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Incredible knockouts coming from the rookie and the vet 🔥@JimMiller_155 & Muhammad Naimov take home tonight's POTN honors 💸 #UFCVegas74 pic.twitter.com/kSrJ8Gmd5I

— UFC (@ufc) June 4, 2023 The Ultimate Fighting Championship awarded four fighters performance bonuses following the UFC on ESPN 46 card.

Co-main event fighters Alex Caceres and Daniel Pineda each took home an additional $50,000 as they received fight of the night honors. The back-and-forth fight saw Caceres ultimately prevail, although both men had their moments through out. Thanks to the high pace that lasted the entire 15 minutes, both men received a bonus for their thrilling performance.

Two other fighters earned performance of the night bonuses with impressive knockout wins. Jim Miller scored the fastest knockout win of his career over late replacement Jesse Butler. A beautiful combination of punches from Miller slept Butler. Finally, Muhammadjon Naimov received $50…

Amir Albazi showed he was ready for the step up in competition.

The Iraqi flyweight won his sixth straight fight — including five in the Octagon — by taking a split-decision triumph over former interim title challenger Kai Kara-France in the UFC on ESPN 46 headliner at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday night. Judges Sal D’Amato and Chris Lee scored the bout 48-47 for Albazi (17-1, 5-0 UFC), while Mike Bell submitted a 48-47 tally for Kara-France (24-11, 7-4 UFC).

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“I know it was a close fight. It’s not how I planned this fight to go, but it is what it is,” Albazi said. “I showed my guts.” Albazi was competitive throughout, but he did his most definitive work in Round 3, when he grounded Kara-France, logged more than three minutes of control time and drew a grimace from his opponent with a tight rear-naked choke attempt. Kara-France, meanwhile, appeared to have an edge on the feet, landing quick straight punching combinations while effectively ble…

Sherdog's live UFC on ESPN 46 coverage will begin Saturday at 6 p.m. ET. BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Grishin (-135), Lins (+115)Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:

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Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round: The Official Result BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Lacerda (-145), Blackshear (+125)Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:The Official Result …

Back and forth action through all three rounds 😤

Daniel Santos going home with a win! #UFCVegas74 pic.twitter.com/iMGVFPzlOs

— UFC (@ufc) June 4, 2023

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Daniel Santos made Johnny Munoz Jr. pay for his willingness to play guard.

Top control and ground-and-pound carried Santos to a unanimous decision victory over Munoz Jr. in their UFC on ESPN 46 clash at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday. All three judges scored the contest 29-27 in favor of the Chute Boxe Diego Lima member.

It was a rough outing for Munoz Jr., who weathered a pair of kicks to the groin — the second which led to a point deduction — and struggled to mount significant offense from his back. The former King of the Cage champion had his best moments in Round 1, when he landed a series of upkicks against Santos before briefly trapping his Brazilian foe in a triangle choke.

For the most part, however, Santos was comfortable working from top positio…

WOOOW!!! MAMED KHALIDOV!!!

He does it again!!! XTB #KSWColosseum2 pic.twitter.com/IIAZGTfZ8i

— KSW (@KSW_MMA) June 3, 2023

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In front of a fully-packed PGE Narodowy Arena in Krakow, Poland, KSW 83 "Colosseum 2" delivered a contender for the “Card of the Year” honors with entertaining battles, submissions, knockouts and last-minute drama.

The stacked card was headlined by the highly-anticipated rubber match between former two-division titleholder Mamed Khalidov and former middleweight champion Scott Askham. Khalidov dropped a unanimous decision in his first clash with Askham, but he rebounded with back-to-back knockout victories over his opponent — including on Saturday — to win the trilogy. Khalidov (37-8-2, 21-4-2 KSW) dominated the first stanza thanks to a well-timed takedown and ground position. Askham (19-6, 4-2 KSW) looked for scrambles but never seemed to control the fight’s direction.

The contestants spent muc…

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲 𝐅𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭.

🇵🇱 Khalidov vs. @scottaskham1 🇬🇧

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Their final chapter will be written on the biggest stage in MMA! XTB #KSWColosseum2 @ViaplaySportsUK | KSWTV | @viaplaypl pic.twitter.com/81Kc3ab4GT — KSW (@KSW_MMA) June 2, 2023 Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki's Colosseum 2 event is set, although it has one less title fight than initially planned.

The bantamweight title fight between Jakub Wiklacz and Werlleson Martins Ribeiro was scratched after Ribeiro failed to make weight. The challenger came in over 10 pounds heavy at 147.2 pounds. Wiklacz declined to face another opponent, and the fight was replaced with a last-minute fight between newcomers Sebastian Romanowski and Mariusz Joniak at a 163-pound catchweight.

The card will go ahead with its main event between Mamed Khalidov and Scott Askham, along with lightweight and middleweight title fights. The lightweight title fight will see Marian Ziolkow…

Kyle Driscoll needed to bounce back and did so in dominant fashion under the Cage Warriors Fighting Championship banner. The CW 155 main event did not even last a full round, as Driscoll (14-4, 2-1 CW) stopped James Lynch in less than four minutes on Friday at the Sycuan Casino Resort in San Diego.

𝗗𝗥𝗜𝗦𝗖𝗢𝗟𝗟 𝗗𝗢𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡! 😱

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He takes our #CW155 main event in the very first round with an incredible TKO win 👏 pic.twitter.com/ZDSiIIex49 — Cage Warriors (@CageWarriors) June 3, 2023 Right out of the gate, Driscoll cut loose with powerful shots that forced his opponent to play self-preservation defense. Lynch (6-4, 4-3 CW) partially managed to intercept his counterpart’s strikes with hooks and some timid calf kicks, but he looked much slower than Driscoll. The key moment arrived with a right hand from Driscoll that impacted cleanly on Lynch’s chin, knocking him down. In a split second, Driscoll jumped into full-mount and landed hard g…

Our #UFCVegas74 main event is official ‼️@KaiKaraFrance weighs in at 125.5 💪

UFCVegas74 | Prelims 6pmET on ESPN+ | Main Card 9pmET on ESPN pic.twitter.com/DAaBM1OmNJ

— UFC (@ufc) June 2, 2023 After a rare week off, the Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to ESPN airwaves with an intriguing flyweight main attraction.

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Headlining UFC on ESPN 46 is a 125-pound fight between contenders Kai Kara-France and Amir Albazi. Both flyweights successfully made weight for what is the first UFC main event for both. The rest of the card also all made weight.

The main event showcase comes after Kara-France (24-10, 1 NC) came up short in an interim title fight against Brandon Moreno. "Don't Blink" ultimately succumbed to a body kick and punches in Round 3. Despite the setback, the 30-year-old will look to show that he still has plenty left in the tank. The New Zealand fighter officially weighed 125.5 pounds.

This marks the bi…

[embedded content] A fighter from the early days of the Ultimate Fighting Championship wants to face another elder statesman…with a catch.

MMA legend Mark Coleman, at the age of 58, has started training again and is actively cornering fighters. Perhaps to get his name out again or because he felt the itch of competition again, Coleman called out Conor McGregor for a bare-knuckle boxing fight. McGregor famously appeared at BKFC 41, at the conclusion of the event helmed by Mike Perry vs. Luke Rockhold, where he entered the ring and even faced off against the victor. Count former rival, Carlos Barreto, who currently commentates on UFC Fight Pass for Brazilian broadcasts, against that idea.

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“Coleman is one of the biggest legends of our sport,” Barreto stated on his YouTube show “Papo de Luta.” “He passed through a very difficult time lately and showed his big heart overcoming alcoholism and also a heart attack. He was giving a great example to everybody […

An all-Brazil strawweight battle is headed towards a Ultimate Fighting Championship card in the late summer.

First reported by MMA Fighting on Friday morning, the promotion has put together a strawweight tilt between Polyana Viana (13-5) and Iasmin Lucindo (14-5). The two will toe the line at a currently unnumbered UFC on ESPN card on Aug. 12. The fight will take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, and it has been confirmed by Lucindo on her Instagram.

Since starting off her UFC tenure at 1-3, Viana has turned things around, going 3-1 in her last four dating back to 2020. After the trio of defeats to J.J. Aldrich, Hannah Cifers and Veronica Hardy, Viana bounced back by finishing the likes of Emily Whitmire, Mallory Martin and Jinh Yu Frey, all in the opening round. Along the way, her lone loss came to Tabatha Ricci by decision. In her pro career dating back to 2013, “Dama de Ferro” has secured all 13 of her wins by stoppage, with all but one coming in Round 1.

Read more about Polyana Viana-Iasmin Lucindo Match Added to Aug. 12 UFC on ESPN Show

Two pure finishers will collide at the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s upcoming trip to Boston.

Per Andre Petroski’s (9-1) Instagram page on Friday, he has announced he will be competing in New England this August. At UFC 292 inside of the TD Garden in Boston, the “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 29 competitor will be squaring off with Gerald Meerschaert (35-16). The two will be toeing the line at middleweight on Aug. 19, and they combine for 41 finishes in their 44 pro victories.

On the 29th season of TUF, Petroski reached the semifinals only to fall short to eventual victor Bryan Battle. Since then, the New Jersey native has rattled off four straight wins in the UFC, including three inside the distance. Most recently, Petroski topped Wellington Turman on the scorecards, ending his stretch of three straight stoppages. Before the Turman fight, Petroski had dispatched fellow TUF 29 castmate Micheal Gillmore, Yaozong Hu and Nick Maximov in the span of less than nine mo…

The “Pitbull” brothers of Bellator MMA may be considering a four-division championship reign.

Entering the lightweight grand prix, ex-champ Patricky Freire had goals of winning his title back. In November 2022, Freire surrendered his throne to the unbeaten Usman Nurmagomedov, who handled him on the scorecards at Bellator 288. The Brazilian joined the 155-pound tournament, and found himself matched against former featherweight titleholder A.J. McKee. The two will be competing at the co-promoted Bellator vs. Rizin Fighting Federation event on July 30 in Saitama, Japan. The two leagues will run an event that will feature both a ring and a cage, and McKee vs. Freire will be held inside of a cage under the Unified Rules of MMA. Freire spoke to Sherdog about his upcoming fight as well as his brother’s, Patricio Freire.

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“Fighting in Japan again will be great, unfortunately Rizin rules will not be allowed,” Freire relayed with disappointment. “I would love to…

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has booked a headliner for a show five months from now.

The UFC will be returning to Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Nov. 4 for a UFC Fight Night offering. The event, which will likely be held inside of the Ibirapuera Gymnasium, will feature a heavyweight main attraction of Curtis Blaydes (17-4, 1 NC) vs. Jailton Almeida (19-2). This fight and location were first reported by MMA Junkie on Thursday, and it was subsequently confirmed by other outlets. This would be the UFC’s first jaunt to the largest city in Brazil since UFC Fight Night 164 in November 2019.

Elevation Fight Team product Blaydes last competed in April, where he squared off against Sergei Pavlovich in a likely title eliminator match. Blaydes suffered a first-round knockout at the hands of the Russian, thereby halting a three-fight win streak Blaydes had amassed. In late 2021, Blaydes topped Jairzinho Rozenstruik on the scorecards, and “Razor” had a successful 2022 campaign by e…

Two of the heftier ranked Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweights will slug it out in a month.

MMA Junkie broke the matchup news on Thursday that Alexander Romanov (16-2) and Blagoy Ivanov (19-5) will be meeting on July 1. The heavyweight clash, taking place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, will like serve as part of UFC on ESPN 48’s main card. The fight was confirmed shortly after its announcement by Romanov on Instagram.

Moldova’s Romanov has seen better days of late, as he is currently riding the only losing streak of his career. In August 2022, Romanov threw down with Marcin Tybura, and he dropped a majority verdict. A rebound effort against higher-ranked Alexander Volkov in March did not go his way either, as the Russian punched him out in a little over two minutes. Those losses ended a triumphant opening to his career, where he won 16 fights and never heard the final bell. Along that run, one that included five wins in the UFC, “King Kong” had never needed mo…

🚨🚨BREAKING🚨🚨

Jesse Butler steps in on short notice to take on Jim Miller this Saturday at #UFCVegas74 in Las Vegas. pic.twitter.com/HcGfwwi8X4

— Marcel Dorff 🇳🇱🇮🇩 (@BigMarcel24) June 1, 2023 The gap in Octagon experience for this short-notice Ultimate Fighting Championship match will be historic.

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Earlier in May, Jim Miller (35-17, 1 NC) was slated to face Ludovit Klein at UFC on ESPN 46. A few weeks before the match, Jared Gordon stepped in to replace Klein against Miller. On Thursday, news broke from Fight Bananas that Gordon was forced out of the fight that will be happening on Saturday. The promotion cobbled together another replacement option, per Eurosport NL, and Miller will now be squaring off with newcomer Jesse Butler (12-4) on June 3 at the UFC Apex. The lightweight pairing has been confirmed by Butler on Twitter shortly after its announcement.

Miller is still aiming to rebound from his first loss in a few …

Our #CW155 San Diego main event is 𝗢𝗙𝗙𝗜𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟! ⚖️

— Cage Warriors (@CageWarriors) June 1, 2023 Cage Warriors Fighting Championship makes its return to San Diego, where 21 of the 22 athletes successfully made weight.

Headlining CW 155 is a lightweight fight between James Lynch and Kyle Driscoll. Ever the professionals, both men hit their proper marks. As for the rest of the card, one preliminary headlining participant was the lone competitor to miss on the scales. Ahead of his bantamweight clash with James Settle (135.6), Frans Linsol Sormin (136.4) checked in .4 pounds over the limit, and he has been fined a percentage of his purse.

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Lynch (6-3) recently rebounded from a knockout loss to Erick Sanchez by winning a decision over Georgii Eivas. "Jamey" has won three out of his last four and is 3-2 inside the promotion overall. Lynch weighed 155.9 for the main event.

Meanwhile, Driscoll had an eight-fight win streak snapp…

𝐒𝐀𝐍 𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐎! 𝐒𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐄 🗓️

Featherweights and Light Heavyweights fight to punch their ticket to the 2023 PFL World Championships LIVE from the @BoeingCenterSA on Friday, August 4th!

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For more information 👇https://t.co/eCMG4faqPw pic.twitter.com/oXWl90jdSY — PFL (@PFLMMA) June 1, 2023 Texas will play host to the first leg of the Professional Fighters League’s 2023 playoffs.

The promotion announced in a press release on Thursday that its first playoff event in 2023 would take place on Aug. 4. The card will be held at Boeing Center at Tech Port in San Antonio, Texas. This particular event will include the commencement of the featherweight and light heavyweight brackets, along with other various matchups as the organization determines. It is unclear at the time if the PFL will remain in Texas for the other two playoff shows, or if it will travel elsewhere for them.

PFL CEO Peter Murray included a statement about th…

The card for UFC 291 continues to take shape, as the promotion announced two new matchups for the July 29 event.

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Matthew Semelsberger will face Yohan Lainesse at welterweight, while Roman Kopylov will meet Claudio Ribeiro at middleweight on the preliminary draw. UFC 291 takes place at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, and is headlined by a lightweight rematch pitting Dustin Poirier against Justin Gaethje for the BMF title.

Semelsberger is 5-3 since beginning his promotional tenure in 2020. Most recently, “Semi the Jedi” dropped a split decision to Jeremiah Wells at UFC Fight Night 222 on April 22.

A former competitor on Dana White’s Contender Series, Lainesse has lost two of his first three Octagon appearances. In his last outing, the Canadian known as “White Lion” was submitted by Mike Malott in the opening stanza at UFC Fight Night 220 on Feb. 25.

After losing his first two promotional appearances, Kopylov has rebounded to sc…

After nearly four years away from the Octagon, Kron Gracie disappointed his fans with the worst performance of his career at UFC 288.

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Gracie was unable to get opponent Charles Jourdain to the canvas and on the feet, his output was almost nonexistent in a unanimous decision defeat. That showing drew criticism from UFC president Dana White in the aftermath.

"He came really limited tonight, fighting like he just left a time capsule from 1995,” White said at the UFC 288 post-fight press conference.

One week after the fight, Kron released a statement where he blamed “bad advice” and a desire to please the jiu-jitsu community for the defeat.

“In a lifetime of fighting, it’s always been a fight to the death,” the son of Rickson Gracie wrote. “Understand the situation and willing to limit myself, even that being said I threw no punches because of bad advice and tried to please the jiu-jitsu community two days before my fight. First fight in my life I…

Merab Dvalishvili won’t be back in the Octagon until later this year.

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The UFC bantamweight contender recently underwent surgery on his right hand and is expected to spend approximately six to eight weeks in a splint. His return to full contact, including punching, isn’t expected to occur until 10 to 12 weeks after the procedure. Dvalishvili’s manager, Oren Hodak, initially confirmed the news to MMAFighting.com.

Dvalishvili has won his last nine bouts in UFC competition. Most recently, “The Machine” earned an impressive five-round verdict over ex-champ Petr Yan in the UFC Fight Night 221 headliner on March 11. He also owns notable wins over the likes of Jose Aldo, Marlon Moraes, Cody Stamann and John Dodson.

While Dvallishvili is currently a title contender at 135 pounds, he has stated on multiple occasions that he won’t challenge for the belt as long as Serra-Longo Fight Team stablemate Aljamain Sterling is champion. Sterling is currently sc…

The 2023 Professional Fighters League campaign will have to move on without defending light heavyweight champion Rob Wilkinson.

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Wilkinson has failed a drug test following his victory over Thiago Santos at PFL 1 and has been pulled from a scheduled clash against Ty Flores at PFL 4 on June 8. Wilkinson will also miss the rest of the PFL season due to a pending suspension. MMA Mania was first to report Wilkinson’s failed drug test. The substance for which Wilkinson tested positive has not been revealed.

As a result, Flores will now face Dan Spohn at PFL 4, which takes place at Overtime Elite Arena in Atlanta. Wilkinson vs. Flores was slated to be the card’s co-main event.

Wilkinson is just the latest — and perhaps most prominent — PFL athlete to fail a drug test following the league’s first three events. Nine fighters, including Santos, have either been fined and suspended or are facing sanctions from the Nevada Athletic Commission after testi…

Aaron Pico will lock horns with Pedro Carvalho in a featherweight duel at Bellator 299.

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The California-based promotion announced the bout on Tuesday. Bellator 299 takes place at 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland on Sept. 23 and is headlined by a middleweight championship showdown between Johnny Eblen and Fabian Edwards.

After a shoulder injury led to a technical knockout loss against Jeremy Kennedy at Bellator 286 in October, Pico returned to the win column at Bellator 295, taking a clear-cut unanimous verdict against James Gonzalez on April 22. The 26-year-old Jackson-Wink MMA product has won seven of his last eight contests under the Bellator banner.

According to a release, Carvalho recently signed a new Bellator deal. The SBG Ireland export is 2-2 in his last four outings ? including a decision defeat to Kennedy in his most recent appearance at Bellator 291. The Portugal native owns notable wins over the likes of Mads Burnell, Daniel Weichel, Sam…

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With the premiere of “The Ultimate Fighter 31” on Tuesday night, the countdown for Conor McGregor’s Octagon return begins in earnest.

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“It’s time for me to immerse myself back in the game,” McGregor said in an interview on the UFC’s YouTube channel. “I’m excited to get back. I couldn’t turn down the offer.”

The former UFC two-division champion said that coaching on the long-running reality show was beneficial to his own development. McGregor previously served as a coach against Urijah Faber on “TUF 22” in 2015.

“I enjoyed myself the last time,” McGregor said. “For me when I start teaching, and I used to coach a boxing class [for John Kavangh] many years ago before I got into the UFC…me committing to coaching a class and coaching a couple of people, it almost forced me to dial in a bit more. I had to think about the technique. I had to think about the way I was gonna teach, why I was teaching. It just allowed me to actually get …

Amanda Nunes’ loss to Julianna Pena at UFC 269 was one of the biggest upsets in the sport’s history, and it took a mental toll on the Brazilian in the immediate aftermath.

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In fact, Nunes considered calling it a career following the second-round submission defeat at UFC 269.

“I was very confused. Losing my belt was crazy,” Nunes said in a recent interview with ESPN. “But at the same time, I know I was sad. Something was wrong. Something wasn’t right. And that’s why it looked, like, not real for me. And then when actually I saw [coach Din Thomas], right in the arena outside, and I gave him a hug, I looked at him and I said, ‘I think I’m done.’ And we looked at each other, and he looked [at me]: ‘Are you sure? OK, call me later. Talk to me later.’”

Ultimately, Nunes had a change of heart, which would set the stage for a rematch with Pena in 2022.

“I drove back home, and I was putting my thoughts together. Everything. What I went through, going t…