Martial Arts News

#AndNew XTB #KSWEpicKSW LHW Champion🇵🇱 Rafal Haratyk 👑 pic.twitter.com/B7pJQN5OqV

— KSW (@KSW_MMA) February 24, 2024

Rafal Haratyk and Damian Piwowarczyk left it all on the line in the KSW “Epic” one-night light heavyweight tournament. The winner was to be crowned as the Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki 205-pound champ and you could’ve made a case for Haratyk or Piwowarczyk winning the fight.

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Piwowarczyk’s heavy hands made it a nightmare for Haratyk to come inside but the savvy vet kept the pressure and secured pivotal takedowns at the right time. In the end, the fight was scored a split decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28) for the “Polish Tank.” With the win, Haratyk claimed the belt, but his first challenge could await him in Ivan Erslan, who impressed earlier in the day with a first-round knockout over Bogdan Gnidko.

Darko Stosic starched Professional Fighters League alum Matheus Scheffel in the first round of their heavywe…

PFL MENA IS OFFICIAL! pic.twitter.com/G0sRCdKxo5

— PFL (@PFLMMA) February 24, 2024

The Professional Fighters League will officially break ground in the Middle East this April.

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The organization announced on Saturday that PFL MENA will debut in April 2024. The inaugural season will feature 32 fighters competing across four weight classes in a season format, similar to what PFL Europe did during its inaugural campaign in 2023. The four-event season will include cards for the regular season, postseason and championship. A roster for PFL MENA will be announced in March, according to a release.

PFL MENA is backed by SRJ Sports Investments, which acquired a minority stake in PFL last year to aide in PFL’s Middle East expansion and to collaborate with the league to host PFL pay-per-view events in Saudi Arabia. Multiple fighters with Middle Eastern roots were on hand at PFL vs. Bellator in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday to…

🇧🇷Luiz Gustavo keeps his win streak alive!

Title shot soon?... 👀

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📢Watch the fights and join the discussion NOW on #RIZIN TV!🔗https://t.co/SJYljaZ7L1

[ #RIZIN_LANDMARK8 ] pic.twitter.com/en47o6KiyA

— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) February 24, 2024 Brazilian standout Luiz Gustavo notched his sixth Rizin Fighting Federation victory in a thrilling lightweight main event on Saturday at Rizin “Landmark Vol. 8” in Saga, Japan. Gustavo overcame a strong second round from opponent Yoshinori Horie and prevailed via unanimous decision. Early in the opening round, Gustavo (14-2, 6-2 Rizin) scored with a head kick that seemed to land with full force, but Horie (13-5, 4-2 Rizin) barely flinched and he continued to press forward. The fighters exchanged leg kicks and a welt began to form on Gustavo’s left calf. He dropped Horie with a left hook late in the round, however, and Horie stood and responded with an elbow at the bel…

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It was all but a certainty that Henry Cejudo would retire for a second time if he lost to Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 298.

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Apparently Cejudo’s plans have changed.

After dropping a unanimous decision to Dvalishvili in a featured bantamweight bout at UFC 298, the former two-division champion recently confirmed that he will continue fighting in a video on his YouTube channel.

“Was Dana White right that [I] did leave three years behind? Three of [my] prime years? Yeah, I’ll give it to him. Recognizing it now, the way that I did feel Saturday, the way that [the situation] already kind of played out, you start to kind of psychologically just like, ‘Damn, are these dudes right? I couldn’t have it any other way?’” Cejudo said. “One, if I could change everything, I probably would never come back — but now that I’m back, now I’ve got to s—t where I sleep. And for that reason, man, I just cannot go out like that.

“So I’m here today…

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Joel Alvarez (20-3) is set to take on Dana White’s Contender Series alum Mateusz Rebecki (19-1) on a Fight Night card scheduled to go down on April 27 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

The bout was first reported by Marcel Dorff on X (formerly known as Twitter). Although the Spaniard was initially slated to take on Ludovit Klein on March 2, “El Fenomeno” has now been rescheduled to take on Rebecki on the aforementioned date due to undisclosed reasons.

Alvarez will enter the Octagon against Rebecki coming off a Round 2 submission victory against Marc Diakiese in July last year. The win saw him bounce back from a Round 2 technical knockout loss against lightweight Arman Tsarukyan in February 2022. Prior to losing to Tsarukyan, “El Fenomeno” was on a four-fight winning streak in the promotion, defeating the likes of Thiago Moises, Joseph Duffy and Alexander Yakovlev in the first round.

Meanwhile, Rebecki is currently on a 16-fight winning streak — including thre…

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

A welterweight clash between Jared Gooden and Kevin Jousset has been added to a UFC Fight Night event set to go down at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on May 11.

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The news was first reported by Marcel Dorff on X (formerly known as Twitter) and was later confirmed by Jousset in a social media post.

Jousset (10-2) joined the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2023 with an 8-2 record on a three-fight winning streak. The Kiwi has gone 2-0 in the Las Vegas-based promotion since then, first recording a Round 1 submission against Kiefer Crosbie at UFC 293 followed by a unanimous decision win over Kenan Song in December.

Meanwhile, Gooden (23-9) is currently on his second UFC stint after going 1-3 in his first go with promotion. Looking to make it back to the big leagues, “Nite Train” returned to the regional circuit and went on to compile a record of 4-1 with three Round 2 finishe…

PFL vs. Bellator Champs Weigh-insCredit: PFL MMA PFL vs. Bellator Champs Weigh-insCredit: PFL MMA PFL vs. Bellator Champs Weigh-insCredit: PFL MMA PFL vs. Bellator Champs Weigh-insCredit: PFL MMA PFL vs. Bellator Champs Weigh-insCredit: PFL MMA PFL vs. Bellator Champs Weigh-insCredit: PFL MMA PFL vs. Bellator Champs Weigh-insCredit: PFL MMA PFL vs. Bellator Champs Weigh-insCredit: PFL MMA PFL vs. Bellator Champs Weigh-insCredit: PFL MMA PFL vs. Bellator Champs Weigh-insCredit: PFL MMA PFL vs. Bellator Champs Weigh-insCredit: PFL MMA PFL vs. Bellator Champs Weigh-insCredit: PFL MMA PFL vs. Bellator Champs Weigh-insCredit: PFL MMA [embedded content] The first Professional Fighters League card of the year is a pay-per-view pitting the PFL's best against Bellator MMA fighters.

The PFL vs. Bellator Champs card is headlined by an intriguing heavyweight battle between Renan Ferreira and Ryan Bader. The stakes are major as the winner will face Francis Ngannou in his promotional de…

[embedded content] The Ultimate Fighting Championship's busy February caps off with a fight night card in Mexico City.

The main event of UFC Fight Night 237 will see former flyweight king Brandon Moreno take on Brandon Royval. Both flyweights had no issue making weight for the five-round main event, which is a rematch of their 2020 encounter that saw Moreno finish Royval with punches within a round. As for the rest of the card, both Edgar Chairez and Daniel da Silva missed weight for their fight against each other, with Chairez coming in 5 pounds over the flyweight limit and da Silva coming in 1 pound overweight.

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Moreno (21-7-2) is coming off a split-decision loss to Alexandre Pantoja, which saw him drop the flyweight title. "The Assassin Baby" is only 30, though, and will look to show what he has left in the tank. Moreno officially weighed 126 pounds on the dot for what is surprisingly only his third time headlining a UFC event.

Also coming off a…

[embedded content] A freshly signed Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight is making sure he has the best training camp possible for his upcoming debut.

32-year-old Brazilian heavyweight Jhonata Diniz (6-0) earned a spot on the UFC roster by destroying Eduardo Neves on the 2023 season of Dana White's Contender Series, dispatching his fellow countryman in just over three minutes. The 6-foot-4 slugger spared no expense to prepare for his promotional debut, which will be held at an upcoming UFC Fight Night card on April 27 against Austen Lane (12-4). The Curitiba-born Diniz elected to shift gears from his Santa Fe team to the vaunted Chute Boxe camp helmed by Diego Lima to work alongside greats like Charles Oliveira.

“I was very well received here by Diego Lima, Charles and the entire Chute Boxe team,” Diniz told Sherdog. “In addition to great training, the atmosphere here is sensational.”

The former kickboxer, who stepped away from pure striking disciplines in …

Mongolia’s Nachin Sat on Friday put forth an impressive showing in his sophomore ONE Championship outing by submitting Azerbaijan’s Tural Askerov in the first frame of their featherweight showcase at ONE Friday Fights 53 held at the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

Both fighters came out throwing leg kicks and feints in the opening sequence. Thirty seconds into the round, Askerov (4-2) was on top of Sat thanks to a leg kick that threw his opponent off-balance.

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Despite having the advantageous position, Askerov found it hard to get his ground-and-pound off against the Mongolian, who kept fighting with body triangles and elbows from bottom. Just when Askarov seemed to be content with holding the top position, Sat (6-2) managed to sneak in a triangle choke at the 3:51 of Round 1 to walk away with his second ONE Championship victory.

Meanwhile, Chayan Oorzhak recorded his third consecutive ONE Championship win with a unanimous decision over…

#RIZIN_LANDMARK8 in SAGA📣 Weigh-in 💥

⚔️ 9th Match ⚔️ Main EventRIZIN MMA Rule 71.0kg

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🟥 Luiz Gustavo 【70.95kg】🧍‍♂️ Height: 175cm💪 Reach: 179cmーーー🆚ーーー🟦 Yoshinori Horie 【70.95kg】🧍‍♂️ Height: 172cm💪 Reach: 179cm@yossy05101

📡 PPV available on #RIZIN TV⚡️… pic.twitter.com/2Cm72sd6sS

— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) February 23, 2024 Rizin Fighting Federation makes its 2024 debut with Landmark 8.

Headlining the card, which features eight mixed martial arts fights and one kickboxing match, is a lightweight battle between Luiz Gustavo and Yoshinori Horie. Gustavo (12-2) is riding three straight wins in the promotion, while Horie (13-4) recently rebounded from a loss to Vugar Karamov by defeating Spike Carlyle by decision. All fighters on the card made weight.

Rizin Landmark 8 will be available on the promotion's website as a pay-per-view. The card begins tonight at midnight ET/9 p.m. PT.

Rizin Lan…