Martial Arts News

Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight champ Sean O'Malley has suggested that financial obstacles may be the reason for Conor McGregor’s absence.

Former two-division champ McGregor has been inactive since July 2021, when he suffered a broken leg in a trilogy match against Dustin Poirier. While he recently returned to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency’s (USADA) testing pool, “Notorious” has yet to be booked for his return to the Octagon. McGregor expressed his frustration on Saturday with the delay in his return, and even teased another shift to boxing.

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O’Malley, on his podcast “TimboSugarShow” on Monday, pontificated whether another McGregor fight makes financial sense for the UFC. He suggested the kind of deal they might have with the Irishman, Forbes’ highest-earning athlete in 2021, could be restrictive or detrimental for the UFC.

“You know what’s crazy is Conor is supposedly just begging for a fight,” O’Malley remarked. “‘Give me a fight. Let me…

When it comes to Miesha Tate vs. Holly Holm, it boils down to a classic tale of “she said, she said.”

In early December, Tate (19-9) spoke on The MMA Hour about her recovery following her match against Julia Avila and what she wanted next. “Cupcake” was open about the outcome-dependent result, in that she would have considered retirement with a loss but would like to push on following a win. Her attention turned towards the field of bantamweight contenders, but one name caught her eye more than the others: former foe Holm.

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When asked about potentially rematching Holm on UFC 300 in April, Tate was not at all opposed to it, health permitting.

“I think it’s a great time,” Tate replied. “I think that sounds reasonable [to fight Holm again]. I did get a little bit of an injury leaving that fight [against Avila]. So, I’ve got to get an MRI and check myself out just to make sure. But it’s not very severe … I’ve been walking around, and I think I’m actu…

IT'S OFFICIAL 🚨 Two-division king Anatoly Malykhin challenges Reinier de Ridder for the ONE Middleweight MMA World Championship in the main event of ONE 166: Qatar 🔥 Can the Russian superstar make history and become ONE's first three-division World Champion or will "The Dutch… pic.twitter.com/bmvckSh1KG

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) December 28, 2023 ONE Championship two-division champ Anatoliy Malykhin is looking to make mixed martial arts history in March.

Per the organization via press release on Thursday, Malykhin (13-0), the reigning champion in ONE’s heavyweight and light heavyweight (225 pounds) divisions, will be dropping down to its middleweight (205 pounds) category to vie for another strap. In doing so, he will rematch Reinier de Ridder (16-1), the man he snatched the 225-pound strap from last December. The two serve as the main attraction for One 166, which will go down at the Lusail Sports Arena in Lusail, Qatar, on March …

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Multiple-time Brazilian karate champion Chinzo Machida made a return to the ring earlier this month at Karate Combat 43, where he earned a unanimous decision win over American kickboxing veteran Shannon “The Cannon” Hudon.

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“It’s been a long time,” Machida told Sherdog.com. “I’m focused on teaching at my academy [Machida Karate] in Los Angeles. But a fighter is always a fighter. When the invitation came against a veteran in similar shape, I thought it was a good way to return. And It was a hell of an experience, but I don’t intend to keep fighting. My goal now is to spread Machida Karate.”

According to Chinzo, Karate Combat has expressed interest in signing Lyoto Machida. However, he doesn’t believe the organization will make an offer his brother will accept. Chinzo revealed that his father, Yoshizo, motivated his kids to fight at a young age.

“My father is a classical Japanese [man]. Since we were kids, he taught us that fight…

Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight Arnold Allen would have admittedly preferred a bigger name than the undefeated Movsar Evloev for his next Octagon appearance.

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Allen will look to bounce back from his first UFC loss against Max Holloway when he takes on Evloev at UFC 297 on Jan. 20 in Toronto. The Englishman had originally lobbied for a clash against Brian Ortega, who was ultimately booked for a rematch against Yair Rodriguez at UFC Mexico. While Allen had hoped for a more notable name, he believes Evloev is underrated.

“He’s very highly touted,” Allen recently told Violent Money TV. “I think there was some easier fights with higher-ranked guys. We were asking straight up for Ortega after the Holloway fight – the bigger name, the bigger fight – and obviously he was out for a while. Then I think they just want to make him and Yair rematch down the line.”

“I think that’s what they’re doing now. There’s some easier matchups and higher-…

The full incident between Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis at #UFC296 tonight.

Bring on #UFC297 in January! pic.twitter.com/HQt0Uj1jiv

— UFC (@ufc) December 17, 2023

Gilbert Burns recently shared some insider information about the cagedside brawl between Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 296.

Strickland will defend his middleweight strap against Du Plessis at UFC 297 on Jan. 20 in Toronto. The bad blood started during a seasonal press conference to promote their fight, where Du Plessis brought up Strickland’s abusive childhood. The two were seated close to each other while in attendance at UFC 296 the next day, which also led to speculation about the brawl being staged.

However, Burns, who along with his family had a first row seat to the whole episode, claims the scuffle was real. Before leaping over chairs to attack Du Plessis, Strickland could be seen asking Burns’ wife and child to move. “Durinho” claims …

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Aljamain Sterling rolled the dice on the supposed star power of Sean O'Malley but came away unimpressed.

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Sterling (23-4) lost his strap to O’Malley (17-1) via second-round knockout in the main event at UFC 292 in August, for which he received a share of the pay-per-view sales, and those figures were apparently disappointing. Without revealing the exact figure, Sterling said on his YouTube channel:

“I got the pay-per-view numbers, and me and her were going through it, and I’m just like, ‘These are the numbers that this guy was trying to say he’s this big pay-per-view star?' I’m just like, ‘Oh my God.’ When I saw the numbers, I literally said to her, ‘If I had any idea this is what the numbers would have been, if I could have predicted that this is what it would have been, my ass would have waited and taken my vacation then.'”

Sterling’s clash against O’Malley came three months after a successful title defense against Henry C…

Andre Petroski will square off against Jacob Malkoun in a middleweight showdown at UFC Atlantic City on March 30.

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Petroski announced the pairing via social media. The UFC Fight Night event takes place at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey and features a women’s flyweight scrap pitting Erin Blanchfield against Manon Fiorot.

Petroski last appeared at UFC Fight Night 230 on Oct. 14, when he suffered a first-round technical knockout loss against Michel Pereira. That snapped a five-bout promotional winning streak for the 32-year-old Renzo Gracie Philly product.

Malkoun, meanwhile, has lost two of his last three bouts under the UFC banner. In his lone outing of 2023, the 28-year-old Australian suffered a disqualification defeat at UFC Fight Night 228 when he landed an illegal elbow against Cody Brundage 4:15 into the opening stanza of their Sept. 23 encounter.

Dricus Du Plessis claims to have no hard feelings for Sean Strickland after their recent scuffle.

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“Stillknocks” is slated to challenge Strickland for the middleweight title in the main event at UFC 297 on Jan. 20 in Toronto. The two initially got into a war of words during the UFC’s seasonal press conference in Las Vegas, which was held to promote upcoming events. Strickland and Du Plessis were seemingly seated too close for comfort a day later while in attendance at UFC 296, which resulted in a physical altercation between the two fighters. After a verbal exchange, Strickland was seen jumping over chairs to attack Du Plessis before being separated by security and escorted out of the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Du Plessis claims to harbor no ill feelings for Strickland, as he did what any “real man” in his position would have.

“For me, I was completely calm about – I wasn’t angry. I was having fun, and the security was like, ‘You need to c…

While Ian Garry might have been a target of ridicule leading up to UFC 296, the Irishman believes most of the online hate he received wasn’t real.

Garry has attracted a lot of attention recently for everything ranging from his relationship with his wife to his questionable gym etiquette. As a result, Garry was one of the most eagerly-awaited fighters at UFC 296 media day ahead of his proposed clash with Vicente Luque. However, “The Future” failed to show up to the session and was pulled from the bout a day after due to pneumonia. While Garry inevitably faced a lot of online hate, he believes most of it was fake. The former Cage Warriors champion thanked his true fans in a post on Instagram.

“Fight week didn’t go as planned,” Garry wrote. “Influenza developed into pneumonia as I dropped weight and for the first time in my career I was pulled by the UFC doctor. Flying home I met so many fans who flew out specifically to see me. F—k. This is not how I wanted to m…

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Deontay Wilder is at peace with his decision loss to Joseph Parker on the Day of Reckoning card this past weekend weekend.

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“The Bronze Bomber” appeared somewhat complacent throughout the build-up to the fight, and he went on drop scorecards of 118-111, 118-110 and 120-108 in a significant upset. Asked about his plans for the future, Wilder hinted that he might be nearing retirement.

“We’ll see what happens,” he said during his post-fight interview in the ring. “We have a little bit more left, but I’ve done a great job with managing my money, investing and I’m a happy fighter. We go ahead and do what we do, and we go home and live and spread love to the family and all our loved ones, and then on to the next. I’m a warrior, so I’ll be back soon. And if not, then it’s been an enjoyment. It is been a pleasure and I appreciate everybody for the love and the support that they’ve been giving me for over the years.”

A 2008 Olympic b…

Mayra Bueno Silva and Raquel Pennington will square off at UFC 297 for the women’s bantamweight crown, which was left vacant when Amanda Nunes retired in June.

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Silva was so excited when she heard the announcement that she was initially confused about her opponent, as she at first thought she would be facing former champ Julianna Pena at the Jan. 20 event.

“At first I thought it was going to be Julianna, so we started watching all of Julianna’s fights after dinner,” Silva recently told MMAFighting.com. “A week later, I found out it was against Raquel. I didn’t even think about it, I thought it was Julianna because we were planning for that, right? I was super happy, already studying for Julianna, and then, ‘No, no, no, it’s Raquel.’ I was so excited [to fight for the UFC title], I didn’t even ask who the opponent was.”

While Silva would have preferred Pena as an opponent for marquee value, she believes Pennington will be the tougher fight. Read more