Martial Arts News

After a proposed main event matchup with Jack Hermansson fell through, Brendan Allen is moving on to a showdown against Bruno Silva at UFC on ABC 5.

Allen confirmed the middleweight booking on social media following an initial report from MMA Mania. UFC on ABC 5 takes place at Vystar Veteran’s Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla., on June 24 and is headlined by a featherweight duel pitting Ilia Topuria against Josh Emmett. Allen was supposed to face Hermansson in the UFC on ESPN 45 feature before his opponent withdrew due to an undisclosed injury.

A former competitor on Dana White’s Contender Series, Allen has won four straight contests since falling to Chris Curtis at UFC on ESPN 31 in December 2021. Most recently, “All In” submitted Andre Muniz in the third round of their main event tilt at UFC Fight Night 220.

Silva, meanwhile, halted a two-bout losing streak with a first-round TKO of Brad Tavares at UFC Fight Night 222 on April 22. The former M-1 Glob…

Kamaru Usman is ready to get back to work.

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In an interview with ESPN, the former welterweight champion revealed that he is ready to fight again — and one opponent in particular has his interest.

"A fight with myself and Khamzat [Chimaev]? Boom," Usman said. "I'm kind of in a place now where I'm having fun with it, and what's the biggest, funnest, most intense fight that really makes me feel something? That's a fight right there. That could headline a pay-per-view.”

Chimaev hasn’t competed since last September, when he submitted Kevin Holland in the opening round of a 180-pound catchweight clash at UFC 279. He has been linked to a fight with Paulo Costa, but his next Octagon appearance hasn’t been booked. It’s also unclear if Chimaev will fight at welterweight or middleweight going forward. Usman told ESPN that he would “potentially” be willing to face Chimaev at 185 pounds.

"He's a fighter and I'm a fighter at the end of the day," Usma…

UFC vet Felipe "Cabocão" Colares passed away at 29 years old. Just communicated with teammate Kleydson Rodrigues. He confirmed that Colares was struck by a bus earlier today, May 1st. @sherdogdotcom #cabocao #felipecabocao #felipecolares https://t.co/FEKZFj0cui

— Christian Stein (@CopperHeartCT) May 1, 2023

Six-time UFC veteran Felipe Colares has died at 29 years old after being struck by a bus on Monday.

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Sherdog.com contributor Christian Stein confirmed news of Colares’ death with teammate Kleydson Rodrigues. Colares was hit on his way home from training in Rio de Janeiro and died on his way to Hospital Rocha Faria in Campo Grande, according to Combate.

Colares last fought on Feb. 17, when he submitted Alioune Nahaye at Ares FC 12. Prior to that, the Team Nogueira representative went 2-4 during six-bout UFC stint from 2019 to 2022. He earned wins over Luke Sanders and Domingo Pilarte during his tenure with the Las …

A flyweight showdown pitting Kai Kara France against Amir Albazi has been promoted to the UFC on ESPN 45 headliner.

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Kara France announced the move on the "Who the Fook Are These Guys?” podcast, and it was later confirmed by MMAjunkie.com. UFC on ESPN 45 needed a new main event after Jack Hermansson withdrew from a proposed middleweight clash against Brendan Allen. Now Kara France and Albazi will have five rounds with which to work.

Kara France last appeared at UFC 277, where he suffered a third-round technical knockout loss to current flyweight king Brandon Moreno last July. He was supposed to face Alex Perez at UFC 284 but was forced to withdraw from the card due to injury.

Albazi, meanwhile, has lost just once in 17 professional outings. The Baghdad, Iraq, native has kicked off his promotional tenure with four straight triumphs, including a third-round KO of Alessandro Costa in his most recent appearance at UFC Fight Night 216.

Though it seems farfetched that Conor McGregor ever competes for Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, the former UFC two-division champion isn’t ruling out the possibility.

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McGregor attended BKFC 41 on Saturday, which was one of the promotion’s biggest events to date, and faced off with Mike Perry in the ring after “Platinum” bested Luke Rockhold in the evening’s main event. McGregor reflected on that appearance in a post on social media.

“Call me ‘slicey’ bare paw,” McGregor wrote. “Styles make fights. As well as rulesets. As well as everything. If you are scared go to church. I was called into the bare-knuckle ring last night. I fear nothing. No man that breathes air. I only fear God and abide by God and if God guides me to a professional bare-knuckle fight in my time for my new world title, I do.”

“Great night last night. It’s real interesting out there for sure. Congrats to the fighters. Two of my old foes [Eddie Alvarez and Chad Mendes] com…

One Championship has withdrawn from the Francis Ngannou sweepstakes.

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CEO Chatri Sityodtong revealed to the South China Morning Post that the Singapore-based promotion has elected not to submit a final offer to the ex-UFC heavyweight champion after meeting with Ngannou in Los Angeles over the weekend.

“I met with Francis yesterday for almost 3 hours,” Sityodtong said. “ONE has decided to withdraw from the process of bidding for Francis Ngannou’s services.

“After careful reflection, we decided not to submit our final offer. Francis is a good guy and a good champion. I wish him continued success and happiness. At the end of the day, I didn’t feel Francis and I were fully aligned on non-financial matters. It is nothing personal. It is just a lack of alignment.”

Ngannou became a free agent in January after his UFC contract expired. The Cameroonian-born Frenchman indicated that he was in talks with both One and Professional Fighters League, …

C'est parti !!! @KSW_MMA 🔥🔥😤merci à ceux qui me soutiennent depuis le début pic.twitter.com/6T38Uh8yCK

— Salahdine Parnasse (@SalahdineP) April 27, 2023

Polish promotion Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki has bolstered the lineup for its upcoming stadium show with three championship fights.

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In the KSW 83 “Colosseum 2” co-main event, reigning lightweight champion Marian Ziolkowski will face interim title holder Salahdine Parnasse in a bout that was originally scheduled for KSW 76. Ziolkowski has won four straight contests under the KSW banner since falling to current UFC talent Mateusz Gamrot in August 2020. Parnasse has been victorious in 17 of his 18 professional outings and is in the midst of a four-bout winning streak of his own.

Meanwhile, Pawel Pawlak and Tomasz Romanowski will square off for the vacant middleweight crown. Pawlak has won six straight fights dating back to June 2020, a run that includes a trio of victories in…

Yadong Song was impressive against Ricky Simon at UFC Fight Night 223, but he would have preferred to put his opponent away earlier than the fifth round.

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“I feel my performance was OK,” Song said at the post-fight press conference. “Not very good. I could’ve ended the fight in the earlier rounds. It was five rounds. He’s a very tough opponent. I wanted to be patient in the fight. I had a lot of chances to finish the fight earlier.”

The Team Alpha Male product has won four of his last five UFC appearances and has designs on moving up in the rankings. In the aftermath of his latest triumph, targeted matchups against the likes of Sean O’Malley, Petr Yan, Rob Font and Marlon Vera.

“I want to fight Top 5 fighters,” Song said. “Even Font – he’s No. 6. He’s OK. ‘Chito’ Vera and Sean O’Malley – but they probably won’t give me Sean O’Malley. They want to protect him. Whatever. Just top five. My goal is to fight top-five fighters this year.”

O’M…

Chad Mendes is stepping away from combat sports for good.

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The former UFC featherweight contender called it a career following a loss to Eddie Alvarez in the BKFC 41 co-main event on Saturday night. Mendes announced his retirement from mixed martial arts in 2019 but later signed with BKFC, where he split a pair of appearances.

“I’ve been going back and forth with this. Obviously I retired from the UFC back in 2018, and I was honestly done. I’ve been pouring my heart and soul into a few businesses and just spending the family quality time that I love doing,” Mendes said at the BKFC 41 post-fight press conference.

“I had no desire [to fight], but something like this came up, and obviously the pay is really good, and it’s something that’s new, which kind of excited me, so I did it. I was done after that first one, but then they dangled somebody like this dude [Alvarez] in front of me, so I was like, ‘All right, I’ll do one more. This could be …

Yadong Song punched his way back into the title discussion in the Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight division.

In the main event of UFC Fight Night 223 on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, the “Kung Fu Kid” stifled the vaunted wrestling of Ricky Simon and outstruck him in increasingly one-sided fashion for four rounds before putting things away with a blistering left hook early in Round 5. The first round found Simon largely neglecting his customary barrage of takedowns, and Song stuffed the few that did come his way, setting the tone for the remainder of the fight. Song found increasing success with his boxing as the fight went on, catching Simon cleanly on numerous occasions, though what appeared to be a knockdown by Song early in the second round turned out to have been caused by an inadvertent clash of heads. A second headbutt in Round 3 drew a protest from Simon, as both collisions had occurred while Song lunged forward with his head down. Nonetheless, Son…

Sherdog's live UFC Fight Night 223 coverage will begin Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET. BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Horth (-140), Cowan (+120)Round 1 Sherdog Scores Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Lev Pisarsky scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:

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Round 2 Sherdog Scores Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Lev Pisarsky scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Lev Pisarsky scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round: The Official Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Lev Pisarsky scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Lev Pisarsky scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Lev Pisarsky scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:The Official Result BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Egger (-305…

Martin Buday is starting to loom large as a problem in the Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight division.

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In the featured preliminary bout of UFC Fight Night 223 on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, “Badys” took a hard-fought unanimous decision over Jake Collier. The hulking Slovakian towered over Collier but struggled with his opponent’s speed and aggression, at least in the first round, during which Collier came forward, landed numerous sharp boxing combinations and largely eluded Buday’s efforts to clinch or bring the fight to the fence. Collier’s advantages dissipated after the opening frame, however, as the Missouri native appeared to tire out, allowing Buday to take over the fight in increasingly dominant fashion over Rounds 2 and 3. Buday was able to force clinch exchanges, score with hard knees to the body, and generally have his way with Collier. The third round featured a brief reprieve for both men, as an accidentally eye poke l…