Martial Arts News

Mads Burnell will lock horns with Pedro Carvalho in a featherweight bout at Bellator Dublin.

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Severe MMA was first to report the pairing. Bellator Dublin takes place on Sept. 23 at 3Arena in Dublin and is headlined by a lightweight clash between Benson Henderson and Peter Queally, while Yoel Romero and Melvin Manhoef will square off in the co-main event.

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Burnell had a seven-bout winning streak snapped in his last outing, when he dropped a five-round verdict to Adam Borics in the Bellator 276 headliner. The former UFC and Cage Warriors competitor began his Bellator tenure with triumphs over Darko Banovic, Saul Rogers and Emmanuel Sanchez.

A Portugal native who trains at SBG Ireland, Carvalho has lost three of his last fo…

BREAKING: The 2022 #PFLPlayoffs dates & locations are OFFICIAL!

NYC, Cardiff & London pic.twitter.com/Si6t8SzD4H

— PFL (@PFLMMA) May 24, 2022

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The Professional Fighters League is going international for part of its 2022 playoffs.

In conjunction with a partnership with Live Nation, the promotion announced Tuesday that back-to-back postseason events — Aug. 13 at Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff, Wales, and Aug. 20 at Copperbox Arena in London — will be held in the United Kingdom.

“We’re delighted to partner with the Professional Fighters League to deliver their first U.K. events this Summer,” said Live Nation U.K. vice president of sport & family entertainment Sean Ryman. “The PFL is a global brand in combat sports with an elite roster of athletes, the U.K. is excited and ready for this and it’s long overdue.”

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the Professional Fighters League and UFC…

The hometown arrival of a champion pic.twitter.com/OzhxupuPfm

— Mark La Monica (@LaMonicaMark) May 23, 2022

UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling was a prominent figure during a “homecoming rally” in his hometown of Uniondale, N.Y., on Monday.

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Sterling rode atop a Nassau County fire marshall’s truck and waved to those in attendance as part of a parade. The video was captured by Newsday MMA reporter Mark LaMonica. May 23 was declared “Aljamain Sterling Day” by Nassau County.

“I'm an emotional guy. I get emotional even just being up here in front of you guys because this is like, you know,” Sterling said while speaking on a stage at his alma mater, Uniondale High School (via Newsday). “I was a small kid and to be doing this, man, truly, truly blessed. Some times I really do still think I'm dreaming and wonder when I'm gonna wake up.

“Man I got a day. This is insane.”

A few pix …

A bantamweight clash pitting “The Ultimate Fighter 29” winner Ricky Turcios against Aiemann Zahabi has been added to the lineup for a UFC event on July 9.

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The promotion announced the bout on Monday. The card is headlined by a lightweight showdown between Rafael dos Anjos and Rafael Fiziev.

Turcios advanced through the reality show with decision wins over Dan Argueta and Liudvik Sholinian before garnering a split verdict against Brady Hiestand in the finale at UFC on ESPN 30 on Aug. 28. The Team Alpha Male product known as “Pretty Ricky” has compiled an 11-2 career mark while competing in organizations such as Bellator, Fury Fighting Championship and King of the Cage.

Zahabi, meanwhile, is 2-2 in four Octagon appearances. The 34-year-old Tristar Gym representative is coming off a first-round KO of Drako Rodriguez at UFC Fight Night 185 in February 2021.

Makwan Amirkhani will lock horns with Jonathan Pearce in a featherweight bout at UFC London on July 23.

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Pearce’s management, Iridium Sports Agency, first brought word of the booking. UFC Fight Night takes place at the O2 Arena in London and is headlined by a heavyweight showdown between Curtis Blaydes and Tom Aspinall.

Amirkhani halted a three-bout skid in his last outing, when he submitted Mike Grundy with an anaconda choke in 57 seconds at UFC Fight Night 204 on March 19. Prior to that, “Mr. Finland” had fallen to Lerone Murphy, Kamuela Kirk and Edson Barboza in succession. Amirkhani kicked off his promotional tenure with five wins in his first six appearances but has since lost four of six.

A winner on Season 3 of Dana White’s Contender Series, Pearce has rebounded from a TKO loss to Joe Lauzon in his Octagon debut with three consecutive triumphs. Most recently, the Fight Ready representative outpointed Christian Rodriguez at UFC Fight Ni…

Spotlight is on Asia's top prospects!

Here are the tournament brackets for the Who will emerge victoriously and realize their Octagon dreams?

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Opening round of #RoadToUFC kicks off this June 9-10 during #UFC275 fight week! — UFC_Asia (@UFC_Asia) May 23, 2022

The quarterfinal matchups are official for the “Road to UFC” tournament.

The Las Vegas-based promotion on Monday announced the four eight-man brackets, which will be contested at flyweight, bantamweight, featherweight and lightweight on June 9 and June 10 at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang Singapore. Semifinals and finals will take place later in the year, and each tournament winner will receive a UFC contract.

Each card also includes one non-tournament fight from a different weight class, giving those athletes a chance to impress and earn a spot on the Las Vegas-based promotion’s roster, as well. The “Road to UFC” includes fighters from Japan, Korea, Phi…

Eagle FC 47 main event ends after Junior dos Santos dislocates his shoulder pic.twitter.com/DMRhp1j84D

— Eagle FC (@EagleFightClub) May 21, 2022

Junior dos Santos is in relatively high spirits even after his night ended early in the Eagle FC 47 main event.

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The former UFC heavyweight champion was performing relatively well through two rounds against Yorgan De Castro on Friday night at FLXcast Arena in Miami before he appeared to dislocate his shoulder throwing a right hand in the third round of the bout. After a brief pause in the action, the fight was called off 35 seconds into Round 3, sending dos Santos to his fifth consecutive defeat.

“Cigano” released a video over the weekend providing an update on his condition. He also seemed pleased with the fight up until the injury, as he had De Castro off balance thanks to leg kicks, jabs and punching combinations to the head and body.

“My shoulder is back into place. In…

After a layoff that spanned nearly two years and a couple of bout cancellations, Holly Holm felt she put together a fight-winning performance against Ketlen Vieira on Saturday night.

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While she had popular opinion in her corner, two of the three cageside judges saw things differently, as Vieira emerged with a controversial split-decision triumph in the UFC Fight Night 206 headliner at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Michael Bell and Derek Cleary submitted 48-47 scorecards for Vieira, while Sal D’Amato had it 48-47 in favor of Holm. Meanwhile, 18 of the 20 media submitted tallies for Holm, according to MMADecisions.com.

“It’s just frustrating, because I think a lot of times these judges haven’t been through a training camp and see what you put on the line, and then when it comes short, just because they decide, ‘Well maybe I’ll throw this round here or this round there,’” Holm said on the UFC Fight Night 206 post-fight show on ESPN+.

“I don’t agree w…

Ketlen Vieira added another significant feather to her cap on Saturday night.

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Some six months after besting Miesha Tate, Vieira defeated another former champion, taking a hard-fought — and somewhat contentious — split decision triumph against Holly Holm in the UFC Fight Night 206 headliner at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Vieira was still competing on the regional circuit when Holm became a massive star by knocking out Ronda Rousey at UFC 193 in November 2015.

“As I was growing up and watching MMA in Manaus, Amazonas, I still had dreams of coming to the UFC, and I watched her shock the world and beat Ronda Rousey,” Vieira said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “And just like other fighters I mentioned like Miesha Tate and others, I’ve always wanted to fight them and be a part of this. So ever since I started, I’ve always wanted to fight her.”

While many observers thought that Holm deserved the nod on the scorecards, Vieira wasn’t impress…

Alex Davis, who was one of the founding members of American Top Team, recently moved to Las Vegas to open ATT Nevada.

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The move benefits his role as manager, considering Las Vegas is the fight capital of the world. However, things have not been easy for Davis’ clients the past two weeks, first with Norma Dumont at UFC 274 and then last week, with Amanda Ribas’ move to flyweight against Katlyn Chookagian. Ribas ended up losing via unanimous decision in a “Fight of the Night”-winning bout, and afterward revealed that she fought with a ruptured biceps tendon in her left arm.

"Amanda is an unbelievable warrior, a little samurai. I am extremely proud of her,” Davis told Sherdog.com.

Davis said it was never a consideration for Ribas to withdraw from the bout.

"Her injury was not threatening nor was it something that would keep her out of the fight,” Davis said. “Yes, it was an injury that put her at a disadvantage but she decided to fight through…

The UFC bantamweight title rematch between Julianna Pena and Amanda Nunes has an official date and venue.

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The promotion announced on Saturday that Pena vs. Nunes 2 will headline UFC 277 at American Airlines Arena in Dallas on July 30. A previously reported interim flyweight title tilt pitting Brandon Moreno against Kai Kara France was confirmed as the card’s co-main event.

Pena and Nunes served as opposing coaches on “The Ultimate Fighter 30” to set the stage for their rematch. Pena pulled off the biggest upset of 2021, when she submitted Nunes with a rear-naked choke in the second round of their clash at UFC 269 to claim the bantamweight crown. “The Venezuelan Vixen” has been victorious in seven of nine Octagon appearances.

Prior to her shocking loss to Pena, Nunes was widely regarded as the top female pound-for-pound talent in the world and the greatest female MMA fighter of all-time. The 33-year-old “Lioness” had won 12 straight fights hea…

Chidi Njokuani is compiling quite the highlight reel thus far in his Ultimate Fighting Championship tenure.

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The former Bellator MMA talent earned a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus thanks to a vicious standing elbow knockout of Dusko Todorovic in a featured middleweight encounter at UFC Fight Night 206 on Saturday. “Chidi Bang Bang” brought an end to the contest at the 4:48 mark of Round 1. The victory comes on the heels of a 16-second KO of Marc-Andre Barriault in his Octagon debut.

Elsewhere, Michel Pereira and Santiago Ponzinibbio received “Fight of the Night” honors and $50,000 apiece for an entertaining slugfest in the evening’s welterweight co-main event. Both combatants traded liberally throughout the contest, but Pereira ultimately did just enough to capture a split-decision triumph.

Finally, Chase Hooper garnered the evening’s other $50,000 “Performance of the Night” award for his finish of Felipe Dias Colares in a prelimina…