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Brendan Allen closed the show at UFC Fight Night 232 in style, and he received a little extra spending money for his work in the Octagon.

Allen received one of four $50,000 “Performance of the Night” awards handed out by the promotion on Saturday for his third-round submission of Paul Craig in Saturday’s middleweight headliner at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. “All In” forced his Scottish foe to tap to a rear-naked choke 38 seconds into Round 3 for his sixth straight victory.

Elsewhere, Amanda Ribas garnred $50,000 for a successful return to the strawweight division. After a slow start against Luana Pinheiro, Ribas rallied to put her foe away with a spinning wheel kick and follow-up punches at the 3:53 mark of Round 3.

Joanderson Brito struggled early against the positional control of Jonathan Pearce in their preliminary featherweight scrap, but the Brazilian turned the tables on his opponent when he forced a tapout with a ninja choke 3:54 into the second period. Tha…

Brendan Allen looks like more and more of a problem for the rest of the Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight division.

The Kill Cliff Fight Club representative continued his ascent at 185 pounds, as he dismissed Paul Craig with a rear-naked choke in the third round of their UFC Fight Night 232 headliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Craig (17-7-1, 9-7-1 UFC) conceded defeat 38 seconds into Round 3, losing via submission for just the second time in his 25-fight career.

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Allen (23-5, 11-2 UFC) averted potential disaster in the first round when he escaped a calf slicer from the former British Association of Mixed Martial Arts champion. From there, it was all one-way traffic. Allen dictated the terms in their grappling exchanges, hacked open an ugly cut on the Scotsman’s left eyebrow with an elbow strike and methodically established himself as the better fighter. He ripped into Craig with a two-punch combination at the start of the th…

Sherdog's live UFC Fight Night 232 coverage will begin Saturday at 2 p.m. ET. BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Estevam (-125), Johnson (+105)Round 1 This is the next UFC Fight Night card holed up in the UFC Apex. There are 14 fights on it, and it starts earlier than usual. The first one comes in an unplanned catchweight, as Johnson (13-5, 2-3 UFC) tries to even his UFC record to .500 at the expense of heavy unbeaten newcomer Estevam (11-0, 0-0 UFC). The latter tipped the scales two pounds above the flyweight cap, and he siphoned off 20% of his purse to his opponent. The fighters do not touch gloves with referee Chris Tognoni watching on, and instead they look to find their own ranges immediately with kicks and jabs. Estevam changes levels after throwing a high kick, but Johnson is out of the way. Estevam peppers his foe with kicks to the calf and body, and Johnson springs out of the way of some of them but not all. Estevam keeps a high volume, always prodding out, …

Joanderson Brito can exploit the slightest opening.

The Chute Boxe rep took another step forward in the Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight division, as he disposed of Jonathan Pearce with a ninja choke in the second round of their featured UFC Fight Night 232 prelim on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Brito (16-3-1, 4-1 UFC) drew the curtain 3:54 into Round 2.

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After a competitive first round, Pearce (14-5, 5-2 UFC) appeared to seize the reins with a takedown, ground-and-pound and top control in the middle stanza. Brito eventually built a base, returned to his feet and caught the choke as he moved to escape. His squeeze was powerful and true, and Pearce had no choice but to tap.

Meanwhile, Twin Wolves MMA product Jose Johnson subdued fellow Dana White’s Contender Series alum Chad Anheliger with a rear-naked choke in the third round of their bantamweight battle. In his first appearance in more than a year, Anheliger (12-7, 1-2 UFC)…

2022 Professional Fighters League women's lightweight champion Larissa Pacheco doesn't see her upcoming opponent as a serious threat.

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After capturing the lightweight strap against Kayla Harrison in 2022, Pacheco decided to compete in the promotion’s inaugural featherweight season with hopes of securing two-division champion status.

The Brazilian is coming off a 14-second knockout of Olena Kolesnyk in their featherweight semifinal at PFL 8 in August. The impressive victory allowed Pacheco to book a spot in the 2023 PFL Championships against Russia's Marina Mokhnatkina.

A six-time combat sambo world champion, Mokhnatkina is renowned for her grappling prowess and ability to grind out fights on the canvas. However, having faced and defeated a former Olympic judo gold medalist in Harrison, Pachecho doesn't see the sambo specialist posing any threat to her inside the SmartCage.

“I know Marina's game. When Marina fought against Kayla, it was …

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Tom Aspinall firmly believes Jon Jones should be stripped of the Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight strap.

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Aspinall recently secured interim heavyweight champion status after defeating Russian powerhouse Sergei Pavlovich within 69 seconds of their short notice-meeting at UFC 295.

The original matchup that was scheduled to headline the event was a heavyweight bout between Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic. Unfortunately, Jones suffered a pectoral tear a few weeks ahead of the bout and was forced to pull out. Instead of offering a replacement opponent to Miocic, the promotion elected to put on an interim heavyweight title bout between Aspinall and Pavlovich on the grounds that offering Miocic an interim title fight would be “disrespectful.”

However, unlike Jiri Prochazkha or Jamahal Hill, there was no mention of Jones relinquishing the title due to his inability to compete for a considerable amount of time. Instead, as per UF…

Eduardo Henrique secured the Legacy Fighting Alliance flyweight championship in the fourth round of his LFA 172 main event against Cody Davis on Friday at the Arizona Financia Theatre in Phoenix.

Considering his striking background, Henrique (12-2) looked to keep the fight on the feet and succeeded in doing so. The Brazilian even managed to drop Davis (8-2) with a sharp check hook in Round 1, all while stuffing multiple takedown attempts. Henrique continued to tag Davis on the feet while fending off all takedown attempts until the third round. Despite being taken down, “Chapolin” kept his composure and got back to his feet, eventually hurting Davis with a knee on the break. Round 3 ended with a hurt Davis shooting in for a takedown, only to be mounted and pounded for the remainder of the period.

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The fourth frame saw a determined Henrique pressure a visibly exhausted Davis with his leg kicks and forward movement, eventually securing a technical knock…

UNDENIABLE 😱@TAKM_MMA has done the unthinkable! He stops @YaroslavAmosov!!! #Bellator301 | LIVE NOW | @SHOsports 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/g1qJ1hxUp9

— Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) November 18, 2023

They call him “The Ass Kicking Machine” for a reason.

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Jason Jackson shocked the world Friday night after ending mixed martial arts’ longest unbeaten streak when he masterfully knocked out Bellator MMA welterweight champion Yaroslav Amosov (27-1) in the third round (2:08) of the Bellator 301 main event at Winstrust Arena in Chicago.

Jackson (17-4) may have come in as the underdog but after winning his last six fights, the Kingston, Jamaica, native fought with the poise of a polished champion. Amosov tried desperately to get the heavy hitter to the mat and Jackson turned him away at every opportunity.

Forced to engage with him on the feet, Amosov looked to bait Jackson into a big shot or a takedown, but again Jackson wouldn’t …

Sherdog's live Bellator 301 coverage will begin Friday at 5 p.m. ET. Round 1 We have reached what Bellator has so far claimed is just its “final event of the year.” The chatter about the future of the promotion has reached a fever pitch on fight night, but regardless of what comes next, 16 fights are on the docket in Chicago including several huge ones on the main card. We start off in the featherweight division, as France’s Landu (19-9, 4-1 BMMA) tries to make Kobayashi (27-5-2, 0-2 BMMA) feel unwelcome in his return to the promotion. Referee Mike Cimmarusti takes the first assignment of the night, and he watches a glove touch, as the fighters get down to it. Landu marches forward out of his corner, only to have his lead leg kicked hard. Landu counters with an overhand right, and he tumbles to the mat and recovers. Landu crowds his opponent, tossing out a kick or two to find his range. Kobayashi returns fire with a low kick and ducks a looping punch, and he misses on a seco…

Our Main Event is locked in! 🔒@BrendanAllenMMA is in at 186lbs for tomorrow's #UFCVegas82 Main Event! pic.twitter.com/PPveKbHoSi

— UFC (@ufc) November 17, 2023 The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to Las Vegas for its latest card, which is now set after the UFC Fight Night 232 weigh-ins took place.

Headlining the 14-fight card is an intriguing battle between Brendan Allen and Paul Craig. Both middleweight fighters successfully made weight for the five-round fight. As for the rest of the card, two fighters came in heavy. Both Lucas Alexander and Rafael Estevam were both two pounds over for their fights against Jeka Saragih and Charles Johnson, respectively. Meanwhile, Ailin Perez initially checked in half a pound over for her fight against Lucie Pudilova, but she returned to make 136 pounds with extra time. Alexander and Estevam were fined as a result.

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This marks the first UFC main event for Allen (22-5), who is …

[embedded content] After taking some time away from in-cage activity, referee Mario Yamasaki is ready to get back down to business.

The longtime referee will be returning to the sport to officiate the Professional Fighters League Finals on Nov. 24 in Washington, D.C. The 59-year-old born in Sao Paulo currently resides several miles outside of the U.S. Capitol, where he and his brother operate Yamasaki Academy. Its main stable located in Rockville, Maryland, he splits time between the U.S. and Brazil. Yamasaki spoke to Sherdog about his past career as well as his comeback.

“I’ll be with my brother Fernando and Jerin [Valel], who is coming from Canada,” Yamasaki explained about his upcoming event coverage. “The rules are basically the same except for the elbows which are not allowed in PFL. Very anxious to ref some of those six finals. The promotion here in Washington is huge after all, the show will pay six million dollars for six finalists that night.”

Yamasaki reveale…

Ruslan Satiev showed he could swim in deep waters.

The undefeated Dobryna Gym prospect made a successful One Championship debut with a split decision over Galaktic Sports rep Farid Alibabazade in a three-round ONE Friday Fights 41 flyweight showcase on Friday at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. Two of the three ringside judges sided with Satiev (5-0, 1-0 ONE), who was forced beyond the first round for the first time in his career.

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Alibabazade (8-6, 0-1 ONE) answered repeated takedowns with an active bottom game and nearly sprang the upset. However, Satiev successfully navigated the Azerbaijani’s spidery guard, more often than not dictated the terms of their engagement and racked up points with positional advances and intermittent ground-and-pound. Knees to the head proved to be his most effective weapon on the mat.

Further down the undercard, Satiev stablemate Gadzhimurad Amirzhanov kept his perfect professional record intact and did s…

[embedded content] What might be Bellator MMA's final event of the year is now official.

Headlining Bellator 301 is a welterweight title fight between champion Yaroslav Amosov and challenger Jason Jackson. The co-main event will also see the bantamweight championship on the line as Sergio Pettis looks to unify against interim beltholder Patrick Mix. All fighters on the card made weight, with the exception of Keri Melendez, who came in .6 pounds over the flyweight limit for her fight against Sabriye Sengul. She has been fined a percentage of her purse, and the fight will otherwise proceed as scheduled.

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The undefeated Amosov (27-0) is coming off decision wins over Douglas Lima and Logan Storley. The 30-year-old is 8-0 inside the Bellator cage. "Dynamo" stepped on the scale weighing 169.6 pounds.

Meanwhile, this is the biggest fight in the career of Jackson (16-4). "The Ass-Kicking Machine" is on a six-fight win streak that includes a decision win ove…

Even the undefeated, undisputed Chael Sonnen is man enough to shed tears at a powerful story.

On Thursday, Paramount+ released the documentary series of Ultimate Fighting Championship great Anderson Silva. The five-part series, currently out in Brazil and titled “Anderson ‘Spider’ Silva,” spans five episodes and chronicles much of Silva’s life. The show begins in his childhood and showcases his accolades in competition including winning and defending the UFC middleweight title.

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To hype up the release of the docuseries, Paramount+ also posted a video of Silva and Sonnen getting together to watch it together. Sonnen famously posted on Tuesday a few photographs of a tattoo on his shoulder of former rival Silva, and the video took fans behind the scenes. As it turned out, this tattoo resulted from a bet between the two fighters.

“If [Sonnen] cried [while watching the series], he would have to tattoo my face on his arm,” Silva revealed. “If he didn’t…

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Brendan Allen doesn’t agree with Khamzat Chimaev being ranked in the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s middleweight division.

Chimaev (13-0) made his long-awaited permanent move to middleweight at UFC 294 last month against short-notice replacement Kamaru Usman (20-4), who also made his debut at 185 pounds. A -300 favorite on some sportsbooks going into the fight, “Borz” managed to eke out a majority decision.

While the fight was widely believed to be a middleweight title eliminator, Chimaev was allegedly not even discussed as a potential opponent while booking Sean Strickland’s upcoming defense against Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 297 on Jan. 20.

However, “Borz” landed directly at No. 8 on the middleweight ladder as per the newly updated UFC rankings.

No. 10 ranked middleweight Brendan Allen slammed the UFC ranking system for giving Chimaev a spot in the Top 10 of the division, despite him having not fought a true middleweight, let a…

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Bellator MMA bantamweight champion Sergio Pettis is finally coming into his own as a mixed martial arts star and out of the shadow of his elder brother Anthony Pettis.

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Despite making his professional debut back in 2011, Sergio for the longest time felt he was known solely as the younger brother of former World Extreme Cagefighting and Ultimate Fighting Championship king Anthony. It was back-to-back losses against Rob Font and Jussier Formiga in his UFC days that changed things for “The Phenom.”

After exiting the UFC with a win over Tyson Nam, Pettis went on to rack up five consecutive wins under the Bellator banner, which includes three title fights. Pettis returned to action in June after an 18-month layoff due to an ACL surgery and successfully defended his throne against featherweight champ Patricio “Pitbull” Freire.

Pettis is now scheduled to defend his throne at Bellator 301 on Nov. 17 against Patrick Mix (18-1), who …

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Feared knockout artist Patricky “Pitbull” Freire is extremely confident going into his clash against striking ace Alexandr Shabliy.

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Freire (25-11) and Shabliy (23-3) will meet in the semi-final of Bellator MMA’s lightweight grand prix, which will open the action at Bellator 301. The event will go down at Wintrust Arena in Chicago on Nov. 17.

One of the biggest fan favorites in the world of mixed martial arts, Pitbull is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt who has scored 17 of his 25 career wins via knockout or technical knockout.

Training out of Pitbull Brothers gym in Brazil alongside younger brother Patricio Freire, Patricky is confident of pulling off a first-round stoppage against Shabliy.

“Of course, I am ready. I have the best team in the world full of world champions,” said Patricky at the Bellator 301 pre-fight press conference. “I trained with this team for more than 10 years and I believe in my wrestling, my strikin…

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Welterweight contender Jason Jackson will draw from lessons learned by his teammate Logan Storley’s losses against Yaroslav Amosov when he challenges the reigning champ in the Bellator 301 headliner at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago on Nov. 17.

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Storley has faced Amosov (27-0) twice so far, dropping a closely-contested split decision loss in 2020 before suffering a lopsided unanimous decision this past February. Nevertheless, Storley’s Kill Cliff FC teammate Jackson (16-4) is registering every bit of information from those losses as he goes into his title bid against the undefeated Ukrainian.

“Logan told me everything. He left nothing out. I have been studying Amosov for years because I have always wanted to fight him since he is the best in the division,” Jackson said at the Bellator 301 pre-fight press conference. “If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best.”

Currently riding a six-fight win streak with wins ov…

A middleweight showdown pitting Gregory Rodrigues against Brad Tavares has been booked for UFC Fight Night on Feb. 10.

Rodrigues announced the pairing on social media. The UFC Fight Night event doesn’t currently have an official location or headliner.

The 31-year-old Rodrigues has won three of his last four Octagon appearances. Most recently, “Robocop” knocked out Denis Tiuliulin with elbows in the opening stanza of their encounter at UFC 292. The Kill Cliff FC representative is 5-2 during his tenure with the Las Vegas-based promotion, with all but one of those victories coming by knockout or technical knockout.

Tavares, meanwhile, is a 23-time Octagon veteran who made his first UFC appearance in 2010. Most recently, the 35-year-old Hawaiian snapped a two-fight skid with a unanimous decision triumph over former middleweight champ Chris Weidman at UFC 292.

It appears that UFC Fight Night 233 will be headed to the promotion’s home base.

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The card, which was originally supposed to be held in Shanghai, China, on Dec. 9, is changing locations to the UFC Apex in Las Vegas for reasons that are currently unknown. Multiple outlets confirmed the news following an initial announcement from MMA manager Shu Hirata on social media.

According to a report from MMAjunkie.com, the four Road to UFC bouts scheduled for UFC Fight NIght 233 will no longer take place on the card. Additionally, a light heavyweight bout pitting Brendon Ribeiro against Mingyang Zhang has been scrapped due to travel issues related to the change in location.

UFC Shanghai was slated to be the first event in China since 2019, when Weili Zhang defeated Jessica Andrade to capture the strawweight crown in the UFC Fight Night 157 main event.

Barring any further changes, UFC Fight Night 233 is expected to be headlined by a bantamweight cl…

In a somewhat controversial move, Francis Ngannou has been ranked by the World Boxing Council at heavyweight.

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As reported by Reuters, Ngannou has entered the WBC poll at No. 10 following a split-decision defeat to Tyson Fury on Oct. 28 in Saudia Arabia. The former UFC heavyweight champion scored a knockdown of Fury and was competitive throughout the fight, which allowed him to receive a 95-94 scorecard from one ringside judge. Fury, meanwhile, received tallies of 96-93 and 95-94 to get the split-decision nod.

While many observers believed Ngannou deserved to win the fight, it is rare for the WBC to rank an athlete with no professional wins on his record. “The Predator” was making his pro boxing debut after parting ways with the UFC earlier this year. Fury, meanwhile, will move on to an undisputed heavyweight championship fight against Oleksandr Usyk, which has been targeted for Feb. 17.

Ngannou is also signed to Professional Fighters League,…

Newly-crowned interim heavyweight champ Tom Aspinall caught Jamahal Hill’s attention with a first-round knockout win over Sergei Pavlovich in the co-main event at UFC 295.

Aspinall stepped up on less than three weeks’ notice, battled through crippling back pain and showed up to knock out the surging Russian, who was on a six-fight, first-round finishing streak. The Brit’s performance has Hill considering a move up to heavyweight in the future to test himself against the latest sensation.

“I think Tom is a stud, I think Tom is like the new prototype of what heavyweights are,” Hill told TNT Sports. “I definitely wanna do my thing at 205 and then go up and eventually see him too. So, Tom, get ready for me baby, someday. I think he has great movement. I think his coaches focus on a lot of good things, the right things to give him an edge in this game. A lot of them have the same philosophy as my coaches have and employ with me and things like that. I think he’s defi…

Contrary to popular belief, Khamzat Chimaev was reportedly not even considered as a potential opponent for Sean Strickland’s first title defense at UFC 297.

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After years of troublesome weight cuts and dominant finishes at welterweight, Chimaev (13-0) made a move to middleweight last month opposite Kamaru Usman, who also made his short notice debut at 185 pounds. “Borz” picked up a majority decision win over Usman in the co-main event at UFC 294. While the fight was believed to be a title eliminator, Chimaev’s victory wasn’t especially decisive.

Strickland (28-5) is now scheduled to defend his throne against South African standout Dricus Du Plessis (20-2) in the UFC 297 main event on Jan. 20 in Toronto. According to Strickland’s manager, Iridium Sports Agency’s Lance Spaude, Chimaev’s name didn’t come up during UFC 297 conversations.

“Never even brought up in the discussion,” Spaude said on the MMA Mania "Sound & Pound” podcast. “I don’t r…

Chase Hooper doesn’t want to rush his climb to the upper echelon of the Ultimate Fighting Championship's lightweight roster.

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Hooper (12-3) made his promotional debut in 2019 as an undefeated 10-0-1 prospect and went on to score a first-round stoppage win over Daniel Teymur. While “The Dream” continues to show flashes of brilliance, his career has since gone back and forth as he's encountered steeper competition.

Currently 4-3 in the UFC and coming off a decision win over Nick Fiore in May, Hooper is set to take on Jordan Leavitt (11-2) at UFC Fight Night 232 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday. Reflecting on his career so far, the 24-year-old from Enumclaw, Washington, recently detailed his career strategy to stay in the game for the long run.

“The Dream” believes a slow and steady approach is the way to ensure a lengthy successful career.

“My second fight in the UFC was against a 20-fight vet in [Alex] Caceres, and I felt like he …