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The Ultimate Fighting Championship is putting together a potential title eliminator and tossing it on the prelims of a Fight Night card.

On Wednesday, Sports Illustrated broke the news that Brandon Royval (14-6) would be taking on Matheus Nicolau (19-2-1) on the preliminary portion of the UFC Fight Night event on April 15. The unnumbered fight card is going down at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri. Royval has since confirmed this flyweight contest on his Instagram page.

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The UFC tenure of Royval has been streaky thus far after six appearances, earning wins in his first two outings, then dropping the next two, and bouncing back to rattle off two more victories. In 2022, “Raw Dawg” claimed a split decision – his second career win on the scorecards – over Rogerio Bontorin, and he followed that by landing a guillotine choke on Matt Schnell less than four months later. The Factory X fighter was linked to fights with Askar Askarov and Amir Alba…

Ultimate Fighting Championship mainstay Jim Miller still has a chance to go for his 25th win in the Octagon next week.

Per a UFC press release on Thursday, Miller (35-16, 1 NC) has received a replacement opponent for UFC Fight Night 219. The longtime vet will now meet Alexander Hernandez (13-6) at lightweight, with the latter coming back up from a one-off appearance at featherweight in December. The two will square off on the main card that will be held inside of the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Feb. 18.

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The 39-year-old Miller is currently riding a three-fight finish streak, knocking out Erick Gonzalez and Nikolas Motta before tapping Donald Cerrone with a guillotine choke in his last outing. The win streak is his longest since getting his hand raised three fights in a row in 2016. The roster staple that has been part of the organization since 2009 holds the most appearances (40), most wins (24) and is tied with Cerrone for the second-most finishes (16) …

Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight great Robert Whittaker needs someone to fight.

At UFC 284 in Perth, Australia, Whittaker was linked to a fight against Paulo Costa. Negotiations fell apart, with the promotion announcing the fight before the two agreed. Costa publicly chided the UFC for putting forth the news of the bout before it came together, and it was ultimately scrapped from the lineup. As the former champion sits on the shelf waiting for a call, one such fighter has offered to take him on: Khamzat Chimaev. Whitaker’s head coach, Alex Prates, spoke to Sherdog about that fight and UFC 284 as a whole, but was quick to remark that, “Whittaker is not a good matchup [for] Chimaev.”

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“That’s the fight UFC wants,” Prates stated. “We have nothing official from UFC, but I think it will be so big as it would be a title fight.”

A disciple of Mario Sperry, coach Prates has been away from his home country of Brazil for the last 23 years. Training …

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight king Charles Oliveira is ready to get back in the game.

Four months after losing his 155-pound title to Islam Makhachev, Oliveira is expecting to return to the Octagon within a few months. Having trekked to Perth, Australia, to corner teammate Elves Brener Oliveira in his UFC debut opposite Zubaira Tukhugov, the ex-champ spoke with Sherdog about his plans. A recent interview with The Schmo brought to light a possible pairing with Beneil Dariush, and Oliveira confirmed that fight is in the works.

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“It’s true that we are negotiating to face Dariush, who is coming from a gigantic sequence of wins,” Oliveira admitted. “My managers Jorge Patino and Diego Lima are taking care of that. As I said in other interviews, that’s a moment where we have to think with reason not emotion. I must fight the one who will take me to the title shot. My plan is [to] fight April or May, and fight again for the belt by the end …

[embedded content] Kleydson Rodrigues does not yet have his feet fully underneath him in the Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight division—a situation he hopes to remedy in his latest assignment.

The former Jungle Fight champion will do battle with Shannon Ross as part of the UFC 284 undercard on Saturday at the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia, where he aims to nail down his first victory inside the Octagon. Rodrigues made his promotional debut on May 7, when he wound up on the wrong side of contentious split decision against C.J. Vergara at UFC 274.

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“The fight against Vergara was very close,” he told Sherdog.com. “A lot of folks didn’t agree with the results.”

Rodrigues outlanded the onetime Fury Fighting Championship titleholder 81-71 in terms of significant strikes and accounted for the only two completed takedowns in the bout. However, Vergara was credited with more control time and connected with more total strikes. All three judges struck …

The Association of Boxing Comissions and Combative Sports (ABC) has launched an “athlete’s voice committee” to give fighters a better opportunity to connect with regulators.

According to a release, the committee will help fighters “who wish to better understand vital issues such as how scoring works, appeal rights, contractual literacy workshops, regulatory rights regarding managers and any other educational opportunities that can advance fighter interests in the sport.”

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“The ABC hopes this committee will allow all fighters to understand the sport from a regulatory standpoint.” said ABC president Mike Mazzulli. “At every weigh-in I ask fighters questions relating to rules and regulations and it is apparent to me a majority of combative participants do not have clear knowledge of the Rules and Scoring Criteria. This committee will also allow fighters a voice at the table.”

The committee will be chaired by New York State Athletic Commission Executive…

The UFC Fight Night card featuring Max Holloway vs. Arnold Allen in the evening’s headliner has a location and venue.

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The promotion announced on Wednesday that the event will take place at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo., on April 15. The venue is located in downtown Kansas City in 2007 and has a capacity of nearly 19,000. Other bouts scheduled for UFC Fight Night include Edson Barboza vs. Billy Quarantillo at featherweight and Chris Gutierrez vs. Pedro Munhoz at bantamweight.

The Las Vegas-based organization’s first — and only trip to Kansas City occured at UFC on Fox 24 on April 15, 2017. That event saw Demetrious Johnson retain his flyweight crown with a third-round submission of Wilson Reis in the headliner at the Sprint Center.

Holloway is coming off an unsuccessful bid to regain featherweight gold, as he dropped a five-round verdict to Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 276 this past July. The Hawaiian known as “Blessed” is now 0-3 ag…

Nathaniel Wood has been forced to withdraw from a proposed featherweight clash against Lerone Murphy at UFC 286.

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“The Prospect” revealed on social media that a “freak accident” in training resulted in him having to get stitches on his knee.

“It is with a heavy heart to announce I will no longer be fighting in London. It seems I just can’t get a break in this game with constant set backs. A freak accident landing on wooden trim in wrestling practice,” Wood wrote. “Sorry for all those who were coming to see me. Going to have a sit down and think about some things. The highest of the highs and the lowest of the lows.”

“Unfortunately I cannot bend my knee until these stitches are out.”

It is unclear if Murphy will remain on the card against a replacement opponent. UFC 286 takes place at the O2 Arena in London on March 18 and is headlined by a welterweight title rematch between Leon Edwards and Kamaru Usman.

A former Cage Warriors bant…

A welterweight clash pitting Michael Page against Goiti Yamauchi will complete the Bellator 292 main card on March 10.

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Promotion officials announced the booking on Wednesday. Bellator 292 takes place at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., and is headlined by a lightweight grand prix bout between reigning 155-pound champion Usman Nurmagomedov and Benson Henderson. The main card airs on Showtime at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, while prelims stream on the Bellator YouTube channel, the Showtime Sports YouTube channel and Pluto TV at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.

Several new contests were confirmed to complete the Bellator 292 preliminary draw: Julius Anglickas vs. Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov at light heavyweight; Bobby Seronio III vs. Alberto Garcia at bantamweight; Enrique Barzola vs. Erik Perez at bantamweight; Khalid Murtazaliev vs. Tony Johnson at middleweight and Islam Mamedov vs. Shamil Nikaev at lightweight.

Page had a six-bout winning streak snapped in hi…

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Michael Chandler has fought five times since signing with the UFC in 2021. His future opponent, Conor McGregor, has fought just twice over that same timeframe.

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With that being said, the former Bellator lightweight champion is confident that the spotlight of coaching on “The Ultimate Fighter 31” as a lead-in to a big pay-per-view showdown will light a fire under McGregor as he prepares to make his long-awaited UFC return.

“I have been very active. I just signed with the promotion a little over two years ago, and I have fought the who’s who, the toughest strength of schedule that maybe anybody ever has coming into the UFC,” Chandler recently said on ESPN’s SportsCenter. “… Conor has had the luxury of stepping away from the sport because he has a very padded bank account. He does live a life of luxury.

“We can’t make the mistake of thinking (he’s) lost his passion for mixed martial arts … It’s his first love. I think we’re gonna …

Rafael dos Anjos is eager to return to the Octagon on the heels of his second-round submission win over Bryan Barberena in a welterweight bout at UFC on ESPN 42 this past December.

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Sometimes finding a fight is easier said than done.

"My goal was to return in March or April, but it's not easy to find opponents,” dos Anjos told Sherdog.com. “The UFC offered some guys I already fought and some others that I had to look on Google to find out who they were.”

The former lightweight champion is interested in fights against the likes of Dustin Poirier and Tony Ferguson, but when it comes to the welterweight division, many of the top names are already booked.

"I also suggested [Stephen] Thompson, but it looks like he wants to fight strikers, and I did a lot of grappling against Barbarena,” dos Anjos said. “Since Colby [Covington] must face Belal [Muhammad], [Jorge] Masvidal is paired with [Gilbert Burns] and [Kevin] Holland with [Santiago] P…

While it may seem like the UFC 284 main event hasn’t received the attention it deserves, Dana White says that simply isn’t the case.

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The event features a showdown for the lightweight belt between two of the sport’s top pound-for-pound fighters in Islam Makhachev and Alexander Volkanovski. In a recent interview with RSports Russia, Makhachev voiced concerns that more promotion for the pay-per-view could have been done.

“I see that it is not such big promotion,” Makhachev said. “Dana White himself has some problems. He does not pay much attention to this fight. Here in Perth, everyone knows about the fight and is looking forward to it. And in terms of pay-per-view, yes, more could have been done. I only saw Volkanovski once, in Sydney. A tour could be organized around the world. A [news] conference could be held in America.”

In many cases, the week-to-week grind of the MMA schedule limits the focus on any one event. However, White claims that M…

Bellator MMA’s debut on CBS averaged 1.068 million viewers on Saturday night, according to ShowBuzz Daily.

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The Bellator 290 broadcast lasted a little more than two hours and concluded with Fedor Emelianenko’s farewell bout against heavyweight champion Ryan Bader in the evening’s main event. Bader won the fight via first-round technical knockout. The card also saw Johnny Eblen retain his middleweight belt with a five-round verdict over Anatoly Tokov in the co-headliner, while Brennan Ward scored a second-round TKO against Sabah Homasi in the opening bout.

The event drew a 0.18 rating in the 18-to-49-year-old demographic. By comparison, that was better than college basketball on Fox, which drew 567,000 viewers and a 0.10 rating in the 18-to-49 demographic. However, it fell short of the Golden State-Dallas NBA game on ABC, which averaged 2.36 million viewers and drew a 0.57 share in the 18-to-49 demographic.

Television ratings have dipped from …

Like Khabib Nurmagomedov before him, Islam Makhachev has made his name in the UFC through his wrestling and grappling.

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The recently crowned lighweight champion wants to change that perception in his showdown with reigning featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski in the UFC 284 main event.

“Honestly, I want to knock him out, because everybody says [that] Islam a grappler or wrestler, but I want to show people my striking,” Makhachev told ESPN Deportes. “He is a short guy, and I really believe I can knock him out.”

Conversely, Volkanovski, who is in the midst of a 22-fight winning streak, is confident than he matches up well with his opponent in the wrestling department. According to Makhachev, the size differential will be a rude awakening for the City Kickboxing representative.

“This is not his area,” Makhachev said. “I’m from other division. This is not the same power. It’s not the same, and he’s going to understand this, but he wants to t…

The @UFC will open a new Performance Institute in Mexico to develop and support MMA athletes from Latin America.

Get all the details here ⤵️

— UFC News (@UFCNews) February 7, 2023

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The Ultimate Fighting Championship is set to open a third Performance Institute in Mexico City in the fourth quarter of 2023.

The Las Vegas-based promotion announced the news on Tuesday. The 32,000 square foot facility will help to develop fighters from Mexico and other Latin American countries. The UFC currently has Performance Institutes in Las Vegas and Shangai. The Las Vegas version opened in 2017 and is primarily used by current UFC athletes for training, while the Chinese facility opened in 2019 and serves as a developmental hub for athletes in the region.

The UFC Performance Institute Mexico will be more like the latter, “aiming to rapidly accelerate the skill level and UFC-readiness of mixed martial artists in the region.” A full…

Former interim lightweight title challenger Kevin Lee is coming back to the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

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“The Motown Phenom” revealed to ESPN that he has signed an exclusive deal with the Las Vegas-based promotion and expects to return to the Octagon sometime in the spring.

"I met with [president] Dana White and [chief business officer] Hunter Campbell, and I feel like I'm going back home," Lee told ESPN in a statement. "I'm grateful for them welcoming me back and looking forward to the next chapter of my career.”

Lee was released from the UFC in 2021 after losing five of his last seven promotional appearances. He has fought once since then, taking a unanimous decision triumph against Diego Sanchez at Eagle FC 46 in March 2022.

Prior to that slump, Lee was regarded as a rising star after winning nine of his first 11 UFC bouts. That culminated in a showdown against Tony Ferguson for interim 155-pound gold at UFC 216, where Lee lost v…

Among the intriguing fights announced for Jorge Masvidal’s Gamebred Boxing 4 event was a clash between onetime UFC foes Ronaldo Souza and Vitor Belfort.

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Shortly after the card was revealed, Sherdog.com confirmed with both “Jacare” and Belfort that the fight will happen.

"That´s true. I’m giving the rematch to Belfort, but this time in boxing rules,” Souza said. “I’m already training hard, and I’ll reach April 1 ready to get a second win over him.”

Souza defeated Belfort via first-round technical knockout in their UFC 198 clash on May 14, 2016.

“It looks like ‘Jacare’ already accepted, and we are close to signing the contract,” Belfort said. “And I´ll just celebrate when it´s already signed. But I’m really happy. I think it’s gonna be amazing. It´s a rematch, but now under boxing rules.”

Gamebred Boxing 4 takes place at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee on April 1 and is headined by a clash between ex-UFC lightweight champ A…

With four finishes under the UFC banner in 11 months, Jailton Almeida has climbed to No. 14 in the UFC heavyweight rankings.

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His most recent triumph, a second-round TKO of Shamil Abdurakhimov at UFC 283, has him in line to face another ranked foe in his next promotional appearance. Almeida recently took to social media to call out Marcin Tybura, who outpointed Blagoy Ivanov at UFC Fight Night 218 this past Saturday.

“Hey Marcin Tybura, I just saw your victory. Shall we fight [next]? Everyone likes to see two good heavyweight grapplers fighting each other,” Almeida wrote. “We are in close positions in the ranking, I fought two weeks ago, I think it will be a perfect moment to fight in May. [Are you] ready?”

Shortly after his victory at UFC 283, Almeida discussed meeting some of the sports icons.

“Fighting in front of an audience was a unique experience, but what affected me even more a UFC Rio was the chance to meet my heroes ‘Minotauro,’ ‘Sho…

Ryan Bader knows what it takes to transition from 205 pounds to heavyweight.

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The UFC veteran has enjoyed success with the move in Bellator MMA and is coming off his third successful heavyweight title defense, a first-round technical knockout of the retiring Fedor Emelianenko on Saturday night. Bader’s change in weight class didn’t have nearly the fanfare that will accompany Jon Jones’ heavyweight debut, which will occur against Ciryl Gane at UFC 285 on March 4.

Bader, for one, expects Jones to handle the change in weight class quite well. The former Arizona State University All-American was a rising 205-pound prospect when he fell to Jones via second-round submission at UFC 126, a fight that would propel “Bones” to the title in his next Octagon appearance.

“I think he’s gonna do great,” Bader said of Jones’ heavyweight debut at the Bellator 290 post-fight press conference. “He actually hit me up when he was in Arizona to train a little bit. I…

Jorge Masvidal’s upcoming boxing event will feature some of MMA’s biggest names.

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Masvidal announced Monday on "The MMA Hour” that Gamebred Boxing 4 will be headlined by a showdown between Anthony Pettis and Roy Jones Jr. at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee on April 1. Pettis vs. Jones Jr. will be contested over eight rounds.

“I’ve always been a fan of Roy Jones,” Masvidal said. “Always wanted to work with Roy Jones in some capacity. He’s going to be fighting someone that inspired me in my career numerous times. WEC champion, UFC champion, I think both his wins for the UFC title were finishes. This guy has knockouts and finishes at 145, 155, 170, it’s crazy what this guy has done in his career in MMA. Great striker. He agreed to fight the walking, living legend, the pound-for-pound king, one of the best fighters, athletes, I’ve ever seen in combat sports, period, versus Anthony Pettis.”

Pettis will be making his professional boxing debut. The fo…

Doo Ho Choi didn’t officially win his fight on Saturday, but he will be compensated as if he did.

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Choi was on his way to earning his first victory since 2016 before he received a point deduction for an illegal headbutt in the third round of his UFC Fight Night 218 clash with Kyle Nelson.

Chris Tognoni made the ruling after Choi clashed heads with his opponent while in top position. As a result of the foul, the featherweight contest was ruled a majority draw thanks to a pair of 28-28 scorecards. The verdict would have gone Choi’s way without the deduction.

UFC president Dana White did not agree with the call, even though replay was consulted before the decision was made.

“I thought it was insane and it cost him the fight,” White said at the UFC Fight Night 218 post-fight press conference. “I paid him his win money. He won the fight, so I paid him.”

“The Korean Superboy” was making his first Octagon appearance since December 2019. …

Former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman is set to make his first combat sports appearance since suffering a nasty leg break in April 2021.

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Weidman announced via Instagram that he will face Owen Livesey a grappling match at Polaris 23 on March 11. The event takes place at the Doncaster Dome in Doncaster, England, and airs on UFC Fight Pass.

“Back in the game!” Weidman wrote. “To clarify, this is a grappling match, which I see as good preparation for my next fight. I anticipate being ready in late May/June.”

Weidman hasn’t competed since UFC 261, when he was injured after having a kick checked by Uriah Hall just 17 seconds into their bout. Weidman broke his right fibula and tibia and underwent multiple surgeries to have it repaired.

Weidman is just 2-6 in his last eight UFC bouts dating back to December 2015, when he relinquished the middleweight crown to Luke Rockhold in a fourth-round TKO loss at UFC 194. A former NCAA Division …

It appears that Sean O'Malley will continue to compete under the Ultimate Fighting Championship banner for the foreseeable future.

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UFC president Dana White announced on Saturday that the bantamweight star had signed an eight-fight deal to remain with the promotion, and O’Malley himself confirmed the news on his podcast. O'Malley represented himself in negotiations with the UFC.

“I did re-sign with the UFC. I got a very gracious contract that I’m proud of,” O’Malley said. “… I got a number that I’m very happy with. I truly don’t think any manager that I had could have went in there and got me what I got. That also helps with the relationship built with the UFC. I feel like I have earned this contract. I feel like I have earned the amount that I’m getting paid. I think the UFC is fine with paying people what they earn. I’m very happy with how the negotiations went.”

After appearing on Season 1 of Dana White’s Contender Series, O’Malley has emer…

It was a good night for reigning champions at Bellator 290.

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In the main event, Ryan Bader defended his heavyweight belt with a first-round technical knockout of the retiring Fedor Emelianenko. Meanwhile, Johnny Eblen retained the middleweight strap with a five-round verdict against Anatoly Tokov in the evening’s co-headliner.

As it turns out, Bader and Eblen were the top earners at the event as well. Both pocketed $150,000 for their championship triumphs. Emelianenko earned $100,000 in his swan song, while Tokov garnered $75,000 for his loss to Eblen. The California State Athletic Commission recently released a full list of salaries from the event, which took place at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif., on Saturday night.

There were two other six-figure earners at Bellator 290: Sabah Homasi ($100,000), who suffered a second-round TKO loss to Brennan Ward ($75,000) and Christopher Gonzalez ($100,000), who stopped Max Rohskopf ($30,000) with punches…