Martial Arts News

A welterweight clash pitting Stephen Thompson against Geoff Neal is in the works for a UFC event on Dec. 19.

ESPN was first to report the bout. The event takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a welterweight tilt between Leon Edwards and Khamzhat Chimaev. Thompson vs. Neal has not been officially announced, but the promotion is close to finalizing the fight.

Thompson will be making his first Octagon appearance of 2020. The former title challenger halted a two-bout skid in his last outing when he took a unanimous decision over Vicente Luque at UFC 244 in November 2019. “Wonderboy” owns other notable wins against the likes of Jorge Masvidal, Rory MacDonald, Robert Whittaker, Johny Hendricks and Jake Ellenberger.

Neal has won his first five UFC bouts to emerge as a new contender in the welterweight division. The Contender Series veteran was supposed to face Neil Magny in August but was forced to withdraw from the contest for health reasons. N…

Former UFC middleweight No. 1 contender Paulo Costa recently did a live session on his YouTube channel in which he revealed a desire to face Robert Whittaker for the interim 185-pound belt.

“Whitaker is No. 1 in the rankings, I’m No. 2,” Costa said. “Once [Israel] Adesanya goes up to light heavyweight, it makes sense to have an interim title fight. I’ve already talked to [UFC president Dana White] and he said he would love to see that fight.”

There is recent precedent for such a move in the middleweight division: When Whittaker, who was the reigning champion at the time, was unable to compete at UFC 236 because he was recovering from hernia surgery, the promotion booked an interim title clash between Adesanya and Kelvin Gastelum. With Adesanya expected to move to 205 pounds to challenge reigning light heavyweight king Jan Blachowicz, it’s unclear how long it will be until “The Last Stylebender” makes another title defense at 185 pounds.

In the same live session,…

UPSET CITY

@KevinCroom_MMA, welcome to the Octagon!

[ #UFCVegas10 - LIVE now on #ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/mPG9x6PL6e — UFC (@ufc) September 12, 2020

UFC lightweight Kevin Croom and Dana White’s Contender Series alum Jose Flores each received four-and-a-half month suspensions from the Nevada Athletic Commission after testing positive for marijuana in relation to recent bouts.

The NAC issued the sanctions during a teleconference on Wednesday. Additionally, Contender Series heavyweight Chad Johnson received a nine-month term for testing positive for a banned amphetamine, while UFC welterweight Niko Price had a temporary suspension extended after testing positive for the prohibited cannabinoid carboxy THC in relation to his bout at UFC Fight Night 178 on Sept. 19.

Croom scored a major upset in his Octagon debut at UFC Fight Night 177, where he submitted Roosevelt Roberts with a guillotine choke 31 seconds into Round 1. Croom te…

Tito Ortiz can now add elected official to his list of achievements.

The UFC Hall of Famer won a seat on the Huntington Beach city council on Tuesday night. There were three seats open for four-year terms, and Ortiz finished first among 15 potential candidates. “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” received 34,901 (14.3 percent) of 244,792 votes to join Dan Kalmick (11 percent) and Natalie Moser (10.9 percent) in earning a seat.

Ortiz identifies as a Republican conservative and has ties to President Donald Trump dating back to his appearance on the reality show “The Celebrity Apprentice.” Ortiz has continued to be a vocal Trump supporter since his election in 2016.

According to his campaign website, Ortiz’s platform is focused on supporting law enforcement, promoting a healthy business community, legal immigration, school choice and addressing the homeless problem in the community, among other things.

“I am committed to representing Huntington Beach with honor a…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgbgbALlPNc&w=560&h=315]

Corey Anderson’s Bellator MMA debut is now official, as both he and Melvin Manhoef made weight on Wednesday ahead of their light heavyweight showdown.

Anderson tipped the scales at 205 pounds, while Manhoef weight 204.2 for their bout, which will top the Bellator 251 card at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut on Thursday. The evening’s main card will be televised on CBS Sports Network and Dazn at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT, while the prelims stream on Bellator’s YouTube channel and Dazn at 4:45 p.m. ET/1:45 p.m. PT.

A winner on Season 19 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” Anderson makes his first promotional foray following a 15-bout stint in the UFC. The 31-year-old known as “Overtime” was on the verge of a light heavyweight title shot following a four-bout winning streak before a first-round KO loss to Jan Blachowicz ended those dreams at UFC Fight Night 167 this past February. Anderson signed with Bellato…

Anthony Birchak will make his first Octagon appearance since 2016 when he steps in on short notice to face Gustavo Lopez at UFC on ESPN 17.

Birchak is a replacement for Felipe Colares, who recently tested positive for COVID-19. Fansided was first to report the new bantamweight bout. UFC on ESPN 17 takes place on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a light heavyweight clash pitting Thiago Santos against Glover Teixeira.

Birchak enters the matchup with Lopez on a three-fight winning streak, with each of those victories coming inside of a round. In his last outing, the 34-year-old Arizonan scored a first-round submission of Erik Radleim at Combate Americas “Tucson” in October 2019. Birchak went 2-2 during a brief UFC stint from 2014 to 2016 before transitioning to Rizin, where he went 0-3 in the Japanese organization in three 2017 appearances.

A nine-time Combate Americas veteran, Lopez had a three-fight winning streak snapped in his debut wi…

Nick Browne by sub #LFA76 pic.twitter.com/CVu7cBz68R

— ShayMyName (@ImShannonTho) September 14, 2019

The event schedule for Legacy Fighting Alliance continues to roll on, as the promotion announced that its Phase 4 slate of events will kick off later this month.

While Phase 3 concluded with LFA 94 on Oct. 30, Phase 4 will begin with LFA 95 at Hartman Arena in Park City, Kansas on Nov. 20. LFA 95 will be headlined by a lightweight championship clash between Nick Browne and Arthur Estrazulas.

The rest of the LFA 95 main card is as follows: Myron Dennis vs. Dylan Potter at light heavyweight; Alexsandro Pereira vs. Thomas Powell at middleweight; Victor Altamirano vs. Lloyd McKinney at flyweight; Natan Levy vs. Bruno Assis de Souza Filho at featherweight; Michael Stack vs. Jordan Mapa at featherweight and Tabatha Ricci vs. Flore Hani at strawweight.

The second and final event of Phase 4 will be LFA 96 on Dec. 4. That card will feature a …

Saturday will be an evening of strong emotions for former UFC heavyweight contender Pedro Rizzo.

In addition to cornering Raoni Barcelos in his fifith Octagon appearance against Khalid Taha in a featured bantamweight bout at UFC on ESPN 17, he will also witness a fight between two of his very close friends in the main event when Glover Teixeira squares off against Thiago Santos in a battle of light heavyweight contenders.

“Glover Teixeira is like a brother to me. When he came to Brazil in 2008, we trained together every day for almost five years. We even lived together for almost one year in Florida,” Rizzo told Sherdog.com. “‘Marreta’ is a student who trained with me for four years. Actually, when UFC announced they would fight, I promised that I would go to my farm where my telephone and TV don’t work. That was my plan until UFC invited Raoni to the same card.”

Even though he doesn’t enjoy watching two friends fight, Rizzo recognizes the logic behind the matc…

One fighter missed weight on Tuesday for the latest edition of Dana White’s Contender Series.

Edson Gomez tipped the scales at 174 pounds for his welterweight clash against Ignacio Bahamondes (168.5). The fight will go forward as planned, but Gomez has been fined 20 percent of his purse. Meanwhile, all of the other six competitors slated to compete hit their contracted marks.

There were other issues with Wednesday’s card: A strawweight clash between Pauline Macias and Gloria de Paula has been postponed to a Contender Series event on Nov. 17 after de Paula tested positive for COVID-19. De Paula revealed the news on social media.

Dana White’s Contender Series takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Wednesday and airs on UFC Fight Pass at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. The card will be headlined by a light heavyweight tilt between Bruno Oliveira (203) and Carlos Ulberg (202).

Oliveira, 36, has won eight of his first nine professional outings. He last appeared at Titan FC…

Ex-Rizin Fighting Fighting Federation champ Manel Kape is expected to finally make his Octagon debut against Alexandre Pantoja at a UFC Fight Night event on Dec. 19.

MMAjunkie.com was first to report the bantamweight booking. The card takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and will likely be headlined by a welterweight showdown between Leon Edwards and Khamzat Chimaev.

Kape claimed the vacant Rizin bantamweight crown with a second-round technical knockout of Kai Asakura on Dec. 31. The 26-year-old AKA Thailand representative has won four of his last five professional outings — with each of those victories coming inside the distance. Kape was previously slated to make his promotional debut against Rogerio Bontorin at UFC 252 before his opponent withdrew from the bout due to injury.

Pantoja, meanwhile, is coming off a unanimous decision loss to Askar Askarov at UFC Fight Night 172 on July 18. Prior to that defeat, “The Cannibal” had been victorious in four of h…

Both Uriah Hall and Anderson Silva are facing potential six-month layoffs following their headlining bout at UFC Fight Night 181.

Mixedmartialarts.com recently released a full list of medical suspensions from the event. UFC Fight Night 181 took place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas this past Saturday and saw Hall defeat Silva via technical knockout at the 1:24 mark of Round 4 in their middleweight clash. The bout was expected to be the last in UFC competition for “The Spider.”

Hall is suspended for 180 days unless both hands and his right foot receive doctor clearance. At a minimum, “Primetime” is not allowed contact until Dec. 1. Silva, meanwhile, is also facing a 180-day sit unless his broken nose is cleared by a doctor. At a minimum he is suspended for 60 days with 45 days no contact due to a left upper eyelid laceration.

Three other fighters from UFC Fight Night 181 are looking at potential six-month terms: Bryce Mitchell (left hand), Bobby Green (left eye) a…

Credit: One Championship Credit: One Championship Credit: One Championship

Kyrgyzstan native Kiamrian Abbasov will defend his welterweight title for the first time against American James Nakashima at One Championship “Inside the Matrix 2” on Nov. 6 at Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Prime Fight Management, which represents Abbasov, first brought word of the matchup. Abbasov's title defense against Nakashima was scheduled for April, but it was postponed several times due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2016, Abbasov became the champion of the Prime Selection Grand Prix and also won the MixFace/Tech-Krep FC Grand Prix belt, scoring three victories in one evening. In February 2018, the athlete signed a One Championship contract and three weeks later had a 10-bout winning streak snapped in a unanimous decision loss to Luis Santos.

Abbasov rebounded to finish Agilan Thani and Yushin Okami under the One banner before claiming the title with a five-round verdict over Zebaztian …