Martial Arts News

[embedded content] Time truly heals all wounds.

When anyone recalls the most remarkable episodes of the jiu-jitsu and luta livre rivalry on the streets of Rio de Janeiro in the ‘80s and ‘90s, three chapters are always remembered as the most violent and tense ones: The fight between the luta livre head Hugo Duarte and Rickson Gracie in Pepe Beach in 1988; the invasion of Gracie Academy by almost 100 luta livre students led by Duarte one week later; and the historic riot of Pentagon Combat in 1997 during the main event between Renzo Gracie and Eugenio Tadeu that led to the prohibition of vale tudo for almost six years.

In all of those instances, Renzo Gracie and Duarte were two of the most important leaders of both sides. In August, Gracie and Duarte shocked the Brazilian mixed martial arts world by announcing a partnership for a new academy in Texas.

“Definitely the world turns around, after years of war, I found out that one of my biggest rivals is such a unique per…

Dan Ige held his own despite not remembering the second half of his recent bout.

Renowned mixed martial arts coach Eric Nicksick offered his take on his student, Ige's (17-7) performance against Bryce Mitchell (16-1) at UFC Fight Night 228. Coming off two back-to-back victories against Nate Landwehr and Damon Jackson, Ige failed to secure the victory against Mitchell, dropping a hard-fought decision.

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“50k” managed to cut Mitchell under the eye in the first round and displayed his defensive grappling by stopping his opponent's takedown attempts until the last few minutes of Round 1. However, it was a left hand landed by Mitchell in Round 2 which seemingly hurt Ige. “Thug Nasty” followed the strike up with a takedown and went on to control the Xtreme Couture product for the remainder of the round.

Discussing his student's performance in his Thursday appearance on “Remember the Show,” Nicksick said:

“Looking back at it now, we watched the fight …

Danielle Kelly and Jessa Khan run it back for the inaugural ONE Atomweight Submission Grappling World Title! 🏆 Who you got?#ONEFightNight14 | Friday at 8PM ET🇺🇸🇨🇦 Watch live on Prime 👉 https://t.co/Il4tPmkkmj🌍 Live TV broadcast in 190+ countries (check local listings) pic.twitter.com/vTvnLvlHcC

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) September 28, 2023 Jessa Khan’s confidence could not be higher heading into her rematch against Danielle Kelly for the inaugural One Championship atomweight submission grappling title in a ONE on Prime Video 14 co-feature this Friday at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore.

Khan captured her first world title in June at the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation World Championship in Long Beach, California. Preparing for the two-day tournament took months of dedicated training and game planning for the best grapplers on the planet. Khan claims shifting her focus from a tournament to a single match ha…

Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC A place in the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s top 15 at flyweight looms for the victor.

On Thursday, Ag. Fight first broke the news that Casey O'Neill (9-1) will be stepping into the Octagon against Ariane Lipski (16-8) on Dec. 16. The two flyweights will tangle likely on the preliminary portion of UFC 296, which will be held at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. This 125-pound affair has been confirmed by both women via their Instagram Stories pages.

Born in Scotland and trained in Australia, O’Neill suffered her first career defeat in March. Her nine-fight win streak, which included four triumphs inside the Octagon, fell by the wayside courtesy of Jennifer Maia. On her way up the 125-pound ladder, O’Neill rapidly ascended when she dispatched Shana Dobson, Lara Procopio and Antonina Shevchenko in the span of less than eight months. A lone 2022 effort against Roxanne Modafferi also went her way by split decisio…

"I think the deal is, when I fight Shavkat, they're going to add on what they owed me for the last fight."@WonderboyMMA explains how the Shavkat Rahkmonov matchup came about and what a win does for him. #UFC296

Full convo w/ @chrisweidman 🔗 https://t.co/beImfQJIXw pic.twitter.com/E9BqEJXcZr

— MMA on SiriusXM (@MMAonSiriusXM) September 25, 2023

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Stephen Thompson was slated to fight Michel Pereira at UFC 291 back in July. However, the match fell through a day before the event as the Brazilian missed the welterweight limit by three pounds. Thompson refused to take the bout at catchweight after weighing in at 170.5.

However, Thompson (17-6) didn’t receive his show money despite having made weight. “Wonderboy” has since remained upbeat that the Ultimate Fighting Championship will do good by him and continues to do so.

Regardless, Thompson believes the perceived debt will be paid along with the payout for his upcomi…

[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.

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“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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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…