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[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w08BBKmQWfI&w=640&h=360] Derrick "D-Rock" Krantz is stepping in on less than one week's notice to fight Vicente "The Silent Assassin" Luque at UFC Rochester but is still confident that he'll prove victorious this Saturday. Krantz is replacing the 13th-ranked Neil Magny who was pulled from the card on Monday for a USADA violation.

Making his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut, the 24-10 welterweight is not surprised by the haphazard manner in which he'll be introduced to the Octagon. "This is pretty much how I saw myself getting into the UFC, just taking some crazy, short-notice fight, and showing all these welterweights what's up," Krantz told The Score's James Lynch.

Though the 31-year-old Krantz has been a professional mixed martial artist for some time, he admits not being familiar with his last-minute opponent. "Yeah, I didn't know about him," revealed Krantz. However, "D-Rock" and his team caught up quickly, watching two o…

WBC heavyweight champ @BronzeBomber tips the at a ready 223 1/4 lbs & @TroubleBoxing at 255 1/4 lbs ahead of tomorrow’s #WilderBreazeale main event!

STREAM LIVE: https://t.co/RPnqsbv01i pic.twitter.com/kpZW8QNoBF

— SHOWTIME Boxing (@ShowtimeBoxing) May 17, 2019 World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder and challenger Dominic Breazeale have had bad blood leading up to their Showtime bout on Saturday. Wilder has received criticism for saying that he wants to "catch a body" inside the ring and is looking to end Breazeale's life during their match. As such, it wasn't a surprise when the two had an intense staredown at today's weigh-in. Wilder (40-0-1, 39 KO) has put away every opponent he has faced except for Bermane Stiverne and Tyson Fury, who he went to a split draw with in December 2018. The match against Fury was a controversial one, as many thought that the British fighter won on points despite being knocked…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Nk1tUyTmmU&w=560&h=315]

Alexander Volkanovski hasn’t had the best of times since dominating Jose Aldo last weekend, first being hospitalized a blood infection, then discovering that former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar would be the next challenger for Max Holloway’s featherweight title.

“The Great” is coming off a career-best performance against former featherweight kingpin Aldo and was the favorite to secure a title fight against Holloway later this year, potentially on a card in his native Australia alongside fellow Aussie Robert Whittaker. However, the UFC had different plans and decided to go with Edgar instead after “The Answer” did the promotion a favor in March last year by risking his No. 1 contender position to fight Brian Ortega at UFC 222 in a fight which he unexpectedly lost by knockout.

Volkanovski’s coach, Eugene Bareman of City Kickboxing -- home to Adesanya as well -- made an appearance on Submission Radio …

Women's mixed martial arts pioneer Jessica Aguilar is no longer with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Though expectations were high, Aguilar, 37, endured a disappointing run in the promotion's strawweight division, going 1-4 since her 2015 debut.

The former World Series of Fighting strawweight champion's only UFC highlight was a unanimous decision victory over Jodie Esquibel. Her last two outings resulted in back-to-back losses against the number 6-ranked Weili Zhang and the undefeated Marina Rodriguez. Aguilar's March 2019 bout against Rodriguez was the last on her UFC deal.

Aguilar confirmed to MMA Fighting that she has yet to receive official word from the UFC that her contract will not be re-upped, but she has heard from USADA. "I did receive an e-mail last night from USADA stating that I was being removed from the testing pool," explained the fighter. "Which I assume means the UFC has decided not to offer me a new contract."

Aguilar was riding a 10-fight w…

Say it ain't so! Fresh off a TKO loss at UFC 237, Anderson Silva reaffirmed that he would continue fighting after healing from his injury.

On his Instagram page on Wednesday night, Silva posted a statement discussing whether he would stop or continue in the sport of MMA. He expounded about what he wanted to do going forward, and questioned whether he should keep training and giving his life to the sport.

View this post on Instagram

PARAR OU CONTINUAR?!?!? Fala meu povo... Fico freqüentemente me perguntando, o que cada um de nós está fazendo neste planeta? Se a vida for somente viver por viver o máximo possível as horas e minutos esse definitivamente não é meu lema. Tenho a plena convicção de que existe um sentido maior em tudo o que vivemos e fazemos aqui, a vinda neste plano terrestre tem um sentido maior do que simplesmente viver por viver, acredito que é uma busca constante de evolução. Nesses 4 dias após mais uma missão que não foi bem sucedida estou me…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w102xwNDysI&w=560&h=315]

In the wake of Jessica Andrade’s emphatic slam-induced knockout of Rose Namajunas, there are still some observers who are not completely sold on the new strawweight champ, and it appears we can count Michael Bisping among them.

Andrade became the new women’s strawweight champion last Saturday after a fight-ending sequence where she picked up Namajunas in the second round of their fight, slamming her down on her head and knocking her out cold to claim the belt.

However, before the finish, the Brazilian had been getting picked apart on the feet by Namajunas, who successfully defended two slam attempts in the first round. Based on the first round, Bisping believes that Namajunas would come out on top if they were to meet again.

During a recent edition of Bisping’s “Believe You Me” podcast, Bisping asserted that the knockout resulting from Andrade’s slam was “kind of a fluke.”

“Listen, Jessica An…

While their ongoing trainer-fighter status recently appeared to be in doubt, John Kavanagh and Conor McGregor will not be parting ways ahead of the Irish star’s next Ultimate Fighting Championship appearance.

In an interview with the Irish Mirror, Kavanagh confirmed that he will be in McGregor’s corner when the former two-division champion fights again.

“I’m sure I’ll be there, we talk almost daily,” the SBG Ireland coach said. "He doesn't have a fight lined up yet, but as soon as he does we'll get the old gang back together and start plotting, training and I'm sure he'll steal the show again, which I've no doubt he'll do.”

Kavanagh could offer no insight regarding McGregor’s return date, however.

“I honestly don’t know,” he said. “That’s a question for Conor, he's got a lot of other stuff going on so I'll just be honest and say I don't know.”

In most instances, Kavanagh’s confirmation that he will corner McGregor wouldn’t be news, as he has been the …

Liz Carmouche will square off against Roxanne Modafferi in a flyweight showdown at UFC San Antonio on July 20.

ESPN was first to report the booking. UFC Fight Night takes place in San Antonio, Texas at the AT&T Center. The card airs on ESPN following early prelims on ESPN+. A headliner for the event has not been revealed.

After moving from bantamweight to 125 pounds, Carmouche has earned back-to-back decision victories against Jennifer Maia and Lucie Pudilova. Carmouche, who challenged Ronda Rousey for the inaugural women’s bantamweight crown in the Octagon, has won four of her last UFC appearances overall.

Modafferi, meanwhile, has won two of three bouts since coming up short in a bid for the inaugural women’s flyweight strap against Nicco Montano at “The Ultimate Fighter 26” finale. Most recently, “The Happy Warrior” garnered a split verdict over Antonina Shevchenko at UFC St. Petersburg on April 20.

Former UFC star @RossTheRealDeal scores a 2nd round KO over Salar King in his boxing debut #TszyuCamilleri pic.twitter.com/XjYfNGzQFl

— Jamie Pandaram (@JamiePandaram) May 15, 2019

Ross Pearson is continuing his combat sports career in a ring. 


 The Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran retired from MMA after his knockout loss to Desmond Green at UFC on ESPN 2 in Philadelphia on March 30. Now, he will turn his attention to professional boxing, where he made his debut in Australia on Wednesday.


 It proved to be a success, as Pearson earned a second-round technical knockout of Salar King (5-11) in a middleweight bout, giving him a triumphant debut in the Sweet Science. 

The Englishman talked about being a boxer for quite some time, and ahead of his debut, he did an interview with Sporting News where discussed his goals.

“World level. I’m serious. World level,” he said. I can fight anyone. I’ve got all the…

A potential USADA anti-doping violation forced Neil Magny’s withdrawal from the UFC Rochester co-main event.

The veteran welterweight released a statement on his exit via Instagram on Tuesday. Magny was replaced by Derrick Krantz, who will face Vicente Luque on Saturday at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, N.Y.

“Throughout my MMA career I have been very transparent. I am not afraid to admit when I am in the wrong,” Magny wrote. “On Saturday, May 11, 2019, I received an email from USADA stating that I have been flagged due to an ‘out of competition drug test.’ The flag was due to a metabolite of the substance ‘Di-Hydroxy-LGD-4033.’ I have fully cooperated with USADA thus far to determine how this substance was found in the sample I provided them on May 5, 2019.

“I have always been an advocate for the strict drug testing in the UFC, even to the extent of opting for my collected samples to be used for research purposes by USADA. I know without a doubt that I have d…

It looks like Derrick Krantz will bypass Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series in favor of a short-notice Ultimate Fighting Championship debut.

Krantz revealed on social media that he has signed with the Las Vegas-based promotion and will step in to face Vicente Luque in the UFC Rochester co-main event on Saturday. FloCombat.com was first to report the new booking. Neil Magny was originally scheduled to face Luque.

Krantz was invited to compete on the Contender Series this summer by UFC President Dana White after knocking out Justin Patterson in the opening frame of the Legacy Fighting Alliance 63 headliner on March 29. The 31-year-old owns a 22-10 career record and has won five of his last six bouts.

The 27-year-old Luque has won eight of his last nine UFC appearances. All of those victories have occurred inside the distance, including a third-round stoppage of Bryan Barberena in his most recent outing at UFC on ESPN 1.

UFC Fight Night 152 takes plac…

SUPERMAN!!@Superman_Spann silences the Rio crowd and puts Lil Nog away in round 1! #UFC237 pic.twitter.com/KjiqceRpD0

— UFC (@ufc) May 12, 2019

The UFC 237 preliminary card averaged 813,000 viewers on ESPN, according to ShowBuzz Daily.

That figure is the lowest for a pay-per-view preliminary card that has aired on ESPN since the promotion began its partnership with the network. UFC 235 drew the highest ratings for prelims so far on ESPN, with an audience of 1.48 million, while UFC 236 prelims (893,000) were the previous low.

The featured bout of Saturday’s preliminary card saw Ryan Spann defeat Brazilian veteran Antonio Rogerio Nogueira via knockout at the 2:07 mark of the opening stanza. That portion of the event led off with a marquee bout as well, when Clay Guida took a unanimous verdict over former two-division champion B.J. Penn.

Ratings peaked at 1.1 million viewers during the final 15 minutes of the preliminary dra…

Neil Magny has pulled out of his scheduled co-main event clash with Vicente Luque at UFC Rochester, according to a report from MMAjunkie.com.

The Las Vegas-based promotion has not yet formally confirmed Magny’s withdrawal, which occurred due to undisclosed reasons. UFC officials are reportedly seeking a replacement opponent for Luque.

UFC Fight Night 152 takes place at Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, N.Y., on Saturday and is headlined by a welterweight bout pitting Rafael dos Anjos against Kevin Lee. The card will stream in its entirety on ESPN+.

Magny last competed at UFC Fight Night 140 this past November, when he had a two-fight winning streak halted in a four-round knockout loss to Santiago Ponzinibbio. The 31-year-old is 14-6 over the course of his Octagon tenure.

The 27-year-old Luque has won eight of his last nine UFC appearances. All of those victories have occurred inside the distance, including a third-round stoppage of Bryan Barberena in his most …

Frankie Edgar, not Alexander Volkanovski, will receive the next featherweight shot against reigning champion Max Holloway.

Holloway and Edgar have verbally agreed to meet at UFC 240 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada on July 27. The promotion is close to finalizing the 145-pound title bout, which will take place on the pay-per-view portion of the card at Rogers Place. ESPN.com was first to report the matchup.

Holloway and Edgar were initially booked at UFC 218 in December 2017, but “The Answer” was forced to withdraw from the card due to injury. The bout was rescheduled for UFC 222 in March 2018, but this time Holloway pulled out of the fight. Edgar remained on the card to face Brian Ortega in a title eliminator bout, losing via first-round knockout. According to ESPN, Edgar was rewarded by the promotion for his willingness to face Ortega on short notice after Holloway’s injury.

One of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the sport, Holloway saw a 13-fight winning strea…

Eight-time Rizin Fighting Federation veteran Daron Cruickshank will square off against Tofiq Musayev at the promotion’s upcoming card in Kobe, Japan, on June 2.

The Japanese organization on Monday revealed the finalized card for Rizin 16. Three additional MMA contests were confirmed: Thanongsaklek Chuwattana vs. Yusaku Nakaura; Mamoru Uoi vs. Kana Hyatt and Takaki Soya vs. Namiki Kawahara. Two kickboxing matchups were also announced, as YUYA will take on Yuki Tanaka, while Seiki Ueyama will lock horns with KENGO.

Cruickshank had a three-fight winning streak snapped in his most recent outing at Rizin 14, where he suffered a first-round submission defeat at the hands of Damien Brown. “The Detroit Superstar” has compiled a 5-3 mark in Rizin following a 6-6 stint with one no contest in the UFC.

Musayev, who hails from Azerbaijan, scored a second-round TKO of Nobumitsu Osawa in his first promotional foray at Rizin 14. The Ruslan Fight Club representative has won 10 co…

Jessica Andrade defeated Rose Namajunas on Saturday night to become the UFC’s new strawweight champion, but it wasn’t all smooth sailing for the hard-hitting Brazilian.

Andrade was outstruck by Namajunas for the first round, and worse, the champion successfully defended two attempts by Andrade to elevate her for high-amplitude takedowns. In the second round, however, the Brazilian delivered one of her patented slams, knocking Namajunas out in the process. In the immediate aftermath of the finish, there were concerns that the slam had been illegal due to the way “Thug Rose” landed on her head.

Well-respected veteran MMA referee John McCarthy was queried on Twitter by fans as to why the slam was considered legal, considering the potential injuries Namajunas could have suffered with the way she fell. According to McCarthy, the slam was 100 percent legal due to the way Namajunas defended it.

When Rose goes for the armbar she has a choice …

Aaron Pico will square off against Adam Borics at Bellator 222.

The featherweight pairing was initially confirmed by recently changed camps. Bellator 222 takes place at Madison Square Garden in New York on June 14 and is headlined by a light heavyweight clash pitting Chael Sonnen against Lyoto Machida.

The bout will be Pico’s first with Jackson-Wink MMA after the decorated amateur wrestler and boxer recently changed camps. The 22-year-old Californian had a four-fight winning streak snapped at Bellator 214, where he suffered a first-round knockout loss to Henry Corrales.

Borics, 25, has kicked off his professional tenure with eight consecutive victories. All three of his Bellator MMA triumphs have come inside the distance, including a third-round submission of Josenaldo Silva in his most recent outing at Bellator 205.

For a while inside the Octagon on Saturday, it seemed as if Jessica Andrade was going to be in for a long, punishing night.

Andrade was getting pelted by punches and kicks from defending UFC strawweight champion Rose Namajunas early and often. Andrade (20-6) was cut around her left eye less than a minute into what was the main event of UFC 237, and Namajunas, to put it bluntly, was busting her up. Namajunas moved well and tagged the Brazilian with her left jab over and over and whenever Andrade would come in too close, “Thug” cracked her with a left hook.

This formula continued throughout the entire opening round and half of the second. Andrade was getting flustered and launching wild, sloppy punches from everywhere, but Namajunas remained calm and picked her apart. It was starting to get ugly and it seemed as though “Bate Estaca” might wind up getting stopped at some point; Namajunas was that precise.

Everything changed, though, when Andrade scooped up the Ameri…

Rose Namajunas and Jessica Andrade’s strawweight title fight resulted in the two winning the “Fight of the Night” honors at UFC 237.

Namajunas was picking Andrade a part in the first round, but in the second stanza, the Brazilian lifted the champ up and slammed her on her head. The fall resulted in Namajunas being knocked out and a new strawweight champion being crowned.

Meanwhile, for her knockout, Andrade was also awarded a “Performance of the Night” bonus.

Finally, Warlley Alves’ knockout of Sergio Moraes nabbed him the other “Performance of the Night.” Alves was winning the fight through two rounds, and caught Moraes in the third with a knee and punch that knocked him out cold.

As God as my witness, Rose is broken in half! pic.twitter.com/YTuN43lgPF

— Kyle Johnson (@VonPreux) May 12, 2019

The ordering process for Ultimate Fighting Championship pay-per-views has changed: UFC 237 is only available on ESPN+ in the U.S.

Jessica Andrade came up short two years ago when she first challenged for the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s strawweight world title and made sure it wouldn’t happen again.

In the main event of UFC 237 on Saturday night at Jeunesse Arena in Rio De Janeiro in Andrade’s home country of Brazil, she finally exorcised the demons. Andrade was having a hard time in dealing with reigning champion Rose Namajunas’ speed and accuracy with her punches, but the Brazilian never became flustered and stuck to here game plan.

Andrade (20-6) slammed “Thug” Rose twice in the first, but she never was able to get any sort of rhythm going on her feet. Namajunas was picking her apart with a slick left …

The ordering process for Ultimate Fighting Championship pay-per-views has changed: UFC 237 is only available on ESPN+ in the U.S.

Sherdog's live UFC 237 “Namajunas vs. Andrade” coverage begins Saturday 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 Ben Duffy scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Cole Shelton scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Ben Duffy scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Cole Shelton scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Ben Duffy scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Cole Shelton scores the round:The Official Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Ben Duffy scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Cole Shelton scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Ben Duffy scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Cole Shelton scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Ben Duffy scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Cole Shelton scor…

Dazn is the exclusive streaming partner of Bellator MMA. You can sign up here.

Sherdog's live Bellator 221 coverage kicks off Saturday 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 Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Ant Walker scores the round:Scottie Smith scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Ant Walker scores the round:Scottie Smith scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Ant Walker scores the round:Scottie Smith scores the round:The Official Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Ant Walker scores the round:Scottie Smith scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Ant Walker scores the round:Scottie Smith scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Ant Walker scores the round:Scottie Smith scores the round:…

Stockton, California, on Friday was treated to a fun night of action courtesy of Combate Americas.

Combate Americas “Stockton” was main evented by an exciting lightweight bout between Erick Sanchez and Alex Velasco at Stockton Arena. Sanchez (9-4) showed an edge in striking early on and maintained the pressure for the rest of the first round. The second frame saw the Team Alpha Male product take down Velasco (7-4) and control the action. Despite being behind and suffering a busted nose, Velasco never gave up and managed to employ some effective dirty boxing inside the clinch. That was not enough to win a decision, however, as the judges awarded the unanimous verdict to Sanchez with tallies of 30-27 and 29-28 (twice).

The co-main event was a spirited flyweight bout between Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran Hector Sandoval and Jorge Calvo Martin. The Team Alpha Male product took control early, as he took down Martin (10-5) and controlled the first round with superior g…

Gogoplata set up from mount. Andrew Tenneson submits Westin Wilson in R1. Shouts to Shinya. #LFA66 pic.twitter.com/gOqMTIgYxj

— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) May 11, 2019 Tyler Diamond refused to blink.

"The Ultimate Fighter 27" alum made a successful Legacy Fighting Alliance debut and did so while under heavy fire, as he walked away from his LFA 66 headliner against Jon Neal with a unanimous decision on Friday at the Maverik Center in West Valley City, Utah. Scores were 30-27, 30-27 and 30-26, all for Diamond (10-1, 1-0 LFA), who rebounded from his July 6 setback to Bryce Mitchell under the Ultimate Fighting Championship banner.

Neal (9-1, 0-1 LFA) likely raised his stock in defeat. He sat down Diamond with a left hook early in the first round, countered takedowns with elbows to the side of the head and made the Team Alpha Male product work for every inch of ground he gained. Still, his efforts fell short. Diamond floored him with a…