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The Professional Fighters League launched its latest format, the PFL Challenger Series, which featured eight light heavyweight contestants competing for a contract on the upcoming Regular Season.

It took only one perfectly-timed shot from Bruce Souto to pocket the PFL contract in a fight that was arguably going in favor of Travis Davis, a short-notice replacement for Joao Paulo Fagundes. Souto (15-3, 1-0 PFL) landed a flying knee that folded Davis (10-6, 0-1 PFL) before finishing the job with a few follow-up punches. The referee stopped the contest at the 4:43 mark of Round 1. In addition to the contract, Souto also took home a $5,000 bonus for his performance.

The headliner featured a clash between former two-division Legacy Fighting Alliance Joshua Silveira and Mohamed Juma. The fighters stormed out of the gate with kicks and punches landed from each man. Juma looked dangerous on the feet at first, but Silveira made the most out of his wrestling and grappling pedigre…

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the PFL and UFC on ESPN+ live on your computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. Sherdog's live PFL Challenger Series 1 coverage kicks off Friday at 9 p.m. ET. The action will be broadcast live and free on fuboTV. Check out the MMA Forums to discuss the card or enter your comments and predictions below. Round 1 Larry Folsom will serve as the third man in the cage for the inauguarl PFL Challenger Series bout. They touch gloves and Williams lands a right hook shortly thereafter. Amos initiates the clinch and the light heavyweights jockey for position until Williams executes a takedown and lands in side control. Williams drops a pair of left hands from above. Williams is looking to trap the right arm of “Black Santa,” but thus far he just maintains side control. Amos tries unsuccessfully to sit up. Williams peppers the body of his foe with a series of short right hands. Amos still doesn’t have any answers o…

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the UFC live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. There are no hard feelings between ex-Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight queen Amanda Nunes and her former team. At UFC 269, two-division champ Amanda Nunes fell short to Julianna Pena and lost her 135-pound strap, suffering her first defeat since 2014 and ending an incredible 12-fight win streak. Since then, she announced her decision to leave her longtime camp of American Top Team, revealing details at the press conference of the upcoming season of “The Ultimate Fighter.” Nunes plans on opening her own camp, where she will bring former ATT coaches with her for a more individual-focused team. Sherdog spoke this week with Nunes’ former head coach, “Conan” Marcus Silveira, who opened up with his side of the story.

“There was no disagreement,” Silveira revealed. “After the fight, Amanda had a friendly and adult conversatio…

Capping off a successful weigh-in with the shoey

[ @JamahalH | #UFCVegas48 | TOMORROW | Live on @ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/mFE8vdXOGa

— UFC (@ufc) February 18, 2022 Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the UFC live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. It has all the earmarks of a last-man-standing match in the topsy-turvy Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight division.

Johnny Walker tipped the scales at 206 pounds for his five-round battle with Jamahal Hill (205) in the UFC Fight Night 201 headliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The eight other fighters slated for main-card duty also met their contracted weight requirements at Friday’s official weigh-in, including Kyle Daukaus (193.5) and Jamie Pickett (194)—the two men booked opposite one another in the catchweight co-feature. One lone fighter missed weight: Gabriel Benitez (148), who passed the feath…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-pI1iiKhb8&w=560&h=315] Neiman Gracie and Logan Storley have grand plans for the Bellator MMA welterweight division, and their head-to-head confrontation should determine who gets to move forward.

A longtime Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt with deceptively well-rounded skills, Gracie checked in at 170.75 pounds for his showdown with the once-beaten Storley (170.75) in the Bellator 274 headliner on Saturday at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. The six other mixed martial artists scheduled to match wits and fists on the main card, including welterweight co-headliners Andrey Koreshkov (171) and Chance Rencountre (169.5), also met their mandatory weight requirements at Friday’s official weigh-in.

Gracie has alternated wins and losses in each of his past four outings. He last appeared at Bellator 266, where he buried Mark Lemminger with punches and a follow-up elbow strike in the first round of their Sept. 18 pairing. …

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2IHIyXx3zg&w=560&h=315] Bellator MMA is stacking the deck for its return to San Jose, Calif., in April.

Per a report on Thursday by Marcel Dorff, and a subsequent confirmation from one of the participants on Instagram, Aaron Pico (9-3) will be setting foot in the Bellator cage on April 15 against Jeremy Kennedy (17-3, 1 NC). The featherweights will toe the line inside the SAP Center in the promotion’s adopted hometown. Additional, the organization released a few more fights on the preliminary lineup, including a middleweight tilt, a flyweight encounter and a bantamweight scrap.

Pico finds himself on a five-fight win streak since falling short to Henry Corrales and Adam Borics in 2019. A trio of finishes in 2020, an anaconda choke of Aiden Lee in June 2021 and a three-round decision over Justin Gonzales in November have led Pico to the No. 4 spot on Bellator’s rankings list. Of note, the judges’ verdict over Gonzales marked the fi…

Count former Bellator MMA champ Patricio Freire among those that want to get in on the lucrative boxing vs. MMA phenomenon sweeping the sport.

Just like the fight between Logan Paul and Floyd Mayweather in the U.S., the fight between the retired boxer Acelino “Popo” Freitas and YouTube sensation Whindersson Nunes was a smash success in their home country of Brazil. In the co-headliner spot, MMA legend Antonio Rogerio Nogueira squared off with Leonardo Guimaraes in the ring. The crossover show at Fight Music Show on Jan. 30 in Santa Catarina, Brazil, drew a massive audience combined of MMA and boxing fans, so much so that the second edition is already in the works.

This fight card featured a 165-pound match pitting ex-WBA Unified and WBO super featherweight champ Nunes against 27-year-old YouTube comedian Nunes – the latter celebrates nearly 43 million followers – and the two fought to a draw after eight two-minute bouts. After the fight, Freitas, age 46, called out ex- U…

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UFC Fight Night 202 will likely have a new main event after Beneil Dariush suffered an injury less than two weeks before his headlining matchup against Islam Makhachev.

According to a report from ESPN, Dariush was forced to withdraw from the lightweight bout when his toe caught in the mat and his ankle twisted during a sparring session. As a result, the promotion is targeting Bobby Green as a replacement opponent for Makhachev. Green has reportedly agreed to the fight, which if finalized, will likely take place at a catchweight. UFC Fight Night 202 takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Feb. 26.

Green has won five of his last seven Octagon appearances since 2020. He will be making a quick turnaround after earning a unanimous decision triumph over Nasrat Haqparast at UFC 271 on Feb. 12. Prior to that, “King” defeated Al Iaquinta via first-round TKO at UFC 268.

Makhachev is one of the promotion’s top lightweight contenders and has won his last five UFC appe…

Mike Swick has been in a fight for his life the past few months.

“The Ultimate Fighter 1” cast member shared via Instagram that he was recently diagnosed with cancer, calling it “the toughest and most aggressive battle I have ever had.” Swick revealed that he underwent chemotherapy and had more than 15 swollen lymph nodes in his neck.

Swick did not specify what type of cancer he was diagnosed with, but he added that he had the disease for seven months without knowing. He initially attributed the swollen lymph nodes to a side effect from the COVID-19 vaccine.

Swick is currently at home and is optimistic about his recovery prospects.

“Now recovering at home and actually feeling amazing mentally!” Swick wrote. “Vitals all still good but still full of Chemo and a little weak and quite skinny. The lowest I got after the fasts and first week was 151lbs. … I will get a scan and update in just over a week but I decided not to hide this. I want everyone to watch as…

Credit: Getty/UFC

The UFC Fight Night 203middleweight clash between former M-1 Global champion Bruno Silva and ex-Glory two-division title holder Alex Pereira has the attention of the Brazilian fanbase, perhaps even more so than the card’s headlining bout between Thiago Santos and Magomed Ankalaev.

Silva is coming off three consecutive TKO wins in the UFC, while Pereira impressed with a second-round flying knee stoppage of Andreas Michailidis in his Octagon debut in Madison Square Garden. Daniel Acacio, Silva’s coach, shared his thoughts on the matchup of knockout artists with Sherdog.com.

“It´s natural that after defeating [Israel] Adesanya two times in kickboxing and winning multiple titles in Glory, ‘Poatan’ is expected to be the future champion by most fans,” said Acacio a former Pride Fighting Championships competitor and the head trainer at Evolucao Thai.

“But people need to understand that MMA is not kickboxing and ‘Blindado’ will show him that on March …

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Igxk7FN3wiw&w=560&h=315]

Undefeated Japanese flyweight prospect Tatsuro Taira will make his UFC debut when he meets Carlos Candelario on April 30.

The matchup was first revealed on UFCStats.com. The UFC Fight Night event takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. A headliner for the card has yet to be announced.

Taira has been victorious in his first 10 professional appearances while competing primarily for the Shoot organization, where he is the flyweight champion. The 22-year-old Okinawa, Japan, native has finished eight of his triumphs inside the distance.

Candelario will make his first promotional forway after splitting a pair of bouts on Dana White’s Contender Series, including a split-decision loss to Victor Altamirano in his most recent appearance this past August. “The Cannon” has compiled an 8-1 career mark that includes six triumphs under the CES MMA banner.

We return to San Jose with a !

AJ McKee vs Pitbull 2Vadim Nemkov vs Corey Anderson

’s go on sale This Friday on Ticketmaster. #Bellator277 pic.twitter.com/vinnSdL7RL — BellatorMMA (@BellatorMMA) February 16, 2022

Bellator 277 will feature a pair of championships fights at the top of the bill, as A.J. McKee will face Patricio Freire in a featherweight title rematch, while Vadim Nemkov will defend his light heavyweight crown in the finals of the light heavyweight grand prix.

The California-based promotion announced the bouts on Wednesday. Bellator 277 takes place on April 15 at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., and the evening’s main card will air on Showtime.

McKee claimed 145-pound gold last July, when he submitted Patricio Freire 1:57 into the opening round of the Bellator 263 headliner in Los Angeles. The 26-year-old known as “Mercenary” is 18-0 as a professional, with all of his triumphs coming within the California-based…

@lyotomachidafw vs. @fabianedwards24 is .#BellatorLondon just gained another all-star bout. The action at the @OVOArena will be one for the history books!

May 13th | @BBCThree | s https://t.co/BSY8ceR5Se pic.twitter.com/a0qdUz0zEM

— Bellator Europe (@Bellator_Europe) February 16, 2022 Lyoto Machida will lock horns with Fabian Edwards in a middleweight clash at Bellator London on May 13.

Promotion officials confirmed the pairing on Wednesday. Bellator London takes place at the SSE Arena and is headlined by a welterweight championship tilt pitting Yaroslav Amosov against Michael Page. The evening’s main card will air on Showtime.

Machida will be entering the final bout on his Bellator contact, according to a report from MMAFighting.com. The 43-year-old former UFC light heavyweight champion is in the midst of the second-three fight skid of his professional tenure after falling to Gegard Mousasi, Phil Davis and Ryan Bader in successive a…

Breaking: former Cage Warriors flyweight champion Samir Faiddine will take on Hicham Rachid in the co-headliner of the upcoming UAE Warriors 25: Africa event. The card will go down on Friday, Feb. 25. Story coming to @sherdogdotcom #UAEWarriors

— Tudor Leonte (@MrTudorLeonte) February 15, 2022

It appears that the upcoming UAE Warriors 25: Africa event has just added an exciting battle as its co-headliner.

A source close to the situation informed Sherdog that Samir Faiddine is scheduled to face Hicham Rachid. The source asked to stay anonymous as the organization hasn’t officially announced the match-up yet.

Former Cage Warriors Fighting Championship 125-pound titleholder Faiddine (11-8, 0-0 UAE Warriors) is eager to bounce back after suffering back-to-back defeats in his latest appearances. After stopping Sam Creasey with punches in the third stanza of their CW 106 encounter and capturing the vacant 125-pound belt, “Silverback” dropped de…

A lightweight clash between Donald Cerrone and Joe Lauzon has a new date.

After initially being slated for UFC Fight Night on April 30, Cerrone vs. Lauzon will move one week later to UFC 274 on May 7. The change was first reported by MMAjunkie.com. No specific reason was given for the shift, but on a positive note, it will likely allow the two action-friendly veterans to square off in front of a live audience instead of at the sparsely-attended UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Currently mired in a six-bout winless streak, Cerrone will be competing at lightweight for the first time since September 2019, when he suffered a first-round technical knockout loss to Justin Gaethje. Most recently, “Cowboy” suffered a TKO defeat to Alex Morono in the opening round of their 170-pound clash at UFC on ESPN 24.

Lauzon, meanwhile, snapped a three-bout skid in his last outing, when he stopped Jonathan Pearce in the opening stanza at UFC on ESPN 6 in October 2019.

UFC 274 does no…

Heavyweight Lorenzo Hood has been suspended two years by the Nevada State Athletic Commission for a failed drug test in relation to his bout on Dana White’s Contender Series last October.

Hood tested positive for methenolone, a banned anabolic steroid. The NSAC voted unanimously to approve the sanction for Hood, who did not respond to the initial complaint regarding the positive test. He will not be eligible to return to active competition until Oct. 12, 2023.

Additionally, Hood must also pay a fine of $1,500 — which amounts to 30 percent of his $5,000 purse — along with $489 of legal fees.

The 32-year-old Chicago native fell to Martin Buday via first-round technical knockout at the Oct. 12 Contender Series event, halting a three-fight winning streak for the Strike MMA representative. Hood is 12-5 as a pro, with all of his wins coming via KO or TKO.

After losing his featherweight belt to A.J. McKee last July, it looks like Patricio Freire will get a chance to step into the cage again with “The Mercenary” later this year.

Last week, reports surfaced that Bellator was targeting a McKee-Freire rematch for April, and Freire told Sherdog.com this week that he has already begun his camp for the bout even though it has not been finalized.

“I sent an email to Bellator right after [the loss] asking for the immediate rematch and the only feedback that I had was, ‘We will try, but it may not happen.’ The information was leaked last week, but I cannot confirm yet, but I truly hope it happens,” Freire said.

Freire added that he has essentially been training since he began his mixed martial arts career.

“I never stop training,” he said. “I don’t see any other MMA fighter more motivated than myself. I’m 34 years old. I started back in 2004 and never stopped training. There are many fighters that started after me an…

Although several reports indicated otherwise, Cat Zingano will not be getting a featherweight title shot against Cristiane Justino in her next Bellator MMA appearance.

Instead, Zingano will lock horns with former Invicta FC title holder Pam Sorenson on the preliminary portion of the Bellator 276 card. Sherdog.com confirmed the pairing with a promotion official following an initial report from The Irish Sun.

Bellator 276 takes place on March 12 at the Family Arena in St. Charles, Mo., and is headlined by a featherweight clash between Adam Borics and Mads Burnell. The evening’s main card will air on Showtime.

The California-based promotion confirmed several other bouts for Bellator 276: John Salter vs. Johnny Eblen at middleweight; Derek Anderson vs. Goiti Yamauchi at welterweight; Cody Law vs. Johnny Soto at featherweight; Roman Faraldo vs. Kelvin Rayford at welterweight; Diana Avsaragova vs. Ashley Deen at flyweight and Romero Cotton vs. Lance Wright at middle…

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“The Black Beast” received a 60-day medical suspension after a standing e…

#InvictaFC46 Fight Card Finalized, Tickets On Sale Now

Full Card: https://t.co/pfPmHu4E8V

Tickets : https://t.co/2DMGwS3Wfx pic.twitter.com/VSI3UBgD10 — Invicta FC (@InvictaFights) February 15, 2022

The Invicta FC 46 card has been finalized with the addition of two new bouts.

The all-female promotion announced the full six-bout lineup for the March 9 card on Tuesday. The event will include the following two additions: Kristina Williams vs. Flore Hani at flyweight and Nadia Vera vs. Fatima Kline at strawweight.

Invicta FC 46 takes place at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kan., and is headlined by a flyweight championship clash between Karina Rodriguez and Ketlen Souza.

Broadcast details for the event will be announced soon, according to a release. Invicta’s last event aired on the promotion’s YouTube page.

Kayla Harrison’s free-agent options might have just gotten a lot more interesting.

The two-time Professional Fighters League lightweight champion told ESPN that she is pondering a transition to 135 pounds, a move that will include hiring a chef and consulting with a nutritionist. The two-time Olympic gold medalist has thus far competed primarily at 155 pounds and once at featherweight. If Harrison were able to make the cut safely, it would open the door for some interesting fights — especially in the UFC.

"I'm considering it," Harrison said of the move to bantamweight. "I heard that Julianna [Pena] said she'd move up to 145 if they paid her enough, so that's good news. That means I don't have to chop off an arm. ... I want to be the best. Everyone is talking about her.”

Recently, it appeared that the PFL was the leading candidate to re-sign Harrison, and one of the promotion’s press releases regarding the 155-pound Challenger Series mentioned the appeal of faci…

In recent months, Derrick Lewis has endured two of the most disappointing losses of his mixed martial arts career in his hometown.

This past August at UFC 265, “The Black Beast” suffered a third-round technical knockout loss to Ciryl Gane in an interim heavyweight title bout at the Toyota Center in Houston. And on Saturday, with a chance for redemption in the same venue, Lewis was knocked out by a devastating Tai Tuivasa elbow in the second-round of their co-headlining encounter at UFC 271.

Despite those setbacks, UFC president Dana White had plenty of praise for Lewis at Saturday’s post-fight press conference.

“He doesn’t always come up short. I mean, up until tonight he was the No. 3-ranked guy in the world, which is a big deal. He’s got the most knockouts in heavyweight history,” White said. “He went in against a guy tonight who’s on a five-fight knockout streak. He fought a 29-year-old guy tonight. Derrick Lewis is a bad boy, man. He’s been a lot of fun to h…