Martial Arts News

Light Heavyweight Bout Featuring Yoel Romero Against Melvin Manhoef Added to @BELLATORMMA's Return to Paris on May 6https://t.co/OAgR5ViRld

— Bellator Public Relations (@BellatorPR) February 10, 2022 The combined age of this newly announced Bellator MMA co-headliner will be a few days shy of 91.

The organization released the news of three bouts on Thursday for its Bellator Paris showcase on May 6 at the Accor Arena in Paris, with venerable vets taking the stage in the co-main event. While Ryan Bader vs. Cheick Kongo 2 – a total of 84 years of age – will claim the marquee spot for the heavyweight strap, light heavyweights will hit the cage immediately before them. Yoel Romero (13-6) will return to the promotion for his sophomore appearance against the well-traveled Melvin Manhoef (32-15-1, 2 NC).

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship title challenger Romero left the UFC on a three-fight skid, with decision losses to Robert Whittaker, Pau…

It should come as no surprise that Denys Bondar is facing a lenghty medical suspension following his appearance at UFC Fight Night 200.

Bondar must have his left elbow cleared by an orthopedic doctor or he will be out until Aug. 5. At a minimum he is suspended until March 23 with no contact until March 8. Bondar suffered the injury when he posted his arm during a scramble in his flyweight matchup with Malcolm Gordon this past Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The bout was halted 1:22 into Round 1 once Bondar yelled in pain and indicated he could not continue.

A full list of medical suspensions from the event was recently released by mixedmartialarts.com.

Seven other fighters from the card are facing potential six-month terms pending doctor clearance: Punahele Soriano (left knee), Sam Alvey (tooth), Michael Trizano (left ribs), Alexis Davis (left elbow), Julija Stoliarenko (left mandible), Danilo Marques (left shoulder) and Philip Rowe (right knee).

Just days before his rematch with Robert Whittaker at UFC 271, middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has signed a new contract with the promotion.

While Adesanya wouldn’t get into specifics regarding terms, he did indicate that it was financially significant. A separate announcement by his management, Paradigm Sports, revealed that it was a multi-fight contract.

“I just signed a new, crazy deal with the UFC. It’s a big deal. It’s a fucking big deal … It hasn’t hit me yet,” Adesanya said at UFC 271 media day. “If I was just gonna do this for the money and bounce, I would’ve done this maybe three fights ago, to be honest. I’m kind of set.

“It’s not about money. This is about legacy. This is about martial arts. This is about learning. I haven’t lost that step. I’m still hungry. The thing i want to know is: What’s my value to the company? You can’t undersell my value. If you are, you’re kidding yourself.”

Congrats to Israel Adesanya on sig…

Dhiego Lima is calling it a career after 24 professional fights.

The 33-year-old Brazilian, who trains out of American Top Team Atlanta, announced his decision via Instagram. Lima had been scheduled to face Miguel Baeza at UFC Fight Night on April 16.

“Hey guys I am making this post to announce that I will be retiring from fighting,” Lima wrote. “My timing and God’s timing is completely different. I feel like I’m in my prime, but He has bigger and better plans for my life. I know when God speaks to me, and He was clear that my fighting days are over.

“Thank you for everyone that has supported me through this journey. One thing I do is obey God even when I don’t want to and that’s the a lesson I hope you take from this: His plans are always better. Thank you [UFC] for my career and always taking care of me. I will be around as a coach there because I have plenty of young guns that will make it, and I will be there for them!!”

Lima later elaborated on his …

A welterweight showdown between Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos and Mounir Lazzez has been added to the lineup for an Ultimate Fighting Championship card on April 16.

MMAFighting.com was first to report the booking. The UFC Fight Night event takes place at an as yet to be announced location and is headlined by a rematch between Vicente Luque and Belal Muhammad.

Dos Santos last appeared at UFC 267, where he authored a lopsided beatdown in a unanimous decision win over Benoit St. Denis this past October. The 35-year-old Brazilian is 2-2 in his last four Octagon appearances, also earning a win over Alexey Kunchenko in March 2020.

Lazzez, meanwhile, gained some attention when he defeated knockout artist Abdul Razak Alhassan via unanimous decision in his Octagon debut at UFC on ESPN 13. In his next outing, the Tunisian didn’t fare so well, falling to Warlley Alves in a first-round TKO loss at UFC on ESPN 20.

Adam Borics and Mads Burnell will square off with a featherweight title shot on the line in the Bellator 276 main event on March 12.

Promotion officials announced the pairing on Wednesday. Bellator 276 takes place at The Family Arena in St. Louis and will see former light heavyweight king Phil Davis square off against Julius Anglickas in the evening’s co-headliner. The main card airs on Showtime at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, while prelims stream on the Bellator YouTube channel, the Showtime Sports YouTube channel and Pluto TV beginning at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT.

Two other bouts were also confirmed for Bellator 276: a main card lightweight matchup pitting Jay-Jay Wilson against Gadzhi Rabadanov and a preliminary light heavyweight scrap between Alex Polizzi and Jose Augusto Azevedo Barros.

Borics has been victorious in eight of his nine appearances within the California-based promotion. In his lone outing of 2021, the 28-year-old Hungarian outpointed former UFC and Profes…

Friday’s highly anticipated title clash between Bibiano Fernandes and John Lineker scheduled for One Championship “Bad Blood” will not take place as originally planned.

The 145-pound title bout was canceled after Lineker tested positive for COVID-19. It’s currently unclear if the Singapore-based promotion will rebook the matchup for a future event. MMAFighting.com was first to report the news of Lineker’s positive test, which occurred at some point after his arrival in Singapore.

Fernandes later confirmed the cancellation on his Instagram account while also indicating that the fight will be rescheduled at a later date.

"It is with a heavy heart that I have to announce the fight between me and John Lineker has been postponed," Fernandes wrote. "Unfortunately John Lineker tested positive for COVID 19 and is unable to fight at this time. I wish him a full and quick recovery.

"I’m sorry to all of my fans for the disappointing news. I will be ready once the fi…

Bellator MMA has a timeline for its highly-anticipated rematch between A.J. McKee and Patricio Freire.

The featherweight championship clash has been targeted for a Bellator event in April, though it could also take place in May. The bout and its potential date were initially reported by Ariel Helwani. A venue and location have not been announced.

McKee completed his rise to the top of the 145-pound division this past July, defeating Freire via first-round submission in the Bellator 263 headliner in Los Angeles. The 26-year-old Team Bodyshop representative is 18-0 as a professional, with all of his triumphs coming under the Bellator banner. His ledger includes wins over the likes of Darrion Caldwell, Georgi Karakhanyan, Pat Curran, John Teixeira and Justin Lawrence.

Freire had a seven-bout winning streak snapped in his loss to McKee. That included a run through the featherweight grand prix that saw him best Juan Archuleta, Pedro Carvalho and Emmanuel Sanchez to r…

OH. MY. GOODNESS.

@DricusDuPlessis putting South Africa on the map! #UFC264 pic.twitter.com/kinqJld3o9

— UFC (@ufc) July 11, 2021 Barring any late additions or cancellations, the lineup for UFC 273 appears to be nearly complete.

The Las Vegas-based promotion confirmed multiple rumored bouts for the April 9 event in a release on Tuesday, including a middleweight clash between Dricus Du Plessis and Chris Curtis. UFC 273 will take place at Vystar Veteran’s Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla., and is headlined by a featherweight title tilt between Alexander Volkanovski and Chan Sung Jung. In the co-main event, Aljamain Sterling and Petr Yan will square off in a bantamweight championship rematch.

The UFC has made Jacksonville a regular destination for major events since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

“It’s an honor to welcome back the UFC and its president, Dana White, to the city of Jacksonville,” Mayor Lenny Curry sa…

An intriguing featherweight showdown pitting Dan Ige against Movsar Evloev is currently in the works for an Ultimate Fighting Championship event on June 4.

ESPN was first to report the booking. The card does not have a location or headliner at this point in time. Ige vs. Evloev is close to being finalized, according to the report.

A success story from Season 1 of Dana White’s Contender Series, Ige kicked off his promotional tenure with victories in six of his first seven Octagon appearances. “50K” has fallen on hard times recently, however, losing three of his last four UFC bouts. In his last outing, Ige dropped a unanimous decision to Josh Emmett at UFC 269.

Undefeated in 15 professional fights, Evloev has emerged as one of the division’s top prospects. The former M-1 Global champion is 5-0 in UFC competition, including wins over Nik Lentz and Hakeem Dawodu in 2021. Evloev was supposed to face Ilia Topuria at UFC 270 before the Russian was forced to withdraw fr…

After many months of bad blood on social media, Brazilians John Lineker and Bibiano Fernandes will fight for One Championship bantamweight belt on Friday in Singapore.

“That fight was supposed to happen four months ago. Once it was postponed, I ended up having one of the longest camps of my career,” Fernandes told Sherdog.com.

During his training, Fernandes, who has been competing under the One banner since 2012, split time between Brazil and Canada.

"I started adjusting my jiu-jitsu in my homeland of Manaus, and then I went to Rio de Janeiro to improve my striking with Gustavo Ximu and got my fifth-degree black belt under Master Oswaldo Alves,” Fernandes said. “After that, I came back home to Canada to finish my camp with a lot of wrestling and muay Thai. The fact is that I trained a lot for this fight and Lineker will face the best version of myself to date.”

In regards to his opponent’s strategy, Fernandes predicts a more measured Lineker on fight …

Andre Pederneiras believes Rafael dos Anjos has what it takes to ascend to the top of the lightweight division once again.

The Nova Uniao trainer will be in dos Anjos’ corner when the ex-155 pound champ squares off against rising contender Rafael Fiziev in the UFC Fight Night 201 headliner at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Feb. 19.

“RDA is the dream of every trainer,” Pederneiras told Sherdog.com. “If you tell him to climb a high mountain and jump from the top, he does, without asking. When you work with a guy like him, you easily understand why he won a title in the lightweight division and challenged for [the interim belt] at welterweight. That´s why I believe not only will he win on Feb. 19, but I truly believe he will get a title shot again.”

Pederneiras is confident a five-round fight will favor his athlete, who has gone the distance in numerous championship and headlining affairs over the course of his UFC career.

“One of the strongest points of RDA i…