Martial Arts News

Drakkar Klose believes he’d have Beneil Dariush’s spot in the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s lightweight rankings by now if not for his loss to “Benny.”

Currently unranked at lightweight, Klose’s only loss in seven outings since 2017 came against Dariush (22-5) via a Round 2 knockout in 2020. The Fight Ready representative believes the loss impeded his rise up the lightweight rankings and admits to being haunted by it to this day. Considering the same, Klose is eager to get another opportunity to face off against Dariush.

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“What I really want is that Beneil fight back,” Klose said on The MMA Hour. “You know what I mean, that haunts me every day. That he has that win over me. That should be my number next to my name that he has,”

In his most recent Octagon appearance, Klose (13-2) slammed his opponent Joe Solecki on the side of the head to escape an armbar, leading to the 13th slam KO in UFC history at UFC on ESPN 52 on Dec. 2. Meanwhile, Dariush …

What should be a banger at 145 pounds has been booked for the Apex in February.

The UFC’s broadcast partner of ESPN announced on Wednesday night that “50K” Dan Ige (17-7) would be returning to the cage in February against the unbeaten Lerone Murphy (13-0-1). The two featherweights will toe the line, possibly with top-10 implications for the victor, inside of the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. This Feb. 10 UFC Fight Night showdown has since been confirmed by both men on their respective Instagram pages.

Ige will be looking to re-enter the win column after a tough decision loss to Bryce Mitchell in September, albeit one that some observers thought Ige had done enough to win. The defeat put an end to a two-fight win streak for the Hawaiian, who punched out Damon Jackson in January and then outworked Nate Landwehr in June. Across his last 11 outings, the man known as “50K” has earned himself a pair of $50,000 bonuses with his knockouts of Gavin Tucker and the aforementioned Jack…

When Simeon Powell saw Anthony Joshua vs. Wladimir Klitschko go down at Wembley Stadium with 90,000 fans in attendance in April 2017, the then-teenager knew what he wanted in life.

Having just commenced dabbling in muay thai, Powell was on security duty for the heavyweight title clash. However, what he didn’t expect was to be in the front row as Joshua stopped the Ukrainian in the 11th frame.

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“It gave me chills; I’ll remember it for the rest of my life,” Powell recently told The Sun. “It was crazy, the production, the atmosphere, I was like, ‘This is what I want.’”

“Smooth” turned pro in 2021 and has since racked up seven finishes in nine undefeated outings. Powell signed with the

Professional Fighters League, competing in the three-stage PFL Europe tournament with $100,000 up for grabs along with a chance to enter the $1 million global season. After a submission win over Mohamed Amine and a decision win over Daniel Ladero Gartner, Powell is s…

The BIGGEST NIGHT in European MMA history 🤩

💥 @SMOOTH_MMA vs @jakob_mma💥 @dakotadofficial vs Valentina Scatizzi💥 John Mitchell vs @kielbasaFL💥 @FransMlambo vs Khurshed Kakhorov

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The @PFLEurope Championship is live this Friday on @DAZNmma #ad 🍿 — ODDSbible (@ODDSbible) December 7, 2023

Frans Mlambo fought back the urge to retire several times in his career and is just now starting to reap the fruits of his labor.

Fighting out of Straight Blast Gym in Ireland, which is also home to Ultimate Fighting Championship superstar Conor McGregor, Mlambo’s mixed martial arts career hasn’t been a smooth ride. Apart from going back and forth in his early career, “The Zulu Irishman” even considered retirement at times due to a lack of opportunities.

“Throughout the years there’s actually been a few times where that’s happened. I’ve thought, ‘This sport is flipping stupid. I’m working too hard and not getting the returns…

Brandon Moreno will serve as the backup fighter for the flyweight championship bout set for the UFC 296 co-main event.

Alexandre Pantoja will defend his 125-pound belt against Brandon Royval on Dec. 16 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Should anything go awry with either athlete, Moreno will be available to serve as replacement. Multiple outlets confirmed Moreno’s status following an initial report from Eurosport Nederland.

Moreno relinquished the flyweight strap to Pantoja via split decision at UFC 290 in a “Fight of the Year” candidate. “The Assassin Baby” is expected to face Amir Albazi in a five-round, co-main event at UFC Mexico City on Feb. 24. That could change, however, if he is called upon at UFC 296.

Pantoja previously faced Royval at UFC on ESPN 29, winning via second-round rear-naked choke in August 2021. Royval has won three straight fights since that defeat to secure a shot at flyweight gold.

Josh Emmett will get to remain on the UFC 296 card after all.

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The Las Vegas-based promotion announced Wednesday that Bryce Mitchell will replace the injured Giga Chikadze and face Emmett in a featherweight bout on Dec. 16 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Chikadze was forced to withdraw from the event after suffering a torn groin in training.

Mitchell was successful in his first appearance of 2023, as he outpointed Dan Ige at UFC Fight Night 228 on Sept. 23. “Thug Nasty” has lost just once in a 17 professional outings — a second-round submission defeat to Ilia Topuria at UFC 282.

Emmett, meanwhile, is coming off back-to-back losses against Ilia Topuria and Yair Rodriguez in his last two Octagon appearances.

UFC 296 is headlined by a welterweight championship clash between Leon Edwards and Colby Covington. Emmett vs. Mitchell is currently slated for the preliminary draw, which airs on ESPN2 and ESPN+ beginning at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.

Trainer Diego Lima says Charles Oliveira has a date in mind for his rematch against reigning lightweight champion Islam Makhachev.

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“My plan was to start talks with the UFC [Wednesday], but [Ian] Garry just arrived, so possibly [Thursday] we will have a meeting to decide. Charles wants that rematch with Makhachev in March [at UFC 299] before Ramadan, so that will be our main focus,” Lima said. “But if the UFC wants us to wait for Ramadan, we will do it. We are not in a hurry. The most important thing for us is to have Charles face Islam next.”

Lima has also considered the possibility of a rumored card in Brazil, which according to American Top Team trainer Marcos da Matta will be announced for May 4 in Rio de Janeiro.

"It´s gonna be a chess match. Fighting in March would be our priority, but for sure one of Charles’ dreams is to fight for the belt in front of his home fans. The UFC already announced [Sean O’Malley vs. Marlon Vera 2] as title f…

A flyweight clash pitting Muhammad Mokaev against Alex Perez is on tap for the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s inaugural visit to Saudia Arabia.

Multiple outlets confirmed the pairing on Wednesday following an initial announcement from Perez’s management, Iridium Sports Agency. The UFC Fight Night event is expected to be held at Boulevard Hall in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia, on March 2. A headliner for the card has not been announced.

With victories in his first five promotional appearances, the 23-year-old Mokaev is one of the rising stars in the UFC’s flyweight division. In his last outing, “The Punisher” submitted former title challenger Tim Elliott with an arm-triangle choke in the third round of their matchup at UFC 294. Mokaev has won four of his five UFC fights by way of submission.

Perez hasn’t competed since suffering a first-round submission defeat against current 125-pound champ Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 277 in July 2022. That was preceded by a title…

A flyweight clash pitting Muhammad Mokaev against Alex Perez is on tap for the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s inaugural visit to Saudi Arabia.

Multiple outlets confirmed the pairing on Wednesday following an initial announcement from Perez’s management, Iridium Sports Agency. The UFC Fight Night event is expected to be held at Boulevard Hall in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on March 2. A headliner for the card has not been announced.

With victories in his first five promotional appearances, the 23-year-old Mokaev is one of the rising stars in the UFC’s flyweight division. In his last outing, “The Punisher” submitted former title challenger Tim Elliott with an arm-triangle choke in the third round of their matchup at UFC 294. Mokaev has won four of his five UFC fights by way of submission.

Perez hasn’t competed since suffering a first-round submission defeat against current 125-pound champ Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 277 in July 2022. That was preceded by a title f…

Molly McCann is headed to the strawweight division for a rematch against Diana Belbita at an Ultimate Fighting Championship event on Feb. 3.

The Las Vegas-based promotion announced the booking on Wednesday. UFC Fight Night takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a middleweight duel between Roman Dolidze and Nassourdine Imavov.

McCann and Belbita initially squared off in a 125-pound contest at UFC on ESPN 6, where “Meatball” captured a unanimous decision triumph in October 2019. The 33-year-old Liverpool, England, native is 6-5 in the Octagon and is coming off back-to-back losses against Erin Blanchfield and Julija Stoliarenko.

Belbita dropped to strawweight after losing her first two UFC appearances at 125 pounds. She has since gone 2-2 in the promotion, including a unanimous decision loss to Karolina Kowalkiewicz in her most recent outing at UFC Fight Night 229 on Oct. 7.

Raul Rosas Jr. believes that while Sean O'Malley brings a lot of attention to the Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight division, there is also a downside to his championship reign.

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O’Malley (17-1) won the title with a highlight-reel knockout win over Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292 in August. “Sugar” is now set to defend his strap at UFC 299 in March in a rematch against Marlon Vera (21-8-1), who handed the champ his lone professional loss in 2020. The booking happened mainly based on the history between the two, even though Sterling’s teammate Merab Dvalishvili, who is on a nine-fight win streak, is widely considered to be the rightful contender.

While “El Nino Problema” (8-1) acknowledged the attention O’Malley’s stardom brings to the division, he believes “Sugar” might hold up the title shots of rightful contenders who are tough stylistic matchups for him.

“The truth is that there are a lot of tough styles for him that are in title co…

Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight contender Jailton Almeida believes his next fight should be against interim champ Tom Aspinall.

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Aspinall scored a Round 1 knockout win over Russian standout Sergei Pavlovich in a short-notice interim title booking at UFC 295 on Nov. 11. A week prior, Almeida earned a lopsided decision win over Derrick Lewis at UFC Fight Night 231 and proceeded to call out former interim champ Ciryl Gane in the aftermath of that victory.

While “Malhadinho” is still interested in a clash against Gane, he believes his next outing might be against Aspinall after he recently heard the Brit mention his name in an interview. While Aspinall is arguably one of the most agile and speedy heavyweights to step inside the Octagon, Almeida believes he can match up with the interim champ in that aspect.

“Against Ciryl Gane would be ideal, but Tom Aspinall already spoke to the media or whoever and is already talking about a fight wit…