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ACTION MAN WITH THE SUPERHERO STRENGTH

[ #UFC268 | Prelims are LIVE on ESPNews & ESPN+ ] pic.twitter.com/54gmyUFdck

— UFC (@ufc) November 7, 2021 “The Action Man” will make a quick turnaround following an upset victory in his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut.

Approximately one month after his first-round knockout of Phil Hawes at UFC 268, Chris Curtis will replace Roman Dolidze and face Brendan Allen at UFC on ESPN 31 on Dec. 4. MMA DNA was first to report the new middleweight booking. UFC on ESPN 30 takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a bantamweight showdown between Jose Aldo and Rob Font.

Including his win over Hawes, Curtis brings a six-bout winning streak into the matchup with Allen, a stretch that also includes triumphs over former UFC competitors Kenny Robertson and Kyle Stewart. The 34-year-old former CES MMA title holder is 27-8 over the course of his professional tenure.

Allen has now …

Reigning UFC women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko recently made a triumphant return home in the wake of her most recent title defense.

In a video posted on her Instagram account, “Bullet” returns to her native Kyrgyzstan to a warm welcome from her home country. One of the top pound-for-pound talents in the sport, Shevchenko is coming off a fourth-round technical knockout victory against Lauren Murphy at UFC 266 on Sept. 25.

The 33-year-old Tiger Muay Thai representative has been unstoppable since moving from bantamweight to 125 pounds, posting eight dominant victories — including seven wins in championship fights.

Remember his name

Shavkat Rakhmonov locks up the guillotine!

[ #UFC254 is live on ESPN+ PPV: https://t.co/QRo69og6BH ] pic.twitter.com/KtsipubxUm — UFC (@ufc) October 24, 2020

A welterweight matchup pitting Shavkat Rakhmonov against Carlston Harris is on tap for an Ultimate Fighting Championship card on Feb. 5.

The Freak MMA Instagram page was first to report the welterweight booking. The event does not yet have an official location or headliner.

Kazakhstan’s Rakhmonov is unbeaten in his first 14 professional appearances — including victories in UFC competition. The fighter known as “Nomad” debuted with a first-round submission of Alex Oliveira at UFC 254 before tapping out Michel Prazeres with a rear-naked choke in his most recent outing at UFC Fight Night 190 on June 26. The Kazakhstan Top Team product has finished all of his triumphs inside the distance.

Harris enters the matchup on a five-bout winning streak. That r…

The significance of a victory against Miesha Tate, one of the most popular women in mixed martial arts, is not lost on Ketlen Vieira.

Vieira defeated Tate via unanimous decision in the UFC Fight Night 198 main event, derailing “Cupcake’s” comeback tour. The former bantamweight queen was making her second Octagon appearance since ending a five-year retirement that began in 2016.

“Miesha was already a champion before I could get my hands in MMA. She was already a champion, so I looked up to her,” Vieira said through a translator at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. And fighting a legend like that just makes me really believe in my skills, makes me mentally more tough and ready for the future.”

Vieira, who had lost two of three coming into the bout, regained some much-needed momentum and is confident she is back in the championship conversation.

“This victory puts me right where I want to be, back at the top, top 5,” Vieira said. “There will be a champ…

Miesha Tate didn’t get the victory against Ketlen Vieira at UFC Fight Night 198, but she still managed to keep her head held high in defeat.

In her second fight since coming out of retirement, Tate dropped a unanimous decision to her Brazilian opponent in Saturday’s headliner at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. While Tate outlanded her opponent by a 122-to-113 count in significant strikes according to UFCStats.com, Vieira connected with the more meaningful offense during exchanges. Ultimately, that was enough for Vieira to get the nod from the cageside judges.

“I thought it was really close, I wasn’t sure, to be honest,” Tate said during her post-fight interview in the Octagon. “I thought it was close and I knew that there was a possibility she won. I did my best tonight and came up short. She’s the better woman, hat’s off to her. She’s great.”

Tate announced her retirement following a decision loss to Raquel Pennington at UFC 205 in November 2016. She made her retur…

Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC

On an evening when 10 of the 11 bouts on the UFC Fight Night 198 card went the distance, the promotion handed out only three bonuses when all was said and done, rather than the traditional four.

Taila Santos received a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” check for the most significant victory of her career to date, a first-round submission of Joanne Wood in a featured flyweight bout. In a dominanting performance, Santos dropped her adversary twice before transitioning to Wood’s back for a rear-naked choke tapout at the 4:49 mark of Round 1.

Elsewhere, Adrian Yanez and Davey Grant received “Fight of the Night” honors and $50,000 apiece for an entertaining bantamweight scrap on the main draw. Yanez was impressive with clean punching combinations throughout the contest, but Grant did his best to make things interesting by slinging heavy leather and employing an active kicking game. Ultimately, it was Yanez who emerged with a spl…

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. Perhaps someday this will be viewed as the moment Ketlen Vieira turned a corner. The Nova Uniao rep moved ever closer to contention in the Ultimate Fighting Championship women’s bantamweight division, as she took a unanimous decision over Miesha Tate in the UFC Fight Night 198 headliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Scores were 48-47, 48-47 and 49-46—all for Vieira (12-2, 6-2 UFC), who bounced back from a disappointing decision defeat to Yana Kunitskaya in February.

Tate (19-8, 6-5 UFC) was the aggressor from the outset, pressing forward with punches and no doubt hunting for takedown opportunities. Vieira was tentative at times, sensational at others. Ultimately, the power in her hands made the difference. She lashed out Tate with two-and three-punch comb…

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 198 coverage will begin Saturday at 3 p.m. ET. Check out the MMA Forums to discuss the card or enter your comments and predictions below. Round 1 A seemingly never-ending cavalcade of UFC fight cards will come to a close on Saturday with UFC Fight Night 198, as this 10-week stretch concludes with a fight card now down to 11 matches. Can it still deliver like last week’s barnburner showcase? We shall see. We kick things off in the lightest division of the organization, women’s strawweight, when Pinheiro (9-1, 1-0 UFC) tries to make good on her sophomore outing at the expense of “Sampage” Hughes (5-3, 0-2 UFC). The first assignment of the night goes to referee Mark Smith, and with no touch of gloves, we are underway! The Brazilian immediatel…

Flow state on the floor for @PatSabatini145

[ #UFCVegas43 LIVE on @ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/KTmNzhz80j

— UFC (@ufc) November 20, 2021 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. Pat Sabatini has quickly established a firm foothold in the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s featherweight division.

The former Cage Fury Fighting Championships titleholder grounded and controlled Tucker Lutz to a unanimous decision in the featured UFC Fight Night 198 prelim on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Sabatini (16-3, 3-0 UFC) swept the scorecards with 30-26, 30-27 and 30-27 nods from the cageside judges.

A short-notice substitution for Gavin Tucker, Lutz (12-2, 1-1 UFC) never managed to get himself in gear. Sabatini short-circuited his efforts with takedowns, stifling control…

It appears that Jon Jones’ return to combat sports won’t be in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

The former UFC light heavyweight champion on Saturday announced via Twitter that he will compete against Bellator heavyweight Jake Hager in a grappling match at a Fury Pro Grappling event in New Jersey on Dec. 9. Multiple outlets have since confirmed that the match is in the works. Fury Pro Grappling is run by MMA organization Cage Fury Fighting Championships and streams on UFC Fight Pass.

“Breaking News!! I’m excited to announce I’ll be competing for the number one grappling organization in the world, Fury Grappling!” Jones wrote on Twitter. “December 9th I’ll be in New Jersey competing against WWE superstar and undefeated Bellator heavyweight Jack Swagger.”

Breaking News!! I’m excited to announce I’ll be competing for the number one grappling organization in the world, Fury Grappling! December 9th I’ll be in New Jersey competing against WWE s…

Someone in my corner got Covid and they were forced to cancel my fight. I don’t have Covid, but they say due to risk exposure I can’t fight. Sorry y’all, I appreciate all the support and love. We’re workin hard to get the fight rescheduled ASAP

— Terrance McKinney (@twrecks155) November 20, 2021

An intriguing lightweight scrap between Terrance McKinney and Fares Ziam slated for UFC Fight Night 198 has been canceled due to COVID-19 protocols.

McKinney revealed that someone in his corner tested positive for the virus, which forced the promotion to remove the fight from Saturday’s card.

“Someone in my corner got Covid and they were forced to cancel my fight,” McKinney wrote. “I don’t have Covid, but they say due to risk exposure I can’t fight. Sorry y’all, I appreciate all the support and love. We’re workin hard to get the fight rescheduled ASAP.”

As a result, UFC Fight Night 198 will proceed with 11 fights. The card takes place at the…

@SB_RENA wins the main event against @MiyuuYamamoto with a knee in the nd round

Watch the VODs https://t.co/JhhgpzcDIT#RIZIN #MMA #RIZIN32 #格闘技 #RIZINFF pic.twitter.com/BoqW3OPF9P

— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) November 20, 2021 Some five years after their first bout took place, Rena Kubota still has Miyuu Yamamoto’s number.

In the Rizin 32 main event, Kubota (12-3, 11-2 Rizin) defeated Miyuu Yamamoto (6-6, 6-6 Rizin) via technical knockout in a super atomweight bout at Okinawa Arena in Okinawa, Japan, on Saturday. Kubota previously tapped Yamamoto with a first-round guillotine choke at Rizin 2 on Sept. 25, 2016.

Early on, Kubota kept her opponent at bay with strikes from afar, limiting Yamamoto’s wrestling as much as possible with jabs and calf kicks. The Krazy Bee representative looked for some lukewarm takedowns that served only to set up a heavy right hand that shook her opponent. Near the end of the firs…

Having fought one and trained with the other, that’s a tough one https://t.co/nvdan2zR54

— Nohelin Hernandez (@suave_135) November 18, 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. A crucial battle between unbeaten Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight prospects has been booked for March. One fighter will suffer their first career defeat at the UFC Fight Night event on March 19. Cageside Press first broke the news of the booking between Jack Shore (15-0) and Umar Nurmagomedov (13-0) on Thursday. The matchup has since been confirmed by Nurmagomedov on his Instagram on Friday.

Wales’ Shore has won all four of his UFC appearances since debuting in 2019 against Nohelin Hernandez. The former Cage Warriors Fighting Championship bantamweight king made a statement by submitting Hernandez, and then going on to tap Aaron Phillips with the same…

A battle of BW elite awaits

@MieshaTate vs @KetlenVieiraUFC goes down TOMORROW

[ #UFCVegas43 | Tomorrow | Prelims 3| Main Card 6 | Live on @ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/suOgIRHLkw — UFC (@ufc) November 19, 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. Fighters were in and out on Friday for the weigh-ins, with all 24 competitors hitting the scales and making weight in under an hour.

A lengthy stretch of Ultimate Fighting Championship events comes to an end with UFC Fight Night 198. Every fighter on the card made weight in a drama-free weigh-in ceremony, which has become a rarity as of late. Headliners Ketlen Vieira and Miesha Tate both hit the bantamweight limit without trouble, and their five-round bout is official for Saturday.

Vieira (11-2) is looking to bounce back from a loss to Yana Kunitskaya, and is 1-2 in her last three…

Official Statement. pic.twitter.com/jfV1oG8Coo

— BYB Extreme Bare Knuckle Fighting Series (@bybextreme) November 19, 2021 A week before its first “Triad Combat” show, Triller Fight Club is facing a challenge in court based on the allegedly stolen design of its three-sided ring.

On Thursday, BYB Extreme Fighting Series, helmed in part by Dhafir Harris – also known as Dada 5000 – sent out a release announcing that it had filed a lawsuit against Triller, Triller Fight Club, Fite.TV and the owner of Triller, Ryan Kavanaugh. The claim, which was filed on Thursday in federal court in Florida, is that Triller, by using a three-sided ring design to stage its new series of fights under the “Triad Combat” banner, infringed on the intellectual property rights held by BYB. The BYB promoter, Mike Vazquez, alleged that Triller ignored any request to rectify the situation, which prompted the suit.

“We have, since 2015, invested a significant amount of cap…

Your MAIN EVENT is Official@SB_RENA and @MiyuuYamamoto both make weight to headline this weekend's Okinawa event!

[ PPV @livenowglobal ]https://t.co/vNqrSYFo1m#RIZIN #RIZIN32 #MMA pic.twitter.com/aGPpq8gUPJ

— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) November 19, 2021 Japan's Rizin Fighting Federation returns for its seventh event of the year. Headlining Rizin 32 is a women's super atomweight contest between former title challenger Miyuu Yamamoto and 2017 grand prix runner-up Rena Kubota. Both women made weight for the card, which features 10 mixed martial arts bouts. All fighters managed to hit their contracted marks.

Kubota (11-3) is currently on a three-fight win streak, but is coming back after a layoff of over a year. Her opponent Yamamoto (6-5) has seen mixed results recently, as she's 1-2 in her last three having lost to Seo Hee Ham and Ayaka Hamasaki for the Rizin belt. This matchup is a rematch over five years in the making, as Yamamot…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cd-Qx5HLqYc&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. Two weeks before his event, Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight Brendan Allen is going from a ranked opponent to one that is unranked. The news first broke on Thursday from Fight Bananas that Brad Tavares has been forced out of his Dec. 4 match with Brendan Allen (17-4) for undisclosed reasons. When interviewed by Fight Bananas shortly after the news broke, Allen expressed his frustrations for losing his highly touted opponent at UFC on ESPN 31, and stated that Roman Dolidze (9-1) would be taking Tavares’ place. The two will middleweights will come to blows likely on the main card of the last ESPN show of the year, one that will take place inside the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

“Well man, honestly, the fight just changed, so no Brad,” Allen said in his interview.…

The rivalry between Miesha Tate and Ronda Rousey helped boost women’s mixed martial arts to a whole new level.

Some might even say that their first meeting under the Strikeforce banner on March 3, 2012 served as a lauching point to bring women into the UFC. Now, females are a part of virtually every card held by the Las Vegas-based promotion, including Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 198, which is headlined by a bantamweight tilt between Tate and Ketlen Vieira.

Tate returned from a nearly five-year hiatus at UFC on ESPN 26 on July 17, when she defeated Marion Reneau via third-round technical knockout. Rousey’s last MMA appearance came in 2016, when she was stopped in the opening round by Amanda Nunes in a 135-pound title bout at UFC 206. Unlike Tate, Rousey’s has shown no interest in a comeback, and she recently gave birth to her first child with former UFC heavyweight Travis Browne.

In an interview with ESPN, Tate said a “dream” scenario would be a third meeting w…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_fdeztF3Rk&w=560&h=315]

Undefeated Brave Combat Federation veteran Muhammad Mokaev has signed with the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

The Las Vegas-based promotion announced the signing on Wednesday. A date for Mokaev’s debut is unknown.

A former International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF) champion, Mokaev brings a 6-0 professional record and a 23-0 amateur mark into his Octagon debut. Mokaev last appeared at Brave CF 54, where he submitted Blaine O’Driscoll with a rear-naked choke in the second round on Sept. 25. Known as “The Punisher,” Mokaev went 4-0 with one no contest under the Brave CF banner.

NEW SIGNING

Former @IMMAFed ChampUndefeated MMA Record

Welcome to the UFC @MuhammadMokaev

— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) November 17, 2021

The 21-year-old Mokaev hails from Dagestan but is based in England and trains with KHK MMA Team.

Mike Sloan/Sherdog.com

Bob Bennett will step down from his role as Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director at the end of 2021.

Bennett announced his plans during an NSAC meeting, which was held via conference call, on Wednesday. Bennett recommended chief assistant Jeff Mullen as his replacement, and that recommendation was unanimously approved by the rest of the commission.

“I never said it would be easy,” Bennett said. “I only said it would be worth it. That captures my last seven-and-a-half years. It’s been a team effort. I’d like to thank the fighters, because without them, we wouldn’t be here. It’s been a privilege to serve in this capacity.”

A former FBI agent and boxing judge, Bennett was named NSAC executive director in 2014. Bennett took over for Keith Kizer, who served in the same position from 2006 to 2014. Mullen was one of the finalists to replace Kizer during the selection process before Bennett won the position in a unanimous vot…

Kevin Lee has been suspended for six months by the Nevada State Athletic Commission after testing positive for a banned amphetamine in relation to his UFC on ESPN 30 loss to Daniel Rodriguez on Aug. 28.

Lee reached a settlement with the NSAC during a Wednesday hearing in which he received a reduced suspension due to the circumstances of the positive test and his cooperation in the case. Normally a failed drug test of this nature would result in a sanction ranging from nine to 24 months. “The Motown Phenom” was also fined $19,526. He will be eligible to return to active competition on Feb. 28, 2022.

Lee received a temporary suspension last month when it was initially confirmed that he tested positive for Adderall. Lee apologized for his failed test, while revealing that the drug had been prescribed to him to deal with Adult ADHD. However, he did not apply for a therapeutic use exemption with the NSAC prior to UFC on ESPN 30.

“It was never my intention to gain an…

Reigning middleweight champion Mamed Khalidov will lock horns with welterweight king Roberto Soldic in the KSW 65 main event on Dec. 18.

The bout, which KSW is billing as the biggest in promotion history, was announced on Wednesday. KSW 65 takes place at Gliwice Arena in Gliwice, Poland, and will also see Daniel Torres face Salahdine Parnasse in a featherweight championship rematch in the evening’s co-headliner. The event will be available on KSWTV.com.

Khalidov returned from two retirements at KSW 55, where he recaptured the 185-pound belt with a jumping switch kick knockout of Scott Askham in October 2020. That victory halted a three-bout losing streak for the 41-year-old, who is a two-time middleweight champion and former light heavyweight title holder. The Chechen-born Pole owns a 35-7 career mark and is widely regarded as the greatest fighter in KSW history.

Soldic will enter his bid to become a two-division champion on a six-bout winning streak in which h…

Azamat Murzakanov will make his promotional debut against Philipe Lins in a light heavyweight bout at UFC on ESPN 31.

VestnikMMA first brought word of the matchup. UFC on ESPN 31 takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Dec. 4 and is headlined by a bantamweight tilt between Jose Aldo and Rob Font.

Murzakanov is coming off a contract-winning appearance on Dana White’s Contender Series, when he defeated Matheus Scheffel via first-round TKO on Aug. 31. The 35-year-old Russian is 10-0 is a professional, with notable wins over the likes of Guto Inocente and Andre Muniz.

Lins, a former Professional Fighters League heavyweight champion, will be making his 205-pound debut. The 36-year-old went 0-2 in UFC competition in 2020, falling to Andrei Arlovski and Tanner Boser. Since then, he has had proposed bouts against Ovince St. Preux, Ben Rothwell and Don’Tale Mayes fall through for various reasons.

Well-traveled Irish veteran Paul Redmond has announced his retirement from mixed martial arts following a 24-bout professional tenure.

Redmond initially considered not making an announcement but ultimately elected to reveal his decision on Instagram. The 35-year-old exits the sport with a 15-9 mark over the course of a career that began in 2010.

I was just gonna fade off into the background and not mention it but a lot of people keep asking me, ‘When am I out again next? and I always say ‘ah soon, etc. etc.’ But the truth is you’re probably not going to see me do my thing in an MMA cage again,” Redmond wrote.

“I’ve thought long and hard about this, talked to the big lad [Coach Andy Ryan], my family, etc., and I think now is a good a time as ever to step away from MMA. Twenty-five pro fights, a full amateur career, but the injuries are starting to mount up every fight camp and I haven’t made the last two fights because of them.

“Along with other stuff I hav…