Martial Arts News

When it comes to main events involving Jon Jones, the Ultimate Fighting Championship is leaving nothing to chance.

Prior to UFC 285 this past March, the promotion made certain it had a top contender available to make weight and compete should Jones or Ciryl Gane fall out of their main attraction. That fighter was Sergei Pavlovich, and he hit his proper marks and ended up watching from the stands the next day. First reported by Igor Lazorin, the organization is doing this for Jones’ next title tilt atop UFC 295, and Pavlovich (18-1) is once again the man on standby. This news has since been confirmed by multiple outlets.

Russia’s Pavlovich last competed in April, where he decimated Curtis Blaydes in just over three minutes to put himself in the top echelon of the heavyweight division. Pavlovich’s lone career defeat came in his UFC debut to Alistair Overeem back in 2018. Since then, Pavlovich has crushed the competition, stringing together six consecutive first-round …

Dropping a quick excerpt from Monday’s @MMAOnSiriusXM podcast to give everyone an update on my 🦵.

If you want the full story (and all the 🫖), hit that link below and check out the full episode on @SiriusXM!🎧 https://t.co/OuEwonYM3z pic.twitter.com/TsBqm3tEfK

— Chris Weidman (@chrisweidman) August 30, 2023

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Chris Weidman didn’t emerge unscathed from his first mixed martial arts bout in more than two years — but it’s not as bad as initially expected.

The former middleweight champion revealed on his Sirius XM show that he suffered a fracture in his left leg during a unanimous decision loss to Brad Tavares at UFC 292 on Aug. 19. That comes on the heels a gruesomely broken right leg in a loss to Uriah Hall at UFC 261 in April 2021.

“I got MRIs done on my tibia and fibula on both legs, got MRIs on both of my knees, X-rays, and I’ve been waiting for a result – and I got the results back. There was no ligament tears at all…

After facing adaptation problems in Abu Dhabi for his fight against Israel Adesanya in September 2020, Paulo Costa has a different schedule for his upcoming bout against Khamzat Chimaev in the same city at UFC 294 on Oct. 21.

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In an interview on the Thunder Voice podcast, the Brazilian fighter stated that he intends to arrive in the United Arab Emirates almost two months prior to the fight for acclimatization and adjustment.

"We want to go to Abu Dhabi at the end of August or the beginning of September, nearly 50 days before the event. We'll be there with everything we need," said Costa, who in 2020 famously resorted to wine to help him sleep before the fight against Adesanya at UFC 253.

Always active on social media, “Borrachinha” fired back at Gilbert "Durinho" Burns, who had expressed doubts in an interview about whether his fellow Brazilian had signed an unprecedented million-dollar contract with the UFC.

"Durinho is limited! He doe…

Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 226 lineup has undergone some shuffling.

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The Las Vegas-based promotion announced on Wednesday that Muin Gafurov has withdrawn from a proposed clash with Taylor Lapilus due to visa issues, while Lucas Almeida has pulled out of a bout against William Gomis due to a “medical issue.”

As a result, Lapilus will now face Caolan Loughran at bantamweight, and Gomis will lock horns with Yanis Ghemmouri at featherweight. Loughran and Ghemmouri will originally slated to meet at 135 pounds at UFC Paris.

Lapilus, who previously won three of four Octagon appearances from 2015 to 2016, returns to the UFC riding the momentum of a five-bout winning streak. A four-time Cage Warriors veteran, Loughran enteres his first promotional foray with an 8-0 mark.

Gomis has won 10 straight outings, kicking off his UFC tenure with back-to-back triumphs against Jarno Errens and Francis Marshall. Ghemmouri, a veteran of the Brave Combat Fede…

A lightweight clash pitting Mansour Barnaoui against Jay-Jay Wilson is among six new additions to the Bellator 299 lineup.

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The California-based promotion announced the finalized card — up to a whopping 21 fights — on Wednesday. Bellator 299 takes place on Sept. 23 at the 3Arena in Dublin and is headlined by a middleweight championship tilt between Johnny Eblen and Fabian Edwards. The main card airs in the United States on Showtime at 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT, while prelims stream on the Bellator YouTube channel and Pluto TV at 11 a.m. ET/8 p.m. PT.

The other five newly-announced bouts are as follows: Luca Poclit vs. Roman Faraldo at welterweight; Asael Adjoudj vs. Ibrahim Al-Faqih Hassan at featherweight; Khasan Magomedsharipov vs. Martin McDonough; Davy Gallon vs. Attila Korkmaz at lightweight and Sergei Bilostennyi vs. Kasim Aras at heavyweight.

A former lightweight champion in BAMMA, M-1 Global and Road FC, Barnaoui is 1-1 under the Bellator b…

𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗚𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗚𝗔𝗠𝗘 𝗧𝗢𝗚𝗘𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥 ⬆️🌎

𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 about the game changing deal between the PFL and @srjsports 👇 pic.twitter.com/P2osh5SFl7

— PFL (@PFLMMA) August 30, 2023

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Professional Fighters League has partnered with SRJ Sports Investments for an investment agreement that will assist with the organization’s goals of global expansion.

According to a release, SRJ has acquired a minority stake in PFL and will become an investor in a new regional league set to launch in 2024 — called PFL MENA (Middle East and North Africa). SRJ will also support the PFL’s expansion in the Middle East and collaborate with the league to host PFL pay-per-view events in Saudi Arabia.

“PFL’s mission is to become the global co-leader in MMA with our fighter-first mission and disruptive sport-season format,” said PFL Founder and Chairman Donn Davis. “This investment by SRJ continues the monumental growth that PFL has experienced t…

【DAZN × K-1】

K-1とQUINTETがスポーツ・チャンネル「DAZN」において、世界200以上の国と地域でライブ配信決定！配信第1弾は9.10『ReBOOT』

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世界を見据え動き出した、K-1の熱い戦いをぜひ『DAZN』でお楽しみください！

詳細▷https://t.co/m80GhCnJWNチケット▷https://t.co/oS4stLWkIp#k1wgp pic.twitter.com/6iaO17Ibs6

— K-1【Official Account】 (@k1wgp_pr) August 30, 2023 A joint event launched by fight promotion K-1 and grappling organization Quintet will stream via DAZN on Sept. 10.

According to a release: “M-1 Sports Media K.K. and Rabarland, Inc., the companies that respectively organize the striking martial arts event K-1 and the grappling tournament QUINTET, recently signed a capital and business alliance aimed at global expansion. As the first step in this ambitious initiative, the two companies have agreed to align with DAZN, the world's largest sports streaming service. With the strong backing of DAZN as a media partner, they ai…

Strawweight champion Weili Zhang was dominant at UFC 292, and she was also the event’s top earner.

Zhang took home a disclosed $520,000 for her unanimous decision over Amanda Lemos ($250,000) in the co-main event at the TD Garden in Boston on Aug. 19. Salary figures for the event were initially released through the Massachusetts Division of Occupational Licensure to MMAFighting.com.

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Sean O’Malley defeated Aljamain Sterling via first-round technical knockout to claim the bantamweight crown in the evening’s headliner. Both O'Malley and Sterling earned $500,000 apiece for the bout — second highest on the card behind Zhang.

Note: The disclosed purses reported by state athletic commissions do not include any performance-based or discretionary bonuses that may be awarded to a fighter by the promotion. Additionally, the reported figures do not reflect any deductions made by the commission for taxes, insurance, etc., and do not include any sponsorship mone…

Jon Jones believes the masses are underestimating Stipe Miocic heading into their heavyweight title bout at UFC 295.

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Miocic has not fought since March 2021, when he relinquished the heavyweight crown to Francis Ngannou in a second-round knockout loss at UFC 260. That layoff, along with Miocic’s age — he recently turned 41 — make him the underdog against Jones, who claimed the vacant strap with a quick submission of Ciryl Gane at UFC 285.

“Stipe has balls. He has courage,” Jones said on the OverDogs podcast podcast. “He’s not the youngest fighter, but that is a man. That is a man. I’m not the youngest either. In sports’ years, I’m over the hill, that’s for sure. Especially in combat sports. Stipe, he’s an honorable dude, and I know that he’s a man at the end of the day, and I know that he wants this fight. Everyone else thinks that his back’s against the wall and this is a David and Goliath situation for him. I disagree.

“I think Stipe is a ve…

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Francis Ngannou has been thinking about a potential fight against boxing champion Tyson Fury for quite some time now.

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“I’ve been studying him for the past three years,” Ngannou said in a recent interview with TMZ Sports. “I’ve been to some of his fights.”

The former UFC champion will get to test his skills against Fury when they square off in a boxing match on Oct. 28 in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia. Ngannou has notably been working with Mike Tyson in preparation for the bout.

“I think my feet [are] the most [improved],” Ngannou said. “All the footwork, that power transition. I think that’s been very amazing.”

Fury was dismissive of that relationship in a post on social media.

“It’s good to see you’re training hard [Francis Ngannou], and you’re going to need to,” Fury wrote. “It doesn’t matter if you’re being trained by the great Mike Tyson, Muhammad Ali or Bruce Lee. You’re going to get KO’d in the Kingdom.”

Ngannou is…

Newly UFC bantamweight champion Sean O'Malley has been called out by another recently-crowned champion in the promotion.

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In a post on Instagram, UFC flyweight king Alexandre Pantoja asked his followers who should be his next opponent. One of the suggested names was O’Malley, who captured the 135-pound belt with a first-round knockout of Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292 on Aug. 19. Pantoja agreed that a champion vs. champion clash would be interesting while implying that he got the better of “Sugar” during a past training session.”

"There's something I really want: to fight this guy (O'Malley). I desire to move up one weight class to fight Sugar Sean O'Malley. He talks too much, talks a lot of trash,” Pantoja said. “I trained with him once, he recorded the sparring, but he never sent me the video. You know why.”

It didn’t take long for O’Malley to respond via social media.

"It's definitely not cool to call out people below you in weight,” O’…

A middleweight showdown pitting Brendan Allen against Paul Craig will serve as the main event for an Ultimate Fighting Championship card on Nov. 18.

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The promotion announced the pairing on Tuesday. UFC Fight Night takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and also includes a strawweight clash between Amanda Ribas and Luana Pinheiro.

Allen has gone 10-2 within the Las Vegas-based organization since appearing on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2019. He enters the matchup with Craig on a five-bout winning streak, with back-to-back submission wins over Andre Muniz and Bruno Silva thus far in 2023. The former Legacy Fighting Alliance champion is 22-5 as a professional and has finished 18 of his victories inside the distance.

Craig, meanwhile, made a successful 185-pound debut on July 22, when he defeated Muniz via second-round TKO at UFC Fight Night 224. Prior to that, the 35-year-old Scot went 8-6-1 at light heavyweight in the Octagon, earning not…