Martial Arts News

With a title shot against Leon Edwards on the horizon, Colby Covington was awarde his black belt by coach Daniel Valverde this past week.

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According to Valverde, Covington earned that status in the gym.

“He was giving a hard time to most of my black belts,” Valverde told Sherdog.com. “It's been four years training almost everyday with us at MMA Masters. Jiu-Jitsu with and without the gi [and] judo. He is highly technical and deserves it for sure.”

Valverde also revealed that he, Covington and MMA Masters co-owner Cesar Carneiro are launching a new combat sport dubbed Xtreme Dirty Boxing.

“Xtreme Dirty Boxing consists of boxing with elbows and muay thai clinches,” Valverde said. “Four rounds of three minutes with six-ounce gloves. Also it´s not permitted to go more than three seconds without action. Colby is our partner in that promotion.”

The plan is to hold the promotion’s first event in Bahia (Brazil), Puerto Rico or Miami.

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The first foreigner to win two editions of the Kings Cup (2007 and 2009), Cosmo Alexandre is one of the most respected muay thai fighters to make a successful transition to MMA.

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Despite having an MMA record of 8-1 following his knockout of Sage Northcutt at One Championship “Enter the Dragon” in 2019, Alexandre decided to retire at 40 years old with a combat sports record that features a combined 106 fights in MMA, muay thai and kickboxing.

With the experience of having trained with Kamaru Usman, Georges St. Pierre, Vitor Belfort, Alex Pereira and Anderson Silva, Alexandre told Sherdog that most important muay thai techniques are still underused in MMA.

"Boxing has reached a very high level in MMA, no doubt about that, but I still see a lot of muay thai techniques that are totally underused, like elbows, knees and clinches,” Alexandre said.

According to Alexandre, even someone like Jon Jones, who has long utilized elbows to his advantage…

Cody Garbrandt will look to put together his first winning streak since 2016 when he meets Mario Bautista at a UFC event on Aug. 19.

MMAFighting.com was first to report the bantamweight booking. The UFC Fight Night card doesn’t yet have a location or headliner.

A former bantamweight champion, “No Love” is just 2-5 in UFC competition since 2017 — and all but one of those defeats have come via knockout or technical knockout. After an unsuccesful one-bout stint at flyweight, Garbrandt returned to 135 pounds at UFC 285, where he took a three-round verdict over Trevin Jones on March 4.

Bautista, meanwhile, has won six of seven Octagon appearances since falling to Cory Sandhagen in his promotional debut. The 29-year-old MMA Lab representative was successful in his first outing of 2023, when he submitted Guido Cannetti in the opening stanza at UFC Fight Night 221.

Up close and PERSONAL 😤@SongYadongLFG vs @RickySimonUFC take the spotlight tomorrow night!

[ #UFCVegas72 | Tomorrow | Main Card 7pmET | Live on @ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/3l8kSfCaUd

— UFC (@ufc) April 28, 2023 The Ultimate Fighting Championship's latest UFC Apex card will feature an exciting bantamweight fight.

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The UFC Fight Night 223 main event will see Yadong Song take on Ricky Simon over five rounds. Both bantamweight contenders successfully made weight, although not all fighters were as professional. Irina Alekseeva notably missed weight by four pounds and came in at 140 pounds for her bantamweight fight against Stephanie Egger. Meanwhile, Hailey Cowan came in 1.5 pounds heavy for her fight against Jamey-Lyn Horth. Both overweight fighters have been fined a percentage of their purses.

This marks the second UFC main event for Song (19-7-1, 1 NC), who is coming off a doctor stoppage loss to Cory Sandhagen. The de…

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Combat sports veteran Joe Schilling has scored his most recent victory not in a ring or cage, but in court.

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Schilling was involved in an altercation with a bar patron named Justin Balboa in June 2021, which ended with the Bellator MMA and Glory Kickboxing veteran knocking out the man at a bar in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Balboa filed a civil lawsuit against Schilling for battery after being hospitalized with a head injury. After widely-distributed videos showed the bar altercation, Schilling claimed the man he hit provoked him with threatening gestures after using a racial slur toward a bar employee. Nearly two years after the events, Schilling’s actions have been declared as an act of self-defense by Broward County circuit court judge Fabienne E. Fahnestock. “Stich ‘Em Up” was justified to use the necessary to neutralize the threat according to Florida’s stand-your-ground law.

The 39-year-old Schilling expressed happiness on his…

History in the making! 👑@RhysMcKee 🆚 @JudoJimmy headlines our Dublin homecoming at @3ArenaDublin 🇮🇪

📺 Watch #CW153 LIVE on @UFCFightPass tomorrow night at 9PM BST! pic.twitter.com/ZTJt5DHw4N

— Cage Warriors (@CageWarriors) April 28, 2023

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The protagonists of Saturday’s Cage Warriors main event had no issues making championship weight.

All is set for the anticipated 170-pound championship reunification clash between welterweight titleholder Rhys McKee and interim ace Jim Wallhead in the CW 153 main event. Ultimate Fighting Championship alum McKee (12-4-1, 5-0 CW) captured the vacant crown after knocking out Justin Burlinson 20 seconds out of the gate in the third round at CW 140. On Friday morning, “Skeletor" stepped on the scales at 169.4 pounds.

Seasoned vet Wallhead (33-11, 13-6 CW) shocked the world when he stopped the up-and-coming Mateusz Figlak with punches in the opening frame of their CW 146 clash to …

So @SStricklandMMA what do u say my man. It sets us up for a perfect rematch, better build up and definitely a way better main for the fans. We can do it on your date of july 1 if you prefer, fans definitely wana see us fight over UFC 1-0 guy. 🤷🏼‍♂️ @Mickmaynard2 @AliAbdelaziz00 https://t.co/83p7BtnhI3

— Brendan Allen (@BrendanAllenMMA) April 27, 2023

The plans for June 3’s UFC on ESPN 45 main event in Las Vegas have to be changed after one of its protagonists got injured.

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Jack Hermansson suffered an undisclosed injury that will prevent him from taking part in a clash with Brendan Allen. As of this writing, it is unknown whether the Ultimate Fighting Championship will reschedule the clash or will find a different opponent for Allen. The news was first reported by MMA Mania on Thursday, and Allen has confirmed it on his social media accounts.

Hermansson (23-8, 10-6 UFC), a former Cage Warriors Fighting Championship …

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Nate Diaz opted to turn himself in a few days after the New Orleans Police Department issued a warrant for his arrest.

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Diaz, 38, presented himself voluntarily and was officially booked at 7:40 a.m. CT on Thursday. The Ultimate Fighting Championship alum is facing a charge of second-degree battery after taking part in a brawl in New Orleans last weekend when he was recorded chocking amateur mixed martial arts fighter and YouTube personality Rodney Petersen Jr. unconscious with a standing choke. When Diaz released the submission maneuver, the back of Petersen's head hit the pavement. On Monday, an arrest warrant was issued for Diaz, who is facing up to eight years in prison and a $2,000 fine if found guilty. Shortly after he surrendered to authorities, Diaz’s representative Zach Rosenfield released a statement.

“Nate voluntarily turned himself into the New Orleans Police Department this morning approximately at 7:10 a.m. CT. We c…

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Rodolfo Vieira may be one of the greatest Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioners ever to cross over to mixed martial arts, but he doesn’t let those expectations define his approach to fighting.

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Ahead of his matchup with Cody Brundage at UFC Fight Night 223 on Saturday in Las Vegas, “The Black Belt Hunter” spoke to Sherdog about the ways in which his Ultimate Fighting Championship run has fallen short of what he hoped. More than any particular loss, Vieira professes disappointment that he has only five fights in the four and a half years since joining the promotion in 2019.

“I can’t even complain about my career,” he said. “I came into the UFC very early. I came in after only two years or so of training. I had good fights – three wins by submission. But I also had two losses. But today I’m much more confident, mature, and experienced. I wish I could have fought more often, but injuries and other life matters kept me away. Without a dou…

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Caio Borralho is a study in contradictions. The 30-year-old Brazilian sports one of the most imposing physiques in the Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight division, offset by an infectious, guileless smile and pair of tinted eyeglasses that would look right at home on a full-time computer programmer. He is a standout athlete who tends towards blood-and-guts aggression in the cage, yet trains with a team of self-described “fight nerds,” employing a committee approach to breaking down his opponents’ strengths and weaknesses.

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Borralho’s 2021 arrival in the Ultimate Fighting Championship came with little fanfare—his first victory on Dana White's Contender Series was nondescript enough that he had to come back six weeks later and win again before earning a UFC contract—but a year after his promotional debut, it has become impossible to ignore him. Now 3-0 in the UFC and on an incredible run of 12-0 with one no contest in his las…

It appears that Deiveson Figueiredo won’t be fighting at UFC 290 after all.

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The former flyweight champion confirmed to MMAFighting.com’s Trocação Franca podcast that he has not been cleared to face Manel Kape at the July 8 event. Figueiredo’s withdrawal was initially reported by Canal Encarada.

“I’m still injured,” Figueiredo said. “I asked for a fight, told my manager I wanted to fight already, but when he gave me the fight and I talked to my physical therapist and my ophthalmologist, [they said] my eyesight is still not 100 percent. There are days I see things normal, but there are days it’s not OK, especially the days after I train, so they decided I had to go the full six-month [medical suspension] the ophthalmologist gave me [after UFC 283].”

Figueiredo is coming off a third-round doctor stoppage loss in his tetralogy against current flyweight king Brandon Moreno. He was initially expected to move to the bantamweight division before rev…

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The UFC Fight Night 223 lineup has undergone another late update, as Marcus McGhee will step in for Brian Kelleher and face Journey Newson on Saturday.

Multiple outlets confirmed the booking following an initial report from Eurosport NL. McGhee vs. Newson will be contested at a 140-pound catchweight. UFC Fight Night 223 takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a bantamweight duel between Yadong Song and Ricky Simon.

McGhee, 32, enters his UFC debut with a 6-1 career mark that includes a pair of appearances under the Legacy Fighting Alliance banner. Most recently, “The Maniac” defeated Luciano Ramos via third-round TKO at LFA 149 on Jan. 6. All six of his victories have come by way of knockout or technical knockout.

Newson has one victory in five UFC bouts since making his promotional debut in 2019. In his last outing, the Beaverton, Ore., native suffered a decision loss to Sergey Morozov at UFC Fight Night 216 on Dec.…