Martial Arts News

Shamil Musaev can say a lot with a few words, hence the nickname “The Silent Assassin.”

Undefeated through 21 career bouts, he will face Russian compatriot Ramazan Kuramagomedov for the inaugural Professional Fighters League welterweight championship in the PFL Dubai “Nurmagomedov vs. Davis” co-main event on Saturday at Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It marks Musaev’s first appearance since he won the PFL welterweight tournament in November 2024.

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With 2026 being the first year under new CEO John Martin, the PFL made plenty of changes to its format, the most notable being the remove of its tournament and season-based schedule. A new rankings system should allow for the best to face the best. Musaev understands the change but admits he will miss the activity the previous format brought the table.

“This is going to be different for me, for sure,” he told Sherdog.com. “With the tournament, you knew when and how many times you could p…

The Ultimate Fighting Championship is down one Nurmagomedov come Saturday.

With the report first coming from MMA Latinoamerica on Thursday, Said Nurmagomedov has been forced to withdraw from UFC Vegas 113, also known as UFC Fight Night 266. The Russian bantamweight was booked against Javid Basharat (14-2, 1 NC), the elder of the Basharat brothers, on the prelims set for the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. His replacement, Gianni Vazquez (13-5), has confirmed the initial news as well as his status as a new addition to the roster.

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Nurmagomedov, who withdrew for currently undisclosed reasons, has had a great deal of difficulty getting to the UFC cage since he joined the roster in 2018. Thus far, he has only made 11 walks to the Octagon, with 2022 his high-water mark as he appeared thrice that year. Since 2023, he has fought twice, losing both outings to headliner Vinicius Oliveira and Bryce Mitchell. Whether due to injury or an issue for his opponent, Nurmagome…

Armed with an impressive resume and one of the best nicknames in the sport, Abdoul Abdouraguimov plots his return to the Professional Fighters League.

“The Lazy King” will take on Kendly St. Louis in a PFL Dubai “Nurmagomedov vs. Davis” welterweight attraction on Saturday at Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where he draws his first assignment since December 2024. Abdouraguimov was originally scheduled to meet Magomed Umalatov but had no issues with the change in opponent.

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“First of all, I’m grateful to have the opportunity to fight in Dubai,” he told Sherdog.com. “You know, I took the chance. They proposed Umalatov to me and I said, ‘Yes, I have the chance to be at the top.’ In life, you have to take risks, but he didn’t want to fight this guy. Umalatov didn’t want to fight me. They came to me, [and] I took the risk. So now, I don’t have Umalatov, but I am at the top, so everything is good. In my career, I never scheduled my own fight…

Jon Jones said he spent his camp for UFC 309 in pain. | Getty/UFC

Jon Jones didn’t know he was being recorded when he revealed that “severe arthritis” would prevent him from considering a wrestling match against Daniel Cormier at a future Real American Freestyle event.

“I have severe arthritis,” Jones said in a video via Home of Fight. “Most people don’t know that. My left hip is covered in arthritis. I actually already qualified for hip replacement. My last training camp I went to bed in so much pain.”

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Since that video became a hot topic of conversation in the MMA community, Jones addressed his condition in an interview with TMZ Sports.

"Looks like a private conversation I had at DBX 5 in Houston made its way out into the wild," Jones said. "It happens. Like most fighters, we deal with injuries quietly sometimes and like in my case, for years. A lot of us walk around limping most days, paying the ultimate price for our health.”

W…

Israel Adesanya will be a featured attraction at UFC Seattle. | Getty/UFC

The card for the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s upcoming trip to the Emerald City is close to being finalized.

The Las Vegas-based promotion on Wednesday confirmed 11 bouts for UFC Seattle, many of which had already been reported. UFC Seattle — also known as UFC Fight Night 271 — takes place on March 28 at Climate Pledge Arena and is headlined by a middleweight showdown pitting Israel Adesanya against Joe Pyfer. In the co-main event, ex-flyweight queen Alexa Grasso will square off against Maycee Barber at 125 pounds. The card will air in its entirety on Paramount+.

Adesanya has lost four of his last five Octagon appearances dating back to November 2022. In his lone appearance of 2025, “The Last Stylebender” suffered a second-round technical knockout defeat to Nassourdine Imavov in the UFC Saudi Arabia headliner last February. Adesanya captured 185-pound gold in October 2019 and…

Floyd Mayweather is taking Showtime Sports to court. | Mike Sloan/Sherdog.com

Floyd Mayweather has filed a lawsuit against Showtime and former Showtime Sports president Stephen Espinoza seeking to recoup missing earnings from a number of his fights.

According to TMZ Sports, the undefeated former boxing champion claims ex-manager Al Haymon misappropriated a “significant portion of his career earnings” while collaborating with Showtime and Espinoza. Mayweather is seeking “to recover hundreds of millions of dollars in the misappropriated funds and damages resulting from a long-running and elaborate scheme of financial fraud.” In a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Mayweather is seeking $340 million and punitive damages.

In the suit, Mayweather alleges that Showtime and Espinoza gave money from some of his biggest fights — including bouts against Manny Pacquiao and Conor McGregor — directly to Haymon. According to Mayweather, that money is …

Charles Oliveira and Max Holloway first squared off in 2015. | Josh Schaefer/Sherdog.com

Vitor Miranda has an interesting perspective when it comes to Charles Oliveira’s game plan for his upcoming fight with Max Holloway.

Miranda, the UFC veteran who is now a commentator for the promotion in Brazil, recently gave his analysis of the BMF title fight between Oliveira and Holloway scheduled to headline UFC 326 on March 7 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

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“I believe that if Charles goes after Holloway in the striking exchanges like he did with [Ilia] Topuria, it won't be a mistake,” Miranda recently told Sherdog.com. “Topuria finishes the fight with one strike, while Holloway needs to impose his volume of strikes to break down his opponent. In fact, Charles has heavier hands than him and can finish the fight with one strike. Besides, by going for close-range combat, “do Bronxs” has a better chance of taking it to grappling, where he is …

Charles Oliveira and Max Holloway first squared off in 2015. | Josh Schaefer/Sherdog.com

Vitor Miranda has an interesting perspective when it comes to Charles Oliveira’s game plan for his upcoming fight with Max Holloway.

Miranda, the UFC veteran who is now a commentator for the promotion in Brazil, recently gave his analysis of the BMF title fight between Oliveira and Holloway scheduled to headline UFC 326 on March 7 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

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“I believe that if Charles goes after Holloway in the striking exchanges like he did with [Ilia] Topuria, it won't be a mistake,” Miranda recently told Sherdog.com. “Topuria finishes the fight with one strike, while Holloway needs to impose his volume of strikes to break down his opponent. In fact, Charles has heavier hands than him and can finish the fight with one strike. Besides, by going for close-range combat, 'do Bronxs' has a better chance of taking it to grappling, where he is …

Three-time Octagon veteran Lone'er Kavanagh will be thrown into the fire at UFC Mexico City. | Getty/UFC

It appears that Brandon Moreno will remain in the UFC Mexico City main event after all.

Moreno was originally slated to face Asu Almabayev on Feb. 28 in Mexico City before his opponent withdrew from the flyweight bout due to an arm injury. As a result, the former 125-pound king will now face Lone'er Kavanagh in the new UFC Fight Night 268 headliner at Arena CDMX in Mexico City. The UFC announced the new pairing on Wednesday.

There is a significant gap in experience between the two combatants. Moreno is a two-time UFC flyweight champion with 19 Octagon appearances to his credit, while Kavanagh is 2-1 during his brief tenure within the Las Vegas-based promotion.

Moreno had a two-bout winning streak snapped in his last outing, when he suffered a secondp-round technical knockout loss to Tatsuro Taira at UFC 325 this past December. Prior to that th…

If the stars align, Justin Gaethje would be open to a third meeting with Dustin Poirier. | Getty/UFC

Justin Gaethje won’t deny Dustin Poirier a rubber fight if he comes out of retirement. 

Gaethje (27-5) won the interim lightweight title with a brutal beating of Paddy Pimblett at UFC 324 last month. While Poirier retired last year, Gaethje’s performance against Pimblett made him open to a return. Having gone 1-1 head-to-head with Gaethje, Poirier expressed interest in ending his retirement for a rubber fight against “The Highlight.”

Gaethje is also open to a trilogy fight against “The Diamond” if all concerned parties are interested. However, Gaethje is expected to unify the lightweight title against champion Ilia Topuria later this year. While Gaethje won’t turn down a fight against Poirier, he admits that he is primarily focused on moving forward.

Respect for a Warrior “Dustin’s a warrior and I’ll always respect him,” Gaethje told Bloody Elbow. …

Alexander Volkanovski doesn’t think Jean Silva has any relevance in the immediate featherweight title picture. 

Volkanovski (28-4) made the first defense of his second title run in a rematch against Diego Lopes at UFC 325 last weekend in Sydney, Australia. The 37-year-old showed why he is the champion by beating Lopes via a one-sided unanimous decision. 

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Silva subsequently called for a title shot against Volkanovski. “Lord” also warned that he would train with Ilia Topuria, the last man to beat Volkanovski. Volkanovski believes Silva is not yet in a position to call for a title shot. The Australian speculates that Silva might be taking shots at him to gain some clout. Volkanovski has met Silva in the past and allegedly got along very well. Volkanovski wonders if Silva is seriously upset about him training with Mauricio Ruffy ahead of UFC 325. Regardless, Volkanovski believes Silva has little relevance with undefeated contenders Lerone Murph…

Ian Garry believes he is responsible for Shavkat Rakhmonov prolonged injury. 

Rakhmonov hasn’t fought since a unanimous decision win over Garry in December 2024. The matchup was billed as a title eliminator with the winner expected to fight then-champion Belal Muhammad. However, Rakhmonov was sidelined due to a knee injury. The welterweight title has changed hands twice since while Rakhmonov is yet to recover. 

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Rakhmonov was recently revealed wearing a knee brace and carrying crutches. Rakhmonov’s manager subsequently revealed that “Nomad” recently underwent surgery again after re-injuring his knee. The undefeated Kazakh is expected to take another 10 months to recover. Rakhmonov has also been dropped from the official UFC welterweight rankings, with Garry taking his No. 2 spot. Lasting Effects? Garry recently took credit for sidelining Rakhmonov at the prime of his career. Garry re-shared a slow motion video of him bending Rakhmonov’s…