Martial Arts News

Ryan Gandra introduced himself to the Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight division with the kind of ferocity that warrants immediate notice.

The Flavio Baiano Team product discarded fellow Dana White’s Contender Series graduate Jose Medina with punches in the first round of their featured UFC Fight Night 268 prelim on Saturday at CDMX Arena in Mexico City. Medina (11-7, 0-4 UFC) met his end just 41 seconds into Round 1.

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Gandra (9-1, 1-0 UFC) stepped forward behind a lead right hook, a left hand over the top and a front kick to the body. He then flurried with punches, connected with a knee up the middle and reset. Medina failed to circle out of danger, all but sealing his fate. Gandra pinned him to the fence with punches, folded him with a right hand and cleaned up the crumbs with follow-up shots.

Meanwhile, Xtreme Couture export Javier Reyes overcame an inauspicious start to dispatch Douglas Silva de Andrade with punches in the first rou…

A matchup of top welterweights will serve as the featured bout for UFC Perth.

Former welterweight champion Jack Della Maddalena will square off against Carlos Prates in the evening’s headliner at the RAC Arena on May 2 in Perth, Australia. ESPN Brasil was first to report the 170-pound booking, which was later confirmed by the UFC on social media.

Della Maddalena is coming off a lopsided five-round unanimous decision defeat to Islam Makhachev in his first title defense at UFC 322 this past November. That snapped an 18-fight professional winning streak for the Aussie, who claimed welterweight gold by outpointing Belal Muhammad at UFC 315.

Prates has been victorious in six of seven Octagon appearances — with his lone defeat coming at the hands of Ian Garry in April 2025. “The Nightmare” has since rebounded to post back-to-back knockout victories over Geoff Neal and Leon Edwards. Prates has finished all six of his UFC triumphs via knockout.

Contenders Collide Dow…

Jiri Prochazka will get another shot at light heavyweight gold at UFC 327. | Getty/UFC

With Alex Pereira likely moving to heavyweight, a new 205-pound champion will be crowned in Miami this spring.

Jiri Prochazka and Carlos Ulberg will vie for the vacant light heavyweight crown in the UFC 327 headliner, the Las Vegas-based promotion announced Friday night. UFC 327 takes place on April 11 at the Kaseya Center in Miami and will also see Joshua Van defend the flyweight strap against Tatsuro Taira in the evening’s co-main event. There was no mention of Pereira’s next move, though the popular Brazilian has been linked to fights against the likes of Jon Jones and Ciryl Gane for months now.

A handful of new fights were also confirmed on Friday, including Beneil Dariush vs. Manuel Torres at lightweight; Patricio Freire vs. Aaron Pico at featherweight; Mateusz Gamrot vs. Esteban Ribovics at lightweight and Kelvin Gastelum vs. Vicente Luque at middleweight.

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Max Holloway says fans shouldn’t count him out in grappling against Charles Oliveira.

Holloway puts his BMF title on the line in a rematch against Oliveira at UFC 326 on March 7 in Las Vegas. A volume puncher, Holloway believes fans might be undermining his ground game leading up to his clash against Oliveira, who is a feared submission artist. “Blessed” admits that even his coaches don’t take him too seriously when he talks about the possibility of a submission win over Oliveira. However, Holloway believes both he and Oliveira can hold their own anywhere the fight goes,. The BMF champion says submitting a submission artist like “do Bronx” would really do justice to his title.

‘Never Say Never’ “The narrative is for this fight – If we can keep it on the feet, it’s me, and if we go to the ground, it’s like 200% [Oliveira]. Which is crazy,” Holloway told ESPN. “I feel like we both fought at the highest levels… Never say never. My coaches just keep seeing interviews of me t…

Being Max Holloway’s coach must be tough during the last 10 seconds of his fights. 

Although he was already winning the fight, Holloway iconically pointed down to the ground for a slugfest in the final seconds of his BMF title fight against Justin Gaethje in 2024. “Blessed” knocked out Gaethje exactly at the final bell in one of the greatest spectacles in modern MMA. Holloway’s inviting his opponents for a slugfest in the final seconds has since become a ritual.  However, Holloway recently revealed that his coaches are absolutely against the idea. While his coaches constantly urge to avoid a brawl, Holloway wants his final 10 seconds after sticking to their game plan for the whole fight.

'They Hate It'“They hate it,” he said in an interview on Freestylebender. “They tell me not to ever do that. They tell me to run away… I’m like, ‘Coaches, I love you guys, but you came up with the game plan. You made me fight this way the whole fight - just give me these 10 sec…

Ilia Topuria’s top three preferred matchups include Conor McGregor. 

Topuria recently revealed that his top three preferred opponents are Islam Makhachev, McGregor, and Paddy Pimblett. Topuria added that he would love to hand Pimblett the first knockout loss of his career.

“Islam, Conor, and Paddy,” Topuria told Adin Ross on a Kick stream. “… I’d love to do that - to be the first one [to KO Paddy]. If someone else did it, I can do it too. And if no one did it, I can always be the first to do it.”

High-Profile Foes Topuria (17-0) was the featherweight champion when he started rallying for a double champ bid against then-lightweight champ Islam Makhachev. However, that matchup never came to fruition as Makhachev moved up and won the welterweight title. Meanwhile, Topuria moved up and became the lightweight champion. While both parties continue to tease the matchup, Makhachev is unwilling to move down to lightweight. 

Meanwhile, McGregor hasn’t fought since…

Colby Covington wants to settle the score with Kamaru Usman, but in wrestling. 

Covington recently called out Usman for a wrestling match at Real American Freestyle. While Usman is currently rallying for a UFC welterweight title shot, Covington is ready to wrestle him if he can't secure the gold bid. Covington believes Usman would be interested in the proposition, despite having beaten him twice in the UFC. “Chaos” disputes his title losses against Usman – the first one as an early stoppage, and the rematch as a decision robbery.

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'It's a Huge Matchup' “I’d like to see Usman in Real American Freestyle,” Covington recently told Bloody Elbow. “We need to settle the trilogy in RAF. If Usman doesn’t get the title fight, come see daddy at Real American Freestyle and let’s do this trilogy, bitch… I think he would take the challenge - he’s a competitor, he likes to compete. He still has that fire and drive; he wants these title fights, he wants these bi…

Max Holloway’s pointing down at the ground in the final 10 seconds of his fights started with one of his former opponents taunting him. 

Holloway inviting his opponents to a slugfest in the final 10 seconds of the fight has gained a cult following in MMA now. “Blessed” recently revealed that his iconic move originated in his fight against Ricardo Lamas in 2016. 

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Holloway felt that he was comfortably winning the fight and planned to remain defensively sound in the last round. However, Lamas threw his hands up in the air in the final seconds, hinting that Holloway was coasting. Holloway initially couldn’t understand why Lamas was taunting him when he was winning. However, when Lamas did it a third time, Holloway threw caution to the wind and invited him to a brutal brawl. Holloway respects Lamas for honoring the invitation and letting his hands go.‘He Threw Down’ “It all started because I fought Ricardo Lamas… I felt like I was handling that f…

Ilia Topuria doesn’t want to leave any chinks in his armor when he steps inside the UFC Octagon.

Topuria (17-0) has never fought more than twice a year. Topuria recently revealed why he doesn’t like to be too active. “El Matador” wants to step into a fight with a complete training camp, which is why he never makes quick turnarounds. The undefeated UFC lightweight champion also claims that he has never gone into a fight with an injury. Topuria even avoids random sparring in training and only focuses on situational, technical sparring.

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Proper Training Camps “Everyone has his own style,” Topuria said on Adin Ross’ Kick stream. “If that’s something that makes him happy, he has to do that. For me, I don’t like to fight three or four times in a year because I really enjoy having proper training camps. I never go inside the Octagon with an injury. When I go in, I go at 100%... I do very specific sparring. I don’t go inside the gym, pick guys and say, ‘Let’s…

Sometimes these things happen in boxing.

The Ring announced on Friday that Oleksandr Usyk (24-0, 15 KOs) will be defending his heavyweight crown on May 23. He will be squaring off with kickboxing all-time great Rico Verhoeven (1-0, 1 KO Box; 66-10, 21 KOs KB) at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt. The event titled “Glory of Giza: Undefeated Icons” will put up for grabs Usyk’s WBC belt, despite the heavyweight serving as the unified champion across all major sanctioning bodies. The boxing showcase will air on Dazn.

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Unbeaten after 24 walks to the ring as a pro, Usyk appeared just once in 2025, where he mollywhopped Daniel Dubois in the fifth round to hold onto his titles while securing the IBF’s as well. Several of his recent outings the last few years have taken place in Saudi Arabia, where he squared off with names like Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury. In his last six bouts, he has beaten those three aforementioned boxers twice each.

In a statement provid…

Rising Ultimate Fighting Championship talent Melquizael Costa believes he has his division figured out.

Now a ranked 145-pounder after becoming the first man to stop Dan Ige as a pro, Costa took a long look at the rest of his division. While he currently rides a six-fight win streak, the man known as “The Dalmation” knows he still has some work to do to get to the top of the ladder. The next crack at Alexander Volkanovski’s throne may go to the upcoming victor of Lerone Murphy vs. Movsar Evloev, and after that, it remains to be seen. Costa spoke to Sherdog on Monday after his victory, where he broke down the future of his weight class.

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“UFC is looking for exciting fights,” Costa noted. “In the papers, the winner of Evloev and Murphy might get the title shot, but I believe Jean Silva provides much more excitement, as he showed on his last fights, and I think he will cut that line.”

Of all the men in the top 15 at 145 pounds, Costa points to the Fig…

Here’s one you never saw coming: Sharabutdin Magomedov vs. Jorge Masvidal, with a twist.

Russian quasi-MMA league Hype FC released the news on Friday that it would be holding an event on March 11 in Rio de Janeiro. The top of that card will see a submission-only grappling match between “Shara Bullet” Magomedov against Masvidal, with the two tangling for five-to-10 minutes at the Farmasi Arena in Brazil’s second-largest city—Sao Paulo holds the top spot. A previous big-name grappling bout held by Hype FC between Arman Tsarukyan and the aforementioned Magomedov resulted in a draw last year.

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Hype FC, the target of at least one police raid in Moscow due to a myriad of charges ranging from drug trafficking to fight fixing, has been flagged by Sherdog Fight Finder for its illegitimacy. While the league purports to run MMA matches, it does so with modified rules including limited grappling time with automatic standups/separations. It also put together a re…