Martial Arts News

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1o7LJjEXm4&w=560&h=315] Aaron Jeffery made a case for a Legacy Fighting Alliance middleweight title shot with the biggest victory of his career at LFA 93.

Despite dropping the first round on two of the three judges' scorecards, Jeffery proved he had no quit in him against Andre Petroski. Late in Round 2, Jeffery (9-2) stunned Petroski (5-1) with a big elbow that rocked him and then a series of knees to the head made the wrestler fall to the floor. Referee Marcio Laselva waved the fight off after a few punches at 4:19 of Round 2.

In the co-main event, Sam Hughes took on Danielle Hindley at a 120-pound catchweight. "Sampage" immediately established an advantage on the feet and ended the round with a bang by locking in a guillotine choke that forced Hindley (4-2) unconscious. The fight was declared over after the bell rang, giving Hughes (5-1) a technical submission win at an official time of 5:00.

Josh Fremd put a beating on Ant…

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. Rafael dos Anjos is ready to get back in the cage soon. After 14 days of quarantining and recovery from his positive COVID-19 diagnosis, dos Anjos posted on his Instagram on Friday about his first training session with Emerson Falcao at Nova Uniao. Dos Anjos was originally booked at UFC 254 to face Islam Makhachev on Oct. 24, and the former champ is hoping that he can get that fight re-scheduled.

Right after his training ended, dos Anjos spoke with Sherdog. “I got really bad in the first week,” he admitted. “A lot of pain all over my body, fever, strong headache. Monday I was feeling better and did some running and today [Friday] I did some striking training with Falcao.”

Dos Anjos and his manager are waiting for a call from the Ultimate Fighting Championship to finally decide if his fight with Makhachev will be postponed …

Cynthia Calvillo was forced to withdraw from UFC 254 after testing positive for COVID-19 earlier today, per @bokamotoESPN. Lauren Murphy will now face newcomer Liliya Shakirova on Oct. 24 in Abu Dhabi.

— Nick Baldwin (@NickBaldwinMMA) October 16, 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 hits keep coming for the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s next pay-per-view offering. Due to a failed COVID-19 test, Cynthia Calvillo has been forced to pull out of her UFC 254 main card bout against Lauren Murphy (13-4). The news was first reported by ESPN on Thursday night, and later confirmed by Calvillo. Stepping up on just over a week’s notice is newcomer Liliya Shakirova (8-1) per theScore. Shakirova will actually be the second replacement option, as the first undisclosed opponent also tested positive for COVID-19, according to Murphy. It has …

One Championship aired the pre-recorded second part of One: Reign of Dynasties on Friday.

Kickboxing star Hiroki Akimoto earns his first victory at bantamweight, edging former ONE World Title challenger Zhang Chenglong via split decision! #ReignOfDynasties2 #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship pic.twitter.com/GJNxsVj2Di

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) October 16, 2020 The sophomore installment in the One: Reign of Dynasties event series was headlined by a kickboxing clash between Hiroki Akimoto and Zhang Chenglong in One's bantamweight division. The two contenders produced a hard-fought battle that saw some back-and-forth striking action. However, the Japanese fighter was the one who impressed the majority of the judges the most as he took home a split decision victory. In the co-main event, Sagetdao Petpayathai overcame Zhang Chunyu in his return to muay Thai competition after a six-year hiatus. Sagetdao largely dominated his opponent across all …

Cristiane Justino is still the Bellator MMA women's featherweight champion and picked up her first submission win in the process.

"Cyborg" put the title she won from Julia Budd on the line against challenger Arlene Blencowe. Justino (23-2, 1 NC) took her opponent down midway through Round 1 and easily gained mount. After transitioning to the back, the Brazilian was able to unleash powerful punches. The tough challenger survived the first round but it set the pace the fight would follow.

Justino opened Round 2 by bloodying up Blencowe (13-8) on the feet with an incredible flurry of punches and then took her opponent down. Heavy shots from mount forced the Australian to give up her back and "Cyborg" locked in a rear-naked choke at 2:36 of the round. This marks the first submission win for the champion.

Outside of the main event, there was some late drama at Bellator 249. The scheduled co-main event between Patricky Freire and Jaleel Willis was scrapped by the Mohegan …

Now that the #LFA93 weigh-in is in the books, which fight are you looking forward to the most tomorrow night?

: https://t.co/PbqpznyvHh

: https://t.co/sdWQ4RCJNb@ogRISK@PsoRite@ShellsDotCom@AthleticCBD@GLCDirect2000@USENDmoney@IncaKolaUSA@HartmanArena@UFCFightPass pic.twitter.com/ijaocvrCSf — LFA (@LFAfighting) October 16, 2020 The Legacy Fighting Alliance continues its eventful October with its second mixed martial arts event of the month.

LFA 93 is headlined by a middleweight showdown between Dana White’s Contender Series alum Aaron Jeffery and undefeated prospect Andre Petroski. The nine-fight card is now official after the weigh-ins took place on Thursday.

The more experienced of the two fighters is Jeffery (8-2), who has double the fights of his opponent. The Canadian came up short against Brendan Allen in his lone DWCS bout but has won six of his last seven. Five of those wins have come via TKO, including his most recent fi…

Conor McGregor a -180 favorite vs Dustin Poirier (+155).

— Dave Mason (@DaveMasonBOL) October 15, 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. Although the Ultimate Fighting Championship rematch between Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier is far from official, betting lines have opened. On Thursday, BetOnline opened a line on the prospective McGregor (22-4) vs. Poirier (26-6, 1 NC) bout. The two have accepted the bout through a cordial Twitter exchange, but UFC President Dana White stood hard-and-fast about the date of their meeting.

Should they actually lock horns, it would take place on Jan. 23 and not other previously mentioned dates like Nov. 21, Dec. 12 or Dec. 19. There has not been a venue, location or even an official announcement that the Jan. 23 event will be held. It would be expected to be a pay-per-view card should it come to…

Although it has been delayed a while, the Bellator MMA featherweight grand prix will be back sooner than most expect.

Bellator's 145-pound tournament was put on hold this past March after the promotion was forced to cancel events due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The organization confirmed to Sherdog today that the tournament will start back up in November with a trio of major bouts.

Bellator lightweight and featherweight champion Patricio Freire (30-4) will defend his 145-pound belt against Pedro Carvalho (11-3) in a quarterfinal matchup of the tournament. The scrap will headline Bellator 252, which will take place at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, on Nov. 12. The two were originally slated to do battle back at Bellator 241 this past March, but the entire event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Freire reached the quarterfinals after besting current Bellator bantamweight champion Juan Archuleta. “Pitbull” took a unanimous decision in the openi…

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. After almost three years away from the Octagon, Brazilian bantamweight Thomas Almeida will finally make his return against Jonathan Martinez at the featherweight division. “I’m really glad Martinez accepted that fight on such short notice,” Almeida told Sherdog. “When I was in London, getting the connecting flight to Abu Dhabi, [UFC matchmaker Sean] Shelby called us telling [me] my opponent got [COVID-19]. I got really upset. After almost the years away, after all the diet, the strong camp, that was unbelievable. But Shelby told me, ‘don’t worry, you will fight.’ And when I got in Abu Dhabi, he already got Martinez. The only point is that he couldn’t reach bantamweight on time so I accepted to fight in featherweight. What actually turned into being an amazing experience.

“I don’t recall [ever being allowed to eat] an ice cream one…

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 path back to Ultimate Fighting Championship title contention for Anthony Smith will begin with an unranked opponent. The news first coming from MMA Junkie on Thursday, Smith (33-16) will be competing again at the light heavyweight division against Devin Clark (12-4). The two will come to blows at the Nov. 28 UFC Fight Night card at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Clark was originally booked against Shamil Gamzatov, but the Russian pulled out due to visa issues. In his stead will be Smith, and the matchup has since been confirmed by other outlets.

Although Smith discussed a potential return to the middleweight division after a pair of one-sided losses to Glover Teixeira and Aleksandar Rakic, the former light heavyweight title challenger is staying at 205 pounds for the foreseeable future. “Lionheart” moved to light heavyweight a…

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. Jessica Andrade is ready to become the first female fighter to compete in three Ultimate Fighting Championship weight classes on Saturday, and she is willing to move around the divisions depending on her options. Gilliard Parana, the head coach of PRVT Girls, spoke with Sherdog about Andrade’s upcoming fight against the #1 ranked flyweight contender Katlyn Chookagian this weekend.

“Last time in Abu Dhabi [at UFC 251], Jessica faced the hardest experience of her life to reach the limit of strawweight division due to a series of factors like jet lag, local temperature and also the fact that Jessica’s body is getting old,” Parana told Sherdog. “Actually, she is only 29, but her body already faced 28 battles [so] of course it’s getting harder to lose weight.”

Parana believes that moving the whole PRVT team to Las Vegas in 2021 w…

It appears that Conor McGregor is willing to back off on his original demand of a fight before the close of 2020.

Shortly after UFC president Dana White revealed that the promotion had offered Dustin Poirier as an opponent to McGregor on Jan. 23 and was unwilling to book the fight any earlier, the former two-division champion accepted the date on Twitter. McGregor added that he is targeting Cowboys Stadium as a potential venue for the event, which has not been formally announced by the promotion.

“I accept, Jan 23rd is on!” McGregor wrote on Twitter. “My goal is to see this fight take place in Cowboy stadium. Proper Style! [Cowboys owner] Jerry Jones is a friend and the stadium can hold our crowd. I will be ready for Texas and Texas will be ready for my fans! Then Manny.”

I accept, Jan 23rd is on!My goal is to see this fight take place in Cowboy stadium. Proper Style! Jerry Jones is a friend and the stadium can hold our crowd. I will be rea…