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[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phfK4BtdU20&w=560&h=315] A rare triplicate of title throwdowns will top the next tentpole card for Rizin Fighting Federation in April.

In a press conference on Wednesday night, the organization announced its next event, Rizin 35, which will take place on April 17. The event will be held not in Saitama, Japan, but instead in Tokyo at the Musashino Forest Sport Plaza. The three championship tilts on one evening ties a record set at Rizin 20 in 2019, when three belts were on the line plus a tournament took place that night as well. This blockbuster card will draw lightweights on the marquee, as Roberto de Souza (13-1) aims to defend his throne against the returning Johnny Case (27-7-1).

“Satoshi” fought three times in 2021, claiming the inaugural belt against Tofiq Musayev at Rizin 28 and holding on to it six months later when he tapped out Yusuke Yachi at Rizin 33. With six wins under the Rizin banner, every one has ended within two…

Two top-ranked Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweights with recent decision losses to the champ will square off this May.

On Thursday, Ariel Helwani brought word that Robert Whittaker (23-6) will be entering the Octagon in June against Marvin Vettori (18-5-1) in the middleweight division at UFC 275. Whittaker had spoken to The MMA Hour on Wednesday, hinting that he would be facing his opponent in Singapore on June 11. Vettori’s manager has since confirmed the pairing in an interview with Helen Yee on Thursday night.

Former champ Whittaker had a three-fight win streak snapped when he faced Israel Adesanya in a rematch to get his belt back in February. Although he was not knocked out like the first meeting, he did drop a close five-round decision to the champion. Before suffering his second defeat to Adesanya, “Bobby Knuckles” had rattled off a trio of decision wins over Darren Till, Jared Cannonier and Kelvin Gastelum to earn another crack at the crown.

Vettori ha…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmyzFeCDJ1E&w=560&h=315] Much of the interest on an upcoming Ultimate Fighting Championship card is not the main event or even the co-headliner, but the main card opener.

Brazilian fans will have the opportunity to see two ranked fighters, Thiago Santos against Russia’s Magomed Ankalaev and Marlon Moraes taking on China’s Yadong Song. Rather than the main or co-main, many are focused on unranked clash of strikers on UFC Fight Night 203. Two Brazilian strikers in Alex Pereira and Bruno Silva will throw down in the middleweight division with hopes of earning a place among the top 15 with a dominant win.

The man named “Poatan” made his name not for his achievements in an MMA setting, but rather for his kickboxing accolades. In 2016, and then again in 2017, Pereira defeated currently UFC middleweight king Israel Adesanya in the ring. The first meeting, Pereira won a five-round decision, and the rematch 11 months later saw Pereira cle…

.@ReinaldoEkson1 vs Mike Barnett is official for the Challenger Series Week 4 main event!#PFLonFuboTV pic.twitter.com/oqzGh8qJ3g

— PFL (@PFLMMA) March 10, 2022 Professional Fighters League's Challenger Series continues trucking along with PFL Challenger Series 4, which highlights several featherweight prospects.

Both main eventers successfully made weight for the four-fight card, as Reinaldo Ekson and Mike Barnett stepped on the scale weighing 145.8 pounds each. Most of the rest of the card followed suit, along with alternate Edward Massey making weight. However, Do Gyeom Lee failed to hit the featherweight cap, coming in heavy at 148.6 pounds.

Ekson (17-5) is riding a three-fight win streak and has won six of his last seven bouts. The Brazilian most recently submitted three straight opponents in EFC Global, and posts seven submission wins throughout his career.

Barnett holds a 10-3 record and successfully bounced back from the third lo…

The official scorecard from Rodriguez-Torquato 2 #InvictaFC46 @MMADecisions pic.twitter.com/s88lBuCLdf

— Rob Tatum (@RobTatum303) March 10, 2022

Karina Rodriguez is now 2-0 against Daiana Torquato, but only by the slimmest of margins.

Rodriguez retained her flyweight crown with a split-decision triumph over Torquato in the Invicta FC 46 headliner on Wednesday at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kan. Rodriguez (10-4, 6-2 Invicta) secured scorecards of 48-47 and 49-46 from the cageside judges, while a third saw it 48-47 in favor of Torquato (10-5, 0-2 Invicta). Torquato was elevated from the co-main event on less than a week’s notice after Kelten Souza was forced to withdraw from the card.

Forward movement and combination punching propelled Rodriguez to her successful title defense. Torquato made things interesting through clinch work, the occasional takedown and held her own in striking exchanges, but Rodriguez’s role as the aggressor — inc…

A bantamweight showdown between Rob Font and Marlon Vera is expected to serve as the main event for a UFC Fight Night card on April 30.

The bout is expected to be finalized soon, according to ESPN. The UFC Fight Night event does not have an official venue or location as of now, but it is likely to take place in Las Vegas.

Font had a four-bout winning streak snapped in his last outing, when he dropped a five-round verdict to Jose Aldo in the UFC on ESPN 31 headliner on Dec. 4. The 34-year-old Boston native owns notable wins against the likes of Cody Garbrandt, Marlon Moraes, Ricky Simon and Sergio Pettis, to name a few.

Vera, meanwhile, has won three of his last four UFC bouts, with his only defeat during that stretch coming at the hands of Aldo. Most recently, the 29-year-old Ecuadorian scored a spectacular front kick KO of Frankie Edgar at UFC 268.

A potential “Fight of the Night” candidate is on tap for UFC 274, as Michael Chandler and Tony Ferguson have agreed to lock horns on May 7.

Sports Illustrated was first to report the lightweight booking. UFC 274 takes place at the Footprint Center in Phoenix and is headlined by a 155-pound title tilt between Charles Oliveira and Justin Gaethje.

Chandler had a memorable first year in the UFC, going 1-2 in the Octagon while establishing himself as one of the promotion’s most exciting talents. After defeating Dan Hooker via first-round TKO in his debut at UFC 257, the former Bellator ruler fell to Charles Oliveira via second-round TKO in a title bout at UFC 262. Most recently, the former University of Missouri wrestler dropped a unanimous decision to Gaethje at UFC 268 in Sherdog’s 2021 “Fight of the Year.”

After winning 12 consecutive promotional appearances from 2013 to 2019, Ferguson has fallen on hard times of late. In his last three appearances, “El Cucuy” h…

As its second United States event draws near, Khabib Nurmagomedov-led promotion Eagle FC has made a slew of big-name signings.

Former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos has signed with the organization and will meet follow Octagon vet Yorgan De Castro in the heavyweight headliner of an Eagle FC card on May 20. Additionally, new additions Hector Lombard and Thiago Silva will lock horns in the co-main event. Nurmagomedov confirmed the bookings to ESPN on Wednesday.

Dos Santos, 38, was released by the UFC on the heels of a four-bout losing streak, which included a second-round TKO defeat to Ciryl Gane in his last outing in December 2020. “Cigano” was regarded as one of the Las Vegas-based promotion’s top heavyweights for years, claiming championship gold with a 64-second knockout of Cain Velasquez at UFC on Fox 1 in November 2011. More recently, the Brazilian veteran was supposed to face boxing heavyweight contender Kubrat Pulev in a mixed rules bout under the T…

After two postponements, Bibiano Fernandes and John Lineker will finally square off on Friday at One Championship “Lights Out” with the bantamweight (145-pound) belt on the line.

Lineker made no effort to disguise his strategy in a recent interview with Sherdog.com.

“I have no doubt Bibiano is a great champion,” Lineker said. “No doubt he is the best jiu-jitsu fighter I´ve ever faced, but the fight starts standing up, and I'm sure that he’s never faced someone with the power I have in my hands.”

Over the course of the past 18 months, Lineker has posted wins over Muin Gafurov, Kevin Belingon and Troy Worthen under the One banner. “Hands of Stone” is skeptical that Fernandes will keep his word and test his standup skills.

“I truly hope he keeps his word and exchanges punches with me, because I´ll keep mine to look for the knockout from the first second,” Lineker said. “I´m physically ready for a five-round war, if necessary, but I don’t see that fight going …

Perhaps one of the biggest surprises in recent memory on Dana White’s Contender Series occurred when Jonas Bilharinho wasn’t awarded a UFC contract following his spinning wheel kick knockout of Canaan Kawaihae this past November.

On Friday, Bilharinho will get another opportunity to gain White’s attention when he headlines LFA 126 in Rio de Janeiro with the promotion’s featherweight belt on the line. Bilharinho was supposed to face Rafael Barbosa at the event, but the fighter withdrew from the card after medical exams revealed two small aneurysms. According Brazilian MMA Athletic Commission (CABMMA) doctor Fabio Costa, the condition isn’t dangerous for Barbosa’s normal life, but it could expose him to “unnecessary risks” in an MMA fight. Brazilian Top Team’s Jose Mauro do Amaral Delano , who was originally slated to face Rafael Braga on the undercard, has been tabbed as Barbosa’s replacement.

LFA 126 will also feature a welterweight title clash between Gabriel de Sou…

The PFL Challenger Series will unveil an interesting concept for its April 1 offering, as every fighter on the card will be making their mixed martial arts debut.

The card will be topped by a welterweight clash between Serbian kickboxer Andrija Stankovic and American grappler Louis Brewington, who takes a four-bout amateur winning streak into his pro debut.

The PFL Challenger Series takes place at Universal Studios in Orlando, Fla., and airs exclusively on FuboTV at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT. One winner from the “MMA Debuts” card will be selected to receive a contract to compete in the 2022 PFL season or a developmental deal with the promotion.

The other four bouts for the event are as follows: American Top Team Atlanta export Christian Turner vs. South Florida-based Cuban Chayanne Serrano at lightweight; Alexei Pergande vs. Joe Hamm at lightweight; Santino Zurita vs. Rakim Talley at heavyweight and Jaylong McDaniel vs. Daeri Alderman at featherweight.

“The Pr…

Bellator MMA will make a splash when it returns to Hawaii with a pair of events on April 22 and 23.

Bellator 279 on April 23 will feature a pair of title fights, as Cristiane Justino defends her featherweight crown against Arlene Blencowe in a rematch, while reigning 135-pound king Sergio Pettis will face Raufeon Stots with a belt on line in the opening round of the promotion’s bantamweight grand prix.

Also at Bellator 279, Kyoji Horiguchi will lock horns with Patrick Mix in another first-round pairing in the bantamweight grand prix, while former flyweight queen Ilima-Lei Macfarlane will face Justin Kish. KHON2 was first to report the bouts.

Bellator 278 does not currently have any fights announced. Both events will take place at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center in Honolulu and mark the promotion’s first events in Hawaii since 2019. The main cards will air on Showtime.

Justino defeated Blencowe via second-round rear-naked choke in their first meeting at Bella…

The stage has been set for Karina Rodriguez and Daiana Torquato to run it back.

Rodriguez and Torquato made weight on Tuesday ahead of their flyweight championship rematch in the Invicta FC 46 headliner. Rodriguez tipped the scales at 123.8 pounds, while Torquato checked in at 124.6 pounds.

It wasn’t all smooth sailing at the weigh-ins, however, as Liz Tracy (117.8) missed weight by 1.8 pounds for her strawweight matchup with Danielle Taylor (115.6). As a result, Tracy has been fined 25 percent of her purse. Addtionally, the promotion announced that a proposed strawweight bout between Fatima Kline and Nadia Vera has been removed from the card.

Invicta FC 46 takes place on Wednesday at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kan., and streams on the promotion’s YouTube page beginning at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.

Rodriguez claimed the vacant flyweight crown with a unanimous decision triumph over Daiana Torquato at Invicta on AXS TV last May. The 36-year-old Lobo Gym MMA represe…

A bout pitting Goiti Yamauchi against Derek Anderson is off the Bellator 276 card.

Promotion officials confirmed the cancellation following an initial report from mixedmartialarts.com. A reason for the bout’s removal is currently unknown. Bellator 276 will move forward with 12 bouts and takes place at the Family Arena in St. Louis, Mo., on Saturday. The card is headlined by a featherweight contender’s clash between Mads Burnell and Adam Borics.

Yamauchi has won five of his last six outings within the California-based promotion. The 29-year-old Japan native is coming off a first-round TKO triumph over Christopher Gonzalez at Bellator 263 this past July that ran his professional mark to 26-5.

Anderson, meanwhile, had a three-bout winning streak snapped in his last appearance, when he suffered a doctor stoppage loss to current welterweight No. 1 contender Michael Page at Bellator 258.

Kayla Harrison might be staying put with the Professional Fighters League, but that doesn’t mean she won’t still pursue the toughest competition available.

During an appearance on ESPN’s SportsCenter, Harrison praised the promotion for meeting her financial terms and then indicated that cross-promotional opportunities could be in store in the future. Bellator was in the market for the two-time Olympic gold medalist, but PFL reportedly matched the Scott Coker-led promotion’s offer.

“I think there were a lot of contract negotiations. There were a lot of offers, many of them pretty lucrative. Ultimately, the PFL had the right to match any contract I received. They stepped up in a big way,” Harrison said.

"The PFL has ensured me and promised me that they don’t care if they have to cross-promote, co-promote. They don’t care if it’s on Planet Earth or Planet Pluto.”

That statement would seem to align with the one in the PFL announcement of the Harrison re-signin…

Jorge Masvidal must receive an MRI following his loss to Colby Covington in the UFC 272 main event.

The Miami native will have the results of the MRI compared to a previous report from October 2019. At a minimum, Masvidal is suspended until April 20 with no contact until April 5. The exact nature of Masvidal’s injury is unclear.

A full list of medical suspensions from UFC 272 was obtain by mixedmartialarts.com. UFC 272 took place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas this past Saturday and saw Covington defeat Masvidal via clear-cut unanimous decision in their welterweight bout. Covington is suspended until April 20 with no contact until April 5.

Three other fighters from UFC 272 are facing six-month suspensions pending doctor clearance: Jalin Turner (left foot, left knee), Jamie Mullarkey (right ribs) and Kennedy Nzechukwu (right hand, left foot).

UFC 272 Medical Suspensions:

Colby Covington: Suspended until April 20, no contact until April 5

Jorge Ma…

Surprise Surprise… The Queen is Back

@KaylaH pic.twitter.com/sfNz87TYX3

— PFL (@PFLMMA) March 8, 2022 After testing the waters as a free agent, Kayla Harrison has elected to return to Professional Fighters League.

The PFL announced Tuesday that the two-time Olympic gold medalist has signed a multi-year contract extension to return to the organization where she began her mixed martial arts career. Ariel Helwani recently reported that the promotion matched an offer from Bellator MMA to retain Harrison, while PFL founder Donn Davis called the deal a “historic new contract.” Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“It is a privilege to announce the PFL has signed the most dominant MMA fighter in the world, Kayla Harrison, to a new multi-year agreement,” said PFL CEO Peter Murray in a release. “I am also excited to announce the PFL is launching a new Pay-Per-View Super Fight Division where star MMA fighters will compete on a global stage ag…

Islam Makhachev is denying Dana White’s claim that he turned down a short-notice matchup with Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 272 this past weekend.

Dos Anjos needed an opponent on less than one week’s notice after Rafael Fiziev tested positive for COVID-19. For a short period, it looked as though dos Anjos and Makhachev would square off in the UFC 272 co-main event at 170 pounds. Ultimately, it was Renato Carneiro who agreed to step in, and the UFC president said Makhachev was unwilling to take the fight.

“Pretty close – I thought we had it done,” White said last week. “When I went to bed one of the nights, I thought it was done. Woke up the next morning and found out they turned it down. Islam [turned it down]. No clue [why].”

According to Makhachev, that’s not at all what happened.

"I was in California on vacation, and I called my manager and said, 'Please call the UFC, I am ready to take this fight,'" Makhachev told ESPN. "I asked about some conditions, very…

After vanquishing Renato Carneiro in the UFC 272 co-main event, Rafael dos Anjos believes it’s time to potentially revisit a showdown with Conor McGregor.

It’s the type of matchup that would appropriately motivate the 37-year-old Brazilian at this stage of his career.

“I think the moment that we live in right now, that fight would make a lot of sense,” dos Anjos said at the UFC 272 post-fight press conference. “I was on a 16-month layoff. Conor broke his leg and is coming back in the summer, I think. That would make sense. The division is kind of crazy right now and I think that fight would make a lot of sense. …

“That would be a big money fight, of course. We have a history, too. Like I said, I’m looking for names that make me want to go to the gym and train. It’s been so many years in this game. I don’t want to fight names that don’t interest me, that don’t push me to go to the gym. I’m 37 years old. [I’ve] fought pretty much everybody in two divisions.”

<…

Brock Lesnar isn’t interested in making another comeback to mixed martial arts.

Just in case you thought Lesnar might be interested in dipping his toes in Ultimate Fighting Championship waters one more time, the former heavyweight champion shut that notion down in a recent interview with the New York Post.

“That door is closed,” Lesnar said. “You know what, Dana White, the Fertitta brothers [Lorenzo and Frank] were exceptional to me.”

Lesnar appeared at Madison Square Garden for a live WWE event this past Saturday. Next month, he is slated to defend his WWE belt in a title unification bout against Roman Reigns at Wrestlemania 38 on April 3 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. As far as Lesnar is concerned, sports entertainment is where he’ll remain.

“I’m too old,” Lesnar said. “That’s a young man’s sport, and that door is closed. I’m Brock Lesnar, the WWE Superstar.”

Though rumors of a Lesnar return to the UFC have persisted over the years — in…

Takashi Sato has agreed to step in and replace the injured Claudio Silva and face Gunnar Nelson at UFC London.

ESPN was first to report the new welterweight booking. UFC Fight Night 204 takes place at the O2 Arena in London is currently scheduled to be headlined by a heavyweight clash between Tom Aspinall and Alexander Volkov.

A veteran of the Pancrase and Deep organizations, Sato is 2-2 in UFC competition. The 31-year-old Tokyo native will compete for the first time since November 2020, when he suffered a second-round submission defeat to Miguel Baeza at UFC on ESPN 18.

Nelson will be making his first appearance since September 2019, when he fell to Gilbert Burns via unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night 160. The 33-year-old Iceland native has lost three of four promotion appearances after beginning his UFC tenure with a 7-2 mark.

The MW division just got put on NOTICE

[ #UFC268 | Prelims are LIVE on ESPNews & ESPN+ ] pic.twitter.com/wZbuaYuLal

— UFC (@ufc) November 7, 2021 Glover Teixeira will take a break from preparation for his title defense against Jiri Prochazka at UFC 275 to travel to Las Vegas to attend UFC Fight Night 203.

Not because the winner of the main event between Magomed Ankalaev and Thiago Santos might be his next opponent, but because his No. 1 training partner, Alex Pereira, will be facing Bruno Silva on the evening’s main card.

"I dont like to see Brazilians getting in the way of each other's dreams. But at least they are in the most important MMA promotion in the world,” Teixeira told Sherdog.com. “No doubt ‘Blindado’ will be the toughest challenge of [Pereira’s] career. Besides being an M-1 champion, the guy is coming off three impressive knockout victories. But ‘Poatan’ is a different animal, and I see Silva’s aggressiveness p…

Cain Velasquez was denied bail at a hearing on Monday as he awaits trial on attempted murder charges stemming from a shooting incident on Feb. 28.

Judge Shelya Brown issued the ruling during an arraignment at the Santa Clara County Hall of Justice in San Jose, Calif., after listening to arguments from Velasquez attorney Mark Geragos and deputy district attorney Aaron French. Brown said the “risk is too great” to release Vealsquez on bail. The former UFC heavyweight champion is due back in court on April 12.

“It is clear to this court that there is clear and convincing evidence that there is a substantial likelihood that release would result in great bodily injury, not just to the named complaining witnesses in this case but to Santa Clara residents at large,” Judge Brown said (transcription via MMAFighting.com). “This case involves allegations of extreme recklessness to human life.

“Ramming a vehicle in the middle of the day where are citizens are out driving, …

A pair of welterweight bouts have been added to the UFC 274 lineup, as Randy Brown will square off against Kalinn Williams, while Danny Roberts will lock horns with Francisco Trinaldo.

The Las Vegas-based promotion recently announced both matchups. UFC 274 takes place on May 7 at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Ariz., and is headlined by a lightweight title tilt between Charles Oliveira and Justin Gaethje.

Brown has been victorious in four of his last five Octagon appearances, including a unanimous verdict over Jared Gooden in his most recent outing at UFC Fight Night 194 on Oct. 9.

Williams, meanwhile, is 4-1 to begin his promotional tenure. Most recently, “Khaos” defeated Miguel Baeza via third-round technical knockout at UFC Fight Night 197 this past November.

England’s Roberts is coming off back-to-back victories in UFC competition. After a second-round knockout win over Zelim Imadaev at UFC Fight Night 163, “Hot Chocolate” returned to action this pas…