Martial Arts News

Francisco Trinaldo seems to have found a new passion in the world of bare knuckle MMA.

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One of the most popular fighters on Season 1 of “The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil,” Trinaldo parted ways with the UFC in 2022, some 10 years after his debut. Thirteen months later he made his bare knuckle foray at Gamebred Fighting Championship 6, where he defeated Sasha Palatnikov via technical knockout 1:55 into Round 1 when his opponent suffered a knee injury.

“I love to fight MMA without gloves, but I have to recognize that, after 13 months without fighting, I was nervous in the beginning,” Trinaldo told Sherdog.com. “But as soon as my opponent hit me, I woke up and started to have fun. I was prepared for a bloody war, but it was not necessary. I loved the experience and I can't wait for [Jorge] Masvidal to decide who will be my next opponent.”

“Massaranduba” had no problem revealing a list of names he has targeted as potential adversaries.

“I'm 45 [years o…

What are we doing/what have we done to ensure this situation doesn’t happen again, Micheál? Since the heinous and horrific murder of an Irish citizen in broad daylight at the hands of a foreign criminal there has been a zero action response from the 3 parties in power. Nothing at… https://t.co/EZpu40Ql8R

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) November 21, 2023

Conor McGregor recently went on a tirade against the Irish government regarding the murder of Ireland native Ashling Murphy at the hands of an immigrant.

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A 23-year-old high school teacher and musician, Murphy, was murdered by Slovakian immigrant Jozef Puska while walking alongside the Grand Canal in Tullamore, County Offaly, in January 2022. Puska, who was also a sex offender in his native country, was arrested earlier this month and sentenced to life by a unanimous jury in a Dublin court.

Puska was reportedly unemployed and living on welfare since arriving in Irela…

Jake Paul claims that a potential MMA rematch against Nate Diaz is nowhere close to coming to fruition.

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While Diaz exited the UFC with a stoppage win over Tony Ferguson in September 2022 ,his long-anticipated boxing clash against Paul only materialized this past August. Paul went on to earn a unanimous decision win over the Stockton, California, native and after the bout, both parties expressed interest in setting up a rematch under MMA rules.

However, “The Problem Child” claims there has been complete radio silence from Diaz’s camp after a bit of initial interest. One potential point of contention is Diaz not wanting to fight under the Professional Fighters League banner. Diaz is rallying for the bout to be organized by his own promotion, Real Fight Inc., which co-promoted his boxing clash with Paul so far. Paul signed with the PFL earlier this year and is also a minority owner of the organization.

Paul discussed the possibility of an MMA bout…

A strawweight meeting between former Dana White Contender Series participants Rayanne Amanda dos Santos and Talita Alencar has been added to the UFC Fight Night 233 card.  

The news was first reported by MMAFighting.com.  UFC Fight Night 233 takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Dec. 9 and is headlined by a bantamweight bout between Yadong Song and Chris Gutierrez.

After a unanimous decision loss to Denise Gomes on the Contender Series in 2022, Dos Santos has racked up a three-fight winning streak. She is coming off a unanimous decision victory against Jillian DeCoursey in May to secure the Invicta FC atomweight championship.   

  Meanwhile, Alencar recently appeared on Week 7 of the latest edition of the Contender Series, where she fought her way to a unanimous draw against Stephanie Luciano. Prior to her bout with Luciano, Alencar was on a four-fight winning streak that included three rear-naked choke finish…

Jan Blachowicz believes Jamahal Hill might not be in his best shape when he attempts to reclaim the light heavyweight title against Alex Pereira.

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Hill , who defeated Glover Teixeira to be crowned champ at UFC 283 in January, had to vacate his strap in July after suffering a torn Achilles tendon during a pickup basketball game. Meanwhile, Pereira went on to capture the vacant title with a Round 2 technical knockout win over former champ Jiri Prochazka at UFC 295 earlier this month.

Hill claims that he has been guaranteed a title shot upon his return to the Octagon, which will most likely be against Pereira. However, Blachowicz believes the long hiatus could negatively affect “Sweet Dreams.”

“We’ll see how he’s going to feel after the injury because sometimes it’s hard coming back in great shape,” Blachowicz told MiddleEasy. “You still got something in the back of your head that you have surgery and you’re coming back. You don’t know how your leg…

Dan Hooker is out of his upcoming clash against Bobby Green with less than 10 days to go before fight night.

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Hooker was scheduled to take on Green in the co-main event at UFC on ESPN 52, which goes down at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas on Dec. 2. “The Hangman” has now been forced out of the matchup due to an arm injury, according to the New Zealand Herald. Multiple outlets have since confirmed the news. A replacement opponent for Green is being sought.

Earlier this year, Hooker pulled out of a scheduled clash against Jalin Turner at UFC 285 in March due to a broken hand. He later went to defeat Turner via split decision at UFC 290 but broke his arm in the fight. The Kiwi has now reportedly been forced out of UFC Austin due to a similar injury.

“It’s just one of those things. I’ve been kicked a thousand times in the last two months and he just got me on the right spot. It’s broken on the same spot as I broke it last time,” Hooker told the…

Anderson Silva believes the end of the partnership between the UFC and USADA could be a good thing.

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During an interview on the Flow podcast, “The Spider” said that he believes testing should be more flexible, taking place only during the week of the fight.

“Depending on the sport, yes [there has to be strict control]. If it's an Olympic sport, it has to be there. I think the UFC shouldn't be so strict,” Silva said. “It’s not an Olympic sport. The training that MMA athletes do is completely different from that of any other fighting athlete, because they put themselves at extremes. The guy trains boxing, wrestling, jiu-jitsu, sparring, physical preparation and a lot of other things. There was a season that injured a lot of people. When a guy is undergoing medical monitoring, taking something without it being out of control, he won't get injured. This won't change his performance at all in the fight. I am in favor of drug testing during fight week. If…

A heavyweight matchup has been added to the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s second pay-per-view event of 2024.

Justin Tafa (7-3) will take on Marcos Rogerio de Lima (21-9) at UFC 298 on Feb. 17. Both fighters confirmed the booking on social media following an initial report from MMAFighting.com. UFC 298 is headlined by a featherweight title tilt between Alexander Volkanovski and Ilia Topuria and is expected to be held in Los Angeles, though the location and venue are not official.

Tafa is currently unbeaten in his last four outings, which includes three first-round stoppages and one no contest. “Bad Man” is coming off a knockout win against Austen Lane at UFC 293 on Sept. 9.

Meanwhile, de Lima has gone 2-2 in his last four Octagon appearances. In his most recent outing, he suffered a 33-second KO defeat to Derrick Lewis at UFC 291 in July.

Donn Davis: The next time we're on here, when people laugh that we're gonna be a co-leader, we're gonna be a co-leader. #TheMMAHour pic.twitter.com/Rw5ZHsRjhi

— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) November 20, 2023

PFL founder Donn Davis believes the promotion’s latest acquisition has UFC CEO Dana White worried.

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After months of rumors, PFL officially announced its acquisition of Bellator on Monday. Davis believes that while White wasn’t previously worried about the PFL, this latest move has the UFC head honcho concerned.

“Everybody knows Dana well enough that he only dismisses things that worry him, or else he just doesn’t comment. He didn’t comment on the PFL for four years because he wasn’t worried. He has commented on the PFL a lot in the last six months. He’s worried,” Davis said during an appearance on "The MMA Hour.”

While PFL and Bellator have been in competition for the status of No. 2 MMA promotion in the …

Bobby Green has a bold prediction for Tony Ferguson’s upcoming UFC 296 clash against Paddy Pimblett.

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Ferguson will take on “The Baddy” at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Dec. 16. Many consider it a booking of contrasting career arcs, with Ferguson being on a six-fight skid and Pimblett on a six-fight winning streak.

Once considered to be one of the biggest threats to former lightweight king Khabib Nurmagomedov, Ferguson has repeatedly been advised to retire throughout the course of his recent slump. However, Green, who was his last opponent, believes “El Cucuy” should retire only when he wants to. Green also expects to Ferguson to return to the win column against Pimblett at UFC 296.

“Everybody telling him to retire and stuff, he’ll retire when he wants to retire,” Green recently said in an interview with The Schmo. “Don’t let nobody tell you different. I fought Tony, so I know what I was dealing with in there the whole entire time. Even …

Tyson Fury is seemingly interested in running it back with Francis Ngannou after their boxing clash last month.

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Ngannou made his long-awaited foray into the squared circle on Oct. 28 in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia, against Fury, going in as a +850 underdog. The former Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight king shocked the world by taking Fury to a split decision, also scoring the lone knockdown of the bout in Round 3.

Ngannou isn’t expected to return to MMA for his next outing, as there have been talks of potential boxing clashes against Dereck Chisora and Deontay Wilder. Meanwhile, Fury is slated to take on Oleksandr Usyk in a heavyweight title unification clash on Feb. 17.

While Fury isn’t looking past the Usyk fight, promoter Frank Warren said on "The MMA Hour” that the WBC champ is interested in a rematch against Ngannou in the future.

“I think there’s a good chance of that happening. I do,” Warren said. “I don’t know [if it’ll be n…

Clay Collard isn't surprised he's going to go up against Professional Fighters League 2022 lightweight king Olivier Aubin-Mercier Friday at the 2023 PFL Championships.

Coming off a dominant unanimous decision victory against Shane Burgos in August at 2023 PFL 9, Collard (24-10) is set to meet Mercier (20-5) for the lightweight strap inside the Smart Cage on Nov. 24 at The Anthem in Washington D.C.

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Mercier, on the other hand, is currently undefeated in the promotion and will enter the bout with Collard on the heels of back-to-back finishes against Bruno Miranda and Anthony Romero.

Considering the hectic schedule fighters deal with when competing in a playoff setting, Collard was asked by Sherdog.com if he's had enough time to come up with a game plan for the reigning lightweight champion.

“So, I mean, we're definitely going to cater a little bit towards OAM's fighting style. We're going to work on different things for different individual fig…