Martial Arts News

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Former Strikeforce lightweight king Josh Thomson believes Justin Gaethje can give 155-pound Ultimate Fighting Championship ruler Islam Makhachev a run for his money.

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Makhachev (25-1) recently expressed interest in taking on a new opponent in Gaethje (25- 4) instead of rematches against Charles Oliveira or Arman Tsarukyan. Thomson believes “The Highlight” is the toughest fight in the division for Makhachev, owing to the intricacies of their contrasting styles.

Thomson noted that while Gaethje is notorious for avoiding wrestling, Makhachev’s wrestling isn’t very conventional. The Dagestani, self-admittedly, likes to work on sweeps and trips from the clinch, where Gaethje can be very dangerous on the break.

“I believe right now out of all of them, the hardest fight for him is Justin Gaethje. You say ‘no’ because of the wrestling, and I understand why you say no,” Thomson said on the “Weighing In” podcast. “But I say this: Isl…

Stephen Thompson doesn’t see a clear path to victory for Colby Covington in his upcoming welterweight title challenge against Leon Edwards.

Covington (17-3) is scheduled to headline UFC 296 on Saturday opposite the champion at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Thompson (17-6) recently explained why he believes “Rocky” (21-3) will successfully retain his strap against Covington.

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This is Covington’s third and probably last opportunity to become undisputed champ, having come up short against former ruler Kamaru Usman via technical knockout in 2019 and then a unanimous decision in 2021. Meanwhile, Edwards dethroned Usman with a last-minute comeback upset in August 2022 before convincingly defending his strap via a decision in a rematch this past March.

Looking at both of their performances against Usman, Thompson believes Edwards will have a size advantage over Covington. He further noted that while “Chaos” struggled to wrestle Usman on both occasions, Edwa…

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Ahead of his high-profile assignment at UFC 296, Bryce Mitchell is still haunted by his lone career loss.

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Mitchell (16-1), who takes on longtime featherweight contender Josh Emmett in the top prelim bout this Saturday in Las Vegas, suffered his first and thus far only professional defeat just over a year ago, when he faced Ilia Topuria at UFC 282. The Georgian by way of Spain dominated Mitchell on the way to a second-round submission win. “Thug Nasty” not only believes he could have put on a better showing but that it was the worst performance of his career.

“I want that one all day, because that was my worst performance of all time,” the 29-year-old recently told Michael Bisping.. “Even my backyard fights, I’ve never had a fight that bad. I’ve never fought that bad, I’ve never folded like that, I’ve never been able to not breathe and not move like that and, man, it just makes me mad. I know I could do better, but I don’t think …

For all the new fans of Robelis Despaigne. He was just signed to the UFC at 4-0 with all first round knockout. 6’7 Cuban Olympian with a 87 inch reach. Here’s my client warming up like a middleweight pic.twitter.com/7WjaYJeEkC

— AJ Ariosa (@AjAriosa) December 4, 2023

While Robelis Despaigne was initially apprehensive about dabbling in mixed martial arts, it did not take him long to get signed with the world’s top promotion once he did.

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Despaigne (4-0) scored a four-second knockout win over Miles Banks at Fury FC 84 in Houston on Dec. 3. This was the fourth consecutive knockout for “The Bad Boy” in as many outings, with the last three coming in a total fight time of 19 seconds. In an unprecedented move, Ultimate Fighting Championship matchmaker Mick Maynard signed Despaigne within minutes of his win over Banks, which was also announced live on the broadcast. Speaking about the surreal experience, Despaigne recently told…

One prominent cast member has been confirmed for Season 2 of “The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition.”

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ONE flyweight (135-pound) submission grappling champion Mikey Musumeci will be one of 10 competitors on the reality show, which will premiere Dec. 28 on Netflix in Asia. According to a release, Musumeci, along with nine other candidates, “will take part in a series of high-stakes competitions involving both business and physical challenges.”

The winner of the show will receive a one-year, quarter million dollar job offer to work at ONE’s headquarters in Singapore under promotion CEO and chairman Chatri Sityodtong.

“The first season of ‘The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition’ was a huge success, ranking in the Top 10 on Netflix in multiple countries and trending on Netflix all around the world,” Sityodtong stated in a release. “Our new crop of candidates will face the toughest ‘Apprentice’ season ever. I can’t wait to showcase this season…

Tatiana Suarez will lock horns with Amanda Lemos at UFC 298 on Feb. 17.

The promotion announced the strawweight bout in a release on Tuesday. 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.

After being sidelined by injuries for more than three years, Suarez has enjoyed a successful return to action in 2023. The Milennia MMA product kicked off her campaign with a submission of Montana De La Rosa at UFC Fight Night 220 and then re-established herself as a title contender by tapping out Jessica Andrade in the second round of their encounter at UFC on ESPN 50. Suarez is 10-0 since beginning her professional tenure in 2014.

Lemos, meanwhile, is coming off a failed championship bid at UFC 292, where she dropped a five-round decision to reigning strawweight queen Weili Zhang. Prior to that, the 36-year-old Brazilian secured finishes of Michelle …

Two key matchups have been booked for UFC 299, as Jailton Almeida will face Curtis Blaydes at heavyweight, while Mateusz Gamrot will meet Rafael dos Anjos at lightweight.

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The Las Vegas-based promotion confirmed the bouts on Tuesday. UFC 299 takes place on March 9 and is headlined by a bantamweight title tilt pitting Sean O’Malley against Marlon Vera.

Almeida and Blaydes were initially supposed to lock horns at UFC Fight Night 231 in Sao Paulo, but Blaydes was forced to withdraw from the event due to injury. Instead, Almeida cruised to a five-round verdict against Derrick Lewis in the card’s new main event. “Maladinho” has won 15 consecutive fights, a streak that includes six triumphs in UFC competition.

Blaydes last appeared at UFC Fight Night 222 this past April, when he had a three-bout winning streak snapped in a first-round technical knockout loss to Sergei Pavlovich. “Razor” is 12-4 in the Octagon, with victories over the likes of Tom As…

ONE Championship is teaming up with @SkySports, Europe's leading sports broadcaster, on an exclusive partnership to air the world's largest martial arts organization in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 and Ireland 🇮🇪

The partnership kicks off with #ONEFightNight18 on January 13 at 1AM… pic.twitter.com/tF9PqXeSsy

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) December 12, 2023

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ONE Championship has partnered with Sky Sports to broadcast its events — along with ancillary programming — to viewers in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

The Singapore-based promotion announced the agreement on Tuesday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The partnership will begin with One on Prime Video 18 on Jan. 12. The card takes place at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, and is headlined by a 135-pound kickboxing title bout between Superlek Kiatmoo9 and Elias Mahmoudi. Additionally, UFC veteran John Lineker will compete in muay thai against Liam H…

Veteran official Herb Dean will be the third man in the cage when Leon Edwards and Colby Covington square off for the welterweight crown at UFC 296.

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The Nevada State Athletic Commission on Tuesday approved referee and judging assignments for the two championship bouts atop Saturday’s card at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Dean, who has officiated Edwards’ last four fights, will be paid $2,600 for his work. Dean also oversaw Covington’s last Octagon appearance, a five-round verdict over Jorge Masvidal at UFC 272.

Meanwhile, Derek Cleary, Sal D’Amato and Chris Lee will serve as cageside judges for the UFC 296 headliner. They will earn $2,300 apiece. Lee submitted a 48-46 tally for Edwards in the Englishman’s majority decision triumph against Kamaru Usman at UFC 286 this past March.

Marc Goddard will referee the flyweight title bout between Alexandre Pantoja and Brandon Royval in the UFC 296 co-main event. Like Dean, Goddard will be paid $2,6…

A heavyweight clash pitting Tai Tuivasa against Marcin Tybura is on tap for UFC 298.

The Las Vegas-based promotion recently announced the booking. UFC 298 takes place on Feb. 17 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, and is headlined by a featherweight championship bout between Alexander Volkanovski and Ilia Topuria.

Tuivasa is in the midst of a three-fight skid in which he has been finished by Alexander Volkov, Sergei Pavlovich and Ciryl Gane. Prior to that, the affable Aussie won five straight contests from October 2020 to February 2022, stopping all of his opponents by knockout or technical knockout. “Bam Bam” is 8-6 over the course of his UFC tenure and 14-6 as a professional overall.

Tybura, meanwhile, is coming off a first-round technical knockout defeat to current interim heavweight king Tom Aspinall at UFC Fight Night 224 on July 22. Prior to that, the 38-year-old Pole had been victorious in seven of his previous eight Octagon appearances. Hi…

Ilia Topuria believes he’ll dominate Alexander Volkanovksi in their upcoming featherweight title fight.

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Topuria released a theatrical trailer predicting victory right after his booking against Volkanovksi was announced for UFC 298 on Feb. 17. While “El Matador” has been on a collision course with Volkanovski for a while now, the matchup was slightly delayed when “The Great” stepped in a for a short notice rematch against lightweight champ Islam Makhachev at UFC 294 this past October.

Volkanovski went on to suffer a head kick knockout in the first round and later attributed the loss to accepting the fight on short notice. The featherweight champ believes people have somewhat forgotten who he really is due to the manner of his last loss, but he has vowed to give Topuria a a lesson in humility in their fight.

Meanwhile, Topuria’s confidence is on a whole new level. While “El Matador” doesn’t exactly see any holes in Volkanovski’s game, he beli…

With less than a week to go before their headlining clash at UFC 296, Leon Edwards still can’t make sense of how Colby Covington got a title shot.

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Edwards successfully defended his belt in a rematch against Kamaru Usman at UFC 286 in March. While Belal Muhammad was widely considered to be next in line for the title shot, Dana White dropped Covington’s name in the post-fight media scrum. Despite protests from Muhammad, widespread media criticism and Covington having not fought since March 2022, White adamantly insisted on “Chaos” getting the shot.

Edwards recently reiterated his disapproval of Covington’s gold bid, noting most of his recent wins came against fighters who are no longer in the UFC. With no other possible reasoning for the move, Edwards has only one explanation: Covington enjoys “Dana White privilege.”

“I couldn’t tell you. That’s what the UFC, that’s what everyone [wants]. I don’t know, I don’t know what the excuse is,” Edwards s…