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Welterweights and Lightweights did not disappoint in Riyadh!

All The Finishes From PFL MENA 2 #PFLMENA pic.twitter.com/HalC5XdDNZ

— PFL (@PFLMMA) July 12, 2024

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Semifinals matchups for the Professional Fighters League’s first season in the Middle East and North Africa are now in place.

Welterweights Mohammad Alaqraa, Jarrah Al-Silawi, Badreddine Diani and Omar El Dafrawy punched their respective tickets, along with lightweights Mohsen Mohammadseifi, Souhil Tahiri, Abdullah Saleem and Georges Eid at PFL MENA 2 on Friday at The Green Halls in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A $100,000 grand prize goes to the winner of each weight class, along with consideration to be included on the PFL’s global roster in 2025.

Alaqraa (6-0, 1-0 PFL) made his intentions known, as he disposed of Youcef Ouabbas with punches in the third round of their welterweight quarterfinal. Ouabbas (3-1, 0-1 PFL) met his end 53 seconds into Round 3. The A…

Gokhan Saricam Accepts Sanction for Violation of PFL Anti-Doping Policy https://t.co/U5STdxlebp

— USADA (@usantidoping) July 11, 2024 The 2024 Professional Fighters League campaign for Gokhan Saricam was over before it could begin.

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency announced on Thursday that Saricam had failed a pair of out-of-competition tests in April and May. The heavyweight from Turkey tested positive for clomiphene and its related metabolites, which are banned both in and out of competition under USADA and PFL policies. As a result, Saricam has been issued a one-year suspension effective the date of the first failed test, April 29.

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Saricam last competed under the Bellator MMA banner, doing so for his previous seven matchups. Planning on joining the PFL heavyweight bracket, he was once booked against Steve Mowry as a late addition to the season. When Mowry withdrew from the fight, Danilo Marques stepped in his place, but …

Sherdog's live UFC on ESPN 59 coverage will begin Saturday at 7 p.m. ET. BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: N/ARound 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the Round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:

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Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the Round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the Round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round: The Official Result BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Fremd (-110), Petroski (-110)Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the Round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the Round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the Round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:The Official Result BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING …

With the Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight title picture in flux, the victor of this affair might be a couple wins away from a crack at gold.

Ranked 135ers Karol Rosa (17-6) and Pannie Kianzad (16-8) will toe the line at a currently unnamed UFC Fight Night card on Aug. 10. The two will square off inside of the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, with the first report on Wednesday from Brazilian outlet Ag Fight. Kianzad subsequently posted about the pairing on social media on Thursday to confirm its veracity.

Having alternated wins and losses in her last six, Brazil’s Rosa is coming off of a titanic tussle with Irene Aldana at UFC 296 in December. The two slugged it out for 15 violent, bloody minutes, and although Aldana picked up the nod on the scorecards, both ladies scored $50,000 bonus checks for their handiwork. As the Parana Vale Tudo fighter remained a contender in her division, she has bested the likes of Yana Santos, Lina Lansberg and Bethe Correia, all via dec…

THE WAIT IS OVER 🚨 Tickets are on sale NOW for ONE 169: Atlanta on November 8, featuring THREE World Championship bangers and more massive fights to be announced 👉 https://t.co/UzqKRWrAxK

Don’t miss this blockbuster event as two-division MMA World Champion Christian Lee… pic.twitter.com/HHa7KlGs0r

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) July 12, 2024 One Championship is going for broke in Hotlanta this November.

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Atop ONE 169 in Atlanta on Nov. 8, three championship affairs will sit on the marquee. The main attraction at the State Farm Arena is already released, in a battle for the heavyweight throne between champ Anatoly Malykhin and “Reug Reug” Oumar Kane. The co-main event, first reported by MMA Fighting on Friday and subsequently confirmed by the promotion, will put the 170-pound strap up for grabs between two-division beltholder Christian Lee (17-4) and interim champ Alibeg Rasulov (15-0). Additionally, Tawanchai P.K…

WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHTS! 💪

🇺🇸 Keri Melendez 🆚 Sumiko Inaba 🇺🇸 @KeriMelendez415 returns to the Bellator Cage on September 7th, where she puts her undefeated record on the line against Sumiko Inaba! 🔥@sumikoinaba will be looking to give Keri her first loss at #BellatorSanDiego.… pic.twitter.com/gv27pHIP2S

— Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) July 11, 2024 A pair of talented Bellator MMA flyweights will grace the cage at the Pechanga Arena this September.

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The promotion released a number of fights this week, bolstering a lineup for a show held on Sept. 7 in San Diego. The first of three for this next Bellator Champions Series event comes at 125 pounds between flyweights Keri Melendez (6-0) and Sumiko Inaba (7-1). MMA Junkie first broke the news of this pairing, with Bellator locking it down shortly thereafter.

Melendez, 40, has put together an unbeaten record since debuting in the sport in 2016. The former kickboxer has seen her wh…

She cut off her hair to make weight! 126 #UFCDenver pic.twitter.com/C01B7fYOTe

— Amy Kaplan (@PhotoAmy33) July 12, 2024 The UFC on ESPN 59 main event is now official, but there was some drama on the scales.

While former Ultimate Fighting Championship strawweight champion Rose Namajunas made flyweight easily, opponent Tracy Cortez did not. Cortez was initially overweight at 126.5 pounds but later weighed 126 on the dot after cutting off some of her hair. All other fighters made weight as well.

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Namajunas (12-6) recently rebounded from a two-fight skid by winning a unanimous decision over Amanda Ribas. Now 1-1 at flyweight, "Thug" will look to become a title contender in a second division. The 32-year-old stepped on the scale at 124.75 pounds.

Meanwhile, Cortez (11-1) is riding an impressive 11-fight win streak. Cortez is undefeated inside the UFC, having gone 5-0 in the promotion. Most recently, the 30-year-old picked…

Gadzhimurad Amirzhanov knows how to impose his will, and ONE Championship stands to benefit from his exploits.

Dogged takedowns, suffocating top control and effective ground-and-pound carried the undefeated Russian prospect to a unanimous decision over Matheus Pereira in a three-round ONE Friday Fights 70 lightweight showcase on Friday at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. All three ringside judges scored it for Amirzhanov (6-0, 3-0 ONE), who was forced to go the distance for the first time since his December 2020 professional debut.

Pereira (7-3, 3-1 ONE) could not stay upright. Amirzhanov sat him down with an overhand left and threatened with a brabo choke in the first round, then settled into a rinse-and-repeat cycle across the final 10-plus minutes. Pereira did all he could from bottom position, even though he received a yellow card for repeated punches to the back of the head. Those efforts—they included a powerful upkick in the third round—proved futi…

. @Jon_Anik has to get a 337 tattoo if I win https://t.co/gzuBwZRWsR

— The Diamond (@DustinPoirier) July 9, 2024

While Dustin Poirier (30-9) appears interested in fighting Nate Diaz (21-13), he believes the Ultimate Fighting Championship won’t do business with the younger Diaz brother.

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After parting ways with the UFC in 2022, Diaz (21-13) has been dabbling in boxing, dropping a controversial split decision against Jake Paul before bouncing back with a unanimous decision win over fellow UFC alum Jorge Masvidal last weekend. Meanwhile, Poirier (30-9) is at a crossroads in his career after having come up short in his third and likely final lightweight title bid against Islam Makhachev at UFC 302 last month.

While he has been contemplating retirement, Poirier admits that it’s difficult for him to stay away from fighting. UFC color commentator Jon Anik recently suggested Diaz as a potential opponent that would make sense …

Having shared the Octagon with Ian Garry, Michael Page believes the Irishman will never win an Ultimate Fighting Championship title.

Page (22-3) faced a steep step up in competition when he took on Garry (15-0) in his sophomore promotional clash at UFC 303 last month. Despite getting dominated by Garry on the ground, “MVP” put on a valiant effort in the striking exchanges en route to a unanimous decision loss. While he doesn’t want to make excuses, Page claims he wasn’t quite himself on fight night.

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“There’s a lot of mistakes I made,” Page said on The MMA Hour. “Don’t want to make too many excuses but there was a bit of a weird build up as well. And I always tried to stay focused on what I need to get done. But I had a few issues I needed to overcome in the build up to the fight… Wasn’t quite myself.”

While Garry had vowed to outstrike Page, the former Bellator MMA star was evidently faster and landed the more damaging shots in the striking exchang…

YOUR CO-MAIN EVENT. Only one will make it through to the Playoffs.

Mohammed Alaqraa 🇰🇼 WEIGHED IN ✅ 170 LBS

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Youcef Ouabbas 🇩🇿 WEIGHED IN ✅ 169 LBS

WHO’S READY FOR THE WELTERWEIGHT CLASH? 🔥🥊#PFLMENA | Friday, July 12 | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | Tickets via 🔗… pic.twitter.com/8PZx8lLu4c

— PFL MENA (@PFLMENA) July 11, 2024 Mohammad Alaqraa has traveled over 7,000 miles to train with the best. He’s sacrificed a ton for his opportunity to shine on a major stage, and it’s finally starting to pay off.

Despite the initial setback of not having sponsorship to travel to the United States, Alaqraa's determination was unwavering. He applied to multiple schools and was eventually accepted on scholarship at San Jose State University. But he didn’t settle for a major that couldn’t help him as an athlete. He chose industrial engineering, a field that would challenge his mind the same way training challenged his body.

“I thoug…

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Cody Brundage (10-6) might have to bear the wrath of Abdul Razak Alhassan (12-6) due to no fault of his own in their upcoming bout this weekend.

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Both Alhassan (12-6) and Brundage (10-6) will be fighting in front of a home crowd at UFC on ESPN 59 at Ball Arena in Denver on July 13. Alhassan vented out a lot of pent-up anger at UFC Denver media day, promising to unleash the worst of it on Brundage come fight night.

“I have some demons in me that I’m trying to unleash on that motherfuc*er,” Alhassan said. “Of course, my word is going to make it sound like I hate him. I have nothing against him. I swear to God, I’m going to unleash some fuc*ing demons on that motherfuc*er.”

The anger in Alhassan stems from past sexual assault allegations which he was later acquitted of. Alhassan was working as a bouncer at a Fort Worth, Texas, bar in 2018 when two women, aged 20 and 22, accused him of raping them at one of their houses after a…