Martial Arts News

Mike Perry is set to earn the biggest paycheck of his fighting career. 

Perry is scheduled to fight fellow UFC alum Nate Diaz on Most Valuable Promotions’ first MMA card on May 16 at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, California. The event, which will be broadcast on Netflix, also features fights like Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano and Francis Ngannou vs. Philipe Lins. 

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Next is Always Best Perry revealed that the Diaz fight will be the biggest payday of his fighting career. The former UFC fighter answered in the affirmative when Ariel Helwani asked him if it would be the biggest paycheck of his career so far.

“The next one’s always the best one. This is the next one,” Perry said. “I’ve been saying this for 20 years.” 

Perry fought in the UFC welterweight division from 2016 to 2021, going 7-8. Perry parted ways with the promotion in 2021 and joined Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, where he found the proverbial second wind of his …

Carlos Prates has a lot of respect for Ian Garry. | Getty/UFC

Carlos Prates believes Ian Garry has the tools to beat Islam Makhachev. 

Garry is currently among the frontrunners for the next welterweight title shot against Islam Makhachev. Prates believes that while it’ll be an uphill task, Garry has certain skills needed to beat Makhachev. However, if Prates has to put his money on someone, he is certainly picking Makhachev. But Prates really wants Garry to win so that he can avenge his loss against the Irishman in a title fight, hopefully in Brazil.

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“I think [Garry can beat Makhachev]. It’s hard, but I think he has some skills needed to beat Islam,” Prates said on "The Ariel Helwani Show.” “If I need to bet my money, of course Islam. But I really want Ian to get the belt, and then we do a rematch in Brazil for the title.” Mutual Respect Prates suffered his only loss in the UFC against Garry last year. For “The Nightmare,” av…

Daniel Cormier is an athletic specimen. 

A former Olympic wrestler, Cormier, joined the American Kickboxing Academy in 2009 to start training MMA. Luke Rockhold was already an accomplished fighter at AKA by then. Rockhold recalls that Cormier could do backflips while weighing around 260 pounds and standing 5’10” tall. According to Rockhold, Cormier’s wrestling skills at heavyweight allowed him to reach the pinnacle of the sport. 

A Certain Confidence “‘DC’ was a freak man,” Rockhold said on "the Jaxxon Podcast.”. “‘DC’ walked into the gym 260 pounds, 5’10”, and he could do a backflip. This big fat motherf—-er’s doing backflips. He had a certain confidence and athleticism… Being able to have that wrestling at heavyweight, he could dictate a lot of what’s going on. He always was just very athletic, he had some wrestling and he could throw some hands.” 

Cormier was already 30 when he had his first MMA fight. “DC” joined the UFC in 2013 and went on to becom…

Youssef Zalal will be keenly watching the upcoming UFC London main event. 

Undefeated featherweight contenders Movsar Evloev and Leron Murphy will meet in the main event at UFC Fight Night 270 on Saturday at the O2 Arena in London, England. Zalal believes the key to victory for both fighters will be to deal with their opponent’s strong suits. Zalal picks Evloev to defeat Murphy eventually.

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'His Wrestling is Insane' “I’m interested to see how Lerone deals with the wrestling of Movsar and how Movsar deals with the striking of Lerone,” Zalal told Home of Fight. “… Whoever solves that puzzle first wins that fight… I think Movsar gets it done, his wrestling is insane.”

Evloev (19-0) has nine UFC victories to his name, the last four coming against elite opponents like Dan Ige, Diego Lopes, Arnold Allen and Aljamain Sterling. Murphy (17-0) also has nine UFC wins, most notably against Ige, Edson Barboza, Josh Emmett and Aaron Pico. 

Meanwhi…

Ronda Rousey is favored against Gina Carano. | Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com

There a couple significant betting favorites for Most Valuable Promotions’ first-ever MMA card.

The May 16 event takes place at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles and is headlined by a women’s featherweight clash pitting Ronda Rousey against Gina Carano. According to online oddsmaker BetOnline, Rousey is listed as a considerable -500 favorite, while Carano checks in as a +375 underdog. Rousey hasn’t competed since a knockout loss to Amanda Nunes in December 2016, while the 43-year-old Carano has been inactive since August 2009, when she suffered a TKO loss to Cristiane Justino under the Strikeforce banner.

The biggest favorite among the MVP card’s three featured bouts is Francis Ngannou, who will take on Philipe Lins in the evening’s co-headliner. The former UFC heavyweight king is a -1200 favorite over Lins, who is a +800 underdog. “The Predator” will be making his first MMA appearance…

During his prime, Alistair Overeem was part of a talented group of MMA heavyweights. | Glory Kickboxing

Heavyweight has never been the deepest division in MMA, but at its peak, the weight class featured a number of top talents across multiple promotions.

One of those skilled heavyweights was Alistair Overeem, a former Strikeforce, Dream and K-1 champion. The Dutchman also challenged for heavyweight gold in the UFC. His last Octagon appearance came in 2021, and his last combat sports fight came under the Glory Kickboxing banner in 2022. He officially announced his retirement in 2023.

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Over the course of his UFC tenure alone Overeem earned victories against the likes of Fabricio Werdum, Mark Hunt, Andrei Arlovski, Junior dos Santos, Roy Nelson, Frank Mir and Brock Lesnar.

Overeem admits that one would be hard-pressed to find that type of star power in the heavyweight division today.

“It’s no secret that there is a decline, unfortuna…

Noksi Ndebele will headline PFL Africa on April 10. | PFL MMA

The fight card for PFL Africa 1 is now official.

The promotion on Tuesday confirmed the full lineup for the April 10 event, which takes place at SunBet Arena in Pretoria, South Africa and marks the launch of the second season of PFL Africa.

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A Middleweight World Title Fight headlines PFL Madrid: Tune in LIVE, Friday, March 20 at 12 p.m. ET.

PFL Africa is headlined by a bantamweight clash between Nkosi Ndebele and Michele Clemente, while Justin Clarke will lock horns with Abdoulaye Kane in the heavyweight co-main event. The card will also feature first-round tournament bouts at welterweight and a number of other showcase fights in various weight classes.

PFL Africa airs on the PFL app in the United States.

PFL Africa Card Bantamweight Showcase: Nkosi Ndebele vs. Michele ClementeHeavyweight Showcase: Justin Clarke vs. Abdoulaye KaneWelterweight Tournament First Round…

Adriano Moraes wants to be free of constraints.

The three-time ONE Championship flyweight titleholder claims his contract with the Singapore-based organization expired in March, though he admits a few more details need to be ironed out before he takes his talent to another promotion. If this does turn out to be the end of Moraes’ tenure with One, it will have included 12 victories in 18 appearances and a career-defining trilogy with the great Demetrious Johnson.

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“Unfortunately, I lost the final fight [with Johnson] by points at a great event in Colorado,” he told Sherdog.com. “They offered to renew me [and] I accepted, but from that point on, they greatly reduced their number of MMA bouts. Things were very slow, especially after Demetrious retired.”

Moraes, now 36, has not fought since he suffered a technical knockout loss to Yuya Wakamatsu in the first round of their One 172 encounter on March 23, 2025. Nearly a year has passed since.

“I expe…

A decision win will be like a loss for Sean O'Malley in his upcoming fight. 

O’Malley is scheduled to fight Aiemann Zahabi (14-2) at UFC White House on June 14 at the White House. “Suga” vows to look for a finish like there is no other option. The former UFC bantamweight champion is ready to give up his spot in the rankings if he goes the distance against Zahabi.

‘Take Me Out of the Rankings’“I got to have a f—-ng beautiful KO,” O’Malley said on YouTube. “It’s just like there is no other option. Winning a decision is a loss. If I win a decision, take me out of the rankings. I need a f——ing finish here.”

O’Malley (19-3) has finished six of his 11 UFC wins so far. While he is known for being a sniper on the feet, O’Malley’s last stoppage win was in 2023, when he knocked out Aljamain Sterling to win the bantamweight title. O’Malley defended his title just once against Marlon Vera before falling to Merab Dvalishvili in 2024. O’Malley failed to reclaim the title in a…

Alex Pereira hasn’t lost hope of fighting Jon Jones at some point. 

Pereira (13-3) first called out Jones (28-1) after reclaiming his light heavyweight title against Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 320 this past October. Jones, who was eyeing a return after his retirement in June, expressed interest in fighting Pereira. The booking was being anticipated for the UFC White House card in June. 

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However, the card was officially announced earlier this month, and Jones is surprisingly not a part of it. Pereira is scheduled to fight Ciryl Gane for the interim heavyweight title at Freedom Fights 250 on June 14 at the White House. Pereira believes he can still fight Jones in the future as long as he defeats Gane next.

“I believe so [there is a chance that the Jones fight happens]. As long as I win this fight [against Gane]. Otherwise, it doesn’t make much sense,” Pereira said on "The Ariel Helwani Show.”

Not Going Anywhere Jones retired last year after…

Ian Garry doesn’t believe that Islam Makhachev is injured. 

People were eagerly anticipating a potential matchup between Makhachev (28-1) and Ilia Topuria (17-0) at the White House in June. However, it was announced earlier this month that Topuria will fight interim lightweight champion Justin Gaethje in a title unification bout at the UFC White House on June 14. White later briefly mentioned that Makhachev has a hand injury, before clarifying that he isn’t certain about it. 

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However, Garry (17-1) doesn’t think Makhachev is injured. Currently rallying for a welterweight title shot, Garry believes the champion is making excuses to avoid fighting. Garry doesn’t think Makhachev could have suffered an injury in his dominant title win over Jack Della Maddalena last year. “The Future” jokes that Makhachev might have injured himself while horse riding, taking a jab at the Dagestani’s frequent horse riding videos. Garry believes Makhachev is doing …

Sean O'Malley wonders if the UFC’s biggest stars would have been what they are without the promotion. 

The UFC White House card lineup has faced some serious backlash from some of the promotion’s biggest stars. Despite having rallied for a spot on the card since it was first mentioned, Conor McGregor and Jon Jones missed out. While McGregor expressed his disappointment mildly, Jones has publicly asked for his UFC release. Meanwhile, Ronda Rousey, considered one of the biggest stars in the history of women’s MMA, claims a deal for a UFC return fell through after the promotion’s partnership with Paramount+. Rousey has since come out with some scathing remarks about UFC fighter pay and the promotion’s inability to cater to fans’ demands. 

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O’Malley, who is also a star in his own right, has always advocated a good relationship between fighters and the UFC. While O’Malley understands the recent backlash from fighters, he believes the UFC had a m…