Martial Arts News

For the first time in his Ultimate Fighting Championship career, Johnny Walker will not have to cut weight for a fight.

Towering 6-foot-5 Brazilian striker Walker (22-10, 1 NC) has elected to move back to heavyweight, a division in which he competed at for a few years earlier on in his career but no later than 2018. Cutting a massive amount of weight and reportedly walking around at 245 pounds or so, the 34-year-old has not missed weight since joining the promotion. He relocates up in weight, per MMA Mania on Thursday, to face Ante Delija (26-8) at UFC Belgrade on Aug. 1. Opponent Delija has since confirmed the pairing on his Instagram Stories on Friday.

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Walker has struggled as of late, winning once in his last five outings. Since a no contest with future champ Magomed Ankalaev in 2023—and a rematch less than three months later that spelled disaster for Walker—Walker has gotten his raised a single time when he stopped surging Mingyang Zhang with leg…

For the past two years, Gadzhi Rabadanov has been a staple in the Professional Fighters League’s lightweight division, competing in back-to-back tournaments, winning in the 2024 PFL Season. Although he came up short last year, losing in the championship to Alfie Davis, Rabadanov is ready to move forward and get back to being the best version of himself under the new format with sans tournament and new division rankings.

Rabadanov returns to action May 2 at PFL Sioux Falls in a co-main event showdown against former PFL Europe champion Aleksandr Chizov, a big time matchup for both parties. Speaking to Sherdog.com ahead of his fight, Rabadanov expressed his excitement for the change in format, as well as his approach for his path back into the title picture.

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“I’m excited; after I had surgery, I rested, recovered and now I’m very healthy,” Rabadanov said. I’m very excited to be back in the cage again. I think the time off since my last fight has helped …

[embedded content] The World Boxing Association and World Boxing Organization cruiserweight world championship will be on the line tomorrow as David Benavidez vs. Gilberto Ramirez is now set following the official weigh-ins.

To celebrate Cinco de Mayo weekend, the anticipated 12-round boxing fight will take place in Las Vegas on Saturday. The fight sees Benavidez, an undefeated two-division world champion, move up in weight for another championship shot against Ramirez, who holds two cruiserweight world titles. Both men had no issue making weight for the championship showdown.

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Benavidez (31-0), who has held world championship status in the super middleweight and light heavyweight divisions, looks to continue challenging himself. "The Mexican Monster" most recently knocked out Anthony Yarde and David Morrell. A heavy favorite priced at 2/7, Benavidez weighed 196.8 pounds.

Looking to retain his belts and cause a stir in the boxing world with an upset …

If Ultimate Fighting Championship fans already weren’t excited enough for the summer, the “Bud Light UFC Summer Series” is here to pump things up.

Bud Light, the UFC’s official beer sponsor, launched the “Bud Light UFC Summer Series” that will feature three numbered UFC events, two Fight Nights and additional cards to keep fans engaged.

The series will be featured at UFC 328 in Newark, UFC 329 in Las Vegas, UFC 330 in Philadelphia, and two Fight Nights, which are yet to be announced.

The platform will feature a Bud Light Summer Concert at the Toshiba Plaza, outside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, on July 10. Limited edition Bud Light cans featuring the UFC logo and an Octagon are now up for sale at retailers. Bud Light will also make content featuring UFC stars. There will also be special co-branded arena cups and LED boards available at specific venues.

Todd Allen, SVP of Marketing for Bud Light at Anheuser-Busch, said: “It's going to be a summer unlik…

Aleksandr Chizov achieved his highest level of success in the Professional Fighters League when he won the PFL Europe lightweight tournament in December and picked up two finishes during his three-fight run to the title. It was only a matter of time before the powers that be brought him onto the global roster.

The 28-year-old Latvian gets a major step up in that regard when he takes on Gadzhi Rabadanov in the PFL Sioux Falls co-main event on Saturday at the Sanford Pentagon in South Dakota. Rabadanov was a 2024 PFL tournament winner and marches into the match with victories in 12 of his past 13 appearances. It serves as stern challenge for Chizov.

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A world class welterweight clash headlines PFL Sioux Falls: Tune in Saturday, May 2 at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

“I’m feeling great,” he told Sherdog.com. “For me, it’s a dream come true. Since day one when I started to compete in MMA, I wanted to fight in the United States. Listen, I am from Latvia. It’s a sm…

A youthful appearance hides the fact that Leandro Higo has quite literally pursued his passion for decades. He made his pro debut at the age of 17 and has fought virtually everywhere since, from Jungle Fight, the Resurrection Fighting Alliance and the Legacy Fighting Alliance to “The Ultimate Fighter Brazil” Season 4 and Bellator MMA.

Higo now readies himself for his second appearance under the Professional Fighters League flag, as he will face Magomed “Tiger” Magomedov in a PFL Sioux Falls bantamweight showcase on Saturday at the Sanford Pentagon in South Dakota. It has been quite a journey for the 37-year-old Brazilian.

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A world class welterweight clash headlines PFL Sioux Falls: Tune in Saturday, May 2 at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

“It’s been 20 years since my debut, when I started fighting vale tudo in my hometown of Mossoro,” Higo told Sherdog.com. “I started out without any expectations. It was just a dream. I couldn’t imagine getting as far as I …

Karl Williams knows the drill.

The 6-foot-3, 260-pound heavyweight will set out in search of his second Professional Fighters League victory when he squares off with Maxwell Djantou Nana as part of the PFL Sioux Falls undercard this Saturday at the Sanford Pentagon in South Dakota. Williams, 36, holds a 1-3 record with the promotion and last competed on Feb. 7, when he tapped to a second-round arm-triangle choke from Pouya Rahmani at PFL Dubai. It was his fourth consecutive defeat dating back to his exit from the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

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A world class welterweight clash headlines PFL Sioux Falls: Tune in Saturday, May 2 at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

Williams makes no excuses for his recent run of adversity.

“The results have been the results, and every time it’s like that, I can only control what I can control,” Williams said. “I go into the gym, [and] I work as hard as I can [and] get with the best training partners. I’ve been training with …

Liz Carmouche won the PFL flyweight tournament in 2025. | PFL MMA

A women’s flyweight tilt with championship implications will serve as the PFL San Diego co-headliner.

Liz Carmouche will square off against Viviane Araujo on June 27 at Pechanga Arena in San Diego, the promotion announced on Wednesday. Carmouche is currently No. 2, while Araujo checks in at ninth in Professional Fighters League’s 125-pound rankings. PFL San Diego is headlined by a featherweight clash pitting A.J. McKee against Salamat Isulaev. The PFL San Diego main card airs on ESPN 2 at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, while the prelims will be broadcast via the ESPN app at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.

Championship Credentials A San Diego native, the 42-year-old Carmouche comes off a 3-0 campaign in 2025 in which she won the PFL flyweight tournament. During that run, ‘Girl-Rilla” bested Ilara Joanne, Elora Dana and Jena Bishop — earning two of her victories via knockout or technical knockout. Carmouche is a …

Marwan Rahiki has finished all his opponents inside the distance. | Getty/UFC

Saturday’s UFC Perth card has undergone a late change.

The Las Vegas-based promotion announced on Wednesday that Jack Jenkins has withdrawn from a proposed featherweight clash against Marwan Rahiki due to an undisclosed injury. As a result, Ollie Schmid will step in on less than a week’s notice to face Rahiki.

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UFC Perth — also known as UFC Fight Night 275 — takes place at RAC Arena in Perth, Australia and is headlined by a welterweight showdown between Jack Della Maddalena and Carlos Prates. The card airs in its entirety on Paramount plus beginning at 4 a.m. ET/1 a.m. PT.Prospects Collide Rahiki enjoyed a successful Octagon debut, breaking Harry Hardwick’s jaw in a second-round technical knockout victory at UFC Fight Night 269 on March 14. The 23-year-old former Hex Fight Series champ is 8-0 as a professional, with all of his triumphs coming inside the distanc…

Arman Tsarukyan thinks the UFC doesn’t necessarily dislike drama from fighters. 

Conor McGregor (22-6) is credited for taking MMA to unforeseen heights, also becoming the sport’s greatest ever star in the process. While McGregor is known for his legendary trash talk, “Notorious” also arguably crossed some boundaries to promote his fights. 

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The most notable of McGregor’s build-ups was ahead of his UFC 229 clash against Khabib Nurmagomedov. The Dubliner threw a dolly at a bus carrying Nurmagomedov and other fighters at UFC 223 in 2018 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. However, Tsarukyan doesn’t think the UFC was disappointed with McGregor’s actions. According to “Ahalkalakets,” it was the drama leading up to the fight that made McGregor vs. Nurmagomedov the biggest fight in UFC history.Selling the Drama “It’s good for the UFC,” Tsarukyan told Patrick Bet-David. “You think they didn’t like it? They liked it… The sport is getting bi…

Jake Paul claims Dana White was rooting against him early in his boxing career. 

Paul suffered his second professional loss against Anthony Joshua via sixth-round knockout this past December. Paul’s matchup against the former boxing world heavyweight champion was considered one of the biggest mismatches of recent times. 

White was surprised that the fight even came to fruition. The UFC head honcho said that anyone involved with the bout should be embarrassed. Responding to White, Paul recently recalled that the UFC didn’t have any weight classes in its early days, which allowed bizarre matchups like Keith Hackney vs. Emmanuel Yarborough. Paul also claims that White actively rooted against him early in his career. While Paul started his boxing career against fellow influencers, he first made headlines in the world of combat sports by knocking out UFC veteran Ben Askren in the first round of their bout in 2021. Paul claims White was funding Askren’s training t…

Carlos Prates is confident that a victory over Jack Della Maddalena in the UFC Perth headliner on Saturday will lead to a welterweight title shot.

“I think it’s the natural path. I just knocked out a former champion [Leon Edwards]. “If I can knock out another one, even more so fighting in his home country, I think the title shot will come,” Prates said in an interview with Brazilian journalist Laerte Viana.

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The Fighting Nerds standout made it clear that he is prepared for the best version of the former champion.

“I’m coming prepared to face a guy who lost the belt and is coming full of hate and with the support of his fans to reclaim his belt and show that he’s alive in the division, ready to fight for five rounds in the toughest fight of his life,” Prates said. “I prepared for this, but I hope it won’t be. Hopefully I’ll land two punches in the first round and he’ll go with God.”

Planning Another Highlight Prates, who has been victorious in six…