Martial Arts News

The One Championship strawweight division saw its eighth champion crowned in Manila, Philippines, on Saturday.

Jarred Brooks takes the back! 🤼‍♂️ @The_monkeygod#ONE164🇺🇸🇨🇦🇹🇭🇬🇧🇸🇦🇧🇷 Live on ONE YouTube🌍 Live on https://t.co/eBUfsODAFL pic.twitter.com/Lb9jhWHjhx

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) December 3, 2022

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The ONE 164 main event featured a clash for the promotional strawweight championship as titleholder Joshua Pacio and Jarred Brooks locked horns in a 125-pound tilt. Ultimate Fighting Championship alum Brooks (20-2, 1NC; 4-0 ONE) brought the heat to his foe right out of the gate, attacking his opponent on the feet before shooting for takedowns. Pacio (19-4, 11-4 ONE) stood his ground on the feet but struggled to contain his foe’s attacks on the canvas. Brooks acquired plenty of top control time through the first three stanzas.

The pace decreased in the championship rounds, where both contestants were happy to keep the…

Reinier de Ridder bit off way more than he could chew.

Anatoliy Malykhin dethroned the Dutch grappler in an epic beatdown, as he took possession of the undisputed One Championship light heavyweight title in the ONE on Prime Video 5 headliner on Friday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay, Philippines. De Ridder (16-1, 7-1 ONE) succumbed to punches 4:35 into Round 1.

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Malykhin (11-0, 4-0 ONE)—already the interim ONE heavyweight champion—was utterly merciless with his attack. He cut off takedowns from de Ridder with surprising ease and assaulted him with an unending barrage of power punches to the head and body. Late in the first round, Malykhin floored the Combat Brothers rep with a right hook and followed him to the canvas, where he separated “The Dutch Knight” from his senses with brutal hammerfists.

In the co-main event, 2022 Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling World Championships gold medalist Kade Ruotolo retained his ONE submission grap…

Sherdog's live ONE on Prime Video 5 “De Ridder vs. Malykhin” coverage kicks off Friday at 8 p.m. ET. Round 1

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Round 2 Round 3 The Official Result Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 The Official Result Round 1 The Official Result Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 The Official Result Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 The Official Result Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 The Official Result Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 The Official Result Round 1 The Official Result Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 The Official Result

UFC Statement Regarding James Krause pic.twitter.com/MDB2tbVu2J

— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) December 2, 2022 Fighter-turned-coach James Krause has gone from a well-respected name to one who can no longer train fighters in a very short amount of time.

On Friday, the Ultimate Fighting Championship released a pair of statements – one from UFC chief business officer Hunter Campbell to fighters and their teams, and the other in a public release – to further explain the steps taken regarding the irregular betting activity surrounding UFC Fight Night 214. At that November event at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Darrick Minner vs. Nuerdanbieke Shayilan saw some unusual betting activity within hours of the match, and Minner succumbed to an injury that led to a quick TKO loss. Sportsbooks turned to the Nevada State Athletic Commission and betting firm U.S. Integrity to review the matter, in which the former suspended the license of Minner’s coach, Kra…

[embedded content] Betting organizations are lining up to work with MMA promotions, and One Championship has hooked a big one.

Per a press release on Friday, One has announced it will be partnering with FanDuel – based in the U.S. – to stage events on the latter’s proprietary FanDuel TV network. This station is listed on cable and satellite TV, already working with distributors including Xfinity, Spectrum, DirecTV and several others. The first event of their agreement will be One 164, which takes place on Saturday morning. No live MMA event had ever aired on FanDuel TV to this point.

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Chief commercial officer of FanDuel, Mike Raffensperger, spoke of the new arrangement highly, saying, “We’re eager to continue expanding the variety of content we’re offering at FanDuel TV to introduce our audience to emerging sports. We’ve long respected the content the One Championship team is producing and are looking forward to bringing their action to our audience t…

The first two to the scale, your #UFCOrlando main event is official 👊@WonderboyMMA - 170 pounds ⚖️@Trailblaze2top - 170.5 pounds ⚖️

[ TOMORROW | Prelims 7𝙥𝙢 𝙀𝙏 | Main Card 10pm ET | LIVE on @ESPN ] pic.twitter.com/0yQkzyXkqj

— UFC (@ufc) December 2, 2022 Editor's note: The article has been updated at 1:15 p.m. ET to reflect one bout's cancelation shortly after the weigh-ins concluded.

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The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to ESPN airwaves for an intriguing middleweight showdown.

Both Stephen Thompson and Kevin Holland made weight for their UFC on ESPN 42 main event. However, one undercard fighter missed weight on the card as Philip Rowe came in 2.5 pounds over the welterweight limit for his fight against Niko Price and has been fined 30% of his purse. Following the weigh-in ceremony, one additional match encountered some difficulty: Tracy Cortez, who successfully hit the 125-pound mark, has encountered a medic…

Statement from Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario on banning betting on UFC: pic.twitter.com/oXgltrcN3D

— David Payne Purdum (@DavidPurdum) December 1, 2022 Editor's note: The article has been updated at 3:30 p.m. ET on Dec. 1 to add the text of the statement from the AGCO.

Canadian fight fans from Kingston to Kenora can no longer bet on Ultimate Fighting Championship events for the foreseeable future.

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Per ESPN on Thursday, the Alcohol Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) has informed all sportsbooks in the province of Ontario, Canada, that they cannot offer any bets on UFC events going forward. The block has been issued for an indeterminate amount of time, and it is in effect immediately – this means, for example, that no person in Toronto can bet on any fight from UFC on ESPN 42 in Saturday. The AGCO will levy a far stricter ban than the New Jersey Division of Gambling Enforcement issued earlier in the month, wh…

Statement from Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario on banning betting on UFC: pic.twitter.com/oXgltrcN3D

— David Payne Purdum (@DavidPurdum) December 1, 2022 Editor's note: The article has been updated at 3:30 p.m. ET on Dec. 1 to add the text of the statement from the AGCO.

Canadian fight fans from Kingston to Kenora can no longer bet on Ultimate Fighting Championship events for the foreseeable future.

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Per ESPN on Thursday, the Alcohol Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) has informed all sportsbooks in the province of Ontario, Canada, that they cannot offer any bets on UFC events going forward. The block has been issued for an indeterminate amount of time, and it is in effect immediately – this means, for example, that no person in Toronto can bet on any fight from UFC on ESPN 42 in Saturday. The AGCO will levy a far stricter ban than the New Jersey Division of Gambling Enforcement issued earlier in the month, wh…

Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC

Steven Koslow will replace Ronnie Lawrence and lock horns with Cameron Saaiman at UFC 282.

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MMAjunkie.com was first to report the change to the bantamweight bout. UFC 282 takes place on Dec. 10 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and is headlined by a light heavyweight title tilt between Jan Blachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev.

Koslow will take a 6-0 record into his Octagon debut. The 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu Jacksonville member has competed exclusively under the Florida-based Combat Night banner, finishing all six of his opponents via submission inside of a round.

South Africa’s Saaimn is also 6-0 as a professional. The 21-year-old earned a UFC contract on Aug. 23, when he knocked out Josh Wang Kim in the third round of their bout on Dana White’s Contender Series.

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The bantamweight and light heavyweight titles will be on the line at Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki’s final card of the year on Dec. 17.

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Sebastian Przybysz will defend his 135-pound belt against Jakub Wiklacz in the evening’s co-main event, while reigning 205-pound king Ibragim Chuzhigaev will face Ivan Erslan in another featured contest. The Polish promotion recently announced the bookings. KSW 77 takes place at Arena Gliwice in Gliwice, Poland, and is headlined by a heavyweight showdown pitting Mamed Khalidov against Mariusz Pudzianowski.

Przybysz has posted a 7-1 mark since joining KSW. He claimed the bantamweight belt with a unanimous decision triumph over Antun Racic at KSW 59 and has since defended the strap twice with victories against Brunos Augusto Dos Santos and Werlleson Martins Ribeiro.

Wiklacz has won three straight fights under the KSW banner. In his last outing, “Masa” outpointed Bruno Augusto Dos Santos at KSW 71 o…

Initially tabbed by trainers and teammates as the natural Brazilian successor to Jose Aldo as the future of the bantamweight division, Raoni Barcelos hasn’t climbed the rankings in the manner many expected after his UFC debut in 2018.

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After winning his first five Octagon appearances, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and national wrestling champion dropped back-to-back decisions against Timur Valiev and Victor Henry. That prompted him to leave Rizzo RVT at the beginning of 2022 to train with former UFC fighter Davi Ramos.

"Training with guys like Davi and Rousimar Palhares brought me back to my grappling roots,” Barcelos told Sherdog.com shortly after returning to the win column with a decision win over Trevin Jones in October.

Barcelos next had designs on fighting on home soil at UFC 283 in Rio de Janeiro, but it wasn’t meant to be.

“Unfortunately it was not possible to fight in front of my family and friends in Rio, but at least the UFC ga…

A little less than two weeks removed from the loss to Usman Nurmagomedov that cost him the Bellator lightweight crown, Patricky Freire has come to the conclusion that he overestimated his opponent.

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"After watching the fight a couple of times, I have no doubt that my mistake was giving too much respect to his name,” Freire told Sherdog.com. “I was so concerned about exposing myself to the takedown that I didn’t impose my game. I should have fought all rounds like I did in the fifth.”

Freire ultimately dropped a five-round verdict to the cousin of Khabib Nurmagomedov at Bellator 288 on Nov. 18. In hindsight, “Pitbull” believes he faced a more difficult test in camp than he did on fight night.

"There is no way to compare his wrestling skills to my main sparring partner in the camp, Kennedy Monday,” Freire said. “Besides being more explosive, Monday was much more technical than Usman in wrestling, and he is taller. I truly hope Usman enters in the …