Martial Arts News

Luke Rockhold is of the opinion that Sean Strickland is not the safest training partner.  

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  It is no secret that Strickland likes hard sparring and has even bragged about breaking multiple noses in the past. Former middleweight champ Luke Rockhold recently recounted Strickland’s visit to RVCA in Costa Mesa, California, where “Tarzan” allegedly went over the line with a sparring partner. 

  “He’s just that guy that doesn’t care,” Rockhold told the JAXXON Podcast. “He’ll try to kill you. Sean Strickland walked into RVCA one time and he was such a loud mouth idiot, I was like, ‘Who the f—k is this guy?’ I was so hungover, so annoyed, I was like, ‘F—k, I’m going to get in a spar with this guy, I can’t even take it.’ But I had seen him... he hurt a guy in the gym. He hurt him with a head kick. 

  “With like 30 seconds left, he wobbled him. And [the coach] was like, ‘Keep going, finish out the round.’ Instead of …

John Dodson will put his flyweight title on the line against Dagoberto Aguero in the BKFC 59 headliner.

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The promotion recently announced the booking. BKFC 59 will take place at Tingley Coliseum in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on March 29. More bouts will be announced in the coming weeks.

A two-time UFC flyweight title challenger, Dodson has found success in the bare knuckle realm, posting a 3-0 mark under the BKFC banner since his debut with the organization in August 2022. He’s finished all three of his BKFC opponents inside of a round, including a title-winning victory against J.R. Ridge at BKFC 48 last year. The 39-year-old Albuquerque resident has gone 3-2 in MMA since parting ways with the UFC in 2020. Most recently, “The Magician” dropped a unanimous decision to Hiromasa Ougikubo at Rizin 45 on New Year’s Eve.

Aguero, who hails from the Dominican Republic, defeated Chance Wilson via Round 3 stoppage in his BKFC debut this past November. …

Holly Holm has seemingly been in title contention for the majority of her Ultimate Fighting Championship career.

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That could once again be the case if Holm defeats two-time Professional Fighters League champion Kayla Harrison at UFC 300 on April 13. While the 42-year-old Holm has technically lost two of her last three Octagon appearances — a loss to Mayra Bueno Silva was changed to a no contest — the women’s bantamweight division is currently wide open on the heels of Amanda Nune’s retirement this past June.

Holm has to like her chances considering that the woman who claimed the vacant strap at UFC 297, Raquel Pennington, is 0-2 against the Jackson-Wink MMA standout. After claiming the 135-pound title with her upset of Ronda Rousey at UFC 193, “The Preacher’s Daughter” is 0-4 in championship fights — two at bantamweight and two at featherweight. Still, getting back to that point is always her primary objective.

“I fought for the belt more t…

Francis Ngannou’s former training partner recently gave his prediction for the Cameroonian’s upcoming boxing match against Anthony Joshua.

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Darren Sealy, who is 6-foot-9, helped Ngannou prepare for his boxing debut against Tyson Fury in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia, this past October. “The Predator” dropped the WBC champ on his way to a controversial split decision loss. Ngannou is now slated to face Joshua on March 8 in Saudi Arabia in his next boxing outing. Despite his impressive performance against Fury, Sealy believes Ngannou will come up short against Joshua.

“It’s a tricky one, both extremely powerful but I feel the last two, three fights, especially the last fight in December with Otto Wallin, AJ looked brilliant,” Sealy told The Sun. “Everything was firing on all cylinders and I do feel that AJ will be victorious on the night. I don’t know how in terms of round by round or decision, but I do feel he will definitely get the better of Ngannou.”

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Arnold Allen has opened up on his UFC 297 loss against Movsar Evloev.

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Allen dropped a closely-contested unanimous decision against Evloev at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Jan. 20. The bout also came with a little controversy. While Allen outlanded his opponent by eight significant strikes, he also surrendered five takedowns and more than three minutes of control time. Still, Allen believes he did enough to get the nod.

“Everyone’s saying that I won Round 1 and Round 3. I agree. That’s what I felt too. I felt after Round 1, I was like, ‘Yup, won that one.’ Round 2, I f—-d that one up. And Round 3, that was mine. Very, very, very, very, very frustrating. Not the way I wanted to start things off [in 2024]...I just felt like I deserved to win that. I don’t want to be bitching and moaning or anything like that. I have no ill will against his team or the opponent. I watched it back a few times. I wanted to watch it back before I gave a…

Sean Strickland has slammed UFC commentator Jon Anik for voicing his frustration with the mixed martial arts fan base.

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Anik recently revealed his heightened frustration with MMA fans due to the negativity he received following Strickland’s UFC 297 title loss against Dricus Du Plessis. Strickland dropped a closely-contested split decision against “Stillknocks” in a fight that was viewed as a toss-up. According to Anik, MMA fans responded with hatred no matter how objectively analysts tried to explain Du Plessis’ victory. The UFC color commentator even went to the extent of teasing a career switch to the NFL.

“I am growing tired of this MMA space a little bit and just the morass of negativity when there is a close fight,” Anik said on the Anik & Florian podcast. “Because even if you and I both thought Dricus Du Plessis won the fight, we try to present that information respectfully. When I go onto X or I go to our YouTube comments, it just seems …

Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight contender Jailton Almeida is winning hearts with his charity exploits in mixed martial arts.

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In a heartwarming gesture, “Malhadinho” took on Alvaro Borges, an athlete with Down syndrome in an charity exhibition MMA bout under the Demo Fight banner on Saturday in Salvador, Brazil.

“I’m very happy to be part of this event and help Alvaro’s dream come true of fighting MMA again,” Almeida told MMAFighting.com before the bout.

Borges earned a second-round submission win over Almeida, handing the Brazilian his first loss since 2018. Demo Fight founder Demistocles Brito revealed that he books special fights on almost every card out of love for his autistic nephew.

“Demo Fight’s goal is to not only reveal new talents, but also promote inclusion,” Brito told MMAFighting.com.

Almeida has been victorious in his last 15 professional appearances, a streak that includes six UFC outings. Most recentl…

“The Kicking Machine” is putting in WORK 🦿

Purchase the PPV now to catch the rest of ONE 165!#ONE165 | 🔴 Live Now🇯🇵 Abema PPV 👉 https://t.co/xQ4Ifm4TH5🌍 Global PPV 👉 https://t.co/8azyYuxNG9#ONEChampionship pic.twitter.com/N2YyePorTt

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) January 28, 2024

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The main event of ONE Championship 165 lived up to the hype and then some.

Superlek Kiatmoo9 and Takeru Segawa engaged in a thrilling battle in their flyweight (135-pound) kickboxing title clash at Ariake Arena in Tokyo on Sunday, with Kiatmmo9 earning a unanimous decision triumph.

From the opening bell, Superlek unleashed a flurry of merciless leg kicks that echoed with each thunderous strike, leaving a visible trail of damage on his opponent. Takeru absorbed the punishment, biding his time for a spectacular resurgence.

The third round became the canvas for Takeru's masterstroke—a relentless barrage of unanswered body shots. Just…

"If you're asking me who I think is going to win that fight, looking at it right now, I'd say Holly."@MieshaTate breaks down the x-factors of the #UFC300 matchup between Kayla Harrison & Holly Holm.

MMA Today | 🎙️ @RJcliffordMMA @AngieOverkill pic.twitter.com/bKdLXtnwt3

— MMA on SiriusXM (@MMAonSiriusXM) January 26, 2024

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In what proved to be the suprise announcement of the past week, Dana White revealed that two-time Professional Fighters League champ Kayla Harrison would make her Octagon debut against Holly Holm at UFC 300.

While Harrison’s signing was news enough, the UFC CEO also confirmed that the bout against Holm would be contested at 135 pounds. Harrison has competed at lightweight for the majority of her professional career, making 145 pounds just once for an appearance under the Invicta Fighting Championships banner in 2020.

Count former UFC bantamweight queen Miesha Tate, who briefly tried her hand…

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Dan Hooker is willing to help Beneil Dariush figure out if he's still an elite competitor.

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Dariush (22-6) recently suffered a Round 1 knockout loss at the hands of Arman Tsarukyan in December. This loss was preceded by a Round 2 technical knockout defeat for “Benny” at the hands of former champion Charles Oliveira at UFC 289. The loss to Oliveira also marked the end of an impressive eight-fight winning streak for the Kings MMA product.

Following back-to-back stoppage losses, Dariush was open about his thought process when it came to his future as a competitor in the elite lightweight division.

“I just want to know if I still got it,” Benny told Submission Radio.

The Iranian-born American declared he will only continue to fight if he can see a clear path to the title, which is his ultimate goal.

Enter Hooker (23-12). Currently on a two-fight winning streak, the Kiwi has almost recovered from a broken arm, an inj…

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Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight champ Alexandre Pantoja is seemingly booked for his second title defense.

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Pantoja recently defended his flyweight strap for the first time against Brandon Royval in a rematch at UFC 296 in December. The Brazilian put on a dominant showing, this time securing a unanimous decision victory against “Raw Dawg.”

Interestingly, less than a month following his first title defense on Dec. 16, “The Cannibal” is already booked for his next title defense.

Pantoja revealed details regarding his return on Friday while attending an event featuring the Brazilian soccer team Clube de Regatas do Flamengo in Orlando.

“I’ll be defending the belt in Rio, on May 4,” Pantoja told soccer striker Gabriel Barbosa. However, the champ did not mention his opponent.

UFC 301 is scheduled to go down on May 4 in Rio De Janeiro and would be an ideal title defense location for Pantoja, who hails from Arr…

Tony Ferguson says he wasn't at his best going into UFC 296, where he clashed with Paddy Pimblett.

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The former interim champion revealed that he'd suffered an MCL tear a month away from his scheduled meeting with “The Baddy.”

“F*cked my sh*t up during a practice [session,] MCL tear,” Ferguson wrote on social media. “I kept it to myself and put it behind me ‘til after the fight. I trained like no one knew, sh*t hurt so good. Three weeks before fight time I told a few of my crew. Nothing changed.

“I recently took care of [my MCL] and had surgery last Thursday one week after my elbow/arm surgery [both arthroscopies]. Thought I would get them both done and double down. Got it over with so I can do what I do best. Beyond rage is an understatement. I feel no despair, just repair.”

Despite the setback, “El Cucuy” (25-10) elected to keep the injury under wraps and compete on the Dec. 16 pay-per-view event, ultimately recording a unanimous d…