Martial Arts News

Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight Irina Alekseeva has been suspended for one year after testing positive for testosterone more than a year ago.

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Combat Sports Anti-Doping (CSAD) announced the sanction while taking a shot at the UFC’s previous anti-doping partner, USADA, in a statement on Friday:

Alekseeva tested positive for values consistent with the administration of testosterone of exogenous origin in a urine sample collected by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) on June 21, 2023, while USADA was still the independent administrator of the UFC’s Anti-Doping Program (UFC ADP). However, USADA failed to report the results of this sample to her and to UFC until October 31, 2023, more than four (4) months after the sample was collected and AFTER Alekseeva was allowed to compete in a UFC event in Las Vegas, Nevada, on October 14, 2023. USADA collected two additional samples from Alekseeva BEFORE her October 14, 2023, fight, (August …

Six of the seven billed fights for the Ultimate Fighting Championship show on Mexican Independence Day have one competitor repping Mexico.

Iridium Sports Agency, the management team of Raul Rosas Jr. (9-1), announced on Friday that Rosas would be squaring off against Qileng Aori (25-11, 1 NC) at UFC 306. The Sept. 14 event, also titled “Noche UFC,” will take place inside of The Sphere in Las Vegas as part of a 10-bout attraction. The bantamweight affair has since been confirmed by other outlets.

“El Nino Problema” burst onto the scene after picking up a contract on Dana White's Contender Series by becoming the youngest UFC fighter to pick up a win. Currently 19 years of age, Rosas Jr. suffered his first pro loss in April 2023 against Christian Rodriguez. He bounced back with a first-round knockout of Terrence Mitchell, and most recently tapped Ricky Turcios in June.

With a .500 record in the Octagon, Aori’s last outing in the cage went poorly when he was bludge…

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has started building its Salt Lake City event.

The first fight of UFC 307 is on the books, as Movsar Evloev (18-0) will come to blows with Aljamain Sterling (24-4) in a pivotal featherweight affair. While the two hinted at this fight coming together this past month, French social media account MMA Propagande first reported on the matchup on Wednesday. Sterling confirmed the bout on social media on Friday. This fight card is expected to take place at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Oct. 5, and the double championship main event is rumored to be Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway with the co-headliner of Raquel Pennington vs. Julianna Pena.

Evloev has not tasted defeat as a pro, including eight appearances in the Octagon since debuting in 2019. The Russian has gone the distance in eight straight outings as well, accounting for the lion’s share of his career decision wins. Now training out of American top team, Evloev celebrates recent…

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship champ Cody Garbrandt is getting back on the horse after his first career submission loss.

Eurosport NL broke the news on Thursday that Garbrandt (14-6) would be returning to the Octagon against Miles Johns (15-2, 1 NC) at a currently unnamed UFC Fight Night card on Oct. 12. The fighters have confirmed this collision at the UFC Apex on their Instagram pages. There is currently no main event on the books for this show.

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Garbrandt saw a two-fight win streak—his longest since 2016—come to a crashing halt when former flyweight king Deiveson Figueiredo tapped him out at UFC 300. In the process, “No Love” suffered the first submission defeat as a pro, and he has still not registered a sub in the win column. His two wins came in 2023 came over Trevin Jones on the scorecards and Brian Kelleher via blistering one-punch knockout. Garbrandt came into the promotion undefeated and won a belt against Dominick Cruz in 2016, but h…

Tomorrow night's main event is locked in 🔐@VirnaJandiroba makes it official coming in at 115.5 pounds!

[ #UFCVegas94 | Live on @ESPNPlus | 8pmET/5pmPT ] pic.twitter.com/cz2OxjMdZF

— UFC (@ufc) July 19, 2024 While every Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter made weight ahead of this weekend's card, it still lost one fight.

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Headlining UFC on ESPN 60 is a five-round fight between Amanda Lemos and Virna Jandiroba. Both women successfully made weight and came in under the 116-pound limit. All other fighters made weight as well, but one bout will not make it to the finish line. Brad Tavares (185.5) and Jun Yong Park (186) both hit their proper marks, but Park failed his medical exams and was not cleared to compete.

Lemos (14-3-1) recently bounced back from losing her title bout against champion Weili Zhang by winning a decision over Mackenzie Dern. Prior to the setback, "Amandinha" had won seven of her eight UFC fights w…

Let the record show that Ultimate Fighting Championship up-and-comer Jean Silva is tough beyond words.

On Thursday, days after a three-round thriller against Drew Dober at UFC on ESPN 59, Silva shared on Instagram X-ray images of his hands. While Silva ended up finishing Dober due to a doctor stoppage technical knockout due to elbows slashing open a massive cut on Dober’s eyebrow, Dober was not the only one with a souvenir. Silva revealed that he broke both hands in the first round of their “Fight of the Night”-winning encounter.

“As everyone saw, the fighter with Dober was very tough,” Silva said in a video on Instagram. “[Between] the first and second round, I told my corner that I had broken both hands, and they instructed me to continue using knees and elbows, and that’s what I did. No way I was going to lose that fight, and no way I was going to lose [for] any of you. I am coming [back].”

The three-fight run for Silva with the promotion has been as memo…

Two all-time great Ultimate Fighting Championship fighters have been selected as some of the best athletes this century.

Revealing the list of 100 athletes by sections of 25 at a time, ESPN concluded its Top 100 list of pro athletes since 2000 on Thursday. Two MMA fighters were listed: Jon Jones (66) and Georges St. Pierre (76). In ESPN’s past list of SportsCentury for the 20th century, no fighters were selected although multiple boxers including Muhammad Ali (3) and Joe Louis (11) made the list. Jones and GSP were passed by Floyd Mayweather (25) but the former was ranked higher than Manny Pacquiao (71) and both came in above Bernard Hopkins (78).

Often considered to be the greatest MMA fighter of all time, Jones’ lone loss as a professional came against Matt Hamill via disqualification in a fight he was dominating. Failed drug tests, criminal activity and legal issues plagued a career that could have been even more exceptional without lengthy patches of inactivity a…

The Ultimate Fighting Championship matchmakers decided this ranked heavyweight match needed five more rounds.

On the prelims of 2020’s UFC Fight Night 169 card, Marcin Tybura (25-8) faced and defeated Sergey Spivak (16-4) via grinding decision. Since then, the two have gone on similar runs of 7-2 and 6-2, respectively, to establish themselves in the top 10 at heavyweight. News broke in June that the two would run it back at the UFC Fight Night event on Aug. 10 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, and the promotion announced Thursday morning that it would serve as the main attraction.

The win over Spivak in 2020 was the start of a run for Poland’s Tybura, who won his next four after the Spivak victory to put himself in title contention. Alexander Volkov spurred him at UFC 267, but he bounced back to claim decisions over Alexander Romanov and Blagoy Ivanov to stay in the picture. “Tybur” went on to headline UFC Fight Night 224 against Tom Aspinall, and the Brit smashed him in…

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Cody Durden recently revealed why he accepted a fight against teammate Bruno Silva after initially turning it down.

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Durden (16-5) and Silva (13-5) are slated to lock horns in a flyweight bout at UFC on ESPN 60 at The Apex in Las Vegas this weekend. Durden revealed that he was initially hesitant to accept a fight against his American Top Team teammate.

However, when their manager Ali Abdelaziz proposed the matchup, Silva allegedly accepted it, saying they were adults. That permanently flipped the switch for Durden who now wants to see blood come fight night. The 33-year-old said on the UFC on ESPN 60 media day:

“I didn’t really want to fight a teammate but we got the same manager Ali Abdelaziz,” Durden said at UFC Media Day. “And at first I turned the fight down. I don’t want to fight a teammate. But then Bruno, he accepted the fight and said we’re not boys. And that really lit a fire in me. I was like, ‘Alright motherfuc*…

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Brad Tavares jokingly expressed disappointment in teammate Dan Ige for accepting a short-notice fight at UFC 303.

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Tavares (20-9) is scheduled to fight Jun Yong Park (17-6) in a middleweight matchup at UFC on ESPN 60 at the Apex in Las Vegas this weekend. Tavares was originally scheduled to share the card with Xtreme Couture teammate Ige, who was slated to trade leather with Jose Mariscal.

However, Ige ended up replacing Brian Ortega against Diego Lopes on four hours’ notice in the co-main event at UFC 303 last month. While Ige went on lose by unanimous decision, he gave Lopes a run for his money, putting the Brazilian in survival mode in the final frame. Ige subsequently asked for a spot on the highly sought-after UFC 306 card in September at the Sphere, which he was guaranteed by Dana White.

Tavares revealed that he and Ige had discussed potentially fighting at UFC 306 even before “50k” accepted the short-notice matchup.…

Ramon Taveras announced on Instagram that he is out of his UFC 304 booking against Caolan Loughran due to an injury.

Newcomers Taveras (10-2) and Loughran (9-1) were scheduled to trade leather in a bantamweight matchup at UFC 304 on July 27 at Co-op Live Arena in Manchester, England. The bout is now off.

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Ireland’s Loughran hopes to stay on the pay-per-view card close to home and is open to fighting anyone.

Catch deez hands just pulled out

I text him a few days after the bout was signed saying he would

This Games not for everybody

The UFC are the best in the world and they’ll sort it 👍

Been here before will fight anyone

Yeno that ☘️

— Caolan Loughran (@DonCaolan135) July 17, 2024

Taveras holds a unanimous decision win over Serhiy Sidey in his promotional debut at UFC 297 this past January, avenging a Contender Series knockout loss from last year. Meanwhile, Loughran suffered the…

The cards for the Professional Fighters League playoffs appear to be complete.

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The promotion on Wednesday announced alternate and showcase matchups to fill out each of the three events scheduled for next month. The PFL had previously only confirmed semifinal matchups in each weight class.

At PFL 7 on Aug. 2 at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, Sergey Bilostenniy will square off against Tyrell Fortune in a heavyweight alternate bout.

Meanwhile, PFL 8 will take place on Aug. 16 at the Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Florida and will include a light heavyweight alternate clash pitting Antonio Carlos Jr. against Karl Albrektsson. Additionally, Mads Burnell will meet Elvin Espinoza in a lightweight alternate pairing.

Finally, PFL 9 will be held on Aug. 23 at The Anthem in Washington, D.C. and features a pair of alternate bouts: Neiman Gracie vs. Luca Poclit at welterweight and Tyler Diamond vs. Enrique Barzola at …