Martial Arts News

A flyweight meeting between Julija Stoliarenko and Luana Carolina has been confirmed for a UFC Fight Night card set to take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Feb. 3.

The booking was first announced by Carolina’s management on Instagram. A heavyweight bout between Thomas Petersen (8-1) and Jamal Pogues (10-4) is also set for the event.

Stoliarenko (11-7) is coming off a Round 1 armbar submission victory against English fan favorite Molly McCann this past July. The Lithuanian fighter has a record of 2-4 in the Las Vegas-based promotion and will look to rack up a few wins to secure her spot on the roster.

Meanwhile, Brazil's Luana Carolina (9-4) will enter the Octagon following a hard-fought unanimous decision victory against Ivana Siric Petrovic. That win snapped a two-fight losing streak that included a split-decision loss to Joanne Wood and a knockout loss against McCann.

Alan Belcher defeats Roy Nelson via split decision, do you guys agree with the decision? #GamebredBareknuckle | @GamebredFC pic.twitter.com/eHsLhsTCXb

— Combat Sports Today 📰 (@CSTodayNews) November 11, 2023

Alan Belcher secured his first bareknuckle mixed martial arts victory against Roy Nelson in their three-round Gamebred Fighting Championship 6 main event clash at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi, Mississippi, on Friday night.

Advertisement

Both Ultimate Fighting Championship veterans put on an impressive display of grit and perseverance in a bout that could have been scored for either side. While Belcher (19-8) had significant success in the standup portion of the bout, especially in the first frame, Nelson (24-20) managed to log an overwhelming amount of control time on the ground.

Much to the surprise of many observers, Belcher went home with a split-decision victory (28-29, 29-28, 29-28).

Read more

[embedded content] Two Ultimate Fighting Championship championship fights are now official after the UFC 295 weigh-ins.

Two fighters missed weight for the 13-fight card. First was Jamall Emmers, who came in one pound over for his featherweight fight against Dennis Buzukja. Additionally, Roosevelt Roberts came in two pounds over for his lightweight fight against Mateusz Rebecki. The two weight offenders have been fined currently undisclosed percentages of their purses.

Advertisement

The main event will be for the vacant light heavyweight title as former champion Jiri Prochazka takes on former middleweight king Alex Pereira. Meanwhile, the interim heavyweight championship will be on the line in the co-main event that sees Sergei Pavlovich go up against Tom Aspinall. At 261.6 pounds, Aspinall will be the slightly heavier fighter, weighing in 1.8 pounds more than the 259.8-pound Pavlovich.

Having previously vacated the title due to injury, Prochazka (29-3-1) return…

[embedded content]

Henry Cejudo sees Sean O'Malley coming up short against Marlon “Chito” Vera once again in their title fight at UFC 299.

Advertisement

O'Malley (17-1) recently secured the bantamweight title at UFC 292 with an impressive Round 2 technical knockout against Aljamain Sterling. Soon after becoming champion, “Sugar” declared that he intended to face Vera (23-8) in his first title defense and avenge his only professional mixed martial arts loss.

Back in 2020, Vera defeated a surging O'Malley via Round 1 TKO. The Ecuador native came out with a leg-kick-heavy game plan, eventually dinging O'Malley's peroneal nerve and finishing him by ground-and-pound.

According to Cejudo, their second meeting won’t turn out to be any different.

“Chito Vera beats him just based on endurance,” Cejudo said on his YouTube channel. “There’s another problematic thing that Sean is not accustomed to, is taller guys. It’s not like Chito’s a giant either, but he’s a…

[embedded content]

Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski is eager to remind everyone why he’s been on top of the featherweight division for almost five years.

Advertisement

Volkanovski (26-3) is booked to face Ilia Topuria (14-0) at UFC 298, which is set to go down Feb. 17 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

While the two were initially rumored to be the main event for UFC 297, Volkanovski's UFC 294 knockout loss against lightweight ruler Islam Makhachev understandably led to the postponement of the featherweight title matchup.

“The Great” decided to bet on himself when he challenged Makhachev on 10 days’ notice in a rematch for the lightweight title. Things didn't pan out for the Aussie as he went on to suffer a devastating Round 1 knockout loss at the hands of the Dagestani.

With Topuria now predicting a first-round finish against him, “The Great” can't help but feel that his undefeated opponent might be coming in …

Title Dreams on the Line ?

Brown ? Bachar in our #CW163 London Main Event on @UFCFightPass tomorrow night! pic.twitter.com/2T6HMuEWPL

— Cage Warriors (@CageWarriors) November 10, 2023 Cage Warriors Fighting Championship is set to return to London with Cage Warriors 163.

Advertisement

Headlining the 12-fight card is a vacant welterweight title fight between Giannis Bachar and Omiel Brown. All fighters on the card made weight except for Gerardo Fanny, who came in .6 pounds over the flyweight limit for his fight against Shawn da Silva. Additionally, a strawweight fight between Rhi Rhi Hudson and Annalisa La Bella was canceled after La Bella wasn't medically cleared.

Brown (6-2) has won four out of his last five fights. After losing a decision to Daniel Skibinski, the English fighter bounced back with a knockout of Jesse Urholin. Meanwhile, Bachar (8-2) has won six straight fights, which include TKO wins over Corey Davis and Carlo Pe…

🚨🚨BREAKING🚨🚨

Another Canadian added to the Toronto card on January 20th. Charles Jourdain (@JourdainAir) takes on Sean Woodson (@STL_Sniper_314) at #UFC297 in the featherweight division. pic.twitter.com/VOEl1bNfi7

— Marcel Dorff 🇳🇱🇮🇩 (@BigMarcel24) November 9, 2023 Two featherweights on the outside of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s top 15 looking in will do battle in Toronto early next year.

Advertisement

Canada's Charles Jourdain (15-6) will throw down with Dana White's Contender Series alum Sean Woodson (10-1) at the UFC 297 card set to take place on Jan. 20 at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. The event will be the company’s first in Canada’s most populous city since UFC 231 in 2018. The booking was first announced by Eurosport Nederland on Wednesday, and subsequently confirmed by Woodson and the promotion on Thursday.

Jourdain is currently on a two-fight winning streak and is coming off a first-round submission victory ov…

Ben Royle showed no signs of ring rust after a yearlong layoff.

The well-rounded Phuket Top Team product reasserted himself in the One Championship bantamweight division, as he outstruck Ivan Parshikov to a unanimous decision in their three-round ONE Friday Fights 40 showcase on Friday at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. All three members of the judiciary sided with Royle (7-2, 2-1 ONE), who has rattled off four wins in five outings.

Advertisement

Parshikov (11-4, 3-1 ONE) struck for a takedown in the first round, applied heavy ground-and-pound and successfully navigated his opponent’s spidery guard. He lost his way from there. Royle forced him into extended standup exchanges, operated behind a potent jab, leaned on effective counters and targeted the body with sadistic punches, knees and kicks. He nearly finished it in the waning seconds of Round 3, as he lured Parshikov into a corner, scrambled to the back and locked in a rear-naked choke. The Russi…

[embedded content] To say Norma Dumont is not concerned about prospective opponents in her new division is an understatement.

With the conclusion of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s women’s featherweight division, Dumont (10-2) has been forced to move down to 135 pounds. “The Immortal” is booked against Yana Santos (14-8, 1 NC) at the UFC Fight Night event on Jan. 13, and she plans on bringing some spice to her new weight class.

Advertisement

Participating on the “Nem Me Viu” podcast run by Fabricio Werdum, Dumont criticized the level of her opponents in the her division of 135 pounds. Known for her ability to create new insulting slang terms, recently calling Chelsea Chandler “p---y face” backstage after their fight, Dumont did not mince words about the slate of bantamweight contenders that will soon stand before her.

“I see bantamweight pretty much as a ‘sausage water division,’ Dumont noted harshly. “I really don’t see any girl in that division being able …

[embedded content]

Fighting on less than three weeks’ notice at UFC 295, Tom Aspinall is confident of getting his hands raised against Sergei Pavlovich, whom he believes is “the scariest guy in MMA.”

Advertisement

Pavlovich (18-1) was supposed to be the backup fighter for the originally scheduled UFC 295 main event between Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic. However, Aspinall (13-3) chose to step up on short notice when the Ultimate Fighting Championship put together an interim title fight with Pavlovich after Jones was forced out due to an injury.

Aspinall admits “two weeks” aren’t enough to prepare for a fight and believes he is fighting Pavlovich under the worst possible circumstances. However, the Brit is a slight favorite as of publication time on many sportsbooks and has absolute confidence in his ability to find a way to win despite the deck being stacked against him.

“I’m fighting the scariest guy in MMA in my opinion, in the worst circumstances possible…

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight king Jamahal Hill is confident he will face the winner of the upcoming UFC 295 vacant title fight between Jiri Prochazka and Alex Pereira next year.

Hill (12-1) vacated the title after suffering a torn Achilles tendon during a pickup basketball game in July. The American was the second consecutive UFC light heavyweight champ to vacate the strap after Prochazka (29-3) needed shoulder surgery following his title victory.

Advertisement

While Hill admits that he was inclined to retain the title until he could recover and return to action, vacating was the right thing to do under the circumstances. “Sweet Dreams” also claimed that Prochazka didn’t vacate the strap before him out of benevolence as was initially advertised.

According to Hill, it was “heavily suggested” to Prochazka, who has also previously admitted that he didn't relinquish the belt of his own volition.

“Originally when it happened, that was …

Let’s get these contract written up asap..Real fight s--t respect to a real fighter down to fight for real. All love to boxingBut this is different REAL 👊🏼 s--t LFG1993 🥋 pic.twitter.com/IFzcMx4Fpd

— Nathan Diaz (@NateDiaz209) November 9, 2023

While mixed martial artists switching to boxing has become commonplace in recent times, Deontay Wilder might soon become the first high-level pugilist to compete in MMA in over a decade.

Advertisement

Crossover fights are a hot topic of discussion right now with Francis Ngannou putting on a stunning performance in a near upset of World Boxing Council champ Tyson Fury in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia last month. Considering the lack of MMA opponents for Ngannou in Professional Fighters League, Wilder’s name immediately popped up as a potential boxing opponent for the former Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight champ.

Ngannou and Wilder’s camps have stated that talks of a potential clash have al…