Blog

The Ultimate Fighting Championship will spend much of the rest of 2022 on its home turf.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission on Tuesday approved licenses for seven UFC events in Nevada. Six of those will take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, while the seventh, UFC 282, will be held at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

The promotion currently has 10 events remaining on the calender for the rest of the year. Those not slated for Las Vegas include UFC 280 in Abu Dhabi on Oct. 22; UFC 281 in New York on Nov. 12 and UFC Fight Night on Dec. 3 in Orlando.

Meanwhile, the Las Vegas dates feature Fight Nights on Oct. 1, Oct. 15, Oct. 29, Nov. 5, Nov. 19 and Dec. 17, while UFC 282 is slated for Dec. 10.

If Germaine de Randamie does return to the Octagon, it won’t be any time in the near future.

Advertisement

The former UFC featherweight champion announced via Instagram that she is pregnant and expected to give birth in March 2023.

“Woohoooo we can finally scream it from the top of our lungs, ‘WE ARE PREGNANT,’ de Randamie wrote. “We are blessed with our little miracle.”

The 38-year-old de Randamie hasn’t competed since a third-round submission victory over ex-bantamweight queen Julianna Pena at UFC on ESPN 16 in October 2020. The Netherlands native was a top contender at both 135 and 145 pounds. She claimed the UFC’s inaugural featherweight belt with a decision triumph against Holly Holm at UFC 208 but would vacate the throne without defending the title.

De Randamie later challenged for bantamweight gold at UFC 245, dropping a five-round verdict to Amanda Nunes. “The Iron Lady” owns a 10-4 career mark that includes triumphs over the likes of Pena, A…

Former UFC and Bellator MMA talent Chris Avila will square off against social media influencer Mikhail “Doctor Mike” Varshavski on the Jake Paul vs. Anderson Silva undercard.

Advertisement

Showtime announced the booking on Tuesday. The bout will be contested over four rounds at 185 pounds. The event takes place at Gila River Arena in Glendale, Ariz., on Oct. 9 and is headlined by the aforementioned clash between Paul and Silva. It will be available on pay-per-view via Showtime.

Avila, who gained a measure of notoriety as a disciple of UFC star Nate Diaz, is 8-9 in MMA and 1-1 in professional boxing. The Cesar Gracie Fight Team export went 0-2 in the UFC and 1-2 in Bellator. He is coming off back-to-back first-round KO/TKO wins under the North Iowa Fights banner in 2021 in MMA, while he took a majority decision over former Bellator foe Anthony Taylor in the boxing ring this past December.

“Hmmmm, let’s see. I am giving him a height advantage, a reach advant…

Askar Mozharov was suspended for six months by the Nevada State Athletic Commission on Tuesday for a failed drug test in relation to his lone Ultimate Fighting Championship appearance.

Advertisement

Mozharov tested positive for the substance GW1516 sulfone, which is a hormone and metabolic modulator. According to USADA, the substance can modify how the body metabolizes fat and was “originally synthesized and evaluated for the treatment of obesity, diabetes, and other disorders caused by metabolic problems.” Mozharov was not sanctioned by USADA because the sample he submitted was below the organization’s threshhold for an anti-doping violation.

In addition to a six-month suspension, Mozharov was fined 10 percent of his purse from his first-round technical knockout loss to Alonzo Menifield at UFC Fight Night 207 on June 4. Salaries from the event were not disclosed.

Mozharov gained notoriety for falsifying his MMA record prior to facing Menifield, and once…

Week 9 of Dana White’s Contender Series is now official, as all 10 fighters set to compete made weight without issue on Monday.

The Contender Series Takes place on Tuesday night at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and airs on ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. The evening’s featured bout is a middleweight showdown between Leon Aliu (186) and Brunno Ferreira (184).

Italy’s Aliu has been victorious in 10 of his first 11 professional appearances — with all of his victories coming inside the distance. In his last outing, the 33-year-old knocked out James Webb in the opening round at Cage Warriors 138 on May 28.

A native of Curitiba Brazil, Ferreira brings an 8-0 mark into the Contender Series. The 29-year-old Evolucao Thai product has six first-round finishes to his credit since beginning his professional tenure in 2019.

Contender Series Weigh-in Results:Leon Aliu (186) vs. Brunno Ferreira (184)Raul Rosas Jr. (134) vs. Mando Gutierrez (135.5)Austen Lane (240.5) vs. Richard J…

Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Jason Burgos/Sherdog.com Credit: Jason Burgos/Sherdog.com Credit: Jason Burgos/Sherdog.com

A heavyweight bout pitting Jairzinho Rozenstruik against Chris Daukaus has been moved to UFC 282.

Advertisement

The fight was originally scheduled for UFC Fight Night 211 on Oct. 1 but was shifted for undisclosed reasons. MMAjunkie.com was first to report the news. UFC 282 takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Dec. 10 and is expected to feature a light heavyweight championship rematch between Jiri Prochazka and Glover Teixeira.

Roze…

Rizin Fighting Federation featherweight champion Juntaro Ushiku will defend his crown against Kleber Koike Erbst in the Rizin 39 main event on Oct. 23.

Advertisement

The Japanese promotion recently announced the booking, along with the following bouts: Koji Takeda vs. Zach Zane at lightweight; Motonobu Tezuka vs. Mehman Mamedov at bantamweight; Vugar Karamov vs. Yoshiki Nakahara at featherweight and Daichi Abe vs. Yukinari Tamura at welterweight.

Ushiku, who is also the reigning Deep champion, claimed Rizin gold with a second-round stoppage of Yutaka Saito at Rizin 31 this past October. He defended the crown with a unanimous verdict against Saito in a rematch at Rizin 35 on April 17. The 27-year-old Tokyo native has won 10 of his last 11 professional outings and is 20-6 over the course of his career.

A former KSW title holder, Erbst has kicked off his Rizin tenure with five consecutive submission triumphs. Most recently, he dispatched Kyohei Hagiwara in th…

Jose Aldo is retiring from mixed martial arts following a decorated career in the sport.

Advertisement

Sherdog.com confirmed the news with sources close to the fighter following an initial report from Combate.com. The UFC has agreed to grant Aldo his release even though the former featherweight champion still had one fight remaining on his contract, which will allow him to puruse other combat sports endeavors if he so chooses.

Aldo was reportedly offered a fight at UFC 283 in Rio de Janeiro on Jan. 21, but he hadn’t made a decision about his career at that time.

The Nova Uniao standout exits the sport at 36 years old with a 31-8 mark following an 18-year career. He captured 145-pound gold in World Extreme Cagefighting and the UFC and was a top contender during his recent transition to bantamweight, falling short in a title bid against Petr Yan at UFC 251.

It’s likely that Aldo continues to test his skills in other combat sports going forward. There …

Gregory Rodrigues had to dig deep to earn victory at UFC Fight Night 210.

Advertisement

The Brazilian absorbed a heavy knee early on in his co-main event encounter with Chidi Njokuani, and that blow opened a massive cut on his forehead. The man known as “Robocop” admitted that he needed a moment to regain his bearings.

“I know I was dizzy,” he said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “I was like, ‘Man what happened?’ The blood starting coming down. i was kind of blind, trying to figure out [what I was going to do] … After that cut, everybody is gonna be confident to try to finish the fight. Then I started to throw my hands to show him I’m still there.”

Rodrigues did exactly that. His rally began in the second half of Round 1, as he hurt and dropped the Bellator veteran. That set the stage for a relatively quick finish in the second frame, when he tripped Njokuani to the canvas and unloaded with ground strikes for a stoppage at the 1:27 mark of the pe…

Cory Sandhagen was mostly happy with his performance at UFC Fight Night 210, but he can also empathize with Yadong Song’s situation.

Advertisement

Sandhagen emerged with a technical knockout win after four rounds when the cageside doctor determined Song couldn’t continue due to a significant cut over his left eye. Sandhagen caused the gash when he landed an elbow early in the fight, and the wound got progressively worse as time passed. Sandhagen was confident that he had already seized momentum and would’ve have continued to take control in a fifth round.

“It was definitely a step forward. Song’s a hell of a fighter. I knew that he was gonna be super tough. The guy hits really hard. He defended my takedowns really well,” Sandhagen said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “I think I was starting to figure him out as the fight went on, so I was really looking forward to a fifth round.

“That [stoppage] was kind of a bummer. These people that I’m fightin…

[SENSITIVE STOMACH WARNING]

These before and after pics of Greg Rodrigues' getting stitched up are WILD #UFCVegas60

Advertisement

(via @danawhite) pic.twitter.com/6juxEbRZtj — Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 18, 2022

A nasty gash didn’t faze Gregory Rodrigues, but the wound isn’t for the faint of heart.

The Brazilian known as “Robocop” suffered a signficant cut on his forehead early in the opening round of his middleweight clash with Chidi Njokuani at UFC Fight Night 210 when his opponent connected flush with a knee. Rodrigues kept fighting and rallied to defeat Njokuani via second-round TKO in Saturday’s co-main event at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

After the bout, UFC president Dana White shared before-and-after photos of Rodrigues’ cut (via Bleacher Report), which was pretty gruesome until it was stitched up. The former Contender Series competitor has won four of five Octagon appearances, and he proved tha…

WHAT A COMEBACK #UFCVEGAS60 pic.twitter.com/lIrFPnZpq4

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) September 18, 2022

Gregory Rodrigues and Chidi Njokuani delivered on their pre-fight hype — and then some — in the UFC Fight Night 210 co-main event.

Advertisement

The middleweights received “Fight of the Night” honors and $50,000 apiece for their slugfest at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday. Njokuani opened a nasty cut on Rodrigues forehead with a knee early, but the Brazilian known as “Robocop” rallied to drop his foe later in Round 1 before ending the fight with ground-and-pound at the 1:27 mark of Round 2.

Elsewhere, recent Dana White’s Contender Series winner Joseph Pyfer garnered a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus for his quick finish of Alen Amedovski in a featured middleweight affair. Pyfer stalked his opponent near the fence, dropped him with a massive right and sealed his win with one follow-up strike 3:55 into the opening stanza. Read more about UFC Fight Night 210 Bonuses: Rodrigues, Njokuani, Pyfer, Jackson Receive $50K

Yadong Song will likely bear the evidence of his encounter with Cory Sandhagen forever.

The 30-year-old Sandhagen kept his spot in the Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight line, as he prompted a cut stoppage against the fast-rising Team Alpha Male contender in their UFC Fight Night 210 headliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The end came between the fourth and fifth rounds, and it certainly seemed justified.

Advertisement

The fight was competitive from start to finish. However, Sandhagen (15-4, 8-3 UFC) landed the signature blow in the second round, where he stepped into an elbow strike in the center of the cage and hacked open a ghastly diagonal gash above his counterpart’s left eye. Song (19-7-1, 8-2-1) fought through adversity initially, but the cut only widened and deepened as the bout progressed. By the time Round 4 was over, it became clear that he should go no further. Resilient Rodrigues Dismisses Njokuani Former Legacy Fighting Allian…

Sherdog's live UFC Fight Night 210 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.

Advertisement

BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Motta (-205), VanCamp (+175)Round 1 The UFC is having a bit of a comedown from the last week’s ridiculous pay-per-view mess, trotting out a low-key Fight Night with one single ranked matchup that sits atop the event – to top it off, a plurality of the competitors came straight off or are one fight in from Dana White’s Contender Series matches. This includes the first fight on the card, where 2020 signee Motta (12-4, 0-1 UFC) had the misfortune of drawing motivated Jim Miller in his UFC debut earlier this year. Motta was not the only man to get a tough first out, as VanCamp (15-6-1, 1 NC; 0-1 UFC) squared off against power-punching welterweight Andre Fialho a few months ago only to get punched out. Both of these two lightweights will try to r…

ACTION JACKSON WASTED NO TIME 👊 #UFCVegas60 pic.twitter.com/VV0lo2o06b

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) September 17, 2022

Neither grief nor Pat Sabatini could slow down Damon Jackson.

Advertisement

Roughly a week after the sudden death of his older brother, the Fortis MMA representative strengthened his position in the Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight division and struck Pat Sabatini into submission in the first round of their featured UFC Fight Night 210 prelim on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The end came 69 seconds into Round 1.

Jackson (22-4-1, 5-2-1 UFC) unleashed a devastating front kick to the face that staggered the former Cage Fury Fighting Championships titleholder, then went to work. He sprawled on an attempted takedown and climbed to full mount before advancing to the back and flattening out a clearly compromised Sabatini (17-4, 4-1 UFC). Jackson uncorked a series of unanswered punches to the side of the …

Ultimate Fighting Championship great Anderson Silva believes his old boss should lace up the gloves and do some fighting for himself.

UFC head Dana White recently stated that Silva might be inducted to the UFC Hall of Fame in the future, and Silva had some thoughts about his former employer he wanted to get out. Silva is planning on boxing Jake Paul at the end of October, and White was not entirely sold on the whole endeavor while expressing his distaste for the YouTuber-turned-boxer. “The Spider” spoke with Brazilian outlet Combate this week, initially to promote his boxing match with Jake Paul, scheduled for Oct. 29 in Phoenix.

Advertisement

“If the two of them have a problem, I think Dana should agree to fight Jake, that would end all this controversy,” Silva remarked. “Put [on] the gi, do MMA. Jake understands a lot about MMA, so I think it would be a nice MMA fight for the two of them.”

Getting the topic back on track to his own upcoming fight, Silva had som…

1️⃣3️⃣5️⃣.5️⃣ for @SongYadongLFG - your #UFCVegas60 main event is official 👏 pic.twitter.com/elPAeVTAOj

— UFC (@ufc) September 16, 2022 After a hectic pay-per-view offering, the Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to relative normalcy with UFC Fight Night 210.

The now 13-fight card is headlined by a bantamweight contest between contenders Cory Sandhagen and Yadong Song. Both main event fighters successfully made their contracted weights, which was a stark contrast to the drama last week. All fighters made weight except for Aspen Ladd (138), who weighed in two pounds heavy for her bantamweight fight against Sara McMann, and middleweight Alen Amedovski (186.5), who initially clocked in half a pound over for his 185-pound scrap with Joseph Pyfer. Ladd vs. McMann has since been canceled by the UFC, while Amedovski came back to weigh 185.5 pounds.

Advertisement

While a title shot seemed inevitable after back-to-back stunning knockou…

Once again, a fighter’s retirement came to an end just a few months after saying goodbye to the sport.

On Thursday night, ESPN announced that Marlon Moraes (23-10-1) has come out retirement to sign with the Professional Fighters League. The report mentioned, that per Moraes’ manager Ali Abdelaziz, the contract was not finalized but was expected to come together shortly. Minutes later, Moraes publicized his return to the organization, and he will be competing at 145 pounds when he does come back. There is no currently announced event or opponent for his first fight back, although PFL recently picked up fellow ex-Ultimate Fighting Championship vet Shane Burgos as well.

Advertisement

Moraes initially wrote a thorough retirement message in April, when he stated that he was going to hang up his gloves.

“I want to thank everyone – Sean Shelby, Dana White and the UFC for giving me so many opportunities,” Moraes wrote. “I want to thank my family, my coaches, my manager…

Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC One of these two Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweights’ undefeated records will come to an end soon.

The news broke on Thursday from Fight Bananas that Bryce Mitchell (15-0) is now booked against fellow unbeaten 145-pounder Movsar Evloev (16-0) on Nov. 5. The two will battle it out on UFC Fight Night 214, which does not currently have a headliner and is not expect to be capped off by this matchup. Mitchell spoke of his fight news on his social media shortly before the report came out, and other outlets have also confirmed this pairing.

Advertisement

“Thug Nasty” Mitchell has rattled off five straight wins since prevailing in the 27th season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” where he beat Tyler Diamond by majority verdict to earn the fabled “six-figure contract.” Mitchell started off his career with nine straight wins, with his first eight coming by submission within two rounds. Since then, he has gone the dis…

A featherweight showdown pitting Arnold Allen against Calvin Kattar is in the works to headline the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s Oct. 29 card.

Advertisement

UFC president Dana White revealed to promotion broadcast partner ESPN on Wednesday that the bout has nearly been finalized. The UFC Fight Night 213 takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and also is expected to include a 145-pound co-main event between Edson Barboza and Ilia Topuria.

The 28-year-old Allen has lost just once in 19 professional outings. The Englishman is 9-0 in the Las Vegas-based promotion and is coming off a first-round technical knockout victory against Dan Hooker at UFC Fight Night 204 on March 19. His record includes other notable wins against the likes of Sodiq Yusuff, Gilbert Melendez, Nik Lentz and Mads Burnell. This will be Allen’s first five-round main event in the UFC.

Kattar, meanwhile, has been in four consecutive headlining bouts — all of which have gone the full fi…

Sodiq Yusuff will not remain on this Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 210 card following the withdrawal of co-main event opponent Giga Chikadze.

Advertisement

Instead, Yusuff will relocated to UFC Fight Night 211 two weeks later, where he will welcome newcomer Don Shainis to the Octagon in a featherweight bout. The Las Vegas-based promotion recently announced the update. UFC Fight Night 211 takes place on Oct. 1 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a strawweight scrap between Mackenzie Dern and Xiaonan Yan.

The 29-year-old Yusuff has been victorious in five of his first six promotional appearances — with his lone setback coming to ranked featherweight Arnold Allen. The Dana White’s Contender Series alum is coming off a three-round verdict over Alex Caceres at UFC Fight Night 203 on March 12.

A native of Stoughton, Mass., Shainis will take a five-fight winning streak into his Octagon debut. Shainis is a Cage Titans featherweight champion and has earn…

After a controversial ending to their first meeting, Liz Carmouche and Juliana Velasquez are going to run it back at Bellator 289.

Advertisement

The California-based promotion confirmed the booking on Wednesday following an initial report from MMAFighting.com. Bellator 289 takes place on Dec. 9 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., and the evening’s main card airs on Showtime. The card will feature the bantamweight grand prix semifinals, as Raufeon Stots meets Danny Sabatello, while Magomed Magomedov takes on Patrick Mix.

Carmouche took the flyweight crown from Velasquez in their first bout at Bellator 278 this past April. Velasquez appeared to be well on her way to a decision triumph when Carmouche trapped in her in a mounted crucifix and landed a series of elbows to earn a technical knockout victory 4:48 into the fourth round of their clash at Neil S. Blaisdell Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. Velasquez protested the stoppage and ultimately filed an appeal, …

OFFICIAL: @BiaggioAli1234, Muhammad Ali's grandson, Signs Contract with the Professional Fighters League! pic.twitter.com/UUQB6EpXO1

— PFL (@PFLMMA) September 14, 2022

Professional Fighters League is hoping to tap into a legendary legacy with its latest addition.

Advertisement

The promotion announced Wednesday that it has signed Biaggio Ali Walsh, the grandson of boxing great Muhammad Ali. Walsh is currently an amateur MMA fighter and is expected to compete on the undercard of the PFL Championships on Nov. 25 against an as yet to be announced opponent. He is expected to eventually make his professional debut under the PFL banner, as well.

“The Professional Fighters League is committed to growing the league and the sport of MMA, it is incumbent upon us to look for the future stars of our sport, we have found one of those stars in Biaggio” said PFL CEO Peter Murray. “We are excited to watch Biaggio’s journey from amateur to professiona…

Ikram Aliskerov waltzed into the Ultimate Fighting Championship and nearly took someone else’s limb with him.

One of five prospective mixed martial artists signed by the UFC on Week 8 of Dana White’s Contender Series, the Eagle Fighting Championship alum submitted Mario Filipe de Sousa with a kimura in the first round of their middleweight showcase on Tuesday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Filipe de Sousa (15-3, 1-2 DWCS) raised the white flag 2:09 into Round 1 but not before suffering some apparent damage to his left shoulder.

Advertisement

The 29-year-old Aliskerov (13-1, 1-0 DWCS) waded through considerable fire from the lanky Brazilian, attacked the hips and secured a takedown. The onetime victim of Khamzat Chimaev landed in side control, isolated the arm and torqued it behind Filipe de Sousa’s back for the tapout. Aliskerov has rattled off five consecutive victories and will be joined on the UFC roster by Farid Basharat, Trevor Peek, Bruna Emanuele Brasil …