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Few people have more insight than the UFC 288 co-main event than Vicente Luque.

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Not only is Luque a close friend and longtime sparring partner of Gilbert Burns – they’ve trained together since 2014 -- but he’s fought Belal Muhammad on two occasions, winning via first-round knockout at UFC 205 before dropping a five-round verdict to “Remember the Name” in their rematch at UFC on ESPN 34. Luque expects a competitive fight between the two on Saturday but sees Burns as the favorite.

"I fought five rounds with Belal one year ago,” Luque said. “He has definitely evolved from our first fight. Besides throwing fast combinations, he moves well and has a good kick with his left leg, but he fights more to score points. I see a clear advantage for ‘Durinho’ in the grappling aspect. He has much more pressure, mainly on the ground, in addition to amazing cardio. On the striking aspect, I see it being more equal. ‘Durinho’ evolved a lot and has more knockout powe…

An undisclosed injury has forced Bryce Mitchell to withdraw from a featherweight bout against Movsar Evloev at UFC 288.

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As a result, promotional newcomer Diego Lopes will step in on five days’ notice to face Evloev on the UFC 288 pay-per-view draw. ESPN Deportes was first to report the new pairing. Evloev previously agreed to replace Jonathan Pearce and face Mitchell a few weeks prior.

Lopes enters his UFC debut with a 20-5 career mark. He appeared on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2021 but failed to earn a contract, dropping a technical decision to Joanderson Brito. Lopes is the founder of the Brazilian Warriors team and has held titles in organizations such as Lux Fight League, Xtreme Fighters Latino and Jasaji Fighting League. The 28-year-old Brazilian owns notable triumphs over UFC veterans Masio Fullen, Marco Beltran and Rony Mariano Bezerra.

Evloev is 16-0 as a professional, with six of those victories coming under the UFC banner. Th…

After a proposed main event matchup with Jack Hermansson fell through, Brendan Allen is moving on to a showdown against Bruno Silva at UFC on ABC 5.

Allen confirmed the middleweight booking on social media following an initial report from MMA Mania. UFC on ABC 5 takes place at Vystar Veteran’s Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla., on June 24 and is headlined by a featherweight duel pitting Ilia Topuria against Josh Emmett. Allen was supposed to face Hermansson in the UFC on ESPN 45 feature before his opponent withdrew due to an undisclosed injury.

A former competitor on Dana White’s Contender Series, Allen has won four straight contests since falling to Chris Curtis at UFC on ESPN 31 in December 2021. Most recently, “All In” submitted Andre Muniz in the third round of their main event tilt at UFC Fight Night 220.

Silva, meanwhile, halted a two-bout losing streak with a first-round TKO of Brad Tavares at UFC Fight Night 222 on April 22. The former M-1 Glob…

Kamaru Usman is ready to get back to work.

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In an interview with ESPN, the former welterweight champion revealed that he is ready to fight again — and one opponent in particular has his interest.

"A fight with myself and Khamzat [Chimaev]? Boom," Usman said. "I'm kind of in a place now where I'm having fun with it, and what's the biggest, funnest, most intense fight that really makes me feel something? That's a fight right there. That could headline a pay-per-view.”

Chimaev hasn’t competed since last September, when he submitted Kevin Holland in the opening round of a 180-pound catchweight clash at UFC 279. He has been linked to a fight with Paulo Costa, but his next Octagon appearance hasn’t been booked. It’s also unclear if Chimaev will fight at welterweight or middleweight going forward. Usman told ESPN that he would “potentially” be willing to face Chimaev at 185 pounds.

"He's a fighter and I'm a fighter at the end of the day," Usma…

UFC vet Felipe "Cabocão" Colares passed away at 29 years old. Just communicated with teammate Kleydson Rodrigues. He confirmed that Colares was struck by a bus earlier today, May 1st. @sherdogdotcom #cabocao #felipecabocao #felipecolares https://t.co/FEKZFj0cui

— Christian Stein (@CopperHeartCT) May 1, 2023

Six-time UFC veteran Felipe Colares has died at 29 years old after being struck by a bus on Monday.

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Sherdog.com contributor Christian Stein confirmed news of Colares’ death with teammate Kleydson Rodrigues. Colares was hit on his way home from training in Rio de Janeiro and died on his way to Hospital Rocha Faria in Campo Grande, according to Combate.

Colares last fought on Feb. 17, when he submitted Alioune Nahaye at Ares FC 12. Prior to that, the Team Nogueira representative went 2-4 during six-bout UFC stint from 2019 to 2022. He earned wins over Luke Sanders and Domingo Pilarte during his tenure with the Las …

A flyweight showdown pitting Kai Kara France against Amir Albazi has been promoted to the UFC on ESPN 45 headliner.

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Kara France announced the move on the "Who the Fook Are These Guys?” podcast, and it was later confirmed by MMAjunkie.com. UFC on ESPN 45 needed a new main event after Jack Hermansson withdrew from a proposed middleweight clash against Brendan Allen. Now Kara France and Albazi will have five rounds with which to work.

Kara France last appeared at UFC 277, where he suffered a third-round technical knockout loss to current flyweight king Brandon Moreno last July. He was supposed to face Alex Perez at UFC 284 but was forced to withdraw from the card due to injury.

Albazi, meanwhile, has lost just once in 17 professional outings. The Baghdad, Iraq, native has kicked off his promotional tenure with four straight triumphs, including a third-round KO of Alessandro Costa in his most recent appearance at UFC Fight Night 216.

Though it seems farfetched that Conor McGregor ever competes for Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, the former UFC two-division champion isn’t ruling out the possibility.

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McGregor attended BKFC 41 on Saturday, which was one of the promotion’s biggest events to date, and faced off with Mike Perry in the ring after “Platinum” bested Luke Rockhold in the evening’s main event. McGregor reflected on that appearance in a post on social media.

“Call me ‘slicey’ bare paw,” McGregor wrote. “Styles make fights. As well as rulesets. As well as everything. If you are scared go to church. I was called into the bare-knuckle ring last night. I fear nothing. No man that breathes air. I only fear God and abide by God and if God guides me to a professional bare-knuckle fight in my time for my new world title, I do.”

“Great night last night. It’s real interesting out there for sure. Congrats to the fighters. Two of my old foes [Eddie Alvarez and Chad Mendes] com…

One Championship has withdrawn from the Francis Ngannou sweepstakes.

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CEO Chatri Sityodtong revealed to the South China Morning Post that the Singapore-based promotion has elected not to submit a final offer to the ex-UFC heavyweight champion after meeting with Ngannou in Los Angeles over the weekend.

“I met with Francis yesterday for almost 3 hours,” Sityodtong said. “ONE has decided to withdraw from the process of bidding for Francis Ngannou’s services.

“After careful reflection, we decided not to submit our final offer. Francis is a good guy and a good champion. I wish him continued success and happiness. At the end of the day, I didn’t feel Francis and I were fully aligned on non-financial matters. It is nothing personal. It is just a lack of alignment.”

Ngannou became a free agent in January after his UFC contract expired. The Cameroonian-born Frenchman indicated that he was in talks with both One and Professional Fighters League, …

C'est parti !!! @KSW_MMA 🔥🔥😤merci à ceux qui me soutiennent depuis le début pic.twitter.com/6T38Uh8yCK

— Salahdine Parnasse (@SalahdineP) April 27, 2023

Polish promotion Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki has bolstered the lineup for its upcoming stadium show with three championship fights.

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In the KSW 83 “Colosseum 2” co-main event, reigning lightweight champion Marian Ziolkowski will face interim title holder Salahdine Parnasse in a bout that was originally scheduled for KSW 76. Ziolkowski has won four straight contests under the KSW banner since falling to current UFC talent Mateusz Gamrot in August 2020. Parnasse has been victorious in 17 of his 18 professional outings and is in the midst of a four-bout winning streak of his own.

Meanwhile, Pawel Pawlak and Tomasz Romanowski will square off for the vacant middleweight crown. Pawlak has won six straight fights dating back to June 2020, a run that includes a trio of victories in…

Yadong Song was impressive against Ricky Simon at UFC Fight Night 223, but he would have preferred to put his opponent away earlier than the fifth round.

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“I feel my performance was OK,” Song said at the post-fight press conference. “Not very good. I could’ve ended the fight in the earlier rounds. It was five rounds. He’s a very tough opponent. I wanted to be patient in the fight. I had a lot of chances to finish the fight earlier.”

The Team Alpha Male product has won four of his last five UFC appearances and has designs on moving up in the rankings. In the aftermath of his latest triumph, targeted matchups against the likes of Sean O’Malley, Petr Yan, Rob Font and Marlon Vera.

“I want to fight Top 5 fighters,” Song said. “Even Font – he’s No. 6. He’s OK. ‘Chito’ Vera and Sean O’Malley – but they probably won’t give me Sean O’Malley. They want to protect him. Whatever. Just top five. My goal is to fight top-five fighters this year.”

O’M…

Chad Mendes is stepping away from combat sports for good.

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The former UFC featherweight contender called it a career following a loss to Eddie Alvarez in the BKFC 41 co-main event on Saturday night. Mendes announced his retirement from mixed martial arts in 2019 but later signed with BKFC, where he split a pair of appearances.

“I’ve been going back and forth with this. Obviously I retired from the UFC back in 2018, and I was honestly done. I’ve been pouring my heart and soul into a few businesses and just spending the family quality time that I love doing,” Mendes said at the BKFC 41 post-fight press conference.

“I had no desire [to fight], but something like this came up, and obviously the pay is really good, and it’s something that’s new, which kind of excited me, so I did it. I was done after that first one, but then they dangled somebody like this dude [Alvarez] in front of me, so I was like, ‘All right, I’ll do one more. This could be …

Yadong Song punched his way back into the title discussion in the Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight division.

In the main event of UFC Fight Night 223 on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, the “Kung Fu Kid” stifled the vaunted wrestling of Ricky Simon and outstruck him in increasingly one-sided fashion for four rounds before putting things away with a blistering left hook early in Round 5. The first round found Simon largely neglecting his customary barrage of takedowns, and Song stuffed the few that did come his way, setting the tone for the remainder of the fight. Song found increasing success with his boxing as the fight went on, catching Simon cleanly on numerous occasions, though what appeared to be a knockdown by Song early in the second round turned out to have been caused by an inadvertent clash of heads. A second headbutt in Round 3 drew a protest from Simon, as both collisions had occurred while Song lunged forward with his head down. Nonetheless, Son…

Sherdog's live UFC Fight Night 223 coverage will begin Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET. BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Horth (-140), Cowan (+120)Round 1 Sherdog Scores Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Lev Pisarsky scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:

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Round 2 Sherdog Scores Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Lev Pisarsky scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Lev Pisarsky scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round: The Official Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Lev Pisarsky scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Lev Pisarsky scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Lev Pisarsky scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:The Official Result BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Egger (-305…

Martin Buday is starting to loom large as a problem in the Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight division.

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In the featured preliminary bout of UFC Fight Night 223 on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, “Badys” took a hard-fought unanimous decision over Jake Collier. The hulking Slovakian towered over Collier but struggled with his opponent’s speed and aggression, at least in the first round, during which Collier came forward, landed numerous sharp boxing combinations and largely eluded Buday’s efforts to clinch or bring the fight to the fence. Collier’s advantages dissipated after the opening frame, however, as the Missouri native appeared to tire out, allowing Buday to take over the fight in increasingly dominant fashion over Rounds 2 and 3. Buday was able to force clinch exchanges, score with hard knees to the body, and generally have his way with Collier. The third round featured a brief reprieve for both men, as an accidentally eye poke l…

Congratulations are in order for these four POTN winners!!!

💵 @SongYadongLFG💵 @BorralhoCaio💵 Rodolfo Vieira💵 @ManiacMcGhee07 #UFCVegas72 pic.twitter.com/S06s7KwLlh

— UFC (@ufc) April 30, 2023 The Ultimate Fighting Championship awarded four fighters performance bonuses on the UFC Fight Night 223 card.

Main event winner Yadong Song took home $50,000 extra on top of his purse for his fantastic finish over Ricky Simon in the fifth and final round. The "Kung Fu Kid" was in control for most of the fight and didn't settle for a clear-cut decision win. Instead, Song forced the action and finished off his opponent with an impressive flurry of punches. The TKO win came at 1:10 of the fifth frame.

Three other fighters earned performance of the night bonuses with their own impressive submission victories. Co-main event winner Caio Borralho picked up 50 grand thanks to his rear-naked choke that forced Michal Oleksiejczuk to tap at 2:49 of th…

A welterweight showdown pitting Rafael dos Anjos against Vicente Luque will serve as the main event for UFC Fight Night on July 15.

MMAFighting.com was first to report that both fighters had verbally agreed to the contest. The event is expected to take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and also includes a heavyweight bout between Walt Harris and Josh Parisian.

A former lightweight champion, dos Anjos owns a 5-4 UFC mark at 170 pounds. He returned to the welterweight division in his last outing, where he defeated Bryan Barberena via second-round submission at UFC on ESPN 42.

After winning 10 of 11 UFC bouts from 2017 to 2021, Luque will look to end a two-bout losing streak against dos Anjos. During his current skid, the Cerrado MMA representative dropped a five-round verdict to Belal Muhammad in the UFC on ESPN 34 headliner before suffering a third-round KO defeat at the hands of Geoff Neal at UFC on ESPN 40.

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Master Robson Gracie, who was the eldest living Gracie, has died at 88 years old.

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Robson passed away on Friday in Rio de Janeiro. The father of Charles, Flavia, Renzo, Ralph, Ryan (died 2007), Keila and Robson Jr., Robson was born in 1935. The second son of 21 born to the patriarch of the family, Carlos Gracie, Robson followed the footsteps of his uncle Hélio Gracie and his older brother, Carlson, and debuted in vale tudo with a victory over capoeira fighter Artur Emídio. Later, he would draw with Valdo Santana, brother of Valdemar Santana, in a battle where he would show his renowned courage.

“I was very hurt, so my father considered stopping the fight at [an intermission] and I said, ‘Father if you do that I'll lower my shorts and urinate in the middle of the ring,’” Robson said. The fight continued and Robson's bravery was rewarded with a draw.

Robson was also involved in politics. His notoriety in jiu-jitsu led him to be h…

Asakura wins a unanimous decision win over Ushiku in our main event!

[ #RIZIN_LANDMARK5 | @FiteTV | Watch the PPV here: https://t.co/0fE6L8rbwg ] pic.twitter.com/lFPG9dNfJ3

— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) April 29, 2023

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The caged environment seems to suit Mikuru Asakura just fine.

Asakura captured a unanimous decision against Juntaro Ushiku in the Rizin Landmark Vol. 5 featherweight headliner at Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo on Saturday. While Rizin typically holds its events in a ring, its Landmark series takes place in a cage.

Former Rings two-division champion Asakura (17-3, 1 NC; 11-2 Rizin) fired the most powerful shots in the opening round, mixing punches and kicks. In turn, Ushiku (20-8, 2-2 Rizin) looked to grapple against the fence, pulling guard once he felt comfortable. Asakura couldn’t do much damage due Ushiku’s strenuous guard, forcing the referee to stand them once the action stalled. The pa…

With a title shot against Leon Edwards on the horizon, Colby Covington was awarde his black belt by coach Daniel Valverde this past week.

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According to Valverde, Covington earned that status in the gym.

“He was giving a hard time to most of my black belts,” Valverde told Sherdog.com. “It's been four years training almost everyday with us at MMA Masters. Jiu-Jitsu with and without the gi [and] judo. He is highly technical and deserves it for sure.”

Valverde also revealed that he, Covington and MMA Masters co-owner Cesar Carneiro are launching a new combat sport dubbed Xtreme Dirty Boxing.

“Xtreme Dirty Boxing consists of boxing with elbows and muay thai clinches,” Valverde said. “Four rounds of three minutes with six-ounce gloves. Also it´s not permitted to go more than three seconds without action. Colby is our partner in that promotion.”

The plan is to hold the promotion’s first event in Bahia (Brazil), Puerto Rico or Miami.

…

The first foreigner to win two editions of the Kings Cup (2007 and 2009), Cosmo Alexandre is one of the most respected muay thai fighters to make a successful transition to MMA.

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Despite having an MMA record of 8-1 following his knockout of Sage Northcutt at One Championship “Enter the Dragon” in 2019, Alexandre decided to retire at 40 years old with a combat sports record that features a combined 106 fights in MMA, muay thai and kickboxing.

With the experience of having trained with Kamaru Usman, Georges St. Pierre, Vitor Belfort, Alex Pereira and Anderson Silva, Alexandre told Sherdog that most important muay thai techniques are still underused in MMA.

"Boxing has reached a very high level in MMA, no doubt about that, but I still see a lot of muay thai techniques that are totally underused, like elbows, knees and clinches,” Alexandre said.

According to Alexandre, even someone like Jon Jones, who has long utilized elbows to his advantage…

Cody Garbrandt will look to put together his first winning streak since 2016 when he meets Mario Bautista at a UFC event on Aug. 19.

MMAFighting.com was first to report the bantamweight booking. The UFC Fight Night card doesn’t yet have a location or headliner.

A former bantamweight champion, “No Love” is just 2-5 in UFC competition since 2017 — and all but one of those defeats have come via knockout or technical knockout. After an unsuccesful one-bout stint at flyweight, Garbrandt returned to 135 pounds at UFC 285, where he took a three-round verdict over Trevin Jones on March 4.

Bautista, meanwhile, has won six of seven Octagon appearances since falling to Cory Sandhagen in his promotional debut. The 29-year-old MMA Lab representative was successful in his first outing of 2023, when he submitted Guido Cannetti in the opening stanza at UFC Fight Night 221.

Up close and PERSONAL 😤@SongYadongLFG vs @RickySimonUFC take the spotlight tomorrow night!

[ #UFCVegas72 | Tomorrow | Main Card 7pmET | Live on @ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/3l8kSfCaUd

— UFC (@ufc) April 28, 2023 The Ultimate Fighting Championship's latest UFC Apex card will feature an exciting bantamweight fight.

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The UFC Fight Night 223 main event will see Yadong Song take on Ricky Simon over five rounds. Both bantamweight contenders successfully made weight, although not all fighters were as professional. Irina Alekseeva notably missed weight by four pounds and came in at 140 pounds for her bantamweight fight against Stephanie Egger. Meanwhile, Hailey Cowan came in 1.5 pounds heavy for her fight against Jamey-Lyn Horth. Both overweight fighters have been fined a percentage of their purses.

This marks the second UFC main event for Song (19-7-1, 1 NC), who is coming off a doctor stoppage loss to Cory Sandhagen. The de…

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Combat sports veteran Joe Schilling has scored his most recent victory not in a ring or cage, but in court.

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Schilling was involved in an altercation with a bar patron named Justin Balboa in June 2021, which ended with the Bellator MMA and Glory Kickboxing veteran knocking out the man at a bar in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Balboa filed a civil lawsuit against Schilling for battery after being hospitalized with a head injury. After widely-distributed videos showed the bar altercation, Schilling claimed the man he hit provoked him with threatening gestures after using a racial slur toward a bar employee. Nearly two years after the events, Schilling’s actions have been declared as an act of self-defense by Broward County circuit court judge Fabienne E. Fahnestock. “Stich ‘Em Up” was justified to use the necessary to neutralize the threat according to Florida’s stand-your-ground law.

The 39-year-old Schilling expressed happiness on his…

History in the making! 👑@RhysMcKee 🆚 @JudoJimmy headlines our Dublin homecoming at @3ArenaDublin 🇮🇪

📺 Watch #CW153 LIVE on @UFCFightPass tomorrow night at 9PM BST! pic.twitter.com/ZTJt5DHw4N

— Cage Warriors (@CageWarriors) April 28, 2023

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The protagonists of Saturday’s Cage Warriors main event had no issues making championship weight.

All is set for the anticipated 170-pound championship reunification clash between welterweight titleholder Rhys McKee and interim ace Jim Wallhead in the CW 153 main event. Ultimate Fighting Championship alum McKee (12-4-1, 5-0 CW) captured the vacant crown after knocking out Justin Burlinson 20 seconds out of the gate in the third round at CW 140. On Friday morning, “Skeletor" stepped on the scales at 169.4 pounds.

Seasoned vet Wallhead (33-11, 13-6 CW) shocked the world when he stopped the up-and-coming Mateusz Figlak with punches in the opening frame of their CW 146 clash to …