Martial Arts News

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Steven Ray has retired from mixed martial arts at 30 years old.

The Braveheart MMA founder revealed his decision in a video on Facebook, citing a knee injury as the motivating factor behind the announcement. Ray said that those knee issues caused him chronic pain in recent years and prevented him from training as consistently as he would like despite undergoing three separate surgeries.

“Going back, before that, for my last three fights my knee’s been pretty badly damaged,” Ray said. “Those that train with me or are close to me know that I was having to spend a lot of days off training, icing my knee, when my opponent was probably training.

“It was f—-ing with my head taking days off and not going into the fight as confident. A lot of stuff I wasn’t able to do. For example, really struggling to wrestle and thro…

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

Legacy Fighting Alliance welterweight champion Jaleel Willis has signed an exclusive, multi-fight contract with Bellator MMA.

The California-based promotion confirmed the deal following an initial report from MMAjunkie.com on Sunday. A date and opponent for Willis’ second Bellator appearance were not revealed. The Memphis Judo and Jiu-Jitsu product previously competed for the organization in 2016, when he outpointed Omar Johnson at Bellator 162.

The 28-year-old Willis claimed welterweight gold with a five-round verdict against Vinicius de Jesus at LFA 88 on Aug. 21. Willis owns a 13-2 professional mark overall and has earned five of his victories by KO/TKO and eight via decision.

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While Saturday’s majority draw with Niko Price was a disappointing result — one that Donald Cerrone actually regards as his fifth consecutive defeat — the popular veteran is nowhere near hanging up his four-ounce gloves.

“No. Don’t stretch that by any means,” Cerrone said following UFC Fight Night 178.

“I just need to figure out something that I’m doing wrong,” he added. “I don’t know where it is along the line, but I need to figure out what’s causing me to be—let’s just rewind it. Last fight with Pettis I felt great. That was the best I ever felt. The fight before with Conor [McGregor], with the biggest lights, the biggest stage, the biggest chance of my entire life — I didn’t want to be there at all. I did not want to be in that cage… That’s not me. That’s not who I am.”

Cerrone hasn’t tasted victory since a f…

ARE YOU SERIOUS!? #UFCVegas11 pic.twitter.com/ihvYCLVTYX

— UFC (@ufc) September 20, 2020

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Khamzat Chimaev more than lived up to the hype at UFC Fight Night 178.

The Allstars Training Center representative made short work of Gerald Meerschaert, knocking his opponent out with a right cross just 17 seconds into their featured middleweight encounter at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday night. After using his grappling to dominate John Phillips and Rhys McKee in his first two promotional appearances, Chimaev was pleased to showcase a different element to his game. The 26-year-old’s first two performances had drawn comparisons to reigning lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, but Chimaev wants the world to know he is more than that.

“Everybody says, ‘You’re Khabib. Khabib No. 2,’ someth…

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Colby Covington had a night to remember on Saturday, when he vanquished rival Tyron Woodley via fifth-round technical knockout in the UFC Fight Night 178 headliner at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Woodley suffered a rib injury 1:19 into Round 5, bringing an anticlimactic end to a bitter rivalry between former American Top Team members.

“He was done,” Covington said at the UFC Fight Night 178 post-fight press conference. “I broke him. In the third round I broke him. He quit. I put vicious ground and pound. He was done. He told his coach he was done and he was looking for a way out. He knew I trapped his arm and I was getting ready to put vicious ground-and-pound on him and he took the easy way out. He would rather be the spineless coward like he is. He’s a woke little f—k and he got exposed tonight.”

While conductin…

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. Tyron Woodley has endured a steep decline since his reign as UFC welterweight champion. The 38-year-old suffered his third consecutive loss at UFC Fight Night 178, falling to Colby Covington via fifth-round technical knockout in Saturday’s headliner at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. That defeat comes on the heels of lopsided setbacks at the hands of Gilbert Burns at UFC on ESPN 9 this past May and to reigning 170-pound king Kamaru Usman in 2019.

UFC president Dana White believes Woodley’s recent struggles could signal the end of the line for the Missouri native.

“I think that he should start thinking about hanging it up,” White said at the UFC Fight Night 178 post-fight press conference. “He’s had a great career, he’s had a great run. He’s made money.”

When Woodley was initially expected to face Covington at UFC 228 in Se…

Cashing in on a WILD night of fights!

: @KChimaev: @MackenzieDern: @RandyCosta135: Damon Jackson pic.twitter.com/SI6iexwtoc

— UFC (@ufc) September 20, 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. UFC Fight Night 178 featured plenty of fun fights and impressive finishes, which has led to four mixed martial artists becoming $50,000 richer.

The most obvious pick was Khamzat Chimaev, who wiped out Gerald Meerschaert with just one punch. With the 17-second KO, Chimaev improves to 9-0.

Also earning $50,000 is Mackenzie Dern, who put on a grappling clinic against Randa Markos. The Arizona native was able to put Markos in a tight armbar and earned a submission win just 3:44 into the fight. Dern advances to 9-1 with the victory.

Randy Costa's incredible high kick KO of Journey Newson was also compensated financially. The fini…

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. Colby Covington may be the most hated man in mixed martial arts, but more often than not, he backs up his bravado with his performance. High-volume striking, a stifling clinch, opportunistic takedowns and damaging ground-and-pound spurred the MMA Masters representative to a fifth-round injury stoppage of former Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight titleholder Tyron Woodley in the UFC Fight Night 178 headliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Having been thoroughly dominated for four-plus rounds, Woodley (19-6-1, 9-5-1 UFC) surrendered to an apparent rib injury 79 seconds into Round 5.

Covington (16-2, 11-2 UFC) turned on the afterburners in the fourth round, where he executed a high-crotch takedown and sliced open his former American Top Team stablemate with a slashing elbow. Blood gushed from the wound near Wo…

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. Sherdog's live UFC Fight Night 178 coverage will begin Saturday at 5 p.m. ET. Check out the MMA Forums to discuss the card or enter your comments and predictions below. Round 1 We begin the evening with a classic striker vs. grappler matchup in the bantamweight division, as the heavy-handed Hawaiian Nam (19-11, 1-2 UFC) welcomes recent Contender Series winner Rivera (10-2, 0-0 UFC) to the Octagon. Drawing the first assignment of the night is referee Chris Tognoni, and the two decide not to touch gloves to begin the 14-fight card. Rivera fakes a knee as he tries to jab his way in, but Nam does not fall for it and instead jabs back at him. Rivera scores a side kick to the torso as he switches stances a few times, while keeping Nam at bay with a front kick that just misses. Rivera gets a front kick in, and he misses another but slaps …

DAYS NOTICE.

Damon Jackson with sub No. in his UFC return.

[ Tune in - LIVE on #ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/qD349adm0j — UFC (@ufc) September 19, 2020

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Persistence was Damon Jackson’s strongest ally.

The Fortis MMA mainstay returned to the Ultimate Fighting Championship for the first time in nearly five years and did so with spectacular results, as he submitted Mirsad Bektic with a mounted guillotine choke in the third round of their UFC Fight Night 178 prelim on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Bektic (13-4, 6-4 UFC) waved the white flag 1:21 into Round 3.

Jackson (18-3-1, 1-1-1 UFC) refused to be denied. Bektic largely dominated the first two rounds with takedowns, ground-and-pound and positional control. In response, Jackson employed an active submission game, thre…

“The Lion” once again reigns on the Absolute Championship Akhmat lightweight division.

The ACA 111 main event on Saturday in Russia pitted Abdul-Aziz Abdulvakhabov (18-2) against Alexander Sarnavskiy (37-8) for the 155-pound championship vacated by former titleholder Ali Bagov following his move to the welterweight division. Sarnavskiy started working Abdulvakhabov’s body early in the fight, and, for a while, it seemed the strategy was paying its dividends. Right before the end of the third round, Abdulvakhabov hit Sarnavskiy with a violent series of elbows that changed the fight’s direction.

Entering the championship rounds, Abdulvakhabov made the most out of his experience as former Absolute Championship Berkut champion, hunting his opponent across the cage with several vicious shots that transformed Sarnavskiy’s face into a bloody mask. During the last seconds of the fight, both fighters brawled and exchanged wild shots. Eventually, all five judges rewarded Abdulvakh…

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has cut ties to “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 14 winner and two-time flyweight title challenger John Dodson. MMAFighting.com was first to report his release from the organization.

Dodson debuted in the UFC in 2011 and compiled a 10-6 record with the promotion during what was something of an uneven tenure marked be exhilarating highs and disappointing lows. The Jackson-Wink MMA mainstay twice fought for the flyweight crown, losing five-round decisions to an all-time great in Demetrious Johnson at UFC on Fox 6 and UFC 191. Dodson returned to the bantamweight division in April 2016 but lost five times in nine appearances at 135 pounds, never again regaining his championship-level footing. He last competed at UFC 252, where he wound up on the wrong side of a unanimous verdict against Merab Dvalishvili on Aug. 15.

Now 35, Dodson will carry a well-established reputation as one of MMA’s most durable fighters to his next destination. He has…