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Tony Ferguson takes on Khabib Nurmagomedov on April 7 as the main event for UFC 223. The winner will be crowned undisputed lightweight champion as Conor McGregor has not defended the belt ever since he captured it in November 2016.

If he returns at all, McGregor could face the winner of Ferguson and Nurmagomedov. It will also guarantee whoever is standing across the Octagon from the Irishman will benefit from a huge pay day.

While the bout with McGregor would substantially grow that fighter’s bank account, Ferguson believes that there’s another money fight on the horizon against one of the greatest mixed martial artists of all time in former UFC welterweight king Georges St. Pierre.

Ferguson was in a very confident mood at the UFC media lunch for UFC 223 and talked about the potential fight (quotes courtesy of MMA Fighting).

“I mean, GSP, literally if he wants a money fight, he’s an ath…

Vitor Belfort has been one of the most feared fighters throughout his career, using devastating power coupled with ridiculous hand speed to run roughshod over his opponents. However, in the eyes of many, his career has been overshadowed by his well-publicized use of Testosterone Replacement Therapy.

Belfort, who has amassed 40 professional fights in his career, (26-13 & 1 NC) made his debut in the Ultimate Fighting Championship back at UFC 12 in February 1997, fighting the likes of David Abbott, Randy Couture and Wanderlei Silva in his early days. He even took a catchweight (210) bout with Alistair Overeem back in 2006.

However in the past few years, “The Phenom” has been much less effective inside the Octagon and has decided to hang up his four ounce gloves with one last fight against former UFC lightweight champion Lyoto Machida on May 12 at UFC 224. However, it seems that the Brazilian could be lured back if offered a large financial package.

Belfort recent…

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Professional Fighters League has landed itself a big shark.

Thursday, PFL, formerly known as World Series of Fighting, announced that it had reached a partnership agreement with reality television leader Mark Burnett, President of MGM Television Group & Digital and MGM Television. Burnett has signed on to develop and produce new content and programming for PFL's upcoming season which begins on June 7, and will entail 11 live events on the NBC Sports Network and Facebook Watch.

“We are thrilled to partner with MGM Television and Mark Burnett,” said Peter Murray, Chief Executive Officer of Professional Fighters League. “Mark’s creative vision for delivering innovative live content is among the absolute best the industry has to offer - and that is exactly what we will bring MMA fans this season.”

After a near five-year-run under the World Series of Fighting Banner, the promotion rebranded as…

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While MMA traditionally uses an air horn, some of the UFC’s biggest stars about to ring the bell.

Next Friday, ahead of UFC 223 in Brooklyn, N.Y., the New York Stock Exchange will ring in “The Big Board” the day before the Octagon settles at the Barclays Center. UFC champions Stipe Miocic, Daniel Cormier, Robert Whittaker, Tyron Woodley, Demetrious Johnson and Amanda Nunes will all be a part of the famous daily ceremony, alongside the UFC’s COO and senior executive vice president Lawrence Epstein.

UFC 223 takes place on April 7 from the Barclays Center, boasting a title doubleheader, with interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson meeting unbeaten Khabib Nurmagomedov in the main event, while Joanna Jedrzejcyk seeks to regain her women’s strawweight title from Rose Namajunas in the co-feature.

All six champions, as well as Epstein, will profile and pose for the media at 9 a.m. ET, following th…

There will be a number of familiar faces on the card when Russian promotion Fight Nights Global travels to Brazil for the first time.

The organization announced Wednesday that Fight Nights Global 87 will be headlined by a light heavyweight title bout between reigning champion Fabio Maldonado and Nikita Krylov. The card will take place in Sao Paulo on May 5 and will also see Diego Brando lock horns with Felipe Froes in the featherweight co-main event, while Elias Silverio will meet Michael Graves in another featured bout.

The 38-year-old Maldonado enters the matchup on a two-fight winning streak. He captured 205-pound gold with a third-round submission of Kurban Omarov at Fight Nights Global 73 on Sept. 4. The former professional boxer went 5-6 during a stint in the UFC from 2010 to 2015.

Since exiting the UFC, Krylov has posted a 3-0 mark, with all of those victories ending inside of two rounds. Most recently, the 26-year-old Ukraine native knocked out form…

It’s been a rough week for Ronda Rousey on the ESPN circuit, as awkward interactions with network personalities Mike Golic and Max Kellerman were used to highlight her reluctance to talk about the end of her UFC career.

However, the former bantamweight queen offered some candid thoughts on why she doesn’t want to talk about the past in an interview with ESPN.com on Wednesday. Rousey explained that, if she doesn’t find the subject matter enjoyable, she doesn’t feel obligated to discuss it. That includes her MMA career.

"I'm only here to enjoy myself. That's the only thing that's never been a priority in my life," Rousey said "In judo and MMA, there were times when the process was fun and the results were fun. And there's a time when things run their course. You fall in love, you fall out of love and you find a new love.

"There was a while when I was just looking for an honorable way out [of the UFC]. I felt satisfied that I'd proven everything I need to prov…

Now that UFC London is in the books, Michael Bisping has targeted another event in his home country for a potential farewell fight.

On his "Believe You Me” podcast, the former middleweight champion said he’d be interested in competing at UFC Fight Night 130, which takes place in Liverpool, England, on May 27.

“This is a ‘Believe You Me’ exclusive,” Bisping said on the his podcast. “UFC, I’m available. If you want me on that card, you’ve got my number.”

“The Count” hasn’t competed since being finished by Georges St. Pierre and Kelvin Gastelum during a three-week span this past November. Bisping relinquished the 185-pound belt to St. Pierre in a third-round submission loss at UFC 217, and then stepped in to face Gastelum on short notice at UFC Fight Night 125, where he fell via first-round knockout. He then targeted UFC Fight Night 127 in London for a retirement bout before eventually withdrawing from consideration for the event.

UFC Fight Night 130 tak…

Gilbert Burns will welcome Dan Moret to the Octagon at UFC on Fox 29 in Glendale, Ariz., on April 14.

Burns confirmed the lightweight pairing via Instagram following an initial report from MMAFighting.com. UFC on Fox 29 takes place at Gila River Arena and is headlined by a lightweight clash between Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje.

Burns was supposed to face Olivier Aubin-Mercier at UFC on Fox 28 in February but was pulled from the card due to concerns about his weight cut. “Durinho” competed once in 2017, scoring a second-round knockout of Jason Saggo at UFC Fight Night 116.

Moret, 31, will make his promotional debut with a 13-3 record that includes appearances in Victory Fighting Championship, Legacy Fighting Alliance and Resurrection Fighting Alliance. “The Hitman” is coming off a first-round submission of Alonzo Martinez at VFC 59.

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A word of advice to journalists: If you’re going to ask Ronda Rousey about a potential mixed martial arts return, it’s best to do it as clearly as possible.

Mike Golic learned that the hard way during an interview with the former UFC champion on ESPN’s “Golic and Wingo” show on Tuesday. Things got a bit awkward when Golic posed a follow-up question after Rousey denied saying she would never fight again. A full transcription of the exchange is as follows:

Golic: Let’s go back and start with when you knew from the MMA, when you were done there. When you knew in your mind, “I’m not going to fight anymore?”

Rousey: I never said that.

Golic: Ah, so there is a possibility that you could go back, in time?

Rousey: There’s a possibility that I could go back in time? That’s your question to me?

Golic: Go back in time and fight. Go back in the Octagon.

Rousey: I do not have the a…

It took a little more than a year, but Sarah Kaufman and Jessica-Rose Clark have finally been compensated for their fight in South Korea in March 2017.

Kaufman defeated Clark via unanimous decision at Battlefield Fighting Championship “The Great Beginning” on March 18, 2017 at Seoul Olympic Hall in Seoul, South Korea. Not long after the event, multiple fighters confirmed they hadn’t been paid by the promotion..

On Monday, both Kaufman and Clark confirmed via Instagram that they had been paid by Battlefield FC. According to a report from MMAFighting.com, Kaufman received $20,000 on Monday, while Clark got $7,000. Meanwhile, Joe Ray, who lost to Igor Svirid via first-round submission in the main event, also garnered $7,000 owed to him last week.

Kaufman has competed once since then, earning a unanimous decision over Pannie Kianzad at Invicta FC 27. Clark, meanwhile, has won three straight, including triumphs over Bec Rawlings and Paige VanZant in the UFC.

…

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Recently, UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley mentioned that he would be interested in training Floyd Mayweather for a potential foray into mixed martial arts.

Now, it appears that things could be getting more serious. The main key, according Woodley, is getting Mayweather’s takedown defense up to par.

“I talked to Floyd yesterday actually,” Woodley told TMZ Sports over the weekend. “He’s in Miami right now and we’re coordinating dates on training. I think, obviously, his striking is bar-none some of the best we’ve ever seen in the sport,” said Woodley. “Anybody who has the ability to evade a punch in a fraction of a second, I think, with proper repetition and proper drilling can avoid a takedown wrestling attempt. So that’s obviously gonna be the primary goal, to equip him with the tools to not get taken down and if he happens to get taken down, how to keep his cool and how to get his butt bac…

Here is the end of the strawweight bout between Kritsada Kongsrichai and Robin Catalan. The Thai's knockout win was overturned to a disqualification loss. pic.twitter.com/R1sbuwSXaO

— 'El Chapo' Nissi Icasiano (@Nissi_Icasiano) March 25, 2018

What appeared to be a highlight-reel victory for Kritsada Kongsrichai at One Championship “Iron Will” will now go down as a disqualification.

Kongsrichai initially earned a first-round technical knockout victory over Robin Catalan on Saturday at Impact Arena in Bangkok Thailand, as he suplexed his opponent and finished him off with punches at the 1:40 mark.

However, One Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong issued a statement via Facebook that the suplex was illegal, and as a result, Catalan would get the victory in the strawweight bout via disqualification.

“Unfortunately, I have to be the bearer of bad news. While I am a big fan of Kritsada Kongsrichai and his incredible athleticism, the figh…

Virna Jandiroba put her foot on the gas and left Mizuki Inoue behind.

Repeated takedowns, superior positional control and damaging ground-and-pound carried the undefeated Brazilian to a split decision over Inoue, as she captured the vacant Invicta Fighting Championships strawweight title in the Invicta 28 headliner on Saturday at the Union Event Center in Salt Lake City. Judges delivered 49-46 scores across the board, with Rochelle Montanez inexplicably siding with Inoue (12-5) in a fight that never felt competitive.

Jandiroba (13-0) leaned on her strengths, moved into clinch range and planted her Japanese counterpart on the canvas over and over again. By the end of the first round, Inoue was suffering from severe swelling around her left eye -- a byproduct of the short punches and hammerfists she absorbed in full guard. Jandiroba nearly finished it in Round 3, where she advanced to the back, hunted the rear-naked choke and abused the onetime Deep Jewels champion with c…

Sherdog's live Invicta FC 28 coverage kicks off at 8 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 Round 4 Sherdog Scores Round…

Two of the welterweight division’s rising contenders will square off in the main event when the Ultimate Fighting Championship travels to Chile for the first time on May 19.

According to multiple reports, Santiago Ponzinibbio and Kamaru Usman will meet in the UFC Fight Night 129 headliner at Movistar Arena in Santiago, Chile. MMAFighting.com first brought word of the bout, which is expected to be announced soon by the UFC.

A native of La Plata, Argentina, Ponzinibbio will carry a six-fight winning streak into the matchup with Usman. The 31-year-old American Top Team representative last appeared at UFC on Fox 26, where he earned a unanimous decision over Mike Perry. “Gente Boa” owns KO/TKO wins over Gunnar Nelson, Court McGee and Andreas Stahl during his current streak.

Usman, meanwhile, has won seven straight Octagon appearances and 11 fights in a row overall. “The Nigerian Nightmare” made his first appearance of 2018 at UFC Fight Night 124, where he outpoi…

Former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos wants to fight for the welterweight title. Rising 170-pound firebrand Colby Covington wants to fight dos Anjos. Both men may soon get their way.

According to a Thursday report from BJPenn.com, the Ultimate Fighting Championship is working to put together an interim championship bout between the pair of top-10 welterweights. The fight would reportedly take place at UFC 224 on May 12 at Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, headlined by a women's bantamweight title fight between Amanda Nunes and Raquel Pennington.

Despite being ostensibly healthy, current full UFC welterweight king Tyron Woodley balked at facing either man despite their emergence as contenders in recent months, preferring to angle for potential bigger paydays against fighters like Nate Diaz and Georges St. Pierre, which dos Anjos has publicly chided him for.

“I’m not his friend, family or anything close. I’m his foe,” Woodley wrote on Twitter on Feb. 7 in…

It’s safe to say former Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight king Fabricio Werdum’s last fight against Alexander Volkov didn’t go to plan. Heading into the bout, his game plan was simple: avoid boxing with the decorated striker and use combos to set his opponent up so he could take the match to the ground.

The game plan seemed to work from the start with Werdum securing a relatively easy early takedown. Once on the ground, most fans would have predicted it to be game over considering Werdum’s credentials as a jiu-jitsu practitioner. Werdum admitted to MMA Fighting that it was his lack of patience that ultimately led to his downfall and he was sapped for energy the further it went.

”Not taking anything away from Volkov, he fought and defended well on the ground, but I think that patience was my worst enemy in this fight,” Werdum told MMA Fighting. “If I had more patience, I think the fight would have been different. I came back up trading punches with him right awa…

On Wednesday, a report surfaced in the The Telegraph that the UFC’s fledgling venture into the Sweet Science, Zuffa Boxing, was going to make a serious effort to sign heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua.

According to the report, the UFC’s boxing promotion could potentially offer Joshua a “promotional multi-fight deal” worth $500 million. Additionally, UFC President Dana White will reportedly attend Joshua’s upcoming fight against Joseph Parker in Cardiff, Wales, on Saturday.

At the moment, Joshua is under contract with Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn. Speaking to ESPN.com on a conference call, Joshua said he doesn’t plan on parting ways with Hearn but that his team would work with Zuffa and White if the offer “makes sense.”

"Listen, I'm riding with Eddie. I've been riding with Eddie. He got me from the get go," Joshua said. "I'm not into the UFC so I don't know what their plans are. ... I'm interested because we can all work together. Remember, mine and Eddi…

Former title challenger Volkan Oezdemir will square off against ex-champion Mauricio Rua at UFC Fight Night 129.

Promotion officials announced the light heavyweight booking on Wednesday. UFC Fight Night 129 takes place at Movistar Arena in Chile on May 19 and will air on Fox Sports 1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass. The card does not yet have a headliner, but Santiago Ponzinibbio is rumored to be one-half of the main event.

Oezdemir burst upon the scene in 2017 with victories over Ovince St. Preux, Misha Cirkunov and Jimi Manuwa — the latter two via first-round knockout. That earned the Swiss fighter a shot at reigning light heavyweight king Daniel Cormier, but “No Time” fell to “DC” via second-round TKO at UFC 220 on Jan. 20. Oezdemir owns a 15-2 career mark that includes 11 wins by KO or TKO.

Rua, meanwhile, hasn’t competed frequently of late but has won three straight bouts over the past three years. “Shogun” last appeared at UFC Fight Night 10…

Michael Chandler won’t get his chance to avenge a previous loss to Brent Primus at Bellator 197 as originally expected.

According to multiple reports, Primus has suffered an injured knee and has been forced to withdraw from his title defense on April 13 at Family Arena in St. Charles, Mo. As a result, Brandon Girtz will replace the lightweight champion and face Chandler in the new Bellator 197 headliner. MMAFighting.com was the first to report the change. Girtz also alluded to the matchup on Twitter:

Fight in 3.5 weeks??!? Fucking Yep!! Let’s go @BellatorMMA

— Brandon Girtz (@brandongirtzmma) March 21, 2018

Primus claimed 155-pound gold at Bellator 180 last June when Chandler suffered an ankle injury in the first round of their bout. He hasn’t defended the title since that victory. Chandler, meanwhile, returned to the win column at Bellator 192, as he earned a unanimous verdict over Goiti Yamauchi.

Girtz halted a three-fight skid…

Ed Ruth is dropping from middleweight to welterweight for his next Bellator MMA appearance.

Sherdog.com confirmed with a promotion official on Tuesday that Ruth will move to 170 pounds and face Laszlo Furko in a main card bout at Bellator 196. MMAjunkie.com first reported the bout. Bellator 196 takes place at Budapest Sports Arena in Budapest Hungary on April 6 and is headlined by a lightweight clash between Benson Henderson and Roger Huerta.

A three-time NCAA wrestling champion at Penn State University, Ruth has been victorious in his first four professional appearances — all of which occurred under the Bellator MMA banner. Most recently, Ruth garnered a second-round knockout victory of Chris Dempsey at Bellator 186 on Nov. 3.

Furko is a native of Budapest who will be making his Bellator debut. The 28-year-old owns a 6-3 career mark, with all of his triumphs coming by knockout, technical knockout or submission.

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Grappling’s great purveyor of pain is making his mixed martial arts debut this weekend.

Even if you don’t keep up-to-date with submission grappling, you are likely to recognize the name Garry Tonon and it is for good reason. Tonon, a multiple time Eddie Bravo Invitational champion, is scheduled to enter the cage for the first time against Richard Corminal at One Championship “Iron Will” on March 24 and grappling fans around the world are excited.

In the meta of MMA it is hard to argue that jiu-jitsu is as all-dominating as it once was. Specialists can no longer rest on their laurels and even the greatest grapplers can struggle once strikes involved; even the arguably greatest no-gi grappler of all time, Marcelo Garcia, was defeated in his lone MMA fight, but with all that being said, optimism for Tonon’s career is high amongst fans.

Unlike most jiu-jitsu specialists, Tonon has been surrounded…

Unbeaten flyweight contender Anastasia Yankova will return to action for the first time in more than a year when she faces Kate Jackson at Bellator 200.

A promotion official confirmed the pairing to Sherdog.com following an initial report from MMAjunkie.com. Bellator 200 takes place at the SSE Arena in London on May 25 and features a middleweight title tilt between Rafael Carvalho and Gegard Mousasi. The card will be televised via tape delay in the United States on the Paramount Network at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT. Yankova vs. Jackson will be part of the preliminary portion of the card.

Yankova last appeared at Bellator 176, where she captured a unanimous decision victory over Elina Kallionidou in April 2017. The 27-year-old Russian owns a 5-0 career mark that includes three victories under the Bellator MMA banner.

Jackson, meanwhile, saw a five-fight winning streak come to an end at Bellator 191, as she dropped a unanimous verdict to former UFC title challenger…

Khabib Nurmagomedov has probably become quite familiar with Kevin Lee’s last Octagon appearance in recent months.

After all, it was Lee who came up short against Tony Ferguson in an interim lightweight title bout at UFC 216 last October, submitting to a triangle choke at the 4:16 mark of round three. Now, Nurmagomedov will square off with Ferguson in the highly-anticipated UFC 223 headliner at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., on April 7.

Nurmagomedov offered his assessment of Lee during an interview with Megan Olivi on “The Exchange.”

“He wants to be tough, but he has very small heart,” Nurmagomedov said. “Very small heart. When he fought with Tony Ferguson, between second and third round, you guys can watch his face and understand everything. Face never lie. His eyes -- when Tony Ferguson talks about, ‘This is my night,’ his face agrees with this.”

WATCH: @TeamKhabib speaks to @MeganOlivi in an all-new episode of #TheExchange on #…