Martial Arts News

Newly crowned ONE Championship strawweight (125-pound) king Joshua Pacio has issued a statement following his Round 1 disqualification win over Jarred Brooks at ONE Championship 166, which took place at the Lusail Sports Arena in Qatar on Friday.

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Brooks and Pacio met in a rematch on Friday after “The Monkey God” took the strawweight title from Pacio via unanimous decision in their first meeting in December 2022. However, the long-awaited clash came to a screeching halt only 56 seconds in when Brooks slammed Pacio on his head and proceeded to unload vicious ground-and-pound shots on his foe until he was stopped by referee Herb Dean.

While Brooks jumped up on the cage to celebrate a quick finish, “The Monkey God” was swiftly notified that he’d been disqualified due to the illegal nature of the slam. As per ONE's global mixed martial arts ruleset, no spikes or throws on the head, neck or spine are allowed. As a result, Pacio is now the reigning straw…

Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC

Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight Themba Gorimbo is set to return to the Octagon a little more than three months following his last promotional win.

“The Answer” will square off against Ramiz Brahimaj in his fourth promotional outing at a UFC Fight Night event scheduled to go down on May 18 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The news was first reported by Eurosport_Nl's Marcel Dorff and later confirmed by Brahimaj on social media. Other announced matchups on the card include Vanessa Demopoulos vs. Emily Ducote, Luana Pinheiro vs. Angela Hill and Hailey Cowan vs. Tamires Vidal.

Gorimbo (12-4) will enter the Octagon on the heels of back-to-back victories against Pete Rodriguez and Takashi Sato after suffering a Round 2 submission loss at the hands of A.J. Fletcher in his UFC…

A welterweight meeting between Alex Morono and Court McGee has been added to the UFC Fight Night 240 card set to go down at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on April 6.

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The news was first reported by Eurosport_NL’s Marcel Dorff on social media. UFC Fight Night 240 will be headlined by a middleweight clash pitting Marvin Vettori against Brendan Allen.

Morono (23-9) will return to the Octagon coming off a unanimous decision loss to Joaquin Buckley in October. Prior to that, “The Great White” recorded a Round 2 submission win over Tim Means in May last year.

Meanwhile, the 39-year-old McGee (21-12) is currently on a two-fight losing streak having suffered back-to-back Round 1 knockout losses against Jeremiah Wells in June 2022 and Matt Brown in May 2023. “The Crusher” has gone 2-5 in his last seven promotional outings.

Battle of the big boys 😤@JairRozenstruik vs Shamil Gaziev goes down TOMORROW!

[ #UFCVegas87 | @ESPNPlus | 4pmET/1pmPT ] pic.twitter.com/sEBx9XSWGA

— UFC (@ufc) March 1, 2024 The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns for its first event of March, which features an intriguing heavyweight showdown.

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Headlining UFC Fight Night 238 is a five-round fight between Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Shamil Gaziev. Both heavyweights successfully made weight, with "Bigi Boy" weighing in at 257 pounds and Gaziev coming in four pounds heavier. All the rest of the fighters made weight as well.

This marks the sixth UFC main event for Rozenstruik. The 35-year-old is just 1-3 in his last four fights and is coming off a loss to Jailton Almeida. Prior to knocking out Chris Daukaus, he also came up short against Alexander Volkov and Curtis Blaydes. "Bigi Boy" will look to show that he should still be feared inside the Octagon.

Meanwhile, …

The Professional Fighters League has bolstered its new flyweight bracket in a big way.

Per the PFL at the end of 2023, it will be eliminating the women’s featherweight division from tournament stakes and move a few remaining competitors like Larissa Pacheco to its “Pay-Per-View division.” In its place will be a women’s flyweight tournament, and the total number of participants is still undisclosed, although it will feature 2023 PFL Europe winner Dakota Ditcheva. According to OCP News on Friday, and confirmed shortly thereafter by the fighter and multiple outlets, Taila Santos (19-3) has joined the PFL roster to compete in the 2024 season.

The Astra Fight Team product was released from the Ultimate Fighting Championship roster on the heels of a decision loss to Erin Blanchfield in April 2023. Prior to her defeat to Blanchfield, Santos vied for the flyweight belt against Valentina Shevchenko, and ultimately dropped a narrow split decision. Santos made her way to the t…

[embedded content] A former Ultimate Fighting Championship great believes that boxers have too many advantages when MMA fighters cross over to the sweet science, and he wants to fix that.

“The Phenom” Vitor Belfort spoke on Wednesday with ex-UFC fighter Carlos Barreto and Sherdog about MMA's past, present and future. When the 46-year-old born in Rio de Janeiro discussed the early years of the sport along with fellow Carlson Gracie student Barreto, he presented a hybrid glove he created. This glove, similar to a training glove from a traditional martial art like karate, contains padding on top like a boxing glove but adds finger holes to allow for grappling. The weight of the glove will depend on the weight of the combatants, ranging from eight to 12 ounces. According to Belfort, it would even improve the odds for MMA fighters who traverse to boxing.

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“The confrontation between boxing and MMA is already a huge success, but the time for boxing fighters t…

Anatoly Malykhin will go down in history as the first three-division titleholder in a major promotion after recording a third-round technical knockout over ONE Championship middleweight boss Reinier de Ridder in the ONE 166 headliner on Friday at Lusail Sports Arena in Lusail, Qatar. It ended 1:16 into Round 3.

Right from the opening bell, Malykhin began pressing his opponent against the fence, unleashing powerful punches against “The Dutch Knight,” who looked to clinch and land knees against his advancing foe. De Ridder eventually managed to momentarily drop his opponent with a punch-low kick combo in response to the Russian’s swift punching attack. However, the combo did not seem to have much of an impact on “Sladiky,” who popped right back to his feet. Towards the end of the first frame, Malykhin got his foe to the ground with a sneaky trip and looked to land some devastating ground-and-pound. While de Ridder managed to find his way back to his feet, the Russian continue…

ONE Championship, in its pursuit of spreading the martial arts gospel, has assembled a staggering fight card for its debut on Qatar soil with ONE 166. The event is set to unfold at 7:30 a.m. ET on Friday, March 1. Sherdog.com brings live play-by-play coverage of the event to you, ensuring you are part of every moment.

The must-see event, projected to be a blockbuster, will be stacked with three world title rematches. It also presents a handful of rising talent, and a bunch of aspiring competitors with the stage to strive to produce the kind of statement necessary to carry them to even bigger matchups and more prominence in the later part of the year.

In the main event, Reinier de Ridder puts his 205-pound title on the line against two-division king Anatoly Malykhin. Just before that, the co-main event stages a 155-pound title unification bout as reigning champion Kai Tang locks horns with former champion and current interim title holder Thanh Le. The third title scrap …

A recent mixed martial arts event in Hot Springs, Arkansas, saw a rare altercation between a referee and a fighter.

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Robert Gidron took on Chauncey Foxworth in the Real Deal Championships 10 main event at Hot Springs Convention Center on Jan 20. Midway through Round 2 Gidron blatantly grabbed the cage to defend a takedown, leading to an intervention by referee Jon Munz. However, unlike the norm, Munz didn’t just intervene verbally but proceeded to put his forearm on Gidron’s throat. Gidron told MMA Junkie about the incident:

“I didn’t mean to grab the cage,” Gidron told MMAJunkie. “You can see in the video: When I went to grab the cage, as soon as I grabbed the cage and stood up, as he’s running toward me, I’m throwing my hands up. That tells you I already did wrong. I messed up. Most refs when they grab you, they say, ‘Stop, stop, stop.’

“He ran and put his forearm in my throat. Me, I’m already in fight mode. What I did, I’m not saying I was …

𝙋𝙄𝙏𝘽𝙐𝙇𝙇 𝙄𝙎 𝘾𝙊𝙈𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙏𝙊 𝘽𝙀𝙇𝙁𝘼𝙎𝙏! 👀

One of the greatest featherweights to grace the sport, Patricio Pitbull will be defending his Bellator Featherweight Title on short notice against number one contender Jeremy Kennedy at #BellatorBelfast! 🔥… pic.twitter.com/r4PJ3Mi2Vj

— Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) February 29, 2024 Bellator MMA is adding one more championship collision to its upcoming show across the pond.

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The promotion announced on Thursday in a release that Patricio Freire (35-7) would be putting his featherweight strap on the line against Jeremy Kennedy (19-3, 1 NC) at Bellator 302. Kennedy was initially slated to face James Gallagher, but Bellator opted to slot him into a title tilt and rebook Gallagher against Leandro Higo. Two additional prelims were added to complete the March 22 slate that no longer includes Sinead Kavanagh due to her foe, Leah McCourt, falling out from injury.

Freire will return to 145 pounds a…

McGregor Vs Gylenhaal!“Roadhouse” out March 21st @mgmstudios @PrimeVideo pic.twitter.com/gRzgbcpklG

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) February 27, 2024

Conor McGregor will make his major motion picture debut in March, but he apparently turned down many more opportunities in previous years.

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McGregor stars alongside Jake Gyllenhall in the “Roadhouse” remake, which is set to be released on Prime Video on March 21. The former UFC two-division champion plays Knox, who is brought in to take out Gyllenhall’s Dalton.

In an interview with Total Film, McGregor revealed that it took him a while to accept a movie part, and he might have hurt some feelings as a result.

"I had turned down a good few roles in my time on the climb," McGregor said. "I’ve had directors show up at fight camp, really beautiful directors doing really top-end movies… And over and over, they’d come to me, and I always turned them down… I’d leave peop…

KnuckleMania 4 Main Event! @PlatinumPerry vs @ThiagoAlvesATT📍April 27th in Los Angeles, CA🎟️Tix Presale: https://t.co/obIX0KYJ4F pic.twitter.com/pqk7gwBYO5

— Bare Knuckle FC (@bareknucklefc) February 28, 2024

A couple of familiar faces from the MMA world will receive top billing for Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship’s next tentpole event.

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BKFC president David Feldman announced Wednesday on "The MMA Hour" that Mike Perry will square off against Thiago Alves in the BKFC Knucklemania 4 headliner on April 27 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, two former UFC heavyweights are slated for the co-main event, as Ben Rothwell will lock horns with Todd Duffee. The event will mark the first BKFC event in California.

Perry has emerged as perhaps the top star in BKFC, compiling a 4-0 record with the promotion since parting ways with the UFC. Perry has bested the likes of Eddie Alvarez, Luke Rockhold, Michael Page and …