Martial Arts News

In addition to being paired with a short-notice opponent, Robert Whittaker faced more adversity heading into his showdown with Ikram Aliskerov in the UFC on ABC 6 main event.

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Whittaker’s manager, Titus Day, told Fox Sports Australia that the former middleweight champion underwent emergency root canal surgery just 24 hours prior to the bout.

“Rob has a really bad abscess that flared up a week before flying out,” Day said. “He had headaches, tooth pain — it was like he’d been kicked in the side of the head. He couldn’t train, couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep. It was f—-ing painful.

“The whole side of his head was in pain so we had to rush him in for emergency surgery.”

“The Reaper” appeared to be no worse for wear, as he vanquished Aliskerov via first-round knockout on Saturday at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for his second consecutive triumph.

“Rob had already stopped training a few days prior to the surgery in Sydney,” Day s…

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Alexander Volkanovski seemingly can’t pass on an opportunity to save an Ultimate Fighting Championship card on short notice.

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Volkanovski revealed that he recently offered to step up to save the upcoming UFC 303 card. Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler were originally scheduled to headline UFC 303 on June 29 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas before “Notorious” pulled out due to a broken toe. Rumors of the fight potentially falling off were afloat a week before it became official. Volkanovski was prompt to raise his hand for a short-notice UFC 303 matchup as soon as he heard those rumors.

“A lot happened with this card, obviously Conor McGregor was meant to be on it. I did put my hand up,”Volkanovski recently said on his YouTube channel. “I said, ‘You need a guy?’ I got told, obviously we all heard the whispers as you did… Whispers that they were looking for someone to maybe replace him. So, I was like, ‘Hey, you need someone? Yo…

Ian Garry continues to be disinterested in his upcoming fight with former Bellator MMA standout Michael Page.

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Garry and Page will meet in a welterweight clash at UFC 303 on June 29 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. It was Page who rallied hard for the booking against Garry, who was reluctant to accept it initially.

While the matchup has been made, Garry is still not interested in it with less than a week to go before fight night.

In his seven-fight undefeated UFC run, Garry has already been tested against perennially ranked veterans like Neil Magny and Geoff Neal. Going forward, Garry wants fights which would help him inch closer to his ultimate goal of winning UFC gold. However, fighting a lower-ranked Page doesn’t add to that in any manner, in Garry’s opinion. Garry would have preferred an opponent ranked higher than him such as Colby Covington. Garry explained his point of view during a recent appearance on "The MMA Hour.”

“I’m st…

Sergei Pavlovich has opened up for the first time on his loss against Alexander Volkov at UFC on ABC 6 last weekend.

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Pavlovich was a sizeable favorite going into the co-main event against Volkov in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. While many were expecting an early finish from Pavlovich, Volkov picked his opponent apart throughout the course of three rounds to earn a dominant unanimous decision win.

The otherwise soft-spoken Pavlovich was seen shoving his opponent, also his former sparring partner, after the fight. Pavlovich recently admitted that the loss was an emotional one for him. Having scored 15 of his 18 career wins via knockout so far, Pavlovich believes he made a mistake in desperately hunting for another highlight-reel KO.

“It wasn’t my day; nothing went according to plan,” Pavlovich wrote on social media. “I was ready for anything, but I was too focused on getting a knockout and took too many unnecessary hits. The result was a loss by point…

Kickboxer Asa Ten Pow will return to mixed martial arts for the first time in nearly three years at One on Prime Video 24.

Ten Pow will lock horns with Carlo Bumina-ang in a bantamweight (145-pound) bout at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, on Aug. 2, Sherdog has learned. ONE on Prime Video 24 features an interim 125-pound title clash pitting Jarred Brooks against Gustavo Balart and airs live on Prime Video in the United States.

Known as “The American Ninja,” Ten Pow hasn’t competed in MMA since a two-fight stint under the Titan FC banner in 2021. He defeated Earnest Walls via first-round TKO in his pro debut at Titan FC 72, but his second appearance was ruled a no contest due to an illegal knee. Ten Pow has experience in kickboxing, boxing and muay thai and is the founder of the Florida Kickboxing Academy. He boasts a 2-1 mark in muay thai under the ONE banner, most recently defeating Rambolek Tor Yotha via third-round knockout this past September…

𝗢𝗙𝗙𝗜𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟: Your Updated PFL Sioux Falls Fight Card!

•Laureano Staropoli is out•New Matchup: Logan Storley vs Luca Poclit•New Matchup: Tyler Diamond vs Brett Johns•New Start Time: 6:30pm ET on ESPN+ / 10pm ET pic.twitter.com/b9qDwyjusH

— PFL (@PFLMMA) June 24, 2024

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Logan Storley will be facing an opponent change with less than a week to go before his second Professional Fighters League appearance.

The promotion announced on Monday that Laureano Staropoli, Storley’s original opponent, has withdrawn from the event and will be replaced by Luca Poclit in a new welterweight season bout at PFL 6 on Friday. Poclit was originally booked against Zach Juusola on the evening’s undercard.

PFL 6 takes place at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and is headlined by a featherweight tilt between Brendan Loughnane and Justin Gonzales. Storley vs. Poclit is currently listed as the co-main event. The main card airs o…

"I'm walking in there 100% Conor McGregor" 🇮🇪

Conor McGregor joins Dan Hardy in the Cage to speak on Sinead Kavanagh and his fight with Michael Chandler in the future!#BellatorDublin | LIVE NOW on MAX🌍 https://t.co/Dpuq4Xv6Jh pic.twitter.com/TZPc29fz62

— Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) June 22, 2024

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Conor McGregor was in the public eye over the weekend, attending Bellator Champions Series Dublin in support of SBG Ireland teammate Sinead Kavanagh.

That also meant that the Irish star had the opportunity to address the severity of the broken toe that forced him to withdraw from his proposed matchup with Michael Chandler in the UFC 303 main event. The former two-division champion hasn’t fought since suffering a broken leg in a loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in July 2021.

“The injury is a nuisance. It’s painful,” McGregor told SevereMMA in a backstage interview at Bellator Dublin. “I’m not going to lie, it’s very, very …

Rinat Fakhretdinov wants a ranked opponent after his win over Nicolas Dalby at UFC on ABC 6 on Saturday.

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A heavy favorite going into the fight, Fakhretdinov was in for a rather unpleasant surprise against the underdog Dalby. Notorious for upsetting the odds, Dalby came close to doing so once again as he gave Fakhretdinov a run for his money. Fakhretdinov eventually earned a split-decision victory that many believe could have easily gone the other way.

Fakhretdinov wasn’t satisfied with the nature of the win, as he was looking to secure a finish. However, the Russian realized why his opponent, whom he now considers the most underrated fighter at welterweight, came in riding a four-fight winning streak.

“I’m satisfied with the fight. I’m not satisfied with the result, though,” Fakhretdinov told Red Corner MMA. “I wanted to win convincingly and get the finish. But now I know why Dalby was on a four-fight winning streak. He’s a very solid opponent…

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Brian Ortega had a larger goal in mind while accepting his upcoming fight against Diego Lopes.

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A high caliber featherweight matchup between Ortega and Lopes is set to co-headline UFC 303 on Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. While one might expect Ortega to have been lured by a huge paycheck, “T-City” claims his fight purse for UFC 303 is not much higher than his average UFC salary. Ortega revealed that he had another reason for accepting the Lopes fight.

Ortega, who has spoken up about mental health on several past occasions, attended a camp at his church directed towards improving men’s mental health. After Ortega enjoyed the camp with his kids, the pastor told him they needed to raise $100,000 to keep things running. And the Lopes fight offer came at the right time for the former UFC featherweight title contender.

“Obviously, they changed up the pay a little bit but it’s not more than you think,” Ortega told Sha…

Ikram Aliskerov is all class in the aftermath of his loss to Robert Whittaker at UFC on ABC 6.

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Aliskerov stepped up on short notice to replace Khamzat Chimaev against Whittaker in the Saturday’s main event at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. While many expected a close contest, Whittaker took less than two minutes to knock Aliskerov out.

Weighing in on his loss, Aliskerov said that he was well aware of what he was getting into while accepting the fight. Aliskerov is also a fan of Whittaker and considers it a privilege to have fought “Bobby Knuckles.”

“I have failed but it’s all good,” Aliskerov told Ushatayka (translation via Red Corner MMA). “It’s just a sport, no excuses. I was fully aware of the risks I was taking. To be honest with you, Rob has always been one of my favorite fighters. I’ve been following his career. I’m not sure how to put it the right way, it was an honor for me to fight him as he’s one of those fighters that …

Johnny Walker is looking to go back to the drawing board following his loss against Volkan Oezdemir.

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The light heavyweight clash between Walker and Oezdemir began the main card action at UFC on ABC 6 on Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The Swiss veteran brutally knocked out Walker, rendering him unconscious with one last follow-up shot at the 2:28 mark of Round 1.

Walker has now opened up on his loss while also confirming that he didn’t sustain any lasting injuries. The Brazilian felt that his head was just not in the right place despite having done everything perfectly leading up to the fight. Walker now plans on rewatching the fight to figure out what went wrong.

“I’m good. Just a little scratch on my lips… I just arrived at home with my little champ. It wasn’t really good night for me,” Walker said in a video on Instagram. “I don’t know what happened. I’m gonna have to figure out, watch the fight again and see what I did. I don’t think I…

Daniel Rodriguez may have paid the price for agreeing to face Kelvin Gastelum at 185 pounds, but it wasn’t all bad news for the 37-year-old Californian.

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Rodriguez and Gastelum were initially supposed to square off at welterweight at UFC on ABC 6, but terms of the bout were altered when Gastelum arrived in Saudi Arabia for fight week overweight and requested the fight take place at middleweight. Rodriguez elected to go forward with the matchup and lost a unanimous decision on Saturday at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. However, “D-Rod” did reap some rewards as a result of competing at a heavier weight class than initially expected.

“All right, y’all. I’m done complaining about the fight. F—k it. It happened,” Rodriguez said in a video on his Instagram stories. “I knew the risk. With the risk, came great rewards. I lost the fight but I gained so much more in return: a ton a respect from the fight community, a nice raise, six-fight contract, 3…