Martial Arts News

Aljamain Sterling doesn’t think Israel Adesanya is the same fighter he once was. 

Adesanya (24-6) took on Joe Pyfer in the main event at UFC Seattle on Saturday. “The Last Stylebender” briefly looked his old self, chopping away at Pyfer’s lead leg and maintaining distance with his jab. Adesanya’s shots even seemingly started affecting Pyfer in the second round until things drastically turned around. Pyfer hurt Adesanya, took him down, flattened him out, and unleashed vicious ground-and-pound to secure a stoppage win. 

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Sterling believes Adesanya is not the same as he was when on a stellar run, defending the middleweight title five times. “Funkmaster” primarily noticed Adesanya’s reaction time slowing down compared to his older self. Sterling notes that Adesanya suddenly chose to stand and trade with Pyfer in the second round instead of being his usual elusive self. Sterling believes Adesanya could have won if he controlled the range for five…

Francis Ngannou believes Ciryl Gane might be a problem for Alex Pereira. 

With heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall recovering from an eye injury, Pereira (13-3) and Gane (13-2) will fight for the interim heavyweight title at UFC White House on June 14. Ngannou believes his former training partner will be the quicker fighter. Meanwhile, Ngannou predicts that Pereira will be stronger and more stable in his stance. Ngannou believes Pereira will have a hard time figuring out how to close the distance against Gane to begin with.

A Contrast in Skill Sets “Ciryl Gane comes here more with the strategy of a lighter person,” Ngannou told TMZ Sports. “Because he moves a lot, he is fast. And I think Alex Pereira will be more stiff, stable, strong, and solid. Ciryl will be more fast, moving around, his technique, he’s good at that. And it’s gonna be very difficult for Alex Pereira to even get to the distance to figure out what he can do.” 

Ngannou and Gane used to be traini…

Francis Ngannou believes Ciryl Gane might be a problem for Alex Pereira. 

With heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall recovering from an eye injury, Pereira (13-3) and Gane (13-2) will fight for the interim heavyweight title at UFC White House on June 14. Ngannou believes his former training partner will be the quicker fighter. Meanwhile, Ngannou predicts that Pereira will be stronger and more stable in his stance. Ngannou believes Pereira will have a hard time figuring out how to close the distance against Gane to begin with.

A Contrast in Skill Sets “Ciryl Gane comes here more with the strategy of a lighter person,” Ngannou told TMZ Sports. “Because he moves a lot, he is fast. And I think Alex Pereira will be more stiff, stable, strong, and solid. Ciryl will be more fast, moving around, his technique, he’s good at that. And it’s gonna be very difficult for Alex Pereira to even get to the distance to figure out what he can do.” 

Ngannou and Gane used to be traini…

Sean O'Malley claims he hasn’t been jealous in a long time until he saw Ilia Topuria’s latest partnership deal. 

Topuria recently became the first combat sports athlete to sign with the Swiss luxury watch brand Richard Mille. O’Malley admits that he was jealous when his coach, Tim Welch, shared the news with him. However, O’Malley acknowledges that Topuria has earned the partnership. O’Malley notes that “El Matador” has knocked out three legends in a row in Alexander Volkanovski, Max Holloway and Charles Oliveira, and is now scheduled to headline the UFC’s iconic White House card against Justin Gaethje.

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Well Deserved “I haven’t felt the jealousy emotion in a long time,” O’Malley said on YouTube. “And I felt it when Tim sent me this screenshot – Ilia signed with Richard Mille. That is sick. But I’m also like, [Ilia] knocked out three legends, knocked out three Hall of Famers in a row, he’s headlining the White House. Well deserved, 100%. He deser…

Jose Delgado wants some big names for his next outing. 

Delgado (11-2) is coming off a hard-fought split-decision win over featherweight veteran Andre Fili earlier this month. Delgado recently called out David Onama, Dan Ige and Josh Emmett. While Onama and Emmett are ranked 14 and 15, respectively, in the official UFC featherweight rankings, Ige recently lost his No. 13 spot to Patricio Freire. 

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Emmett headlined the same card against Kevin Vallejos, where Delgado defeated Fili. Vallejos knocked Emmett out clean in the very first round. Despite Emmett’s recent loss, Delgado believes the veteran knockout artist still has the “touch of death.” Delgado recalls when Emmett sent Bryce Mitchell to the shadow realm with a right hand in 2023, in one of the scariest knockouts in recent history.Not Here to Skate By “[David] Onama or Dan Ige would be sweet,” Delgado told Home of Fight. “Even Josh Emmett… Emmett’s got touch of death, man. The Bryce Mit…

Oktagon MMA’s new “Stand and Bang” rules will certainly be a treat for bloodthirsty combat sports fans. 

Oktagon MMA is scheduled to host its next event on April 11 at the Enea Arena in Szczecin, Poland. The main attraction of the card will be a matchup between Poland’s Michal Materla (33-11) and Germany’s Christian Jungwirth (16-9), under the promotion’s new “Stand and Bang” rules. Co-founder Ondrej Novotny recently explained that the new rules include boxing with MMA gloves, clinching, but no kicks or takedowns.

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“Our new rules, ‘Stand and Bang,’ between Materla and Jungwirth, that would be something special,” he told MMAjunkie.com. “… Now it's basically gonna be boxing with small gloves, with elbows also, clinch on the fence, but no takedowns, no kicks. And I believe this will be something special.” ‘Everybody Wants to See Fights Like That’ Novotny explains that the new “Stand and Bang” rules are an upgrade of the older Underground rules, …

Alexandre Pantoja’s arm was dislocated and got set back to position within seconds. 

Pantoja put his flyweight title on the line against Joshua Van in the main event at UFC 323 this past December. It was less than half a minute into the fight when Van caught a kick from Pantoja and dumped him. As Pantoja put his left hand to the ground to balance, he fell back in agony with a visibly dislocated arm. Pantoja gestured to referee Herb Dean to stop the fight just before Van was considering landing follow up shots. 

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Pantoja revealed that he had set his arm back in place just as Dean intervened at 0:26 of the opening round. Pantoja briefly regretted asking Dean to stop the fight. However, a firm believer in God, “The Cannibal” believes everything played out the way it did for his well being. Pantoja believes that while he could have fought with an injured arm, it could have resulted in more serious injuries.Could Be Worse “He knew I hurt my arm,”…

Arman Tsarukyan wants upcoming lightweights to get a chance against perennial top contenders. 

Tsarukyan says the Top 5 of the UFC lightweight division is an exclusive club, where they repeatedly fight each other. “Ahalkalakets” wants the lower ranked fighters to get a chance against the old timers, for some new contenders in the division.

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“I don’t know why they give these old guys chances – Gaethje, Oliveira,” Tsarukyan said on “The Ariel Helwani Show.” “I wouldn’t be surprised if Oliveira fights for the title again… We need new names. New names coming up – give them chance. For example, someone who just got to top 10, Top 15, give them a chance with Top 5 and maybe switch the names.” The Old Guard Tsarukyan’s claims certainly hold some weight. Perennial contenders like Justin Gaethje and Charles Oliveira have been ruling the top of the lightweight division. Gaethje has made two unsuccessful title bids, become the interim champion twice, a…

Alexa Grasso got back on track at UFC Seattle. | Getty/UFC

While there was initially some confusion as to the official method of victory for Alexa Grasso in the UFC Seattle co-main event, there was no question in Dana White’s mind as to where it stacks up among MMA’s all-time best.

”I think it's one of the greatest finishes in the sport's history, let alone this year or tonight or whatever," the UFC CEO said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. "It was incredible.”

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Grasso officially defeated Maycee Barber via knockout at the 2:42 mark of Round 1, but it was the way in which she dispatched her opponent that truly stood out. The Mexican standout crumpled Barber with a left hand and tagged her with a quick follow-up shot before swiftly securing a rear-naked choke on her fallen adversary. The submission was hardly necessary — Barber was already unconscious — but it only added to the overall visual of the moment.

While Grasso will l…

Joe Pyfer put Israel Adesanya away with ground-and-pound at UFC Seattle. | Getty/UFC

Joe Pyfer rose to the UFC through Dana White's Contender Series, earning a contract in his second appearance after suffering an elbow injury in his initial outing. That prompted the UFC CEO to urge other UFC hopefuls to "Be Joe Pyfer.”

After defeating Israel Adesanya via second-round technical knockout in the UFC Seattle headliner this past Saturday, Pyfer has designs on changing the perception of what the actually means.

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“I’m in a really good spot mentally,” Pyfer said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “The ‘Be Joe Pyfer,’ who I was as a person is dead, but the ‘Be Joe Pyfer,’ thing will live on in a much greater way now, where people can be inspired by it, and it actually means something. So, I’m proud of who I am now. …

“So, yeah, ‘Be Joe Pyfer’ will still be a thing, it’s just got a different meaning now.”

Leading up to UFC Seattle,…

Maycee Barber says she's OK after suffering a scary knockout loss to Alexa Grasso. | Getty/UFC

It’s hard to blame Maycee Barber for avoiding social media following her brutal knockout loss to Alexa Grasso at UFC Seattlethis past Saturday.

Grasso sat Barber down with a laser-like straight left, spinning her opponent around in the process. She landed one more quick shot to the chin before deftly locking in a rear-naked choke on Barber, who was already out. After the bout was halted, Barber lay motionless on the canvas for several minutes before leaving the Octagon under her own power. The official result of the fight was a knockout, because it was determined that Barber was unconscious once the submission was applied.

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While her team initially took to social media to provide an update on the fighter’s condition, Barber would later issue her own video statement via Instagram.

“Well this is not the post or video that I wanted to be makin…

Yoel Romero believes only his opponent, Vagab Vagabov, was happy with the outcome of their latest bare-knuckle fight. 

Romero and Vagabov headlined IBA 4 in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Saturday. Despite Romero scoring a knockdown, Vagabov was declared the winner after five rounds. The crowd immediately expressed its disagreement with the decision by raining down boos. 

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IBA president Umar Kremlev has since announced that Romero’s loss will now be reviewed under a special commission, and Vagabov might have his win taken away. Romero supports IBA’s decision to review the result, which he believes only satisfied Vagabov and his team. Romero says that reviewing the fight is the right way to protect the image of IBA.Protecting the Image of the Company “About the decision, about the fight, nobody stay happy,” Romero told Red Corner MMA. “I think the only people who stay happy about the decision is my opponent and his team. The president is making th…