Martial Arts News

There were a total of nine finishes on the UFC Vegas 104 card, and four of were deemed worthy of some additional compensation.

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Carlos Vera earned a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus for his finish of unbeaten prospect Josias Musasa in a preliminary bantamweight encounter. Vera hurt his foe with a head kick, then followed Musasa to the canvas and locked in a rear-naked choke to secure the tapout at the 3:16 mark of Round 1.

Elsewhere, Andre Lima kept his undefeated record intact and garnered a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus in the process. The Brazilian overwhelmed Daniel Barez in their flyweight bout before landing a takedown in the third round. From there, he unleashed some ground-and-pound before forcing a tapout with a rear-naked choke 3:05 into the period.

Priscila Cachoeira received a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” payment for flatlining Josiane Nunes in their preliminary bantamweight bout. A short uppercut sent Nun…

Roman Dolidze evened the score.

The Xtreme Couture standout avenged a March 2023 defeat and made his most significant move yet in the Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight division, as he willed his way to a five-round unanimous decision over Marvin Vettori in the UFC Fight Night 254 headliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. All three cageside judges scored it the same: 49-46 for Dolidze (15-3, 9-3 UFC).

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Vettori (19-8-1, 9-6-1 UFC) landed his share of shots—he wobbled the Georgian with a counter left hand over the top in the third round and flurried for a potential stoppage—but seemed to struggle to match his opponent’s output, especially in the back half of the fight. Already ahead on the scorecards, Dolidze turned up the heat in Round 5, where he connected with several clubbing right hands, a few body kicks and a collar-tie knee. He then cut off Vettori’s forward progress with a series of head kicks and crossed the finish line with…

Sherdog's live UFC Vegas 104 coverage will begin Saturday at 4 p.m. ET. The event is also known as UFC Fight Night 254. Yuneisy Duben (125.5) vs. Carli Judice (125) BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Judice (-380), Duben (+300)Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round: Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:The Official Result Priscila Cachoeira (135) vs. Josiane Nunes (136) BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Nunes (-185), Cachoeira (+154)Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Score…

Waldo Cortes-Acosta might soon make it impossible for Ultimate Fighting Championship matchmakers to ignore him.

The former Legacy Fighting Alliance champion wiped out Ryan Spann with punches in the second round of their featured UFC Fight Night 254 prelim on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Cortes-Acosta (13-1, 6-1 UFC) drew the curtain 4:48 into Round 2, winning for the fourth time in as many outings.

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Spann (22-11, 8-6 UFC) was out of his depth in his first assignment as a heavyweight. Cortes-Acosta punished him with a persistent jab and buzzed the tower repeatedly with overhand rights. He caught Spann moving backward late in the middle stanza, decked the Fortis MMA rep with a beautiful left hook and pounded him unconscious with a volley of follow-up punches.

Meanwhile, ex-Renaissance MMA titleholder Carlos Vera dispatched the heavily favored Josias Musasa with a rear-naked choke in the first round of their bantamweight encounter. Vera (1…

Belal Muhammad (24-3) believes he can beat Jack Della Maddalena (17-2) on the feet.

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Muhammad puts his welterweight title on the line against Maddalena in the main event at UFC 315 on May 10 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. While Muhammad was originally expected to defend his title against Shavkat Rakhmonov, the Kazakh couldn’t accept the matchup due to an injury.

While Muhammad is arguably one of the best wrestlers on the UFC roster, Maddalena has devastating knockout power in his hands. However, Muhammad claims it won’t be a typical striker vs. wrestler matchup. “Remember the Name” vows to not be gun shy against Maddalena and prove himself as the best boxer at 170 pounds.

“I’m gonna go in there and I’m gonna outbox Jack,” Muhammad said on “The Coach and the Casual” podcast. “I’m not gonna shoot one takedown, and I’m gonna show him the meaning of Canelo hands. I’m gonna show the UFC fighters [and] the fans that I’m the best bo…

Big Ank 🤝 Big Tom

— Muhammad big ANK Ankalaev (@AnkalaevM) March 14, 2025

Magomed Ankalaev and Tom Aspinall seem to have bonded over the Jon Jones saga.

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While Jones is the heavyweight champ, he has long been avoiding a matchup against interim champ Aspinall. “Bones” was even considering fighting former light heavyweight champ Alex Pereira in a super fight instead of facing Aspinall. However, Ankalaev recently ended hopes of that matchup by dethroning Pereira via unanimous decision at UFC 313 earlier this month.

Ankalaev has since named himself “Big Ank” and been unhesitant in taking shots at others. The Dagestani most recently targeted Jones, bringing up his history of failed drug tests and accusing him of ducking Aspinall. Ankalaev believes Jones isn’t happy that the Pereira matchup is now out of the equation.

“Jonny steroid machine was very disappointed,” Ankalaev wrote on X. “I beat Alex. Please fight big [Tom …

Main Event rematch is OFFICIAL 🫡@MarvinVettori hits the scale at 186lbs!

{ #UFCVegas104 | TOMORROW 7pmET on @ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/TNpQxu30Tx

— UFC (@ufc) March 14, 2025 The Ultimate Fighting Championship's busy March continues with a UFC Apex card featuring a key middleweight matchup that is now official after the UFC Vegas 104 weigh-ins took place with three fighters coming in heavy.

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Former title challenger Marvin Vettori is looking to bounce back from a loss to Jared Cannonier by beating a recent foe for a second time. Looking for revenge is Roman Dolidze, who lost a unanimous decision to the Italian fighter in 2023. Both men successfully made weight for the five-round rematch. As for the rest of the card, three fighters missed weight: Co-main event fighter Chidi Njokuani came in 1.25 pounds over the welterweight limit for his fight against Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos; Josias Musasa weighed in .5 pounds over the…

Main Event rematch is OFFICIAL 🫡@MarvinVettori hits the scale at 186lbs!

{ #UFCVegas104 | TOMORROW 7pmET on @ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/TNpQxu30Tx

— UFC (@ufc) March 14, 2025 Editor's note: The article has been updated at 4 p.m. ET to reflect one fighter returning to weigh in at his proper marks.

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The Ultimate Fighting Championship's busy March continues with a UFC Apex card featuring a key middleweight matchup that is now official after the UFC Vegas 104 weigh-ins took place with two fighters coming in heavy.

Former title challenger Marvin Vettori is looking to bounce back from a loss to Jared Cannonier by beating a recent foe for a second time. Looking for revenge is Roman Dolidze, who lost a unanimous decision to the Italian fighter in 2023. Both men successfully made weight for the five-round rematch. As for the rest of the card, two fighters missed weight: Co-main event fighter Chidi Njokuani came in 1.25 pounds…

𝘽𝘼𝙉𝙂𝙀𝙍 𝘼𝙇𝙀𝙍𝙏! 🚨

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Gavin Hughes 🆚 Claudio Pacella 🇮🇹

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Gavin Hughes joins the PFL Europe Lightweight Roster after a long history competing at the highest level of the sport, including stints with Bellator and EFC. With ten stoppage victories on his record, Hughes… pic.twitter.com/JV67IoDmSm — PFL Europe (@PFLEurope) March 14, 2025 The Hughes family name—no relation—will be well-represented in the Professional Fighters League’s first Europe card this year.

Per a release from the organization on Friday, the entirety of the eight-man 155-pound bracket has been revealed. The four lightweight matches plus one more at the division in a non-tournament headliner, will play out at PFL Europe 1 on May 10 inside of the SSE Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Paul Hughes, Connor Hughes and Gavin Hughes will be among the participants, of which they are not closely related.

The main attraction of this fight card will be a …

[embedded content] According to Glover Teixeira, it’s not about who wins and loses, but rather the friends we made along the way.

In the main attraction of UFC 313, former two-division champ Alex Pereira lost a close decision to Magomed Ankalaev. Not all spectators firmly believed that “Poatan” had a been defeated, with nearly half of the media scorers either scoring the bout a draw or having Pereira getting his hand raised. Count Teixeira among those, who discussed his pupil with pride and confidence on Pereira’s YouTube channel on Wednesday, remarking that Ankalaev should have been the victor.

The video captured plenty of moments shared by the Teixeira MMA & Fitness team, ranging from them actually in the Octagon towards the end of the evening to them boarding a private jet. The beloved figured Teixeira was eternally upbeat, highlighting the harmony surrounding his team while emphasizing that everyone was together and having fun, maintaining the same positive e…

The Octagon is coming to DES MOINES 🚨@CorySandhagenx vs @Daico_Deiveson headlines the first ever #UFCDesMoines!

🎟️ Tickets on sale March 21#LiveFromDSM | #WellsFargoArena | @IAEventsCenter pic.twitter.com/Vz5wMmwVbG

— UFC (@ufc) March 13, 2025

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The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s first-ever trip to Des Moines has picked up a couple of intriguing bouts.

The promotion on Wednesday announced that Bo Nickal will square off against Reinier de Ridder at middleweight, while Jeremy Stephens will return to the Octagon to face Mason Jones at lightweight on May 3 at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa. UFC Des Moines is headlined by a bantamweight tilt pitting Cory Sandhagen against Deiveson Figueiredo.

Nickal has kicked off his professional MMA tenure with seven straight triumphs, including four in UFC competition. Most recently, the former Penn State University national champion wrestler defeated Paul Craig via unani…

Andrei Arlovski is set to return to action for the first time since parting ways with the Ultimate Fighting Championship last year.

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Arlovski will square off against Terrance Hodges under the Dirty Boxing banner on March 22 at the Regatta Harbour in Miami, the promotion announced Wednesday. DBX 1 is expected to be headlined by a clash between Yoel Romero and Ras Hylton. DBX uses four-ounce gloves, with elbows and “conditional ground-and-pound” allowed.

A former heavyweight champion, Arlovski fulfilled his last UFC contract with a split-decision loss against Martin Buday at UFC 303 this past July. He was also drafted by the Los Angeles team in the fledgling Global Fight League earlier this year, but the promotion has yet to formally confirm any dates or locations for upcoming events.

Arlovski initially rose to prominence during his first UFC stint from 2000 to 2008, when he captured heavyweight gold and had a memorable trilogy with Tim Sylvia.…