Martial Arts News

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Merab Dvalishvili coach John Wood believes Sean O'Malley will mentally break faster than he will physically.

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Dvalishvili gets his long-awaited bantamweight title shot against O’Malley in the main event at UFC 306 on Sept. 14 at the Sphere in Las Vegas. While Dvalishvili has previously vowed to knock O’Malley out, Wood has a more realistic prediction for the fight. The Syndicate MMA head coach believes Dvalishvili will take over after the second stanza, applying his signature pressure to eventually rope in a unanimous decision win. Wood also believes that getting to “Sugar” mentally will be easier than breaking him physically.

“A smart man’s bet? I would say five-round unanimous decision Merab,” Wood recently told Red Corner MMA. “I think we take control after the second and it’s all gas with Merab, but it’s gonna be technical gas. And I think we put the kind of pressure on Sean that he just can’t deal with. Not that he can’t deal …

Two new bouts have been added to the UFC Fight Night 245 lineup.

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Brady Hiestand (8-2) will take on Jake Hadley (11-3) in a bantamweight clash on the Oct. 19 card. The matchup was announced by the Iridium Sports Agency.

Hiestand has racked up three straight wins — with finishes in his last two bouts — after dropping a split decision against Ricky Turcios in his UFC debut in 2021. Coming off a third-round submission win over Garrett Armfield from this past June, this will the first time “Bam Bam” fights more than once a year in the UFC.

Meanwhile, having started his career at flyweight, Hadley has seemingly found a new home at bantamweight after his last outing. A Contender Series graduate, the Englishman went 2-3 at flyweight to start his UFC journey. Hadley moved up a weight class for a short notice matchup against Irish prospect Caolan Loughran at UFC 304 in Manchester, England, this past July after Ramon Taveras pulled out. An underdog goi…

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Alexandre Pantoja seemingly has his eyes on Tatsuro Taira.

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Pantoja is coming off a successful title defense against Steve Erceg at UFC 301 in Brazil this past May. Erceg’s title shot came partly due to a lack of worthy opponents available for the Brazilian champ.

Pantoja already owns a pair of victories over Brandon Moreno and Brandon Royval and with Amir Albazi recovering from neck surgery, Pantoja admits he still doesn’t have a clear challenger for the title. However, he is keen on defending his strap by the end of the year, regardless of the opponent.

“I don’t have like a real opponent right now,” Pantoja recently said on UFC Unfiltered. “I don’t know what’s happening. But I want [to fight] by the end of the year. Doesn’t matter who, I’m gonna be ready.”

While he might not have a clear opponent in mind, Pantoja is seemingly keeping an eye on Tatsuro Taira, who takes on Royval in a five-round UFC Fight Night headline…

The matchup we've all been waiting for 👀

How excited are you for the #UFC308 co-main event? pic.twitter.com/BqAXk2oAsJ

— UFC (@ufc) September 1, 2024

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The original UFC 308 co-main event between Robert Whittaker and Khamzat Chimaev is seemingly still in place, although an apparent mistake on the promotion’s social media channels briefly made it seem as though the fight was in jeopardy.

Whittaker and Chimaev were originally scheduled to fight in the main event at UFC on ABC 6 this past June before “Borz” pulled out due to a severe illness. Whittaker went on score a first-round knockout over Ikram Aliskerov, who replaced Chimaev on short notice. The highly anticipated matchup between Whittaker and Chimaev was rescheduled for a five-round co-main event at UFC 308 on Oct. 26 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.

However, the matchup was briefly cast into doubt by the promotion on Sunday. The UFC tweeted that Ciryl Gane vs…

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It seems likely that Alexander Volkanovski won’t fight again before the end of the year.

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The 35-year-old Australian is confident that he will be next in line to face the winner of the featherweight championship clash between Ilia Topuria and Max Holloway that is slated for UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi on Oct. 26. Volkanovski hasn’t competed since relinquishing the 145-pound strap in a second-round knockout loss to Topuria at UFC 298 on Feb. 17. Volkanovski had considered taking a bout at lightweight but appears to have ultimately decided against that option.

“That’s exactly what’s happening. So I can wait or if I don’t want to wait, I can do something else. Or just wait, and the UFC has made that clear. Obviously, that’s probably what I’m going to do,” Volkanovski recently told Sky Sports New Zealand.

“I could have maybe done a lightweight fight, I think there’s a lot of exciting fights there, but the UFC aren’t big fans of floating. …

A women’s flyweight clash pitting Veronica Hardy against Eduarda Moura has been added to the UFC 309 lineup.

Ag.Fight was first to report the booking. UFC 309 takes place on Nov. 16 at Madison Square Garden in New York. A headliner has not been officially announced for the event, but it is expected that Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic will top the card.

After beginning her promotional tenure with three consecutive defeats, the 28-year-old Hardy has been victorious in four of her last five Octagon appearances. Most recently, Hardy outpointed J.J. Aldrich at UFC on ESPN 56 on May 11.

Moura, meanwhile, earned a UFC contract on Dana White’s Contender Series in August 2023. The Brazilian then scored a second-round TKO of Montserrat Ruiz in her Octagon debut before suffering her first defeat in 11 professional outings via split decision against Denise Gomes at UFC on ESPN 57 this past June.

A change in priorities influenced Carla Esparza’s decision to retire after UFC 307.

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Esparza will be returning from pregnancy and childbirth for a rematch against Tecia Pennington at UFC 307 on Oct. 5 in Salt Lake City, Utah. While announcing her return fight, “Cookie Monster” also r revealed that it’ll be the last one of her career.

More recently, Esparza elaborated on her retirement decision, citing a variety of factors. Esparza noted that the unforgiving sport has often seen the best of the best take a steep fall from grace toward the end of their careers, like B.J. Penn, Anderson Silva or Tony Ferguson. While Esparza hasn’t reached a point where she is desperately hanging on to the roster, she just isn’t able to make the kind of commitment she used to after the birth of her child. And not being “all-in” feels like doing an injustice to the sport for the former two-time UFC strawweight champion.

“We’ve seen it time and time again, the sport…

⚡️🇵🇸Belal Muhammad told a story how he started in MMA.

I saw my high school teacher fighting in Strikeforce on Showtime. I sent him a message, and it turned out the gym was near my mom's house. I linked up with him and started training. I just fell in love with the sport...

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I… pic.twitter.com/xPu1vTvgkI — Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) August 31, 2024

Belal Muhammad probably wouldn’t have ventured into mixed martial arts if not for his high school wrestling coach.

Growing up in Chicago, Muhammad went to Bogan High School, where he tried his hand at wrestling for two years. Muhammad then joined the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign to study law and had no plans of dabbling in sports.

However, he was intrigued to see his high school wrestling coach competing in MMA at Strikeforce, which was acquired by the UFC in 2011. Muhammad reached out to his teacher and found out that the gym the teacher trained…

Carlos Prates believes Michael Page is having nightmares about him.

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According to Prates, the UFC is interested in matching him up against “MVP.” However, “The Nightmare” accuses the former Bellator MMA star of not answering the phone.

“I heard that the company wants to give me [Michael Page], but he doesn’t answer the phone. You must be having nightmares by now!” Prates wrote on Instagram.

Prates earned a UFC contract with a knockout win over Mitch Ramirez on Dana White's Contender Series last year. Prates has since scored three knockout wins in as many UFC outings this year, earning himself an extra $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus all three times. The Brazilian, who craves for a cigarette after every fight, has finished 18 of his 20 pro wins and is already displaying superstar potential.

Meanwhile, Page signed with the UFC in December 2023 after briefly exploring free agency. He made his promotional debut against Kevin Holla…

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Lerone Murphy claims the “vibe was a bit dead” for the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s return to Manchester this past July.

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UFC 304 marked the promotion’s return to Manchester for the first time since 2016. However, the card was scheduled for the usual timie for U.S. viewers, which meant the main card started around 3 a.m. local time in Manchester.

While Murphy would have loved to fight on home soil as well, the Stockport, England, native was put off by the timing. While in attendance, “The Iceman” was dozing off and could sense a dead vibe at the Co-op Live Arena overall. According to Murphy, the crowd livened up briefly for appearances of stars like Paddy Pimblett, Tom Aspinall and Leon Edwards but was mellow overall. Murphy suggests the promotion instead organize UFC Fight Nights, which can be scheduled as per local time but also understands that people want big pay-per-views featuring championship bouts.

“It was good, …

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Caio Borralho believes former training partner Khamzat Chimaev beats Robert Whittaker in their upcoming matchup.

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Chimaev is scheduled to trade leather against Whittaker at UFC 308 on Oct. 26 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. Borralho was Chimaev’s main sparring partner for a scheduled matchup against Nate Diaz in September 2022, a fight which never came to fruition. “The Natural” believes Chimaev’s opponents can’t gauge the true extent of “Borz’s” wrestling prowess until they are sharing the Octagon with him. Borralho notes that Chimaev is coming off a majority decision win over former champ Kamaru Usman, who has left behind ace grapplers like Demian Maia, Rafael dos Anjos and Gilbert Burns in his wake. While the Brazilian expects Chimaev to beat Whittaker, he isn’t completely counting “Bobby Knuckles” out given his championship history.

“I already training with him, spent some time in Sweden with him for his training camp against…

Belal Muhammad (24-3) recently dismissed Shavkat Rakhmonov’s (18-0) claims that he isn’t keeping his promise of being an active champion.

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Muhammad won the welterweight title with a unanimous decision win over Leon Edwards at UFC 304 this past July. Rakhmonov claims he has since received an offer to challenge “Remember the Name,” which he accepted. However, “Nomad” accuses Muhammad of turning down the booking, which was supposedly offered for UFC 307 on Oct. 5 in Salt Lake City, Utah. According to Rakhmonov, Muhammad rejected the offer due to the timeline. The undefeated Kazakh also accuses Muhammad of not being an active champion.

“Actually I’ve already been offered to fight Belal and I accepted the fight against Belal,” Rakhmomov told MMAFighting.com. “But unfortunately he declined to fight me due to timing issues. He wasn’t ready to defend is belt on that time. So we’ll see what’s gonna happen and when he’s gonna be ready. So I’ll be able to figh…