Martial Arts News

Silenced the doubters

@Daico_Deiveson is the first to make weight for #UFC256! pic.twitter.com/FMFJmiJ48K

— UFC (@ufc) December 11, 2020 Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 256 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. The Ultimate Fighting Championship will put on its final pay-per-view event of 2020 this Saturday. Headlining UFC 256 is a flyweight title defense as champion Deiveson Figueiredo takes on Brandon Moreno in what is a three-week turnaround for both fighters. The 10-fight card is now official after the weigh-ins took place and all fighters made weight including backup fighter Manel Kape (124.5).

A frontrunner for fighter of the year, Figueiredo (20-1) will look to improve to 4-0 inside the Octagon this year. “Daico” claimed the vacant flyweight belt after choking out Joseph Benavidez earlier this year and followed that up with another submission over Alex Per…

One shot KO powerThe champ Nathias Frederick with the shot of the night, successfully defending his Middleweight Title in the process.

What a way to end #CW118 pic.twitter.com/S9dJna9Xfx

— Cage Warriors (@CageWarriors) December 11, 2020 Cage Warriors Fighting Championship sailed through the second of the three back-to-back events, which went down on Dec. 11. In the main event of CW 118, Nathias Frederick (9-2-1) defended his 185-pound championship by rendering Jamie Richardson (9-6) unconscious. “Notorious” put Richardson on high alert after the beginning of the match, dropping “Young Gun” with one of his haymakers. After Richardson recovered, Frederick attempted to land with his punches more and more, but he looked unstable on his feet as if he was sliding on the canvas. Strangely, Richardson didn’t have the same issue, and right before the end of the round, he took “Notorious” down from where he limited himself to control without doing …

CW119 weigh-ins just wrapped!

Tomorrow night's full card, including both title fights, has been made official

Staredown footage coming soon

Results https://t.co/gqL1LzdvDF pic.twitter.com/Ssaf2GNLai

— Cage Warriors (@CageWarriors) December 11, 2020 On Friday morning, Cage Warriors Fighting Championship held the weigh-ins for its upcoming third and final part of “The Trilogy Strikes Back” series.

In the main event of CW 119, Morgan Charriere (15-7-1) will get a second chance to win the vacant featherweight belt. The French fighter should have headlined CW 113, but the COVID-19 outbreak forced the promotion to change its plans. In September, “The Last Pirate” tested positive for COVID-19 before his title clash at CW 116. Today, Charriere looked good as he hit the scales at 143.9 pounds.

England’s own Perry Goodwin (10-7) will lock horns with Charriere. “The Predator” earned his title shot following back-to-back victories over S…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVHzHoN72Mw&w=560&h=315]

One Championship aired the pre-recorded second part of the One: Big Bang series on Dec. 11.

The One: Big Bang 2 main event featured a much-anticipated muay Thai contest in One’s flyweight division between Jonathan Haggerty and Taiki Naito. It didn’t take long for Haggerty to impose his surgical striking on his hapless opponent. “The General” dropped Naito to the canvas in the first and second frame, but the Japanese fighter survived to hear the final bell. All three judges rewarded Haggerty with a well-deserved unanimous decision victory.

Nieky Holzken is BACK with a first-round KO of Elliot Compton! @niekyholzken #ONEBigBang2 #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship

How to watch ONE: BIG BANG II https://t.co/vcuJcv6IbAONE: BIG BANG II streamed on YouTube https://t.co/UFrNHXNJFH pic.twitter.com/dPckEO08Ko

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) December 11, 2020 In the co-main event…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W82px22z39w&w=560&h=315] Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 256 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. Josuel Distak, head coach of Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight Ronaldo Souza, is optimistic about the return of his fighter against Kevin Holland at UFC 256. On Thursday, Portal de Vale Tudo spoke with Distak about his fighter and the preparation for the event. “Jacare” was originally booked to face Marvin Vettori, but when Holland tested positive for COVID-19, the promotion switched the fighters to make Vettori fight Jack Hermansson and matched Holland against Souza.

“Even with the fighters changed two weeks before the event, our game plan did not change too much after they changed Vettori for Holland,” Distak admitted. “Kevin is a really tough kid, but he is facing the best Jacare, and the smaller octagon will work like a gi for him.”

The Brazil…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCdfdlodpCw&w=640&h=360] Anthony Joshua will look to defend his World Boxing Association, International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Organization heavyweight titles against challenger Kubrat Pulev on Saturday. The boxing title tilt is now official after the weigh-ins took place, and both fighters weighed nearly the same amount.

This is the first fight for Joshua (23-1, 21 KO) since defeating an out-of-shape Andy Ruiz in Saudi Arabia to regain his titles. Prior to his shocking knockout loss to Ruiz, Joshua had never tasted defeat. He’ll look to keep his dreams for a unification bout with Tyson Fury alive with a win. Joshua officially weighed in at 240.75 pounds.

Looking to tag Joshua’s chin is Pulev (28-1, 14 KO), whose only defeat came at the hands of Wladimir Klitschko in 2014. Since getting knocked out, Pulev has kept active and defeated the likes of Derek Chisora, Hughie Fury and Rydell Booker. Slightly lighter than his…

Bout class includes fighters who fought in UFC from 12/2010-6/2017. Bout class is around 1200 fighters. Identity included any fighter whose likeness was used over same time in promos merch, etc. Basically means fewer fighters qualify for damages and UFC won't have to defend that. https://t.co/YZyUKK0rsn

— Josh Gross (@yay_yee) December 10, 2020 A federal antitrust lawsuit filed in 2014 by former Ultimate Fighting Championship fighters cleared a make-or-break hurdle on Thursday.

Judge Richard J. Boulware, a U.S. District Court Judge in Nevada, confirmed what he teased in September by granting class certification in Cung Le, et al. v. Zuffa LLC.

The lawsuit alleges that UFC violated antitrust laws by monopolizing the MMA industry using anticompetitive practices in the form of long-term, exclusive contracts that prevented fighters from negotiating deals on the open market, and further controlling the MMA industry by acquiring and then shuttin…

That connected!@JuVelasquezMMA and @Ilimanator are headed into the championship rounds of their #Bellator254 main event LIVE & FREE now on @CBSSportsNet.#USOHolidays #MMA #Bellator pic.twitter.com/XYzq31wFEf

— BellatorMMA (@BellatorMMA) December 11, 2020

Bellator MMA's final card of 2020 was headlined by a flyweight title fight between reigning champion Ilima-Lei Macfarlane and undefeated challenger Juliana Velasquez. In the end, it was the record of Macfarlane (11-1) that received its first blemish.

The main event of Bellator 254 saw both women struggle to land anything of importance over the first two rounds, although a guard pull by Velasquez (11-0) gave Macfarlane control as the second round ended. However, Velasquez started to land heavily in Round 3, which saw Macfarlane go for desperate takedowns she was unable to secure. The fourth frame saw Macfarlane able to put the Brazilian on her back, but it was the challenger that too…

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 popular Ultimate Fighting Championship champ leveled up his grappling recently. On Tuesday, an emotional Israel Adesanya (20-0) was awarded his Brazilian jiu-jitsu purple belt from highly acclaimed coach Andre Galvao. The former blue belt Adesanya sat down to roll with Galvao, the co-founder of Atos Jiu-Jitsu in San Diego, when Galvao surprised him behind his back with the belt advancement. Adesanya had been with the team for a five-week stint along with other City Kickboxing teammates, and he made a promise to the team that once per week, he will train in jiu-jitsu with a gi.

On his Instagram, Adesanya celebrated his accomplishment, writing:

I smoked with Snoop Dogg, I surfed [with] Kelly Slater, I rolled with Andre Galvao. This has been the highlight of my trip so far, being surprised with a purple belt by [Galvao].…

Dana White outlines the plan for three events at the start of 2021. pic.twitter.com/FtEz2IBbEx

— Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter) 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 Ultimate Fighting Championship is going ahead full-steam with Yas Island cards to begin the year. Per UFC President Dana White in an interview with TSN on Thursday, the headlining plan for the Wednesday event early in the new year will be a rebooking of Leon Edwards (18-3) vs. Khamzat Chimaev (9-0). White was not able to confirm the bout at the time, but that it was in the works. The UFC Fight Night event on Jan. 20 will be held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, between UFC Fight Night 184 and UFC 257.

Should it come to fruition, it will be a month and a day removed from its previously scheduled date, as the two were set to headline UFC Fight Ni…

AND NEWJake Hadley dominates his opponent at #CW117 to become the new CW Flyweight Champion. pic.twitter.com/RcjpbzVfYn

— Cage Warriors (@CageWarriors) December 10, 2020 Cage Warriors Fighting Championship returned with the first of three consecutive events on Dec. 10.

In the main event of CW 117, Jake Hadley (7-0) dominated Luke Shanks (7-2) for all five rounds of their flyweight championship clash. The fight boded well for the fans in the first minute when the fighters brawled. One of Hadley’s shots wobbled Shanks’ legs, and Hadley exploited the opportunity to land a takedown. “White Kong” went nearly finished the fight in the first round with a one-arm rear-naked choke attempt, but the bell saved Shanks before tapping.

Starting the second round, the fight slowed in pace but allowed Hadley to showcase his impressive grappling skills. The former Extreme Fighting Championship titleholder scored repeat takedowns and dominated on the ground…

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…