Martial Arts News

Kaito Oda looks like a potential problem for the rest of the ONE Championship flyweight division.

Repeated takedowns, torturous control and sustained ground-and-pound carried the 26-year-old Japanese prospect to a unanimous decision over the previously unbeaten Ngoc Luong Tran in their ONE Friday Fights 67 showcase on Friday at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangok, Thailand. All three ringside judges turned in scorecards for Oda (5-1, 2-0 ONE), who has rattled off four consecutive victories.

Tran (4-1, 0-1 ONE) found danger wherever he turned. Oda floored him with a clean one-two in the first round, powered into top position and piled up points with punches and hammerfists. When Tran escaped to his feet and pursued the clinch, he was greeted with short-range elbows and shoulder strikes. Oda flexed his superiority in the wrestling and grappling departments as time wore on. The Carpe Diem Fukuoka representative executed multiple takedowns, explored the Tran guard fearlessl…

First to the scale this morning ☀️@AlexPerezMMA weighs-in at 126lbs!

[ #UFCVegas93 | TOMORROW on @ESPNPlus | 10pmET/7pmPT ] pic.twitter.com/WdZn4tU0wH

— UFC (@ufc) June 14, 2024 After a turbulent week of high-profile fight cancellations, the Ultimate Fighting Championship is hoping for some better headlines coming out of UFC on ESPN 58.

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The 11-fight card is headlined by a fight between flyweight contenders Alex Perez and Tatsuro Taira. Both fighters successfully made weight for the five-round affair, which will pit a former title challenger against an undefeated contender. As for the rest of the card, everyone made weight with the exception of Tagir Ulanbekov, who came in 3.5 pounds over the flyweight limit for his fight against Joshua Van. As a result, the bout has been canceled.

This marks the third UFC main event for Perez (25-8), who recently snapped a three-fight losing streak by knocking out Matheus Nicolau in…

UFC 303 International Fight Week June 29th pic.twitter.com/P47PSsKcg0

— danawhite (@danawhite) June 14, 2024 Any fight fan that purchased tickets to this Ultimate Fighting Championship show can receive a full refund if requested.

News of the cancelation of UFC 303’s main event—and co-headlining match as well—was announced by the UFC on Thursday, stating that Conor McGregor suffered an injury and his match with Michael Chandler has been canceled. Additionally, Jamahal Hill suffered an injury and was forced out of his second-to-last pairing against Carlos Ulberg. Due to these changes, the promotion has booked three fights on about two weeks’ notice for this blockbuster event. The new main attraction for this June 29 card will be Alex Pereira (10-2) defending his 205-pound strap against Jiri Prochazka (30-4-1) atop the billing at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

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Pereira, who suffered multiple broken toes during his UFC 30…

Linton Vassell managed to dig just a little bit deeper.

In his first headlining assignment with the Professional Fighters League, the Kill Cliff Fight Club standout scratched, clawed and willed his way to a split decision over Valentin Moldavsky atop PFL 4 on Thursday at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. All three cageside judges struck 29-28 scorecards: Eric Colon for Moldavsky, Sal D’Amato and Bryan Miner for Vassell (24-9, 1-1 PFL).

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Moldavsky (13-4, 1-1 PFL) leaned on takedowns, intermittent ground-and-pound and positional control but ultimately failed to establish a sense of superiority in the trilogy bout between the two rivals. Vassell connected with the most significant strike of the match late in the second round, where he broke free from a clinch and decked the Fedor Emelianenko protege with a perfectly timed knee strike on the break. Otherwise, the two combatants struggled to separate themselves in a grimy back-and-forth af…

The Professional Fighters League’s regular season marches on with 2024 PFL 4 Regular Season at 5:30 p.m. ET. Round 1 Sherdog Scores Brian Knapp scores the round:Jay Pettry scores the round:Scottie Smith scores the round:

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Round 2 Sherdog Scores Brian Knapp scores the round:Jay Pettry scores the round:Scottie Smith scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Brian Knapp scores the round:Jay Pettry scores the round:Scottie Smith scores the round: The Official Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Brian Knapp scores the round:Jay Pettry scores the round:Scottie Smith scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Brian Knapp scores the round:Jay Pettry scores the round:Scottie Smith scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Brian Knapp scores the round:Jay Pettry scores the round:Scottie Smith scores the round:The Official Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Brian Knapp scores the round:Jay Pettry scores the round:Scottie Smith scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Brian Knapp sc…

The timing was right for Ikram Aliskerov.

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Originally scheduled to face Antonio Trocoli at UFC on ESPN 58 on Saturday, Aliskerov will instead get a much more high-profile booking when he faces Robert Whittaker at UFC on ABC 6 in Saudi Arabia on June 22. The change was necessitated when Khamzat Chimaev was forced to withdraw from the event. UFC CEO Dana White announced the new headliner —while adding that Chimaev was “violently ill” — on Thursday.

UFC on ABC 6 takes place at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and will also see Sergei Pavlovich square off against Alexander Volkov in the heavyweight co-main event.

Aliskerov’s lone defeat in 16 professional outings came against Chimaev at Brave Combat Federation 23 in April 2019. He has won seven consecutive fights since then — including two within the Las Vegas-based promotion. Most recently, the 31-year-old Dagestani stopped Warlley Alves in the opening stanza of their encounter at UFC 294. …

Tony Ferguson claims Khabib Nurmagomedov intentionally pulled out of their scheduled UFC 209 outing in 2017.

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Ferguson (25-10) and Nurmagomedov (29-0) share one of the more interesting rivalries in Ultimate Fighting Championship history that never got settled inside the Octagon. Ferguson and Nurmagomedov were initially set to meet on the finale of “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 22 in December 2015, but “Eagle” pulled out due to a rib injury.

While the two were rebooked for a UFC on Fox event in February 2016, Ferguson pulled out due to a lung issue. After overcoming several complications, the promotion booked them for the third time as the co-main event at UFC 209 on March 4, 2017, this time with the interim lightweight title on the line.

However, Nurmagomedov pulled out just before the weigh-ins, citing weight cut issues.

While Dana White blasted Nurmagomedov’s team for not relying on the UFC to deal with the issue, Ferguson was more empa…

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Darren Till (18-5) doesn’t think very highly of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s middleweight division.

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Till parted ways with the UFC in February 2023 on the heels of a three-fight skid, vowing to return to the promotion and win a title in the future. The former UFC welterweight title challenger, who also competed at middleweight, was recently asked to weigh in on the current rosters of both divisions.

“I think middleweight is wide open mate,” Till recently told TalkSport. “This is going to [make people] mad. I know for a fact I can beat [Dricus Du Plessis], I know I can beat Sean Strickland, I know I can beat Paulo Costa. They’re all the guys at the top. Now I missed Izzy’s [Israel Adesanya] name out there cause that’s a fight that could have, would have or should have happened. Who knows one day? But that division I know is wide open for me to be the champion. It’s quite frustrating to be honest.”

However, Till isn’t…

Raul Rosas Jr. recently reflected on his relationship with late coach and teammate, Trevor Cooper.

Rosas Jr. (9-1) picked up a second-round submission of Ricky Turcios at UFC on ESPN 57 on June 8. “El Nino Problema” dedicated the win to Cooper, who passed away in April.

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Cooper was Rosas Jr.’s teammate at 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu in Las Vegas when the Mexican suffered his lone career loss against Christian Rodriguez at UFC 287 in April 2023. According to Rosas Jr., it was Cooper who contributed the most in identifying his mistakes from that loss and correcting them. Rosas Jr., who has earned 6 of his 9 career wins via submission, fondly admits that Cooper could submit him 10 times within a couple of minutes. Cooper, who also believed in Rosas Jr., had predicted an easy outing for the Mexican against Turcios, unlike the rest of their gym. Rosas Jr., 19, said on The MMA Hour:

“He meant a lot to me, he was like my brother, like my coach,” Rosas Jr. said o…

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The stage is set for Professional Fighters League to begin the second leg of its 2024 regular season.

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PFL 4 headliners Valentin Moldavsky and Linton Vassell made weight without issue on Wednesday for their trilogy bout. Moldvasky tipped the scales at 243 pounds, while Vassell checked in at 231.5.

PFL 4 takes place on Thursday at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, and features regular season fights in the heavyweight and women’s flyweight divisions. In the co-main event, Dakota Ditcheva (125.5) will square off against Chelsea Hackett (125.75). The main card airs on ESPN and ESPN+ at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, while prelims stream on ESPN+ at 5:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. PT.

Moldavsky bested Vassell via unanimous decision in their first meeting at Bellator 218 in March 2019, but “The Swarm” got his revenge in March 2023, when he knocked out his Russian adversary in the opening stanza at Bellator 292.

Moldavsky began hi…

Linton Vassell (23-9) believes his recent win over Valentin Moldavsky (13-3) gives him the edge going into their trilogy bout.

Vassell and Moldavsky will headline 2024 PFL 4 Regular Season, featuring heavyweights and women flyweights, on June 13 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. The pair clashed for the first time at Bellator 218 in 2019, when Moldavsky beat Vassell via unanimous decision. “Big Swarm” exacted revenge in their rematch at Bellator 292 in March 2023, starching Moldavsky with a right hand followed by some ground-and-pound in the very first round. The two will now look to settle the rivalry in a trilogy clash.

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While Moldavsky has since rebounded with back-to-back wins, Vassell expects the Russian’s lone stoppage loss to loom large in the back of his mind going into PFL 4. Vassell also deemed Moldavsky shy to trade in his unanimous decision over his Kill Cliff FC teammate Steve Mowry.

“One hundred percent. I’m the only gu…

Dricus Du Plessis (21-2) says Robert Whittaker (25-7) doesn’t deserve an immediate title shot even with a potential win over Khamzat Chimaev (13-0).

Whittaker will headline UFC Saudi Arabia against Chimaev on June 22 at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh. This is the second top-tier matchup in the middleweight division in a single month, after Sean Strickland’s split decision win over Paulo Costa at UFC 302 on June 1.

Clearing some of the confusion in the middleweight title picture, du Plessis expressed interest in fighting Chimaev if he defeats Whittaker. However, for “Stillknocks” the same doesn’t apply to Whittaker if he beats Chimaev. The South African would like Whittaker to face Strickland in a title eliminator to earn another shot at the crown. But at the end of the day, Du Plessis being the champion is willing to face whoever the UFC puts him up against.

“Obviously, I have the world’s respect for Whittaker, I think he’s one of the greatest athletes ever,” Du Plessis…