Martial Arts News

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 …

Tony Ferguson has issued an ultimatum to Charles Oliveira ahead of their co-main event clash at UFC 256.

“I am counting on the Brazilian [Charles Oliveira] and others to come In overweight like usual. So I’m calling it now,” Ferguson wrote on Instagram. “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.”

Oliveira missed weight on four occasions while competing in the featherweight division but he has been on point for all nine of his lightweight bouts in the UFC. However, Ferguson vs. Oliveira was added to the UFC 256 lineup on short notice after the event lost a pair of title bouts.

Ferguson famously cut and made weight for a bout in April against Justin Gaethje even though the entire …

Three-time Legacy Fighting Alliance competitor Sam Hughes will step in on less than one week’s notice to face Tecia Torres at UFC 256.

Hughes is a replacement for Angela Hill, who withdrew from the event after a positive COVID-19 test. Multiple outlets confirmed the new matchup following an initial report from Best Fight Picks. UFC 256 takes place on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a flyweight championship tilt between Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno.

Hughes has won two of her three bouts under the LFA banner and is coming off a guillotine choke submisison against Danielle Hindley at LFA 93 on Oct. 16. The Everett, Washington, native is 5-1 as a pro, with all but one of her victories coming inside the distance.

Torres, meanwhile, snapped a four-fight skid in her last outing, as she took a unanimous verdict over Brianna Van Buren at UFC on ESPN 11.

Credit: Joao Baptista/Sherdog.com

Ramazan Emeev and David Zawada will lock horns in a welterweight matchup at the UFC’s Jan. 20 card.

The promotion announced the pairing on Tuesday. The UFC event is expected to take place on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi and is headlined by a welterweight showdown between Max Holloway and Calvin Kattar.

Emeev has been victorious in four of his five Octagon appearances. Most recently, the 33-year-old American Top Team representative outpointed Niklas Stolze at UFC on ESPN 14 on July 25. The former M-1 Challenge champion has only lost to Anthony Rocco Martin in UFC competition thus far.

Zawada will return for the first time since November 2019, when he snapped a two-bout losing streak with a first-round submission of Abubakar Nurmagomedov at UFC Fight Night 163. The KSW veteran fell to Danny Roberts and Jingliang Li in his first two Octagon appearances.

Jack Hermansson could be sidelined for a while following his five-round battle with Marvin Vettori in the UFC on ESPN 19 main event.

“The Joker” is suspended for six months unless he has a left orbital fracture cleared by an ophthalmologist. At a minimum he is suspended until Feb. 4 with no contact until Jan. 20. Vettori, meanwhile, needs to have a left eyelid cut cleared by a doctor or he is out until Jan. 20. At a minimum, “The Italian Dream” is suspended until Jan. 5 with no contact until Dec. 27.

mixedmartialarts.com released a full list of medical suspensions from the event late Monday night. UFC on ESPN 19 took place this past Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Four other fighters from the card are facing potential six-month terms: Jamahal Hill (left hand), John Allan (right knee, right ankle), Damon Jackson (nasal bone fracture) and Jake Colllier (left orbital fracture).

UFC on ESPN 19 Medical Suspensions:

Marvin Vettori: must have left …

Eddie Wineland and John Castaneda have agreed to square off at the UFC’s Feb. 20 event.

MMAjunkie.com was first to report the pairing. A location and headliner for the event have yet to be announced. A heavyweight clash pitting Alexey Oleynik against Chris Daukaus and a bantamweight tilt between Yana Kunitskaya and Ketlen Vieira are also slated for the card.

Wineland is 1-3 in his last four promotional appearances following a first-round knockout loss to Sean O’Malley in his most recent outing at UFC 250. The WEC veteran’s lone victory during that stretch came when he knocked out Grigory Popov at UFC 238.

An 11-time Combate Americas veteran, Castaneda has also last three of his last four pro fights. That includes his Octagon debut, when he dropped a unanimous decision against Nathaniel Wood at UFC on ESPN 14 on July 25.

Kayla Harrison will squeeze in one more fight in 2020 when she faces Jozette Cotton at Titan FC 66 on Dec. 17.

ESPN was first to report the bout. Harrison, Professional Fighter’s League defending 155-pound champion, received permission to fight outside the organization until its season resumes in 2021. Harrison defeated Cotton via second-round TKO under the PFL banner in her second MMA bout in August 2018.

Titan FC 66 takes place at Intercontinental Hotel in Miami and will stream on UFC Fight Pass.

"It wasn't easy to find an opponent," Harrison’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz told ESPN. "Thank you to Jozette for accepting the fight. Her management reached out to me, I reached out to Lex and we got it done. I want to thank everyone for making this happen, including the PFL for giving Kayla the opportunity.”

Harrison made her featherweight debut at Invicta FC 43 on Nov. 20, when she scored a second-round TKO of Courtney King. The two-time judo Olympic gold medalis…

After an impressive submission win over Felice Herrig last August, former Invicta champion Virna Jandiroba is back in Octagon for her fourth promotional appearance on Saturday at UFC 256 against Mackenzie Dern.

With 13 submission triumphs among her 16 professional victories, Jandiroba promises that she will not be afraid to go to the ground against the multiple-time world jiu-itsu champion.

“It’s an MMA fight, not a gi jiu-jitsu match. I´m prepared for all areas,” Jandiroba said. “If the fight goes to the ground, it will be pretty entertaining for the fans. Mackenzie´s game is pretty [unorthodox], [while] my jiu-jitsu is more like a classical old school style. But I'm bringing some surprises for that fight too.”

Jandiroba trained extensively with Nova Uniao black belt Michele Oliveira to help prepare her for the showdown with Dern.

“She has a pretty similar game to Mackenzie and spent almost two month here with me in Bahia, which was really important in my…

Rachael Ostovich is no longer part of the Ultimate Fighting Championship roster.

The flyweight was released from the promotion following her third consecutive defeat, a third-round knockout loss to Gina Mazany at UFC on ESPN 18 on Nov. 28. MMAjunkie.com was first to report the news. UFC president Dana White recently indicated that the UFC will cut as many as 60 fighters in the coming weeks.

A 29-year-old native of Honolulu, Ostovich went 2-2 in Invicta Fighting Championships before appearing on Season 26 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” where she was eliminated by Barb Honchak in the quarterfinals.

Ostovich went on to win her Octagon debut when she submitted Karine Gevorgyan at the “TUF 26” finale before falling to Montana De La Rosa, Paige VanZant and Mazany in her last three UFC appearances. Ostovich is 4-6 over the course of a pro career that began in 2014.

The hits keep come on coming regarding COVID-19 and UFC 256.

Welterweight Dwight Grant announced via Instagram on Monday that he tested positive for the virus and his bout vs. Jingliang Li has been canceled.

“Hey what's up everyone? I gotta give y'all some bad news, I'm not going to be fighting this weekend. My last Covid 19 test came back positive but luckily the symptoms haven't been severe,” Grant wrote. “This news hit especially hard because of all the hard work and excitement I have for this fight. It's out of my control so im not going to try not to dwell on it too much, but to call it disappointing is an understatement.

“So now I’m focusing all my energy on getting better. Im going to quarantine and by the grace of God, be able to fight again soon. Thank you everyone for all your support. I’ll be back even more determined and fired up to go.”

The promotion has not announced if Grant vs. Li will be rescheduled or if a replacement opponent will be sou…