Martial Arts News

Daniel Rodriguez spoiled Kevin Lee’s welterweight debut at UFC on ESPN 30, but it was a potentially costly victory.

Rodriguez must have an X-ray on his left hand and if positive, will need doctor clearance to avoid being sidelined until Feb. 25. At a miniumum, “D-Rod” is suspended until Sept. 28 with no contact until Sept. 19. Lee, meanwhile, is suspended until Oct. 13 with no contact until Sept. 28 due to a cut above his right eye. Rodriguez defeated Lee via unanimous decision in a featured 170-pound matchup.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission released a full list of medical suspensions from the event to mixedmartialarts.com. UFC on ESPN 30 took place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday night and saw Giga Chikadze defeat Edson Barboza via third-round TKO in the evening’s headliner. Chikadze is suspended until Sept. 28 with no contact until Sept. 19, while Barboza is out until Oct. 13 with no contact until Sept. 28.

Five other fighters from UFC on ESPN 3…

Undefeated lightweight prospect Usman Nurmagomedov will return to action in October when he meets Patrik Pietila at Bellator 269.

The promotion announced the booking on Tuesday. Additionally, ex-heavyweight champ Vitaly Minakov, who was initally slated to lock horns with Tyrell Fortune, will instead face Said Sowma on the card. An undisclosed injury knocked Fortune out of the matchup.

Bellator 269 takes place at the VTB Arena in Moscow on Oct. 23 and is headlined by a heavyweight tilt between Fedor Emelianenko and Timothy Johnson. The event marks the California-based promotion’s debut in Russia, and the main card airs on Showtime, with specific broadcast details to be revealed soon.

The 23-year-old Nurmagomedov, who is the cousin of retired former UFC lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov, has kicked off his professional career with 13 straight victories. After stints with Gorilla Fighting Championships, UAE Warriors and Brave FC, the American Kickboxing Academ…

Kyle Reyes, a 22-fight veteran who has competed in several regional MMA promotions over the course of his career, has died at the age of 30.

Multiple coaches and fighters mourned Reyes’ passing on social media Monday. According to a GoFundMe account, Reyes recently had reconstructive surgery for a torn biceps in his left arm, and one day later, he was found unresponsive in his room.

“The doctors had found out he had an infection in his lung, pneumonia causing his right lung to collapse, oxygen levels at 50 which caused his brain to swell. He also had a temperature of 102 degrees,” the post read.

One week after surgery, Reyes was still on a ventilator, according to the GoFundMe account post, and doctors were concerned the fighter had suffered brain damage due to the swelling in his brain. At the time, however, Reyes was in stable condition and it was hoped that he could be taken off the ventilator.

“I’m telling you, my homeboy was good,” UFC fighter Trevin…

Even though he is just 28 years old, Kevin Lee appears to have reached a crossroads in his mixed martial arts career.

“The Motown Phenom” lost for the fourth time in five outings at UFC on ESPN 30, dropping a unanimous decision to Daniel Rodriguez in his 170-pound debut on Saturday. Earlier in his promotional tenure, Lee looked like a star on the rise as he won nine of his first 11 appearances before falling to Tony Ferguson in an interim lightweight title bout at UFC 216 in October 2017. The loss to Rodriguez was Lee’s first bout since March 2020 after undergoing surgery on both of his knees.

“Didn't have a good performance this last time out but honestly after 500 days away and multiple surgeries, I'm proud of what I was able to do,” Lee wrote on Instagram. “I tried climbing a very tall mountain and this was just another speed-bump on the way. My best performances are ahead of me and I know that. I don't care if I have to bump my head to get there I won't stop until…

Liliya Shakirova Accepts Sanction for Violation of UFC Anti-Doping Policy https://t.co/df2xPjTUUj

— USADA (@usantidoping) August 30, 2021

One-time UFC competitor Liliya Shakirova has accepted a two-year suspension for a violation of the promotion’s anti-doping policy, USADA announced Monday.

Shakirova tested positive for meldonium in an out-of-competition sample collected on Dec. 5 in her home country of Uzbekistan. Meldonium is used to treat heart conditions, among other issues, but in terms of performance enhancing benefits, it is believed to enhance the body’s capacity to carry oxygen. It is listed in the category of hormone and metabolic modulators on the UFC banned substance list.

Shakirova would have avoid a violation had she declared her use of Meldonium prior to entering the USADA drug-testing pool, but she did not make such an admission. As a result, her two-year sanction is retroactive to Dec. 5, 2020.

The 29-year-old made …

Khabib Nurmagomedov retired from mixed martial arts with a 29-0 mark as the UFC lightweight champion, but at least one training partner believes “The Eagle” could reach similar heights in the competitive grappling world.

Two-time Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Fighting World Championship gold medalist Yuri Simoes, who trains with Nurmagomedov at American Kickboxing Academy, told Ag.Fight that the Dagestani’s skill set would translate well to the ADCC arena.

“I’ve already trained with many top jiu-jitsu players who like to be on top, pressuring to pass the guard, but his game is different. It´s too much pressure,” said Simoes, who fell to Fan Rong via unanimous decision in his MMA debut under the One Championship banner last October. “Unlike the jiu-jitsu guys, his goal is not to pass the guard or mount to get points. He tries the transitions to punish and cause pain to the opponent.”

Simoes said it’s up to Nurmagomedov to decide how far he wants to go in…

After a brief delay, the bantamweight championship clash between Amanda Nunes and Julianna Pena has been rebooked for UFC 269.

Promotion officials confirmed the bout on Monday. UFC 269 takes place on Dec. 11 at an as yet to be announced location and is also expected to include a flyweight showdown pitting Cody Garbrandt against Kai Kara France. Nunes and Pena were initially slated to meet at UFC 265 on Aug. 7 before Nunes tested positive for COVID-19 and the fight was postponed.

The UFC’s reigning champion at both bantamweight and featherweight, Nunes enters the matchup with Pena on a 12-fight winning streak within the Las Vegas-based promotion. The No. 1 pound-for-pound female in the sport last appeared at UFC 259 in March, when she defended her 145-pound belt with a first-round submission of Megan Anderson.

After more than a two-year hiatus following the birth of her first child,, Pena has been victorious in two of her last three UFC bouts upon her return. “Th…

There were no issues for the athletes who stepped on the scales for their matchups on the Season 5 opener of Dana White’s Contender Series, but one bout didn’t make it that far.

A proposed heavyweight clash pitting Dylan Potter against Lukasz Brzeski was canceled due to COVID-19 protocol. UFC officials hope to rebook the fight at a later Contender Series event, according to MMAjunkie.com. As a result, Week 1 of the Contender Series will move forward with four fights.

The Contender Series takes place on Tuesday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and airs on ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m PT. The card is headlined by a light heavyweight tilt pitting Azamat Murzakanov (205.5 pounds) against Matheus Scheffel (205.5).

Russia’s Murzakanov has been victorious in his first nine professional bouts while competing for organizations such as Brave Combat Federation, Absolute Championship Berkut and Ring of Combat. Most recently, he knocked out Mohammed Fakhreddine in the first round at Brav…

"CLEVELAND WHAT'S GOOD!"@jakepaul put on for the land #PaulWoodley pic.twitter.com/B9Hma4K3EN

— SHOWTIME Boxing (@ShowtimeBoxing) August 30, 2021

For the first time in his burgeoning boxing career, Jake Paul found himself in a real fight. He proved to be more than up to the task.

The social-media-personality-turned-boxer went eight rounds with a former UFC champion, capturing a split decision triumph against Tyron Woodley in the main event of a Showtime Sports card at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland on Sunday night. Judge Jaime Garayua had it 77-75 and Dana DePaolo saw it 78-74 — both in favor of Paul — while Phil Rogers submitted a 77-75 tally in favor of Woodley.

“He’s a tough opponent. He’s been boxing, fighting, striking — whatever you want to call it — for 20-something years,” Paul said of Woodley. “I’ve been doing this for three years as of a couple days ago. This was a tougher fight than I expected. My legs felt weird since…

Giga Chikadze believes his time has arrived in the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s featherweight division.

“Ninja” earned his seventh straight Octagon triumph in the UFC on ESPN 30 headliner, stopping respected striker Edson Barboza via third-round technical knockout on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Now, Chikadze has his sights set on the top of the division.

“I’m not interested in anything else,” Chikadze said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “Like why? Everybody before this said no to me. I’ve been told that I’m going to fight a top-five guy and then the title. The top-five guy didn’t agree. Nobody agreed, and that’s why I fought Edson, who is a bigger name than top five. So I want to see myself on a top-five next week ranking, top-three actually.”

In his post-fight interview, the Kings MMA product suggested that he serve as an alternate for the upcoming featherweight title bout between Alexander Volkanovski and Brian Ortega at UFC 266 on Sept. 25…

The long-running “Ultimate Fighter” reality show returned for the first time in three years, and on Saturday two winners were crowned from the latest iteration of the series at UFC on ESPN 30.

Bryan Battle submitted Gilbert Urbina to win the “TUF 29” crown at middleweight, while Ricky Turcios earned a spirited split decision over Brady Hiestand to earn a UFC contract at bantamweight. According to UFC president Dana White, “TUF 29” was a success on ESPN+ throughout the course of the season.

“It did really well for us,” White said at the UFC on ESPN 30 post-fight press conference. “It killed it as far as viewership goes. (ESPN is) really happy. We’re really happy. Yeah, I love the show. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The show will probably never go away – while I’m here anyway. It works.”

Due to the show’s three-year hiatus along with the introduction of Dana White’s Contender Series, it seemed like a possibility that “TUF” had finally run its course. Instead…

ANOTHER HIGHLIGHT KO FOR @JudoRazak!

Less than 30 seconds in #UFCVegas35 pic.twitter.com/1boiMBLTfB

— UFC Canada (@UFC_CA) August 29, 2021 Abdul Razak Alhassan is back on track, and his bank acount is a primary beneficiary.

Alhassan ended a three-bout skid in style, capturing a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” award for a spectacular knockout of Alessio Di Chirico at UFC on ESPN 30 in a middleweight bout at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. “Judo Thunder” wasted little time before connecting with a head kick that landed shin-on-face and instantly rendered his Italian opponent unconscious 17 seconds into Round 1. Alhassan is one of seven fighters in UFC history with three knockouts in less than one minute.

Meanwhile, Giga Chikadze earned a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” check for his third-round stoppage of Edson Barboza in the featherweight main event. The Georgian displayed superior speed throughout the contest before dropping his…