Martial Arts News

Horiguchi got the better of Kape in their first meeting. | Rizin FF

A couple of former Rizin Fighting Federation standouts are going to run it back in a potential flyweight title eliminator.

Kyoji Horiguchi and Manel Kape will headline a UFC Fight Night event on June 20 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. MMAjunkie.com was first to report the 125-pound booking. Horiguchi defeated Kape via third-round submission in a Rizin bantamweight grand prix semifinal on Dec. 31, 2017.

Title Shot at Stake? Horiguchi went 7-1 during his first Octagon stint, coming up short against Demetrious Johnson in a flyweight title bout at UFC 186. After a successful run in Rizin, the American Top Team standout has returned to the Las Vegas-based promotion to post back-to-back triumphs over Tagir Ulanbekov and Amir Albazi.

Kape, meanwhile, has been victorious in seven of his last eight Octagon appearances — with his lone defeat coming against Muhammad Mokaev at UFC 304. “Starboy” has…

Muhammad Mokaev is among a slew of notables set to compete on MVP's first MMA card. | Getty/UFC

While some of the names may be past their primes, Most Valuable Promotions has nonetheless put together one of the most intriguing fight cards in the first half of 2026.

MVP on Tuesday announced the full lineup for its "Rousey vs. Carano” event, which takes place on May 16 at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles and airs on Netflix. Among those scheduled to compete are former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos, undefeated ex-UFC flyweight Muhammad Mokaev, ex-Bellator MMAwelterweight kingpin Jason Jackson, longtime KSW standout Saladhine Parnasse and former ONE Championship title holder Adriano Moraes.

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The full fight card for Saturday May 16th is set! Live globally on Netflix from Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, CA🌎

🇺🇸 Rousey vs 🇺🇸 Carano🇺🇸 Diaz vs 🇺🇸 Perry🇨🇲 Ngannou vs 🇧🇷 Lins🇫🇷 Parnasse vs 🇺🇸 Cross🇧🇷 Dos San…

Sergio Pettis will get top billing at PFL Chicago. | PFL MMA

The card for Professional Fighters League’s upcoming trip to the Windy City is now complete.

The promotion on Tuesday announced the full lineup for PFL Chicago, which takes place on April 11 at Wintrust Arena in Chicago and is headlined by a bantamweight tilt pitting Sergio Pettis against Mitchell McKee. In the evening’s co-main event, Joshua Silveira will square off against Jordan Newman at middleweight. PFL Chicago kicks off with prelims on the ESPN app at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT before the shifting to the main card on ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.

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A high stakes middleweight clash headlines PFL Pittsburgh: Tune in LIVE, Saturday, March 28 at 10 p.m. ET.

Two main card pairings were officially confirmed on Tuesday: Raufeon Stots vs. Renat Khavalov at bantamweight and Gabriel Braga vs. Cheyden Leialoha at featherweight. Leialoha is a replacement for Mahdi Bayd…

Michel Pereira has lost three of his last four UFC appearances. | Ben Duffy/Sherdog.com

With three losses in his last four UFC bouts, Michel Pereira is well aware that his fight with Sharabutdin Magomedov on June 27 will decide his future within the Las Vegas-based promotion.

In an interview with Brazilian journalist Laerte Viana, Michel confirmed that his victory over Zachary Reese on Feb. 21 was the last fight of his contract and the UFC chose not to renew it.

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“Mick Maynard offered me a fight in April, but it was too close because I still had some injuries to heal, so I refused and he offered me this fight with "The Pirate" and I accepted,” Pereira said. “Then Mick told me to do this fight and then we'll talk about the contract.”High Risk, High Reward Pereira is aware of the risk, but he guarantees that the stakes will not impact his fighting style.

The secret of the success is run the risk,” he said. “I like to put on a show and t…

Jorge Masvidal is riding the Kevin Vallejos hype train. 

Masvidal says he hasn’t been as excited for a prospect in a while as he is for Vallejos (18-1). “Gamebred” was extremely impressed with Vallejos’ dominant knockout win over Josh Emmett at UFC Vegas 114 earlier this month. Masvidal is confident that Vallejos is destined for championship glory in the featherweight division.

Destined for Big Things? “That dude is the truth,” Masvidal said on the "Death Row MMA” podcast. “I haven’t been excited about a motherf——r in a minute… He made it look like Emmett brought fists, and he pulled out a gun and started shooting… I’m very high on this guy. I think this guy’s gonna do big things at 145 [pounds]. If this guy doesn’t become champ, I don’t know s—t about the sport.”

Vallejos suffered his lone professional loss in his first Dana White's Contender Series opportunity in 2023 against Jean Silva, who is now on the cusp of featherweight title contention. A couple of wins…

Michael Page wanted to make a statement with his walkout song at UFC London. 

Page (25-3) faced fellow Englishman Sam Patterson (14-3) in front of their home fans in the O2 Arena in London last weekend. Page walked out to Michael Jackson’s iconic “They Don’t Care About Us,” which was admittedly a message against the disrespect he felt.

While Page is a considerable star at home, he was neither in the co-main nor the main event. Page also admits that he felt disrespected being matched up with a former training partner, Patterson, whom “MVP” doesn’t consider as big a star as himself. While Page failed to deliver with a lackluster unanimous decision win, he believes the O2 Arena was originally there to see him. Filmed in the Santa Marta Favela in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, “They Don’t Care About Us” sends a powerful social message against injustice. Page also added that his song was a statement against the general cruelty going on worldwide.

‘It Was a Bit of Annoyanc…

Lerone Murphy and Diego Lopes could be on a collision course. 

Murphy suffered a majority decision loss against Movsar Evloev at UFC London last weekend. Lopes, who has also lost to Evloev, slammed the fight as a boring affair. Lopes also separated himself from Murphy despite their losses against the same opponent.

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“No, Lerone, we are not the same,” Lopes wrote on X. “Never do that again.”

Murphy responded by slamming Lopes’ performance against Evloev. The Englishman also called out Lopes for his next fight.

“I didn’t lay on my back in guard for 3 rounds bro,” Murphy wrote. “Let’s fight next?”

Same Opponent, Same Result Murphy (17-1) suffered his first career loss against Evloev. Meanwhile, Lopes came up short against Evloev in his short-notice UFC debut in 2023. Lopes then scored five consecutive wins to earn a title shot at the vacant title, where he lost to Alexander Volkanovski. Lopes (27-8) rebounded by finishing Jean Silva to ear…

Bryan Battle will risk it all to make a statement in his Professional Fighters League debut. 

Battle is scheduled to make his debut against Johnny Eblen at PFL Pittsburgh on Saturday at the UPMC Events Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. While Eblen has never been knocked out before, Battle warns that he has previously handed other fighters their first-ever knockout losses. Battle isn’t just content with winning in his PFL debut, as winning isn’t enough to sell tickets. While Battle knows that Eblen can try to control him on the ground, “The Butches” promises to leave it all inside the cage to make it a “kill or be killed” kind of fight.

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Willing to Risk it All “Winning being the name of the game is just pretty lame,” Battle told MMAjunkie.com. “Winning being the name of the game does not sell tickets. Nah, I’m coming in to knock him out. There’s a lot of guys that I’ve fought that hadn’t been knocked out before I fought them. I’m not looking ju…

Adrian Yanez won’t throw caution to the wind for an extra paycheck. 

Yanez is scheduled to fight Ricky Simon at UFC Seattle on Saturday at the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Washington. While the UFC has raised the bonuses for the Paramount era, Yanez won’t be hunting for a finish against Simon. Yanez learned an important lesson in Michael Bisping’s middleweight title win over Luke Rockhold in 2016. While Rockhold was vowing to knock out Bisping, “The Count” dethroned dethroned him with a knockout in the first round. As much as Yanez would like an extra paycheck, he knows that his opponent is also lured by the same idea. While Yanez has earned his fair share of bonuses in the UFC, he wishes it was in the Paramount era instead of ESPN era.

Don't Force It “I do want a third check night, but at the same time, I got someone in front of me who’s gonna be looking for the same thing,” Yanez told MMAjunkie.com. “So sometimes you just gotta take a smarter approach… When M…

Michael Page has lofty goals despite nearing the end of his current UFC contract.

Page (25-3) had finished 16 of his 20 career wins when he signed with the UFC in December 2023. While “MVP” is known for his flashy striking, his fan-friendly style didn’t translate well into the UFC. Page has since scored four lukewarm decision wins, while suffering a loss against Ian Garry. The Englishman most recently earned a lackluster decision win against Sam Patterson at UFC London last weekend. Page seemed content to poke at his opponent from a distance without landing anything significant. Dana White admitted that it was a “bad” fight.

Page has since revealed that he has one fight left on his current UFC contract. Despite an illustrious career at Bellator MMA, Page had always dreamed of being in the UFC. While Page doesn’t shy away from voicing his complaints with the UFC, he clarifies that he is extremely grateful to be part of the promotion. The 38-year-old still aims to beco…

Shanelle Dyer, who made a spectacular debut at UFC London, used to initially hate MMA. 

Dyer was in love with the striking arts, having trained in muay thai since the age of 8. While Dyer still loves muay thai, she understood at some point that there was not much money to be made in the sport. Dyer had to choose between transitioning to boxing or MMA, and chose MMA as she didn’t want to give up kicking. 

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Dyer admits that she initially found the grappling part of MMA a little “fruity.” However, she started appreciating the nuances of grappling once she started learning the art.Gaining an Appreciation “I used to hate MMA,” Dyer said on "The Ariel Helwani Show.” “I’ve done muay thai for so long, and I love muay thai. Muay thai is beautiful, muay thai is amazing. Unfortunately, you can’t make money in muay thai. So I transitioned to MMA when I was 17-18. It was either boxing or MMA. But I love kicking too much to do boxing. So I chose MMA at th…

Alexander Volkanovski clearly considers Movsar Evloev to be the most deserving title contender. 

Volkanovski (28-4) has long been calling Evloev (20-0) the No. 1 featherweight title contender. However, Evloev has yet to get a title shot, while his fallen opponent, Diego Lopes, has challenged Volkanovski for the title twice. While Volkanovski was ready to fight Evloev last year, Lerone Murphy entered the title picture with a knockout win over Aaron Pico. 

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Volkanovski was expecting to fight either Evloev or Murphy, but was matched up for the second consecutive time against Lopes at UFC 325 this past January. Volkanovski defeated Lopes the second time as well. 

Meanwhile, Evloev and Murphy clashed at UFC London last weekend, in what was considered a clear title eliminator. However, despite Evloev earning a majority decision win over Murphy, the title picture remains hazy. Jean Silva has now entered the fray, rallying for the next title…