Martial Arts News

Kayla Harrison believes she has moved a step closer to bringing Amanda Nunes out of retirement with her dominant Ultimate Fighting Championship debut win over Holly Holm.

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Harrison scored a second-round submission win over the former UFC bantamweight champion at UFC 300 on Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The former two-time Olympic gold medalist judoka called for a title shot next, vowing to be champion by the end of 2024.

“I want my title next, Joe [Rogan],” Harrison said in her post-fight interview. “That’s what I came over for here, one thing and one thing only. I don’t care if it’s Raquel [Pennington], I don’t care if it’s Julianna [Pena], by the end of the year I will be UFC champion.”

Harrison’s performance certainly caught the attention of consensus women’s MMA GOAT Amanda Nunes. “The Lioness” retired after defending her bantamweight title against Irene Aldana at UFC 289 in June 2023 but has since alluded to a possib…

Deiveson Figueiredo believes his UFC 300 victory over Cody Garbrandt warrants a title shot next.

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After going toe-to-toe in a close first round, Figueiredo dominated Garbrandt on the ground en route to a rear-naked choke submission in Round 2. Making his case for a title shot next, the 36-year-old noted that he handed the former bantamweight champ the first submission loss of his professional career.

“Cody, he’s a former champion, a magnificent guy, you know, he’s a really big name here,” Figueiredo said during a post-fight media scrum (via YouTube translation). “And I’ve never seen anyone submit Cody Garbrandt, and today I came and dominated the fight against him and I submitted him. And I really hope to have this opportunity to fight for the belt.”

While Figueiredo called for a title shot next, No.1 contender Merab Dvalishvili is expected to get his long overdue title shot against Sean O'Malley sometime later this year. The Brazilian doesn’t…

Islam Makhachev’s next title defense will come against Dustin Poirier in the UFC 302 main event.

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UFC CEO Dana White announced the booking during the UFC 300 post-fight press conference on Saturday night. UFC 302 takes place at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on June 1. Meanwhile, a five-round clash pitting Sean Strickland against Paulo Costa will serve as the evening’s middleweight co-headliner.

Makhachev will carry a 13-bout UFC winning streak into the matchup with Poirier. The Dagestani standout last appeared at UFC 294, where he scored a first-round knockout of ex-featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski this past October.

This will mark Poirier’s third attempt at capturing undisputed lightweight gold after falling to Khabib Nurmagomedov in September 2019 and to Charles Oliveira in December 2021. “The Diamond” is coming off a second-round KO of Benoit St. Denis at UFC 299 on March 9.

Strickland will be fighting for the first …

The long-awaited showdown between Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler finally has a date.

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UFC CEO Dana White announced on Saturday night that McGregor and Chandler will square off in the main event of UFC 303 on June 29. The fight will be contested at 170 pounds. UFC 303 takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and marks the conclusion of International Fight Week.

McGregor and Chandler served as opposing coaches on “The Ultimate Fighter 31,” but their fight has been delayed on multiple occasions since the conclusion of the reality show this past summer.

McGregor will be competing for the first time since July 2021, when he suffered a badly broken leg in a loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264. The former UFC two-division champion has lost three of his last four Octagon appearances, with his lone victory during that time coming via first-round TKO against Donald Cerrone at UFC 246.

Chandler, a former Bellator lightweight king, has also…

When all is said and done, Max Holloway will likely go down as the star of stars at the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s 300th event.

The Hawaiian star earned a whopping $600,000 in bonus money for his efforts at UFC 300 in a BMF title bout against Justin Gaethje at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night. Not only did Holloway earn $300,000 for “Performance of the Night,” but he received another $300,000 for sharing “Fight of the Night” honors with Gaethje. The fight ended in the most memorable fashion possible, as Holloway and Gaethje traded blows in the waning seconds of the fifth round until “Blessed” rendered his opponent unconscious at the 4:59 mark, tying it for the latest finish in a five-round fight in UFC history.

Elsewhere, Jiri Prochazka captured the card’s other $300,000 “Performance of the Night” check by virtue of his stoppage of Aleksandar Rakic in a preliminary light heavyweight clash. After struggling with his opponent’s low kicks in…

A fight we will never forget 👏

Silva vs Sonnen 1, welcome to the UFC HOF! #UFC300 pic.twitter.com/MaN0f0rqZk

— UFC (@ufc) April 14, 2024

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The first time Chael Sonnen locked horns with Anderson Silva, he nearly shocked the world.

To this day, the UFC 117 bout between the two middleweight rivals ranks among the most memorable in promotion history, which is why it will be enshrined in the UFC Hall of Fame “Fight Wing” this summer. While Sonnen controlled the majority of the fight with his wrestling, Silva avoided the upset when he locked in a triangle armbar at the 3:10 mark of Round 5 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

“The first fight between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen was incredible,” said UFC CEO Dana White. “This is the fight that made Anderson a star and showed the world that Chael could compete with anyone in the division. This incredible dogfight had everything you want in a five-round title fig…

The otherworldly power of Alex Pereira claimed another victim, this time under the brightest of all spotlights.

Pereira punched out Jamahal Hill to retain his undisputed Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight crown in the first round of their UFC 300 headliner on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Pereira (10-2, 7-1 UFC) tagged his latest challenger’s figurative toe 3:14 into Round 1.

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Hill (12-2, 6-2 UFC) answered leg kicks from the Brazilian with a few of his own but provided the champion with no real cause for concern. Pereira stalked forward behind stabbing jabs to the body, bided his time and marked his territory with a cold stoicism. He calmly brushed aside referee Herb Dean after absorbing an accidental kick to the groin, decked Hill with a left hook mere seconds later and then pounced with punches and hammerfists to cap a near-flawless performance.

Meanwhile, Syndicate MMA’s Weili Zhang waded through considerable difficulty t…

The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s journey from its modest origins in the early 90s to its current status as a global phenomenon has been nothing short of extraordinary.

Throughout this journey, specific moments stand out as turning points, with very few as prominent as Saturday’s UFC 300 showcase. This landmark event is poised to spotlight the pinnacle of mixed martial arts competition on April 13 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. In the main event, Alex Pereira will attempt to defend the light heavyweight title against Jamahal Hill, the former king who did not lose his throne in competition. The co-main event pits Weili Zhang against Xiaonan Yan in the first all-Chinese championship fight in UFC history. Stay tuned to Sherdog.com as we bring you live coverage and play-by-play of all the action as it unfolds inside the Octagon starting at 6 p.m. ET.

BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Figueiredo (-310), Garbrandt (+250)Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores th…

Jiri Prochazka deals in unadulterated violence.

The former Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight titleholder dispatched Aleksandar Rakic with punches in the second round of their featured UFC 300 prelim on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Rakic (14-4, 6-3 UFC) checked out 3:17 into Round 2, as he bounced back from his Nov. 11 knockout loss to Alex Pereira.

Prochazka (30-4-1, 4-1 UFC) endured some initial suffering. Rakic tortured him with devastating kicks to the lower leg for much of the first five minutes, forcing him to switch stances. Prochazka was undeterred. He wobbled Rakic with right hands on multiple occasions in the second round, eventually set him on skates and gave chase with follow-up punches and a knee strike to the head along the fence. It was the beginning of the end. Rakic ultimately collapsed in the center of the cage, absorbing a barrage of elbows and punches before he turned away from contact. A few more punches fell before refere…

Professional Fighters League’s second card of 2024 witnessed light heavyweight and lightweight competitors go to war in Las Vegas to make a push towards the playoffs.

PFL 2’s light heavyweight action undoubtedly left fans mesmerized as every clash at 205 ended with a finish in the first frame. PFL 2022 light heavyweight king Rob Wilkinson, Joshua Silveira, Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov, 2023 light heavyweight tournament winner Impa Kasanganay and Antonio Carlos Jr. all walked away with the maximum six points thanks to their Round 1 finishes.

Meanwhile, lightweight Michael Dufort earned five points courtesy of a Round 2 submission triumph against Mads Burnell; Clay Collard returned to the win column and bagged five points, scoring a Round 2 technical knockout win against Patricky Freire; Brent Primus also racked up five points in the divisional standings with a submission victory over Bruno Miranda in Round 2; Elvin Espinoza knocked out Adam Piccolotti with a flying knee …

Israel Adesanya isn’t too happy with reigning champion Dricus Du Plessis’ refusal to compete at UFC 300.

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The former middleweight champion, who lost his belt to Sean Strickland at UFC 293, was eagerly hoping to return to action against reigning champion du Plessis at the marquee event that goes down on Saturday. In fact, “The Last Stylebender” had been training for around three to four weeks leading up to the revelation that a fight with Du Plessis at UFC 300 was off the table.

“I was heartbroken, because I thought it was us and I was like, ‘Oh! they’ll announce, they’ll announce it and Tim [Adesanya’s manager] was holding out because he and Hunter, shoutout Hunter and Dana, they were like going back-and-forth and then. I'm glad Tim called me before they announced it, like, I think three minutes before they announced Jamahal [Hill] versus Alex [Pereira] because if I found out on Instagram, I would have been like, Dana would have got calls, because …

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Joshua Silveira is relieved to get back in the win column after suffering a unanimous decision loss against Impa Kasanganay in the finals of the Professional Fighters League 2023 season, regardless of the method of victory.

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Silveira walked away with six points in the PFL light heavyweight point standings after securing a technical knockout due to injury in the first frame against Sadibou Sy in their PFL 2 meeting on Friday.

While both competitors used the initial minute of the round to make reads, Silveira managed to get Sy against the cage and subsequently take him down, only for the Swede to instantly attempt to grab referee Marc Goddard’s attention by waving at him. Once Goddard noted that Sy had dislocated his thumb, the veteran referee was quick to call off the contest at the 1:14 mark.

Despite the odd fight-ending sequence, Silveira is happy to get back in the win column. Interestingly, this isn't the first time the …