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Annnnnd another 1st round finish! #Bellator204 pic.twitter.com/zqz71vLRrq

— Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) August 18, 2018

Knockouts were plentiful on the Bellator 204 preliminary card inside Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Friday night.

Venezuela’s Omar Antonio Morales Ferrer improved to 7-0 by blowing away Troy Nawrocki (3-1) in the featured preliminary bout. The lightweight prospect slammed a series of unanswered punches that destroyed Nawrocki’s equilibrium, eventually knocking him out in just 58 seconds.

The undercard had five other knockouts: Jason Jackson (8-3) lived up to his “The Ass-Kicking Machine” moniker by pummeling fellow welterweight Jordon Larson (9-5) with punches and ending things 3:58 into the first; 170-pounder David Michaud rose to 12-4 by greasing Corey Davis (2-1) with punches at 1:42 of the opening frame; middleweight Romero Cotton rocketed to 3-0 by crushing Willie Whitehead (2-3) with knees and …

Three minutes was all it took... #UFC229 pic.twitter.com/iUdePPDZUa

— UFC on BT Sport (@btsportufc) August 17, 2018

UFC 229 sold out within three minutes after tickets went on sale this week, likely due to the return of Conor McGregor. “The Notorious” is set to take on Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov in an effort to reclaim the belt McGregor won at UFC 205 back in 2016.

McGregor hasn’t stepped foot in the Octagon since then, but did take a detour into boxing last summer in a losing effort to undefeated legend Floyd Mayweather. McGregor was eventually stripped of both the featherweight and lightweight titles during his extended hiatus from MMA.

The appetite for McGregor’s UFC return is palpable, and the numbers already show extreme interest, with tickets for the Las Vegas event selling out in three minutes flat.

“It’s pretty clear that fans have a huge appetite to see Conor McGregor’s retu…

It has been reported for a number of weeks now that a matchup between former Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight champions Luke Rockhold and Chris Weidman was in the works for UFC 230 in November at Madison Square Garden, New York although nothing has been made official yet.

The pair previously met back in December 2015 at UFC 194 where Rockhold knocked out then-champion Weidman. Weidman has been sidelined for over a year now with a nagging injury as a result of a torn ligament he suffered in his thumb. “The All-American” last featured inside the Octagon in July 2017 where he snapped a three-fight losing streak by defeating Kelvin Gastelum.

Rockhold last fought back in February at UFC 221 for the interim UFC middleweight title against Yoel Romero. Romero missed weight for the fight ruling him out of contention for the title but managed to put the disappointment behind him to knock out Rockhold in the third round.

Rockhold spoke to reporters at an e…

18 SECONDS! Ray Cooper III ends it in a hurry and locks up the top seed at welterweight. #PFL6 #PFLmma pic.twitter.com/CDR3KtOJB4

— #PFLmma (@ProFightLeague) August 17, 2018

Ray Cooper III proved to be the far superior welterweight when he torched Pavel Kusch in the main event of PFL 6 on Thursday night inside Ocean Resort Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

“Bradda Boy” stormed out of his corner like a wolverine and tore into the Ukrainian with a maelstrom of punches to the head. Kusch (23-6) was caught off-guard and never recovered; his legs eventually turned to gelatin and his consciousness effectively removed from the onslaught of fists.

Cooper III never stopped throwing bombs until referee Keith Peterson finally intervened, ending the blitzkrieg in just 18 seconds. The sensational knockout win allowed the Hawaiian to not only rise to 15-4, but also clinched the number-one seed in the 2018 PFL Playoffs at welterweight with six p…

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The official weigh-ins for Friday’s Bellator 204 have concluded, and two fighters missed their mark, with one coming in 15 pounds overweight.

Bellator MMA bantamweight champion Darrion Caldwell easily ma…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEODAVvUv78?start=4516&w=560&h=315]

Colby Covington is at it again, suggesting that the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s next pay-per-view event, UFC 228, which features a title bout between welterweight champion Tyrone Woodley and Darren Till, won’t generate much interest without him.

Covington is the UFC’s interim welterweight champion after dominating Brazilian Rafael dos Anjos back in June. “Chaos” underwent nasal surgery after defeating dos Anjos and when UFC matchmakers called him for the title unification bout with Woodley on Sept. 8 at UFC 228 he rejected the offer, stating he wouldn’t be ready. Rather than wait, the UFC elected to strip his title and book Woodley against Till to avoid holding up the welterweight division any longer.

In a recent appearance on BJ Penn Radio, Covington said without his presence on the UFC 228 card, it will fail to generate many PPV buys as he feels fans aren’t interested in watching …

The cards for Bellator’s doubleheader weekend in October continue to grow.

Cheick Kongo will welcome recent signee Timothy Johnson to the promotion at Bellator 208 on Oct. 13, while Kevin Ferguson Jr. will compete against an as-yet-to-be determined foe at Bellator 207 on Oct. 12. Sherdog.com confirmed the news with a promotion official on Wednesday following an initial report from ESPN.com’s Ariel Helwani.

Kongo is currently on a six-fight winning streak within the California-based promotion. Most recently, the 43-year-old Frenchman scored a first-round knockout of Javy Ayala at Bellator 199 on May 12.

Johnson will make his promotional debut after compiling a 4-3 record in the UFC. He last appeared at UFC Fight Night 125, where he earned a unanimous decision over Marcelo Golm.

Ferguson Jr., the son of the late Kimbo Slice, has won three consecutive fights since falling to Aaron Hamilton in his first promotional foray. In his last outing, the Team Body…

Professional Fighters League has successfully created a niche identity for itself amidst a mixed martial arts promotion industry dominated by a corporate titan.

The PFL hasn’t tried to compete with the Ultimate Fighting Championship since their first event; the NBC Sports-based promotion is a strictly a playoffs-based format, with the eventual divisional champs winning a $1 million prize. The PFL doesn’t hold their events on Saturday nights like the UFC or even Friday nights like Bellator usually does. PFL events are on Thursdays, and there’s nothing better than MMA on a Thursday night.

Thursday’s PFL 6, which is a part of the 2018 regular season, features the quick return of Ray Cooper III, who avenged his father’s loss to Jake Shields by knocking Shields out last month. That is a distinction Cooper III (14-4) shares with just two other fighters throughout Shields’ 43-fight career.

“Bradda Boy” faces Pavel Kusch, who himself advanced in PFL’s welterweight…

Donny Aaron, the husband of UFC flyweight Andrea Lee, is facing charges of false imprisonment and domestic violence battery stemming from an incident that occurred earlier this month.

MyMMANews.com was first to report the news of Aaron’s alleged attack on Lee, which occurred on Aug. 4 and into the early morning hours of Aug. 5 in Shreveport, La. An arrest warrant is forthcoming for Aaron, according to a report from MMAFighting.com.

A police report states that officers responded to a domestic incident involving a married couple of five years who have one child together. There was a weapon used in the alleged attack, and Lee suffered a minor injury, but no contact was made with the suspect.

MMA fighter Andy Nguyen, who lives with Lee and Aaron, offered a more vivid description in a witness statement to the police that was obtained by MyMMANews.com. Nguyen claimed that Aaron attempted to burn Lee with a cigarette and choked her. She added that Aaron has hit Le…

Benson Henderson will meet Saad Awad in a lightweight contest at Bellator 208.

Sherdog.com confirmed the pairing with a promotion official on Tuesday following an initial report from MMAjunkie.com. Bellator 208 takes place on Oct. 13 at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y., and will be headlined by a heavyweight grand prix semifinal showdown between Fedor Emelianenko and Chael Sonnen. The main card will be televised on Paramount Network.

Henderson halted a two-fight skid with a second-round submission of Roger Huerta at Bellator 196 on April 6. The former UFC lightweight champion is 2-3 thus far during his tenure with the California-based promotion, with his defeats coming at the hands of Patricky Freire, Michael Chandler and Andrey Koreshkov.

Awad, meanwhile, enters the matchup with Henderson riding the momentum of a four-bout winning streak. Most recently, the Milennia MMA representative scored a first-round TKO of Ryan Couture at Bellator 201. The longtime…

The UFC is billing the lightweight championship bout between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor as the biggest fight in promotion history, and the ticket prices reflect that boast.

According to a release, the cheapest ticket for UFC 229 will be $205 (not including fees), while the most expensive is $2,505. The other available seats are priced as follows: $2,005, $1,505, $1,005, $755, $555, $405, $355, $305 and $255. Tickets will go on sale Aug. 17 at 1 p.m. ET/10 p.m. PT and are available for purchase online at www.axs.com.

UFC 229 takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Oct. 6 and will see Derrick Lewis take on Alexander Volkov in the heavyweight co-main event. The card also includes a pivotal flyweight clash between contenders Sergio Pettis and Jussier da Silva as well as a light heavyweight showdown pitting Ovince St. Preux against Dominick Reyes.

The prices are significantly higher than McGregor’s last appearance in Sin City, when he faced…

Credit: Anton Gurevich Credit: Anton Gurevich Credit: Dave Mandel Credit: Dave Mandel

Swedish middleweight Magnus Cedenblad is calling it a career.

The six-time Ultimate Fighting Championship competitor announced his decision via Instagram on Tuesday, citing a series of injuries as a primary reason for his decision.

“[I] feel that I must now move on with my life and start a whole new chapter instead of sticking to a dream that fades more and more,” he wrote.

Cedenblad hasn’t competed since November 2016, when he suffered a second-round technical knockout loss to Jack Marshman at UFC Fight Night 99. He was scheduled to face Chris Camozzi at UFC Fight Night 109 in May 2017 but withdrew from the contest for undisclosed reasons.

The 36-year-old Stockholm native went 4-2 during his promotional tenure, posting triumphs over Garreth McLellan, Scott Askham, Krzysztof Jotko and Jared Hamman. “Jycken” exits the sport with a 14-5 career mark overall.

“Than…

Credit: Mike Fridley/Sherdog.com Credit: Mike Fridley/Sherdog.com Credit: Mike Fridley/Sherdog.com Credit: Mike Fridley/Sherdog.com

One of the UFC’s most exciting young talents has his next fight booked.

During an appearance on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show, Sean O’Malley revealed that he will be facing Jose Quinonez in a bantamweight bout at UFC 229 in Las Vegas on Oct. 6. UFC 229 takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and is headlined by a blockbuster lightweight championship tilt between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor.

O'Malley vs. Quinonez is expected to take place on the preliminary card. O'Malley also announced that he has signed a new four-fight contract with the UFC.

O’Malley rose to prominence thanks to a first-round knockout of Alfred Khashakyan on Season 1 of Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series. Since then, O’Malley has posted decision triumphs over Terrion Ware and Andre Soukhamthath in his first two UFC appearances. The 23-ye…

Credit: Mike Fridley/Sherdog.com Credit: Mike Fridley/Sherdog.com Credit: Mike Fridley/Sherdog.com Credit: Mike Fridley/Sherdog.com

One of the UFC’s most exciting young talents has his next fight booked.

During an appearance on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show, Sean O'Malley revealed that he will be facing Jose Alberto Quinonez in a bantamweight bout at UFC 229 in Las Vegas on Oct. 6. UFC 229 takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and is headlined by a blockbuster lightweight championship tilt between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor.

O'Malley vs. Quinonez is expected to take place on the preliminary card. O'Malley also announced that he has signed a new four-fight contract with the UFC.

O’Malley rose to prominence thanks to a first-round knockout of Alfred Khashakyan on Season 1 of Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series. Since then, O’Malley has posted decision triumphs over Terrion Ware and Andre Soukhamthath in his first two UFC appearances. T…

.@criscyborg is out at #ChargersCamp today and Mike and @RussellOkung are big, big fans. pic.twitter.com/Ub8Bx9xYA6

— Los Angeles Chargers (@Chargers) August 13, 2018

UFC women’s featherweight champion Cristiane Justino has some fans in the National Football League.

On Monday, “Cyborg” stopped by Los Angeles Chargers camp, where she was greeted by offensive lineman Russell Okung (No. 76) and Mike Pouncey (No. 53). Okung in particular appeared to enjoy the visit, backing up with his hands raised while saying, “No problems. I don’t want no problems.” It’s worth mentioning that Okung checks in at 6-5, 310 pounds while Pouncey is listed at 6-5 and 298 pounds, according to the Chargers roster. The players then posed for a photo with the 33-year-old Brazilian.

The Chute Boxe representative also gave Chargers wide receiver coach Phil McGeohan a quick tutorial:

Coach @PhilMcGeoghan brought me to @Chargers #ChargersCa…

Guess they call him “Killer” for a reason.

Luiz Gustavo Felix dos Santos handled his business by violent means, as the undefeated Brazilian knocked out Yusuke Yachi in the second round of their Rizin Fighting Federation 12 main event on Sunday at Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium in Nagoya, Japan. The end came 2:32 into Round 2. A protégé of the great Wanderlei Silva, dos Santos improved to 9-0 with nine finishes as a short-notice fill-in for the injured Bruno Santos.

Dos Santos made the most of his opportunity in the second round, where the two lightweights exchanged in the center of the ring. “Killer” fired a left hook, ducked a right from his Japanese counterpart and delivered an on-the-money right hook. The impact was devastating, as Yachi (20-7) hit the deck face first and in no condition to defend himself.

In the co-headliner, two-time Deep champion Yuki Motoya submitted Kazuma Sone with a rear-naked choke in the second round of their bantamweight battle. Motoya (…

New opponent. Same focus. This is gonna be fireworks https://t.co/4EgWFPQWLa

— Patricky Freire (@PatrickyPitbull) August 11, 2018

Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran Roger Huerta will be filling in for an injured Goiti Yamauchi against Patricky Freire at Bellator 205 on Sept. 21 in Boise, Idaho. ESPN was first to report the pairing.

Huerta (24-10) will get another high-profile fight with Bellator after losing his promotional return in April. In his first Bellator fight after seven years fighting elsewhere, “El Matador” tapped to a guillotine choke in the second round against former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson.

His opponent, “Pitbull,” is currently on a three-fight winning streak after losing to former champion Michael Chandler back in 2016. Knockout victories over Josh Thompson and Derek Campos highlight Freire’s current winning streak.

Yamauchi himself was coming off of a loss to Chandler, but the submission s…

Just added to #UFCMoncton: @TNT83MMA throws down with @SStricklandMMA! pic.twitter.com/S5YZwOO9tn

— UFC Canada (@UFC_CA) August 10, 2018

Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweights Nordine Taleb and Sean Strickland are set to square off at UFC Fight Night 138 at Moncton Events Centre in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, on Oct. 27, the promotion announced on Saturday.

Taleb (14-5) will look to rebound from an upset submission loss to Claudio Silva in May. Before that, the French-Canadian knocked out Danny Roberts in less than a minute into the first round, while Strickland (19-3) lost his first fight ever by knockout after Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos landed a brutal spinning back kick in the first round at UFC 224. Strickland’s only other losses are to top welterweights Kamaru Usman and Santiago Ponzinibbio.

Volkan Oezdemir faces surging light heavyweight Anthony Smith in the night’s main event, while Misha Cirkunov takes on Patrick Cum…

Damon Jackson had not scored a knockout in five years. That changed on Friday in Dallas.

The 30-year-old Jackson (16-2-1) headlined LFA 47 and exploded with one of the best knockouts of the year in the second round. “The Leech” dominated Nate Jennerman from the start and then closed the show in spectacular fashion to capture the interim Legacy Fighting Alliance featherweight championship at The Bomb Factor.

Jackson nearly took out “Nasty Nate” in the first round with punches to the face but opted to take the Roufusport product to the ground. From there, the Fortis MMA standout mauled his counterpart with elbows from top position while threatening with a key lock, brabo choke and a rear-naked choke. Jennerman survived it all, until a loopy overhand right detonated on his jaw almost as soon as the second round began. The end came 33 seconds into Round 2.

The win was Jackson’s fifth straight. Jennerman, meanwhile, fell to 12-4.

Featherweight contenders Levi Mow…

Kamaru Usman has been tapped as Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight champion Tyron Woodley’s replacement in case the champ is forced to pull out of his UFC 228 title fight against Darren Till.

With so many last-minute issues affecting UFC main events recently, the promotion has elected to have a backup plan in the event of an unpredictable injury, ESPN reported Thursday. Usman (13-1) is coming off of the biggest win of his MMA career, defeating Demian Maia in May. “The Nigerian Nightmare” is on a 12-fight winning streak and remains undefeated in the UFC.

The UFC most recently dealt with a high-profile main event loss when Tony Ferguson and then initial replacement Max Holloway both were forced out of a UFC 223 lightweight title fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov. Al Iaquinta, who was supposed to fight on the undercard, ultimately stepped up to fight Nurmagomedov, though Iaquinta was ineligible to win the title due to having weighed in at higher than the st…

Kamaru Usman has been tapped as Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight champion Tyron Woodley’s replacement in case the champ is forced to pull out of his UFC 228 title fight against Darren Till.

With so many last-minute issues affecting UFC main events recently, the promotion has elected to have a backup plan in the event of an unpredictable injury, ESPN reported Thursday. Usman (13-1) is coming off of the biggest win of his MMA career, defeating Demian Maia in May. “The Nigerian Nightmare” is on a 12-fight winning streak and remains undefeated in the UFC.

The UFC most recently dealt with a high-profile main event loss when Tony Ferguson and then initial replacement Max Holloway both were forced out of a UFC 223 lightweight title fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov. Al Iaquinta, who was supposed to fight on the undercard, ultimately stepped up to fight Nurmagomedov, though Iaquinta was ineligible to win the title due to having weighed in at higher than the st…

Bellator MMA just added an interesting fight on the Bellator 204 preliminary card, with a middleweight bout between Willie Whitehead and NCAA wrestling standout Romero Cotton. Sources close to the promotion confirmed the news on Friday to Sherdog.com.

Both men were late additions to the card, which takes place next weekend in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Whitehead currently holds a 2-2 professional mixed martial arts record, with Cotton bringing an undefeated 2-0 record himself.

Cotton proved to be an incredible athlete early on, winning 10 state championships while in high school across three sports; four of which for wrestling. He ended up earning a scholarship to Division 1 powerhouse University of Nebraska, where he began his collegiate wrestling career as a freshman in 2009.

However, a 2008 case against Cotton for aggravated battery almost put him behind bars for a 38-month prison sentence. Romero and his younger brother had allegedly attacked a man courting th…

The sole remaining contestant on roster from the first season of “The Ultimate Fighter” has at least one fight left with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, as the promotion announced the longtime UFC veteran Diego Sanchez will be fighting Craig White in a welterweight bout at UFC 228 in Dallas on Sept. 8.

Sanchez (27-11) was one of the two winners of that inaugural season of “TUF” and has gone on to fight 26 times for the promotion, including a challenge for B.J. Penn’s lightweight belt at UFC 107. However, “The Dream” has been brutally knocked out in three of his last four fights, with a lone victory against Marcin Held back in 2016 punctuating losses to Joe Lauzon and Al Iaquinta. He suffered another first-round knockout loss at the elbows of Matt Brown in his last fight.

White (14-8) made his UFC debut against perennial top-10 welterweight Neil Magny in May, losing by first-round knockout. “The Thundercat” will seek his first UFC victory while Sanchez finds h…

Buckle up, Denver!

Colorado's @RockyPMMA faces the returning @IronLadyMMA. #UFCDenver pic.twitter.com/xMLNSvukTK

— UFC (@ufc) August 9, 2018

The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s 25th Anniversary card in Denver just landed another Colorado native, as Colorado Springs’ Raquel Pennington vs. Germaine de Randamie has been officially announced for the Nov. 10 event.

Beyond a mere nod to the locale, the fight is a matchup of Top-10 women with something to prove. “Rocky” will look to regain momentum and show she is none the worse for wear after a brutal fifth-round TKO loss to bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes in May, which snapped a four-fight winning streak. While Pennington was roundly lauded for her heart and grit, the punishment she took was severe enough that her corner as well as referee Marc Goddard received some criticism for not stopping the fight sooner.

The 34-year-old de Randamie, on the other hand, will be fighting for …