Martial Arts News

Barring something funky on fight night, one of these two Ultimate Fighting Championship athletes will shed a losing streak at night’s end.

The UFC announced the return of former Rizin Fighting Federation champion Kai Asakura (21-6) on Thursday, who will be moving back up to 135 pounds after suffering two defeats in the Octagon. He draws fellow skidding combatant Cameron Smotherman (12-6), who won his promotional debut and has since dropped two decisions. The latter may be more famously known as the one who made weight ahead of his UFC 324 match with Ricky Turcios, only to faint and faceplant shortly after walking off the scales.

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Japan’s Asakura, 32, has not panned out since debuting with the promotion in 2024. Coming off winning the Rizin bantamweight belt against Juan Archuleta at the end of 2023—where Archuleta missed weight by over five pounds on fight night—Asakura was thrust into an immediate title shot. Champ Alexandre Pantoja throttled him i…

The four new fighters booked on the Professional Fighters League’s jaunt to South Dakota may not be local, but they are highly ranked.

On May 2, the organization will take to a former Bellator MMA stomping ground of the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls. The man on the marquee representing the area will be Logan Storley in a welterweight pairing against Florim Zendeli. On Thursday, the promotion dropped two new bouts for this billing, with three of the participants among the PFL’s top 10 in their respective division.

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The first of the two fights set for the PFL Sioux Falls main card is a heavyweight banger as Renan Ferreira (13-5, 3 NC) takes on Sergey Bilostenniy (14-4). It has been a rough couple years for “Problema,” as he claimed the PFL Super Fight heavyweight belt against Ryan Bader and everything looked up. When he was thrust into a matchup against Francis Ngannou, it all went wrong, as Ngannou punched him out in just over three minutes. The re…

The winner of this upcoming Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight clash may receive a number next to their name.

Last Friday, Spanish news outlet ABC broke the news that Joel Alvarez (23-3) would be throwing down with Yaroslav Amosov (29-1) at UFC 328. The welterweights will toe the line on May 9 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, and it is unclear at the time where the two will be placed on the billing. The promotion confirmed this bout on Thursday.

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Featherweight-turned-lightweight Alvarez moved up to 170 pounds in October 2025 after having missed weight a few outings prior, and he battled Vicente Luque at his new division. The Spaniard overcame Luque on the scorecards in a truly bizarre outing where Alvarez was briefly awarded the TKO victory in the opening frame, only for referee Osiris Maia to second-guess himself and call a punch an eye poke. This ultimately marked the first decision win in the career of “El Fenomeno,” one t…

While the vast majority of eligible athletes have received their portion from the $375 million UFC antitrust lawsuit settlement, there are still some distribution issues regarding the rest of the payments.

According to an update from law firm Berger Montague, payments totaling more than $237 million have been issued to “984 claimants in 44 countries” from the Le vs. Zuffa antitrust case, which covered fighters who competed in the UFC from 2010 to 2017. That represents more than 90 percent of the eligible athletes, according to a release. There were a total of 1,088 class members who submitted claims related to the case.

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“We are working around the clock to distribute settlement payments to the remaining claimants,” the release states.A Variety of IssuesThere are a number of complications with payments for the remaining eligible fighters. These include processing issues, payment instructions under review and outstanding issues with ACH or wire instru…

Renato 'Moicano' will look to snap a two-fight skid on Saturday. | Getty/UFC

While Renato Carneiro and Chris Duncan haven’t been all that close in recent years while sharing the gym at American Top Team, that doesn’t make the matchup against a former training partner any easier.

“Moicano” and Duncan will square off in the UFC Vegas 115 main event on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Carneiro recalls training with Duncan in the past — but it was quite some time ago.

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“It is difficult; it is the first time [I’ve faced a teammate],” Carneiro told UFC.com. “But at the same time, everybody wants to win, everybody wants to win their next fight, and that’s what I want too.

“Back in the day, we trained together a couple years ago, but I don’t remember the last time I trained with him; I think it was a long time ago.”

Duncan faced another ATT stablemate, Mateusz Rebecki, last August at UFC on ESPN 71. “The Problem” emerged with a u…

Arman Tsarukyan continues to stay busy as he awaits his next assignment from the UFC.

The lightweight contender will face UFC Hall of Famer Urijah Faber in the co-main event of Real American Freestyle 8 on April 18 in Philadelphia. The promotion announced the match on Wednesday. RAF 8 is headlined by a matchup between Merab Dvalishvili and Henry Cejudo and airs on Fox nation.

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Tsarukyan is coming off a victory over Georgio Poullas at RAF 7 on March 28. The Russian is now 3-0 under the RAF banner, with previous triumphs over Poullas and Lance Palmer. Since submitting Dan Hooker in the UFC Qatar headliner on Nov. 22, “Ahalkalakets" has competed in a number of grappling and wrestling matches in other organizations — including notable matches against the likes of Muhammad Mokaev and Sharabutdin Magomedov in Hype FC. Tsarukyan has seemingly been at odds with the Las Vegas-based promotion since pulling out of a lightweight title bout against Islam Makhachev…

Islam Makhachev continues to keep fans guessing. 

Michael Morales recently met up with Ilia Topuria in Madrid, Spain. Both Morales and Topuria are potential opponents for Makhachev. The welterweight champion had a cryptic response to a photo of Morales and Topuria posing together. Makhachev responded with a telephone emoji, hinting at a potential matchup between one of the two next. 

Makhachev (28-1) and Topuria (17-0) have long been on a collision course. Topuria was the featherweight champion when he started calling for a lightweight title shot against then-champion Makhachev, who eventually moved up to welterweight. Topuria also subsequently moved up to lightweight and won the title. A matchup between Topuria and Makhachev was rumored to be the original plan for the White House card in June. However, Topuria is now scheduled to defend his title against interim champion Justin Gaethje at UFC White House on June 14. 

A More Likely Option With Makhac…

Michael Morales would fight Ian Garry differently than his other opponents. 

Along with being in a race for the next welterweight title shot, Morales (19-0) and Garry (17-1) have serious beef between them,. Morales recently admitted that he hates Garry, and that the Irishman doesn’t give him good vibes. Morales believes a potential bout against Garry would be very intense. While Morales won’t underestimate Garry, the undefeated Ecuadorian claims he would be extremely aggressive for the first time in his career.

Bad Blood “I do hate him,” Morales told Alvaro Colemenoro. “We don’t have a very good vibe. But at the end of the day, he’s still a fighter. I’m not gonna get overconfident if I had to prepare myself to fight him… That fight is gonna be intense if it happens… I think that if I were to fight him, it would be the first time that I would fight in a very aggressive way.”

Morales’ beef with Garry stems from an alleged incident at the UFC Performance Institute. Mo…

Quinton Jackson claims the UFC changed his contract to make him earn less. 

Jackson (37-14) won the UFC light heavyweight title with an iconic knockout in a rematch against Chuck Liddell in 2007. Jackson claims to have made $7 million for his win over Liddell. However, Liddell recently accused the UFC of changing his contract without his knowledge, after they found out about his earnings from the fight.

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A Hefty Sum “When they found out I made that $7 million, I’m gonna say it – they changed my contract without me knowing,” Jackson said on Adin Ross’ Kick stream. “… Because they bought my contract from another organization.” 

Jackson was a massive draw at Pride Fighting Championships in Japan and carried over his stardom to the UFC. The UFC had to buy Jackson’s contract from the World Fighting Alliance when they acquired the promotion in 2006. Jackson believes the UFC wasn’t initially aware that his contract guaranteed him pay-per-view di…

T.J. Dillashaw completely turned his life around by winning the bantamweight title against Renan Barao. 

Dillashaw (17-5) ended Barao’s title reign with a fifth-round knockout at UFC 173 in 2014. Dillashaw revealed that he got just $18,000 to show and $18,000 to win for his his first title victory. Dillashaw earned his UFC contract on “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 14 in 2011, although he lost to John Dodson in the finale. Dillashaw explained that “TUF” fighters were onboarded with a $10,000 to show and $10,000 to win contract, which got upgraded every three wins. Dillashaw was glad to tear apart his “TUF” contract after dethroning Barao as his stardom skyrocketed overnight. 

‘I Shocked the World’ “My life changed completely after beating Barao,” Dillashaw said on "The Jaxxon Podcast” “I was on ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ contract. I was fighting for a world title for $18,000. When I got to rip that contract… You’re on a 10-fight contract when you get on from ‘The Ult…

Khamzat Chimaev is a humble champion. 

Chimaev recently came across T.J. Dillashaw and Demetrious Johnson while they were filming for the "Jaxxon Podcast” at their training facility in Newport Beach, California. Jaxxon’s Chief Marketing Officer, Bear Degidio, lauded all three fighters as “three of the UFC’s greatest champs.” However, Chimaev humbly refused to be put in the same league as Dillashaw and Johnson. Chimaev noted that while he has only one title win, Johnson (15) and Dillashaw (5) have won 20 title fights between them.

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“No, no. Bro, one belt against 20 belts,” Chimaev said.Building a Resume Johnson is considered one of the greatest fighters to ever grace the sport, who has most consecutive title defenses in UFC history. The latest UFC Hall of Fame inductee also went on to have a stellar career at ONE Championship after parting ways with the UFC. Meanwhile, Dillashaw’s status as one of the greatest bantamweights of all time is marred b…

Nate Diaz wanted a shot at the UFC belt he helped name. 

The UFC’s BMF belt was originally Diaz’s idea, although he fell short against Jorge Masvidal in the inaugural BMF title fight in 2019. Meanwhile, the belt is currently held by Charles Oliveira (37-11), who won it against Max Holloway at UFC 326 last month. Diaz recently went off on Oliveira over a past callout. Oliveira shut down Diaz’s callout after winning the lightweight title in 2021, citing his preference for bigger, championship fights. However, “Do Bronx” surprised everyone, including Diaz, by subsequently calling out Conor McGregor, who had just suffered a leg injury.

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“This fool is walking around with my title,” Diaz told Theo Von. “This fool actually won the title one time, and I said I’ll fight Oliveira, I know I’ll beat Oliveira. And then Oliveira’s like, ‘No thanks, homie, I’ll try to fight for big stuff, world championships.’... And then few months later, after Conor breaks hi…