SWANGIN' & BANGIN'
[ #UFC268 | We’re LIVE on ESPN+ PPV: https://t.co/xRVlqJBhNX ] pic.twitter.com/xNso0eL5Ag
— UFC (@ufc) November 7, 2021 An understandably cautious Covington (16-3, 11-3 UFC)—who succumbed to fifth-round punches from the champion in their December 2019 encounter at UFC 245—took some time to get going. Usman floo…The MW division just got put on NOTICE
[ #UFC268 | Prelims are LIVE on ESPNews & ESPN+ ] pic.twitter.com/wZbuaYuLal
— UFC (@ufc) November 7, 2021 Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 268 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. Alex Pereira announced his arrival from the air.The former two-division Glory kickboxing champion dazzled in his hotly anticipated Ultimate Fighting Championship debut, as he brought down Andreas Michailidis with a spectacular flying knee in the second round of their featured UFC 268 prelim on Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York. Pereira (4-1, 1-0 UFC) lit the crowd on fire 18 seconds into Round 2.
Michailidis (13-5, 1-2 UFC) closed the distance to great effect for much of the first round—he even managed to ground the Teixeira MMA middleweight twice—but bled his gas tank dry in the process. Pereira took flight in the opening mo…
Ali "Puncher King" Bagautinov stops Sean Santella in the very first round and advances to the final of the BRAVE CF Flyweight Tournament pic.twitter.com/tG6cowx2p3
— BRAVE Combat Federation (@bravemmaf) November 6, 2021It wasn’t the opponent he originally expected, but Ali Bagautinov is nonetheless moving on in the Brave Combat Federation flyweight grand prix.
It took a little more than one minute for the former Ultimate Fighting Championship 125-pound title challenger to secure the second spot in the Brave flyweight grand prix finals after stopping Sean Santella (23-8-2, 1 NC; 0-2-1 Brave) in the Brave CF 55 headliner on Saturday in Rostov-On-Don, Russia. Bagautinov was supposed to face Jose Torres, but the latter pulled out 24 hours before the weigh-ins after admitting he wouldn’t hit the contracted weight. Former Cage Fury FC flyweight titleholder Santella was originally slated to lock horns with Rizvan Abuev but agreed to replace Torre…The Pitbull legacy continues! #AndNew @PatrickyPitbull joins his brother @PatricioPitbull in the history books as a Bellator Lightweight champion! #Bellator270 pic.twitter.com/8TPMWWD9eF
— BellatorMMA (@BellatorMMA) November 5, 2021Patricky Freire stands alone after a decade-long climb.
“Pitbull” brought home the vacant Bellator MMA lightweight championship, as he wiped out Peter Queally with punches in the second round of their Bellator 270 headliner on Friday at 3Arena in Dublin. Unable to ride a wave of emotion that saw a ravenous crowd serenade him with The Cranberries’ “Zombie,” Queally (13-6-1, 2-2 Bellator) succumbed to blows 65 seconds into Round 2.Freire (24-10, 15-8 Bellator)—who debuted with the organization in March 2011—made his intentions known from the start, attacking the Irishman with stinging leg kicks and hooks to the body from both hands. After an eye poke briefly delayed the Brazilian’s march to the title early …
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Round 1 Opening the card in Dublin, we have local Irish fighter Stephen Costello facing Yusuf Nazokatov, with both making their pro debuts. Costello was 4-3 as an amateur while Nazokatov hasn't even had a pro bout, so it's anyone's guess what will happen here. Referee John English will see it all. Costello starts with a leg kick, but Nazokatov pulls back in time. Nazokatov misses a right hand and Costello just barely misses a counter. Costello partially misses a leg kick but gets reckless for a takedown afterwards, eating a short punch. They clinch against the cage now, with Nazokatov pushing his Irish foe against the fence. They enter a stalemate, with Costello using the whizzer to stay upright as Nazokatov pushes him against the fence. Finally, Costello spins off and they return to range. Not for long, as Nazokatov's …Since his unsuccessful debut in 2017, Salikhov has rattled off five wins over the last four years. Two knockouts of Ricky Rainey and Nordine Taleb springboarded “The King of Kung Fu” into matchups with Laureano Staropoli, Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos and Francisco Trinaldo. The fighter out of Dagestan won all three of those by decision, giving him the second, third and fourth decision …
#RIZIN_TRIGGER at the Kobe World Memorial Hall. Surging Featherweight contenders Shoji Maruyama and Kyohei Hagiwara headline the first event of the TRIGGER series. #RIZIN_TRIGGER 1st2021.11.28[sun]Kobe World Memorial Hall#RIZIN #MMAhttps://t.co/CCKpBqOiSz
— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) November 5, 2021 A new era in Rizin Fighting Federation history is set to begin later this month.Per a press release from the promotion on Thursday, Rizin is officially putting on its Trigger 1st show on Nov. 28 at the Kobe World Memorial Hall in Kobe, Japan. The event will be unlike any other that the organization has put on, because the fights will be contested inside a cage and not a ring. This fight card is the first of its “Trigger” series, in which Rizin will make its transition to Cagefighting. The “Trigger” series will incorporate both MMA and kickboxing matches in a cage.
“There are many fighters who are looking to compete overseas, where the…Atop the UFC 268 card is a championship rematch between welterweight k…
After Patricio Freire vacated the 155-pound title, Peter Queally and Patricky Freire will battle for that lightweight belt. Both fighters successfully made championship weight, as Queally (13-5-1) weighed in at 155 pounds on the dot and Freire (23-10) came in at 153.6 pounds. The only fighter on the card that missed weight was bantamweight Patrick Mix, who came in 1.8 pounds over the 136-pound limit. The bout against James Gallagher will continue, although Mix has been fined a percentage of his purse.
Ireland's Queally is on a two-fight win streak and most recently defeated Patricky after their Bellator 258 bout was controversially stopped by the doctor due to a cut. Queally will get a chance to settle the score and add some gold to his waist in the rematch."Pitbull" will look to keep the lightweight title within the Freire famil…
“This fight was closed 24 hours after my win over Andrew Sanchez and I’m really excited about that,” Silva admitted. “When I heard he never fought more than six minutes, and saw just one video of him, I immediately said yes.”
Fresh off his Oct. 16 demolition of Andrew Sanchez, the Evolucao Thai fighter has already …
Vicente Luque will be on standby in case anything goes wrong with the UFC 268 main event.
According to a report from ESPN, Luque will weigh in on Friday and serve as a backup for the welterweight championship main event between Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington. Top welterweight contender Leon Edwards was reportedly offered the backup role over Luque, but the Englishman elected to remain home to train for his matchup with Jorge Masvidal scheduled for UFC 269 on Dec. 12.UFC 268 takes place at Madison Square Garden and is will also see Rose Namajunas square off against Weili Zhang in a strawweight title bout in the evening’s co-headliner. The main card airs on pay-per-view via ESPN+ at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, while prelims stream on ESPN+ at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT and on ESPN and ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.
The 29-year-old Luque has won 10 of his last 11 UFC appearances and is coming off back-to-back first-round submission victories over Tyron Woodley and Michael Ch…
A potential all-action lightweight clash with championship implications will kick off the pay-per-view portion of the UFC 268 card.
Justin Gaethje and Michael Chandler will be the opening act for Saturday’s main card at Madison Square Garden, it was announced during "The MMA Hour” on Wednesday. It was generally expected that Gaethje vs. Chandler would be the third bout on the pay-per-view draw just ahead of the strawweight championship co-main event between Rose Namajunas and Weili Zhang and the welterweight title headliner pitting Kamaru Usman against Colby Covington.Instead, Gaethje vs. Chandler will precede Shane Burgos vs. Billy Quarantillo and Frankie Edgar vs. Marlon Vera.
Gaethje hasn’t competed since falling to Khabib Nurmagomedov in a title bout at UFC 254 in October 2020. During media day on Wednesday, “The Highlight” was adamant that he will deserve another opportunity at lightweight gold if he defeats Chandler.
"If I win Saturday and I don't…
Patricio Freire, who recently vacated the 155-pound title, spoke with Sherdog.com about his brother’s upcoming bout shortly after arriving in Dublin with kickboxing coach Thiago Tourão and boxing coach Everton Lopes.
“We arrived on Sunday here in Dublin and as far as we could see around the hotel area there was a lot of excitement for the event. But they won’t have good memories after this weekend. I can guarantee Patricky is in the best shape ever. For the first time, he did a complete camp for a title fight. In the past, he stepped in as a replacement on short notice.”According to the former champion, a raucous pro-…
A flyweight showdown between Roxanne Modafferi and Casey O’Neill is in the works for UFC 271.
MMA Ideas was first to report the contest. UFC 271 takes place on Feb. 12 at an as yet to be determined location. The event does not yet have a headliner.A veteran of 46 professional bouts over the course of a career that began in 2003, Modafferi has lost three of her last four Octagon appearances. “The Happy Warrior” is coming off back-to-back decision losses to Viviane Araujo and Taila Santos in 2021.
Australia’s O’Neill is emerging as a top prospect at 125 pounds after victories in her first three outings within the Las Vegas-based promotion. The 24-year-old Tiger Muay Thai product has scored successive finishes of Shana Dobson, Lara Procopio and Antonina Shevchenko in UFC competition thus far to run her professional mark to 8-0.
Glover Teixeira’s light heavyweight championship victory over Jan Blachowicz at UFC 267 was big not only in Brazil, but also in his adopted hometown.
The newly-crowned title holder received a hero’s welcome upon returning to Dansbury, Conn., after submitting Blachowicz in this past Saturday’s headliner at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. Watch the video above to see the reception Teixeira received.
UFC 267 was an important event regarding the status of the light heavyweight divison.
After Glover Teixeira took 205-pound gold from Jan Blachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev secured a dominant win against Volkan Oezdemir in Abu Dhabi, the weight class appears to be wide open for contenders like Thiago Santos, who is coming off a win over Johnny Walker at UFC Fight Night 193. For now, “Marreta” is simply waiting for the promotion to call with a name and date."I would love to face [Jiri] Prochaska, He is the only Top 5 opponent I haven’t faced yet, but since the UFC announced that he is the next No. 1 contender, I’m open to a few rematches,” Santos said. “I’ve already defeated Blachowicz and Anthony Smith via TKO, but it happened in 2018 and 2019, and I’m sure they are totally different fighters today. Aleksandar Rakic said I was an easy matchup, so I challenged him and he did not answer back.”
Santos plans to return to action sometime between February and March, and…
A heavyweight tilt pitting Tom Aspinall against Shamil Abdurakhimov is on tap for an Ultimate Fighting Championship event on March 19.
ESPN was first to report the booking. The card does not yet have an official location or headliner.Aspinall is currently on a seven-bout winning streak that includes four triumphs within the Las Vegas-based promotion. In his last outing, the Team Kaobon representative scored a first-round TKO of Sergey Spivak at UFC Fight Night 191 on Sept. 4. Aspinall has also finished Andre Arlovski, Alan Baudot and Jake Collier in UFC competition.
After a two-year hiatus, Abdurakhimov returned at UFC 266, where he suffered a second-round technical knockout loss to Chris Daukaus on Sept. 25. After winning six of seven UFC bouts from February 2016 to April 2019, the 40-year-old Dagestani has dropped back-to-back contests in the Octagon.
Dustin Jacoby will replace the injured Aleksa Camur and square off against John Allan at UFC 268.
MMA DNA was first to report the new light heavyweight booking. The nature of Camur’s injury was not revealed. UFC 268 takes place at Madison Square Garden in New York on Saturday and is headlined by a welterweight title rematch between Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington.Jacoby is unbeaten in his last six professional outings, which includes a 3-0-1 mark in the Octagon and victory on Dana White’s Contender Series. Most recently, the Glory Kickboxing veteran defeated Darren Stewart via first-round TKO at UFC on ESPN 30.
Allan, meanwhile, is still looking for his first promotional triumph. A victory over Mike Rodriguez at UFC Fight Night 155 was overturned to a no contest after Allan failed a post-fight drug test, and in his most recent outing, the Brazilian dropped a split verdict to Roman Dolidze at UFC on ESPN 19.
Shortly after Khamzat Chimaev’s dominant victory over Jinliang Li at UFC 267, he took a moment to issue a high-profile callout to one of the promotion’s biggest stars.
Hey, Diaz, let’s go, brother,” Chimaev said in a post-fight media session. “Let’s go. You gonna get some smoke, bro. Let’s see who is the real gangster.”Diaz, of course, is notoriously picky when it comes to opponents. The Stockton, Calif., native latst appeared at UFC 263, where he lost a unanimous decision to Leon Edwards in June. In an interview with TMZ Sports, UFC president Dana White said that the organization will at least entertain the thought of a Diaz vs. Chimaev booking.
“We’re gonna talk to Nate about it,” White said. “100 percent [down].”
Even if Diaz declines, White is impressed with the star potential of Chimaev, who has overwhelmed all four of his foes in the Octagon. That suggest a big promotional push for th…
The lineup for Bellator 272 continues to grow, as Jay-Jay Wilson will move up to lightweight to face Alfie Davis on Dec. 3.
Additionally, Kyle Crutchmer will square off against Oliver Enkamp in a welterweight contest. MMAjunkie.com was first to report the pairings. Bellator 272 takes place at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., and is headlined by a bantamweight title tilt between Sergio Pettis and Kyoji Horiguchi.Wilson is making the move to 155 pounds after missing the featherweight mark for the third time at Bellator 265, when his clash against Adam Borics was canceled. The 24-year-old Kiwi is 8-0 as a pro, including a second-round TKO of Pedro Carvalho in his last outing at Bellator 257.
London’s Davis had a four-bout winning streak snapped at Bellator 259, where he fell to Alexdr Shabliy on May 21. The London Shootfighters native is 14-4 as a professional overall. A former NCAA All-American wrestler at Oklahoma State University, Crutchmer has been vic…
A Legacy Fighting Alliance featherweight champion and prized pupil of the Machida family, Bruno Souza has signed with the sport’s largest organization to make his debut against Melsik Baghdasaryan at UFC 268 on Saturday.
It’s a lifelong dream fulfilled for the 25-year-old Souza.“Since I moved to the U.S. that was my ultimate goal. I really don’t care if it was a short notice, because I´m always trained and ready to fight,” Souza said. “Challenge given, challenge accepted.
Souza, who enters his first UFC foray with a 10-1 mark, signed a four-fight deal with the Las Vegas-based promotion. He is coming off a victory over Javier Garcia at Legacy Fighting Alliance 114 in September that earned him the promotion’s featherweight belt.
Souza is 25 years old and was born in Recife, Brazil. However, at the age of 4, he moved to Belém, Brazil, where he began to practice karate at the Machida Gym with patriarch sensei Yoshizo Machida.
“We are v…
