Martial Arts News

Lucas Alexander could not have been more impressive in his second assignment with the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

The long-limbed Fusion X-Cel featherweight prospect leaned on debilitating kicks, airtight takedown defense and surgical counters ahead of a unanimous verdict over onetime Legacy Fighting Championship titleholder Steven Peterson in the featured UFC on ESPN 43 prelim on Saturday at the AT&T Center in San Antonio. All three cageside judges scored it the same: 30-27 for Alexander (8-3, 1-1 UFC).

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Peterson (19-11, 3-5 UFC) was outmatched stylistically and athletically. Alexander blew up his base with repeated kicks to the lower lead leg, utilized exquisite footwork and connected with punches while moving forward and backward. Peterson’s situation continued to deteriorate as time wore on, as his lack of mobility turned him into a stationary target and left him vulnerable to body kicks and multi-punch volleys to the head.

Afterward, …

Let the emotions flow in 🥹

🤠 @CowboyCerrone reacts to being inducted into the #UFCHoF as his family surprises him at #UFCSanAntonio! pic.twitter.com/PxJl9yB2n4

— UFC (@ufc) March 25, 2023

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One of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s most popular athletes will be headed to the Hall of Fame this summer.

The Las Vegas-based promotion announced on Saturday that Donald Cerrone will be enshrined in the “Modern Wing’ during a ceremony as part of International Fight Week on July 6 in Las Vegas. An emotional Cerrone was in attendance when the news was revealed at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas.

“Cowboy Cerrone is one of the best lightweights in UFC history,” UFC president Dana White said. “Cowboy consistently fought the best of the best for over a decade inside the Octagon and set a ton of records in the process. He was also a complete savage who would fight anyone at any time. He is a true legend, and it will be…

The UFC on ESPN 43 lineup has taken a last-minute hit, as a medical issue forced Alex Perez to withdraw from a proposed flyweight booking against Manel Kape.

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The cancelation was announced during Saturday’s broadcast. Further details regarding Perez’s exit were not disclosed. It is not clear if the promotion will book Perez vs. Kape at a later date.

Perez has fought just once since suffering a first-round submission loss in a flyweight title bout against Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC 255 in November 2020. In his last outing, Perez fell to Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 277 on July 30, 2022. Between those two appearances, the Team Oyama representative has had nine different fights fall out for various reasons.

After dropping his first two Octagon appearances, Kape has won three straight in UFC competition. The AKA Thailand representative is coming off a unanimous verdict over David Dvorak at UFC Fight Night 216. It is the third canceled bout involving K…

Ridiculous scene at Fury FC. Edgar Cháirez puts Gianni Vazquez to sleep with a triangle, and the ref simply doesn't stop it. Cháirez ends up armbarring an unconscious Vazquez who wakes up in the submission. #Furyfc76 pic.twitter.com/AgcwI2i3ss

— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) March 25, 2023

Fury Fighting Championship 76 played host to a potentially scary scene on Friday night.

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In the evening’s main event, Edgar Chairez defeated Gianni Di Chiara Vazquez via armbar at the 2:04 mark of the fourth round in their flyweight bout in San Antonio, Texas. However, the fight should have ended earlier, as it appeared Vazquez was rendered unconscious by a triangle choke before waking up to tap out to the armbar.

While the event’s broadcast team recognized that Vazquez was out and frantically called for the stoppage, referee Frank Collazo allowed the bout to continue long after the initial choke had been applied. On a positive note, Vazq…

Your #UFCSanAntonio Main Event is official ✅@ChitoVeraUFC and @CorySandhagen are the first two to the scale ⚖️ pic.twitter.com/bW0VOp6h4j

— UFC (@ufc) March 24, 2023 The UFC on ESPN 43 card is officially set, although it will be continuing with fewer fights than originally scheduled.

Main event fighters Marlon Vera and Cory Sandhagen had no issue making weight, as did most of the card. However, Manuel Torres was forced off the San Antonio-based event due to "weight management issues" and never even hit the scales. As a result, his lightweight fight against Trey Ogden has been canceled. This follows the Thursday nixing of the women's bantamweight pairing between Hailey Cowan and Tamires Vidal, with Vidal suffering an undisclosed medical issue that forced her out of the event.

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This marks the third straight headlining appearance for Vera (20-7-1), who is coming off an impressive head kick knockout of Dominick Cruz. "Chito…

"They don't call him the kicking machine for nothing."

Superlek with an incredible knockout at #ONEFightNight8! pic.twitter.com/YHsX5QxkIE

— Prime Video (@PrimeVideo) March 25, 2023 Superlek Kitmookao was a league or two above his latest would-be successor.

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The 27-year-old Thai superstar retained the One Championship kickboxing flyweight title with a sensational knockout of Danial Williams in the third round of their ONE on Prime Video 8 headliner on Friday at Singapore Indoor Stadium. A short-notice replacement for the injured Rodtang Jitmuangnon, Williams (24-9) met his end 1:55 into Round 3.

Kitmookao (133-29) tore into “Mini T” with vicious kicks, turning his lead leg and abdomen painful shades of pink. He turned up the heat on Williams in the second round by incorporating stepping knees and head kicks with ill intent, then went about hunting the finish. Kitmookao floored the challenger with a perfectly timed hea…

Aaaaaand NEWWWWWWW Cage Warriors Middleweight Champion -Mick "The Huyton Hammer" Stanton #CW151 pic.twitter.com/0mYJYH5wQo

— Cage Warriors (@CageWarriors) March 24, 2023 The fourth Cage Warriors Fighting Championship Unplugged event saw the coronation of Mick Stanton as the new middleweight king.

Stanton’s stalwart defense kept Will Currie at bay in the CW 151 headliner. Currie (9-3, 5-3 CW) relied heavily on takedowns to move the action to his world, where he overwhelmed his opponent from every position and dominated the first two stanzas. While “Drago” accumulated ample control time, Stanton (11-7, 8-5 CW) was the one who accumulated more damage while attacking with occasional submission attempts. In Round 3, “The Huyton Hammer” reversed his opponent in a remarkable keylock attempt. Even though it wasn’t successful, the effort gave Stanton the boost he needed to end the frame on top, pummeling his adversary until the bell rang.

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The Ultimate Fighting Championship has just signed the youngest fighter to ever come out of Amazonas, Brazil.

At just 20 years of age, Brazilian prospect Jose Henrique Nascimento de Souza, better known as Jose Henrique Souza (6-1) or just Henrique “Canela,” has signed a contract with the UFC. The 6-foot-3 athlete will likely compete in the welterweight division, although he started his career at 185 pounds. As a result, he becomes the youngest fighter from Amazonas to join the organization, putting him one step closer to the dream he has held since he was eight years old to become a UFC champ. At that time, the promotion had the likes of Anderson Silva and Jose Aldo holding belts.

Considered by some to be the martial arts capital of Brazil, the state of Amazonas is home to many top talents including Bibiano Fernandes, Ketlen Vieira and Adriano Martins, among several others. Born in Manaus, the youngster first started practicing jiu-jitsu when he was eight, but not …

#PFLNewcastle is official! Fighters have weighed in, next stop the final face off at the Vertu Motors Arena 👊

The first ever #PFLEurope event goes down tomorrow night, live on DAZN 📲 pic.twitter.com/Y56zG449Wb

— PFL Europe (@PFLEurope) March 24, 2023 The Professional Fighters League heads to England to kick off its PFL Europe 2023 regular season.

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Headlining the PFL Europe 1 card is a light heavyweight tournament matchup between Simeon Powell and Mohamed Amine. Besides several light heavyweight fights, the event also features women's flyweights. The lone participant in the season that missed weight was Mafalda Carmona, and her match has been pulled from the card.

Carmona was scheduled to face Griet Eeckhout at flyweight, but came in at 131.2 pounds. Due to being 5.2 pounds overweight, the fight has been canceled. Additionally, Lewis Monarch came in one pound over the 156-pound limit for his lightweight showcase cont…

The Ultimate Fighting Championship now officially has a headliner on the books for every event until late May.

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Last week, Instagram account MMA Meta first posted that Arman Tsarukyan (19-3) and Renato Carneiro (17-5-1) would toe the line atop the UFC Fight Night event on April 29. The show is expected to be held in the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. On Thursday, the lightweight main attraction was confirmed by other outlets.

In December, Tsarukyan rebounded from a decision loss to Mateusz Gamrot by outpointing Damir Ismagulov. Prior to the Gamrot defeat in mid-2022, Tsarukyan strung together five straight wins in the Octagon, with notable performances over names like Joel Alvarez, Matt Frevola and Olivier Aubin-Mercier. The Russian debuted with the promotion on short notice, and dropped a hard-fought decision to current champ Islam Makhachev.

“Moicano” also bounced from a 2022 setback by beating a tough opponent towards the end of last year. In the…

[embedded content] Bellator MMA has picked up one more extremely talented wrestler to bolster its ranks.

Per a press release issued on Thursday, the promotion has announced that it has signed Kadi Magomedov, also known as Mahamedkhabib Kadzimahamedau or Magomedkhabib Kadimagomedov. Magomedov earned the Olympic silver medal in freestyle wrestling at the 2020 Summer Olympics at 74 kg (162.8 pounds), beating the likes of America’s Kyle Dake and Italian wrestler Frank Chamizo to take second. Magomedov fell short against Russia’s Zaurbek Sidakov in the gold-medal match, with Sidakov representing the “Russian Olympic Committee” due to state-sanctioned doping violations.

The silver medalist will be competing at the featherweight division in the Bellator ranks, and he will be skipping the amateur circuit entirely to make his first MMA fight a professional one. The 28-year-old, who is an International Master of Sports in freestyle wrestling as well, will be training under the …

The slow-rolling of Ultimate Fighting Championship prospect Ian Garry is over.

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According to ESPN Deportes on Thursday, unbeaten welterweight up-and-comer Garry (11-0) will be colliding with Daniel Rodriguez (17-3) on May 13. The UFC Fight Night event does not have a number yet due to unreleased broadcasting schedules, and it similarly has no venue or location publicly available. Rodriguez posted about the fight on his Instagram Stories to confirm it after the ESPN Deportes announcement.

“D-Rod” was set to compete at UFC 286 in March against Gunnar Nelson, but he was forced out for undisclosed reasons and replaced by Bryan Barberena. Rodriguez is looking to get back on track after suffering his first stoppage loss, when Neil Magny landed a brabo choke on him late into their November 2022 matchup. That loss put an end to a four-fight win streak that included victories over the likes of Jingliang Li, Kevin Lee and Mike Perry to earn a place in the 17…