Martial Arts News

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Irene Aldana could have positioned herself as a top contender in the UFC women’s bantamweight division with a victory over Holly Holm on Saturday night.

Instead, the Lobo Gym MMA representative faltered at UFC on ESPN 16, losing a clear-cut unanimous verdict to Holm at Flash Forum in Abu Dhabi. The former bantamweight queen kept Aldana off balance with movement, punching flurries, a variety of kicks and timely takedowns over the course of a frustrating 25 minutes.

Aldana reacted to the setback in a recent post on her Instagram account.

“Today things didn’t go my way,” she wrote. “First of all I want to apologize to my corner because we had a very specific fight plan that I could not execute. I felt that something was wrong with my left foot; it wasn’t responding since the beginning of the fight. No excuses, I s…

Five-time UFC veteran Jessica Aguilar has signed an exclusive deal with Xtreme Fighting Championships.

The promotion confirmed the signing following an initial report from MMAjunkie.com on Monday. Aguilar is expected to make her debut at XFC 43 on Nov. 11 in Atlanta. The card will be televised on NBC Sports Network, but Aguilar’s opponent was not revealed.

The 38-year-old American Top Team product last appeared at UFC on ESPN 2 in March 2019, when she suffered a unanimous decision loss against Marina Rodriguez. “Jag” entered the Las Vegas-based promotion on a 10-bout winning streak but was victorious in just one of her five UFC bouts.

Prior to that, she captured 115-pound gold in World Series of Fighting and also enjoyed a successful stint in Bellator MMA. Aguilar owns notable wins over the likes of Carla Esparza, Megumi Fuji (twice), Jodie Esquibel and Angela Magana.

It was a rough night at the office for Jordan Williams at UFC on ESPN 16.

Not only did the Dana White’s Contender Series alum drop a unanimous decision to Nassourdine Imavov in their preliminary middleweight bout, but he also suffered mutlple injuries in a contest that featured two headbutts and an accidental groin strike.

The first headbutt seemed to affect Imavov more than Williams, but the 25-year-old Frenchman was able to recover and pull away for a victory down the stretch. In additions to injuries suffered as a result of the fight, Williams also revealed that he entered the contest with a pre-existing neck ailment.

“Just got back from the hospital and the verdict is a broken nose, multiple fractures,” Williams said in a post-fight statement on Instagram. “I have a broken orbital bone from that illegal head butt — the second illegal head butt. This [cut on my head] is from the first illegal head butt. And, apparently, I broke my neck in the last fight. I…

Daniel Jubileu Oliveira defends his title! #andstill #ACA112 pic.twitter.com/vJoMPn9Ffl

— ACAMMA (@ACA_League) October 4, 2020

Deivi Daniel Oliveira de Almeida defended his 135-pound championship in spectacular fashion against Abdul-Rakhman Dudaev in the Absolute Championship Akhmat 112 headliner on Sunday.

It looked like Dudaev's time to shine in the early going, as the challenger put severe pressure on the champion in the opening stanza, scoring on multiple occasions with his notorious spinning shots. In the second round, Dudaev (25-5) continued to hit his opponent and nearly secured a finish after landing a left head kick. However, Oliveira (28-6-1) exploited his opponent's eagerness to end the fight and connected with a right overhand that dropped Dudaev in his tracks. The tune of the battle changed after that shot, even as Oliveira attempted unsuccessfully to close a rear-naked choke attempt.

Midway through the third round, the Br…

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Julianna Pena is taking her loss at UFC on ESPN 16 in stride.

“The Ultimate Fighter 18” winner released a statement via Instagram after being choked unconscious by Germaine de Randamie in the third round of their bantamweight clash in Abu Dhabi on Saturday night. In her post, Pena included a video of her daughter while expressing a desire to set a good example for her child.

“You win some, you learn some. Wasn’t my night! Massive Congratulations to [Germaine de Randamie] it was an honor to compete against you and thank you for your service of upholding the #thinblueline Thank you [Dana White] and [UFC]for the experience,” she wrote.

“I can’t wait to get back to this little love of mine!! I’ve missed her so much! Your kids don’t always follow your advice, a lot of times they follow your example. I’m uninjured an…

Not just a striker @IronLadyMMA #UFCFightIsland4 live on ESPN pic.twitter.com/kxea3rHfIf

— UFC (@ufc) October 4, 2020

Germaine de Randamie has always been known for her standup acumen.

In addition to her MMA bouts, the Dutchwoman owns an impressive 46-0 record in kickboxing, which means that most UFC opponents won’t want to stand and trade with her. That was again the case at UFC on ESPN 16, where Julianna Pena did her best to ground “The Iron Lady” at any opportunity.

While that worked well early in the bantamweight bout, Pena paid the price for her strategy in Round 3, when de Randamie trapped her in a guillotine following a takedown and choked “The Venezuelan Vixen” unconscious. It was the first submission victory of de Randamie’s 14-bout MMA career.

“I said before this fight to my coaches, either I’ll get this guillotine—because if you give me your neck, I’m going to put you to sleep—or I’m going to knock her out,” de Randamie s…

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James Krause will step in for Muslim Salikhov and square off against Claudio Henrique da Silva at UFC Fight Night 180.

MMAFighting.com was first to report the change to the welterweight bout. UFC Fight Night 180 takes place at the Flash Forum in Abu Dhabi and is headlined by a welterweight showdown between Brian Ortega and Chan Sung Jung.

Krause is coming off another short notice appearance, when he dropped a split verdict against Trevin Giles at UFC 247 on Feb. 8. That setback snapped a six-bout winning streak for the Glory MMA & Fitness representative.

After losing his professional debut, da Silva has won 14 consecutive fights – including five in the Las Vegas-based promotion. Most recently, the 38-year-old Brazilian choked out Cole Williams in the opening stanza at UFC on ESPN 5 in August 2019.

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UFC on ESPN 16 was an opportunity for Irene Aldana to solidify herself as the bantamweight division’s No. 1 contender.

UFC president Dana White indicated as much when speaking to media last month following an episode of the Contender Series. However, Holly Holm had other ideas.

The former 135-pound champion, just a couple weeks shy of her 39th birthday, authored one of the most complete performances of her UFC career, as she dominated Aldana for five rounds in Abu Dhabi on Saturday night. Once upon a time, Holm was the intriguing new talent, a boxing champion with a pedigree not often seen in women’s MMA.

“When I first came to MMA, a lot of people didn’t really know what to expect,” she said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “And then [eventually] they all knew who I was but there was this whole new ex…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhWytirby10&w=560&h=315]

Joshua da Silveira, the son of American Top Team coach Marcus "Conan" Silveira, has signed with Legacy Fighting Alliance.

The promotion announced the news on Sunday. Silveira will compete in the light heavyweight division, but a debut for his LFA debut is currently unknown.

The 27-year-old notably competed for Titan FC last year, scoring a first round submission of Jahsua Marsh in his professional debut. He followed that up with a head kick KO of Cody Rolling at a regional event on Aug. 13 in Florida.

His father, a longtime coach at ATT, went 6-4 with one no contest over the course of a professional career that began in 1995 and ended in 2007. “Conan” competed against the likes of Kazushi Sakuraba, Patrick Smith, Maurice Smith and Dan Severn.

.@LFAfighting is excited to announce that we have signed top prospect @JMDaSilv. @JMDaSilv is the son of @AmericanTopTeam head coac…

AT. THE. HORN. @CarlosCondit dropped Court McGee at the end of the first round at #UFCFightIsland4 pic.twitter.com/XR0UG1w11q

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) October 4, 2020

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There were probably quite a few fans watching UFC on ESPN 16 who never saw Carlos Condit at his peak.

One of the sport’s most reliable action fighters for most of his career, the New Mexico native is a former World Extreme Cagefighting titlist and ex-UFC interim champ who has a laundry list of memorable bouts on his resume. Heading into his matchup with Court McGee on Saturday, Condit had fallen on hard times, losing his last five Octagon appearances.

“The Natural Born Killer” shook off a slow start to end that skid, earning a unanimous decision victory over McGee in a preliminary welterweight bout at the Flash Forum in Abu Dh…

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Four fighters received $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonuses for their work at UFC on ESPN 16 on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi on Saturday night.

Former featherweight queen Germaine de Randamie’s first-ever submission triumph secured her a “Performance of the Night” bonus. The Dutch kickboxer ensnared Julianna Pena in a guillotine choke for a technical submission victory at the 3:25 mark of Round 3 in a featured bantamweight tilt.

Elsewhere, Kyler Phillips earned a “Performance of the Night” check thanks to a second-round technical knockout of Cameron Else in a bantamweight clash. The MMA Lab product brought an end to the contest with elbows and punches from mount 44 seconds into the period.

Unbeaten prospect Dusko Todorovic took home a “Performance of the Night” check for a dominant showing against Dequan Towns…

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. Holly Holm was not ready to pass the torch just yet. The former Ultimate Fighting Championship women’s bantamweight titleholder ran literal circles around Irene Aldana in the UFC on ESPN 16 headliner, where she cruised to a unanimous decision on Saturday at the Flash Forum in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. All three judges sided with Holm (14-5, 7-5 UFC): 50-44, 50-45 and 50-45.

A failure to cut off the cage proved costly for Aldana (12-6, 5-4 UFC), who grew increasingly frustrated as time went on. Holm was brilliant from a tactical perspective. The Jackson-Wink MMA mainstay steered clear of the lethal Aldana left hook, attacked the body with kicks and directed sharp punches at the head. Perhaps most importantly, she incorporated takedowns in all five rounds. When the fifth round arrived, Aldana appeared to be overcome by resi…