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Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight Themba Gorimbo is set to return to the Octagon a little more than three months following his last promotional win.

“The Answer” will square off against Ramiz Brahimaj in his fourth promotional outing at a UFC Fight Night event scheduled to go down on May 18 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The news was first reported by Eurosport_Nl's Marcel Dorff and later confirmed by Brahimaj on social media. Other announced matchups on the card include Vanessa Demopoulos vs. Emily Ducote, Luana Pinheiro vs. Angela Hill and Hailey Cowan vs. Tamires Vidal.

Gorimbo (12-4) will enter the Octagon on the heels of back-to-back victories against Pete Rodriguez and Takashi Sato after suffering a Round 2 submission loss at the hands of A.J. Fletcher in his UFC…

A welterweight meeting between Alex Morono and Court McGee has been added to the UFC Fight Night 240 card set to go down at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on April 6.

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The news was first reported by Eurosport_NL’s Marcel Dorff on social media. UFC Fight Night 240 will be headlined by a middleweight clash pitting Marvin Vettori against Brendan Allen.

Morono (23-9) will return to the Octagon coming off a unanimous decision loss to Joaquin Buckley in October. Prior to that, “The Great White” recorded a Round 2 submission win over Tim Means in May last year.

Meanwhile, the 39-year-old McGee (21-12) is currently on a two-fight losing streak having suffered back-to-back Round 1 knockout losses against Jeremiah Wells in June 2022 and Matt Brown in May 2023. “The Crusher” has gone 2-5 in his last seven promotional outings.

Battle of the big boys 😤@JairRozenstruik vs Shamil Gaziev goes down TOMORROW!

[ #UFCVegas87 | @ESPNPlus | 4pmET/1pmPT ] pic.twitter.com/sEBx9XSWGA

— UFC (@ufc) March 1, 2024 The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns for its first event of March, which features an intriguing heavyweight showdown.

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Headlining UFC Fight Night 238 is a five-round fight between Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Shamil Gaziev. Both heavyweights successfully made weight, with "Bigi Boy" weighing in at 257 pounds and Gaziev coming in four pounds heavier. All the rest of the fighters made weight as well.

This marks the sixth UFC main event for Rozenstruik. The 35-year-old is just 1-3 in his last four fights and is coming off a loss to Jailton Almeida. Prior to knocking out Chris Daukaus, he also came up short against Alexander Volkov and Curtis Blaydes. "Bigi Boy" will look to show that he should still be feared inside the Octagon.

Meanwhile, …

The Professional Fighters League has bolstered its new flyweight bracket in a big way.

Per the PFL at the end of 2023, it will be eliminating the women’s featherweight division from tournament stakes and move a few remaining competitors like Larissa Pacheco to its “Pay-Per-View division.” In its place will be a women’s flyweight tournament, and the total number of participants is still undisclosed, although it will feature 2023 PFL Europe winner Dakota Ditcheva. According to OCP News on Friday, and confirmed shortly thereafter by the fighter and multiple outlets, Taila Santos (19-3) has joined the PFL roster to compete in the 2024 season.

The Astra Fight Team product was released from the Ultimate Fighting Championship roster on the heels of a decision loss to Erin Blanchfield in April 2023. Prior to her defeat to Blanchfield, Santos vied for the flyweight belt against Valentina Shevchenko, and ultimately dropped a narrow split decision. Santos made her way to the t…

[embedded content] A former Ultimate Fighting Championship great believes that boxers have too many advantages when MMA fighters cross over to the sweet science, and he wants to fix that.

“The Phenom” Vitor Belfort spoke on Wednesday with ex-UFC fighter Carlos Barreto and Sherdog about MMA's past, present and future. When the 46-year-old born in Rio de Janeiro discussed the early years of the sport along with fellow Carlson Gracie student Barreto, he presented a hybrid glove he created. This glove, similar to a training glove from a traditional martial art like karate, contains padding on top like a boxing glove but adds finger holes to allow for grappling. The weight of the glove will depend on the weight of the combatants, ranging from eight to 12 ounces. According to Belfort, it would even improve the odds for MMA fighters who traverse to boxing.

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“The confrontation between boxing and MMA is already a huge success, but the time for boxing fighters t…

Anatoly Malykhin will go down in history as the first three-division titleholder in a major promotion after recording a third-round technical knockout over ONE Championship middleweight boss Reinier de Ridder in the ONE 166 headliner on Friday at Lusail Sports Arena in Lusail, Qatar. It ended 1:16 into Round 3.

Right from the opening bell, Malykhin began pressing his opponent against the fence, unleashing powerful punches against “The Dutch Knight,” who looked to clinch and land knees against his advancing foe. De Ridder eventually managed to momentarily drop his opponent with a punch-low kick combo in response to the Russian’s swift punching attack. However, the combo did not seem to have much of an impact on “Sladiky,” who popped right back to his feet. Towards the end of the first frame, Malykhin got his foe to the ground with a sneaky trip and looked to land some devastating ground-and-pound. While de Ridder managed to find his way back to his feet, the Russian continue…

ONE Championship, in its pursuit of spreading the martial arts gospel, has assembled a staggering fight card for its debut on Qatar soil with ONE 166. The event is set to unfold at 7:30 a.m. ET on Friday, March 1. Sherdog.com brings live play-by-play coverage of the event to you, ensuring you are part of every moment.

The must-see event, projected to be a blockbuster, will be stacked with three world title rematches. It also presents a handful of rising talent, and a bunch of aspiring competitors with the stage to strive to produce the kind of statement necessary to carry them to even bigger matchups and more prominence in the later part of the year.

In the main event, Reinier de Ridder puts his 205-pound title on the line against two-division king Anatoly Malykhin. Just before that, the co-main event stages a 155-pound title unification bout as reigning champion Kai Tang locks horns with former champion and current interim title holder Thanh Le. The third title scrap …

A recent mixed martial arts event in Hot Springs, Arkansas, saw a rare altercation between a referee and a fighter.

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Robert Gidron took on Chauncey Foxworth in the Real Deal Championships 10 main event at Hot Springs Convention Center on Jan 20. Midway through Round 2 Gidron blatantly grabbed the cage to defend a takedown, leading to an intervention by referee Jon Munz. However, unlike the norm, Munz didn’t just intervene verbally but proceeded to put his forearm on Gidron’s throat. Gidron told MMA Junkie about the incident:

“I didn’t mean to grab the cage,” Gidron told MMAJunkie. “You can see in the video: When I went to grab the cage, as soon as I grabbed the cage and stood up, as he’s running toward me, I’m throwing my hands up. That tells you I already did wrong. I messed up. Most refs when they grab you, they say, ‘Stop, stop, stop.’

“He ran and put his forearm in my throat. Me, I’m already in fight mode. What I did, I’m not saying I was …

𝙋𝙄𝙏𝘽𝙐𝙇𝙇 𝙄𝙎 𝘾𝙊𝙈𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙏𝙊 𝘽𝙀𝙇𝙁𝘼𝙎𝙏! 👀

One of the greatest featherweights to grace the sport, Patricio Pitbull will be defending his Bellator Featherweight Title on short notice against number one contender Jeremy Kennedy at #BellatorBelfast! 🔥… pic.twitter.com/r4PJ3Mi2Vj

— Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) February 29, 2024 Bellator MMA is adding one more championship collision to its upcoming show across the pond.

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The promotion announced on Thursday in a release that Patricio Freire (35-7) would be putting his featherweight strap on the line against Jeremy Kennedy (19-3, 1 NC) at Bellator 302. Kennedy was initially slated to face James Gallagher, but Bellator opted to slot him into a title tilt and rebook Gallagher against Leandro Higo. Two additional prelims were added to complete the March 22 slate that no longer includes Sinead Kavanagh due to her foe, Leah McCourt, falling out from injury.

Freire will return to 145 pounds a…

McGregor Vs Gylenhaal!“Roadhouse” out March 21st @mgmstudios @PrimeVideo pic.twitter.com/gRzgbcpklG

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) February 27, 2024

Conor McGregor will make his major motion picture debut in March, but he apparently turned down many more opportunities in previous years.

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McGregor stars alongside Jake Gyllenhall in the “Roadhouse” remake, which is set to be released on Prime Video on March 21. The former UFC two-division champion plays Knox, who is brought in to take out Gyllenhall’s Dalton.

In an interview with Total Film, McGregor revealed that it took him a while to accept a movie part, and he might have hurt some feelings as a result.

"I had turned down a good few roles in my time on the climb," McGregor said. "I’ve had directors show up at fight camp, really beautiful directors doing really top-end movies… And over and over, they’d come to me, and I always turned them down… I’d leave peop…

KnuckleMania 4 Main Event! @PlatinumPerry vs @ThiagoAlvesATT📍April 27th in Los Angeles, CA🎟️Tix Presale: https://t.co/obIX0KYJ4F pic.twitter.com/pqk7gwBYO5

— Bare Knuckle FC (@bareknucklefc) February 28, 2024

A couple of familiar faces from the MMA world will receive top billing for Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship’s next tentpole event.

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BKFC president David Feldman announced Wednesday on "The MMA Hour" that Mike Perry will square off against Thiago Alves in the BKFC Knucklemania 4 headliner on April 27 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, two former UFC heavyweights are slated for the co-main event, as Ben Rothwell will lock horns with Todd Duffee. The event will mark the first BKFC event in California.

Perry has emerged as perhaps the top star in BKFC, compiling a 4-0 record with the promotion since parting ways with the UFC. Perry has bested the likes of Eddie Alvarez, Luke Rockhold, Michael Page and …

After a 21-second technical knockout victory over Bellator MMA heavyweight king Ryan Bader last Saturday at PFL vs. Bellator, Renan Ferreira is 100% focused on a fight with Francis Ngannou.

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Although Ngannou left the venue without entering the cage for a faceoff with the 2023 PFL heavyweight champion, Ferreira did not interpret those actions as a lack of interest in a future fight.

“Since Francis entered the PFL, that’s the fight everybody wants to see,” Ferreira told Sherdog.com. “I interpreted his attitude after my knockout to be much more of a respectful one. I think Francis knew that this was my moment, and he just respected that. I don’t see any other fight that makes sense for both of us. If he wants to make that in boxing or MMA it will not be a problem to me.”

Ferreira believes he will present some stylistic challenges for the Cameroonian-born Frenchman.

“Francis is a different guy, very strong with knockout power, but I see him walk…

Brian Ortega’s comeback at UFC Mexico was nearly derailed before it really got going.

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Ortega’s coach, Rener Gracie, revealed that the featherweight suffered a serious cut above his left eye after absorbing a headbutt in training. The wound required four stitches on the outside and 10 on the surface, according to Gracie.

“Being so close to the fight we knew that one light punch in that region would have busted it right open,” Gracie wrote. “It was our biggest concern (until he rolled his ankle during Round 0).”

Gracie posted a video of when the headbutt occurred along with a photo of the wound on his Instagram. Also included was Ortega’s video response to his coach after receiving stitches, where it becomes clear that withdrawing from his fight against Yair Rodriguez was never a consideration.

“The show continues, homie,” Ortega said. “We don’t even care. [We’re] sweating, The show continues.”

While Ortega appeared to hurt his ank…

Anatoliy Malykhin is brimming with confidence ahead of his second meeting with Reinier de Ridder at ONE 166: Qatar on Friday at the Lusail Sports Arena in Qatar.

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Malykhin (13-0) faced de Ridder (16-1) for the first time in December 2022, taking the Dutchman’s light heavyweight title via a brutal Round 1 technical knockout. “Sladkiy” has since knocked out Arjan Singh Bhullar this past June in a heavyweight title unification bout. The undefeated Russian will make a triple champ bid in the main event of ONE Championship’s Qatar debut with de Ridder’s middleweight (205-pound) title on the line.

Malykhin predicted a similar outcome to their first fight during his appearance at the ONE 166 pre-fight press conference.

“I’m ready for this Friday. I’m gonna go and get my third belt,” he said. “I’m gonna knock him out the same way I did before. I’m thankful for this opportunity. I cannot explain how excited I am to be here on Friday and show everybody…

ONE Championship strawweight (125-pound) title holder Jarred Brooks claims he’ll leave no doubt about his GOAT status when he defends his strap against former champ Joshua Pacio at ONE 166: Qatar on March 1.

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Brooks (20-2) will return to action for the first time since December 2022, when he dethroned Pacio (20-4) via a hard-earned unanimous decision in a bout that some believe could have gone either way. While Brooks believes he did enough to get his hand raised last time, he plans to quiet the remaining doubters by finishing Pacio in the rematch.

“I think I beat Joshua Pacio pretty [definitively] last time,” Brooks said at a pre-fight press conference. “I’m willing to do that again and again and again until Joshua Pacio’s name is completely out of the picture and I am the best strawweight ever. I am the GOAT of the strawweights.‌

“People are underestimating my hunger and my goals in ONE Championship. Now, I’m here to show Joshua Pacio who i…

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While retirement talks loom large in the aftermath of Jon Jones’ upcoming heavyweight title fight against Stipe Miocic, UFC CEO Dana White isn’t so sure that would be the best move for either athlete.

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While Jones and Miocic were originally scheduled to fight at UFC 295 this past November, “Bones” was forced out due to a torn pectoral muscle. Tom Aspinall went on to defeat Russian knockout artist Sergei Pavlovich in an interim title booking that was put together at the last moment.

Jones was also offered a slot for UFC 300 in April but turned it down, as he wouldn’t recover in time from a recent elbow surgery. With no timeline in sight for Jones’ return, Aspinall initially called for the champ to be stripped of the title and has since been rallying for a booking against either “Bones” or Miocic.

However, judging by their stance over recent months, there is a lot of speculation about both Jones and Miocic retiring after their…

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Israel Adesanya claims to have agreed to headline UFC 300 against Dricus Du Plessis only to find out that the middleweight champ had turned the fight down.

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UFC matchmakers were long in search of a high-caliber booking to feature as the main event of the landmark card, which goes down at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on April 13. While Alex Pereira will now defend his light heavyweight strap against Jamahal Hill in the headliner, Adesanya also reportedly received the call for the slot. However, “The Last Stylebender” claims Du Plessis didn’t accept the fight due to minor injuries suffered in the South African’s title win over Sean Strickland at UFC 297 in January.

“There’s some things that were meant to happen,” Adesanya said on the “This Past Weekend” podcast with Theo Von. “They summoned me, I’m sure this is out there now… but they summoned me for [UFC] 300, and I was like ‘Yep, let’s roll.’ But their side didn’t want it. They …

Raul Rosas Jr. recently detailed the illness that forced him out of his UFC Mexico booking against Ricky Turcios last Saturday.

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The 19-year-old Mexican-American prospect, who is the youngest fighter on the Ultimate Fighting Championship roster, was slated to appear in front of a home crowd on the main card against Turcios. However, the bantamweight booking fell through at the very last minutem with Rosas Jr. pulling out right before the walkout.

It was announced on the broadcast that Rosas Jr. fell ill and was unable to show up for the fight despite trying his best to be ready throughout the day. “El Nino Problema” has now issued a statement reiterating the same, also detailing the symptoms of his illness while not pinning down the exact cause.

“Sorry to everyone who was waiting for my performance,” he wrote on Instagram stories. “I was sick all day with dizziness, light headed [and] cough. I tried my best to recover to go out and perform s…

Shir Cohen will lock horns with Teodora Kirilova in an atomweight (115-pound) muay thai affair at One on Prime Video 20.

Sources close to the situation confirmed the booking to Sherdog.com on Thursday. ONE Fight Night 20 takes place on March 8 at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, and features a women’s 115-pound title unification bout between reigning ONE kickboxing champion Janet Todd and interim queen Phetjeeja OrMeekhun. In the co-main event, Allycia Hellen Rodrigues will defend her 115-pound muay thai belt against Cristina Morales.

Cohen, 8-1, who hails from Thailand by way of Israel, is anchored at Fairtex Gym and is a training partner of current MMA 115-pound title holder Stamp Fairtex.

A native of Bulgaria, Kirilova has captured multiple titles in both kickboxing and muay thai. Kirilova will take a 14-0 record into her matchup with Cohen.

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Business was booming for the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2023.

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According to a financial report from TKO Group Holdings — the parent company for both the UFC and World Wrestling Entertainment — the Las Vegas-based promotion generated $1.3 billion in revenue, which is up 13% from the previous year. Meanwhile, UFC revenue for the fourth quarter of 2023 was $282.8 million, up from $271.7 million in 2022.

The promotion’s increase in profitability was driven by a 34% increase in revenue for live events to a record $168 million in 2023. The UFC held 43 live events last year, and the increase was driven by ticket revenues and site fees, per a release.

Meanwhile, sponsorship revenue increased 18% to 196 million — also a record — and was driven by “new brand partners and renewal increases.” The UFC also reported $870.6 million in revenue from media rights and content, which was up from $794.4 million in 2022, and $57.4 million …

This weekend’s UFC Fight Night 238 card will look different than originally anticipated.

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First, a bantamweight showdown between Ricky Turcios and Raul Rosas Jr. will not move to Saturday’s event as it was initially announced over the weekend. Turcios and Rosas Jr. were supposed to meet at UFC Mexico this past Saturday but the bout was scrapped prior to walkouts on account of Rosas Jr. falling ill.

The promotion later announced that the bout would be rebooked for UFC Fight Night 238, but Turcios disputed that news on social media. Now, the fight is officially off, and it is unclear if it will be rebooked at a later date. MMAjunkie.com was first to report that Turcios vs. Rosas Jr. was not happening.

The Las Vegas-based organzation also confirmed multiple other changes to the UFC Fight Night 238 lineup on Tuesday.

Injury has forced Brendon Marotte to withdraw from a featherweight scrap against Mohammad Yahya, and as a result the fight ha…

Flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja traveled to Mexico to watch the main event of UFC Fight Night 237 last Saturday certain of two things.

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First, the winner of the evening’s headliner would determine his opponent for UFC 301 in Rio de Janeiro on May 4 and second, he would receive a hostile reception from fans in Mexico City. As it turned out, Pantoja was in for a surprise.

“I thought I was going to be offended by the Mexicans, and it was exactly the opposite,” he said. “They welcomed me very affectionately and even shouted ‘Hey hermano, Pantoja is Mexicano.’”

The result of the UFC Mexico main event may have altered the promotion’s plans, as Brandon Royval took a split decision over Brandon Moreno in a somewhat surprising result.

“I think the whole stage was set for Moreno to win and come to Rio,” Pantoja said. “The fight was very even and the fact that he beat Moreno months after I won five rounds against him [Royval] shows the level I'm at…

Credit: Getty Images/Zuffa Credit: Getty Images/Zuffa Credit: Getty Images/Zuffa

While some wonder how Anshul Jubli will cope with his lone career setback, his coach, Siddharth Singh, is confident that “King of Lions” will come back with a vengeance as he has done in the past.

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Jubli put India on the world mixed martial arts map by winning the first Road to UFC tournament in the lightweight category last year. The then undefeated prospect then took on Mike Breeden at UFC 294 in October last year, suffering a third-round technical knockout loss after winning the first two rounds on the scorecards.

This marked the first setback for Jubli including his amateur career, leading to some speculations about how it could affect his mindset. However, coach Singh has seen Jubli lose before and cope incredibly well with it.

Singh, the head coach and owner of Crosstrain Fight Club in New Delhi, is confident that Jubli will be hungrier and more complete upon…

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Paulo Costa isn’t wasting any time in plotting his next matchup after coming up short against Robert Whittaker earlier this month.

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While he dropped a unanimous decision, Costa had an impressive showing after a year and a half of inactivity against the former middleweight champ at UFC 298 on Feb. 17. Rather than dwell on his loss, “Borrachinha” has already issued a callout to former welterweight champ Kamaru Usman in a recent interview.

Usman moved up to middleweight for his last outing at UFC 294 in October 2023 for a short-notice clash against Khamzat Chimaev. He was a replacement for Costa, who was unable to recover from an elbow surgery in time to fight. “The Nigerian Nightmare” dropped a tightly-contested majority decision which, according to Costa, doesn’t count for anything.

“He comes from loss, I come from loss,” Cosat told Submission Radio. “So, yes, me and him need to put a win in the records. I think he did already…