Martial Arts News

Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship has arguably made its highest profile acquisition.

On Friday, Fight Bananas first reported and a BKFC representative subsequently wrote that former Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight king Frank Mir (19-13) has opted not to retire from combat sports. The 41-year-old recently became a free agent after his Bellator MMA contract ended, and he has reportedly elected to join the ranks of bare-knuckle boxing. He will become part of an organization with a roster that includes other ex-UFC names like Gabriel Gonzaga, Antonio Silva, Thiago Alves and Chris Leben, to name a few.

One of the most dangerous grapplers to ever set foot inside the Octagon, Mir left the promotion with eight submission wins on his ledger – good for the most in UFC heavyweight history. In Mir’s last eight victories, four came by knockout; this number accounts for 80 percent of his total victories due to strikes. On the other hand, Mir has been knocked out 10 time…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMzXRLXj2L8&w=560&h=315] Dazn is the exclusive streaming partner of Bellator MMA. You can sign up here and live stream 100+ fight nights a year. Legendary Dutch kickboxer Melvin Manhoef is not finished yet. On Friday morning, Bellator MMA revealed in a press release that Manhoef (32-14-1, 1 NC) will be taking on Simon Biyong (7-1) in a light heavyweight clash that will go down at the upcoming Bellator Paris card. In addition, the promotion announced a series of other matchups at the event, including multiple natives of France.

The last time he fought, former title challenger Manhoef smashed Yannick Bahati with a barrage of heavy ground-and-pound halfway through the first stanza. In his post-fight interview, the 44-year-old Dutch fighter was non-committal regarding his fighting future, but it seems that he has found the motivation to keep going.

Born in Cameroon but fighting out of Italy, Biyong makes his Bellator debut on a fou…

@ColbyCovMMA makes our main event official!

[ LIVE on #ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/Sj5QelpVjk

— UFC (@ufc) September 18, 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. It’s all systems go for the last Ultimate Fighting Championship card in Las Vegas for a while.

Heading to “Fight Island” next week, the UFC is going out with a bang with a jampacked card headlined by a pivotal welterweight bout between Colby Covington and Tyron Woodley. Both men former champs, the victor from the UFC Fight Night 178 main event will almost certainly cement themselves as a top contender once again. The 14-fight card is now official after the weigh-ins took place and everyone successfully made weight.

Covington (15-2) is coming off his first loss since 2015 as he came up short against current champion Kamaru Usman, who knocked “Chaos” out in Round …

Petchmorakot retains his ONE Featherweight Muay Thai World Championship belt with a third-round finish of Magnus Andersson! #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship pic.twitter.com/BEBmnOfBia

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) September 18, 2020 If One: A New Breed 3 is any indication, it could be a great while until someone dethrones One Championship featherweight king Petchmorakot Petchyindee Academy.

The defending champion put his muay Thai title on the line for the third time since winning it in 2019 against Magnus Andersson, with the two vying for the strap in the tape-delayed main event that aired on Sept. 18. It did not take long for Petchmorakot to establish dominance over his Swedish opponent through his far superior striking skills. Petchmorakot dictated the pace of the match until he decided to put an end to it in the third stanza. The Thai fighter first landed a violent left hand that visibly shook Andersson. Even though the Swedish contend…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYVPUuVKLw8&w=560&h=315]

Alesha Zappitella channeled her inner Ovince St. Preux and gave a figurative nod to Jason Von Flue when Invicta Fighting Championships gold was on the line.

The 4-foot-11 Scorpion Fighting System standout dispatched Ashley Cummins with a shoulder choke in the fourth round of their Invicta 42 headliner, as she captured the promotion’s vacant atomweight title on Thursday at the Police Athletic League in Kansas City, Kansas. Submitted for the first time in her 13-fight career, Cummins (7-6, 4-6 Invicta) conceded defeat 1:20 into Round 4.

Zappitella (8-2, 5-1 Invicta) trudged through considerable difficulty across the first 10 minutes. Cummins flexed her superiority in the standup exchanges, staggered her counterpart more than once with thudding right hands and largely nullified her wrestling advances. However, the tide began to shift in Round 3, where Zappitella executed a takedown inside the first minut…

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 upcoming Ultimate Fighting Championship pay-per-view card has undergone a sudden change on a preliminary match. On Thursday, Ludovit Klein (16-2) announced on his Instagram page that he will be making his promotional debut at UFC 253 on Sept. 26. MMA Junkie then reported that Klein will be stepping in for Nate Landwehr after Landwehr tested positive for COVID-19. Klein will be facing Shane Young (13-4) at featherweight on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

According to Klein, he would be the first fighter from Slovakia to ever compete inside the Octagon. Since a 2017 loss in Cage Warriors Fighting Championship, Klein has rattled off seven victories including six finishes. His last win came against former UFC vet Lukasz Sajewski, where Klein smashed Sajewski in under four minutes at an Oktagon MMA event in Feb…

What a story for Mohammad Fakhreddine! The new champion has knocked out Daniel Gaucho to capture the title!#BRAVECF41 pic.twitter.com/9VPdJ0YSGs

— BRAVE Combat Federation (@bravemmaf) September 17, 2020 The Brave Combat Federation middleweight division has a new kingpin after Brave CF 41.

The bill was headlined by a middleweight championship battle between the champion Daniel Souza Pereira (9-3) and mixed martial arts veteran Mohammad Fakhreddine (14-4, 1 NC). Both fighters put on a show for the fans watching the event as long as the bout – and the stream – lasted. "Gaucho" Pereira showed off his boxing skills matched by Fakhreddine’s kicks. In the first two rounds, it seemed that the challenger had the edge over the Brazilian champion as Pereira's leg started swelling up absorbing several heavy leg kicks. In the third stanza, "Gaucho" accidentally poked his opponent in the eye. The Lebanese fighter recovered from it soon enough, but it looked…

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 vet has found his way back to the promotion on short notice this weekend. On Thursday, Bloody Canvas first broke the story that Damon Jackson (17-3-1, 1 NC) will be returning to the UFC on Sept. 19 at UFC Fight Night 178. He will be stepping in the Octagon against Mirsad Bektic (13-3) at featherweight, pending a COVID-19 test. Luiz Eduardo Garagorri was originally slated to face Bektic, but the Uruguayan was pulled after one of his cornermen tested positive for COVID-19. Jackson has since confirmed the matchup on his Facebook page.

Jackson will be making his way back to the UFC after a lengthy stretch in the Legacy Fighting Alliance and an unfortunate 10-second stint in the Professional Fighters League. His May 2019 bout in the PFL saw him separated from his consciousness in 10 seconds with …

Angela and Christian have got company! Please welcome IMMAF Junior World Champion Victoria Lee @angelaleemma @ChristianLeeMMA #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship pic.twitter.com/2w406oIem5

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) September 17, 2020 One Championship loves the Lee family, and the Lee family loves One Championship.

On Thursday morning, the promotion revealed via press release that it had signed Victoria Lee, the younger sister of champs Christian Lee and Angela Lee. The youthful fighter has not made her professional MMA debut, but she will be competing at promotion’s atomweight division of 115 pounds, where her sister A. Lee is the champion. She does not currently have an opponent scheduled nor does she have a date set for her debut. It is not uncommon for international fighters to have their professional debuts prior to their 18th birthday, and One recently featured Supergirl Jaroonsak Muaythai on a card at the age of 16.

About her si…

Dana White announces that the UFC has signed Michael Chandler and he will be a backup for Khabib Nurmagomedov and Justin Gaethje if one falls out.#UFC254

— Keith Shillan (@KeithShillanMMA) September 17, 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. Bellator MMA champ Michael Chandler is now on the Ultimate Fighting Championship roster, and he is in prime position for a huge opportunity should things go his way. On Thursday, UFC President Dana White announced on ESPN that Chandler (21-5) has signed with the UFC. His first scheduled matchup will actually be as a backup opponent in case either Khabib Nurmagomedov or Justin Gaethje cannot compete at UFC 254. That event, the final on a five-card stretch on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, is scheduled for Oct. 24. After much was made about Chandler’s free agency status, he elected …

The vacant Invicta Fighting Championships atomweight title will soon have a new address.

Ashley Cummins checked in at 104.9 pounds on the eve of her showdown with Alesha Zappitella (104.4) in the Invicta 42 headliner, where they are set to decide the fate of the promotion’s 105-pound championship on Thursday at the Police Athletic League in Kansas City, Kansas.

Cummins, 33, has rattled off four wins across her past six appearances. “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 23 alum last competed at Invicta 39 in February, when she wound up on the wrong side of five-round unanimous decision against former champion Jinh Yu Frey. Cummins trains out of a 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu affiliate in San Diego.

Zapata enters the cage on the strength of back-to-back victories. The 25-year-old Scorpion Fighting System rep last appeared at Invicta 40, where she eked out a split decision over Lindsey VanZandt on July 2. Zapata owns a 4-1 mark under the Invicta banner, having lost only to Viviane Pe…

The controversy between Ultimate Fighting Championship President Dana White and Dustin Poirier is still unfolding.

Much to the fans’ regret, it doesn't look like Dustin Poirier and Tony Ferguson will clash anytime soon. The fight never got the chance to be officially announced by the promotion, but hype was already skyrocketing for the intriguing clash. During the recent DWCS 2020 Week 7 post-fight news conference, the UFC president shared some details about the failure of the negotiations for the Poirier-Ferguson matchup.

“Listen, I like Dustin,” White said on Tuesday. “I'm not going to sit up here and say anything negative about Dustin, he's a great kid. I don't know if it was he didn't want to fight in Abu Dhabi or what his deal was – he didn't want to fight. Listen, there's a lot of different ways to turn down a fight. Negotiating yourself out of one is one of the ways you can do it. So for whatever reason, he didn't want to take this fight. Only he knows that.” Read more