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Gegard Mousasi and Douglas Lima will square off for Bellator’s recently vacated middleweight bout in San Jose, Calif., on May 9.

Bellator president Scott Coker announced the matchup on Tuesday. Mousasi vs. Lima will serve as the co-main event for Bellator 243 at the SAP Center. In the evening’s headliner, Ryan Bader will defend his light heavyweight belt against Vadim Nemkov.

Since we can’t have a cross-promotional superfight I’ll give you another.

On May 9, @Mousasi_MMA vs. @PhenomLima for the vacant @BellatorMMA middleweight world championship. pic.twitter.com/8TVpcWP9sa

— Scott Coker (@ScottCoker) February 11, 2020

Rafael Lovato Jr. relinquished the middleweight title earlier this week due to a brain condition that could threaten his MMA career.

Mousasi lost the middleweight title to Lovato Jr. via majority decision at Bellator 223 in London last June. He returned to the win column in his most recent outing, taki…

The Kansas Athletic Commission is making a big change in the wake of the judging controversy in Saturday’s UFC 247 headliner.

Kansas boxing commissioner Adam Roorbach told ESPN on Monday that the KAC will give promotions the option of having open, or “real-time,” scoring for every fight. What that means is judges’ scores will be public knowledge — for fans, broadcasters and corners — after each round instead of only at the end of a bout.

How that format is utilized will be up to the promoters that hold events in the state. They can use it for the entirety of a card, for some fights or not at all. Also, the scoring information can be distributed to select parties if desired.

"I come from outside of the combat sports world," Roorbach said. "But I've been a sports fan my whole life. It always mystifies me why the fighters and fans don't know what the score is until the end. No one has ever given me a good explanation as to why.”

The open scoring format will be put in…

A last minute injury has forced Nicco Montano to withdraw from a bantamweight clash against Macy Chiasson at UFC Rio Rancho on Saturday.

MMAFighting.com was first to report that Montano had withdrawn from the bout due to a sprained MCL in her knee. As a result, Shanna Young will step in on less than a week’s notice to face Chiasson in the bantamweight bout.

UFC Fight Night 167 takes place at the Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho, N.M., and is headlined by a light heavyweight rematch between Corey Anderson and Jan Blachowicz. The card will stream in its entirety on ESPN+. Chiasson vs. Young is slated for the early preliminary portion of the card, which begins at 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT.

Montano, the promotion’s inaugural flyweight champion, made her bantamweight debut at UFC Fight Night 155, where she dropped a unanimous verdict to Julianna Pena on July 13. The New Mexico native was stripped of the flyweight crown when she was unable to defend the belt in a timely f…

Douglas Lima and Ilima-Lei Macfarlane will continue to compete under the Bellator MMA banner for the foreseeable future.

The California-based promotion announced on Monday that it has re-signed both champions to exclusive multi-year contract extensions to remain with Bellator. Neither Lima nor Macfarlane currently have fights booked.

"Both Douglas Lima and Ilima-Lei Macfarlane continue to prove they are two of the most dominant fighters on the Bellator roster,” said Bellator President Scott Coker. "They made their Bellator debuts very early on in their careers, have climbed to the top of their respective divisions and have come to represent what this promotion is all about. As champions, both have taken on all challenges and have succeeded in every opportunity. I look forward to watching them continue their careers with us.”

The 32-year-old Lima recaptured the 170-pound belt with a five-round unanimous decision victory over Rory MacDonald in the finals of the wel…

Jon Jones faced one of the most difficult tests of his career in the UFC 247 headliner on Saturday night.

Nonetheless, the reigning light heavyweight champion still found a way to defeat Dominick Reyes thanks in large part to a strong push in the fourth and fifth rounds. While the scoring was controversial, UFC president Dana White believes Jones’ championship instincts are his greatest attribute.

“Say what you want about Jon Jones. Jon Jones wins fights,” White said at the UFC 247 post-fight press conference. “It’s [scoring] all over the map. It all depends on the way you judge a fight…It was a badass fight. One thing I do know, both of these guys are tough as nails. The shots these guys took to the body, legs, head…it was a phenomenal fight between two phenomenal athletes.”

If anything, White says Jones has set the bar so high with past performances that anything other than a dominant victory tends to be viewed as a disappointment.

“When you take a guy like Jon …

Dominick Reyes put on the performance of a lifetime at UFC 247, but it still wasn’t enough in the eyes of the cageside judges.

“The Devastator” dropped a unanimous verdict to reigning light heavyweight champion Jon Jones in Saturday’s headliner at the Toyota Center in Houston, but the final scorecards were quite controversial. Perhaps the most disputed of those was a 49-46 tally in favor of Jones submitted by Joe Soliz.

“I do feel disrespected,” Reyes said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “One of the judges had it 49-46. Who are you? I might want to have a word with you. But other than that man, I know I won that fight. I was in that fight. I don’t have to watch the replay. I was there. I made Jon Jones look like just a man. I brought the fight to him.”

Many observers felt that Reyes deserved to win the bout’s first three frames, but it was Jones’ push in the championship rounds that might’ve left a lasting impression. Still, Reyes provided Jones with a…

Dana White has his own viewpoint on how the UFC 247 headliner should have been scored, but he’s also well aware that his opinion doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.

Jon Jones retained his light heavyweight crown with a unanimous decision triumph over Dominick Reyes in an enthralling main event at the Toyota Center in Houston on Saturday night. Reyes gave Jones his most difficult test since his first bout with Alexander Gustafsson in 2013, and many observers felt “The Devastator” did enough to win on the basis of a strong first 15 minutes. Case in point: 14 of the 21 unofficial media scorecards tracked by MMADecisions.com awarded the contest to Reyes.

While White may have agreed with that majority, he also wasn’t calling Jones’ triumph a robbery.

“The scoring was all over the map…Going into the last round I had Dominick Reyes 3-1,” White said at the post-fight press conference. “It’s not like there’s this landslide of people saying this was a robbery. Pe…

It may not have been a vintage Derrick Lewis type of fight in terms of the outcome, but “The Black Beast” walked out of his hometown with a victory nonetheless. 

Lewis (23-7, 1 NC) fought in a largely uneventful bout to open the UFC 247 main card against Ilir Latifi Saturday night, and until the final minute of the fight, it seemed as though the Houston native would lose. Latifi scored multiple takedowns in the fight and appeared to be on his way to sending the fan favorite back to the drawing board, but in typical Lewis fashion, the wildly popular heavyweight rallied late to pull out the win.

Lewis was taken down multiple times in the contest, but when the Swede had his foe on his back, he did nothing with the position. Lewis either stood back up or the fight was reset by the referee. Either way, Latifi’s lack of dominance on the canvas cost him almost as much as Lewis’ wild rally of knees and punches during the final 60 seconds of the final round. Lewis said he …

SAVED BY THE BELL!

Giles and Krause closing out the prelims in STYLE! #UFC247 pic.twitter.com/dObtZ6b5lP

— UFC (@ufc) February 9, 2020 James Krause agreed to face Trevin Giles on extremely short notice at UFC 247, and the pairing proved to be beneficial for the bank accounts of both men.

Giles and Krause received “Fight of the Night” honors and $50,000 apiece for their entertaining preliminary middleweight scrap on Saturday night at the Toyota Center in Houston. Krause, who stepped in for Antonio Arroyo on one day’s notice, nearly finished Giles with a rear-naked choke in the opening stanza. Giles survived and relied on his superior size and power down the stretch to capture a hard-fought split-decision triumph.

Elsewhere, Kalinn Williams garnered a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” check for his surprising stoppage of Alex Morono at welterweight. Williams, a short-notice replacement for Dhiego Lima, rocked Morono with a …

The ordering process for Ultimate Fighting Championship pay-per-views has changed: UFC 247 is only available on ESPN+ in the U.S.

Sherdog's live UFC 247 coverage will begin at 6:15 p.m. ET.

Check out the MMA Forums to discuss the card or enter your comments and predictions below. Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 The Official Result Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 The Official Result Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 The Official Result Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 The Official Result Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 The Official Result Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 The Official Result Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 The Official Result Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 The Official Result Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 The Official Result Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 The Official Result Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 The Official Result Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 The Official Result

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The ordering process for Ultimate Fighting Championship pay-per-views has changed: UFC 247 is only available on ESPN+ in the U.S.

» Call in to the show! +1 (917) UFC-TALK! That's +1 (917) 832-8255 » In cooperation with Between Rounds, the Sherdog Radio Network will recap UFC 247 with TJ De Santis.

Click here if you are having problems listening, or would like to open the stream on your mobile device.

Digging the soundtrack to the Sherdog Radio Network? Check out Odin Smith on Twitter.

UFC 247 Weigh-insCredit: Jay Pettry/Sherdog.com UFC 247 Weigh-insCredit: Jay Pettry/Sherdog.com UFC 247 Weigh-insCredit: Jay Pettry/Sherdog.com UFC 247 Weigh-insCredit: Jay Pettry/Sherdog.com UFC 247 Weigh-insCredit: Jay Pettry/Sherdog.com [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMhnEMI4tSk&w=640&h=360] The ordering process for Ultimate Fighting Championship pay-per-views has changed: UFC 247 is only available on ESPN+ in the U.S.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship makes its return to Houston for its second pay-per-view of the decade. UFC 247 will be headlined by a light heavyweight title tilt between Jon Jones and undefeated challenger Dominick Reyes. Rounding out the main card is a women’s flyweight championship bout as Valentina Shevchenko puts her belt on the line against Katlyn Chookagian and plenty of Legacy Fighting Alliance veterans. With all fighters making weight, the card is now officially set for Saturday night.

Jones (25-1, 1 NC) promised to stay active sin…

Time for the main event!!! #InvictaFC39 pic.twitter.com/VX7lKvgGyG

— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) February 8, 2020 Jinh Yu Frey may have been victorious in the Invicta FC 39 main event on Friday, but she walked out of Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas, without her atomweight title.

Frey (9-4) lost her championship belt on the scales Thursday when she came in .8 pounds overweight. Since she missed weight, Frey was stripped of her title and on Friday, only opponent Ashley Cummins was able to win it. Turns out, Cummins (7-5) didn’t do enough in the three cageside judges’ eyes over the course of five rounds because each official favored Frey 48-47, thus resulting in the title becoming completely vacant.

Cummins started off strong in the contest as she landed the harder punches and controlled most of the pace of the fight in the clinch. Frey seemed out of sorts early and was beaten to the punch repeatedly, but the former champ c…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sce-wXl6MkM&w=640&h=360] Invicta Fighting Championships will put on its first card of 2020 Friday as atomweight champion Jinh Yu Frey will look to defeat Ashley Cummins for a second time at Invicta FC 39. While the Kansas City, Kansas, event is now official, Frey missed weight for the main event as she weighed in at 105.8 pounds. Since she was .8 pounds over the atomweight limit, and there is no one-pound allowance in title fights, only Cummins will have the opportunity to win the belt. If Frey is victorious, the bell will become vacant. Additionally, late-notice replacement Shanna Young, who was set to face Dalana Torquato, was unable to weigh-in as she fell ill.

Before missing weight, Frey (8-4) was looking to make her second defense of the title. She won and defended the previously vacant belt against Minna Grusander in consecutive bouts back in 2018. The Texas native will also look to rebound from her disappointing Rizin Fighting F…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIeVekI9LzU&w=640&h=360] One Championship returns to Indonesia this week with its Warrior’s Code event. It’s headlined by a middleweight bout between Leandro Ataides and Reinier de Ridder.

Ataides (11-3) will look to keep his momentum going as “Leo” has won three straight fights since dropping the same amount in a row. His recent victories include a flying knee knockout over Mohamed Ali and finishing off Vitaly Bigdash with punches. He’ll look to do the same against de Ridder and once again get into title contention.

Meanwhile, De Ridder (11-0) will seek to keep his undefeated record intact. “The Dutch Knight” has been perfect in his professional career and looked great in his first two bouts in the organization. So far, he’s knocked out Gilberto Galvao with knees and choked out Fan Rong. He’ll look to prove that he’s the real deal against Ataides.

One Championship Warrior’s Code Weigh-in Results Leandro Ataides (203.5) vs. Re…

Invicta Phoenix Series 3 will have a distinctly bantamweight flavor.

The March 6 event will feature a showdown between Lisa Verzosa and Julija Stoliarenko for the promotion’s vacant bantamweight crown as well as a one-night tournament including eight 135-pound competitors. Invicta FC has previously held strawweight and flyweight tournaments.

The field for the bantamweight bracket is as follows: Auttumn Norton, Brittney Victoria, Claire Guthrie, Erin Harpe, Hope Chase, Kerri Kenneson, Taneisha Tennant and Taylor Guardado.

“We are looking for one of these eight women to seize the moment,” Invicta FC president Shannon Knapp said. “We’ve purposely invited athletes who are in the earlier stages of their careers to compete in the tournament. This is the chance for one of them to make the MMA world take notice.”

The eight quarterfinalists will be matched during a random draw prior to the event. Quarterfinal and semifinal bouts will be contested over a single five-…

The ordering process for Ultimate Fighting Championship pay-per-views has changed: UFC 247 is only available on ESPN+ in the U.S.

Jon Jones has flirted with the idea of moving to heavyweight for several years now, but as he continues to clean out the 205-pound division, a transition feels like it could be closer than ever.

At the very least, “Bones” believes capturing a title in a weight class above could secure his legacy among the sport’s greats, if not put him at the top of the mountain.

“In order to put a lot of this pound-for-pound who’s the greatest conversation to rest, I’m gonna have to maybe obtain a second belt in a different weight class,” Jones said during a recent appearance on ESPN’s First Take. “I think that would really set me apart from a lot of the guys.”

Jones will defend his light heavyweight crown against Dominick Reyes in the UFC 247 headliner at the Toyota Center in Houston on Saturday night. If he is victorious, a showdown with the w…

Even in the streaming era of pay-per-views, Conor McGregor is still big business for the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

During a company conference call, Disney CEO and Chairman Robert Iger revealed that UFC 246 drew 1 million pay-per-view buys to ESPN+. UFC 246 took place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Jan. 18 and saw McGregor defeat Cerrone via first-round technical knockout in the evening’s main event. McGregor, the promotion’s biggest star, hadn’t competed in the Octagon since October 2018.

“Looking across our portfolio of direct to consumer businesses, we're also pleased with the growth of ESPN+,” Iger said. “We ended the quarter with 6.6 million paid subscribers and as of Monday, we were at 7.6 million. We've been especially happy with a number of partnerships, particularly with the UFC and the recent McGregor-Cerrone fight brought in about 1 million pay-per-view purchases and 0.5 million new subscribers.”

While the exact figure is unclear, it appea…

Angela Hill will replace Hannah Goldy and face Konklak Suphisara at UFC Auckland.

Hill’s manager announced the change on social media and the new bout was later confirmed by MMAjunkie.com. UFC Auckland takes place at Spark Arena on Feb. 22 and is headlined by a lightweight tilt between Paul Felder and Dan Hooker. The card will stream on ESPN+.

The 35-year-old Hill has won three of her last four UFC appearances. That stretch includes back-to-back TKO triumphs against Ariane Carnelossi and Hannah Cifers in her last two outings. “Overkill” is 5-5 in her promotional tenure and 11-7 as a professional overall.

Suphisara, who is better known as “Loma Lookboonmee,” made her Octagon debut at UFC Fight Night 162 this past October, when she garnered a split-decision triumph over Aleksandra Albu. The 24-year-old Thailand native is 4-1 in her burgeoning professional career.

Brandon Vera will defend the One Championship heavyweight crown against Arjan Singh Bhullar in Manila, Philippines on May 29.

Multiple outlets have confirmed the booking following an initial report from Asian MMA. One Championship “Code of Honor” takes place at Mall of Asia Arena. The contest has not yet been officially announced by the Singapore-based promotion.

Vera will return to the heavyweight division after losing to Aung La N Sang via TKO in a light heavyweight title bout at One Championship “Century” on Oct. 13. “The Truth” began his promotional tenure with four consecutive first-round KO/TKO stoppages before falling to Sang.

Bhullar compiled a 3-1 mark in the UFC before signing with One. After besting Marcelo Golm and Juan Adams in his last two Octagon appearances, the 33-year-old outpointed Mauro Cerilli in his promotional debut on Oct. 13 to improve to 10-1 as a professional.

Khabib Nurmagomedov doesn’t seem to be on the same page with the Ultimate Fighting Championship when it comes to his future plans.

While UFC president Dana White has suggested that Conor McGregor would get a rematch with Khabib Nurmagomedov if the Dagestani champion is victorious against Tony Ferguson at UFC 249, “The Eagle” seems much less interested in that possibility. First and foremost, Nurmagomedov is focused on defeating Ferguson, the true No. 1 contender in the lightweight division.

The champion addressed the situation at a press conference following a charity event in Kaspiysk, Russia.

“I have a fight on April 18,” Nurmagomedov said (translation via RT Sport). “I have a very serious fight. For the past month and a half I’ve been consistently training day and night. I’ve gotten myself in good shape, to where I’m supposed to be 70 days before a fight, I feel great. What’ll happen after a fight? No one knows. I don’t worry about it, that’s what they want. Read more about Nurmagomedov Rejects Notion of McGregor Rematch: ‘I Did Everything I Wanted to Him’

The ordering process for Ultimate Fighting Championship pay-per-views has changed: UFC 247 is only available on ESPN+ in the U.S.

Jon Jones has inspired plenty of superfight talk during his reign over the light heavyweight division.

Usually that discussion involves a move up to heavyweight, but more recently, Jones has been feuding with recently-crowned middleweight king Israel Adesanya. “The Last Stylebender” has the looks of a superstar, and after claiming the 185-pound belt with a finish of Robert Whittaker this past October, the Nigerian-born Kiwi will defend the crown against Yoel Romero at UFC 248 next month.

Despite his sparkling 18-0 record, Jones has been slow to praise Adesanya. That trend continued during a media call to promote UFC 247.

“His swagger is exciting for the fans, but I know a thousand people like him,” said Jones, who will defend his 205-pound title against Dominick Reyes in the UFC 247 headliner. “I grew up with people like him. He …

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

Dominick Reyes took some heat from Jon Jones for his comments that the UFC light heavyweight champion hasn’t fought an “athlete” during his promotional tenure.

Jones blasted his UFC 247 foe on Twitter, calling the statement “the dumbest thing I’ve heard in a while.”

Reyes, who played college football and harbored dreams of an NFL career, addressed his remarks during a media call to promote UFC 247.

“I was speaking on being a traditional athlete: baseball, football, basketball, track and field. Those sports are different than being a martial artist,” he said. “They require a different amount of athleticism and focus. If you don’t understand it, then you don’t understand it.

“It’s getting to a very high level of athletics. It’s learning the intricacies of movement. Guys don’t study film until they get in the UFC. There’s so many intricacies of being a high-level athlete that most people do not u…

Katlyn Chookagian is taking a business as usual approach to her first UFC title bout.

Chookagian will square off against reigning flyweight queen Valentina Shevchenko, a fighter who is regarded as one of the sport’s top pound-for-pound female talents. Despite that daunting task, “Blonde Fighter” claims her approach hasn’t changed much from past fights.

“I think it’s just another fight. Yes it’s the title, and that’s what we’re all here for,” Chookagian said during a media call. “You can’t put these fights on a bigger pedestal. Every fight seems like the biggest fight.

“I prepare specifically for Valentina, but I’m confident in the way I’ve trained. Of course each time you make adjustments to try to get better and improve. My mentality is the same for every fight: train as hard as you can so you can be prepared at the day of the fight.”

Chookagian has been on a roll of late, winning five of her last six Octagon appearances to earn a shot at UFC gold. Becomin…