Martial Arts News

Media Day. Official Weigh Ins. ✅1⃣More Sleep8⃣ Lightweights fight for a life changing opportunityA PFL Contract ✍️

Fights are 𝗟𝗜𝗩𝗘 & 𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘 on @fuboSports

Advertisement

[ #PFLonFubo | Lightweights | Fri, Feb 17th | 9pm] pic.twitter.com/VIA0mm07SP — PFL (@PFLMMA) February 16, 2023 The latest Professional Fighters League Challenger Series show will feature eight fighters in the lightweight division, although only seven made weight.

PFL Challenger Series Week 4 headliner Damir Ferhatbegovic failed to hit the 156-pound limit for his bout against Elvin Espinoza. "The Bosnian Barn Cat" came in at 157.2 pounds, or 1.2 pounds above the cap. The fight will move forward at a 158-pound catchweight, with Ferhatbegovic receiving a fine of a percentage of his purse.

Ferhatbegovic (6-2-1) hasn't been defeated since 2017, coming into this meeting with three wins and a draw since getting submitted by Jonathan Pearce. His last performance …

The card for Professional Fighters League’s first event of 2023 is nearly complete.

Advertisement

The organization on Thursday announced the full main card — and the vast majority of the prelims — for PFL 1, which takes place on April 1 at the Theater at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas and features featherweights and light heavyweights. As previously reported, a featherweight showdown between Brendan Loughnane and Marlon Moraes will serve as the evening’s main event, while a light heavyweight clash pitting Rob Wilkinson against Thiago Santos is set for the co-headliner.

Three other bouts will complete the main draw: Movlid Khaybulaev vs. Ryoji Kudo at featherweight; Chris Wade vs. Bubba Jenkins at featherweight and Omari Akhmedov vs. Will Fleury at light heavyweight. The main card will air on ESPN in primetime.

Meanwhile, three preliminary matchups were also confirmed: Marthin Hamlet vs. Mohammad Fakhreddine at light heavyweight; Joshua Silveira vs. Sam Kei at li…

A middleweight duel pitting Caio Borralho against Michal Oleksiejczuk is on tap for UFC Fight Night on April 29.

Advertisement

Borralho confirmed the booking on social media following an initial report from MMAFighting.com. The UFC Fight Night event doesn’t yet have a location or headliner.

After earning a pair of victories on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2021, Borralho is 3-0 in the UFC. Most recently, the 30-year-old Brazilian outpointed Makhmud Muradov at UFC 280 to run his career mark to 13-1.

Oleksiejczuk, meanwhile, has been victorious in four of his last five promotional outings. The 27-year-old Pole is coming off back-to-back first-round KO/TKO victories against Sam Alvey and Cody Brundage.

Alessio Sakara is the latest MMA veteran to go the bareknuckle boxing route, as the Italian fighter has signed a multi-fight contract with BKFC.

The organization announced the deal on Wednesday. A date and opponent for Sakara’s BKFC debut is currently unknown.

Sakara, 41, hasn’t competed in MMA since earning a 23-second technical knockout victory against Canaan Grigsby at Bellator 230 on Oct. 12, 2019. He was supposed to fight at Bellator Milan in October 2020 but was forced to withdraw from the card due to injury. According to MMAjunkie.com, Sakara remains under contract with Bellator but has been granted permission to fight in BKFC.

“Legionarius” has compiled a 21-13 mark in MMA while competing for Bellator and the UFC. He has finished 15 of those triumphs by knockout or technical knockout. Sakara also owns an 8-1 record as a professional boxer but has not competed in the sport since 2009.

A new challenger has arrived! pic.tw…

UFC flyweight Carlos Mota has been suspended for two years by the Nevada State Athletic Commission for a failed drug test.

Advertisement

Mota tested positive for meldonium in relation to an Oct. 29 bout against Cody Durden at UFC Fight Night 213, which he lost via unanimous decision. According to USADA, meldonium is classified as a metabolic modulator and “may increase endurance, improve rehabilitation following exercise, and enhance activations of the central nervous system” in athletic competition.

Mota was fined $2,400 and must also pay $448.25 in legal fees. He will not be eligible to compete until Oct. 29, 2024.

A former Legacy Fighting flyweight champion, Mota accepted the bout against Durden on short notice. He owns an 8-2 career mark that also includes a stint in the Shooto Brazil organization.

Sara McMann will make her promotional debut against Arlene Blencowe in a featherweight bout at Bellator 294.

Advertisement

The promotion confirmed the pairing on Wednesday. Also announced was a heavyweight showdown pitting Tim Johnson against Said Sowma. Both McMann vs. Blencowe and Johnson vs. Sowma are slated for the evening’s main card, which airs on Showtime at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT. Bellator 294 takes place on April 21 at the Neil S. Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, Hawaii, and is headlined by a flyweight title tilt between Liz Carmouche and DeAnna Bennett.

After competing as a bantamweight during a 13-bout UFC tenure, McMann is set to make her 145-pound debut against Blencowe. The Olympic silver medalist last competed at UFC on ESPN 33, where she captured a unanimous decision against Karol Rosa.

Blencowe is a two-time featherweight title challenger under the Bellator banner but has come up short on both occasions against reigning champ Cristiane Justino.…

Marc Goddard will be the third man in the cage when Jon Jones and Ciryl Gane square off for the vacant heavyweight crown in the UFC 285 main event.

Advertisement

The Nevada State Athletic Commission selected the referees and judges for the two title bouts atop the UFC 285 bill during a meeting on Wednesday. Mike Bell, Sal D’Amato and Ron McCarthy will score Jones vs. Gane from cageside.

Interestingly enough, it will be the first time Goddard has officiated a bout involving Jones, who was last seen defending his light heavyweight belt in a unanimous decision triumph against Dominick Reyes at UFC 247 in February 2020. Goddard was in the cage, however, for Gane’s last Octagon appearance, a third-round KO of Tai Tuivasa at UFC Fight Night 209 this past September.

Meanwhile, Jason Herzog will officiate the flyweight title clash between Valentina Shevchenko and Alexa Grasso in the co-main event. Ben Cartlidge, Derek Cleary and Chris Lee will serve as judges for …

[embedded content] Not much has gone according to plan for Philipe Lins since he made his way to the Ultimate Fighting Championship with a Professional Fighters League title in tow on May 13, 2020. In the more than 600 days that have elapsed since, he has competed just three times while watching no fewer than nine scheduled bouts evaporate for various reasons.

“After so many cancellations, I jokingly say that my nickname changed from ‘Monstro’ to ‘Drama Fighter,’” Lins told Sherdog.com. “Some of the cancellations were due to my injuries. On other occasions, my opponents got hurt; and sometimes, there were personal problems. In the end, the most important thing is that I’m back to work.”

Advertisement

Lins will draw his first assignment of 2023 when he collides with Ovince St. Preux as part of the UFC Fight Night 219 undercard this Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. St. Preux has lost six of his past 10 bouts but remains a viable threat at 205 pounds. The 39-…

For the second year in a row, Bellator MMA will hold an April doubleheader in Hawaii.

Advertisement

The California-based promotion revealed to Hawaiian news outlet KHON2 that Bellator 294 and Bellator 295 will take place at the Neil S. Blasdell Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, on April 21 and April 22, respectively. Bellator 294 is headlined by a flyweight title bout between Liz Carmouche and DeAnna Bennett, while Bellator 295 features the bantamweight grand prix final pitting Raufeon Stots against Patrick Mix.

Carmouche is 5-0 since leaving the UFC to sign with Bellator. “Girl-Rilla” claimed flyweight gold with a fourth-round stoppage of Velasquez at Bellator 278 and defended the crown with a second-round submission of Velasquez in a rematch at Bellator 289 this past December. She defeated Bennett via third-round submission in her promotional debut at Bellator 246.

Bennett will enter the matchup with Carmouche on a three-bout winning streak that includes deci…

Mateusz Gamrot will replace the injured Dan Hooker and face Jalin Turner at UFC 285.

Multiple outlets confirmed the new lightweight pairing following an initial report from Fansided. Hooker was forced to withdraw from the contest after suffering a broken hand. UFC 285 takes place on March 4 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and is headlined by a heavyweight title clash between Jon Jones and Ciryl Gane.

Gamrot had a four-bout winning streak snapped in his last Octagon appearance, as he fell to Beneil Dariush via unanimous decision at UFC 280 this past October. Prior to that defeat, the former KSW champ had bested Scott Holtzman, Jeremy Stephens, Diego Ferreira and Arman Tsarukyan in succession.

Turner, meanwhile, is currently in the midst of a five-fight finishing streak in UFC competition. In his last outing, “The Tarantula” submitted Brad Riddell in just 45 seconds at UFC 276.

As he prepares to face A.J. McKee in the quarterfinals of the Bellator lightweight grand prix, Patricky Freire says he has learned from his championship loss to Usman Nurmagomedov this past November.

Advertisement

"Never approach the fight based on what my opponent is going to do and always impose my game,” Freire said. “Going forward, have a better believe in myself and what I do. That's what I’m bringing from the fight against Usman to the fight against McKee.”

Patricky revealed that the bad blood between McKee and his brother was solved when they traveled to Japan to represent Bellator against Rizin.

"Patricio explained to him some misunderstanding they had because of a signature in a cartoon. My brother asked for his signature in a magazine. He did the same with Patricio, and they ended up taking a picture together,” Patricky said. “Our faceoff was cool. As I said at the press conference, trash talk is not my style. No matter what we say…

A matchup of longtime Octagon veterans is on tap for UFC Fight Night on May 13, as Matt Brown is expected to square off against Court McGee in a welterweight tilt.

Brown revealed the pairing on "The Fighter vs. Writer” podcast. The event, which doesn’t have a confirmed location or venue, will be headlined by a light heavyweight clash between Anthony Smith and Johnny Walker.

The 42-year-old Brown competed once in 2022, falling to Bryan Barberena via split decision at UFC on ESPN 33 in March. “The Immortal” has lost three of his last four promotional appearances dating back to 2020. The Ohio native is 23-19 over the course of a professional tenure that began 2005 with notable wins over the likes of Ben Saunders, Diego Sanchez, Tim Means, Mike Pyle, Mike Swick, and Stephen Thompson.

McGee, meanwhile, had a two-bout winning streak snapped in his last outing, when he suffered a first-round KO loss to Jeremiah Wells at UFC on ESPN 37 this past June. The 38-year…