Martial Arts News

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight king Ilia Topuria lost to Justin Gaethje at UFC Freedom 250, sustaining quite a bit of facial damage.

Over two weeks after the bout, the extent to the bruising on his face have been revealed. A Georgian reporter has shared an image of the former two-division champion posing for a photograph with a young fan.

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New Photo Reveals How Ilia Topuria Looks Two Weeks After His Title Loss As seen in a recent photo alongside a fan, Topuria’s face looks far better now than it did following his defeat to Gaethje. Georgian reporter Giorgi Kokiashvili shared the photo on X, wherein the swelling around the fighter’s eyes had significantly reduced, along with the bruising. Furthermore, cuts he sustained at the historic White House fight also appear to have healed well.

🚨 Ilia Topuria’s new photo with fans 📸

It’s really nice to see that just two weeks after the fight, everything is gett…

Anthony Hernandez is training with Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight champ Sean Strickland ahead of his headlining bout at UFC Fight Night 285. Hernandez will be looking to return to victorious ways after his win streak was snapped by Strickland in February 2026.

While Strickland went on to claim UFC gold in his next fight against Khamzat Chimaev, Hernandez is scheduled to lock horns with Gregory Rodrigues in Sacramento, California, in August.

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Anthony Hernandez gets “tips and tricks” from Sean Strickland Hernandez posted a photo on Instagram following his training session with Strickland. He captioned his post, “Thank you guys for welcoming me in. Appreciate the tips and tricks.”

Strickland then acknowledged the post with a comment, which read, “6 weeks of fun!”

Hernandez’s eight-fight win streak came to a screeching halt earlier this year in Houston, where he was finished in the third round via TKO. Despite the pre-fight tension b…

Trey Waters (right) has signed with the PFL. | 📷: Zuffa/Getty

Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran Trey Waters has signed with Professional Fighters League and will debut in the SmartCage on Aug. 7, in Charlotte, North Carolina, for one of the company’s upcoming Summer Series events, sources tell Sherdog.com.

Homegrown talent Trukon Carson will take on Waters in a welterweight tilt.

Waters (9-2) will join the PFL after a 2-1 tenure in the UFC, where he also competed in Dana White’s Contender Series in 2022, losing to Gabriel Bonfim by submission.

Carson, 6-1, known as “The Carolina Gamedog,” has had five of his six professional wins come by way of first-round stoppage, has went the distance just once in his career, with his most recent win coming in Fury FC. Having fought last in March, Carson will get the biggest step up in competition in taking on Waters, while also getting an opportunity to breakthrough in the PFL’s welterweight division.<…

Cobey Fehr was overwhelmed with emotions after his successful Professional Fighters League debut.

Fehr (4-0) took on Daniel Bzdigian in a bantamweight tilt at PFL San Diego last weekend. Fehr took just two minutes to take Bzdigian down and earn a submission win with a vrabo choke in his PFL debut. 

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“The Don” subsequently explained why he was emotionally shouting inside the cage, celebrating his win. Fehr revealed that he hasn’t been to his home in Ohio in six years. The 31-year-old further revealed that he used to be an opioid addict, although he never informed his family about his addiction. Fehr was in withdrawal from his addiction when he came to Las Vegas from Ohio with $4. Having now become someone for his parents to be proud of means a lot to Fehr.Turning His Life Around “I haven’t been home in six years,” Fehr said in a post-fight interview (via Home of Fight). “I came to Vegas with $4 in my wallet. I’ve never told anyone in my family th…

Anshul Jubli could pick up his first official UFC win with Sean Strickland’s help. 

Strickland (31-7) recently trained with Jubli at the UFC Performance Institute. The UFC middleweight champion subsequently praised Jubli while also joking about the stereotype that scammers are Indian. Strickland promises to help Jubli in training when he returns to Las Vegas in two weeks.

“Bro said ‘someone is hacking into your bank account, I need your social and password to stop it.’ Real talk, this man is holding it down for India. When I’m back in two weeks I’m gonna help him and bring soap,” Strickland wrote on X. “He gonna be a real n—a when I’m done with him.” 

Bro said "someone is hacking into your bank account, I need your social and password to stop it"

Real talk this man is holding it down for India when Im back in two weeks Im gonna help him and bring soap.. He gonns be a real nigga when im done with him https://t.co/JvKSm7FXqO Read more

Daniel Rodriguez was calling for a matchup against Leon Edwards before he got booked for UFC Belgrade. 

Rodriguez (20-5) is set to fight Uros Medic (13-3) in a welterweight bout at UFC Belgrade on Aug. 1. “D-Rod” recently revealed that he was originally rallying for a booking against Edwards at UFC 329 during International Fight Week. However, Rodriguez believes Edwards was not keen on the matchup. Rodriguez plans to continue the pursuit by calling out “Rocky” if he beats Medic at UFC Belgrade.

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Not Forgotten “We wanted the fight; we asked for the fight,” Rodriguez told Home of Fight. “I guess on his end, they were leaning towards another direction. That would’ve been crazy to have fought on the International Fight Week card. But I got a better opportunity. Another tough matchup as well. We’ll see; we’ll definitely be calling him out after.”

While Rodriguez is currently on a three-fight winning streak, he hasn’t fought since July 2025, as he was…

Sean Strickland isn’t bothered by Sharabutdin Magomedov’s recent tirade against him. 

Magomedov fought Strickland teammate Michel Pereira at UFC Baku last weekend. Magomedov survived early adversity to score a come-from-behind unanimous decision win over Pereira. 

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Strickland emulated Magomedov’s style while helping Pereira prepare for the fight. “Shara Bullet” has since aimed unprovoked verbal shots at Strickland. Magomedov claims Strickland is a “domestic champion” who is scared to defend his title outside the U.S. While Magomedov is yet to be officially ranked at middleweight, he says Strickland will avoid a fight with him outside America. Laughing It Off Strickland isn’t taking Magomedov’s comments too seriously. The UFC middleweight champion just reminded Magomedov that he fought his teammate, not him.

“It makes me laugh. Bro you fought my teammate... There are levels to this haha,” Strickland wrote on X.

Magomedov (17-1) h…

Rafael Fiziev would never have become a UFC standout striker had his job as a police officer not gone south. 

Born to an Azerbaijani father and a Russian mother, Fiziev (14-5) was mostly raised in Kyrgyzstan. Fiziev dreamed of becoming a Kyrgyz police officer and successfully graduated from the police academy. However, Fiziev’s expectations were shattered from the very beginning of his job. Fiziev claims that academically less successful people got better positions by paying bribes, while he was made to serve parking tickets. Fiziev’s original goal was to fight the drug mafia. When Fiziev saw the alleged corruption in the police force, he left within a couple of months to pursue a professional career in MMA.

Corruption and Changing Course “I went to work and saw all of this bulls—t in the Kyrgyzstan police,” Fiziev said on "The Ariel Helwani Show” “Zero justice—100% corruption. I said, ‘What the f—k? I don't want to be here.’... It was my dream to stand against the …

While Sean Strickland and Anthony Hernandez had no beef to begin with, they have developed a good relationship after sharing the Octagon. 

Hernandez (15-3) was a sizeable favorite going into his last matchup against Strickland (28-1) this past February. However, Strickland completely neutralized Hernandez’s wrestling and picked him apart on the feet to score an upset stoppage win in the third round. The win earned Strickland a immediate title shot against Khamzat Chimaev, whom he dethroned in another massive upset at UFC 328 last month. 

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Meanwhile, Hernandez is now set to headline UFC Sacramento against Gregory Rodrigues (19-6) on Aug. 22. Hernandez is currently training with Strickland for his upcoming fight. Hernandez praised Strickland for helping him. Hernandez revealed that while Strickland had originally asked him to train together before his fight against Chimaev, “Fluffy” was injured at the time. However, Hernandez had promised Str…

Magomed Zaynukov earned a UFC contract on the Contender Series last summer. | Getty/UFC

Magomed Zaynukov is booked to make his much-anticipated UFC debut. 

Zaynukov will face fellow undefeated lightweight prospect Damian Rzepecki at UFC Abu Dhabi on July 25 at the Etihad Arena in Yas Island, Abu Dhabi. Marcel Dorff was first to report the pairing.

Generating Buzz “Wild Chanco” has risen to significant stardom even before making his UFC debut. Zaynukov (8-0) was first seen on camera when his Islam Makhachev introduced him to Demetriosu Johnson during “Mighty Mouse’s” visit to Dagestan. Zaynukov subsequently earned his UFC contract with an entertaining unanimous decision win on Dana White's Contender Series this past October. A striker from a region known for wrestling, Zaynukov has finished five of his eight professional wins so far. 

Meanwhile, Rzepecki (10-0) has the potential to derail Zaynukov’s hype train. The 24-year-old Polish stan…

Jon Jones might have a massive boxing fight on his hands.

Oleksandr Usyk vacated his IBA, WBC and WBA boxing heavyweight titles last week. However, Usyk clarified that he will have one “last dance” before completely hanging up his gloves. 

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One Last Hurrah Usyk advisor Sergey Lapin recently told Ring Magazine that the former world champion is considering Jones and Deontay Wilder as potential opponents for his last fight. 

Usyk was en route to a massive upset loss against kickboxer Rico Verhoeven last month. However, Usyk scored a highly controversial stoppage win in the final seconds of the 11th round. 

Meanwhile, Jones (28-1) retired from the UFC last year as the heavyweight champion. However, “Bones” later started rallying for a spot on the UFC White House card, which went down earlier this month. Jones lashed out at the UFC and asked for his release after failing to land a spot on the White House card. The former UFC double …

Paulo Costa is ready to get back to work. | Getty/UFC

Paulo Costa wants to keep the momentum going, but it appears that he and the UFC aren’t on the same page in that regard.

“Borrachinha” enjoyed a successful light heavyweight debut at UFC 327, where he finished the previously undefeated Azamat Murzakanov with a head kick in the third round on April 11. The victory seemingly opened up a variety of new possibilities for the Brazilian. Thus far, however, he’s been kept on ice.

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Costa’s sense of urgency to get back to work is compounded by the fact that he is entering the last fight on his current UFC contract.The Waiting Game “Since I defeated Azamat in April, I have been looking for the next fight,” Costa wrote on X. “I’ve eventually opened the door to fight at heavyweight. UFC told me to wait…wait… Here we are, it’s already July, and [I’m] still looking to fight someone else at light heavyweight, middleweight or even heavyweight but th…