Blog

📣 #Yogibo presents #RIZIN47💥💥 Matchup Announcement 💥💥

RIZIN MMA Rules 61.0kg

Advertisement

🟥 #KyojiHoriguchi / @kyoji1012First-ever RIZIN Flyweight Championーーー🆚ーーー🟦 #SergioPettis / @sergiopettisFormer Bellator World Bantamweight Champion

🏟️ Yoyogi National Gymnasium,… pic.twitter.com/SnFB3SvWAu

— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) April 19, 2024 Rizin Fighting Federation is not messing around with its trip to Tokyo this June.

The organization broke the news on Friday morning, announcing a trio of noteworthy pairings for Rizin 47 on June 9. The event will be held at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo. The main attraction will come at the bantamweight division, when Sergio Pettis (23-6) and Kyoji Horiguchi (32-5, 1 NC) run back a thrilling encounter in 2021.

Horiguchi and Pettis first met atop Bellator 272, with Pettis defending his Bellator MMA bantamweight throne against his Japanese counterpart. The America…

While Pedro Carvalho believes one aspect of the Professional Fighters League ruleset will take some adjusting to, he also sees an upside to it.

The former Bellator MMA featherweight is scheduled to make his PFL debut against former champ Brendan Loughnane (26-5) in the co-main event at PFL 3 on April 19 (Tune into ESPN and ESPN+ at 9:30 p.m. ET for the main card.) Along with its unique season format, PFL also follows the unified rules of mixed martial arts, with some exceptions. PFL doesn’t allow any elbow strikes, significantly affecting ground and clinch exchanges. While Carvalho is mostly concerned about adapting to elbows being banned, he also sees an upside in not standing the threat of getting elbowed himself.

Advertisement

“Well, clearly the biggest one that I have to mention is the elbows, you know, we can’t elbow,” the 28-year-old said during PFL Chicago media day. “But I prefer to think that I’m not going to get elbowed, you know, I prefer to think the …

[embedded content] Bellator MMA has retained the services of a high-flying, hard-swinging Brazilian.

A fighter billed as one of the more talented featherweight prospects of Brazilian MMA, Jonas Bilharinho (11-2-1) will make his Bellator debut on May 17 against Frenchman Yves Landu (20-9). The 33-year-old first made a splash on the big stage in the 2021 season of Dana White's Contender Series. While he won by spinning wheel kick, he was not signed by the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Bilharinho spoke to Sherdog about this new fight, where he discussed his expectations of competing in a major organization and about the fight at Bellator Paris itself.

Advertisement

“I’m very anxious for that debut and it will be against a Frenchman in Paris,” Bilharinho told Sherdog. “It just recalled my debut in Jungle Fight where I fought a local from Sao Paulo in his homeland with all the cheering against me. But I really love to fight in that position because I like to use that…

Did they really give her Smelling Salts #UFC300 pic.twitter.com/q7nYsp1VO1

— D H (@diegomayra) April 14, 2024

Xiaonan Yan has issued a clarification about the chaotic end of the first round of her UFC 300 clash against Weili Zhang.

Advertisement

Yan (18-4) challenged her compatriot for the strawweight title in UFC 300 co-main event last weekend. “Fury” showed an immense display of grit en route to an emphatic unanimous decision loss against the champ. Yan was caught in a deep rear-naked choke in the final seconds of the opening frame and appeared to have passed out as the clock expired. She was visibly struggling while walking back to her corner but managed to gather herself and go hard for four more rounds. The Chinese standout admits that she had almost passed out but not quite.

“I think since she took my back and she got the rear-naked choke position very quickly. But I still believe I can defend that,” the 34-year-old said on …

Alex Pereira appears to have ruled himself out of competing again in a few weeks.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight king prevailed at UFC 300, punching out Jamahal Hill to defend his throne. After the victory, “Poatan” expressed that he would like to make a short-notice turnaround for the May 4 pay-per-view event in Rio de Janeiro. On Wednesday, however, Pereira spoke with Brazilian journalist Laerte Viana, where he discussed another injury sustained during the bout that will likely keep him out of action for the near future.

Advertisement

“I broke the toe of the right foot 15 days before the fight,” Pereira explained. “It was during my penultimate sparring [session], so it didn’t affect my preparation at all. The problem is when it occurs at the beginning of the camp. But during the fight, I broke my left toe as well, when I kicked his leg the second time.”

With two broken toes, Pereira believes he would not be medically cleared, and could ri…

According to Logan Storley, the vast experience of competing in high-level wrestling tournaments for most of his life will offer him an upper hand in the Professional Fighters League season format.

Storley (15-2) is set to make his PFL debut against undefeated Russian prospect Shamil Musaev (14-0-1) at PFL 3: 2024 Regular Season on April 19 (tune into ESPN and ESPN+ at 9:30 p.m. ET for the main card.) Like most Bellator MMA fighters making the switch to PFL, Storley will also have to adjust to the season format, which requires them to compete at a much higher frequency.

Advertisement

However, “Storm” believes his impressive wrestling pedigree will help him adapt well to the PFL’s tournament structure. An accomplished wrestler, Storley was a six-time South Dakota High School Activities Association title holder and a four-time NCAA All-American at the University of Minnesota. Storley believes his experience of competing in back-to-back grappling matches, while havi…

Having not won a title despite being one of the most highly touted Professional Fighters League welterweights, Magomed Umalatov has changed things going into his third season with the PFL.

Umalatov (14-0) was 9-0 with all stoppage wins when he started his PFL journey in 2021. Despite picking up consecutive wins over Kyron Bowen and Leandro Silva, Umalatov wasn’t featured in the playoffs that year.

Advertisement

“Prince” scored a knockout win over Jarrah Al-Silawi in July 2022 to earn the last playoff spot for the PFL 2022 season. However, visa issues forced Umalatov out of a scheduled booking against Rory McDonald. Umalatov scored back-to-back wins over Dilano Taylor and Nayib Lopez in PFL’s 2023 regular season but withdrew from a bout against Magomed Magomedkerimov due to undisclosed reasons.

Umalatov is now slated to start his PFL 2024 season against former Bellator MMA champ Andrey Koreshkov (27-4) at PFL 3 on April 19 (tune into ESPN and ESPN+ at 9:30 p.m. …

Two more bouts have been added to the UFC 303 lineup, as Joe Pyfer will face Marc-Andre Barriault at middleweight, while Michelle Waterson-Gomez will meet Gillian Robertson at strawweight.

Advertisement

The Las Vegas-based promotion confirmed the pairing on Wednesday. UFC 303 takes place on June 29 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and is headlined by a welterweight showdown pitting Conor McGregor against Michael Chandler.

After winning his first three Octagon appearances inside the distance, Pyfer suffered his first promotional defeat at UFC Fight Night 236, where he dropped a five-round verdict to Jack Hermansson in the evening’s headliner on Feb. 10. That defeat ended a five-bout winning streak overall for the Dana White's Contender Series alum.

Barriault was unsuccessful in his first outing of 2024, as he fell to Chris Curtis via split decision at UFC 297 on Jan. 20. The Canadian known as “Power Bar” was coming off a 2-0 campaign the previous year, w…

Brendan Loughnane is one who embraces the grind of the Professional Fighters League season.

Advertisement

The format isn’t for everyone, but the 34-year-old Manchester native keeps coming back. He’ll begin his fourth season with the promotion when he faces Pedro Carvalho at PFL 3 on Friday night at Wintrust Arena in Chicago.

“I am a fighter to my core,” Loughnane said during a PFL media event on Wednesday. “I love fighting. I love cutting weight. I love, I love training. I love competition. iIt's what gets me up in the morning — it's the spark, and that means more to me than money or any belt.

“[It] gives me purpose, and I absolutely love this s—t. I choose to do this. I made some good investments, now got a belt [but] I am choosing to be here and still fight the best guys in the world in the hardest tournament in the world because I love it.”

One thing that stands out among Loughnane’s comments is his enjoyment of cutting weight, a process that is typic…

Andrey Koreshkov and Magomed Umalatov may come from the same country, but this won’t be a friendly sparring match.

Advertisement

Koreshkov and Umalatov will square off in the evening’s featured bout at PFL 3 on Friday at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago on Friday night. The Russian athletes will be vying for points in the regular season standings at welterweight, and Koreshkov is expecting an intense confrontation in the cage as a result.

“I would say that there will be no compromises in this fight, even though we both come from Russia, but it doesn't mean that we will feel sorry for each other in the fight,” Koreshkov said through a translator during a PFL media event on Wednesday. “We are going to fight like we are going to fight anybody else, so it's going to be a very spectacular, very brutal, very exciting fight — so don't blink.”

A former Bellator MMA champion, Koreshkov has 31 bouts of professional experience to his credit. Meanwhile, the undefeated Uma…

For the first time in almost 13 years, we’re headed back to The ‘Ville. We’ll see you on June 8th for #UFCLouisville. @ufc pic.twitter.com/ogIMo5nYbY

— KFC Yum! Center (@kfc_yumcenter) April 17, 2024

The Ultimate Fighting Championship will venture outside the confines of the UFC Apex for its June 8 event.

The Las Vegas-based promotion announced on Wednesday that UFC Fight Night card will take place at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky. It will be the UFC’s first trip to the city since March 3, 2011.

The promotion’s last card at the venue was UFC Live 3, which saw Diego Sanchez take a controversial unanimous decision win against Martin Kampmann in the evening’s headliner. The event also saw the likes of Chris Weidman, Mark Munoz and Rousimar Palhares earn victories.

The upcoming UFC Fight Night event doesn’t currently have a headliner, but multiple bouts have been announced or reported. This includes the likes of Ra…

Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight Lyman Good, and his partner, Micka Nugent, were involved in a car accident on Saturday.

Advertisement

While Good is reportedly recovering well from a few sustained injuries, Nugent is still critical and currently in a medically-induced coma. The news was first announced on the official Instagram page of Team Tiger Schulmann, where Good is an instructor.

Any messages or wishes for Good and Nugent are to be directed to the fighter-turned-coach.

“If you would like somewhere to direct your love and support, you can send a dm to [Good] and any messages meant for Micka he will read to her, as he is by her side,” read a statement on the Team Tiger Schulmann Instagram page. “He is not in a place to be bombarded with questions and might not respond anytime soon but he will surely appreciate the prayers and well wishes.”

Good kicked off his professional mixed martial arts career with a 10-fight winning streak befor…

[embedded content]

French light heavyweight standout Oumar Sy is set to make his debut on the big stage against Rodolfo Bellato in May.

Advertisement

Sy (9-0) will make his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut against Bellato (12-2) at UFC Fight Night 241 on May 18 at the Apex in Las Vegas. The matchup was reported by Eurosports_Nl’s Marcel Dorff in a post to X (formerly known as Twitter). Sy later confirmed the booking on social media.

Sy will be making his promotional debut almost seven months after his UFC signing in October 2023. The French prospect sports a perfect 9-0 record which includes seven stoppage wins. The Bulgarian Top Team representative last competed in June 2023, when he stopped Brazilian UFC alum Ildemar Alcantara in the first round at King of Fighters 1 .

The Frenchman will face a huge step up in competition in Bellato, who is riding a four-fight winning streak that includes three finishes. “Trator” got his first Dana White’s Contend…

Weili Zhang took a potentially difficult moment and turned it into a positive at UFC 300.

Advertisement

While it appeared that Zhang had rendered opponent Xiaonan Yan unconscious with a rear-naked choke before the end of the opening round in their strawweight title fight, the bout was allowed to continue. The fight ultimately went the full 25 minutes, but Zhang was able to persevere — even surviving a knockdown in Round 3 — to emerge with a relatively clear-cut unanimous decision triumph.

Zhang came away impressed with Yan’s ability to recover, but outside of that, she claims to not have much memory of the rest of the fight.

“I really thought that she was out, and I did not know how the referee was going to handle that. But she bounced back very quickly in the second round,” Zhang said through a translator at Saturday’s post-fight press conference.

“I felt like I was in a dream. I blanked out during the fight. I didn’t know what I was doing.”

The UFC…

It was a rough night for Cody Garbrandt at UFC 300.

Advertisement

Not only did the former bantamweight champion suffer a second-round submission defeat to Deiveson Figueiredo, but he also experienced vertigo during the bout, which was the first prelim on Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

“I felt great in my fight until I started to experience vertigo,” Garbrandt wrote on X. “I couldn’t control the spinning once it was to the ground. Hats off to Deiveson and his camp! I ended up going to the hospital where I was still experiencing the vertigo, throwing up until 4 a.m.

“… I’ll get this corrected. I’ve dealt with vertigo since 2012. Thank you to the fans that came out to support. It wasn’t my night, but I love doing what I do. I’ll be back in there before the year is up.”

UFC 300 🙏🏼 pic.twitter.com/Lt2uRwObQg

— Cody Garbrandt (@Cody_Nolove) April 16, 2024

Garbrandt did well on the feet in the opening stanza again…

Jorge Masvidal claims to have received special permission from the Ultimate Fighting Championship to return to the promotion after a brief boxing stint.

Advertisement

Masvidal announced his retirement at UFC 287 in April 2023 after a decision loss against Gilbert Burns, which marked the Miami native's fourth defeat in a row. However, the former BMF champ soon declared that he would be returning to competition for a boxing match against Nate Diaz, who chose not to re-sign with the promotion after completing his contract in 2022. Masvidal and Diaz are scheduled to compete in a boxing match on June 1 at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles, under the Fanmio Boxing banner.

While the UFC hasn’t traditionally allowed signed fighters to compete in boxing — with the exception of Conor McGregor — Masvidal claims to have received a similar exemption. According to "Gamebred," Solomon Engel, Fanmio CEO, was able to move a few pieces to let the UFC loan him “Gamebred” for three f…

The ending of the UFC 300 BMF title fight between Max Holloway and Justin Gaethje elicited a once-in-a-lifetime reaction from referee Marc Goddard.

Advertisement

Goddard was the third man in the cage as Gaethje and Holloway delivered the “Fight of the Night,” living up to every bit of BMF hype. Holloway put on arguably his career-best performance, piecing “The Highlight” apart gradually before knocking him out cold in a wild, last-second exchange.

Like most viewers, Goddard also reacted involuntarily to the finish, which has already etched its place in the history books. The veteran Ultimate Fighting Championship referee later requested the promotion to release his mic audio to reveal his genuine reaction to the jaw-dropping finish.

“I’d love the UFC to release the mic’d audio from me, “ Goddard wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter). “I literally screamed out at that ending, first time in 20 years. It was an automatic reaction I guess. I’m still speechle…

Aljamain Sterling was admittedly at somewhat of a crossroads in his career going into his UFC 300 clash against Calvin Kattar on Saturday.

Advertisement

Sterling made his featherweight debut against the New England Cartel standout, earning a dominant unanimous decision victory with a stifling grappling display. While “Funk Master” nullified all offense from Kattar, many believe he would have done better to aggressively seek a finish. The former bantamweight champion insists he is in the game to be on top of the ladder, which made him consider retirement leading up to the fight in case of a loss.

“I think if I got my ass completely kicked by Calvin Kattar, I was probably done. And no one knew about that, I didn’t share those sentiments with anybody. Even my fiancé. It’s just one of those things,” Sterling said on “The MMA Hour”.

“I mean, I mentioned it to her like, ‘Well if I can’t beat him, I don’t know.’ But I didn’t really go into detail what that actual…

Renato Carneiro appears to be a vocal advocate of the Austrian-inspired economic libertarianism movement in Brazil.

Advertisement

“Moicano” survived an early scare to score a come-from-behind stoppage win against Jalin Turner in arguably his toughest test to date at UFC 300 on Saturday. “Money” gave a shoutout to Austrian American economist Ludwig von Mises in his post-fight Octagon interview.

“Moicano” advised people who love their country to read “Economic Policy: Thoughts For Today And Tomorrow” by Mises which was republished in Portuguese as “Six Lessons, Economic Policy.” The book, which is one of Mises’ most popular, discusses capitalism, socialism, inflation, etc. in a series of six lectures he delivered in Argentina. Carneiro explained his shoutout on “The MMA Hour.”

“Because I’m very concerned. A lot of people talk to me about money,” he said. “But, the problem is, it’s not about how much money you get, it’s about how much money you can keep. And …

Just three bouts into his Ultimate Fighting Championship tenure, Bo Nickal has already set a pretty high bar.

Advertisement

That’s probably why his second-round submission of Cody Brundage in his third outing at UFC 300 was met with a collective shrug from the MMA community. After all, Nickal’s first five professional appearances all ended inside of a round. For whatever it’s worth, the former NCAA national champion wrestler wasn’t too impressed with his performance, either.

“I feel good, but it’s definitely mixed emotions because I felt like I could have performed better,” Nickal said in a backstage interview with the UFC. “I don’t judge based on wins and losses, I judge based on how I feel I performed. i could have done a lot better in certain areas. Given the time off, I was a little too amped up. And given the fact that I finished everybody pretty fast, I was trying to knock the guy out. So it’s just a good lesson and stuff that I’ll be appreciative of movi…

Arman Tsarukyan punched a fan during his walkout to fight Charles Oliveira 😅 pic.twitter.com/DMoX27o8H1

— Happy Punch (@HappyPunch) April 14, 2024

The fan who was the target of an Arman Tsarukyan punch during the fighter’s walkout at UFC 300 doesn’t plan on taking legal action against the promotion.

Advertisement

Video surfaced of Tsarukyan throwing a punch into the crowd as he walked to the Octagon for his lightweight bout against Charles Oliveira at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night. The fan, who has been identified as Obed Ardon, has issued a statement regarding his actions at the event.

“I’d like to apologize to Arman for provoking him by flipping him off. I was buzzing all day and the moment got to me,” Ardon told Bloody Elbow.

“It was my first time attending a live UFC event and it was absolutely incredible. I’m glad the incident wasn’t as bad as it could have been. I do want to make clear that I didn’t pull…

Former Bellator MMA champion Patricky Freire’s debut in the Professional Fighters League against Clay Collard was one of the most anticipated fights of the organization’s 2024 season.

Advertisement

The bout lived up to the hype, as the Brazilian floored Collard in the opening stanza before suffering a technical knockout loss at the 1:32 mark of Round 2 on Friday at the Theater at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas.

Freire revealed that his change in demeanor late in the opening frame was due to an injury that plagued him in his camp.

“This camp was very tough for me,” Freire told Sherdog.com. “I had tendonitis in my knee that forced me to have an injection 10 days ago, otherwise I wouldn't be able to fight.

"A lot of people asked me after the fight why I changed my aggressive posture after the knockdown. [It was because] I felt some kicks he landed in addition to the injury.”

Freire revealed that he is scheduled to undergo a healing stem cell treatmen…

🦁🔥 #ufc300 pic.twitter.com/5VYCApO0Ke

— Amanda Nunes (@Amanda_Leoa) April 14, 2024

Kayla Harrison didn’t take long to respond to the video published by former two-division Amanda Nunes in the aftermath of the Olympic judoka’s successful Octagon debut at UFC 300.

Advertisement

“I didn’t say her name because for me Amanda was already retired,” Harrison told Brazilian journalist Diego Ribas. “If I knew she was planning to return, of course I would call her out. But if she wants to come back, I will welcome her with open arms.”

While Harrison looked strong in her first fight at 135 pounds, she admitted that making the cut was challenging.

“The last pound was mentally very hard,” Harrison said. “I slept really bad that night, but whenever I set a goal in my life I always achieve it.”

Current bantamweight champion Raquel Pennington recently stated that Harrison should not be able to fight for a UFC title in just her second pr…

Aljamain Sterling is well aware that his victory over Calvin Kattar at UFC 300 won’t be enough to propel him into an immediate title shot at 145 pounds.

Advertisement

While “The Funkmaster” controlled the fight with takedowns and control to sweep the scorecards in his featherweight debut, it wasn’t the type of effort that turned heads, particularly on a night filled with memorable performances. Sterling elected to move to 145 pounds after losing the bantamweight crown to Sean O’Malley at UFC 292 last August, ending a reign that spanned three successful title defenses.

“Everyone’s telling me to cheer up, but I’m just a little bit down on the performance,” Sterling said in a backstage interview with the UFC on Saturday night. “Mentally, from my internal perspective, it felt like if I’m going to challenge for a belt, I need to be able to do a little bit more. I’m my own worst critic sometimes. I know I did well. It’s just I felt like, is that championship material?…