Martial Arts News

[embedded content] Despite working together in 2017, Ultimate Fighting Championship chief Dana White and Showtime’s Stephen Espinoza are anything but friends.

On Tuesday, following the eighth episode on the 2023 season of Dana White's Contender Series, White conducted a post-fight press conference to discuss various matters from the bouts that night to current events around combat sports. Among the many topics included a rumor that came about on social media regarding Showtime’s future in boxing, specifically that Showtime would be getting out of the boxing business after 2024. White was not surprised.

Advertisement

“That’s incredibly unfortunate,” White remarked while wearing a wry grin. “Production of that show is fantastic, the guy who runs Showtime Boxing is a great human being…it’s unfortunate to hear this. F--- Espinoza, and it’s about time that sh--ty product is off the air.”

The President of Showtime Sports was not about to let that slide, although his re…

And nowww, introducing, Donovan Lomeli! 9-23-23 😍💙💙💙Best day of my life 🥰.5 hours of active labor, 20 minutes of pushing with zero tearing, and our healthy baby boy was here! We are now resting at home, and loving on our little guy. So in love 🥰💙 pic.twitter.com/ObRQtpECWx

— Carla Esparza (@CarlaEsparza1) September 28, 2023

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship strawweight queen Carla Esparza and her husband, Matthew Lomeli, have revealed the birth of their first child on social media.

Advertisement

Donovan Lomeli, born at 7:20 p.m. local time on Sept. 23, registered a healthy seven pounds and six ounces and entered the world at 19.6 inches.

“Best day of my life,” the 35-year-old said on X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter. “Five hours of active labor, 20 minutes of pushing with zero tearing, and our healthy baby boy was here! We are now resting at home and loving on our little guy.”

The Team Oyama expo…

A potential middleweight barnburner has been added to an Ultimate Fighting Championship card set in China this December.

Per Jun Yong Park’s (17-5) management team of First Round Management on Thursday, Park and Andre Muniz (23-6) will collide at the UFC’s return event to Shanghai on Dec. 9. The middleweights will meet, presumably inside of the Mercedes-Benz Arena, in what will be the promotion’s first show in China in four years. The matchup has since been confirmed by other outlets.

Currently the UFC’s 14th-ranked competitor at 185 pounds, Muniz started his career with the organization by amassing a five-fight win streak which included three armbars. However, the Brazilian has since been on a rough patch, suffering a pair of stoppage losses to Brendan Allen and Paul Craig this year. While “Sergipano” maintains a finish rate of 83%, however, he has never heard the final bell in defeat.

South Korea’s Park will look to enter the middleweight rankings by adding to…

An edge-of-your-seat Main Event 🤩

James Hendin 🆚 Tobias Harila at #CW160 live on @UFCFightPass tomorrow night from 9PM! pic.twitter.com/d51TCYkrO2

— Cage Warriors (@CageWarriors) September 28, 2023 Cage Warriors Fighting Championship returns to Manchester, England, on Friday for CW 160.

Advertisement

The 10-fight card is headlined by a featherweight bout between James Hendin and Tobias Harila. Both main event fighters successfully made weight, as did the rest of the card, with the exception of Adam Wilson. The would-be bantamweight came in 1.3 pounds over the limit at 137.3 pounds and will be fined a percentage of his purse as a result. Additionally, a fight-week medical issue forced Nathan Fletcher out of the co-main event fight against Thomas Bryan.

Hendin (7-2) has won two of his last three fights, with wins over Araik Margarian and Paull McBain sandwiched between a submission defeat to Jordan Vucenic. "The Honeybadger" offici…

Irene Aldana will fight Karol Rosa at #UFC296 on December 16th. (first rep. @damadeferromma) #UFC #MMA #UFCESPN #UFC2023 pic.twitter.com/yOAoRHdtze

— Marcel Dorff 🇳🇱🇮🇩 (@BigMarcel24) September 27, 2023 After her first bid for Ultimate Fighting Championship ended in misery, Irene Aldana now has a first step back to contention—and it may be in a different division.

Aldana (14-7) will take on up-and-comer Karol Rosa (17-5) at UFC 296 on Dec. 16 in Las Vegas. It will be the first Octagon appearance for the 35-year-old Mexican since her unsuccessful challenge of UFC bantamweight champ Amanda Nunes at UFC 289 in June. That fight ended in a five-round drubbing by the champ, to the tune of two 50-44 scorecards and one 50-43. Afterward, Nunes retired as a two-division champion at bantamweight and featherweight.

Aldana had won four of her last five leading up to that title shot, including back-to-back finishes of Yana Santos and Macy Chiasson, …

After multiple delays, there is a tentative timeline in place to begin Cain Velasquez’s trial for attempted murder.

Advertisement

During a pre-trial hearing on Wednesday at Santa Clara County (Calif.) Hall of Justice, Judge Daniel T. Nishagaya extended the trial setting date to Dec. 6. This was done on the condition that a trial date would be set for sometime in January at the next hearing.

“I am willing to give this another setting date with the understanding that I will be intending to set a trial date in the middle to later part of January on Dec. 6,” Nishagaya told the defense and prosecution.

The trial setting date has been extended multiple times since January. The former UFC heavyweight champion was not in attendance on Wednesday.

Velasquez is facing attempted murder and other charges after allegedy chasing and shooting at Harry Goularte, who has been accused of molesting Velasquez’s young son. During a high-speed chase, Velasquez fired at the…

When the Tony Ferguson-Paddy Pimblett booking was announced, it raised some eyebrows in the mixed martial arts community.

Advertisement

Ferguson, a former interim lightweight champion, will enter UFC 296 on a six-bout losing streak. That might be construed as favorable matchmaking for Pimblett, a fighter who has received a strong push from the promotion. However, all of Ferguson’s losses — Justin Gaethje, Charles Oliveira, Beneil Dariush, Michael Chandler, Nate Diaz and Bobby Green — have come against competition that is more proven than Paddy “The Baddy.” That’s why UFC CEO Dana White thinks the fight is compelling.

“I think a lot of people think that Paddy is unproven, and I think a lot of people feel that Tony isn’t in deep water like he’s been in, in his last several fights. I think the matchmaking and the timing on this fight is excellent and couldn’t be more perfect,” White said at the Contender Series post-fight press conference on Tuesday night.

“I…

[embedded content]

Daniel Cormier will be enshrined in another Hall of Fame in the very near future.

Advertisement

The former UFC two-division champion will be inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2024, it was recently announced. Cormier, a native of Lafayette, Louisiana, joins notables such as ex-New Orleans Saints star quarterback Drew Brees and Olympic gold medalist and UFC veteran Kevin Jackson in the nine-person class. The inductees were chosen out of 149 nominees by a 40-member Louisiana Sports Writers Association committee. The date for the ceremony will be announced soon.

Cormier and Jackson are the first amateur wrestlers to be inducted in to the LSHOF. Jackson also coached Cormier for Team USA in the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games.

“DC” made his name on the mats at Lafayette’s Northside High School, where he compiled a 101-9 record and won three straight state titles. He went on to earn All-American honors at Oklaho…

Who DO YOU have claiming the ONE Interim Women's Atomweight MMA World Championship on September 29 at ONE Fight Night 14?#ONEFightNight14 | Friday at 8PM ET🇺🇸🇨🇦 Watch live on Prime 👉 https://t.co/Il4tPmkSbR🌍 Live TV broadcast in 190+ countries (check local listings) pic.twitter.com/eZQsZBT5V5

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) September 27, 2023 Stamp Fairtex will look to make history as a three-sport world champion when she faces Seo Hee Ham for the interim One Championship women’s atomweight title in the ONE on Prime Video 14 main event on Friday at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore. Having already captured gold in muay thai and kickboxing, Fairtex now sets her sights on mixed martial arts.

Fairtex can draw upon past history, as she fell short in her first bid for an MMA championship. The 25-year-old lost to reigning atomweight titleholder Angela Lee in March 2022 but has since improved her all-around game. With back-to-back …

John Lineker will have his third fight for One Championship this year when he faces Stephen Loman on Friday at Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Advertisement

"I´m so glad to have the opportunity to fight three times in a year,” Lineker said ahead of his bout at One on Prime Video 14. “That´s something really important for a family man like myself. To tell you the truth, I came almost straight from the camp against Jae Woong Kim on Aug. 4 to that one against Loman and my body reacted in a excellent manner.”

Lineker spent the last portion of his current camp in Phuket, Thailand. It’s something he plans on making a regular occurence.

"This time I came 15 days before the fight to train here in Thailand and adapt myself better to the time zone. From now on I´ll always do that before my fights in Asia,” Lineker said.

Loman enters the matchup on an 11-fight winning streak. Lineker is expecting a difficult test from his Filipino opponent.

"Loman is a very tough op…

Charles Oliveira’s 11-fight win streak came to end with a lopsided title loss to Islam Makhachev at UFC 280 last year.

Advertisement

Oliveira looked completely outclassed by the Dagestani and even admitted to refusing an immediate rematch. Having since bounced back with a technical knockout win over Beneil Dariush, “Do Bronx” will look to reclaim his title exactly a year later in the rematch against Makhachev at UFC 294.

Makhachev’s long-time training partner, Usman Nurmagomedov, believes the UFC 294 lightweight title rematch will play out exactly like the first outing. While he does acknowledge the unpredictable nature of the sport, Nurmagomedov doubts Oliveira has anything new to offer to his teammate.

“I think it’s going to be the same thing,” Nurmagomedov recently told ESPN. “Of course,Charles Oliveira – maybe he’s going to fix some mistakes. This is a fight. Something can happen. But I know Islam is training very hard. He’s very smart. He can wrestle…

Israel Adesanya lost his middleweight title to Sean Strickland in a massive upset in the main event at UFC 293 earlier this month.“The Last Stylebender” subsequently pleaded guilty to a charge of drunk driving from an incident dating back to Aug. 19.

Advertisement

The former middleweight champ was returning home with friends after dinner when they encountered a “Random Breath Testing Unit.” Adesanya was 37 milligrams over the legal limit of 50 milligrams and has issued an apology for his misconduct. 

Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White was recently asked to weigh in on Adesanya’s DUI charge and whether it had any role to play in his title loss. White summed it up crisply calling it a “bad decision” while also advising people to use cabs or drivers when drunk, especially if they can afford it easily.

“Bad decisions, man. No matter how many drinks you’ve had – if you drink, don’t drive,” White said at the Contender Series post-fight press co…