Martial Arts News

The Ultimate Fighting Championship is hoping the third date of June 8 sticks for Raul Rosas Jr. and Ricky Turcios.

A UFC Fight Night card scheduled to go down at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on June 8 will feature a pair of newly booked clashes in the bantamweight and welterweight divisions. 19-year-old Rosas Jr. (8-1) will take on Turcios (12-3) in a bantamweight attraction that has fallen apart two times in the past, while Punahele Soriano (9-4) will lock horns with Miguel Baeza (10-3) in a 170-pound clash. News of both bouts was first reported by MMA Fighting in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter).

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Rosas Jr. and Turcios were initially slated to face off at UFC Mexico City, however, Rosas Jr. was forced to withdraw at the last minute when succumbing to illness. While the two were rescheduled to fight the following week, the matchup failed to come to fruition.

“El Nino Problema” will enter the Octagon on the heels of an emphatic 54-second techni…

[embedded content] With over two months to prepare, the replacement is not taking this matchup on short notice.

Undefeated Road to UFC season 2 flyweight tournament winner Rei Tsuruya (9-0) will step in for Cody Durden to take on Carlos Hernandez (9-3) in a 125-pound clash at UFC 303. This pay-per-view card will go down at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on June 29. The news was first reported by ESPN Deportes on X (formerly known as Twitter) on Thursday.

Former Pancrase competitor Tsuruya strung together three solid performances on the Road to UFC season 2 tournament to walk away as the winner in the flyweight bracket. The 21-year-old most recently finished Niushiyue Ji in the first frame of February’s tournament finals, and he currently sports a stellar stoppage rate of 89% as a pro.

Dana White’s Contender Series alum Hernandez will return to the Octagon following a second-round knockout loss at the hands of Tsuruya’s compatriot, Tatsuro Taira, in December. T…

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The Professional Fighters League continues its 2024 season with PFL 2, which features light heavyweight and lightweight fights.

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After the official weigh-ins took place on Thursday, the 11-fight card was made official. It is headlined by a light heavyweight fight between 2023 champion Impa Kasanganay and Alex Polizzi. All fighters on the event made weight.

Despite winning last year's season, Kasanganay (15-4) is coming into this fight off a loss. "Tshilobo" lost to Bellator MMA champion Johnny Eblen just two months ago in a non-title fight. However, the fight was extremely close, with the Bellator fighter taking a split decision after three rounds. Kasanganay will look to get back to his winning ways and weighed 204.8 pounds for his second fight of 2024.

This marks the first PFL fight for Polizzi (10-3). "Eazy" is coming off back-to-back defeats to Karl Moore and Yoel Romero. Prior to those setbacks, the LFA veteran had pu…

[embedded content] A prominent Brazilian commentator believes that the Ultimate Fighting Championship is doing itself a disservice by putting its “BMF” belt up under normal rules.

Carlos Barreto, former UFC Fighter and the current head commentator on UFC Fight Pass’ Brazilian feed, sees the “BMF” title in a different light. Justin Gaethje will be defending this symbolic belt at UFC 300 on Saturday against Max Holloway. On his weekly YouTube show “Papo de Luta,” Barreto described on Monday a scenario that would make the “BMF” fight less-than-stellar. In order to guarantee excitement, the Carlson Gracie black belt believes that the UFC should put it under a more old school rule set like vale tudo.

“The focus of the BMF belt is different,” Barreto expressed. “In my opinion, it should be analyzed under different criteria. Imagine a ‘BMF’ belt where the winner just takes the opponent down and holds [them down], winning by points. That’s not a ‘BMF.’ ‘BMF’ is brawl, fight w…

It should come as little shock that every Brazilian prognosticator expects Alex Pereira will prevail on Saturday.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship will be staging its blockbuster show of UFC 300 on Saturday, and two ultra-popular Brazilian competitors will be competing on the main card. Light heavyweight kingpin Pereira (9-2) will be defending his throne against Jamahal Hill (12-1, 1 NC), while ex-lightweight champ Charles Oliveira (34-9, 1 NC) competes in a no. 1 contender bout against Arman Tsarukyan (21-3). Sherdog spoke to numerous fighters and coaches about the main attraction, with the field unanimous in support of their fellow countryman.

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Charles Oliveira: “Jamahal Hill is bluffing when he says he will keep the fight standing with ‘Poatan.’ His strategy is to take him down. If he exchanges punches with ‘Poatan,’ he will be knocked out. ‘Poatan’ is hungry and wants to avenge Glover [Teixeira’s] loss to him.”

Patricky Freire, former Bellator…

Hawaiian-born sumo wrestling star Akebono Taro has died at the age of 54 due to heart failure.

On Wednesday night, news broke that Akebono had died in a hospital in Tokyo. Born Chadwick Haheo Rowan, Akebono was raised in his home state of Hawaii and competed in various sports including dabbling in sumo wrestling when he was young. While checking in as one of the largest sumo practitioners in the sport’s history, measuring 6-foot-8 and well over 500 pounds, this proved to his advantage as he won multiple championships over the years. His sumo career culminated in his earning the rank of yokozuna in 1993, where he became the first non-Japanese wrestler to reach the pinnacle of the sport.

As he competed at the top echelon of the sport, he moved to Japan in 1996, where he became a Japanese citizen and changed his name to Akebono Taro. He retired from sumo wrestling in 2001 due to injury, and he began to transition to other sports. Akebono joined the kickboxing world in 20…

Boxing has lost a very dear person today. Gary Shaw has passed away. Our condolences go to Judy and the kids . I will always remember Gary with his unique smile, fun character and passion for boxingRest in peace my dear Gary

— Mauricio Sulaiman (@wbcmoro) April 11, 2024 Boxing-turned-MMA promoter Gary Shaw, co-founder of EliteXC, has died at the age of 79.

WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman announced the news on Thursday, and an outpouring of support and memorials has come forth from former fighters and colleagues. Shaw ran the boxing organization Gary Shaw Productions for over a decade, setting up boxing events starting in 2002 involving several big names including Miguel Cotto, Timothy Bradley and Shane Mosely.

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Sulaiman mourned his friend on his post on social media, stating, “I will always remember Gary with his unique smile, fun character and passion for boxing. Rest in peace my dear Gary.”

While involved in boxing, S…

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While many found Bobby Green’s walkout music against Grant Dawson cool, Jamahal Hill wasn’t one of them.

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Green (31-15) knocked out Dawson in hardly over half a minute in the main event at UFC Fight Night 229 in October 2023. “King” walked out to the song “SkeeYee” by rapper Janae Nierah Wherry aka “Sexyy Red.” Hill (12-1), who is seemingly close to Green, made no secret of his dislike for the latter’s choice of the walkout music. Green further revealed that “Sweet Dreams” continues to troll him every time they meet.

“Hell no, hell no. Jamahal Hill yelled at me and won’t stop yelling at me about that to this day,” Green said at UFC 300 media day. “That’s my big dawg and everytime we run into each other [he’s] like, ‘Bro, you came out to Sexyy Red. What the f*ck are you doing bro, what the f*ck are you doing?’ When everyone else is like, ‘Oh it was cool, it was cool,’ Jamahal is going to be the guy that tells me like, ‘Nah bro, na…

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Clay Collard believes Bellator MMA fighters might have some difficulty adjusting to the frequency of the Professional Fighters League season format.

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Collard (24-12) is ready to start his fourth Professional Fighters League season in the lightweight category against former Bellator lightweight champ Patricky Freire (25-12) at PFL 2 on April 12. Having fought in various promotions around the world, including the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Collard notes that it is the frequency of PFL fights that Bellator talent might find difficult to keep up with.

The PFL regular season, followed by playoffs and championships and additional pay-per-view cards has fighters competing more frequently on an average than other promotions. According to Collard, fighters who cut a lot of weight will find it difficult to fight three or four times a year.

“I feel like a lot of these guys aren't going to be used to the amount of fights,” Coll…

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2022 PFL Welterweight World Champion Sadibou Sy makes his Light Heavyweight Debut this Friday 👀

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[ #PFLRegularSeason | Friday , April 12th | 9PM ET | 🎟️ https://t.co/9E74ugtbNE ] pic.twitter.com/TKx5t01uIW — PFL (@PFLMMA) April 7, 2024

Sadibou Sy expects to do well at his natural body weight as he moves up two weight classes for the Professional Fighters League 2024 season.

Sy (16-7) will take on Joshua Silveira (12-2) in the light heavyweight regular season at PFL 2 on April 12 at The Theater at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas. The Swedish veteran started his Professional Fighters League journey at middleweight in 2018 before dropping to welterweight the next season. Sy won the $1 million PFL welterweight championship in 2022.

“To be honest, I have a lot of people around me that I trust completely,” said Sy. “And after each fight, after each season, we sit down and we discuss things and we just …

Mexican standout Josue Cruz will look to earn his first ONE Championship win against Sean Climaco in a three-round muay thai contest contracted for 135 pounds at ONE Fight Night 22 on May 3. Sherdog confirmed the bout, which will go down at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, with sources close to the negotiations Thursday morning.

Cruz will be returning to action for the first time since May 2022, when he suffered a first-round knockout loss to Walter Goncalves in his ONE Championship debut. “Tuzo,” the first fighter born in Mexico to compete for ONE, was undefeated in 17 pro outings leading up to his first and only career loss.

Meanwhile, Climaco, a Filipino American based in San Jose, California, is set to make his promotional debut after winning Road to ONE 2023 with a technical knockout over Malcolm Hill in the series finale last September.

ONE Fight Night 22 will air live on Amazon Prime in the United States and Canada on Friday, May 3, and will be headli…

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Xiaonan Yan admits that her upcoming opponent and compatriot, Weili Zhang, continues to garner more support in their home country of China.

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Yan (18-3) will challenge Zhang (24-3|) for the Ultimate Fighting Championship strawweight championship in the co-main event at UFC 300 on April 13 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. While Zhang made her UFC debut almost a year after Yan in 2018, “Magnum” went on to win the title within a year. Zhang also delivered some of the most memorable title fights of all time, sealing her place in women’s mixed martial arts history.

While China has seen its fair share of UFC stars over the years, including the likes of Jingliang Li and Yadong Song, Zhang likely remains the torchbearer in the country. Earlier, Yan had stated that she expects more haters than fans in her homeland as Zhang continues to dominate the Chinese fanbase.

“Nothing has really changed; still more people support Weili,” Yan…