Martial Arts News

Brandon Royval and Muhammad Mokaev could possibly be on a collision course to determine the next title contender at 125 pounds.

Advertisement

Mokaev called for a title shot after a grueling decision win over veteran contender Alex Perez at UFC Fight Night 238 on Saturday. However, Royval, who outclassed former champ Brandon Moreno at UFC Mexico a week earlier, is rallying for a title shot of his own.

Discussing Mokaev’s recent clash against Perez, Royval was quick to criticize the 23-year-old's “boring” performance over the weekend, labeling him unworthy of a title shot.

“He's undefeated. Maybe he beat Alex Perez, maybe not. He could be Alex Perez’s only win over a current UFC fighter right now. That being said, I don’t think it warrants a title fight, Royval said on “The MMA Hour” “I didn’t think it was very impressive. After the first round, it just seemed like he was done for. It is what it is. I just didn’t think it was that impressive, in my opinion.”…

Michel Pereira will take a six-bout winning streak into his fight against Michal Oleksiejczuk on Saturday at UFC 299.

Advertisement

The pairing will mark the Brazilian’s second middleweight appearance within the Las Vegas-based promotion.

"The best thing I could do in my life was go up to [185 pounds],” Pereira told Sherdog.com. “Today I’m living and and training much better. At welterweight, I had to lose more than [40 pounds] in two months for every fight. Today is easy.”

Pereira’s opponent, Oleksiejczuk, has won three of his last four Octagon appearances — all by first-round knockout or technical knockout.

"I couldn’t learn how to say his name until [recently],” Pereira said. “This [Polish] guy doesn't kick, [land takedowns] or fight on the ground, but his left hand is really dangerous. I'm totally aware of that, but I think I’m a better boxer than him, and my goal is knock him out. But I’m an MMA fighter. I’m prepared to do what is necessary to get my …

Vinicius Oliveira is aiming high after a spectacular Ultimate Fighting Championship debut on Saturday.

Advertisement

After multiple opponent changes, Oliveira took on fellow debutant Bernardo Sopai on the preliminary card at UFC Fight Night 238. After dropping the first round on the scorecards, Oliveira came from behind to score a spectacular flying knee knockout in the final frame.

“Lok Dog” subsequently called out bantamweight contender Umar Nurmagomedov, who also fought on the same card. Nurmagomedov survived an early knockdown and went on to score a lopsided unanimous decision win over Bekzat Almakhan on the main card.

Oliveira was watching Nurmagomedov’s fight during a post-fight media scrum and labeled the Dagestani standout one dimensional. While the Brazilian initially struggled with grappling during his UFC debut, he plans on sharpening his takedown defense to tackle Nurmagomedov’s wrestling skillset.

“I would like to fight Umar Nurmagomed…

Shocking scenes at the heavyweight fight in Koszalin, Poland! 🇵🇱MMA fighter Marcin Sianos (0-1) made his professional debut today and landed a hurtful blow on Artur Bizewski (9-0) in the second round before initiating ground and pound, landing an elbow.Subsequently, angry… pic.twitter.com/hraFZC87Fr

— Permante (@PermantexG) March 2, 2024

Strange things unfolded during a bout at Rocky Boxing Night in Koszalin, Poland, on Sunday.

MMA veteran Marcin Sianos made his boxing debut against undefeated boxer Artur Bizewski in a heavyweight matchup. Sianos looked close to pulling off an upset win, as he had Bizewski visibly hurt with a flurry of punches early in the second round. However, Sianos bizarrely chose to go for a double leg before knocking his opponent out with ground-and-pound. The referee immediately intervened, disqualifying Sianos, who was subsequently seen running away amidst angry protests from the crowd.

Sianos later posted a leng…

Lightweights Elves Brener and Myktybek Orolbai are slated to clash at UFC 301 on May 4.

Advertisement

Multiple outlets confirmed the booking following an initial report from Ag.Fight. UFC 301 takes place at Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro. A headliner has not been announced for the event.

A training partner of former lightweight champ Charles Oliveira, Brener emerged as one of the most highly-touted prospects of the Chute Boxe Diego Lima team in 2023. After scoring huge upset wins against Zubaira Tukhugov and Guram Kutateladze, Brener scored a first-round KO win over Kaynan Kruschewsky in his last outing in November.

Meanwhile, Orolbai made his promotional debut on four days’ notice at welterweight against Uros Medic in November, scoring an impressive submission win. The Kyrgyz standout hasn’t lost a fight since 2020 and now rides a seven-fight winning streak.

Khabib Nurmagomedov refuses to be lured into an Octagon return despite repeated attempts from the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Advertisement

Nurmagomedov revealed that his manager, Ali Abdelaziz, was recently approached by the promotion for a potential return at the UFC 300 card on April 13. However, “The Eagle” has instructed Abdelaziz to not patch any messages through about return offers.

Nurmagomedov hung up his gloves for good with his perfect record intact after successfully defending his lightweight title against Justin Gaethje in the main event of UFC 254 in October 2020. The Dagestani icon has since stuck to the promise he made to his mother of not fighting after the death of his father, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, who passed away in 2020.

In an interview with MMAjunkie.com, Nurmagomedov was asked if the UFC contacted him directly about coming out of retirement.

“Honestly no. Honestly no,” he said. “I know they connect with Ali [Abdelaziz]. …

Justin Tafa is returning the favor for his sibling.

Advertisement

The elder Tafa will replace his brother, Junior Tafa, and face Karl Williams at UFC on ESPN 53 on March 23. MMA Mania was first to report the new heavyweight matchup, and it was later confirmed by Williams on social media.

Junior Tafa previously stepped in on short notice when Justin Tafa suffered an undisclosed injury during fight week ahead of UFC 298. Junior would go on to suffer a second-round TKO defeat to Marcos Rogerio de Lima at the Feb. 17 event in Anaheim, California.

Justin Tafa is unbeaten in his last four Octagon appearances. Most recently, the 30-year-old Aussie knocked out Austen Lane in 82 seconds at UFC 293 this past September.

A winner on Dana White's Contender Series in 2022, Williams has been victorious in nine of his 10 professional outings. He is 2-0 in UFC competition, with back-to-back decision triumphs over Lukasz Brzeski and Chase Sherman to his credit.

<…

Sean O'Malley knows that Marlon Vera isn’t your typical No. 1 contender. And he believes his opponent knows it, too.

Advertisement

However, Vera's history with the reigning bantamweight champion — namely a first-round TKO over O’Malley in August 2020 — makes for an intriguing storyline. And it doesn’t hurt that O’Malley himself wants to avenge his lone career defeat. He’ll get a chance to do so when he faces Vera in the UFC 299 main event on Saturday at the Kaseya Center in Miami.

“Zero percent chance [he gets a shot if I’m not champion],” O’Malley said in a recent interview with ESPN. “There’s guys [that] deserve [it]: Cory [Sandhagen], Merab [Dvalishvili] — you could argue those guys deserve a title fight over ‘Chito.’ I went out there and knocked out the greatest bantamweight of all time. I said ‘Hey, I want one thing. Let me have the ‘Chito’ rematch.’ I’ve never asked for it. I’ve never really asked for anything. Let me have this ‘Chito’ fight. …

“I neve…

Shamil Gaziev’s first career defeat was a harsh dose of reality.

Advertisement

After relying on his grappling to win the opening round of the UFC Fight Night 238 headliner against Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Gaziev faded badly from that point forward. For the next three rounds. his wrestling was denied and absorbed multiple jabs from his opponent, an assault which led to the bout being waved off by referee Marc Goddard before the fifth round.

While it appeared that Gaziev’s resolve weakened over the course of the bout, he released a post-fight statement on social media vowing to get better.

“First of all, congratulations [Jairzinho Rozenstruik]. Good job today,” Gaziev wrote on X. “Got eye and nose damage in [the second round] and couldn’t follow [the] fight plan. If anyone thinks it will break me, I will disappoint you. I’m going to return [to the] gym in the coming days, and I promise my fans to get better.”

First of all congratula…

While Jairzinho Rozenstruik has a few names in mind after stopping the previously-undefeated Shamil Gaziev at UFC Fight Night 238, he isn’t willing to get fixated on chasing any one matchup.

After losing the opening frame due to a grappling exchange, Rozenstruik jabbed Gaziev for three rounds, compromising the Russian’s vision, leading to a TKO via retirement at the end of the fourth. Having fought only once in 2023, Rozenstruik hopes to stay more active with a return planned for this summer.

At Saturday’s post-fight press conference, the Surinamese heavyweight named Tai Tuivasa, Derrick Lewis, Sergey Spivak and interim champ Tom Aspinall as potential future opponents. Rozenstruik also doesn’t want to get tied down to one particular booking as it involves the risk of inactivity if the opponent isn’t ready.

“When I’d like to fight next would be close [to] July, August. And who I’d like to fight, you know what it is, I never say a name because then when tha…

Umar Nurmagomedov wants to settle the score with Cory Sandhagen after defeating Bekzat Almakhan at UFC Fight Night 238.

Advertisement

Nurmagomedov survived an early scare after getting dropped in the first round and rallied to score a thoroughly dominant unanimous decision win over the Kazakh debutant, who was riding an eight-fight winning streak with seven finishes. Nurmagomedov acknowledged his opponent’s toughness and isn’t fretting over the lack of a finish.

“When I’m going inside cage it was father plan: we gonna take him down, try to finish him but finish not work,” Nurmagomedov said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “He didn’t let [it happen]. But it’s OK.”

Nurmagomedov subsequently called out Sandhagen, who he was scheduled to face this past July before pulling out due to a shoulder injury. The undefeated Russian also addressed pullout accusations, noting that his health has only been responsible for two matchups falling through, one of w…

Muhammad Mokaev believes he is deserving of a title shot following his decision win over Alex Perez at UFC Fight Night 238.

Advertisement

Mokaev landed three out of a total of 20 attempted takedowns in a grueling affair but was ultimately able to get the nod on the scorecards. “The Punisher” later revealed that he was sick in the morning but was able to make the walk to the Octagon with support from his team.

“To be honest, I was very sick this morning,” Mokaev said. “But I have the best team in the world, KHK MMA.”

While he maintained his unbeaten record, Mokaev arguably faced the toughest test of his career against the flyweight veteran. While he struggled with his grappling, the Dagestan-born British contender was glad to have used some of his striking.

“Of course they all wait for wrestling,” he said. “At least I show more than six strikes tonight. [In] my other fights six, seven strikes I throw. But it’s okay… Hey, 6-0 in the UFC, four finishes. List…