Martial Arts News

 

Things are already getting interesting as for Ilia Topuria as his lightweight debut draws near.

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With his fight against Charles Oliveira for the vacant lightweight belt on the horizon, Topuria announced that he had split with longtime coaches Jorge and Agustin Climent. 

According to Spanish outlet Marca, the main reason for the split was geographical, as Ilia Topuria and his brother Aleksandre had moved permanently to the Spanish capital Madrid, more than 400 kilometers from Alicante, the city where the Climent Brothers gym is located. In a press conference at the Spanish event “WOWfc” Topuria confirmed the information and said that his main training partners for this camp should be his brother, Mani Tavanaei, Mathias Ribeiro (black belt in jiu-jitsu) and Javi Climent (originally a boxing coach and now a striking coach).

When asked about Jean Silva’s offer t to help Oliveira in camp, the former featherweight champion expressed d…

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For Tom Aspinall, playing the waiting game has been more mentally taxing than recovering from a serious injury.

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Aspinall blew out his knee in the opening moments of the UFC London headliner in July 2022, an injury that would sideline him for approximately a year. While that was a difficult time, the Englishman was able to return to form upon recovery, winning his next three fights inside of a round. During that time, he captured interim heavyweight gold and defended the belt once, avenging his only UFC loss against Curtis Blaydes in the process.

Since then, Aspinall has been out for nearly another year, but this time an injury is not the culprit. Instead, he’s been in limbo was he awaits a date with Jon Jones. At the moment, it’s unclear if the fight will happen at all.

Aspinall discussed the difference between coming back from an injury and waiting on a fight during an interview with Demetrious Johnson on the "MightyCast." Read more

No matter what the future may hold, Teddy Atlas believes Conor McGregor is one of the most significant figures in combat sports history.

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The boxing trainer and MMA analyst recently weighed in on McGregor’s legacy in an interview with Slingo .

“There's a guy that was a pioneer in making people money, a lot like Muhammad Ali,” Atlas said. “When Ali, with boxing, started making more money, he broke that barrier. In the UFC, people started making more money when Conor McGregor came along and he broke that barrier, and people are benefitting.”

The former UFC two-division champion hasn’t fought since breaking his leg in a loss to Dustin Poirier in July 2021. After coaching on “The Ultimate Fighter 31,” McGregor pulled out of a proposed booking against rival coach Michael Chandler at UFC 303 on the week of the fight.

Since then, there hasn’t been much discussion in regards to McGregor’s return. After the Dublin native teased a comeback on social me…

𝗢𝗙𝗙𝗜𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟: #PFLCapeTown date has moved to Saturday, July 19th

Tickets for the historic @PFLAfrica /#PFLChampionSeries event set to go down at the GrandWest Arena in Cape Town, South Africa go on sale on 𝗧𝗵𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝗠𝗔𝗬 𝟮𝟮𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝗧 𝟭𝟬 𝗔𝗠 𝗦𝗔𝗦𝗧

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For more… pic.twitter.com/CPX8LdEGiG — PFL (@PFLMMA) May 20, 2025

Professional Fighters League’s debut in Africa will take place one week earlier than originally announced.

The organzation on Monday announced that both PFL Africa 1 and PFL Champions Series: Road to Dubai both of which were scheduled for July 26, will now go down on July 19. The venue will remain the same: GrandWest Arena in Capetown, South Africa. No reason was given for the change.

In addition to the change in date, the PFL revealed more participants for the first-round tournament bouts at bantamweight and heavyweight. Meanwhile, Nigerian strawweight prospect Juliet Ukah will compete on the card in a showcase bou…

Ilia Topuria and Aleksandre Topuria have parted ways with former coaches Jorge and Agustin Climent. 

The Topuria brothers have been regulars at the Climent Club in Alicante, Valencia, Spain. However, Marca reported that they have recently parted ways because both parties now live in different cities. The change was mainly influenced by Ilia’s recent move to Madrid from Alicante to be closer to his various commercial commitments. 

The Topuria brothers conveyed their gratitude to their former coaches through Marca. The Climent brothers also resonated with similar feelings towards the UFC fighters.  “The Topuria brothers thank them for all these years of mutual learning and growth, and sincerely wish them all the best in all their projects,” Marca reported.

Ilia recently vacated his featherweight title and is set to fight Charles Oliveira for the vacant lightweight title in the main event at UFC 317 on June 28 during the International Fight We…

PERTH! WE’LL SEE YOU JULY 19! LIVE FROM @RACArena! 🇦🇺#BKFC79 | July 19 | Tix on sale May 30! pic.twitter.com/UQsyirkQXq

— Bare Knuckle FC (@bareknucklefc) May 20, 2025

Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship is heading Down Under this summer.

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The promotion on Tuesday revealed via social media that it will hold an event in Perth, Australia, on July 19. No bouts were announced for the card, which will take place at RAC Arena. The event will be entitled BKFC 79.

Since its inception in 2018, BKFC has gradually expanded its reach beyond the United States, holding events in locations such as Mexico, Thailand, England, Bulgaria, Spain, Italy and the United Arab Emirates.

Perth is no stranger to high-profile combat sports events. Last August, UFC 305 saw Dricus Du Plessis retain his middleweight crown with a fourth-round submission of Israel Adesanya in the Western Australia capital.

BKFC’s next event is slated for June …

It appears that Claressa Shields' brief dalliance with mixed martial arts has reached its end.

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During an appearance on "The Ariel Helwani Show” on Monday, the multi-division world champion boxer revealed that she won’t be competing in MMA again going forward.

“MMA is done, sweetheart,” she said. “It was fun. I don’t have enough time to train for it. It takes six months, eight months to get ready to defend takedowns. I got a lot better, I put in time. I had my arm broken twice. It was fun, and I enjoyed every fight.

“My family never wanted me to do it. I did it because I wanted to prove a point. I proved that point — to me three times, but you can say twice because I won twice .. I was offered one more fight with the PFL. It would have been against a girl who’s on my level … It takes a lot of time to train for MMA. Time that I don’t have. I did have aspirations of being PFL MMA world champion and having a fight with Kayla Harrison one day, or …

Kyoji Horiguchi won’t be making his Octagon return at UFC Baku as originally anticipated.

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The former flyweight title challenger has withdrawn from a proposed matchup with Tagir Ulanbekov for undisclosed reasons. Instead, Azat Maksum will step in and face Ulanbekov at the June 21 event. Red Corner MMA was first to report the change.

UFC Baku — also known as UFC on ABC 8 — marks the promotion’s debut in Azerbaijan and is headlined by a light heavyweight duel pitting Jamahal Hill against Khalil Rountree.

Earlier this year, Horiguchi vacated his Rizin Fighting Federation flyweight belt to sign with the UFC, where he previously competed from 2013 to 2016. Horiguchi went 7-1 during his UFC tenure, with his only loss coming in a flyweight title bout against then champion Demetrious Johnson in April 2015. The 34-year-old American Top Team representative has gone 14-1 with one no contest under the Rizin banner, earning notable victories over the li…

Jairzinho Rozenstruik has booked his first combat sports appearance since parting ways with the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

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The heavyweight veteran will headline Dirty Boxing 2 in Miami on June 14 opposite Devon Schwan. DBX utilizes four-ounce gloves and three-minute rounds with elbows and “conditional ground-and-pound” allowed as part of the promotion’s rule set. The promotion recently announced the full lineup for its upcoming event.

DBX 2 will include a number of familiar faces on the card — many with UFC experience — including Alex Caceres, Phil Hawes, Francisco Trinaldo, Jessica-Rose Clark and Alex Nicholson, among others. The card takes place at The Hanger and streams for free on the DBX YouTube channel. Prelims begin at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT, while the main card kicks off at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.

Rozenstruik last appeared at UFC Saudi Arabia — also known as UFC Fight Night 250 — on Feb. 1, when he dropped a forgettable unanimous deci…

Getty/UFC

If Jon Jones is to be believed, the UFC is well aware of how the heavyweight champion intends to proceed with his career.

Jones recently took to social media to share how much he is enjoying his visit to Thailand, which triggered a number of angry responses regarding the delay in the booking of a proposed heavyweight title unification bout against Tom Aspinall.

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“Been out here in Thailand, enjoying life, stuffing my face every day and I swear I’m losing weight somehow,” Jones wrote. “The quality of the food here is amazing, so delicious, so clean.”

When it was suggested that Jones would be stripped of his UFC title soon, “Bones” simply laughed it off.

“Stripped? Lol do I come across as the type of person who cares about things like that?” he wrote.

In recent months, UFC CEO Dana White has repeatedly stated that Jones vs. Aspinall will happen in 2025. While Aspinall and MMA fans have grown frustrated with the wait, Jone…

"Patchy" Mix didn’t take long to find a new home.

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Within days after Professional Fighters League confirmed that it had granted Mix his release, the former Bellator MMA bantamweight champ was seated cageside for UFC Vegas 106 on Saturday. That was followed by the announcement that Mix would be stepping in for Marlon Vera on short notice against Mario Bautista at UFC 316.

"You get the call and you answer it," Mix said at the UFC Vegas 106 post-fight press conference. "I'm not afraid of anyone in this division, especially Mario Bautista. He's on a seven-fight win streak, and I want that seven-fight win streak. When they called me, I answered it. I'll make weight and I'll get the job done. It didn't matter who. I didn't mind if he was ranked No. 1 or No. 50. I would've gone against the best, the hardest, the guy they didn't want anyone to fight. It didn't matter. It happened to be him and I think 'Chito' Vera popped his rib or something. They called …

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