Martial Arts News

Conor McGregor is trading barbs with Ilia Topuria leading up to the latter’s title fight at UFC 308.

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Topuria will make his first featherweight title defense against Max Holloway in the main event at UFC 308 on Oct. 26 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. Topuria’s back and forth with McGregor started when the Irishman visited Marbella, Spain, and claimed he feels more Spanish than the undefeated Georgian-Spaniard.

Responding to McGregor’s comments, Topuria made a somewhat crude comparison of himself and former UFC heavyweight king Francis Ngannou.

“When I see myself in the mirror, below my waist, I also think sometimes I’m more African than Francis Ngannou,” Topuria told Ariel Helwani.

Ilia Topuria responds to Conor McGregor saying he’s more Spanish than him:

“When I see myself in the mirror, below my waist, I also think sometimes I’m more African than Francis Ngannou.” 😭😭😭😭

🎥 @arielhelwani #HelwaniShow pic.twit…

🤯Ilia Topuria says he wants to break the record for the fastest KO in UFC history against Max Holloway:

"I wanna have the fastest knockout in UFC history with my hands because Jorge (Masvidal) has it with a knee, I wanna do it with the hands...

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I don't have any doubts I'm… pic.twitter.com/CItqHlAlrc — Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) October 15, 2024

Ilia Topuria is confident as ever going into his first featherweight title defense.

Topuria puts his strap on the line against Max Holloway in the main event of UFC 308 on Oct. 26 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. And “El Matador” vows to beat Holloway at his own game.

While Holloway was slightly removed from the title picture until recently, he earned his shot with a BMF title win over Justin Gaethje at lightweight at UFC 300 this past April. “Blessed” battered Gaethje for five rounds before iconically inviting him to a slugfest in center of the Octagon and knocking hi…

The 10th and final week of this season’s Dana White’s Contender Series took place Tuesday night and saw four fighters receive Ultimate Fighting Championship contracts.

In the main event, Nick Klein (5-1) wasted no time upsetting huge favorite Heraldo Souza (9-1-1) as he got a takedown in the early seconds of the fight, and in a total of 37 seconds, Klein closed the show with a first-round, rear-naked choke victory.

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Jonathan Micallef, Yadier Del Valle and Luis Gurule joined Klein as winners who were awarded contracts. Two of the winners, Gurule and Klein, both came in on short-notice to secure wins.

The co-main event would have a tough act to follow after Del Valle and Monteiro, but it was quite the follow-up in itself with undefeated flyweights Nick Piccininni and Gurule taking center stage. Both fighters had their moments in the first round, with Gurule finding his momentum in the later stages of the period.

It was very much a wrestler versus…

Sherdog’s live coverage of DWCS 2024: Week 10 will begin Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET. Round 1 Herb Dean will oversee this welterweight contest. Micallef comes out throwing straight punches and Ado lands a body kick. Micallef catches a second offering and pushes his man into the fence. They battle for position in the clinch and Ado reverses position and lands a knee. They move off the fence but remain engaged, and they’re both throwing knees. Micallef tosses his foe to the canvas, but Ado is able to return to his feet in short order. The clinch battle resumes. Micallef tries for a trip but Ado reverses it. Ado locks in a power guillotine during a scramble, but Micallef frees himself. Micallef transitions to a triangle on his back, and Ado’s arm also appears to be vulnerable in this position. Micallef has the triangle choke locked in tight, pulling down on Ado’s head. He looks to Dean, and he indicates that his opponent is out. Dean checks to confirm, and Ado is indeed unconscious. …

Guilherme Vasconcelos, a veteran of 16 professional mixed martial arts bouts, has died at 38 years old.

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Members of Vasconelos’ family first brought word of his death, and multiple outlets later confirmed the Brazilian’s passing. A cause of death has not been revealed. Vasconcelos posted a photo of a Gracie Barra gym on his Instagram stories less than 24 hours ago.

Vasconelo’s death was also mourned by members of the MMA community on social media, including longtime jiu-jitsu coach Cristiano Lazzarini.

“Of all the students I had, you were the bravest,” Lazzarini wrote on social media (translation via MMAFighting.com). “Fearless, unbeatable. In moments of chaos, a machine. In trivial moments, a sweet boy. We had a machine that had a bit of everything. Your MMA debut, with a win against a man that had won 10 in a row and had 19 fights, was of the happiest moments of my life in the sport. Unbreakable. So many trips together, so many battles. From…

Credit: Getty Images/Zuffa Credit: Getty Images/Zuffa Credit: Getty Images/Zuffa

The UFC 310 lineup appears to be nearly complete, as the promotion announced a heavyweight bout between Talisson Teixeira and Lukasz Brzeski to fill out the 12-bout card.

UFC 310 takes place on Dec. 7 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and is headlined by a welterweight championship duel pitting Belal Muhammad against Shavkat Rakhmonov. In the co-main event, Alexandre Pantoja will defend the flyweight strap against Rizin Fighting Federation veteran Kai Asakura.

The 6-foot-7 Texieira made waves on Week 6 of Dana White's Contender Series when he scored a first-round knockout of Arthur Lopes to secure a UFC contract. The 24-year-old Brazilian is 7-0 as a professional, with all of his triumphs coming inside of a round.

Poland’s Brzeski has been victorious in just one of his first five promotional outings — a unanimous decision win over Valter Walker at UFC Fight Night 240 on …

UFC Hall of Famer Donald Cerrone has unfinished business in the Octagon.

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The fan favorite, who announced his retirement following a second-round submission loss to Jim Miller at UFC 276 in July 2022, recently took to social media to announce his plans for a comeback.

“I want to go back and get two more fights,” Cerrone said in a video on Instagram. “When I retired, I told you I was getting my hair done and get on steroids. The No. 50 [under the Zuffa banner] has been sitting on my mind for a while. So, I’ve been working with Transcend for the last two years, taking TRT and a bunch of peptides. Now we got a protocol for all you people that, ‘Oh, what if you get on it, you can’t ever come off.’ Well, I now have to come off and piss clean, fight in a few months. So, watch this.”

“Cowboy” has 48 combined fights while competing for World Extreme Cagefighting and the UFC, a journey that began in 2007. The 41-year-old “Cowboy” is winless in his l…

Mike Perry was recently arrested for driving under the influence in Florida.

According to Lake County Sheriff’s Office records, Perry was arrested by the Clermont Police Department on Oct. 12 at 1:04 a.m. local time for DUI and refusing to sign a citation requiring a court appearance. The BKFC star was booked into jail at 4:36 a.m. and released at 9:41 a.m. after posting a $1,500 bond. Perry is scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 30. Perry could face up to 60 days in jail for the charges, both of which are second-degree misdemeanors in Florida. It was Perry’s first DUI offense, per court records.

Perry has emerged as BKFC’s biggest star in recent years, posting a 5-0 record in the promotion. He owns notable wins over the likes of Michael Page, Eddie Alvarez, Luke Rockhold and Thiago Alves in BKFC competition. Most recently, “Platinum” suffered a sixth-round knockout loss to Jake Paul in a boxing match this past July.

Prior to his bare-knuckle exploits, Pe…

😬Julianna Peña believes Amanda Nunes is waiting for her to lose to Kayla Harrison before coming out of retirement so Nunes doesn't have to fight her again:

"They (UFC) say she wants to fight the winner of you versus Kayla and so she will come back but she's waiting to fight the… pic.twitter.com/XpRRQKqD7f

— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) October 14, 2024

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Julianna Pena continues to level shots at Amanda Nunes in the hopes of a trilogy clash.

Pena captured the bantamweight title with a shocking upset submission win over Nunes in their first encounter at UFC 269. Nunes regained her strap with a lopsided unanimous decision over Pena in their rematch at UFC 277 the next year. While they were slated to meet in a rubber match at UFC 289 in 2023, Pena had to pull out due to an injury. Nunes went on to beat short-notice replacement Irene Aldana via unanimous decision and hung up her gloves.

While recovering from her injury…

Tom Aspinall DOESN'T think Francis Ngannou's next opponent, Renan Ferreira, is elite 😬

"The guy [Francis] is fighting fought a friend of mine... and [my friend] just destroyed him within a minute or two...

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The elite guys are not in PFL... it's difficult to say [Francis] is the… pic.twitter.com/myiQcQD218 — Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) October 14, 2024

Tom Aspinall finds it hard to label Francis Ngannou the best heavyweight in MMA.

Ngannou left the UFC as the reigning heavyweight champ in January 2023 after a failed contract negotiation with the Las Vegas-based promotion. “The Predator” was unable to come to terms with the UFC due to a few key stipulations, which included the allowance to compete in boxing simultaneously and health insurance for fighters.

The UFC heavyweight title picture has been in limbo after former light heavyweight champ Jon Jones won the vacant heavyweight title against Ciryl Gane in Marc…

Dana White ISN'T happy with the latest UFC rankings update and says he has a meeting this week to try and fix the rankings 😬

"The morons strike again. Khalil Rountree fights that bad ass fight against Pereira, and the morons keep him at #8.

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Literally this week I have a meeting… pic.twitter.com/lDPvQMyF3L — Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) October 15, 2024

Dana White is disappointed, to say the least, when it comes to the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s latest rankings.

While White has voiced his displeasure with the rankings in the recent past, it was mostly in regards to Jon Jones’ standing in the pound-for-pound poll. Lightweight champ Islam Makhachev is the currently the promotion’s pound-for-pound No. 1 after having defended his title three times in less than two years. However, White insists that Jones, who is essentially undefeated, should top the rankings despite having not fought since March 2023, which w…

Conor McGregor is advising Sean O'Malley to train at his gym.

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While McGregor and O’Malley have beefed in the recent past, “Notorious” has seemingly risen above that. Despite having traded several barbs with “Suga,” the Irishman is now inviting him to train in Ireland.

O’Malley lost his bantamweight title to Merab Dvalishvili via a lopsided decision at UFC 306 in September. Currently recovering from a hip surgery he underwent after UFC 306, O’Malley is rallying for a rematch against “The Machine” sometime next year. And McGregor believes O’Malley can regain his title by training with him at the SBG Ireland headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, under the tutelage of head coach John Kavanagh. The former double champ is also ready to set up the trip for O’Malley and his long-time coach, Tim Welch.

“Sean is a fighting legend! UFC champion and an incredible superstar! I would love, love, love to see, and I can set it up fully, [for] himself and his lon…