Martial Arts News

One of these surging Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweights may be a win away from a crack at gold after this melee.

On Thursday, MMA Junkie first broke the news that the UFC event on Feb. 25 has its marquee attraction. Coming to blows in the light heavyweight division, Nikita Krylov (29-9) will throw down with Ryan Spann (21-7) in a contest that will receive five rounds if necessary. The specific venue and location have not yet been announced. The fight has since been confirmed by other outlets.

Krylov finds himself on his first win streak inside the Octagon since his five-win stretch from 2014 to 2016. In July, Krylov flattened former title challenger Alexander Gustafsson in 67 seconds, and he went on to outwork Volkan Oezdemir by decision three months later. Before that pair of wins, Krylov had fallen short to Paul Craig and Magomed Ankalaev, losing to the former by the Scot’s vaunted triangle choke. As a pro, “The Miner” posts a stellar finish rate of…

Top Ultimate Fighting Championship 170-pound contender Gilbert Burns is watching his division very closely.

Burns intended on fighting at UFC 283 in Jan. 21, no matter the opponent. Luckily for him, the UFC also intended on placing the fighter from Niteroi, Brazil, on that event in Rio de Janeiro. Burns (20-5) was offered and accepted to face off against multiple opponents in the upper echelon of his division, and he finally found someone that would match his “anyone, anywhere, anytime” mentality: Neil Magny. At UFC Fight Night 214 in November, Magny (27-9) broke the promotion’s welterweight record for the most wins with 20, passing Georges St. Pierre.

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“I understand that Neil was not the opponent most Brazilian fans were expecting, but make no mistake, Magny is one of the most experienced guys in the division,” Burns stated. “The ‘king of the cardio’ will be another great challenge to me.”

The lower-ranked Magny, who is unranked on Sherdog and the n…

Top Ultimate Fighting Championship 170-pound contender Gilbert Burns is watching his division very closely.

Burns intended on fighting at UFC 283 in Jan. 21, no matter the opponent. Luckily for him, the UFC also intended on placing the fighter from Niteroi, Brazil, on that event in Rio de Janeiro. Burns (20-5) was offered and accepted to face off against multiple opponents in the upper echelon of his division, and he finally found someone that would match his “anyone, anywhere, anytime” mentality: Neil Magny. At UFC Fight Night 214 in November, Magny (27-9) broke the promotion’s welterweight record for the most wins with 20, passing Georges St. Pierre.

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“I understand that Neil was not the opponent most Brazilian fans were expecting, but make no mistake, Magny is one of the most experienced guys in the division,” Burns stated. “The ‘king of the cardio’ will be another great challenge to me.”

The lower-ranked Magny, who is unranked on Sherdog and the n…

Ultimate Fighting Championship contenders Tecia Torres and Raquel Pennington wanted to make this year’s Thanksgiving one to remember.

On Thursday, the two simultaneously announced on their Instagram pages that Torres (13-6) was pregnant, and that the baby is due June 2023. According to a statement made to MMA Junkie shortly after the announcement, Torres plans to continue fighting, with her return slated sometime in 2024.

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“We have a little extra to be thankful for this year,” Torres wrote. “Happy Thanksgiving from our growing family to yours. Baby Pennington coming June 2023. We are beyond excited and feel incredibly blessed. Mommies love you so much sweet baby and we can’t wait for this life with you.”

Pennington stated, “We have an extra turkey in the oven this year. Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours. Baby Pennington June 2023.”

Although they joked about it all the way back in 2016 in a series of since-deleted social media pos…

⚖️ Main Event is official. @KaylaH weighs in at 154.2 lbs for her Women Lightweight World Title Bout#PFLWorldChampionship pic.twitter.com/qkaugGmG7K

— PFL (@PFLMMA) November 24, 2022 The Professional Fighters League's debut pay-per-view is set as all fighters made weight for the 2022 PFL Championships.

The card features six championship bouts that will serve as the conclusion of the 2022 season. However, a familiar face is in the main event as Kayla Harrison will look to win her third women's lightweight title in the promotion as she once again faces Larissa Pacheco. Other title fights include Brendan Loughnane going up against collegiate wrestling standout Bubba Jenkins at featherweight, Ante Delija vs. Matheus Scheffel at heavyweight, Steven Ray against Olivier Aubin-Mercier at lightweight, Dilano Taylor clashing with Sadibou Sy at welterweight and Omari Akhmedov taking on Rob Wilkinson at light heavyweight.

While Pacheco sports an im…

Glover Teixeira had an opportunity to fight for the light heavyweight title at UFC 282 even after Jiri Prochazka exited the card, but the Brazilian veteran ultimately declined the alternative option.

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Prochazka vacated the 205-pound belt after suffering a serious shoulder injury that could sideline him for up to a year. Teixeira revealed in an interview with ESPN that the UFC offered him a matchup against Magomed Ankalaev in place of the rematch with Prochazka. The 43-year-old opted against the fight because he felt like it was too short of notice to prepare for a completely different opponent.

"I told them I needed more time for this guy, that he has a different style," Teixeira said. "The guy is a southpaw. I said, 'What about fighting him in Brazil?' They denied that and said they needed someone to fight in Vegas. I said, 'OK, I'll fight Jan [Blachowicz] in Vegas. If you're going to throw me off, Jan has a regular stance. Ankalaev is a totally …

A severe shoulder injury suffered in training has prompted Jiri Prochazka to exit the UFC 282 headliner and vacate his light heavyweight belt.

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As a result, a 205-pound clash pitting Jan Blachowicz against Magomed Ankalaev has been elevated to the UFC 282 main event on Dec. 10 after Glover Teixeira, Prochazka’s original opponent, declined to accept a title fight against a new adversary. Yahoo Sports was first to report the changes at the top of the UFC 282 card. Blachowicz vs. Ankalaev will be for the vacant 205-pound championship.

According to ESPN, Prochazka’s injury will keep him out of action for up to a year. The former Rizin champion decided to vacate the belt out of respect to the other contenders in the light heavyweight division. Prochazka claimed the crown by rallying for a fifth-round submission of Teixiera in the UFC 275 main event on June 12 — his 13th consecutive victory as a pro.

"It was actually Jiri's decision," Prochazka’s …

Jamahal Hill and Anthony Smith will lock horns in the main event of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s card on March 11.

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MMA Island was first to report the light heavyweight booking, while MMAFighting.com confirmed the date. A location and venue for the event have not been revealed.

Hill has lost just once in UFC competition and is currently riding the momentum of a three-bout finishing streak in the Octagon. Most recently, the former Dana White’s Contender Series competitor defeated former title challenger Thiago Santos via fourth-round TKO in the UFC on ESPN 40 headliner on Aug. 6.

Smith is coming off a second-round TKO loss to Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 277 on July 30. Prior to that, “Lionheart” was on a three-fight winning streak that saw him score successive finishes of Devin Clark, Jimmy Crute and Ryan Spann.

Stream Nov. 25's 2022 PFL World Championship exclusively on ESPN+. Purchase now at https://plus.espn.com/pfl/ppv. While it didn’t surface in their two previous bouts, it’s common knowledge that the great equalizer for Larissa Pacheco in her third meeting with Kayla Harrison is her knockout power.

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Pacheco is currently in the midst of a five-bout winning streak in Professional Fighters League competition, with all of her victories coming via knockout or technical knockout. Harrison disputes the idea that she won’t respond well if Pacheco connects with something significant when they square off for the women’s lightweight title at the PFL Championships on Friday.

“Just because you don’t see me get hit in a fight, doesn’t mean I don’t get hit,” Harrison said at a press conference on Wednesday. “I train hard. I train harder than pretty much anyone I know. I put in the work so that on fight night it looks easy. I get hit. I’m not worried about getting hit. I’…

One of the most highly-anticipated fights at UFC 284 is apparently not yet official.

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While the Las Vegas-based promotion announced a middleweight bout between Paulo Costa and Robert Whittaker for Perth last month, Costa revealed in an interview with AgFight that he has not received a contract from the UFC as of yet. According to Costa, he had a meeting with UFC chief business officer Hunter Campbell about renewing his deal with the organization, but his request for an increase in pay was not met.

“They recognized the current value is wrong and promised to give me feedback,” Costa said.

During the interview, Costa also revealed that his lawyers who are handling the contract told him to consider that possibility that he might not fulfill the last fight on the deal.

"There is one fight left, but the contract can also be finished [over a certain period of time],” he said. “I truly hope we can come to an agreement because I would love to fa…

A flyweight showdown pitting Maycee Barber against Andrea Lee is on tap for an Ultimate Fighting Championship event on March 25.

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MMAFighting.com was first to report the booking. A location and venue for the card have not been confirmed.

After back-to-back losses to Roxanne Modafferi and Alexa Grasso halted her momentum, Barber has righted the ship in recent months. The 24-year-old former Dana White’s Contender Series competitor has rebounded to post successive triumphs over Miranda Maverick, Montana De La Rosa and Jessica Eye to improve her UFC mark to 6-2 overall. Her last appearance was a decision win over Eye at UFC 276 this past July.

Lee, meanwhile, had a two-bout winning streak snapped at UFC on ESPN 36, where she dropped a unanimous decision to Viviane Araujo on May 14. Prior to that, “KGB” went 2-0 in 2021 with finishes of Cynthia Calvillo and Antonina Shevchenko.

Artem Lobov is suing close friend and training partner Conor McGregor regarding a dispute over the sale of McGregor’s Proper No. 12 Whiskey, according to the Irish Independent.

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McGregor, along with partners Audie Attar and Ken Austin, sold their majority share of the whiskey brand for $600 milion in 2021. Lobov is suing for five percent of the revenue from the sale, as he claims he was key in helping develop the brand. Lobov claims McGregor offered him $1 million, but he turned it down.

Lobov’s attorney, Dermot McNamara, released a statement on the matter.

“My client is a retired professional fighter with a master’s degree from DCU in Finance and Capital Markets,” the statement read. “We have issued High Court proceedings on his behalf to enforce an agreement with Mr McGregor regarding the Proper No. Twelve whiskey brand. My client was the initial creator and co-founder of the concept to launch an Irish whiskey brand associated with Mr McGr…