Blog

One Championship has withdrawn from the Francis Ngannou sweepstakes.

Advertisement

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.

Advertisement

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.

Advertisement

“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.

Advertisement

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:

Advertisement

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.

Advertisement

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.

[embedded content]

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

Advertisement

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

Advertisement

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.

Advertisement

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.

Advertisement

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.

Advertisement

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…

[embedded content]

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

Advertisement

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

Advertisement

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 …

So @SStricklandMMA what do u say my man. It sets us up for a perfect rematch, better build up and definitely a way better main for the fans. We can do it on your date of july 1 if you prefer, fans definitely wana see us fight over UFC 1-0 guy. 🤷🏼‍♂️ @Mickmaynard2 @AliAbdelaziz00 https://t.co/83p7BtnhI3

— Brendan Allen (@BrendanAllenMMA) April 27, 2023

The plans for June 3’s UFC on ESPN 45 main event in Las Vegas have to be changed after one of its protagonists got injured.

Advertisement

Jack Hermansson suffered an undisclosed injury that will prevent him from taking part in a clash with Brendan Allen. As of this writing, it is unknown whether the Ultimate Fighting Championship will reschedule the clash or will find a different opponent for Allen. The news was first reported by MMA Mania on Thursday, and Allen has confirmed it on his social media accounts.

Hermansson (23-8, 10-6 UFC), a former Cage Warriors Fighting Championship …

[embedded content]

Nate Diaz opted to turn himself in a few days after the New Orleans Police Department issued a warrant for his arrest.

Advertisement

Diaz, 38, presented himself voluntarily and was officially booked at 7:40 a.m. CT on Thursday. The Ultimate Fighting Championship alum is facing a charge of second-degree battery after taking part in a brawl in New Orleans last weekend when he was recorded chocking amateur mixed martial arts fighter and YouTube personality Rodney Petersen Jr. unconscious with a standing choke. When Diaz released the submission maneuver, the back of Petersen's head hit the pavement. On Monday, an arrest warrant was issued for Diaz, who is facing up to eight years in prison and a $2,000 fine if found guilty. Shortly after he surrendered to authorities, Diaz’s representative Zach Rosenfield released a statement.

“Nate voluntarily turned himself into the New Orleans Police Department this morning approximately at 7:10 a.m. CT. We c…

[embedded content]

Rodolfo Vieira may be one of the greatest Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioners ever to cross over to mixed martial arts, but he doesn’t let those expectations define his approach to fighting.

Advertisement

Ahead of his matchup with Cody Brundage at UFC Fight Night 223 on Saturday in Las Vegas, “The Black Belt Hunter” spoke to Sherdog about the ways in which his Ultimate Fighting Championship run has fallen short of what he hoped. More than any particular loss, Vieira professes disappointment that he has only five fights in the four and a half years since joining the promotion in 2019.

“I can’t even complain about my career,” he said. “I came into the UFC very early. I came in after only two years or so of training. I had good fights – three wins by submission. But I also had two losses. But today I’m much more confident, mature, and experienced. I wish I could have fought more often, but injuries and other life matters kept me away. Without a dou…

[embedded content]

Caio Borralho is a study in contradictions. The 30-year-old Brazilian sports one of the most imposing physiques in the Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight division, offset by an infectious, guileless smile and pair of tinted eyeglasses that would look right at home on a full-time computer programmer. He is a standout athlete who tends towards blood-and-guts aggression in the cage, yet trains with a team of self-described “fight nerds,” employing a committee approach to breaking down his opponents’ strengths and weaknesses.

Advertisement

Borralho’s 2021 arrival in the Ultimate Fighting Championship came with little fanfare—his first victory on Dana White's Contender Series was nondescript enough that he had to come back six weeks later and win again before earning a UFC contract—but a year after his promotional debut, it has become impossible to ignore him. Now 3-0 in the UFC and on an incredible run of 12-0 with one no contest in his las…

It appears that Deiveson Figueiredo won’t be fighting at UFC 290 after all.

Advertisement

The former flyweight champion confirmed to MMAFighting.com’s Trocação Franca podcast that he has not been cleared to face Manel Kape at the July 8 event. Figueiredo’s withdrawal was initially reported by Canal Encarada.

“I’m still injured,” Figueiredo said. “I asked for a fight, told my manager I wanted to fight already, but when he gave me the fight and I talked to my physical therapist and my ophthalmologist, [they said] my eyesight is still not 100 percent. There are days I see things normal, but there are days it’s not OK, especially the days after I train, so they decided I had to go the full six-month [medical suspension] the ophthalmologist gave me [after UFC 283].”

Figueiredo is coming off a third-round doctor stoppage loss in his tetralogy against current flyweight king Brandon Moreno. He was initially expected to move to the bantamweight division before rev…

[embedded content]

The UFC Fight Night 223 lineup has undergone another late update, as Marcus McGhee will step in for Brian Kelleher and face Journey Newson on Saturday.

Multiple outlets confirmed the booking following an initial report from Eurosport NL. McGhee vs. Newson will be contested at a 140-pound catchweight. UFC Fight Night 223 takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a bantamweight duel between Yadong Song and Ricky Simon.

McGhee, 32, enters his UFC debut with a 6-1 career mark that includes a pair of appearances under the Legacy Fighting Alliance banner. Most recently, “The Maniac” defeated Luciano Ramos via third-round TKO at LFA 149 on Jan. 6. All six of his victories have come by way of knockout or technical knockout.

Newson has one victory in five UFC bouts since making his promotional debut in 2019. In his last outing, the Beaverton, Ore., native suffered a decision loss to Sergey Morozov at UFC Fight Night 216 on Dec.…

Walt Harris will return to the Octagon for the first time in two years when he meets Josh Parisian at UFC Fight Night on July 15.

Eurosport NL was first to report the heavyweight bout. The event doesn’t currently have a location or headliner.

Harris was recently seen training with Jon Jones ahead of “Bones’” heavyweight championship victory over Ciryl Gane at UFC 285. “The Big Ticket” last appeared at UFC Fight Night 189 on June 5, 2021, when he suffered a third-round technical knockout defeat to Marcin Tybura — his third consecutive setback within the Las Vegas-based promotion. Harris enjoyed his greatest success in the UFC during a four-bout unbeaten run from June 2018 to July 2019. The 39-year-old owns a 13-10 career mark, with all of his triumphs coming via knockout or technical knockout.

A former competitor on Dana White’s Contender Series, Parisian is 2-3 in UFC competition. In his first outing of 2023, the Scorpion Fighting System representative dro…