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Rose Namajunas has been off the grid since relinquishing the strawweight crown to Carla Esparza in a forgettable rematch at UFC 274, but the ex-champ remains one of the biggest names in the strawweight division.

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Mackenzie Dern set her sights on “Thug” Rose following a dominant victory over Angela Hill in the UFC Fight Night 223 headliner at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday night. Namajunas hasn’t fought MMA since May 2022, but Dern is aware that she has been honing her grappling skills in recent months.

“I follow her on social media and stuff, and I saw her do an ADCC regional or something like that,” Dern said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “I’m a former ADCC champion, so I’m always happy when I see the MMA girls doing jiu-jitsu. But, for sure, fighting Rose is a priority of mine right now at this moment.”

Dern has won two of her last three Octagon appearances dating back to 2022 and demonstrated considerable improvement in…

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Paul Craig will move to 185 pounds and face Andre Muniz at UFC Fight Night 224.

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Super Lutas was first to report the booking. UFC Fight Night 224 takes place at the O2 Arena in London on July 22 and is headlined by a heavyweight clash between Tom Aspinall and M…

The Ultimate Fighting Championship is bestowing a newly announced event with a pair of light heavyweight collisions and one top contender match at 115 pounds.

On Thursday, MMA Junkie first announced that the UFC would be staging a Fight Night card on Aug. 5. The destination is currently unknown, but it is but rumored to be taking place at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. On that lineup, two 205-pound affairs have been booked plus one outside that weight class. The first, likely on the main card, comes between Dustin Jacoby (18-7-1) and Kennedy Nzechukwu (12-3). The second, also courtesy of MMA Junkie, which has no distinction as to its placement, features Tanner Boser (20-10-1) against the returning Aleksa Camur (6-2). Jacoby later announced his bout on social media, while Iridium Sports Management confirmed Camur vs. Boser.

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Additionally, a pivotal 115-pound affair is on the books for this fight card, as Virna Jandiroba (19-3) is expec…

Mackenzie Dern is still rounding out her mixed martial arts skill set. That could be a scary prospect for the rest of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s strawweight division.

Dern dominated Angela Hill on the feet and on the canvas en route to a lopsided unanimous decision triumph in the UFC Fight Night 223 headliner at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday night. Cageside judges scored the strawweight bout 49-43, 49-44 and 49-44 in favor of Dern, who rebounded from a decision loss to Xiaonan Yan in her most recent outing this past October.

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Dern (13-3, 8-3 UFC) came out with aggressive striking, sitting Hill down near the fence with a right hand in the opening stanza. From there, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt nearly secured an armbar before the horn sounded. Survival would be the prevalent theme for Hill, who had her most success when she slowed down the pace and pressed her opponent into the fence for much of Round 2.

That would be the la…

Sherdog's live UFC Fight Night 223 coverage will begin Saturday at 4 p.m. ET. BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Sato (-110), Gorimbo (-110)Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Edwin Ayala scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round: Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Edwin Ayala scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Edwin Ayala scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:The Official Result BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Silva (-800), Leonardo (+575)Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Edwin Ayala scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Edwin Ayala scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Edwin Ayala scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:The Official Result BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTIN…

“Slava Claus” delivered an emphatic technical knockout victory to the UFC Apex on Saturday evening.

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Viacheslav Borshchev snapped at two-bout skid at UFC Fight Night 223, as he defeated Maheshate Hayisaer via technical knockout in their preliminary lightweight showdown. Borschev (7-3, 2-2 UFC) dropped Hayisaer (9-3, 1-2 UFC) with a clean right hook to the chin and sealed the victory with about six standing-to-ground strikes at the 2:37 mark of Round 2. Borschev flashed his power on multiple occasions. After a competitive striking battle for the majority of the opening frame, the Team Alpha Male product dropped Hayisaer with a short right near the end of the period. The show continued in the second frame. Borschev sat his Chinese foe down with another right early in the period before putting Hayisaer away with the finishing sequence moments later. Borschev has finished six of his seven professional triumphs via KO or TKO. Kowalkiewicz Stymies Demopo…

Ready for action!@MackenzieDern in at 115lbs for tomorrow's #UFCVegas73 main event 💪 pic.twitter.com/HeqpreevYW

— UFC (@ufc) May 19, 2023 The Ultimate Fighting Championship continues its busy May with a UFC Apex card headlined by two fan-favorite strawweight fighters.

UFC Fight Night 223 will see Mackenzie Dern take on Angela Hill in a five-round main event. Both women successfully made weight and are familiar faces to fans. However, two undercard fighters missed weight as both Vanessa Demopoulos and Orion Cosce came in 1.5 pounds over their respective weight class limits. Demopoulos came in at 117.5 pounds for her strawweight fight against Karolina Kowalkiewicz, while Cosce came in at 172.5 for his welterweight clash against Gilbert Urbina. They have each been fined 20% of their respective purses, and the bouts will otherwise continue as scheduled.

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Dern (12-3) will be looking to bounce back after a decision loss to X…

Jacobi Jones spilled blood and a lot of it.

The Factory X rep laid claim to the vacant Legacy Fighting Alliance lightweight championship, as he dispatched Jean-Paul Lebosnoyani with punches and elbows in the second round of their LFA 158 headliner on Friday at Gila River Resorts and Casinos’ Wild Horse Pass in Chandler, Arizona. Jones (6-1, 6-1 LFA) brought it to a close 2:18 into Round 2.

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Lebosnoyani (5-2, 4-1 LFA) applied maximum pressure but could not force his counterpart to break. Jones dodged a bullet in the first round, escaped an armbar from the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and tore open multiple cuts with elbow-laced ground-and-pound. Lebosnoyani pressed forward in Round 2, where he was met with a picture-perfect knee strike that appeared to lengthen one of the lacerations. Blood poured from the wound, covered both participants and painted various parts of the canvas. Jones moved into top position near the base of the fence, uncorking pun…

Editor's note: The article has been updated at 6:30 p.m. ET to reflect the reason for Klein's withdrawal.

Ultimate Fighting Championship vet Jim Miller has a new opponent just a few weeks before his fight.

The Underground broke the story on Friday that Jim Miller (35-17, 1 NC) would no longer be taking on Ludovit Klein at UFC on ESPN 46. Instead, the grizzled lightweight will be facing off against Jared Gordon (19-6, 1 NC) on about two weeks’ notice. According to MMA Junkie, Klein is out of the matchup due to illness. Gordon has since confirmed this June 3 UFC Apex-located pairing on Instagram.

It will have been a bit over a month removed from Gordon’s last appearance, which ended in the first round when he and Bobby Green clashed heads to force a no contest. Instead of booking the immediate rematch, Green took a fight in July against Tony Ferguson. “Flash” is aiming to get back in the win column after a two-bout winless stretch that includes the Green no c…

[embedded content] The very first color commentator of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Jim Brown, has died at the age of 87.

The Associated Press first reported of Brown’s passing on Friday, stating that the football great “passed away peacefully” in his home in Los Angeles on Thursday night, with wife, Monique, at his bedside. While known for a litany of accolades over his storied lifetime, Brown made his appearance as the first color commentary on a UFC broadcast, sitting along with play-by-play caller Bill Wallace and fellow commentator and martial artist Kathy Long at UFC 1 in 1993.

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Brown sat cageside for the first six UFC cards, accounting for the entire early era of Royce Gracie winning UFCs 1, 2 and 4. The football star spoke highly of the combatants, at the time generally specialists in one particular martial art.

“Bill, I’ve been around the toughest fighters in the world: Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Mike Tyson,” Brown stated at UFC 1. “…

Bellator MMA will be making its annual trip to Sioux Falls this August.

Per MMA Junkie on Thursday, the organization is headed to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, on Aug. 11. The event at the Sanford Pentagon, currently billed as Bellator 298, will feature a local in the main attraction. Over the course of five rounds, welterweights Logan Storley (14-2) and Brennan Ward (17-6) will throw down. The only other fight currently agreed for this show is a featherweight scrap pitting Akhmed Magomedov (9-1) against Kai Kamaka III (11-5-1), according to Twitter account Bellator Zone. News of this event has since been confirmed by other outlets.

Although born in Roslyn and fighting out of Webster, the match for Storley in Sioux Falls – about 150 miles away – will be considered home game. The NCAA wrestling standout from the University of Minnesota has competed in that building five times in the past, including twice with Bellator, and he is perfect in those five outings. Storley la…

Now that the #LFA158 weigh-in is in the books, which fight are you looking forward to most?

ℹ️: https://t.co/xX2U05ALqZ

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📸: https://t.co/moCfaMzqPN@BetOnline_AG@OnlyFans@RealFlexCBD@DripOilsH3@TheMMAShark@MRTNZ1976@TeamSmartStop@LACScottsdale@PlayAtGila@UFCFightPass pic.twitter.com/KERGHgI4pV — LFA (@LFAfighting) May 19, 2023 The Legacy Fighting Alliance returns to Arizona with an intriguing lightweight title clash.

The main event of LFA 158 will see Jean-Paul Lebosnoyani take on Jacobi Jones for the promotion's lightweight championship. Both title participants made weight, although Eric McConico and Joe Stafford missed weight for their respective bouts. Both fights will continue, with the overweight fighters being fined.

The main event will be a test of grappling styles. Lebosnoyani is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, who holds a 5-1 professional mixed martial arts record. "The Lifeguard" is on a three-fight …

Just a few years ago, it would have been practically unimaginable that Mexico could not only get on the board but hold more Ultimate Fighting Championship titles than powerhouse countries Brazil or Russia.

The promotion currently has three Mexican champions: Brandon Moreno at flyweight, Yair Rodriguez as the interim featherweight beltholder and Alexa Grasso as the women’s flyweight champ. This ties the nation with the United States, in which Aljamain Sterling (bantamweight) Jamahal Hill (light heavyweight) and Jon Jones (heavyweight) hold straps in their weight categories. If the prediction of recent UFC signee and Lobo Gym Brazilian jiu-jitsu coach Diego Lopes is accurate, Mexico will have its fourth concurrent champion on June 10. That night, at UFC 289 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Mexican challenger Irene Aldana will take on vaunted bantamweight queen Amanda Nunes in the main attraction. Lopes, in an interview with Sherdog shortly after his thrilling performanc…

🚨The Boss has made it official!🚨 pic.twitter.com/UF7LD8YHEg

— UFC_AUSNZ (@UFC_AUSNZ) May 17, 2023

The Ultimate Fighting Championship will be heading to Australia’s most populous city on a regular basis for the next few years.

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Dana White on Wednesday announced that UFC 293 will be held in Sydney on Sept. 9, making it the first event held in the Australian city since 2017. It will be the first of three pay-per-view events to be held in Sydney over the course of the next four years as part of a deal the promotion has signed with the New South Wales government.

“I just want to say thank you to New South Wales’ government, Premier Chris Minns and the team at Destination New South Wales for making all of this happen,” White said. “I will see you all in Sydney.”

The promotion’s last venture to Sydney was UFC Fight Night 121 on Nov. 18, 2017, when Fabricio Werdum outpointed Marcin Tybura in the evening’s heavyweight headl…

Jimmy Crute and Alonzo Menifield will attempt to gain some closure when they square off for a second time at UFC 290.

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The promotion confirmed the light heavyweight pairing in a release on Wednesday. UFC 290 takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on July 8 and is headlined by a featherweight title tilt pitting Alexander Volkanovski against Yair Rodriguez. In the co-main event, Brandon Moreno will defend his flyweight belt against Alexandre Pantoja. Crute and Menifield first fought on Feb. 11, when they battle to a majority draw at UFC 284.

The 27-year-old Crute is winless in his last three Octagon appearances, as he suffered back-to-back KO/TKO defeats against Jamahal Hill and Anthony Smith before facing Menifield. The Dana White’s Contender Series alum began his promotional tenure with wins in four of his first five bouts.

Prior to his matchup with Crute, Menifield had been victorious in four of his last five UFC outings. He went 2-0…

Nine fighters from the first leg of the Professional Fighters League regular season are facing punishment from the Nevada State Athletic Commission for failed drug tests in relation to their bouts.

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During a meeting on Wednesday, the NSAC announced sanctions or future hearings for the following PFL athletes: Alejandro Flores Garcia , Krzysztof Jotko, Bruno Cappelozza, Rizvan Kuniev, Mohammad Fakhreddine, Cezar Ferreira, Will Fleury, Daniel Torres and Thiago Santos. All of those fighters competed at PFL events held on April 1, 7 or 14.

Three of those fighters received fines and suspensions on Tuesday. Flores, who defeated Torres via unanimous decision at PFL 1 on April 1, was suspended six months and fined $2,926 after testing positive for furosemide. His victory was also overturned to a no contest. Jotko, who dropped a unanimous verdict to Fleury at PFL 1, was suspended six months and fined $6,826 after testing positive. Cappelozza, who defeated Mat…

Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC

UFC fighter Kyler Phillips and ex-Dana White’s Contender Series competitor Darrius Flowers received six-month suspensions after failing drug tests for the banned susbstance ostarine.

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The sanctions were announced at a Nevada State Athletic Commission meeting on Wednesday. Ostarine is a Selective Androgen Receptor Module (SARM) that is banned at all times according to the WADA prohibited list. Ostarine is categorized as an anabolic agent and can aid in areas of athletic performance such as muscle growth, fat burning and endurance. Phillips' suspension will end on July 22, while Flowers' sanction expires on July 27. Both fighters also were ordered to pay attorney fees totaling $407.50.

Phillips was removed from a proposed matchup with Raphael Assuncao at UFC Fight Night 221 on March 11, while Flowers was supposed to make his promotional debut against Erick Gonzalez at UFC Fight Night 220 on Feb. 25 before being pul…

Four athletes from this past Saturday’s UFC on ABC 4 card are facing an indefinite period on the sidelines.

The NC Boxing and Combat Sports Commission released medical suspensions from Saturday’s event. UFC on ABC 4 took place at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, N.C., and saw Jailton Almeida defeat Jairzinho Rozenstruik via first-round submission in the main event. Neither Almeida nor Rozenstruik received a suspension following their heavyweight bout.

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However, the following four competitors have received indefinite suspensions and will need physician clearance before they can return to action: Tim Means (left foot), Mandy Bohm (left eye), Ji Yeon Kim (right knee) and Gabriel Green (neurologist clearance). Both Means and Kim also received 180-day terms.

UFC on ABC 4 Medical Suspensions:

Johnny Walker: Suspended 30 days

Anthony Smith: Suspended 30 days

Daniel Rodriguez: Suspended 45 days

Ihor Potieria: Suspended 45 days

Tim M…

Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje are going to run it back with some special hardware at stake.

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Poirier and Gaethje will have their rematch in the UFC 291 headliner at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, on July 29, the promotion announced Tuesday. Poirier defeated Gaethje via fourth-round TKO in their first meeting at UFC on Fox 29 on April 14, 2018. This time, the vacant BMF title will be on the line. The belt was initially awarded to Jorge Masvidal for his victory against Nate Diaz at UFC 244 in November 2019 and has not been defended since then.

Poirier will return to action for the first time since UFC 281, where he submitted Michael Chandler in the third-round of their featured lightweight clash, a bout that was one of the best fights of 2022. The American Top Team standout has been victorious in four of his last five Octagon appearances.

A former World Series of Fighting champion, Gaethje was successful in his first venture of 20…

The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s return to Boston will feature two title fights at the top of the card.

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Dana White announced on Tuesday that UFC 292 will take place in Boston on Aug. 19 and will be headlined by a bantamweight championship clash between Aljamain Sterling and Sean O'Malley. In the co-main event, Weili Zhang will defend her strawweight crown against Amanda Lemos.

Sterling will make a relatively quick turnaround after taking a hard-fought split-decision triumph against Henry Cejudo in the UFC 288 main event on May 6. “The Funkmaster” has won his last nine promotional appearances, a run that includes successful title defenses against Cejudo, T.J. Dillashaw and Petr Yan.

O’Malley, meanwhile, is unbeaten in his last five bouts and is 8-1 in UFC competition overall. One of the biggest stars to emerge from Dana White’s Contender Series, “Sugar” Sean secured a title shot with a cotentious split-decision win against Yan at UFC 280 t…

Not only did Matt Brown set a knockout record at UFC on ABC 4, but he also walked away with the highest payday from the event.

Brown took home $250,000 for his first-round knockout of Court McGee ($60,000) on Saturday at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, N.C., according to salary figures released by the NC Boxing and Combat Sport Commission. Brown’s KO was his 13th, tying him with Derrick Lewis for No. 1 all-time in promotion history.

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UFC on ABC 4 was headlined by a heavyweight tilt between Jailton Almeida ($102,000) and Jairzinho Rozenstruik ($130,000), which Almeida won via first-round submission. All told, eight fighters garnered six-figure paychecks for their work in Charlotte.

Note: The disclosed purses reported by state athletic commissions do not include any performance-based or discretionary bonuses that may be awarded to a fighter by the promotion. Additionally, the reported figures do not reflect any deductions made by the commission for …

Fabricio Werdum has entered the Francis Ngannou sweepstakes.

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After Ngannou confirmed his signing with the PFL, Werdum published a video on his Instagram account challenging “The Predator” to face him at a soccer stadium in Brazil. The video shows Werdum being cheered at Gremio Arena, where he was celebrated after winning the UFC heavyweight crown in 2015.

“We brought 48,000 to Curitiba to see my fight with [Stipe Miocic] in the UFC, which is already the national record for an MMA event in Brazil and one of the top five biggest audiences in UFC history. I have no doubt that if Ngannou accepts my challenge to fight at Gremio soccer stadium we will pack the arena with 60,000 people and beat that record,” Werdum said.

Werdum says he would relish the role of underdog in a hypothetical matchup against Ngannou. It’s a position with which he is quite familiar.

“I love to fight as underdog,” he said. “I was also huge underdog against Fedor [Emelianen…

Three fighters are no longer with the Ultimate Fighting Championship following losses at the promotion’s event this past Saturday.

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Twitter account UFC Roster Watch initially brought word that Jessica-Rose Clark, Chase Sherman and Ji Yeon Kim are no longer on the roster, and the news was later confirmed by MMAFighting.com. It is unclear if the athletes were released from their contracts or simply not re-signed. All three suffered defeats at UFC on ABC 4 in Charlotte.

Clark fell to Tainara Lisboa via third-round submission in the card’s opening bout. It was the third straight loss in UFC competition for the bantamweight known as “Jessy Jess.” The 35-year-old Australian went 4-5 during her promotional tenure.

Sherman, meanwhile, went 4-11 over two separate UFC stints. “The Vanilla Gorilla” lost six of his last seven Octagon appearances, including a decision setback against Karl Williams at UFC Charlotte on Saturday.

Finally, Kim exits th…

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Francis Ngannou wasn’t looking out for only himself when he signed with Professional Fighters League.

The former UFC heavyweight champion took to YouTube to go over some of the details of his deal, which was initially announced early Tuesday morning. While Ngannou isn’t expected to fight for PFL until 2024, one of the most interesting aspects of the contract was the money it appears to have secured for his first opponent.

“This is the best business decision that I have ever done,” Ngannou said in the video. “At the beginning of my free agency I didn’t know that I could have a deal structure where I could have all this in one deal. I have myself a good guarantee, which is more important. And most importantly, I was even able to have a guarantee of $2 million for my opponent, [so] whomever I’m going to fight next is going to make money too.”

As previously reported, Ngannou will compete in PFL’s pay-per-view superfight division, which is expected…