Martial Arts News

Updates to #UFCSP: https://t.co/CfeeUQxFo4

— UFC News (@UFCNews) November 3, 2023 The scales proved a greater threat than expected for UFC Fight Night 231 on Friday morning.

Ahead of the UFC Sao Paulo event on Nov. 4, in the promotion’s return to the Brazilian city for the first time since late 2019, four fighters initially missed weight. A rarity in combat sports, both Ismael Bonfim (159.5) and Vinc Pichel (157) came in heavy for their lightweight match. While Pichel returned to hit his proper marks at 155.5 pounds, Bonfim declined to continue cutting weight, and the fight has been canceled. Additionally, Victor Hugo Silva clocked in at 138.5 pounds ahead of his bantamweight battle with Daniel Marcos (136), and the organization announced it scrubbed that bout from the lineup as well.

Eduarda Moura exceeded the strawweight cap by 3.5 pounds prior to her matchup with Montserrat Ruiz (114), and Moura has received a 30% fine as the fight …

J.Butler out. Lucas Alexander in, will fight Jeka Saragih at #UFCVegas82 on November 18th. #UFC #MMA #UFCESPN #UFC2023 pic.twitter.com/J5Mr06VTw6

— Marcel Dorff 🇳🇱🇮🇩 (@BigMarcel24) November 1, 2023

Indonesian standout Jeka Asparido Saragih will debut in the Ultimate Fighting Championship on Nov. 18.

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Saragih (13-3) was originally scheduled to make his promotional debut at UFC Fight Night 232 against lightweight newcomer Jesse Butler (12-5), who was coming off a first-round knockout loss to Jim Miller in his first Octagon appearance back in June. However, the promotion announced last week that Saragih was in need of a new opponent after Butler was forced to pull out due to an injury.

While there were brief talks of a clash between Saragih and Charlie Campbell, that potential matchup also fell through. However, the Indonesian has finally found himself an opponent two weeks ahead of his scheduled debut.

Saragih…

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Jailton Almeida believes one half of the UFC 295 co-main event has a clear edge over the other.

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Sergei Pavlovich (18-1) will take on fellow surging contender Tom Aspinall (13-3) at Madison Square Garden in New York on Nov. 11 for the interim heavyweight title. The replacement bout was announced a little more than two weeks before Jon Jones’ scheduled title defense against Stipe Miocic fell through, as “Bones” suffered a torn pectoral muscle in training.

While Aspinall is a slight -130 favorite on some sportsbooks in the evenly-matched booking, Almeida (19-2) sees Pavlovich having an advantage. It is worth noting that the Russian was originally supposed to weigh-in as the backup for the title fight between Jones and Miocic.

Keeping that in mind, Almeida believes Pavlovich will have an edge as he was already in a title-fight mindset as opposed to his English opponent, who was just training as usual.

“Jones’ injury open…

The Future @iangarryMMA has arrived to Chute Boxe Academy to prep for UFC 296 🇧🇷 @betr⚡️ pic.twitter.com/zRVr4IUR6I

— betr ⚡️Combat (@betrcombat) October 31, 2023

Ian Garry recently revealed that he has been removed from Leon Edwards’ Team Renegade gym in Birmingham, England.

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While Garry (13-0) has trained in several gyms throughout his career, his recent squads have been Kill Cliff FC (formerly Sanford MMA) in Florida and Edwards’ Team Renegade. However, the undefeated welterweight prospect was recently booted from Team Renegade. Something he isn’t very happy about. According to Garry, Edwards (21-3) and his coach Dave Lovell were concerned about training with another ranked contender inside the gym.

“Leon and his head coach had an issue with me training on the mats and recently have asked me not to train there, because ‘Leon doesn’t want any insecurities or doubts on his own mats, within the gym,’ which I don’t fu…

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Former Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight king Francis Ngannou (17-3) may not return to full mixed martial arts anytime soon.

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Ngannou parted ways with the UFC earlier this year after failed contract negotiations. “The Predator” subsequently bagged a lucrative deal with Professional Fighters League that gave him equity in the company, a seat on its athlete advisory board and made him chairman of PFL Africa.

Ngannou also secured a boxing super fight against lineal heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury, which went down in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Oct. 28. To the surprise of many around the world, the Cameroonian took the WBC champ to a controversial split decision, even knocking down “The Gypsy King” in Round 3.

PFL founder Donn Davis has now suggested that the Cameroonian is unlikely to return to “pure” MMA in the immediate future simply due to a lack of interesting opponents. Prior to his UFC exit, Ngannou was expec…

The seventh event of Rizin Fighting Federation’s Landmark series has some last-minute lineup modifications.

Former Eagles Fighting Championship flyweight ace Mehman Mamedov (6-6) was scheduled to take on Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran Justin Scoggins at Rizin Landmark 7, which goes down at National Gymnastics Arena in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Nov. 4. However, promotional debutant Ferit Goktepe (1-1) has now stepped up on short notice to replace Scoggins after the American pulled out due to a “medical condition that needed immediate treatment.” The change was announced via press release.

In his most recent outing, Goktepe, 25, scored a decision win over Ibragim Moussa last November to be crowned Baku Open Prix 2022 bantamweight champion.

Mamedov, 35, saw his promotional debut foiled by a first-round knockout loss to Motonobu Tezuka last October. The Azerbaijani has since rebounded with a knockout of his own over Yusaku Nakamura back in April.

Paul Felder (17-6) has taken another step towards coming out of retirement.

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After confirming a return to the UFC’s drug testing pool in September, the Ultimate Fighting Championship competitor turned commentator has now submitted his first test samples. The news was reported this week by Damon Martin of MMA Fighting.

Felder hasn’t fought since dropping a split verdict against Rafael dos Anjos in November 2020. It was the Philadelphia native’s second split decision loss in a row, and “The Irish Dragon” announced his retirement while on commentary duty during a UFC Fight Night broadcast in May 2021, citing the lack of a drive to compete anymore.

However, an iconic clash of veterans Max Holloway and Chan Sung Jung at “UFC Singapore” in August got Felder thinking about a possible return to the Octagon. The 38-year-old wrote on social media in the aftermath of the fight, “@KoreanZombieMMA got me wanting to go once more… damn you zombie. Seeing hi…

While it might seem like Joshua Silveira has enjoyed a rapid rise to stardom in Professional Fighters League that isn’t really the case.

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Silveira will face Impa Kasanganay in the light heavyweight final at the PFL Championships on Nov. 24 at the Anthem in Washington, D.C. As the son of American Top Team coach Marcus “Conan” Silveira, the former Legacy Fighting Alliance two-division champion has been embedded in the sport from a very young age.

“This is a lifetime of work,” Silveira said during a PFL media day session. “This goes back all the way to career day in elementary school. I was saying cagefighting before MMA was even a phrase. ‘Vale Tudo,’ that’s what I was telling people back in the day. Anything goes, that’s what I want to be. It went from being kind of silly to people to becoming ‘Holy s—t, this guy is actually doing it.’”

Before he became a prospect to watch, Silveira was working hard in the gym, doing what he could to assist the m…

Enjoy Olivier Aubin-Mercier while he’s around, because his days in mixed martial arts could be numbered.

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“The Canadian Gangster” has won nine straight bouts under the Professional Fighters League banner, and he will attempt to capture his second lightweight title in the organization when he faces Clay Collard at the 2023 PFL Championships on Nov. 24. After that fight, Aubin-Mercier plans on going on a lengthy hiatus at the very least. There’s only one thing that could entice him to return sooner than planned, if he returns at all.

“For sure I’m gonna take a big break,” Aubin-Mercier said during a recent media day session. “There’s no question about that. I don’t think you’re going to see me next year. If PFL wants to come to Montreal, and they want to give me some good money, and have some friends of mine on the card, then for sure I’m going to fight one more time.

“But other than that I have no interest in doing the next season. I have no inte…

Derrick Lewis isn’t taking his recent arrest for reckless driving too seriously.

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“The Black Beast” was caught driving 136 miles per hour in a 50 mph zone while behind the wheel of a red Lamborhini in Harris County (Texas) last week. He reportedly passed a law enforcement officer while “weaving in and out of traffic and making unsafe lane changes.”

Lewis was given a $100 personal recognizance bond and released from custody the same day as his arrest. His next court date is scheduled for Dec. 27.

When asked about the incident during a media scrum ahead of UFC Fight Night 231 in Sao Paulo, Lewis responded in lighthearted fashion.

“Nah, I don’t even think that was me,” Lewis said. “That guy had hair. You seen the picture? I don’t got no hair. That ain’t me.”

Lewis’ remarks are in reference to the arrest report, which state that the man detained had black hair and was 6-foot-2, 215 pounds. Lewis is bald and weighed in at 264 pounds a…

The UFC Sao Paulo card has undergone yet another change only a few days before fight night.

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Esteban Ribovics (12-1) is out of his scheduled lightweight clash against fellow Brazilian standout Elves Brener (15-3). Ribovics was coming off his first promotional win against Kamuela Kirk at UFC 290 in July after a foiled debut against Loik Radzhabov at UFC 285 in March.

Ribovics will be replaced by fellow countryman and Dana White's Contender Series graduate Kaynan Kruschewsky (15-2). “Bahia” steps up on three days’ notice for his UFC debut, which will also be a quick turnaround after a first-round submission win over Dylan Mantello on Dana White’s Contender Series in September.

The news was first reported by Octagon MMA on social media. The new booking will is expected to take place at a 165-pound catchweight.

Brener made his UFC debut in February, picking up a split decision win over Russian veteran Zubaira Tukhugov. The 26-year-old was a …

The heavyweight title clash between Tyson Fury (34-0-1) and Oleksandr Usyk (21-0) has been pushed back a few months after the Brit’s near upset loss against Francis Ngannou in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, last weekend.

A +800 underdog going into his boxing debut, Ngannou took the WBC heavyweight champ to a controversial split decision, which didn’t go the Cameroonian’s way despite him having scored the lone knockdown of the bout. Most of the combat sports fraternity, including the former UFC heavyweight champ himself, called it a robbery. Usyk, who was in attendance for the fight, entered the ring after the bout to cut a promo for his upcoming fight against Fury.

Fury vs. Usyk was announced just weeks before the Ngannou fight despite Fury’s disapproval of the timing. While the clash was originally targeted for Dec. 23 in Riyadh, it has now reportedly been pushed back to February for a yet-to-be-decided date. The change in date was first reported by ESPN.

The fig…