Martial Arts News

“To put some respect on his name, Belal Muhammad @bullyb170 should’ve been fighting for the belt, you know.”- Joaquin Buckley💯🎯 pic.twitter.com/tIkGxEejH0

— فريال محمد (@faryalmohammed) October 4, 2023

Joaquin Buckley has voiced support for Belal Muhammad amidst the latter’s title shot snub.

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The Ultimate Fighting Championship recently announced a welterweight title clash between Colby Covington (17-3) and Leon Edwards (21-3) at UFC 296 on Dec. 16, sidelining Muhammad from his long-due crack at divisional gold.

The announcement came after months of vocal protests from elite UFC welterweights including Muhammad (23-3), who are unhappy with Covington getting the next shot at 170 pounds.

Despite having not fought in more than a year and two of his last four outings being failed title bids, UFC CEO Dana White was adamant about “Chaos” getting another shot.

UFC welterweight Buckley (16-6) has now become the la…

Finally ran into the bitch Mike Jackson

He quickly discovered the difference between calling people Nazis In person vs on Twitter

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This racist is lucky so many people were there to save his pathetic racist ass pic.twitter.com/90luT0YjfG — Jake Shields (@jakeshieldsajj) December 16, 2022

A spat between former Ultimate Fighting Championship fighters Jake Shields and Mike Jackson turned into a scuffle and has now reportedly resulted in formal charges. MMAFighting was first to report the news.

Shields (33-11) and Jackson (1-2) had been trading barbs online over matters such as politics and race before getting into a physical altercation at Las Vegas’ UFC Performance Institute last December.

In a partial clip of the scrap that went viral, Shields can be seen controlling Jackson from top and landing a few blows while the latter pleaded with bystanders to intervene.

Jackson subsequently threatened to press …

Conor McGregor finally appears to have taken a step towards returning to the Octagon.

“Notorious” has been out of action for over two years since suffering a broken leg in his trilogy bout against Dustin Poirier. While he has been training and sparring for a while now, the former two-division champion has yet to re-enter the United States Anti-Doping Agency testing pool, from which he has been missing since the third quarter of 2021.

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The Irishman could seek an exemption from the mandatory six-month testing window that USADA has in place for testing athletes. Brock Lesnar received such clearance in July of 2016 to compete at UFC 200. However, the testing agency has maintained so far that McGregor will need to undergo the six-month testing window in addition to submitting two clean samples to be eligible for a return.

Meanwhile, Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White has redirected all questions regarding McGregor's situation to UFC Senior Vic…

A 155-pound bout pitting Halil Amir against Ahmed Mujtaba has been booked for One on Prime Video 16 on Nov. 3.

Sherdog.com recently confirmed the pairing with promotion officials. One on Prime Video 16 takes place at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok and is headlined by a 145-pound championship clash between Fabricio Andrade and Jonathan Haggerty.

Amir is coming off a decision victory over Maurice Abevi at One on Prime Video 9 in April, a fight in which he attempted the rare Suloev stretch submission. The Turkish fighter is 2-0 under the One banner and 9-0 as a professional overall — with all but one of those victories coming inside the distance.

Pakistan’s Mujtaba last appeared at One on Prime Video 10, where he fell to Sage Northcutt via heel hook in 39 seconds. Prior to that, “The Wolverine” had been victorious in three of his last four One Championship bouts, including a first-round knockout of Rahul K. Raju.

Patricio Freire is keeping is options open for the future.

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After recently admitting interest in moving to the UFC upon completing his Bellator contract, Freire revisited that subject in an interview with Super Lutas.

“Actually I’ve heard a rumor this week saying that Bellator and PFL will continue as separate organizations but will exchange fighters,” he siad. “It would be very interesting to finish my contract with the belts from both organizations.”

Even if that doesn’t come to fruition, Freire remains interested in testing his skills in the UFC once his Bellator deal has been fulfilled.

"I believe my career deserves a UFC (opportunity), and if I leave the organization with two titles, I have better conditions to enter the UFC doing a fight against a top contender,” he said.

Freire has three opponents in mind if he were to sign with the UFC.

“As the biggest (name) in Bellator history, I would love to start by facing (featherweig…

A matchup of featherweight contenders is in the works for UFC 297, as Movsar Evloev and Arnold Allen are expected to square off on Jan. 20.

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Multiple outlets confirmed the booking following an initial report from ING.fights. While Toronto is rumored to be the destination for UFC 297, an official location has yet to be announced for the event.

Evloev is undefeated in 17 professional outings — including his first seven in the UFC. The 29-year-old Russian last appeared at UFC 288, where he outpointed short-notice foe Diego Lopes on UFC 288. The former M-1 Global champion also owns wins over the likes of Dan Ige, Hakeek Dawodu and Nik Lentz, to name a few.

Allen last appeared at UFC on ESPN 44, falling to ex-champ Max Holloway in a five-round decision defeat on April 15. Prior to that, the Englishman known as “Almighty” authored a 10-bout winning streak within the Las Vegas-based promotion, earning noteworthy triumphs against Calvin Kattar, Dan Ho…

Norma Dumont will move to bantamweight for a matchup with Yana Santos at an Ultimate Fighting Championship event on Jan. 13.

Both fighters confirmed the pairing on social media Wednesday following an initial report from MMAFighting.com. The UFC Fight Night card doesn’t yet have a headliner but is expected to take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Dumont has earned successive decision victories over Danyelle Wolf, Karol Rosa and Chelsea Chandler in UFC competition at 145 pounds. However, the uncertain future of the featherweight division in the wake of Amanda Nunes’ retirement may have prompted the Brazilian’s move to 135 pounds. “The Immortal” owns a 6-2 record in the Octagon, with other notable triumphs against Felicia Spencer and Aspen Ladd to her credit.

A former Invicta FC title holder, Santos will look to snap a three-bout losing streak when she faces Dumont. In her most recent Octagon appearance, the American Top Team-based Russian dropped a split…

Reigning UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev seemingly has his eyes on a welterweight title shot.

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Makhachev is set to face Charles Oliveira in a highly-anticipated rematch at UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi on Oct. 21 While the Dagestan native isn't looking past the former champion, he has little doubt regarding the outcome of their second meeting, considering how he submitted Oliveira in Round 2 of their first bout at UFC 280.

“This fight is interesting for the people; everybody wants to see this match again,” Makhachev told ESPN. “But if I follow the plan, I can beat this guy easy, again. I believe that.”

Makhachev went on to share that his dream fight would be a shot at a second title. In this case, the 31-year-old is looking to secure a welterweight title fight against the winner of Leon Edwards vs. Colby Covington, which is set to take place at UFC 296 in December.

“I don't know what the UFC has planned, but my dream fight is for the se…

Manel Kape isn’t ready to let go of his beef with former UFC middleweight champ Israel Adesanya.  

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Kape was scheduled to fight Felipe dos Santos last month at UFC 293, which was headlined by Adesanya’s title defense against Sean Strickland. During the pre-fight presser, “Starboy” went off on his original opponent Kai Kara-France, who had pulled out of the matchup and was seated in the audience.  

Adesanya came to his City Kickboxing teammate’s defense, calling Kape a “midget” and promising to bury him.  

In a recent interview with MMAFighting.com, Kape claimed that “The Last Stylebender” subsequently approached him with a truce offering backstage, which he turned down. 

 
“After all this talk [at the press conference], he came to me backstage ‘Hey, no disrespect, we are Africa, we’re brothers,’” Kape recalled. “I said, ‘We are not brothers. Look, my problem is with Kai Kara, not with you. Why did…

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UFC CEO Dana White is a man of many endeavors.

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In addition to owning Power Slap and being in a partnership with NASCAR’s Trackhouse Racing, White is also invested in bull riding. It all started when he first rode a bull while working on “Lookin' for Fight” with former UFC welterweight champ Matt Serra.

The UFC head honcho would go on to buy three bulls over the years, none of which made it to the big PBR shows broadcast on CBS. However, White’s latest purchase, a bull named Twisted Steel, is finally set to make it to the big leagues at the PBR Camping World Team Series Championship from Oct. 20-22 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

White revealed how he got into the bull business at the Contender Series press conference on Tuesday night.

“I did ‘Lookin for a Fight’ back in [2015 or 2016], the dumbest thing I’ve ever done, riding a bull. But after I did it, I kinda got into it,” White said. “We went out on this whole …

A bantamweight clash between John Castaneda and Kyung Ho Kang has been moved to the UFC 295 card.

Castaneda was originally scheduled to face his South Korean opponent a week later at UFC Fight Night 232 on Nov. 18. Castaneda’s management firm, Iridium Sports Agency, first announced the change in date on Tuesday. UFC 295 takes place at Madison Square Garden in New York and is headlined by a heavyweight championship tilt pitting Jon Jones against Stipe Miocic.

While Castaneda won a Dana White's Contender Series matchup back in 2017, it wasn’t until 2020 that “Sexi Mexi” got his UFC call. After dropping a decision in his promotional debut, Castaneda racked up back-to-back finishes before suffering a brutal Round 2 knockout loss against Daniel Santos in October 2022. The 31-year-old has since bounced back with a decision win over Muin Gafurov at UFC on ESPN 46 on June 3.

Meanwhile, Kang is a battle-tested veteran at 135 pounds, having started his UFC career in…

🚨 #TeamIridium News 🚨

Our man @Jesse_Butler92 is ready to turn heads vs. Jeka Saragih on Nov. 18 ✍🏽 #TheDarkside pic.twitter.com/2HV1KG9Y3E

— IridiumSportsAgency (@TeamIridiumISA) October 3, 2023

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Jesse Butler and Jeka Asparido Saragih are slated to clash at UFC Fight Night 232 on Nov. 18.

The matchup was first announced on Tuesday by Butler’s management, Iridium Sports Agency. UFC Fight Night 232 takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a middleweight showdown between Brendan Allen and Paul Craig.

Butler suffered a 23-second knockout loss against Jim Miller in his UFC debut back in June. The 31-year-old was then booked to make a quick turnaround and take on Sean Woodson at UFC Nashville in August. However, Butler pulled out of the matchup, citing Las Vegas commission “protocol.”

Meanwhile, Saragih was a finalist in last year’s Road to UFC, the promotion’s venture for scouting Asian tale…