Martial Arts News

SEEEEEK AND DESTROOOOOYYY! 😱🔥🔥

Logan Storley aplica uma chuva de ossos em Branna Ward e fica com a vitória na luta principal! 🔥💀

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Só na minha tela você curte todas as emoções do Bellator 298 ao vivo e com exclusividade! Assine já! (link na bio)#BellatorNoCombate #Bellator pic.twitter.com/q7zragJzIq — Combate (@combate) August 12, 2023

Logan Storley unleashed a hurricane of punishment on Brennan Ward in the Bellator 298 main event at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Fall, South Dakota.

Storley, a South Dakota native, electrified the crowd after taking Ward to the ground and dominating him with repeated punches and elbow strikes before referee Jason Herzog was forced to call it 4:05 into the second round.

Fresh off his defeat in the rematch with champion Yaroslav Amosav, Storley wasted little time on Friday. Ward came in riding high off a 3-fight knockout streak but wasn’t given a chance to unload.

Moldavsky Crus…

Sherdog's live Bellator 298 coverage will begin Friday at 6:30 p.m. ET. Round 1 Bobby Wombacher draws the officiating assignment for this match at 145 pounds. Oliver (0-0, 0-0 Bellator) was a four-time NCAA All-American wrestler at Oklahoma State University, where he won two national championships. Triolo (0-1, 0-0 Bellator) made an unsuccessful pro debut in the Legacy Fighting Alliance in April 2022. Oliver walks through a few leg kicks, connects with a thudding right hand and completes a takedown. Soon after, he frames an arm-triangle choke and prompts the tapout.

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The Official Result Jordan Oliver def. Andrew Triolo—Submission (Arm-Triangle Choke) 1:05 R1 Round 1 Wombacher remains in the cage as the referee for this bantamweight tilt. Alves da Silva (11-3, 0-0 Bellator) makes his promotional debut on the strength of a two-fight winning streak. Hodge (10-3, 0-0 Bellator) captured the interim LFA bantamweight championship in March before signing with Bel…

All eyes on these two welterweights tomorrow night 👀@VicenteLuqueMMA vs @RDosAnjosMMA#UFCVegas78 | TOMORROW | Live on ESPN+ 📺 pic.twitter.com/51OqxN9ncj

— UFC (@ufc) August 11, 2023 Vicente Luque can undoubtedly hear the whispers and would like nothing more than to quiet the doubters who believe him to be on the backside of an outstanding run in the Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight division.

Luque tipped the scales at 170.5 pounds ahead of his UFC on ESPN 51 main event opposite Rafael dos Anjos (171) on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, where he will look to rebound from back-to-back losses for the first time in his 31-fight career. Featherweight co-headliners Cub Swanson (146) and Hakeem Dawodu (146) also met their contracted weight requirements without issue at Friday’s official weigh-in. The same could not be said across the board, as a pair of main-card middleweights missed the mark by multiple pounds apiece.

UFC on …

[embedded content] Jayme Sandall, well-regarded karateka and coach of former Ultimate Fighting Championship kingpin Vitor Belfort, weighed in on some of the most talented names in the UFC.

Largely considered the greatest champion in the history of the Japan Karate Association, Sandall worked with Belfort ahead of five bouts that culminated in Belfort taking on Anderson Silva in 2011. While currently a striking coach, Sandall’s own career stretched across 28 years with a whopping 445 victories in karate matches. For 21 of those years, Sandall represented the Brazilian national team for karate, which was led by Yoshizo Machida, the father of Lyoto Machida. Sandall spoke to Sherdog about some of the best strikers he sees in the UFC now, and how they can excel in potential matchups down the line.

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Before pointing to any one fighter, Sandall noted that the top strikers he sees are not borne from karate disciplines. Instead, they are all kickboxers of some …

[embedded content] Jayme Sandall, well-regarded karateka and coach of former Ultimate Fighting Championship kingpin Vitor Belfort, weighed in on some of the most talented names in the UFC.

Largely considered the greatest champion in the history of the Japan Karate Association, Sandall worked with Belfort ahead of five bouts that culminated in Belfort taking on Anderson Silva in 2011. While currently a striking coach, Sandall’s own career stretched across 28 years with a whopping 445 victories in karate matches. For 21 of those years, Sandall represented the Brazilian national team for karate, which was led by Yoshizo Machida, the father of Lyoto Machida. Sandall spoke to Sherdog about some of the best strikers he sees in the UFC now, and how they can excel in potential matchups down the line.

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Before pointing to any one fighter, Sandall noted that the top strikers he sees are not borne from karate disciplines. Instead, they are all kickboxers of some …

Thrilled to announce that the court in the UFC case has certified the class of mma fighters. We look forward to demonstrating our allegations that the UFC has abused its market power to suppress fighter pay before a jury in Las Vegas. The fight for fighter justice continues!

— Eric Cramer (@CramerEcramer) August 9, 2023 The antitrust case against the Ultimate Fighting Championship is moving forward in a big way.

First reported by Bloody Elbow on Wednesday, federal Judge Richard F. Boulware has granted class certification to the plaintiffs of the antitrust suit against the UFC. The lawsuit was first filed in late 2014, and it will now be considered a class action suit, which allows over 1,200 fighters to sue the UFC together. The class will encompass all fighters that competed for Zuffa from Dec. 16, 2010 to June 30, 2017. This specific “bout class” was certified, and not the “identity class,” opening the door for a case that will likely procee…

The Ultimate Fighting Championship may have secured the services of a fan-favorite heavyweight for the remainder of his career.

On Wednesday, UFC executives spoke to the media about a number of issues. One specific topic was raised, in regards to the recent free agency announcement of Derrick Lewis (27-11, 1 NC). The promotion confirmed he had been re-signed during the scrum, and the terms were announced early Thursday morning by The Mac Life. While the dollar amount was not disclosed, the UFC and Lewis agreed to an eight-bout contract. This is far from the first long-term deal the UFC has issued to fighters towards the end of their careers, as names such as Anderson Silva, Jon Jones and Michelle Waterson all signed similar contracts of this duration.

Lewis last appeared in the Octagon in July, where he was slotted up to the main card on short notice. Facing Marcos Rogerio de Lima, Lewis smashed his foe in 33 seconds and dramatically concluded his career-long three-fig…

🚨 #PFLPARIS 𝗙𝗨𝗟𝗟 𝗙𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧 𝗖𝗔𝗥𝗗 🚨

🇫🇷 5 French Athletes on the card⚔️ Headlined by @CedricDoumbe vs @Jordan_Zebo👑 @LazyKingMMA PFL debut🏆 @PFLEurope Playoffs semifinals🌍 12 European Nations represented🎟 New limited wave of tickets released!!!

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Follow… pic.twitter.com/HeWeA78R6g — PFL Europe (@PFLEurope) August 10, 2023 The Professional Fighters League has established its playoff event for its European tournament.

On Thursday, the organization released the 12-bout lineup of its PFL Europe 3: 2023 Playoffs event. The four weight classes of light heavyweight, lightweight, bantamweight and women’s flyweight will find their finalists at night’s end on Sept. 30. Eight bouts in those four weight categories will sort out the top two competitors from each in Paris. Headlining the fight card will be the highly anticipated debut of French kickboxer Cedric Doumbe (4-0), who will be taking on fellow unbeaten countryman Jordan Zebo (4-0…

[embedded content] A whole 34 fighters hit the scales ahead of the upcoming Bellator MMA fight card, and just one could not make their proper marks.

Former Bellator MMA interim welterweight champion Logan Storley will face off against a fan-favorite in Brennan Ward atop Bellator 298 on Saturday. Both contenders successfully made weight for their five-round affair, and the lone offender who has been fined a percentage of her purse was Diana Avsaragova (127.2). The unbeaten Russian woman clocked in 1.2 pounds over the flyweight limit ahead of her match with Justine Kish (125.6), and the bout will otherwise proceed as scheduled.

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Storley (14-2) is looking to rebound from a failed unification bid against Yaroslav Amosov, who has defeated “Storm” twice – and is the only man to beat Storley to date. Prior to the setback, Storley scored wins over Michael Page and Neiman Gracie. For his first main event in Bellator in front of his home state crowd in South Da…

UFC 292 has taken another hit, as Geoff Neal has withdrawn from a proposed clash against Ian Garry on Aug. 19.

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Garry posted a video of his reaction to Neal’s exit from the card on social media. Undisclosed health issues are reportedly the reason for Neal’s withdrawal.

On Wednesday evening, MMAjunkie.com reported that Neil Magny will replace Neil and face Garry at UFC 292. The 36-year-old Magny is coming off a split-decision triumph against Philip Rowe at UFC on ABC 5 on June 24. Magny is 21-9 in UFC competition overall and is the promotion's all-time wins leader at welterweight.

Garry is regarded as one of the top prospects at 170 pounds. The Irishman is undefeated in 12 professional outings -- including five in the UFC. He last appeared at UFC on ABC 4, where he scored a first-round TKO of Daniel Rodriguez.

UFC 292 takes place at the TD Garden in Boston and is headlined by a bantamweight championship tilt pitting Aljamain Sterling aga…

#Bellator300 takes place on Oct. 7 at @PechangaArenaSD with FOUR world title fights!! pic.twitter.com/yWzYfj0pog

— Scott Coker (@ScottCoker) August 9, 2023

Bellator MMA is planning an extravaganza for its 300th event.

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The California-based promotion announced on Wednesday that Bellator 300 will feature four championship bouts at the top of the bill: Ryan Bader vs. Linton Vassell at heavyweight; Cristiane Justino vs. Cat Zingano at featherweight; Usman Nurmagomedov vs. Brent Primus at lightweight and Liz Carmouche vs. Ilima-Lei Macfarlane at flyweight. Nurmagomedov vs. Primus is part of the Bellator lightweight grand prix.

Bellator 300 takes place at Pechanga Arena in San Diego on Oct. 7. The main card airs on Showtime at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT. The undercard, which will be announced soon, streams on the Bellator MMA YouTube channel and Pluto TV. Bader vs. Vassell is slated to be the evening’s headliner.

“When I first …

Claressa Shields still plans on making on impact in mixed martial arts.

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The two-time Olympic gold medalist and three-division world champion boxer has re-signed with Professional Fighters League, the organization announced on Wednesday. According to a release, Shields expects to return to the PFL sometime in 2024. Terms of the multi-year contract were not disclosed, though Shields called it a “great, seven-figure deal” in a video message on social media.

“My goal remains unchanged; I will be the first athlete to hold championships in both boxing and MMA simultaneously,” Shields said. “I have grown so much since my first MMA fight and cannot wait to put my skills on display.”

Shields fought twice under the PFL banner in 2021. After scoring a third-round technical knockout win against Brittney Elkin in her pro debut, she dropped a split verdict to Abigail Montes in October 2021. Since then, “T-Rex” has gone 3-0 in boxing, most recently earning …