Martial Arts News

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 third time is the charm, they say. On Wednesday morning, MMA Junkie reported that Merab Dvalishvili and Cody Stamann are set to clash in a bantamweight affair on the UFC Fight Night card that will go down on May 1. The pair should have already locked horns at UFC on ESPN 19, but Stamann pulled out due to undisclosed reasons a few days after the matchup was announced. The clash between “The Machine” and “The Spartan” was rescheduled for UFC Fight Night 184, but Dvalishvili withdrew due to COVID-19 complications before they could meet in the cage.

Dvalishvili (12-4, 5-2 UFC) is riding a five-fight winning streak into his upcoming assignment. In his latest Octagon appearance, he upended “The Ultimate Fighter 14” winner John Dodson in a three-round bantamweight feature at UFC 252. Prior, “The Machine” recorded similar decision vi…

STILL UNBEATEN.

Khizriev wastes no time - no energy at #DWCS.

[ Watch LIVE on #ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/7PDkNUHK8W — UFC (@ufc) September 9, 2020

Kyle Daukaus will meet Aliaskhab Khizriev in a middleweight bout at UFC Fight Night on April 10.

Promotion officials recently announced the pairing through social media. UFC Fight Night takes place at an as yet to be confirmed location and is headlined by a 185-pound showdown between Darren Till and Marvin Vettori.

After suffering his first professional defeat to Brendan Allen at UFC on ESPN 12, Daukaus rebounded in his sophomore promotional outing, outpointing Dustin Stoltzfus at UFC 255 this past November. The former Cage Fury Fighting Championships titlist owns a 10-1 career mark that also includes a victory on Season 3 of Dana White’s Contender Series.

Khizriev will make his UFC debut with a 13-0 record. He earned a contract with the Las Vegas-based promotion by submitt…

UFC Fight Night 187 is down another bout, as a heavyweight tilt between Ben Rothwell and Philipe Lins has been pulled from Saturday’s card.

Fightful was first to report the news. According to MMAFighting.com, an undisclosed injury resulted in the removal of the bout from the UFC Fight Night 187 lineup, but it is expected to be rebooked for a future event.

UFC Fight Night 187 takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a welterweight clash between Leon Edwards and Belal Muhammad. The card will stream in its entirety on ESPN+.

The 39-year-old Rothwell had a two-bout winning streak snapped in his most recently outing, when he dropped a unanimous decision against Marcin Tybura at UFC Fight Night 179 this past October.

After winning the 2018 Professional Fighters League heavyweight championship, Lins has struggled in the Octagon, falling to Andrei Arlovski and Tanner Boser in his first two promotional appearances.

A featherweight pairing pitting Daniel Weichel against Pedro Carvalho has been targeted for Bellator 257.

Sherdog.com confirmed with a source close to the situation that the matchup is in the works following an initial report from MMAFighting.com. Both Weichel and Carvalho have agreed to the bout, but contracts have not been signed.

Bellator 257 takes place at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn., on April 16 and features a pair of light heavyweight grand prix quarterfinals: Vadim Nemkov vs. Phil Davis and Yoel Romero vs. Anthony Johnson. The card will air on Showtime.

Weichel has lost three of his last four promotional appearances, a stretch that includes split-decision setbacks against Patricio Freire and Goiti Yamauchi as well as a five-round unanimous verdict to Emmanuel Sanchez in the quarterfinals of the 145-pound tournament. The 36-year-old German also posted a decision win over Saul Rogers in the opening round of the bracket during that time.

After s…

A featherweight clash pitting Ricardo Ramos against Zubaira Tukhugov will not take place at UFC Fight Night 187 as originally planned.

According to an initial report by MMA journalist Igor Lazorin, Tukhugov was forced to pull out of the fight due to injury. MMAFighting.com has since confirmed that Ramos will not remain on the card after the promotion was unable to find a replacement opponent for him.

UFC Fight Night 187 takes place on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a welterweight tilt between Leon Edwards and Belal Muhammad. The card will stream in its entirety on ESPN+.

Tukhugov split a pair of bouts in 2020, defeating Kevin Aguilar via first-round TKO at UFC Fight Night 168 before dropping a split decision to Hakeem Dawodu at UFC 253.

Ramos has been victorious in five of his seven Octagon appearances but is coming off a first-round stoppage loss to Lerone Murphy at UFC on ESPN 13 this past July.

Holly Holm has confirmed her withdrawal from proposed May 8 bout against Julianna Pena.

In a video on Instagram, the former bantamweight queen revealed that she was diagnosed with a kidney condition called hydronephrosis. According to kidney.org, “hydronephrosis is the swelling of a kidney due to a build-up of urine. It happens when urine cannot drain out from the kidney to the bladder from a blockage or obstruction. Hydronephrosis can occur in one or both kidneys.”

Holm said that she expects to make a relatively quick recovery and hopes to have the Pena fight rebooked by the summer.

“Last Wednesday I had super abdominal pains, and I went to urgent care. It’s been something kind of reoccurring but hasn’t driven me to urgent care until last Wednesday,” Holm said. “Lo and behold I have hydronephrosis, which is where the kidney does not drain to the bladder correctly.

“So they admitted me that night to get a little procedure done, to get a stent put in ther…

Jan Blachowicz may want a minimum six-month rest following his light heavyweight title defense at UFC 259, but opponent Israel Adesanya could potentially join him in being sidelined that long for different reasons.

“The Last Stylebender” must have clearance on left foot and left ankle X-rays or he will be suspended until Sept. 3. At a minimum, Adesanya is suspended until April 21 with no contact until April 6. Blachowicz, meanwhile, is suspended until April 6 with no contact until March 28.

A full list of medical suspensions from this past Saturday’s event was released to mixedmartialarts.com. UFC 259 took place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and saw Blachowicz take a five-round verdict against Adesanya in the evening’s headliner.

Meanwhile, Aljamain Sterling, who claimed the vacant bantamweight title via disqualification victory after absorbing an illegal knee from Petr Yan, is suspended until May 6 with no contact until April 21. Yan emerged with a clean bill of…

Two of Professional Fighters League’s biggest stars will anchor the organization’s third regular season card on May 6.

The promotion announced Tuesday that recent free-agent signee Fabricio Werdum will square off against Renan Ferreira in the evening’s heavyweight headliner, while 2019 women’s lightweight champ Kayla Harrison will face Mariana Morais in the co-main event. The card will feature heavyweights and women’s lightweights.

PFL 3 takes place at Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, N.J., in a ”state-of-the-art” bubble environment, with fighters required to check in 17 days prior to their bouts. The main card airs on ESPN2 at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, with prelims streaming on ESPN+ at 5:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. PT.

In the other two main card matchups, 2019 heavyweight champ Ali Isaev will face Hatef Moeil, while Genah Fabian will lock horns with Laura Sanchez at 155 pounds. Meanwhile, six bouts will comprise the ESPN+ prelims: Mohammed Usman vs. Brandon Sayles …

A women’s flyweight clash pitting Veta Arteaga against Desiree Yanez has been added to the Bellator 257 preliminary card.

Sherdog.com confirmed the pairing with a promotion official on Monday following an initial report from MMAjunkie.com. The fight was initially slated for Bellator 250 in October, but Arteaga was forced to withdraw on the day of the event due to a positive COVID-19 test.

Bellator 257 takes place on April 16 at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut and is headlined by a light heavyweight grand prix quarterfinal matchup between reigning 205-pound champion Vadim Nemkov and Phil Davis. In the co-main event, Yoel Romero will lock horns with Anthony Johnson in another light heavyweight quarterfinal. The evening’s main card will air on Showtime.

Arteaga is coming off back-to-back losses against Alejandra Lara and Ilima-Lei Macfarlance in 2019. The 33-year-old Combat Fitness product is 5-4 over the course of her professional tenure, with all but…

While it appears that the particulars of Jan Blachowicz’s next light heavyweight title defense are already set, it could be some time before the Polish champion returns to the Octagon.

After a five-round unanimous decision victory over middleweight king in the UFC 259 headliner on Saturday, Blachowicz laid out a desired timeframe for his next promotional appearance.

“[I want a] short break – minimum half-year break,” Blachowicz said. “I want to spend some time with my family. I am a father. My child was just born and I don’t spend any time with him because I have to prepare for my fight. If he wants to wait, (Glover Teixeira) will be my next opponent.”

That means the former KSW title holder wouldn’t compete again until September at the earliest. Blachowicz’s first child, Jan. Jr., was born in December, and the fighter has mostly been in camp preparing for Adesanya since then. That signals an even longer layoff for Teixeira, who UFC president Dana White said was “100 pe…

#TrillerFightClub @jakepaul vs @Benaskren April 17 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. PPV tickets now available on https://t.co/ePBwAGe5aj pic.twitter.com/ys1l2xm3od

— TRILLER (@triller) March 8, 2021

The pay-per-view boxing match between Ben Askren and Jake Paul officially has a location and a price point.

Triller Fight Club announced Monday that the April 17 bout will take place at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, the home of the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons. Askren vs. Paul will cost $49.99 on pay-per-view and will be available via iNDemand in North American, while Fite TV will handle distribution internationally. International price points may vary. The four-hour card begins at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, while the pay-per-view kicks off at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.

There will be no ticket sales to the public, but a limited number of guests and fans will be invited to attend the event. The card will also reportedly included a showdown between former UFC heavywe…

Megan Anderson was overmatched from the outset against Amanda Nunes in the UFC 259 co-headliner.

The Aussie was rocked by a pair of hard overhand rights early and never recovered. After failing on a takedown attempt, Anderson absorbed a barrage of punches and hammerfists before Nunes transitioned to a reverse triangle armbar to elicit a tapout 2:03 into Round 1.

Anderson landed just two significant strikes in the featherweight championship bout before meeting her demise. The former Invicta FC title holder released a brief statement on Twitter following her defeat.

“This game has the highest of highs and the lowest of lows,” Anderson wrote on Twitter. “This was the one we wanted to win but it's the fight game. We’ll be back.”

This game has the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. This was the one we wanted to win but it's the fight game.

We'll be back

— Megan Anderson (@MeganA_mma) March 7, 2021

Anderson completed her …