Martial Arts News

Don’t look now, but Alex Caceres has quietly won seven of his last eight appearances in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

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“Bruce Leeroy” put on a show at UFC on ESPN 46, earning “Fight of the Night” honors for his unanimous decision triumph over Daniel Pineda in Saturday’s co-main event at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

“I felt it was a good performance. I felt I was dominant, especially in the first and third rounds,” Caceres said at the post-fight press conference. “The second round he had a pretty good grappling exchange on me. Other than that I felt I showed a lot of heart, showed a lot of skill. It was a fun fight.”

Caceres appeared to be on the verge of finishing his opponent with some brutal body work in the third frame, but Pineda displayed his toughness in making it to the final horn. Caceres commended his opponent for his tenacity.

“I hit him in the body pretty hard. I caved him down with leg kicks. I almost shook him a whole bunch o…

Incredible knockouts coming from the rookie and the vet 🔥@JimMiller_155 & Muhammad Naimov take home tonight's POTN honors 💸 #UFCVegas74 pic.twitter.com/kSrJ8Gmd5I

— UFC (@ufc) June 4, 2023 The Ultimate Fighting Championship awarded four fighters performance bonuses following the UFC on ESPN 46 card.

Co-main event fighters Alex Caceres and Daniel Pineda each took home an additional $50,000 as they received fight of the night honors. The back-and-forth fight saw Caceres ultimately prevail, although both men had their moments through out. Thanks to the high pace that lasted the entire 15 minutes, both men received a bonus for their thrilling performance.

Two other fighters earned performance of the night bonuses with impressive knockout wins. Jim Miller scored the fastest knockout win of his career over late replacement Jesse Butler. A beautiful combination of punches from Miller slept Butler. Finally, Muhammadjon Naimov received $50…

Amir Albazi showed he was ready for the step up in competition.

The Iraqi flyweight won his sixth straight fight — including five in the Octagon — by taking a split-decision triumph over former interim title challenger Kai Kara-France in the UFC on ESPN 46 headliner at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday night. Judges Sal D’Amato and Chris Lee scored the bout 48-47 for Albazi (17-1, 5-0 UFC), while Mike Bell submitted a 48-47 tally for Kara-France (24-11, 7-4 UFC).

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“I know it was a close fight. It’s not how I planned this fight to go, but it is what it is,” Albazi said. “I showed my guts.” Albazi was competitive throughout, but he did his most definitive work in Round 3, when he grounded Kara-France, logged more than three minutes of control time and drew a grimace from his opponent with a tight rear-naked choke attempt. Kara-France, meanwhile, appeared to have an edge on the feet, landing quick straight punching combinations while effectively ble…

Sherdog's live UFC on ESPN 46 coverage will begin Saturday at 6 p.m. ET. BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Grishin (-135), Lins (+115)Round 1 For the first of about a dozen straight Saturdays, the UFC will be in your life. The shows will jump back and forth from the UFC Apex to various other venues in North America and a quick jaunt to Europe, and this one starts in Las Vegas in front of a small crowd. The baker’s dozen matchups begins with a match that seems plucked from the ranks of PFL, as it contains two former champs from that organization. Both light heavyweights have an even record inside the Octagon so far, which means that either Lins (16-5, 2-2 UFC) or Grishin (32-9-2, 2-2 UFC) will presumably get over the hump in the next 15 minutes or less. The referee for the first fight of the night is Dan Miragliotta, who stands back as the two competitors clap hands. Lins quickly rushes out swinging his fists, and Grishin leans back and absorbs a calf kick. Lins winds…

Back and forth action through all three rounds 😤

Daniel Santos going home with a win! #UFCVegas74 pic.twitter.com/iMGVFPzlOs

— UFC (@ufc) June 4, 2023

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Daniel Santos made Johnny Munoz Jr. pay for his willingness to play guard.

Top control and ground-and-pound carried Santos to a unanimous decision victory over Munoz Jr. in their UFC on ESPN 46 clash at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday. All three judges scored the contest 29-27 in favor of the Chute Boxe Diego Lima member.

It was a rough outing for Munoz Jr., who weathered a pair of kicks to the groin — the second which led to a point deduction — and struggled to mount significant offense from his back. The former King of the Cage champion had his best moments in Round 1, when he landed a series of upkicks against Santos before briefly trapping his Brazilian foe in a triangle choke.

For the most part, however, Santos was comfortable working from top positio…

WOOOW!!! MAMED KHALIDOV!!!

He does it again!!! XTB #KSWColosseum2 pic.twitter.com/IIAZGTfZ8i

— KSW (@KSW_MMA) June 3, 2023

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In front of a fully-packed PGE Narodowy Arena in Krakow, Poland, KSW 83 "Colosseum 2" delivered a contender for the “Card of the Year” honors with entertaining battles, submissions, knockouts and last-minute drama.

The stacked card was headlined by the highly-anticipated rubber match between former two-division titleholder Mamed Khalidov and former middleweight champion Scott Askham. Khalidov dropped a unanimous decision in his first clash with Askham, but he rebounded with back-to-back knockout victories over his opponent — including on Saturday — to win the trilogy. Khalidov (37-8-2, 21-4-2 KSW) dominated the first stanza thanks to a well-timed takedown and ground position. Askham (19-6, 4-2 KSW) looked for scrambles but never seemed to control the fight’s direction.

The contestants spent muc…

Our #UFCVegas74 main event is official ‼️@KaiKaraFrance weighs in at 125.5 💪

UFCVegas74 | Prelims 6pmET on ESPN+ | Main Card 9pmET on ESPN pic.twitter.com/DAaBM1OmNJ

— UFC (@ufc) June 2, 2023 After a rare week off, the Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to ESPN airwaves with an intriguing flyweight main attraction.

Headlining UFC on ESPN 46 is a 125-pound fight between contenders Kai Kara-France and Amir Albazi. Both flyweights successfully made weight for what is the first UFC main event for both. The rest of the card also all made weight.

The main event showcase comes after Kara-France (24-10, 1 NC) came up short in an interim title fight against Brandon Moreno. "Don't Blink" ultimately succumbed to a body kick and punches in Round 3. Despite the setback, the 30-year-old will look to show that he still has plenty left in the tank. The New Zealand fighter officially weighed 125.5 pounds.

This marks the biggest fight in…

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲 𝐅𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭.

🇵🇱 Khalidov vs. @scottaskham1 🇬🇧

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Their final chapter will be written on the biggest stage in MMA! XTB #KSWColosseum2 @ViaplaySportsUK | KSWTV | @viaplaypl pic.twitter.com/81Kc3ab4GT — KSW (@KSW_MMA) June 2, 2023 Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki's Colosseum 2 event is set, although it has one less title fight than initially planned.

The bantamweight title fight between Jakub Wiklacz and Werlleson Martins Ribeiro was scratched after Ribeiro failed to make weight. The challenger came in over 10 pounds heavy at 147.2 pounds. Wiklacz declined to face another opponent, and the fight was replaced with a last-minute fight between newcomers Sebastian Romanowski and Mariusz Joniak at a 163-pound catchweight.

The card will go ahead with its main event between Mamed Khalidov and Scott Askham, along with lightweight and middleweight title fights. The lightweight title fight will see Marian Ziolkow…

Kyle Driscoll needed to bounce back and did so in dominant fashion under the Cage Warriors Fighting Championship banner. The CW 155 main event did not even last a full round, as Driscoll (14-4, 2-1 CW) stopped James Lynch in less than four minutes on Friday at the Sycuan Casino Resort in San Diego.

𝗗𝗥𝗜𝗦𝗖𝗢𝗟𝗟 𝗗𝗢𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡! 😱

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He takes our #CW155 main event in the very first round with an incredible TKO win 👏 pic.twitter.com/ZDSiIIex49 — Cage Warriors (@CageWarriors) June 3, 2023 Right out of the gate, Driscoll cut loose with powerful shots that forced his opponent to play self-preservation defense. Lynch (6-4, 4-3 CW) partially managed to intercept his counterpart’s strikes with hooks and some timid calf kicks, but he looked much slower than Driscoll. The key moment arrived with a right hand from Driscoll that impacted cleanly on Lynch’s chin, knocking him down. In a split second, Driscoll jumped into full-mount and landed hard g…

[embedded content] A fighter from the early days of the Ultimate Fighting Championship wants to face another elder statesman…with a catch.

MMA legend Mark Coleman, at the age of 58, has started training again and is actively cornering fighters. Perhaps to get his name out again or because he felt the itch of competition again, Coleman called out Conor McGregor for a bare-knuckle boxing fight. McGregor famously appeared at BKFC 41, at the conclusion of the event helmed by Mike Perry vs. Luke Rockhold, where he entered the ring and even faced off against the victor. Count former rival, Carlos Barreto, who currently commentates on UFC Fight Pass for Brazilian broadcasts, against that idea.

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“Coleman is one of the biggest legends of our sport,” Barreto stated on his YouTube show “Papo de Luta.” “He passed through a very difficult time lately and showed his big heart overcoming alcoholism and also a heart attack. He was giving a great example to everybody […

An all-Brazil strawweight battle is headed towards a Ultimate Fighting Championship card in the late summer.

First reported by MMA Fighting on Friday morning, the promotion has put together a strawweight tilt between Polyana Viana (13-5) and Iasmin Lucindo (14-5). The two will toe the line at a currently unnumbered UFC on ESPN card on Aug. 12. The fight will take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, and it has been confirmed by Lucindo on her Instagram.

Since starting off her UFC tenure at 1-3, Viana has turned things around, going 3-1 in her last four dating back to 2020. After the trio of defeats to J.J. Aldrich, Hannah Cifers and Veronica Hardy, Viana bounced back by finishing the likes of Emily Whitmire, Mallory Martin and Jinh Yu Frey, all in the opening round. Along the way, her lone loss came to Tabatha Ricci by decision. In her pro career dating back to 2013, “Dama de Ferro” has secured all 13 of her wins by stoppage, with all but one coming in Round 1.

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Two pure finishers will collide at the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s upcoming trip to Boston.

Per Andre Petroski’s (9-1) Instagram page on Friday, he has announced he will be competing in New England this August. At UFC 292 inside of the TD Garden in Boston, the “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 29 competitor will be squaring off with Gerald Meerschaert (35-16). The two will be toeing the line at middleweight on Aug. 19, and they combine for 41 finishes in their 44 pro victories.

On the 29th season of TUF, Petroski reached the semifinals only to fall short to eventual victor Bryan Battle. Since then, the New Jersey native has rattled off four straight wins in the UFC, including three inside the distance. Most recently, Petroski topped Wellington Turman on the scorecards, ending his stretch of three straight stoppages. Before the Turman fight, Petroski had dispatched fellow TUF 29 castmate Micheal Gillmore, Yaozong Hu and Nick Maximov in the span of less than nine mo…