Martial Arts News

Stream Nov. 25's 2022 PFL World Championship exclusively on ESPN+. Purchase now at https://plus.espn.com/pfl/ppv.

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The PFL Challenger Series will be back for a second run early next year.

The show, which gives fighters a chance to earn a Professional Fighters League contract, will begin its second season on Jan. 27. The eight-episode competition will air on Friday nights through March 17 on FuboTV. A judging panel of combat sports champions and celebrities determines each week who receives a PFL deal.

The PFL Challenger Series debuted on Feb. 18 and ran through April 25. Perhaps the most notable fighter to appear on the first iteration of the Challenger Series was welterweight Dilano Taylor, who was not awarded a contract after his victory but will be facing Sadibou Sy for the 170-pound championship on Friday night. Other noteworthy PFL Challenger Series competitors from Season 1 include Joshua Silveira, Jarrah Al-Silawi, Carlos Leal Miranda, Mart…

A bantamweight clash between Umar Nurmagomedov and Raoni Barcelos has been booked for a UFC Fight Night event on Jan. 14.

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ESPN first brought word of the booking. UFC Fight Night is expected to take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a middleweight duel between Kelvin Gastelum and Nassourdine Imavov.

The 26-year-old cousin of former UFC lightweight king Khabib Nurmagomedov is undefeated in 15 professional bouts. He’s been victorious in his first three Octagon appearances, posting submission triumphs against Sergey Morozov and Brian Kelleher before outpointing Nathan Maness in his last outing at UFC on ESPN 38.

Barcelos snapped a two-bout skid in his last bout, as he garnered a unanimous decision triumph over Trevin Jones at UFC Fight Night 211. The former Resurrection Fighting Allliance champion is 6-2 in UFC competition and 17-3 as a professional overall.

A welterweight tilt pitting Gilbert Burns against Neil Magny is in the works for UFC 283.

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Multiple outlets confirmed the targeted bout following an initial report from promotion broadcast partner ESPN. The booking is expected to be finalized shortly. UFC 283 takes place on Jan. 21 at Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro and features a flyweight championship matchup between Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno.

Burns’ lone appearance of 2022 came at UFC 273, where he dropped a unanimous decision to Khamzat Chimaev in a memorable fight. “Durinho” previously rode the momentum of a six-bout winning streak to a welterweight title shot, but he suffered a third-round TKO loss to then-champ Kamaru Usman at UFC 258 in February 2021.

Magny, who owns the most victories in UFC welterweight history with 20, has won three of his last four fights within the Las Vegas-based promotion. The 35-year-old Elevation Fight Team member is coming off a third-round sub…

An undisclosed injury has forced Derek Brunson to withdraw from a proposed middleweight clash against Jack Hermansson at UFC on ESPN 42.

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As a result, Roman Dolidze will step in against Hermansson on the Dec. 3 card. ESPN was first to report the new booking. UFC on ESPN 42 takes place at the Amway Center in Orlando, Fla., and is headlined by a welterweight showdown between Stephen Thompson and Kevin Holland.

Dolidze has won five of his first six Octagon apppearances, with his lone defeat coming against Trevin Giles at UFC on ESPN 21 in March 2021. Most recently, the Xtreme Couture representative defeated Phil Hawes via first-round KO at UFC Fight Night 213 on Oct. 29.

Hermansson, meanwhile, has won two of his last three promotional outings. “The Joker” last competed at UFC Fight Night 208, where he took a three-round verdict over Chris Curtis on July 23.

Cristiane Justino will continue her foray into the Sweet Science with a matchup against fellow Bellator MMA veteran Gabrielle Holloway on Dec. 10.

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The four-round lightweight (154-pound) bout was announced by promotion BLK Prime on Tuesday. “Cyborg” vs. Holloway will take place on the undercard of Terence Crawford vs. David Avanesyan in Omaha, Neb.

Justino was victorious in her first boxing match on Sept. 26, when she captured a unanimous decision against Simone Silva at Fight Music 2 in Curitiba, Brazil. The contest has not been recognized as a professional fight due to the fact that Silva was still serving a 60-day medical suspension from a knockout loss suffered a little more than one month prior.

Bellator’s reigning female featherweight champion, “Cyborg” has not competed in the cage since April, when she took a five-round verdict over Arlene Blencowe in the Bellator 279 headliner. The 37-year-old Brazilian has won six straight bouts in M…

Cain Velasquez has been given an additional measure of freedom as he awaits trial for attempted murder.

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According to MMAjunkie.com, the former UFC heavyweight champion, who was released from a holding facility on $1 million bail earlier this month, was given permission by a Santa Clara County (Calif.) judge to travel to Tempe, Ariz., to participate in a Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide professional wrestling event.

During a hearing, Judge Arthur Bocanegra ruled that Velasquez can take part in the event without GPS monitoring. Velasquez will leave on Dec. 1 and return on Dec. 4 and must cover the cost of hiring a police officer to make the trip with him.

The Lucha Libre AAA event is expected to take place on Dec. 3 at Mullett Arena in Tempe, Ariz. Velasquez wrestled for Arizona State University in college and has previously competed for the promotion in two separate stints following the end of his MMA career.

Velasquez has pleaded not guilty …

Drew Dober will square off against Bobby Green in a lightweight bout at UFC Fight Night 216 on Dec. 17.

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The pairing was initially revealed on the event page of promotion broadcast partner ESPN. UFC Fight Night 216 takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a middleweight duel pitting Jared Cannonier against Sean Strickland.

Dober has been victorious in five of his last seven Octagon appearances dating back to June 2019. Perhaps even more impressively, all five of those triumphs have come by way of knockout or technical knockout. In his last outing, the Elevation Fight Team member dispatched Rafael Alves with a punch to the body in the third round of their UFC 277 encounter.

Green, meanwhile, recently completed a six-month USADA suspension after t testing positive for an anabolic steroid in an out-of-competition sample this past May. Prior that that, Green had a two-bout winning streak snapped in a first-round TKO defeat ag…

Yaroslav Amosov will return to action to face Logan Storley in a welterweight title unification bout in the main event of Bellator 291.

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Promotion officials announced the rematch in a release on Tuesday. Additionally, it was revealed that the event has been moved from Friday, Feb. 24 to Saturday, Feb. 25. Amosov defeated Storley via split decision in their first meeting at Bellator 252 in November 2020.

Bellator 291 takes place at 3Arena in Dublin and will air on Showtime in the United States at 4 p.m.ET/1 p.m. PT. Pedro Carvalho will face Jeremy Kennedy in the featherweight co-main event, while a women’s 145-pound clash pitting Sinead Kavanagh against Janay Harding is also slated for the main card.

Amosov claimed welterweight gold with a five-round verdict over Douglas Lima at Bellator 260 in June 2021 to improve his professional mark to 26-0. The 29-year-old Ukraine native has been on hiatus from Bellator to help defend his home country fro…

Vadim Nemkov didn’t get too much time to savor his light heavyweight grand prix victory over Corey Anderson at Bellator 288.

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After all, it had already been announced that Yoel Romero would be next in line to challenge for light heavyweight gold prior to Bellator 288 this past weekend. Nemkov vs. Romero will serve as the co-main event for Bellator 290 on Feb. 4.

“I didn’t know it was gonna be such a quick turnaround,” Nemkov admitted through a translator at the Bellator 288 post-fight press conference. “That’s what it is, so I’m gonna get home, spend a little time with my family, heal up a little bit and start getting ready.”

The 45-year-old Romero was already in the UFC by the time Nemkov made his professional debut. “The Soldier of God” twice challenged for middleweight gold in the Octagon before parting ways with the Las Vegas-based promotion to sign with Bellator MMA. After falling to Phil Davis in his promotional debut, Romero has rebound…

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Stream Nov. 25's 2022 PFL World Championship exclusively on ESPN+. Purchase now at https://plus.espn.com/pfl/ppv.

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After being knocked out by Ante Delija in his first bout of the PFL 2022 regular season, Matheus Scheffel was considered the biggest underdog in the quarterfinals against former heavyweight champion and fellow Brazilian Bruno Cappelozza.

But Curitiba native shocked the world, defeating Cappelozza via unanimous decision in the quarterfinal before knocking out UFC veteran Juan Adams in the semifinals. On Friday, some seven months after being knocked out by Delija, Scheffel will get a chance to avenge that defeat and win a $1 million prize in the PFL Championship at Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.

“This will be the first time in my career that I had the opportunity to dedicate myself 100% to my camp,” Scheffel told Sherdog.com. “As a personal trainer I always needed to share my time between …

Sean O'Malley might not be the next person to fight for the UFC bantamweight title, but he expects that championship gold will be on the line when he makes his Octagon return.

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“I think in talks, Henry [Cejudo] coming back is what everyone’s waiting for,” O’Malley recently told ESPN. “If I had to guess [what’s next], Henry vs. [Aljamain Sterling]. If you’re the champ you should be fighting consistently. You just had a somewhat easy fight against T.J. The people want to see the champ fight. I think Henry vs. Aljo in March makes sense if Henry really is serious about coming back, and then I’d like to fight the winner of that. It’s hard to say exactly what’s going to happen next, but I’m waiting to see where that goes.”

O’Malley is coming off the biggest win of his career to date, a split-decision victory against former bantamweight king Petr Yan at UFC 280. Shortly after that victory, “Suga” met with UFC president Dana White and matchmaker Sean Shelby…

A middleweight clash pitting Dalton Rosta against Anthony Adams has been added to the Bellator 289 main draw.

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Promotion officials announced the pairing on Monday. Bellator 289 takes place at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., on Dec. 9 and is headlined by a bantamweight grand prix semifinal between interim champion Raufeon Stots and Danny Sabatello. Other featured bouts include a women’s flyweight title rematch between Liz Carmouche and Juliana Velasquez and a bantamweight grand prix semifinal between Patrick Mix and Magomed Magomedov. The main card airs on Showtime at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.

Rosta is undefeated in seven professional appearances, with all of his triumphs coming under the Bellator banner. Most recently, the 27-year-old American Top Team representative scored a third-round technical knockout victory against Romero Cotton at Bellator 283 on July 22.

A two-time competitor on Dana White’s Contender Series, Adams is coming off a…