Martial Arts News

The Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight division has a new contender. Brazilian knockout artist Carlos Prates entered hostile territory and walked away with an impressive stoppage victory tonight at UFC Fight Night 275 in Perth, Western Australia. Prates methodically wore down recent UFC title challenger Jack Della Maddalena en route to a third-round TKO stoppage in the night’s featured main event.

Prates (24-7, 7-1 UFC) kept his hands low in the opening round and alternated between landing punches to Della Maddalena’s (18-4, 8-2 UFC) face and kicks to his lead leg. Della Maddalena was eventually able to score a takedown, but not before eating two knees to the face, and he was unable to put Prates in danger on the ground. In the second round, Prates landed more knees and punches early on. He eventually hurt Della Maddalena with another knee and a head kick, and swarmed on him with punches. Della Maddalena showed his resolve and fought on, but Prates knocked him dow…

Arman Tsarukyan is making the most of his time away from the Octagon.

Per wrestling organization Real American Freestyle on Thursday, Tsarukyan has been booked for his sixth match under its banner. The Russian by way of Armenia is already expecting to grapple influencer Keelon “Mugzy” Jimison at RAF 9 on May 30 in Texas. The headliner of RAF 7 and 8 may not be on the top marquee for this pairing, but he will be taking on Tony Ferguson at RAF 10 on June 13.

Tsarukyan joined up with RAF at its fifth event in January, where he tech falled Lance Palmer without allowing “The Party” to even score a single point. Since then, he has been a mainstay for the burgeoning professional wrestling league—that is, paid wrestling matches, and not of the WWE and AEW variety. After topping Palmer, he rattled off a pair of points wins over wrestler-turned-influencer Georgio Poullas in February and March.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight contender has only competed once …

Khalil Rountree recently shared an honest reaction to Khamzat Chimaev’s light heavyweight plans.

Rountree is currently helping Chimaev (15-0) prepare for his upcoming middleweight title defense against Sean Strickland (30-7) at UFC 328 on May 9 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. It is widely speculated that Chimaev will move up to light heavyweight in the near future.

Advertisement

Rountree admits that he wasn’t very happy to hear about Chimaev’s plans to move up. The former light heavyweight title challenger isn’t very excited about a potential matchup against Chimaev. Having trained with him, Rountree reveals that the middleweight champion gives tough competition to partners of all sizes. According to Rountree, light heavyweights are “screwed” if Chimaev moves up.

“When I first heard the news, I was a bit bummed out, really,” Rountree said in a recent media scrum captured by Cageside Press. “Just to know that a guy like Khamzat would come to the divis…

While polygraph tests are consistently labelled unreliable by the scientific community, they often make for interesting content.

Aviator, an up-and-coming YouTube channel, specializes in subjecting fighters to a lie detector test and a particular question about Dana White usually triggers what the machine operator interprets as deception.

Advertisement

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight ruler Charles Oliveira recently took a lie detector test and passed on most questions. Oliveira thinks that he is the greatest Brazilian fighter and the best lightweight fighter of all time. “Do Bronx” also believes that Conor McGregor is afraid to return to action.

However, the device also showed “false” on some of Oliveira’s answers. While Oliveira said that he believes jiu-jitsu is the best base for MMA, the machine said otherwise. Oliveira disagreed, claiming it was broken.

Oliveira also failed the test when he said he would fight a teammate for $5 milli…

Sean Brady believes he is a completely different fighter from Kamaru Usman.

Brady is scheduled to fight Joaquin Buckley at UFC 328 on May 9 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Buckley is coming off a lopsided unanimous decision loss against Usman from last year. Putting his ego aside, Buckley recently trained with Usman at Kill Cliff FC in Florida for his upcoming bout.

Advertisement

However, Brady doesn’t think training with Usman will help. While both are known for their wrestling, Brady believes he is a completely different fighter from Usman. While Brady has six submission wins in his career, he notes that Usman only has one. Brady believes his submission threat is what really sets him apart from Usman. Brady also hinted that he is not impressed with Buckley travelling during fight camp.

“If I get you on the ground, I can submit anybody in the world,” Brady told MMA Junkie. “I think that’s the biggest difference between me and Kamaru. I’m a submissi…

The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s White House card will have crypto bonuses to add to its charm.

Billed as “UFC White House: Freedom 250,” a one-of-a-kind event on June 14 that coincides with President Donald J. Trump’s 80th birthday and the United States’ 250th year of independence.

Advertisement

Sean O'Malley (19-3) recently chimed in on news that there will be a million-dollar crypto bonus for the card.

“I need to get a beautiful knockout, and there’s a million-dollar Crypto bonus supposedly,” O’Malley told TMZ Sports. “I would love to get that.”

The UFC increased bonuses from $50K to $100K starting with the Paramount+ partnership in 2026. It remains unclear if the usual $100K bonuses will still be in place, along with the crypto bonus at the White House.

Ilia Topuria will look to defend his lightweight title against interim champion Justin Gaethje in the main event. Meanwhile, Alex Pereira and Ciryl Gane will clash for the interim heavyweight …

Joaquin Buckley would have preferred a five-round matchup against Sean Brady.

Buckley is scheduled to take on Brady at UFC 328 on May 9 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Brady and Buckley were originally scheduled to headline UFC Fight Night 274 on April 25 at the Meta Apex in Las Vegas. A main event booking between Buckley and Brady would have been a five-round bout as opposed to their UFC 328 booking, which is a three-rounder.

Advertisement

Buckley recently revealed that he would have preferred headlining a Fight Night in a five-rounder. Buckley initially thought that he wanted to dispatch Brady in the opening round. However, having been out of action for nearly a year, Buckley wants to take his time. Brady has now embraced the UFC 328 booking, as it gives him the opportunity to prove himself alongside several other stars on the stacked card.

“I would have rather been a main event,” Buckley told MMA Junkie. “I would rather have gone five rounds. Espe…

Sherdog's live UFC Perth coverage will begin Saturday at 4 a.m. ET. The event is also known as UFC Fight Night 275. Round 1 Good evening, or as we say here in Texas, good morning! In the UFC Perth curtain jerker, Road to UFC product Mar Fan (9-2) makes his proper Octagon debut against Dana White's Contender Series Season 8 alum Steele (7-1; 0-1 UFC). The third man in the cage is referee Matt Wynne. Both lightweights set up in orthodox and it’s the taller Mar Fan pawing out with a long jab. Steele shoots a double-leg from outside and secures a clean takedown. Mar Fan closes his guard and uses his arms to control Steele’s posture. Ninety seconds in, Steele passes to half guard. He’s throwing short punches and using shoulder pressure to make his foe uncomfortable. Steele tries to pass to mount as Mar Fan looks for a sweep. He does, but Mar Fan times him perfectly and rolls him right over, sweeping to top position. Steele scrambles and they end up in an awkward-looking legloc…

Sherdog's live PFL Sioux Falls coverage will begin Saturday at 7 p.m. ET.

A world class welterweight clash headlines PFL Sioux Falls: Tune in Saturday, May 2 at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

Advertisement

Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Mike Pendleton scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Mike Pendleton scores the round: Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Mike Pendleton scores the round:The Official Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Mike Pendleton scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Mike Pendleton scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Mike Pendleton scores the round:The Official Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Brian Knapp sc…

ABSOLUTE BANGER

Jack Della Maddalena vs @thenightmare170

Advertisement

[ #UFCPerth | May 2 | 7amET | LIVE on @ParamountPlus ] pic.twitter.com/fXQt1mOHBR — UFC (@ufc) May 1, 2026 The Ultimate Fighting Championship's second Australian card of 2026 is officially set following the official UFC Perth weigh-ins.

Headlining the event is former UFC welterweight champion Jack Della Maddalena, who will take on Brazil's Carlos Prates in his first fight since losing the title. Both men successfully made weight for the five-round fight. The only fighter to miss weight was Gerald Meerschaert, as the would-be middleweight clocked in four pounds overweight at 190 pounds. As a result of his weight miss, opponent Jacob Malkoun will receive 30% of the purse of "GM3."

Della Maddalena is fighting back in his home country for the first time since 2023. The 29-year-old was last seen losing a one-sided decision to Islam Makhachev. Prior to the set…

⚖️ #PFLSiouxFalls Weigh Ins

Welterweight bout is official!Logan Storley: 170.4 lbsFlorim Zendeli: 171 lbs #PFLSiouxFalls | Sat, May 2nd | 📍Sanford Sports Complex | Early Card 7PM EST | Main Card 10PM EST | ESPN 2 pic.twitter.com/wdEsGHNTPL

— PFL (@PFLMMA) May 1, 2026 The Professional Fighters League kicks off its busy May with a 12-fight card that features an exciting welterweight clash.

Advertisement

The PFL Sioux Falls main event is now official after Logan Storley and Florim Zendeli both made weight. The five-round main event will see the former interim Bellator champion look to get back into the win column at the expense of the Albanian, who is undefeated within the promotion. As for the rest of the card, a flyweight fight between Sabrinna de Sousa and Cheyanne Bowers was bumped up to a 134-pound catchweight, and Magomed Magomedov missed weight by .8 pounds for his bantamweight fight against Leandro Higo. Magomedov will be fi…

For the first time in his Ultimate Fighting Championship career, Johnny Walker will not have to cut weight for a fight.

Towering 6-foot-5 Brazilian striker Walker (22-10, 1 NC) has elected to move back to heavyweight, a division in which he competed at for a few years earlier on in his career but no later than 2018. Cutting a massive amount of weight and reportedly walking around at 245 pounds or so, the 34-year-old has not missed weight since joining the promotion. He relocates up in weight, per MMA Mania on Thursday, to face Ante Delija (26-8) at UFC Belgrade on Aug. 1. Opponent Delija has since confirmed the pairing on his Instagram Stories on Friday.

Advertisement

Walker has struggled as of late, winning once in his last five outings. Since a no contest with future champ Magomed Ankalaev in 2023—and a rematch less than three months later that spelled disaster for Walker—Walker has gotten his raised a single time when he stopped surging Mingyang Zhang with leg…