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[embedded content] The Bellator 288 fight card is down to 13 bouts, but every competitor that stepped on the scales did successfully make weight.

Atop Bellator 288 sits two championship tilts, with the marquee matchup for the Bellator MMA light heavyweight strap. Defending champ Vadim Nemkov will run it back with Corey Anderson, and both champion and challenger made weight without issue. The co-headliner will see Patricky Freire (154) and Usman Nurmagomedov (154.8) come to blows with lightweight gold on the line, and the two combatants in that affair also hit their proper marks. While there were no official weight misses, a few late scratches and a no-show at the ceremony cut the lineup down to a baker's dozen.

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The main event will see Nemkov (14-2, 1 NC) will look to settle the score with Anderson (16-5, 1 NC) after their last bout ended as a no contest due to an accidental clash of heads. "Overtime" had mostly been in control during the fight, so An…

A place in the top five of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s flyweight division almost certainly hinges on this bout’s outcome.

Per MMA Junkie on Wednesday evening, Kai Kara France (24-10, 1 NC) will battle it out with Alex Perez (24-7) in a pivotal 125-pound tilt on Feb. 11. The two flyweights will compete in Perth, Australia, at UFC 284, and it is unclear if this contest will serve on the main card or if it will bolster the prelims. The bout has since been confirmed on Thursday by Perez’ management team of the Iridium Sports Agency.

Kara France last competed in July, where he succumbed to strikes from Brandon Moreno in their interim title fight. Before then, the Aussie had rattled off three wins over Rogerio Bontorin, Cody Garbrandt and Askar Askarov – knocking out the first two in the opening round. Since joining the roster in 2018, the only men to beat Kara France are named Brandon: Moreno, and Brandon Royval. The five post-fight bonuses picked up by “Don’t Bl…

Your tournament winner #AndNew Invicta FC Strawweight Champion @TinablackM! #InvictaFC50 pic.twitter.com/aTDYRZpqao

— Invicta FC (@InvictaFights) November 17, 2022

Valesca Machado stuck to the game plan, and it paid off in the form of some championship hardware.

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Machado (12-3, 1 NC , 3-0 Invicta) completed her run through the one-night strawweight tournament with a unanimous decision triumph over Karolina Wojcik in the Invicta FC 50 headliner at Reelworks Denver, in Denver, Colo., on Wednesday night. All three judges scored the contest for Machado: 30-27, 29-28, 29-28. With the victory, the 26-year-old Brazilian claims the promotion’s vacant 115-pound belt.

After fighting three rounds earlier in the evening, Machado adopted a measured approach in the tournament final. She controlled the distance, utilized intelligent movement and landed nearly all the strikes of consequence, countering effectively when her opponent mo…

Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC

Several bouts have been added to the Rizin 40 card scheduled for New Year’s Eve, including UFC veteran Rogerio Bontorin vs. Yuki Motoya.

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Three other contests were also recently confirmed for the card: Seika Izawa vs. Si Woo Park in a non-title affair at super atomweight; Tsuyoshi Kamiyama vs. Junior Tafa at heavyweight and Naoki Inoue vs. Kenta Takizawa at bantamweight.

Rizin 40 takes place on Dec. 31 at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan and will feature five Bellator vs. Rizin matchups on the evening’s main card. The headliner will see former Bellator featherweight king A.J. McKee face Rizin lightweight champion Roberto de Souza in a 155-pound clash.

Bontorin enters his Rizin debut on a four-bout winless streak in UFC competition. The Gile Ribeiro Team representative last appeared at UFC on ESPN 32, where he dropped a split decision to Brandon Royval. The Dana Whi…

Former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya was arrested and detained for possession of brass knuckles on Wednesday afternoon at JFK Airport in New York.

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According to an initial report from TMZ Sports, Adesanya was arrested by the Port Authority Police Department after going through security with the weapons near the TSA screening area at approximately 1:57 p.m. local time. While brass knuckles are a class A misdemeanor in New York and can be punished with up to a year in prison plus fines, it appears that the situation was a misunderstanding. Adesanya’s manager, Tim Simpson, released a statement regarding the situation.

“Israel was handed a gift by a fan, which he put in his luggage. When flagged at the airport, Israel quickly disposed of the item, and cooperated with authorities,” Simpson said in the statement. “He has complied accordingly, with that the matter was dismissed and he is on his way home.”

Adesanya relinquished his middle…

Ilir Latifi could serve as the poster child for fighters who fail to disclose injuries or illness prior to their fights.

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Latifi was suspended three months by the Nevada State Athletic Commission on Wednesday for failing to disclose that he had a staph infection ahead of a UFC Fight Night 211 bout against Alexey Oleynik on Oct. 1. Latifi revealed the illness in a post-fight interview following a unanimous decision triumph over Oleynik.

“Even this week, my leg is swollen. I didn’t even tell my coaches, but I got a staph infection two days ago," Latifi said in the cage. "As you can see, my leg is all swollen. It’s an amazing sport, but the margins are so small. You put in so much work, and this thing happens the last day. Today, actually when I woke up, my leg was swollen. I was like, ‘I can’t cancel again.’ So I had to fight like this with a fever and a staph infection. That’s part of being a fighter.”

The NSAC stated that the ruling will set a…

🔥 LIVE IN U.S. PRIMETIME 🔥 A World Champion vs. World Champion DOUBLEHEADER goes down at ONE on Prime Video 4!⁰#ONEonPrimeVideo4 | Fri Nov 18 at 8PM ET🇺🇸🇨🇦 Live on @PrimeVideo 👉 https://t.co/XUu9wwDEZb🌍 Live on https://t.co/eBUfsOlZOd pic.twitter.com/Cga3c5s4Xl

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) November 2, 2022

The first year of One Championship’s partnership with Prime Video will conclude with cards in November and December.

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The Singapore-based promotion confirmed the full lineups for One on Prime Video 4 on Nov. 18 and One on Prime Video 5 on Dec. 2 in a release on Wednesday. The main card for both events will air on Prime Video beginning at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, while the lead cards start at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.

One on Prime Video 4 features a pair of championship fights. In the main event, lightweight (170-pound) champion Christian Lee will challenge Kimrian Abbasov for his welterweight (185-pound) belt, while…

Veteran referee Marc Goddard will be the third man in the cage when Jiri Prochazka and Glover Teixeira have their light heavyweight championship rematch in the main event at UFC 282.

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The Nevada State Athletic Commission announced the referee and judge selections for the fight during a meeting on Wednesday. Goddard, who will earn $2,500 for the bout, was also the referee for the first meeting between Prochazka and Teixeira at UFC 275 in Singapore on June 12.

Mike Bell, Sal D’Amato and Derek Cleary will serve as cageside judges for the title clash. They will earn $2,000 apiece for their work.

When Prochazka and Teixeira initially squared off at UFC 275, Prochazka claimed the 205-pound belt with a rear-naked choke at the 4:32 mark of Round 5. Had Teixeira survived until the final horn, he likely would have won a unanimous decision. UFC 282 takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Dec. 10, and a potential light heavyweight title eliminat…

SAHARA Las Vegas to host the 14th Annual Fighters Only World MMA Awards on December 8 https://t.co/himFltuQZM pic.twitter.com/41L1dHqlWj

— Fighters Only (@FightersOnly) November 16, 2022

The World MMA Awards will return to an in-person ceremony for the first time since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic this December.

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Rob Hewitt, CEO of Fighters Only, announced that the 14th iteration of the event will take place on Dec. 8 at the SAHARA Las Vegas to celebrate the achievements from the best of the MMA industry.

“The past number of years have been challenging for not only us but the entire events industry. However, despite the difficulties and obstacles, we never stopped staging the World MMA Awards and each year we have regained important elements to bring back fully, what makes our awards show special,” Hewitt said in a release. “With that in mind, I am really excited for this year’s event to back to a big stage at a ve…

Until recently, the Professional Fighters League has been little more than the Kayla Harrison show at 155 pounds when it comes to women’s MMA.

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That’s going to change for the next season, as the promotion plans to unveil a 145-pound weight class in 2023. The first female featherweight bout will take place on the main card of the PFL Championship event on Nov. 25, with Aspen Ladd squaring off against Julia Budd. Ladd, who recently signed with the organization after a seven-bout stint in the UFC, is thrilled that the PFL has elected to build an oft-overlooked division.

“I’m extremely excited that they decided to do that,” Ladd said. “As I said, going into this it’s like, ‘Oh they have a 155 – which is you walk in at whatever you’re walking around that basically.’ But for them to actually have a 145 division, and the fact that they actually want to put effort in, and they want to flush it out, that is exciting.”

Ladd began her UFC tenure as a promi…

John Lineker and Fabricio Andrade are going to run it back at One on Prime Video 7 on Feb. 10.

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The Singapore-based promotion announced the bantamweight (145-pound) championship rematch on Tuesday. The first meeting between Lineker and Andrade was ruled a no contest when an accidental knee to the groin rendered Lineker unable to continue 2:44 into Round 3 of their bout at One on Prime Video 3. Lineker was stripped of the belt after missing weight prior to the fight, so the One bantamweight throne is currently vacant.

Lineker began his promotional tenure with four straight triumphs, including three via knockout or technical knockout. He claimed the belt with a second-round KO of Bibiano Fernandes at One “Lights Out” this past March.

Andrade had been victorious in seven consecutive outings prior to the no contest. He is 5-0 under the One banner, with all his victories coming inside the distance. The 25-year-old Brazilian is 8-2 since beginning h…

Kleber Koike Erbst has no issue being the underdog in his champion vs. champion bout against Bellator featherweight title holder Patricio Freire at Rizin 40 on New Year’s Eve.

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“I've always admired Patricio as one of the most complete fighters in MMA. A few hours after I captured the Rizin belt I got that invitation. I knew it was a huge challenge but after everything I've been through, a challenge like that is like a blessing,” Erbst told Sherdog.com.

Erbst is a close friend and business partner of Rizin lightweight champion Roberto de Souza. Together they run six branches of the Bonsai Jiu-Jitsu academy around Tokyo.

“Over the past five years we can say that we both have a good life in Japan, living only from the sport, but things were never easy for us,” Erbst said. 

Born in São Paulo into a humble family of Japanese descendants, Kleber decided that he would try to live in the land of his maternal grandfather. At the age of 14, he…

One of these athletes will be crowned our new strawweight champion tomorrow night! Watch #InvictaFC50 LIVE at 9est/7mst on @AXSTV + @fightnet + @facebook + @YouTube! pic.twitter.com/UHxbYzhGuM

— Invicta FC (@InvictaFights) November 16, 2022

The Invicta Fighting Championship strawweight tournament is now official, as all four athletes slated to compete in the bracket hit their contracted marks on Tuesday.

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Semifinal pairings at Invicta FC 50 will see Valesca Machado (115.6) square off against Ediana Silva (115.2), while Gloria de Paula (115.4) will lock horns with Karolina Wojcik (116). Winners of the respective bouts will square off with 115-pound gold on the line later in the evening. Both semifinal and final matchups will be contested over three, five-minute rounds.

Invicta FC 50 takes place at ReelWorks Denver, in Denver, Colo., on Wednesday night and airs on AXS TV and the Invicta FC YouTube channel beginning at 9 p…

Royaltiz, a talent investment platform that allows users to bet on the future earnings of celebrities, musicians and athletes through digital tokens, is banking on the potential of Ultimate Fighting Championship contender Khamzat Chimaev.

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The company recently announced that it has signed Chimaev to a 10-year contract to launch his own talent investment tokens, which are known as ROYs. According to a release, “Chimaev’s ROYs offer UFC fans a unique chance to invest in the illustrious fighter’s career before he potentially becomes welterweight champion.”

According to the release, “sports fans can invest in famous athletes and earn a yield, which is paid monthly based on a portion of the talent’s income.” For example, Royaltiz states that Sean Brady’s ROYs were introduced at $1.99 per token but are now currently valued at $4.42 each, while Petr Yan’s went from $1.99 to $4.28. Chimaev’s ROYs are expected to officially debut on Nov. 22.

“The laun…

Old Foes. Meet Again. One More Time

6⃣World Title Fights6⃣Millionaires🔗 https://t.co/9tors6rrKk

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[#PFLWorldChampionship | ESPN+PPV | $49.99] pic.twitter.com/u4V2ipfAk8 — PFL (@PFLMMA) November 15, 2022

A price has been set for Professional Fighters League’s first pay-per-view venture.

The promotion announced on Tuesday that the PFL Championship event on Nov. 25 will cost $49.99. By comparison, the UFC currently charges $74.99 for its monthly pay-per-view offerings.

The PFL Championship takes place at Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York and features title fights in six weight classes with $1 million on the line in each. The card will be available on pay-per-view via ESPN+ beginning at 8 p.m ET/5 p.m. PT.

The PFL Championship main card is headlined by a women’s lightweight title bout between Kayla Harrison and Larissa Pacheco, while Bubba Jenkins will square off against Brendan Loughnane at…

Former UFC heavyweight Greg Hardy will step in for Vitor Belfort and face Hasim Rahman Jr. at Saturday’s Misfits Boxing event.

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The promotion announced the change on Tuesday. A reason for Belfort’s withdrawal was not given. The four-round heavyweight fight takes place at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas and streams on Dazn.

Hardy made his professional boxing debut in October, scoring a second-round knockout of Mike Hook in the second round of their fight under the Black Sheep Boxing banner. The controversial former NFL Pro Bowler went 4-5 with one no contest in the UFC before his release earlier this year.

Rahman Jr., meanwhile, is 12-1 as a professional boxer. He suffered his first career defeat in his most recent outing, when he was knocked out in the fifth round by Kenzie Morrison at an event entiteld “Sons of Legends” on April 29. Rahman Jr. was scheduled to fight Jake Paul in August before weight cutting issues resulted in the cancellati…

Coming off three straight wins in the UFC, Alexandre Pantoja expects to serve as the backup fighter for the flyweight title clash between Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno at UFC 283.

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Pantoja says he is in the best shape of his career and is ready to face either Figueiredo or Moreno in Rio de Janeiro. However, he believes the scheduled title fight isn’t necessarily the best draw for the fans.

“I don’t particularly like the way Deiveson and Moreno are selling their fourth fight. I have no doubt that if UFC had scheduled me against Figueiredo the local audience would be much more interested in that main event. I imagine how many buses would come from my city (Arraial do Cabo) to fill up Jeunesse Arena. But anyway, my ticket to Rio has already been bought. I´ll be ready and willing to substitute for anyone.”

The American Top Team-trained Pantoja already has experience against both fighters.

“The good point about that is that whoever wins, U…

The UFC 284 lineup continues to take shape, as the promotion announced the addition of two new bouts to the card on Monday.

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Jimmy Crute will face Alonzo Menifield at light heavyweight, while Shannon Ross will meet Kleydson Rodrigues at flyweight on Feb. 11 in Perth, Australia. UFC 284 takes place at RAC Arena and is headlined by a lightweight title tilt pitting reigning champion Islam Makhachev against featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski.

Crute did not compete at all this year after suffering KO/TKO losses to Jamahal Hill and Anthony Smith in UFC competition in 2021. The Dana White’s Contender Series alum is 4-3 in the Octagon with wins over the likes of Paul Craig and Sam Alvey during his promotional tenure.

Menifield, meanwhile, has been victorious in four of his last five outings. Most recently, the 35-year-old Texan knocked out Misha Cirkunov in the opening round of their bout at UFC Fight Night 212 on Oct. 15.

A native of Quee…

Dominick Reyes is one of several fighters to receive a 90-day medical suspension following UFC 281 this past Saturday.

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Reyes was knocked out by Ryan Spann 1:20 into the opening round of their preliminary light heavyweight contest at Madison Square Garden in New York. It was Reyes third consecutive defeat via KO or TKO.

The New York State Athletic Commission released a full list of medical suspensions from the event on Monday. Nineteen fighters from the card, including Reyes, must have medical clearance before they can compete again, but the NYSAC does not disclose the exact nature of each injury. Everyone on the card received at least a seven-day mandatory medical suspension.

In addition to Reyes, four other fighters were handed 90-day sits after UFC 281: Frankie Edgar, Ottman Azaitar, Seung Woo Choi and Nicolae Negumereanu.

UFC 281 Medical Suspensions:

Alex Pereira: 30 days mandatory rest and indefinite for medical.

Israel Adesan…

Brad Riddell has lost the drive to compete on the heels of three straight losses in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

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The 31-year-old City Kickboxing representative announced in a social media post that he plans to step away from mixed martial arts for the time being. While it wasn’t a retirement announcement, Riddell said that his hiatus will likely last “a good while.”

“I appreciate everyone that has been supporting me and standing by my side from day one though to these last two lackluster performances,” Riddell wrote. “I’m going to step away from competing in MMA for a good while until the fire to compete comes back. I’m not performing close to my capability, and it’s a dangerous job if you’re not fully present. I’ve been training hard for 15 years, in and out of camps with not enough rest or balance and it’s massively taken its physical and mental toll on me. There has not been a year since I was 17 that I have not fought.

“I know this…

Though he didn’t necessarily know it at the time, Alex Pereira was down on the scorecards heading into the fifth round of his middleweight championship clash with Israel Adesanya at UFC 281.

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Fortunately for him, he had Glover Teixeira in his corner to provide the appropriate sense of urgency.

“I knew it was going to be a very hard fight,” Pereira said through a translator at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “I tried to pace myself, but going into the last round, my corners and Glover kept it real with me. I looked at him and said, ‘Do I have to knock him out?’ And Glover said, ‘You do have to knock him out.’ And then I said, ‘OK, let’s do it.’”

“Poatan” put the pressure on Adesanya in the final frame, swarming with power punches against the fence to earn a technical knockout victory at the 2:01 mark of Round 5. Adesanya admitted he would’ve liked a little more leeway to recover from referee Marc Goddard before the stoppage arrived.

“F—…

Two-time UFC light heavyweight title challenger Anthony Johnson has died at 38 years old.

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Numerous figures in the MMA community mourned the news on social media on Sunday, and his passing has since been confirmed by multiple outlets. The cause of Johnson’s death is unknown. He was 38 years old.

Known as “Rumble,” Johnson made a name for himself across two UFC stints thanks in large part to his frightening knockout power. He twice challenged for 205-pound gold, falling to Daniel Cormier at UFC 187 and again in their rematch at UFC 210. He announced his retirement after the second defeat in April 2017 and didn’t return until May 2021, when he defeated Jose Augusto Azevedo Barros via second-round KO at Bellator 258.

Johnson was slated to face Vadim Nemkov in the semifinals of the Bellator light heavyweight grand prix last year, but he was forced to withdraw from the tournament due to an undisclosed illness.

“Really wish I could go into detail …

Weili Zhang outclassed Carla Esparza in all aspects of their UFC 281 co-main event bout on the way to reclaiming the strawweight throne with a second-round submission victory.

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According to the Chinese star, it was all part of the plan.

“This fight played out exactly what we expected,” Zhang said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “Me, as a fighter, if you’re a wrestler: OK, let’s wrestle. If you’re a jiu-jitsu player: OK, let’s roll. If you’re a striker: Let’s fight in the standup. That’s how I get improved and prove myself against the best of the best.

“When she landed a couple of punches, I felt nothing, and that’s why I smiled,” she added. “There was completely no threat from her striking, and that also made more relaxed, more calm.”

Zhang initially became strawweight queen in shocking fashion, when she stopped Jessica Andrade in 42 seconds at UFC Fight Night 157 in August 2019. She defended the belt once in an instant classic agai…

Israel Adesanya’s middleweight resume may be enough to earn him an immediate rematch with Alex Pereira.

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“I wouldn’t rule it out,” UFC president Dana White said of an Adesanya-Pereira rematch at the UFC 281 post-fight press conference on Saturday night.

Adesanya appeared to be on his way to a decision victory over Pereira before his former kickboxing rival swarmed with power punches for a technical knockout victory in the fifth round of the UFC 281 headliner at Madison Square Garden in New York. It was the first career defeat at 185 pounds for “The Last Stylebender.” Prior to Saturday, Adesanya had successfully defended the middleweight belt five times since becoming champion. White believes Adesanya’s willingness to take the bout against Pereira only adds to his credibility.

“You’ve got to show Israel [respect],” White said. “First of all, I was saying that this week and it’s the absolute truth, Israel Adesanya didn’t flinch about taking this f…