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The first Professional Fighters League show of the new year will make use of its merged roster well.

The promotion announced via press release the top two bouts for PFL’s Road to Dubai, also known as Champions Series Dubai. This event, the rebranding of the Bellator MMA Champions Series from 2024, will be held on Jan. 25 at the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The main attraction will be a lightweight championship attraction as Usman Nurmagomedov (18-0, 1 NC) puts his Bellator belt on the line against Paul Hughes (13-1). Additionally, the co-headliner comes at heavyweight as ex-Bellator kingpin Vadim Nemkov (17-2, 1 NC) battles PFL veteran Ante Delija (24-6).

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Nurmagomedov returned following a failed post-fight drug test for an undisclosed substance that resulted in his lightweight title defense against Brent Primus turning to a no contest. The promotion allowed him to keep his belt and continue defending it, as he staved off Alexandr S…

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As the Professional Fighters League prepares for the PFL 2024 Season Championships, there will be six $1 million award winners, several showcase bouts, and for the first time ever, PFL MENA will crown four champions.

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It’ll be a night to remember under a new legacy for the Professional Fighters League, with talent at each level. The event will also show how the PFL is looking to keep develop its regional leagues for integration in the global season.

One of those central to the plan is Dan Hardy, color commentator, host and head of fighter operations for PFL Europe. Ahead of the special and unique night for the PFL, Hardy talked with Sherdog.com about what to expect, how the first year with the Bellator roster has gone, and what to look forward to moving forward.

Winding down on their 2024 PFL season, Hardy acknowledges that not everything was perfect in the first year after acquiring the Bellator roster, but room for improve…

⚖️2024 PFL Featherweight World Title bout is official

Brendan Loughnane: 144.8 lbsTimur Khizriev: 144.7 lbs

[ #PFLWorldChampionship | Friday, Nov 29th | 1PM ET | ESPN+] pic.twitter.com/MGwp9CWXYz

— PFL (@PFLMMA) November 28, 2024 The Professional Fighters League will wrap up its 2024 season with all the title fights.

Sitting atop the 2024 Season PFL Championships card is a featherweight title fight between Brendan Loughnane and Timur Khizriev. Both men successfully made championship weight, as they came in under the 145-pound limit. The rest of the card was just as professional as the 10 other title fight participants on the card also hit their marks.

Loughnane (30-5) previously won the 2022 PFL featherweight tournament. He'll now look to gain his second season title after his 2023 outing was derailed by a knockout defeat to Jesus Pinedo. The British fighter has rebounded nicely by picking up wins over Pedro Carvalho, Justi…

نهائيات بطولة "PFL MENA" | الفيثر ويت

عبدالله القحطاني: 144.3 رطلًامروان بلكَويط: 144.4 رطلًا

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29 نوفمبر | #PFLMENA | جامعة الملك سعود، الرياض، السعودية | التذاكر عبر https://t.co/aZbvEPijAb🔗 | بث مباشر على منصة شاهد، قنوات إم بي سي أكشن و SSC#نصنع_التاريخ #السعودية… pic.twitter.com/qoXOQY2A6M — PFL MENA (@PFLMENA) November 28, 2024 The Professional Fighters League's inaugural Middle East and North Africa season is coming to an end with four championship fights.

While the bill has gone through some slight transformations on weigh-in day, all eight title fight participants successfully made weight for the event. This show serves as the preliminary portion to the 2024 Season PFL Championships event later that day. It will see PFL MENA fighters compete for gold in five-round fights in the welterweight, lightweight, featherweight and bantamweight divisions. Two fighters missed weight: Lilia Osmani, who came in 2.3 pound…

The lineup for UFC Saudi Arabia continues to grow, as a bantamweight clash between Vinicius Oliveira and Said Nurmagomedov and a lightweight tilt pitting Terrance McKinney against Damir Hadzovic have been added to the Feb. 1 event.

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Ag.Fight was first to report Oliveira vs. Nurmagomedov, while McKinney and his management announced the matchup with Hadzovic. The UFC Fight Night event takes place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and features a heavyweight clash between Sergei Pavlovich and Jairzinho Rozenstruik.

Oliveira, who is known as “LokDog,” will take a four-bout winning streak into his fight with Nurmagomedov. The 28-year-old Brazilian has kicked off his UFC tenure with a knockout of Bernardo Sopai and a unanimous decision win over Ricky Simon.

Nurmagomedov has won five of his last six Octagon appearances and is coming off a first-round submission of Muin Gafarov at UFC 294 in October 2023. The Dagestani has endured bad luck in 2024, with three po…

There have been a couple changes to the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s final pay-per-view of 2024.

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The promotion announced on Wednesday that Kennedy Nzechukwu will replace the injured Talisson Teixeira and face Lukasz Brzeski in a heavyweight clash at UFC 310. Additionally, Martin Buday has been removed from a proposed heavyweight matchup against Rizvan Kuniev due to injury and as a result, the bout has been canceled. The nature of the injuries to Teixeira and Buday were not revealed.

UFC 310 takes place on Dec. 7 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and is headlined by a flyweight title tilt pitting Alexandre Pantoja against Kai Askaura. In the co-main event, Shavkat Rakhmonov will square off against Ian Garry.

After competing at 205 pounds for the majority of his promotional tenure, Nzechukwu made his heavyweight debut at UFC 308, where he defeated Chris Barnett via first-round TKO on Oct. 26. That snapped a two-bout skid for the Fortis MM…

Robert Whittaker recently gave due credit to former foe Khamzat Chimaev’s wrestling.

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Whittaker faced Chimaev in potential middleweight title eliminator at UFC 308 on Oct. 26. Chimaev wasted no time in taking Whittaker down before sinking in a face crank that injured the former champion’s jaw, forcing a stoppage in the opening frame.

Whittaker was immensely impressed by Chimaev’s takedowns. While “Bobby Knuckles” felt comfortable for a while on the feet, there was no getting away once Chimaev committed to the takedown. Despite having worked on his wrestling a lot in training camp, Whittaker couldn’t find anyone to replicate the Chechen-born Swede. Whittaker further noted that it isn’t Chimaev’s strength, but his chain wrestling that is most difficult to defend.

“I felt real comfortable standing with him,’ Whittaker recently said on the MMA Arcade podcast. “Then, the dude drops like a millimeter — how do you stop that takedown?... We did a lot …

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Considered the greatest representative for jiu-jitsu practitioners in the 1980s and 1990s, Rickson Gracie revealed in 2023 that he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. And it was the battle against the disease that motivated him to launch his second book, “Comfort in the Dark: The Power of Invisible Jiu-Jitsu” in July 2024.

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In an interview on the “Mundo da Luta” podcast on Monday, Gracie spoke about the launch of his new book. In the interview conducted by journalist Ana Hissa, the jiu-jitsu legend revealed how his learning in the world of martial arts strengthened him in the battle against the recently discovered Parkinson's disease, which inspired the new work.

“The idea was that, with the story of my life, after this biography (in the previous book called “Respira”), it was missing that I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s and I am going through a, let’s say, evolutionary phase of my life,” he said.”And I would like to pass on t…

Kevin Holland (26-12) will face Reinier de Ridder (18-2) in a middleweight bout at UFC 311.

Multiple outlets confirmed the pairing following an initial report from MMA Mania. UFC 311 takes place on Jan. 18 at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles and also includes a light heavyweight clash pitting Jiri Prochazka against Jamahal Hill.

Holland was named Sherdog's “Breakthrough Fighter of the Year” for 2020 thanks to a 5-0 UFC campaign, but he has since fallen on more difficult times. One of the most active fighters on the UFC roster, “Trailblazer” has fought at least three times each year since 2020. However, that has cost him a few fights against opponents such as Khamzat Chimaev and Jack Della Maddalena. Holland is currently 1-3 in his last four bouts and is fresh off a corner stoppage loss against Roman Dolidze at UFC 307 last month.

Meanwhile, de Ridder was undefeated in his first 16 pro outings, a stretch that saw him become a two-division title holder in ON…

Conor McGregor will no longer be the face of Proper No. 12 Whiskey, according to a report from the Irish Independent.

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Proximo Spirits, which owns the whiskey brand, announced that it will no longer use McGregor’s name or likeness in association with the drink. The decision comes after McGregor was found liable for sexual assault during a civil lawsuit in Dublin High Court last week. The UFC star was ordered to pay more than $250,000 in damages to the victim, Nikita Hand.

“Since 2021, Proximo Spirits has been the 100pc owner of Proper No. 12 Irish Whiskey,” Proximo Spirits said. “Going forward, we do not plan to use Mr. McGregor’s name and likeness in the marketing of the brand.”

McGregor and his partners sold their majority stake in the whiskey brand to Proximo Spirits – which had been a 49% owner -- in 2021 for a reported $600 million. Even after the sale, McGregor maintained an active role within the company as a spokeperson and representat…

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Jamahal Hill recently addressed the origins of his beef with Magomed Ankalaev.

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Hill takes on Jiri Prochazka at UFC 311 on Jan. 18 at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, California. The former champ recently went off on Ankalaev, and Hill claims his beef with Ankalaev started primarily because due to the Dagestani being a b—h. Ankalaev had poked fun at Hill when Khalil Rountree got a wild card title shot against Alex Pereira at UFC 307 last month. Despite being widely considered the rightful title contender, Ankalaev was matched up against Aleksandar Rakic at UFC 308. “Sweet Dreams” claims he was making a case for Ankalaev when the Russian turned around and took digs at him.

Why is Jamahal Hill crying? Pereira just made you sleep, get back in the like and work your way up or be ready for Abu Dhabi because Rakic may pull out

— Magomed Ankalaev (@AnkalaevM) August 16, 2024

"I want to knock Magomed out in his …

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Paddy Pimblett recently recalled watching Anderson Silva’s first loss against Chris Weidman with Conor McGregor.

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Pimblett scored his first Cage Warriors win on the same night that Silva put his middleweight title on the line against Weidman at UFC 162 in July 2013. Meanwhile, McGregor was coming off his UFC debut victory and cornering teammate Philip Mulpeter on the same CW card. Pimblett, McGregor and Mulpeter watched together as Weidman scored a second round upset TKO win over “The Spider,” ending the longest title reign in UFC history — a run that spanned 2,457 days which included 10 defenses.

As a fan of Silva, McGregor was visibly devastated and went on to kick the wall, which had Pimblett tickled.

“When I had my first Cage Warriors fight, he’d just been signed by the UFC. I was 19, I had just won my first Cage Warriors fight and he was there,” Pimblett said on the “Still Talking” show. “We were watching Anderson Silva …

A light heavyweight clash has been added to a UFC Fight Night event in February.

Power punchers Ion Cutelaba (18-10) and Ibo Aslan (14-1) will trade leather at a UFC card on Feb. 22, which is expected to go down in Seattle. The matchup was first reported by Marcel Dorff.

Cutelaba is 7-9 in the UFC, putting on entertaining displays while usually falling prey to elite competition. While the Moldovan dropped all of his three bouts in 2022, he has since improved his fortunes. “The Hulk” has sandwiched a loss against Philipe Lins between a KO win over Tanner Boser and most recently, a split decision over Ivan Erslan this past September.

Meanwhile, Aslan came into UFC with a knockout win over Paulo Renato Jr. on Dana White’s Contender Series last year. “The Last Ottoman” scored a technical knockout win over Anton Turkalj in his UFC debut this past March, avenging his lone career loss which came against “The Pleasure Man” under the Brave CF banner in 2020. The Tu…

👀⚡️Cory Sandhagen wants to fight Petr Yan next:

“I still want to get this one back… Maybe we will do it next.”

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🎥 YT @corysandhagenx ▫️ pic.twitter.com/lZYORg5HbY — Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) November 25, 2024

Cory Sandhagen (17-5) is eyeing Petr Yan (18-5) after the latter’s latest win at UFC Macau.

Yan put on a striking clinic to earn an emphatic unanimous decision win over Deiveson Figueiredo in the main event at UFC Macau last weekend. Sandhagen subsequently called out “No Mercy,” who already has a win over him in 2021. Sandhagen wants to avenge his loss against the Russian even if he doesn’t get that matchup immediately.

“Congrats to Yan. Maybe we will do it next,” Sandhagen said on his YouTube channel. “I don’t really know what the division’s [got] going on. I haven’t really heard too much. I was hoping to hear probably sometime next week about the direction that they are gonna go in. Because I know…

People want to hear from me, I needed time. I know I made mistakes. Six years ago, I should have never responded to her outreaches. I should have shut the party down. I should never have stepped out on the woman I love the most in the world. That’s all on me.

As much as I…

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) November 25, 2024

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Conor McGregor has released a statement after being found liable of sexual assault against a woman named Nikita Hand.

Hand accused McGregor and a man named James Lawrence of raping her in a Dublin hotel on Dec. 9, 2018. A jury in a Dublin court recently ruled against McGregor in a civil lawsuit, finding him liable of sexual misconduct. While McGregor wasn’t pronounced “guilty” as it was a civil case, he is ordered to pay Hand more than $250,000 in damages.

“Notorious” recently addressed the ruling, continuing to deny the rape allegations while claiming to have had consensual sex with Hand in …

The worst may be over for Daiane Silva after spending more than a month in the hospital following a bad weight cut ahead of her proposed Bellator MMA debut.

Silva recently returned home to Brazil after spending more than a month under medical care and is gradually making progress in her recovery, according to an initial report from Yahoo! Sports. Silva was scheduled to compete at Bellator Champions Series London on Sept. 14, but was hospitalized due to severe dehydration while trying to cut to the featherweight limit of 146 pounds. The Brazilian fighter suffered from kidney failure as a result and was placed into a medically induced coma.

Manager Alexis Davis provided additional details regarding Silva’s progress in an interview with MMAFighting.com.

“The first prognosis we had was that she could be with dialysis for the rest of her life and it could take months for her to regain consciousness,” Davis said. “… Out of a very sorry prognostics, she is [now] walk…

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Conor McGregor is already beginning to feel the repercussions from his civil lawsuit for sexual assault.

On Friday, the former UFC two-division champion was found liable for the sexual assault of Nikita Hand in 2018. As a result of the ruling in the case, McGregor was ordered to pay Hand 248,603.60 euros ($259,025) in damages. McGregor denied the allegations during testimony and also vowed to appeal the decision in a since-deleted post on social media.

However, that didn’t prevent video game developer IO Interactive from announcing that McGregor would be removed from all content in its “Hitman: World of Assassination” game. McGregor’s likeness was used for a downloadable character, but it will no longer be available. Those who already purchased the add-on will still be able to play as McGregor’s character.

“In light of the recent court ruling regarding Conor McGregor, IO Interactive has made the decision to cease its collaboration with t…

After being submitted by Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 308, Robert Whittaker recently underwent oral surgery to implant six teeth in his lower jaw area.

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"His middle teeth were unstable since the fight with Dricus [Du Plessis]. Chimaev’s [face crank] was exactly on top of these three front teeth that broke immediately,” Whittaker coach Alex Prates told Sherdog.com.

According to Prates, Whittaker returned to training on Monday following the procedure — albeit with some limitations.

"After he had his six teeth implanted, he returned to training on Monday, but without any contact. He will train muay thai, run, everything —but without contact,” Prates said. “Maybe he will still have an operation on his elbow to remove some bone fragments, but we haven't decided yet. It's a minor surgery, but it would cost another month. Our plan is to return to the Octagon in June.”

Another Prates pupil, Jacob Malkoun, has a UFC bout scheduled for Feb. 15 in Las Ve…

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Francis Ngannou knows a thing or two about big-money negotiations with the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

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Ngannou parted ways with the UFC in 2023 after he was unable to come to terms with the Las Vegas-based promotion on a new deal. Since then, he has secured a big-ticket boxing matches against Tyson Fury (which he nearly won) and Anthony Joshua while also signing a contract with Professional Fighters League that provided much of the freedom and perks he desired. When he was still with the UFC, a showdown with current heavyweight king Jon Jones was a hot topic. The narrative currently presented by the UFC is that Ngannou left the promotion because he didn’t want to face Jones. However, when “Bones” was on a three-year hiatus and Ngannou was an active UFC champion, the story was framed quite differently.

Jones returned to action at UFC 309, where he successfully defended the heavyweight crown with a third-round stoppage of Stip…

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Jon Jones is certain about the outcome of the upcoming clash between Jiri Prochazka (30-5) and Jamahal Hill (12-2) — and he also offered some insight into his own future.

The former light heavyweight champs will clash at UFC 311 on Jan. 18 at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles. Jones expects Hill to get the better of Prochazka through sound basics despite the Czech being an unorthodox puzzle.

“I think Jamahal Hill will win. Jiri has really unorthodox striking, but Jamahal seems like the more technical, more clean striker,” Jones recently told The Schmo. “I'm a big fan of basic techniques, and Jamahal has a really strong, basic, clean kickboxing style.”

Prochazka was riding a 13-fight winning streak and undefeated in the UFC when he fell short in a bid for the vacant title against Alex Pereira at UFC 295 last year. While “BJP” bounced back with a technical knockout win over Aleksandar Rakic, he suffered another stoppage win in a rematch with “…

Merab Dvalishvili continues to call out Petr Yan:

“Great fight Petr. I like your callout, and I like your respect. Let’s go again, after 2 years. March 8th, T Mobile. Let’s f***ing go.”

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🎥 @MerabDvalishvil #UFC #MMApic.twitter.com/pKx2kxwAYC — Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) November 23, 2024

Merab Dvalishvili wants to defend his title against Petr Yan next.

Yan earned a shutout unanimous decision win over former flyweight champ Deiveson Figueiredo in the main event at UFC Macau on Saturday. Yan subsequently called for a rematch against Dvalishvili, who beat him via unanimous decision in March 2023. Dvalishvili wasted no time in accepting the rematch against “No Mercy.” “The Machine” wants to defend his bantamweight strap against Yan at UFC 313 on March 18 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

“Great fight Petr. I like your callout, and I like your respect,” Dvalishvili said in a video on social media. “Let’s go agai…

Bogdan Grad (14-2) will make his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut against Lucas Alexander (8-4) in February.

The Austrian will take on Alexander at a UFC Fight Night in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Feb. 1. The matchup was initially reported by Marcel Dorff and subsequently confirmed by Grad on social media.

Grad has finished 11 of his 14 career wins, eight of them via knockout. “The Unleashed” was riding a five-fight winning streak when he got his first Dana White's Contender Series shot in August 2023. However, Grad went on to suffer a first-round stoppage loss against Australian prospect Tom Nolan. Grad subsequently racked up back-to-back finishes on the regional circuit to earn another chance at redemption on the Contender Series. The 29-year-old edged out a hard-fought split decision win over Michael Aswell this past August to make his way into the UFC.

Meanwhile, Alexander came into the UFC as a highly-touted prospect riding a five-fight winning str…

Top light heavyweight contenders will collide at UFC 311 in January.

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Former champs Jiri Prochazka (30-5) and Jamahal Hill (12-2) are scheduled to fight at UFC 311 on Jan. 18 at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles. The matchup was announced during the UFC Macau post-fight show and subsequently confirmed by “BJP” on Instagram. Multiple outlets have since confirmed the pairing.

🚨 On the #UFCMacau post-fight show, Dan Hellie said that Jamahal Hill will be fighting Jiri Prochazka in January 👀

(h/t @certifiedzester) #UFC #MMApic.twitter.com/a1D8ySvemr

— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) November 23, 2024

Both Prochazka and Hill are coming off losses against champion Alex Pereira. Prochazka saw a 13-fight winning streak snapped with a title loss against Pereira at UFC 295 last year. The Czech bounced back with a come-from-behind stoppage win over Aleksandar Rakic but went on suffer another stoppage loss in a failed title remat…

SPINNING WHEEL KICK KO 🤯 #UFCMACAU pic.twitter.com/25KJ8OqmSx

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) November 23, 2024

Muslim Salikhov has a knack for spinning offense.

“The King of Kung Fu” received a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus for his first-round finish of Kenan Song in their welterweight clash at UFC Macau on Saturday at Galaxy Arena. Salikhov dropped his adversary with a perfectly placed spinning wheel kick and sealed his victory with a standing-to-ground hammerfist at the 3:49 mark of Round 1. It is the second time the 40-year-old has used a spinning wheel kick to end a contest in UFC competition.

Elsewhere, Gabriella Fernandes garnered a $50,000 bonus for her upset victory over Cong Wang in a women’s flyweight bout. Wang appeared to have a comfortable lead on the scorecards when Fernandes hurt her foe with a head kick and dropped her with an ensuing left hand. From there, the MMA Masters product secured a rear-naked choke to get …