Martial Arts News

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkXWycgxQcw&w=640&h=360] Rizin Fighting Federation's third cagefighting event is set, as all 14 mixed martial artists made weight for Rizin Trigger 3rd.

The main event will see a lightweight contest between Luiz Gustavo Felix dos Santos and Yusuke Yachi. The 10-2 Brazilian is looking to rebound after a disappointing TKO loss to Patricky Freire, and is 2-2 inside the Japanese promotion. Meanwhile, Yachi (23-12) most recently lost to Roberto de Souza via triangle armbar, but the Japanese veteran had put together back-to-back wins prior to the setback. Both fighters came in under the 71-kilogram limit.

The previously booked match between "Kintaro" Yuto Hokamura and Kazuma Kuramoto was canceled before the weigh-ins. Hokamura fell ill, and "was in a state where he could not move his body tightly," according to the organizer through a translation by Google.

The event will stream live on Rizin's website on Saturday, April 16, …

Per sources, Cynthia Calvillo vs. Nina Nunes is booked for July 9. It will be at flyweight, a 125-pound debut for Nunes in the UFC. pic.twitter.com/gLvstIOofn

— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) April 14, 2022 A notable Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight is changing her mind on moving back down to strawweight after all.

Per the UFC’s broadcast partner of ESPN on Thursday, Nina Nunes (10-7) will be moving up 10 pounds to flyweight, where she will face fellow strawweight ex-pat Cynthia Calvillo (9-4-1). Calvillo was previously booked against Brianna Fortino, but the latter was forced out of their 115-pound affair for undisclosed reasons, stemming from a report by Alex Behunin in March. Instead of remaining on that June 4 card at strawweight, she will stay at flyweight at the UFC Fight Night event on July 9, roughly one month later.

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Nunes has not gotten her hand raised since 2018, when she took home a decision over ex-tit…

Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight staple Neil Magny will not turn down any fight, no matter how risky.

MMA Junkie reported on Thursday that Magny (26-8) had accepted a high-stakes welterweight matchup against Shavkat Rakhmonov (15-0) on June 25. The UFC Fight Night card without a designation at this time is also currently without a location, although it might be held at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas depending on the status of the COVID-19 pandemic. Magny called for this fight nearly two weeks ago at the beginning of April, and he has since posted about this new matchup on his Instagram.

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Magny is currently riding a two-fight win streak, with decision victories over Geoff Neal and Max Griffin to cement his place as a top-15 welterweight. Throughout his last nine appearances since the end of 2017, Magny has pulled off seven wins opposite two defeats, beating the likes of Robbie Lawler, Carlos Condit, the aforementioned Neal and Anthony Rocco M…

#CES68 Main Event News

15-time #UFC vet @TonyRoccoMartin takes on @tvogel47 in the headlining bout of our #Fargo debut May 6, LIVE on @UFCFightPass

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at https://t.co/l9kxAKyGrw pic.twitter.com/VFgmfInyFO — CES MMA (@CESMMA) April 14, 2022 CES MMA has snatched up a noteworthy free agent, who will headline its first jaunt to North Dakota in May.

Ultimate Fighting Championship vet Anthony Rocco Martin parted ways with the promotion at the beginning of January 2021 after ending his contract. He has since signed with CES, and he will make his company debut at CES 68 on May 6. Sherdog was informed of this news from a promotional official on Thursday morning. Martin (17-6) will take on Tyler Vogel (8-5) in the middleweight division as the main event of this fight card in Fargo, N.D.

Martin last competed in June 2020, where he fell short to Neil Magny on the scorecards at UFC 250. While alternating decision wins in his l…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_dG4tJx2Cw&w=640&h=360] Bellator 277 is set after all fighters made weight ahead of its stacked card topped by two title fights.

The main event will be a championship rematch between A.J. McKee and Patricio Freire. McKee (18-0) stayed perfect in his mixed martial arts career by submitting Freire (32-5) in under two minutes to claim the Bellator MMA featherweight title. Now, "Pitbull" will look to reclaim the belt he once held. Both fighters easily made weight, with "Mercenary" weighing 144.4 pounds, while Freire stepped on the scale at 144.6 pounds.

The co-main event is equally important, as Vadim Nemkov will defend his light heavyweight throne against Corey Anderson to conclude the 205-pound tourney. The Russian is 14-2, and has been perfect inside the Bellator cage to date. Anderson (16-5) made his way to the light heavyweight grand prix final to earn a crack at gold, and is coming off a destructive 51-second TKO win over Ry…

The first of four quarterfinals for the Absolute Championship Akhmat lightweight tournament is official.

The promotion announced on Thursday that Davi Ramos (10-4) would be facing Artem Reznikov (22-6) in the first leg of the ACA's lightweight grand prix. The two will throw down in Sochi, Russia, at the Red Arena on June 17, at the event titled ACA 140. Ramos was recently released from the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and the 2015 ADCC champion celebrated his new fight on his Instagram immediately after the news broke. The Brazilian spoke to Sherdog about this matchup on Thursday, discussing his improved training camp and how he will ready himself for this kind of challenge.

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“I was prepared since I was nine to test myself against the best, and definitely Artem Reznikov is one of them,” Ramos explained. “I’m already training hard to face him on June 17 in Sochi in my first fight. I evolved a lot during all [the] time I kept training, making myse…

The long win streak of one of these talented Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweights will come to an end this June.

On Thursday morning, MMA Fighting first reported that Damir Ismagulov (23-1) would be squaring off with Guram Kutateladze (12-2) on June 18. The two lightweights will toe the line at a UFC Fight Night card on that date, and no location has been made official but it might be held at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas if there is not another domestic destination on the books. News of this matchup has since been confirmed by Ismagulov on his Instagram stories page.

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Winner of his last 18 bouts, Russia’s Ismagulov has rattled off four straight unanimous decision wins inside the Octagon since debuting with the company in 2018. Long layoffs have slowed what could otherwise be considered an extremely promising career, as he has notched wins over the likes of Joel Alvarez and Thiago Moises working his way through the division. Ismagulov was book…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n2eSpVAaQI&w=560&h=315]

Jungle Fight two-division champion Willian Souza will face Farid Basharat on Dana White’s Contender Series in Las Vegas on June 26.

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The Brazilian known as “Colorado” was champion at 145 and 135 pounds in Jungle Fight, but he has his sights set on UFC gold at bantamweight.

“The bantamweight champion should watch himself, because I'm coming. I’m here to terrorize the division. And I'll tell you how many fights it will take me to become UFC champion: seven fights,” Souza said in an interview with Sherdog.com.

  A training partner of Deiveson Figueiredo, the 25-year-old “Colorado” has been victorious in 11 of 12 professional outings, with all of his victories coming inside the distance. Most recently, he knockout out Pacceli Afonso Campos Almeida in the second round at Jungle Fight 106.

  “I´m really happy to be able to show Dana how good I am. I have no opponent on my le…

Chris Curtis will square off against Rodolfo Vieira in a middleweight bout at an Ultimate Fighting Championship event on June 25.

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Curtis’ management initially announced the booking via Twitter. The card doesn’t have a location or a headliner at this time.

Curtis will return to action following a breakout 2021 that saw him post a 6-0 record. “The Action Man” closed out that memorable campaign in style with back-to-back stoppage victories over Phil Hawes and Brendan Allen in UFC competition. Curtis was forced to withdraw from a proposed booking against Dricus Du Plessis on April 9.

Vieira, meanwhile, was recently cleared to return to competition following a health scare. The decorated Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner is 8-1 thus far during his MMA tenure. “The Black Belt Hunter” has been victorious in three of his four Octagon appearances and is coming off a third-round submission win over Dustin Stoltzfus at UFC on ESPN 26.

Professional Fighters League was at the forefront of some controversy last week when it came to light that its PFL Challenger Series event on April 1 was pre-recorded..

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As a result, the event was flagged for suspicious activity by U.S. Integrity, a company that monitors betting markets, when odds moved significantly in favor of the winning fighters ahead of that Friday’s broadcast on FuboTV. There was some confusion regarding the event, as all prior PFL Challenger Series events aired live, and numerous sportsbooks received action on the event. That ultimately resulted in some unsettled bets in relation to the event, as well as an ongoing investigation by U.S. Integrity.

The PFL confirmed that the event was indeed taped, however, promotion gambling personality Ian Parker was not present on the broadcast nor were betting lines listed or discussed during the card.

PFL CEO Peter Murray appeared on "The MMA Hour” to further address the controversy…

Marlon Moraes is hanging up the four-ounce gloves following a difficult stretch in which he lost his last four fights by knockout or technical knockout.

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The former World Series of Fighting champion and UFC title challenger announced his retirement through a statement released by his manager, Ali Abdelaziz.

“I want to thank everyone – Sean Shelby, Dana White and the UFC for giving me so many opportunities,” Moraes wrote. “I want to thank my family, my coaches, my manager, everybody who has been around and been part of my career. I’m still gonna be around the sport helping young guys and helping my friends. I also want to say thank you to Mark Henry, Ricardo Almeida, Frankie Edgar and Anderson França.”

Moraes last appeared at UFC Fight Night 203, where he suffered a first-round KO defeat to Yadong Song on March 12. Prior to that, the 33-year-old American Top Team representative had suffered successive TKO losses at the hands of Merab Dvalishvil…

Although Chan Sung Jung took a horrific beating in a fourth-round technical knockout loss to Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 273, “The Korean Zombie” will only be sidelined for a minimal period of time.

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Jung received a 14-day medical suspension – as did Volkanovski – for their featherweight championship headliner, which took place at Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla., this past Saturday. Fighters who suffer a KO/TKO defeat or take part in a difficult fight typically receive at least a 30- or 60-day term from other athletic commissions.

The Florida State Boxing Commission released a full list of medical suspensions from the event on Tuesday. The nature of each suspension was not disclosed.

No fighter on the UFC 273 bill received longer than a 45-day suspension with the exception of Tecia Torres, who received an indefinite layoff from the FSBC. Torres lost a closely-contested split decision to Mackenzie Dern in a strawweight bout…