Martial Arts News

Carlos Prates should not count himself out of the next Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight title shot just yet.

Prates, Michael Morales, Ian Garry and Kamaru Usman are all in the running for the next welterweight title shot against Islam Makhachev (28-1). Prates dominantly beat down Jack Della Maddlena en route to a third-round stoppage win at UFC Perth last weekend and subsequently claimed that Makhachev is set to defend his title against Garry in August. “The Nightmare” said that he is willing to wait for the winner of that bout, which was allegedly confirmed. However, Makhachev says no one from the UFC has said who his next opponent will be. According to Makhachev, there are still four contenders in the running for the next title shot, including Usman, who himself admitted that he is out of the race.

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“The UFC haven’t informed me yet, but there’s been a lot of rumors about me fighting Ian Garry next,” Makhachev told Red Corner MMA. “Yet, I…

Dricus Du Plessis’ opinion certainly holds water when it comes to Khamzat Chimaev and Sean Strickland.

Chimaev is set to put his middleweight title on the line against Strickland in the main event at UFC 328 on May 9 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Having shared the Octagon with both Chimaev and Strickland, Du Plessis recently broke down how the fight might play out.

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While Du Plessis doesn’t doubt that Strickland will be taken down, he believes the American is physically stronger than Chimaev and has the skills to return to his feet. While Chimaev hits hard, Du Plessis believes he is too predictable to catch someone like Strickland, who is known for his defense, with a lucky shot. According to Du Plessis, if Strickland gets up more than a couple of times in the first two rounds, the fight won’t go Chimaev’s way. However, Du Plessis thinks Chimaev will dominate if he can control Strickland on the ground throughout the first round.

“I kno…

Sean Strickland is getting the same accusations hurled at him that he aimed at Khamzat Chimaev.

Strickland (30-7) will challenge Chimaev (15-0) for the Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight title in the main event at UFC 328 on May 9 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. There is serious bad blood between Strickland and Chimaev from their days training together at Xtreme Couture Mixed Martial Arts.

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Strickland recently accused Chimaev of bullying average fighters in the gym. Strickland claims he always wants to test himself against the best fighters he’s surrounded by. However, Strickland says that Chimaev picks an average fighter and tries to establish himself as a bully.

However, Chimaev’s training partner, Luke Rockhold, accuses Strickland of the same. Rockhold recently minced no words while expressing his dislike for Strickland. According to Rockhold, he knew the kind of person Strickland was when he first joined him in training du…

Criticism won’t deter Dana White from using artificial intelligence for Ultimate Fighting Championship promotional material.

White recently revealed that the latest UFC White House: Freedom 250 promo was entirely made with AI. White further elaborated that even his voiceover was done with AI, without him having to visit the sound booth even once. White clarified that the only real footage in the promo are clips from previous fights.

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“The White House promo that we just did is AI,” White said on the Katir Miller podcast. “The whole promo is AI, even my voice isn’t my real voice. My guys put together the whole promo for the White House without one guy going into the sound booth; filming or anything. The only thing that’s real is the fight footage… It’s not the future, it’s now. It’s already happening.”

The UFC has been facing backlash from fans and fighters for using AI for its promotional videos. UFC lightweight Renato “Money” Moicano considers it …

The Ultimate Fighting Championship Baku card is shaping up to be a fan-friendly spectacle.

Lightweights Rafael Fiziev and Manuel Torres will headline UFC Baku on June 27 at National Gymnastics Arena in Baku, Azerbaijan.

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Fiziev (13-5) racked up a six-fight winning streak after suffering his first pro loss in his Octagon debut in 2019. However, Fiziev has since dropped four of his last five, although all the losses came against elite opponents. “Ataman” most recently suffered a brutal knockout loss against Mauricio Ruffy in January.

Meanwhile, Torres (17-3) has finished all five of his UFC wins inside the first round. Torres’ lone UFC loss came against Ignacio Bahamondes, who lost to Fiziev. “El Loco” has since rebounded with wins over Drew Dober and Grant Dawson. While the Mexican was scheduled to face Beneil Dariush at UFC 327 last month, he was forced out due to injury.

The co-main event at UFC Baku will feature middleweight strikers Shara…

Conor McGregor will be keeping a keen eye on the upcoming Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight title fight.

Khamzat Chimaev will put his middleweight title on the line against Sean Strickland in the main event at UFC 328 on May 9 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. McGregor expressed excitement about the fight on X, formerly known as Twitter, while laying claim to the middleweight belt.

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“Very excited for the Newark, New Jersey @ufc card, with my 185lb @ufc title on the line! TUNE IN ON @UFConParamount 💰”

Considering McGregor (22-6) started his UFC career at featherweight, a middleweight move will be a massive jump for the Irishman. While McGregor won the featherweight and lightweight titles, he defended neither. “Notorious” won his last UFC fight at welterweight against Donald Cerrone in 2020. McGregor then suffered consecutive stoppage losses against Dustin Poirier, suffering a leg injury in his most recent outing in 2021. While M…

Do vision boards work? Ask Carlos Prates.

Prates (24-7) took on former champion Jack Della Maddalena (18-4) at UFC Perth last weekend. Prates picked apart Maddalena, leaving the gritty Australian wincing in pain by the third round. “The Nightmare” inflicted relentless punishment until Maddalena crumbled.

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Prates recently revealed that he had “manifested” his win over Maddalena. Prates showed scribblings on his mirror that said he would beat Maddalena and be a champion someday. Prates said on Instagram:

“What happened on Saturday was already written a long time ago. ‘I’m going to knock out Jack Della Maddalena.’ ‘I’m going to beat JDM.’ ‘I’m going to knock out JDM.’ This was already written a long time ago. ‘I’m going to become a champion,’” as translated by Championship Rounds on X, formerly known as Twitter.

While vision boards serve as a source of affirmation and motivation, one’s dreams can only be manifested into reality by hard work. Pra…

Nate Diaz is the only matchup desired enough for Dustin Poirier to come out of retirement.

A matchup between Poirier and Diaz is one of the most anticipated bouts that never came to fruition. However, Poirier is still willing to come out of retirement to fight Diaz.

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Poirier and Diaz were scheduled to fight at UFC 230 in 2018 at Madison Square Garden in New York. The fight fell through as Poirier was allegedly forced out due to a hip injury. However, Poirier claims the narrative was slightly manipulated. According to “The Diamond,” he was willing to fight Diaz, who was having negotiation issues with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Poirier claims the UFC offered him alternative opponents for UFC 230. However, Poirier only wanted to fight Diaz, or have a hip surgery instead of fighting anyone else. Poirier claims Diaz manipulated the narrative and blamed him for the fight falling through.

“I still wanna whip Nate’s a**... I’ll come back to fight h…

Quillan Salkilld has always imagined competing against fighters like Mateusz Gamrot.

Salkilld knocked out Beneil Dariush in the first round of the co-main event at UFC Perth last weekend. Salkilld subsequently called for a matchup against Gamrot. Explaining his callout, Salkilld says that he is a fan of Gamrot’s scrappy style of wrestling. The Australian has also recently watched a lot of tape of Gamrot’s 2022 loss to Dariush. Considering Gamrot’s slot in the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s official rankings, Salkilld believes it is a good time for him to fight the Pole. While Salkilld is known for his knockout power, he wants to test himself on the mat against Gamrot.

“I love watching Gamrot,” Salkilld told MMA Junkie. “I like the wrestling style; he has an exciting wrestling style where he just hits scrambles. And I was watching him vs. Beneil many times leading up to the Beneil fight. He is the kind of fight I’ve always pictured myself having. He just had a good …

Jorge Masvidal believes his American Top Team stablemate Movsar Evloev has a different kind of momentum.

Evloev is currently considered the frontrunner for the next featherweight title shot against Alexander Volkanovski. Masvidal recently predicted that Evloev will dethrone Volkanovski in a potential fight. Masvidal notes that he had also correctly predicted Evloev’s last win over fellow contender Lerone Murphy. According to “Gamebred,” Evloev will only become more dangerous soon as he peaks physically.

“I’m saying it here right now. Movsar beats Volkanovski… I said he was going to beat Murphy,” Masvidal told UFC on Paramount. “I love Volk. But right now, Movsar is on a different level… That gear that Movsar has… And it’s only going to get tougher for people because he is coming more into his groove, more into his prime physically. I think he beats Volk right now.”

Despite being widely considered the top featherweight contender for a long time, Evloev (20-0) has…

Brendan Allen wants to avenge his loss against Sean Strickland.

Strickland is scheduled to challenge Khamzat Chimaev for the middleweight title in the main event at UFC 328 on May 9 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Allen is currently training with Chimaev to prepare for his upcoming fight against Edmen Shahbazyan.

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Strickland recently went on an unprovoked tirade against Allen. Strickland called Allen a woman who isn’t worth training with. Strickland also said that his training partner Johnny Eblen could “f*ck” Allen if he wanted to, though Eblen clearly said he doesn’t intend to.

Allen says he doesn’t even know where Strickland’s hatred against him stems from. Allen also doesn’t think highly of Eblen, who is considered one of the best fighters outside the UFC. Allen believes his Kill Cliff FC training partner, Impa Kasanganay, was robbed off a win against Eblen in 2024. “All-In” also notes that his training partner Costello van Steenis …

Sean Brady recently made some shocking claims about his UFC 322 fight against Michael Morales.

Brady took on fellow welterweight contender Morales at UFC 322 this past November at Madison Square Garden in New York. Morales looked nearly flawless while knocking Brady out in the first round. While Brady blames only himself, he claims he wasn’t fully focused on his fight against Morales.

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Brady recently revealed that he was told that the fight was off a couple of days before it happened. While Brady didn’t divulge many details, he says it was something to do with the medicals. According to Brady, the matchup was tentative for a couple of days and was only confirmed just hours before he left for the arena.

“I won’t say too many details, something with the medicals to where we found out on Thursday that the fight might not happen,” Brady recently told MMA Fighting. “So it was a lot up in the air for the next two days if this fight was even going to happen…