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Jordan Vucenic successfully defends his title! With a beautiful back take, he slipped in a choke for the 2nd round finish #AndStill #CW134 pic.twitter.com/Vz31WMb3M4

— Cage Warriors (@CageWarriors) March 18, 2022 Based on his performance on Friday night, Jordan Vucenic may expect a call up to the major leagues in the near future.

After a long absence from the venue due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Cage Warriors Fighting Championship returned to the iconic Indigo at the O2 Arena in London, England. The CW 134 main event featured a featherweight championship affair as Vucenic (9-1, 5-0 CW) put his belt on the line against James Hendin. The challenger Hendin (6-2, 5-2 CW), a short-notice replacement for Paul Hughes, showcased stifling wrestling to nullify his opponent’s sophisticated striking game early on. While “The Honeybadger” was able to ground Vucenic for much of the round, he was unable to put any major offense together and threaten for a fi…

Before locking down her opponent for April, former Ultimate Fighting Championship strawweight champ Jessica Andrade targeted foes from 115 pounds all the way to bantamweight.

Despite being the top-ranked UFC flyweight contender, former strawweight champion Andrade decided to return to her original division. On April 23 at UFC Fight Night 205, she will take on fellow Brazilian and 10th ranked Amanda Lemos. In an interview with Sherdog, Andrade explained how she made the decision to return to her old division.

“I was having a hard time finding opponents in the flyweight division,” she said. “We tried Alexa Grasso, even Miesha Tate in bantamweight, but nobody wanted to fight with me, so my master Gilliard Parana convinced me that in strawweight the amount of possibilities would grow, making the matchmakers lives easier.”

According to “Bate Estaca,” the weight cut will no longer be a problem.

“Brazilian food made the weight-cut process very hard for me,” she admitted…

We have our sights set on 𝐀𝐁𝐔 𝐃𝐇𝐀𝐁𝐈 this October

Visit here for details https://t.co/qxqMNvVjkW

[ #UFC281 | @VisitAbuDhabi | @InAbuDhabi | #InAbuDhabi ] pic.twitter.com/RJusAhNipT — UFC (@ufc) March 18, 2022 A big Ultimate Fighting Championship show and a full week’s worth of related events are slated to go down in a popular destination this October.

The promotion released the news on Friday that it would be heading back down to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, for UFC 281. This Oct. 22 card would serve as the finale for what is titled “Abu Dhabi Showdown Week,” which states that it will be capped off by a “crowd-pleasing” title bout. No details have been provided about any matchup for this event seven months away, other than its date and location of the Etihad Arena.

In 2010, the UFC first came to Abu Dhabi, putting on UFC 112 on Yas Island with a pair of championship tilts on tap. B.J. Penn lost his lightweight belt to Frankie E…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBA_6EHqthU&w=560&h=315] Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki returns for its third event of 2022 with a featherweight championship bout headlining KSW 68.

Both featherweight champion Salahdine Parnasse and challenger Daniel Rutkowski made their title fight official as they hit their marks. Along with the headliners, the remaining 16 fighters on the card made weight without any issue.

Parnasse (16-1-1) has become a mainstay within KSW. The French fighter has won every fight in the promotion aside from a loss to Daniel Torres that he avenged in his most recent outing. In between matches with Torres, Parnasse submitted Filip Pejic with a rear-naked choke. The champion officially weighed 145 pounds.

This is only the second KSW bout for Rutkowski (13-2, 1 NC). The Polish fighter impressed in his debut by scoring a head kick knockout of Pejic to claim an early title opportunity. Rutkowski also weighed 145 pounds for the championship pairing. Read more about KSW 68 Weigh-in Results: 9 Fights Set

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq52MXGVNSM&w=560&h=315] After several years away due to the pandemic, the Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to England for UFC Fight Night 204.

Atop the bill is a heavyweight bout between contenders Alexander Volkov and Tom Aspinall. Just as the heavyweights had no trouble hitting their marks, every participant on the entire card successfully made weight. However, it is worth noting that a preliminary bout between Nathaniel Wood and Vince Morales was called off on Thursday after Wood fell ill.

Volkov bounced back from a decision loss to Ciryl Gane with a win over Marcin Tybura. "Drago" is 8-3 inside the Octagon, and is looking to show that he still has another run at the title left in him at age 33. Volkov stepped on the scale at 253 pounds.

While Volkov has multiple UFC main events under his belt, this marks the first for Aspinall (11-2). The English fighter is undefeated inside the Octagon with four straight finishes. …

Do not mess with Jaqueline Amorim on the ground!!! #AndNew#LFA125 pic.twitter.com/a1jrEe93X8

— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) February 26, 2022

Jaqueline Amorim put herself on the radar when she submitted Lovethpatra Young with a kneebar and captured the vacant Legacy Fighting Alliance women’s strawweight championship in the LFA 125 main event on Feb. 25 at the Seneca Niagara Resort and Casino in Niagara Falls, New York. Amorim, 26, brought it to a close 1:26 into Round 1.

It was a gruesome finish that drew a visceral reaction from those who saw it.

“I could feel noise coming from her leg,” Amorim told Sherdog.com. “I overextended it, but she wasn’t tapping. I gave up on that position and reapplied the submission by having her leg under my armpit. That’s when she tapped, and I won by submission.”

The American Top Team -trained Amorim has finished all five of her opponents inside one round, four of them by submission.

Bruno Miranda Official Weight 156.2 lbs ⚖️#PFLonFuboTV pic.twitter.com/kUHrFCXFAm

— PFL (@PFLMMA) March 17, 2022 Professional Fighters League's Challenger Series continues with PFL Challenger Series 5, which highlights several lightweight prospects.

All fighters made weight for the event except for headliner Bruno Miranda. "Robusto" wound up coming in at 156.2 pounds, which is .2 pounds over the lightweight limit. His bout against Carson Frei will still go forward, though.

Miranda (13-3) is a lightweight prospect out of Brazil. The Road FC veteran has won his last four bouts. Meanwhile, Frei (9-4) is an American that has won three of his last four fights. The 28-year-old most recently submitted Westin Wilson and weighed 155.2 pounds for the main event.

PFL Challenger Series 5 streams live to FuboTV on Friday at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.

PFL Challenger Series 5 Weigh-in Results: Bruno Miranda (156.2)* vs. Carson Frei (155.2)Damir Ferhatbeg…

A strawweight title rematch between Rose Namajunas and Carla Esparza will serve as the co-main event at UFC 274 on May 7.

Multiple outlets confirmed the booking following an initial report from Sports Illustrated. Namajunas and Esparza competed on Season 20 of “The Ultimate Fighter” and then squared off at the show’s finale in December 2014, with “Cookie Monster” claiming the promotion’s inaugural 115-pound belt with a third-round submission victory.

Namajunas would go on to win nine of her next 11 Octagon appearances. She is in the midst of her second championship reign at strawweight and is coming off a split-decision triumph over Weili Zhang in a title defense at UFC 268. Her resume includes wins over the likes of Zhang (twice), Jessica Andrade, Joanna Jedrzejczyk (twice), Michelle Waterson and Tecia Torres.

Esparza, meanwhile, would relinquish the crown in a lopsided loss to Jedrzejczyk in her first title defense at UFC 185. The Team Oyama has compiled a f…

Miesha Tate’s first flyweight foray is going to take place a little bit later than originally anticipated.

Tate’s matchup with Lauren Murphy, originally slated for a UFC Fight Night event on May 14, will now happen at UFC 276 on July 2. The change was initially reported by Ariel Helwani. A reason for the postponement is unclear.

UFC 276 takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and will serve as the centerpiece for the promotion’s International Fight Week. No other bouts have been announced for the card.

Tate returned from a five-year retirement this past July, where she scored a third-round TKO win over Marion Reneau at UFC on ESPN 26. In her next outing, “Cupcake” fell to Ketlen Vieira via unanimous decision in the UFC Fight Night 198 main event on Nov. 20.

Murphy hasn’t competed since falling to Valentina Shevchenko via fourth-round TKO in a flyweight title tilt at UFC 266. Prior to that, the former Invicta FC champion had been victorious in her p…

Greg Hardy saw the writing on the wall following his last Ultimate Fighting Championship appearance, and no it appears the Las Vegas-based promotion has officially parted ways with the controversial former NFL star.

Hardy joins Sabina Mazo, Davi Ramos and Jared Gooden as athletes that are no longer on the UFC roster, according to a report by MMAFighting.com. All four fighters recently completed their contracts with the promotion and are not likely to be re-signed.

Hardy indicated that his run in the Octagon was over following a first-round TKO loss to Sergey Spivak at UFC 272 on March 5.

“What a run, ya boy is far from done just got some fine tuning to do,” Hardy wrote on Instagram. “Thank you to all my fans and haters. I appreciate you all. Mostly I appreciate my coaches, family, and the UFC for giving me the opportunity to shine bright.”

Given his history with domestic violence, Hardy was a controversial addition to the Dana White’s Contender Series lin…

Two-time UFC competitor Cody East was arrested in New Mexico following a domestic violence incident over the weekend.

Albuquerque, N.M.-based station KRQE was first to report the news. East is charged with child abuse, false imprisonment and battery.

According to a criminal complaint, East got into a fight with his wife and then allegedly refused to allow her or their kids to get out of their car. The woman told police that East pushed her and made threatening comments when she tried to stop him.

East was released on Tuesday from the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center due to “Release on Recognizance.” He is due in court for a preliminary hearing on April 26.

It’s not the first time East has run afoul of the law for domestic violence. In 2016, East was arrested for aggravated battery against a household member, false imprisonment and aggravated assault against a household member.

East has multiple other transgressions on his record. He …

A women’s flyweight clash pitting Tracy Cortez against Melissa Gatto has been added to teh UFC 274 lineup.

ESPN Deportes was first to report the booking. UFC 274 takes place at the Footprint Center in Phoenix on May 7 and is headlined by a lightweight championship bout between Charles Oliveirea and Justin Gaethje.

A contract winner on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2019, Cortez has been victorious in her first three Octagon appearances. Most recently, the 28-year-old Fight Ready representative took a split verdict over Justine Kish at UFC ON ESPN 22. Cortez has won nine consecutive professional outings.

Gatto, meanwhile, has yet to taste defeat in 10 pro fights, although she does have a pair of draws on her ledger. The 25-year-old Brazilian in 2-0 in UFC competition, with finishes of Victoria Leonardo and Sijara Eubanks to her credit.

Things are already starting to heat up ahead of this weekend’s UFC London card.

Ilia Topuria and Paddy Pimblett were involved in a brief altercation at the promotion’s host hotel on Tuesday. Topuria shared a video on social media of the incident, which saw punches and water bottles thrown before the fighters were separated.

“I warned you! This is what happens when you disrespect me and my country!” Topuria wrote on Instagram. “You saw me and wanted to greet me because you s—t your pants… and you should thank my team because if it wasn’t for them separating me, I would have taken your head off. This is not twitter, this is real life.”

Topuria, who is 11-0 as a professional and 3-0 in the UFC, is slated to meet Jai Herbert in a featherweight bout at UFC Fight Night 204 on Saturday. Pimblett, meanwhile, is set to square off against Rodrigo Vargas at 155 pounds after the ex-Cage Warriors champion was victorious in his first promotional appearance.

Pimblett …

When Pride Fighting Championship fans recall the golden era of the Japanese promotion, the rivalry between Chute Boxe and Brazilian Top Team often comes to mind.

After all, the clashes between Carlson Gracie jiu-jitsu black belts from Rio de Janeiro and the muay Thai aces from Chute Boxe team led by Rudimar Fedrigo in Curitiba marked some of the most important chapters of the Japanese organization between 1997 and 2007.

The world of MMA has changed a lot in the last 15 years. On Monday, Conan Silveira, one of the first black belts under Carlson Gracie and one of the founders of American Top Team, launched the first Brazilian branch of ATT in Curitiba, the homeland of Chute Boxe. Wanderlei Silva and Royce Gracie were also in attendance at the ceremony.

“Curitiba has always been one of the biggest producers of top MMA strikers in the history of the sport,” Silveira said. “With this new ATT branch here we will join together great strikers of Brazil and some of th…

This was Kevin Holland's reaction shortly after he and a friend took down a gunman Monday night at a restaurant in Houston.

Full story: https://t.co/OynF23aZqi

( @Trailblaze2top / @ko_reps) pic.twitter.com/YxN2WdtPXI — MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) March 15, 2022

Kevin Holland put his mixed martial arts training to use in a potentially dire situation on Monday night.

According to a report from Houston’s NBC-2 TV station, a man pulled out a gun and shot it in the air inside the popular Houston restaurant Ra Sushi at approximately 11:30 a.m. local time. Houston Police Department Sgt. Ricardo Salas said there were about 40-50 people inside the establishment when the shot was fired in the bar area.

Shortly thereafter, Holland and a friend with MMA training, Patrick Robinson, were able to take down the gunman. The two men quickly took action when, as Robinson recalls, they heard a loud “boom.” According to police, a third customer helpe…

UFC president Dana White was among many prominent figures from the MMA world who submitted letters in support of Cain Velasquez to the Santa Clara County Superior Court last week.

Velasquez is facing attempted murder and multiple other charges after firing shots at a man accused of molesting a younger relative of the fighter’s on multiple occasions. Velasquez was denied bail at an arraignment by judge Shelya Brown, who said that the “risk is too great” to release the UFC veteran.

According to ESPN, 34 letters were written to the court asking for leniency on behalf of Velasquez. Many of those praised Velasquez for being a family man, friend and teammate with no criminal record.

"I have known Mr. Velasquez for more than 15 years, and during his time as an active athlete with UFC, he represented our company with dignity and always treated others with respect," White wrote. "He was a model example of how a professional athlete should carry himself, projecting a p…

After eight years living in Thailand in order to improve his muay Thai technique, Brazilian lightweight Bruno Miranda will finally have the chance to make it to the big stage.

The former Road FC fighter will take part in the fifth week of the PFL Challenger Series on Friday at Universal Studios, Florida, when he faces American talent Carson Frei.

"As we could see in the first (few) weeks, they are choosing the ones who bring great shows and that's my goal,” Miranda told Sherdog.com. “If you look at all my fights, I’m always looking for a knockout or submission and it will be no different on Friday.”

The man known as “Robusto” believes Frei will attempt to take him down due to his eight years experience training at Tiger Muay Thai.

“Due to my background, he will probably try to grapple,” said Miranda, a purple belt under Gustavo “Ximu” Machado. “I don’t want to underestimate him, but I´ve also been training for the last six months at Nova Uniao against…

Yadong Song has earned the right to a big-name callout.

Song announced his presence in the UFC’s bantamweight division with authority on Saturday night, knocking former title challenger and ex-WSOF champ Marlon Moraes with an uppercut 2:06 into the opening round of their co-main event clash. It wasn’t necessarily the finish Song expected, but it is part of his training regimen.

“I was not planning for any uppercut, but I practice these combos every day,” Song said through a translator at the UFC Fight Night 203 post-fight press conference. “I’m really thankful for my boxing coach. He taught me some good uppercuts.”

Currently in the midst of a three-fight winning streak in the Octagon, Song hopes to renew the Team Alpha Male rivalry with Dominick Cruz. Only in this case, the “Kung Fu Monkey” considers himself to be a fan of the former UFC bantamweight champion.

“I watched his fights since I was a young kid and I like him very much,” Song said. “I like his s…

Phil Davis is in a bit of a purgatory with Bellator MMA at this point in his career.

“Mr. Wonderful” remains the clear-cut No. 2 in the promotion at light heavyweight following his unanimous decision triumph against Julius Anglickas in the Bellator 276 co-main event at the Family Arena in St. Louis, Mo., on Saturday. Unfortunately, there appears to be no clear path to the top of the division as long as Vadim Nemkov is champion, due to Davis’ two decision losses to the reigning title holder.

Another interesting option would seemingly be to move to heavyweight, where former rival Ryan Bader sits atop the division following a grueling title defense against Valentin Moldavsky at Bellator 273 in January. Davis is also 0-2 against Bader by the narrowest of margins, with a pair of split-decision defeats to the Arizona native – one in Bellator and one in the UFC.

At the moment, Davis doesn’t seem too interested in leaving the light heavyweight division. For the time bei…

The Bellator 276 headliner between Adam Borics and Mads Burnell was billed as a No. 1 contender’s bout, and both men fought with those stakes in mind.

Ultimately, Borics battled his way through five-rounds of back-and-forth standup with Burnell to capture a hard-fought unanimous decision triumph. It was the fourth straight victory and ninth in 10 Bellator appearances overall for the 28-year-old Hungarian, who believes he proved that he is capable of challenging for featherweight gold.

“It was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it,” Borics said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “It makes me confident after five rounds. I wasn’t tired, and it was a high pace. A lot of people were talking about I can’t go a high pace, and I think I showed everyone I’m ready for the title. I can do five rounds easy, so let’s go.”

Borics had success landing multi-punch combinations to the head and leg kicks. He even dropped Burnell with a right hook late in the second round, th…

Bellator MMA had big plans for Fedor Emelianenko’s farewell fight in his home country, but the ongoing conflict betwen Russia and Ukraine have forced the promotion to shift gears.

Bellator president Scott Coker addressed the Emelianenko situation when speaking to reporters following Bellator 276 on Saturday night. Coker added that he’ll be able to gain more clarity when he meets with “The Last Emperor” next month.

“It’s definitely not going to happen in Moscow this year,” Coker said. “We’re not gonna do Fedor’s retirement fight there for obvious reasons. We’ll be looking for an alternative site at some point, but we’re going to sit down with Fedor when he comes to [Bellator 277] in San Jose and see what he’s thinking.”

Emelianenko had an impressive performance at VTB Arena in Moscow on Oct. 23, when he knocked out Timothy Johnson 1:40 into the opening round of their main event clash at Bellator 269. Coker revealed that the promotion initially had a spectacular …

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0_xvM6BjNU&w=560&h=315]

Dustin Poirier is well aware of Colby Covington’s callout, but he doesn’t sound all that interested in pursuing a fight against the outspoken welterweight.

Shortly after vanquishing former American Top Team training partner Jorge Masvidal in the UFC 272 headliner on March 5, Covington turned his attention to Poirier, another ATT stalwart. In an interview on the UFC Fight Night 203 post-fight show, Poirier addressed Covington’s remarks while not completely ruling out a move to 170 pounds in the future.

“It’s cute. It’s all good. It is what it is. People want big fights,” Poirier said. “That’s a big fight. He wants a big fight. Obviously, he’s not in line for the title fight. He lost twice to the champ so he probably needs a few more wins, but I would think if you want to get back to that strap, you’ve got to fight welterweight contenders.

“I don’t know what I’m doing, if I’m going to welterweight, i…

While Magomed Ankalaev won his eighth consecutive light heavyweight bout at UFC Fight Night 203, it wasn’t the type of performance that will raise his stock in the eyes of promotion officials.

Ankalaev took an uneventful unanimous decision win over Thiago Santos on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas in a clash where both competitors were largely hesitant to pull the trigger. Ankalaev was dropped in by Santos in the second round, but for the most part, the Dagestani dictated the terms in the fight. In the aftermath, Ankalaev admitted that it wasn’t his best showing, but he put some of the blame on his opponent for the overall lack of action.

“I am happy that I won,” Ankalaev said at the UFC Fight Night 203 post-fight press conference. “To be honest, it is what it is. We expected him to move forward for the whole fight and to catch him on his mistakes, but he preferred to move backwards. That’s why I preferred to strike with him.

“To be honest, I’m not glad wi…

Absolutely 𝐕𝐈𝐂𝐈𝐎𝐔𝐒 💢

[ @KhalilRountree | #UFCVegas50 ] pic.twitter.com/b1dpn3Wc2e

— UFC (@ufc) March 13, 2022 The Ultimate Fighting Championship awarded four fighters performance bonuses on the UFC Fight Night 203 card.

Light heavyweight standout Khalil Rountree secured a $50,000 bonus by knocking out Karl Roberson. The finish came just 25 seconds into Round 2 and saw Rountree knocking down Roberson and landing a brutal body kick to his grounded opponent. "The War Horse" is now 10-5.

Cody Brundage also took home a performance of the night bonus. The middleweight prospect wound up getting a come-from-behind guillotine choke against Dalcha Lungiambula. This marks the first UFC win for the 7-2 middleweight.

The final two performance of the night bonuses went to co-main event winner Yadong Song for his gorgeous knockout of Marlon Moraes and Azamat Murzakanov, who got a shocking win via flying knee in the first prelim of the…