Martial Arts News

My girl @MayceeBarber is up the same night as me! #ufc276 https://t.co/cP7yDgYrLN

— Jessy Jess (@missjessyjess) April 29, 2022 Before the final round of socialing had even gone out, the Ultimate Fighting Championship located an excellent replacement to keep a July matchup intact.

Casey O'Neill withdrew from her matchup with Jessica Eye (15-10, 1 NC) on Thursday due to a torn ACL, scuttling their UFC 276 flyweight pairing. That night, BJPenn.com first reported that the promotion had already locked down someone to fight in O’Neill’s stead: Maycee Barber (10-2). On Friday, Barber confirmed the news of this fight on her Instagram, verifying that this battle will take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on July 2.

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Barber comes in with momentum on her side, having won her last two on the scorecards against fellow promising young talents Miranda Maverick and Montana De La Rosa, with the latter coming in April. Those tw…

BetUS.com is offering our listeners an incredible 125% bonus on their deposit for PFL and UFC. Use code SHERDOG and get $2500 in extra money to make fight night even better.

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The 2022 Professional Fighters League Season continues Thursday at 6:30 p.m. ET.

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

Round 1 Last week in PFL, lightweights and light heavyweights took the stage to start off the 2022 season. This week, fight fans will be treated to 10 matchups – all tournament-eligible this time – in the featherweight and heavyweight categories. We begin the night at 145 pounds, in a classic battle of Mexico vs. Germany as Monterrey native Flores (19-3, 1-0 PFL) faces off against Frankfurt’s own Bolaghi (14-2-1, 0-0 PFL). The referee for the first match of the evening is Keith Peterson, and he starts the night off right by kicking nonsense out of the arena. The two men touch gloves, and Flores sticks o…

6 Points and the 1st round finish for Bruno Cappelozza!#2022PFL2 pic.twitter.com/HcBajmTR8W

— PFL (@PFLMMA) April 29, 2022

Bruno Henrique Cappelozza picked up right where he left off in 2021.

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The defending Professional Fighters League heavyweight champion turned away Stuart Austin with punches in the first round of their PFL 2 headliner on Thursday at Esports Stadium in Arlington, Texas. A onetime British Association of Mixed Martial Arts titleholder, Austin (15-8, 0-2 PFL) checked out 4:24 into Round 1.

Cappelozza (15-5, 5-0 PFL) bided his time and waited for an opportunity to present itself. A jarring overhand right had Austin diving at the Brazilian’s legs out of desperation and led to his being pinned to the canvas. Cappelozza methodically floated from half guard to full mount, postured in a dominant position and dropped punches until the job was done.

Meanwhile, former Ring of Combat champion Chris Wade reb…

A top-flight Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight prospect has just suffered an injury that will keep her out of action for a long time.

On Thursday, Casey O'Neill announced on Instagram that she has suffered a completely torn ACL that will require surgery and a lengthy recovery process. She was initially booked against Jessica Eye at UFC 276, but she has been forced out of this matchup due to this injury. It is currently unclear if Eye will receive a replacement, or if the promotion will book her on another card.

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Undefeated as a professional at 9-0, Australia’s O’Neill surged into the promotion on the heels of five wins in the span of less than 18 months. From there, she debuted against Shana Dobson and knocked her out in the second round. A pair of subsequent finishes over Lara Procopio and Antonia Shevchenko – all three of those UFC appearances coming in 2021 – she moved towards ranked competition on the heels of those three stoppage wins. …

The latest episode of Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweights Colby Covington vs. Jorge Masvidal has just been ratcheted up a notch.

On Thursday, Masvidal appeared on a Zoom call to enter his pleas of not guilty with the 11th Circuit Court of Florida, with Judge Zachary James presiding over the case. As a result, Masvidal has been issued a stay-away order, which will require him to stay at least 25 feet away from Covington, while not coming anywhere closer than 500 feet of Covington’s residence. “Gamebred” cannot contact Covington in any capacity, including by text message or phone call, as well. The next hearing date will be May 12, which is a status hearing that will review the proceedings to that point and possibly set a trial date.

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Modifying his initial complaint, Covington stated that in addition to a fractured tooth, the abrasion to his wrist and the damage to his Rolex watch, he claims he suffered “brain injury” from the alleged attack. T…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4LmQASrtaI&w=560&h=315]

It’s full speed ahead for Week 2 of the Professional Fighters League regular season, as every heavyweight and featherweight set to compete made weight on Wednesday.

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That includes defending heavyweight champ Bruno Henrique Cappelozza, who tipped the scales at 235 pounds for a featured showdown against Stuart Austin (245.8). There was one late change to the card, with Cody Goodale (253.2) stepping in on short notice to face Denis Goltsov (247.4) in a heavyweight tilt that was only recently elevated to the evening’s main card.

PFL 2 takes place at Esports Stadium Arlington in Arlington, Texas on Thursday night. The main card airs on ESPN2 and ESPN+ beginning at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, while prelims stream on ESPN+ beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT.

After nearly three years away from the sport following a knockout loss to Jiri Prochazka at Rizin 11, Cappelozza went 4-0 in 2021 to…

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

A heavyweight clash pitting Derrick Lewis against Sergei Pavlovich is in the works for an Ultimate Fighting Championship card on July 30.

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ESPN was first to report the booking. The event, which is expected to be UFC 277, does not yet have a location or venue. The card is also expected to include a middleweight showdown between Sean Strickland and Alex Pereira.

Lewis last appeared at UFC 271, where he suffered a second-round knockout loss to Tai Tuivasa on Feb. 12 in Houston. “The Black Beast” is the UFC’s all-time knockout leader and a two-time heavyweight title challenger, coming up short against Daniel Cormier for the undisputed belt at UFC 230 and losing to Ciryl Gane for the interim strap at UFC 265. Lewis owns wins against the likes of Curtis Blaydes, Alexey Oleynik, Alexander Volkov, Francis Ngannou, Marcin Tybura, Travis Browne and Roy Nelson, to name a few.

Pavlovich has won thre…

The Lone Star State is becoming a popular destination for the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

The Las Vegas-based promotion will head to the Texas capital of Austin on June 18 for a Fight Night event. MMAjunkie.com was first to report the location and date of the card. UFC Austin does not currently have a headliner, but several bouts have been reported for that date, including Cody Stamann vs. Eddie Wineland at bantamweight, Damir Ismagulov vs. Guram Kutateladze at lightweight, Kyle Daukaus vs. Roman Dolidze at middleweight and Phil Hawes vs. Deron Winn at middleweight, to name a few.

The event will mark the fourth time the promotion has held an event in Austin. In 2010, UFC Fight Night 22 saw Nate Marquardt defeat Rousimar Palhares via first-round TKO, while the UFC Fight Night 57 main event in November 2014 saw Frankie Edgar submit Cub Swanson in the waning seconds of the fifth round. Finally, Donald Cerrone stopped Yancy Medeiros in the opening stanza of their fea…

BIG NEWS ONE Championship is coming BACK to U.S. prime time on Amazon Prime Video

Stay tuned for more details!@PrimeVideo | #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship pic.twitter.com/t6diSS1rHG

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) April 27, 2022

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One Championship has a new, big-name broadcast partner in North America.

The Singapore-based promotion announced on Wednesday that it has entered into a five-year deal with Amazon Prime Video to broadcast 12 events annually in primetime live in the United States and Canada. The first event and the full calendar are expected to be announced soon. Those 12 events will be available exclusively on Prime Video in the United States and Canada.

“One Championship is thrilled to work with Prime Video, one of the largest premium sports content providers in the world, to bring our live events closer to fans in the United States and Canada,” One CEO Chatri Sityodtong said in a release.

“As the wor…

Bruno Henrique Cappelozza came virtually out of nowhere to win the 2021 Professional Fighters League heavyweight championship, but the momentous occasion took on a different tone when the Brazilian learned that his father passed away the weekend before his $1 million-winning performance this past October.

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“It was the happiest and saddest day of my life,” Cappelozza said during a PFL media day. “It was a huge loss for me and my family. We’re still feeling his absence, but I’m certain of his place in heaven.



“I know he must be very proud. He always wanted to see me become a world champion. It was a long-awaited moment. I’m certain he’s very happy.”

Cappelozza’s championship victory was five-round verdict over Ante Delija in rematch of a regular season bout. The second meeting featured plenty of momentum swings with both heavyweights hurt on different occasions in the fight, but ultimately Cappelozza did enough to get the nod on the judges’ scor…

Credit: Mike Fridley/Sherdog.com Credit: Mike Fridley/Sherdog.com Credit: Mike Fridley/Sherdog.com Credit: Mike Fridley/Sherdog.com

Lorenz Larkin has received his second new opponent at Bellator 280, as Kyle Stewart will step in for Anthony Adams against the middleweight known as “Monsoon.”

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Larkin was initially scheduled to face Khalid Murtazliev at Bellator 280 before Murtazliev withdrew from the card for undisclosed reasons. Promotion officials confirmed the new booking following an initial report from EuroSport.

Bellator 280 takes place on May 6 at Accor Arena in Paris and is headlined by a heavyweight title rematch between Ryan Bader and Cheick Kongo. Additionally, Charlie Leary will replace Saul Rogers and face Soren Bak in a 160-pound catchweight affair.

Stewart exited the UFC after back-to-back losses against Chance Rencountre and Erik. He has gone 4-2 since then, notably taking a unanimous verdict over fellow Octagon veteran Zak Ott…

It appears as though a potential interim heavyweight title bout between Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic won’t happen this summer as originally planned.

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UFC president Dana White recently hinted that a Jones-Miocic matchup might happen at UFC 276. Meanwhile, Jones advisor Richard Schaefer told ESPN that the promotion discussed “Bones” facing Miocic with the interim belt on the line in the main event of the July 2 card in Las Vegas.

However, Jones tweeted on Tuesday that Miocic won’t be ready to fight by that proposed date.

“Stipe is saying that he will be at his absolute peak in September,” Jones wrote. “I’m disappointed but patient, I want the heavyweight goat at his absolute best. I’ll wait until September. No excuses.”

Stipe is saying that he will be at his absolute peak in September. I’m disappointed but patient, I want the heavyweight goat at his absolute best. I’ll wait until September. No excuses

— BONY (@JonnyBones…