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Juliana Velasquez’s next flyweight title defense will likely take place in the spring, according to Bellator president Scott Coker.

Velasquez is targeted to face former UFC 135- and 125-pound title challenger Liz Carmouche at an as yet to be announced Bellator MMA event. The exact date is tentative, but Coker told MMAjunkie.com in a recent interview that the if all goes as planned, Velasquez vs. Carmouche will happen by April.

“I believe that fight will happen in April,” Coker said. “I think that’s when we were told Velasquez would be ready to go so. As soon as she’s ready, we’ll get her back in there, but I think April is the date.

“All of our champions, the launch of the tournament, the finals of our light heavyweight tournament, the [Michael Page] fight, Juliana Velasquez, Cyborg – all these fights will happen let’s say between January and April. It’s kind of what we’re shooting for.”

Velasquez claimed 125-pound gold with a five-round verdict over Ilim…

Drew Dober will square off against Ricky Glenn in a lightweight scrap at an Ultimate Fighting Championship event on March 12.

Iridium Sports Agency first brought word of the booking. UFC Fight Night is expected to take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a light heavyweight tilt between Thiago Santos and Magomed Ankalaev.

After winning six of seven UFC appearances from 2017 to 2020, Dober dropped back-to-back fights to Islam Makhachev and Brad Riddell last year. The 33-year-old Elevation Fight Team product is 9-7 with one no contest over the course of his Octagon tenure and 23-11 as a professional overall.

Glenn’s 2021 campaign included a 37-second knockout win over Joaquim Silva at UFC on ESPN 25 and a majority draw against Grant Dawson at UFC Fight Night 196. The former World Series of Fighting title challenger has gone 4-3-1 during his tenure with the Las Vegas-based promotion.

#TeamIridium Fight News

Our …

A bantamweight matchup pitting Brett Johns against Khurshed Kakhorov has been booked for Bellator MMA’s upcoming Dublin card.

TJ Sport News was first to report the bout. Bellator Dublin takes place at 3Arena on Feb. 25 and is headlined by a middleweight championship clash between Gegard Mousasi and Austin Vanderford.

A seven-time UFC veteran, Johns came up short in his debut with the California-based promotion, when he dropped a unanimous decision to Danny Sabatello at Bellator 259 this past May. The former Titan FC and Cage Warriors title holder was coming off back-to-back wins over Montel Jackson and Tony Gravely prior to that defeat.

Kakhorov improved to 8-0 in his promotional debut, as he outpointed Jair Junior at Bellator 267 on Oct. 1. The former German MMA Championship competitor has finished six of his victories by KO/TKO.

HOLY

Danaa Batgerel has thunder in his hands #UFCVegas40 pic.twitter.com/5oLLrrFQ7j

— UFC (@ufc) October 16, 2021 Montel Jackson will lock horns with Danaa Batgerel in a bantamweight bout at UFC Fight Night on March 26.

Jackson’s management, Iridium Sports, first announced the booking. UFC Fight Night is headlined by a light heavyweight duel between Jan Blachowicz and Aleksandar Rakic. The event doesn’t have an official location or venue.

A former competitor on Dana White’s Contender Series, Jackson has won five of his first seven Octagon appearances. Most recently, the Red Schafer MMA product set a bantamweight record with four knockdowns during a unanimous decision victory over J.P. Buys at UFC Fight Night 192 this past September.

Batgerel has been on a roll since dropping his promotional debut to Heili Alateng at UFC Fight Night 157 in August 2019. The Mongolian fighter rebounded to score successive first-round finishes ag…

Tafon Nchukwi will square off against Azamat Murzakanov on the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s March 12 card.

Cageside Press was first to report the light heavyweight pairing. UFC Fight Night takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a light heavyweight tilt pitting Thiago Santos against Magomed Ankalaev.

Nchukwi has been victorious in two of three Octagon appearances since earning a UFC contract on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2020. Most recently, the 27-year-old Cameroon native outpointed Mike Rodriguez at UFC Fight Night 192 on Sept. 18.

Murzakanov will make his promotional debut after securing a UFC deal with a first-round TKO of Matheus Scheffel on the Contender Series this past August. The 35-year-old Russian is 10-0 as a professional, with other notable wins over UFC competitors Andre Muniz and Guto Inocente.

Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC

After winning his first four Ultimate Fighting Championship bouts, Khamzat Chimaev has risen to No. 11 in the promotion’s latest welterweight rankings and is just waiting for a call to confirm his Octagon return.

“If it were up to him, I think he would fight every month. I never worked with someone so competitive,” Alan Nascimento, Chimaev’s Brazilian jiu-jitsu coach, told Sherdog.com.

According to Nascimento, Chimaev will sleep in the academy whenever he has a UFC fight announced.

“He just doesn't want to lose time, so he moves into a room inside the academy during the whole camp,” Nascimento said. “And in training, if he loses one round or gets swept by someone, he always asks me to [do it again], and that's the most difficult part of my job with him. He came from a family where his father and brother were also wrestlers, so he always dealt with a lot of pressure. My job is to make him understand that, in the evolving proce…

A welterweight showdown between Neiman Gracie and Logan Storley will headline Bellator 274 on Feb. 19, promotion officials announced Tuesday.

Bellator 274 takes place at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., and will also see ex-welterweight champion Andrey Koreshkov face Mukhamed Berkhamov in the co-main event. The main card airs on Showtime at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, while the prelims stream on the Showtime Sports YouTube channel, the Bellator MMA YouTube channel and Pluto TV at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT. Two other bouts were also confirmed for the evening’s main draw: Keri Melendez vs. Veta Arteaga at flyweight and Davion Franklin vs. Said Sowma at heavyweight.

Additionally, five fights were announced for the preliminary lineup: Georgi Karakhanyan vs. Adam Piccolotti at lightweight; Mandel Nallo vs. Nick Browne at lightweight; Jaylon Bates vs. Chris Disonell at bantamweight; Corey Samuels vs. Justin Montalvo at lightweight and Isaiah Hokit vs. Albert Birckhead at featherw…

The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s first card of 2022 is down one bout, as a proposed middleweight tilt between Abdul Razak Alhassan and Joaquin Buckley is no longer part of the lineup.

MMAjunkie.com was first to report the cancellation, which came after Alhassan withdrew from the fight for undisclosed reasons. The promotion is looking to reschedule the bout, but a date has not been finalized. UFC Fight Night 200 takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Jan. 15 and is headlined by a featherweight showdown between Calvin Kattar and Giga Chikadze.

Alhassan snapped a three-fight losing streak in his last outing, as he knocked out Alessio Di Chirico with a head kick 17 seconds into their encounter at UFC on ESPN 30 on Aug. 28. The Fortis MMA product has finished all 11 of his professional victories via knockout or technical knockout, including five triumphs in UFC competition.

Buckley, meanwhile, is best known for his viral knockout of Impa Kasanganay at UFC …

A light heavyweight showdown pitting Johnny Walker against Jamahal Hill has been booked for UFC Fight Night on Feb. 19.

MMA Ideas initially brought word of the matchup, and MMAFighting.com later confirmed the date. The UFC Fight Night show takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The card does not yet have a headliner.

Walker has lost three of his last four Octagon appearances. Most recently, the 29-year-old Brazilian suffered a closely-contested unanimous decision defeat to Thiago Santos in the UFC Fight Night 193 headliner on Oct. 2. The Brazilian Contender Series alum began his promotional tenure with three consecutive first-round finishes prior to his current slump.

Also a former Contender Series competitor, Hill is coming off a 48-second knockout victory against Jimmy Crute at UFC on ESPN 31 on Dec. 4. The Black Lion Jiu-Jitsu representative is 3-1 with one no contest within the Las Vegas-based promotion and has lost just one of his 11 professional appear…

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

An intriguing featherweight matchup is in the works for an upcoming UFC Fight Night event, as Alex Caceres is expected to meet Sodiq Yusuff on March 12.

The pairing was initially mentioned during a Caceres interview with The Schmo, and it has since been confirmed by MMAjunkie.com. The UFC Fight Night event will likely take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a light heavyweight showdown between Magomed Ankalaev and Thiago Santos.

A competitor on Season 12 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” Caceres is currently enjoying the most successful stretch of his 25-bout UFC tenure. “Bruce Leeroy” secured his fifth consecutive Octagon triumph at UFC Fight Night 196, where he submitted Seung Woo Choi in the second round of their bout.

Yusuff, meanwhile, saw a six-bout professional winning streak come to an end at UFC on ABC 2, where he dropped a decision to fellow featherweight contender Arnold …

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

After the controversy that ensued when he faced Marvin Vettori one division above their contracted agreement at UFC Fight Night 196 last October, Paulo Costa was informed by Dana White that his next promotional appearance would be in the light heavyweight division.

However, according to Costa’s manager, Wallid Ismail, the UFC president has since changed his mind.

 “The UFC is not the biggest fighting company in the world by chance,” Ismail told Sherdog.com. “They know that ‘Borrachinha’ was injured and that's why he had problems with his weight. There is no doubt his next fight will take place in the middleweight division.”

Ismail says Costa is currently waiting for the UFC’s call to decide when the former middleweight title challenger will return.

“We will fight whoever the UFC decides. I keep believing that ‘Borrachinha’ will be the champion,” Ismail said. “He just has to train right…

Yaroslav Amosov is expected to put his Bellator welterweight title on the line in enemy territory early next year.

In a recent interview with MMAjunkie.com , Bellator president Scott Coker revealed that the promotion is targeting a championship clash between Amosov and Michael Page for London. The exact number of the event and its date are currently unknown for the proposed bout.

“We are in the process of putting that fight together now with him and MVP to fight in London at some point early next year,” Coker said.

Amosov improved to 26-0 at Bellator 260, when he claimed the 170-pound title with a five-round verdict against Douglas Lima on June 11. The 28-year-old Ukraine native has bested the likes of Logan Storley, Ed Ruth, David Rickels and Erick Silva during his tenure with the California-based promotion.

Page, meanwhile, avenged the only defeat of his 21-fight MMA career at Bellator 267, as he took a split decision in a rematch with Lima on Oct. 1. “Venom” …

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. For an upcoming Ultimate Fighting Championship Fight Night event in February, the promotion has chosen violence. First reported by MMA Island on Thursday, light heavyweights Ryan Spann (19-7) and Ion Cutelaba (16-6-1, 1 NC) are up to bat at the UFC Fight Night event on Feb. 26. This currently unnumbered fight card will be most likely held inside the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. News of this 205-pound rumble has since been confirmed by other outlets.

“Superman” Spann has alternated wins and losses in his last four, with first-round stoppages to Johnny Walker and Anthony Smith interspersed a 71-second drubbing of Misha Cirkunov and a close victory over Sam Alvey. The Fortis MMA product made his way to the promotion off of a pair of appearances on Dana White's Contender Series, with a 26-second guillotine of Emiliano Sordi punching his t…

Full line-up #ONEChampionship #ONEOnlyTheBrave pic.twitter.com/4EneBOPZwE

— Marcel Dorff (@BigMarcel24) December 31, 2021 A whopping 12 fights have been booked for the live Jan. 28 One Championship show.

The organization announced the headliner of its “Only the Brave” event on Jan. 28 on Monday, and the remainder of the fight card was filled out by One Championship on Friday. Officially capping off the event will be an interim heavyweight championship clash between Anatoliy Malykhin and Kirill Grishenko, as One is reportedly encountering contract issues with heavyweight king Arjan Singh Bhullar.

Eleven additional bouts have been booked for this Singapore-based card, including the semifinals of One’s 155-pound kickboxing grand prix. The fights will be split into two portions, with the main card featuring the title fight, two semifinals, two MMA matches and a kickboxing bout. The “Lead Card” preliminaries will include an alternate to the …

~RIZIN JAPAN GP 2021~Bantamweight Tournament Winner!!! #RIZINJAPAN_GP

/ Hiromasa Ougikubo@Hiromasa0401

#RIZIN33 pic.twitter.com/5Vvws1nQUU — RIZIN FF OFFICIAL (@rizin_PR) December 31, 2021 The last Rizin Fighting Federation event in 2021 featured many upsets that went down at the legendary Saitama Super Arena in Japan on Dec. 31.

The main attraction at Rizin 33 was the 135-pound grand prix finale between Hiromasa Ougikubo and Kai Asakura. Both contenders had already competed on the bill once as Asakura defeated Kenta Takizawa (13-8, 3-3 Rizin) while Ougikubo upset Naoki Inoue (15-3, 5-1 Rizin) on the scorecards. “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 24 competitor Ougikubo (25-5-2, 7-2 Rizin) put his wrestling background to work against Asakura’s striking, dodging most of his opponent’s strikes and using his punches to set up takedowns. On the mat, Ougikubo landed excellent ground-and-pound all while forcing his opponent to carry his weight.

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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. A pair of top-five Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweights with recent issues on the scales are expected to toe the line in April. ESPN Deportes revealed on Thursday that Irene Aldana (13-6) has been offered a fight against Aspen Ladd (9-2) at UFC 273 on April 9. Should the two agree to compete, they will likely throw down inside of the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. in the promotion’s first trip to the venue since the beginning of 2019. Ladd had been aiming for a matchup with ex-champ Miesha Tate, but that fell through when Tate declined the pairing.

Aldana will be looking to make it two in a row when she takes on the California native, as she trumped Yana Kunitskaya in July for her lone appearance in 2021. The win rebounded her from a five-round setback against former champion Holly Holm in October 2020, where she headl…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y85GU6DRmYg&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. Vaunted Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight submission specialist Rodolfo Vieira will not take any opponent lightly anymore. After being nominated for both “Upset of the Year” and “Submission of the Year” in 2021, each due to his submission defeat to Anthony Hernandez at UFC 258 in February, the five-time world Jiu-Jitsu champion is starting 2022 anew. After submitting slick American grappler Dustin Stoltzfus in July, Vieira (8-1) is primed to take on a new, challenging test. At UFC 270 on Jan. 20 in California, “The Black Belt Hunter” will face fellow countryman Wellington Turman (17-5) in his fifth Octagon appearance. Vieira spoke to Sherdog ahead of his matchup next month, explaining that this camp is unlike any in recent memory.

"I fought most of my pr…

＼#RIZIN33 Weigh-in Result／

15th Match: Lightweight Title MatchRIZIN MMA rules: 71.0kg

Roberto Satoshi Souza： 70.90kg

Yusuke Yachi： 70.85kg

Yogibo presents RIZIN.3312/30 8:30pm PST / 11:30pm ESTSaitama Super Arenahttps://t.co/4z015R7nid pic.twitter.com/gSUwsLBzDe

— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) December 30, 2021 Rizin Fighting Federation will end 2021 with one final mixed martial arts extravaganza.

The Rizin 33 year-end show is now official after the weigh-ins, where it will feature 13 MMA bouts, one under kickboxing rules, an exhibition featuring mixed rules and one more in a modified boxing showcase. Topping the card is a lightweight championship bout between titleholder Roberto de Souza and Yusuke Yachi, as well as the yet-to-be-determined bantamweight grand prix finals. Also taking place in the evening is a striking contest between kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa (136.7) and Japanese MMA legend Takanori Gomi (166).

<…

A women’s bantamweight clash between Alexis Davis and Julija Stoliarenko has been added to the lineup for UFC Fight Night on Feb. 5.

Promotion officials announced the pairing Wednesday. UFC Fight Night takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a middleweight showdown between Sean Strickland and Jack Hermansson.

A former title challenger, Davis is 1-4 in her last five Octagon appearances. In 2021, the 37-year-old Canadian took a unanimous decision over Sabina Mazo at UFC Fight Nigh 186 before dropping a three-round verdict against Pannie Kianzad at UFC 263.

After winning the Invicta bantamweight title with a victory over Lisa Verzosa in March 2020, Stoliarenko has fallen to Yana Kunitskaya and Julia Avila in her first two UFC outings. The 28-year-old Lithuania native is 9-5-2 as a pro, with eight victories coming via submission.

A matchup of strawweight contenders is slated for UFC 272, as Marina Rodriguez will square off against Xiaonan Yan on March 5.

Yan’s management, Paradigm Sports, initially announced the booking. UFC 272 takes place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and is also expected to include a featherweight tilt pitting Edson Barboza against Bryce Mitchell. The event does not yet have a headliner.

Rodriguez is currently on a three-fight winning streak in the Octagon, with victories over Amanda Ribas, Michelle Waterson and Mackenzie Dern to her credit. The 34-year-old muay Thai specialist is 5-1-2 in the Octagon after appearing on the Brazilian version of the Contender Series in August 2018.

Yan had a six-bout winning streak snapped in her most recent outing, when she suffered a second-round TKO defeat to Carla Esparza at UFC Fight Night 188 on May 22. The China Top Team representative owns wins over the likes of Claudia Gadelha, Karolina Kowalkiewicz and Angela Hill during her…

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With losses in four of his last six Octagon appearances, Stephen Thompson is no longer serious title contender in the UFC’s welterweight division.

That doesn’t mean he’s ready to call it a career, however. Following a loss to Belal Muhammad at UFC Fight Night 199, “Wonderboy” addressed the subject of retirement in a video on his YouTube channel.

“I can’t believe people are saying that I’m old and I should retire,” Thompson said. “I feel like people that do retire, when they sit down on the chair, they just feel like they should retire. Like just, their body’s beat up, aches and pains. … When I sit here and I’m sitting down in this chair, I feel great. I feel fine. I feel better than I was five years ago. I just don’t get it.”

Thompson, who will turn 39 early next year, was on the verge of contention following consecutive victories over Vicente Luque and Geoff Neal, but back-to-back losses to Gilber…

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Sean O'Malley was in a generous mood this holiday season.

In a video posted to his YouTube channel, the UFC bantamweight hands out $100 in cash to random shoppers at Walmart, many of whom were in disbelief when O’Malley placed a wad of cash in their hands. Others recognized the Dana White’s Contender Series alum, as he posed for numerous photos during his visits to the stores. In some cases, people were even reluctant to accept monetary handouts from O’Malley.

During the video, a cast is visible on O’Malley’s right hand, because he suffered a broken thumb in his first-round TKO win over Raulian Paiva at UFC 269. According to medical suspensions from the event, O’Malley could be sidelined until June 10 if he doesn’t receive medical clearance.

The 27-year-old MMA Lab representative has been victorious in seven of his first eight UFC appearances, with five of those victories coming via KO or TKO.

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After an excellent 2021 for Marcus Almeida and Antonio Carlos Jr., two top jiu-jitsu practitioners who decided to transition to MMA, another BJJ standout is focused on the move from the mats to the cage.

"I´ve got the world absolute gold this year, my goal is get my second absolute gold at ADCC next September, something that no one achieved yet, and move 100% to do MMA,” Felipe "Preguica" Pena told Sherdog.com.

"I´m moved by challenges. I feel like when I was a blue belt, I was already dreaming about one day being an absolute champion in the black belt [division]. I'm already looking for a boxing and muay Thai coach here in Minas Gerais. Seeing former opponents like ‘Buchecha’ and ‘Cara de Sapato’ doing great just motivates me.”

The Vinicius Draculino protégé naturally weighs 216 pounds and plans to fight at light heavyweight in MMA. But before making that move, Pena has another dream to achieve in…

A heavyweight clash between Ilir Latifi and Alexander Romanov is set for UFC Fight Night on Feb. 19.

The Las Vegas-based promotion announced the booking on Tuesday. The event does not currently have a location or headliner.

Latifi snapped a three-bout skid in his last Octagon appearance, when he defeated Tanner Boser via split decision at UFC Fight Night 189. The 38-year-old Swede compiled a 7-5 UFC mark at 205 pounds before transitioning to heavyweight, where he dropped a unanimous decision in his debut against Derrick Lewis at UFC 247 before rebounding to best Boser.

Romanov is undefeated in 15 professional appearances, a streak that includes four triumphs in UFC competition. Most recently, the 31-year-old Moldovan defeated Jared Vanderaa via second-round TKO at UFC Fight Night 194 on Oct. 9. “King Kong” has finished all but one of his fights inside the distance.