Martial Arts News

Muin Gafurov claims he did not intentionally submit to Jakub Wiklacz at UFC Fight Night 266. 

Gafurov (20-7) missed weight by a whopping five pounds for his bantamweight clash against Wiklacz (18-3) on the prelims at UFC Fight Night 266 at the Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday. While Gafurov had Wiklacz on his heels in the first round, the Polish fighter bounced back in the second round. Gafurov looked to be edging out the third round when he started frantically looking for a finish in the final seconds. Wiklacz took the opportunity to jump a mounted guillotine on Gafurov. While Gafurov showed a thumbs-up right before the final bell, he bizarrely tapped out with a second left in the fight. Referee Chris Tognoni watched the replay and confirmed that Gafurov tapped out before the final bell. 

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Gafurov told his teammate, Merab Dvalishvili, that he thought he had heard the final bell before tapping out. Gafurov was frantically tapping as he couldn’t…

Daniil Donchenko passed a stern veteran test in his sophomore Octagon appearance.

“The Ultimate Fighter 33” winner pushed Alex Morono to the brink of the defeat early, but ultimately emerged with a clear-cut unanimous decision victory in the featured prelim at UFC Vegas 113 at the UFC Apex on Saturday night. Judges scored the welterweight bout 30-26, 30-26 and 30-27 for the Ukrainian prospect. The 35-year-old Morono (24-13, 13-10, 1 NC UFC) has lost his last four UFC bouts.

Donchenko (13-2, 2-0 UFC) nearly made it a short night at the office. The 24-year-old Tiger Muay Thai representative dropped Morno with a left hook near the fence in Round 1, and proceeded to batter his reeling foe with punches, elbows and hammerfists on the ground. Somehow, Morono made it to the horn.

From there, it was a more measured approach from Donchenko, who repeatedly chopped away at Morono’s leg and opened a gash near his adversary’ mouth with a wicked spinning elbow. With his mobility sev…

Professional Fighters League lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov secured his first stoppage win in nearly three years after submitting Alfie Davis via arm triangle in the third round (4:41) of Saturday’s PFL Dubai main event at the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Nurmagomedov (21-0, 3-0 PFL) entered as a massive favorite against the PFL Tournament champion, but showed respect early for The Axe Man’s diverse striking background. Davis (20-6-1, 3-2 PFL) fought loose against the undefeated kingpin from Dagestan. The Englishman cracked smiles and fired off axe kicks as Davis hoped to catch Nurmagomedov with a spectacular shot, but the champ wasn’t having it. Nurmagomedov fought aggressively but calculated, blasting Davis with leg and body kicks to make him circle around the ring nonstop. Nurmagomedov would put Davis out of his misery late in the third round, securing a double leg near the fence, where he would eventually climb to Davis’ back and finish him …

Sherdog's live PFL Dubai coverage will begin Saturday at 9 a.m. ET.

Two World Title Fights headline PFL Road to Dubai! Tune in LIVE Saturday, Feb. 7 at 12 p.m. ET.

Round 1 Sherdog Scores Brian Knapp scores the round:J.L. Kirven scores the round:Mike Pendleton scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Brian Knapp scores the round:J.L. Kirven scores the round:Mike Pendleton scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Brian Knapp scores the round:J.L. Kirven scores the round:Mike Pendleton scores the round:The Official Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Brian Knapp scores the round:J.L. Kirven scores the round:Mike Pendleton scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Brian Knapp scores the round:J.L. Kirven scores the round:Mike Pendleton scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Brian Knapp scores the round:J.L. Kirven scores the round:Mike Pendleton scores the round:The Official Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Brian Knapp scores the round:J.L. Kirven scores the round:Mike Pendleton s…

Sherdog's live UFC Vegas 113 coverage will begin Saturday at 5 p.m. ET. The event is also known as UFC Fight Night 266. BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Sygula (-140); Cachoeira (+115)Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Dayne Fox scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:

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Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Dayne Fox scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Dayne Fox scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round: The Official Result BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Gafurov (-115); Wiklacz (-105)Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Dayne Fox scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Dayne Fox scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Dayne Fox scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores …

Movsar Evloev allegedly contracted coronavirus ahead of his scheduled fight against Aaron Pico last year. 

Evloev was scheduled to welcome former Bellator MMA star Aaron Pico to the UFC last August at UFC 319. However, Evloev pulled out of the matchup with hardly over two weeks to go before fight night. Evloev recently revealed that he was forced out of the fight due to coronavirus, the same virus responsible for the worldwide lockdown in 2020-21. Evloev claims he was affected by the virus in Thailand and decided to pull out when even easy exercises made him feel terrible.

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Struggling to Train “Last time I pulled out because of some type of coronavirus in Thailand,” Evloev told Submission Radio. “I was ready to fight, but two weeks before the fight I started feeling so bad — even doing easy exercises made me feel so bad, so I decided to pull out.”

Evloev (19-0) was replaced on short notice by Lerone Murphy (17-0), who knocked out Pico with a h…

Daniel Cormier became more serious about MMA after being schooled by Cain Velasquez in his early days. 

Cormier (22-3) had just transitioned from wrestling to MMA and was juggling his training between Oklahoma and California. Cormier began experimenting with a southpaw stance while sparring with Velasquez at the American Kickboxing Academy in 2010. That was the last time “DC” went southpaw, as Velasquez wrecked his nose with a head kick. Cormier turned his back to Velasquez, who decided to show mercy. Cormier was in agony and knew that Velasquez could have knocked him out if he wanted to. The lesson was enough for Cormier to permanently shift his base to AKA in San Jose, California.

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Lesson Learned “I was going back and forth between Oklahoma and California when I started my career,” Cormier told Y’all Street TV. “And I’m sparring Cain… I’m trying to be cute, and I’m fighting southpaw, which, by the way, 2010 was the last time I’d ever in my life…

Dustin Poirier is seemingly not coming out of retirement just yet. 

Poirier and Gaethje share a 1-1 head-to-head record in the UFC. While Poirier retired last year, Gaethje recently won the interim lightweight title against Paddy Pimblett at UFC 324 last month. Gaethje's violent performance against Pimblett was enticing enough for Poirier to consider coming out of retirement. “The Diamond” said that he would be interested in returning for a trilogy matchup against Gaethje. 

Gaethje initially said he respects Poirier too much to deny him a rubber matchup. However, Gaethje had mentioned that he was primarily looking ahead and not behind. 

Meanwhile, lightweight champion Ilia Topuria, who was on a short hiatus, said that he is ready to return this summer. Gaethje has now completely shut down the idea of a trilogy fight against Poirier. “The Highlight” is not lured by the idea of a trilogy against Poirier when he is likely to fight Topuria in a title …

Daniel Cormier believes that a particular type of combat sport athlete can reclaim America’s glory in the UFC. 

Cormier (22-3) recently noted that most UFC champions are from Eastern Europe with a wrestling base, with the exception of a few strikers. However, Cormier believes American wrestlers are not opening up to mixed martial arts. Cormier shares a close tie with the current welterweight champion, Islam Makhachev, and former lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov, who exemplify the dominance of wrestling in MMA. While Cormier loves Makhachev, Nurmagomedov, and the rest of the Dagestani brigade, he wants to see American champions in the UFC. The former Olympian claims he has set a plan in motion to bring more American wrestlers to MMA.

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American Wrestlers Wanted “The American wrestler isn’t as open to fighting as we need them to be,” Cormier told Y’all Street TV. “But I have a plan. I’m getting American wrestlers into fighting. I love those guy…

There is apparently some confusion between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Quinton Jackson related to social media following.

Jackson (38-14) claimed years ago that Nurmagomedov (29-0) blocked him on social media. Jackson recently said that Nurmagomedov still hasn’t unblocked him. However, Jackson doesn’t hold it against Nurmagomedov, as he believes his content is too unhinged. Jackson understands that a religious person like Nurmagomedov might not like his uninhibited content. However, Jackson maintains that he never said anything against Nurmagomedov.

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Inappropriate Content? “Khabib still hasn’t unblocked me… Honestly, I would block me too; I say some crazy stuff on social media,” Jackson told Ushatayka. “He is very religious, and I’m probably not the type of person he should be following or looking at my content, so I’m not mad at him about it. I just thought it was weird because I never said anything about him before he blocked me.”

However, Nurmagomedov…

Gina Carano returning to MMA is allegedly not entirely out of the question. 

Carano last fought in 2009 and subsequently went on to build a career in Hollywood. Carano made headlines after she was released by Lucasfilm in 2021 following controversial comments.  Carano is now back in training at Syndicate MMA under coach John Wood. Wood says Carano got back in shape over the last few months and is training with professional fighters now. While Wood doesn’t want to jump the gun, he isn’t shutting down the idea of Carano returning to combat sports.

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Back in the Mix “She’s here every day, she’s back in the mix,” Wood told Home of Fight. “She’s back training every day. We spent first couple of months getting back in shape, she’s jumped in now, working with the pros. So who knows? I’m not at will to say what could or could not happen there… This coming back and training lit a fire under her ass. I think there are some things that are potentially on…

Daniel Cormier would preferably not include either Khabib Nurmagomedov or Islam Makhachev on any football team. 

Cormier is close to Nurmagomedov, Makhachev and the rest of their Dagestani team. “DC” doesn’t miss any chance to pull the leg of Nurmagomedov or Makhachev, who also return the favor. 

Rules Optional Cormier was recently asked to pick the better football player between Nurmagomedov and Makhachev. Cormier immediately called out both of them for not following any rules. Cormier noted that their famous games of Dagestani basketball is a mixture of rugby and basketball with almost no rules. Cormier would preferably not include them on any team as they would try to modify the rules according to their convenience. However, if bound to choose, Cormier would pick Nurmagomedov, whom he sees as the bigger and rougher one.

“Islam and Khabib, they don’t follow rules,” Cormier told the NFL. “Have you ever seen them play basketball? Their basketball is a mix of f…