Martial Arts News

Clay Guida will square off against Scott Holtzman in a lightweight bout at a UFC Fight Night event on Dec. 3.

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Holtzman initially announced the pairing on social media and it was later confirmed by MMAjunkie.com. The UFC Fight Night card will reportedly be held in Orlando and also includes a middleweight showdown between Jack Hermansson and Derek Brunson.

Barring injury or cancellation, Guida will make his 60th professional appearance against Holtzman. “The Carpenter” is 2-2 in his last four promotional outings and is coming off a first-round submission loss to Claudio Puelles at UFC Fight Night 205.

Holtzman, meanwhile, is looking to snap a two-bout skid after suffering back-to-back knockout losses at the hands of Beneil Dariush and Mateusz Gamrot. The 38-year-old known as “Hot Sauce” will be competing for the first time in 2022.

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It’s been well over two years since Quinton Jackson last competed in mixed martial arts, but the former UFC light heavyweight champion isn’t quite ready to call it quits just yet.

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In a recent interview with TMZ Sports, “Rampage” confirmed his plans to fight again, expressing interest in both boxing and MMA. Jackson last appeared at Bellator 237, where he suffered a first-round technical knockout loss to Fedor Emelianenko on Dec. 29, 2019. Since then, a boxing match with Shannon Briggs has been rumored but has yet to come to fruition.

“No, man. I ain’t done. I’m not happy with my performance in my last fight. I can’t leave MMA fans like that,” Jackson said. “Yeah, I want to leave this sport a little better.

“I’m in talks with fighting Shannon, finally. That fight has been almost a year in the making. I want to do some boxing before I retire. … I might do MMA, but I want to do boxing. I’m getting up there. I’m 44, man. I’m get…

Vitor Belfort will make another venture into the Sweet Science when he faces Hasim Rahman in a boxing match in Sheffield, England, on Oct. 15.

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The bout was announced during on Saturday during an event that featured YouTube personality KSI. Belfort vs. Rahman Jr. is expected to serve as one half of a double main event for a card entitled DAZN X Series 002, with the other featured bout to be announced at a later date.

Belfort’s first boxing outing occurred when he defeated 58-year-old former champion Evander Holyfield via technical knockout 1:49 into Round 1 of their clash at a Triller Fight Club-promoted event in September 2021. Though initially marketed as Belfort’s professional debut, the fight was counted as an exhibition by the Florida State Boxing Commission. Belfort was previously slated to face Oscar De La Hoya before De La Hoya withdrew after contracting COVID-19. The former UFC champion has a 1-0 mark in professional boxing thanks to a kno…

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A featherweight clash pitting Jarno Errens against William Gomis is a late addition to the UFC Paris bill.

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The Las Vegas-based promotion recently announced the bout. UFC Fight Night 209 takes place on Sept. 3 at Accor Arena in Paris and is headlined by a heavyweight tilt between Ciryl Gane and Tai Tuivasa.

A former title holder in the Germany-based National Fighting Championship promotion, the Netherlands’ Errens enters his Octagon debut with a 13-3-1 career mark. The 27-year-old last competed at Brave CF 61, where he outpointed Allisher Abdulloev on Aug. 6.

Gomis, a native of Paris, will bring an eight-bout winning streak into his first UFC appearance. The 25-year-old MMA Factory representative is coming off a third-round TKO victory against Jose Marcos Lima Santiago Jr. at Ares FC 7 on June 25.

Kevin Holland will lock horns with Daniel Rodriguez in a late addition to the UFC 279 lineup.

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Holland initially announced the pairing, and multiple outlets have since confirmed the booking. UFC 279 takes place on Sept. 10 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and is headlined by a welterweight showdown between Khamzat Chimaev and Nate Diaz. Holland vs. Rodriguez will reportedly be contested at a 180-pound catchweight.

Holland has enjoyed success since moving to welterweight in 2022, posting back-to-back finishes of Alex Oliveira and Tim Means in his first two appearances in the weight class. “Trailblazer” is 10-4 with one no contest during his tenure with the Las Vegas-based promotion.

Rodriguez has been victorious in six of his first seven promotional outings. “D-Rod” is coming off a 3-0 campaign in 2021 in which he earned decision wins over Kevin Lee and Mike Perry while defeating Preston Parsons via TKO.

Fight Club Rush ventured from Vasteras for its debut in Stockholm, and the event featured plenty of firepower.

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In the FCR 13 main event, rising star Bernardo Sopai stopped Karlen Minasian with a head kick to capture the promotion’s bantamweight strap, which was recently vacated by Felipe Lima. Sopai took the fight to the ground early, and outside of a couple surprising hip tosses from Minasian in the clinch, the Albanian controlled the first frame.

It was a tentative second round until Sopai turned up the pace with punches and landed a lightning fast right hand that the Ukrainian acknowledged. The Allstars Training Center fighter moved forward and launched a powerful right head kick that sent the Orebro Fight Gym product crumbling to the ground, where the referee immediately stepped in to call an end to the bout at 59 seconds of Round 2.

“I was patient, I know he was hurt.” said Sopai about the finishing sequence. “I just followed my gam…

Rumors of the demise of Ultimate Fighting Championship great Jose Aldo are greatly exaggerated.

At UFC 278, former champ Aldo collided with surging contender Merab Dvalishvili, and he fell short by decision. In his victorious tour around media outlets, Dvalishvili declared on “The MMA Hour” that Aldo told him, right after their fight, that he would retire. Aldo himself has yet to respond to clarify or otherwise discuss Dvalishvili’s statement. On Friday, Sherdog spoke to Aldo’s head coach Andre Pederneiras, who guaranteed the former featherweight champion is not done yet.

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“No way,” Pederneiras exclaimed. “It’s not uncommon that high-level fighters say they are done after a loss, once I had many high-level fighters last 30 years, I can’t tell you how many times I´ve heard that after a loss. The fact is that, unlike many other top champions that finished their career only losing, being out of the rankings, we can see that Aldo continues performing at th…

AND NEW! 👑 @MightyMouse 🇺🇸 wins the ONE Flyweight World Title with a walk-off KO of Adriano Moraes!@PrimeVideo #ONEonPrimeVideo1 #ONEChampionship pic.twitter.com/A3G9dlesyw

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) August 27, 2022 Demetrious Johnson remains quite mighty.

The 36-year-old AMC Pankration cornerstone took the undisputed One Championship flyweight title by force, as he struck down Adriano Moraes with a straight right hand and follow-up flying knee in the fourth round of their ONE on Prime Video 1 headliner on Friday at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore. Johnson (31-4-1, 4-1 ONE) drew the curtain 3:50 into Round 4.

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Moraes (20-4, 11-4 ONE) frustrated “Mighty Mouse” on the ground for much of the first two rounds but did not escape unscathed. Johnson stayed active from the bottom and hacked open a gnarly cut above the Brazilian’s right eyebrow with a sneaky elbow strike. Momentum shifted noticeably in…

Sherdog's live ONE on Prime Video 1 “Moraes vs. Johnson 2” coverage kicks off Friday at 8 p.m. ET.

Check out the MMA Forums to discuss the card or enter your comments and predictions below.

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Round 1 With no other major events on the horizon this weekend, the attention of MMA fans around the world turns to One Championship’s first endeavor on the Amazon Prime platform. Before the Amazon main card, a tetralogy of prelims comes on the organization’s YouTube channel – or wherever your prelims are found depending on your country of origin. This first match is a de facto 189-pound catchweight affair under MMA rules, as Kadestam (13-7, 5-4 ONE) prepares for his 10th One match. The Swede will take on submission specialist Lapicus (14-1, 1 NC; 2-1, 1 NC ONE), who has not set foot in a cage since encountering Eddie Alvarez nearly a year ago. The first assignment of the night goes to referee Herb Dean, who steps back as the two competitors touch gloves to seal …

Christian Lee exacts REVENGE on Ok Rae Yoon to reclaim the ONE Lightweight World Title! 👑 @ChristianLeeMMA #ONE160 #ONEChampionship

Watch live on ONE YouTube 👉 https://t.co/BiFG3Yw0fA🌍 Watch live on PPV 👉 https://t.co/8MeKhRMtjy pic.twitter.com/UiD8ZU4PZC

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) August 26, 2022 Christian Lee left no doubt as to who is the top One Championship lightweight this time around.

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In the One 160 headliner, Lee (16-4, 16-4 One) collided with Rae Yoon Ok with the lightweight (170 pounds) championship on the line once again. Unlike their first encounter, their clash didn’t go beyond the second frame. “The Warrior” immediately pressed on the accelerator and attacked his foe with all sorts of punches and kicks, and very nearly put Ok away in the first five minutes. As soon as Ok (16-4, 3-1 One) started to fire back, Lee dropped him twice in a row. Ok survived to the bell, but it marked the beginning of…

A matchup between Dana White’s Contender Series alums is set for UFC Fight Night on Dec. 17, as Tafon Nchukwi will lock horns with Jamal Pogues in a light heavyweight bout.

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The pairing was announced during the Contender Series broadcast on Tuesday night. The event does not yet have a headliner or location.

Nchukwi, who competed on the Contender Series in 2020, is 2-3 in the Octagon, with victories over Jamie Pickett and Mike Rodriguez to his credit. The 27-year-old Cameroon native has suffered back-to-back KO/TKO defeat at the hands of Carlos Ulberg and Azamat Murzakanov in his last two UFC appearances.

Pogues, meanwhile, earned a UFC deal thanks to a three-round verdict over Paulo Renato Jr. on the Contender Series on Aug. 9 — his second victory on the show. “The Stormtrooper” has won five of his last six professional outings and owns a 9-3 career mark.

A lightweight clash pitting Marc Diakiese against Michael Johnson is on tap for on Ultimate Fighting Championship card on Dec. 3.

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Both fighters confirmed the pairing via social media following an initial report from Al Zullino. The card doesn’t yet have a location or venue but is expected to include a showdown between ranked middleweights Derek Brunson and Jack Hermansson.

Diakiese is 2-0 thus far in 2022 after earning back-to-back unanimous verdicts against Viacheslav Borshchev and Damir Hadzovic. “Bonecrusher” has been up and down in compiling a 7-5 mark during his tenure in the Las Vegas-based promotion after beginning his pro career with 12 straight triumphs.

The 36-year-old Johnson has been victorious just once in his last six Octagon appearances — a second-round KO of Alan Patrick at UFC on ESPN 36 on May 14. Most recenty, “The Menace” dropped a split decision against Jamie Mullarkey at UFC on ESPN 39 on July 9.