Martial Arts News

A middleweight showdown pitting Joe Pyfer against Kelvin Gastelum has been rebooked for UFC 316.

Multiple outlets confirmed the booking after an announcement on Monday from Pyfer’s coach on MMA Today on Sirius XM. Pyfer and Gastelum were initially slated to square off at UFC Mexico on March 29, but Pyer withdrew on the day of the event due to illness. UFC 316 takes place on June 7 at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., and is headlined by a bantamweight title rematch between Merab Dvalishvili and Sean O’Malley.

Pyfer has been victorious in six of his last seven professional outings. After earning a UFC contract on Dana White's Contender Series in 2022, “Bodybagz” finished his first three Octagon foes before fallling to Jack Hermansson in the UFC Fight Night 236 main event this past February. The 28-year-old Pennsylvania native rebounded in his most recent appearance, when he knocked out Marc-Andre Barriault in the opening stanza of their encounter at UFC 3…

Add this one to the list of unusual pre-fight injuries.

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Trevor Peek has been forced to withdraw from a proposed featherweight clash against Jeong Yeong Lee at UFC Des Moines after suffering an injury while jumping rope last week. The five-time UFC veteran shared the details in a video on his Instagram account over the weekend.

“I actually fractured my leg at the Performance Institute on Friday. It’s not a bad fracture, I still have to go get CT scans in the next day or two and figure out if I’ve got any kind of ligament damage or anything like that,” Peek said.

“I wish I had a cool story how I did it, but I got on some soft mats and was jump roping. I was alternating each leg. I’d been jump roping 20-something minutes — got a little tired, a little careless, and wasn’t paying attention. Come down with all my weight on my left leg and it sounded like a shotgun whenever it went off, it popped.”

The 30-year-old Alabama native has lost three of…

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Aljamain Sterling doesn’t think a newfound sense of discipline will help Sean O'Malley (18-2) against Merab Dvalishvili (19-4).

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O’Malley has always been known for his flashy lifestyle, which included smoking marijuana. However, things have seemingly changed for “Suga” since he lost his title to Dvalishvili at UFC 306 last year.

O’Malley will get chance to reclaim his title against Dvalishvili in the main event at UFC 316 on June 7 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The former champ, rather uncharacteristically, recently thanked Dvalishvili for making him a better fighter and human being by beating him. O’Malley also claims to have introduced major lifestyle changes going into his rematch against “The Machine.” O’Malley claims he hasn’t masturbated or smoked marijuana this year.

However, Dvalishvili’s teammate Sterling doesn’t think any of that will matter. The former bantamweight champ believes it will all even…

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Michael Chandler is taking a slightly different approach going into his fight against Paddy Pimblett.

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Chandler will take on Pimblett at UFC 314 on Saturday at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida. While Chandler is known for his entertaining style, it has now cost him four out of six UFC outings. However, Chandler’s latest loss against Charles Oliveira hit him different.

Chandler claims to have felt the lowest after dropping a split decision against “Do Bronx” at UFC 309 last November. But “Iron” also felt good about being more composed and measured in that fight.

“I feel like I was more let down in my entire career than any other fight in this last fight with Charles Oliveira,” Chandler told Teddy Atlas. “But I saw glimpses of more composure in that fight… There was a loss, but there was a growth in that fight. So it’s hard because your heart says ‘You lost, therefore you’re not good enough.’ But if I use my brain, I think I…

Having an MMA legend as your neighbor can really be a blessing.

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That was the case for Henry Cejudo’s neighbor, who is in his 60s. Cejudo recently shared a clip of his neighborhood, where a policeman can be seen pinning someone down. Cejudo revealed that he was coming out his house when he heard a car rushing by at 80 miles per hour. The car then crashed into the yard of Cejudo’s neighbor.

A teenager who was in the car attempted to flee the scene and attacked Cejudo’s neighbor when confronted. Cejudo intervened and allegedly took the boy down and slapped him a few times before the cops took over.

“I just had a group of teenagers, maybe doing about an 80 miles an hour. I was just coming out with my producer Dylan Ruff. Happened to see this car going by 80 miles per hour… And they smashed into my neighbor’s yard,” Cejudo said on social media. “The guy got up, the guy tried to leave. And he ended up assaulting the owner. I don’t know if these g…

A week ago, it was announced that Fabian Edwards was out of the PFL middleweight tournament. Now the former Bellator MMA title challenger is back in his original spot.

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The promotion announced over the weekend that Edwards will face Impa Kasanganay in the PFL World Tournament 3 headliner on April 18 at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. Edwards had briefly been replaced by Jordan Newman for undisclosed reasons. The main card, which features first-round pairings at middleweight and lightweight, airs on ESPN and ESPN+ at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT, while prelims stream on ESPN+ at 4:30 p.m. ET/1:30 p.m. PT.

Fighters only get one shot! Watch the PFL World Tournament LIVE Friday, April 11 at 11 p.m. ET on ESPN2..

Edwards is a two-time middleweight title challenger in Bellator. He fell to Johnny Eblen on both occasions, most recently dropping a five-round verdict to Eblen at PFL Super Fights "Battle of the Giants." The younger brother of ex-UFC champ L…

Lerone Murphy couldn’t put Josh Emmett away, but he was nonetheless pleased with the way he executed his strategy in the UFC Vegas 105 headliner.

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“That was the exact game plan what you saw there,” Murphy said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “Pick him off at range, catch him on the way in. Obviously, I wanted the finish. The finishes are just not coming at the minute. But a masterful performance anyway. We’re just chasing them finishes, chasing them wins, racking up the wins and aiming for that title.”

Murphy relied on intelligent movement and a varied striking arsenal to frustrate Emmett on Saturday. The heavy-handed Team Alpha Male product, who was coming off a massive knockout of Bryce Mitchell in December 2023, spent much of the fight stalking his opponent in search of a similar opening, but it was Murphy who staggered Emmett in the waning moments of the bout.

“I took a few shots on the gloves, really didn’t take anything clean,…

Rhys McKee’s first UFC triumph came with some additional perks.

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The Cage Warriors veteran floored Daniel Frunza three times in the opening stanza of their UFC Vegas 105 clash and while a finish didn’t arrive, the bout was halted before the second frame when the cageside doctor determined that a battered Frunza shouldn’t continue. After losing his first four Octagon appearances, “Skeletor” takes home a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” award for his work.

Meanwhile, Chang Ho Lee relied on his tenacious ground-and-pound to earn a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” check in a stoppage of Cortavious Romious at bantamweight. The “Road to UFC” Season 2 winner went to work in the second stanza, when he took Romious’ back and battered his opponent with punches and elbows to secure at the 3:48 mark of the period.

Elsewhere, Ode Osbourne garnered a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” check for his finish of newcomer Luis Gurule in a featured flyweight…

Sherdog's live UFC Vegas 105 coverage will begin Saturday at 6 p.m. ET. The event is also known as UFC on ESPN 65. BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Alencar (-112), Demopoulos (-108)Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Scottie Smith scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:

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Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Scottie Smith scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Scottie Smith scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round: The Official Result BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Buday (-166), Satybaldiev (+140)Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Scottie Smith scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Scottie Smith scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Scottie Smith scores the round:Tris…

Lerone Murphy danced with one of the Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight division’s heaviest hitters for 25 minutes and walked out of the Octagon no worse for it.

The undefeated Manchester Top Team linchpin stayed undefeated with a unanimous decision over Josh Emmett in the five-round UFC on ESPN 65 headliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Scores were 48-47, 48-47 and 49-46—all for Murphy (16-0-1, 8-0-1 UFC), who has rattled off seven straight victories since his split draw with Zubaira Tukhugov in 2019.

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Emmett (19-5, 10-5 UFC) completed multiple takedowns but could not track down the elusive Englishman on the feet. Murphy blasted him with a variety of kicks to the legs and body, traded punches occasionally and circled out of danger. He countered effectively, mixed in close-range elbows at times and, most importantly, kept himself out of harm’s way against an opponent with nuclear punching power. Frustration overtook Emmett late …

Rhys McKee finally put an elusive check in the Ultimate Fighting Championship win column.

The former British Association of Mixed Martial Arts and Cage Warriors Fighting Championship titleholder racked up three knockdowns and forced a doctor stoppage on Daniel Frunza in their featured UFC on ESPN 65 welterweight prelim on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. It was waved off in between the first and second rounds.

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McKee (14-6-1, 1-4 UFC) cut loose with multi-punch bursts and floored the Dana White’s Contender Series graduate with a left hook, a clean one-two and an overhand left. Frunza (9-3, 0-1 UFC) steadied himself amid the abuse but retreated to his corner after the first round with serious damage to his right eye and a gnarly cut to his upper lip. It was enough to warrant fight-ending concern from the cageside physician. Meanwhile, Dione Barbosa put her Olympic-level judo skills to use and put away Diana Belbita with an arm-triangle choke in…

Hotlanta, we are BACK! 🔥

We’re bringing the Octagon to ATL!

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For all info on #UFCAtlanta: https://t.co/8HQfIg4b0R pic.twitter.com/4GLYCl6zJU — UFC (@ufc) April 6, 2025

The Ultimate Fighting Championship is headed to the Peach State later this year.

The Las Vegas-based promotion announced on Saturday night that it will hold an event at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, on June 14. It marks the fifth time the Octagon has touched down in Atlanta. One significant bout that has been confirmed for UFC Atlanta is a flyweight clash between Rose Namajunas and Miranda Maverick.

The last time the promotion was in Atlanta was April 13, 2019 for UFC 236. At that event, Dustin Poirier captured the interim lightweight crown with a five-round verdict over Max Holloway in the evening’s featured bout. In the co-headliner, Israel Adesanya claimed interim middleweight gold with a memorable decision triumph over Kelvin Gast…