Martial Arts News

Hakeem Dawodu will lock horns with Michael Trizano at a UFC Fight Night event on Feb. 5.

MMA DNA was first to report the featherweight tilt. The card does not yet have an official location or headliner.

Dawodu had a five-bout winning streak snapped in a unanimous decision loss to Movsar Evloev at UFC 263 this past June. The 30-year-old Canadian enjoyed a 7-0-1 tenure with World Series of Fighting before signing with the UFC.

The winner of Season 27 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” Trizano is 3-1 thus far in UFC competition. Most recently, the Team Tiger Schulmann representative outpointed Ludovit Klein at UFC on ESPN 24 on May 8.

There were some difficulties on the scales ahead of Week 7 of Dana White’s Contender Series.

Two fighters slated to compete on Tuesday’s card missed weight, including Christian Rodriguez, who is scheduled to meet Reyes Cortez Jr. in the evening’s featured bout at bantamweight. Rodriguez initally weighed 138 pounds, while Cortez Jr. tipped the scales at 135.5 pounds. Rodriguez was unable to hit his contracted mark after taking an extra hour to cut weight, as he was only able to get down to 137.25 pounds.

Meanwhile, Jake Hadley initially checked in at 127.25 pounds for a flyweight showdown against Mitch Raposo (126). After being given an additional hour to cut weight, Hadley came still came in heavy at 127 pounds.

The Contender Series takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and airs on ESPN+ beginning at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.

Anchored at the MMA Lab, Cortez Jr. has been victorious in five of his first six professional appearances. Most recently, he outpointed Axel…

UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell was arrested early Monday morning in Los Angeles after an alleged domestic violence incident.

TMZ Sports was first to report Liddell’s arrest. The 51-year-old former light heavyweight champion was booked for misdemeanor domestic battery at the Lost Hills Sheriff Station after an alleged incident between Liddell and his wife in Hidden Hills, Calif.

Lost Hills police were called to respond to a family disturbance at the 24000 block of Jim Bridger Road at approximately midnight local time. It was then determined that a verbal argument became physical. Liddell is married to Heidi Northcott, and the couple have two children together. Northcott did not require medical attention, according to the report.

Liddell released a statement regarding the incident on Monday evening, where he claimed that he was the victim of an assault from his wife, and that he volunteered to go with authorities in her place.

Liddell's statement is as fol…

A bantamweight clash pitting Douglas Silva de Andrade against Sergey Morozov has been added to the UFC 271 lineup.

Combate was first to report the booking. UFC 271 takes place on Feb. 12 at an as yet to be determined location. The event does not yet have a headliner.

Silva de Andrade fought twice in 2021, splitting a pair of bouts. After dropping a unanimous verdict to Lerone Murphy in a featherweight affair at UFC on ESPN 20, the 36-year-old Brazilian returned to 135 pounds and scored a first-round KO of Gaetano Pirrello at UFC Fight Night 193 on Oct. 2. He is 5-4 over the course of a promotional tenure that began in 2014.

Morozov also went 1-1 in the Octagon in 2021. He suffered a submission loss to Umar Nurmagomedov in his debut at UFC on ESPN 20, but rebounded to outpoint Khalid Taha at UFC on ESPN 26. The former M-1 Global champion has won six of his last seven professional outings.

It was not a night to remember for Melvin Guillard at Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship’s event in Billings, Mont., on Saturday.

In addition to suffering a 59-second knockout loss to Joe Riggs in the BKFC Fight Night headliner, Guillard exited the bout with multiple orbital fractures that required surgery on Sunday. “The Young Assassin” brought word of his injuries in an Instagram post on Sunday morning.

“Just found out at 3:15 a.m. I have five fractures in my orbital so I will be having surgery today,” Guillard wrote. “Just wanted to get my fans, friends and family the news. I'll be okay, just keep me in your prayers. I'll be lying if I said I wasn't a little scared right now. We'll see what happens.”

Guillard posted an update later on Sunday that showed him leaving leaving the emergency room, with his left eye still completely swollen shut.

The 38-year-old Guillard fell to 0-4 under the BKFC banner in defeat. A veteran of the UFC and Bellator MMA, Gui…

Mackenzie Dern came up short on the biggest stage of her mixed martial arts career to date, but the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt is planning on using the experience to become a better fighter in the long run.

Dern dropped a unanimous decision to Marina Rodriguez in the UFC Fight Night 194 main event at the UFC Apex on Saturday night, ending her four-bout Octagon winning streak. Dern had Rodriguez in trouble after dragging her to the mat in Round 2, as she threatened with a leg lock, landed ground-and-pound from the reverse crucifix position and took her opponent’s back. Rodriguez was able to survive, however, and spent the majority of the contest outclassing Dern on the feet.

“Yesterday wasn’t the result I was training for, but this fight is the biggest learning experience for me,” Dern wrote on Instagram. “Now I have a lot to look back on and fix to become a better fighter! For sure a submission would have been great but to have these rounds for me to work on is su…

Viewers on UFC broacasts are often given an inside look at the coaching in fighters’ corners between rounds. In some instances, the advice given by the corners can be misleading — often because the coaches and trainers are viewing the bout from a different perspective.

After UFC Fight Night 194, James Krause, Tim Elliott’s coach at Glory MMA & Fitness, admitted that his instructions ended up being to the detriment of his athlete. Elliott fell to Matheus Nicolau via unanimous decision, with all three judges submitting 29-28 scorecards in favor of the Brazilian.

Krause, meanwhile, saw a different fight from his cageside seat, and he’s accepting some of the blame for Elliott’s defeat.

“I made a huge coaching error tonight that I’m sure is going to haunt me for some time to come,” Krause wrote on Instagram. “Going into the [third] round I thought for 100% sure we took 1 and 2. Regardless of if that was true or not I should have pushed Tim to work up in the 3rd… …

Not only did Randy Brown have to deal with a game opponent at UFC Fight Night 194, but he also had to battle through a mangled toe for much of Saturday’s co-main event at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

“It just snapped out of place,” Brown said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “The big toe snapped out of place at the joint high up on the foot there. But it kept going back in. I kept putting it back in. Interesting experience.”

The broadcast team pointed out that Brown’s foot appeared to be compromised after landing a front kick to Jared Gooden’s chin early in the fight, but it was unclear how much it would negatively affect the welterweight known as “Rude Boy.” In the moment, Brown just relied on instinct to treat the injury as best he knew how so he could continue competing.

“I put it back in,” Brown said. “It came out and I looked at it. I was like, ‘All right.’ It’s crazy the thought and the instinct just kicks in. [It’s like], ‘Let me just step on tha…

Marina Rodriguez has some history with Carla Esparza in the Octagon, but she also has respect for the UFC’s inaugural strawweight champion.

Rodriguez earned her third consecutive triumph in the UFC Fight Night 194 main event on Saturday, as she put on a striking clinic to earn a unanimous decision against grappling ace Mackenzie Dern at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The Brazilian muay Thai specialist is closing in on a title shot, but she believes that Esparza — the only woman to defeat her in UFC competition — should have received the next opportunity. Instead it went to Weili Zhang, who was granted an immediate rematch against Rose Namajunas at UFC 268.

That said, if the promotion comes calling after UFC 268, Rodriguez won’t pass up a chance to compete for championship gold.

“I’ll never deny a chance to fight for the title, but for me, Carla should be next and not Weili,” Rodriguez said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “But since the rematch is booked …

Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC

For the second time in the past few months, UFC fighter Luis Pena has been arrested.

Pena was arrested Saturday on misdemeanor charges of domestic violence and battery, according to Broward County (Fla.) Jail records. The battery charge comes with a $1,000 bond, while the domestic violence charge does not have an amount listed because a bond hearing is required. Pena was arrested in Deerfield Beach, Fla.

The Broward Sheriff’s Office released the following statement to MMAjunkie.com:

At approximately 12:34 a.m., Broward Sheriff’s Office Deerfield Beach deputies responded to a domestic disturbance call near the 200 block of Southeast 12th Avenue in Deerfield Beach. On scene, deputies made contact with multiple subjects, and Luis Antonio Peña was later detained and taken into custody. Peña was transported to BSO Main Jail and faces one count simple battery and one count domestic violence battery (both misdemeanor). The investig…

It was ladies’ night when it came to post-fight bonuses at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday, as Marina Rodriguez, Mackenzie Dern, Mariya Agapova and Lupita Godinez each took home $50,000 checks.

Rodriguez and Dern earned “Fight of the Night” honors for their five-round strawweight headliner at UFC Fight Night 194. Rodriguez utilized a multi-faceted striking arsenal to control the action on the feet, but she had to survive a couple scary moments on the mat against the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt. Ultimately, Rodriguez was able to avoid serious danger and emerged with a unanimous decision triumph.

Elsewhere, Agapova received a “Performance of the Night” award on the strength of a submission win against Sabina Mazo at flyweight. Agapova controlled the range with her striking throughout the fight before dropping her adversary with a crushing right hand to the jaw in the third round. From there, Agapova wasted little time jumping on Mazo’s back and locking in a re…

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the UFC, PFL, Dana White’s Contender Series and “The Ultimate Fighter” live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. Marina Rodriguez has begun to make serious headway in the Ultimate Fighting Championship women’s strawweight division. The Brazilian muay Thai practitioner outstruck Mackenzie Dern and withstood a few harrowing ground exchanges with the jiu-jitsu ace, as she took a unanimous decision from the 2015 Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling World Championships gold medalist in the UFC Fight Night 194 headliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. All three cageside judges saw it the same: 49-46 for Rodriguez (15-1-2, 5-1-2 UFC).

Dern (11-2, 6-2 UFC) had her chances. The Checkmat RVCA rep dragged Rodriguez to the canvas in the second round, threatened with a leg lock and moved into side control. From there she applied her ground-and-pound from a reverse crucifix p…