Orion Cosce Injured, Nicolas Dalby to Clash With Daniel Rodriguez at UFC 255

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 double debut of the deadly Cosce duo has been disappointingly delayed. On Thursday morning, Denmark’s Nicolas Dalby (18-4-1, 1 NC) posted on social media that he wouldn't be facing Orion Cosce (7-0) anymore, as “Galaxy” suffered an undisclosed injury. Instead, “Lokomotivo” will lock horns with Daniel Rodriguez (13-1) at UFC 255, on Nov. 21 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Cosce was looking to make his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut alongside brother Louis Cosce, as the latter is taking on newcomer Sasha Palatnikov.

“On Monday I was told my original opponent was out with an injury,” Dalby wrote. “On Wednesday I received word that I will get to fight Daniel Rodriguez instead, who is a better ranked and more experienced fighter... what’s not to like?! Christmas looks to be coming early this year.”

Former Cage Warrior…

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Cub Swanson Returns Against Daniel Pineda at UFC 256 on Dec. 12

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 Ultimate Fighting Championship fan-favorite is setting foot in the cage before the end of the year. On Wednesday night, Daniel Pineda (27-13, 2 NC) posted on his Instagram announcing that he would be taking on Cub Swanson (26-11) at UFC 256. Shortly thereafter, Swanson also posted to his social media that he would be meeting Pineda. The two featherweights will square off at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Dec. 12, and it is unclear if they will fight on the main card or preliminaries.

Swanson last competed in October 2019, where he snapped a four-fight skid after a victorious thrilling brawl with Kron Gracie. Swanson then competed at the Quintet Ultra event in December, and he tore his ACL and meniscus against Jake Shields to keep him out of action for nearly a year. Once known as a finisher, the California native has not stop…

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Report: Carlos Condit vs. Matt Brown Scheduled for Jan. 30 UFC Card

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 Ultimate Fighting Championship clash many considered to be a dream matchup may be finally coming to fruition in 2021. The report first coming from MMA Fighting on Thursday, Carlos Condit (31-13) will be coming to blows with Matt Brown (22-17) at a UFC card in 2021. The Jan. 30 Fight Night event, which may take place on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, will be gaining a potential all-action scrap once scheduled all the way back in 2013. According to MMA Fighting, the two have both agreed to meet, but the paperwork is still outstanding.

The two welterweight thrillers were booked to fight at UFC on Fox 9 in 2013, but a back injury to Brown scrubbed the pairing. At that time, Condit had bounced back from consecutive losses to Georges St. Pierre and Johny Hendricks to finish Martin Kampmann. In the meantime, Brown was i…

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Bellator 252 Weigh-in Results: Three Miss Weight, One Fight Nixed

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vvHjsRmDZA&w=560&h=315]

The Bellator MMA featherweight grand prix is officially back, for real this time.

Fighters involved in the upcoming Bellator 252 event tipped the scales on Wednesday, and headliners Patricio Freire and Pedro Carvalho had no problems making championship weight. "Pitbull" looked good on the scales and officially came in at 144.7 pounds, while Carvalho weighed 144.5 pounds. The pair should have faced each other at Bellator 241 in March, but the event was canceled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

The main card will feature a second featherweight grand prix quarterfinal bout between Daniel Weichel (143.8) and Emmanuel Sanchez (145).

The fight between Gabriel Varga and Brandon Phillips is off after Phillips missed weight by 5 pounds. On top of that, Keri Melendez had weight issues, coming in .2 heavy for her strawweight scrap against Emilee King. Lucas Brennan weighed in at 148 pounds, two pounds over the…

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Leon Edwards Not Impressed by ‘Overhyped’ Khamzat Chimaev

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It takes more than a few fights in the Octagon to impress Leon Edwards.

It's been a while since Ultimate Fighting Championship fans saw “Rocky” competing in the Octagon. A plethora of reasons has kept the 29-year-old fighter away from competition for what is almost an 18-month hiatus, including a global pandemic. However, he should dust off the gloves in a few weeks when he will meet rising star Khamzat Chimaev (9-0) on an upcoming UFC Fight Night event that will go down on Dec. 19. That night, the 29-year-old Englander will put his eight-bout winning streak on the line, including victories over names like Donald Cerrone, Vicente Luque and Gunnar Nelson.

In a recent interview with ESPN, the British fighter revealed that he believes he will get a shot at the 170-pound championship once he gets past Chimaev.

“That's been mentioned, yeah,” he said about receiving a title shot. “If when I get there a…

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Brave CF 45 Postponed Following Khalifa Bin Salman al-Khalifa’s Death

BRAVE CF 45 will now happen on November 19th, as the entire BRAVE Nation sends its condolences to the Royal Family on the passing and joins in mourning with the rest of the world. @khalidbinhamad @shahidthehawk pic.twitter.com/sN1OkVsakf

— BRAVE Combat Federation (@bravemmaf) November 11, 2020

On Wednesday, Brave Combat Federation announced that the upcoming Brave CF 45 event has been postponed. The card was slated to gone down on Nov. 12 in Bahrain, but it was delayed after prince Khalifa Bin Salman al-Khalifa died at the age of 84, according to the state-run Bahrain News Agency. As a member of the royal family, Prince Khalifa served as the prime minister of the country since 1970. He was also related to Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the founder of Brave.

The previous week, the Brave CF 45 card also underwent some significant changes. The main event should have been a featherweight clash between Dumar Roa and Gabriel Miranda, b…

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Bellator President Scott Coker: Phil Davis, Not Corey Anderson, Next in Line for Title Shot

It appears as though Phil Davis will get a chance to recapture a championship he once held.

“Mr. Wonderful” on Monday was named as the No. 1 contender for current Bellator MMA light heavyweight titleholder Vadim Nemkov. In an interview with MMAJunkie.com, Bellator President Scott Coker indicated that the current plan was for Davis to challenge Nemkov for the 205-pound title. The two men met previously at Bellator 209 in 2018, when Nemkov eked out a split decision over the Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran. It remains his only career victory by decision.

Davis has since bounced back with consecutive wins over Liam McGeary at Bellator 220, Karl Albrektsson at Bellator 231 and Lyoto Machida at Bellator 245.

“He had a great fight with Nemkov last time,” Coker said. “This will be a rematch. Phil has done a great job since then. That was a close fight. Phil just came off of a great win against Machida. I think Phil should be next in line.”

News of Davis’ ascent …

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UFC Casts Net on Week 9 of Dana White’s Contender Series, Lands Three New Recruits

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 grew its ranks by three during Week 9 of Dana White’s Contender Series, as the promotion signed Natan Levy, Nikolas Motta and Luana Pinheiro to contracts on Tuesday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Filipe de Sousa Outduels Ksiazkiewicz Former Max Fight champion Mario Filipe de Sousa connected with more consequential strikes, countered takedowns and ground-and-pound from Mariusz Ksiazkiewicz with a hyperactive bottom game and walked away with a unanimous decision in a three-round middleweight encounter. Scores were 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28, all for Filipe de Sousa.

Outgunned on the feet, Ksiazkiewicz (8-1) pursued takedowns with a gritty purpose but failed to consolidate many of them with meaningful offense. Filipe de Sousa (12-1) responded with punches, hammerfists, elbows and several submission at…

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Dana White’s Contender Series 2020 Week 9 Play-by-Play & Results

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 DWCS 2020 Week 9 coverage kicks off Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET. Check out the MMA Forums to discuss the card or enter your comments and predictions below. Round 1 Moore stalks Sabatello, who lands a kick to the body and then plants Moore on his back with a takedown less than 30 seconds into the fight. Sabatello works inside of his foe’s guard, landing short punches to the body and elbows to the head. Sabatello stands with Moore attached to him and slams him back down. Moore remains in closed guard, as Sabatello drops several more elbows from above. There’s two minutes to go and Sabatello has stayed busy enough with ground-and-pound to maintain his dominant position. Sabatello continues to do a nice job of vary his offense from above, mixing up punches to the head and body as the clock ticks down. The horn sounds with Moo…
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Magomed Magomedov vs. Matheus Mattos Added to Bellator 254 Lineup

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Magomed Magomedov will square off against Matheus Mattos in main card matchup at Bellator 254.

Sherdog.com confirmed the booking with a promotion official following an initial report from MMAjunkie.com. Additionally, a women’s featherweight fight pitting Marina Mokhnatkina against Jessica Borga is set for the prelims. Bellator 254 takes place on Dec. 12 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut and is headlined by a flyweight title tilt between Ilima-Lei Macfarlane and Juliana Velasquez.

A former ACB title holder, Magomedov enters his promotional debut with a 16-1 record. The 28-year-old Moscow native notably defeated current UFC 135-pound champ Petr Yan via split decision in a title bout at ACB 32 in March 2016 but lost to Yan in a rematch at ACB 57 approximately one year later.

Mattos, a former ACB title challenger, has lost just once in 14 professional outings. That defeat came at the han…

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Reports: Conor McGregor, Dustin Poirier Agree to Fight at UFC 257 on Jan. 23

After some public posturing and haggling, it appears that Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier have finally agreed to square off in a lightweight bout at UFC 257.

MMAFighting.com reported that both sides came to terms late Monday night However, the report also states that McGregor is pushing to have the bout moved to UFC 256 on Dec. 12, since that card lost its original headliner of Amanda Nunes vs. Megan Anderson at the beginning of the week, and the Irish star has recently expressed a desire to compete before 2021.

The promotion was reportedly having difficulty getting Poirier to agree to a deal, but ESPN on Tuesday also confirmed that Poirier signed a bout agreement. McGregor already previously verbally agreed to the fight but has not yet signed a bout agreement, according to ESPN. In September, McGregor and Poirier struck an informal agreement over Twitter to lock horns in an exhibition match in Ireland on Dec. 12 for charity before the UFC stepped in and offered…

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Paul Felder Explains Why He Accepted Short-Notice Bout vs. Rafael dos Anjos

It’s one thing to accept a fight on short notice. It’s entirely another to do so less than one week before facing a former champion in a headlining bout in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

For Paul Felder, stepping up to face Rafael dos Anjos in the UFC Fight Night 182 headliner was an opportunity to do something positive in a what has been a dark period for so many people.

“I thought about it and I decided with everything going on in the world and all the sad things going on in people’s lives and losing their jobs and suffering and we just lost Alex freaking Trebek to pancreatic cancer, I was like, ‘Man, you know you’re still 36. You’re young. You’re in shape. Save the date. Let’s go get paid. Let’s have fun. You’re fighting a legend,’” Felder told ESPN. “What do I have to lose?”

Perhaps even more impressive than Felder’s willingness to step up was the fact that he agreed to compete at 155 pounds. After all, Dos Anjos is just coming off a stint at welterweig…

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