Martial Arts News

Exclusive @GamebredFighter headed to jail on an aggravated battery charge after his alleged attack on @ColbyCovMMA Exclusive video and story on @WPLGLocal10 pic.twitter.com/HGJhTz25Kj

— Rosh Lowe (@roshloweWPLG) March 24, 2022 Ultimate Fighting Championship star Jorge Masvidal has entered a plea of not guilty for his charges of battery and criminal mischief.

According to online court records from the Miami-Dade County Clerk of the Courts office, Masvidal has entered a written plea of not guilty for his charges. On Wednesday, “Gamebred” was charged with aggravated battery and criminal mischief, both felonies, following his alleged altercation with Colby Covington on Monday night. Additionally, Masvidal has issued a demand for a trial by jury, and he and his team have requested discovery as well as a waiver to not require his presence at any pre-trial conference. The court date is set for April 21.

Masvidal posted bail after his arrest on …

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jfm0bexz9I?start=2144&w=560&h=315] Paige VanZant will once again be the top name on a marquee, capping off the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship’s first foray into Great Britain this July.

First reported by Ariel Helwani, BKFC head David Feldman announced on the BKFC Show on Thursday that VanZant (0-2 BK) will be headlining the first BKFC event held in Europe. The fight card will be held on July 9 at the Alexandra Palace in London. No additional bouts have been announced, nor did Feldman state the name of her opponent. Feldman also stated that the European tour would continue with a show in Rotterdam, Netherlands, on Aug. 6.

Despite going 0-2 in her first pair of fights under the BKFC banner, she will be competing in the main event of this fight night. The flyweight known as “12 Gauge” left the Ultimate Fighting Championship after losing three of her last four, and she debuted with the bare-knuckle league in February 2021. Van…

#ufc #FamilyFirst pic.twitter.com/dhxTq1DnXI

— khabib nurmagomedov (@TeamKhabib) March 24, 2022 Former Ultimate Fighting Championship champ Khabib Nurmagomedov has chosen a side in the Jorge Masvidal-Colby Covington fracas.

On his social media on Thursday, Nurmagomedov called for fighters to stop accepting matches with Covington based on the American’s conduct when building up fights. The former champ took issue with some of the things Covington said in his buildup against Masvidal at UFC 272 in March. Masvidal claimed that Covington spoke ill of his family, including his children, and that did not sit well with “Gamebred” or Nurmagomedov. Masvidal himself promised that it would be “on sight” – meaning that if they ran into one another on the street, they would fight – following their encounter in the Octagon, and Nurmagomedov believes that Covington crossed a line that should never been crossed.

“If you are stronger than someone insid…

.@BellatorMMA’s version of March Madness pic.twitter.com/Ez9zgy2MFM

— Scott Coker (@ScottCoker) March 24, 2022 The Bellator MMA bantamweight tournament is now on the books.

Per the organization, through its broadcast partner on CBS Sports, the Bellator bantamweight grand prix has its bracket. Instead of eight men, there will be ten, although two will be eliminated on April 28 to make it an even eight. Parts of the tourney, including the Bellator 279 meetings of Juan Archuleta vs. Raufeon Stots for the interim strap, as well as Patrick Mix vs. Kyoji Horiguchi, had already been announced previously. The new additions include Jornel Lugo, Danny Sabatello, Enrique Barzola and Josh Hill.

At Bellator 278 on April 22, the two wild card bouts will go on to determine who faces Leandro Higo and Magomed Magomedov in the quarterfinals. James Gallagher was initially expected to take on Magomedov, but he withdrew due to an injury that will require surg…

The Week 6 Heavyweights face off one last time before they meet again inside the cage on Fight Night!

Dont miss the action tomorrow night on https://t.co/ThxOqQwa7H 9pm ET!#PFLonFuboTV pic.twitter.com/cYn4K3n8WM

— PFL (@PFLMMA) March 24, 2022 Professional Fighters League's Challenger Series continues with PFL Challenger Series 6, which features a slew of heavyweight prospects. As expected of an all-heavyweight card, no fighters missed weight. The four-fight billing is headlined by a bout between Bevon Lewis and Marcelo Nunes. It's also worth noting that Brett Martin was replaced by Billy Swanson due to "management issues."

Lewis is a 7-3 fighter that is coming off a 1-3 stint inside the Octagon, with his only victory coming against Dequan Townsend. "The Extraordinary Gentleman" will look to regain momentum after being finished by Trevin Giles in his last bout. This also marks a significant step up in weight, as the former middleweight s…

Exclusive @GamebredFighter headed to jail on an aggravated battery charge after his alleged attack on @ColbyCovMMA Exclusive video and story on @WPLGLocal10 pic.twitter.com/HGJhTz25Kj

— Rosh Lowe (@roshloweWPLG) March 24, 2022

Jorge Masvidal has been arrested and is currently in custody for his alleged attack on UFC rival Colby Covington outside a Miami restaurant on Monday night.

The UFC welterweight was booked into Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Miami on Wednesday at approximately 10:27 p.m. local time on charges of aggravated battery causing great bodily harm and criminal mischief. Bail has been set at $15,000.

News of Masvidal’s arrest was first reported by WPLG Local 10 News, which posted video of the fighter entering the facility in handcuffs. Masvidal ran inside without responding to any questions.

Masvidal appeared virtually for a Nevada State Athletic Commission meeting earlier Wednesday to discuss licensing…

UFC superstar Conor McGregor was arrested in Dublin for dangerous driving, according to a report from The Independent.

McGregor was pulled over by the Gardai while traveling between Lucan and Palmerstown in West Dublin. The former UFC two-division champion was reportedly driving his Bentley Continental GT, valued at $187,000, at the time. The vehicle was seized but has since been returned to McGregor.

McGregor was released on bail from the Lucan garda station but is facing charges of dangerous driving. If convicted, the “Notorious” one faces a fine of more than $5,000 and/or six months in prison.

A Gardai spokesperson confirmed to the Independent that a man was detained on Tuesday in relation to the incident but did not name McGregor due to Irish privacy laws.

“Gardaí arrested a man aged in his 30s in relation an incident of dangerous driving in the Palmerstown area yesterday evening, Tuesday 22nd March 2022,” the department said in a statement. “The man …

Benson Henderson still has more to accomplish in Bellator MMA.

The former UFC lightweight champion has signed an exclusive, multi-fight contract with the promotion, Bellator officials announced on Wednesday. Henderson concluded his previous deal at Bellator 273, winning a split decision over Islam Mamedov on Jan. 29.

Shortly after that victory, Henderson mulled the possibility that he had competed for the last time within the California-based organization.

“I don’t know how much longer I’ll be doing this for Bellator, so I wanted to soak it all in,” Henderson said at the Bellator 273 post-fight press conference. “I’m not sure if this is going to be my last fight or not, so I wanted to enjoy it, wanted to enjoy the ‘W,’ enjoy getting my hand raised. I might keep going, I might not, so we’ll find out.”

Ultimately, “Smooth” decide to make another run in Bellator. He’ll enter his new contract on the momentum of his win over Mamedov, who had been unbeaten in 20…

After submitting the undefeated Nasrudin Nasrudinov on Dana White’s Contender Series to earn a UFC contract, Jailton Almeida impressed yet again with a first-round TKO of Danilo Marques in his Octagon debut on Feb. 5.

Now, the Brazilian known as “Malhadinho” is eagerly anticipating his return to action against Maxim Grishin at a UFC Fight Night event on May 21.

“I’m happy UFC gave me another tough test. Maxim has almost three times more MMA fights than I, but I´ll show on May 21 how well trained I am and shock the world again,” Almeida told Sherdog.com. “I´m going the be the Khabib Nurmagomedov of 205-pound division.”

While he admires Brazilian icons such as Anderson Silva, Jose Aldo, Mauricio Rua, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Wanderlei Silva, Almeida points to the likes of Nurmagomedov and Khamzat Chimaev as fighters that he admires most.

“I study their game a lot,” he said. “My goal is always to mix their grappling style with my jiu-jitsu submissions and…

An intriguing welterweight showdown has been booked for May 21, as Santiago Ponzinibbio has agreed to face Michel Pereira at a UFC Fight Night event.

The Underground was first to report the booking. The UFC Fight Night card is headlined by a women’s bantamweight bout between Holly Holm and Ketlen Vieira but does not have an official location or venue at this time.

Ponzinibbio will be making his first appearance of 2022 when he meets Pereira. “The Argentine Dagger” returned after more than a two-year hiatus in 2021, going 1-2 in the Octagon with losses to Jingliang Li and Geoff Neal and a victory against Miguel Baeza. The 35-year-old notably authored a seven-bout winning streak in UFC competition from 2015 to 2018.

Pereira, meanwhile, has won his last four Octagon appearances. Most recently, the 28-year-old Brazilian known as “Demolidor” garnered a unanimous decision triumph over Andre Fialho at UFC 270 on Jan. 22. His current run also includes victories over t…

With Yaroslav Amosov currently occupied defending his native Ukraine from Russian invasion, Bellator has called an audible for the main event of its May 13 card in London.

The promotion announced on Wednesday that Logan Storley will replace the reigning welterweight champion and square off against Michael Page in an interim 170-pound title clash in the Bellator 281 main event.

“Like the rest of the world, we’ve been shocked by the tragic events in Ukraine and the thoughts of everyone at Bellator MMA are with Yaroslav and all the Ukrainian people during this time,” Bellator president Scott Coker said in a statement. “We wish he and his family the best and look forward to seeing him return safely to happier times, both inside and out of the Bellator cage.”

Bellator 281 takes place at the OVO Arena Wembley in London and will also see Douglas Lima square off against Jason Jackson at welterweight in the co-headliner. The main card airs on Showtime in the United Sta…

Brutal ground and pound gets Alexandr Romanov the W

[ #UFCVegas39 | Prelims LIVE on @ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/lm6KCi7EVT

— UFC (@ufc) October 9, 2021 Alexander Romanov will step in for the injured Rodrigo Nascimento and lock horns with Tanner Boser in a heavyweight bout at UFC Fight Night 205.

TSN was first to report the new pairing. The nature of Nascimento’s injury was not disclosed. UFC Fight Night 205 takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on April 23 and is headlined by a strawweight tilt pitting Jessica Andrade against Amanda Lemos.

Romanov has yet to taste defeat in 15 professional outings. He is 4-0 in the Las Vegas-based promotion, a mark that includes a second-round TKO triumph against Jared Vanderaa in his last appearance at UFC Fight Night 194.

Boser, meanwhile, will return for the first time since UFC Fight Night 190 on June 26, when he snapped a two-bout skid with a second-round knockout of Ovince St. Preux.