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Satoru Kitaoka def. Tatsuya Kawajiri by SD pic.twitter.com/kZxARJQaIq

— Bruno Massami (Бруно Массами) (@BrMassami) December 31, 2018

As the Heisei period nears its end in Japan, Rizin Fighting Federation’s Heisei’s Last Yarrenoka — which serves as something of a prelim to Rizin 14 — featured a mix of new and old talent at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

In the card’s main event, 69-fight MMA veteran Satoru Kitaoka battled it out in a match of Japanese legends against former Shooto Champion and UFC competitor Tatsuya Kawajiri at lightweight. In a fairly slow match, Kitaoka — whose career dates back to 2000 and includes wins over Carlos Condit, Paul Daley and Takanori Gomi — was able to drop Kawajiri in the first with a left straight and followed up with knees to the head until the end of the round.

In the second round, Kitaoka landed a takedown but was unable to mount any solid offense. With Kawajiri seemingly behind on the cards going…

The first season of the Professional Fighters League is about to come to a close, as six titles will be on the line Monday night with the winner of each earning $1 million.

Top seeded Ray Cooper III weighed in at 169.6 pounds as he contends for the welterweight title against No. 3 seed Magomed Magomedkerimov (169.8) at the PFL Championship at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York, New York. Co-headlining the event at heavyweight will be third seed Philipe Lins (234.8), who faces the eighth seeded Josh Copeland (257).

PFL Championship, which airs live on NBCSN at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT, also features a light heavyweight matchup between top seed Vinny Magalhaes (204.2) and sixth seed Sean O’Connell (204.2). At lightweight, No. 1 seed Natan Schulte (154) meets seventh seed Rashid Magomedov (154). Facing off at featherweight will be top seed Steven Siler (144.8) against Lance Palmer (144.4). Finally, first seed Abusupiyan Magomedov (184) and second seed Louis T…

It took all of 13 years for it to happen, but Cristiane Justino was beaten again in an MMA match.

But “Cyborg” wasn’t just beaten on Saturday night in the co-main event at UFC 232 in California, she was obliterated by fellow Brazilian Amanda Nunes. Many had expected “Cyborg” to do what she normally does, which was throw her wild haymakers, connect and walk out of the Octagon with yet another fabulous knockout win.

There was a knockout win, but it wasn’t Justino (20-2) who walked out of the cage as the victor. It was Nunes, the reigning UFC women’s bantamweight champion, who bludgeoned “Cyborg” with a battery of fists to the head. Nunes (17-4) bombarded betting favorite in just 51 seconds, but Justino kept her head high after the shocking defeat.

“In the beginning, when I did my first MMA fight, I lost,” Justino told the assembled press after UFC 232 on Saturday night. “I never said I was going to be invincible or that I’d never lose. It’s the fight game. It happe…

It had been two-and-a-half years since Jon Jones officially scored a win inside the famed UFC Octagon, but Saturday’s victory may have been his sweetest to date. Jones, arguably the greatest mixed martial artist in the history of the sport, fought a much different fight in his rematch against rival Alexander Gustafsson in the main event of UFC 232 at the Forum in Inglewood, Calif.. When the two first locked horns at UFC 165 in 2013, “Bones” was taken to the brink of defeat and had to dig deep to eke out an extremely close decision win. This time around, however, Jones ended things emphatically in the third round. “My dad said to me when he left the hotel room today, ‘Don’t chase Gus. People cheered when he ran away from me, so don’t chase him,’” Jones told the media at the post-fight press conference late Saturday night. “I changed it up and kind of out-Gustafssoned Gustafsson. He kept saying he wanted to put pressure on me so I backed up and scored points. I think his aggre…

On a night when Amanda Nunes staked her claim to being the greatest fighter in women’s MMA history, it should come as no surprise that she got a little something extra for her work.

Nunes received a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus for her stunning knockout of Cristiane Justino in the UFC 232 main event at the Forum in Inglewood, Calif., on Saturday night. Nunes rocked “Cyborg” early and didn’t let up, ultimately sending her opponent face-first to the canvas with a right hand just 51 seconds after the featherweight title bout began.

Elsewhere, Alexander Volkanovski and Chad Mendes received “Fight of the Night” honors and $50,000 apiece for their scintillating featherweight scrap to open the pay-per-view portion of the card. Volkanovski survived an early knockdown in the opening stanza to turn up the heat on the former title challenger down the stretch. The Australian rallied to drop Mendes with a left to the body and right hand over the top before sealing the v…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr7J1h8sRGc&w=560&h=315] UFC 232 is now available on Amazon Prime.

Sherdog's live UFC 232 coverage kicks off Saturday 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 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

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate…

Before this first bout gets underway at #UFC232, check out what FIGHT PASS has to offer in 2019!! Record breaking year upcoming! pic.twitter.com/seevQ0Htx7

— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) December 29, 2018

Even though the Ultimate Fighting Championship will be moving to a new streaming partner next year with ESPN+, UFC Fight Pass shows no signs of slowing down.

The promotion’s streaming service announced Saturday that it will double its combat sports events coverage in 2010 with more than 200 events including UFC pay-per-view prelims, Cage Warriors, Invicta FC, Glory Kickboxing, Cage Fury Fighting Championships, Pancrase and more.

UFC Fight Pass will also stream grappling and Brazilian jiu-jitsu events such as the Eddie Bravo Invitational, Polaris, Combat Jiu-Jitsu and Quintet. Some new additions to the lineup include muay Thai coverage as well as Lethwei, an ancient Burmese combat sport known as “the most aggressive martial art in the worl…

Jon Jones looks to become the first three-time light heavyweight champion in UFC history as he takes on an old foe in Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 232.

Jones hit the scales at 204 pounds, as he prepares to vie for the Ultimate Fighting Championship vacant light heavyweight title against Gustafsson (204.5) in the UFC 232 main event this Saturday at The Forum in Los Angeles. Co-headlining the card will be a superfight at featherweight between divisional queen Cristiane Justino (144) and bantamweight champ Amanda Nunes (145), who both made weight without issue at Friday’s early weigh-ins.

UFC 232 "Jones vs. Gustafsson 2," which airs live on pay-per-view at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, also features a welterweight showdown between the final World Extreme Cagefighting welterweight champion Carlos Condit (171) and The Ultimate Fighter Season 15 lightweight winner Michael Chiesa (170.5). At light heavyweight, a pair of contenders will square off, as Corey Anderson (204.5) meets Ilir La…

Breaking: @dc_mma has relinquished the UFC light heavyweight title.

“... Being stripped of a title suggest you’ve done something wrong, and I haven’t. I’d rather walk away this way. ... They can have it.” https://t.co/ItxXrV0wyY

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) December 28, 2018 UFC 232 is now available on Amazon Prime.

Before being forced to turn over his light heavyweight strap to the winner of the UFC 232 main event between Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson, Daniel Cormier has elected to give up his belt of his own accord.

Cormier wrote in a statement to ESPN Friday saying he would rather give the belt up than it be stripped once the cage door closes behind Jones and Gustafsson at UFC 232 on Saturday.

“Today I am going to relinquish the UFC light heavyweight title,” wrote Cormier, “I am not going to be stripped of the belt that I've defended with my all for three and a half years. Being stripped of a title suggests you've don…

.@rizin_PR & @FiteTV are proud to announce #RIZIN14 will stream LIVE Dec 30th 10PM PT/Dec 31st 1AM ET North America on https://t.co/qrNFVd4mHo https://t.co/eZgnp17FBO Pre-sale available now! #RIZINFF #RIZIN2018 #RIZIN14 @nobu_sakakibara @takada_nobuhiko pic.twitter.com/RXdNGWiVQA

— FITE (@FiteTV) December 27, 2018

Mere days before the event on New Year’s Eve, Rizin Fighting Federation has finally announced it will air its year-end event on the Fite.TV streaming service.

In their official announcement on Thursday, the promotion said that it will air 13 of the 14 fights of its Rizin 14 card on Fite.TV. Notably absent from the broadcast will be the main event, a three-round exhibition boxing match between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Tenshin Nasukawa, which will not be aired in the USA, Canada, Mexico or Japan.

Mayweather will not be broadcast in North America (U.S. Canada Mexico)

— FITE (@FiteTV) December 27, 2018 …

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7XQ2hXs-50&w=560&h=315]

UFC 232 is now available on Amazon Prime.

Jon Jones, Alexander Gustafsson, Cris Cyborg, Amanda Nunes and Dana White host a press conference Thursday to promote Saturday’s UFC 232 card in Los Angeles at 5 p.m. ET.

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Before Daniel Cormier vs. Brock Lesnar was a thing, it was Jon Jones who called out the World Wrestling Entertainment star following what appeared to be a victory over “DC” at UFC 214.

Everything changed, however, when Jones tested positive for the anabolic steroid Turinabol in relation to the fight. A suspension cost Jones his win over Cormier, the light heavyweight title and, a potential showdown with Lesnar.

Now, it’s Cormier who is targeting a lucrative clash with Lesnar in the first quarter of 2019. After “DC” became a two-division champ with a knockout of Stipe Miocic at UFC 226, he and Lesnar had a shoving match inside the Octagon, an obvious hype-building move.

Now that Jones has completed his suspension, he will return to the Octagon at UFC 232 to face Gustafsson for the soon-to-be vacant 205-pound crown. Of course, Jones still has unfinished business with Cormier, his longtime rival, but he also wouldn’t mind revisiting that fight with Lesnar. Still, de…

UFC 232 already changed states and venues due to an abnormality in Jon Jones’ drug test results. Now Saturday’s headliner will have a new referee.

According to a report from MMAFighting.com, Mike Beltran will replace Herb Dean as the official for the light heavyweight championship clash between Jones and Alexander Gustafsson. Dean, who was appointed by the Nevada Athletic Commission, suffered an injury and will not be able to work on Saturday night at the Forum in Inglewood, Calif. UFC 232 was moved from Las Vegas to California when the NAC declined to license Jones.

California State Athletic Commission executive officer Andy Foster will attempt to keep the rest of the judges that were chosen to score the two title fights at UFC 232, and Marc Goddard is still expected to be the third man in the cage for Cristiane Justino vs. Amanda Nunes, per the report.

Derek Cleary, Sal D’Amato and Junichiro Kamijo are expected to be judges for Jones-Gustafsson, while Chris Lee,…

A previously rumored clash between Cain Velasquez and Francis Ngannou is now official for the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s debut on the ESPN Network.

The Las Vegas-based promotion formally announced the heavyweight booking on Wednesday. UFC on Fox 1 takes place at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix on Feb. 17 and airs on ESPN. The still-growing card is also expected to include a bantamweight tilt pitting Jimmie Rivera against Aljamain Sterling.

Velasquez has been plagued more numerous injuries in recent years, which have limited his activity in the Octagon. The American Kickboxing Academy stalwart last appeared at UFC 200 in July 2016, when he scored a first-round technical knockout of Travis Browne. The 36-year-old former heavyweight champion has fought just twice overall since 2013, when he made successful title defenses against Junior dos Santos and Antonio Silva.

After looking underwhelming in back-to-back losses to Stipe Micoc and Derrick Lewis, Ngann…

Excited to announce that the Litecoin logo will be on the canvas as the Official Cryptocurrency Partner of @UFC 232 on 12/29 in Inglewood CA! Read more: https://t.co/y4yvPWb6rj pic.twitter.com/ddML54j5GH

— Charlie Lee [LTC⚡] (@SatoshiLite) December 26, 2018

While it may not be the ideal week for UFC 232, it looks like the Las Vegas-based promotion will start adding its own cryptocurrency sponsor for the final pay-per-view of 2018. Today, the Litecoin Foundation announced it the official cryptocurrency sponsor of the event and looks to be a first for the UFC, but not in MMA. This is a trend that began in Bellator MMA, more specifically with Rory Macdonald and Chael Sonnen announcing their DASH sponsorships earlier this year. Lightweight champion Michael Chandler also partnered with cryptocurrency exchange platform Coin Lion earlier this year.

In the cryptocurrency community, the comparison of bitcoin to gold and Litecoin to silver is often made…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33u0zwUmao0&w=560&h=315]

The Ultimate Fighting Championship apparently didn’t do a good job informing those competing on the UFC 232 card that the event would be relocating from Las Vegas to California on less than one week’s notice.

That event was transferred to Forum in Inglewood, Calif., when the Nevada Athletic Commission declined to license Jon Jones due to an abnormality in one of his drug tests. Jones tested positive for a residual amount of Turinabol metabolite, which anti-doping experts determined was a lingering effect of his failed test for the same banned substance in July 2017. As a result, the promotion elected to move the UFC 232 card in order to keep the main event intact.

Cristiane Justino, who faces Amanda Nunes in the evening’s co-main event, doesn’t believe Jones is guilty of using performance enhancing drugs in this instance, but she wasn’t pleased with the way the UFC decided to relay the information regardi…

Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight contender Alex Oliveira suffered injuries to his leg and foot last night when he was caught in the blast of a thrown grenade.

According to Brazilian news site Globo, "Cowboy" was home for the holidays in Tres Rios, a small town near Rio de Janeiro and was driving to a gas station to fuel up his mother's car when he saw several members of his family involved in an altercation. Oliveira stopped to investigate, and moments later a grenade was thrown in his direction.

“One guy came up and pointed a gun at my nephew’s face, and that’s when people started pushing each other,” Oliveira said. “They had machetes, knives, a grenade. They threw a grenade in my direction. Shrapnel hit my leg and my foot.”

Oliveira traveled to a local emergency room where doctors removed shrapnel from his leg before discharging him, then went to the police to file a report.

Oliveira (19-6-1, 1 N/C) competed most recently at UFC 231 earlier thi…

In an alternate universe, Corey Anderson might have been a short-notice replacement for Jon Jones had UFC 232 remained in Las Vegas.

In reality, Anderson is one of 25 other fighters on Saturday’s card who was greatly affected by the promotion’s decision to relocate the event to California. UFC 232 was moved from the T-Mobile Arena to the Forum in Inglewood, Calif., after the Nevada Athletic Commission refused to license Jon Jones due to a drug test abnormality.

The man known as “Overtime” is clearly unhappy with the inconvenience the move has caused, as well as the efforts made to accommodate Jones, who has twice failed drug tests in the past. In this instance, however, USADA determined that the trace element of steroid metabolite in Jones’ system was a lingering effect of his failed test in July 2017, not a new violation.

“If we all said no we won’t travel again would they just take Jones off the card and keep it in Vegas?” Anderson wrote on Instagram. Or book 1…

When it was optional, Jon Jones said, “No thanks.” Now, the former UFC light heavyweight champion has no choice if but to enroll in Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA) testing if he wants to fight on Saturday.

According to a report from ESPN.com, Jones was required by the California State Athletic Commission to agree to VADA testing if his title bout against Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 232 was to be approved. Jones will become the first MMA fighter to be enrolled simultaneously in VADA and USADA, the UFC’s mandatory anti-doping program.

On Sunday, the promotion moved UFC 232 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas to the Forum in Inglewood, Calif., after the Nevada Athletic Commission declined to license Jones due to irregular findings in his drug test results. Jeff Novitzky, the UFC’s VP of Athlete Health and Performance, claimed that USADA and other doping experts confirmed that the trace elements of steroid metabolite found in Jones’ system were residual effects f…

While Jon Jones had a predictably unfiltered response to rival Daniel Cormier regarding the irregular drug test that led to the relocation of UFC 232, “Bones” had a more thoughtful message to the fans affected by the venue change.

“How’s it going everybody? It’s your boy ‘Bones’ Jones here. I just wanted to take the time out to apologize to the fans for what is going on. This is a situation that is completely out of my control,” Jones said in a video his Instagram story on Sunday evening. “But I still will man up and apologize for this happening. I realize there’s a lot of people who lost out in this situation. People came from Sweden, people came from Brazil, other fighters, I feel you guys’ frustration. Today has been a hell of a day. A hell of a day. Big shock to us all.”

Jones is scheduled to face Alexander Gustafsson for the vacant light heavyweight title in the UFC 232 headliner on Saturday. The card was moved from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas to the Forum in …

Alexander Gustafsson appears to be unfazed by the last-minute change of venue for his light heavyweight championship fight.

On Sunday, Dana White announced that UFC 232 would be moving from Las Vegas to California on one week’s notice because the Nevada Athletic Commission declined to license Jon Jones for the event. A sample collected on Dec. 9 revealed trace elements of Turinabol metabolite, the same banned substance for which Jones tested positive in relation to UFC 2014 in July 2017. In this instance, it was determined that the ex-light heavyweight champion retained a small amount of that substance in his system from the previous failed drug test, which was why the event was transported to the West Coast at the last minute.

Given Jones’ history with failed drug tests, the news prompted plenty of skepticism throughout the UFC and the MMA community. Gustafsson took to Twitter to deliver his own message to Jones.

“Now we all understand why you didn’t take the [V…

The MMA world was in full meltdown on Sunday after the news broke that UFC 232 would be relocated from Las Vegas to Inglewood, California on six days’ notice due to an abnormality in Jon Jones’ test results, and one interested observer wasted little time in sounding off.

Jones tested positive for a trace amount of metabolites of Turinabol, the same prohibited substance for which he was sanctioned in July 2017. UFC President Dana White, maintaining his fighter’s innocence, claimed the fight had to go ahead, and UFC 232 has been hastily moved from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas to The Forum in Inglewood.

The move is not only a logistical nightmare for the promotion but for the fighters on the card -- who only discovered the change of plans at the same time everyone else was finding out -- and the fans who had purchased their tickets and booked hotels in another state, some of whom are traveling from outside the U.S. to attend.

Two-division champion Daniel Cormier, who has hi…

UFC 232 has been moved from Las Vegas to California after the Nevada Athletic Commission refused to license Jon Jones due to an abnormal finding in his drug test results.

The NAC released a statement on Sunday announcing that it will require Jones to appear at an evidentiary hearing in January after “extensive analysis” of the former light heavyweight champion’s previous 18 months of USADA drug testing results.

“Today, Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) Executive Director Bob Bennett announced that, in consultation with NSAC Commission Chair Anthony Marnell, III, unarmed combatant Jon Jones will be allowed to withdraw his pending application for licensure, which was intended to clear him to fight in a major contest in Nevada later this month,” read a statement from the commission.

“After extensive analysis of Mr. Jones' prior 18 months of USADA in- and out-of-competition anti-doping drug testing results, Director Bennett, Chair Marnell, and Mr. Jones agree t…

UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes has seen her share of high-profile bouts.

There was the victory over Miesha Tate to claim the 135-pound crown in the headliner of the promotion’s 200th card. There was a hard-fought split verdict against Valentina Shevchenko in the UFC 215 main event. And then, of course, there was the biggest of them all: a 48-second knockout of Ronda Rousey in the UFC 207 feature that announced Nunes’ presence to a legion of casual fans who previously thought that women’s MMA began and ended with the Olympic judoka.

Still, Nunes says that facing Cristiane Justino for the featherweight crown in the UFC 232 co-headliner is more significant than any other bout in her professional career. It will give “Lioness” the opportunity to become a simultaneous two-division champion, a feat matched only by Conor McGregor and Daniel Cormier.

“Definitely is bigger than the Ronda Rousey fight,” Nunes said during a recent conference call. “A true ch…