Martial Arts News

Travis Fulton, who amassed more than 300 fights during his mixed martial arts career, was found dead on Saturday morning at Linn County Jail in Iowa.

According to a release from the Linn County Sheriff’s Office, Fulton is believed to have committed suicide by hanging himself. Fulton, 44, was discovered by staff members in his cell block around 4 a.m. local time and was transported to Mercy Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 5 a.m.

Fulton was indicted in February by a federal grand jury on charges of sexual exploitation of a child, possession of child porn and receipt of child porn. According to court records, Fulton allegedly attempted to engage a minor in sexual conduct with hopes of taking photos of the encounter this past November. Additionally, Fulton is accused of possessing a flash drive with pornographic images of a child under 12 years of age between November 2018 and November 2020.

According to a report from The Gazette, Fulton on Friday …

Tai Tuivasa needed to put in just 67 seconds of work to pad his bank account by an extra $75,000.

The Australian received a “Performance of the Night” bonus at UFC 264 for his first round knockout of Greg Hardy in a featured heavyweight affair. After a couple Hardy right hands put Tuivasa on wobbly legs, he responded with a massive left hook that dropped the ex-NFL star. A few follow-up punches on the canvas sealed Tuivasa’s victory.

Elsewhere, Sean O'Malley and Kris Moutinho captured “Fight of the Night” honors and $75,000 apiece for their main card bantamweight scrap. While O’Malley was largely masterful in a dominant third-round TKO victory, Moutinho undoubtedly raised his profile with a game performance on short notice before the fight was halted.

Finally, Dricus Du Plessis garnered the evening’s other $75,000 “Performance of the Night” check by virtue of a second-round knockout of Trevin Giles in a preliminary middleweight encounter. The former KSW champ f…

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 264 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. The Dustin Poirier-Conor McGregor trilogy ended in perhaps the most anticlimactic fashion possible. Poirier captured the rubber match against his Irish rival when McGregor suffered what appeared to be a broken left leg or ankle after a missing a punch and stepping back awkwardly in the final seconds of the opening round of the UFC 264 headliner at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night. With McGregor’s leg clearly contorted at a gruesome angle, the lightweight bout was waved off at the 5:00 mark of Round 1.

“He fractured it on one of the checks at the beginning of the fight, then it broke on a punch, for sure,” Poirier said. “I pointed at him at the beginning of the fight, that's when I checked a kick, that's when it cracked.”

For the most part, Round 1 belonged to Poirier (28-6, 20-5, 1 NC UFC). McGregor began w…

Sherdog's live UFC 264 coverage will begin Saturday at 6:15 p.m. ET.

Check out the MMA Forums to discuss the card or enter your comments and predictions below.

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 264 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. Round 1 The bout was canceled on Saturday afternoon due to COVID-19 protocols for Amedovski's team. The news was first reported by ESPN. Round 1 Tonight’s the night, and it’s going to happen again and again. Has to happen. Nice night. Las Vegas is a great town. UFC 264 is in full force inside of the jam-packed T-Mobile Arena, with 12 fights at our disposal leading to the big kabosh in the main event. We begin in the flyweight division, as two men in dire need of a win come to blows when Kazakhstan’s Zhumagulov (13-5, 0-2 UFC) takes on former featherweight Rivera (10-5, 0-3 UFC). Referee Chris Tognoni is on top of the action in what could be a fast-paced affair, and th…

Bringing the in RD 1 @MaxPainGriffin #UFC264 pic.twitter.com/6RBEaOMHs5

— UFC (@ufc) July 11, 2021

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 264 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app.

Max Griffin finally has a centerpiece victory to call his own.

The former Tachi Palace Fights champion captured a hard-fought three-round verdict over former interim welterweight king Carlos Condit in the featured bout of the UFC 264 prelims at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night. Griffin (18-8, 6-6 UFC) secured scorecards of 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27 for his third consecutive triumph within the Octagon.

“I used to look up to him; I still do. He’s one of the best in the world, a legend. I tried to get the finish, but much respect to that man,” Griffin said.

Griffin set the tone for his victory with a dominant first round, as he attacked Condit (32-14, 9-10 UFC) with sting…

Bellator MMA has parted ways with a total of 18 fighters, including former featherweight champion Daniel Straus, light heavyweight king Liam McGeary and once highly-touted prospect Tywan Claxton.

Other notables no longer on the roster include Alessio Sakara, Heather Hardy, Bec Rawlings, Tyree Fortune and John Teixeira. Sherdog.com confirmed the news with a promotion official following an initial report from MMAjunkie.com. Not all fighters mentioned were released by Bellator; some simply didn’t have their contracts renewed or are potentially pursuing other opportunities.

The following athletes are also not on the California-based promotion’s roster: Khonry Gracie, Amanda Bell, Chuck Campbell, Demarques Jackson, Dominic Mazzotta, Olga Rubin, Kirill Sidelnikov, Mike Jasper, Steve MacDonald and Ryan Spillane.

Straus is a two-time 145-pound title holder with Bellator. He initially claimed the belt with a five-round verdict over Pat Curran at Bellator 106 in November…

UFC is finalizing a light heavyweight bout between Jimmy Crute and Jamahal Hill for the UFC Fight Night event on Oct. 2, multiple sources told @bokamotoESPN. pic.twitter.com/Ww86HW4vzd

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) July 9, 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. It appears that Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweights Jamahal Hill and Jimmy Crute will both be able to fight again soon after going down mid-fight with bad injuries. On Friday, ESPN broke the news that Crute (12-2) and Hill (8-1, 1 NC) will tangle on the Oct. 2 UFC Fight Night card. Crute first posted about his new four-fight contract as well as his next match, which is set to be against Hill, on Thursday. The pairing will be less than four months removed from Hill suffering a horrific arm injury from an armbar, but “Sweet Dreams” has been cleared to compete again. Crute su…

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 potential Ultimate Fighting Championship strawweight title eliminator is on tap for a Fight Night main event in October. ESPN announced on Friday that Marina Rodriguez (14-1-2) will headline the UFC Fight Night card on Oct. 9 against Mackenzie Dern (11-1). The event, which will go down at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, may place the winner in prime position for a future title shot.

Rodriguez’ first UFC main event went her way when she won a decision over Michelle Waterson in May. Rodriguez is riding a two-fight win streak since her first career defeat, which came against Carla Esparza a year ago. In January, the Brazilian smashed fellow countrywoman Amanda Ribas in the second round to earn her first stoppage inside the Octagon. Rodriguez is the only woman in UFC history to fight to a draw on two separate occasions, doing so aga…

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. Submission specialist Preston Parsons is about to join the ranks of the Ultimate Fighting Championship on short notice. Welterweight Daniel Rodriguez (14-2) announced on an Instagram story on Wednesday that his opponent Abubakar Nurmagomedov was forced out of their July 17 contest. On Thursday night, MMA Island was the first to report that Nurmagomedov’s replacement would be the newcomer Parsons (9-2). The promotion confirmed this booking on Friday, with the 170-pound bout taking place on UFC on ESPN 26 inside the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Parsons makes his way to the UFC with a 100 percent career submission rate, and his two defeats also came by stoppage. No pro fight for the Jacksonville Beach, Fla., resident has ever gone past the 4:26 mark of the second frame, win or lose. Four tapouts on Combat Night Pro events from 2019 to…

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. With 11 Cage Warriors Fighting Championship victories under his belt, Paddy Pimblett is set to make his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut in September. On Friday, Combate first broke the story that Pimblett (16-3) would be stepping inside the Octagon on Sept. 4 against Luigi Vendramini (9-2). The UFC Fight Night card slated for London does not yet have a venue established, although this lightweight bout has been booked for this event. News of Pimblett’s debut came from the fighter on his Instagram page on Thursday, and the matchup was confirmed by other outlets on Friday.

Former bantamweight Pimblett has largely impressed since his shift up to the lightweight division in 2018, starting with a flying triangle choke on Alexis Savvidis in his first fight at 155 pounds. An unsuccessful attempt for the Cage Warriors lightweig…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCZ3gk-el9M&w=640&h=360] Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 264 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor have a score to settle on what could be the biggest Ultimate Fighting Championship pay-per-view of the year. Both fighters in the main event of UFC 264 had no issue making weight. In fact, all but one competitor on the 13-fight card hit their proper marks. Irene Aldana came in 3.5 pounds heavy for her bantamweight bout against Yana Kunitskaya, and she has been fined 30 percent of her purse. The bout will otherwise proceed as scheduled.

Coming off the biggest victory of his career, Poirier (27-6, 1 NC) will look to go two up in the trilogy against "Notorious." The Louisiana native was able to finish McGregor off with punches in Round 2 of their meeting earlier this year, which avenged a previous defeat to the Irishman in 2014. "The…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTQHgLHDiRM&w=560&h=315] 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. After bursting out of the gate with three quick stoppage wins, hot Ultimate Fighting Championship commodity Khamzat Chimaev will be coming back to the Octagon following a lengthy layoff. According to a report from betting site Octagon.bet on Friday, and subsequently confirmed by multiple outlets, the UFC is booking Chimaev (9-0) for October against Jingliang Li (18-6). The two welterweights will collide at UFC 267, which is slated to go down on Oct. 30 at an undisclosed venue in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. This will be Chimaev’s first appearance since a knockout win in September 2020, as the Russian out of Sweden contracted COVID-19.

The future was bright for 27-year-old Chimaev, who debuted in the promotion in July 2020 and went on to rattle off three speedy…