Martial Arts News

After a September bout fell through, Jim Miller and Nikolas Motta have been rebooked for the UFC’s Fight Night card slated for Feb. 19.

Iridium Sports Agency, which manages Motta, initially announced the pairing. UFC Fight Night takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a lightweight clash pitting Rafael dos Anjos against Rafael Fiziev. The initial meeting between Miller and Motta was scrapped at UFC Fight Night 192 when Miller had to withdraw due to a positive COVID test.

A 37-time Octagon veteran, Miller snapped a two-bout skid in his most recent Octagon appearance, when he knocked out Erick Gonzalez in the second round at UFC Fight Night 195 this past October. The New Jersey native has lost three of his last five promotional outings dating back to 2020.

Motta is a former Cage Fury Fighting Championships title holder who signed with the UFC after a decision win over Joseph Lowry in November 2020. The 28-year-old Brazilian has had his debut …

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the UFC live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. The battle for the best Rafael in the Ultimate Fighting Championship is on the books for a five-rounder in February. Twitter user Full Violence posted about Rafael dos Anjos (30-13) vs. Rafael Fiziev (11-1) coming together on Thursday night. The UFC’s broadcast partner of ESPN subsequently confirmed on Friday that this 155-pound encounter would headline the UFC Fight Night event on Feb. 19. The two top-ranked lightweights that had been chirping at one another on social media will come to blows at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Dos Anjos came back to the lightweight division in 2020 after eight bouts at 170 pounds including an interim title fight. His return to the division in which he was champ saw him defeat Paul Felder by a head-scratching split decision in which he likely won all five rounds in the eyes of most observers. The Bra…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVV5c0Jew0Y&w=560&h=315] A talented young Bellator MMA prospect has his next test in front of him this month.

On Friday, Bellator sources confirmed to Sherdog that Lucas Brennan (5-0) would be returning to the Bellator cage on Jan. 29. At Bellator 273, the 21-year-old son of longtime vet Chris Brennan will be facing Ben Lugo (5-4) in the featherweight division. As a pro, every one of Brennan’s fights have come inside the Bellator cage, while Lugo will be making his promotional debut on this fight card.

The man known as “Skywalker” has not missed a step since turning pro in 2019, rattling off four finishes in five victories all for the Bellator promotion. Most recently, Brennan submitted Matt Skibicki with an anaconda choke in June 2021 to continue his win streak. Of note, Brennan’s forearm choke on Jacob Landin at Bellator 233 in 2019 was the first of its kind in organizational history. While the 21-year-old recently told Sherdog…

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the UFC live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. The MMA gods giveth, and the MMA gods taketh away. On Wednesday, Ultimate Fighting Championship head Dana White announced that Alexander Volkanovski (23-1) would be facing Max Holloway (23-6) for the third time atop UFC 272. The two were set to throw down on March 5 inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, but that fight was not meant to be. Per ESPN on Friday, Holloway has aggravated a past injury and can no longer compete on the March 5 card. There is no current word on whether Volkanovski will receive a replacement foe in two months, or if the headliner will shift to Aljamain Sterling vs. Petr Yan 2.

Since a knockout loss in 2013 to Corey Nelson, Volkanovski has looked nigh-unbeatable in the sport. The Aussie has won an incredible 20 fights in a row, including 10 inside the Octagon. On his way up the division, Volkanovski top…

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the UFC live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. It wouldn’t be an Ultimate Fighting Championship card in Houston these days without the inclusion of the great Derrick Lewis. Lewis (26-8, 1 NC) will be back in action less than two months after his last victory when he takes on fellow heavy-handed brawler Tai Tuivasa (13-3) at UFC 271. The news first came from MMA Junkie on Friday, reporting that the two big men will throw down on Feb. 12 inside the Toyota Center in Houston. Other outlets confirmed this booking shortly after its announcement.

“The Black Beast” came back after an unsuccessful effort to vie for the interim strap against Ciryl Gane by shellacking Chris Daukaus in the first round in December. That knockout for the Houstonian put him on top of the list for the most knockouts in UFC history, breaking a tie held by Vitor Belfort and Matt Brown. Over the years, Lewis …

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the UFC live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. The Ultimate Fighting Championship is building up its Houston return to include an impressive offering of matchups, with the latest fun one at 155 pounds. MMA reporter Walter Salcido released news on Thursday of the UFC 271 matchup between Bobby Green (28-12-1) and Nasrat Haqparast (13-4). The lightweights will go to battle inside the Toyota Center in Houston on Feb. 12, and their placement on the billing whether on the main card or preliminaries has yet to be determined. Green has since posted about his excitement to return to Houston, and confirmed the pairing itself on his Instagram Stories.

In his last time out in November, Green punched out Al Iaquinta in 2:25 to earn his first stoppage win since 2013. The victory put an end to a two-fight skid that saw him fall short to Rafael Fiziev and Thiago Moises by close decision in …

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the UFC live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. The new year is starting off troubling for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, which lost a pair of promising Brazilian fighters from the first pay-per-view of 2022. On Thursday morning, MMA Junkie announced that Warlley Alves (14-5) had been forced out of his welterweight clash with the debuting Jack Della Maddalena (10-2) for currently undisclosed reasons. Several hours later, ESPN Deportes broke the story that ranked flyweight Viviane Araujo (10-3) will no longer be facing Alexa Grasso (13-3) due to an injury. The organization is seeking replacements for both Alves and Araujo at UFC 270, which will take place on Jan. 22 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.

Winner of the third season of “The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil,” Alves has struggled as of late to gain any momentum in any direction. The Brazilian has alternated wins and …

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klv2upGSWC8&w=560&h=315] Triller Fight Club is moving full steam ahead to put on another spectacle between boxers and MMA fighters.

In December, the organization announced that Triad Combat 2 would be staged in February. Per a press release on Thursday, this show will be held inside the Toyota Center in Houston on Feb. 26. Headlining the mixed-rules event, as previously reported, is a heavyweight clash between Junior dos Santos and Kubrat Pulev.

The ruleset for this fight card, established at Triad Combat 1 in November, mixes boxing and MMA while not allowing elbows, knees or kicks. These shows will pit boxers against MMA fighters, with the boxing team captained by Shannon Briggs and the MMA fighters coached by Quinton Jackson. As a result of the rules in place, these matches are not considered professional boxing or MMA bouts. The round lengths will vary from fight to fight, and the dos Santos-Pulev tilt will take place across…

title fights, 𝐇𝐔𝐆𝐄 night at the @HondaCenter

[ #UFC270 | Jan 22 | @HondaCenter | Tickets https://t.co/0noMO5ApuD ] pic.twitter.com/n5MMFlqzTt

— UFC (@ufc) January 2, 2022 Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the UFC live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. For the second year in a row, the Ultimate Fighting Championship will see the price of a pay-per-view rise by an extra $5.

First reported by Newsday Sports on Thursday and subsequently confirmed by Sherdog, the UFC will now be charging $74.99 for a PPV purchased through ESPN+. This follows a price hike from January 2021, where the promotion and its broadcast partner lifted the price from $64.99 to $69.99. The annual subscription fee for ESPN+ is now set at $69.99, which in itself is an increase from the previous year’s $59.99. It is currently unclear whether current yearly subscribers will be allowed to re-up at the previou…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIIkZ9C7EII&w=560&h=315] Bellator MMA lightweight champ Patricky Freire will only step aside for one man: his brother, Patricio Freire.

After capturing the Bellator lightweight belt at Bellator 270 with an impressive second-round knockout of Peter Queally in front of a hostile Irish crowd this past November, Freire has found himself challenged by featherweight champion A.J. McKee constantly on social media. Once his brother Patricio avenged Patricky’s own loss to Michael Chandler, Patricky saw the opportunity as the perfect path to retribution for what his brother did for him then. Patricky spoke to Sherdog on Wednesday about the possible matchup with McKee, and why he can’t take it yet.

“I would love to beat up McKee for [Patricio], but my brother is ‘too hungry’; he told me to stay away from McKee,” Patricky admitted. “That fight is his, and I obeyed.”

According to the lightweight champion, his return is already set up and his…

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the UFC live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. A beloved Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight is getting a chance to fight in front of a home crowd for the first time in 2014. The news first broke from MMA Fighting on Thursday, announcing that Matt Brown (23-18) will be squaring off with Bryan Barberena (16-8) at the UFC on ESPN event on March 26. The currently unnumbered fight card on the flagship network of the UFC’s broadcast partner will go down inside of the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. The two were previously booked against one another in December, but the pairing fell through when Brown contracted COVID-19.

Brown, who has since confirmed this matchup on his Instagram account, rebounded from a pair of defeats to Miguel Baeza and Carlos Condit by starching Dhiego Lima in June. The 40-year-old Ohioan has seen tough sledding the last several years, winning …

A pair of title bouts featuring familiar foes are on tap for UFC 272.

UFC president Dana White informed broadcast partner ESPN on Wednesday that the Alexander Volkanovski-Max Holloway trilogy will take place at UFC 272 on March 5 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, while Aljamain Sterling and Petr Yan will square off for a second time at the same event. Contracts have not yet been signed for either bout, but both are expected to be finalized soon.

Volkanovski owns a pair of victories over Holloway. The 33-year-old City Kickoxing standout claimed the featherweight crown with a unanimous decision triumph over Holloway at UFC 245 before defending the belt with a highly-contentious split verdict in their rematch at UFC 251. Most recently, he defended the strap with a decision win over Brian Ortega in a “Fight of the Year” candidate at UFC 266 this past September to run his professional winning streak to 20.

Holloway has earned his spot as the top contender after t…