Martial Arts News

Weili Zhang took a potentially difficult moment and turned it into a positive at UFC 300.

Advertisement

While it appeared that Zhang had rendered opponent Xiaonan Yan unconscious with a rear-naked choke before the end of the opening round in their strawweight title fight, the bout was allowed to continue. The fight ultimately went the full 25 minutes, but Zhang was able to persevere — even surviving a knockdown in Round 3 — to emerge with a relatively clear-cut unanimous decision triumph.

Zhang came away impressed with Yan’s ability to recover, but outside of that, she claims to not have much memory of the rest of the fight.

“I really thought that she was out, and I did not know how the referee was going to handle that. But she bounced back very quickly in the second round,” Zhang said through a translator at Saturday’s post-fight press conference.

“I felt like I was in a dream. I blanked out during the fight. I didn’t know what I was doing.”

The UFC…

It was a rough night for Cody Garbrandt at UFC 300.

Advertisement

Not only did the former bantamweight champion suffer a second-round submission defeat to Deiveson Figueiredo, but he also experienced vertigo during the bout, which was the first prelim on Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

“I felt great in my fight until I started to experience vertigo,” Garbrandt wrote on X. “I couldn’t control the spinning once it was to the ground. Hats off to Deiveson and his camp! I ended up going to the hospital where I was still experiencing the vertigo, throwing up until 4 a.m.

“… I’ll get this corrected. I’ve dealt with vertigo since 2012. Thank you to the fans that came out to support. It wasn’t my night, but I love doing what I do. I’ll be back in there before the year is up.”

UFC 300 🙏🏼 pic.twitter.com/Lt2uRwObQg

— Cody Garbrandt (@Cody_Nolove) April 16, 2024

Garbrandt did well on the feet in the opening stanza again…

Jorge Masvidal claims to have received special permission from the Ultimate Fighting Championship to return to the promotion after a brief boxing stint.

Advertisement

Masvidal announced his retirement at UFC 287 in April 2023 after a decision loss against Gilbert Burns, which marked the Miami native's fourth defeat in a row. However, the former BMF champ soon declared that he would be returning to competition for a boxing match against Nate Diaz, who chose not to re-sign with the promotion after completing his contract in 2022. Masvidal and Diaz are scheduled to compete in a boxing match on June 1 at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles, under the Fanmio Boxing banner.

While the UFC hasn’t traditionally allowed signed fighters to compete in boxing — with the exception of Conor McGregor — Masvidal claims to have received a similar exemption. According to "Gamebred," Solomon Engel, Fanmio CEO, was able to move a few pieces to let the UFC loan him “Gamebred” for three f…

The ending of the UFC 300 BMF title fight between Max Holloway and Justin Gaethje elicited a once-in-a-lifetime reaction from referee Marc Goddard.

Advertisement

Goddard was the third man in the cage as Gaethje and Holloway delivered the “Fight of the Night,” living up to every bit of BMF hype. Holloway put on arguably his career-best performance, piecing “The Highlight” apart gradually before knocking him out cold in a wild, last-second exchange.

Like most viewers, Goddard also reacted involuntarily to the finish, which has already etched its place in the history books. The veteran Ultimate Fighting Championship referee later requested the promotion to release his mic audio to reveal his genuine reaction to the jaw-dropping finish.

“I’d love the UFC to release the mic’d audio from me, “ Goddard wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter). “I literally screamed out at that ending, first time in 20 years. It was an automatic reaction I guess. I’m still speechle…

Aljamain Sterling was admittedly at somewhat of a crossroads in his career going into his UFC 300 clash against Calvin Kattar on Saturday.

Advertisement

Sterling made his featherweight debut against the New England Cartel standout, earning a dominant unanimous decision victory with a stifling grappling display. While “Funk Master” nullified all offense from Kattar, many believe he would have done better to aggressively seek a finish. The former bantamweight champion insists he is in the game to be on top of the ladder, which made him consider retirement leading up to the fight in case of a loss.

“I think if I got my ass completely kicked by Calvin Kattar, I was probably done. And no one knew about that, I didn’t share those sentiments with anybody. Even my fiancé. It’s just one of those things,” Sterling said on “The MMA Hour”.

“I mean, I mentioned it to her like, ‘Well if I can’t beat him, I don’t know.’ But I didn’t really go into detail what that actual…

Renato Carneiro appears to be a vocal advocate of the Austrian-inspired economic libertarianism movement in Brazil.

Advertisement

“Moicano” survived an early scare to score a come-from-behind stoppage win against Jalin Turner in arguably his toughest test to date at UFC 300 on Saturday. “Money” gave a shoutout to Austrian American economist Ludwig von Mises in his post-fight Octagon interview.

“Moicano” advised people who love their country to read “Economic Policy: Thoughts For Today And Tomorrow” by Mises which was republished in Portuguese as “Six Lessons, Economic Policy.” The book, which is one of Mises’ most popular, discusses capitalism, socialism, inflation, etc. in a series of six lectures he delivered in Argentina. Carneiro explained his shoutout on “The MMA Hour.”

“Because I’m very concerned. A lot of people talk to me about money,” he said. “But, the problem is, it’s not about how much money you get, it’s about how much money you can keep. And …

Just three bouts into his Ultimate Fighting Championship tenure, Bo Nickal has already set a pretty high bar.

Advertisement

That’s probably why his second-round submission of Cody Brundage in his third outing at UFC 300 was met with a collective shrug from the MMA community. After all, Nickal’s first five professional appearances all ended inside of a round. For whatever it’s worth, the former NCAA national champion wrestler wasn’t too impressed with his performance, either.

“I feel good, but it’s definitely mixed emotions because I felt like I could have performed better,” Nickal said in a backstage interview with the UFC. “I don’t judge based on wins and losses, I judge based on how I feel I performed. i could have done a lot better in certain areas. Given the time off, I was a little too amped up. And given the fact that I finished everybody pretty fast, I was trying to knock the guy out. So it’s just a good lesson and stuff that I’ll be appreciative of movi…

Arman Tsarukyan punched a fan during his walkout to fight Charles Oliveira 😅 pic.twitter.com/DMoX27o8H1

— Happy Punch (@HappyPunch) April 14, 2024

The fan who was the target of an Arman Tsarukyan punch during the fighter’s walkout at UFC 300 doesn’t plan on taking legal action against the promotion.

Advertisement

Video surfaced of Tsarukyan throwing a punch into the crowd as he walked to the Octagon for his lightweight bout against Charles Oliveira at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night. The fan, who has been identified as Obed Ardon, has issued a statement regarding his actions at the event.

“I’d like to apologize to Arman for provoking him by flipping him off. I was buzzing all day and the moment got to me,” Ardon told Bloody Elbow.

“It was my first time attending a live UFC event and it was absolutely incredible. I’m glad the incident wasn’t as bad as it could have been. I do want to make clear that I didn’t pull…

Former Bellator MMA champion Patricky Freire’s debut in the Professional Fighters League against Clay Collard was one of the most anticipated fights of the organization’s 2024 season.

Advertisement

The bout lived up to the hype, as the Brazilian floored Collard in the opening stanza before suffering a technical knockout loss at the 1:32 mark of Round 2 on Friday at the Theater at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas.

Freire revealed that his change in demeanor late in the opening frame was due to an injury that plagued him in his camp.

“This camp was very tough for me,” Freire told Sherdog.com. “I had tendonitis in my knee that forced me to have an injection 10 days ago, otherwise I wouldn't be able to fight.

"A lot of people asked me after the fight why I changed my aggressive posture after the knockdown. [It was because] I felt some kicks he landed in addition to the injury.”

Freire revealed that he is scheduled to undergo a healing stem cell treatmen…

🦁🔥 #ufc300 pic.twitter.com/5VYCApO0Ke

— Amanda Nunes (@Amanda_Leoa) April 14, 2024

Kayla Harrison didn’t take long to respond to the video published by former two-division Amanda Nunes in the aftermath of the Olympic judoka’s successful Octagon debut at UFC 300.

Advertisement

“I didn’t say her name because for me Amanda was already retired,” Harrison told Brazilian journalist Diego Ribas. “If I knew she was planning to return, of course I would call her out. But if she wants to come back, I will welcome her with open arms.”

While Harrison looked strong in her first fight at 135 pounds, she admitted that making the cut was challenging.

“The last pound was mentally very hard,” Harrison said. “I slept really bad that night, but whenever I set a goal in my life I always achieve it.”

Current bantamweight champion Raquel Pennington recently stated that Harrison should not be able to fight for a UFC title in just her second pr…

Aljamain Sterling is well aware that his victory over Calvin Kattar at UFC 300 won’t be enough to propel him into an immediate title shot at 145 pounds.

Advertisement

While “The Funkmaster” controlled the fight with takedowns and control to sweep the scorecards in his featherweight debut, it wasn’t the type of effort that turned heads, particularly on a night filled with memorable performances. Sterling elected to move to 145 pounds after losing the bantamweight crown to Sean O’Malley at UFC 292 last August, ending a reign that spanned three successful title defenses.

“Everyone’s telling me to cheer up, but I’m just a little bit down on the performance,” Sterling said in a backstage interview with the UFC on Saturday night. “Mentally, from my internal perspective, it felt like if I’m going to challenge for a belt, I need to be able to do a little bit more. I’m my own worst critic sometimes. I know I did well. It’s just I felt like, is that championship material?…

Things did not go as planned for Holly Holm at UFC 300.

Advertisement

The former bantamweight title holder offered little resistance against Kayla Harrison, as she suffered a second-round submission defeat in a preliminary bout on Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. While the former boxing champion figured to have an advantage at range against Harrison, a two-time gold medalist in judo, Holm instead elected to clinch with her opponent. Although “The Preacher’s Daughter” was able to reverse Harrison early, she was largely overmatched against the former Professional Fighters League lightweight champion.

“Well, none of that went how I had envisioned over the last 10 weeks of this training camp. I have no excuses. I had all the best coaching, the best teammates, the best sparring, all the help I could have even dreamed of asking for,” Holm said in a video post on Instagram.

“I went out there and I lost all focus on the game plan. I did nothing that we …