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Paddy Pimblett and Molly McCann both delivered in a big way at the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s second London event of 2022.

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Pimblett received a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” award after surviving a rough opening stanza to submit Jordan Leavitt in a featured lightweight clash at UFC Fight Night 208 on Saturday at the O2 Arena. The former Cage Warriors champion hurt his foe with a knee to the head before taking Leavitt’s back and trapping one arm in a body triangle. Shortly thereafter, “The Baddy” forced a tapout with a rear-naked choke 2:46 into the second stanza.

Meanwhile, McCann captured a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” check thanks to a technical knockout victory against Hannah Goldy in their flyweight bout. “Meatball” rattled her foe with an overhand right and spinning back elbow before swarming with punches to get the stoppage at the 3:52 mark of Round 1.

Elsewhere, Nikita Krylov earned a $50,000 “Performance of the Night”…

An injury to Tom Aspinall derailed the UFC Fight Night 208 main event against Curtis Blaydes.

The fight was extremely brief, lasting only 15 seconds. Blaydes (17-3, 1 NC) opened the fight well landing several punches. After Aspinall (12-3) countered with a leg kick, he then recoiled to the floor. On the step back, the British fighter appeared to have hurt his right knee, clutching it, and the fight ended. Doctors attended to Aspinall, who was able to get up and be assisted to the back after several minutes on the ground.

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With the TKO victory, Blaydes has now won three straight.Hermansson Schools Curtis The co-main event saw middleweight contenders Jack Hermansson and Chris Curtis clash for three rounds. "The Joker" controlled the fight early by landing kicks from a distance and some solid right hands. Curtis (29-9) failed to adjust between rounds, which allowed Hermansson (23-7) to really amp up his offense and land slashing standing elbows. Despite…

Sherdog's live UFC Fight Night 208 coverage will begin Saturday at 12 p.m. ET.

Check out the MMA Forums to discuss the card or enter your comments and predictions below.

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BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Dalby (-250), Silva (+210)Round 1 The venue isn’t completely full for the first prelim of the card in London, but those who are present seem to be fully engaged. Lukasz Bosaki will be the third man in the cage for this welterweight bout. Silva takes the center of the cage and shoots for a takedown, driving Dalby into the fence. Silva clings to a single leg, but Dalby hops around and maintains his balance while fighting his opponent’s hands. “Hannibal” finally yanks his foe down and passes quickly to full mount. Silva stays heavy on top as Dalby attempts to buck him off. Thus far, those efforts are unsuccessful. Dalby stays active and recaptures half guard, but Silva is still in control. Dalby posts in hopes of standing, but Silva grabs the …

Ludovit Klein woke up feeling 𝐃𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐒 💥 #UFCLondon pic.twitter.com/gKN51qee3v

— UFC (@ufc) July 23, 2022

UFC Fight Night 208's prelims were capped off with a lightweight bout between Ludovit Klein vs. Mason Jones.

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Both men came out looking to strike, but it was Jones (11-2, 1 NC) that was able to control the distance and eventually back "Mr. Highlight" against the cage. When at a distance, Klein (19-4) showed off some impressive striking that included a jumping high kick that landed. Klein was in full control of the second frame, as he was able to drop Jones with punches and did the most damage. The final frame saw Jones pull guard and work off his back, which was a risky move that didn't pay off with a submission.

After three rounds of action, all three judges scored the fight 30-27 in the favor of Klein.

Diakiese vs. Hadzovic Marc Diakiese showed plenty of skills on the ground against Damir Hadzovic.

Showi…

Jason Jackson is just relentless with the takedowns tonight!#Bellator283 is LIVE on @SHOsports. pic.twitter.com/2nW7cUN2ID

— BellatorMMA (@BellatorMMA) July 23, 2022

Jason Jackson has been on a roll lately, having conquered such foes as Benson Henderson, Neiman Gracie and Paul Daley. He can now add former Bellator MMA champion Douglas Lima to his ledger.

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Jackson (16-4) dominated Lima from start to finish, taking the former three-time champ down in every round and controlling the action from there, winning a horribly lopsided unanimous decision in the main event of Bellator 283 on Friday night in the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, Washington.

Lima (32-11) had little in the tank in terms of fighting back; he seemed resigned to just accept the takedowns and survive. The crowd angrily booed the lack of action for most of rounds three through five, but Lima never had the desire to try and turn the tides. Lima instead lai…

Sherdog's live Bellator 283 coverage kicks off at 7 p.m. ET.

Check out the MMA Forums to discuss the card or enter your comments and predictions below.

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Round 1 Bellator 283 begins with a 160-pound catchweight bout between Archie Colgan and Bryan Nuro refereed by Steve Newport. Both men take the center of the cage with Nuro throwing more punches yet not connecting with anything of note. Colgan is able to start landing his jab, which is piercing through the guard of Nuro. Colgan continues to stun Nuro with jabs, then throws some hooks after grabbing a clinch. A nice right hand to the body lands for Colgan, who is in complete control. Nuro hasn't been put in real danger, but Colgan is in total control and dishing out damage that is only accumulating further. A clear 10-9 in the favor of Colgan.Round 2 Nuro comes out a bit more aggressive to start Round 2 by throwing a head kick. Colgan goes back to the jab, which continues to be his strongest weapon. N…

The Joker 🃏 is in Kielce! #KSW72

🇵🇱 Romanowski vs. Grzebyk 🇵🇱

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Tomorrow | KSWTV | @viaplaysportpl pic.twitter.com/C5TMWqEjTz — KSW (@KSW_MMA) July 22, 2022 Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki's KSW 72 weigh-ins were marred by unprofessional conduct on the scale, including one half of the main event missing weight by six pounds.

While Andrzej Grzebyk made weight for his welterweight main event, clocking in at 170 pounds, Tomasz Romanowski hit the scales at a shocking 177 pounds. The massive weight miss came with quite the fine, as "Tommy" has been fined 50% of his purse. Additionally, Oumar Sy substantially missed the light heavyweight limit by five pounds, and he was also hit with a 50% fine of his own purse. Modest in comparison was Hubert Szymajda, coming in one pound over the lightweight limit, and his fine was levied at 30%.

Romanowski (15-8, 1 NC) is on a two-fight win streak having won a decision over Michal Pietrza…

16-0! 👑 Reinier de Ridder puts Vitaly Bigdash to SLEEP with an inverted triangle to retain his ONE Middleweight World Title!#ONE159 | https://t.co/eBUfsODAFL pic.twitter.com/YDbzk92pGM

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) July 22, 2022 Reinier de Ridder proved why he is the most dominant titleholder in One Championship at the moment.

In the One 159 headliner, de Ridder (16-0, 7-0 One) notched a defense of his 205-pound title as he overcame former divisional kingpin Vitaly Bigdash. The challenger started with a bang, cracking the champ with a heavy blow in the early going. “The Dutch Knight” recovered and moved the action against the fence, where his opponent quickly captured his neck. Bigdash (12-3, 5-3 One) opted to go for broke, attacking with a tight guillotine choke. The submission attempt seemed quite deep, but de Ridder fought out of the sticky situation. The defending champion landed a few punches after popping his head out, and Bigdash…

It's the return of an @AspinallMMA #UFCLondon main event!

⚖️ He's officially in at 251 lbs.

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[ Tomorrow | Main Card 3pm ET | LIVE on @ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/NweZkMIc3d — UFC (@ufc) July 22, 2022 The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to London for UFC Fight Night 208, where all 28 fighters on the card made weight.

The event is headlined by a heavyweight fight between contenders Curtis Blaydes and Tom Aspinall. Blaydes (16-3, 1 NC) has won six of his last seven bouts, with the lone defeat coming to former title challenger Derrick Lewis. "Razor" weighed 260 pounds and will be the larger fighter by nine pounds. Meanwhile, Aspinall (12-2) is undefeated inside the Octagon at 5-0. The English fighter most recently submitted Alexander Volkov with a straight armbar and will look to continue his momentum. The Team Kaobon product weighed 251 pounds.

The UFC Fight Night 208 main card begins on ESPN+ at 3 p.m. ET/1…

A pair of top Ultimate Fighting Championship strawweights have changed representation, and their new manager holds them in extremely high regard.

This week, management team Dominance MMA, helmed by Ali Abdelaziz, has just brought two more recruits for his team of athletes: top strawweight contenders Marina Rodriguez and Jessica Andrade. The partnership took place after a meeting between Gilliard Alfredo Fagundes, also known as Gilliard “Parana,” the head coach of Parana Vale Tudo who managed both in a partnership between his Top Fight agency and Brazilian manager Tiago Okamura. “Parana” spoke to Sherdog on Wednesday about his fighters being signed to the international management organization of Dominance MMA.

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“I sat with Ali in a meeting and saw his numbers, his involvement with the UFC,” Fagundes explained. “For those who are at a high level [and] close to the belt, it is very worthwhile to deal with him. I talked to Okamura, who continues to be a gr…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypr0KoMFusk?start=136&w=560&h=315] The violence potential for this newly released Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight rumble is almost off the charts.

On his YouTube channel, UFC light heavyweight Johnny Walker (18-7) announced on Thursday that he would be facing off against Ion Cutelaba (16-7-1, 1 NC) in an all-action 205-pound battle on Sept. 10. They will be colliding at UFC 279, which will be held at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on pay-per-view. Both of these strikers celebrate career knockout rates at 75% or higher.

Walker has hit a rough patch over the last few years, but not for lack of trying. The high-flying Brazilian put himself on the map with a trio of dynamic knockouts in 2018 and 2019, where he put Khalil Rountree, Justin Ledet and Misha Cirkunov away in the span of less than four months and only 2:50 of combined fight time. Since then, four defeats in his last five outings have quelled his momentum…

Any one of the fights booked thus far for the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s October return to “Fight Island” could headline an event.

The UFC 280 event on Oct. 22 continues to swell with talent and scintillating, as Combate reported on Thursday that a likely strawweight title eliminator will join its billing. Marina Rodriguez (16-1-2) will be taking on Amanda Lemos (12-2-1) in a pivotal 115-pound clash, and the victor should almost certainly crack into the title picture. The UFC’s broadcast partner of ESPN confirmed this booking shortly after its announcement on Thursday.

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Rodriguez has rebounded from her first professional defeat – a split decision loss to former and future champ Carla Esparza in 2020 – in resounding fashion, with four straight victories on her ledger. A knockout of Amanda Ribas springboarded her into a main event matchup with Michelle Waterson Gomez, and she passes that test with flying colors to move on to another Fight Night h…

We had some 𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗡𝗦𝗘 staredowns today at the #CW141 weigh-ins 👀https://t.co/aCR82eP2q3 pic.twitter.com/MfellffsWx

— Cage Warriors (@CageWarriors) July 21, 2022 Cage Warriors Fighting Championship's return to London isn't quite as stacked after a flyweight title bout was canceled due to challenger Dylan Hazan coming in overweight.

The CW 141 co-main attraction has been canceled after Hazan came in 2.5 pounds over the flyweight limit. Champion Sam Creasey had made weight at 124.9 pounds but opted not to take on his heavy foe without the belt on the line. As a result, the lightweight championship headliner of Kyle Driscoll vs. George Hardwick will be the lone bout with gold up for grabs. Additionally, due to failed medical clearances of Araik Margarian and Simon Kevin, their matches with Nathan Fletcher and Luke Riley, respectively, have been pulled from the lineup.

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With the lightweight title currently vacant, Driscoll (13…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7aI01BQmQo&w=560&h=315] After nearly a month of no events, Bellator MMA returns to Showtime with Bellator 283.

Headlining the 12-fight card is a welterweight showdown between former champion Douglas Lima and promotional mainstay Jason Jackson. While the Jamaican fighter had no issue and weighed 171 pounds on the dot, Lima (32-10) came in heavy at 172.8 pounds. The main event is still intact despite the miss, though Lima will be fined a percentage of his purse. Two prelim fighters on the card also missed weight, as Kevin Boehm checked in 1.6 pounds over the featherweight limit while Mark Coates missed the bantamweight cap by 1.8 pounds. Both Boehm and Coates have also been fined, and the fights will otherwise continue as scheduled.

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Lima is currently on the worst losing streak of his career, having lost three straight. A shot at middleweight glory against Gegard Mousasi went awry in 2020, and then the Brazilian…

At a joint press conference Wednesday, representatives of One Championship and Amazon unveiled the promotion’s new exclusive streaming agreement with Prime Video, including a schedule of planned events.

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The first of those events, One on Prime Video 1, will take place Aug. 26 at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore. Among the bouts announced for the debut card is a headliner featuring One flyweight champion Adriano Moraes, defending his belt against the man he defeated last year to win it, former longtime Ultimate Fighting Championship titleholder Demetrious Johnson. Moraes and Johnson were among the One Championship athletes present at the press conference, which also included atomweight champ Angela Lee, flyweight kickboxing champ Jonathan Haggerty and heavyweight contender Marcus Almeida.

“As the new, exclusive home of One Championship across the U.S. and Canada, we are thrilled to bring these unique, multidisciplinary events to fans,”…

#ANDSTILL! Taneisha Tennant retains her Invicta FC bantamweight title by split decision! pic.twitter.com/Mt2a43J3iq

— Invicta FC (@InvictaFights) July 21, 2022

Taneisha Tennant passed her first test as Invicta FC bantamweight queen.

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The Budokan Martial Arts Academy defended the 135-pound belt for the first time, taking a closely-contested split-decision triumph against Bellator veteran Olga Rubin in the Invicta FC 48 headliner at Reelworks Denver in Denver, Colo., on Wednesday night. “Triple Threat” received scorecards of 48-47 and 50-45 in her favor, while a third judge saw the fight 48-47 for Rubin.

Buggy choke attempt from Olga Rubin!

Watch #InvictaFC48 LIVE: https://t.co/IpE3voHDQZ pic.twitter.com/Cxe7QxPfbk — Invicta FC (@InvictaFights) July 21, 2022

Tennant (5-1, 4-0 Invicta) relied on consistent forward pressure, occasional bursts of offense and solid takedown defense to carry her …

A potential lightweight title eliminator is on tap for UFC 280, as Beneil Dariush is slated to square off against Mateusz Gamrot.

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ESPN was first to report the booking. UFC 280 takes place at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on Oct. 22 and is headlined by a lightweight championship bout between Charles Oliveira and Islam Makhachev.

“Winner fights for the belt,” Dariush told ESPN. “I’m definitely happy with the matchup. I just want to fight the best.”

Dariush will bring a seven-fight winning streak into the matchup with Gamrot. Most recently, the Kings MMA standout scored a dominant unanimous verdict over Tony Ferguson at UFC 262 in May 2021.

A former KSW champion, Gamrot has won his last four appearances within the Las Vegas-based promotion after dropping a split decision against Guram Kutateladze in his Octagon debut. In his last outing “Gamer” won a closely-contested unanimous decision against Arman Tsarukyan in the UFC on ESPN 38 headliner…

Though the grade for his most recent step up in competition was incomplete at best, Sean O'Malley will nonetheless see the degree of difficulty increase considerably for his next Octagon appearance.

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O’Malley announced on ESPN's DC & RC that he will face former bantamweight champion Petr Yan at UFC 280 in Abu Dhabi on Oct. 22. Both fighters have reportedly verbally agreed to the booking, but contracts haven’t been issued at this time.

"I’m getting the fight that I wanted, and the fight that people want,” O’Malley said. “I’m so excited for this. I almost can’t even believe it’s real, it’s happening.”

UFC 280 takes place at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi and is headlined by a lightweight championship clash pitting Charles Oliveira against Islam Makhachev.

Yan claimed the vacant bantamweight crown with a fifth-round TKO of Jose Aldo at UFC 251 before losing the belt via disqualification against Aljamain Sterling at UFC 259. “No Mercy” reboun…

After months of mystery, the fight between Charles Oliveira and Islam Makhachev was finally confirmed for UFC 280 on Oct. 22 in Abu Dhabi.

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“Everybody knows how I wanted to fight in January in Brazil with Conor [McGregor], but he never answered,” Oliveira told Sherdog.com.

The UFC is not expected to return to Brazil until next year, but Oliveira pointed out that Makhachev and Khabib Nurmagomedov were vocal in the media about wanting to face “Do Bronx” on his home soil. Instead, the event will be much closer to Makhachev’s native Dagestan.

“They talked a lot of s—t to the media, that they would go to Brazil to beat me up in front of my fans,” he said. “They had the opportunity to agree to that since I tried hard to make that fight at home, but they never accepted. We even tried to make it in a neutral territory (New York or Las Vegas), but what ended up happening?  The champion will fight on the opponent's home soil for the third consecutiv…

MILANO!

We are returning to the Allianz Cloud Arena in Milan, Italy on Saturday, October 29. #BellatorMilan

— BellatorMMA (@BellatorMMA) July 20, 2022

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Bellator MMA will be returning to Milan, Italy, this fall.

The California-based promotion announced Wednesday that it will hold a card at Allianz Cloud Arena on Oct. 29 in the Italian fashion hub. No fights for the card were revealed. The event’s main card will air live in the U.S. on Showtime, while prelims will stream on the Showtime Sports YouTube channel, the Bellator MMA YouTube channel and Pluto TV.

Bellator held three consecutive events in Milan with no fans during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 on Sept. 26, Oct. 1 and Oct. 3. The last time the Scott Coker-led organization touched down in Milan in front of a live audience was Bellator 230 on Oct. 12, 2019. That card saw current light heavyweight champ Vadim Nemkov submit former 185-pound king Ra…

It looks like Aljamain Sterling will defend his bantamweight crown against T.J. Dillashaw a little bit later than originally anticipated.

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According to Yahoo Sports, Sterling vs. Dillashaw will serve as the co-main event at UFC 280 on Oct. 22. The title bout was originally slated for UFC 279 on Sept. 10 but that event will now be headlined by a five-round, non-title clash between Nate Diaz and Khamzat Chimaev. The matchup was later confirmed by UFC broadcast partner ESPN.

UFC 280 takes place at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi and is headlined by a showdown between Charles Oliveira and Islam Makhachev for the vacant lightweight title.

After winning the 135-pound belt with a controversial disqualification victory over Petr Yan at UFC 259, Sterling defeated Yan via split decision in their rematch at UFC 273 on April 9. The “Funk Master” has won seven consecutive fights in UFC competition, with other notable victories over the likes of Cory Sandhagen,…

The matchups for the finals of “The Ultimate Fighter 30” are set.

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The last episode of the long-running series streamed via ESPN+ on Monday, setting the stage for a Mohammed Usman-Zac Pauga matchup at heavyweight and a showdown pitting Brogan Walker against Juliana Miller at women’s flyweight. Both fights will take place at UFC on ESPN 40 on Aug. 6. MMAjunkie.com was first to report the location of the bouts.

Usman, who is the brother of UFC welterweight ruler Kamaru Usman, notably went 4-0 under the Titan FC banner before suffering a second-round submission loss to Brandon Sayles in his lone Professional Fighters League appearance in May 2021.

Pauga, who moved up from 205 pounds to compete on “TUF 30,” is undefeated in five professional appearances — with victories in Cage Warriors and Legacy Fighting Alliance to his credit. Most recently, he outpointed UFC veteran Markus Perez at Cage Warriors 130 this past October.

Walker’s 7-2 care…

Claudio Silva will look to halt a two-bout skid when he faces Nicolas Dalby at UFC London on Saturday.

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The London-based Brazilian known as “Hannibal” recently considered calling it quits but instead looked to American Top Team for motivation, and he found it in the form of training partner Francisco Trinaldo.

“What I did differently was train at ATT. I hurt my knee; I even thought about stopping fighting and return to England. Conan [Silveira] and ‘Parrumpinha’ told me to stay there with them,” Silva said. “And then I saw ‘Massaranduba,’ 43 years old, training hard, and you can't help but be inspired. It was hard to be away from the family, but it was good to train at ATT. It’s a fighting university there.”

  The 39-year-old Silva praised his teammate, who is coming off a victory against Danny Roberts at UFC 274 this past May.

“I went to talk to ‘Massaranduba,’ and I thanked him for training, and said that seeing him lik…