Martial Arts News

Jessica Correa Delboni will defend her atomweight crown against Jillian DeCoursey in the main event of Invicta FC 49 on Sept. 28.

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The all-female promotion announced the booking on Wednesday. Invicta FC 49 takes place at Sugar Creek Casino in Hinton, Okla., and will also see Kristina Williams square off against Ketlen Souza in the flyweight co-headliner. The card will air on AXS TV and the Invicta FC YouTube channel beginning at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.

Four other bouts were also confirmed for the card: Liz Tracy vs. Valesca Machado at strawweight; Helen Peralta vs. Poliana Botelho at flyweight; Brittney Cloudy vs. Montserrat Rendon at bantamweight and Nadia Vera vs. Shauna Bannon at strawweight.

After losing a controversial split decision to Alesha Zappitella in a title bout at Invicta on AXS TV in May 2021, Delboni took a unanimous verdict over Zappitella to claim atomweight gold in their rematch at Invicta FC 45 this past January. The 28-year-…

All signs indicated Cameron Saaiman could have quite a future ahead of him.

The undefeated Team CIT representative was one of five hopefuls to net Ultimate Fighting Championship contracts during Week 5 of Dana White’s Contender Series, as he punched out Josh Wang Kim in the third round of their bantamweight showcase on Tuesday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The 21-year-old Saaiman (6-0) brought it to an emphatic close 2:52 into Round 3, scoring his fifth stoppage in six professional appearances.

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Kim (5-2) zipped out to a strong start with darting movements, punishing body kicks and effective counters. However, the Alliance MMA rep emerged for the middle stanza a step slower, his output taking a noticeable dip after he executed an early takedown and failed to maintain top control. Saaiman crowded him with pressure, popped him with clean one-twos and threw in a late takedown of his own. The South African prospect rode that momentum into the third round…

Sherdog's live DWCS 2022 Week 5 coverage kicks off Tuesday 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 Gomes, a Parana Vale Tudo product, is on a five-bout winning streak and coming off a win over UFC vet Milana Dudieva under the Invicta FC banner. The Marajo Brothers-trained dos Santos has won four straight — all inside the distance. Mike Beltran gets the call for ref duties on the evening’s first bout. They touch gloves and dos Santos opens things with a leg kick. Gomes responds with one of her own. Dos Santos steps in with a two-punch combination. Gomes lands a jab and then another low kick. Dos Santos partially connects with a kick to the body. Gomes has a high kick blocked. They trade in the pocket and dos Santos tags Gomes with a two-punch combo to the head while exhibiting good head movement. Dos Santos moves in and lands a nice body-head combination. A hard right hand backs…

Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC

Two lightweight matchups have been added to the UFC 281 card, as Dan Hooker will square off against Claudio Puelles, while Renato Carneiro will lock horns with Brad Riddell.

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Promotion broadcast partner ESPN confirmed Hooker vs. Puelles following an initial report from Fordewin MMA. Meanwhile, Carneiro’s management was first to announce the matchup with Riddell.

Hooker has lost four of his last five Octagon appearances. The 32-year-old City Kickboxing representative will return to 155 pounds on the heels of a first-round TKO loss to Arnold Allen at featherweight in his most recent outing at UFC Fight Night 204 on March 19.

Puelles, meanwhile, has been on a roll since falling to Martin Bravo in his promotional debut. The “Prince of Peru” has been victorious in five straight Octagon appearances, including a first-round kneebar of Clay Guida at UFC Fight Night 205 on April 23.

“Moicano…

Askar Mozharov, who gained notoriety for falsifying his record prior to his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut, was temporarily suspended by the Nevada State Athletic Commission for a failed drug test.

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Mozharov was flagged for a metabolic modulator in relation to his first-round technical knockout loss to Alonzo Menifield at UFC Fight Night 207 on June 4. The NSAC on Tuesday ruled to temporarily suspend the light heavyweight fighter until a disciplinary hearing tentatively slated for September. According to a report from MMAjunkie.com, the substance that led to the failed drug screening was GW1516 sulfone. Mozharov currently lives in Dubai but has been in communication with the commission regarding his status.

Mozharov came under scrutiny for attempting to alter his won-loss record on MMA databases through fictional results and deleted defeats. He was successful for a while, as at one point his record stood at 25-7. Eventually, however, those e…

Streaming services are starting to realize the potential of the MMA market.

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Following the success of the film entitled “Mais Forte que o Mundo” (Stronger Than the World), which was shown in theaters all over Brazil and told the story of former UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo, streaming service Paramount Plus has begun filming for a biographical series about Anderson Silva.

Last week, O Globo columnist Patricia Kogut published a photo of actor William Nascimento, who will play Silva, alongside one of the most famous singers and actors in the country, Seu Jorge, who will play Benedito, the uncle of the MMA legend who raised him from an early age. In addition to being one of the most popular singers in the country, Seu Jorge also gained respect as an actor after making “Mané Galinha” one of the most important characters in the acclaimed film Cidade de Deus (City of God) in 2002. After City of God, Jorge did 23 films and was nominated as best acto…

Veteran official Marc Goddard will be the third man in the Octagon when Khamzat Chimaev and Nate Diaz square off in the UFC 279 main event next month.

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Goddard was selected during a Nevada State Athletic Commission meeting on Tuesday. Notable headlining assignments for Goddard this year include Alexander Volkanovski vs. Max Holloway 3 at UFC 276; Jiri Prochazka vs. Glover Teixeira at UFC 275 and Charles Oliveira vs. Justin Gaethje at UFC 274. He will be paid $2,500.

Meanwhile, Derek Cleary, Sal D’Amato and Ron McCarthy will serve as cageside judges for the welterweight bout. Each will earn $2,000 for their work.

Chimaev appears to be on the verge of securing a welterweight title shot with victories in his first five promotional appearances. The Allstars Training Center representative last appeared at UFC 273, where he defeated Gilbert Burns via unanimous decision on April 9.

One of the sport’s most popular fighters, Diaz is entering the …

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Despite losing his welterweight crown in the final minute of the UFC 278 main event, Kamaru Usman seems to be in good spirits.

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“The Nigerian Nightmare” was on his way to convincing unanimous decision win over Leon Edwards this past Saturday when his British opponent knocked him out with a head kick at the 4:04 mark of Round 5 at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City. Usman has nothing but praise for Edwards as he looks back on what transpired.

“It was a great shot, I’m talking Hail Mary in the Super Bowl — last 10 seconds,” Usman told TMZ Sports. “That was a great shot, man.”

While some athletes might refuse to watch what could be viewed as a traumatic moment, Usman has already reviewed the tape of his loss to Edwards multiple times. He is able to take some solace in the fact that he was imposing his will on Edwards prior to the shocking finish.

“I’ve watched the fight three or four times … It’s not hard at all [to watch it],” he s…

Nobody can say UFC middleweight Caio Borralho is not open to learning new techniques.

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After training with Demian Maia, Paulo Costa and Sean Strickland, Borralho is now in Sweden helping Khamzat Chimaev in his camp to fight Nate Diaz in the UFC 279 main event.

"Darren Till put me in contact with BlockAsset, which is an NFT company,” Borralho told Sherdog.com. “They liked my last fight and invited me to make a video series just like they did with Darren and Khamzat. So they invited me to come to Sweden to do the first series of videos and also train with them.”

The Brazilian has won his first two Octagon appearances and is next scheduled to face Makhmud Muradov at UFC 280 on Oct. 22 in Abu Dhabi.

According to Borralho, his initial plan for this camp was to split his preparation between his team in Brazil, Fight Nerds, and Sanford MMA in the United States.

“I was already checking ticket prices to spend some time in Florida when Till…

There’s no question that Merab Dvalishvili is one of the top contenders in the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s bantamweight division.

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However, a grinding victory over Jose Aldo on the UFC 278 main card — his seventh straight at 135 pounds — didn’t do much to raise Dvalishvili’s stock in the eyes of the fans or the promotion. According to UFC president Dana White, the Serra-Longo Fight Team export didn’t make the most of his opportunity on Saturday night.

“First of all, I love Jose. I don’t want to s—t on Jose. But Jose had zero offense tonight. And Merab didn’t go after it like a guy that looks like he wants to fight for the title,” White said at the UFC 278 post-event press conference. “And when asked the question about his friend holding the title and what did he want to do, he never really answered the question.

“I always say this: We’re the bells and whistles guys. We lay it out there for him, we give him the opportunity to shine, and it’s…

There was a little bit of drama at weigh-ins for Dana White’s Contender Series on Monday, but ultimately, all 10 athletes set to compete hit their contracted marks.

Flyweight Erisson Ferreira da Silva initially tipped the scales at 126.5 pounds for his flyweight clash with Jesus Santos Aguilar (125.5). But after being given an additional hour to cut weight, da Silva checked in at 125.5 pounds to make his bout with Aguilar official.

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The Contender Series takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Tuesday and airs on ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. The evening’s featured bout is a heavyweight clash pitting Eduardo Jose Neves (265) against Michael Parkin (259).

Neves has kicked off his professional tenure with five knockout or technical knockout victories in as many appearances. Most recently, the 22-year-old Brazilan stopped Andre Vieira in 64 seconds at Legacy Fighting Alliance on March 11.

A native of London, Parkin is also 5-0 with five KO/TKO…

Whether Paulo Costa remains with the Ultimate Fighting Championship for the long haul remains to be seen.

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“Borrachinha” completed the next-to-last fight on his current deal at UFC 278, as he defeated former champ Luke Rockhold via unanimous decision in the evening’s co-main event at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City on Saturday night. At the post-fight press conference, Costa said while he is interested in remaining with the UFC, he is keeping his options open.

“We’ve had a lot of great opportunities [that] came up,” Costa said. “We know that boxing is going very well. We have some companies doing very good shows, even in Brazil. Brazil has a big show there, a fight music show. We had the most popular people in Brazil fighting there … We have a lot of great opportunities there, but the UFC is a great company. I’m glad to be here, but I need to see what’s best for us.”

At the time, the Brazilian wasn’t sure if he had completed his UFC contract or…