Martial Arts News

According to Andre Pederneiras, the wheels are in motion for a boxing showdown between Jose Aldo and Floyd Mayweather Jr.

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During a backstage interview with Sherdog.com at UFC 283, the Nova Uniao coach stated that Aldo was already negotiating for an international fight that would follow his debut against Argentina native Emmanuel Zambrano under the Shooto Brazil Boxing banner on Feb. 10. Pederneiras’ statement led to speculation that Aldo could be close to facing the biggest name in Brazilian boxing, four-time world champion Acelino Popo Freitas, who had been using social media to challenge the former UFC featherweight champion for a long time. Instead, Aldo revealed the suprise opponent to media shortly after he defeated Zambrano via unanimous decision last week.

“Negotiations are progressing for me to fight Mayweather in June or July,” Aldo said.

Shortly after that announcement, Sherdog contacted Pederneiras, who serves as co-manager of Aldo, …

The return of undefeated welterweight Joey Davis highlights several new additions to the Bellator 293 lineup.

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Davis will square off against Jefferson Creighton in a 170-pound preliminary clash, the promotion announced Tuesday. Three other contests were also confirmed for the Bellator 293 prelims: Maria Henderson vs. Mackenzie Stiller at strawweight; Lance Gibson Jr. vs. Vladimir Tokov at lightweight and Sullivan Cauley vs. Luke Trainer at light heavyweight.

Bellator 293 takes place on March 31 at the Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula, Calif., and is headlined by a heavyweight duel pitting Marcelo Golm against Daniel James. The main card airs on Showtime at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, while prelims stream on the Bellator MMA YouTube channel, the Showtime Sports YouTube channel and Pluto TV at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.

A four-time NCAA Division II national champion wrestler, Davis will return to active competition for the first time in more than two year…

Mark your Calendars. @PFLEurope is 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗𝗬 𝗧𝗢 𝗚𝗢 📆

4️⃣Weight Divisions2️⃣Regular Season events1️⃣Playoff Event1️⃣Championship100K Prize on the Line 💰🏆

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It all starts from the UK’s @VertuArena

[ #PFLEurope | Sat, March 25th | Live on @daznmma ] pic.twitter.com/HXlhjWnL7C

— PFL (@PFLMMA) February 14, 2023 Professional Fighters League on Tuesday unveiled the full roster of fighters for its inaugural PFL Europe Season.

The lineup spans four weight classes and includes 32 athletes from 14 countries. PFL Europe will include four events, with winners in each division earning $100,000 and a spot on the main PFL roster.

PFL Europe regular season cards are set for Vertu Motors Arena in Newcastle, England, on March 25 and Vetri Music Hall in Berlin, Germany, on July 8. PFL Europe 1 will feature light heavyweights and women’s flyweights, while PFL Europe 2 includes lightweights and bantamweights. The PFL Europe playoffs ta…

Pancrase featherweight champion Isao Kobayashi has signed with Bellator MMA, the promotion announced on Monday.

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A date for Kobayashi’s debut is currently unknown. It will be the 34-year-old Osaka, Japan, native’s second stint with the California-based promotion. He went 0-2 with Bellator from 2015 to 2016, falling to Goiti Yamauchi and Justin Lawrence in back-to-back outings. All Bellator events featuring Kobayashi will be streamed live in Japan via U-Next.

“Even prior to our successful New Year’s Eve event in Japan, we’ve been signing the top available talent in the region and that has led us to this reunion with Isao Kobayashi,” Bellator president Scott Coker said in a release.

“Since his last stint with Bellator, Kobayashi has been tearing through competition culminating in a Pancrase championship win now and we’re looking forward to seeing him back in the Bellator cage.”

Kobayashi will return to Bellator riding the momentum of a six…

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With UFC 284 in the rearview mirror, the countdown has already begun for UFC 285.

The Las Vegas-based organization on Monday released a promo video for the event, highlighting the Octagon return of former light heavyweight champion Jon Jones. Jones will make his heavyweight debut against Ciryl Gane for the vacant heavyweight title in the UFC 285 main event.

“This next chapter will where I show the world how great I can possibly be,” Jones says in the video. I’m coming back to get what’s mine.”

UFC 285 takes place on March 4 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and will also see Valentina Shevchenko defend her flyweight crown against Alexa Grasso in the co-main event. The main card will be available via pay-per-view on ESPN+ beginning at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.

FREE FIGHT! Didn't take long, so you get the whole thing!

Amorim must have had somewhere to be. pic.twitter.com/TXuk8we5pk

— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) July 3, 2021

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Undefeated former Legacy Fighting Alliance champion Jaqueline Amorim will make her first promotional forway against Sam Hughes at UFC 287.

Multiple outlets confirmed the strawweight pairing following an initial report from MMA Ideas. UFC 287 takes place at Miami-Dade Arena in Miami, Fla., on April 8 and is headlined by a middleweight title rematch between Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya.

Amorim began her professional MMA career in 2020 and has finished all six of her opponents inside of a round. She claimed strawweight gold with a kneebar submission of Lovethapatra Young at LFA 125 before tapping Ashley Nichols with an armbar in a title defense at LFA 142 this past September.

Hughes, meanwhile, is 2-4 in the Las Vegas-based promotion since m…

Thus far during his Ultimate Fighting Championship tenure, Jack Della Maddalena has shown a knack for putting opponents away in short order.

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That continued at UFC 284, where ended Randy Brown’s four-fight winning streak with a submission victory 2:13 into Round 1. All four of the Perth native’s promotional triumphs have ended inside of a round.

I honestly think it’s just my style,” he said in a backstage interview with the UFC. “I’m trying to get finishes, I’m trying to damage my opponent from the get-go. I think I’ve got accurate punches. With the small gloves, if I land accurately, people go down and then I’ve got a good finishing ability I believe.”

While Della Maddalena briefly struggled with his opponent’s reach, he eventually closed the distance and dropped Brown with a perfectly-placed right hook behind the ear. From there, he unloaded with hammerfists until Brown gave up his back, providing the necessary opening to securing the fight-en…

Before he moved on to thinking about a future title unification bout against Alexander Volkanovski, Yair Rodriguez took a moment to encourage Josh Emmett following their bout in the UFC 284 co-headliner.

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Rodriguez was impressive in victory, as he survived being rocked early to author a complete performance that was capped off by a triangle choke submission 4:19 into the second stanza. At Saturday’s post-fight press conference, “El Pantera” shared what he said to Emmett during their Octagon exchange in the immediate aftermath.

“This is a really important moment for us, and when I finished the triangle, I could see in his expression the desperation of like, ‘F—k, I lost,’” Rodriguez said. “It’s like he saw his opportunity go away, but I just wanted to say to him, ‘No.’ I told him, ‘No, No. Hey, no. Stop that thinking that you have right now. You’re a warrior. You will overcome this. You got this.’

“So the only thing I could say to him was, ‘You’r…

Bryce Mitchell will attempt to bounce back from the first loss of his professional career when he meets Jonathan Pearce in a featherweight bout on May 6.

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Mitchell confirmed the booking on social media following an initial report by BRKKZ via Instagram. The event does not have a confirmed location or venue, but it is rumored to be UFC 288.

Mitchell last appeared at UFC 282, where he was submitted in the second round by Ilia Topuria. “Thug Nasty” later revealed that the flu hindered his performance in the Dec. 10 bout. Prior to that setback, Mitchell won his first 15 fights — including six in UFC competition.

Pearce, meanwhile, has won five consecutive bouts since dropping his Octagon debut to Joe Lauzon at UFC on ESPN 6. The Fight Ready product is coming off a 3-0 campaign in 2022 that featured triumphs over Christian Rodriguez, Makwan Amirkhani and Darren Elkins.

Back at it May 6 👊🏻 pic.twitter.com/KyFUo90FI5

—…

Alexander Volkanovski gave Islam Makhachev all he could handle. It wasn’t quite enough.

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Makhachev won a closely-contested unanimous decision over Volkanovski in a champion vs. champion clash at UFC 284 in Perth, Australia, on Saturday night, staking his claim to the sport’s No. 1 pound-for-pound spot in the process. Volkanovski nonetheless raised his stock in defeat, as he held his own against a larger opponent in all aspects of the fight.

In the aftermath of the defeat, Volkanovski acknowledged that there were missed opportunities that could have swung the scorecards in his favor.

“I could’ve done more, so I’m going to be hard on myself. A lot of people probably counted me out, like, ‘Oh, wow.’ But I never counted myself out. I expected to win, so I’m disappointed,” Volkanovski said at the UFC 284 post-fight press conference.

“I know I could’ve done more, could’ve capitalized on things earlier as well. I did think he was going to be stronger…

The UFC 284 main event was billed as a battle of the sport’s pound-for-pound best, and it more than lived up to the hype.

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After five competitive rounds, Islam Makhachev emerged with a hard-fought unanimous decision triumph over 145-pound champ Alexander Volkanovski to retain his lightweight crown. Perhaps more importantly, the Dagestan native believes he can rightfully assume his place as the No. 1 fighter in all of MMA.

“Doesn’t matter how I won today. Now, I’m not just the champion, I’m the best fighter in the world,” Makhachev said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “I’m very happy. Now people are going to call me not just champ, but best fighter in the world. This is my dream. It doesn’t matter how I won. I’m very happy. … Now, I’m the best fighter and champion.

While many expected Makhachev to impose his will on Volkanovski due to his size advantage, that was never the case. Volkanovski held his own in all aspects of the fight, and…

Jens Pulver is the latest addition to the 2023 UFC Hall of Fame class.

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The promotion announced on Saturday that the former lightweight champion will be inducted into the “Pioneers” Wing as part of a ceremony held during International Fight Week in July. The “Pioneers” Wing recognizes athletes who turned professional before Nov. 17, 2000, are at least 35 years old and have been retired for a minimum of one year.

“Jens Pulver is a pioneer of the sport who was not only the first lightweight champion in UFC history, but someone who delivered some of the sport's most memorable moments,” said UFC President Dana White. “No one will ever forget his knockout of John Lewis or his win over B.J. Penn in their first fight, and his fight against Urijah Faber in 2008 was the biggest fight in WEC history at the time. Jens could do it all in the Octagon, and it will be an honor to induct him into the UFC Hall of Fame this summer.”

Pulver compiled a 27-19-1 ma…