Martial Arts News

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A “Little Mosquito” is starting to make a big buzz in the Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight division.

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In the featured preliminary bout of UFC 312 on Saturday in Sydney, Gabriel Santos (12-2) survived an early scare, showed off a complete MMA skill set and earned a dominant finish over Jack Jenkins (13-4, 1 NC). A measured kickboxing match turned wild in a hurry when Jenkins uncorked a head kick that floored “Mosquitinho.” Jenkins swarmed for the finish as the crowd exploded, but Santos recovered his wits and ensnared Jenkins in a deep triangle choke. It looked for a few tense moments as if Jenkins was going to be forced to tap or take a nap, but he managed to extricate his neck, only to have Santos switch to an armbar. Jenkins fought that off as well, and made it back to his feet, but Santos dragged him back down and finished the frame in top position. Santos wasted little time in bringing things back to the canvas in …

"One of the greatest fights I've ever seen in my life." -Dana White@KelvinGastelum vs @Stylebender is the newest inductee to the #UFCHOF Fight Wing 👏 pic.twitter.com/YQIbgwNiNC

— UFC (@ufc) February 9, 2025

The middleweight classic between Israel Adesanya and Kelvin Gastelum will be the latest inductee into the UFC Hall of Fame’s “Fight Wing.”

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The promotion announced the news during UFC 312 on Saturday night. Adesanya and Gastelum squared off in an interim title bout at UFC 236 on April 13, 2019. While “The Last Stylebender” ultimately prevailed in a five-round unanimous decision, Gastelum gave Adesanya the most difficulty of any opponent up to that point in his UFC tenure. When all was said and done, Adesanya was credited with four knockdowns in the bout — including three in the final stanza. The Nigerian-born Kiwi would go on to unify the 185-pound belt with a second-round KO of Robert Whittaker in his next outing at …

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A previously rumored boxing match between Rashad Evans and Quinton Jackson is now official for the spring.

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On Friday, the New Mexico State Athletic Commission approved a boxing card to be held at The Pit in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on April 12. The event will be headlined by Evans and Jackson and is co-promoted by Albuquerque’s Tapia Promotions and Florida’s Signature Punch Promotions. The Albuquerque Journal was first to report the details of the event. No other bouts were announced for the card, but it will reportedly include a number of local boxers from New Mexico.

Evans and Jackson served as opposing coaches on “The Ultimate Fighter 10” before squaring off at UFC 114, where Evans took a unanimous decision triumph over his rival in May 2010. Neither Evans nor Jackson has previous professional boxing experience.

A former UFC light heavyweight champion and a “TUF 2” winner, Evans hasn’t competed in combat sports since out…

👀Dustin Poirier says the UFC is planning his retirement fight this summer in New Orleans

"Things are getting pretty close. Lat the gloves down where it’s all started would be an honour for me."

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🎥 @TheSchmo312 ▫️ pic.twitter.com/dwUf1KD2xx — Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) February 7, 2025

Dustin Poirier’s retirement could be drawing near.

Poirier revealed that his retirement fight is likely in the workds for the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s return to New Orleans this summer. It would be the perfect setting for “The Diamond” to hang up his gloves in front of his home fans in Louisiana.

“I actually have been having calls every week with the UFC,” Poirier recently told The Schmo. “But it’s looking like summer in New Orleans is close to happening for my retirement fight. The pay-per-view this summer in New Orleans would be incredible. That’s what I’m pushing forward for. That’s what the UFC is working toward…

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Roman Dolidze and Sean Strickland needed outside intervention when they first sparred together.

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Dolidze and Strickland are now teammates at the Xtreme Couture gym in Las Vegas. While Dolidze now understands Strickland better, things weren’t always this cordial between the two middleweights.

Strickland is known for expressing his unabashed and controversial opinions on everything under the sun. Dolidze previously couldn’t fathom the former champ slamming his own family over issues like child abuse. However, the Georgian gradually stopped being critical of Strickland as he understands the difference in their upbringings.

In signature fashion, Strickland also went unnaturally hard at Dolidze in their very first sparring session. According to Dolidze, Strickland’s need to test every new guy in the gym stems from his own insecurities.

“In beginning I was very critical with him,” Dolidze recently told Home of Fight. “We had…

MONTREAL we are BACK 😤

The Octagon is heading up north for #UFC315 🇨🇦

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Tickets on sale Feb 28 | Learn more: https://t.co/nnDMHrujre pic.twitter.com/uzdX1BJjjg — UFC (@ufc) February 7, 2025 The Ultimate Fighting Championship is taking to an old stomping ground not reached in a decade.

The organization announced on Friday that it was making its return to the 514 for UFC 315, which will take place on May 10 inside of the city’s Bell Centre. No fights have been announced for the pay-per-view offering in Quebec’s largest city yet. It will be the first time the UFC has traveled to Montreal since UFC 186 in 2015.

At that fight card that April, Demetrious Johnson landed a buzzer-beater armbar on Kyoji Horiguchi to defend his flyweight strap. It was initially slated to be headlined by T.J. Dillashaw vs. Renan Barao, but the former fell out of the matchup due to injury. In the co-main attraction on UFC 186, Quinton Jackso…

Ultimate Fighting Championship great Dominick Cruz had a major impact on the development of MMA and fighter talent around the world.

News of Cruz’ retirement came Thursday courtesy of his announcement, shortly following the release that he had sustained injuries that ejected him a retirement bout with Rob Font. Instead of getting back on the mend, the 39-year-old decided it was time to move on. The Alliance MMA fighter serves as a coach and trainer as well as a commentator and analyst for the UFC.

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One of the many fighters Cruz had an impact on was future UFC beltholder Deiveson Figueiredo. Formerly a flyweight that captured the belt on more than one occasion, “Daico” has since moved to the 135-pound category where Cruz made his mark. The new division breathed life into the aging Brazilian, winning three straight until encountering Petr Yan and coming up short in November. Figueiredo spoke to Sherdog about Cruz’ retirement, speaking highly of “The D…

Middleweight champ hits the scale first 💪@DricusDuPlessis hits the scale at 185 pounds!

[ #UFC312 | Saturday 10pmET | Live on @ESPNPlus PPV ] pic.twitter.com/9F86OZwiud

— UFC (@ufc) February 7, 2025 The UFC 312 weigh-ins took place, finalizing the card for the pay-per-view and seeing one fight fall through.

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The Ultimate Fighting Championship's return to Australia will have one less fight than planned as a preliminary flyweight fight between Hyun Sung Park vs. Nyamjargal Tumendemberel was canceled due to Tumendemberel being unable to make weight. In more fortunate news, the middleweight title fight rematch between Dricus Du Plessis and Sean Strickland will go forward, as will the co-main event strawweight title fight pitting Weili Zhang against Tatiana Suarez.

Du Plessis (22-2) won the belt from Strickland via split decision in January of last year. The South African fighter followed up the victory with a face crank …

The round robin of opponents continues for Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight Asu Almabayev.

In January, news broke that former title challenger Steve Erceg was booked against Almabayev (21-2) at UFC Vegas 103, also known as UFC Fight Night 253. The two flyweights were set to tangle, until Erceg was pulled to face Brandon Moreno in April and was replaced by Allan Nascimento.

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Now with former main attraction Brandon Royval bowing out of UFC Vegas 103 due to injury, Almabayev will be stepping into the main event. He will throw down with Manel Kape (20-7) in a 125-pound five-rounder on March 1 inside of the UFC Apex. News of this shuffling first came courtesy of Kazakhstan-based outlet Sportilinet on Thursday, and it has since been confirmed by multiple outlets.

Surging 31-year-old Almabayev earns this large opportunity on the heels of a successful 2024 campaign that saw him pick up three wins in the Octagon, albeit all at the hands of the …

One of the greatest Ultimate Fighting Championship fighters in the history of the sport is deciding to hang up his gloves.

Ex-UFC and World Extreme Cagefighting bantamweight kingpin Dominick Cruz (24-4) was slated to return to the Octagon against Rob Font for his final MMA bout at UFC Fight Night 252 on Feb. 22. “The Dominator” sustained a shoulder injury and withdrew from the match on Wednesday. Rather than recover and attempt to rebook the Font matchup, Cruz elected to say farewell to the sport on Thursday. He will still remain as a color commentator and analyst for the UFC.

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Posting on Instagram, Cruz wrote a farewell message detailing his recent setbacks and thanking those involved in his career. ”To the fans worldwide, “I have poured every ounce of myself into this sport for the last 25 years. I was really hopeful for one final fight but unfortunately, two shoulder dislocations in 8 months calls an end to this guy’s career.

“I gave everythi…

A lot can change in a day.

During the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s media day for UFC 312, current featherweight kingpin Ilia Topuria (16-0)—who is in Australia cornering brother Aleksandre Topuria—suggested that he had one name in mind if he remained at 145 pounds: Alexander Volkanovski. He also continued floating the idea of moving up to lightweight to challenge Islam Makhachev. On Thursday, however, Topuria informed Sherdog he had a different name in mind.

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“Diego [Lopes] has this profile, he is aggressive and brings dynamism to the Octagon,” Topuria said to the surprise of some. “He does what the public wants to see: he fights for real, not to simply survive. And that’s what I want for my next fight. I don’t want an opponent who just controls the pace, I want someone who really challenges me.”

Whether this means Topuria has changed course, or if he is intentionally giving different outlets different answers to generate confusion or interest,…

Court grants FINAL approval in first of two UFC fighter pay lawsuits. pic.twitter.com/gv6Ja3cjDI

— Erik Magraken (@erikmagraken) February 6, 2025 The Ultimate Fighting Championship is officially settling the first of two antitrust cases for $375 million.

In September, the UFC agreed to up its amount for the settlement of the Le vs. Zuffa antitrust case for fighters that competed with the league from 2010 to 2017 to $375 million. This was subject to approval from Nevada judge Richard Boulware, who did so in October while scheduling the final approval hearing for February. First breaking from to combat sports attorney Erik Magraken on Thursday, Judge Boulware has granted final approval to the settlement and the first case will be closed.

Over a decade ago, the UFC’s former parent company of Zuffa was sued for violating antitrust laws, and accused of engaging in anticompetitive practices to harm fighters. The claims were that the UFC paid…