Martial Arts News

UFC has pulled referee Vyacheslav Kiselev from his other #UFC267 assignments due to his performance during the Zaleski dos Santos-Saint Denis fight. pic.twitter.com/lt04N8b6ax

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) October 30, 2021

Vyacheslav Kiselev was originally scheduled to referee two bouts at UFC 267, but his negligence in his first assignment resulted in a shorter-than-expected night.

Kiselev was the third man in the cage for the preliminary welterweight bout between Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos and Benoit St. Denis. During a brutally lopsided second round, it appeared that St. Denis was out on his feet, and the UFC commentary team was in utter disbelief as Kiselev allowed the the Octagon newcomer to continue. Later, St. Denis informed Kiselev that he couldn’t see after an eye poke, but the referee restarted the bout without calling in a cageside physician to examine the Frenchman.

To his credit, St. Denis continued to fight back and ultimately made …

Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC

Kyle Daukaus is lined up to face a new opponent at UFC Fight Night 197, as Roman Dolidze has agreed to take the middleweight bout on short notice.

MMAjunkie.com was first to report the new booking. Daukaus was originally scheduled for a rematch against Kevin Holland before Holland withdrew due to injury. Meanwhile, Dolidze was slated for a matchup with Eryk Anders at the same event before that fight fell through.

UFC Fight Night 197 takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Nov. 13 and is headlined by a featherweight tilt between Max Holloway and Yair Rodriguez.

Dolidze has kicked off his promotional tenure with victories in three of his first four Octagon appearances. Most recently, the 33-year-old Georgian outpointed Laureano Staropoli at UFC Fight Night 189 on June 5.

Daukaus, meanwhile, had a submission win against Holland overturned when it was determined the fight was altered due to an accidental clash of head…

Pucker up Timmy, it’s time to kiss ur last name and ur family’s boxing legacy goodbye. DEC 18th Im changing this wankers name to Tommy Fumbles and celebrating with Tom Brady. Tickets on sale November 10th!#PaulFury One Will Fall. @MostVpromotions @showtimeboxing @amaliearena pic.twitter.com/IFStMpJul5

— Jake Paul (@jakepaul) October 29, 2021 Jake Paul has his next challenge, in the form of the younger half-brother of the heavyweight champion, Tommy Fury.

Showtime announced on Friday that Paul (4-0, 3 KOs) and Fury (7-0, 4 KOs) will cross swords on Dec. 18. Officially a 192-pound catchweight contest, Paul and Fury will battle for eight rounds in the main event of this pay-per-view card on Showtime. The two challenged one another after competing on the same card in August, when Fury won a decision over Anthony Taylor on the undercard to Paul vs. Tyron Woodley. The fight will go down in the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla.

“I started my professiona…

The atomweight grand prix promoted by One Championship saw two alternates step to the stage after Itsuki Hirata and Seo Hee Ham pulled out recently.

Friday’s “One: NextGen” card was headlined Stamp Fairtex (7-1, 7-1 One) taking on Julie Mezabarba (9-3-1, 1-1 One), a substitute for Ham. Stamp, a former One atomweight kickboxing and muay Thai champ, took her time early, mainly attacking with leg kicks. The Brazilian intercepted a few of those shots and worked her way to bring the battle to closer quarters. Her attempts to transform the fight into a hand-to-hand contest fell short after her wrestling maneuvers were blocked by Stamp, who displayed a remarkable improvement in her grappling skills.

In the second frame, the 24-year-old Thai kept her opponent at bay with flashy kicks. Mezabarba really dug in her heels to score a takedown that eventually shifted the action to the floor. Much to the Brazilian’s surprise, Stamp swept her way to full mount position shortly after bei…

Championship weight of 205 for @JanBlachowicz

[ #UFC267 | Tomorrow || LIVE on ESPN+ | @VisitAbuDhabi | @InAbuDhabi | #InAbuDhabi ] pic.twitter.com/KrlSOcvaO4

— UFC (@ufc) October 29, 2021 Two Ultimate Fighting Championship title fights are cleared for UFC 267. The main event will see Jan Blachowicz looking to defend his light heavyweight gold against Glover Teixeira. Meanwhile, Petr Yan and Cory Sandhagen will fight for the interim bantamweight title while Aljamain Sterling recovers from surgery. While all four fighters vying for championships made weight, Damir Ismagulov unprofessionally came in 7.5 pounds over the lightweight limit for his bout against Magomed Mustafaev and Khamzat Chimaev initially weighed-in .5 pounds over the welterweight limit but hit 171 pounds on his second attempt.

Blachowicz (28-8) is currently on a five-fight win streak and is coming off a successful defense of his 205-pound title against middleweight king …

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the UFC, PFL and “The Ultimate Fighter” live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. Sherdog's live Professional Fighters League 2021 Season Championships coverage will begin at 4:30 p.m. ET. Check out the MMA Forums to discuss the card or enter your comments and predictions below. Round 1 Kicking off the final PFL card of 2021, we have Don Madge (9-3), who was an undefeated 2-0 in the UFC before leaving the promotion, facing Nathan Williams (12-7). Andrew Glenn is your referee for this one. Williams opens up wiht a leg kick, although there isn't much on it. Madge scores with a more signification body kick, but Williams uses the opportunity to clinch and get a takedown. Williams grinds his head against Madge's against the cage, as Madge tries to wall-walk back up, but to no avail. Madge is doing a good job of using his legs to push off, and he eventually does so, standing up with abo…

Kevin Holland has suffered an undisclosed injury, putting his rematch against Kyle Daukaus on hold.

Multiple outlets confirmed Holland’s withdrawal after Daukaus revealed the news on Twitter. The middleweights were slated to meet at UFC Fight Night 197 on Nov. 13. Daukaus is expected to remain on the card against a replacement opponent.

“Hey Kevin Holland, sorry to hear about the injury,” Daukaus wrote. “Heal up. I’ll see you in February, but first I’m gonna handle some business.”

Hey @Trailblaze2top Sorry to hear about the injury. Heal up. I’ll see you in February, but first I’m gonna handle some business. #Relentless #UFC

— Kyle Daukaus (@KyleDaukaus) October 27, 2021

Holland and Daukaus initially squared off at UFC Fight Night 193, when an accidental headbutt altered the course of their bout. Holland was dazed after the collision, which allowed Daukaus to secure a rear-naked choke for the tapout. However, the sequence was review…

Thiago Santos is the only man to knock out Jan Blachowicz in his 16-bout UFC career, so he knows a little something about what it takes to beat the reigning light heavyweight champion.

Santos, who suffered a submission loss to Glover Teixeira last November, spoke to Sherdog.com about the light heavyweight title bout between Blachowicz and Teixeira at UFC 267.

“I´ve already faced both,” Santos said. “Blachowicz evolved a lot after our fight in 2019, and the champion is always the favorite. If I had to bet, I would say it´s 60/40 in favor of Jan. But if Glover repeats the game plan he used against myself, mixing striking and takedowns, he will confound Blachowicz and take his belt.

Santos believes Teixeira’s wrestling and grappling could be the difference in the title fight for the Brazilian veteran.

“The fight starts standing, and Blachowicz is a superior striker, but Glover is way superior on takedowns and also in the ground game,” Santos said. “If he takes Jan d…

Kayla Harrison’s second Professional Fighters League run for gold went even smoother than her first.

Taking on Taylor Guardado (3-2, 3-1 PFL) for the women’s lightweight throne in PFL, Harrison’s victory was never in much doubt. A massive -4000 favorite coming into the PFL Championship main event, Harrison (12-0, 11-0 PFL) still managed to impress by handling Guardado on the ground en route to a textbook armbar. The second attempt proved to be the one to elicit the tap, with Guardado surrendering at 4:00 of the second round to crown the 2021 PFL season queen.

Guardado started aggressively, hoping to throw Harrison off-balance by striking first. A few quick punches forced Harrison to reconsider her approach and clinch up in the center of the cage, and the clinch turned into a trip takedown in rapid succession. Guardado held on and defended herself from damage and submission attempts, which came early and often from the unbeaten judoka. Guardado made it out of the first r…

Valerie Loureda and Cody Law are among those who will be in action on the Bellator 271 preliminary card.

The California-based promotion on Wednesday announced the following five bouts for the prelims: Loureda vs. Taylor Turner at flyweight; Law vs. Colton Hamm at featherweight; Bruna Ellen vs. Desiree Yanez at flyweight; Roman Faraldo vs. Robert Turnquest at welterweight and Jordan Newman vs. Shane O'Shea at middleweight.

Bellator 271 takes place at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fla., on Nov. 12 and is headlined by a women’s featherweight title tilt between Cristiane Justino and Sinead Kavanagh. The main card airs on Showtime at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, while prelims stream at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on the Bellator MMA YouTube channel, the Showtime Sports YouTube channel and Pluto TV.

A taekwondo black belt who trains at American Top Team, Loureda began her professional MMA career with three straight triumphs under the Bellator banner. In her la…

There's no love lost between @MarvinVettori and @BorrachinhaMMA, but there was a post-fight fist bump #UFCVegas41 pic.twitter.com/5sKXFdjaXF

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) October 23, 2021

Marvin Vettori and Paulo Costa could both be out for a while following their five-round headliner at UFC Fight Night 196 this past Saturday.

Vettori defeated Costa via unanimous decision in a light heavyweight bout at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The fight, which was originally slated to be contested at middleweight, was moved to 205 pounds when Costa revealed that he would be unable to make weight.

Vettori must have X-rays on both forearms and an MRI on his right knee. If positive he must receive doctor clearance or he will be sidelined until April 22. At a minimum, “The Italian Dream” is suspended until Dec. 8 with no contact until Nov. 23. Costa, meanwhile, needs an X-ray and clearance on his right foot or he will also be out until April 22. “Borrachinha” is a…

BREAKING Chatri announces ONE X will be rescheduled to early 2022. Read his full statement here: https://t.co/WUf8T6ThTb @yodchatri #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship pic.twitter.com/3uskOwMWDi

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) October 27, 2021

One Championship has postponed its Dec. 5 event due to a high number of COVID-19 cases in Singapore, promotion CEO Chatri Sityodtong announced Wednesday.

The card, entitled One “X,” was scheduled to be headlined by a mixed-rules bout between former UFC flyweight ruler Demetrious Johnson and One muay Thai title holder Rodtang Jitmuangnon. Additionally, two title fights were also slated to take place at the event: Bibiano Fernandes vs. John Lineker at bantamweight (145 pounds) and Thanh Le vs. Garry Tonon at featherweight (155 pounds). A new date for the One X card is currently unknown, though MMAFighting.com is reporting that the promotion is tentatively targeting March.

“Due to the record high viral …