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Ray Borg will square off against Ricky Simon in a bantamweight tilt at UFC Fight Night 171.

Borg confirmed the bout on social media following an initial report from The Sports Daily. UFC Fight Night 171 takes place at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, on May 13 and is headlined by a light heavyweight bout between Anthony Smith and Glover Teixeira. The card is expected to air on ESPN and ESPN+.

Borg, who was scheduled to face Marlon Vera at UFC 249 before the event was postponed, will return to bantamweight after another failed weight cut to 125 pounds. Paired with Rogerio Bontorin at UFC Fight Night 167, “The Tazmexican Devil tipped the scales at 128 pounds before earning a unanimous decision triumph over his Brazilian foe. It was the third occasion in which Borg has failed to make weight for a flyweight contest.

After rattling off eight consecutive wins — including three in the UFC — from February 2017 to February 2019, Simon suffered a 46…

UFC lightweight competitor Kevin Lee likely won’t be back in the Octagon until late 2020 at best.

“The Motown Phenom” revealed to ESPN that he will undergo surgery to repair a torn ACL in his left knee on Thursday. Lee is expected to be out a minimum of six months as a result of the injury. The former interim title challenger is taking an optimistic approach to his recovery.

"It used to mean being out a year," Lee told ESPN. "They've gotten better with the technology and the [physical therapy], so it might even be sooner. I don't know.”

Lee last appeared at UFC Fight Night 170, where he was submitted by Charles Oliveira 28 seconds into the third round of the card’s main event. The 27-year-old claims the injury didn’t occur while fighting, though he wouldn’t offer any specifics beyond that.

“[I] was not even doing something that was totally out of the ordinary,” Lee said during a recent appearance on "The Luke Thomas Show” on SiriusXM. “I’m not going to say …

Two more contests have been targeted for UFC Fight Night 172, as Marlon Vera will face Yadong Song at bantamweight, while Kevin Holland will square off against Anthony Hernandez at middleweight.

MMAFighting.com was first to report Vera vs. Song, while MMAjunkie.com initially brought word of Holland vs. Hernandez. UFC Fight Night 173 takes place at Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, on May 16 and is headlined by a heavyweight tilt between Alistair Overeem and Walt Harris.

Vera enters the matchup with Song on a five-bout winning streak, including a third-round TKO of Andre Ewell in his most recent appearance at UFC Fight Night 161 last October. China’s Song is unbeaten in his last eight professional bouts – including five in the UFC – but is coming off a majority draw against Cody Stamann at UFC on ESPN 7 on Dec. 7.

An alum of Dana White’s Contender Series, Holland saw a three-fight winning streak come to an end at UFC on ESPN 6, where he was …

Matt Mitrione was among the first group of fighters to be directly affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

“The Ultimate Fighter 10” veteran agreed to replace Josh Barnett on short notice at Bellator 241, where he was scheduled to square off against Ronny Markes in a featured bout on March 13. Mitrione, like everyone else on the card, weighed in one day prior to the event as the promotion planned to proceed with fights in an empty venue at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. However, as the serious nature of the COVID-19 outbreak began to take hold, Bellator elected to cancel the event entirely on the day it was scheduled to take place.

Mitrione believes the organization made the best decision possible in light of difficult circumstances.

“It wasn’t really that complicated. Things happen. We’re adults and we have to deal with them,” Mitrione told Sherdog.com. “There were a lot more questions than answers at that time regarding the pandemic and Wuhan and e…

A middleweight clash pitting Karl Roberson against Marvin Vettori has been added to the UFC Fight Night 171 lineup.

MMAjunkie.com was first to report the booking. Roberson and Vettori were originally slated to meet on April 25 before the coronavirus pandemic forced the cancellation of that card. UFC Fight Night 171 takes place on May 13 at Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, and is headlined by a light heavyweight duel between Anthony Smith and Glover Teixeira.

Roberson has been victorious in three of his last four UFC appearances. Most recently, the Dana White’s Contender Series alum submitted Roman Kopylov in the in the third stanza at UFC Fight Night 163 this past November.

Vettori, meanwhile, is coming off back-to-back decision triumphs against Cezar Ferreira and Andrew Sanchez in 2019. The Italian competitor is 4-2-1 in the Las Vegas-based promotion and 14-4-1 as a professional overall.

One Championship will not return until June at the earliest, as the Singapore based promotion has postponed all events through May due to ongoing concerns regarding the coronavirus pandemic.

One CEO Chatri Sityodtong announced the news in a Facebook post on Monday.

“All May events for One Championship will be postponed until further notice due to the recent COVID-19 developments (border closings and lockdowns) across most countries in Asia,” he wrote. “Our highest priority remains the safety and health of our athletes, officials, staff, fans, and the public during these challenging times. My team and I are working around the clock on multiple options to bring back our events as soon as safely possible. Stay tuned for news.”

The organization had events scheduled for May 1, 8 and 29. The May 29 card, entitled “Infinity” was expected to feature a 135-pound championship clash between Adriano Moraes and Demetrious Johnson.

One Championship previously postponed p…

Prior to UFC 249, Justin Gaethje was not an advocate for accepting short-notice fights.

However, his philosophy changed when given an opportunity to win a UFC belt, and now, “The Highlight” will square off against Tony Ferguson for the interim lightweight crown on May 9 in Jacksonville, Florida.

“I have conversations with my athletes and I follow their purpose. I’m the co-pilot, they’re the driver,” Gaethje’s coach, Trevor Wittman, told ESPN. “His goal was never to take a short-notice fight. But he’s purposeful, and he wanted a world title, he’s been training for a world title, and that’s his purpose now.

“He used to want to be the most exciting fighter in the world, but three fights ago he told me he wants to be a champion. He thinks he’s ready to be a champion. He wants to go through the processes.”

Gaethje originally agreed to face Ferguson on April 18 when reigning 155-pound king Khabib Nurmagomedov was stranded in Russia due to travel restrictions impo…

UFC bantamweight Nathaniel Wood has done his best to stay fit during the coronavirus pandemic, but he doesn’t have the luxury of training at a gym like some of his counterparts.

Instead, “The Prospect” has been the beneficiary of donations of workout equipment so his sessions at home can be more productive. The 26-year-old London native currently lives with his parents and his fiance.

“At the moment I’ve got a nice little gym set up in the garden,” Wood told Metro.co.uk. “I’ve had a lot of friends that have donated me some of their gym equipment, such as punch bags and weight equipment. I’m still able to get my two sessions a day which is nice. I’ve been going out for my road runs and I’ve got my push bike out, even though that’s on its last legs.

“Other than that, not a lot. I’ve been trying to read a lot more and I’ve been trying to teach myself Spanish. I can’t stand not doing something. If I watch TV for an hour I’m already feeling guilty. I need to do some…

UFC Hall of Famer Pat Miletich could be making his return to the combat sports realm in the near future.

During an appearance ”IT'S TIME!!! with Bruce Buffer," longtime promoter and manager Monte Cox revealed that he is working on putting together a kickboxing bout between Miletich and professional boxer Michael Nunn. The matchup had been in the works for April, but the coronavirus pandemic put those talks on hold.

“[There’s] one big show I’m working on,” Cox said. “You’ve probably heard rumors of this, but Pat Miletich is going to fight again. He’s fighting Michael Nunn, a great boxer. It’s an incredible [fight]. This thing will draw. We could draw 7,000-plus in the Quad Cities. They are the two greatest professional athletes or fighters out of that area.”

A former UFC welterweight champion, Miletich went 8-2 in the Las Vegas-based promotion. The Miletich Martial Arts founder compiled a 29-7-2 record in MMA over the course of a career that began in 1995. He last…

Legacy Fighting Alliance has signed five-time UFC veteran Michinori Tanaka to a multi-fight contract.

A promotion official confirmed the deal with Sherdog.com on Saturday. Tanaka is expected to compete in LFA’s bantamweight division. LFA has postponed its schedule due to the coronavirus pandemic, so a date for Tanaka’s debut is unknown.

Tanaka, 29, has compiled a 13-3 record since beginning his professional tenure in 2010. The Team Alpha Male Japan representative began his career in Shooto before capturing the bantamweight championship in the Pacific Xtreme Combat organization.

The Yokohama, Japan, native debut in the Octagon in June 2014 and went 2-3 in UFC competition, posting victories against Roland Delorme and Joe Soto. He was released from the Las Vegas-based promotion in 2017 following back-to-back losses to Rani Yahya and Ricardo Ramos. Tanaka has won two bouts in a row since then, including a submission of ranked UFC flyweight Rogerio Bontorin.

A bantamweight clash pitting Cody Garbrandt and Raphael Assuncao is in the works for a UFC card on June 6, according to a report from MMAFighting.com.

Garbrandt and Assuncao were originally slated to meet at UFC on ESPN 8 in Columbus, Ohio, on March 28, but “No Love” was forced to withdraw from the bout due to kidney issues. The coronavirus pandemic would ultimately force the cancellation of the entire card.

The location and venue for the June 6 event are currently unknown. The card could be the promotion’s next pay-per-view following UFC 249 on May 9, but the upcoming schedule is still tentative.

Garbrandt enters the matchup on a three-bout skid in which he was finished by knockout or technical knockout in each appearance. Most recently, the former bantamweight champion was stopped by Pedro Munhoz 4:51 into the opening stanza at UFC 235 in March 2019. “No Love” hasn’t tasted victory since taking a five-round verdict over Dominick Cruz in a title bout at UFC 207.…

After being sidelined for more than three years, Dominick Cruz will get a bantamweight title shot in his Octagon return at UFC 249.

Cruz will square off against reigning 135-pound king Henry Cejudo at Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, on May 9. “The Dominator” relinquished the belt in his last promotional appearance, as he fell to then champ Cody Garbrandt at UFC 207 on Dec. 30, 2016. Cruz was able to step in against Cejudo after original foe Jose Aldo was unable to travel to the United States due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The booking has drawn some criticism because of Cruz’s lengthy layoff, but prior to falling to Garbrandt, the Alliance MMA stalwart had compiled a 13-fight professional winning streak — including five in the UFC — dating back to 2008.

UFC president Dana White defended the pairing, as he expects Cruz to recapture some of his previous form.

“He’s still one of the best in the world,” White said in an interview with …

The Ultimate Fighting Championship is planning on restoring its headliners from postponed cards to upcoming events.

MMA Junkie initially reported on Friday that the UFC is rescheduling two main events from past cards to the ones announced earlier in the day. The first is at light heavyweight, between former title challengers Anthony Smith (33-14) and Glover Teixeira (30-7), and it will sit atop the May 13 event. The other is a heavyweight rumble between Alistair Overeem (45-18, 1 NC) and Walt Harris (13-7, 1 NC), which will be the marquis attraction on the May 16 event.

Smith rebounded from his unsuccessful jaunt for the light heavyweight strap against Jon Jones in March 2019 by tapping Alexander Gustafsson in June 2019. Since then, he fought to two draws in grappling contests against Gregor Gracie and Gesias Cavalcante at Quintet Ultra in December, and was originally matched up against Teixeira for April in Lincoln, Nebraska. The event fell through due to the coronav…

Ion Cutelaba can’t re-enter the country, I’m told, so one fight that they are looking to add to that new May 13 card is OSP vs Rothwell at heavyweight.

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) April 24, 2020 Not long after Ultimate Fighting Championship President Dana White announced a series of new events in May, we have our first new matchup in the works.

On Friday, ESPN first announced that a heavyweight battle between Ovince St. Preux (24-13) and Ben Rothwell (37-12) is being planned for the upcoming May 13 Fight Night card. St. Preux was originally booked to face Ion Cutelaba at the previously scheduled April 18 event, but due to travel restrictions Cutelaba will not be able to enter the U.S.

St. Preux will be making his return to heavyweight at this event, with much his career including all of his fights in a major promotion taking place in the light heavyweight division. “OSP” snapped a two-fight skid by tapping Michal Oleksiejc…

Ultimate Fighting Championship President Dana White is confident saying that the company has it all figured out to put on fights soon.

White spoke with ESPN on Friday on an Instagram Live session, where he explained the upcoming plans for future events. First, he confirmed that the May 9 UFC 249 card is proceeding as scheduled, and announced the lineup which is almost identical to the one discussed on April 15.

Headlining the event is an interim lightweight title bout between Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje. White was ecstatic about this fight, saying, “Ferguson vs. Gaethje is probably one of the most violent fights you could ever make.”

One significant change to the proposed bout order from before is that Amanda Nunes will no longer be facing Felicia Spencer on this event, thereby confirming Nunes’ withdrawal from the event due to the lack of a full training camp. Also, in a few minor positional changes, Greg Hardy vs. Yorgan De Castro will open up the pay-per-view po…

MMA star Macfarlane among women suing Punahou, former basketball coach for sex abuse https://t.co/Xtx1V1ljqC #HNN

— Hawaii News Now (@HawaiiNewsNow) April 23, 2020 Bellator MMA flyweight champ Ilima-Lei Macfarlane is going public with accusations that her former coach sexually abused her and other students when she was young.

HawaiiNewsNow first reported this on Thursday morning, reporting that the lawsuit has been filed on behalf of Macfarlane, her sister and an unnamed student. The lawsuit alleges that her former coach, Dwayne Yuen, sexually abused her when she was on the Punahou basketball team.

“I had an inappropriate relationship with an adult who was in an authoritative position and a position of power, as a 12-year-old,” she said, “and that has 100-percent affected what I think is a healthy relationship.”

The allegations include multiple instances of the coach forcing the children to touch his genitals, paying them for …

The @ufc heavyweight division needs to move on@danawhite https://t.co/PBNrqt0ncC

— Francis Ngannou (@francis_ngannou) April 22, 2020

Let's make the heavyweight division interesting again! @ufc #UFC249 https://t.co/YmfpvzrY7p

— Jairzinho 'BIGI BOY' Rozenstruik (@JairRozenstruik) April 22, 2020 The Ultimate Fighting Championship has no interest in an interim heavyweight title at this time.

This month, both Francis Ngannou (14-3) and Jairzinho Rozenstruik (10-0), who are scheduled to clash at UFC 249 in May, spoke with MMA Junkie about their meeting being a potential title fight. Rozenstruik first brought up the issue a week before, with the firm belief that the division needs to “move forward.”

“I think the heavyweight division needs that,” Rozenstruik stated. “It’s kind of slowed down with the Stipe and Cormier fight, and we don’t know when the champ is going to return. So for now, put …

Justin Gaethje will have the opportunity to wrap lightweight championship gold around his waist if he defeats Tony Ferguson at UFC 249.

However, Gaethje doesn’t put much stock in interim championship hardware. He recognizes that Khabib Nurmagomedov is the reigning 155-pound king, and defeating Ferguson will only provide him the opportunity to defeat “The Eagle.”

"When they wrap that belt around me, it won't be the destination," Gaethje told ESPN. "It will be a map to the top. That's who I'm looking at. It'll be nice to have a belt wrapped around, but for me, it won't mean the same. It won't mean I'm a world champion in the UFC.

"When I beat Tony, I'm fighting Khabib next. That's what I'm here for, to be the best in the world. And when I fight him, I want him to try and kill me, because I won't respect him if he doesn’t.”

Gaethje accepted the fight with Ferguson after Nurmagomedov was stranded in Russia as a result of travel restrictions imposed to combat th…

It appears that the postponement of Professional Fighters League’s 2020 season was not without consequences for the promotion’s roster.

MMA Brasil initially reported that the PFL cut a “large part” of its roster – namely everyone with the exception of past champions and high-profile fighters -- after announcing that it would postpone its entire 2020 season until next year. Meanwhile, in an interview with Fansided, PFL CEO Peter Murray said this regarding the roster: “We’re keeping the significant majority, over two-thirds.”

While it remains unclear just how many fighters remain under PFL contract, MMAFighting.com obtained two separate emails sent by organization president Ray Sefo. One message is in line with PFL’s announcement, which states that due to the postponement of the 2020 season, fighters under contract will receive a monthly cash stipend that “will not need to be repaid or deducted from any future pay.”

The other email, also sent by Sefo, informs fight…

Luke Rockhold’s most recent Octagon foray didn’t go so well.

The former UFC and Strikeforce middleweight champion moved up to 205 pounds last July, where he was subsequently knocked out by Jan Blachowicz in the second round of their International Fight Week encounter. That UFC 239 defeat, which resulted in a broken jaw, came on the heels of a brutal KO defeat against Yoel Romero in February 2018.

“I think Luke Rockhold should talk about hanging it up,” UFC president Dana White said at the UFC 239 post-fight press conference. “He broke his jaw tonight. So that’s the second broken jaw. He’s been knocked out viciously a few times here. Shin is all banged up. He had to have a skin [graft] and all kinds of stuff. He’s had a good career. He’s been a great fighter. I’d like to see him hang it up.”

While Rockhold never officially announced his retirement, later in 2019 he admitted he was more focused on other endeavors.

“Fighting takes a lot. I’ve done it, I’ve bee…

Corey Anderson has some regrets regarding his feud with Jon Jones, primarily as it relates to his verbal attack on the light heavyweight champion’s religious beliefs following UFC 232.

Anderson, who shared that card with Jones, was initially frustrated because the event was relocated from Las Vegas to California after a Jones drug test showed trace elements of a steroid metabolite. It was determined that the abnormality was a lingering effect of a failed test in 2017, not a new violation, which was why the California State Athletic Commission agreed to host the event.

Anderson has traded barbs with Jones periodically since then, but it was his remarks shortly after UFC 232 that seem to have “Overtime” rethinking his words.

“A lot of his Bible s—t is fake to me,” Anderson told TMZ Sports after the December 2018 event. “The fact that he keeps quoting these Bible verses, and he’s even got Philippians 4:13, which is one of my favorite verses, tatted on his chest. I’m…

After a little bit of confusion, the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s upcoming event has a numerical designation – and a potential host.

The May 9 card, which will reportedly be held in Florida, will proceed as UFC 249, according to ESPN. The original UFC 249 card was scheduled for April 18 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The coronavirus pandemic forced the promotion to attempt to relocate the card to the Tachi Palace Casino Resort in Lemoore, California, but ultimately ESPN and Disney executives requested that UFC president Dana White “stand down” in his plans to proceed with the event.

According to a Tuesday report from MMAFighting.com, the newly-minted UFC 249 will be held at a still-undisclosed location in Florida on May 9. Fighters will initially fly into Jacksonville before being traveling to the venue. Florida has deemed professional sports as essential by government order, which would conceivably make it easier to hold an event in “The Sunshine St…

Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com

Ray Longo had an interesting perspective on Anderson Silva’s revelation that he nearly retired from mixed martial arts in 2012.

In a video interview on the UFC’s Brazilian website, “The Spider” said that he met with promotion brass to inform them that he was considering calling it a career. In response, UFC president Dana White and then owner Lorenzo Fertitta gave Silva a Bentley GT Continental, which the fighter felt was an attempt to “buy him off.” Nonetheless, Silva proceeded with his career and lost his middleweight crown to Chris Weidman at UFC 162 in July 2013.

Longo, who is one of Weidman’s longtime coaches, had a humorous response to Silva’s story on the MMA & Beyond podcast.

“I mean, so basically what he’s saying is he’s a f—-ing whore,” Longo said. “Is that the moral of the story? And then for the rematch they gave him gift certificate to McDonald’s. They let him have a shopping spree at Target for the rematch. They bou…

Ion Cutelaba’s appeal of his controversial technical knockout loss to Magomed Ankalaev at UFC Fight Night 169 has been denied by the Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation.

ESPN was first to report the news. UFC Fight Night 169 took place at the Chartway Arena in Norfolk, Virginia, on Feb. 29. The light heavyweight bout between Ankalaev and Cutelaba was one of the evening’s main card fights.

“After [two] months of waiting and a rematch that got canceled this is not the answer I was hoping for,” Cutelaba wrote on Instagram. “Getting robbed again was not what I was looking for. There was no justice made here, this is only an extension of the same error. What's the point of a commission to review a case for [two] months just to ignore the truth.”

After being stunned by a left hook from Ankalaev during an initial exchange, Cutelaba wobbled around the Octagon as his opponent continued to attack with punches and kicks. During that sequence, the…