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Marina Rodriguez has some history with Carla Esparza in the Octagon, but she also has respect for the UFC’s inaugural strawweight champion.

Rodriguez earned her third consecutive triumph in the UFC Fight Night 194 main event on Saturday, as she put on a striking clinic to earn a unanimous decision against grappling ace Mackenzie Dern at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The Brazilian muay Thai specialist is closing in on a title shot, but she believes that Esparza — the only woman to defeat her in UFC competition — should have received the next opportunity. Instead it went to Weili Zhang, who was granted an immediate rematch against Rose Namajunas at UFC 268.

That said, if the promotion comes calling after UFC 268, Rodriguez won’t pass up a chance to compete for championship gold.

“I’ll never deny a chance to fight for the title, but for me, Carla should be next and not Weili,” Rodriguez said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “But since the rematch is booked …

Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC

For the second time in the past few months, UFC fighter Luis Pena has been arrested.

Pena was arrested Saturday on misdemeanor charges of domestic violence and battery, according to Broward County (Fla.) Jail records. The battery charge comes with a $1,000 bond, while the domestic violence charge does not have an amount listed because a bond hearing is required. Pena was arrested in Deerfield Beach, Fla.

The Broward Sheriff’s Office released the following statement to MMAjunkie.com:

At approximately 12:34 a.m., Broward Sheriff’s Office Deerfield Beach deputies responded to a domestic disturbance call near the 200 block of Southeast 12th Avenue in Deerfield Beach. On scene, deputies made contact with multiple subjects, and Luis Antonio Peña was later detained and taken into custody. Peña was transported to BSO Main Jail and faces one count simple battery and one count domestic violence battery (both misdemeanor). The investig…

It was ladies’ night when it came to post-fight bonuses at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday, as Marina Rodriguez, Mackenzie Dern, Mariya Agapova and Lupita Godinez each took home $50,000 checks.

Rodriguez and Dern earned “Fight of the Night” honors for their five-round strawweight headliner at UFC Fight Night 194. Rodriguez utilized a multi-faceted striking arsenal to control the action on the feet, but she had to survive a couple scary moments on the mat against the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt. Ultimately, Rodriguez was able to avoid serious danger and emerged with a unanimous decision triumph.

Elsewhere, Agapova received a “Performance of the Night” award on the strength of a submission win against Sabina Mazo at flyweight. Agapova controlled the range with her striking throughout the fight before dropping her adversary with a crushing right hand to the jaw in the third round. From there, Agapova wasted little time jumping on Mazo’s back and locking in a re…

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. Marina Rodriguez has begun to make serious headway in the Ultimate Fighting Championship women’s strawweight division. The Brazilian muay Thai practitioner outstruck Mackenzie Dern and withstood a few harrowing ground exchanges with the jiu-jitsu ace, as she took a unanimous decision from the 2015 Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling World Championships gold medalist in the UFC Fight Night 194 headliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. All three cageside judges saw it the same: 49-46 for Rodriguez (15-1-2, 5-1-2 UFC).

Dern (11-2, 6-2 UFC) had her chances. The Checkmat RVCA rep dragged Rodriguez to the canvas in the second round, threatened with a leg lock and moved into side control. From there she applied her ground-and-pound from a reverse crucifix p…

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 194 coverage will begin Saturday at 2 p.m. ET.

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

Round 1 This afternoon card all on ESPN+ is a shorter one, with just nine fights remaining on the billing. Short fight nights call for short introductions, and the show begins with a tilt between lightweights in Garcia (11-4, 0-1 UFC) and Ontiveros (11-7, 0-1 UFC) that are both looking for their first win in a new division. While Garcia is moving up from featherweight, Ontiveros is shifting down from middleweight to 155 pounds, and they meet literally and figuratively in the middle but do not touch gloves in front of referee Chris Tognoni. Ontiveros starts off wit ha solid right hand, and he…

Brutal ground and pound gets Alexandr Romanov the W

[ #UFCVegas39 | Prelims LIVE on @ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/lm6KCi7EVT

— UFC (@ufc) October 9, 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. Alexander Romanov moved another step closer to relevance in the Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight division, as he disposed of Team Quest’s Jared Vanderaa with punches in the second round of their featured UFC Fight Night 194 prelim on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The undefeated Romanov (15-0, 4-0 UFC) drew the curtain 4:43 into Round 2.

Vanderaa (12-6, 1-2 UFC) never moved out of his defensive posture. Romanov chipped away at the Team Quest product with takedowns in a largely one-sided first round, then turned up the heat in the second. The Moldovan tripped his …

CONFIRMED: Should any fighter miss weight or be forced to withdraw from a 2021 #PFLChampionship title match, these fighters will be ready to step in as the alternate for their weight division. pic.twitter.com/w0RADQeVbG

— PFL (@PFLMMA) October 8, 2021

When there’s $1 million on the line, it’s always good to have a backup plan.

With that in mind, Professional Fighters League recently revealed the six alternates who will be on standby in case any of the athletes who are participating in championship bouts on Oct. 27 are forced to withdraw or miss weight.

The six replacement fighters are as follows: Genah Fabian (women’s lightweight), Brendan Loughnane (featherweight), Clay Collard (lightweight), Sadibou Sy (welterweight), Emiliano Sordi (light heavyweight) and Denis Goltsov (heavyweight).

The PFL championship takes place at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Fla., and is headlined by a women’s lightweight final between …

Hittin' the scales at 114.5

@MackenzieDern is main event ready!

[ #UFCVegas39 | Tomorrow | | Live on @ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/xVfXkDliiD — UFC (@ufc) October 8, 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 UFC Fight Night 194 main event between Marina Rodriguez and Mackenzie Dern and eight other bouts are now official after the weigh-ins took place.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship's latest event is on the shorter side, going on with just nine bouts. Seventeen of 18 fighters managed to make weight, with Jared Gooden missing the welterweight limit by three pounds. Additionally, a bout between Phil Hawes and short-notice replacement Chris Curtis was scrapped after Hawes turned down the opponent change. Although James Krause attempted to step in and face Curtis, the commission did not license or clear Krause to compete on a…

Per sources, Alexa Grasso is out of her flyweight fight against Joanne Calderwood on Nov. 20. Calderwood (@DRkneevil) will now face Taila Santos instead. They are the UFC's Nos. 6 and 9 ranked flyweights, respectively.

— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) October 8, 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. Strictly from a rankings perspective, this change in opponent at the Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight division is actually an improvement. The UFC’s broadcast partner of ESPN announced on Friday that Alexa Grasso will not longer be competing UFC Fight Night 198 for undisclosed reasons. In her stead will be Taila Santos (18-1), who will come to blows with Joanne Calderwood (15-6) at 125 pounds on Nov. 20. While Grasso is the #10 ranked flyweight according to the promotion, Santos is at the #9 spot to Calderwood as the sixth-ranked w…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAlDHb0IK84&w=560&h=315] Longtime Bellator MMA staple Patricky Freire wants to keep the lightweight title in his family.

On Monday, former two-division champ Patricio Freire announced that he was relinquishing his lightweight belt, after losing the featherweight title to A.J. McKee in July. Patricio did not want to interfere in veteran lightweight Patricky’s title run, explaining that he would not face his brother for a championship. Bellator head Scott Coker hen announced that the vacant 155-pound throne would be up for grabs in a rematch between Patricky and Peter Queally in Dublin at Bellator 270. Many were surprised by this news, including Coker, the fans, media, and even Patricio’s own brother. Patricky spoke to Sherdog about this new sudden development on Thursday.

“My brother told me something about that last week and I told him not to do so, believing I had changed his mind,” Freire explained. “But he communicated about …

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. Just like he did in 2021, Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight Calvin Kattar will headline the first show of 2022. On Friday, MMA Junkie announced that Kattar (22-5) and Giga Chikadze (14-2) is the current planned headliner for the UFC Fight Night event on Jan. 15. This unnumbered event is expected to be held inside the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, and this featherweight marquee matchup has been agreed to but the contracts have not been signed. Kattar’s manager, Tyson Chartier, confirmed in an interview with MyMMANews on Friday that Kattar had accepted a main event match in January.

Kattar has not fought since taking a hellacious beating at UFC on ABC 1 that remains a top contender for Sherdog’s 2021 “Beatdown of the Year” award, absorbing an unprecedented 445 significant strikes from Max Holloway. Before the one-sided loss, “T…

Bellator MMA is not going to make it easy on Pam Sorenson in November.

MMA Fighting first reported on Friday that Sorenson (9-3) would be making her second promotional appearance against multiple-time featherweight title challenger Arlene Blencowe (14-8) at Bellator 271. The two 145-pound women with sights set on gold in the future will square off inside the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Fla. News of this booking has since been confirmed by the organization.

Sorenson made her successful debut with Bellator in August, capturing a split decision over ex-Professional Fighters League lightweight Roberta Samad. The departing Invicta Fighting Championships featherweight queen took over two years away from the sport after claiming the belt from Kaitlin Young in August 2019. Before winning the vacant strap against Young, she fell short to Felicia Spencer to suffer her first stoppage loss in 2018.

Australia’s Blencowe bounced back from a humbling submi…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8gq2Gu0dZk&w=560&h=315] Glory Kickboxing did not have to look far for a replacement to Alistair Overeem for the heavyweight title fight this month.

Overeem suffered an injury and was forced out of his fight with heavyweight kingpin Rico Verhoeven on Wednesday. On Thursday morning, Beyond Kickboxing was the first to report that Glory will be bringing one of its main card fighters in against Verhoeven, as Jamal Ben Saddik will face Verhoeven for the third time on Oct. 23. Saddik was set to take on Benjamin Adegbuyi in a rematch that night, and Adebguyi will now be facing Antonio Plazibat instead. Sherdog has since confirmed the news with promotion officials.

Saddik fought Verhoeven in 2017 at Glory 49, and the fight was close early on before Verhoeven knocked Saddik out in Round 5 with a head kick. Their first meeting came in 2011, and “Goliath” forced Verhoeven’s corner to stop the fight a minute into the second round. Now at 1-1…

On 23 October I will make my comeback at @GLORY_WS

You guys wanted it, now you got it. I’m looking forward to see all my supporters at #COLLISION3 Let’s make new memories together. The show must go on

Great work by Glory and my management for making this happen. pic.twitter.com/i0Z1VYJsTS — Gökhan Saki (@gokhantherebel) October 8, 2021 Editor's note: The article has been updated at 2:15 p.m. on Oct. 8 to reflect the news of Saki's first opponent.

Vaunted kickboxer Gokhan Saki is returning to the sport after over six years away and a two-fight stint in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

The kickboxing legend known as “The Rebel” announced early on Friday morning that he has signed with Glory Kickboxing again. Saki (81-16, 1 NC; 58 KOs) will be competing on Oct. 23 at Glory: Collision 3, and per Beyond Kickboxing and a poster from the organization, he will be taking on James McSweeney (46-7, 31 KOs) in the co-headlining bout. Saki c…

LAST MINUTE CHANGE

Chris Curtis finally get's the UFC call!! He takes on Phil Hawes tomorrow on the #UFCVegas39 card. Curtis replacing Deron Winn. pic.twitter.com/00P6KETUmk

— MMA DNA (@MMADNANL) October 8, 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. At long last, Chris Curtis has joined the Ultimate Fighting Championship ranks.

On Friday morning, MMA DNA first broke the news that Curtis (26-8) has been signed by the promotion to step in on extremely short notice and face Phil Hawes (11-2) at middleweight. Hawes was originally booked against Deron Winn, but Winn was forced out of the match for non-COVID, non-weight related, undisclosed reasons. The signing was confirmed by multiple outlets, and then cemented when Curtis hit the scales on Friday to make weight at 184.5 pounds.

Shortly after Curtis successfully made weight, MM…

A pivotal Bellator MMA heavyweight clash is on the books for November.

On Thursday, MMA Junkie first broke the news that Tyrel Fortune (11-1) would be squaring off with Linton Vassell (20-8) at the heavyweight division on Bellator 271. The two big men will toe the line at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Fla., on Nov. 12. The organization has since confirmed the pairing to Sherdog.

Fortune was originally slated to compete at Bellator 269 against Vitaly Minakov, but he was forced out for undisclosed reasons and will be competing less than three weeks later in Florida instead of Russia. At the beginning of 2020, Fortune suffered his first career defeat at the hands of future title challenger Timothy Johnson. Since then, Fortune faced Jack May twice, winning the rematch after the first ended due to an accidental groin strike. In July, Fortune made Matt Mitrione tap to strikes in 105 seconds, improving his record for the most knockouts in Bellator hea…

A COLOSSAL ONE Light Heavyweight Kickboxing World Title fight and the highly anticipated semifinals of the ONE Women's Atomweight World Grand Prix headline ONE: NEXTGEN on 29 October! @PhogatRitu @_itsuki_h_ #ONENextGen #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship pic.twitter.com/7zEU8f2MUA

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) October 7, 2021 With COVID-19 resurgent in Singapore, One Championship has decided to go back to closed-door, tape-delayed events.

Via press release on Thursday, One sent out the lineup for the first of a trio of events in the “Nextgen” series. The first, a live show, will take place on Oct. 29 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore, and it will feature six bouts including two kickboxing contests. The subsequent fight cards of Nextgen II and Nextgen III will air via tape delay on Nov. 12 and Nov. 26, respectively.

The live show of One: Nextgen will be capped off by a light heavyweight kickboxing title fight betwee…

Two weeks after a difficult weight cut led to the cancellation of her bantamweight bout against Macy Chiasson, Aspen Ladd will move up a weight class to replace the injured Holly Holm at UFC Fight Night 195.

Ladd will face Norma Dumont in a five-round, 145-pound bout on Oct. 16 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. ESPN was first to report the new matchup is close to being finalized. Ariel Helwani initially brought word that Holm had withdrawn from the UFC Fight Night 195 main event due to a knee injury.

The 26-year-old Ladd has not competed since December 2019, when she defeated Yana Kunitskaya via third-round TKO at UFC on ESPN 7. Since then, Ladd has had multiple fights fall through, including bookings against Julianna Pena, Sara McMann and Chiasson. Ladd did not fight at all in 2020 due to a torn ACL.

Dumont earned the biggest win of her career to date at UFC Fight Night 188, where she garnered a split decision over former UFC title challenger and Invicta FC cham…

A lightweight matchup pitting Jim Miller against Erick Gonzalez has been targeted for UFC Fight Night 195 on Oct. 16.

MMAjunkie.com was first to report that the bout was in the works. UFC Fight Night 195 takes place at the UFC Apex and is headlined by a featherweight duel between Holly Holm and Norma Dumont.

Miller is coming off back-to-back decision losses to Vinc Pichel and Joe Soleck in his last two Octagon appearances. The New Jersey native will be competing for the 38th time within the Las Vegas-based promotion when he faces Gonzalez. His last victory came at UFC on ESPN 11, a first-round submission of Roosevelt Roberts in June 2020.

Gonzalez enters his UFC debut having won four of his last five promotional outings. The 29-year-old known as “The Ghost Pepper” notably has an 8-4 mark while competing under the Combate Americas banner and is 14-5 as a professional overall.

Shortly after Bellator president Scott Coker announced that Patricio Freire had vacated the lightweight title, which in turned elevated his brother’s rematch with Peter Queally to a 155-pound championship bout, Sherdog.com spoke with Patricio to get a better understanding of his decision.

“There were some things bothering me,” Patricio said. “My brother was the No. 1 challenger. If he keeps winning, he will have to fight for the belt, and it doesn't make sense for me to fight for the belt if that happens. We know that if I weren't the champion, he would have already fought for the title. Then he had to fight Queally to continue his career since I was the champion.”

Patricio also revealed that his loss to A.J. McKee in a featherweight title bout this past July played an important role in his decision.

“Being beaten in the featherweight division and holding the lightweight belt doesn't make sense to me,” he said. “I have no ego to hold this status. It doesn't…

Francis Ngannou and Ciryl Gane are expected to square off in a heavyweight championship unification bout at UFC 270.

Multiple outlets confirmed that verbal agreements are in place for both fighters following an initial report from French outlet La Sueur. UFC 270 does not yet have an official location, but the card is also expected to include a key middleweight showdown pitting Derek Brunson against Jared Cannonier.

After failing in his first bid for heavyweight gold, Ngannou claimed the title with a second-round knockout of Stipe Miocic in the UFC 260 headliner. “The Predator” is currently on a five-fight winning streak in which he has finished all five of his opponents by KO/TKO inside of two rounds.

Gane, meanwhile, is undefeated in 10 professional appearances — including seven in the UFC. “Bon Gamin” claimed the interim championship with a third-round TKO of Derrick Lewis at UFC 265 on Aug. 7.

Five-round fights are no longer just for title bouts in Bellator MMA.

Bellator president Scott Coker revealed during "The MMA Hour." on Wednesday that the California-based promotion will transition to five rounds for all main-event fights beginning in 2022. The remaining non-title headliners in 2021 will remain three rounds, however.

“This is something that a lot of fans feel this happened in the last two or three months because of the way the chips fell in some of these fights, but really we’ve been talking about this for the last six to eight months,” Coker said. “We decided that starting Jan. 1 that all the main events fights will be five rounds.”

Recently, UFC signee Yoel Romero expressed confusion following the end of his Bellator 266 headlining bout against Phil Davis, which he lost after three rounds via split decision. Romero apparently thought the contest was set for five rounds. Another fight that could have warranted two more frames was the Bellator 2…

The stakes have been raised for the Peter Queally-Patricky Freire rematch at Bellator 270.

Bellator president Scott Coker announced during "The MMA Hour." on Wednesday that Patricio Freire has vacated the lightweight belt, which he has not defended since stopping Michael Chandler in 61 seconds at Bellator 221 in May 2019. As a result, Queally vs. Freire will be for the vacant 155-pound championship.

Patricio Freire addressed the situation shortly thereafter on Twitter. The younger “Pitbull” brother was a two-division champion before losing his featherweight crown to A.J. McKee at Bellator 263 this past July. For now, his focus is on regaining that title, while allowing his brother to have his own golden opportunity.

“Honor and family come first,” he wrote. “When I first won the LW belt it was just about revenge. It was still an honor, but with the loss at 145 I’m starting over. It’s time for the LW division to move on and for [Patricky Freire] to have his shot.…

Cristiane Justino will make her next featherweight championship defense against Sinead Kavanagh at Bellator 271.

The bout will headline the Nov. 12 event, which is slated for the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Fla. The card will air on Showtime. Bellator president Scott Coker revealed the booking on "The MMA Hour."

Justino claimed the 145-pound belt with a fourth-round TKO of Julia Budd at Bellator 238 in January 2020. Since then, “Cyborg” has defended the crown with a second-round submission of Arlene Blencowe at Bellator 249 and a five-round TKO of Leslie Smith at Bellator 259. The 36-year-old Brazilian has lost just twice in 27 professional outings.

Ireland’s Kavanagh is currently on a two-fight winning streak within the California-based promotion. After stopping Olga Rubin in the second round at Bellator 234, she outpointed Katharina Lehner in her most recent appearance at Bellator Milan in October 2020. Kavanagh is just 4-4 under the Bell…