Martial Arts News

Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC

Kai Kara France may have been the so-called “B-side” heading into his UFC 269 matchup with Cody Garbrandt, but he changed perceptions in relatively short order on Saturday night.

Kara France earned the most high-profile victory of his career to date, as he defeated the former bantamweight title holder via first-round technical knockout in a featured bout at the T-Mobile Arena. The City Kickboxing member floored “No Love” with an overhand right during an early exchange and then later put Garbrandt away with a salvo of heavy punches against the fence at the 3:21 mark of Round 1.

“I had to go to the body first. I know he’s got good head movement, one of the best boxers in the UFC,” Kara France said in a post-fight interview. “So I knew the head would be moving a lot, but the chest and the body, it’s gonna stay still. I had to pick my spots. Once I landed the first right hand, he’s wobbled. I thought, OK it could be fi…

After suffering an elbow injury in his last fight against Paul Craig at UFC 255 in November 2020, Mauricio Rua elected not to undergo surgery.

“It was the same place I injured against [Mark] Coleman in Pride,” Rua said. “My doctor thought it was better to recover without surgery and that's what I did. Last August I started to train and now I feel 100 percent, so I´ll ask my manager Eduardo Alonso to set my next fight by March.”

“Shogun” revealed that his plan is to have two more fights before retiring from MMA. He is also interested in the prospect of facing longtime Brazilian Top Team rival Ricardo Arona under submission rules.

“I´m driven by challenges,” Rua said. “My focus is totally on the UFC. I want to fight twice more. But if ADCC or another grappling event promoter invited me to face Arona in submission rules, with all the respect I have for him, I would accept that offer and would fight to win.”

As far as the top of the UFC light heavyweight division, R…

Two fighters who competed on the latest season of Dana White’s Contender Series were suspended by the Nevada State Athletic Commission on Monday.

Lukasz Brzeski was suspended nine months and fined $750 after testing positive for clomiphene in relation to his third-round submission victory against Dylan Potter at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Sept. 14. Brzeski, who received a UFC contract for his efforts, will be eligible to return to action on June 14, 2022. Clomiphene is typically used to treat infertility in women, but it can also help regulate estrogen levels for someone who may have been using performance enhancing drugs.

It’s unclear if the positive test will affect Brzeski’s status with the UFC. The Krakow, Poland native is 9-1-1 as a professional with eight victories coming inside the distance.

Meanwhile, Muin Gafurov was suspended for six months and fined $750 after testing positive for the diuretic canrenone in relation to a split-decision loss to Chad A…

There has already been a change to the main event for Eagle Fighting Championship’s United States debut.

According to an initial report from ESPN, Sergei Kharitonov will step in for Antonio Silva and face Tyrone Spong in the three-round heavyweight headliner. Eagle FC 44 takes place on Jan. 28 at FLX Arena in Miami and is also expected to include the return of former UFC champion Rashad Evans.

A veteran of Pride Fighting Championships, Strikeforce, Bellator, K-1 and Dream, Kharitonov went 1-1 in mixed martial arts bouts in 2021. After suffering a second-round submission loss to Cheick Kongo at Bellator 265, the 41-year-old Russian defeated Fabio Maldonado via first-round TKO at Parus Fight Championship on Nov. 6. Kharitonov also defeated Osborn Machimana in a boxing match at M1 Fight Night this past June.

Spong, meanwhile, has not competed in MMA since going 2-0 under the World Series of Fighting banner from 2012 to 2013. The 36-year-old Suriname native is an a…

One of the biggest stars in Chute Boxe history relished Charles Oliveira’s victory in the UFC 2699 headliner.

A betting underdog heading into the main event, Oliveira submitted Dustin Poirier in the third round of their lightweight championship bout at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night. Mauricio Rua reflected on the triumph of the Chute Boxe Diego Lima product in a recent interview with Sherdog.com.

“What a fight! To tell you the truth, I couldn’t understand the odds having Dustin as favorite after Charles beat all the submission records and has the most finishes in promotion history,” Rua said. “Once again, he had an amazing performance based on his versatility. I hope the critics finally understand why he is wearing the lightweight belt.”

After the bout, Conor McGregor called for a clash with Oliveira in a post on social media. “What date am I fighting Oliveira,” wrote McGregor, who is still recovering from a broken leg suffered in a loss to Poirier i…

Geoff Neal needed a little extra motivation heading into the third round of a closely-contested welterweight clash with Santiago Ponzinibbio at UFC 269.

Enter Fortis MMA head coach Sayif Saud, who delivered a fiery pep talk that propelled Neal into his best round of that fight. “Handz of Steel” outlanded his opponent 46 to 39 in significant strikes over a definitive final stanza, helping seal a split-decision triumph.

“It jarred me a lot. He was being truthful,” Neal said of the corner talk during a post-fight interview. “I needed that round. Just in case a judge wanted to pull split-decision bulls—t, I had to take that round.”

And what exactly was the game plan heading into Round 3?

“Just go forward and punch him in the face,” Neal said. “I wasn’t punching him in the face enough in the first two rounds, so I just had to punch him more in the third round.”

It turns out Neal’s intuition was correct. When the final verdict was announced, the Texan emer…

Ryan Bader and Valentin Moldavsky will square off in a heavyweight championship unification bout at Bellator 273 on Jan. 29.

Promotion officials announced the headlining matchup on Monday. Bellator 273 takes place at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Ariz., and will also see former bantamweight king Darrion Caldwell face UFC veteran Enrique Barzola. The evening’s main card will air on Showtime at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, while the prelims stream at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on Showtime Sports YouTube channel, the Bellator YouTube channel and Pluto TV.

Bader’s last three promotional appearances have come at light heavyweight. After losing the 205-pound belt in a second-round TKO defeat to Vadim Nemkov at Bellator 244, Bader entered the light heavyweight grand prix, where he outpointed Lyoto Machida in the opening round before falling to Corey Anderson via TKO in just 51 seconds in the semifinals on Oct. 16. The Power MMA Team stalwart claimed heavyweight with a grand prix run th…

If Amanda Nunes had won as expected at UFC 269, it could have set the stage for a massive showdown with one of the sport’s top free agents.

Two-time Olympic gold medalist and Professional Fighters League champion Kayla Harrison was in attendance at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday night when Nunes suffered a second-round submission loss to Julianna Pena in arguably the biggest upset of 2021. At the evening’s post-fight press conference, UFC president Dana White addressed what might have been.

“These are those things, man,” White said. “For like a Kayla Harrison, the Amanda Nunes fight was huge. I mean, if they would have faced off, it would have been a massive, you know, mega-million-dollar fight.”

Harrison became a free agent after winning the PFL 155-pound title for a second time this past October. The judoka is 12-0 thus far in her professional career and has rarely been challenged inside the cage while amassing 10 finishes. Her next destination has not been determ…

Even in retirement, Khabib Nurmagomedov looms large over the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s lightweight division.

While Charles Oliveira has respect for the undefeated Dagestani, he believes his accomplishments have allowed him to escape the shadow of the former 155-pound title holder. Oliveira earned his 10th consecutive triumph in the UFC 269 headliner on Saturday, submitting Dustin Poirier with a rear-naked choke 62 seconds into the third round of their championship encounter at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

“[Khabib Nurmagomedov] was a great fighter, a great champion,” Oliveira said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “He had his history and his legacy, but he retired and now legacy and history have a new name at lightweight, and it’s Charles Oliveira.”

Despite entering UFC 269 as the defending champion, Oliveira was an underdog against Poirier, who turned down a title shot earlier this year in favor of a lucrative trilogy against Conor McGregor.…

When you beat an opponent that was widely regarded as the greatest female fighter of all-time, you get a little bit more power at the bargaining table. That doesn’t mean Julianna Pena is going to make Amanda Nunes wait, however.

Pena scored arguably the biggest upset of 2021 — and one of the biggest in UFC history — when she submitted Nunes to claim the bantamweight crown in the UFC 269 co-main event at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night. Given Nunes’ track record, it seems possible that a rematch could be imminent, and that’s something Pena is willing to embrace.

“We can do it next, I’m free next month, two months from now – whenever they want to do it I’m ready,” Pena said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “If she wants to do a rematch, we can do a rematch. I’ve always been a company girl. Whatever they want to do — we’ll talk about that later. I just want to enjoy the moment right now.”

After dropping the opening round to the reigning …

After five minutes in the Octagon with Charles Oliveira in the UFC 269 main event, Dustin Poirier liked his chances.

“I felt good,” Poirier said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “After the first round sitting on my stool going into the second, [I’m] drinking water and thinking ‘I’m gonna be the world champion tonight.’ It’s such a crazy thing that we do.”

Poirier flashed his power in Round 1, dropping Oliveira while landing a whopping 54 significant strikes in the frame. Momentum shifted in the second stanza, however, when he rolled to escape an armbar attempt and ended up on his back. Poirier would spend the rest of the round on the canvas as Oliveira battered him with elbows from above. Poirier’s efforts to scramble out of the position were limited because he didn’t want to risk being submitted, but as it turned out, that approach only delayed the inevitable.

“I knew his jiu-jitsu was some of the best — most submissions in UFC history coming into thi…

ABSOLUTE CHAOS AND FANFARE AFTER PEÑA WON #UFC269 pic.twitter.com/e0dNAdKBkn

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) December 12, 2021

Julianna Pena’s upset victory over Amanda Nunes shocked fans and fighters alike, but Michael Chiesa’s attempt to celebrate with his teammate, while well intended, ultimately was a moment to forget.

When Pena submitted Nunes with a rear-naked choke in the second-round in the UFC 269 co-main event, video footage from promotion broadcast partner ESPN captures Chiesa climbing over the railing in an attempt to rush the Octagon in the immediate aftermath of the fight. According to UFC president Dana White, Chiesa suffered some minor cuts and bruises before being escorted out of the arena by police. The incident was later confirmed by MMAFighting.com with someone from Chiesa's camp.

“How do I say this without embarrassing the guy,” White said at the UFC 269 post-fight press conference. “He had a little bit too much to drink this …