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The UFC 224 lineup appears to be nearly complete, as the promotion recently confirmed the addition of a middleweight contest pitting Markus Perez against James Bochnovic to the card.

UFC 224 takes place on May 12 at Juenesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro and is headlined by a women’s bantamweight title clash between Amanda Nunes and Raquel Pennington. The evening’s main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on Fox Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.

A native of Sao Paulo, Perez suffered his first defeat in 10 professional outing in his Octagon debut at UFC Fight Night 123, where he dropped a unanimous verdict against Eryk Anders. The 27-year-old’s resume includes notable triumphs on the regional circuit against Ildemar Alcantara and Paulo Thiago.

Bochnovic, meanwhile, saw an eight-bout winning streak come to an end at UFC 213, as he suffered a first-round knockout loss to Trevin Giles. The Rothwell MMA product has finished all but one of his eight career triumphs by way …

The UFC Fight Night 128 main card attracted an average audience of 956,000 viewers to Fox Sports 1, according to Showbuzz Daily.

That figure represents the second-highest rating for a UFC Fight Night card thus far in 2018. The card also drew a 0.55 rating in the 18-to-49 demographic.

UFC Fight Night 128 took place at Atlantic City, N.J., this past Saturday night and was headlined by a lightweight clash between Kevin Lee and Edson Barboza, which Lee won via fifth-round doctor stoppage. In the co-main event, Frankie Edgar took a unanimous verdict over Cub Swanson in a rematch of a 2014 contest.

Meanwhile, the UFC Fight Night 128 prelims averaged 284,000 viewers on FS1. That featured bout for that portion of the card saw Ryan LaFlare garner a unanimous verdict over Alex Garcia. The prelims drew a 0.35 rating in the 18-to-49 demographic.

Former Bellator middleweight champion Alexander Shlemenko will lock horns with Bruno Silva in the M-1 Challenge 93 headliner on June 1. Promotion officials recently revealed the pairing. M-1 Challenge takes place in Chelyabinsk, Russia and will also see Artem Frolov square off with Joe Riggs for the 185-pound title in the co-main event.

Shlemenko had a five-fight winning streak come to an end at Bellator 185, when he dropped a narrow decision to Gegard Mousasi this past October. The 33-year-old Russian owns a 56-10 career mark that includes 31 victories by knockout or technical knockout.

Silva, meanwhile, will be making his M-1 debut after compiling a 17-6 record while competing for numerous organizations since his debut in 2010. The 28-year-old Evolucao Thai representative has earned 14 of his career triumphs via KO or TKO.

Additionally, M-1 Global announced that M-1 Challenge 92 will take place on May 24 in St. Petersburg, Russia and will feature a heavyw…

Leslie Smith is planning to take legal action against the UFC after she believes the promotion bought out her contract in retaliation for her leading an effort to unionize fighters.

Smith, a seven-time Octagon veteran, was scheduled to face Aspen Ladd at UFC Fight Night 128 in Atlantic City, N.J., this past weekend. The contest was canceled when Ladd missed weight for the 135-pound contest by 1.8 pounds. As a result, the UFC paid Smith $62,000 for the final fight on her contract and informed her that they would not be giving her a new deal.

Smith claims that decision is directly related to her role as founder of Project Spearhead, an organization with the goal of unionizing fighters under the UFC banner. In order to help with her legal fees, Smith has started a GoFundMe page.

“I attempted to extend my contract with the UFC after my opponent missed weight. However, the UFC, in perceived retaliation against my legally protected right to unionize, declined to …

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Two-time Olympic judo gold medalist Kayla Harrison will make her mixed martial arts debut this summer.

During an appearance on ”The MMA Hour,” Harrison revealed that she will compete at Professional Fighters League 2 in Chicago on June 21. Harrison initially signed with World Series of Fighting as a commentator last year.

WSOF recently rebranded as the PFL, which will hold a regular season followed by a postseason that will award $1 million payouts to the champions in six weight classes. No women’s divisions are currently listed on the promotion’s website.

“I’ve been waiting for a long time to fight,” Harrison said . “First, it was just me, I wanted to get my feet wet, get in there, see if I liked getting punched in the face and now that I’ve established that I do, we’ve sort of been waiting for the PFL to get their stuff together. Their stuff is together.”

Harrison did not name her opp…

Marcin Wrzosek and Kleber Koike Erbst will rematch for the vacant Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki featherweight crown at KSW 44 on June 9.

The Polish promotion announced the pairing on Monday. KSW 44 takes place at Ergo Arena in Gdansk, Poland and also features a heavyweight showdown between Mariusz Pudzianowski and Karol Bedorf.

Wrzosek and Erbst initially squared off at KSW 39, where Erbst claimed the 145-pound belt with a decision win. However, Erbst missed weight ahead of his next bout and was forced to vacate the title. Nonetheless, the 28-year-old still earned a third-round submission of Artur Sowinski at KSW 41 for his fifth consecutive triumph.

A cast member on Season 22 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” Wrzosek signed with KSW after falling to Julian Erosa at the “TUF 22” finale. He has won three of his first four appearances with the promotion, including a decision win over Roman Szymanski at KSW 41.

Former Bellator MMA and World Series of Fighting competitor Alexis Vila was recently arrested for murder.

According to Miami-Dade County police records, Vila was arrested on April 17 in Miami for second-degree murder involving conspiracy and a weapon. Vila, a Cuba native who defected to the United States in 1997, has a hold on his case for immigration. The 47-year-old is being held at Turner Guilford Correctional Center without bond.

Vila was previously arrested in 2004 for crashing his Lincoln Navigator into a terminal at Fort Lauderdale International Airport. He spent three years in prison and then began his MMA career in 2007.

Vila compiled a 15-7 record in MMA that included notable wins over Marcos Galvao, Joe Warren and Ben Nguyen. He last competed at Titan FC 40 on Aug. 5, 2016, when he took a decision win over Jorge Calvo Martin.

Vila won the bronze medal in freestyle wrestling for Cuba in 1996.

There seems to be no shortage of contenders for Khabib Nurmagomedov’s first lightweight title defense. While “The Eagle” doesn’t have a preference in opponent, he does have a general timeframe in mind for his Octagon return.

In an Instagram post on Sunday, the Nurmagomedov mentioned Conor McGregor, Tony Ferguson, Dustin Poirier, Kevin Lee and Eddie Alvarez as possible matchups. The Dagestani grappler would be willing to face any of the above at the end of 2018.

“Lightweight division is the most competitive division in UFC,” Nurmagomedov wrote. “At this moment, atmosphere is very heated: there is Conor and Tony, Poirier, Lee and Alvarez, all of them are good. Fight with any of these guys would be very interesting and competitive.

“I never choose opponent, fought with any fighter who was offered me to fight, and I’m not going to change that. I’m coming back November/December to defend my belt. Whoever UFC decide to fight me with, I’ll sign.”

Nurmagomedo…

Chan Sung Jung isn’t one for elaborate callouts, but he gets his point across nonetheless.

Using the screen of a UFC video game with his desired matchup as the background, “The Korean Zombie” angled for a showdown with Frankie Edgar following the former lightweight champion’s unanimous verdict over Cub Swanson in the UFC Fight Night 128 co-main event in Atlantic City, N.J., on Saturday night.

[Frankie Edgar] I want to fight with you,” Jung wrote.

The 31-year-old South Korean returned from his mandatory military service at UFC Fight Night 104, where he earned a first-round knockout of Dennis Bermudez in February 2017. Unfortunately, Jung was forced to withdraw from a scheduled UFC 214 clash with Ricardo Lamas in July after suffering a knee injury. The resulting surgery was expected to keep “The Korean Zombie” out for up to six months.

Edgar has twice challenged for featherweight titles since moving down from 155 pounds. He was supposed to receive a t…

Kevin Lee wanted to display all aspects of his mixed martial arts talent against Edson Barboza at UFC Fight Night 128.

While “The Motown Phenom” largely did that, he almost paid dearly for it in the third round against his ultra-tough Brazilian foe. After Lee spent the first two frames dominating Barboza with takedowns and brutal ground-and-pound, he found himself in danger early in round three when the action remained on the feet. It was then that Barboza briefly seized momentum with a spinning heel kick to the temple that put Lee on wobbly legs. Lee went into desperation mode and eventually got his opponent to the mat, which helped him to survive the round.

“In that, I did take a good shot. That man is explosive, I’ll give it to him. But that goes along with showing a complete game,’ Lee said on Fox Sports1 “I showed that I can get hurt and keep pushing forward. I never took my eyes off of him. I ain’t going to lie, [my legs] was a little shaken up. That’s just…

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Edson Barboza and Kevin Lee both had a little something to prove Saturday night at UFC Fight Night 128. Both were coming off losses. Both had to regain the thrust that their careers lost. Both needed to prove they could beat a legitimate contender.

Lee accomplished his mission.

He manhandled Barboza, and with the exception of a scary moment in the third round, dominating most of the scheduled five-round lightweight showdown before 9,541 ($923,720 gate) in Atlantic City’s fabled Boardwalk Hall, which was the first time that the UFC had been there since UFC 53 on Feb. 4, 2005.

Lee (17-3) had Barboza on his back almost 80-percent of the time, and opened a severe gash over his right eye in the fifth, which forced referee Keith Peterson to stop it at the advice of the ringside doctor at 2:18 of the round.

“I said before this fight, mental strength was going to be the key,” Lee said. “I wanted to go all five rounds and show my complete game.…

Sherdog's live UFC Fight Night 128 play-by-play kicks off Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET.

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

Round 1 Sherdog Scores Round 2 Sherdog Scores Round 3 Sherdog Scores The Official Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Round 2 Sherdog Scores Round 3 Sherdog Scores The Official Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Round 2 Sherdog Scores Round 3 Sherdog Scores The Official Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Round 2 Sherdog Scores Round 3 Sherdog Scores The Official Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Round 2 Sherdog Scores Round 3 Sherdog Scores The Official Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Round 2 Sherdog Scores Round 3 Sherdog Scores The Official Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Round 2 Sherdog Scores Round 3 Sherdog Scores The Official Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Round 2 Sherdog Scores Round 3 Sherdog Scores The Official Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Round 2 Sherdog Scores Round 3 Sherdog Scores The Of…

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- He needed this, and he knew it. It had been some time since Corey Anderson had his hand raised in the Octagon. Precisely 501 days, which amounts to roughly 43,286,400 seconds, since Anderson stopped Sean O'Connell in two rounds on Dec. 9, 2016.

Anderson, the UFC No. 10-ranked light heavyweight, lost twice in 2017, and feared his stock was dropping. He had the perfect foil to snap his two-fight losing skid against Patrick Cummins (10-5) -- and it’s what he did.

Anderson (10-4) had his way with Cummins from the beginning, swelling his right eye in the first and pounding that weak area in the second, causing a small cut to hemorrhage blood. After repeated takedowns, Anderson coasted in the third on his way to a unanimous 30-26 (twice) and 30-27 victory on the UFC Fight Night 128 undercard from Boardwalk Hall, the first time the Ultimate Fighting Championship has been to Atlantic City’s fabled arena since UFC 53 in 2005.

“That went 100 percent a…

With just three amateur bouts under his belt, former NFL star Greg Hardy will get an opportunity to earn a UFC contract in his first professional fight.

According to a report by MMA Today, Hardy will face Brandon Sayles in a heavyweight matchup at Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series on June 12 in Las Vegas. The Contender Series debuted last summer with eight five-bout events. Competitors who had the most impressive performances received UFC contracts at the end of each card.

Hardy, who trains at American Top Team, has earned a trio of first-round stoppages in his first three amateur appearances. Most recently, he garnered a 14-second TKO win over Ryan Chester at Legacy Fighting Alliance 33 on Feb. 16. A native of Fort Benning, Ga., Sayles owns a 5-1 career professional mark.

During his tenure in the NFL, Hardy was one of the top pass rushers in football, earning second-team all pro honors in 2013 with the Carolina Panthers after finishing with 15 …

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Drama on Ultimate Fighting Championship weigh-in day seems to be becoming a regular occurrence.

UFC Fight Night 128’s main event remains unchanged, but one half of the highly-anticipated lightweight clash missed weight. Edson Barboza weighed in comfortably at 155.6,but his adversary, Kevin Lee, weighed in at 157 and will surrender 20 percent of his fight purse to his opponent.

Co-main eventers Frankie Edgar (145.6) and Cub Swanson (145) hit their marks and were subsequently greenlit for their rematch. All of the other main card fighters made weight, but on the prelims, Aspen Ladd (137.8) was too heavy for her fight with Leslie Smith (135.4). According to Ladd, Smith refused to accept the fight under the circumstances.

I apologize to my opponent @ufc @UFCFightPass @Mickmaynard2 @danawhite my team, my fam and all the fans. I was 1.8 lbs over, I was told she would not t…

Boise gets its first bout!@CatZingano takes on @BelizeanBruiser at #UFCBoise on July 14! pic.twitter.com/gxheTuo1wv

— UFC (@ufc) April 20, 2018

Cat Zingano is making her return to the Octagon.

After suffering three consecutive defeats, former title contender Cat Zingano is set for a quick turnaround as she has been booked to fight Marion Reneau at UFC Fight Night 133. While Zingano is desperate for a win, her foe is on the best run of her career thus far. Reneau is fresh off a submission victory over Olympic medalist Sara McMann and is unbeaten in her last four contests.

Zingano hasn’t tasted victory since she finished current-champ Amanda Nunes in 2014. Her conquest of Nunes earned her a shot at Ronda Rousey, but she was defeated in the first round and has since dropped consecutive decision losses.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has announced more matchups for their first event in Idaho, with another former title contender…

Alexander Gustafsson has signed a new multi-fight deal with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, announcing on Instagram that he “will be fighting very soon.”

The Swedish mixed martial artist also took a shot at UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier, who has publicly stated that he will retire before his 40th birthday in 2019. The details of Gustafsson’s contract were not revealed, but he said that he has secured “the biggest deal” of his career.

The UFC light-heavyweight contender has not fought since May 2017, when he knocked out Glover Teixeira at UFC Fight Night 109. Before that, the 31-year-old Alliance MMA representative defeated Jan Błachowicz at UFC Fight Night 93 by unanimous decision.

Gustafsson has a 10-4 record in the UFC and has won three “Fight of The Night” bonuses. The highlight of Gustafsson’s career are two spectacular and close fights for the UFC light heavyweight title: one against Jon Jones on Sept. 21, 2013 at UFC 165, and the other at…

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Fans will be eager to see what improvements Phil Brooks (also known as CM Punk) has made to his game when the former World Wrestling Entertainment star turned mixed martial artist steps back into the Octagon to face Mike Jackson at UFC 225 in Chicago on June 9 at the United Center in Chicago.

The two men have a few things in common as each made their Ultimate Fighting Championship debut in 2016 and both were submitted by rear-naked choke by Micky Gall in the first round. Punk did slightly better than Jackson, lasting 2:14 seconds compared to Jackson, who was submitted in 45 seconds.

The pair will fight in Punk’s hometown of Chicago and Jackson recently appeared on “The MMA Hour” to give his thoughts on the match while promising to inflict another loss on the former WWE star’s record.

Jackson intends to knock out Punk and insists there is no bad blood between the two, despite the fact that Pun…

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Ultimate Fighting Championship commentator Joe Rogan is still angered and perplexed what happened a fortnight ago at UFC 223 media day involving Conor McGregor and believes only the Irishman is capable of getting away with such an act.

McGregor crashed media day in an effort to intimidate his long-time rival Khabib Nurmagomedov after the Russian had an altercation with McGregor’s SBG Ireland teammate Artem Lobov days earlier inside the hotel lobby. As a direct result of McGregor’s attack on the bus, the UFC was forced to remove three fights from the card with Lobov immediately pulled from his clash with Alex Caceres for his involvement in the melee. Michael Chiesa and Ray Borg’s fights were scratched due to injuries they suffered from the attack.

Rogan is a big fan of McGregor, although has previously condemned his actions. On his latest podcast, he spoke about just how much worse the situation cou…

Credit: Joao Baptista Credit: Joao Baptista Credit: Joao Baptista

A middleweight clash between Paulo Henrique Costa and Uriah Hall that was originally scheduled for UFC Fight 128 has been rebooked for UFC 226.

Costa revealed the matchup via Instagram on Wednesday. The UFC has not formally announced the pairing. UFC 226 takes place on July 7 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and is headlined by a heavyweight tilt between reigning champion Stipe Miocic and 205-pound king Daniel Cormier.

“Borrachinha” pulled out of the initially scheduled bout with Hall due to a torn biceps. The 26-year-old Brazilian is 11-0 thus far in his MMA career, including a trio of triumphs under the UFC banner. Most recently, he scored a second-round TKO of Johny Hendricks at UFC 217 in November.

Hall will return for the first time since a scary weight cut forced him to withdraw from a matchup with Vitor Belfort at UFC Fight Night 125 in January. Hall last competed at UFC Fight Night …

Mirko Filipovic has passed an out-of-competition drug test ahead of his Bellator 200 heavyweight fight in London against Roy Nelson.

MMAjunkie.com was first to report the result. Mohegan Tribe Department of Athletic Regulation director Mike Mazzulli collected the sample on April 5 in Filipovic’s native Croatia. Mazzulli, who is also the Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports (ABC) president, is in charge of regulating Bellator’s overseas fight cards. According to Mazzulli, the results were analyzed at Quest Diagnostics in the United States and returned on Wednesday. The 43-year-old tested negative for performance enhancing drugs and drugs of abuse.

“Cro Cop” was suspended for two years by USADA for his use of human growth hormone prior to a scheduled bout against Anthony Hamilton at UFC Fight Night in Seoul, South Korea, in November 2015. The Pride Fighting Championships veteran announced his retirement shortly before the suspension, but ultimatel…

Professional Fighters League season has revealed three matchups for its season debut on June 7, and there are already some accomplished names on the card.

The rebranded promotion recently announced the following three featherweight matchups on Wednesday: Andre Harrison vs. face Jumabieke Tuerxun; Lance Palmer vs. Bekbulat Magomedov and Timur Valiev vs. Max Coga. Each PFL division features 12 fighters, with the top eight advancing to the postseason for a chance at a $1 million payout.

PFL 1 takes place at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York and will air in primetime on NBC Sports Network.

Harrison, a former World Series of Fighting titlist, is unbeaten in 17 professional appearances and is coming off a five-round verdict over Steven Rodriguez at PFL “Everett” on July 29. A native of China, Tuerxun went 0-3 during a short-lived stint in the UFC but owns a 20-5-1 professional record overall.

Palmer, who relinquished the WSOF featherweig…

Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight champion Daniel Cormier doesn’t believe anyone in the UFC can beat newly-crowned lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.

The Russian is undefeated (26-0) in his professional mixed martial arts career.

Cormier is a teammate of “The Eagle” at San Jose’s American Kickboxing Academy and is convinced that no one on the current roster can match up with Nurmgomedov inside the Octagon.

“He’ll be the only guy that never loses,” Cormier said Tuesday while on a media tour to promote “The Ultimate Fighter 27” (transcript courtesy of MMAFighting.com). “He’s not going to lose, man. They won’t know how to deal with him. He’s going to be the only guy that goes through this whole thing without losing. Because I’m not sure he’s going to be here that long. But while he’s here, nobody’s going to beat him.”

While the lightweight division is arguably the most talented stacked division, even the likes of Conor McGregor don’t worry Cormi…

The Ultimate Fighting Championship could have two broadcast partners after its current deal with Fox comes to an end.

According to a Tuesday report from Variety, ESPN and Fox Sports have recently proposed to split the UFC TV rights between the two companies. One of the elements of the deal would bring approximately 15 UFC events to the recently launched streaming service ESPN+.

Per the Variety report:

According to sources with knowledge of the proposal, ESPN has signaled that it would be willing to pay $120-180 million per year to add the Endeavor-owned mixed martial arts league to its collection of live-event rights.

Fox, which currently pays $120 million per year UFC rights, would be willing see that number increase to a little more than $200 million. Fox’s current package includes four Saturday-night fights per year on Fox Broadcasting and a number of fight events on cabler Fox Sports 1 that has increased annually under its current agreement. A joint bid …