Martial Arts News

After a 21-second technical knockout victory over Bellator MMA heavyweight king Ryan Bader last Saturday at PFL vs. Bellator, Renan Ferreira is 100% focused on a fight with Francis Ngannou.

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Although Ngannou left the venue without entering the cage for a faceoff with the 2023 PFL heavyweight champion, Ferreira did not interpret those actions as a lack of interest in a future fight.

“Since Francis entered the PFL, that’s the fight everybody wants to see,” Ferreira told Sherdog.com. “I interpreted his attitude after my knockout to be much more of a respectful one. I think Francis knew that this was my moment, and he just respected that. I don’t see any other fight that makes sense for both of us. If he wants to make that in boxing or MMA it will not be a problem to me.”

Ferreira believes he will present some stylistic challenges for the Cameroonian-born Frenchman.

“Francis is a different guy, very strong with knockout power, but I see him walk…

Brian Ortega’s comeback at UFC Mexico was nearly derailed before it really got going.

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Ortega’s coach, Rener Gracie, revealed that the featherweight suffered a serious cut above his left eye after absorbing a headbutt in training. The wound required four stitches on the outside and 10 on the surface, according to Gracie.

“Being so close to the fight we knew that one light punch in that region would have busted it right open,” Gracie wrote. “It was our biggest concern (until he rolled his ankle during Round 0).”

Gracie posted a video of when the headbutt occurred along with a photo of the wound on his Instagram. Also included was Ortega’s video response to his coach after receiving stitches, where it becomes clear that withdrawing from his fight against Yair Rodriguez was never a consideration.

“The show continues, homie,” Ortega said. “We don’t even care. [We’re] sweating, The show continues.”

While Ortega appeared to hurt his ank…

Anatoliy Malykhin is brimming with confidence ahead of his second meeting with Reinier de Ridder at ONE 166: Qatar on Friday at the Lusail Sports Arena in Qatar.

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Malykhin (13-0) faced de Ridder (16-1) for the first time in December 2022, taking the Dutchman’s light heavyweight title via a brutal Round 1 technical knockout. “Sladkiy” has since knocked out Arjan Singh Bhullar this past June in a heavyweight title unification bout. The undefeated Russian will make a triple champ bid in the main event of ONE Championship’s Qatar debut with de Ridder’s middleweight (205-pound) title on the line.

Malykhin predicted a similar outcome to their first fight during his appearance at the ONE 166 pre-fight press conference.

“I’m ready for this Friday. I’m gonna go and get my third belt,” he said. “I’m gonna knock him out the same way I did before. I’m thankful for this opportunity. I cannot explain how excited I am to be here on Friday and show everybody…

ONE Championship strawweight (125-pound) title holder Jarred Brooks claims he’ll leave no doubt about his GOAT status when he defends his strap against former champ Joshua Pacio at ONE 166: Qatar on March 1.

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Brooks (20-2) will return to action for the first time since December 2022, when he dethroned Pacio (20-4) via a hard-earned unanimous decision in a bout that some believe could have gone either way. While Brooks believes he did enough to get his hand raised last time, he plans to quiet the remaining doubters by finishing Pacio in the rematch.

“I think I beat Joshua Pacio pretty [definitively] last time,” Brooks said at a pre-fight press conference. “I’m willing to do that again and again and again until Joshua Pacio’s name is completely out of the picture and I am the best strawweight ever. I am the GOAT of the strawweights.‌

“People are underestimating my hunger and my goals in ONE Championship. Now, I’m here to show Joshua Pacio who i…

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While retirement talks loom large in the aftermath of Jon Jones’ upcoming heavyweight title fight against Stipe Miocic, UFC CEO Dana White isn’t so sure that would be the best move for either athlete.

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While Jones and Miocic were originally scheduled to fight at UFC 295 this past November, “Bones” was forced out due to a torn pectoral muscle. Tom Aspinall went on to defeat Russian knockout artist Sergei Pavlovich in an interim title booking that was put together at the last moment.

Jones was also offered a slot for UFC 300 in April but turned it down, as he wouldn’t recover in time from a recent elbow surgery. With no timeline in sight for Jones’ return, Aspinall initially called for the champ to be stripped of the title and has since been rallying for a booking against either “Bones” or Miocic.

However, judging by their stance over recent months, there is a lot of speculation about both Jones and Miocic retiring after their…

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Israel Adesanya claims to have agreed to headline UFC 300 against Dricus Du Plessis only to find out that the middleweight champ had turned the fight down.

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UFC matchmakers were long in search of a high-caliber booking to feature as the main event of the landmark card, which goes down at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on April 13. While Alex Pereira will now defend his light heavyweight strap against Jamahal Hill in the headliner, Adesanya also reportedly received the call for the slot. However, “The Last Stylebender” claims Du Plessis didn’t accept the fight due to minor injuries suffered in the South African’s title win over Sean Strickland at UFC 297 in January.

“There’s some things that were meant to happen,” Adesanya said on the “This Past Weekend” podcast with Theo Von. “They summoned me, I’m sure this is out there now… but they summoned me for [UFC] 300, and I was like ‘Yep, let’s roll.’ But their side didn’t want it. They …

Raul Rosas Jr. recently detailed the illness that forced him out of his UFC Mexico booking against Ricky Turcios last Saturday.

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The 19-year-old Mexican-American prospect, who is the youngest fighter on the Ultimate Fighting Championship roster, was slated to appear in front of a home crowd on the main card against Turcios. However, the bantamweight booking fell through at the very last minutem with Rosas Jr. pulling out right before the walkout.

It was announced on the broadcast that Rosas Jr. fell ill and was unable to show up for the fight despite trying his best to be ready throughout the day. “El Nino Problema” has now issued a statement reiterating the same, also detailing the symptoms of his illness while not pinning down the exact cause.

“Sorry to everyone who was waiting for my performance,” he wrote on Instagram stories. “I was sick all day with dizziness, light headed [and] cough. I tried my best to recover to go out and perform s…

Shir Cohen will lock horns with Teodora Kirilova in an atomweight (115-pound) muay thai affair at One on Prime Video 20.

Sources close to the situation confirmed the booking to Sherdog.com on Thursday. ONE Fight Night 20 takes place on March 8 at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, and features a women’s 115-pound title unification bout between reigning ONE kickboxing champion Janet Todd and interim queen Phetjeeja OrMeekhun. In the co-main event, Allycia Hellen Rodrigues will defend her 115-pound muay thai belt against Cristina Morales.

Cohen, 8-1, who hails from Thailand by way of Israel, is anchored at Fairtex Gym and is a training partner of current MMA 115-pound title holder Stamp Fairtex.

A native of Bulgaria, Kirilova has captured multiple titles in both kickboxing and muay thai. Kirilova will take a 14-0 record into her matchup with Cohen.

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Business was booming for the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2023.

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According to a financial report from TKO Group Holdings — the parent company for both the UFC and World Wrestling Entertainment — the Las Vegas-based promotion generated $1.3 billion in revenue, which is up 13% from the previous year. Meanwhile, UFC revenue for the fourth quarter of 2023 was $282.8 million, up from $271.7 million in 2022.

The promotion’s increase in profitability was driven by a 34% increase in revenue for live events to a record $168 million in 2023. The UFC held 43 live events last year, and the increase was driven by ticket revenues and site fees, per a release.

Meanwhile, sponsorship revenue increased 18% to 196 million — also a record — and was driven by “new brand partners and renewal increases.” The UFC also reported $870.6 million in revenue from media rights and content, which was up from $794.4 million in 2022, and $57.4 million …

This weekend’s UFC Fight Night 238 card will look different than originally anticipated.

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First, a bantamweight showdown between Ricky Turcios and Raul Rosas Jr. will not move to Saturday’s event as it was initially announced over the weekend. Turcios and Rosas Jr. were supposed to meet at UFC Mexico this past Saturday but the bout was scrapped prior to walkouts on account of Rosas Jr. falling ill.

The promotion later announced that the bout would be rebooked for UFC Fight Night 238, but Turcios disputed that news on social media. Now, the fight is officially off, and it is unclear if it will be rebooked at a later date. MMAjunkie.com was first to report that Turcios vs. Rosas Jr. was not happening.

The Las Vegas-based organzation also confirmed multiple other changes to the UFC Fight Night 238 lineup on Tuesday.

Injury has forced Brendon Marotte to withdraw from a featherweight scrap against Mohammad Yahya, and as a result the fight ha…

Flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja traveled to Mexico to watch the main event of UFC Fight Night 237 last Saturday certain of two things.

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First, the winner of the evening’s headliner would determine his opponent for UFC 301 in Rio de Janeiro on May 4 and second, he would receive a hostile reception from fans in Mexico City. As it turned out, Pantoja was in for a surprise.

“I thought I was going to be offended by the Mexicans, and it was exactly the opposite,” he said. “They welcomed me very affectionately and even shouted ‘Hey hermano, Pantoja is Mexicano.’”

The result of the UFC Mexico main event may have altered the promotion’s plans, as Brandon Royval took a split decision over Brandon Moreno in a somewhat surprising result.

“I think the whole stage was set for Moreno to win and come to Rio,” Pantoja said. “The fight was very even and the fact that he beat Moreno months after I won five rounds against him [Royval] shows the level I'm at…

Credit: Getty Images/Zuffa Credit: Getty Images/Zuffa Credit: Getty Images/Zuffa

While some wonder how Anshul Jubli will cope with his lone career setback, his coach, Siddharth Singh, is confident that “King of Lions” will come back with a vengeance as he has done in the past.

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Jubli put India on the world mixed martial arts map by winning the first Road to UFC tournament in the lightweight category last year. The then undefeated prospect then took on Mike Breeden at UFC 294 in October last year, suffering a third-round technical knockout loss after winning the first two rounds on the scorecards.

This marked the first setback for Jubli including his amateur career, leading to some speculations about how it could affect his mindset. However, coach Singh has seen Jubli lose before and cope incredibly well with it.

Singh, the head coach and owner of Crosstrain Fight Club in New Delhi, is confident that Jubli will be hungrier and more complete upon…