Martial Arts News

Marina Rodriguez will lock horns with Virna Jandiroba in a strawweight bout at UFC 288.

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Jandiroba confirmed the booking following an initial report from MMA Melotto on Twitter. UFC 288 takes place on May 6 and is headlined by a bantamweight championship clash between Aljamain Sterling and Henry Cejudo. A location and venue for the event has not been announced.

Rodriguez had a four-bout winning streak snapped in her last outing, as she suffered a third-round technical knockout loss to Amanda Lemos at UFC Fight Night 214 on Nov. 5. The 35-year-old Thai Brasil export owns notable wins over the likes of Xiaonan Yan, Mackenzie Dern, Michelle Waterson-Gomez, Amanda Ribas and Tecia Torres.

Jandiroba has won two of her last three Octagon appearances. Most recently, the former Invicta FC champion outpointed Angela Hill at UFC on ESPN 36 last May. Jandiroba is 4-3 during her UFC tenure after beginning her MMA career with 14 straight victories.

🚨 Breaking!! 🚨 #KSW79

New assignment for 🇨🇿 Dominik Humburger as he now faces 🇧🇷 Jorge Bueno this Saturday! @viaplaypl | @novasport_cz | @combate pic.twitter.com/ul7WYnJ05w

— KSW (@KSW_MMA) February 21, 2023

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After fighting three times in four months on the European regional circuit at the end of 2022, Jorge Luiz Bueno Jr. was enjoying some time off during the Carnival Holiday in Rio de Janeiro when a phone call brought an abrupt change of focus.

"My training partner Joilton ‘Peregrino’ called last Saturday in the middle of Carnival offering a fight (at KSW 79) the following Saturday against Dominik Humburger, a local undefeated fighter from Czech Republic. Since I’m always ready, I immediately accepted,” Bueno told Sherdog upon arriving at the fighter hotel on Wednesday.

Bueno will face Humburger in the KSW 79 co-main event on Saturday at the Home Credit Arena in Liberec, Czech Republic. The card is headlined by …

Curtis Blaydes and Sergei Pavlovich have agreed to a five-round heavyweight bout to headline UFC Fight Night on April 22.

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ESPN was first to report the pairing. UFC Fight Night does not yet have an official location or venue. The card is also expected to include a bantamweight scrap between Yadong Song and Ricky Simon, a lightweight tilt between Bobby Green and Jared Gordon and a featherweight showdown between Norma Dumon and Karol Rosa.

Blaydes has lost just once in his last eight appearances – a second-round KO defeat to Derrick Lewis at UFC Fight Night 185 in February 2021. His last bout ended prematurely when Tom Aspinall suffered a knee injury 15 seconds into their encounter at UFC Fight Night 208 this past July. The Elevation Fight Team representative’s resume includes wins over the likes of Chris Daukaus, Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Alexander Volkov, Junior dos Santos, Alistair Overeem and Mark Hunt.

Pavlovich has been victorious in five st…

A strawweight showdown pitting Karolina Kowalkiewicz against Vanessa Demopoulos is on tap for an Ultimate Fighting Championship event on May 20.

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MMA Ideas was first to report the booking, and it was later announced by Demopoulos’ management, Iridium Sports Agency. UFC Fight Night doesn’t have a main event or confirmed location at this point in time.

A former KSW champion and UFC title challenger, Kowalkiewicz is coming off back-to-back victories against Felice Herrig and Silvana Gomez Juarez. Prior to that, the 37-year-old Pole suffered through the worst slump of her professional career, losing five consecutive bouts from September 2018 to August 2021.

Demopoulos, meanwhile, has won three straight Octagon appearances since dropping a decision to J.J. Aldrich in her promotional debut at UFC on ESPN 30. Most recently, “Lil Monster” outpointed Maria Oliveira at UFC Fight Night 215 on Nov. 19.

Former UFC flyweight title challenger Ray Borg has signed an exclusive contract with Bellator MMA.

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The promotion announced the addition of Borg to the roster on Tuesday. Borg is expected to make his Bellator debut this year, though a date and opponent are currently unknown. It appears that the New Mexico native will compete at 135 pounds in the California-based organziation.

“I am beyond excited and very happy to have signed with Bellator MMA,” Borg said. “I feel like they have the best 135ers in the world and I am very excited to get in there and mix it up with all of them on one of the very biggest stages in the sport.”

The 29-year-old Borg will enter Bellator on a three-bout winning streak. He last appeared at Eagle FC 46, where he captured a split verdict against Bellator vet Ricky Bandejas in March 2022. “The Tazmexican Devil” went 7-5 during a UFC stint where he competed at flyweight and bantamweight. He notably challenged for 125-pound…

Mackenzie Dern will square off against Angela Hill at a UFC Fight Night event on May 13.

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MMAjunkie.com was first to report the strawweight bout. UFC Fight Night is headlined by a light heavyweight duel pitting Anthony Smith against Johnny Walker. A location and venue have not been announced for the card.

Dern is coming off a 1-1 campaign in 2022. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt earned a split decision over Tecia Torres at UFC 273 before suffering a majority decision defeat to Xioanan Yan in the UFC Fight Night 211 headliner. Dern has won five of her last seven Octagon appearances dating back to 2020.

After losing five of six promotional outings from May 2020 to May 2022, Hill has bounced back to post consecutive decision triumphs over Lupita Godinez and Emily Ducote in her last two UFC bouts. The former Invicta FC title holder is 10-12 over the course of two separate UFC stints.

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Yaroslav Amosov will step into the cage for the first time since June 2021 when he meets Logan Storley in a welterweight title unification bout in the Bellator 291 headliner on Saturday.

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Amosov had good reason to be on hiatus, as he stepped away from MMA to help defend his native Ukraine against Russian invasion early in 2022. That led to him withdrawing from a scheduled championship defense against Michael Page at Bellator 281 last May.

In a powerful feature that will air during the Bellator 291 broadcast, Amosov recounts the hardships of war that he witnessed firsthand and how he recovered his championship belt in the wreckage of his family barn. Now Amosov hopes to inspire his country with a championship victory on Saturday in Dublin.

Bellator 291 takes place at the 3Arena in Dublin and is headlined by the championship clash between Amosov and Storley. The main card airs on Showtime at 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT.

A lightweight contender’s bout pitting Charles Oliveira against Beneil Dariush is on tap for UFC 288 on May 6.

Oliveira recently announced the pairing on Instagram, and multiple outlets have confirmed the fight. Club De Las MMA was first to bring word of Oliveira vs. Dariush earlier this year. UFC 288 is headlined by a bantamweight title clash between Aljamain Sterling and Henry Cejudo. The event does not currently have a location or venue.

Oliveira will be competing for the first time since falling to Islam Makhachev via second-round submission in a lightweight title bout at UFC 280 this past October. Prior to that, “Do Bronx” compiled an 11-fight winning streak in the Octagon, with 10 victories coming inside the distance. Notable triumphs during that stretch include Justin Gaethje, Dustin Poirier, Michael Chandler, Tony Ferguson, Kevin Lee, Jim Miller and Clay Guida.

Dariush, meanwhile, has emerged as a top contender at 155 pounds thanks to an eight-bout…

Sidney Outlaw has been booted from the Bellator lightweight grand prix after testing positive for three banned substances in an out-of-competition drug test.

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Associate of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports president Mike Mazzulli, who is in charge of regulation for the promotion’s overseas events, informed ESPN on Tuesday that Outlaw on Feb. 4 tested positive for ostarine, cardarine and anastrozole — all of which are prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). As a result, Outlaw has been suspended for six months and removed from a 155-pound tournament matchup against Mansour Barnaoui at Bellator 296 on May 12 in Paris.

Ostarine is a selective androgen receptor module (SARM) known for increasing lean body mass; cardarine is a metabolic modulator believed to boost metabolism and increase fat burning; and anastrozole can reduce the side effects of performance enhancing drugs by reducing the estrogen levels in the body. Outlaw will be req…

Jairzinho Rozenstruik will lock horns with Jailton Almeida in a heavyweight bout at an Ultimate Fighting Championship event on May 13.

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Both fighters confirmed the booking on social media following an initial report from MMAFighting.com. The card is headlined by a light heavyweight scrap pitting Anthony Smith against Johnny Walker. A location and venue for the card have not been confirmed.

Rozenstruik snapped a two-bout skid in his last outing, when he knocked out Chris Daukaus in just 23 seconds at UFC 282 on Dec. 10. “Bigi Boy” is 7-4 during his promotional tenure, with all his victories coming inside the distance. He owns other notable victories over the likes of Andrei Arlovski, Alistair Overeem, and Junior dos Santos. Meanwhile, his losses have come to some of the heavyweight division’s best: Alexander Volkov, Curtis Blaydes, Ciryl Gane and Francis Ngannou.

Almeida earned a contract on Dana White’s Contender Series as a light heavyweigh…

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A bantamweight title bout pitting reigning champ Aljamain Sterling against Henry Cejudo has been targeted for UFC 288 on May 6.

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Multiple outlets confirmed the booking after Sterling announced it on his podcast. The May 6 date hasn’t been officially announced by the promotion, but it is expected to be a pay-per-view event. Sterling and Cejudo were initially rumored to meet earlier this year, but “The Funkmaster” revealed that he would need more time to heal from a torn bicep, putting that timeline on hold. UFC 288 doesn’t have a location or venue.

“I can’t wait for this matchup, because I think that it’s two guys that won’t back down, and I think the wrestling might cancel each other out – we will see if I’m able to rag-doll him,” Sterling said on Monday. “We’re going to figure it out in the first five minutes, and from there, we’ll figure out if we want to waste a ton of energy grappling, or do we want to put these [our fists] to the test and show…