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Nicco Montano was the UFC’s inaugural female flyweight champion, but a bad weight cut ultimately cost her the chance to ever defend that crown.

While she works on the weight-cutting process, Montano will move up a division to bantamweight, where she is expected to make her Octagon return sometime this summer. Sherdog.com confirmed the move with Montano’s manager, Ricky Kottenstette, who said a potential return to flyweight is contingent upon how well her cut to 135 pounds proceeds.

A date and opponent for Montano’s sophomore UFC appearance have not been announced.

Montano made her way through Season 26 of “The Ultimate Fighter” with victories over Lauren Murphy, Montana De La Rosa and Barb Honchak on the reality show before taking a five-round verdict against veteran competitor Roxanne Modafferi at the “TUF 26” finale to claim the 125-pound belt.

Since then, it’s been one unfortunate incident after another for the 30-year-old New Mexico resident. First, ton…

Brandon Royval armbars Joby Sanchez #LFA65 pic.twitter.com/ZdtxDL8Vot

— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) May 4, 2019 After Brandon Royval came up short against Casey Kenney for the Legacy Fighting Alliance flyweight title last November, he vowed to make sure it didn't happen again. So far, he's been right.

Royval stood toe-to-toe with Joby Sanchez for a few minutes in the LFA 65 main event Friday night inside Dobson Arena in Vail, Colorado, though the loose, sometimes wild striking didn't last very long. Royval (9-4) shot in for a takedown, but Sanchez stuffed him and immediately went to work on a D'Arce choke. "Raw Dawg" remained patient and battled through the submission attempt and then turned the tables on his foe.

Royval swept Sanchez (12-5) once he escaped the D'Arce, hooked Sanchez' left leg and then rolled him into a textbook armbar. Sanchez had nowhere to go and had no choice but to tap out, officially ending the entertaining d…

3 fights. 3 wins. 1 new strawweight champ!

Congrats to @115_brianna! Incredible performances all night! #PhoenixRising pic.twitter.com/XQ1eQFyKqT

— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) May 4, 2019 Brianna Van Buren ran the gauntlet. The 25-year-old Californian submitted Kailin Curran with a rear-naked choke and took possession of vacant Invicta Fighting Championships gold at 115 pounds in the final of a one-night, eight-woman tournament at Invicta Phoenix Rising Series 1 on Friday at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas. Curran (6-7, 2-1 Invicta) bowed out 3:49 into Round 2.

Van Buren (8-2, 4-1 Invicta) had all the characteristics of a runaway freight train. She struck for multiple takedowns in the first round, pairing them with suffocating top control and punishing ground-and-pound. Curran offered little in the way of effective resistance. Van Buren went back to work in Round 2, where she executed another takedown, climbed to full …

UFC interim lightweight champion Dustin Poirier has been on an unbelievable tear in the ultra-competitive 155-pound division, and his boxing coach has a good idea of one of the reasons behind it.

“The Diamond” has beaten some of the best fighters in the planet at lightweight including Anthony Pettis, Justin Gaethje, Eddie Alvarez and most recently defeated Max Holloway to win the interim title and propel himself into a unification bout against undefeated champion Khabib Nurmagomedov later this year.

Poirier’s boxing coach at American Top Team, Dyah Davis, recently spoke to BJPenn.com and praised his fighter’s ability to maintain his stamina throughout a fight. While Davis is aware fans know Poirier for his boxing ability and power, he commended his ability -- in particular against Holloway -- to land big shots in the final rounds of a five-round fight:

“What’s crazy is with Dustin, his stamina threshold is crazy,” Davis said. “He can go long and still have power …

@LFAfighting goes down tomorrow night at 7pm MT! #ElevationFightTeam pic.twitter.com/a16gM3NfO7

— Elevation Fight Team (@ElevationMMA) May 3, 2019

The Legacy Fighting Alliance is returning to Vail, Colo., for LFA 65, where every fighter on the main card has successfully made weight.

Brandon Royval hit the scales at 125.4 pounds, as he prepares to face Joby Sanchez (125.6) in the LFA 65 main event this Friday at the Dobson Arena in Vail, Colo. Co-headlining the card will be a featherweight battle between Jose Mariscal (145.2) and Brazilian Joanderson Sa de Brito (145.6).

LFA 65, which airs live on AXS TV on Friday, May 3 at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, also features a featherweight showdown between Youssef Zalal (144.6) and Matt Jones (145). Women's strawweights Pauline Macias (116) and Sarah McLeod (115.6) will throw down as well. At middleweight, Adam Stroup (185.6) meets Hayward Charles (186). Rounding out the main card will be a b…

Featherweights headline our first-ever South Carolina card! @MoicanoUFC takes on @KoreanZombieMMA in the main event at #UFCGreenville! https://t.co/giFOrQkywR pic.twitter.com/NMLrhHyjEf

— UFC (@ufc) May 2, 2019

The Ultimate Fighting Championship will be taking its first trip to South Carolina this June, putting on what is sure to be a thrilling main event between Renato Carneiro and Chan Sung Jung.

First reporting this was Combate on Thursday morning. The UFC confirmed this story later on Thursday, announcing that "Moicano" (13-2-1) will meet "The Korean Zombie" (14-5) in the main event of UFC Fight Night 154 in Greenville, S.C., on June 22.

Carneiro suffered the first knockout loss of his career in his most recent performance against Jose Aldo, snapping a two-fight win streak over Cub Swanson and Calvin Kattar. Throughout his career, all of his stoppage wins have come by submission, never knocking out an opponent.

Jung…

After UFC President Dana White announced that Brock Lesnar would be retiring and no longer challenging current heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier for the heavyweight title, the promotion immediately announced plans for Cormier to take on Stipe Miocic in a rematch for the belt. The UFC is rumored to be looking at booking the fight on the UFC 241 card in August.

The pair previously met last July at UFC 226 in a fight that Cormier won via knockout in the opening round. The loss ended Miocic's record for heavyweight title defenses at three and snapped a six-fight winning streak which dated back to 2015.

Despite the bout not being officially announced, the betting lines have already been drawn and according to BetOnline, the champion is listed as the slight betting favorite to retain his title at -150 with Miocic coming in as the underdog at +130.

Cormier is currently riding a seven-fight win streak and is undefeated as a heavyweight, going 13-0 while capturing both the UFC…

Angela Hill will make a relatively quick turnaround from her victory at UFC Fight Night 150 this past Saturday.

“The Ultimate Fighter 20” will replace the injured Felice Herrig and face Xiaonan Yan in a strawweight bout at UFC 238. Herrig announced her withdrawal due to a torn ACL early this week. UFC officials confirmed the new matchup with broadcast partner ESPN.

Hill ended a two-bout skid with a unanimous decision triumph over Jodie Esquibel at UFC Fort Lauderdale on Saturday. The former Invicta champion is 4-6 over the course of two stints with the Las Vegas-based organization.

Yan, meanwhile, has kicked off her promotional tenure with successive triumphs over Kailin Curran, Viviane Pereira and Syuri Kondo to run her professional mark to 10-1.

UFC 238 takes place at the United Center in Chicago on June 8 and is headlined by a showdown for the vacant bantamweight title between Henry Cejudo and Marlon Moraes.

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Unbeaten King of the Cage champion Patrick Mix has signed with Bellator MMA and will make his promotional debut at Madison Square Garden.

Mix will square off against Ricky Bandejas in a bantamweight bout at Bellator 222 on June 14. Sherdog.com confirmed the booking with a promotion official on Wednesday. Bellator 222 is headlined by a light heavyweight duel between Chael Sonnen and Lyoto Machida. The card also includes a welterweight tournament bout between Rory MacDonald and Neiman Gracie as well as an inter-promotional bantamweight championship clash pitting Darrion Caldwell against Kyoji Horiguchi.

Mix and Bandejas will scheduled to square off under the Ring of Combat banner in June 2017 for the promotion’s vacant bantamweight crown, but the bout was ultimately canceled.

A native of Angola, N.Y., Mix has captured the KOTC bantamweight crown while compiling a 10-0 career mark. His resume includes …

Bryan Barberena and Randy Brown will lock horns at UFC Greenville on June 22.

The Las Vegas-based promotion recently announced the welterweight bout along with a bantamweight clash pitting Andre Ewell against Anderson dos Santos. UFC Fight Night 154 takes place at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C. and streams on ESPN+ following prelims on ESPN2. A headliner has not been announced for the card.

Barberena is coming of a thrilling third-round TKO loss to Vicente Luque that garnered “Fight of the Night” honors at UFC on ESPN 1. The 29-year-old MMA Lab product has alternated wins and losses in his last six Octagon appearances.

Brown, meanwhile, competed just once in 2018, suffering a second-round knockout loss to Niko Price at UFC Fight Night 133. The Ring of Combat veteran is 4-3 during his tenure with the UFC and 10-3 as a professional overall.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-RLnot0pUE&w=560&h=315]

One Championship play-by-play announcer Michael Schiavello can outline the differences between his organization and many of its contemporaries. In his estimation, respect and integrity are often lacking in the marketing of many western MMA promotions, including the Ultimate Fighting Championship. “The Voice” believes pay-per-view business models in combat sports are built around emotions like disdain and disrespect.

“The name calling, the crazy stunts, throwing things through windows [and] at each other, threatening each other on Twitter,” Schiavello told Sherdog.com. “That’s how you sell PPVs to a largely western audience, which is sad. Are a lot of the UFC guys fighters or martial artists? There’s a difference between the two. That’s not how true martial artists act. That’s how fighters act.”

Schiavello likes the idea that One Championship does not utilize a pay-per-view model and can center its market…

Brock Lesnar apparently isn’t making another UFC return, so Daniel Cormier and Stipe Miocic are going to run it back.

According to a report from ESPN on Tuesday, Cormier and Miocic have verbally agreed to a rematch at a UFC pay-per-view event in Anaheim, Calif., on Aug. 17. Cormier defeated Miocic via first-round knockout at UFC 226 last July to briefly become a two-division champion. After the bout, Lesnar confronted Cormier in the Octagon, which appeared to set the stage for a future matchup between the two.

Those plans, according to UFC President Dana White, have changed. White previously said on multiple occasions that he wanted to make Cormier vs. Lesnar, but the bout never materialized. Instead, the WWE talent is staying retired.

“He told me he’s done,” White told ESPN of Lesnar’s plans. “He’s retired.”

Lesnar returned to the Octagon after more than four years away at UFC 200, where he defeated Mark Hunt via unanimous decision. The former heavyweight …

Greg Hardy was compensated quite handsomely for his first Ultimate Fighting Championship triumph.

The controversial former NFL Pro Bowler earned $150,000 for his first-round technical knockout victory over Dmitry Smoliakov ($10,000) in the UFC Fight Night 150 co-main event at the BB&T Center in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Saturday night. That’s a bigger paycheck than nine-time Octagon veteran Jack Hermansson, who garnered $82,000 for his upset of Ronaldo Souza ($210,000) in the evening’s middleweight headliner.

The Florida State Boxing Commission released salary figures from the event on Tuesday.

Former heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski was the card’s top earner, as he took home $300,000 for a contentious split-decision loss to Augusto Sakai ($24,000) in a preliminary bout. Other fighters to earn six-figure salaries at UFC Fort Lauderdale were Glover Teixeiera ($210,000), Jim Miller ($180,000) and Mike Perry ($110,000).

Note: The disclosed purses repor…

A light heavyweight bout pitting Paul Craig against Alonzo Menifield has been added to the UFC on ESPN 3 lineup.

Promotion officials recently announced the booking. UFC on ESPN 3 takes place at the Target Center in Minneapolis on June 29 and is headlined by a rematch between Tyron Woodley and Robbie Lawler. The card will air on ESPN following prelims on ESPN+.

Craig has won two of his last three Octagon appearances and is coming off a third-round submission of Kennedy Nzechukwu at UFC on ESPN 2 on Marc 30. “Bearjew” finished 10 of his 11 professional victories via tapout overall.

Menifield received a UFC contract after earning a pair of victories on Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series. The 31-year-old Dallas resident had a successful Octagon debut, as he knocked out Vinicius Moreira in the opening stanza at UFC Brooklyn on Jan. 19 to improve his career mark to 8-0. All of Menifield’s victories have come inside of two rounds.

Rory MacDonald will need medical clearance before he can advance to face Neiman Gracie in the Bellator welterweight grand prix.

MacDonald is facing a potential 180-day medical suspension following his majority draw with Jon Fitch at Bellator 220 this past Saturday. The welterweight champion must be cleared for a potential right later epicondyle injury or he will be sidelined six months. He must also receive clearance for a potential 60-day sit due to a facial cut on his right side. Fitch, meanwhile, must be cleared for a scalp laceration or he will be suspended 60 days.

MacDonald questioned his drive to compete immediately following the grueling five-round bout with Fitch but later clarified those comments and said he expects to face Gracie at Bellator 222 on June 14 in New York.

The California State Athletic Commission released medical suspensions from the event, which took place at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif. Four other fighters from Bellator 220 are fac…

Kyoji Horiguchi will attempt to hold titles in two promotions when he faces Darrion Caldwell at Bellator 222.

A promotion official confirmed the bantamweight matchup to Sherdog.com on Monday following an initial report from ESPN.com. Caldwell’s Bellator belt will be on the line in the rematch. Bellator 222 takes place on June 14 at Madison Square Garden in New York and is headlined by a clash between Chael Sonnen and Lyoto Machida.

Horiguchi retained his Rizin bantamweight crown by submitting Caldwell with a guillotine choke in the third round of their first meeting on New Year’s Eve. He returned to action at Rizin 15 on April 21, when he knocked out former UFC competitor Ben Nguyen 2:52 into the opening frame. The American Top Team representative has won 12 consecutive fights since losing a five-round decision to Demetrious Johnson in a flyweight championship bout at UFC 186.

Caldwell has not competed since Horiguchi ended his four-fight winning streak at Rizin …

Jack Hermansson is definitely the talk of the town as far as UFC middleweights go with his hugely impressive back-to-back wins over David Branch and now Ronaldo Souza.

Hermansson came into his bout against “Jacare” as a late-notice replacement for the injured Yoel Romero on the UFC Fight Night 150 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida this past weekend. Despite being the betting underdog, the Swedish-born, Norwegian-based fighter defied the odds by putting on the best performance of his nine-fight UFC career by taking out a perennial contender in grappling ace Souza.

UFC color commentator Joe Rogan took to his Instagram account to hail the Swede’s performance stating that he was “seriously impressed” given the short turnaround and the quality of his opponent.

“I was seriously impressed with [Jack Hermansson’s] fight with [Ronaldo Souza] last night. He came into the fight as an underdog against a man who in unquestionably one of the best 185lbs fighters on earth and earn…

Kyle Prepolec will step in on less than a week’s notice to face Nordine Taleb at UFC Ottawa.

Promotion officials confirmed to TSN that Prepolec would replace Siyar Bahadurzada, who withdrew from the welterweight contest due to injury. UFC Fight Night 151 takes place at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa on May 4 and is headlined by a lightweight tilt pitting Al Iaquinta against Donald Cerrone. The card will stream in its entirety on ESPN+.

The 29-year-old Prepolec is a native of Windsor, Ontario, Canada and owns a 12-5 career record. The Maximum Training Centre product has won four of his last five bouts and is coming off a decision win over four-time UFC competitor Cody Pfister on March 9.

Taleb is looking to rebound after an 0-2 campaign in 2018 in which he was finished by both Sean Strickland and Claudio Henrique da Silva. The 37-year-old Tristar Gym representative is 6-4 during his tenure with the Las Vegas-based promotion.

After bursting onto the UFC’s roster with two straight sensational knockouts and then struggling inside the Octagon, the polarizing Mike Perry again finds himself in the spotlight.

Perry (13-4) had won his first nine pro MMA bouts by knockout and eventually was 4-1 inside the Octagon, with all of his wins coming via highlight-reel KO. But “Platinum” didn’t progress that much as a mixed martial artist and soon his opponents figured him out. The Flint, Mich., native saw himself out of title contention and looking at a 1-3 record in his last four fights, his most recent setback a first-round loss via armbar to Donald Cerrone.

Perry knew he had to regroup and refocus his approach to fighting spent several months healing his body and mind. But when it came time to step into the cage again, “Platinum” knew he had to not only put on a thrilling performance, he had to win. On Saturday in one of the featured bouts of UFC Fight Night 150, Perry opposed another fan favorite in Al…

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Rory MacDonald’s hold on the Bellator MMA welterweight throne has grown unexpectedly tenuous.

The Tristar Gym standout retained his 170-pound title and advanced out of the welterweight grand prix quarterfinals in a contentious majority draw -- 46-48, 47-47, 47-47 -- with Jon Fitch in the Bellator 220 headliner on Saturday at the SAP Center in San Jose, California. Next up for MacDonald (20-5-1, 2-1-1 Bellator): a semifinal showdown with the undefeated Neiman Gracie on June 14 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Fitch (32-7-2, 1-0-1 Bellator) overcame a difficult first 10 minutes and a number of overhand rights from the Canadian and started to chip away at his resolve. He stymied MacDonald for the entire third round, securing a takedown inside the first minute, controlling position and opening a cut above the champion’s right eye with a short but effective elbow strike. MacDonald wo…

You can sign up for a free seven-day trial of ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC on ESPN+ live on your computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. Alex Oliveira and Mike Perry’s back-and-forth affair resulted in the two winning “Fight of the Night” honors at UFC Fight Night 150.

Oliveira and Perry traded shots for 15 minutes, with both men rocked on numerous occasions. Perry landed 65 significant strikes compared to the Brazilian’s 48, but Perry was more effective landing 59 percent of his significant strikes; Oliveira landed just 35 percent Ultimately, Perry did enough to win the fight by unanimous decision.

Meanwhile, Glover Teixeira extended his winning streak with a second-round submission of Ion Cutelaba. The veteran rallied from being on shaky legs early to coming on in the second frame and pouring it on Cutelaba before submitting him via rear-naked choke.

Finally, Jim Miller got yet another performance bonus. The 35-year-old got…

You can sign up for a free seven-day trial of ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC on ESPN+ live on your computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app.

Sherdog's live UFC Fight Night 150 coverage kicks off Saturday at 5:30 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 roun…

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

Sherdog's Bellator 220 coverage begins at 7:30 p.m. ET Saturday evening.

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:Scottie Smith scores the round:Alex Aboud scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Scottie Smith scores the round:Alex Aboud scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Scottie Smith scores the round:Alex Aboud scores the round:The Official Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Scottie Smith scores the round:Alex Aboud scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Scottie Smith scores the round:Alex Aboud scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Scottie Smith scores the round:Alex Aboud scores the round:…

Cage Warriors Fighting Championship stopped at the Violet Arena in Cardiff, Wales, on Saturday for CW 104.

The main event of the card featured a bantamweight title fight, with Welsh hero Jack Shore putting his belt and his spotless record on the line. Scottish challenger Scott Malone put up a valiant fight, but in the end the champion managed to keep his title. “Tank” secured a slick rear-naked choke at 2:28 of the third stanza. In defending his belt, Shore extended his perfect record to 10-0, the last nine in CWFC, and it may be time for the 24-year-old to join the major leagues of MMA.

#AndStill your Cage Warriors Bantamweight Champion Jack 'Tank' Shore

A clean sweep for the Welsh at #CW104 is completed by the champ, with a win via RNC pic.twitter.com/U2193hqdiz

— Cage Warriors (@CageWarriors) April 27, 2019

The co-main event was to have been the promotional debut of Ultimate Fighting Championship and BAMMA veteran Tom…