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VIBES ARE HIGH FOR @MALHADINHO_UFC AFTER THAT WIN ?? #UFCCharlotte pic.twitter.com/WtpkZDa8ZY

— UFC (@ufc) May 13, 2023 The Ultimate Fighting Championship awarded four fighters performance bonuses following the UFC on ABC 4 card.

Main event winner Jailton Almeida took home an additional $50,000 on top of his purse for his dominant submission win over Jairzinho Rozenstruik. The win came in the very first round as "Malhadinho" took his foe down and secured a rear-naked choke. The submission was too tight and forced "Bigi Boy" to tap at the 3:43 mark.

Three other fighters earned performance of the night bonuses with impressive knockout wins. Another fighter on the rise, Ian Garry, passed his latest test by battering Daniel Rodriguez with punches after landing a perfectly timed head kick. Veteran Matt Brown picked up $50,000 along with tying the record for most KO wins in the UFC for his knockout punch that floored Court McGee. Finally,…

The most romantic city in the world was on hand for Friday’s Bellator 296 card at the Accor Arena in Paris.

Middleweight contender Fabian Edwards (12-2, 8-2 BMMA) took a step outside of his older brother's shadow after outclassing middleweight legend Gegard Mousasi (49-9-2, 7-3 BMMA) over five-rounds in a Bellator MMA 185-pound title eliminator bout.

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In a back-and-forth fight, Edwards proved to be slightly sharper on the feet than the 37-year old Mousasi. Heading into the final round, the contenders appeared to be tied on the scorecards, before a body lock would give Edwards control throughout most of the fifth. With the win, Edwards set himself up with a shot at Bellator middleweight champion Johnny Eblen (13-0, 9-0) Sept. 23 in Dublin.

In the co-main event, former Bellator lightweight champion Brent Primus (12-3, 10-3 BMMA) advanced to the semifinals of the Bellator Lightweight Grand Prix after grinding out a grueling unanimous decision (48-47, 4…

Sherdog's live Bellator 296 coverage will begin Saturday at 11:55 a.m. ET. Round 1 Vive la France! For the third year since 2020, Bellator has posted up in Paris for a show to titillate those inside of the Accor Arena. French fans will be treated to 14 bouts of various intrigue, and the show will end with a pair of five-rounders but no belt on the line in either. The proceedings commence in the light heavyweight division between a pair of titanic finishers, as Augusto (7-4, 1 NC; 1-2 BMMA) battles Biyong (9-2, 2-1 BMMA) in a fight that might not last long. Referee Jacob Montalvo is ready and awaiting the violence that is set to begin in front of his eyes, but before that happens, the event begins with the two fighters sharing a sporting glove touch. Biyong leads off with a jab and a body kick, with his significant reach on display immediately. “Gugu” replies with a chopping low kick, and Biyong says two can play that game and gives him two back. Augusto recoils his limb on t…

The journey to million dollars and a PFL World Championship goes through 𝗔𝗧𝗟𝗔𝗡𝗧𝗔 with playoff spots on the line!

LIVE from @OvertimeElite Arena

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For more information and tickets 👇https://t.co/eCMG4faqPw pic.twitter.com/ZWb2ruJAZb — PFL (@PFLMMA) May 12, 2023

The Professional Fighters League on Friday unveiled matchups for the second half of its 2023 PFL Regular Season, which resumes on June 8 at Overtime Elite Arena in Atlanta.

News broke earlier this week -- originally reported by MMAFighting -- that nine fighters had tested positive for undisclosed banned substances after their bouts in the PFL heavyweight, light heavyweight and featherweight brackets. The list includes heavyweights Bruno Cappelozza, Cezar Ferreira and Rizvan Kuniev, light heavyweights Thiago Santos, Krzysztof Jotko, Will Fleury and Mohammad Fakhreddine, as well as featherweights Daniel Torres and Alejandro Flores. The fighters have been tempora…

Bigi Boy lives up to his name 💪@JairRozenstruik in at the 265lb heavyweight limit for our #UFCCharlotte main event! pic.twitter.com/0jJBPg99v5

— UFC (@ufc) May 12, 2023 An interesting heavyweight clash will headline UFC on ABC 4, which is now set after the official weigh-ins.

Headlining the 12-fight card is Jairzinho Rozenstruik vs. Jailton Almeida. "Bigi Boy" will be the larger fighter as he weighed 265 pounds. That is 34 pounds heavier than Almeida (18-2), who came in at 231 pounds.

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There were some issues on the scale, though, as two fighters initially missed weight and a fight was canceled. Bryan Battle came in 2 pounds over the welterweight limit for his fight against Gabriel Green. Meanwhile, Daniel Rodriguez came in half a pound over at 171.5 pounds for a welterweight bout against Ian Garry, although he was able to weigh 170 after weighing in a second time. Finally, Pete Rodriguez had to withdraw from his lightwe…

Watch the #KSW82 Ceremonial Weigh-Ins! Live on YouTube & Facebook! ⚖️

Today at 6pm CEST | 5pm BST | 12pm ET pic.twitter.com/RTn2zCiCF9

— KSW (@KSW_MMA) May 12, 2023 The KSW 82 card is is officially set for Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki's May offering after all fighters successfully made weight.

The seven-fight mixed martial arts card is headlined by a welterweight clash between Brian Hooi and Andrzej Grzebyk. Hooi (19-10, 1 NC) is 3-1 in his last four fights and is coming off a TKO win over Jivko Stoimenov. Meanwhile, Grzebyk (19-6) recently rebounded from a two-fight skid by knocking out Oton Jasse. Both men weighed 171 pounds.

KSW 82 will stream live on the promotion's website. The card begins at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT on Saturday for $9.99.

KSW 82 Weigh-in Results: Brian Hooi (171) vs. Andrzej Grzebyk (171)Filip Macek (136) vs. Sebastian Przybysz (136)Bogdan Gnidko (205) vs. Rafal Kijanczuk (205)Donovan Desmae (156) vs. Raul Tu…

The winner of this upcoming Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight tilt could crack the top 10 with a solid performance.

On Thursday, MMA Junkie first broke the news that Damir Ismagulov (24-2) and Grant Dawson (19-1-1) would be meeting at UFC on ESPN 48 on July 1. The event will take place inside of the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, and the lightweight duel is expected to be placed on the main card. Both fighters confirmed the pairing shortly after its announcement.

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Ismagulov was excited about the fight, stating on his Instagram, “Back to UFC Fight Night – July 1, 2023. Top 15 opponent. Another challenge. All or nothing, as we say, debts must be repaid. Fighting for my future. All or nothing! Chance to prove what I can do to wrestlers when I’m 100% Let’s go!”

The Orenburg, Russia, native suffered his first loss since 2015 when he came up short against Arman Tsarukyan at the final UFC card of 2022. That unanimous decision loss snapped a 19-fight …

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Tom Aspinall’s return from a horrific knee injury is set to take place in the same venue where it was inflicted last year.

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On Wednesday, the Ultimate Fighting Championship announced that Aspinall (12-3, 5-1 UFC) will headline UFC on ESPN 49 on July 22 in London against Marcin Tybura. Aspinall was vocal about his intentions to return in July after a year on the sidelines as he called out Tybura during the UFC 286 fight week in March. The Nevada-based promotion granted his wish, offering Aspinall his third main event booking, all of which have taken place in his native U.K.

BREAKING: Your #UFCLondon heavyweight main event is signed!!

@AspinallMMA vs @MarcinTybura

Get your tickets EARLY https://t.co/slZM2gosSA pic.twitter.com/6uFPMHzW8D

— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) May 10, 2023

Aspinall’s last outing ended in misery, as he suffered a freak knee injury 15 seconds into his clash with Curtis Blaydes in the UFC Fig…

[embedded content] Bellator MMA is set to make its return to Paris, with the card official following the Bellator 296 weigh-ins.

Middleweight headliners Gegard Mousasi and Fabian Edwards both had no trouble making weight. However, two preliminary contests were marred by participants missing weight, with one of the fights being canceled. The most notable miss was Steven Hill coming in 3.8 pounds over the welterweight limit for his fight against Nicolo Solli, and the fight has been axed as a result. Additionally, Romain Debienne has been fined a percentage of his purse for coming in at 172.4 pounds for his welterweight bout against Bourama Camara.

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The 37-year-old known as "Dreamcatcher" returns to the Bellator cage for the first time since dropping the title to Johnny Eblen. The unanimous decision defeat snapped a four-fight win streak. Mousasi (49-8-2) will look to show he still has more left in the tank, and hit the scales at 185.6 pounds for the mai…

- 2x Glory Kickboxing Welterweight Champion- 2016 A1 WGP Final Tournament Champion- World Kickboxing Association World Champion

"The Best" 𝗛𝗔𝗦 𝗔𝗥𝗥𝗜𝗩𝗘𝗗. Welcome to the Professional Fighters League @CedricDoumbe pic.twitter.com/MuStGGGyNR

— PFL (@PFLMMA) May 10, 2023

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Newly-signed Cedric Doumbe will make his Professional Fighters League debut this summer.

On Wednesday, the PFL announced Doumbe as the latest addition to its 170-pound division. The fighter took to his social accounts to unveil he would fight for the first time under the PFL banner in Atlanta on June 23.

“Cedric Doumbe is one of the greatest athletes in the world and a tremendous addition to the Professional Fighters League global roster,” said PFL President of Fighter Operations Ray Sefo in a press release. “Cedric dominated the sport of kickboxing and is poised to do the same in MMA. He is one of the most talented fighters in the world and will mak…

Our #UFC290 main event is OFFICIAL!

Dana White just dropped the entire main card for International Fight Week and it's HUGE 🔥 pic.twitter.com/aoNWRRiJvb

— UFC (@ufc) May 10, 2023

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The featherweight division will have an undisputed champion again as Alexander Volkanovski and Yair Rodriguez have been booked to headline UFC 290.

The main attraction of the upcoming pay-per-view event in Las Vegas is the unification bout between 145-pound linear champion Volkanovski and interim titleholder Rodriguez. In the UFC 290 co-headliner, Brandon Moreno will face Alexandre Pantoja. “International Fight Week” will also feature the induction of former Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight king Robbie Lawler’s UFC 189 clash with Rory MacDonald in the Hall of Fame, with “Ruthless” then set to compete against Niko Price in a bout that has been promoted as Lawler’s final contest.

Volkanovski (25-2, 12-1 UFC) is looking to bo…

The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s upcoming visit to the UK has gained an important women’s bantamweight clash.

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Ketlen Vieira and Pannie Kianzad will attempt to climb the 135-pound rankings when they meet at UFC on ESPN 49 in July in London. The news was first reported by MaximumSports and was confirmed by the UFC on Tuesday.

Bantamweights on deck!

🇧🇷 @KetlenVieiraUFC vs @PannieKianzad 🇸🇪 is official for #UFCLondon

🎟️ https://t.co/wg9VkLrok2 pic.twitter.com/EYlQx8iHcU

— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) May 9, 2023

Vieira (13-3, 7-3 UFC) is looking to get back on track after finding herself on the wrong side of a split decision in her UFC Fight Night 217 affair with Raquel Pennington. Prior to that, “Fenomeno” overcame former divisional queens Miesha Tate and Holly Holm at UFC Fight Night 198 and UFC Fight Night 206, respectively. The Nova Uniao representative is looking for her first UFC title shot, and a victo…

Professional Fighters League’s 2023 season appears in danger of losing several of its top contenders and biggest names.

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On Tuesday, MMA Fighting reported that Thiago Santos, Krzysztof Jotko, Bruno Cappelozza and Rizvan Kuniev had tested positive for undisclosed banned substances after their fights in the PFL light heavyweight and heavyweight divisions. The fighters have been temporarily suspended by the Nevada State Athletic Commission pending full hearings in the next few days.

The The promotion addressed the situation in a statement that acknowledged the suspensions and announced significant changes to the 2023 Regular Season without mentioning names.

“PFL has been notified by the Nevada State Athletic Commission that several fighters who competed in two PFL 2023 Regular Season events this past April have been temporarily suspended until further review by the Commission. The PFL has a zero-tolerance policy related to the usage of banned su…

Arman Tsarukyan has finally received his next Ultimate Fighting Championship assignment.

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Tsarukyan (19-3, 6-2 UFC) had been attached to a bout with Renato Carneiro scheduled for the UFC on ESPN 45 card on April 29 before “Moicano” pulled out due to injury. A replacement opponent did not materialize in time for that event, but on Tuesday, ESPN reported Tsarukyan and Joaquim Silva would collide in a lightweight clash at UFC on ESPN 47 on June 17. The matchup was then confirmed by Silva’s team on their social media accounts.

The surging Tsarukyan appeared most recently in December, a dominant unanimous decision victory over Damir Ismagulov which allowed him to bounce back from a loss at the hands of former KSW two-division champion Mateusz Gamrot in the UFC on ESPN 38 headliner. Prior, “Ahalkalakets” went on a five-bout winning streak with victories over Joel Alvarez and Matt Frevola, among others. Tsarukyan's only other loss under the UFC banner cam…

Photo: Getty Images/UFC

A white belt enrolled as “Mark Elliot” in the Featherweight Master 1 category stole the show last week in a Silicon Valley BJJ event. When “Mr. Elliot” stepped onto the tatame for his first match, the audience found out his surname: Zuckerberg.

The creator of Facebook competed a total of three times in the event: two with gi and one without. In the no-gi competition he won his lone bout, netting the gold medal, while in the gi he won his first match before losing in the final via Ezekiel choke, earning silver. Zuckerberg, who made MMA headlines in October by attending a closed to the public UFC Fight Night 211 at the Apex in Las Vegas, had already declared his passion for jiu-jitsu on Ep. 267 of the Lex Fridman podcast, saying, “In my first class, in the first five minutes I thought: Where has this been, my whole life? Definitely jiu-jitsu is the best sport.” What most couldn't imagine is that he would show up in a competition.

…

It wasn’t the night Gilbert Burns was hoping for at UFC 288, who suffered an injury in addition to losing his fight.

Last Saturday, Burns (22-6, 15-6 UFC) dropped a unanimous decision to Belal Muhammad in the UFC 288 co-headliner while fighting with a left shoulder injury that prevented him from fully expressing his fighting skills. On Monday, the New Jersey Athletic Control Board suspended “Durinho” indefinitely, pending clearance from an orthopedist after getting an X-ray of his left shoulder. Thanks to his victory, Muhammad has been promised a matchup with the Leon Edwards-Colby Covington welterweight championship clash winner.

Joseph Holmes and Kalinn Williams have also been suspended indefinitely pending the doctor’s clearance to fight again. Overall, 14 fighters received medical suspensions, including former two-division titleholder Henry Cejudo, who appeared opposite Aljamain Sterling in the UFC 288 headliner.

UFC 288 Medical Suspensions: Henry Cejudo: suspen…

The upcoming UFC Fight Night 223 has an interesting women’s strawweight clash as its new main event.

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Mackenzie Dern and Angela Hill will now collide one week later than initially scheduled. The pair was supposed to fight on the UFC on ABC 4 main card this weekend, but the Ultimate Fighting Championship has opted to promote the matchup as the new UFC Fight Night 224 headliner on May 20. The Nevada-based promotion had to deal with several last-minute changes as the initially targeted main event between Irene Aldana vs. Raquel Pennington was canceled after Aldana agreed to replace the injured Julianna Pena against two-division titleholder Amanda Nunes for the women’s 135-pound gold at UFC 289 next month. The change was first reported by MMA Fighting and has already been confirmed by Hill on her social accounts.

Hill (15-12, 9-10 UFC) is riding a two-bout winning streak after overcoming Lupita Godinez and Emily Ducote via unanimous decision at UFC on …

The rumors of Henry Cejudo’s second retirement were apparently premature, according to the man himself.

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This s*** is far from over! @danawhite I want @MerabDvalishvil head on a plate! #ufcboston pic.twitter.com/ME9ygzPaJG

— Henry Cejudo (@HenryCejudo) May 8, 2023 Things didn’t go according to plan for former Ultimate Fighting Championship two-division champ Cejudo (16-3, 10-3 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC 288 headliner as “The Messenger” dropped a narrow split decision to bantamweight titleholder Aljamain Sterling. In the immediate aftermath of the fight, Cejudo removed his gloves in the cage and teased that he might be done with MMA once again. A few hours later, however, Cejudo announced via Twitter that he wanted to don the four-ounce gloves at least once more, against Sterling’s teammate and good friend Merab Dvalishvili.

“This s—t is far from over,” Cejudo wrote. “Dana White, I want [Dvalishvili’s] head on a plate.”

…

Ultimate Fighting Championship star Tony Ferguson is lucky he emerged uninjured.

According to TMZ on Sunday morning, Ferguson allegedly crashed his truck into a pair of parked cars in Hollywood, California. The lightweight was picked up around 2 a.m. local time for a misdemeanor charge of DUI, and according to the arrest record from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, his bail has been set at $30,000. TMZ subsequently stated that for refusing the field sobriety test, he might have his driver’s license suspended.

Ferguson was allegedly driving his truck by a Hollywood nightclub, where he struck the cars including one reported to be owned by rapper Cash Gotti. The truck flipped on its side and stopped moving. Remarkably, no persons were injured during the incident, including Ferguson himself, per TMZ. A law enforcement officer told TMZ that Ferguson “reeked of alcohol” while sporting “bloodshot eyes.”

A local news outlet of KTLA disputed the TMZ report o…

Diego Lopes gave Movsar Evloev a tougher test than anyone could have imagined, and both fighter’s bank accounts benefitted as a result.

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Evloev and Lopes garnered “Fight of the Night” honors and $50,000 apiece for their entertaining featherweight feature bout at UFC 288 on Saturday night. Lopes, who accepted the bout on less than a week’s notice, rocked his foe with a right hand early and threatened with multiple submission attempts throughout the fight. Ultimately, Evloev prevailed via unanimous decision behind superior striking, pressure and wrestling.

Elsewhere, Xiaonan Yan earned a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus for her first-round knockout of Jessica Andrade in a strawweight clash on the main card. Yan capitalized on her opponent’s reckless aggression, as she dropped Andrade with a counter right hand and finished the bout with follow-up punches on the canvas at the 2:20 mark of the period.

Finally, Matt Frevola received the even…

Aljamain Sterling remains the gold standard in the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s bantamweight division.

Sterling (23-3, 15-3 UFC) retained his 135-pound belt with a hard-fought split-decision triumph over former two-division champion Henry Cejudo (16-3, 10-3 UFC) in the UFC 288 main event at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on Saturday night. Judges Derek Cleary and Eric Colon both submitted 48-47 tallies in favor of “The Funk Master,” while Michael Bell saw it 48-47 for Cejudo. It was the first bout for the Olympic gold medalist since he retired following a victory against Dominick Cruz at UFC 249 in May 2020.

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Sterling utilized his reach advantage, working behind unorthodox movement, stance switches and a toolbox of kicks — with calf kicks being an especially effective weapon. The Serra-Longo Fight Team member set the tone in the opening stanza, when he landed some knees to the body in close quarters and secured a late takedown, working his …

Sherdog's live UFC 288 coverage will begin Saturday at 6:30 p.m. ET. BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Ribeiro (-175), Holmes (+150)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: Aliskerov (-210), Hawes (+180)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 BET…

STEAMROLLA DID THAT 👊 #UFC288 pic.twitter.com/isFkRr6lqe

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) May 7, 2023

Matt Frevola went toe-to-toe with Drew Dober and got the best of the encounter.

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The Dana White’s Contender Series alum added to his highlight reel with an explosive technical knockout victory against Dober in the UFC 288 featured prelim at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on Saturday night. Frevola (11-3-1, 5-3-1 UFC) dropped his adversary with a counter right hand to the chin and then sealed the victory by swarming with ground-and-pound 4:08 into Round 1. Frevola has finished three straight fights in UFC competition. Frevola enjoyed success early behind a steady diet of straight right hands and kicks to the body. Dober took a little longer to find his range, but he was beginning to land more impactful offense before the fight-ending exchange occurred. When Dober attacked the body with a left, Frevola capitalized with a dev…