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The time and place of Alexander Volkanovski vs. Ilia Topuria is now official.

Per the promotion on Thursday, UFC 298 will take place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, on Feb. 17. The Ultimate Fighting Championship had previously announced that the featherweight championship clash of Volkanovski (26-3) vs. Topuria (14-0) would sit atop the billing, and its date of Feb. 17 had been discussed as well. However, the destination of California was not official until its announcement.

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This event will be the first at this venue since UFC 270 in early 2022, when Francis Ngannou beat Ciryl Gane for the heavyweight strap. The home to NHL team Anaheim Ducks has played host to a number of major UFC cards over the years, from UFC 76 titled “Knockout” which did not feature a single knockout to UFC 157 which brought women’s MMA to the organization. This fight card will feature the first men’s headliner in a division below light heavyweight for the building,…

Some Thanksgiving fight announcements. Happy Thanksgiving everybody! pic.twitter.com/wNDkaxQ0nB

— danawhite (@danawhite) November 23, 2023 Jalin Turner will be stepping in for the man who last beat him in a bit over a week.

At UFC 290 in July, Turner (13-7) fell short in a thrilling nailbiter by split decision to Hooker. The Kiwi, who was scheduled to take on Bobby Green (31-14-1, 1 NC) at UFC Austin, has since injured his arm and has withdrawn from the Green pairing. The damage was inflicted to the same arm that Hooker hurt in his fight with Turner. Now, Turner will be taking on Green on Dec. 2 at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas, according to the promotion on Thursday.

Making his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut in 2018 unsuccessfully against Vicente Luque, the 6-foot-3 Turner dropped down to lightweight and has competed in that weight class for the majority of his subsequent matches. “The Tarantula” is currently skidding, having…

[embedded content] Editor's note: The article has been updated at 4:45 p.m. ET to reflect the cancellation of a bout.

After all the vitriolic back-and-forth about their Professional Fighters League rubber match, Chris Wade vs. Bubba Jenkins 3 failed to get off the starting block.

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The weigh-ins for 2023 Season Championships took place on Friday, and all six championship affairs are set and ready to go on Friday. The main event will take place in the lightweight division as Olivier Aubin-Mercier looks to repeat against Clay Collard. Collard (24-10) came in at 154.8 pounds, as did Aubin-Mercier (20-5). While all 12 finalists made weight, three undercard fighters missed weight: Ray Cooper III (186.8), Wade (148.4) and Josh Blyden (146.8). Cooper and Blyden have been fined percentages of their purses, and Wade's match has been canceled.

The PFL 2023 Championships will air on ESPN+ pay-per-view on Friday. The main card starts at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, whi…

In the eyes of champion Alex Pereira, Khamzat Chimaev is no Ricardo Arona.

“Poatan” made history in November by becoming the first fighter in Ultimate Fighting Championship history to win titles in both the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions. The former 185-pound king—who went 1-1 with a knockout victory and defeat to Israel Adesanya in 2022 and 2023—moved up in weight to take on former champ Jan Blachowicz in July. The triumph put Pereira in contention for 205-pound gold, and he claimed it by vanquishing Jiri Prochazka in the second round at UFC 295.

After picking up the strap, the 9-2 former kickboxer from Sao Bernardo do Campo, Sao Paulo, Brazil, had plenty of men calling his name as potential suitors for his first defense. Among those was Chimaev, who recently experienced high-level success at middleweight by topping former welterweight kingpin Kamaru Usman on the scorecards. The Chechen, who frequently calls out champions in various divisions, asked UFC …

Sean Strickland is confident that training partner Sadibou Sy could duplicate his Professional Fighters League success in the UFC.

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Sy will attempt to win the welterweight championship for a second consecutive year when he faces Magomed Magomedkerimov at the 2023 PFL Championships on Friday at the Anthem in Washington, D.C. The main card airs via pay-per-view on ESPN+ beginning at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.

The 36-year-old Swede has won seven straight outings since 2022, showcasing a varied striking arsenal that includes a skilled jab, a toolbox of kicks and knees in close quarters. During the current PFL season, Sy has scored a pair of spectacular finishes against Jarrah Al-Silawi and Shane Mitchell. Strickland, the UFC's reigning middleweight king, has seen Sy’s skills firsthand.

“He would be the welterweight champion [in the UFC],” Strickland said on his YouTube channel. “Then I’d probably have to fight him for the middleweight belt. Sadi is the…

Now that he’s firmly entrenched on the Professional Fighters League roster, Bubba Jenkins is all for the organization’s recent acquisition of Bellator MMA.

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“I love it. It’s a beautiful thing,” Jenkins said during a PFL media day. “Anytime the PFL is doing anything and making news, making waves, I’m appreciative of the higher ups doing these things. Especially to strengthen the roster and get some other guys in here, some other pigs to hunt in the woods is a good thing for me, so I’m excited.”

Jenkins will lock horns with Chris Wade in a trilogy bout on the prelims of the PFL Championships card on Friday at The Anthem in Washington, D.C. The main card airs via pay-per-view on ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, while prelims stream on ESPN+ beginning at 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT.

Jenkins has more than a passing familiarity with Bellator. The 35-year-old Californian went 8-3 during an 11-bout stint with the promotion from 2013 to 2016, but he wasn’t especi…

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Professional Fighters League talent Khai Wu has firsthand knowledge of what it’s like to train alongside Meta Platforms founder Mark Zuckerberg.

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Zuckerberg, who generated headlines for his interest in an MMA fight against fellow mogul Elon Musk, crossed paths with Wu when he went to train at Guerrilla Jiu-Jitsu in Pleasanton, California. While Zuckerberg won’t be reaching the pinnacle of the sport anytime soon, Wu believes it’s important to put his training into the proper perspective.

“People are going, ‘Well, how good is he?’ It’s like if you compare him to a UFC Fighter or PFL fighter, like what are you categorizing them as? But someone as successful as him at his age getting into martial arts, it’s like, man, he takes it very seriously,” Wu said during a PFL media day. “It’s not a gimmick. It’s not like an act where he’s doing this for fun and then you don’t expect to see him in the next couple weeks. No, he’s been doing it …

Jim Miller will make his 43rd walk to the Octagon when he squares off against Gabriel Benitez in a lightweight bout at UFC Fight Night 234.

The Las Vegas-based promotion confirmed the booking in a release on Wednesday. UFC Fight Night 234 takes place on Jan. 13 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a rematch between Magomed Ankalaev and Johnny Walker. Other bouts confirmed for the event include a flyweight clash pitting Manel Kape against Matheus Nicolau and a bantamweight scrap between Ricky Simon and Mario Bautista.

Miller, who also holds the UFC record for most wins (25), has been victorious in four of his last five promotional appearances. Most recently, the New Jersey native scored a 23-second knockout victory against Jesse Butler at UFC on ESPN 46 on June 3.

Benitez will return to active competition for the first time since August 2022, when he scored a first-round TKO victory against Charlie Ontiveros at UFC on ESPN 41. Prior to that tri…

Francisco Trinaldo seems to have found a new passion in the world of bare knuckle MMA.

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One of the most popular fighters on Season 1 of “The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil,” Trinaldo parted ways with the UFC in 2022, some 10 years after his debut. Thirteen months later he made his bare knuckle foray at Gamebred Fighting Championship 6, where he defeated Sasha Palatnikov via technical knockout 1:55 into Round 1 when his opponent suffered a knee injury.

“I love to fight MMA without gloves, but I have to recognize that, after 13 months without fighting, I was nervous in the beginning,” Trinaldo told Sherdog.com. “But as soon as my opponent hit me, I woke up and started to have fun. I was prepared for a bloody war, but it was not necessary. I loved the experience and I can't wait for [Jorge] Masvidal to decide who will be my next opponent.”

“Massaranduba” had no problem revealing a list of names he has targeted as potential adversaries.

“I'm 45 [years o…

Francisco Trinaldo seems to have found a new passion in the world of bare knuckle MMA.

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One of the most popular fighters on Season 1 of “The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil,” Trinaldo parted ways with the UFC in 2022, some 10 years after his debut. Thirteen months later he made his bare knuckle foray at Gamebred Fighting Championship 6, where he defeated Sasha Palatnikov via technical knockout 1:55 into Round 1 when his opponent suffered a knee injury.

“I love to fight MMA without gloves, but I have to recognize that, after 13 months without fighting, I was nervous in the beginning,” Trinaldo told Sherdog.com. “But as soon as my opponent hit me, I woke up and started to have fun. I was prepared for a bloody war, but it was not necessary. I loved the experience and I can't wait for [Jorge] Masvidal to decide who will be my next opponent.”

“Massaranduba” had no problem revealing a list of names he has targeted as potential adversaries.

“I'm 45 [years o…

What are we doing/what have we done to ensure this situation doesn’t happen again, Micheál? Since the heinous and horrific murder of an Irish citizen in broad daylight at the hands of a foreign criminal there has been a zero action response from the 3 parties in power. Nothing at… https://t.co/EZpu40Ql8R

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) November 21, 2023

Conor McGregor recently went on a tirade against the Irish government regarding the murder of Ireland native Ashling Murphy at the hands of an immigrant.

A 23-year-old high school teacher and musician, Murphy, was murdered by Slovakian immigrant Jozef Puska while walking alongside the Grand Canal in Tullamore, County Offaly, in January 2022. Puska, who was also a sex offender in his native country, was arrested earlier this month and sentenced to life by a unanimous jury in a Dublin court.

Puska was reportedly unemployed and living on welfare since arriving in Ireland, which has …

Jake Paul claims that a potential MMA rematch against Nate Diaz is nowhere close to coming to fruition.

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While Diaz exited the UFC with a stoppage win over Tony Ferguson in September 2022 ,his long-anticipated boxing clash against Paul only materialized this past August. Paul went on to earn a unanimous decision win over the Stockton, California, native and after the bout, both parties expressed interest in setting up a rematch under MMA rules.

However, “The Problem Child” claims there has been complete radio silence from Diaz’s camp after a bit of initial interest. One potential point of contention is Diaz not wanting to fight under the Professional Fighters League banner. Diaz is rallying for the bout to be organized by his own promotion, Real Fight Inc., which co-promoted his boxing clash with Paul so far. Paul signed with the PFL earlier this year and is also a minority owner of the organization.

Paul discussed the possibility of an MMA bout…

A strawweight meeting between former Dana White Contender Series participants Rayanne Amanda dos Santos and Talita Alencar has been added to the UFC Fight Night 233 card.  

The news was first reported by MMAFighting.com.  UFC Fight Night 233 takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Dec. 9 and is headlined by a bantamweight bout between Yadong Song and Chris Gutierrez.

After a unanimous decision loss to Denise Gomes on the Contender Series in 2022, Dos Santos has racked up a three-fight winning streak. She is coming off a unanimous decision victory against Jillian DeCoursey in May to secure the Invicta FC atomweight championship.   

  Meanwhile, Alencar recently appeared on Week 7 of the latest edition of the Contender Series, where she fought her way to a unanimous draw against Stephanie Luciano. Prior to her bout with Luciano, Alencar was on a four-fight winning streak that included three rear-naked choke finish…

Jan Blachowicz believes Jamahal Hill might not be in his best shape when he attempts to reclaim the light heavyweight title against Alex Pereira.

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Hill , who defeated Glover Teixeira to be crowned champ at UFC 283 in January, had to vacate his strap in July after suffering a torn Achilles tendon during a pickup basketball game. Meanwhile, Pereira went on to capture the vacant title with a Round 2 technical knockout win over former champ Jiri Prochazka at UFC 295 earlier this month.

Hill claims that he has been guaranteed a title shot upon his return to the Octagon, which will most likely be against Pereira. However, Blachowicz believes the long hiatus could negatively affect “Sweet Dreams.”

“We’ll see how he’s going to feel after the injury because sometimes it’s hard coming back in great shape,” Blachowicz told MiddleEasy. “You still got something in the back of your head that you have surgery and you’re coming back. You don’t know how your leg…

Dan Hooker is out of his upcoming clash against Bobby Green with less than 10 days to go before fight night.

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Hooker was scheduled to take on Green in the co-main event at UFC on ESPN 52, which goes down at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas on Dec. 2. “The Hangman” has now been forced out of the matchup due to an arm injury, according to the New Zealand Herald. Multiple outlets have since confirmed the news. A replacement opponent for Green is being sought.

Earlier this year, Hooker pulled out of a scheduled clash against Jalin Turner at UFC 285 in March due to a broken hand. He later went to defeat Turner via split decision at UFC 290 but broke his arm in the fight. The Kiwi has now reportedly been forced out of UFC Austin due to a similar injury.

“It’s just one of those things. I’ve been kicked a thousand times in the last two months and he just got me on the right spot. It’s broken on the same spot as I broke it last time,” Hooker told the…

Anderson Silva believes the end of the partnership between the UFC and USADA could be a good thing.

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During an interview on the Flow podcast, “The Spider” said that he believes testing should be more flexible, taking place only during the week of the fight.

“Depending on the sport, yes [there has to be strict control]. If it's an Olympic sport, it has to be there. I think the UFC shouldn't be so strict,” Silva said. “It’s not an Olympic sport. The training that MMA athletes do is completely different from that of any other fighting athlete, because they put themselves at extremes. The guy trains boxing, wrestling, jiu-jitsu, sparring, physical preparation and a lot of other things. There was a season that injured a lot of people. When a guy is undergoing medical monitoring, taking something without it being out of control, he won't get injured. This won't change his performance at all in the fight. I am in favor of drug testing during fight week. If…

A heavyweight matchup has been added to the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s second pay-per-view event of 2024.

Justin Tafa (7-3) will take on Marcos Rogerio de Lima (21-9) at UFC 298 on Feb. 17. Both fighters confirmed the booking on social media following an initial report from MMAFighting.com. UFC 298 is headlined by a featherweight title tilt between Alexander Volkanovski and Ilia Topuria and is expected to be held in Los Angeles, though the location and venue are not official.

Tafa is currently unbeaten in his last four outings, which includes three first-round stoppages and one no contest. “Bad Man” is coming off a knockout win against Austen Lane at UFC 293 on Sept. 9.

Meanwhile, de Lima has gone 2-2 in his last four Octagon appearances. In his most recent outing, he suffered a 33-second KO defeat to Derrick Lewis at UFC 291 in July.

Donn Davis: The next time we're on here, when people laugh that we're gonna be a co-leader, we're gonna be a co-leader. #TheMMAHour pic.twitter.com/Rw5ZHsRjhi

— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) November 20, 2023

PFL founder Donn Davis believes the promotion’s latest acquisition has UFC CEO Dana White worried.

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After months of rumors, PFL officially announced its acquisition of Bellator on Monday. Davis believes that while White wasn’t previously worried about the PFL, this latest move has the UFC head honcho concerned.

“Everybody knows Dana well enough that he only dismisses things that worry him, or else he just doesn’t comment. He didn’t comment on the PFL for four years because he wasn’t worried. He has commented on the PFL a lot in the last six months. He’s worried,” Davis said during an appearance on "The MMA Hour.”

While PFL and Bellator have been in competition for the status of No. 2 MMA promotion in the …

Bobby Green has a bold prediction for Tony Ferguson’s upcoming UFC 296 clash against Paddy Pimblett.

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Ferguson will take on “The Baddy” at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Dec. 16. Many consider it a booking of contrasting career arcs, with Ferguson being on a six-fight skid and Pimblett on a six-fight winning streak.

Once considered to be one of the biggest threats to former lightweight king Khabib Nurmagomedov, Ferguson has repeatedly been advised to retire throughout the course of his recent slump. However, Green, who was his last opponent, believes “El Cucuy” should retire only when he wants to. Green also expects to Ferguson to return to the win column against Pimblett at UFC 296.

“Everybody telling him to retire and stuff, he’ll retire when he wants to retire,” Green recently said in an interview with The Schmo. “Don’t let nobody tell you different. I fought Tony, so I know what I was dealing with in there the whole entire time. Even …

Tyson Fury is seemingly interested in running it back with Francis Ngannou after their boxing clash last month.

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Ngannou made his long-awaited foray into the squared circle on Oct. 28 in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia, against Fury, going in as a +850 underdog. The former Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight king shocked the world by taking Fury to a split decision, also scoring the lone knockdown of the bout in Round 3.

Ngannou isn’t expected to return to MMA for his next outing, as there have been talks of potential boxing clashes against Dereck Chisora and Deontay Wilder. Meanwhile, Fury is slated to take on Oleksandr Usyk in a heavyweight title unification clash on Feb. 17.

While Fury isn’t looking past the Usyk fight, promoter Frank Warren said on "The MMA Hour” that the WBC champ is interested in a rematch against Ngannou in the future.

“I think there’s a good chance of that happening. I do,” Warren said. “I don’t know [if it’ll be n…

Clay Collard isn't surprised he's going to go up against Professional Fighters League 2022 lightweight king Olivier Aubin-Mercier Friday at the 2023 PFL Championships.

Coming off a dominant unanimous decision victory against Shane Burgos in August at 2023 PFL 9, Collard (24-10) is set to meet Mercier (20-5) for the lightweight strap inside the Smart Cage on Nov. 24 at The Anthem in Washington D.C.

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Mercier, on the other hand, is currently undefeated in the promotion and will enter the bout with Collard on the heels of back-to-back finishes against Bruno Miranda and Anthony Romero.

Considering the hectic schedule fighters deal with when competing in a playoff setting, Collard was asked by Sherdog.com if he's had enough time to come up with a game plan for the reigning lightweight champion.

“So, I mean, we're definitely going to cater a little bit towards OAM's fighting style. We're going to work on different things for different individual fig…

Impa Kasanganay envisions himself besting Joshua Silveira in all facets of mixed martial arts in their upcoming Professional Fighters League light heavyweight title battle Friday at the 2023 PFL Championships.

A former Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight, Kasanganay now competes as a light heavyweight in the PFL. Ever since the move up to 205, the Kill Cliff FC product has racked up four victories, including three finishes under the PFL banner this year; all within the span of five months.

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Most recently, Kasanganay secured his spot in the light heavyweight finals after delivering a devastating Round 1 knockout against Marthin Hamlet. Before that, the former middleweight secured a Round 2 arm-triangle choke submission against Tim Caron in the playoff semis.

Considering his recent track record and performances inside the Smart Cage, Kasanganay (14-3) is understandably confident regarding the outcome of his upcoming light heavyweight title …

Singapore-based ONE Championship made its United States debut in May — and apparently, that was just the tip of the iceberg.

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During a recent interview on CNBC, ONE CEO Chatri Sityodtong briefly outlined the company’s plans for holding events outside of its usual destinations, and he indicated that will include multiple events in the U.S.

“We’re going back to Japan, we’re going Qatar and we’re obviously coming back to Singapore,” Sityodtong said. “And the U.S., by the way, more events in the U.S. in 2024.”

ONE made its stateside debut on May 5 for ONE on Prime Video 10, which saw Demetrious Johnson defeat Adriano Moraes to defend the 135-pound title in the evening’s main event at the 1stBank Center in Broomfield, Colorado. Sityodtong did not mention which U.S. cities ONE might visit in the coming year.

In a separate post on his LinkedIn account, Sityodtong addressed ONE’s growth and ongoing financial success.

“ONE is on track to…

Nineteen fighters who competed at UFC 295 received indefinite medical suspensions.

The New York State Athletic Commission recently release a full list of medical suspensions from the event, which took place at Madison Square Garden in New York on Nov. 11. The NYSAC did not reveal the specific nature of each fighter’s suspension. Every athlete on the card received at least a seven-day term. All indefinite suspensions can be lifted via doctor clearance.

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UFC 295 saw Alex Pereira claim the vacant light heavyweight crown with a second-round technical knockout of Jiri Prochazka in the evening’s main event. Prochazka was suspended 45 days for mandatory rest, and he was also suspended indefinitely pending doctor clearance. Pereira, meanwhile, received a seven-day sit.

UFC 295 Medical Suspensions:

Alex Pereira: Suspended for seven days.

Jiri Prochazka: Suspended 45 days for mandatory rest, indefinitely suspended pending primary care doctor clearance. Read more about UFC 295 Medical Suspensions: 19 Fighters Receive Indefinite Terms