Martial Arts News

Raquel Pennington is dealing with a new challenge headed into her UFC 307 title fight against Julianna Pena.

Pennington (16-8) will defend her women’s bantamweight title against Pena (11-5) in the UFC 307 co-main event on Oct. 5 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. When “Rocky” won the vacant title against Mayra Bueno Silva at UFC 297 in January, her wife Tecia Pennington (13-7) was taking care of their daughter Alayah Rose during fight camp. When Tecia subsequently dropped a split decision against Tabatha Ricci in May, “Rocky” was there to return the favor.

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However, the partners will be sharing the UFC 307 card, with Tecia taking on former champ Carla Esparza (19-7) in the early prelims. With both of them being in camp, the Penningtons have had to deal with the challenge of taking care of their daughter, who is barely over a year old. However, “Rocky” is grateful for the support system around her which has made the camp smooth.

“The new cha…

Julianna Pena wants to defend her title against Amanda Nunes if she dethrones Raquel Pennington at UFC 307.

Pena (11-5) will challenge Pennington (16-8) for the women’s bantamweight title in the UFC 307 co-main event on Oct. 5 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. The same card also features a potential title eliminator between Ketlen Vieira (14-3) and Kayla Harrison (17-1). Pena claims to know that the winner of Vieira vs. Harrison has been promised the next title shot against the winner of her clash against Pennington.

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“I don’t think, I know. I know for a fact that they told whoever is going to be the winner of that fight will face me for the belt,” Pena told MMA Junkie. “And that will be my title defense. So yes, that’s exactly what’s happening.”

Vieira is 1-3 in her last four, having only dropped a razor-thin split decision against Pennington in January 2023. Meanwhile, former Professional Fighters League champ and two-time Olympic gold …

[embedded content] After a week off, the Ultimate Fighting Championship travels to France for UFC Fight Night 243.

The main event is an intriguing battle between Renato Carneiro and Benoit St. Denis. Both lightweight contenders made weight, as did everyone else on the card except for Ailin Perez. The would-be bantamweight appeared in poor condition on the scales, shaking and shivering as she missed weight by half a pound for her fight against Darya Zheleznyakova. As a result, she'll be fined 20%% of her purse, but the bout will otherwise proceed as scheduled.

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Carneiro (19-5-1) has been on a hot streak. "Money Moicano" has won his last three fights inside the Octagon, including key wins over Jalin Turner and Drew Dober. The 35-year-old is on potentially his last run to the top and needs a win to keep his title hopes alive. The Brazilian officially weighed 156 pounds on the dot.

St. Denis (13-2, 1 NC) is coming off a stunning knockout defeat to Dust…

[embedded content] The Professional Fighters League heads to Scotland for its third PFL Europe event of the year.

Topping the PFL Europe 3 card is a welterweight main event between Steven Ray and Lewis Long. Both men made weight, as did all of the other fighters on the card. The event features eight playoff fights in the bantamweight, lightweight, welterweight and women's flyweight divisions.

Scotland's Ray (25-13) enters the main event looking to break a three-fight losing streak. After two wins over Anthony Pettis, "Braveheart" has come up short against Olivier Aubin-Mercier, Natan Schulte and Clay Collard. Meanwhile, Long (20-7) is 3-1 in his last four outings. "The Foot" most recently submitted Ashley Griffiths with a rear-naked choke.

PFL Europe 3 will air live on Dazn at noon ET/9 a.m. PT on Saturday.

PFL Europe 3 Weigh-in Results: Steven Ray (170.4) vs. Lewis Long (170.6)Robert Whiteford (150) vs. Roger Huerta (149.4)Dean Garnett (136) vs. Lewis McGri…

𝙈𝘼𝙄𝙉 𝙀𝙑𝙀𝙉𝙏! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Stevie Ray and Lewis Long go face to face outside the OVO Hydro ahead of Saturday night’s welterweight main event!

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Presented by @unibet

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 #PFLGlasgow📅 Saturday 28th September🏟️ OVO Hydro📍 Glasgow, Scotland🎟️ On Sale NOW!… pic.twitter.com/yBtsivcW4N

— PFL Europe (@PFLEurope) September 25, 2024 As the matchmaker of Professional Fighters League’s Europe series, former fighter Dan Hardy feels a tremendous sense of pride when scouting a diamond in the rough. Dan Hardy has been instrumental to the growth of the PFL, especially in the European market. As PFL Europe shipped 2023 champions Jakob Nedoh and Dakota Ditcheva to the PFL global season in 2024, matchmaker–and commentator—Hardy has established a revolving door of rising talents on the Europe roster. Ahead of PFL Glasgow, Hardy spoke with Sherdog about what to expect in the semifinals and how he views his role with the organization…

Grizzled veteran Roger Huerta has seen it all in his many years of fighting.

The 41-year-old Huerta, who has competed for a number of major organizations over the years, is returning to the sport after over three years away. “El Matador” will be making his Professional Fighters League debut at PFL Glasgow on Saturday, competing lighter than he ever has in his lengthy career.

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The first MMA fighter to ever grace the cover of “Sports Illustrated,” Huerta is well aware that his athletic prime is well behind him. Having lost four in a row—a career-tying losing streak—he introduces himself to PFL with plenty of pressure on him. After dropping four straight under the Bellator MMA banner, Huerta hopes that this shift in organization will give him a new lease on life. The longtime vet sees this newly merged company of Bellator and PFL as a new opportunity not just for himself but for other athletes in the sport. Huerta spoke to media about his newfound intere…

For the first time in their professional careers, siblings Daniele Scatizzi and Valentina Scatizzi will compete on the same card together.

Coming into PFL Glasgow, both Daniele (13-7) and sister Valentina (3-2) share the underdog label as they are taking on tough foes with no losses between them. Daniele is currently a +425 dog against unbeaten 2023 PFL Europe lightweight champ Jakub Kaszuba (12-0), while Valentina (+550) will face undefeated Shanelle Dyer (5-0).

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Daniele, a Bellator MMA regular, came over to the PFL ranks after an unsuccessful outing at against Dmytrii Hrytsenko at Bellator 291 in 2023. Following the merger of Bellator and PFL, the Italian was slotted into the PFL Europe’s lightweight bracket. Daniele introduced himself to PFL brass by landing a heel hook on the heavily favored Aleksandrs Chizovs to reach the semifinals.

Valentina made her way to PFL a year earlier than her brother, reaching the semifinals of the inaugural PFL Euro…

New date, same mission 😤@MovsarUFC vs @FunkmasterMMA has been rescheduled to take place at #UFC310 👊 pic.twitter.com/aWYCPfPdt8

— UFC (@ufc) September 27, 2024 A potential title eliminator-turned-grudge match for the Ultimate Fighting Championship will go on a few months later than expected.

For the UFC 307 card in Salt Lake City on Oct. 5, the UFC had matched Movsar Evloev (18-0) against Aljamain Sterling (24-4) together for a possible no. 1 contender contest at 145 pounds. Sterling suffered an injury in September that forced him out of the contest, and the promotion opted not to slot in a late replacement. Instead, about two months later, the two will collide. The UFC released the news on Friday that Evloev and Sterling will handle their business at UFC 310, which will go down at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Dec. 7.

In this rescheduled top-tier grappling-centric tilt, Evloev will put his unbeaten record on the line, as he is cu…

Fresh out of a short-lived retirement, Steven Ray is firmly a member of team Professional Fighters League.

Ray (25-13) will be back in action on Saturday in the main event of PFL Glasgow, competing on home soil for the first time since 2017. Ray will come to blows with Lewis Long (20-7) on Sept. 28 at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland. Speaking to the media on Thursday, he discussed the happiness he feels as part of the PFL roster as well as what he has learned about himself after returning from injury and two retirements.

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“I’ve realized that I have a lot of discipline, I’ve noticed a big difference between me and some other fighters,” Ray remarked. “I might be being biased or big-headed, but I truly believe that if some people had to deal with some of the s--t that I’ve had to deal with over the last 15 years, mentally, physically, [they would not fare well].”

The 11-fight Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran saw his expulsion from the roster d…

Professional Fighters League prospect Shanelle Dyer is following the wisdom of Fleetwood Mac: “Go your own way.”

Entering the 2024 PFL Europe semifinals, Shanelle Dyer (5-0) is aiming to establish herself as a new star, independent of fellow undefeated British talent Dakota Ditcheva. In 2023, Ditcheva ran through her flyweight bracket at PFL Europe, and Dyer plans to do the same. She faces Valentina Scatizzi (3-2) at the PFL Europe 3 Playoffs on Sept. 28 in her home country of the United Kingdom, and bettors have installed her as a massive favorite.

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Dyer, a muay thai practitioner who made the transition into MMA and turned pro in 2023, has already competed twice under the PFL banner. Her first appearance came in a non-tourney tilt against Luisa Fernanda Cifuentes, and her performance earned an invitation to the 2024 PFL Europe bracket. Speaking to the media before facing Scatizzi, Dyer was well aware of the comparison to Ditcheva. Paying respect to th…

The Ultimate Fighting Championship is putting together about as classic of a “striker vs. grappler” matchup as it gets.

Per MMA Fighting on Thursday, the promotion has set a welterweight collision of Michael Chiesa (17-7) vs. Max Griffin (20-10) for UFC 310. The two 170ers with drastically different styles will come to blows on Dec. 7 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Griffin has since confirmed the pairing on Instagram.

Chiesa bounced back from a career-long losing streak by tapping out Tony Ferguson in August. The victory snapped a skid that began in 2021, marking his first win since January of that year. In his rough patch, Chiesa succumbed to a brabo choke from Vicente Luque and fell short on the scorecards to Sean Brady. These back-to-back setbacks led to some time off for the Washington native. After about 20 months off, Chiesa returned, and Kevin Holland ended up tapping him with a brabo choke to set a record for the most losses via this submission in compan…

[embedded content] Unbeaten Polish standout Jakub Kaszuba is exactly where he wants to be right now.

Kaszuba (12-0), who won the 2023 lightweight season of Professional Fighters League Europe, is content in his training in Florida. Rather than moving to the global season of the tournament-based league, he returned to PFL Europe for the 2024 season, in hopes of snagging another $100,000 check. His campaign has gone well thus far, picking up a decision victory over Kane Mousah in March. The 29-year-old will stand across from the cage with Daniele Scatizzi in the semifinals in Glasgow, Scotland, on Sept. 28.

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Starting his career at 12-0, he knows that he is just now entering his prime as an athlete, so he focuses on his daily training. Using his circle of coaches that includes his wife, Kaszuba absorbs everything he is taught like a sponge. Speaking to Sherdog.com ahead of his semifinal pairing, Kaszuba discussed the patience in which he’s used in his car…