Martial Arts News

During his prime, Alistair Overeem was part of a talented group of MMA heavyweights. | Glory Kickboxing

Heavyweight has never been the deepest division in MMA, but at its peak, the weight class featured a number of top talents across multiple promotions.

One of those skilled heavyweights was Alistair Overeem, a former Strikeforce, Dream and K-1 champion. The Dutchman also challenged for heavyweight gold in the UFC. His last Octagon appearance came in 2021, and his last combat sports fight came under the Glory Kickboxing banner in 2022. He officially announced his retirement in 2023.

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Over the course of his UFC tenure alone Overeem earned victories against the likes of Fabricio Werdum, Mark Hunt, Andrei Arlovski, Junior dos Santos, Roy Nelson, Frank Mir and Brock Lesnar.

Overeem admits that one would be hard-pressed to find that type of star power in the heavyweight division today.

“It’s no secret that there is a decline, unfortuna…

Noksi Ndebele will headline PFL Africa on April 10. | PFL MMA

The fight card for PFL Africa 1 is now official.

The promotion on Tuesday confirmed the full lineup for the April 10 event, which takes place at SunBet Arena in Pretoria, South Africa and marks the launch of the second season of PFL Africa.

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A Middleweight World Title Fight headlines PFL Madrid: Tune in LIVE, Friday, March 20 at 12 p.m. ET.

PFL Africa is headlined by a bantamweight clash between Nkosi Ndebele and Michele Clemente, while Justin Clarke will lock horns with Abdoulaye Kane in the heavyweight co-main event. The card will also feature first-round tournament bouts at welterweight and a number of other showcase fights in various weight classes.

PFL Africa airs on the PFL app in the United States.

PFL Africa Card Bantamweight Showcase: Nkosi Ndebele vs. Michele ClementeHeavyweight Showcase: Justin Clarke vs. Abdoulaye KaneWelterweight Tournament First Round…

Adriano Moraes wants to be free of constraints.

The three-time ONE Championship flyweight titleholder claims his contract with the Singapore-based organization expired in March, though he admits a few more details need to be ironed out before he takes his talent to another promotion. If this does turn out to be the end of Moraes’ tenure with One, it will have included 12 victories in 18 appearances and a career-defining trilogy with the great Demetrious Johnson.

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“Unfortunately, I lost the final fight [with Johnson] by points at a great event in Colorado,” he told Sherdog.com. “They offered to renew me [and] I accepted, but from that point on, they greatly reduced their number of MMA bouts. Things were very slow, especially after Demetrious retired.”

Moraes, now 36, has not fought since he suffered a technical knockout loss to Yuya Wakamatsu in the first round of their One 172 encounter on March 23, 2025. Nearly a year has passed since.

“I expe…

A decision win will be like a loss for Sean O'Malley in his upcoming fight. 

O’Malley is scheduled to fight Aiemann Zahabi (14-2) at UFC White House on June 14 at the White House. “Suga” vows to look for a finish like there is no other option. The former UFC bantamweight champion is ready to give up his spot in the rankings if he goes the distance against Zahabi.

‘Take Me Out of the Rankings’“I got to have a f—-ng beautiful KO,” O’Malley said on YouTube. “It’s just like there is no other option. Winning a decision is a loss. If I win a decision, take me out of the rankings. I need a f——ing finish here.”

O’Malley (19-3) has finished six of his 11 UFC wins so far. While he is known for being a sniper on the feet, O’Malley’s last stoppage win was in 2023, when he knocked out Aljamain Sterling to win the bantamweight title. O’Malley defended his title just once against Marlon Vera before falling to Merab Dvalishvili in 2024. O’Malley failed to reclaim the title in a…

Alex Pereira hasn’t lost hope of fighting Jon Jones at some point. 

Pereira (13-3) first called out Jones (28-1) after reclaiming his light heavyweight title against Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 320 this past October. Jones, who was eyeing a return after his retirement in June, expressed interest in fighting Pereira. The booking was being anticipated for the UFC White House card in June. 

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However, the card was officially announced earlier this month, and Jones is surprisingly not a part of it. Pereira is scheduled to fight Ciryl Gane for the interim heavyweight title at Freedom Fights 250 on June 14 at the White House. Pereira believes he can still fight Jones in the future as long as he defeats Gane next.

“I believe so [there is a chance that the Jones fight happens]. As long as I win this fight [against Gane]. Otherwise, it doesn’t make much sense,” Pereira said on "The Ariel Helwani Show.”

Not Going Anywhere Jones retired last year after…

Ian Garry doesn’t believe that Islam Makhachev is injured. 

People were eagerly anticipating a potential matchup between Makhachev (28-1) and Ilia Topuria (17-0) at the White House in June. However, it was announced earlier this month that Topuria will fight interim lightweight champion Justin Gaethje in a title unification bout at the UFC White House on June 14. White later briefly mentioned that Makhachev has a hand injury, before clarifying that he isn’t certain about it. 

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However, Garry (17-1) doesn’t think Makhachev is injured. Currently rallying for a welterweight title shot, Garry believes the champion is making excuses to avoid fighting. Garry doesn’t think Makhachev could have suffered an injury in his dominant title win over Jack Della Maddalena last year. “The Future” jokes that Makhachev might have injured himself while horse riding, taking a jab at the Dagestani’s frequent horse riding videos. Garry believes Makhachev is doing …

Sean O'Malley wonders if the UFC’s biggest stars would have been what they are without the promotion. 

The UFC White House card lineup has faced some serious backlash from some of the promotion’s biggest stars. Despite having rallied for a spot on the card since it was first mentioned, Conor McGregor and Jon Jones missed out. While McGregor expressed his disappointment mildly, Jones has publicly asked for his UFC release. Meanwhile, Ronda Rousey, considered one of the biggest stars in the history of women’s MMA, claims a deal for a UFC return fell through after the promotion’s partnership with Paramount+. Rousey has since come out with some scathing remarks about UFC fighter pay and the promotion’s inability to cater to fans’ demands. 

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O’Malley, who is also a star in his own right, has always advocated a good relationship between fighters and the UFC. While O’Malley understands the recent backlash from fighters, he believes the UFC had a m…

While it might be difficult to believe now, Sean Strickland and Khamzat Chimaev allegedly got along well with each other in training. 

Strickland (30-7) is scheduled to challenge Chimaev (15-0) for the middleweight title at UFC 328 on May 9 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. There seems to be some bad blood between the two, originating from their training sessions in the past. 

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However, Strickland’s coach, Eric Nicksick, claims they got along really well when Chimaev visited the Xtreme Couture gym. According to Nicksick, the dynamic between Strickland and Chimaev was mostly competitive, with the two pushing each other to their limits. Nicksick has no idea when the relationship turned sour.‘They Pushed Each Other’“Honestly, I thought they got along really well,” Nicksick said on "The Ariel Helwani Show.” “I thought they pushed each other really well. I felt like it was more of a competitive environment than anything. Where it ki…

Khamzat Chimaev finds time to play games even during fight camp. 

Chimaev (15-0) puts his middleweight title on the line against Sean Strickland (30-7) in the main event at UFC 328 on May 9 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Tsarukyan, a close friend of Chimaev, was recently invited to his camp. Tsarukyan couldn’t resist a laugh when he found Chimaev and his entire team playing Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds, an online battle royal shooting game.

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Leisure Time Tsarukyan recorded Chimaev playing PUBG and said on his Instagram Stories: “Khamzat says: Come to camp, it will be fun, very fun, very fun. Absolutely amazing.”

Chimaev defended himself in response: “How else can we spend time in the evening?”

Apart from PUBG, Chimaev has also talked about playing Dota 2 and Counter-Strike since his teens. “Borz” has finished six of his nine UFC opponents so far. While Chimaev’s becoming a UFC champion seemed like a mere inevitability s…

Jorge Masvidal wonders who in the UFC is getting paid their worth, if not Jon Jones.

Jones (28-1) and the UFC had a public falling out since the announcement of the UFC White House card. Jones initially stalled the heavyweight division for over a year before retiring unceremoniously last June. Dana White kept promising that Jones would fight interim champion Tom Aspinall. White would even ragebait reporters who questioned him about Jones by labelling “Bones” the greatest fighter that ever lived. While Jones retired without fighting Aspinall, he returned to the drug testing pool as soon as the White House card was first mentioned. However, White always sounded sceptical about the idea, citing Jones' unreliability. 

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Despite rallying for a spot on the card for nearly a year, Jones failed to make it. White said that Jones was never part of the plan for the White House card. Jones lashed out on social media, claiming to have been in lengthy negotiat…

Charles Oliveira’s wife, Vitoria Brum, recently defended her husband’s performance against Mauricio Ruffy’s criticism. 

Oliveira (37-11) challenged Max Holloway for the BMF title in the main event at UFC 326 earlier this month. Oliveira controlled Holloway on the ground for over 20 minutes to earn a dominant decision victory. However, Oliveira’s win received mixed reactions from fans and pundits. While some lauded the dominant performance, others deemed it lukewarm considering the BMF title at stake. To Oliveira’s credit, he threatened Holloway with multiple submission attempts. 

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Ruffy (13-2) was also critical of Oliveira’s performance, citing the lack of damage “do Bronx” landed on Holloway. Oliveira’s wife came to his defense, reminding Ruffy that there will be grappling in an MMA fight. Brum further noted that Oliveira has more submission wins than Ruffy has overall fights.The Numbers Speak for Themselves “Let's schedule a boxing match t…

Alex Pereira has a new UFC deal. | Getty/UFC

There will be no contract dispute between Alex Pereira and the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

During a Monday appearance on “"The Ariel Helwani Show,” the former two-division champion revealed that he recently inked a new eight-fight deal with the Las Vegas-based promotion.

Pereira recently vacated the 205-pound belt to move up to heavyweight, where he will face Ciryl Gane for the interim title in the UFC White House co-main event on June 14. The decision to give up the light heavyweight championship wasn’t too difficult once Pereira received a new contract offer. While “Poatan” did not share financial terms, it was clear he was quite pleased with the results.

Easy Choice "It was a pretty easy choice when I expressed I wanted to go [heavyweight.] Of course, I had to let go of the belt, but they gave me a new contract and I’m really, really happy with my new contract,” Pereira said through a translator. "I…