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It was almost like Fedor Emelianenko turned back the clock.

The Russian’s legendary hand speed was front and center in the Bellator 269 headliner, as he knocked out former interim heavyweight title challenger Timothy Johnson 1:40 into the opening round at VTB Arena in Moscow. It was Emelianenko’s fourth victory in his last five outings in Bellator, but there was something different about his most recent performance.

“That was really special,” Coker told assembled media after the event. “I’ve been in the fight game a long time and for him to really deliver in his hometown in front of all of his fans, it was really fun to watch. It was a real special night and like I said, being a promoter for so long there’s a few times that just capture that moment in time and really this was that night.

“I was like, wow, at 45 he can still bring it. He threw combinations at Tim that I haven’t seen for a little while, honestly. I think the pressure of him being at home really h…

All but one of the 12 athletes slated to compete on Week 9 of Dana White’s Contender Series made weight on Monday.

The lone exception was Oron Kahlon, who tipped the scales at 139 pounds for a bantamweight clash against Javid Basharat (136). The fight will proceed as planned, but Kahlon will be fined 20% of his purse.

The Contender Series takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Tuesday night and airs on ESPN+ beginning at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. The featured bout on this week’s card is a middleweight tilt pitting Jansey Silva (185.5) against Gadzhi Omargadzhiev (186).

Silva has compiled a 7-1 record while competing exclusively for the Brazilian organization Watch Out Combat Show. The 26-year-old Tata Fight Team member has finished five of his wins by knockout or technical knockout.

Russia’s Omargadzhiev is 12-0 since beginning his professional tenure in 2013. The CSKA Moscow representative has earned eight of his triumphs by KO/TKO and two via submission.

Co…

Credit: M-1

A matchup between up-and-coming featherweights Movsar Evloev and Ilia Topuria is in the works for UFC 270.

The pairing was first reported by the Red Fury MMA Instagram page and has since been confirmed by multiple outlets. UFC 270 takes place on Jan. 22 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., and is headlined by a heavyweight title unification bout between Francis Ngannou and Ciryl Gane.

Evloev is unbeaten in 15 professional appearances — including five triumphs in UFC competition. The 27-year-old Russian last appeared at UFC 263, where he outpointed Hakeem Dawodu on June 12. Evloev has gone the distance in each of his Octagon triumphs, also earning wins over the likes of Nik Lentz, Mike Grundy, Enrique Barzola and Seung Woo Choi.

Spain’s Topuria is 11-0 as a pro, a run that includes a 3-0 mark within the Las Vegas-based promotion. The Brave Combat Federation veteran is coming off back-to-back first-round knockout victories against Damon Jackson and …

Troubled former fighter Jason Miller is facing a pair of felony charges for a bar fight that occurred in September, according to a report from TMZ Sports.

The UFC and Strikeforce veteran is facing charges of assault and battery after allegedly breaking a man’s ribs outside a San Fernando, Calif., bar last month. The man Miller injured initially elected not to file charges but later changed his mind after a hospital visit. That resulted in police charging Miller with felony battery and felony assault.

The news comes on the heels of “Mayhem” being arrested for felony domestic violence in Los Angeles on September 10. The 40-year-old was held on bail of $1.385 million after a women called 911 screaming for help and police arrived at the scene to find her with marks on her face and neck. Miller initially resisted being taken into custody and was tased and cuffed as a result.

The former “Bully Beatdown” host has a lengthy history of running afoul of the law. Less th…

The knee that opened the cut!

VODs available herehttps://t.co/Md8kjceRGe#RIZIN #MMA #RIZINFF #RIZIN31 pic.twitter.com/0BhoaQ3ASs

— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) October 24, 2021 Deep champion Juntaro Ushiku now has another piece of championship hardware to add to his trophy case.

Ushiku defeated Yutaka Saito via technical knockout in the Rizin Fighting Federation 31 headliner to capture the promotion’s featherweight crown on Sunday in Yokohama, Japan. A flying knee from Ushiku opened a gash on Saito’s head and forced doctors to call the contest at the 4:26 mark of Round 2.

Ushiku has won eight of his last nine professional appearances dating back to November 2018, while Saito sees a four-bout winning streak snapped in defeat.

Huge upkicks by Saori Oshima (@cb_saori)

VODs available herehttps://t.co/Md8kjceRGe#RIZIN #MMA #RIZINFF #RIZIN31 pic.twitter.com/N6HO4ciZ4N

— RIZIN FF English (@rizin…

What a historic night for Fedor Emelianenko and #Bellator in #Moscow!

This was the 's th pro win.#MMA #Bellator269 pic.twitter.com/llxTdLvpm0

— BellatorMMA (@BellatorMMA) October 23, 2021 Fedor Emelianenko was in top form in his victory over Timothy Johnson at Bellator 269.

After a few tense exchanges in the early going, “The Last Emperor” dropped Johnson with a three-punch combination as his opponent rushed forward. Once Emelianenko landed, Johnson crashed to the canvas and the fight was immediately stopped at the 1:40 mark of Round 1. Considering that Johnson was coming off a loss to Valentin Moldavsky in an interim heavyweight title bout, it might be the most impressive victory of Emelianenko’s Bellator tenure.

“I think maybe this is one of the most important wins in my career, taking into consideration the location, the country, the age,” Emelianenko said during Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “Taking into consideratio…

UNDISPUTED @ricoverhoeven #COLLISION3 pic.twitter.com/Kuh4Y4J0r3

— GLORY Kickboxing (@GLORY_WS) October 23, 2021

Rico Verhoeven reminded everyone why he is nicknamed the "King of Kickboxing.”

The headliner featured a heavyweight clash between defending champion Rico Verhoeven (59-10) and former two-time rival Jamal Ben Saddik (35-8). The challenger was supposed to be combat sports legend Alistair Overeem, but an injury forced "The Demolition Man" out of the fight. Verhoeven moved around his opponent for most of the time in the opening round, studying his reactions, before Ben Saddik almost knocked him down right before the end of the stanza. Ben Saddik pushed on the accelerator early in Round 2, dropping Verheoven and opening a cut under his right eye.

Verhoeven fought through adversity and made some adjustments after the second stanza as his eye kept swelling. In Round 3, the Dutchman retaliated with several knees, showcased better foo…

UNDISPUTED @ricoverhoeven #COLLISION3 pic.twitter.com/Kuh4Y4J0r3

— GLORY Kickboxing (@GLORY_WS) October 23, 2021

Rico Verhoeven reminded everyone why he is nicknamed the "King of Kickboxing.”

The headliner featured a heavyweight clash between defending champion Rico Verhoeven (59-10) and former two-time rival Jamal Ben Saddik (35-8). The challenger was supposed to be combat sports legend Alistair Overeem, but an injury forced "The Demolition Man" out of the fight. Verhoeven moved around his opponent for most of the time in the opening round, studying his reactions, before Ben Saddik almost knocked him down right before the end of the stanza. Ben Saddik pushed on the accelerator early in Round 2, dropping Verheoven and opening a cut under his right eye.

Verhoeven fought through adversity and made some adjustments after the second stanza as his eye kept swelling. In Round 3, the Dutchman retaliated with several knees, showcased better foo…

Credit: Joao Baptista Credit: Joao Baptista Credit: Joao Baptista

Once it became clear that he wasn’t going to make the middleweight limit, Paulo Costa did everything he could to tilt the odds in his favor heading into the UFC Fight Night 196 main event.

Even though he convinced opponent Marvin Vettori to agree to fight at 205 pounds and he was clearly the larger athlete in the Octagon on Saturday, Costa still dropped a unanimous decision to “The Italian Dream.” As result, UFC president Dana White was singing Vettori’s praises at Saturday’s post-fight press conference.

“We were trying to keep this fight alive and make sure that it happened, and we couldn’t have done it without a guy like Vettori,” White said. “Vettori acted like an absolute professional, stud, a guy that’s incredible to work with. That’s why this fight happened.”

According to White, Costa entered the cage at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday night at 220 pounds, while Vettori weighed 208. De…

Both men battled through adversity on their ways to victory!

POTN bonuses handed out to @BruceLeeroyGlow & @MarvinVettori. #UFCVegas41 pic.twitter.com/OrH0Eq6QWm

— UFC (@ufc) October 24, 2021 Marvin Vettori accepted the challenge of moving up a weight class to fight Paulo Costa at UFC Fight Night 196, and it paid off handsomely for “The Italian Dream.”

Vettori received a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” check for a unanimous decision victory over Costa in Saturday’s headliner at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The bout was originally scheduled to be contested at 185 pounds until Costa revealed that he wouldn’t be able to make weight, so it was then changed to a 205-pound bout. Vettori took the change in stride, as he set a light heayweight record with 190 significant strikes landed in the five-round affair.

Elsewhere, Alex Caceres pocketed a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” award for a first-round submission of Seung Woo Choi in …

Let's see that in slow-mo!

Fedor Emelianenko remains undefeated at home.#Bellator269 pic.twitter.com/vOaZOSuMCS

— BellatorMMA (@BellatorMMA) October 23, 2021 If it truly is goodbye, then Fedor Emelianenko gave the Russian fans a memorable farewell.

“The Last Emperor” made short work of recent interim title challenger Timothy Johnson in the Bellator 269 headliner, winning via knockout 1:40 into Round 1 of their heavyweight clash at VTB Arena in Moscow on Saturday. It was the California-based promotion’s first-ever event in Russia and Emelianenko’s first fight in his home country since a controversial majority decision win against Fabio Maldonado at a Fight Nights Global event on June 17, 2016.

The 45-year-old former Pride Fighting Championships title holder demonstrated why he remains dangerous even in the twilight of his professional MMA career. In a bout that was fraught with tension, both heavyweights ventured into the pocket to tr…

Marvin Vettori cut through all the noise, focused on the task at hand and made sure he was the man who got his hand raised when the dust settled.

The Kings MMA rep stayed relevant in the Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight division and rode a high-pressure, high-volume attack to a unanimous decision over Paulo Costa in the UFC Fight Night 196 headliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. All three cageside judges scored it 48-46 for Vettori (18-5-1, 8-3-1 UFC), who accepted the bout at 205 pounds due to the Brazilian’s inability to meet their originally contracted weight requirements.

Costa (13-2, 5-2 UFC) fought well despite the extra baggage and seemed to relish his role as the villain. He rattled Vettori with multiple head kicks and zeroed in on the body with brutal kicks and hooks from both hands. Still, Costa had no real answer for the Italian’s relentless output and also had to deal with being deducted a point for a second-round eye poke. Vettori co…

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 196 coverage will begin Saturday at 1 p.m. ET.

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

Round 1 A UFC fight card that may have otherwise been forgotten has suddenly drawn a great deal of attention thanks to the antics of the headliners. Nonsense and shenanigans, drama and genuine anger appears to have reared its ugly head, but it will make the show more interesting. We begin this 14-fight marathon offering that is currently being counterprogrammed by Bellator, KSW and Glory Kickboxing at the same time with a bantamweight bout. “The Dragon” Martinez (13-4, 4-3 UFC) will welcome Georgian newcomer Lazishvili (8-0, 0-0 UFC) to the organization. There is some dispute about Lazishvil…

Sherdog's live Bellator 269 coverage kicks off at 12:30 p.m. ET.

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

The bout has been canceled after Gadzhi Rabadanov missed weight. Round 1 Bellator 269 kicks off in my hometown of Moscow at CSKA Arena, the same venue where the UFC helds its own historic event in late 2019. Kicking off the event, young featherweight prospects clash, as Englishman Aiden Lee (9-5) makes the trip into hostile territory to take on Russian Alexender Osetrov (8-2). Referee Kevin McCarthy will start the evening in Moscow. Osetrov starts the fight with a solid leg kick. Lee is firing technical front kicks, but the Russian avoids them. Lee tests him with a head kick, but Osetrov blocks and tries to counter with a punch, which is blocked. Both men are searching for the range, Lee more with kicks and Osetrov more with punches. Osetrov scores on a body punch and soon after may have hurt Lee with a short hook …

WHAT. A. FIGHT.

[ #UFCVegas41 live on #ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/URRFmKPLvI

— UFC (@ufc) October 23, 2021 Gregory Rodrigues strengthened his foothold in the Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight division, as he struck down Jun Young Park in the second round of their featured UFC Fight Night 196 prelim on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Park (13-5, 3-2 UFC) bowed out 3:13 into Round 2.

Rodrigues (11-3, 2-0 UFC) dictated the terms of their ground exchanges—he advanced to the back with body triangles on multiple occasions—but flirted with disaster on the feet. Park pinned the former Legacy Fighting Alliance champion to the fence in the second round and let punches fly from both hands. Rodrigues seemed to be wilting but answered with a series of precise right hands, pushed the Korean Top Team standout across the Octagon, flurried along the fence and connected with an uppercut that had him out on his feet. It was enough to p…

The featherweight championship clash between Yutaka Saito and Juntaro Ushiku is official for Rizin Fighting Federation 31.

Both the champion and the challenger made weight on Saturday ahead of their 145-pound title tilt. Saito tipped the scales at 145.3 pounds, while Ushiku checked in at 144.8. Rizin 31 takes place at Pia Arena in Yokohama, Japan and will also see Kanna Asakura (107.6 pounds) square off against Saori Oshima (105.7) in the co-main event. The card can be viewed via pay-per-view here.

Saito claimed the featherweight crown with a unanimous decision triumph over Mikuru Asakura at Rizin 25. He has won three straight under the Rizin banner, including a split verdict against Vugar Karamov in a non-title bout at Rizin 28 in his last outing.

Ushiku is the reigning Deep featherweight champion and is coming off a split-decision win over Daisuke Nakamura in a title bout at Deep 102 Impact this past July. He has won seven of his last eight professional appear…

BREAKING: Multiple sources inform me Josh Emmett has booked his UFC return against Dan Ige at #UFC269. This card is amazing. https://t.co/piGxeq51Oa

— Cole Shelton (@ColeShelton91) October 22, 2021 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. Top-10 Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweights will dance on a card that is already stacked from bow to stern. The year-end UFC pay-per-view card of UFC 269, which already has a full main card as listed by the organization, has gained another major fight. Josh Emmett (16-2) will make his return after a year and a half away to take on Dan Ige (15-4) in a battle that practically guarantees action from bell to bell. The news of this Dec. 11 booking was first reported by BJPenn.com late on Thursday, and it was subsequently by multiple outlets and the UFC’s broadcast partner of ESPN on Friday.

The fight …

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsR89SPixaQ&w=560&h=315] After nearly a month off, the Legacy Fighting Alliance is back with a vengeance in a mile-high arena in Colorado.

LFA 116 goes down in the Dobson Arena in Vail, Colo., on Friday night on UFC Fight Pass. Capping off the 13-fight billing is a middleweight clash pitting Josh Fremd (7-2) against Renato Valente Alves (8-4). Of the 26 competitors to hit the scales – including the first eight in the amateur ranks – only one fighter missed weight: Dan Argueta (138)*, who came in two pounds above the bantamweight limit. His matchup with Rodney Mondala will otherwise continue as planned, although Mondala will receive a percentage of Argueta’s purse as a result.

Fremd will be looking to rebound from the first knockout loss of his career, as he fell short to future Ultimate Fighting Championship signee Gregory Rodrigues in May by knockout at the end of the middleweight tournament. Three wins under the LFA banner led h…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1t70sSmSX-8&w=560&h=315] The bantamweight title tilt atop the latest KSW offering feels like a postlim after the two goliaths hit the scales in the co-main event.

At KSW 64, the fight card at the Atlas Arena in Lodz, Poland, will be capped off by a 135-pound championship affair pitting Sebastian Przybysz (8-2) against Bruno Augusto dos Santos (10-2). Despite gold on the line in that one, all eyes will instead be on the super heavyweight slugfest between Mariusz Pudzianowski (15-7, 1 NC) and Serigne Ousmane Dia (2-0). Like the days of Pride Fighting Championships, one competitor comfortably eclipsed the 300-pound mark with no issues. Two preliminary fighters did miss weight, but the event is now cleared to carry on.

Przybysz wrested the bantamweight belt from Antun Racic at KSW 59 in a bit of an upset, surviving a knockdown and making it to the end to capture a decision after five hard-fought rounds. The challenger Santos has gone…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22wredTJ-Dc&w=560&h=315] A storied kickboxing rivalry that began over a decade ago will see its rubber match play out atop Glory: Collision 3 for heavyweight gold.

On Saturday, Glory Kickboxing will put on a blockbuster pay-per-view offering with heavyweights in the main and co-headlining slots. The marquee matchup pits Rico Verhoeven (58-10, 18 KOs) against Jamal Ben Saddik (36-8, 1 NC; 29 KOs) for all the marbles. All 20 competitors on this kickboxing showcase event successfully made weight ahead of the show.

Since losing a decision to Semmy Schilt at Glory 4 in 2012, Verhoeven has gone on an incredible run inside the Glory ring, winning his next 20 fights with the organization. The champ successfully defended his strap nine times, including once over Ben Saddik in 2017 in an absolute thriller that ended in the fifth frame. Along the way, Verhoeven also entered into a pair of one-night Glory heavyweight tournaments in 2013 and 2…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LElkSUiuA8c&w=560&h=315] Although no main card matchup suddenly shifted weight classes the night before weigh-ins, there was plenty of drama to go around at the Bellator MMA weight ceremony on Friday morning.

Ten fights will now go down at the VTB Arena in Moscow on Saturday at Bellator 269, with none more important than legendary heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko (39-6, 1 NC) as he says farewell to Russian crowds and faces on Tim Johnson (15-7). There were to be 12 come fight night, but the lightweight matchup between Vladimir Tokov and Aymard Guih fell off on Friday morning in Russia when Guih was not medically cleared. Although all of the main card competitors hit their marks, two preliminary fighters came in heavy and one bout was scratched as a result.

This will be the 45-year-old Emelianenko’s first appearance since he knocked Quinton Jackson out in December 2019. Dating back the last five years, every one of the Russian’s fight…

One-half of your main event LOCKED @BorrachinhaMMA

[ #UFCVegas41 | Tomorrow | Live on ESPN+ ] pic.twitter.com/YJLq775mNd

— UFC (@ufc) October 22, 2021 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 drama over the middleweight-turned-light heavyweight Ultimate Fighting Championship headliner came to an end when Paulo Costa hit the scales.

The UFC Fight Night 196 card being held inside the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday was to have a middleweight main event between Costa (13-1) and Marvin Vettori (17-5-1) in a battle of former title challengers and Israel Adesanya foes. On Wednesday, Costa announced he would not be making weight, and after a tumultuous turn of events on Thursday, the two agreed to a 195-pound catchweight limit before shifting it later that night to 205 pounds. Although this is a significant asterisk, every fighter o…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TC8Avuctzqw&w=560&h=315] 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. Editor's note: The article has been updated at 9 p.m. ET on Oct. 21 to reflect a change in the weight classification. The upcoming Ultimate Fighting Championship main event has gone through several transformations before setting on a new weight class on Thursday night.

At UFC Fight Night 196 Media Day on Wednesday, Paulo Costa stated matter-of-factly that he would not be able to reach the middleweight limit of 186 pounds come Friday for the weigh-ins. There were immediate concerns their headlining matchup would be scuttled, as Costa admitted to weighing 211 pounds on Wednesday afternoon, thus requiring a drastic 25-pound cut in less than 48 hours.

During that interview with the media, Costa hoped that he and Marvin Vettori could meet at 195 pounds or higher,…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9_7lsqQm5A&w=560&h=315] 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. The Professional Fighters League now has an anthem by famed musician Wiz Khalifa. On Thursday, the PFL announced via press release that partner and investor Khalifa, a Grammy nominee, has created a song for the league. The song, titled “Million Dollar Moment,” was written in honor of the fighters involved in the 2021 season of the PFL tournament. In addition to its release, Khalifa will perform the track live at the event on Oct. 27 at its championships show.

“I had a great time making this song with [music producer] Sledgren because it allowed me to create something that will be a big part of the PFL with my MMA family,” Khalifa said in the release. “I can’t wait to perform it at the Championship next w…