Martial Arts News

Mark Hunt won’t be able to sue the UFC, promotion CEO Dana White and Brock Lesnar, per a ruling from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday.

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According to courthousenews.com, the Ninth Circuit upheld a previous ruling from U.S. District Judge Jennifer Dorsey in 2023, when she determined that Hunt failed to prove that the promotion and White booked him against Brock Lesnar at UFC while knowing that his opponent was using performance enhancing drugs. The Ninth Circuit took a slightly different stance than Dorsey in its decision.

"Unfortunately, Hunt does not point to any evidence in the record of any physical, emotional, economic, or reputational damage or harm attributable to Defendants-Appellees’ conduct," the three-judge panel wrote in its ruling. "Indeed, while maintaining that such evidence does in fact exist, Hunt acknowledged both in his reply brief and at argument that evidence of damages has not yet been 'adequately presented.'"

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Mario Bautista is eyeing a rematch against Cory Sandhagen if both of them win their next outings.

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Bautista is scheduled to fight Marlon Vera at UFC 316 on June 7 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. While Bautista isn’t looking past Vera, he is expecting a Top 5 opponent if he wins at UFC 316. And Bautista’s first preference would be Sandhagen, who submitted him in the first round of his UFC debut in 2019.

“Don’t want to look too far forward, but if I get past ‘Chito’ my No. 1 pick would be against Sandhagen,” Bautista told Home of Fight. “I would love to get that rematch back, and it would feel a little weird if I somehow passed him in the rankings without fighting him.”

While Bautista is now 9-2 in the UFC and riding a seven-fight winning streak, Vera is on a two-fight skid. Meanwhile, Sandhagen comes off a unanimous decision loss against Umar Nurmagomedov that ended a three-fight winning streak. “The Sandman” i…

Carlos Prates is well prepared for his next headlining opportunity.

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The Brazilian, who arrived in Kansas City, Missouri, on Monday, spoke to Sherdog.com about his upcoming fight with Ian Garry in the UFC on ESPN 66 main event on Saturday night. Prates was originally supposed to face Geoff Neal at UFC 314 in a three-round bout on April 12 before his opponent withdrew from the event.

"I didn’t do anything different in that camp. Actually I always train for five rounds, even when I fight three rounds, so it was basically the same,” Prates said. “The only difference is that I brought BJJ master Vagner Motta to help me with takedown defense and ground skills.”

According to The Fighting Nerds representative, the scale will not be a problem for him, either.

"Since my last fight I started to work with my nutritionist to gain weight and get stronger in the division. I started this camp weighing 90 kilograms (198 pounds), but I'm already weighing 82 k…

Vitor Belfort recently interacted with larger-than-life figure from another sport for the second time.

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Having lived in Florida with his family for more than 10 years, the former UFC champion was in attendance at UFC 314 in Miami earlier this month.

In an exclusive interview with Sherdog.com, Belfort commented on his meeting with basketball legend Shaquille O'Neal, praised The Fighting Nerds and advised former opponent Jon Jones to not face Tom Aspinall.

“In this video I made with Shaquille, he remembered the day we met 29 years ago. It was at my debut at Super Brawl 2 in Hawaii in 1996. I was 18 years old and he went to the event with the entire Los Angeles Lakers team,” Belfort told Sherdog.com. “If I'm not mistaken, the next day would be Kobe Bryant’s debut with the Lakers. In this meeting, I told him, remember I told you that you would fall in love with this sport. It was so nice to meet him again, [with both of us] in attendance as MMA…

🚨 Nassourdine Imavov on why he isn't interested in the Caio Borralho fight:

"He'll get KOed. He'll sleep. Then they're gonna say 'It's normal. He was [ranked] #1, you see'.

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That's their way of managing their careers. Falling forwards. It's better to fall forwards than… pic.twitter.com/t1s5b8dg6i — Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) April 21, 2025

Nassourdine Imavov believes losing to him would be Caio Borralho’s biggest claim to fame.

Borralho was rallying for a matchup against Imavov until recently. However, Imavov explained why the matchup didn’t make sense for him. The UFC middleweight contender has no doubt that he would knock Borralho out. However, the Frenchman believes Borralho’s team would then claim that it was expected that he would lose to the top contender.

"He'll get KO’ed. He'll sleep,” Imavov said. “Then they're gonna say 'It's normal. He was [ranked] No. 1, you see.’ That's their way of managin…

Arman Tsarukyan defends Islam Makhachev's stance of not fighting Ilia Topuria.🤝

"Islam doesn't want to fight him because if he beats Topuria, people gonna say 'You again beat a 145-pound fighter.' And if Islam beats me, I think he's done with this division."

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🎥 @JaxxonPodcast pic.twitter.com/CL4Y9W8qCL — Red Corner MMA (@RedCorner_MMA) April 21, 2025

Arman Tsarukyan understands why Islam Makhachev doesn’t want to fight Ilia Topuria.

Topuria recently vacated his featherweight title and is rallying for a lightweight gold bid against Makhachev. However, Makhachev isn’t willing to fight “La Leyenda” immediately, as he claims he has little to gain from the matchup.

Makhachev has defended his title twice against two-time featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski, who was once the No. 1 pound-for-pound UFC fighter. Regardless, many undermined those wins, saying Makhachev beat a smaller opponent. Hence, Makhachev doesn’t …

Tagir Ulanbekov once decided to obey Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov and certainly doesn’t regret it.

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The late Abdulmanap, father of former UFC champ Khabib Nurmagomedov, is regarded as a pioneer of Russian MMA who trained a legion of elite fighters. Ulanbekov is one the fighters who benefitted from the tutelage of Abdulmanap since his early career.

Back in 2006, Ulanbekov joined his cousins, who were going to join Abdulmanap’s gym. Abdulmanap summoned Ulanbekov and one of his cousins — both of whom had long hair — and asked them to shorten it by the next day. Ulanbekov decided to obey and there was no looking back.

“So we’re in the gym, I had longer hair back then,” Ulanbekov told Red Corner MMA. “Both me and one of my cousins. So he looked at us and said, ‘You two, where are you from?’ And I said, ‘We came here to train.’ He took my hair like this [grabbed] pulled me out of the line-up and said, ‘I’ll grab your hair and throw a knee. Cut it off by…

Nazim Sadykhov will get a homecoming when he meets Nikolas Motta at UFC Baku.

Both fighters confirmed the lightweight booking following an initial report from MMAjunkie.com. The UFC Fight Night event takes place at Baku Crystal Hall in Baku, Azerbaijan, on June 21 and is headlined by a light heavyweight showdown between Khalil Rountree and Jamahal Hill.

A native of Baku, Sadykhov is 3-0-1 in his first four Octagon appearances — with a draw against Viacheslav Borshchev the only blemish on his ledger thus far. In his last outing, the Longo-Weidman MMA representative scored a first-round doctor stoppage win against Ismael Bonfim at UFC Vegas 102 on Feb. 15.

Brazil’s Motta will be competing for the first time this year. The 32-year-old is coming off a 2-0 campaign in 2024 that saw him saw him defeat Tom Nolan via first-round TKO and take a three-round verdict over Maheshate Hayisaer.

🏆🔥Carlos Prates says a win over Ian Garry puts him one fight away from the title:

"I want to fight twice this year and then fight for the belt in 2026."

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🎥 YT Nicolas Henrique▫️ pic.twitter.com/zdRj1QHgSf — Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) April 20, 2025

Carlos Prates thinks he is on the cusp of getting a UFC title shot.

Prates is scheduled to headline UFC Kansas City -- also known as UFC on ESPN 66 -- against Ian Garry on Saturday at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri. “The Nightmare” believes a win over Garry puts him just one more win away from a UFC welterweight title shot. While Prates has been unusually active since his UFC debut last year, the Brazilian is in no rush to fight again this year. Prates is looking at two fights this year and expecting a title shot by next year if he wins.

“I believe that if I beat Ian Garry, I’ll fight one more time and then I will fight for the title,” Prates tol…

😳Khamzat Chimaev shares a photo of him submitting Caio Borralho

📸 @KChimaev ▫️ pic.twitter.com/acLZpwkM1u

— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) April 21, 2025

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Khamzat Chimaev is flexing about his sparring session with Caio Borralho amid rumors of a matchup between the two.

Borralho recently claimed that Chimaev has accepted a matchup with him, potentially for an interim middleweight title. “The Natural” also believes it’ll be a bigger draw than Chimaev fighting champ Dricus Du Plessis for the title.

“Khamzat said yes! The only thing that makes sense is the Interim belt!” Borralho wrote on X. “This fight is gonna be bigger than him vs Dricus! Mark my words.”

Khamzat said yes!

The only thing that makes sense is the Interim belt!

This fight is gonna be bigger than him vs Dricus! Marks my words

— Caio Borralho (@BorralhoCaio) April 20, 2025

While Chimaev didn’t refute rumors of the …

A trio of women’s fights have been officially announced for UFC Vegas 106 on May 17.

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The Las Vegas-based promotion confirmed two strawweight bouts — Tecia Pennington vs. Luana Pinheiro and Denise Gomes vs. Elise Reed — and one bantamweight contest — Luana Santos vs. Tainara Lisboa — in a recent post on social media.

UFC Vegas 106 — also known as UFC Fight Night 256 — takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a welterweight clash pitting Gilbert Burns against Michael Morales.

Pennington snapped a two-bout skid in her last outing, when she outpointed former 115-pound queen Carla Esparza at UFC 307 this past October.

Pinheiro is looking to end a three-fight losing streak that includes losses to Amanda Ribas, Angela Hill and Gillian Robertson. Her last victory came in April 2023, when she took a split verdict over Michelle Waterson-Gomez at UFC 287.

Gomez has won four of her last five Octagon appearances and is coming of…

Ahmad Sohail Hassanzada’s UFC debut has been put on hold after he was arrested on two felony charges over the weekend.

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According to Sacramento County Main Jail records, Hassanzada has been charged with a lewd or lavicious act with a child under 14 and a lewd act on a child/victim aged 14 or 15 where the defendant is 10 or more years older than the victim. Bail has been set at $400,000, and Hassanzada’s next court appearance is scheduled for Tuesday. Ag.Fight was first to report the news.

Hassanzada was slated to make his first Octagon foray against Evan Elder at UFC Kansas City on Saturday. Without mentioning the arrest, the promotion announced that Gauge Young will now face Elder on the card, which is also known as UFC on ESPN 66.

A native of Kabul, Afghanistan, Hassanzada made his second appearance on Dana White's Contender Series this past September, where he earned a UFC contract with a third-round submission of Dylan Mantello. The 28-y…