Martial Arts News

Two-time Professional Fighters League champion Kayla Harrison has signed with the UFC for an Octagon debut on the biggest stage possible.

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UFC CEO Dana White announced Tuesday night that Harrison will make her bantamweight debut against former champion Holly Holm at UFC 300 on April 13. Harrison has competed at both lightweight and featherweight but never at 135 pounds during her 17-fight professional tenure.

A two-time Olympic gold medalist, Harrison fulfilled her PFL contract at the 2023 Championships, where she earned a unanimous verdict against Aspen Ladd in a 150-pound catchweight affair. Harrison was twice a PFL champion at 155 pounds but came up short in her third title bid, falling to Larissa Pacheco in a massive upset at the conclusion of the 2022 season. Thus far, Harrison has only cut to 145 pounds once, when she defeated Courtney King via second-round TKO at Invicta FC 43.

Holm, meanwhile, is coming off a second-round submission …

Alonzo Menifield will step in for Dominick Reyes and square off against Carlos Ulberg at UFC on ESPN 54.

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The Las Vegas-based promotion announced the new light heavyweight booking on Tuesday. A reason for Reyes’ withdrawal was not given. UFC on ESPN 54 takes place on March 30 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and is headlined by a welterweight duel pitting Sean Brady against Vicente Luque.

Menifield is 4-0-1 in his last five Octagon appearances dating back to June 2022. Most recently, the 36-year-old Dana White's Contender Series alum scored a unanimous verdict against Dustin Jacoby at UFC 296 on Dec. 16.

Ulberg, meanwhile, has won five straight contests since dropping his promotional debut to Kennedy Nzechukwu at UFC 259. In his last outing, the City Kickboxing representative submitted Da Woon Jung in the third round of their clash at UFC 293.

Reyes has not competed since November 2022. The two-time light heavyweight ti…

In recent years, “Big” John McCarthy was a consistent presence on Bellator MMA broadcasts.

That is likely to change following Professional Fighters League’s purchase of the California-based promotion. McCarthy, who was a longtime official before transitioning to the broadcast table, will remain with the company but expects that his role will change in the coming months.

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“I am going to be staying with the PFL because I had a contract with Bellator, and it still has a year on it, so the PFL picked that up,” McCarthy told MMAjunkie.com. “Will my role be the same? I don’t think it’s going to be the same.

“I think it’s going to be more towards rules and regulations, scoring the fights and doing those things – making sure everyone understands what’s being done, if it’s being done in the correct way and what options do the officials have.”

In addition to a career as a referee, McCarthy helped to develop the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts…

Josiah Harrell needs at least $80,000 to help cover the surgery needed to treat the brain condition that forced him out of his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut.

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The 25-year-old mixed martial artist recently launched a GoFundMe account to pay for the expenses associated with the procedure required to treat moyamoya, which is a “rare vascular disease of the brain in which the main arteries that supply blood to your brain become narrowed and blocked,” according to pennmedicine.org.

Harrell was supposed to make his first Octagon foray against Jack Della Maddalena on short notice at UFC 290, but a pre-fight brain scan caught the condition and forced him out of the fight. The Ohioan was supposed to undergo surgery shortly thereafter the July diagnosis, but financial issues have apparently complicated that situation.

“As of right now I cannot go any further with anything that has to do with surgery until I have [$80,000] up front,” Harrell w…

TKO appoints Dwayne Johnson to Board of Directors@TheRock @WWE @ufc pic.twitter.com/bhTgADAEb7

— TKO (@TKOGrp) January 23, 2024

TKO Group Holdings — the parent company of both the UFC and WWE — has added a prominent name to its board of directors.

On Tuesday, the company announced that Dwayne Johnson, more commonly known as “The Rock,” will serve on the TKO Group Holdings board of directors. According to a release, “the appointment of Johnson reflects TKO’s commitment to delivering long-term value and strong performance for shareholders through strategic growth initiatives across both UFC and WWE.” Johnson is current a major motion picture star and also one of the most popular figures in professional wrestling history.

“My grandfather, High Chief Peter Maivia, and my dad, Rocky ‘Soulman’ Johnson, would’ve never thought this day would come. Which is why I’m very humbled to have a seat at the table that has decades of history and fami…

Dricus Du Plessis' contested victory over Sean Strickland in the UFC 297 headliner left the immediate future of the middleweight division uncertain.

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According to UFC Fight Pass Brazil commentator Carlos Barreto, Dana White should make an immediate rematch between Du Plessis and Strickland.

“You can’t say it was a robbery, the fight was really very competitive, but in my [view], and Demian Maia agreed with me, Strickland won four rounds — clearly 3 rounds — so the fairest thing would be an immediate rematch,” Barreto said on his weekly YouTube program Papo de Luta.

While offering live commentary of the fight with Maia, Barreto gave Rounds 1,2,3 and 5 to Strickland.

“When I came home I saw the fight again,” he said. “I could accept Dricus winning the third round. But Rounds 1, 2 and 5 were clear for Strickland. Anyway, it was a very tough match and an immediate rematch would be really fair in my personal view.”

Shortly after the eve…

The internet is a wild place, as Tom Aspinall recently learned.

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The UFC interim heavyweight champion has been involved in a polite feud with undisputed champ Jon Jones for a while now. Aspinall recently revealed that his online back-and-forth has provoked death threats from fans of “Bones.”

“People on the internet are wild,” Aspinall told Lord Ping (h/t MMA Mania). “You have to kind of see it for what it is. It’s not real life, a lot of it comes from jealousy. People don’t like to see other people do well, unfortunately that’s the way of the world. With a lot of love comes a lot of hate as well. That’s the way the cookie crumbles, unfortunately.

“I’m human so it affects me sometimes. But I try to just turn a blind eye to it and just crack on. The internet is a strange place. I clicked on my message requests by accident the other day and people are sending me death threats for wanting to fight Jon Jones, who’s the best in the world and it’s m…

Neil Magny is ready to forgive Ian Garry despite the Irishman’s trash talk taking a toll on his personal life.

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Magny dropped a unanimous decision in a short-notice booking against Garry at UFC 292 in August last year. Leading up to the fight, “The Haitian Sensation” had promised to put on a “father-like” beating on Garry. While Magny insisted that it was just trash talk, Garry twisted the context and accused his opponent of child abuse.

Unfortunately, Magny was also going through a divorce and a custody battle for his kids around the same time. The welterweight veteran claims Garry’s trash talk had legal repercussions on his personal life. However, he doesn’t harbor any ill feelings towards “The Future” and especially doesn’t want the Irishman to go through the same experience as himself. Magny instead wishes Garry can soon get a hold of his own personal life, which has also recently been in the headlines for the wrong reasons.

“At the end o…

Khamzat Chimaev wants the title shot that was allegedly promised to him by Dana White.

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Chimaev moved up to middleweight this past October, welcoming Kamaru Usman to the division on short notice at UFC 294.

“Borz” went on to score a tightly-contested majority decision win over the former welterweight champ. While the outing marked only his third middleweight win under the Ultimate Fighting Championship banner, the Chechen claims to have been guaranteed a title shot by the UFC CEO for his next outing.

Chimaev was expecting to face the winner of Sean Strickland vs. Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 297 on Saturday. However, Du Plessis called out Israel Adesanya after dethroning Strickland and “The Last Stylebender” has also expressed interest in that bout.

While “Borz” still hasn’t given up hope of fighting for the title next, he made clear that he isn’t happy with recent developments.

“They promised me after Usman fight, ’You will for sure goin…

Malcolm Gordon has seemingly hung up his gloves.

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The Canadian fighter recently took on Jimmy Flick at UFC 297 in front of his home crowd in Toronto, Canada. Gordon failed to make weight for the fight, which appeared to be a big factor early on as “X” smothered Flick with volleys of punches.

Gordon looked close to securing a finish when he ended up taking the wrestling standout to the ground. However, it was Flick who locked in a slick arm triangle to secure the finish in an impressive come-from-behind win in the second round. Gordon looked visibly dejected after the loss and was seen taking his gloves off inside the Octagon.

The 33-year-old subsequently wrote on his Instagram stories: “Retired.”

Malcolm Gordon posted this on his Instagram last night shortly after his heartbreaking loss to Jimmy Flick pic.twitter.com/p2J0Yk52S9

— Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter) January 21, 2024

Gordon was 12-3 as a pro w…

Ikram Aliskerov has been forced to withdraw from UFC 298 due to a staph infection.

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As a result, Roman Kopylov will step in and face Anthony Hernandez on Feb. 17. The Las Vegas-based promotion initially confirmed Aliskerov’s exit over the weekend, and MMAFighting.com subsequently brought word of the new middleweight booking.

Unfortunately because of staph infection I had to cancel my fight. It was a great chance to jump to the top 15 and fight in this crazy fight card…See you guys after Ramadan

— ikram_aliskerov (@ikram_aliskerov) January 21, 2024

UFC 298 takes place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, and is headlined by a featherweight championship clash between Alexander Volkanovski and Ilia Topuria. Hernandez vs. Kopylov is expected to take place on the evening’s main card.

Kopylov has been victorious in his last four Octagon appearances. Most recently, the 32-year-old Russian scored a second-round kno…

Sean Strickland was very close to retaining his middleweight title in the UFC 297 main event this past Saturday night in Toronto.

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Were it not for an accidental headbutt that he claims occurred in the second half of his fight against Dricus Plessis, Strickland believes he might have gotten the nod. Instead, it was Du Plessis who claimed the middleweight crown with a closely-contested split decision triumph.

Strickland has twice referenced the alleged headbutt, which wasn’t identified by referee Marc Goddard, on social media since his loss to Du Plessis.

“Well f—k haha … that headbutt really made it difficult to see, but I thought we got the job done,” Strickland wrote Sunday on X. “Blood and all!!! Onto the next one!!!. Thanks to everyone who supported me!!!!!”

Well fuck haha... man that headbutt really made it difficult to see but I thought we got the job done. Blood and all!!! Onto the next one!!! Thanks everyone who sup…