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[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L96UkcN5wss&w=560&h=315] Glory, the world's leading kickboxing promotion, returns to Strasbourg, France on Saturday with a championship doubleheader. And thanks to all of the fighters making weight on Friday, it's all systems go for Glory 64.

Headlining the Glory 64 main card will be welterweight champion Harut Grigorian defending his strap against Cedric Doumbe. The first to step the scale was Doumbe, who came in at 168.8 pounds. Following suit was the defending champ, who tipped the scale at 169.5 pounds.

The co-main event will see women's super bantamweight queen Anissa Meksen defending her crown against Tiffany Van Soest. "Time Bomb" weighed in at 120.4 pounds while champ Meksen clocked in at 121.5 pounds.

Glory 64 Main Card Weigh-in Results:Harut Grigorian (169.5) vs. Cedric Doumbe (168.87)Anissa Meksen (121.5) vs. Tiffany Van Soest (120.4)D'Angelo Marshall (252.7) vs. Daniel Skvor (214.5)Donegi Abena (207.0) vs. Michael Duu…

"My power ... I have enough power to knock someone out." @bivol_d is READY to defend his title. #BivolSmithJrhttps://t.co/j4BIUf4XnH pic.twitter.com/eaJmXuLUxf

— DAZN USA (@DAZN_USA) March 8, 2019

The main event between Dmitry Bivol and Joe Smith Jr. will go on as planned, as both combatants made weight on Friday.

Bivol (15-0, 11 KOs) is set to make the fourth defense of the WBA light heavyweight title he won in November 2017. The Kyrgyzstani champ has been conquering everybody, including Isaac Chilemba and, most recently, Jean Pascal. The 28-year-old fighter was on point at the official weigh-ins on Friday; he came in at 173.5 pounds.

Smith (24-2, 20 KOs) is primed for his first world title challenge and the Long Island, New York, native was equally sculpted on the scale. Smith is coming off an impressive knockout of Melvin Russell in June and hopes to capture boxing gold on Saturday. Smith came in at 173 pounds.

The co-feature will…

Official weigh-in done, Shawn Porter comes in at 148.8 pounds. He will now have two hours to make weight (147). pic.twitter.com/6PSbd4NZIk

— FOX Sports: PBC (@PBConFOX) March 8, 2019

Despite a scare that Porter was coming in heavy, the WBC welterweight championship will be up for grabs for Saturday night.

Reigning WBC welterweight king Shawn Porter initially clocked in at a whopping 148.8 pounds, much heavier than the 147-pound weight limit for the welterweight division. Porter (29-2-1, 17 KOs) is set to make the first defense of the belt he captured by toppling Danny Garcia via unanimous decision last September, but the Las Vegas-based fighter was in jeopardy of being stripped of his title if he didn't lose the weight two hours of officially weighing in. He managed to do just that, but he needed to cut his hair in order to do so. His official weight was at 146.8 pounds.

Porter's opponent, Yordenis Ugas (23-3, 11 KOs) has been on fir…

Breaking: UFC changes course, books Yoel Romero, Jacare Souza II to headline UFC Fight Night on April 27 in Florida. https://t.co/mdluKF0MtA

— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) March 8, 2019

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has gone in a different direction for their April card in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., electing to stage the rematch between Yoel Romero and Ronaldo Souza as the main event.

According to ESPN, UFC President Dana White made the announcement late Thursday that Romero (13-3) will meet Souza (26-6, 1 NC) at middleweight, in the main event at UFC on ESPN 3 on April 27 at the BB&T Center in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. While this event was originally scheduled to take place in Miami, the promotion moved it to Fort Lauderdale in late February.

Much has been discussed about Romero's next bout, ranging from a move to light heavyweight to a rumored bout against Paulo Henrique Costa to headline this event. Instead, he will face Souza for the…

While nursing her recently rebroken arm, Paige VanZant has been tapped to appear in this year's famed Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.

On the Sports Illustrated Instagram account on Thursday, they announced in a video post that VanZant will be appearing in their yearly Swimsuit Issue. The photoshoot is taking place in the beach resort city of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, located several hours west of Guadalajara. She is the second fighter from the Ultimate Fighting Championship to appear in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue -- an honor first claimed by Ronda Rousey in 2016.

In the video, VanZant explained, "I feel like when you're in Sports Illustrated, that means you make it." She continued, "So it's a really big deal, and I'm mostly excited for people to see this side of me. I think people do forget that, yes, I'm a professional fighter, my hair is cornrowed all the time, I punch people in the face for a living…but you can look really cute, too."

Outs…

Great to kick off the 2019 season in Long Island! We're back at @NYCBLive Thursday May 9, May 23, and June 6. https://t.co/9qCPzmZdFo pic.twitter.com/Wzg9OUBzUd

— #PFLmma (@ProFightLeague) March 7, 2019

The Professional Fighters League will be launching their new tournament in May, where they will hold all of their Regular Season events in New York and Atlantic City.

On Thursday, the PFL stated in an official press release their schedule for the Regular Season of their 2019 tournament. According to the release, each of their first six events will take place Thursday nights. Their first three events will take place at NYCB Live in the Nassau Veterans Memorial Colosseum, on May 9, May 23 and June 6. The second half of the Regular Season will take place in Atlantic City, at the Ocean Casino Resort, on July 11, July 25 and August 8. Pre-sale tickets will go on sale for the first three New York events on March 11, with the tickets for the three A…

Nicolae Negumereanu will step in for the injured Gokhan Saki and meet Saparbeg Safarov at UFC London on March 16.

The promotion recently confirmed the new matchup. Last week Safarov revealed that Saki withdrew from their light heavyweight bout due to an undisclosed injury. UFC Fight Night 147 takes place at The O2 Arena in London and is headlined by a welterweight clash between Darren Till and Jorge Masvidal. The card will stream on ESPN+.

Negumereanu, 24, is unbeaten in nine professional bouts. The Romanian fighter has competed almost exclusively for the Real Extreme Fighting promotion and has finished all of his victories inside the distance.

Safarov began his pro career with eight consecutive wins before falling to Gian Villante and Tyson Pedro in his first two UFC appearances.

B.J. Penn isn’t done yet.

The former two division champion has agreed to face Clay Guida in a lightweight bout at UFC 237. MMAFighting.com was first to report the booking. UFC 237 takes place at Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro on May 11 and features a strawweight tilt pitting Rose Namajunas against Jessica Andrade. Penn vs. Guida has not been formally announced by the UFC.

Penn returned after more than a year absence at UFC 232, where he was submitted by Ryan Hall via heel hook 2:46 into the opening stanza of their Dec. 29 bout. “The Prodigy” is winless in his last seven Octagon appearances dating back to 2011.

Guida hasn’t fought since UFC 225 last June, when he was choked out by Charles Oliveira in the opening stanza. That snapped a two-bout winning streak for “The Carpenter,” who was coming off back-to-back wins over Joe Lauzon and Erik Koch in 2017.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight division experienced a major shakeup last weekend with Kamaru Usman’s emphatic win over Tyron Woodley for the UFC welterweight title, as well as Ben Askren’s debut win over former champion Robbie Lawler.

Woodley had ruled the division for close to three years since he knocked out Lawler back at UFC 201 in July 2016. Woodley’s team mate and friend, Askren, immediately catapulted himself into title contention with his controversial submission victory over Lawler. Askren said during an appearance on “The MMA Hour” that if he were to be offered a title shot, he wouldn’t accept it without “The Chosen One’s” blessing (via MMA Fighting):

“I thought Colby and ‘Marty’ was announced [Saturday] night,” Askren said, calling Usman by his old nickname. “Look, listen, if Colby gets screwed again, I’ve got no issue with that. Colby is a jabroni. This was a path that I haven’t even gone down, because I didn’t really see a scenario where T…

Two-time Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight title challenger Anthony Johnson, who retired from the sport unexpectedly in April 2017, has opened up about his decision to quit the sport -- and what it would take to bring him back.

“Rumble” will be remembered for being one of the scariest competitors to ever step foot inside the Octagon knocking out the likes of Glover Teixeira, Ryan Bader, Jimi Manuwa and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. The 34-year-old challenged Cormier twice for the title during his time in the UFC losing on both occasions by rear-naked choke after landing heavy shots on the champ early.

On a recent episode of the “Into the Weeds” Podcast, Johnson recalled why he decided to call it quits on his career (transcription via MMAJunkie):

“Being in the cage and fighting -- this happened during the fight, I think after I knocked somebody out. I don’t remember who it was,” Johnson said. “I remember looking at Dana on the other side of the cage and…

Georges St. Pierre has been removed from the USADA drug testing pool upon announcing his retirement from mixed martial arts.

The former UFC welterweight and middleweight champion recently gave USADA notice of his decision, according to a report from ESPN . “Rush” had to provide written notice to the anti-doping agency to be removed from the pool, a step that was completed on Tuesday.

St. Pierre officially announced his retirement in February after negotiations for a potential bout with Khabib Nurmagomedov fell through. The Tristar Gym standout did leave the door open for a comeback if the right opportunity arose.

"If Dana [White] called me back and there was something interesting, we'll see,” St. Pierre said at his retirement press conference. “Like a movie scenario, 'he's coming back,' ... we'll see. But right now I'm not thinking about it.”

However, now that St. Pierre has officially notified USADA of his retirement and has been removed from the drug-test…

Louis Smolka is set to fight again inside the Octagon on Saturday, but it was a long road to get there.


 It wasn’t that long ago when Smolka had lost four fights in a row and was cut by the Ultimate Fighting Championship. It left him wondering if he should continue mixed martial arts or give up. He decided to pursue his passion and got three wins outside of the promotion and then got another chance which he wasn’t expecting. 


“I was ready to give it all up,” Smolka said to Sherdog.com. “I was done, I was over it, I just wanted to quit. I lost so many fights and was like I’m done, I just want to drink, I’m over this. But, my fiancee wasn’t having any of it so she sent me to California to relocate and get my life back together. I quit drinking, so I gave it another run and did what I had to do and got the wins.”


Once he got the wins, his former promoter called him to fight at UFC Beijing in which "Da Last Samurai" knew it was must-win territory for him. “It was …

The lineup for Bellator 220 continues to grow, as Benson Henderson will square off with Adam Piccolotti at lightweight, while Phil Davis will face Liam McGeary in a light heavyweight rematch.

Sherdog.com confirmed the bouts on Tuesday with a promotion official following an initial report from ESPN. Bellator 220 takes place at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., and is headlined by a welterweight championship clash between Rory MacDonald and Jon Fitch, which also serves as a semifinal bout in the promotion’s 170-pound grand prix.

A former UFC lightweight champion, Henderson is coming off back-to-back triumphs over Roger Huerta and Saad Awad under the Bellator banner. Piccolotti, meanwhile, is also on a two-fight winning streak after besting James Terry and Carrington Banks in consecutive outings last year.

Davis earned a five-round verdict over McGeary to capture Bellator’s light heavyweight belt in November 2016 but is looking to rebound from an upset loss to Vad…

Jon Jones was dominant in his light heavyweight title defense against Anthony Smith at UFC 235, but he didn’t emerge from the event unscathed.

Jones is facing a 180-day suspension unless he receives doctor clearance on his left foot. At a minimum, “Bones is suspended 45 days with 30 days of no contact due to a left eye laceration.

UFC 235 took place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday and saw Jones defeat Smith via unanimous decision in the evening’s main event. Smith is also facing a 180-day sit unless he is cleared of potential nose and rib injuries with X-rays. The Nevada State Athletic Commission released a full list of medical suspensions from the event on Monday.

All told, 10 fighters from UFC 235 are facing potential six-month suspensions. That includes light heavyweight prospect Johnny Walker, who injured himself while celebrating his knockout victory over Misha Cirkunov. The Brazilian is out 180 days unless he receives MRI clearance for his le…

Nordine Taleb will face Siyar Bahadurzada in a welterweight bout at UFC Ottawa on May 4.

Promotion officials announced the pairing on Monday. UFC Fight Night 150 takes place at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and will also include a middleweight clash pitting Elias Theodorou against Derek Brunson. The card, which doesn’t yet have a main event, will stream on ESPN+.

Taleb will attempt to halt a two-bout skid after being finished by Sean Strickland and Claudio Henrique da Silva in his only two appearances of 2018. The 37-year-old Montreal native is 6-4 during his promotional tenure and 14-6 as a professional overall.

Afghanistan’s Bahadurzada had a three-bout winning streak snapped at UFC 232, where he dropped a unanimous verdict against Curtis Millender on Dec. 29. The 34-year-old is 4-3 in the Octagon since beginning his UFC career in 2012.

After a fight-week illness forced Marlon Vera out of a proposed clash with Frankie Saenz at UFC 235, the bantamweight bout has been rebooked for UFC Nashville.

The booking was confirmed on the ESPN.com event page. UFC Fight Night 148 takes place at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn., on March 23 and is headlined by a welterweight tilt between Stephen Thompson and Anthony Pettis. The card will stream on ESPN+.

Vera enters the matchup on a two-fight winning streak after scoring finishes of Guido Cannetti and Wuliji Buren in his final two UFC appearances of 2018. The Ecuadorian fighter is 6-4 during his Octagon tenure.

Saenz has also won his last two bouts, earn a split verdict over Merab Dvalishvili at UFC Fight Night 123 before outpointing Enrique Briones at UFC Fight Night 129.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkYXhO6EL9s&w=560&h=315]

It appears that Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington are getting a head start on their proposed welterweight title fight.

Just one day after Usman authored a dominant win over Tyron Woodley in the UFC 235 co-main event, TMZ Sports captured “The Nigerian Nightmare” and Covington engaged in an altercation at Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas.

It’s unclear what started the incident, but Usman and Covington exchange words while members of Usman’s group, including manager Ali Abdelaziz, appear to be more aggressive than the welterweight champion. The altercation occurred at the A.Y.C.E buffet, per the report.

According to TMZ Sports, more security showed up before the situation escalated, and both men were escorted out of the building. The police was not called, however.

After Usman defeated Woodley, UFC President Dana White said that Covington, the former interim champ, would receive the next title sho…

Coming to a city near you. pic.twitter.com/Q35dgG9IPs

— UFC (@ufc) March 3, 2019

The Ultimate Fighting Championship revealed the entirety of its second quarter schedule for 2019 on Saturday, and there are a few interesting additions to the upcoming slate.

In addition to previously confirmed events in April and May, the Las Vegas-based promotion announced that it will travel to the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, N.Y., for a UFC Fight Night event on ESPN+ on May 18.

Newly-announced events for June and July include an ESPN+ Fight Night card at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C., on June 22 and a UFC on ESPN event at the Target Center in Minneapolis on June 29.

Meanwhile, International Fight Week – scheduled from July 3-7 – will coincide with UFC 239 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on July 6.

Pedro Munhoz was a sizeable underdog against Cody Garbrandt at UFC 235 on Saturday night, but he walked away from the Octagon the victor thanks to a highlight-reel knockout.

Munhoz remained calm against “No Love,” even when the former UFC bantamweight champ rocked him badly with punches. Garbrandt clocked the Brazilian with clean punches to the face, but was never able to put him away, let alone off his feet. Munhoz weathered the storm, believed in his resolve and eventually greased Garbrandt with lethal punches of his own.

Munhoz put Garbrandt away with only nine seconds left in the opening round, but he said he knew it was going to happen in what was by far the biggest fight of his career up to now.

“I have been watching a lot of Cody’s fights, studying him, so I knew this would be the perfect match up for me,” Munhoz said after his conquest. “I’ve never been dropped in a fight or in practice, I believe in my chin more than anything. I knew I was capable of tak…

Pedro Munhoz and Cody Garbrandt received some extra compensation for their wild bantamweight slugfest at UFC 235.

Munhoz and Garbrandt garnered “Fight of the Night” honors and $50,000 apiece for their work at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday. An entertaining opening stanza culminated in both fighters trading heavy punches in the round’s waning seconds, with Munhoz dropping his foe with a right and finishing the victory with follow-up punches 4:52 into the frame.

Elsewhere, rising light heavyweight star Johnny Walker captured a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” paycheck for his spectacular knockout of Misha Cirkunov. The Brazilian needed just 36 seconds to floor his opponent with a flying knee and follow-up punches, giving him three consecutive first-round finishes in UFC competition.

Finally, Diego Sanchez earned the evening’s other $50,000 “Performance of the Night” award for a second-round technical knockout victory over Mickey Gall in a preliminary…

LAS VEGAS -- Jon Jones made it look easy against Anthony Smith (31-14) in the UFC 235 main event Saturday night, but he nearly lost his light heavyweight title in the process.

“Bones” did whatever he wanted against his Nebraska-based challenger, landing punches and kicks from all angles. And whenever the defending champ got close enough, he either pressed “Lionheart” into the cage or took him down. A Jones elbow busted up Smith’s nose in the fourth, but that was also the stanza in which Jones nearly lost his title. Jones (24-1) was pouring on the attrition with Smith on the canvas, but when “Lionheart” was down on one knee, Jones landed a knee to the head. Referee Herb Dean intervened, watched the replay and swiftly took two points from the champ. With Jones avoiding a disqualification, he coasted down the stretch and won a lopsided unanimous decision.

All three judges had it 48-44 for Jones, who once again walked out of the Octagon with his 205-pound title around his sho…

UFC 235 is now available on Amazon Prime.

The UFC 235 main card airs live at 10 p.m. ET live on pay-per-view. Meanwhile, the main prelims will begin on ESPN at 8 p.m. ET and the Fight Pass prelims start at 6:30 p.m. ET.

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

Round 1 Sherdog Scores Adam Martin scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Cole Shelton scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Adam Martin scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Cole Shelton scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Adam Martin scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Cole Shelton scores the round:The Official Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Adam Martin scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Cole Shelton scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Adam Martin scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Cole Shelton scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Adam Martin scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Cole…

A lightweight clash pitting Saad Awad against Brandon Girtz will serve as the new Bellator 219 headliner following Lorenz Larkin’s withdrawal from the card.

Larkin was scheduled to face Andrey Koreshkov in the featured bout at the March 29 event, but “The Monsoon” was forced to pull out of the fight due to an undisclosed injury. It is unclear if Koreshkov will remain on the card. The California-based promotion announced the new headliner on Friday.

Bellator 219 takes place at the Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula, Calif., and will see Daniel Straus face Shane Kruchten in the featherweight co-main event. The card will air on Paramount Network and DAZN at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT, with prelims streaming immediately prior on Bellator.com and DAZN.

Awad last competed at Bellator 208, where he had a four-bout winning streak snapped in a unanimous decision loss to Benson Henderson. Girtz, meanwhile, has lost four of his last five appearances, including a first-round su…

.@Laraboxing vs. @brian_boxi. Who ya got? #LaraCastano pic.twitter.com/hjlmtDGim9

— SHOWTIME Boxing (@ShowtimeBoxing) March 1, 2019 The hardest part is over and now Erislandy Lara and Brian Castano can focus on what matters: beating each other up.

The two pugilists made weight and passed with flying colors on Friday, setting the stage for their Showtime-televised WBA super welterweight championship bout. The action will take place inside Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York City, beginning at 9 p.m. ET.

Lara (25-3-2, 14 KOs) is aiming to regain one of the belts he lost last April. The Cuban is one of the best all-around boxers in the sport and is looking to get back on track against Castano. Lara came in officially at 153.5 pounds. Castano (15-0, 11 KOs) is poised to make his first world title defense a success. The Argentinean came in right at the limit of 154 pounds.