 29, 2019

Unbeaten Japanese flyweight Kana Watanabe has signed a multi-fight deal with Bellator MMA.

MMAjunkie.com was first to report the new addition to the roster, which was later confirmed by Bellator officials. A date for Watanabe’s promotional debut is currently unknown.

Watanabe was an Olympic qualifier for judo in Japan and sports a 9-0-1 career mark in MMA. She has competed for both Deep and Rizin while finishing six of her opponents by knockout, technical knockout or submission. Most recently, she defeated Ilara Joanne by third-round TKO in a crossover bout at Bellator 237 in December 2019.

Watanabe will join …

Rafael de Freitas is denying the sexual assault charges levied against him by one of his students stemming from an incident on Nov. 7.

The Albuquerque, New Mexico-based jiu-jitsu instructor and MMA veteran has been jailed after being accused of drugging and raping a client on that aforementioned date. Bowles Law Firm, which is representing de Freitas in the case, released a statement on the situation Wednesday.

The full statement, which was first obtained by MMAjunkie.com , is as follows:

We represent Rafael de Freitas Barata, a well-loved and very accomplished ju-jitsu practitioner. To date, the public has received one-sided reports of sexual assault based on the word of the alleged victim and a video, which no news agency or the public has seen. We have now watched the video. Let us be clear: these charges are false.

The video proves Mr. de Freitas’ innocence of a crime. We will present evidence that she invited Mr. de Freitas over that morning in text…

Bellator MMA is adding a heavy hitter to its 205-pound division.

It appears that Anthony Johnson (22-6) will eventually make his long-awaited return to MMA, but not in the promotion everyone was expecting. On Wednesday morning, ESPN reported that the former two-time UFC light heavyweight championship contender has signed with Bellator. "Rumble" will most likely compete at 205 pounds, but other reports indicate that he might test himself in the heavyweight division, as well. Johnson is expected to compete in the first half of 2021.

The 36-year old fighter hadn’t stepped inside the cage since April 2017, when he lost to Daniel Cormier in a title clash at UFC 210. Shortly after tapping to a second-round rear-naked choke, "Rumble" announced his retirement from the sport. The first title encounter between Johnson and "DC" also ended in a submission loss for “Rumble” when they locked horns for the interim championship at UFC 187. Johnson finished his UFC tenure wi…

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

The flyweight championship headliner between Ilima-Lei Macfarlane and Juliana Velasquez is now official, as both fighters made weight ahead of their Bellator 254 showdown.

Macfarlane tipped the scales at 124.8 pounds, while Velasquez checked in at 124.4. Bellator 254 takes place at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, on Thursday. The main card airs on CBS Sports Network and Dazn at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, while the prelims stream on Bellator’s YouTube channel and Dazn at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT.

Elsewhere, Goiti Yamauchi weighed in at 162.8 pounds for proposed lightweight clash with Nate Andrews (155.8). Since Yamauchi missed weight by such a substantial amount, Andrews elected not to accept the fight. As a result, a heavyweight bout pitting Davion Franklin (264) agianst Anthony Garrett (241) has been moved to the main card.

Macfarlane has defended her title four times since becoming the…

BAD BLOOD Things just got heated between @MrApocalypseMMA and @JakeHadleyMMA at the CW117 weigh-ins

New episode of Cage Warriors Unlocked drops tonight. pic.twitter.com/PpxaKvmOM0

— Cage Warriors (@CageWarriors) December 9, 2020 Cage Warriors Fighting Championship is back with the first of three consecutive events. 

On Wednesday, the Cage Warriors 117 weigh-ins took place, and everything went smooth as all fighters on the card were cleared to fight. Luke Shanks (7-1), who will put his flyweight title on the line in the main event, had no issues making the championship weight. Shanks weigted at 124.4 pounds. “The Apocalypse” won the divisional title after one of the most one-sided fights in Cage Warriors history when he upended Samir Faiddine at CW 114. 

The challenger, Jake Hadley (6-0), had zero problems when he hit the scales at 125 pounds. “The White Kong” earned his title shot after smashing up Shaj Haque at CW 114 bac…

Marina Rodriguez has agreed to replace Michelle Waterson and meet Amanda Ribas at UFC 257 on Jan. 23.

Multiple outlets confirmed the new strawweight booking following an initial report from Ag Fight. A reason for Waterson’s withdrawal is currently unknown. UFC 257 is expected to take place on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi and is headlined by a lightweight clash between Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier.

Rodriguez is 2-2-1 to begin her UFC tenure, with victories over Tecia Torres and Jessica Aguilar. Most recently, the 33-year-old Thai Brasil product dropped a split decision to Carla Esparza at UFC on ESPN 14 that many observers thought she deserved to win.

The 27-year-old Ribas has emerged as a budding star at 115 pounds with victories in her first four Octagon appearances. Ribas went 2-0 in 2020, taking a decision over Randa Markos at UFC Fight Night 170 and submitting Paige VanZant in the opening stanza at UFC 251.

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

Ilima-Lei Macfarlane believes she will be facing the most difficult test of her flyweight reign when she faces Juliana Velasquez in the Bellator 254 headliner on Thursday night.

Since becoming the promotion’s inaugural 125-pound queen with a submission of Emily Ducote in November 2017, “The Ilimanator” has vanquished Alejandra Lara, Valerie Letourneau, Veta Arteaga and Kate Jackson in successive championship defenses.

“Yes, I consider it the biggest challenge so far,” Macfarlane said of Velasquez during a virtual media day. “I would say that Valerie Letourneau at that stage of my career was my biggest challenge because of her pedigree, her experience in the sport, but I would say that stylistically, Juliana is my biggest challenge to date.

“Not only is she a southpaw, but she’s bigger. She seems very physically strong. She goes for the finish. I think her mentality too — she’s ready to be champion…

In his early UFC career, wrestling was a key foundation for Jon Jones’ success.

If the action ever got to be too much on the feet — though it rarely did — Jones, a junior college national champion at Iowa Central Community College, could always resort to taking his opponent down and battering them with elbows. In more recent years, Jones’ wrestling hasn’t been as much of a factor as he’s relied more frequently on his length and kickboxing to carry him to victory.

That could change as the Jackson-Wink MMA standout prepares to move to heavyweight in 2021. Jones, for one, expects to be much more powerful with his takedowns with added weight and strength in his lower half.

"When I was 205, I always had a hard time getting down low," Jones told ESPN. "Or hated getting low, with [single-leg takedowns] and stuff like that. Almost as if my knees were killing me to do it.

"Now that I've been working on my legs so much and they've gotten thicker ... I think that's …