Martial Arts News

Our main event is OFFICIAL! 👊@IanGarryMMA weighs in at 171lbs!

[ #UFCKansasCity LIVE on @ESPNPlus | SAT | 9pmET ] pic.twitter.com/hBaTGALUA3

— UFC (@ufc) April 25, 2025 The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to Kansas City, Missouri, after two years for a 14-fight card that is now official after the UFC Kansas City weigh-ins took place.

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Sitting atop the event is a headlining fight between Ian Garry and Carlos Prates. Both welterweight contenders successfully made weight for their five-round main event. Only one fighter missed weight as Giga Chikadze came in at 147 pounds, a full pound over the featherweight limit, for his fight against David Onama. As a result, he'll be fined 20% of his purse.

Garry (15-1) enters his first UFC main event coming off his first-ever career defeat to Shavkat Rakhmonov. "The Future" will be looking to show that he's still a top contender despite the loss and was previously undefeated…

#UFCAtlanta has its headliners 🚨@Usman84kg vs @NewMansa94@RoseNamajunas vs @FearTheMaverick

Tickets on sale May 2 | Info: https://t.co/8HQfIg4b0R pic.twitter.com/lav45WCWaz

— UFC (@ufc) April 25, 2025 The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s return to Hotlanta will have a solid one-two punch in the marquee.

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The promotion released information about its upcoming trip to Atlanta on Friday, announcing the headliner the June 14 card. In the main attraction will be Kamaru Usman (20-4) against Joaquin Buckley (21-6) in a high-stakes welterweight showdown. It will be Usman’s return to 170 pounds after a one-off outing at middleweight, and overall, his first appearance since October 2023—he will be searching for his first victory since his rematch with Colby Covington in 2021.

Former beltholder Usman is looking to put a three-fight skid in the rear-view, with two of those three coming to Leon Edwards with the third defeat against…

WHO WILL BE THE BADDEST OF THEM ALL???

The hometown kid @DustinPoirier challenges @BlessedMMA for the BMF belt in his final trip to the Octagon!#UFC318 | @GNOSports | Learn More: https://t.co/GUdzvfNyaj pic.twitter.com/fDnILvrVwW

— UFC (@ufc) April 25, 2025 Two of the most beloved Ultimate Fighting Championship fighters will run it back one more time.

The trilogy bout for Max Holloway (26-8) and Dustin Poirier (30-9, 1 NC) is on the books for UFC 318 on July 19. The two lightweights will collide for Holloway’s symbolic “BMF” belt, a title not currently connected to actual championship accolades. This event will also serve as the promotion’s return to “The Big Easy” for the first time in over a decade, with Tim Boetsch and Dan Henderson duking it out in New Orleans' Smoothie King Center back in June 2015. Of note, Poirier won by knockout on that fight card.

Over the last several years, Holloway has excelled against competition not …

Top-ranked Ultimate Fighting Championship Mateusz Gamrot is taking a bit of a stroll outside of the top 15 for a time.

Per the promotion on Thursday, Gamrot (24-3, 1 NC) will be taking on Ludovit Klein (23-4-1) in a major lightweight tilt at UFC on ESPN 68, also known as UFC Vegas 107. They will serve on the main card but not as the main attraction, with that spot going to the flyweight title eliminator between Erin Blanchfield and Maycee Barber. The fighters will all throw down inside of the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on May 31.

In the Octagon thus far, former two-division KSW king Gamrot has yet to amass a win streak greater than four. He debuted in 2020, lost a decision to Guram Kutateladze and went on to rattle off fought straight wins. A top contender match against Beneil Dariush did not go his way in 2022, so he settled for winning three more to climb the leaderboard again. Once more, the Polish combatant came up short when it mattered most, dropping a split verdict…

Two more bouts have been added to the UFC Vegas 106 lineup, as Sodiq Yusuff wil meet Mairon Santos at lightweight, while Julian Erosa will take on Melquizael Costa at featherweight.

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MMAFighting.com was first to confirm Yusuff vs. Santos, while Ag.Fight initially brought word of Erosa vs. Costa. UFC Vegas 106 — also known as UFC Fight Night — takes place on May 17 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a welterweight tilt pitting Gilbert Burns against Michael Morales.

Yusuff will be making the move to 155 pounds on the heels of back-to-back losses against Edson Barboza and Diego Lopes at featherweight. Prior to that, Yusuff had been victorious in six of his first seven Octagon appearances.

Santos, meanwhile, has won 15 of his first 16 professional outings — including two victories in UFC competition. The 24-year-old Brazilian debuted in the Octagon with a second-round KO of Kaan Ofli at UFC on ESPN 62 before taking a split verdict ov…

زمزم الحمادي تنظم لرابطة "PFL MENA"! 🤩

البطلة الإماراتية البالغة من العمر 17 عامًا، لاعبة متألقة في رياضتي الجوجيتسو والفنون القتالية المختلطة، حيث فازت ببطولة العالم للفنون القتالية المختلطة فئة الشباب "IMMAF"، وبطولة العالم للجوجيتسو للناشئين والشباب "JJIF" في عام 2023. pic.twitter.com/caZ5cPMyFc

— PFL MENA (@PFLMENA) April 23, 2025

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Professional Fighters League MENA has signed 17-year-old Zamzam Al Hammadi with designs on showcasing the decorated grappler in amateur MMA bouts during the upcoming season.

Al Hammadi, who hails from United Arab Emirates, earned championship victories at IMMAF Youth World Championships and the JJIF World Youth Championships in 2023. Her mother is a judo practitioner and her sister also competes in grappling and MMA. According to Sherdog.com records, Al Hammad boasts a 9-0 amateur MMA record.

“We’re thrilled to bring in one of the fastest rising young stars, not just in the Middle E…

  After 11 years of retirement, Alexandre Franca Nogueira is making a comeback.

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The 47-year-old “King of the Guillotine” has accepted a special invitation from Japanese promotion Roman Combat to face another previously retired veteran, 41-year-old Hatsu Hioki, who last competed against Mikur Azakura at Rizin 12 in 2018. The 155-pound bout will take place on Saturday at Gen Sports Palace in Tokyo.

“The best moments of my career were in Japan. When the Japanese promoter invited me to fight there against another veteran, I immediately accepted,” said Nogueira, who is known in Brazil by the nickname “Pequeno,” which means small.

A Shooto champion between 1999 and 2005, Nogueira likes the special rules of the event.

“One round of 15 minutes, with gi in Pride rules and the weigh-ins 20 minutes before each fight. I loved that,” said Nogueira.

Known for his amazing guillotine technique that finished the likes of Rumina Sato, Stephen Pallin…

😅Carlos Prates’ mother asks him to KO Ian Machado Garry quickly:

"Don't give the opponent a chance to play too much. Finish the war quickly. The way mommy likes it."

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🎥 @espnmma ▫️ pic.twitter.com/kd6TqBa3fv — Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) April 22, 2025

Carlos Prates’ mother wants her son to finish Ian Garry in style.

Prates headlines UFC Kansas City opposite Garry on Saturday at the T-Mobile Center in Kansa City, Missouri. One of the quirkiest fighters on the roster, Prates is also known for his heavy smoking habits along with his finishing skills.

After losing his father at the age of 1, Prates was primarily brought up by his mother, Regina Prates. Prates admittedly starting getting into fights as a kid while simultaneously developing drinking and smoking habits. That’s when his mother decided to put him into sports, and he initially became a muay thai fighter. Regina revealed that fighting, which comes natural…

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Movsar Evloev believes the UFC doesn’t want him to fight for the featherweight title.

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Evloev is unbeaten in nine UFC outings with wins over Dan Ige, Diego Lopes, Arnold Allen and Aljamain Sterling. However, the undefeated Russian is yet to receive a title shot.

Even Lopes surpassed him for the gold bid, suffering a unanimous decision loss against Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 314 earlier this month. With Evloev being essentially undeniable, both Volkanovski and Lopes had agreed to fight him if they won the title.

But Evloev believes his title shot might still be out of reach. The 31-year-old was in attendance at UFC 314 and tried to congratulate Volkanovski personally. However, he was allegedly stopped by UFC security and taken to a different side of the room, away from the cameras. While Evloev believes he is already deserving of a title shot, he is undeterred and willing to prove himself as many times as needed.

"As …

👀😱 Israel Adesanya wants to rematch Sean Strickland because after losing the fight he felt bullied, the same way as in his childhood:

"This time I am gonna come at him correct. I used to get bullied a lot as a kid. He's an embodiment of that, in the sense that he attacked… pic.twitter.com/s240fZlqck

— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) April 22, 2025

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Israel Adesanya is linking up with David Goggins to try and avenge his loss against Sean Strickland.

Adesanya lost his middleweight title to Strickland via a lopsided unanimous decision at UFC 293 in 2023. While Adesanya was fighting twice a year on an average during his title reign, the Strickland loss admittedly made him realize that he needed to slow down. “The Last Stylebender” has since fought only twice, suffering consecutive stoppage losses against Dricus Du Plessis in 2024 and Nassourdine Imavov this past February.

Adesanya now wants to return to action with a rem…

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Former UFC signee Pietro Menga on Tuesday was jailed for 15 and five months years after pleading guilty to conspiracy to sell or transfer prohibited weapons and conspiracy to supply cocaine.

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According to a statement from the Greater Manchester Police, Menga had a “lucrative job as a middleman for an organized crime group, where he was directly involved in sourcing large quantities of cocaine for customers across the region, all of which he made commission on.”

Over time, authorities were able to identify Menga through a messaging platform service called Encrochat. Through a series of anonymous messages, it was determined that Menga used the handle “wirelessshark” to have conversations with other criminals “openly discussing the sale and purchase of wholesale amounts of drugs and firearms.” Based on the messages on his phone, a drug expert estimated Menga had been involved in the the sale of drugs with a street value well over $50…

Mark Hunt won’t be able to sue the UFC, promotion CEO Dana White and Brock Lesnar, per a ruling from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday.

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According to courthousenews.com, the Ninth Circuit upheld a previous ruling from U.S. District Judge Jennifer Dorsey in 2023, when she determined that Hunt failed to prove that the promotion and White booked him against Brock Lesnar at UFC while knowing that his opponent was using performance enhancing drugs. The Ninth Circuit took a slightly different stance than Dorsey in its decision.

"Unfortunately, Hunt does not point to any evidence in the record of any physical, emotional, economic, or reputational damage or harm attributable to Defendants-Appellees’ conduct," the three-judge panel wrote in its ruling. "Indeed, while maintaining that such evidence does in fact exist, Hunt acknowledged both in his reply brief and at argument that evidence of damages has not yet been 'adequately presented.'"

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