Martial Arts News

A giant novelty check with a very real prize awaits the winner of the Bellator MMA featherweight grand prix on Saturday.

Bellator 263, which takes place on July 31 at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif., will conclude the organization’s featherweight tournament. To the victor belong the spoils – the winner of the Patricio Freire vs. A.J. McKee clash will earn a tournament title, the promotion’s featherweight championship strap and a $1 million check. Both finalists will also earn large payouts simply for competing in this bout, as the only two on the card that will clear six figures no matter the result. Current two-division king Freire will take home $250,000 to show, and his win bonus is $1 million; his opponent McKee will earn $150,000, plus the possible $1 million prize. The California State Athletic Commission released the event salaries, as first reported by MMA Junkie on Friday.

The next top earner of the card is two-time 145-pound title challenger Emmanuel Sanchez, …

Things went zero to 60 at the #Bellator263 presser

Watch @PatricioPitbull vs. @ajmckee101 in the #BellatorFWGP final SATURDAY on @Showtime: https://t.co/eXPmkdlk5J. pic.twitter.com/DIW9LJEC93

— SHOWTIME SPORTS (@SHOsports) July 29, 2021 Weigh-ins were not just a formality ahead of Bellator MMA's tentpole event this weekend. Bellator MMA returns to Saturday night for one of the promotion's biggest cards of the year, one topped by a heavily anticipated featherweight title fight between Patricio Freire and A.J. McKee. Both men in the Bellator 263 main event did make weight, but McKee had to hit the scales twice after initially coming in .2 pounds above the championship limit. Every other competitor on the card made weight, but one bout was pulled off after Justin Barry did not pass his medicals. Daniel Compton weighed 189.6 pounds for their 190-pound catchweight contest, and he will receive his show money as a result.

Freire (32-4), who h…

It's #FightWeek and @LFAfighting brings the #Heavyweight Championship to Texas at #LFA113! #VernonLewisvs.@PeteHWT

Friday, July 30@BellCountyExpo#Belton, #Texas#MMA#LFANation@UFCFightPass pic.twitter.com/UnczLXKVjf

— LFA (@LFAfighting) July 28, 2021 The Legacy Fighting Alliance returns to American soil for LFA 113 with a heavyweight title fight. All 14 fighters on the Saturday card officially made weight, and the main event title tilt has been cleared. The seven-fight show ends with a heavyweight championship affair, as unbeaten prospect Thomas Petersen vies for the vacant strap against Texas-based knockout artist Vernon Lewis.

Petersen comes into this headliner with a perfect 4-0 record, and he has won all four by knockout. Only Odell Pantin has lasted more than three minutes against him, while he also celebrates a 19-second clobbering of Richard Luis in January. The Minnesota fighter officially weighed in at 242 pounds.

With…

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. Deiveson Figueiredo will have to look elsewhere to get the high-level training partners he desires. Right after losing the flyweight belt to Brandon Moreno at UFC 263, Brazil’s Figueiredo declared that one of the reasons for his bad performance was the fact of having the same routine of sparring.

“It’s important to be challenged every day,” he said. “I’ve already talked to Fabio Prado. My next camp will be done in Team Alpha Male, where I’ll have the best level of sparring in the world for my division.”

From an interview with Sherdog on Tuesday, however, those plans have changed. Fabio Prado, the grappling coach of Team Alpha Male, revealed that Cody Garbrandt’s decision to move down to flyweight has halted that camp switch. Per Prado, the team has rescinded its invitation to the former flyweight king.

“Few years ago,…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojv092NLxo8&w=560&h=315] Should the Anderson Silva-Logan Paul boxing match come to fruition, famed boxing coach Luiz Dorea expects that Silva will crush his opponent.

After training Silva (34-11 MMA, 2-1 Box) to outbox Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (52-6, 34 KOs Box), Dorea has his hands full with new talent. Dorea, who also has coached Junior dos Santos and Vitor Belfort, will be taking charge of Robson Conceicao’s (16-0, 8 KOs) championship campaign against Oscar Valdez (29-0, 23 KOs) in September. The trainer has his sights set not just on this upcoming match, but on the future of Silva in the ring, and he spoke to Sherdog about Silva’s future.

“Logan proved to be a very brave and talented kid doing an exhibition fight against the legend [Floyd] Mayweather,” Dorea stated. “But, of course, if it were in official rules, the result would be different. Let’s see if he will keep hiding under exhibition rules or if he will test himself in t…

Juancamilo Ronderos Alvis Accepts Sanction for Violation of UFC Anti-Doping Policy https://t.co/6NJOd8AVSF

— USADA (@usantidoping) July 29, 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. When it rains, it pours for Ultimate Fighting Championship debutant Juancamilo Ronderos. On extremely short notice, Ronderos (4-1) stepped in at UFC Fight Night 188 in May to take on David Dvorak (20-3) at flyweight. Dvorak was originally slated to face Raulian Paiva, but the Brazilian was hospitalized due to his weight cut. Following his appearance and subsequent loss to Dvorak, Ronderos failed a post-fight drug test for cocaine. He has been handed a one-month suspension from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, a suspension that has already ended.

While USADA can allow for exemptions for certain fighters that disclose they have taken substances prior to their U…

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. A top-10 spot at flyweight will be on the line for the Ultimate Fighting Championship event on Oct. 9. On this Oct. 9 UFC Fight Night event inside the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Tim Elliott (17-11-1) takes on Matheus Nicolau (16-2-1) at 125 pounds, per MMA Fighting on Thursday. The fight has since been confirmed by other outlets.

Former title challenger and “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 24 winner Elliott finds himself on his first UFC win streak since his first stint in 2012. Elliott has beaten Ryan Benoit and Jordan Espinosa by decision in his last two appearances, putting an end to a trio of setbacks against Deiveson Figueiredo, Askar Askarov and Brandon Royval. Should the Glory MMA & Fitness product emerge victorious, it will be his first three-fight win streak inside the Octagon.

Nicolau will be also looking to put a …

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. A top-ranked Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight battle has been put back on the books for October. On Thursday morning, a fight recently canceled has a new home at the upcoming Oct. 2 show, according to ESPN. The UFC Fight Night event on this date will now play host to Aspen Ladd (9-1) vs. Macy Chiasson (7-1) at bantamweight, in a bout that was once set for UFC on ESPN 27. The fight fell apart on fight week due to an injury to Chiasson’s leg, and it will be recovered by October. Chiasson has since confirmed this pairing on her Instagram.

Ladd will be looking to make her first trip to the Octagon since a third-round knockout of Yana Kunitskaya in December 2019. The win successfully rebounded Ladd from the first loss of her career, a controversial stoppage against Germaine de Randamie that was nearly overturned by t…

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 assault on Ultimate Fighting Championship co-main events continues, as an upcoming pay-per-view card has just lost a major bout. ESPN broke the news on Thursday that Amanda Nunes (21-4) had contracted COVID-19, according to UFC exec Hunter Campbell. Due to her positive test, her UFC 265 championship tilt on Aug. 7 with Julianna Pena (10-4) is off. The promotion will look to rebook the matchup following Nunes’ recovery, and her timetable for return is currently unknown. Per MMA Junkie, Nunes, her wife Nina Nunes and their infant daughter all have COVID-19.

Nunes was planning on making her return to bantamweight after a pair of successful trips to featherweight to defend that title twice. In June 2020, Nunes battered Felicia Spencer to record a lopsided decision verdict, and she came back in March to tap out Megan Anderson in j…

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 Norma Dumont vs. Felicia Spencer in May was not in fact the final Ultimate Fighting Championship women’s featherweight match. MMA Fighting was first to report on Wednesday that Holly Holm (14-5) would be making her comeback in the featherweight division against Dumont (6-1) on Oct. 16. The UFC Fight Night event on that date will likely go down inside the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, and it is unclear but unlikely this matchup will serve as its headliner. Holm subsequently confirmed the news on her Instagram on Thursday.

Holm, who will turn 40 the day after this expected matchup, has proved that she is not done competing at the highest level yet. The former bantamweight queen is currently riding a two-fight win streak with decisions over Raquel Pennington and Irene Aldana, both of which came in 2020. This winning streak …

Two of the protagonists of the “UFC Vegas 32” main card have some medical time off ahead of them.

Going into last Saturday, former Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight kingpin T.J. Dillashaw had been absent from competition since Jan. 19, 2019. Still, he took home a narrow split decision against Cory Sandhagen in the UFC on ESPN 27 headliner. The fight took a toll on Dillashaw (17-4, 13-4 UFC), who is now facing a six-month suspension from the Nevada State Athletic Commission (via mixedmartialarts.com). The 35-year old already underwent a left knee MRI, which revealed that he suffered a displaced “bucket handle” tear of the lateral meniscus and a lateral collateral ligament (LCL) rupture, requiring surgery.

Bad news for Adrian Yanez (14-3, 3-0 UFC) as well, who is facing potential six-month terms. The 27-year-old fighter stopped Randy Costa with punches at the 2:11 mark of the second stanza. Now, Yanez must have an x-ray of his nasal bones and will requi…

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. Things aren’t going well for Chris Weidman, who will need to go under the knife soon. In a recent interview with MMA Today on SiriusXM, the former Ultimate Fighting Championship 185-pound titleholder revealed that his injury is more severe than expected. Weidman broke his right fibula and tibia on a low kick checked by Uriah Hall in their clash at UFC 261. “The All-American” had surgery a few hours later and has been dealing with rehabilitation since.

“I’m actually getting another surgery, I just found out,” Weidman said. “I’m getting another surgery, most likely on Aug. 11. They’re going to have to plate the fibula bone because it’s considered a non-union, so the bones aren’t healing the way it’s supposed to, which kind of sucks, but I did expect setbacks and issues with this type of traumatic inj…