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Paulo Henrique Costa has both the look and the penchant for finishing fights that could make him a talent to watch in the coming months.

The 27-year-old known as “Borrachinha” mowed down “The Ultimate Fighter 17” finalist Uriah Hall in their preliminary middleweight tilt at UFC 226, winning via technical knockout 2:38 into the second frame. The former Jungle Fight champion swarmed Hall near the fence, putting his opponent away with a devastating right uppercut to the body.

“This is just one more victory on my way to the world title,” Costa said. “Now I want to face a top fighter, I want to fight Chris Weidman. No one in this division can win against me, I’m the most powerful middleweight and I’m showing that in every fight. Uriah had very good timing and connected the jabs, but I knew he would not be able to handle my power. I’m ready for the next battle.”

Costa is now 4-0 in the Las Vegas-based promotion and 12-0 as a professional overall, with all of his …

Make no mistake, Daniel Cormier would still be up for a third bout with longtime rival Jon Jones.

But Cormier wants to make one thing clear: He no longer needs a win over Jones to secure his place among the sport’s all-time greats after knocking out Stipe Miocic at UFC 226 to become only the second simultaneous two-division champion in promotion history. That accomplishment, Cormier says, stands on its own.

“I think that with this, I don’t need him,” Cormier said at the UFC 226 post-fight press conference. “This, for everyone that said you’re a fake champion, you’re not a real champion. You can’t question this one. You may question that light heavyweight title, you can question it to the grave, but I have something completely separate from him. And I’m very grateful for it because everything was tied to that guy no matter how much I beat everybody up. It was always, ‘Well you lost to Jones.’

“…I’m a champion and I am one of the greatest fighters of all time…

Corey Anderson has signed a new contract with the Las Vegas-based promotion and will replace the injured Ilir Latifi against Glover Teixeira on the July 22 card in Hamburg, Germany. Anderson confirmed the news via Instagram following an initial report from Combate.com.

UFC Fight Night 134 takes place at Barclaycard Arena and is headlined by a 205-pound clash between Mauricio Rua and Anthony Smith. The card will air in its entirety on Fox Sports 1.

Anderson, 28, halted a two-bout skid in his most recent outing when he outpointed Patrick Cummins at UFC Fight Night 128 on April 21. “Overtime” is 7-4 during his promotional tenure and 10-4 as a professional overall.

Teixeira, a former light heavyweight title challenger, is coming off a first-round TKO win over Misha Cirkunov at UFC on Fox 26 in December.

Stipe Miocic was in a bit of a hurry to leave Las Vegas on Saturday night.

It wasn’t because he had just relinquished his heavyweight crown in a first-round knockout loss to Daniel Cormier in the UFC 226 headliner, however. It was, as the Ohio firefighter put it, because he had “bigger fish to fry.”

Miocic is expecting the birth of his first child soon, and he wanted to make his post-fight press conference appearance quick because he was eager to catch a plane back home to be with his wife. While the Strong Style Fight Team standout was disappointed to lose the heavyweight crown, it didn’t seem quite as important under the circumstances.

“It sucks, losing is not fun at all. It sucks,” Miocic said. “But in perspective, I look at it… I’m going home right now to my beautiful wife, who’s having my child. There’s better things in life than losing. It sucks, I want to come back and get a rematch, of course. Right now, it’s DC’s day, good for him.”

Miocic wa…

Four fighters at UFC 226 received “Performance of the Night” checks, as Daniel Cormier, Anthony Pettis, Khalil Rountree and Paulo Henrique Costa took home $50,000 apiece for their efforts at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night.

Cormier captured “Performance of the Night” honors for his first-round knockout of Stipe Miocic in the evening’s main event. A right hook following a break from the clinch dropped Miocic and a flurry of hammerfists ended the contest 4:33 into the frame. With the win, “DC” becomes the second fighter in UFC history to hold two belts at the same time.

Elsewhere, former lightweight champ Anthony Pettis earned his post-fight award with a second-round submission of Michael Chiesa in a featured lightweight encounter. Early in round two, Chiesa escaped a guillotine from Pettis to assume top position, only to find himself trapped in a triangle armbar. From there, Pettis forced the tapout 52 seconds into the frame.

Khalil Rountre…

Daniel Cormier took his place among the immortals.

The American Kickboxing Academy captain knocked out Stipe Miocic to claim the undisputed Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight title in the first round of their UFC 226 headliner on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Cormier (21-1, 10-1 UFC) brought it to a close 4:33 into Round 1, becoming the second fighter in UFC history -- Conor McGregor is the other -- to hold titles in two divisions simultaneously.

Miocic (18-3, 12-3 UFC) threw power punches in combination but moseyed too willingly into the clinch against the two-time Olympic wrestler and reigning light heavyweight champion. After a brief pause in the action due to a blatant eye poke from Cormier, the Strong Style Fight Team cornerstone again engaged “DC” at close range. Cormier fired a right hook on the break that folded the Ohio native where he stood. A burst of hammerfists followed, knocking Miocic unconscious before a stunned crowd.

Afterward,…

UFC 226 is now available on Amazon Prime.

Sherdog's live UFC 226 play-by-play kicks off Saturday at 7 p.m. ET.

Check out the MMA Forums to discuss the card or enter your comments and predictions below. Have a question for Sherdog.com's medical expert? Tweet The Fight Doctor via @FightMedicine.

Round 1 Sherdog Scores Round 2 Sherdog Scores Round 3 Sherdog Scores The Official Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Round 2 Sherdog Scores Round 3 Sherdog Scores The Official Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Round 2 Sherdog Scores Round 3 Sherdog Scores The Official Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Round 2 Sherdog Scores Round 3 Sherdog Scores The Official Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Round 2 Sherdog Scores Round 3 Sherdog Scores The Official Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Round 2 Sherdog Scores Round 3 Sherdog Scores The Official Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Round 2 Sherdog Scores Round 3 Sherdog Scores The Official Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Round 2 Sherdog S…

Robert Whittaker and Kelvin Gastelum will be coaching rivals on Season 28 of “The Ultimate Fighter” before squaring off in a middleweight championship bout later this year.

The UFC recently announced that Whittaker and Gastelum will coach “TUF 28: Heavy Hitters,” which features male heavyweights and female featherweights and premieres Aug. 29 on Fox Sports 1. A date was not announced for Whittaker’s title defense against Gastelum.

While nothing has been formally announced, “TUF 28” could possibly be the final iteration of the reality show that began in 2005. No mention of the series was made when the UFC announced its new broadcast deal with ESPN earlier this year.

Whittaker won “TUF: The Smashes” and began his promotional tenure as a welterweight before truly blossoming at 185 pounds. He captured the interim middleweight crown with a five-round verdict over Yoel Romero at UFC 213 and was promoted to undisputed champion when Georges St. Pierre vacated the c…

BREAKING: Dana White announces on @SportsCentre that UFC 231 will take place in Toronto on December 8, 2018 at Scotiabank Arena. https://t.co/ji1TEnOZ15 #UFC pic.twitter.com/wI5gJ9TVy7

— SportsCentre (@SportsCentre) July 7, 2018

The UFC will return to Toronto in December, UFC President Dana White announced on TSN’s SportsCentre on Friday.

UFC 231 is set to take place on Dec. 8 at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, where UFC 206 was held two years ago.

The promotion has had smashing success in the Toronto MMA market; their first event there was UFC 129 in 2011, which broke the UFC’s attendance record with 55,000 tickets sold and an $11 million live gate revenue. That event was bolstered by a main event featuring Canadian MMA superstar and then-welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre, who was the biggest pay-per-view draw the company had at the time.

Their last Toronto card was UFC 206 in 2016, featuring a main event featherweight t…

#TUF27Finale:Attendance: 2,123 (sold-out)Gate: $293,615.50Fight of the Night: Caceres vs. BravoPerformances of the Night: Israel Adesanya, Luis Pena

— Mike Fridley (@mikefridley) July 7, 2018

Israel Adesanya, Luis Pena, Alex Caceres, and Martin Bravo earened $50,000 bonuses Friday at “The Ultimate Fighter 27” Finale.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueJCpt6Mqng&w=560&h=315]

UFC 226 is now available on Amazon Prime.

As if this year’s International Fight Week weren’t dramatic enough, a new blood feud emerged between Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier and heavyweight contender Derrick Lewis during Thursday’s press conference.

Both fighters were gathered on stage to promote Saturday’s UFC 226, with Lewis taking on Francis Ngannou and Cormier fighting Stipe Miocic for the heavyweight belt, but there was more animosity between “The Black Beast” and “DC” than with their respective opponents.

Cormier revealed that Lewis had confronted him backstage just prior to Thursday’s press conference.

“I’ve already got a challenge in the back,” Cormier told MMA Junkie. “Derrick Lewis told me that he was going to knock me out before we walked out here. Derrick Lewis may knock out Francis then knock me out after. I know the guys that are li…

Daniel Cormier takes a scary fall following UFC 226 Press Conference. pic.twitter.com/FUgtAHLQUm

— FOX Sports: UFC (@UFCONFOX) July 6, 2018

UFC 226 is now available on Amazon Prime.

The curse of International Fight Week continued on Thursday, just a day after Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight champion Max Holloway was forced out of the co-main event of UFC 226 with concussion-like symptoms. Light heavyweight titleholder Daniel Cormier, who takes on heavyweight kingpin Stipe Miocic on Saturday’s headline fight, tripped while leaving the dais following a press conference and left with a noticeable limp.

Cormier fell face-first and had to be helped up by Dana White and UFC staff, limping all the way backstage. Although it won’t cause the 205-pound champ to pull out of Saturday’s title fight, fight fans are understandably unnerved after Holloway’s unceremonious removal from the card.

A member of DC’s camp told ESPN: “[Co…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46M01aonbv8&w=560&h=315]

“The Ultimate Fighter 27” Finale is taking place Friday, July 6 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and will be headlined by Brad Tavares taking on undefeated Israel Adesanya.

Tavares, who is riding a four-fight win streak, weighed-in Thursday at 186 pounds. Adesanya also tipped the scales at 186 and will be looking to maintain his perfect record.

The lone fighter to miss weight Thursday was Julian Marquez (*190), who was off target by four pounds. He will be fined 30 percent of his purse, which will go to Alessio Di Chirico (186).

Di Chirico's team has just informed me that Julian Marquez has to weigh-in tomorrow and he has to be within 210 pounds. Di Chirico will take 30% of his opponent's purse #UFC #TUF27 #TUF27Finale

— Tudor Leonte (@Tudor_leo) July 5, 2018

Also of note at Thursday’s weigh-ins, Thiago Santos (185.5) took to the scale as a backup for Tavares, who …

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd0PUAJvg5Y&w=640&h=360]

Something wasn’t right with Max Holloway this week, and Michael Bisping noticed it before the featherweight champion pulled out of UFC 226.

During an interview on UFC Tonight, the retired former middleweight champion notices that Holloway doesn’t seem like his usual self.

“You say you feel great, and don’t be offended when I say this, but you look like you just got out of bed,” Bisping said. “Are you tired, what’s going on, how’s the weight cut? Are you drained? You look a little sleepy.”

Holloway denied that anything was amiss in his response.

“I’m good man. A little bit tired. They got me doing a bunch of media stuff, but I’ll be fine, Holloway said. “I can’t wait. I can’t wait to go out there and do the damn thing.”

Of course, that wasn’t actually the case, as Holloway was hospitalized earlier this week due to concussion symptoms before withdrawing from his title defense agains…

Max Holloway can’t seem to catch a break.

For the third time this year, the featherweight champion has been forced to withdraw from a fight — this time the UFC 226 co-main event against Brian Ortega. According to multiple reports, Holloway was struggling with concussion-like symptoms throughout the week, which eventually led to him being pulled from the card. ESPN was first to report the news of Holloway’s exit on Wednesday evening.

Holloway was hospitalized on Monday due to concussion symptoms before beginning his weight cut. Although he was released on Tuesday, his condition didn’t improve enough for him to go through with the fight.

Holloway’s management released the following statement regarding the 145-pound champion’s status:

Max’s team and UFC staff noticed Max was not normal since late last week. This became obvious to many watching his interviews and public appearances the past few days.

“He was showing concussion-like symptoms before h…

Brad Pickett’s brief retirement will officially come to an end when he locks horns with Jesse Brock at Absolute Championship Berkut 91 in London.

The promotion announced the pairing on Wednesday. ACB 91 takes place at Copper Box Arena on Aug. 11 and is headlined by a middleweight title tilt between reigning champion Albert Duraev and Piotr Strus.

Pickett announced his retirement following a third-round technical knockout loss against Marlon Vera at UFC Fight Night 107 in March 2017. The London native had lost six of his last six bouts within the Las Vegas-based promotion. The 39-year-old known as “One Punch” recently signed a multi-fight contract ACB. Pickett owns notable wins over the likes of Demetrious Johnson, Francisco Rivera, Damacio Page, Ivan Menjivar and Neil Seery, to name a few.

The 36-year-old Brock has won seven of his last eight fights while competing for a number of promotions including Bellator, World Series of Fighting and Resurrection Figh…

Bellator 201 drew an audience of 466,000 viewers to Paramount Network this past Friday night, according to figures released by ShowBuzz Daily.

That figure represents an increase over the previous two Bellator cards, both of which featured some high-profile stars, including Gegard Mousasi, Michael Page, Muhammad Lawal, Ryan Bader and Paul Daley, to name a few. Bellator 200, a tape-delayed offering, averaged 421,000 viewers, while Bellator 199 attracted 453,000 viewers to Paramount network (the card also averaged 152,000 viewers on CMT).

Bellator 201 took place at Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula, Calif., and saw Ilima-Lei Macfarlane retain her flyweight crown with a third-round submission of Alejandra Lara in the evening’s main event.

Despite the slight upward trend, Bellator 201 is the eighth of 10 cards held by the California-based promotion to do less than 500,000 viewers in 2018. From 2013 to 2016, three Bellator cards total fell short of the 500,0…

UFC welterweight Bradley Scott is facing a USADA anti-doping violation stemming from an in-competition drug collected on May 27.

The Las Vegas-based promotion released a statement regarding Bradley’s status on Tuesday. The full statement is as follows:

The UFC organization was notified today that the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has informed athlete Bradley Scott of a potential Anti-Doping Policy violation stemming from an in-competition sample collected on May 27, 2018.

USADA, the independent administrator of the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, will handle the results management and appropriate adjudication of this case involving Bradley Scott. Under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, there is a full and fair legal process that is afforded to all athletes before any sanctions are imposed.  Additional information will be provided at the appropriate time as the process moves forward.”

Bradley’s positive test occurred in conjunction with UFC Fight Night 130, where …

ONE Championship has conducted an official review of the controversial bout between Ma Jia Wen and Sagetdao Petpayathai at ONE: SPIRIT OF A WARRIOR. The decision has been formally overturned by the ONE Competition Committee and Ma Jia Wen is now declared the rightful winner. pic.twitter.com/8po2uwFJ1z

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) June 30, 2018

This past weekend, it appeared that Sagetdao Petpayathai had taken a unanimous decision victory against Jia Wen Ma in a featherweight bout at One Championship ‘Spirit of a Warrior’ at Thuwunna Indoor Stadium in Yangon, Myanmar.

However, upon further review, the One Championship Competition Committee has reviewed that verdict and overturned the decision, giving Ma the win. The Singpore-based promotion released a statement on the ruling:

The ONE Championship team led by Matt Hume and the official cageside judges have conducted an official review of the controversial bout between Jia Wen Ma…

Both LeBron James and Stipe Miocic brought championships to Cleveland, a long-suffering sports city, in the same year.

That’s why Miocic can’t be mad at his fellow Ohio native for leaving the city for greener pastures. For the second time in his NBA career, James departed the Cleveland Cavaliers as a free agent — this time for the Los Angeles Lakers. However, during his second tenure with the Cavs, James brought a title to Ohio in an improbable series victory against the Golden State Warriors in June 2016.

Miocic, who captured heavyweight gold with an upset victory over Fabricio Werdum just one month prior at UFC 198, believes James had a right to make the decision he made.

“Good for him. Whatever’s best for him and his family,” Miocic said on “The Rich Eisen Show.”

“He came back, said what he was gonna do and got a title back to Cleveland. Can’t be mad at the man.”

Miocic hasn’t had a lot of interaction with James, but he did get to meet some o…

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has moved quickly in finding a new opponent for Mauricio Rua at UFC Fight Night Hamburg.

Anthony Smith will step in for Volkan Oezdemir and face “Shogun” at the July 22 event. Multiple outlets have confirmed the new UFC Fight Night 134 headliner following an initial report from ESPN. Oezdemir was transported to UFC 227 to face Alexander Gustafsson in a featured light heavyweight bout in Los Angeles on Aug. 4.

UFC Fight Night 134 takes place at Barclaycard Arena in Hamburg, Germany and will also feature a pivotal light heavyweight matchup between Ilir Latifi and Glover Teixeira in the co-main event. The card will air in its entirety on Fox Sports 1.

Smith has been victorious in four of his last five Octagon appearances. Most recently, “Lionheart” scored a 53-second knockout of Rashad Evans at UFC 225 on June 9. The Omaha, Neb., native owns a 29-13 career mark that includes 26 triumphs inside the distance.

Rua, a forme…

UFC 226 is now available on Amazon Prime.

Many mixed martial artists are quite vocal about their desire to stay as active as possible and would prefer to fight as often as four times per year, if not more.

Brian Ortega, on the other hand, has a slightly different philosophy.

“Two good large fights a year is good enough for me,” Ortega said during a recent media call. “Training full on year around is great and I love to stay in shape and always being ready but, you know, I feel sometimes I don’t have a life. All I do is just live in the gym. There’s a lot of time. There’s sacrifice from my family and everyone and pretty much I haven’t had a life in a year man. I’ve just been training, working and just trying to climb to the top. If I got it my way I’d work hard, get two crazy fights in a year and then just relax a little bit.”

Ortega will get one of those “crazy fights” in the UFC 226 co-main event, when he squares off against reigning featherweight ch…

UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway isn’t the only prominent fighter with Hawaii roots who wants to see a major mixed martial arts card held in the Aloha State.

Following her submission victory against Alejandra Lara in the Bellator 201 headliner on Friday night, reigning flyweight queen Ilima-Lei Macfarlane – also a Hawaii native – called for a trip to the island down the road. However, the Team Hurricane Awesome product also recognizes there are issues that make it more challenging to hold an event there than in other venues.

“I’ve talked to some of the staff at Bellator, and of course everyone wants to go to Hawaii,” Macfarlane told reporters during a post-fight scrum after Bellator 201 (video via MMAjunkie.com). “I think it just comes down to logistics. Everyone wants to figure it out. The tourism bureau is giving problems. The UFC tried doing it, so I think it just comes down to the logistics. There’s no doubt in my mind that everyone wants to do a Bella…

So to recap.. Johnathan Ivey fakes a heart attack, drops Travis Fulton, proceeds to follow up with GNP... then decides he can't punch his idol in the face anymore and taps out. #mmathings pic.twitter.com/grK54YhOe0

— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) July 1, 2018

When heavyweight veterans with more than 400 professional fights between them square off, virtually anything is fair game.

At least that seemed to be the case in the heavyweight title bout between Johnathan Ivey and Travis Fulton at Colosseum Combat 45 this past Saturday night in Kokomo, Ind. After Fulton landed a body kick, Ivey briefly acted as though he was experiencing chest pain before going on the offensive. “Big John” then dropped his opponent near the fence and proceeded to unload with a barrage of ground-and-pound from top position.

Fulton defends himself just enough to avoid a stoppage, and eventually Ivey gives up on his assault. After spending a few more moments in Fulton’s…