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[embedded content] Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to pay-per-view with UFC 281, which features two titles on the line.

Both championship bouts are now official after middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and women's strawweight titleholder Carla Esparza both made weight alongside their respective challengers, Alex Pereira and Weili Zhang. The undercard wasn't nearly as professional as Ryan Spann missed the light heavyweight limit by .6 pounds and Michael Trizano was 1.6 pounds over the featherweight limit.

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While Adesanya (23-1) has been a dominant champ with his only mixed martial arts defeat coming at light heavyweight against then-champion Jan Blachowicz, he was previously knocked out by Pereira (6-1) in kickboxing. The hard-hitting Brazilian will look to repeat this feat on Saturday and officially weighed in at 184.6 pounds. Meanwhile, Adesanya weighed 185 pounds on the dot.

Meanwhile, Esparza (19-6) is the underdog in the first title de…

＼湘南美容クリニック presents／⚔️#RIZIN40 追加対戦カード⚔️

【#RIZINvsBellator 全面対抗戦】武田光司 @koujitakeda0813🆚ガジ・ラバダノフ

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📅：12.31(土) 13:30開始(予定)🏟：さいたまスーパーアリーナ📝：https://t.co/1TgCLzAzCI pic.twitter.com/nuBDWirCQd — RIZIN FF OFFICIAL (@rizin_PR) November 11, 2022

Dec. 31’s joint Bellator MMA and Rizin Fighting Federation card has added an intriguing lightweight matchup as Gadzhi Rabadanov will take on Koji Takeda.

Rabadanov (18-4-1, 3-0 Bellator) is looking for his fourth consecutive victory as he prepares to compete in Japan for the first time in his near 10-year career. The Russian is coming off back-to-back decision victories over Jay-Jay Wilson and Bobby King. In his promotional debut, Rabadanov crushed Daniel Carey via first-round knockout.

Order UFC 281 "Adesanya vs. Pereira" exclusively on ESPN+

Former Deep lightweight champion and suplex-machine Takeda (15-3, 5-3…

PFL 🤝 @SportsIcon

PFL is teaming up with SportsIcon to create the PFL Metaverse experience

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Bringing fans closer to the action pic.twitter.com/MMlRiTOxMz — PFL (@PFLMMA) November 10, 2022

The Professional Fighters League is joining the Metaverse ahead of the upcoming 2022 PFL Championships on Nov. 25 in New York City.

On Thursday, the PFL announced in a press release they joined forces with NFT platform SportsIcon in the creation of the “PFL MMA Metaverse” experience. The league stated mixed martial arts fans could engage with PFL content in new and immersive ways.

“I am excited to announce the Professional Fighters League is partnering with industry leader SportsIcon to create the PFL’s innovative MMA Metaverse experience for fans around the world,” said PFL CRO Jon Tuck. “The PFL’s new Metaverse platform will drive increased fan engagement as well as provides league sponsors with organic activation oppo…

Salahdine Parnasse vs Sebastian Rajewski" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen> Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki's penultimate event of the year will see featherweight champion Salahdine Parnasse and Sebastian Rajewski go toe-to-toe for the promotion's interim lightweight championship.

All 18 fighters on the nine-fight card made weight, including both main event fighters. Originally, the main event was going to see Marian Ziolkowski defend his lightweight belt but a knee injury caused the champion to pull out. As a result, Parnasse (16-1) will now face Rajewski (12-7) instead.

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Parnasse, the pride of France, has been on a roll. Having won his last three fights and avenging his lone defeat to Daniel Torres The featherweight champion defended his title against Daniel Rutkowski earlier this year and will look to go 2-0 in 2022 while claiming a second KSW title. Parnass…

After spending the last eight months in jail, Cain Velasquez left a holding facility in Santa Clara County, Calif., after he posted $1 million bail.

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Former Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight titleholder Velasquez was arrested in late February after allegedly shooting at Harry Goularte, a man allegedly accused of sexually molesting Velasquez’s 4-year-old son, and his family. On Tuesday, Nov. 8, Velasquez was allowed to go home, but he is facing attempted murder and multiple other charges. Velasquez was previously denied bail on several occasions after it was determined too great a risk to release the former UFC heavyweight champion.[embedded content]

“Just feel blessed,” Velasquez said in a statement to San Francisco, Calif.-based television station KRON-4. “Ready to go home, be with the loved ones, family, and friends, and make something positive of this whole situation. Just thank you to everybody who had my support. I love all of you. Ju…

Shane Burgos’ highly anticipated Professional Fighters League debut will have to wait—at least for a while.

Burgos, an 11-fight Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran, was surprisingly not re-signed by the organization after his July win over Charles Jourdain and joined the PFL shortly thereafter. The 31-year-old New Yorker’s premiere was then slated for the 2022 Season Championships on Nov. 25. However, according to a PFL press release Monday, Burgos has been forced to withdraw from his scheduled bout with Marlon Moraes due to an unspecified injury. Burgos will be replaced by Sheymon Moraes, a fellow UFC veteran who has been with the PFL since 2019.

The new pairing will be a rematch, as the two Brazilians met in 2015 under the banner of PFL’s predecessor World Series of Fighting, with Marlon defending his WSOF featherweight title successfully via third-round submission.

The 2002 Season PFL Championships take place on Nov. 25, at the Hulu Theater at Madiso…

and an eighth knockdown for hiramoto. that was a beating #RIZIN_LANDMARK4 pic.twitter.com/asGonxo1tT

— jake (@jakeshreds420) November 6, 2022

The youngsters are taking over Rizin Fighting Federation.

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The Rizin Landmark Vol. 4 headliner featured an intriguing striker vs. grappler matchup as Ren Hiramoto and Satoshi Yamasu collided at featherweight. Even though Hiramoto (2-2, 2-2 Rizin) was the underdog going into the clash, he proved to be a world-class striker against Yamasu (12-7, 2-2 Rizin) en route to a unanimous decision. 24-year-old Hiramoto adopted a karate-style guard out of the gate, waiting to counterstrike every time his opponent closed the distance. The game plan was simple yet effective. Throughout the 15 minutes of the clash, Hiramoto effortlessly nullified Yamasu’s offensive, dropping his opponent on the canvas a plethora of times. While it appeared that some of those knockdowns were almost welcomed by “Dom…

Some crazy line movement in the Shayilan Nuerdanbieke vs. Darrick Minner fight over the last 90 minutes.

Average odds have moved from -237 to -362 for Shayilan

— Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter) November 5, 2022 A recent Ultimate Fighting Championship bout is under the crosshairs of an important betting organization.

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On Saturday, Nuerdanbieke Shayilan faced and defeated Darrick Minner at UFC Fight Night 214. Shayilan absorbed a body kick, and Minner clutched at his leg and hobbled back to the cage wall. A knee from the Chinese fighter and some vicious ground-and-pound elbows put an end to the match at 1:07 of Round 1, but that was only part of the story. Ahead of their pairing – as in, within hours of the matchup, after the fight card had begun – some unusual betting activity developed.

Multiple individuals and outlets on social media, including TSN, began to notice that significant money had come in on Shayilan t…

Amanda Lemos possesses the great equalizer: kill-switch punching power.

Lemos moved ever closer to the top of the Ultimate Fighting Championship women’s strawweight division, as she took out Marina Rodriguez with punches in the third round of their UFC Fight Night 214 headliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Rodriguez (16-2-2, 6-2-2 UFC), though still standing, succumbed to blows 54 seconds into Round 3.

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After a tepid first round, Lemos (13-2-1, 7-2 UFC) switched gears, executed a trip takedown and eventually progressed to the back in the second. She threatened with a neck crank, then cut off an escape by transitioning to top position, settling in half guard and bleeding valuable time off the clock. Lemos backed up the Thai Brasil star with a thudding right hand early in Round 3, pressed her into the fence and let fly with winging hooks from both hands. Rodriguez offered nothing in response, prompting referee Jason Herzog to rush in to…

Sherdog's live UFC Fight Night 214 coverage will begin Saturday at 4 p.m. ET.

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

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Order UFC 281 "Adesanya vs. Pereira" exclusively on ESPN+ BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Vidal (-140), Pascual (+120)Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round: Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:The Official Result BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Hadley (-255), Candelario (+215)Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog S…

Polyana Viana will always have an Ultimate Fighting Championship highlight to which she can point.

The former Jungle Fight titleholder bounced back from her May 21 loss to Tabatha Ricci and took out Fortis MMA’s Jinh Yu Frey with first-round punches as part of the UFC Fight Night 214 undercard on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Viana (13-5, 4-4 UFC) drew the curtain 47 seconds into Round 1, having authored the fourth-fastest finish in the history of the women’s strawweight division.

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Frey (11-8, 2-4 UFC) switched stances while attacking the inside and outside of the Brazilian’s lead leg. Viana answered with a knee to the body, then unleashed with hooks and straights from both hands. The flurry drove a semi-conscious Frey onto the canvas in a supine position, where she was met with a pair of unabated hammerfists before referee Herb Dean could intervene.

Viana, 30, now has 12 first-round finishes to her credit.

Relentless Maverick Stymi…

🫵 YOU just watched this man set the record for most wins in welterweight HISTORY 🫵 #UFCVegas64 pic.twitter.com/ewQX1DxuuW

— UFC (@ufc) November 6, 2022 The Ultimate Fighting Championship awarded four fighters performance bonuses on the UFC Fight Night 214 card.

Neil Magny received an extra $50,000 for the record-setting performance that saw him notch his 20th welterweight win inside the Octagon. Magny's historic performance saw him submit Daniel Rodriguez with a brabo choke to claim the most wins in promotional history within the division. Three other performance bonuses went to Mario Bautista for his triangle armbar submission win, Polyana Viana for her brutal knockout win over Jinh Yu Frey and Tamires Vidal for her jumping knee stoppage.

Notably absent from the list is Tagir Ulanbekov, who notched a quick guillotine choke win over Nathan Maness.

AND NEW! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/fHs1jEGQmW

— Cage Warriors (@CageWarriors) November 4, 2022 Paul Hughes left no doubt as to who was the better man tonight inside of the Cage Warriors Fighting Championship cage.

The CW 145 headliner saw the championship unification clash between featherweight titleholder Jordan Vucenic (9-2, 5-1 CW) and interim champion Hughes (9-1, 6-1 CW). The two first met at CW 119 in 2020, and Vucenic emerged with a narrow split decision after 15 minutes of combat. In their 25-minute rematch, the contestants put on an entertaining back-and-forth clash that turned into a blood bath. After a fairly close first round, Hughes spent most of the second frame on his opponent’s back fishing for a rear-naked choke that never materialized. Hughes’s speed gave him the upper hand towards the end of Round 3, when he caught Vucenic with a clean uppercut and attempted to finish the job before the sound of the horn.

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Sens…

First to the scale! @wmmarz in at 115.5lbs for tomorrow's #UFCVegas64 main event 💪 pic.twitter.com/Sk2Jqq9ezq

— UFC (@ufc) November 4, 2022 Editor's note: The article was updated at 3:15 p.m. ET on Nov. 4 to reflect new weigh-in information.

UFC Fight Night 214 was nearly one the record books, but not in a good way.

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While consummate professionals Marina Rodriguez and Amanda Lemos both weighed in on target in hopes of making a statement inside the Ultimate Fighting Championship's strawweight division, four other competitors on the bill could not say the same. The promotion has never before staged a fight card with five bouts that contained an athlete that could not make weight, and one of initially five heavy fighters made sure this fight card would not set that dubious record.

Ramona Pascual (137) missed weight by one pound for her match against Tamires Vidal (134). To make matters worse, Benito Lopez (138.5) and Ca…

NEWS: PFL Launches 24/7 FAST Channel

Tune in #PFLWorldChampionship Fight Week for our Championship marathon leading up to 2022 PFL World Championship Fight Night on Fri, Nov 25th on ESPN+ PPV pic.twitter.com/ikROwbA4ap

— PFL (@PFLMMA) November 3, 2022 Die-hard Professional Fighters League fans will now be able to watch the PFL any hour of the day on its new channel.

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The organization sent out a press release on Thursday to announce the latest in its broadcasting news. One week ago, PFL and Dazn entered enter a partnership to air PFL events in Europe. Now, PFL has launched a channel called a “FAST channel,” which is a free, ad-supported streaming TV platform. PFL will be airing all of its content on this network constantly, day and night, on a few services including Xumo, Local Now, Sports.TV and SportsTribal in Europe. The former two are currently up and running, while the latter two will be coming out before the final P…

Georgian Ultimate Fighting Championship prospect Guram Kutateladze is not interested in easy fights.

Fresh off recent announced pairings of Terrance McKinney vs. Ismael Bonfim and Jailton Almeida vs. Shamil Abdurakhimov for UFC 283 in January, a new lightweight scrap has been added to its ever-growing lineup. Per Canal Encarada on Tuesday, and later confirmed by Kutateladze’s (12-3) opponent Thiago Moises (16-6) on his Instagram page, the two will square off on Jan. 21. With 10 bouts currently on its billing, every single match contains one Brazilian competitor.

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Kutateladze saw an impressive nine-fight win streak, which included a victorious debut against then-unbeaten Mateusz Gamrot, come to an end in June. In a thrilling contest that could have gone either way, Kutateladze fell short by split decision to Damir Ismagulov at UFC on ESPN 37. “Georgian Viking” made his way to the organization off of several impressive performances – including three firs…

The biggest rematch in CW History! 🏆

Jordan Vucenic and Paul Hughes face off ahead of their featherweight unification fight.

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[#CW145 | Nov 4th | @UFCFightPass] pic.twitter.com/nDF5HqitKC — Cage Warriors (@CageWarriors) November 3, 2022 A highly-anticipated unification bout for the Cage Warriors Fighting Championship featherweight title will top CW 145.

Both champion Jordan Vucenic and interim titleholder Paul Hughes made weight for their rematch. It was Vucenic (9-1) that took a debated split decision win over Hughes (8-1) back in 2020. Beyond the main event, all fighters made weight except for Festus Ahorlu, who had complications with his weight cut and was set to face Faisal Malik. That bantamweight bout has been scrapped as a result. Additionally, the 135-pound contest between Salvatore Liga and Liam Gittins has been removed from the billing after Liga could not get medically cleared to step in the cage.

Sinc…

Timur Khizriev>Akhmed Magomedov and face Daniel Weichel on the Bellator 288 main card.

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Promotion officials announced the new featherweight pairing on Wednesday. Bellator 288 takes place on Nov. 18 at Wintrust Arena in Chicago and is headlined by a light heavyweight title clash between Vadim Nemkov and Corey Anderson. In the co-main event, Patricky Freire will defend his lightweight crown against Usman Nurmagomedov. The main card airs on Showtime at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.

A two-time featherweight title challenger, Weichel is 3-2 in his last five promotional appearances dating back to 2019. The 37-year-old German is coming off a 72-second stoppage of Robert Whiteford at Bellator 281 this past May.

Khizriev will make his Bellator debut with an 11-0 record. The 26-year-old Russian last competed in September 2021, when he submitted Ruslan Ryskul in the opening round of their clash under the Eagle FC banner in Moscow.

In addition to the cha…

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

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has granted Askar Askarov’s request.

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Shortly after expressing his desire to be released in an Instagram post, Askarov and the UFC have parted ways. Twitter account UFC Roster Watch first brought word of Askarov’s release, and it has since been confirmed by multiple outlets.

“Due to my return being delayed due to medical reasons and being my last fight under my contract, I asked UFC to release me,” Askarov wrote on Instagram last week. “To which, I received a positive response. First, let's put our health in order, and then we will see what and how.”

Regarded as one of the top contenders in the flyweight division, Askarov has pulled out of proposed bouts against Brandon Royval on Oct. 15 and against Alex Perez on July 16. In his most recent appearance, the 30-year-old Dagestani dropped a unanimous verdict to Kai Kara France at UFC on ESPN 33 on March 26.…

Fabricio Andrade has unfinished business with John Lineker.

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The One on Prime Video 3 main event clash between Andrade and Lineker ended in anticlimactic fashion when an accidental knee to the groin from Andrade rendered his opponent unable to continue at the 2:44 mark of Round 3.

As a result, the bout was declared a no contest, robbing Andrade of an opportunity to claim the bantamweight (145-pound) belt in a bout he was clearly winning. Lineker nonetheless was stripped of the title after failing to make weight one day prior.

“I was very close to the belt. I have no doubt Lineker wouldn’t have reached the fourth round.  It was hard for me, but I have to understand that Lineker used the rules in his favor,” Andrade told Sherdog.com. “To tell you the truth, I came to this fight expecting a more aggressive Lineker, but he recognized my skills and came more defensive, respecting me a lot, not moving forward as he normally does. Because of that …

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

Russian welterweight Sergey Khandozhko has elected to call it a career at 30 years old.

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The three-time UFC competitor announced his retirement on social media Tuesday. He last appeared at UFC Fight Night 205 on April 23, when he defeated Dwight Grant via second-round technical knockout.

“12 years have been a long way,” Khandozhko wrote on Instagram. “There were some ups and downs, important victories and heartbreaking losses. There were heavy preparations, injuries, exhausting races of 10-15 kilograms. I've missed many holidays and family feasts. I could not celebrate my birthday for 5 years in a row. But I am happy every day of my professional career. And thankful to God that he gave me this opportunity to be a fighter.

“I fulfilled my childhood dream - I got into the best fighting league in the world. Yes, of course it failed to become a champion. Somewhere hard work, talent and discipli…

Tyson Pedro will lock horns with Mingyang Zhang in a light heavyweight scrap at UFC 284.

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The Las Vegas-based promotion recently announced the booking. UFC 284 takes place at RAC Arena in Perth, Australia, on Feb. 11 and also includes a middleweight showdown between Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa.

Pedro returned to active competition with back-to-back wins in 2022 following more than three years on the sideline. After knocking out Isaac Villanueva at UFC Fight Night 205 on April 23, the 31-year-old Sydney native stopped Harry Hunsucker in the opening stanza of their encounter at UFC 278 in his most recent outing on Aug. 20. Pedro is now 5-3 under the UFC banner, with other notable wins against Paul Craig and Khalil Rountree to his credit.

Zhang, 24, will make his promotional debut riding the momentum of a nine-bout winning streak. Most recently, the China native known as “Mountain Tiger” knocked out George Tokkos at the first Road to UFC eve…

A proposed heavyweight clash between Jailton Almeida and Maxim Grishin has been pulled from the UFC Fight Night 214 lineup for undisclosed reasons.

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MMAFighting.com was first to report the cancellation. UFC Fight Night 214 will proceed with 12 bouts, including a strawweight headliner pitting Marina Rodriguez against Amanda Lemos. The card takes place at the UFC Apex on Saturday night.

For Almeida, it’s the second fight that has fallen through in recent weeks after a proposed matchup against Shamil Abdurakhimov at UFC 280 fell through before the event. The Brazilian is 3-0 in the UFC after earning a contract on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2021. In his last outing, “Malhadino” submitted Anton Turkalj in the opening stanza at UFC 279 to run his career mark to 17-2.

Grishin is 2-2 in the Octagon after a stint with Professional Fighters League. The Russian is coming off a unanimous decision triumph over William Knight at UFC 271 on Feb. 12.

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Aline Pereira will attempt to follow in her brother’s footsteps when she makes her professional MMA debut at Legacy Fighting Alliance 147 on Nov. 10.

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Pereira, who is the younger sister of UFC middleweight title contender Alex Pereira, will square off against Helen Peralta in a flyweight bout on the LFA 147 main card. The promotion recently announced the event.

LFA 147 takes place at the WinnaVegas Casino in Sloan, Iowa, and is headlined by a lightweight bout between Junior Melo and Melquizael Costa. In the co-main event, Justin Wetzell will meet Rafael do Nascimento at bantamweight. The card will air on UFC Fight Pass at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.

Pereira has compiled a 6-2 record as a professional kickboxer, with multiple appearances under the Glory banner. Most recently, she challenged for the promotion’s super bantamweight title, dropping a five-round decision to Tiffany Van Soest at Glory 77 in November 2021.

A cast memb…