Martial Arts News

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. An all-action five-round featherweight frenzy is now officially capping off an upcoming November Ultimate Fighting Championship show. In August, UFC President Dana White expected that the UFC Fight Night event on Nov. 13 – an event currently unnumbered – would likely receive a headliner of Max Holloway (22-6) vs. Yair Rodriguez (13-2, 1 NC). The two were previously booked at UFC on ESPN 26, but Holloway suffered an injury and the pairing was bumped. The organization’s broadcast partner of ESPN has confirmed on Friday that this matchup will serve as the marquee billing of this Fight Night card.

Former champ Holloway bounced back from a pair of close decision losses to Alexander Volkanovski by battering Calvin Kattar for five rounds and setting several records in the process. Those records include the most significant strikes lan…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NnqaR9I7bM&w=640&h=360] Outside of the top bouts, not much professionalism was on display during the LFA 115 weigh-ins.

The Legacy Fighting Alliance's latest event will be headlined by a light heavyweight title bout between Joshua Silveira and Tee Cummins, who both made weight. Both fighters vying for the belt are undefeated. Silveira sports a 5-0 record, and most recently choked out Rafael Viana and Matthew Paul. Cummins is 4-0 and has finished all four of his past opponents. Neither man had trouble making weight, as Silveira tipped the scale at 204 pounds, and "The Experiment" weighed 203.8 pounds.

However, five fighters on the card missed weight and caused a slew of changes to the card. This includes Bryan Bautista withdrawing from his bantamweight bout against Mando Gutierrez due to issues cutting weight. Other fighters that missed weight include Hilarie Rose, James Roland Waller, Reshal Malik and Anteze Howard. All their re…

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. Ever the optimist, Nova Uniao founder Andre Pederneiras had plenty to say about his students, namely one former champion who has been with him for many years. With many fighters scheduled at upcoming Ultimate Fighting Championship fight cards, the leader of Nova Uniao gave an exclusive interview to Sherdog on Wednesday. Like always, “Dede” was happy to talk openly about all subjects ranging from his team to his involvement with the Shooto Brazil promotion.

He first wanted to lead off with his star pupil, Jose Aldo, who has big things in mind for the bantamweight division. Former featherweight champion Aldo turned 35 earlier in the month, and he is riding a two-fight win streak over Marlon Vera and Pedro Munhoz. Aldo is currently the #7 bantamweight on the Sherdog Official Rankings, and both he and his coach had no shortage of na…

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. At 41 years of age with a career often derailed by injury, Leonardo Santos once more has to withdraw from an upcoming appearance. On Monday, Santos (18-4-1) posted on Instagram that his fight would likely be postponed for undetermined reasons. Sherdog has learned from sources close to the situation on Thursday that Santos has been forced out of the matchup against Alexander Hernandez (12-4) due to a calf injury. Per a subsequent promotional release, it does not appear that Hernandez will receive a new opponent at UFC Fight Night 193 on Oct. 2, and it is unclear if the matchup will be preserved for a later date. The two lightweights were booked against one another at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Santos was aiming to bounce back from his first knockout defeat in nearly 15 years when he succumbed to a literal last-second knockout …

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 appears that Francisco Trinaldo is staying at welterweight for the foreseeable future. According to MMA DNA on Thursday, Trinaldo (26-8) will be stepping in for Gabriel Green at UFC Fight Night 196. At welterweight, “Massaranduba” will face Dwight Grant (11-3) on the card staged at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Oct. 23. Trinaldo has since confirmed this pairing on Instagram.

Trinaldo made his 170-pound debut in June when he took on Muslim Salikhov at UFC Fight Night 189. The decision loss to Salikhov ended a three-fight win streak for the Brazilian, who beat Bobby Green and John Makdessi on the scorecards before knocking Jai Herbert out in July 2020. A longtime UFC vet that made his organizational debut in 2012 after the first season of “The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil,” the 43-year-old has competed at middleweight and lightwe…

And we are in with a shot....they have granted me an appointment Monday. All goes well and I get my passport back, I can jump on the only flight out of NZ Thursday night.

Arrive in Vegas Thursday night, weigh in Friday morning, fight Saturday.#MMATwitter pic.twitter.com/37l4Ajfba7

— Dan Hangman Hooker (@danthehangman) September 17, 2021 Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 266 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. It may be a photo finish, but both Dan Hooker and Nasrat Haqparast are en route to Las Vegas as of Thursday afternoon.

New Zealand’s Hooker (20-10) expressed his concerns a week ago on social media for getting a visa in time to compete at UFC 266. After contacting his appropriate consulate, Hooker was given his passport to travel on Thursday, where he flew out of his home country.

Passport and visa picked up Las Vegas we’re coming !…

At the age of 40, James McSweeney has hung up one set of gloves and is already lacing up another.

McSweeney announced on social media on Wednesday evening that he has signed with Glory Kickboxing. With his last MMA appearance in June 2019, and on a five-fight skid, “The Hammer” has also decided to stop competing in MMA. career was finished. Although McSweeney began his MMA in 2007 and made his way to the 10th season of “The Ultimate Fighter” a few years later, he began kickboxing a few years before that.

As McSweeney started training with Rashad Evans, he switched gears from K-1 competition to full-time MMA. The 33-fight MMA vet, who may have retired with a record below .500, faced a litany of tough names including Travis Browne, Tai Tuivasa, Thiago Silva and more as he toured the Ultimate Fighting Championship, One Championship and KSW.

On his social media, McSweeney wrote:

“Ok guys here it is.....I have signed with the biggest Organization in Kickboxing (k1…

The bantamweight clash between Miesha Tate and Ketlen Vieira that was originally slated for UFC Fight Night 195 on Oct. 16 has been postponed.

Sherdog.com has learned from a source close to the situation that Tate caught COVID-19, which has resulted in the bout being pushed back to November. It is currently unclear at which event Tate vs. Vieira will take place.

Tate ended a five-year retirement at UFC on ESPN 26, where she returned with a third-round TKO triumph over Marion Reneau on July 17. “Cupcake” is a former UFC and Strikeforce bantamweight queen with notable wins over the likes of Holm, Sara McMann, Jessica Eye, Liz Carmouche, Julie Kedzie and Marloes Coenen, to name a few.

After beginning her promotional tenure with four consecutive victories, Vieira has lost two of her last three UFC appearances. Most recently, the 29-year-old Brazilian was outpointed by Yana Kunitskaya at UFC Fight Night 185 on Feb. 20.

Recent Dana White’s Contender Series winner Kleydson Rodrigues will make his Octagon debut against Zarrukh Adashev at a UFC event on Jan. 15.

Sherdog.com learned of the booking from a source close to the situation. The card does not yet have a location or headliner.

A former Jungle Fight flyweight champion, Rodrigues earned a UFC contract on the basis of a lopsided unanimous verdict over Santo Curatolo on Sept. 21. The 25-year-old Brazilian is 7-1 over the course of a professional tenure that began in 2015.

Adashev, meanwhile, halted a two-bout skid with a three-round verdict over Ryan Benoit at UFC on ESPN 28. The Lion Martial Arts Gym representative went 3-0 in Bellator before signing with the Las Vegas-based promotion, where he would fall to Tyson Nam and Su Mudaerji in his first two appearances.

The UFC 266 card has undergone a couple of changes.

A proposed flyweight clash pitting Manon Fiorot against Mayra Bueno Silva has been canceled after Fiorot and her team tested positive for COVID-19. ESPN Deportes was first to report the news. According to MMAjunkie.com, Fiorot vs. Bueno Silva is expected to be rebooked for the UFC’s Oct. 16 event.

Meanwhile, Karl Roberson announced his withdrawal from a middleweight bout against Nick Maximov due to “medical issues.” As a result, Cody Brundage will step in and face Maximov at UFC 266. MMA DNA first brought word of the new pairing. In a video posted on Instagram, Roberson attributed his exit from the card to a difficult weight cut.

“These weight cuts really don’t agree with me any more,” Roberson said. “I’m pretty sure I f—ed my body up from cutting weight wrong early in my career. So for a y’all f—-ers who think this s—t won’t catch up with you, pay attention, because it will.”

Last year, Roberson pulle…

Yoel Romero’s Bellator MMA debut didn’t go as planned, but the former UFC title challenger was nonetheless the highest-paid fighter on Saturday’s card.

Romero earned a disclosed $150,000 salary for his split-decision loss to Phil Davis in the Bellator 266 headliner at the SAP Center in San Jose. Davis, meanwhile, took home $100,000 for his victory in the light heavyweight bout. The California State Athletic Commission recently released salary figures from the event.

Neiman Gracie was the only other six-figure earner from the card, as he garnered $100,000 for a first-round technical knockout of Mark Lemminger ($40,000) in a featured welterweight affair.

Note: The disclosed purses reported by state athletic commissions do not include any performance-based or discretionary bonuses that may be awarded to a fighter by the promotion. Additionally, the reported figures do not reflect any deductions made by the commission for taxes, insurance, etc., and do not include …

Three fighters who have recently competed under the Ultimate Fighting Championship banner received fines and suspensions from the Nevada State Athletic Commission on Wednesday.

Heavyweight Chris Barnett was suspended four-and-a-half months and fined $1,036.80 after testing positive for marijuana in relation to a submission loss to Ben Rothwell in his Octagon debut at UFC Fight Night 188 on May 22. Although the NSAC voted in July to no longer sanction fighters who test positive for marijuana, that measure does not exclude fighters like Barnett who faced punishment before the ruling.

Barnett’s suspension is retroactive to the date of his bout and will end on Oct. 6.

Meanwhile, Brazilian heavyweight Rodrigo Nascimento received a six-month sanction and a $1,945.36 fine after testing positive for ritalinic acid, a metabolite of the banned stimulant methylphenidate, in relation to a July 17 bout against Baudot.

Nascimento defeated Baudot via second-round TKO at…