Martial Arts News

The long-awaited bantamweight championship rematch between Aljamain Sterling and Petr Yan won’t happen at UFC 267 as originally anticipated.

Sterling has withdrawn from the bout due to lingering issues with his neck. “The Funk Master” underwent surgery in April to repair a herniated disc in his neck that has plagued him for years dating back to his collegiate wrestling career. MMAFighting.com was first to report Sterling’s exit from the card.

Sterling captured bantamweight gold at UFC 259 on March 6, when Yan landed an illegal knee that rendered the Serra-Longo Fight Team member unable to continue. Yan, who had claimed the vacant belt with a stoppage of Jose Aldo, could remain on the UFC 267 card in an interim championship clash against Cory Sandhagen, according to a report from MMAjunkie.com. Bout agreements have not yet been issued to either Yan or Sandhagen, however.

Sterling is on a six-bout Octagon winning streak that also includes triumphs over the lik…

Keeping up with the Joneses is a full-time job, in light of ex-Ultimate Fighting Championship champ Jon Jones’ latest arrest.

ESPN broke the news on Friday that Jones had been arrested in Las Vegas on Friday morning for battery domestic violence and injuring or tampering with a vehicle to cause damage of greater than $5,000. Jones came to Las Vegas for his induction to the UFC Hall of Fame on Thursday night, for his 2013 title tilt against Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 165. “Bones” is still in custody, according to Clark County court records, and he is awaiting a probable cause DNA review for drug or alcohol intoxication. Jones' bail is currently set at $8,000, and he will be brought into court on Saturday.

In an interview before his Hall of Fame induction, Jones joked with media that at heavyweight he needed to “do more legally controversial s---” to stay relevant. This incident is one in a long chain of arrests throughout his career for various offenses. In 2020, he was …

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STVsX7_ayL8&w=640&h=360] The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to pay-per-view with a duo of title fights and the return of Nick Diaz.

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.

UFC 266 is headlined by two title fights as featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski faces Brian Ortega and flyweight queen Valentina Shevchenko looks to add Lauren Murphy to her lengthy highlight reel. All fighters on the card made weight for the event, including Dan Hooker and Nasrat Haqparast, who both arrived in Las Vegas on Thursday.

Topping the card is the second title defense for Volkanovski (22-1). The Australian is undefeated inside the Octagon and hasn't lost a fight since 2013. "The Great" will go up against Ortega (15-1, 1 NC), who returned to fighting after a two-year layoff by defeating Chan Sung Jung via a dominant decision. T…

Silveira's headkick KO #LFA115 pic.twitter.com/9y3MsahdvP

— Hands like Ngannou (@likengannou) September 25, 2021 Joshua Silveira is the new Legacy Fighting Alliance light heavyweight champion.

Silveira (6-0) showed why he's an impressive prospect worth watching in the LFA 115 main event against Tee Cummins. The American Top Team product landed a beautiful head kick knockout just 49 seconds into Round 1 to claim his first championship. This also marks the first defeat for Cummins, whose record now sits at 4-1.

In the co-main event, Chad Johnson landed a gorgeous soccer kick knockout against Jordan Heiderman, which was also blatantly illegal. The stoppage came after just 25 seconds of action and since Heiderman (5-0) couldn't continue it was ruled a disqualification win for the Nebraskan. "Big Rig" falls to 6-3 with the failure to follow the rules.

Lucas Clay picked up his eighth professional win in impressive fashion over Jake Kozorosk…

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. Former Ultimate Fighting Championship champ Deiveson Figueiredo has finally locked down his next training camp. After having the door closed by Team Alpha Male, as team staple Cody Garbrandt decided to move down to 125 pounds, Figueiredo decided to make his next camp in Arizona with wrestling coach Eric Albarracin. Figueiredo will be facing Brandon Moreno for the third time in a row in December at UFC 269. The ex-champ’s manager, Wallid Ismail, spoke to Sherdog on Friday about his camp change. “Daico” was originally planning on staying in his home country of Brazil, but he elected to come to the U.S. for two months of his training.

“We are traveling on Oct. 9,” said Ismail. “He will train for almost two months in there. Albarracin has [Henry] Cejudo and his brother there, and a nice group of sparring. Deiveson is also bringing hi…

The result of the latest One Championship headliner is already under protest by the losing party.

In the One: Revolution headliner on Friday morning, Christian Lee (15-4, 15-4 One) was dethroned by Rae Yoon Ok (16-3, 3-0 One), the only ranked opponent “The Warrior” had yet to face. The fight took a while before taking off, as both fighters respected each other’s power in the opening frames. Lee attempted several takedowns in the early going, pushing his opponent against the fence and dragging him on the canvas on multiple occasions. Ok strenuously resisted, never laying with his back flat on the mat, and he was to get back to his feet each time. When he did, he displayed sharp muay Thai skills with effective knees every time he bounced back. Lee did have Ok in a spot of danger in Round 2, when he snared the South Korean with a rear-naked choke, but he could not elicit a tap.

ROCKET RIGHT-HAND from Christian Lee! @ChristianLeeMMA #ONERevolution …

Kleydson Rodrigues earns the UD win following an impressive striking performance

[ #DWCS live on @ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/SQ5uxPoL01

— UFC (@ufc) September 22, 2021 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. The sky is the limit for Kleydson Rodrigues, according to friend and mentor Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.

Growing up in the slums of the Amazon region in the Brazilian state of Amapa, Rodrigues had a very tough childhood, living in a house on stilts raised over a river. When he was 14 years old, he would to sell bread as soon as the sun was up in order to help his family, before going to school. In the afternoon, after returning from school, he sold homemade ice cream. Passionate about fighting, “K.R.” saved every cent his parents gave him to buy Ultimate Fighting Championship and Pride Fighting Championships DVDs.

Inspired b…

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…