Martial Arts News

Though it was a successful financial year by most any account, Conor McGregor is no longer the highest-paid athlete in professional sports.

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According to Forbes, the former UFC two-division champion ranks 35th among the 50 highest-paid athletes for 2022. The Irish star reportedly garnered $43 million in total: $33 million from a UFC 264 bout against Dustin Poirer in July 2021 and another $10 million in endorsements and sponsorships.

That is a significant drop-off from the previous year, when McGregor ranked No. 1 among athletes with $180 million in earnings. That figure was due in large part to selling a majority stake of Proper No. Twelve whiskey for $150 million. He also reportedly banked $22 million for his first meeting with Poirier at UFC 257.

Topping on the 2022 list are soccer star Lionel Messi ($130 million) and NBA standout LeBron James ($121.2 million). Messi ranked second the previous year.

McGregor is the only mixed martial …

Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC

Undefeated UFC featherweight Lerone Murphy was hospitalized after a cycling accident led to a “near death experience.”

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The Manchester Top Team representative posted a photo on Instagram of himself in a hospital bed while providing an account of the incident.

“Ffs I can’t catch a break,” Murphy wrote. “Another near death experience. Yesterday while cycling, an oncoming car turned right without looking and we collided at speed. Which caused a nasty head wound. The ambulance took 45 minutes to arrive which nearly caused me to bleed out. I’m here still breathing for a greater purpose clearly.”

Murphy previously had a brush with death when he was shot three times in 2013 after leaving a barber shop in Fallowfield, England. Bullets hit Murphy in the face and neck and he underwent surgery after spending a week in intensive care. A tiny shard of bullet remains permanently embedded in his tongue from the attack. L…

The Professional Fighters League is ready to continue its 2022 campaign with a full slate of lightweight and light heavyweight bouts on June 17.

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The promotion on Tuesday announced matchups for PFL 4, which takes place at Overtime Elite Arena in Atlanta. The main card airs on ESPN and ESPN+ beginning at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, while prelims stream on ESPN+ at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.

PFL 4 will be headlined by a lightweight showdown between Clay Collard and Alexander Martinez, while Antonio Carlos Jr. will face Bruce Souto at light heavyweight in the co-main event. Rounding out the main draw is a lightweight tilt pitting Raush Manfio against Olivier Aubin-Mercier and a 155-pound scrap between Jeremy Stephens and Myles Price.

Five bouts will kick off the preliminary portion of the card: Omari Akhmedov vs. Teodoras Aukstuolis at light heavyweight; Natan Schulte vs. Marcin Held at lightweight; Emiliano Sordi vs. Delan Monte at light heavyweight; Rober…

A recent positive test for the long term metabolite of the steroid dehydrochloromethyltestosterone (DHCMT) — known as the M3 metabolite — will not keep Manel Kape from competing at UFC 275 next month.

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The Nevada State Athletic Commission ruled on Monday that Kape must be tested twice per month for six months and the results must either be negative or below the 100-picograms-per-millileter threshold for the M3 metabolite in order to be licensed by the commission.

The M3 metabolite is the same one that came to prominence when Jon Jones tested positive for the long-term metabolite in multiple screenings beginning in late 2018. USADA ruled that in cases like Jones and numerous others that followed, that it could not determined how long ago the fighter might have ingested the banned substance before it turned into the metabolite. That led to the anti-doping body instituting the 100 pg/ML threshold as a tipping point to potentially discipline the athlet…

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The dates for Season 6 of Dana White’s Contender Series are now official.

The promotion, which serves as a feeder system for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, received approval from the Nevada State Athletic Commission to hold cards at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Tuesday nights from July 26 to Sept. 27. If that holds, the upcoming season of the Contender Series would be 10 events.

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The Contender Series held eight cards apiece in its first two seasons, but has since expanded to 10 events for Seasons 3 through 5. Cards typically feature five bouts barring late cancellations, but a few have included as many as six fights.

Some of the notables to sign with the UFC from the Contender Series include Sean O'Malley, Geoff Neal, Ryan Spann, Jamahal Hill, Brendan Allen, Tracy Cortez, Andre Muniz, Taila Santos, Johnny Walker, Marina Rodriguez, Maycee Barber, Sodiq Yusuff, Jimmy Crute, Alex Perez and Grant Dawson, to name a few.

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After submitting Nasrudin Nasrudinov to earn a contract on Dana White’s Contender Series, Jailton Almeida impressed yet again in his Octagon debut with a first-round TKO of Danilo Marques at UFC Fight Night 200.

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Almeida was originally slated to meet Maxim Grishin in a light heavyweight bout at UFC Fight Night 206 on Saturday before his opponent withdrew as a result of an injury. Instead, he’ll move up a weight class in order to remain on the card.

“Mick Maynard offered us an opportunity at heavyweight against Parker Porter and since I want to be active, I decided to accept,” Almeida told Sherdog.com.

A self-proclaimed fan of Khabib Nurmagomedov and Khamzat Chimaev, Almeida revealed that fighting Porter is part of his plan to follow in Chimaev’s footsteps.

“In our last interview I told you I want to be the Khabib Nurmagomedov of 205-pound division,” he said. “But I also want to be just like Chimaev, fighting in two divisions. The opportu…

"I'm Argentinean, but I'm a nice guy.”

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With that introductory statement on the Globo broadcast of “The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil 2,” Santiago Ponzinibbio, the only non-Brazilian on the season, was able to win over the audience and make them forget about the country’s longstanding soccer rivalry with Argentina. Always smiling and speaking Portuguese with a strong Spanish accent, Ponzinibbio went on to be one of the most popular fighters on the season.

Ponzinibbio won all his fights on the show but was unable to fight in the finale due to an arm injury. Once he recovered, Ponzinibbio signed with the UFC and relocated to Florida to train at American Top Team. He authored a seven-bout winning streak between 2015 and 2018 to establish himself as a serious contender at 170 pounds, but a bacterial infection put him on the shelf for more than two years.

Ponzinibbio returned to the Octagon in 2021, losing two of his three bouts, including a competitive s…

A light heavyweight scrap pitting Devin Clark against Azamat Murzakanov is on tap for the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s Aug. 13 card.

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Hosheh MMA was first to report the booking. The event current does not have a location or headliner.

A former Resurrection Fighting Alliance champion, Clark ended a two-bout skid in his last outing, when he stopped William Knight in the third round of their matchup at UFC on ESPN 34. “Brown Bear” is 7-6 during his tenure with the Las Vegas-based promotion.

Murzakanov earned a UFC deal with a first-round TKO of Matheus Scheffel on Dana White’s Contender Series in August 2021. In his Octagon debut, the 35-year-old Russian knocked out Tafon Nchukwi with a flying knee at UFC Fight Night 203 to run his professional mark to 11-0.

As expected, Aleksandar Rakic suffered a serious injury to his knee at UFC on ESPN 36 this past Saturday.

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The fighter’s manager, Marcelo Briagdeiro, told ESPN that an MRI revealed that the light heavyweight tore the ACL in his right knee in a third-round TKO loss to Jan Blachowicz at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Rakic collapsed to the canvas after stepping back on his right leg, and the bout was halted at the 1:11 mark of Round 3.

Rakic is currently returning to Austria and is expected to have the surgery done as soon as possible. “Rocket” posted a message on his Instagram account on Monday, part of which seemed to be directed toward Blachowicz.

“God had other plans for me Saturday night. Sometimes we need to lose small battles in order to win the war,” he wrote. Win or lose, good or bad the experience will change you.

“One thing I promise you, I will be back better than ever. This is not over yet. Unfinished business. Rematch! I waited…

The lineup for the UFC Fight Night card on July 16 continues to grow, as a bantamweight clash between Ricky Simon and Jack Shore and a featherweight tilt pitting Billy Quarantillo against Bill Algeo have been added to the lineup.

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Iridium Sports Agency announced Simon vs. Shore, while Sherdog.com's Tudor Leonte initially reported Quarantillo vs. Algeo. UFC Fight Night is expected to be headlined by a featherweight showdown between Brian Ortega and Yair Rodriguez, with a location and venue to be announced.

Simon has established himself as a person of interest at 135 pounds with a four-bout winning streak that includes a second-round KO of longtime contender Raphael Assuncao in his last outing at UFC Fight Night 199.

A former Cage Warriors champion, Shore is unbeaten in 16 professional appearances — including five in UFC competition. Most recently, “Tank” outpointed Timur Valiev at UFC Fight Night 204.

Quarantillo has lost two of his last…

Brad Riddell will lock horns with Jalin Turner in a lightweight bout at UFC 276.

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Turner’s management, Iridium Sports Agency, announced the pairing on social media. UFC 276 takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and is headlined by a middleweight championship clash between Israel Adesanya and Jared Cannonier.

Riddell had a seven-bout winning streak snapped in his most recent Octagon appearance, when he suffered a knockout loss to Rafael Fiziev at UFC on ESPN 31 this past December. The City Kickboxing export kicked off his promotional tenure with successive triumphs against Jamie Mullarkey, Magomed Mustafaev, Alex da Silva Coelho and Drew Dober.

Turner, meanwhile, is in the middle of a four-bout Octagon run in which he has finished all of his opponents inside of two rounds. In his last outing, “The Tarantula” stopped Mullarkey via TKO 46 seconds into Round 2 at UFC 272. The Dana White’s Contender Series alum is 12-5 as a professional, w…

A lightweight showdown pitting Drew Dober against Rafael Alves has been added to the UFC 277 lineup.

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The bout was first reported by MMA Fight Universe. UFC 277 is expected to take place in Dallas on July 30 and features an interim flyweight title tilt between Brandon Moreno and Kai Kara France as well as a middleweight showdown betwee Paulo Costa and Luke Rockhold.

Dober snapped a two-bout skid in his last outing, when he defeated Terrance McKinney via technical knockout 3:17 into the opening round of their UFC Fight Night 203 clash on March 12. The Elevation Fight Team representative enjoyed his greatest success in the Octagon from 2017 to 2020, when he was victorious in six of seven promotional appearances.

A former competitor on Dana White’s Contender Series, Alves has split a pair of UFC bouts, dropping a three-round verdict to Damir Isamgulov at UFC Fight Night 188 before submitting Marc Diakiese at UFC Fight Night 197. The 31-year-old M…