Martial Arts News

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. The semifinal pairings for all six weight classes in the Professional Fighters League playoffs are now official. The league on Tuesday announced the playoff matchups for its playoff events, which are scheduled for Aug. 13, 19 and 27 at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida. The Aug. 13 and Aug. 27 events will air on ESPN2, while the Aug. 20 card will air on ESPN.

“No sports league can match the thrilling action Professional Fighters League will deliver this August as the final four fighters for each weight division will compete for a spot in the $1 million world championship bout,” said PFL CEO Peter Murray. “The only playoff format in the sport gives every fighter a chance. The more than 550 million MMA fans around the world are going to witness unmatched intensity durin…

Bellator MMA is expected to venture to South Dakota for an upcoming card on Aug. 20.

Bellator 265 is set for the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D., according to an initial report from MMA Island. The has not been formally announced by the promotion, nor does it have an official headliner. According to MMAjunkie.com, a women’s flyweight tilt between Alejandra Lara and DeAnna Bennett will take place on the card.

The California-based promotion previously traveled to South Dakota for Bellator 204 on Aug. 17, 2018, a card that saw Darrion Caldwell defeat Noad Lahat via second-round KO in the evening’s headliner.

Lara last appeared at Bellator 255, where she suffered a split-decision loss to Kana Watanabe. The 26-year-old Colombian is 3-3 in the promotion, including a submission defeat to Ilima-Lei Macfarlane in a 125-pound title bout in June 2018.

Bennett, meanwhile, has won just two of her last 10 professional fights dating back to January 2016. Most rece…

Bellator 263 has gained a trio of contests while losing an intriguing bantamweight matchup.

Promotion officials announced Monday that the following three bouts have been added to the July 31 card: Brent Primus vs. Islam Mamedov at lightweight; Vanessa Porto vs. Ilara Joanne at flyweight and Gadzhi Rabadanov vs. Daniel Carey at 150 pounds.

Missing from the bout order was a previously scheduled bantamweight matchup pitting Raufeon Stots against Magomed Magomedov. Sherdog.com subsequently confirmed that bout has been removed from Bellator 263 for undisclosed reasons.

Bellator 263 takes place at the Forum in Inglewood, Calif., and is headlined by a featherweight championship clash between Patricio Freire and A.J. McKee. The main card airs on Showtime at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, while prelims stream on Bellator’s YouTube channel, Showtime Sports YouTube channel and Pluto TV at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. Primus vs. Mamedov is slated for the main draw, while Porto vs. Joanne a…

Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC

A heavyweight clash pitting Chris Daukaus against Shamil Abdurakhimov that was originally slated for UFC on ESPN 27 this Saturday has been pushed back one week.

Multiple outlets confirmed the change following an initial announcement from Daukaus via Twitter. Daukaus revealed that COVID-19 protocols forced the postponement, and MMAjunkie.com later reported that a positive test in the Abdurakhimov camp was the cause.

Fight pushed back until next week, Covid strikes again! Thank you for everyone for the support! pic.twitter.com/etIN1s2rVr

— Chris Daukaus (@ChrisDaukausMMA) July 19, 2021

Daukaus vs. Abdurakhimov will now take place at UFC on ESPN 28 on July 31. That card takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a middleweight showdown between Uriah Hall and Sean Strickland.

Daukaus is on a four-bout winning streak – including three in UFC competition. The 31-year-old Philadelphia …

Thiago Moises is moving forward with a positive attitude following his loss to Islam Makhachev in the UFC on ESPN 26 headliner this past Saturday.

Moises succumbed to a rear-naked choke in the fourth round of his lightweight clash with Makhachev at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The 26-year-old American Top Team representative struggled to get any offense going against the suffocating style of his opponent, as he landed just 13 significant strikes and was controlled for 8:11 during the bout.

Despite what could be viewed as a discouraging effort, Moises is taking the defeat in stride.

“Thank you all SO much for the incredible support. I’m proof we could put on a show for you tonight,” Moises wrote. “Islam is an amazing fighter, and he was the best guy tonight. No excuses, we keep improving. I’m only 26 years old, I have a lot of time to be in my prime, but fighting is in my blood and I won’t stop.

“I’m still a winner because I have a great family, a great team,…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfR0YJyhvyE&w=560&h=315]

If there is one obstacle to Islam Makhachev’s rise through the UFC’s lightweight division, it’s that his style is not as fan friendly as some of the other top contenders.

It was something of a slow burn on Saturday night, as Makhachev gradually imposed his will on Thiago Moises before submitting his opponent with a rear-naked choke at the 2:38 mark of Round 4 in the UFC on ESPN 26 headliner. It wasn’t a performance that was able to keep Dan Hooker’s interest.

“I kind of was watching and on fast forward,” Hooker said in an interview with Submission Radio “I got bored. So, I can’t really… like, yeah. It kind of is what it is.”

Makhachev is currently on an eight-bout winning streak at 155 pounds and has been anointed by teammate Khabib Nurmagomedov as a future lightweight champion. The Dagestani has gradually improved the level of competition in the Octagon since his 2015 debut, with recent submi…

A shoulder injury has forced Doo Ho Choi to pull out of a proposed clash with Danny Chavez at UFC on ESPN 28.

“The Korean Superboy” announced his exit from the card in a post on his Instagram account on Sunday.

“First of all, I'm so sorry for the fans who are waiting for my fight because I couldn't have a fight due to injury. I'm in a fight business. That means an unexpected accident can happen at any time and I also think a fighter should take the fight even if he has a some injury because that is way it is,” Choi wrote. I injured my shoulder in the last sparring session on Friday night. It was very light and easy rolling but something bad unlucky thing happened.

“It is not a huge injury, but definitely it isn’t something that can handle the fight. If I had more time for recover, I would push forward and take the fight, but our camp [inevitably] decided that two weeks were just too shorts to recover.

“I'm so sad that I prepared for this fight very hard a…

We’re BACK on 30 July for ONE: BATTLEGROUND, topped by a thrilling ONE Muay Thai World Title clash and featuring the returns of Aung La N Sang, Ritu Phogat, Victoria Lee and MORE! @AungLANsang @PhogatRitu #ONEBattleground #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship pic.twitter.com/A4aoBmt4cA

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) July 17, 2021

One Championship “Battleground” will feature a strawweight muay Thai title bout and the return of former two-division champion Aung La N Sang at the top of the bill.

The Singapore-based promotion announced the full card for the event, which takes place at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore on July 30. In the main event, Sam-A Gaiyanghadao will defend his strawweight crown against Prajanchai PK.Saenchai Muaythaigym, while Sang will square off against Leandro Ataides in a featured MMA clash at middleweight (205 pounds).

The event will take place behind closed doors and according to a release, the promotion “is wor…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7NRYyKHJHI&w=560&h=315]

The fifth season of Dana White’s Contender Series will kick off later this summer.

The promotion announced on Saturday night that the show will premiere on Aug. 31 with a card headlined by a heavyweight clash between Matheus Scheffel and Azamat Murzakanov. After that event, four other Contender Series fights were confirmed for the following four weeks through September.

The remaining featured bouts for the announced Contender Series cards are as follows: Darian Weeks vs. Josh Quinlan at welterweight on Sept. 7; Jailton Junior vs. Nasrudin Nasrudinov at light heavyweight on Sept. 14; Chris Duncan vs. Manuel Gaxhja at lightweight on Sept. 21 and Lukasz Sudolski vs. Ihor Potieria at light heavyweight on Sept. 28.

Dana White’s Contender Series airs Tuesdays on ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.

International Fight Week is returning to Las Vegas this September.

The UFC announced that the interactive fan experience, which includes the promotion’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony, will take place from Sept. 21 through Sept. 25. The festivities will conclude with UFC 266 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

The Hall of Fame ceremony is scheduled for Sept. 23, while Sept. 24-25 will feature a two-day, free UFC Fan Experience that “will feature meet and greets, autograph sessions, and partner activations that provide unprecedented access to UFC champions, top-ranked contenders, Hall of Famers, and other UFC personalities.”

Fans will also have access to ceremonial weigh-ins, press conferences and other live entertainment during the week. International Fight Week was canceled in 2020 due to COVID-19 concerns. The latest iteration of the event will be the promotion’s ninth International Fight Week.

UFC 266 takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on …

Even after a retirement that lasted more than four years, Miesha Tate appeared to be in peak form at UFC on ESPN 26.

The former UFC and Strikeforce bantamweight champion blended her striking and takedowns effectively en route to a third-round technical knockout victory against Marion Reneau in Saturday’s co-main event at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. While it was just the beginning of Tate’s comeback tour, it was a farewell for Reneau.

“I think she brought everything she had. I believe this was the fight she wanted, she was exactly where she wanted to be, she knew this was her Super Bowl, this was the fight she wanted to leave it all in the Octagon, and I believe she did that,” Tate said. “I’m excited to go back, watch the fight, learn from it and move forward.

“I’m a huge fan of Marion, she is just an inspiration as a woman and as a person. She is a teacher, she is a mother, she gives back to her community… It takes a good dance partner out there to really bring …

It is no secret that Islam Makhachev has been tabbed as the heir apparent to Khabib Nurmagomedov in the UFC’s lightweight division.

Makhachev lived up to that billing yet again on Saturday, as he cruised to fourth-round submission victory against Thiago Moises in the UFC on ESPN 26 main event at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The Dagestani has won eight consecutive fights at 155 pounds, one of just six fighters in the division’s history to do so. One of those men, Nurmagomedov, was in Makhachev’s corner.

“When you have by your side a champion, he knows everything everywhere, what I have to do, what I have to say, how I have to move… When Khabib is in my corner, I feel more powerful,” Makhachev said.

Comparisons to Nurmagomedov as a fighter are lofty enough, but for Makhachev, his teammate and coach also casts a large shadow because of the person he is.

“If somebody says I’m almost the same as Khabib, I agree with this,” Makhachev said. “I want to be like Khab…