Martial Arts News

Things seem to be happening quickly for Dakota Ditcheva.

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A few months removed from winning a Professional Fighters League Europe title, the British flyweight prospect will square off against Chelsea Hackett in the co-main event of PFL 4 on June 13 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. Ditcheva began her 2024 campaign with a first-round stoppage of Lisa Mauldin at PFL 1, a performance that earned her six points in the regular season standings.

The Manchester Top Team product is 11-0 in her burgeoning professional tenure, and she has already been given star treatment by the PFL, which is testament to the high expectations surrounding her future. Ditcheva is grateful for the push, which she points out has been aided by the engagement of her fans as well as her performance on fight night.

“It's meant a lot. I mean, to have an organization like this behind me, this is probably what all fighters dream of,” Ditcheva said during a recent …

Even though he is no longer the UFC lightweight champion, Charles Oliveira remains the most popular MMA fighter in Brazil.

With 7.6 million followers on Instagram (Anderson Silva has 5.3 million and Alex Pereira has 3.5 million), Oliveira was one of the big stars at the charity auction promoted by Brazilian soccer star Neymar Junior on Monday to help raise money for the flood victims in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. During the event, an experience with Oliveira was sold for a little less than $100,000. All told, approximately $5.1 million was raised for families victimized by the floods, a number which totals at least 13,000 people.

According to Oliveira’s coach, Diego LIma, Neymar matched the total amount in his own donation to the southern Brazilian state. The experience with Oliveira was acquired by businessman Roman Shpigel, who will have the opportunity to accomapny the Brazilian to his next UFC fight. The experience also provides behind-the-…

Steven Ray will come out of retirement for a second time for an opportunity to fight on home soil.

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Ray will lock horns with Lewis Long in the welterweight main event of a PFL Europe card at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland, on Sept. 28. The promotion announced the booking on Tuesday. The card marks the organization’s first trip to Scotland and will also see Robert Whiteford face Roger Huerta in a 150-pound catchweight bout in the evening’s co-headliner. Additionally, the card will feature PFL Europe postseason bouts, and more Scottish athletes will be added to the event in the coming weeks.

“We are going to put on an MMA spectacle in Glasgow this September and make it a truly memorable debut for PFL in Scotland,” said PFL Europe head of fighter operations Dan Hardy in a release. “Glasgow is a city brimming with talent, and we’re getting excited to fill the card with not only Europe’s finest, but with a real focus on Scotland’s future MMA stars. Read more

Randy Brown claims that he was compromised a little more than a minute into his UFC 302 clash against Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos.

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Brown put on a striking clinic and survived dos Santos’ wrestling to register a unanimous decision win. Brown revealed that he broke his foot 70 seconds into the fight when his teep kick connected with dos Santos’ elbow. “Rudeboy” was seen immediately limping away but was able to hide the injury from that point forward. Brown claims his entire right side was compromised, forcing him to dictate the entire action with his lead hand.

“Check it out, you can see the way I came out in the first round… watch the fight and put it at 3:50 [mark on the fight clock] in the first round,” Brown said on "The MMA Hour.”

“I throw a kick, a front kick that hit his elbow and you can hear it, it goes ‘pop.’ Destroyed my foot, I go from a 100 to a 50, and I’m fighting with one hand the whole time. Because I can’t twist on that, the one…

Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko have varying expectations about the theme of the upcoming UFC 306 card.

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UFC 306 is being planned as a one-of-kind event scheduled to go down at The Sphere on Sept. 14, two days prior to the Mexican Independence Day. The UFC started a tradition of staging a card in honor of Mexican Independence Day with Noche UFC this past September. While UFC 306 is expected to have a similar theme, Shevchenko recently claimed that it’ll have nothing to do with Mexican Independence Day. Shevchenko believes the event will instead be planned around The Sphere.

"As my understanding, there is a talk about Sphere but it is not Mexican Independence Day [themed] because it is going to be focused on The Sphere,” Shevchenko told MMAjunkie.com. “It's gonna be focusing on UFC 306. So it’s kind of like, even Mexican Independence Day, it’s gonna be a few days before the event happening. So it's nothing related to Mexican Independence Day. I…

Dustin Poirier apparently had no grappling practice for over two weeks leading up to his UFC 302 title challenge against Islam Makhachev.

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Poirier made his third career lightweight gold bid against Makhachev in the main event at UFC 302 on Saturday. While many initially gave Poirier only a puncher’s chance and expected him to be dominated on the ground, “The Diamond” authored a surprising performance. Poirier gave his opponent a difficult test, denying Makhachev on multiple takedown attempts over the course of the bout. While Makhachev eventually submitted Poirier with a brabo choke in the final round, the Dagestani had to struggle more than expected.

What makes Poirier’s performance even more awe-inspiring is that he had no wrestling practice two weeks prior to fight night due to a rib injury. Yves Edwards, Poirier’s longtime teammate at American Top Team, made the revelation even though he knows “The Diamond” probably wouldn’t have wanted him to.…

Eddie Alvarez is confident that Arman Tsarukyan can beat Islam Makhachev after witnessing lightweight champion’s latest title defense.

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Alvarez was in attendance at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, for UFC 302, where Makhachev put his lightweight strap on the line against Dustin Poirier in the headliner. A massive underdog going in, Poirier exceeded expectations by giving Makhachev a run for his money before submitting to a brabo choke in the final round. While Makhachev’s title run may seem similar to that of teammate Khabib Nurmagomedov, Alvarez believes the reigning champ is much more susceptible to losing than “Eagle.”

“Khabib, his greatness was in he never fought midway. Khabib fought way far away or suffocated you in. He never put himself in danger. So, he was either on top of you suffocating you, you can’t breathe, or way far away to never get hit. He was beautiful on that, he did that. And he never got really hurt during his figh…

The circumstances regarding Monday’s canceled UFC 303 press conference in Dublin remain vague, but at least for now, it doesn’t appear that it will have any bearing on the upcoming fight between Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler.

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McGregor released a statement via social media on Monday afternoon regarding the cancellation. While it didn’t provide much clarity as to why the event was called off, the Irish star indicated that he is still looking forward to fighting at UFC 303.

“In consultation with the UFC, today’s press conference was cancelled due to a series of obstacles outside of our control,” McGregor wrote on X. “I apologize to my Irish fans, and fans around the world, for the inconvenience and appreciate all your passion and support. I can’t wait to put on the greatest all-time show in the Octagon.”

In consultation with the UFC, todays press conference was cancelled due to a series of obstacles outside of our con…

A battery charge against Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight Sedriques Dumas was dropped during a plea hearing on Monday in Escambia County (Fla.) court.

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A nolle prosequi — a formal notice that charges are no longer being pursued — was filed by prosecutors during the hearing. MMAjunkie.com was first to report the news.

Dumas was arrested on Feb. 13 for allegedly slapping the mother of his child. The fighter posted a video on his Facebook page depicting a confrontation before police before he was taken into custody.

“All my charges have been dropped on the DV case and [f—k] everybody,” Dumas wrote in a since-deleted post on social media. “They call me a woman beater to my BM and everything else and thank you to my lawyer Greg Whibbs, one of the best lawyers that I have on my team and will always be on my team. Thank you Allah.”

Dumas has a lengthy criminal history that was brought to light prior to his UFC debut. This includes…

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Alex Pereira recently revealed potential opponents and a timeline for his return to action.

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Prochazka successfully defended his light heavyweight title for the second time with a first-round knockout win over Jamahal Hill at UFC 300 in April. “Poatan” is now looking to return to action in August, although nothing has been finalized yet.

While Jiri Prochazka and Magomed Ankalaev are the two most logical opponents for Pereira, the Brazilian claims to already be in negotiations for a rematch with Prochazka.

“I’m not the guy to call names. I’m not the guy to pick the fights. Whoever they want me to fight [I'll fight], but the name that's on the table right now is Jiri Prochazka,” Pereira recently told Sportsnet. “So we're still in negotiations… I don’t know, we’re still in talks, I would like to fight around August but nothing concrete yet.”

While Ankalaev is the more dominant grappler of the two potential foes, Pereira cl…

I will give a fuck for points, it’s not my business pic.twitter.com/iqYQq3oXLj

— Paulo Costa ( Borrachinha ) (@BorrachinhaMMA) June 2, 2024

Paulo Costa has vowed to go for finishes in the future after his split-decision loss against Sean Strickland at UFC 302.

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Strickland put on a defensive striking clinic to nullify Costa’s power in the co-main event at UFC 302 on Saturday. Despite Strickland completely outclassing Costa over the course of five rounds, the former champ earned only a split-decision win, with judge Dave Tirelli bizarrely scoring the fight for the Brazilian.

Tirelli, who had also inexplicably scored another fight in favor of Mitch Raposo earlier in the night, faced some harsh criticism from UFC CEO Dana White at the post-fight press conference. White also noted that Costa didn’t deliver the usual type of action for which he has become known. Meanwhile, color commentator Joe Rogan opined that “Borrachinha”…

JUST IN: 🇺🇸 🇷🇺 President Donald Trump shakes hands with Russia's Hall of Fame UFC Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.pic.twitter.com/PmRPj3OKgk

— BRICS News (@BRICSinfo) June 2, 2024

Khabib Nurmagomedov reportedly voiced a global concern to Donald Trump during their conversation at UFC 302.

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Nurmagomedov was on corner duty for teammate Islam Makhachev’s lightweight title defense against Dustin Poirier in the main event at UFC 302 on Saturday. No stranger to UFC pay-per-views, former POTUS Trump was also in attendance for the event at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.

Nurmagomedov was seen exchanging a few words with Trump after Makhachev’s fifth-round submission win over Poirier. American Kickboxing Academy coach Javier Mendez later revealed the content of the conversation between “Eagle” and Trump. According to Mendez, Nurmagomedov implored Trump to take measures to stop the ongoing Israel-Palestine war.

“Act…