Martial Arts News

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Francis Ngannou is not one of those who thinks Jon Jones is avoiding a matchup with the newly-crowned heavyweight champion.

Shortly after Ngannou knocked out Stipe Miocic in the second round to claim the belt at UFC 260, Jones tweeted ‘Show me the money’ in reference to a potential showdown with “The Predator.” That prompted UFC president Dana White to imply that the former light heavyweight king didn’t really want a bout against the powerful Ngannou. From there, Jones expressed his displeasure with White’s comments in a series of tweets, some of which have been deleted.

Ngannou, however, seems to understand Jones’ position and believes it isn’t out of line for “Bones” to request a bigger payday for what could conceivably rank as one of the biggest fights in UFC history.

“I believe that Jon Jones wants this fight,” Ngannou told TMZ Sports “I believe he’ll want it to happen because it’s going to be…

Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com Credit: Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com

Alessio Di Chirico will meet Roman Dolidze in a middleweight matchup at UFC Fight Night on June 5.

BJPenn.com was first to report the booking. The card does not have an official location or headliner but is expected to include a heavyweight showdown between Walt Harris and Marcin Tybura on the bill.

Di Chiricio last appeared at UFC on ABC 1, when he halted a three-fight skid with a head-kick knockout of Joaquin Buckley on Jan. 16. The 31-year-old Italian is 4-5 during his promotional tenure and 13-5 as a professional overall.

Dolidze began his pro career with eight consecutive triumphs before dropping a unaniomus decision to Trevin Giles in his most recent outing at UFC on ESPN 21 on March 20. The 32-year-old Georgian fighter had earned decision wins over Khadis Ibragimov and John Allan in his first two UFC appearances before that defeat.

Stipe Miocic’s awkward fall upon being knocked out by Francis Ngannou apparently won’t keep him on the sidelines any longer than normal.

Miocic received a 60-day medical suspension after relinquishing the heavyweight crown to Ngannou in the UFC 260 main event, according to mixedmartialarts.com. That suspension is typical for those who have suffered a knockout defeat for precautionary reasons. Ngannou, meanwhile, received a 30-day medical suspension.

UFC 260 took place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday night. Five fighters from the card are facing potential six-month suspensions pending medical clearance: Gillian Robertson (right hand), Jamie Mullarkey (right hand, wrist), Fabio Cherant (right ribs), Omar Morales (right tibia, thumb) and Shane Young (left tibia, fibula).

UFC 260 Medical Suspensions:

Francis Ngannou: suspended until 04/27/21, no contact until 04/18/21.

Stipe Miocic: suspended until 05/27/21, no contact until 05/12/21.

Vic…

Considered one of the pioneers of MMA in Brazil, former Invicta flyweight champion Vanessa Porto is looking forward to making her promotional debut against Liz Carmouche at Bellator 256.

“I’ve been fighting MMA since 2005. It’s amazing to be able to be so motivated now as I was 16 years ago. Nothing better than a great card and a great opponent to make my Bellator debut,” Porto told Sherdog.com.

With the experience of having clashed with two of the most feared women in MMA history, Amanda Nunes and Cristiane Justinoat Brazilian Vale Tudo events, Porto refuses to see her fight against Carmouche as a classical striker vs. grappler match.

"Many people don’t know, but I already fought many times in wrestling competitions in Brazil. We are both 37 years old competing for more than a decade in the most complete combat sport on earth. Of course we train everything,” Porto says. “Besides that we are both very explosive girls, so definitely that´s a …

Champ Champ

KSW HW Champion@phildefriesmma

KSW LHW Champion@TomaszNarkun #KSW60 - April 24th pic.twitter.com/qUKTevA2DW — KSW (@KSW_MMA) March 29, 2021

Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki heavyweight champion Philip De Fries and light heavyweight title holder Tomasz Narkun are going to run it back.

The Polish promotion announced Monday that De Fries and Narkun will meet in a rematch to headline KSW 60 at Wytwornia Club in Lodz, Poland, on April 24. The event will be available via pay-per-view on KSWTV.com.

De Fries and Narkun first fought at KSW 47 in March 2019. The English heavyweight champion retained his crown with a five-round verdict over Narkun, part of an ongoing seven-bout winning streak. Most recently, De Fries scored a second-round TKO win against Michal Kita at KSW 57 this past December. “F-11” is 19-6 as a pro, including a 2-3 stint in the UFC from 2011 to 2013.

Narkun, meanwhile, rebounded from that defeat with back-t…

Thanks to his consistency and longevity, Stipe Miocic is one of the greatest heavyweight champions the UFC has ever seen.

His second reign came to an end on Saturday night, as he was knocked out by Francis Ngannou in the second round of their headlining clash at UFC 260 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Miocic fell awkwardly after being hit with the decisive blow, but in a statement released on his Instagram page Monday assured everyone that he is in relatively good health following the defeat.

“First and foremost, I’m ok. I know that fall wasn’t my most graceful fall, but I was unconscious, so it happens,” Miocic wrote.

“To my family friends and fans, especially Croatia and Cleveland … I love you and I’m sorry. I hate letting you down. To my team, thank you. I know you feel every loss just as much as I do. We win as a family, we lose as a family. Losses aren’t fun, they always sting for a while, but that’s the beast of this business,” he continued. “You can’t win t…

Cage Warriors?! Completed it, mate!

Welcome to the UFC @PaddyTheBaddy! pic.twitter.com/TbUjTCsTJX

— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) March 29, 2021 Highly-touted Cage Warriors prospect Paddy Pimblett is taking his talents to the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Both the UFC and Cage Warriors announced the signing via social media. A date fo the 26-year-old Liverpool, England, native’s debut is currently unknown.

A former featherweight champion with Cage Warriors, Pimblett will likely compete in the UFC at 155 pounds. Paddy “The Baddy” has fought at lightweight since losing the 145-pound belt against Nad Narimani in April 2017.

Pimblett is coming off back-to-back first-round finishes of Decky Dalton and Davide Martinez under the Cage Warriors banner. Prior to that, the Next Generation UK representative dropped a five-round verdict to Soren Bak in a lightweight title bout at Cage Warriors 96 in 2018. Pimblett is 16-3 since beginning his pro…

Jack May will step in for Matt Mitrione and face Tyrell Fortune in a heavyweight contest at Bellator 255.

Sherdog.com confirmed the change with a promotion official on Monday following an initial report from MMAjunkie.com. Mitrione withdrew from the bout for undisclosed reasons. Bellator 255 takes place on Friday at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., and is headlined by a featherweight grand prix semifinal between reigning champion Patricio Freire and Emmanuel Sanchez. The card will air on Showtime.

Fortune and May initially squared off last September at Bellator 245, but the bout ended 2:42 into Round 1 after Fortune landed an accidental kick to the groin of his opponent. Fortune returned to action at Bellator 251, where he outpointed Said Sowma on Nov. 5. The 30-year-old Arizona Combat Sports representative is 9-1 with on no contest as a professional.

May last appeared at Xtremme MMA “Fick vs. Fialho,” where he suffered a split-decision loss to Kyle Nob…

Sean O'Malley rebounded from his first career defeat in emphatic fashion at UFC 260.

The 26-year-old bantamweight nearly had a walkoff knockout victory against Thomas Almeida in Round 1 and when that didn’t quite come to fruition, “Sugar” put on a clinic until the finish did arrive 3:52 into the final frame.

After suffering a TKO loss to Marlon Vera at UFC 252 last August, O’Malley appears to be back on track as one of the top rising talents at 135 pounds.

“He looked good coming back in off of the ‘Chito’ Vera fight, he came in tonight against a real tough kid, durable, with serious punching power and he put on a masterpiece tonight,” UFC president Dana White said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference.

“He picked him apart, stayed on the outside and did whatever he wanted to do. He hurt him [in the first round], thought he finished him and then finished him again in the third round. You really couldn’t have put on a better performance than he did tonig…

It was a different version of Tyron Woodley at UFC 260, but unfortunately for the ex-welterweight champion, the end result was the same as his recent Octagon appearances.

Woodley suffered his fourth consecutive defeat in Saturday’s co-main event at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, as he tapped to a brabo choke from Vicente Luque 3:56 into Round 1 of their 170-pound encounter. While his previous three losses were characterized by a lack of aggression, Woodley brought the fight to Luque at the outset and rocked his adversary with a couple of his patented overhand rights in the early going.

Ultimately it wasn’t enough, because Luque, one of the most prolific finishers in the division, made Woodley pay for his aggression.

S--t was going really well until it wasn’t,” Woodley wrote on Instagram. “My camp pushed me in ways I haven’t been pushed in a while. I committed, and swore to myself I would bring the tiger out that earned me gold. I saw the opportunity for the KO and g…

You need to see this!

5.15amBatié, Cameroon

Incredible scenes from the hometown of @Francis_Ngannou as they celebrate the crowning of a new UFC Heavyweight Champion!

( Mathieu Pennella) pic.twitter.com/NSA57bUsmA

— UFC on BT Sport (@btsportufc) March 28, 2021

It may have been in the wee hours of morning in Batie, Cameroon, when Francis Ngannou captured UFC heavyweight gold, but that didn’t prevent his home country from launching into a raucous celebration.

Video footage shows Ngannou’s countrymen cheering wildly after “The Predator” knocked out Stipe Miocic in the UFC 260 main event on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. At the time of Ngannou’s victory, it was 5:15 a.m. local time in Batie.

Ngannou was born in Batie and worked in the mines at a young age. After he became interested in combat sports, he moved to France with designs on pursuing a boxing career before he discovered MMA. Ngannou current lives in Las Vegas…

The trilogy bout between Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor has a tentative date and venue.

During the UFC 260 post-fight press conference on Saturday, Dana White confirmed that the promotion is targeting July 10 for the third meeting between the two lightweights. That would set the stage for Poirier-McGregor 3 to go down at UFC 264, and as an added perk, the UFC wants to hold the card at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, which means the organization is optimistic fans will be allowed in the venue.

“That’s the plan,” the UFC president said. “I hope so. We all hope so.”

The Las Vegas-based promotion will hold an event in front of a capacity crowd for the first time on April 24, when UFC 261 heads to the 15,000-seat Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla. Tickets for that event quickly sold out, and the gate is believed to be the highest in the history of the venue. The promotion is also expected to hold UFC 262 in front of an audience with no capacity restrictio…