Blog

The MW division just got put on NOTICE

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

— UFC (@ufc) November 7, 2021 The training relationship between reigning UFC light heavyweight champion Glover Teixeira and former Glory Kickboxing title holder Alex Pereira has been beneficial to both parties.

Jorge “Joinha” Guimaraes, who manages Teixeira and Pereira, discussed how the two fighters have been helping each other ahead of their upcoming bouts.

"Glover will face Jiri Prochazka, one of the most dangerous strikers of the division, in his first title defense at UFC 274 on May 7, and of course the daily support of a top striker like ‘Poatan’ is great for him,” Guimaraes told Sherdog.com.

According to Guimaraes, Teixeira’s help with Pereira’s camp is even more evident. The 34-year-old Brazilian will make his second Octagon appearance against Bruno Silva at UFC Fight Night 203 on March 12.

…

Chris Leben remains hospitalized after suffering from complications due to COVID-19, but he seems to be making some positive progress.

The UFC veteran and “Ultimate Fighter 1” cast member provided an update on his condition from his hospital bed via Instagram on Monday. Leben initially revealed that he had been hospitalized earlier in February due to difficulty breathing following a bout with COVID.

In his latest post, “The Crippler seemed optimistic that he could make a full recovery.

“I think that’s what took the most damage, for sure, is my lungs. They did say 100 percent of my lungs are damaged, but they also said 100 percent recovery is possible, and I think that’s what’s going to happen,” Leben said. “It’s going to take some time, start out slow, but I’m still alive, man. I’m still here. And for that, I’m so grateful.

“The fact that I get to fight my way back to 100 percent health, that I have that opportunity, is such a blessing. When you’re wher…

Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC

Nick Maximov will lock horns with Andre Petroski in a middleweight tilt at an Ultimate Fighting Championship event on May 14.

Petroski’s management, Iridium Sports Agency, initially brought word of the bout. The UFC Fight Night event includes a women’s flyweight clash pitting Miesha Tate against Lauren Murphy. A venue and headliner have not been announced for the card.

Maximov is coming off a split-decision triumph over Punahele Soriano in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 200. The Nick Diaz Academy product is 8-0 as a professional, with two wins in the Octagon as well as triumphs on Dana White’s Contender Series and Legacy Fighting Alliance.

Petroski was a cast member on Season 29 of “The Ultimate Fighter” and has since scored finishes of Michael Gillmore and Yaozong Hu in his first two Octagon appearances. The 30-year-old New Jersey native is 7-1 as a professional, with all of his victories coming inside the distance.

It appears that Andrey Koreshkov will get his wish.

A welterweight clash pitting Koreshkov against Paul Daley is currently being targeted for Bellator London on May 13. Shortly after his spectacular spinning back kick knockout of Chance Rencountre at Bellator 274 this past Saturday, Koreshkov volunteered to face Daley in what is expected to be the British slugger’s farewell bout. Sherdog.com confirmed the booking with a promotion official following an initial report from Michael Morgan via Twitter.

Bellator London takes place at the OVO Arena Wembley and is headlined by a welterweight title clash between reigning champion Yaroslav Amosov and Michael Page. The evening’s main card will air on Showtime.

Koreshkov, a former Bellator welterweight king, has won three straight fights. In addition to wrecking Rencountre, “Spartan” has also earned triumphs over Sabah Homasi and Adriano Rodrigues de Oliveira during his current run. The Russian’s only career defeats have …

There has been a change near the top of Friday’s Bellator 275 card.

A lightweight scrap pitting recent title challenger Peter Queally against Kane Mousah has been canceled after Queally suffered an undisclosed injury. As a result, a women’s featherweight showdown pitting Leah McCourt against Sinead Kavanagh has been elevated to the co-main event.

Promotion officials announced the change on Monday. Bellator 275 takes place at the 3Arena in Dublin on Friday and is headlined by a middleweight title tilt between Gegard Mousasi and Austin Vanderford. The evening’s main card will air on Showtime at 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT, while prelims stream on the Bellator MMA YouTube channel, the Showtime Sports YouTube channel and Pluto TV at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT.

The rest of the five-bout main card is as follows: Ciaran Clarke vs. Abou Tounkara at featherweight; Khasan Magomedsharipov vs. Jose Sanchez at featherweight and Brian Moore vs. Jornel Lugo at bantamweight.

McCourt v…

Andrey Koreshkov did a number on Chance Rencountre in the Bellator 274 co-main event.

Koreshkov wrecked the UFC veteran with a spinning back kick to the ribs early in their welterweight encounter, and he finished off his opponent with follow-up punches 38 seconds into Round 1. As it turns out, there wouldn’t have been much Rencountre could have done to recover from Koreshkov’s attack.

“Chance Rencountre suffered five broken ribs, a punctured lung from the heel kick landed by Andrey Koreshkov last night,” Rencountre’s manager, Brian Butler, wrote on Instagram on Sunday. “Not the outcome we wanted but the kick was well placed and would have stopped anyone. Next time we will get a full camp and come back stronger.

“Chance is in good spirits and prepping for surgery. Thank you to the Bellator MMA team who has been tremendous with all their assistance. Congratulations to Andrey Koreshkov and his team on the victory.”

Rencountre, who had been victorious in four …

Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC

Sometimes it’s better to tap out than to go out on your shield.

That was the case for Jamie Pickett on Saturday night, when he fell to Kyle Daukaus via submission at the 4:59 mark of Round 1 in their catchweight bout at UFC Fight Night 201. “The Nightwolf” might have been able to hold out until the horn were it not for one key fact: He felt like he was on the verge of losing his tongue – or at least a piece of it.

“Hey guys, no excuse from me. I did my best for the time I had and didn’t go my way,” Pickett wrote on Facebook. “Tongue got caught between my teeth. Felt like I was gonna cut it off so I tapped. I’ll be back but this time with a full training camp.”

Pickett was a short-notice replacement for Julian Marquez, who withdrew from the proposed middleweight bout. As a result, the fight was contested at a 195-pound catchweight. The setback snaps a two-fight winning streak for Pickett, who was coming off back-to-back decis…

Things did not go as planned for Johnny Walker in the UFC Fight Night 201 main event.

The 29-year-old Brazilian lost for the fourth time in five outings on Saturday night, when he suffered a first-round knockout defeat to Jamahal Hill in their light heavyweight clash at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. While Walker did not attend the post-fight press conference, he did release a series of statements via social media.

“What’s up, guys? I’m okay,” Walker said in a video on Instagram. “Just a little cut here. I sleep in the fight so something happened wrong.”

A competitor on the Brazilian version of Dana White’s Contender Series, Walker emerged as a prospect to watch at 205 pounds with three consecutive first-round finishes in his first three Octagon appearances. He has fallen on hard times since that hot start, with knockout losses to Corey Anderson and Hill as well as decision defeats to Nikita Krylov and Thiago Santos on his ledger. His lone victory during that time w…

The first five-round, non-title headliner in Bellator MMA history was billed as a classic wrestler vs. grappler matchup.

Logan Storley had other ideas. The four-time NCAA All-American wrestler from the University of Minnesota traded with Neiman Gracie for 25 minutes — including one potential “Round of the Year” candidate — en route to a unanimous decision triumph in the Bellator 274 headliner at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., on Saturday night.

“Just 25 minutes, I don’t think I shot one time,” Storley said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “Since I was 5 years old, turning 30 [now], that’s 25 years of just wrestling. The No. 4 ranked guy in the world, went toe-to-toe and got the better of him the whole time. It’s the most fun I’ve ever had. Landed big shots, took shots, kept moving. I think that was a huge step in my career over the last half hour.”

Storley appeared to be in control through three rounds when things got interesting. Gracie appe…

Jamahal Hill wasn’t originally supposed to be in a headlining bout at UFC Fight Night 201, but he didn’t let the transition to a potential five-round affair affect him.

As it turned out, “Sweet Dreams” didn’t need to go into deep waters. Hill authored an emphatic finish on Saturday night, knocking out Johnny Walker with an overhand right — and one follow-up blow — 2:55 into the first round of their light heavyweight feature at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday night.

“I just treated it like the fight hadn’t changed,” Hill said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “I was already confident when I took the fight as a main event. I was already confident. I had already put the work in. I was feeling good about how the fight would go.

“[The UFC] adding rounds and adding the main event, I didn’t let that bother me. That’s what I told myself. It’s still the same fight. Don’t put anything extra anything on it. Take what it is, just another fight.”

At 6-fo…

A featherweight showdown between Satoshi Yamasu and Kyohei Hagiwara will serve as the featured bout at Rizin Fighting Federation 34 on March 20.

The Japanese promotion recently announced the pairing. Rizin 34 takes place at Maruzen Intec Arena in Osaka, Japan, on March 6. Three other MMA bouts were also confirmed for the event: Alan Hiro Yamaniha vs. Motonobu Tezuka at bantamweight; Kiichi Kunimoto vs. Daichi Abe at welterweight and Daichi Kitakata vs. Yutaro Muramoto at flyweight.

A former Deep featherweight king, Yamasu snapped a two-bout skid in his last outing at Rizin 28, when he garnered a split decision against Noah Bey this past June. Prior to that, the 32-year-old “Dominator” suffered a first-round KO loss to Mikuru Asakura at Rizin 26.

Hagiwara carries a 5-2 mark under the Rizin banner into his matchup with Yamasu. He won two of three appearances in 2021, falling to Asakura by decision before scoring a second-round TKO win against Shoji Maruyama at Riz…

Logan Storley had just enough water in the well.

The four-time NCAA All-American wrestler called upon volume punching and a sturdy chin, as he took an important step forward in the Bellator MMA welterweight division with a unanimous decision over Neiman Gracie in the five-round Bellator 274 headliner on Saturday at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. All three cageside judges scored it for Storley (13-1, 8-1 Bellator): 48-47, 50-45 and 49-46.

Gracie (11-3, 9-3 Bellator) struggled to get in gear. What had been a somewhat pedestrian bout for 15 minutes turned into an absolute war of wills in the fourth round. Both men were hurt in back-and-forth exchanges that featured plenty of give and take. Storley kept his foot on the accelerator in the fifth, where he pressed forward with punches and forced the Brazilian onto his back foot—a position in which he was clearly uncomfortable. Andrey Koreskhov waylaid Alliance MMA export Chance Rencountre with a spinning b…

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the UFC live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. The bigger they are, the harder they fall — if Jamahal Hill has anything to say about it. In the main event of UFC Fight Night 201 on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, the 6-foot-4 Hill (10-1, 1 NC) found himself at a rare size disadvantage against titanic 6-foot-5 Johnny Walker (18-7), but was unfazed. The light heavyweight knockout artists spent the duration of the fight throwing their hardest shots at one another; both men had their moments, but the chaos ended in an instant when Hill landed an overhand right to the side of Walker’s head. The towering Brazilian stiffened and fell, hitting his head against the fence and floor on his way down, just in time for Hill to land a diving follow-up shot. Referee Jason Herzog called the action off at 2:55 of Round 1, giving Hill his second win in a row, and third in his last four. Mea…

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the UFC, PFL, Dana White’s Contender Series and “The Ultimate Fighter” live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. Sherdog's live UFC Fight Night 201 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. Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Ben Duffy scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Ben Duffy scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Ben Duffy scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:The Official Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Ben Duffy scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Ben Duffy scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the roun…

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the UFC live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. In one of the wildest rounds we’re likely to see this year, David Onama was the last man left standing. Onama (9-1) and Gabriel Benitez (22-10) threw everything but the kitchen sink at one another for four minutes and change. Both fighters landed early, often and hard, but Benitez was the first to put his man in serious trouble. A left hand by “Moggly” had Onama stumbling away, pawing at his right eye. As the injury was caused by a perfectly legal punch, Benitez rightfully gave chase, swinging away with both hands. However, Onama recovered quickly and backed his opponent into the fence, where he unloaded a dozen-punch combo, finishing with a series of left and right hooks that left Benitez facedown and unconscious. The vicious finish gets Onama in the win column after his short-notice, lightweight debut loss to Mason Jones last fall…

Count 'em ???? ?

Stephanie Egger, @DavidOnama145, @KyleDaukaus, & @JamahalH earn your POTN honors at #UFCVegas48! pic.twitter.com/n8ONOVePWQ

— UFC (@ufc) February 20, 2022 The Ultimate Fighting Championship awarded four fighters performance award bonuses on the UFC Fight Night 201 card.

The most obvious of the $50,000 bonuses went to main event winner Jamahal Hill for his devastating knockout of Johnny Walker. "Sweet Dreams" is now 10-1 and much richer after his first UFC main event. The highlight-reel victory came just 2:55 into the first round.

Co-main event winner Kyle Daukaus also pocketed $50,000 along with a spiffy new nickname for his brabo choke win over Jamie Pickett. "The D'Arce Knight" forced Pickett to tap with just one second left in the first frame and advanced to 11-2 in his MMA career. The nickname is appropriate as six of his 11 wins have come via brabo choke.

Other $50,000 performance award winners i…

Sherdog's live Bellator 274 coverage kicks off at 6 p.m. ET.

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

Round 1 Sherdog Scores Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Mike Sloan scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Mike Sloan scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Mike Sloan scores the round:The Official Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Mike Sloan scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Mike Sloan scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the round:Mike Sloan scores the round:The Official Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Brian Knapp scores the ro…

The Professional Fighters League launched its latest format, the PFL Challenger Series, which featured eight light heavyweight contestants competing for a contract on the upcoming Regular Season.

It took only one perfectly-timed shot from Bruce Souto to pocket the PFL contract in a fight that was arguably going in favor of Travis Davis, a short-notice replacement for Joao Paulo Fagundes. Souto (15-3, 1-0 PFL) landed a flying knee that folded Davis (10-6, 0-1 PFL) before finishing the job with a few follow-up punches. The referee stopped the contest at the 4:43 mark of Round 1. In addition to the contract, Souto also took home a $5,000 bonus for his performance.

The headliner featured a clash between former two-division Legacy Fighting Alliance Joshua Silveira and Mohamed Juma. The fighters stormed out of the gate with kicks and punches landed from each man. Juma looked dangerous on the feet at first, but Silveira made the most out of his wrestling and grappling pedigre…

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the PFL and UFC on ESPN+ live on your computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. Sherdog's live PFL Challenger Series 1 coverage kicks off Friday at 9 p.m. ET. The action will be broadcast live and free on fuboTV. Check out the MMA Forums to discuss the card or enter your comments and predictions below. Round 1 Larry Folsom will serve as the third man in the cage for the inauguarl PFL Challenger Series bout. They touch gloves and Williams lands a right hook shortly thereafter. Amos initiates the clinch and the light heavyweights jockey for position until Williams executes a takedown and lands in side control. Williams drops a pair of left hands from above. Williams is looking to trap the right arm of “Black Santa,” but thus far he just maintains side control. Amos tries unsuccessfully to sit up. Williams peppers the body of his foe with a series of short right hands. Amos still doesn’t have any answers o…

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the UFC live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. There are no hard feelings between ex-Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight queen Amanda Nunes and her former team. At UFC 269, two-division champ Amanda Nunes fell short to Julianna Pena and lost her 135-pound strap, suffering her first defeat since 2014 and ending an incredible 12-fight win streak. Since then, she announced her decision to leave her longtime camp of American Top Team, revealing details at the press conference of the upcoming season of “The Ultimate Fighter.” Nunes plans on opening her own camp, where she will bring former ATT coaches with her for a more individual-focused team. Sherdog spoke this week with Nunes’ former head coach, “Conan” Marcus Silveira, who opened up with his side of the story.

“There was no disagreement,” Silveira revealed. “After the fight, Amanda had a friendly and adult conversatio…

Capping off a successful weigh-in with the shoey

[ @JamahalH | #UFCVegas48 | TOMORROW | Live on @ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/mFE8vdXOGa

— UFC (@ufc) February 18, 2022 Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the UFC live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. It has all the earmarks of a last-man-standing match in the topsy-turvy Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight division.

Johnny Walker tipped the scales at 206 pounds for his five-round battle with Jamahal Hill (205) in the UFC Fight Night 201 headliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The eight other fighters slated for main-card duty also met their contracted weight requirements at Friday’s official weigh-in, including Kyle Daukaus (193.5) and Jamie Pickett (194)—the two men booked opposite one another in the catchweight co-feature. One lone fighter missed weight: Gabriel Benitez (148), who passed the feath…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-pI1iiKhb8&w=560&h=315] Neiman Gracie and Logan Storley have grand plans for the Bellator MMA welterweight division, and their head-to-head confrontation should determine who gets to move forward.

A longtime Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt with deceptively well-rounded skills, Gracie checked in at 170.75 pounds for his showdown with the once-beaten Storley (170.75) in the Bellator 274 headliner on Saturday at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. The six other mixed martial artists scheduled to match wits and fists on the main card, including welterweight co-headliners Andrey Koreshkov (171) and Chance Rencountre (169.5), also met their mandatory weight requirements at Friday’s official weigh-in.

Gracie has alternated wins and losses in each of his past four outings. He last appeared at Bellator 266, where he buried Mark Lemminger with punches and a follow-up elbow strike in the first round of their Sept. 18 pairing. …

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2IHIyXx3zg&w=560&h=315] Bellator MMA is stacking the deck for its return to San Jose, Calif., in April.

Per a report on Thursday by Marcel Dorff, and a subsequent confirmation from one of the participants on Instagram, Aaron Pico (9-3) will be setting foot in the Bellator cage on April 15 against Jeremy Kennedy (17-3, 1 NC). The featherweights will toe the line inside the SAP Center in the promotion’s adopted hometown. Additional, the organization released a few more fights on the preliminary lineup, including a middleweight tilt, a flyweight encounter and a bantamweight scrap.

Pico finds himself on a five-fight win streak since falling short to Henry Corrales and Adam Borics in 2019. A trio of finishes in 2020, an anaconda choke of Aiden Lee in June 2021 and a three-round decision over Justin Gonzales in November have led Pico to the No. 4 spot on Bellator’s rankings list. Of note, the judges’ verdict over Gonzales marked the fi…

Count former Bellator MMA champ Patricio Freire among those that want to get in on the lucrative boxing vs. MMA phenomenon sweeping the sport.

Just like the fight between Logan Paul and Floyd Mayweather in the U.S., the fight between the retired boxer Acelino “Popo” Freitas and YouTube sensation Whindersson Nunes was a smash success in their home country of Brazil. In the co-headliner spot, MMA legend Antonio Rogerio Nogueira squared off with Leonardo Guimaraes in the ring. The crossover show at Fight Music Show on Jan. 30 in Santa Catarina, Brazil, drew a massive audience combined of MMA and boxing fans, so much so that the second edition is already in the works.

This fight card featured a 165-pound match pitting ex-WBA Unified and WBO super featherweight champ Nunes against 27-year-old YouTube comedian Nunes – the latter celebrates nearly 43 million followers – and the two fought to a draw after eight two-minute bouts. After the fight, Freitas, age 46, called out ex- U…