Martial Arts News

Before locking down her opponent for April, former Ultimate Fighting Championship strawweight champ Jessica Andrade targeted foes from 115 pounds all the way to bantamweight.

Despite being the top-ranked UFC flyweight contender, former strawweight champion Andrade decided to return to her original division. On April 23 at UFC Fight Night 205, she will take on fellow Brazilian and 10th ranked Amanda Lemos. In an interview with Sherdog, Andrade explained how she made the decision to return to her old division.

“I was having a hard time finding opponents in the flyweight division,” she said. “We tried Alexa Grasso, even Miesha Tate in bantamweight, but nobody wanted to fight with me, so my master Gilliard Parana convinced me that in strawweight the amount of possibilities would grow, making the matchmakers lives easier.”

According to “Bate Estaca,” the weight cut will no longer be a problem.

“Brazilian food made the weight-cut process very hard for me,” she admitted…

We have our sights set on 𝐀𝐁𝐔 𝐃𝐇𝐀𝐁𝐈 this October

Visit here for details https://t.co/qxqMNvVjkW

[ #UFC281 | @VisitAbuDhabi | @InAbuDhabi | #InAbuDhabi ] pic.twitter.com/RJusAhNipT — UFC (@ufc) March 18, 2022 A big Ultimate Fighting Championship show and a full week’s worth of related events are slated to go down in a popular destination this October.

The promotion released the news on Friday that it would be heading back down to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, for UFC 281. This Oct. 22 card would serve as the finale for what is titled “Abu Dhabi Showdown Week,” which states that it will be capped off by a “crowd-pleasing” title bout. No details have been provided about any matchup for this event seven months away, other than its date and location of the Etihad Arena.

In 2010, the UFC first came to Abu Dhabi, putting on UFC 112 on Yas Island with a pair of championship tilts on tap. B.J. Penn lost his lightweight belt to Frankie E…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBA_6EHqthU&w=560&h=315] Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki returns for its third event of 2022 with a featherweight championship bout headlining KSW 68.

Both featherweight champion Salahdine Parnasse and challenger Daniel Rutkowski made their title fight official as they hit their marks. Along with the headliners, the remaining 16 fighters on the card made weight without any issue.

Parnasse (16-1-1) has become a mainstay within KSW. The French fighter has won every fight in the promotion aside from a loss to Daniel Torres that he avenged in his most recent outing. In between matches with Torres, Parnasse submitted Filip Pejic with a rear-naked choke. The champion officially weighed 145 pounds.

This is only the second KSW bout for Rutkowski (13-2, 1 NC). The Polish fighter impressed in his debut by scoring a head kick knockout of Pejic to claim an early title opportunity. Rutkowski also weighed 145 pounds for the championship pairing. Read more

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq52MXGVNSM&w=560&h=315] After several years away due to the pandemic, the Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to England for UFC Fight Night 204.

Atop the bill is a heavyweight bout between contenders Alexander Volkov and Tom Aspinall. Just as the heavyweights had no trouble hitting their marks, every participant on the entire card successfully made weight. However, it is worth noting that a preliminary bout between Nathaniel Wood and Vince Morales was called off on Thursday after Wood fell ill.

Volkov bounced back from a decision loss to Ciryl Gane with a win over Marcin Tybura. "Drago" is 8-3 inside the Octagon, and is looking to show that he still has another run at the title left in him at age 33. Volkov stepped on the scale at 253 pounds.

While Volkov has multiple UFC main events under his belt, this marks the first for Aspinall (11-2). The English fighter is undefeated inside the Octagon with four straight finishes. …

Do not mess with Jaqueline Amorim on the ground!!! #AndNew#LFA125 pic.twitter.com/a1jrEe93X8

— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) February 26, 2022

Jaqueline Amorim put herself on the radar when she submitted Lovethpatra Young with a kneebar and captured the vacant Legacy Fighting Alliance women’s strawweight championship in the LFA 125 main event on Feb. 25 at the Seneca Niagara Resort and Casino in Niagara Falls, New York. Amorim, 26, brought it to a close 1:26 into Round 1.

It was a gruesome finish that drew a visceral reaction from those who saw it.

“I could feel noise coming from her leg,” Amorim told Sherdog.com. “I overextended it, but she wasn’t tapping. I gave up on that position and reapplied the submission by having her leg under my armpit. That’s when she tapped, and I won by submission.”

The American Top Team -trained Amorim has finished all five of her opponents inside one round, four of them by submission.

Bruno Miranda Official Weight 156.2 lbs ⚖️#PFLonFuboTV pic.twitter.com/kUHrFCXFAm

— PFL (@PFLMMA) March 17, 2022 Professional Fighters League's Challenger Series continues with PFL Challenger Series 5, which highlights several lightweight prospects.

All fighters made weight for the event except for headliner Bruno Miranda. "Robusto" wound up coming in at 156.2 pounds, which is .2 pounds over the lightweight limit. His bout against Carson Frei will still go forward, though.

Miranda (13-3) is a lightweight prospect out of Brazil. The Road FC veteran has won his last four bouts. Meanwhile, Frei (9-4) is an American that has won three of his last four fights. The 28-year-old most recently submitted Westin Wilson and weighed 155.2 pounds for the main event.

PFL Challenger Series 5 streams live to FuboTV on Friday at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.

PFL Challenger Series 5 Weigh-in Results: Bruno Miranda (156.2)* vs. Carson Frei (155.2)Damir Ferhatbeg…

A strawweight title rematch between Rose Namajunas and Carla Esparza will serve as the co-main event at UFC 274 on May 7.

Multiple outlets confirmed the booking following an initial report from Sports Illustrated. Namajunas and Esparza competed on Season 20 of “The Ultimate Fighter” and then squared off at the show’s finale in December 2014, with “Cookie Monster” claiming the promotion’s inaugural 115-pound belt with a third-round submission victory.

Namajunas would go on to win nine of her next 11 Octagon appearances. She is in the midst of her second championship reign at strawweight and is coming off a split-decision triumph over Weili Zhang in a title defense at UFC 268. Her resume includes wins over the likes of Zhang (twice), Jessica Andrade, Joanna Jedrzejczyk (twice), Michelle Waterson and Tecia Torres.

Esparza, meanwhile, would relinquish the crown in a lopsided loss to Jedrzejczyk in her first title defense at UFC 185. The Team Oyama has compiled a f…

Miesha Tate’s first flyweight foray is going to take place a little bit later than originally anticipated.

Tate’s matchup with Lauren Murphy, originally slated for a UFC Fight Night event on May 14, will now happen at UFC 276 on July 2. The change was initially reported by Ariel Helwani. A reason for the postponement is unclear.

UFC 276 takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and will serve as the centerpiece for the promotion’s International Fight Week. No other bouts have been announced for the card.

Tate returned from a five-year retirement this past July, where she scored a third-round TKO win over Marion Reneau at UFC on ESPN 26. In her next outing, “Cupcake” fell to Ketlen Vieira via unanimous decision in the UFC Fight Night 198 main event on Nov. 20.

Murphy hasn’t competed since falling to Valentina Shevchenko via fourth-round TKO in a flyweight title tilt at UFC 266. Prior to that, the former Invicta FC champion had been victorious in her p…

Greg Hardy saw the writing on the wall following his last Ultimate Fighting Championship appearance, and no it appears the Las Vegas-based promotion has officially parted ways with the controversial former NFL star.

Hardy joins Sabina Mazo, Davi Ramos and Jared Gooden as athletes that are no longer on the UFC roster, according to a report by MMAFighting.com. All four fighters recently completed their contracts with the promotion and are not likely to be re-signed.

Hardy indicated that his run in the Octagon was over following a first-round TKO loss to Sergey Spivak at UFC 272 on March 5.

“What a run, ya boy is far from done just got some fine tuning to do,” Hardy wrote on Instagram. “Thank you to all my fans and haters. I appreciate you all. Mostly I appreciate my coaches, family, and the UFC for giving me the opportunity to shine bright.”

Given his history with domestic violence, Hardy was a controversial addition to the Dana White’s Contender Series lin…

Two-time UFC competitor Cody East was arrested in New Mexico following a domestic violence incident over the weekend.

Albuquerque, N.M.-based station KRQE was first to report the news. East is charged with child abuse, false imprisonment and battery.

According to a criminal complaint, East got into a fight with his wife and then allegedly refused to allow her or their kids to get out of their car. The woman told police that East pushed her and made threatening comments when she tried to stop him.

East was released on Tuesday from the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center due to “Release on Recognizance.” He is due in court for a preliminary hearing on April 26.

It’s not the first time East has run afoul of the law for domestic violence. In 2016, East was arrested for aggravated battery against a household member, false imprisonment and aggravated assault against a household member.

East has multiple other transgressions on his record. He …

A women’s flyweight clash pitting Tracy Cortez against Melissa Gatto has been added to teh UFC 274 lineup.

ESPN Deportes was first to report the booking. UFC 274 takes place at the Footprint Center in Phoenix on May 7 and is headlined by a lightweight championship bout between Charles Oliveirea and Justin Gaethje.

A contract winner on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2019, Cortez has been victorious in her first three Octagon appearances. Most recently, the 28-year-old Fight Ready representative took a split verdict over Justine Kish at UFC ON ESPN 22. Cortez has won nine consecutive professional outings.

Gatto, meanwhile, has yet to taste defeat in 10 pro fights, although she does have a pair of draws on her ledger. The 25-year-old Brazilian in 2-0 in UFC competition, with finishes of Victoria Leonardo and Sijara Eubanks to her credit.

Things are already starting to heat up ahead of this weekend’s UFC London card.

Ilia Topuria and Paddy Pimblett were involved in a brief altercation at the promotion’s host hotel on Tuesday. Topuria shared a video on social media of the incident, which saw punches and water bottles thrown before the fighters were separated.

“I warned you! This is what happens when you disrespect me and my country!” Topuria wrote on Instagram. “You saw me and wanted to greet me because you s—t your pants… and you should thank my team because if it wasn’t for them separating me, I would have taken your head off. This is not twitter, this is real life.”

Topuria, who is 11-0 as a professional and 3-0 in the UFC, is slated to meet Jai Herbert in a featherweight bout at UFC Fight Night 204 on Saturday. Pimblett, meanwhile, is set to square off against Rodrigo Vargas at 155 pounds after the ex-Cage Warriors champion was victorious in his first promotional appearance.

Pimblett …