Martial Arts News

Rafael dos Anjos is eager to return to the Octagon on the heels of his second-round submission win over Bryan Barberena in a welterweight bout at UFC on ESPN 42 this past December.

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Sometimes finding a fight is easier said than done.

"My goal was to return in March or April, but it's not easy to find opponents,” dos Anjos told Sherdog.com. “The UFC offered some guys I already fought and some others that I had to look on Google to find out who they were.”

The former lightweight champion is interested in fights against the likes of Dustin Poirier and Tony Ferguson, but when it comes to the welterweight division, many of the top names are already booked.

"I also suggested [Stephen] Thompson, but it looks like he wants to fight strikers, and I did a lot of grappling against Barbarena,” dos Anjos said. “Since Colby [Covington] must face Belal [Muhammad], [Jorge] Masvidal is paired with [Gilbert Burns] and [Kevin] Holland with [Santiago] P…

While it may seem like the UFC 284 main event hasn’t received the attention it deserves, Dana White says that simply isn’t the case.

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The event features a showdown for the lightweight belt between two of the sport’s top pound-for-pound fighters in Islam Makhachev and Alexander Volkanovski. In a recent interview with RSports Russia, Makhachev voiced concerns that more promotion for the pay-per-view could have been done.

“I see that it is not such big promotion,” Makhachev said. “Dana White himself has some problems. He does not pay much attention to this fight. Here in Perth, everyone knows about the fight and is looking forward to it. And in terms of pay-per-view, yes, more could have been done. I only saw Volkanovski once, in Sydney. A tour could be organized around the world. A [news] conference could be held in America.”

In many cases, the week-to-week grind of the MMA schedule limits the focus on any one event. However, White claims that M…

Bellator MMA’s debut on CBS averaged 1.068 million viewers on Saturday night, according to ShowBuzz Daily.

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The Bellator 290 broadcast lasted a little more than two hours and concluded with Fedor Emelianenko’s farewell bout against heavyweight champion Ryan Bader in the evening’s main event. Bader won the fight via first-round technical knockout. The card also saw Johnny Eblen retain his middleweight belt with a five-round verdict over Anatoly Tokov in the co-headliner, while Brennan Ward scored a second-round TKO against Sabah Homasi in the opening bout.

The event drew a 0.18 rating in the 18-to-49-year-old demographic. By comparison, that was better than college basketball on Fox, which drew 567,000 viewers and a 0.10 rating in the 18-to-49 demographic. However, it fell short of the Golden State-Dallas NBA game on ABC, which averaged 2.36 million viewers and drew a 0.57 share in the 18-to-49 demographic.

Television ratings have dipped from …

Like Khabib Nurmagomedov before him, Islam Makhachev has made his name in the UFC through his wrestling and grappling.

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The recently crowned lighweight champion wants to change that perception in his showdown with reigning featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski in the UFC 284 main event.

“Honestly, I want to knock him out, because everybody says [that] Islam a grappler or wrestler, but I want to show people my striking,” Makhachev told ESPN Deportes. “He is a short guy, and I really believe I can knock him out.”

Conversely, Volkanovski, who is in the midst of a 22-fight winning streak, is confident than he matches up well with his opponent in the wrestling department. According to Makhachev, the size differential will be a rude awakening for the City Kickboxing representative.

“This is not his area,” Makhachev said. “I’m from other division. This is not the same power. It’s not the same, and he’s going to understand this, but he wants to t…

The @UFC will open a new Performance Institute in Mexico to develop and support MMA athletes from Latin America.

Get all the details here ⤵️

— UFC News (@UFCNews) February 7, 2023

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The Ultimate Fighting Championship is set to open a third Performance Institute in Mexico City in the fourth quarter of 2023.

The Las Vegas-based promotion announced the news on Tuesday. The 32,000 square foot facility will help to develop fighters from Mexico and other Latin American countries. The UFC currently has Performance Institutes in Las Vegas and Shangai. The Las Vegas version opened in 2017 and is primarily used by current UFC athletes for training, while the Chinese facility opened in 2019 and serves as a developmental hub for athletes in the region.

The UFC Performance Institute Mexico will be more like the latter, “aiming to rapidly accelerate the skill level and UFC-readiness of mixed martial artists in the region.” A full…

Former interim lightweight title challenger Kevin Lee is coming back to the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

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“The Motown Phenom” revealed to ESPN that he has signed an exclusive deal with the Las Vegas-based promotion and expects to return to the Octagon sometime in the spring.

"I met with [president] Dana White and [chief business officer] Hunter Campbell, and I feel like I'm going back home," Lee told ESPN in a statement. "I'm grateful for them welcoming me back and looking forward to the next chapter of my career.”

Lee was released from the UFC in 2021 after losing five of his last seven promotional appearances. He has fought once since then, taking a unanimous decision triumph against Diego Sanchez at Eagle FC 46 in March 2022.

Prior to that slump, Lee was regarded as a rising star after winning nine of his first 11 UFC bouts. That culminated in a showdown against Tony Ferguson for interim 155-pound gold at UFC 216, where Lee lost v…

Among the intriguing fights announced for Jorge Masvidal’s Gamebred Boxing 4 event was a clash between onetime UFC foes Ronaldo Souza and Vitor Belfort.

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Shortly after the card was revealed, Sherdog.com confirmed with both “Jacare” and Belfort that the fight will happen.

"That´s true. I’m giving the rematch to Belfort, but this time in boxing rules,” Souza said. “I’m already training hard, and I’ll reach April 1 ready to get a second win over him.”

Souza defeated Belfort via first-round technical knockout in their UFC 198 clash on May 14, 2016.

“It looks like ‘Jacare’ already accepted, and we are close to signing the contract,” Belfort said. “And I´ll just celebrate when it´s already signed. But I’m really happy. I think it’s gonna be amazing. It´s a rematch, but now under boxing rules.”

Gamebred Boxing 4 takes place at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee on April 1 and is headined by a clash between ex-UFC lightweight champ A…

With four finishes under the UFC banner in 11 months, Jailton Almeida has climbed to No. 14 in the UFC heavyweight rankings.

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His most recent triumph, a second-round TKO of Shamil Abdurakhimov at UFC 283, has him in line to face another ranked foe in his next promotional appearance. Almeida recently took to social media to call out Marcin Tybura, who outpointed Blagoy Ivanov at UFC Fight Night 218 this past Saturday.

“Hey Marcin Tybura, I just saw your victory. Shall we fight [next]? Everyone likes to see two good heavyweight grapplers fighting each other,” Almeida wrote. “We are in close positions in the ranking, I fought two weeks ago, I think it will be a perfect moment to fight in May. [Are you] ready?”

Shortly after his victory at UFC 283, Almeida discussed meeting some of the sports icons.

“Fighting in front of an audience was a unique experience, but what affected me even more a UFC Rio was the chance to meet my heroes ‘Minotauro,’ ‘Sho…

Ryan Bader knows what it takes to transition from 205 pounds to heavyweight.

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The UFC veteran has enjoyed success with the move in Bellator MMA and is coming off his third successful heavyweight title defense, a first-round technical knockout of the retiring Fedor Emelianenko on Saturday night. Bader’s change in weight class didn’t have nearly the fanfare that will accompany Jon Jones’ heavyweight debut, which will occur against Ciryl Gane at UFC 285 on March 4.

Bader, for one, expects Jones to handle the change in weight class quite well. The former Arizona State University All-American was a rising 205-pound prospect when he fell to Jones via second-round submission at UFC 126, a fight that would propel “Bones” to the title in his next Octagon appearance.

“I think he’s gonna do great,” Bader said of Jones’ heavyweight debut at the Bellator 290 post-fight press conference. “He actually hit me up when he was in Arizona to train a little bit. I…

Jorge Masvidal’s upcoming boxing event will feature some of MMA’s biggest names.

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Masvidal announced Monday on "The MMA Hour” that Gamebred Boxing 4 will be headlined by a showdown between Anthony Pettis and Roy Jones Jr. at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee on April 1. Pettis vs. Jones Jr. will be contested over eight rounds.

“I’ve always been a fan of Roy Jones,” Masvidal said. “Always wanted to work with Roy Jones in some capacity. He’s going to be fighting someone that inspired me in my career numerous times. WEC champion, UFC champion, I think both his wins for the UFC title were finishes. This guy has knockouts and finishes at 145, 155, 170, it’s crazy what this guy has done in his career in MMA. Great striker. He agreed to fight the walking, living legend, the pound-for-pound king, one of the best fighters, athletes, I’ve ever seen in combat sports, period, versus Anthony Pettis.”

Pettis will be making his professional boxing debut. The fo…

Doo Ho Choi didn’t officially win his fight on Saturday, but he will be compensated as if he did.

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Choi was on his way to earning his first victory since 2016 before he received a point deduction for an illegal headbutt in the third round of his UFC Fight Night 218 clash with Kyle Nelson.

Chris Tognoni made the ruling after Choi clashed heads with his opponent while in top position. As a result of the foul, the featherweight contest was ruled a majority draw thanks to a pair of 28-28 scorecards. The verdict would have gone Choi’s way without the deduction.

UFC president Dana White did not agree with the call, even though replay was consulted before the decision was made.

“I thought it was insane and it cost him the fight,” White said at the UFC Fight Night 218 post-fight press conference. “I paid him his win money. He won the fight, so I paid him.”

“The Korean Superboy” was making his first Octagon appearance since December 2019. …

Former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman is set to make his first combat sports appearance since suffering a nasty leg break in April 2021.

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Weidman announced via Instagram that he will face Owen Livesey a grappling match at Polaris 23 on March 11. The event takes place at the Doncaster Dome in Doncaster, England, and airs on UFC Fight Pass.

“Back in the game!” Weidman wrote. “To clarify, this is a grappling match, which I see as good preparation for my next fight. I anticipate being ready in late May/June.”

Weidman hasn’t competed since UFC 261, when he was injured after having a kick checked by Uriah Hall just 17 seconds into their bout. Weidman broke his right fibula and tibia and underwent multiple surgeries to have it repaired.

Weidman is just 2-6 in his last eight UFC bouts dating back to December 2015, when he relinquished the middleweight crown to Luke Rockhold in a fourth-round TKO loss at UFC 194. A former NCAA Division …