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Sherdog's live Bellator 270 coverage kicks off at 2 p.m. ET.

Check out the MMA Forums to discuss the card or enter your comments and predictions below.

Round 1 Opening the card in Dublin, we have local Irish fighter Stephen Costello facing Yusuf Nazokatov, with both making their pro debuts. Costello was 4-3 as an amateur while Nazokatov hasn't even had a pro bout, so it's anyone's guess what will happen here. Referee John English will see it all. Costello starts with a leg kick, but Nazokatov pulls back in time. Nazokatov misses a right hand and Costello just barely misses a counter. Costello partially misses a leg kick but gets reckless for a takedown afterwards, eating a short punch. They clinch against the cage now, with Nazokatov pushing his Irish foe against the fence. They enter a stalemate, with Costello using the whizzer to stay upright as Nazokatov pushes him against the fence. Finally, Costello spins off and they return to range. Not for long, as Nazokatov's …

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zThnRIIbdQQ&w=560&h=315] 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. Two high-flying Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweights will go at it on the first card of next year. On Thursday, Michel Pereira’s (26-11, 2 NC) coach told MMA Fighting that Pereira would be facing Muslim Salikhov (18-2) at the UFC Fight Night card on Jan. 15. The two will likely go at it inside the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Pereira has since confirmed the matchup on his Instagram.

Since his unsuccessful debut in 2017, Salikhov has rattled off five wins over the last four years. Two knockouts of Ricky Rainey and Nordine Taleb springboarded “The King of Kung Fu” into matchups with Laureano Staropoli, Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos and Francisco Trinaldo. The fighter out of Dagestan won all three of those by decision, giving him the second, third and fourth decision …

#RIZIN_TRIGGER at the Kobe World Memorial Hall. Surging Featherweight contenders Shoji Maruyama and Kyohei Hagiwara headline the first event of the TRIGGER series. #RIZIN_TRIGGER 1st2021.11.28[sun]Kobe World Memorial Hall#RIZIN #MMAhttps://t.co/CCKpBqOiSz

— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) November 5, 2021 A new era in Rizin Fighting Federation history is set to begin later this month.

Per a press release from the promotion on Thursday, Rizin is officially putting on its Trigger 1st show on Nov. 28 at the Kobe World Memorial Hall in Kobe, Japan. The event will be unlike any other that the organization has put on, because the fights will be contested inside a cage and not a ring. This fight card is the first of its “Trigger” series, in which Rizin will make its transition to Cagefighting. The “Trigger” series will incorporate both MMA and kickboxing matches in a cage.

“There are many fighters who are looking to compete overseas, where the…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32uPIGDZupY&w=640&h=360] Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 268 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. Two Ultimate Fighting Championship titles will be on the line at UFC 268 as both championship bouts are now official following the weigh-ins. While the champions and title challengers all showed professionalism, the undercard was a different story as two prelim fighters missed weight. Bruno Souza came in 2.4 pounds heavy for his featherweight bout against Melsik Baghdasaryan. Meanwhile, C.J. Vergara weighed 1.4 pounds over the flyweight limit for his fight opposite Ode Osbourne. Both bouts will continue despite the misses, with each fighter being fined 20% of their purses. Additionally, Vicente Luque was tapped as the alternate in the headliner, but he missed championship weight by 2.2 pounds.

Atop the UFC 268 card is a championship rematch between welterweight k…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLefGn4y_4g&w=640&h=360] A new Bellator MMA lightweight champion will be crowned at Bellator 270.

After Patricio Freire vacated the 155-pound title, Peter Queally and Patricky Freire will battle for that lightweight belt. Both fighters successfully made championship weight, as Queally (13-5-1) weighed in at 155 pounds on the dot and Freire (23-10) came in at 153.6 pounds. The only fighter on the card that missed weight was bantamweight Patrick Mix, who came in 1.8 pounds over the 136-pound limit. The bout against James Gallagher will continue, although Mix has been fined a percentage of his purse.

Ireland's Queally is on a two-fight win streak and most recently defeated Patricky after their Bellator 258 bout was controversially stopped by the doctor due to a cut. Queally will get a chance to settle the score and add some gold to his waist in the rematch.

"Pitbull" will look to keep the lightweight title within the Freire famil…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmidOdybSQo&w=560&h=315] 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. Rising Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight Bruno Silva plans on ending his 2021 campaign with one more knockout. After impressively recording two knockouts in UFC since his debut in June, Brazilian “Blindado” is scheduled to face another tough out in the middleweight division. At UFC 269 on Dec. 11, Silva (21-6) will take on Jackson-Wink fighter Jordan Wright (12-1). Silva spoke to Sherdog on Thursday shortly after news of the bout surfaced.

“This fight was closed 24 hours after my win over Andrew Sanchez and I’m really excited about that,” Silva admitted. “When I heard he never fought more than six minutes, and saw just one video of him, I immediately said yes.”

Fresh off his Oct. 16 demolition of Andrew Sanchez, the Evolucao Thai fighter has already …

Vicente Luque will be on standby in case anything goes wrong with the UFC 268 main event.

According to a report from ESPN, Luque will weigh in on Friday and serve as a backup for the welterweight championship main event between Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington. Top welterweight contender Leon Edwards was reportedly offered the backup role over Luque, but the Englishman elected to remain home to train for his matchup with Jorge Masvidal scheduled for UFC 269 on Dec. 12.

UFC 268 takes place at Madison Square Garden and is will also see Rose Namajunas square off against Weili Zhang in a strawweight title bout in the evening’s co-headliner. The main card airs on pay-per-view via ESPN+ at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, while prelims stream on ESPN+ at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT and on ESPN and ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.

The 29-year-old Luque has won 10 of his last 11 UFC appearances and is coming off back-to-back first-round submission victories over Tyron Woodley and Michael Ch…

A potential all-action lightweight clash with championship implications will kick off the pay-per-view portion of the UFC 268 card.

Justin Gaethje and Michael Chandler will be the opening act for Saturday’s main card at Madison Square Garden, it was announced during "The MMA Hour” on Wednesday. It was generally expected that Gaethje vs. Chandler would be the third bout on the pay-per-view draw just ahead of the strawweight championship co-main event between Rose Namajunas and Weili Zhang and the welterweight title headliner pitting Kamaru Usman against Colby Covington.

Instead, Gaethje vs. Chandler will precede Shane Burgos vs. Billy Quarantillo and Frankie Edgar vs. Marlon Vera.

Gaethje hasn’t competed since falling to Khabib Nurmagomedov in a title bout at UFC 254 in October 2020. During media day on Wednesday, “The Highlight” was adamant that he will deserve another opportunity at lightweight gold if he defeats Chandler.

"If I win Saturday and I don't…

After a week in which four Brazilian fighters captured belts in a span of four days – Glover Teixeira in the UFC and Raush Manfio, Bruno Henrique Cappelozza and Antonio Carlos Jr. in Professional Fighters League – Patricky Freire will attempt to add to that collection on Friday when he faces Peter Queally for the vacant lightweight crown at Bellator 270.

Patricio Freire, who recently vacated the 155-pound title, spoke with Sherdog.com about his brother’s upcoming bout shortly after arriving in Dublin with kickboxing coach Thiago Tourão and boxing coach Everton Lopes.

“We arrived on Sunday here in Dublin and as far as we could see around the hotel area there was a lot of excitement for the event. But they won’t have good memories after this weekend. I can guarantee Patricky is in the best shape ever. For the first time, he did a complete camp for a title fight. In the past, he stepped in as a replacement on short notice.”

According to the former champion, a raucous pro-…

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 268 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. Two Ultimate Fighting Championship contracts were handed out during the final Dana White's Contender Series event of Season 5. Joining the leading mixed martial arts promotion is lightweight Maheshate and the undefeated welterweight Yohan Lainesse, who both impressed UFC head honcho Dana White. The card was headlined by a lightweight battle between Maheshate and Achilles Estremadura, who walked in with an undefeated record seven bouts into his career. Both men came out firing and it was Maheshate (6-1) that rocked his unbeaten opponent just seconds into the bout. However, Estremadura stayed composed and was able to land damaging combinations for the rest of the round. However, Maheshate landed a huge jumping knee in the second frame that hurt the Canadian and stole the round. The third round was back-and-forth with both men having…

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 268 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. Sherdog's live DWCS 2021 Week 10 coverage kicks off Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET. Check out the MMA Forums to discuss the card or enter your comments and predictions below. Round 1 Sherdog Scores Lev Pisarsky scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Mike Fridley scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Lev Pisarsky scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Mike Fridley scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Lev Pisarsky scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Mike Fridley scores the round:The Official Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Lev Pisarsky scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Mike Fridley scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Lev Pisarsky scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Mike Fridley scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Lev Pisarsky scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Mike Fri…

A flyweight showdown between Roxanne Modafferi and Casey O’Neill is in the works for UFC 271.

MMA Ideas was first to report the contest. UFC 271 takes place on Feb. 12 at an as yet to be determined location. The event does not yet have a headliner.

A veteran of 46 professional bouts over the course of a career that began in 2003, Modafferi has lost three of her last four Octagon appearances. “The Happy Warrior” is coming off back-to-back decision losses to Viviane Araujo and Taila Santos in 2021.

Australia’s O’Neill is emerging as a top prospect at 125 pounds after victories in her first three outings within the Las Vegas-based promotion. The 24-year-old Tiger Muay Thai product has scored successive finishes of Shana Dobson, Lara Procopio and Antonina Shevchenko in UFC competition thus far to run her professional mark to 8-0.

Glover Teixeira’s light heavyweight championship victory over Jan Blachowicz at UFC 267 was big not only in Brazil, but also in his adopted hometown.

The newly-crowned title holder received a hero’s welcome upon returning to Dansbury, Conn., after submitting Blachowicz in this past Saturday’s headliner at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. Watch the video above to see the reception Teixeira received.

UFC 267 was an important event regarding the status of the light heavyweight divison.

After Glover Teixeira took 205-pound gold from Jan Blachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev secured a dominant win against Volkan Oezdemir in Abu Dhabi, the weight class appears to be wide open for contenders like Thiago Santos, who is coming off a win over Johnny Walker at UFC Fight Night 193. For now, “Marreta” is simply waiting for the promotion to call with a name and date.

"I would love to face [Jiri] Prochaska, He is the only Top 5 opponent I haven’t faced yet, but since the UFC announced that he is the next No. 1 contender, I’m open to a few rematches,” Santos said. “I’ve already defeated Blachowicz and Anthony Smith via TKO, but it happened in 2018 and 2019, and I’m sure they are totally different fighters today. Aleksandar Rakic said I was an easy matchup, so I challenged him and he did not answer back.”

Santos plans to return to action sometime between February and March, and…

A heavyweight tilt pitting Tom Aspinall against Shamil Abdurakhimov is on tap for an Ultimate Fighting Championship event on March 19.

ESPN was first to report the booking. The card does not yet have an official location or headliner.

Aspinall is currently on a seven-bout winning streak that includes four triumphs within the Las Vegas-based promotion. In his last outing, the Team Kaobon representative scored a first-round TKO of Sergey Spivak at UFC Fight Night 191 on Sept. 4. Aspinall has also finished Andre Arlovski, Alan Baudot and Jake Collier in UFC competition.

After a two-year hiatus, Abdurakhimov returned at UFC 266, where he suffered a second-round technical knockout loss to Chris Daukaus on Sept. 25. After winning six of seven UFC bouts from February 2016 to April 2019, the 40-year-old Dagestani has dropped back-to-back contests in the Octagon.

Dustin Jacoby will replace the injured Aleksa Camur and square off against John Allan at UFC 268.

MMA DNA was first to report the new light heavyweight booking. The nature of Camur’s injury was not revealed. UFC 268 takes place at Madison Square Garden in New York on Saturday and is headlined by a welterweight title rematch between Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington.

Jacoby is unbeaten in his last six professional outings, which includes a 3-0-1 mark in the Octagon and victory on Dana White’s Contender Series. Most recently, the Glory Kickboxing veteran defeated Darren Stewart via first-round TKO at UFC on ESPN 30.

Allan, meanwhile, is still looking for his first promotional triumph. A victory over Mike Rodriguez at UFC Fight Night 155 was overturned to a no contest after Allan failed a post-fight drug test, and in his most recent outing, the Brazilian dropped a split verdict to Roman Dolidze at UFC on ESPN 19.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Aaf1IgX1sw&w=560&h=315]

Shortly after Khamzat Chimaev’s dominant victory over Jinliang Li at UFC 267, he took a moment to issue a high-profile callout to one of the promotion’s biggest stars.

Hey, Diaz, let’s go, brother,” Chimaev said in a post-fight media session. “Let’s go. You gonna get some smoke, bro. Let’s see who is the real gangster.”

Diaz, of course, is notoriously picky when it comes to opponents. The Stockton, Calif., native latst appeared at UFC 263, where he lost a unanimous decision to Leon Edwards in June. In an interview with TMZ Sports, UFC president Dana White said that the organization will at least entertain the thought of a Diaz vs. Chimaev booking.

“We’re gonna talk to Nate about it,” White said. “100 percent [down].”

Even if Diaz declines, White is impressed with the star potential of Chimaev, who has overwhelmed all four of his foes in the Octagon. That suggest a big promotional push for th…

The lineup for Bellator 272 continues to grow, as Jay-Jay Wilson will move up to lightweight to face Alfie Davis on Dec. 3.

Additionally, Kyle Crutchmer will square off against Oliver Enkamp in a welterweight contest. MMAjunkie.com was first to report the pairings. Bellator 272 takes place at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., and is headlined by a bantamweight title tilt between Sergio Pettis and Kyoji Horiguchi.

Wilson is making the move to 155 pounds after missing the featherweight mark for the third time at Bellator 265, when his clash against Adam Borics was canceled. The 24-year-old Kiwi is 8-0 as a pro, including a second-round TKO of Pedro Carvalho in his last outing at Bellator 257.

London’s Davis had a four-bout winning streak snapped at Bellator 259, where he fell to Alexdr Shabliy on May 21. The London Shootfighters native is 14-4 as a professional overall. A former NCAA All-American wrestler at Oklahoma State University, Crutchmer has been vic…

A Legacy Fighting Alliance featherweight champion and prized pupil of the Machida family, Bruno Souza has signed with the sport’s largest organization to make his debut against Melsik Baghdasaryan at UFC 268 on Saturday.

It’s a lifelong dream fulfilled for the 25-year-old Souza.

“Since I moved to the U.S. that was my ultimate goal. I really don’t care if it was a short notice, because I´m always trained and ready to fight,” Souza said. “Challenge given, challenge accepted.

Souza, who enters his first UFC foray with a 10-1 mark, signed a four-fight deal with the Las Vegas-based promotion. He is coming off a victory over Javier Garcia at Legacy Fighting Alliance 114 in September that earned him the promotion’s featherweight belt.

Souza is 25 years old and was born in Recife, Brazil. However, at the age of 4, he moved to Belém, Brazil, where he began to practice karate at the Machida Gym with patriarch sensei Yoshizo Machida. 

“We are v…

An atomweight clash with rankings implications is set for Rizin Fighting Federation 32, as Rena Kubota will lock horns with Miyuu Yamamoto on Nov. 20.

Promotion officials recently announced the full lineup for the card, which will take place at Okinawa Arena in Okinawa, Japan. Kubota and Yamamoto initially squared off at Rizin 2 in September 2016, with Kubota winning via first-round submission.

The card includes eight other MMA bouts: Mitsuhisa Sunabe vs. Yoshiro Maeda; Tomohiro Adaniya vs. Yuichi Miyagi; Bobby Ologun vs. Katsuya Kitamura; Daryl Lokuku vs. Noah Bey; Juri Ohara vs. Kohei Tokeshi; Haruo Ochi vs. Tatsuya So; Mizuki Oshiro vs. Aira Koga and Shinya Kumazawa vs. Tanner Lourenco.

“We are planning to put on monthly events for the rest of the year while following the guidelines given from the government,” Rizin CEO Nobuyuki Sakakibara said at a press conference. “I am proud to announce that we will be holding an event in Okinawa for the first time in Nov…

Legacy Fighting Alliance featherweight champ Bruno Souza will step in on short notice to face Melsik Baghdasaryan at UFC 268 on Saturday.

Souza is a replacement for T.J. Laramie, who recently announced his withdrawal from the event due to an MRSA infection. MMA DNA was first to report the new pairing. UFC 268 takes place at Madison Square Garden in New York and is headlined by a welterweight title rematch between Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington.

A protégé of former UFC title holder Lyoto Machida, Souza has been victorious in 10 of his first 11 professional outings. The 25-year-old known as “The Tiger” captured featherweight gold with a unanimous verdict against Javier Garcia at LFA 114 on Aug. 27. He also owns notable wins over UFC talent Kamuela Kirk and Bellator veteran Mike Hamel.

Anchored at Glendale Fighting Club, Baghdasaryan is a former competitor on Dana White’s Contender Series. Though he didn’t initially earn a contract with his win over Dennis Buzuk…

It was smooth sailing on the scales for Week 10 of Dana White's Contender Series, as all 10 athletes slated to compete on Tuesday’s card hit their contracted marks.

The Contender Series takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Tuesday night and airs via ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. The featured bout on this week’s lineup is a lightweight showdown pitting Achilles Estremadura (156 pounds) against Maheshate Maheshate (156).

A native of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Estremadura has compiled a 7-0 record while competing exclusively under the Battlefield Fight League banner. Most recently, he scored a first-round KO of Curtis Demarce at BFL 66 on March 19.

China’s Maheshate has won five straight contests after dropping his professional debut. His current streak includes three KO victories inside of two rounds while competing for the Wu Lin Feng organization.

Contender Series Weigh-in Results:Achilles Estremadura (156) vs. Maheshate Maheshate (156)Yohan…

Benoit Saint Denis showcasing some true toughness, my goodness!

[ #UFC267 | The prelims are LIVE on @ESPNPlus | @VisitAbuDhabi | @InAbuDhabi | #InAbuDhabi ] pic.twitter.com/ZOPjxmD5mD

— UFC (@ufc) October 30, 2021 While Vyacheslav Kiselev has taken the majority of the blame for the amount of punishment Benoit St. Denis endured at UFC 267, the French welterweight’s corner has come under scrutiny as well.

St. Denis was on the wrong side of a lopsided second round in his preliminary matchup with Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos, and the Octagon newcomer appeared to be on the verge of being stopped on multiple occasions. The UFC commentary team criticized Kiselev for not stepping in to halt the bout, as did a large portion of the MMA community on social media. However, St. Denis survived the second round and ultimately made it to the final horn – even after informing Kiselev he couldn’t see out of one eye due to an eye poke later in the bout.

Read more about Benoit St. Denis’ Coach Defends Decision Not to Throw in Towel at UFC 267

Cory Sandhagen was all class following his closely-contested loss to Petr Yan in the UFC 267 co-main event.

Though Sandhagen outlanded Yan by a 169-to-149 count in significant strikes, his Russian opponent connected with the more damaging blows over the course of five rounds – including the bout’s only knockdown. Sandhagen did his best work in Round 1, but couldn’t duplicate that effort consistently enough to get the nod from the cageside judges.

In the immediate aftermath, Sandhagen had no issues with the final verdict.

“He’s a hell of a fighter, man,” Sandhagen said in a post-fight interview in the Octagon. “You’re a great fighter. He was better tonight, man. I don’t really have much else to say. I always ask. I always want to fight the best in the world. I know that’s what’s going to make me the best martial artist I can be. I’m grateful I got to do it tonight. I’ll take from it and I’ll learn from it and next time I face him, I’ll get the win.”

After w…