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Francis Ngannou has been thinking about a potential fight against boxing champion Tyson Fury for quite some time now.

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“I’ve been studying him for the past three years,” Ngannou said in a recent interview with TMZ Sports. “I’ve been to some of his fights.”

The former UFC champion will get to test his skills against Fury when they square off in a boxing match on Oct. 28 in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia. Ngannou has notably been working with Mike Tyson in preparation for the bout.

“I think my feet [are] the most [improved],” Ngannou said. “All the footwork, that power transition. I think that’s been very amazing.”

Fury was dismissive of that relationship in a post on social media.

“It’s good to see you’re training hard [Francis Ngannou], and you’re going to need to,” Fury wrote. “It doesn’t matter if you’re being trained by the great Mike Tyson, Muhammad Ali or Bruce Lee. You’re going to get KO’d in the Kingdom.”

Ngannou is…

Newly UFC bantamweight champion Sean O'Malley has been called out by another recently-crowned champion in the promotion.

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In a post on Instagram, UFC flyweight king Alexandre Pantoja asked his followers who should be his next opponent. One of the suggested names was O’Malley, who captured the 135-pound belt with a first-round knockout of Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292 on Aug. 19. Pantoja agreed that a champion vs. champion clash would be interesting while implying that he got the better of “Sugar” during a past training session.”

"There's something I really want: to fight this guy (O'Malley). I desire to move up one weight class to fight Sugar Sean O'Malley. He talks too much, talks a lot of trash,” Pantoja said. “I trained with him once, he recorded the sparring, but he never sent me the video. You know why.”

It didn’t take long for O’Malley to respond via social media.

"It's definitely not cool to call out people below you in weight,” O’…

A middleweight showdown pitting Brendan Allen against Paul Craig will serve as the main event for an Ultimate Fighting Championship card on Nov. 18.

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The promotion announced the pairing on Tuesday. UFC Fight Night takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and also includes a strawweight clash between Amanda Ribas and Luana Pinheiro.

Allen has gone 10-2 within the Las Vegas-based organization since appearing on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2019. He enters the matchup with Craig on a five-bout winning streak, with back-to-back submission wins over Andre Muniz and Bruno Silva thus far in 2023. The former Legacy Fighting Alliance champion is 22-5 as a professional and has finished 18 of his victories inside the distance.

Craig, meanwhile, made a successful 185-pound debut on July 22, when he defeated Muniz via second-round TKO at UFC Fight Night 224. Prior to that, the 35-year-old Scot went 8-6-1 at light heavyweight in the Octagon, earning not…

Carlos Prates could not have envisioned a cleaner performance.

The Phuket Top Team product was one of three hopefuls to nail down an Ultimate Fighting Championship contract during Week 4 of Dana White’s Contender Series, as he punched out Mitch Ramirez in the second round of their welterweight showcase on Tuesday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Prates (17-6, 1-0 DWCS) slammed the door 74 seconds into Round 2.

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Ramirez (7-1, 0-1 DWCS) was simply out of his depth and enjoyed little success outside of a first-round takedown. Prates picked apart the Syndicate MMA export with surgical combinations, utilizing everything from leg kicks and body kicks to close-range knees and devastating straight-line punches. He continued to wear out Ramirez in the middle stanza and eventually stepped into a searing left hand that sat him down and led referee Jason Herzog to call for the stoppage.

Lightweight Bolaji Oki and heavyweight Thomas Petersen joined Prates to comp…

Sherdog’s coverage of DWCS 2023, Week 4 will begin Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET. Round 1 Sherdog Scores Round 2 Sherdog Scores Round 3 Sherdog Scores The Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Round 2 Sherdog Scores Round 3 Sherdog Scores The Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Round 2 Sherdog Scores Round 3 Sherdog Scores The Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Round 2 Sherdog Scores Round 3 Sherdog Scores The Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Round 2 Sherdog Scores Round 3 Sherdog Scores The Result

Joseph Pyfer will lock horns with Abdul Razak Alhassan in a middleweight bout at an UFC Fighting Championship event on Oct. 7

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Pyfer initially announced the pairing on social media, and it was later confirmed by MMAjunkie.com. UFC Fight Night is expected to take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. A headliner has not been confirmed.

Pyfer has impressed since earning a contract on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2022, as he’s scored back-to-back first-round knockouts of Alen Amedovski and Gerald Meerschaert in his first two UFC appearances. Pyfer ahs won four straight fights overall, all via KO or TKO.

Alhassan, meanwhile, has been victorious in two of his last three UFC bouts. Most recently, “Judo Thunder” knocked out Claudio Ribeiro in the second round of their clash at UFC Fight Night 217 on Jan. 14. All 12 of Alhassan’s professional wins — including six in the UFC — have come via KO or TKO.

Amanda Ribas will square off against Luana Pinheiro in a strawweight clash at UFC Fight Night on Nov. 18 on Nov. 18.

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Combate was first to report the booking. UFC Fight Night takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and does not yet have a confirmed headliner.

Ribas is returning to 115 pounds following a 1-2 stint at flyweight, where she bested Viviane Araujo but lost bouts to Maycee Barber and Katlyn Chookagian. The 30-year-old Brazilian began her Octagon tenure with victories in five of her first six appearances.

A competitor on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2020, Pinheiro has kicked off her UFC career with three consecutive triumphs. Most recently, the Nova Uniao representative garnered a split decision win over former Invicta FC champ Michelle Waterson at UFC 287.

Welcome to Karate Combat @smilensam!!

With a background in karate, Sam has always been a fan favourite and is known to throw down. He will make his debut in the Pit on September 16th in the Dominican Republic. 🥋 pic.twitter.com/VQwHipLP2s

— Karate Combat (@KarateCombat) August 28, 2023

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Longtime Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran Sam Alvey has a new combat sports home.

Karate Combat, a full contact striking league with eight weight classes, announced on Monday that Alvey has signed with the organization for a Sept. 16 debut in the Dominican Republic. An opponent was not revealed.

“With a background in karate, Sam has always been a fan favorite and is known to throw down,” read a statement from Karate Combat on social media.

Alvey famously exited the UFC following an 0-8-1 streak that lasted from September 2018 until August 2022. Overall, “Smile’n Sam” went 10-13-1 in the Las Vegas-based promotion with not…

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After Stephen Thompson declined to face an overweight Michel Pereira at UFC 291, the promotion offered him another opponent a little more than a month later.

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On his YouTube channel, “Wonderboy” recently revealed that he was given the chance to face Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 293 in Sydney on Sept. 9. However, since he was just coming off a lengthy training camp in preparation for Pereira, the six-week turnaround was too much.

“This is literally the weekend of UFC 291, but UFC comes to me and was like, ‘Hey, how about you fight JDM in Australia?’ I was like, ‘No, too soon,’” Thompson said. “You know, I’ve been training since April. So my training camp has been wearing me down, want to heal up from that. So I told them no.

“And they were like, ‘OK, well, how about fighting the following weekend in Vegas?’ I was like, ‘Man, still too soon again.’ My body’s broken down. I want to be able to heal back up, but not only that, JDM is…

All 10 fighters slated to compete on Week 4 of Dana White’s Contender Series made weight on Monday.

The Contender Series takes place on Tuesday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and features a welterweight clash pitting Mitch Ramirez (171) against Carlos Prates (170). The card airs on ESPN+ beginning at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.

Ramirez has kicked off his professional tenure with seven consecutive triumphs. Most recently, the Syndicate MMA product defeated Bellator MMA veteran via second-round technical knockout at XMMA 6 “Bash at the Beach” on May 3. All but one of his victories have come inside the distance.

The 30-year-old Prates enters the matchup with a 16-6 career mark. The Phuket Top Team-trained Brazilian has won his last six outings and is coming off back-to-back first-round KO triumphs under the Legacy Fighting Alliance banner.

Contender Series Weigh-in Results:Mitch Ramirez (171) vs. Carlos Prates (170)Yousri Belgaroui (186) vs. Marco Tulio Silva Costa (185.…

Gladiators Return to the Arena ⚔️ #FNC12 this Saturday | Pula Arena 🇭🇷 pic.twitter.com/t0nuX1WqPp

— FNC (@FNCmma) August 28, 2023

In the ongoing feud between billionaire tech moguls, Elon Musk has floated the idea about fighting Mark Zuckerberg at the Colosseum in Rome. Fight Nation Championship, the largest mixed martial arts promotion in Croatia and the Balkans, is taking that notion one step further – albeit at a different location.

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FNC 12 will take place on Saturday at Pula Arena, an ancient amphitheater built some 2,000 years ago by the Romans, who used it for ancient gladiatorial battles. The arena is located in the Croatian coastal town of Pula and is one of the few amphitheaters of its kind remaining in the world.

FNC is headlined by a heavyweight title clash between Ivan Vitasovic and Michal Andryszak, while Matej Batinic will square off against Gadzhimurad Khebdeev for the promotion’s inaugural light heavywei…

After more than a year-and-a-half on the sidelines, Giga Chikadze made a successful return to the Octagon at UFC Fight Night 225.

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The 35-year-old Kings MMA product engaged in a back-and-forth standup battle with Alex Caceres, eventually emerging with a unanimous decision triumph in their featured featherweight clash at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore, on Saturday. It was Chikadze’s first bout since dropping a five-round verdict to Calvin Kattar in the UFC on ESPN 32 headliner on Jan. 15, 2022.

“It feels so great. I can’t even explain,” Chikadze said in a post-fight interview with the UFC. “It’s been a pretty long time, and I felt like I was without a job. Finally I got my dream job back, and I haven’t been so happy for a long time. So finally, we’re back baby … It’s been 15 minutes, and I feel like every second I looked great, and I’m pretty happy after one-and-a-half year layoff with my performance.”

Caceres was competitive th…

A bantamweight bout pitting Hideo Tokoro against Alan Yamaniha will headline the Rizin Landmark Vol. 6 card on Oct. 1.

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The Japanese promotion recently announced the lineup for the event, which takes place at Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium in Nagoya, Japan. The full card includes 11 MMA contests and one kickboxing match.

A veteran of 68 professional fights with appearances in Bellator, Dream and K-1 in addition to Rizin, Tokoro will be competing for the first time in 2023. The 46-year-old Tokoro went 0-2 last year, dropping a decision to Makoto Takahashi at Rizin 37 before suffering a first-round KO defeat against John Dodson at Rizin 40.

Yamaniha, meanwhile, has won six of his last eight outings dating back to 2019. Most recently, the Bonsai Jiu-Jitsu representative earned a unanimous decision triumph against Yasuhiro Kawamura at Rizin Landmark Vol. 4 on Nov. 6.

Erin Blanchfield had to weather some early adversity against Taila Santos, but she expected a difficult bout entering UFC Fight Night 225.

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“I expect these type of fights, I always hope to do them better,” Blanchfield said in a post-fight interview with the UFC. “Just get in there, don’t get hurt at all, finish the fight and get out, but tough fights like this are what make you grow. So sometimes you need them.”

Santos started their flyweight bout strong, landing hard punches, knees and leg kicks in the opening stanza. Additionally, the Brazilian did a good job defending the takedown throughout the fight. Over time, though, Blanchfield was still able to impose her will through consistent pressure and control. That, in turn, created openings for her to land more strikes.

“She had strong leg kicks, I didn’t expect the leg kicks as much. Her takedown defense was good but I felt super close a couple times. I was persistent on it. I could feel her ge…

Max Holloway had an inkling that Chan Sung Jung might go for broke in their headlining bout at UFC Fight Night 225.

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That’s exactly what happened in Round 3, when “The Korean Zombie” threw caution to the wind before Holloway landed the decisive blow to win via knockout 23 seconds into the period. Shortly thereafter, Jung laid down his gloves in an emotional farewell.

“I think he knew exactly what had to be done,” Holloway said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “I think he knew what the job was. It was kill or be killed. I was just lucky that I was on top on the other side of it. We both threw right hands. Mine just landed a tad quicker. A half-second slower, who knows, his lands first what would have happened? I don’t know if I would have ate it or a lot of stuff could have gone wrong.

“I think I hurt him in the second round good. Between the second and the third, he was sitting there and being like, ‘I’m not going to coast through a fi…

Max Holloway once again proved his legitimacy as the second-best featherweight in the world after finishing the indestructible Chan Sung Jung in the UFC Fight Night 225 main event at Singapore’s Indoor Stadium.

For years Holloway (25-7) and "Korean Zombie" have circled each other as potential opponents in the Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight division. Despite Jung’s decline in age, the Zombie’s high-octane, all-guts style brought out the violence in the blessed one.

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Holloway came out poised and patient as usual but seemed shocked by the spring in the Zombie’s step. Jung (17-8) landed several hard shots and forced Holloway to sit on his punches and trade. After the first round, it was clear that it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park for the UFC’s No. 1 ranked featherweight contender.

Heading into the second round, Holloway looked to put Zombie away and nearly did after dropping him with a hard right hand. Holloway pounced on the chok…

Sherdog's live UFC Fight Night 225 coverage will begin Saturday at 5 a.m. ET. BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Choi (-180), Errens (+150)Round 1 Featherweights Choi and Errens kick off the proceedings from Kallang, Singapore, with Thomas Fan set to oversee the proceedings. Both men are in orthodox stance. Errens springs forward with lunging low kicks to the leg and front kicks to the body. They throw simultaneous low kicks that clash shin-on-shin. A minute and a half in, most of the offense from both fighters has been kicks, but Errens lands a crisp one-two. Choi catches the onrushing Errens with a nasty short right that buckles his legs. Errens manages to grab a clinch and shove Choi to the fence while he regains his wits. Choi reverses the position and pushes Errens into the chain link. Errens with an overhook. They break up and resume throwing leather. Errens stings Choi with a hard left hand. A minute left in the round and Errens is still throwing everything har…

HEAVY SHOTS FROM Waldo Cortes-Acosta 🫣 #UFCSingapore pic.twitter.com/ruoBvIgmKB

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) August 26, 2023 After two straight first-round finishes, there was no way heavyweight bruiser Waldo Cortes-Acosta was gonna break the steak. "Salsa Boy" (10-1, 3-1 UFC) closed out the UFC Fight Night 225 prelims in devastating fashion with a first-round knockout of Poland’s Lukasz Brzeski.

Out of the five finishes on the prelims, Acosta’s may have been the most violent. With just over two minutes left in the round, Acosta parried Brzeski’s jab and made him pay dearly with an overhand right carrying the entirety of his 264-pound frame. Brzeski’s legs stopped, dropped and rolled until he finally face-planted in his own corner. Brzeski, a former DWCS product, has lost his first three fights in the UFC.

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Armfield Steamrolls Kazama Garrett Armfield steamrolled Toshiomi Kazama to secure his first UFC win in bantamweight actio…

The Ultimate Fighting Championship awarded four fighters performance bonuses following the UFC Fight Night 225 card.

As expected, the fight of the night was a no-brainer as Max Holloway and Chan Sung Jung put on a thrilling fight in front of the fans. "Korean Zombie" was knocked out in the third round and retired after the fight, which saw Holloway land some incredible punches, including a right hook that ended the career of the fan-favorite South Korean fighter. Both men earned an extra $50,000 as a result.

The two Performance of the Night bonuses went to two impressive knockout artists. Michal Oleksiejczuk earned one for his comeback TKO win over Chidi Njokuani. "Hussar" picked up the finish at the 4:16 mark of Round 1. Finally, Junior Tafa needed just 1:24 to finish Parker Porter. While it took 18 seconds longer than his brother Justin Tafa, "The Juggernaut" was just as impressive, blasting Porter with a number of elbows and punches that put away the heavyweigh…

According to her coach, top Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight Mayra Bueno Silva should be ready to return to competition sooner than later.

On July 15, Silva secured the biggest win of her pro career by submitting Holly Holm with a ninja choke in their main event of UFC on ESPN 49. However, the Brazilian announced in August that she had failed her post-fight drug test, breaking the news before it spread from other sources. Silva claimed that she did not intentionally violate the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency ban on the substance, later determined to be ritalinic acid, a stimulant also known as Ritalin or Concerta. She stated that she took the prescribed medication to treat her ADHD, and that she stopped taking it a week before the fight to let it clear out of her system.

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Sherdog spoke to Silva’s coach at American Top Team, Marcos da Matta, more famously known as “Parrumpinha,” who discussed her situation. Da Matta thanked the UFC for working with…

The grizzled Ultimate Fighting Championship vet known as “The Damage” is not finished yet.

Darren Elkins (27-11) revealed on Thursday on his Instagram page that he will be competing on Oct. 14. His first pairing of 2023 will come at the featherweight division, where he will battle it out with T.J. Brown (17-10) at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Both men are coming off losses, having dropped two of their last three.

The ultra-durable Elkins split his 2022 campaign with a win over Tristan Connelly followed by a December decision loss to Jonathan Pearce. The 17-10 record in the Octagon for the Team Alpha Male product is the exact same as the entire professional record for his opponent. Since joining the roster over 13 years ago, “The Damage” has secured wins over names like Dennis Bermudez, Mirsad Bektic, Michael Johnson and Hatsu Hioki, to name a few.

Brown cannot currently celebrate a winning record in the UFC, as his three victories are opposed by four defeats. M…

A Ultimate Fighting Championship fight previously booked between Chris Curtis and Anthony Hernandez has completely transformed.

On Wednesday, Hernandez announced that he had suffered an injury during training, and that he has been forced out of the Noche UFC event in September. At one time, middleweights Curtis and Hernandez were set to square off, but Curtis also sustained an injury that knocked him out of the pairing. Roman Kopylov (11-2) tagged in to face Hernandez, and now Josh Fremd (11-4) will be taking Hernandez’ place. Fremd confirmed his short-notice appearance on Instagram on Wednesday.

Fremd appeared earlier in August to snag a decision over Jamie Pickett, and in the process put himself on a win streak in the Octagon. In March, Fremd snapped a two-bout skid by tapping out Sedriques Dumas in the second round. Before then, Fremd unsuccessfully debuted in the promotion against Hernandez in April 2022, and Tresean Gore put him to sleep with a guillotine cho…

Clay Collard had to earn his first Professional Fighters League Championship appearance the hard way.

In a surefire “Fight of the Year” contender, Collard held off a hard-charging Shane Burgos to win a closely-contesting unanimous decision triumph in the PFL 9 headliner at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York on Wednesday night. All three cageside judges submitted tallies in favor of Collard: 29-28, 29-28 and 29-28. The UFC veteran will advance to face defending PFL champion Olivier Aubin-Mercier in the lightweight final on Nov. 24.

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Collard (24-10, 6-2 PFL) set the tone early, utilizing his trademark volume punching to the head and body to rack up a lead on the scorecards. He backed Burgos (16-5, 1-2 PFL) into the fence with a left hook-right hand combination in the opening stanza and sat his foe down with a left hook in Round 2. The Team Tiger Schulmann product was undeterred, however. He targeted Collard with inside low kicks throughou…

Sergio Batarelli, the creator of International Vale Tudo Championship (IVC), an event that showcased MMA legends such as Wanderlei Silva and Pedro Rizzo in the 1990s, is starting a new promotion.

Batarelli revealed to Sherdog.com that MMA Fight Sport will hold its debut event in Qatar later in 2023. According to Batarelli, it will be a tournament with qualification matches leading to a "knockout" stage, with a total prize of $1 million in cash per category. In addition, there will be different rules and weight categories, to be announced soon.

"It will be a cage-style event, with weekly editions starting from November 2023 and a pay-per-view event every three months,” Batarelli said. “Anyone who holds or has an official title can send us their information.

Interested competitors can send their fight information via email to [email protected].