Martial Arts News

Times are tough for 38-year-old combat sports veteran Melvin Guillard.

According to a release from the Association of Boxing Commissions on Thursday, the Florida State Athletic Commission has denied Guillard’s license to compete at BKFC: Knucklemania 2 on Feb. 19. The event at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fla., was to feature a scrap between Guillard and ex-boxer Ulysses Diaz, but it has been shut down due to a “serious concern” regarding Guillard’s health.

“On the surface, the fight might look competitive,” the release noted, as transcribed by MMA Junkie, “but after doing due diligence, the executive director Patrick Cunningham found a serious concern with the health of Melvin Guillard. In checking the certified ABC record sources, BoxRec and the MMA database, it was determined Guillard is suspended and requires a neurological exam, but even if he cleared that Guillard had lost the past four BKB bouts and had a lost nine mixed martial art [fi…

After over 14 years with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, longtime staple Jeremy Stephens is moving on.

The news first broke on Thursday from MMA Fighting that Stephens (28-19, 1 NC) had concluded his latest UFC contract and has chosen not to re-sign with the promotion. Confirmed shortly thereafter by multiple outlets, his contract came to an end following his meeting with Mateusz Gamrot in July 2021, where he fell short by first-round kimura. Stephens is winless in his last six appearances dating back to 2018, with five defeats and a no contest from an eye poke in the midst of his skid.

Stephens will be leaving the UFC after 34 trips to the Octagon, where he currently holds the spot for the fourth-most fights in company history. “Lil Heathen” had his hand raised 15 times over the years, shifting back and forth from lightweight to featherweight and back. Notable victories include finishes of Rafael dos Anjos and Josh Emmett, as well as decision verdicts over the l…

Featherweight Friday

Challenger Series: Week 4 atMarch 11th9 PM ET@fuboTV #PFLonFuboTV pic.twitter.com/VTERQGnZev

— PFL (@PFLMMA) January 27, 2022 The Professional Fighters League Challenger Series continues to set events for this year, with the next on the docket coming between featherweights. A press release on Thursday stated that the promotion’s fourth Challenger Series showcase will take place between competitors in the 145-pound division. The eight featherweight prospects vying for a single spot on the roster or a developmental deal for future appearances will hit the cage on March 11 inside the Universal Studios in Orlando, Fla. The Dana White's Contender Series-inspired series will air every Friday starting on Feb. 18 for eight weeks of events.

Previous PFL Challenger Series cards include one for light heavyweights on Feb. 18, the second between welterweights on Feb. 25, and the March 4 four-piece of women’s lightweights. All …

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuJa4p7eN54&w=560&h=315] The stage for Eagle FC's North American debut is set after a weird, yet fairly uneventful, weigh-in ceremony.

Eagle FC 44 will be the organization's first event after introducing 165- and 175-pound weight divisions, while abolishing the 170-pound class internally. Headliner Sergei Kharitonov initially came overweight for his heavyweight bout against Tyrone Spong, but later weighed in under the 266-pound limit. Meanwhile, miscommunication between the commission and the promotion wound up giving fighters a three-hour window to step on the scales instead of the standard two. Besides those hiccups, only one fighter on the card, Dylan Salvador, officially missed weight, as the French fighter came in 3.4 pounds over the featherweight limit.

This main event will mark the third mixed martial arts bout for Spong (2-0), who returns to the sport for the first time since 2013 when he won a unanimous decision over Ang…

Initially scheduled to face Muslim Salikhov at UFC 270, Michel Pereira had to deal with an opponent change a few weeks prior to the event.

And the fight against Octagon newcomer Andre Fialho was not easy.

"I normally like to study my opponents in the first round, but he surprised me with his killer jabs and I had to change plans from the second round on,” Pereira told Sherdog.com. “I started to move more, mix more and anticipate his attacks.”

Pereira ultimately defeated Fialho via unanimous decision, and he felt the fight was worthy of a bonus.

“I have to agree that Deiveson [Figueiredo] and [Brandon] Moreno deserved their prizes, but no one else delivered a better show than me and Fialho,” he said. “And when I talk about the show I mean the whole package, since weigh-ins. We gave a war to the fans.”

Pereira also was happy to see Figueiredo, who hails from the same part of Brazil, regain his flyweight crown in the co-main event.

“I remembe…

Even if Francis Ngannou does return to the UFC, it will be quite some time before the heavyweight champion is back in action in the Octagon.

Ngannou’s manager, Marquel Martin, told ESPN on Wednesday that the fighter will have surgery to repair a torn MCL and damaged ACL when he returns to the United States. Ngannou is planning a trip to his native Cameroon and did not want the procedure to affect his homecoming. Ngannou is expected to need a minimum of nine months to recover.

Ngannou injured his knee during sparring ahead of his title unification bout against Ciryl Gane in the UFC 270 main event. Despite recommendations to pull out of the fight, “The Predator” went forward with the bout, winning a unanimous decision behind his wrestling.

"I continue to be amazed and inspired by Francis' heart and resilience," Martin told ESPN. "Fighting on one leg to overcome all odds, and remind the world he is the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. I think we can a…

UFC 274 has its second title fight booked, as Charles Oliveira will defend the lightweight crown against Justin Gaethje on May 7.

UFC president Dana White confirmed the matchup to ESPN on Wednesday. Oliviera vs. Gaethje joins a light heavyweight championship tilt between Glover Teixeira and Jiri Prochazka atop the card. UFC 274 was initially expected to take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but the event is now rumored to move to the United States, though a venue is still unknown.

Oliveira, the promotion’s all-time submission leader, is coming off a 2021 campaign in which he defeated Michael Chandler via technical knockout to claim the vacant 155-pound belt at UFC 262 before submitting Dustin Poirier in his first title defense at UFC 269. “Do Bronx” is currently on a 10-bout winning streak within the Las Vegas-based promotion in which he has finished nine of his opponents inside the distance.

A former World Series of Fighting lightweight champion, Gaethje will…

Like many dominant title holders, Kamaru Usman has harbored dreams of becoming a UFC two-division champion.

However, with fellow Nigerian Israel Adesanya reigning atop the middleweight division, moving up just one weight class was never a consideration for Usman. Instead, the welterweight king last year had designs on moving up two weight classes to face then 205-pound champ Jan Blachowicz.

“I was going to skip Israel and go fight Jan at 205 [pounds],” Usman told GQ. “Because I'm pound-for-pound, I want to prove it. No matter what weight it is, I thought he was a really good matchup for me.

“I think I would beat him.”

That hypothetical is less likely to become a reality now after Glover Teixeira vanquished Blachowicz to become the light heavyweight champion at UFC 267 this past October. Teixeira already has his first title defense scheduled against Jiri Prochazka in May. And Usman, who beat Colby Covington in a rematch at UFC 268, is widely expected to fac…

Apparently Sherdog.com's 2021 "Fight of the Year" winner wasn’t all that impressive to Justin Gaethje.

Gaethje, whose scintillating lightweight clash with Michael Chandler at Madison Square Garden last November took home top fight honors from more than a few publications, reminisced on the bout during an interview with BT Sport. His assessment of the action focused more on the disappointment of not finishing Chandler than anything else.

“To be completely honest with you, I feel like that was kind of a boring fight when I was in there,” Gaethje said. “Yeah, it just makes no sense. It’s the first time I’ve ever wanted to win more than to knock somebody out.

“So yeah, it was not good. I didn’t like it. I want to go back to just wanting to hurt somebody and finish them. But now that I have won, I got my title shot, I can go back to how it should be.”

The former World Series of Fighting champion has won five of his last six outings, and his unanimous verdict o…

Karina Rodriguez will make her first flyweight title defense against Ketlen Souza in the main event of Invicta FC 46 on March 9.

The all-female promotion announced the matchup on Wednesday. Invicta FC 46 will take place in Kansas City without fans or media in attendance, according to a release. Broadcast information will be revealed in the coming weeks. Invicta’s last card streamed on its YouTube channel.

Four other bouts were announced for the card: Daiana Torquato vs. Milana Dudieva at flyweight; Danielle Taylor vs. Liz Tracy at strawweight; Paulina Granados vs. Monique Adriane at atomweight and Fatima Kline vs. TBA at strawweight.

Rodriguez claimed flyweight gold with a five-round verdict over Torquato at Invicta on AXS TV last May. The Puebla, Mexico native has won three of her last four outings in the promotion, also earning wins over DeAnna Bennett and Dudieva.

Souza will make her Invicta FC debut on the momentum of a three-bout winning streak. The 2…

The stakes will be raised when Belal Muhammad and Vicente Luque square off for a second time in the Octagon.

A welterweight rematch between Muhammad and Luque will serve as the five-round headliner for a UFC Fight Night event on April 16. ESPN was first to report the pairing. A venue has not been announced for the event.

Muhammad and Luque initially squared off at UFC 205 in Madison Square Garden, where Luque won via knockout in 79 seconds. Muhammad has lost just once in 12 UFC appearances since that defeat and is currently unbeaten in his last seven outings, with a no contest against Leon Edwards the only blemish on his ledger during that time. The former Titan FC title holder is coming off back-to-back decision triumphs against Demian Maia and Stephen Thompson.

Luque, meanwhile, is currently riding the momentum of a four-bout UFC winning streak, with finishes of Niko Price, Randy Brown, Tyron Woodley and Michael Chiesa to his credit. “The Silent Assassin” has…

Recent women’s flyweight title challenger Denise Kielholtz has her next assignment, as she will square off against Kana Watanabe at Bellator London on May 13.

Promotion officials also confirmed a featherweight tilt pitting Daniel Weichel against Robert Whiteford for the event. MMAFighting.com was first to report the bookings. Bellator London takes place at the SSE Arena and is headined by a welterweight title fight between Yaroslav Amosov and Michael Page.

Kielholtz is coming off a split-decision loss against reigning 125-pound champ Juliana Velasquez in the Bellator 262 headliner on July 16. Prior to that, “Miss Dynamite” won four straight bouts under the Bellator banner to solidify herself as the division’s No. 1 contender.

Watanabe, meanwhile, suffered her first loss in 11 professional outings at Bellator 261, where she suffered a 35-second TKO defeat to Liz Carmouche. The former Rizin and Deep Jewels competitor began her promotional tenure with triumphs ove…