Martial Arts News

It was pretty clear how Aljamain Sterling felt about winning the bantamweight title via disqualification moments after his UFC 259 bout with Petr Yan reached its unexpected conclusion.

When the final ruling was announced, Sterling quickly removed the belt from his waist and threw it in the Octagon before falling to his knees in disappointment. Though “The Funkmaster” wanted to continue, a cageside doctor determined otherwise after Yan landed a devastating illegal knee 4:29 into Round 4.

“Everything I worked for to this point and to have the fight go like that… I thought the fight was very close, I thought I was down two rounds. That’s not the way I wanted to win,” Sterling said. “That’s not the way I envisioned this. I just took the belt off.

“I was trying to continue even being like that, I was in a bad shape and it would just have been ego taking over and just to get further punishment. The ref told me I was down. I don’t know. I understand that there is some …

IT'S OVER!! Nzechukwu ends it in the second!! #UFC259 pic.twitter.com/OpWyj0HpVQ

— UFC Canada (@UFC_CA) March 7, 2021

Kennedy Nzechukwu and Carlos Ulberg threw caution to the wind in their matchup at UFC 259, and the light heavyweights were rewarded handsomely for their efforts.

Nzechkwu and Ulberg received “Fight of the Night” honors and $50,000 apiece for their preliminary clash at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, which proved to be a slugfest from the opening bell. After an opening stanza in which Ulberg had his opponent reeling early, Nzechukwu took control in Round 2, ultimately dropping his adversary with a right hook and sealing his win with standing-to-ground punches at the 3:19 mark of the period.

Elsewhere, Kai Kara France survived some serious adversity to earn a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” check in a preliminary flyweight triumph against Rogerio Bontorin. Bontorin spent most of the opening stanza attached to his foe’s back, b…

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 259 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. Maybe now Jan Blachowicz will get the respect he deserves. The Polish powerhouse tightened his grip on the Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight title, as he took a unanimous decision from reigning middleweight champion Israel Adesanya in the UFC 259 headliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. All three judges scored it for Blachowicz (28-8, 11-5 UFC): 49-46, 49-45 and 49-45. There will be no two-division reign for Adesanya, at least not yet.

After three closely contested rounds that saw the two champions trade leg kicks, jabs and occasional power punches, Blachowicz tapped into the City Kickboxing star’s most glaring weakness. He struck for takedowns in Rounds 4 and 5, controlled Adesanya (20-1, 9-1 UFC) from half guard and salted away arguably the most significant victory of his 36-fight career. Blachowicz …

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 259 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. Sherdog's live UFC 259 coverage will begin Saturday at 5:15 p.m. ET. Check out the MMA Forums to discuss the card or enter your comments and predictions below. Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:The Official Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the ro…

They're opening up in the final minutes! #UFC259 pic.twitter.com/aFm08wLFvR

— UFC (@ufc) March 7, 2021

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 259 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app.

Dominick Cruz still has something left to offer.

The former Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight titleholder eked out a split decision over Casey Kenney in the featured UFC 259 prelim on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Judges Derek Cleary and Sal D’Amato scored it 29-28 and 30-27 for Cruz, while Michael Bell saw it 29-28 for Kenney.

Neither man was willing to budge. Cruz (23-3, 6-2 UFC) darted in and out with his patented unorthodox movements, piled up points with lunging punches to the head and occasionally zeroed in on the body. Kenney counteracted those efforts with repeated kicks to the legs and timely power punches upstairs. Both men were stricken by fatigue in the…

Marcin Tybura has a new date and opponent for his next Octagon appearance.

The Polish heavyweight, who was originally slated to meet Blagoy Ivanov at UFC 260, will now square off against Walt Harris at the promotion’s June 5 event. MMAFighting.com was first to report the new booking. The UFC Fight Night event does not yet have a headliner or location.

Tybura is currently on a four-bout winning streak in UFC competition. Most recently, the 35-year-old scored a second-round technical knockout victory against Greg Hardy at UFC Fight Night 183 on Dec. 19.

After a four-fight unbeaten stretch from June 2018 to July 2019, Harris has suffered back-to-back TKO defeats to Alistair Overeem and Alexander Volkov in the Octagon. “The Big Ticket” is 6-8 with one no contest over the course of two UFC stints.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h4sjfwwdMA&w=640&h=360] Israel Adesanya weighed in with a box of pizza in hand and still came in well below the light heavyweight limit for his title fight.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship is kicking off March with its most stacked pay-per-view offering of 2021 so far. The event, which features three title fights, will be capped off by middleweight champion Israel Adesanya moving up a division to challenge the newly crowned light heavyweight titleholder Jan Blachowicz. The 15-fight UFC 259 card also features two additional title fights as Amanda Nunes will put her featherweight title on the line against Megan Anderson, while bantamweight champ Petr Yan will look to stop the surging Aljamain Sterling. None of the fighters in any of these bouts had any issue making weight.

Blachowicz (27-8) has been highly impressive since getting knocked out by Thiago Santos in 2019. Wins over Luke Rockhold, Ronaldo Souza and Corey Anderson l…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Jdn_ln8uxw&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. The brother of former Ultimate Fighting Championship title challenger Paulo Costa would like to add some details to the story about Costa drinking too much wine before his last fight. Scheduled to face Robert Whittaker on April 17 in Las Vegas, top-ranked middleweight Costa (13-1) brought a big story to MMA world last week. “Borrachinha” declared on his YouTube channel that he fought drunk against Israel Adesanya, in the main event of UFC 253 last September at Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

On Wednesday, Costa’s older brother and head coach, Carlos Borracha, confirmed that information in an interview with Sherdog.

“He arrived in Abu Dhabi weighing 211 lbs., and because of that, we needed to train a lot in the [days before] the fight. Due to that, after the …

Kang Ji Won springs a MASSIVE upset, stopping Amir Aliakbari in Round 1! #ONEFistsOfFury2 #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship pic.twitter.com/zje6KvjwkA

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) March 5, 2021 In a sharp contrast from the previous event, just one bout on the second, pre-recorded part of One Championship’s “Fists of Fury” series went to the judges.

The main event of One: Fists of Fury 2 saw Ji Won Kang (5-0) taking on decorated Iranian wrestler Amir Aliakbari (10-2) in their heavyweight tilt. The two behemoths took a few seconds to study one other early in the fight, with Aliakbari keeping the center of the cage while Kang was reaching out with a few kicks. After chasing the South Korean fighter for a while, Aliakbari finally reached “Mighty Warrior” with a right hand, followed by another heavy that forced his opponent to retreat. The face of the Kang immediately showed damage from the Iranian fighter’s strikes, as Kang’s left eye started…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7ROZZcIBDI?start=887&w=560&h=315] Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 259 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. If the Ultimate Fighting Championship has its way, fans will be back en masse at events in the very near future. At the UFC 259 pre-fight press conference, UFC President Dana White spoke to media about a myriad of topics including some upcoming events. Texas Governor Greg Abbott rescinded the mask mandate for COVID-19 on Monday, while opening up venues to 100-percent capacity. Effective March 10, all Texas businesses will be allowed to re-open to full capacity, and Abbott has stripped the local government from re-imposing a mask mandate. The businesses will be allowed to limit their own capacities based on their own internal policies.

This new development has the UFC head chomping at the bit to put on fight cards in front of large audiences again. White…

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. Two Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweights looking for their first win inside the Octagon will clash in June. The news first came from MMA DNA, Josh Parisian (13-4) will try once more to win one in the UFC against fellow struggling heavyweight Roque Martinez (15-7-2) on June 19. This UFC Fight Night event does not yet have a location set, although it likely will take place either in the UFC Apex in Las Vegas or on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Parisian confirmed the news of this pairing on his Instagram.

Parisian, the first heavyweight to ever record a spinning back fist knockout in combined Zuffa history, did so on his first trip to Dana White's Contender Series in 2018. The stellar finish did not earn him a place on the roster, and instead a slot on Season 28 of “The Ultimate Fighter.” Unsuccessful in…

BREAKING NEWS

UFC debut for Nikolas Motta against Damir Hadzovic is set to take place on May 8th.#UFC #MMA #UFCESPN https://t.co/H25UgcWDas pic.twitter.com/PdywHhJfFz

— MMA DNA (@MMADNANL) March 4, 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. A promising Dana White's Contender Series signee has his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut set for May.

First reported by MMA DNA on Thursday, Nikolas Motta (12-3) will be squaring off against Damir Hadzovic (13-6) at lightweight on the May 8 UFC Fight Night card. The event, which is currently tabbed to take place in the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, does not yet have a headliner booked. The match was confirmed later by multiple outlets.

Motta prevailed on the ninth week of the 2020 season of DWCS, where he captured a decision over Joseph Lowry to earn a contract. The ex-Cage Fury Fighti…