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Aspen Ladd will shift from Professional Fighters League to Bellator MMA for a showdown against Katerina Shakalova on May 17.

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The promotion announced the featherweight pairing on Tuesday. Ladd vs. Shakalov will be part of the Bellator Champions Series Paris card, which takes place at Accor Arena and is headlined by a lightweight championship clash between Usman Nurmagomeodv and Alexandr Shabliy.

A seven-time UFC veteran, Ladd took part in the PFL’s featherweight season in 2023. The 29-year-old Californian last competed at the organization’s championship event, where she dropped a unanimous decision to Kayla Harrison in a 150-pound catchweight bout. The PFL does not have a 145-pound weight class for its 2024 season, which likely prompted Ladd’s move to Bellator.

Shakalova made her promotional debut this past August, taking a split verdict over Dayana Silva at Bellator 298. The 26-year-old Ukraine native has won eight of her nine professional …

Ihor Potieria will be returning to action a little sooner than originally anticipated.

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The 27-year-old Ukraine native will step in and face Michel Pereira at UFC 301 on May 4 in Rio de Janeiro. Potieria is a replacement for Makhmud Muradov, who recently announced his withdrawal from the event. Multiple outlets confirmed the new middleweight booking following an initial report from MMA Mania. Potieira was originally slated to face Sharabutdin Magomedov at UFC Saudi Arabia on June 22 before accepting the fight against Pereira.

UFC 301 takes place at Rio Arena and is headlined by a flyweight title tilt pitting Alexandre Pantoja against Steve Erceg.

Potieira snapped a two-bout skid in his first appearance of 2024, as he took a unanimous decision win against Robert Bryczek at UFC Fight Night 236 on Feb. 10. “The Duelist” is 2-3 during his promotional tenure and 20-5 as a professional overall.

Pereira, meanwhile, has won seven straight UFC bo…

Tom Aspinall has made it clear that he prefers Curtis Blaydes as his next opponent over Ciryl Gane.

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Despite winning the UFC interim heavyweight title with a knockout over Sergei Pavlovich last November, Aspinall is currently in a bit of a fix regarding his next fight. While champ Jon Jones is sidelined with an injury, he is expected to return against Stipe Miocic. That leaves Aspinall with only two logical opponents, Blaydes and Gane.

Having seemingly given up all hopes of fighting Jones or Miocic next, Aspinall's next choice is Blaydes, who derailed Brazilian contender Jailton Almeida’s hype train at UFC 299 last month with a second-round knockout. The interim champion wants to correct an unfortunate injury loss he suffered against Blaydes in 2022, when he blew out his knee in 15 seconds, leading to the only blemish on his UFC record.

“Curtis Blaydes… Because we were supposed to fight, we had a fight for 15 seconds, I injured my knee and he …

All The Way to the @PaulHughesMMA unleashed relentless aggression in our #CW170 Co-main event! pic.twitter.com/VzidYjPmWi

— Cage Warriors (@CageWarriors) April 8, 2024

Top prospect Paul Hughes, who is currently a free agent, has expressed his interest in a potential clash with Paddy Pimblett.

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Hughes exhausted his contract with Cage Warriors, scoring a first-round knockout over Fabiano Silva at Cage Warriors 170 on April 6 in his final bout with the European promotion. Hughes shared much of his limelight at Cage Warriors with Pimblett, who signed with the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2021.

While both held the Cage Warriors featherweight title, they never crossed paths, as Pimblett moved up to 155 pounds in 2018. Hughes also made the move to lightweight last year, vacating his featherweight strap.

In a recent Instagram post where Hughes invited suggestions for his future, a fan proposed a tilt against “The B…

Sean Strickland has given his reason for seemingly turning down a booking against Paulo Costa.

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Costa recently revealed that Strickland had snubbed a proposed matchup between the two for UFC 302 on June 1 in Newark, New Jersey.

Costa is coming off a unanimous decision loss against Robert Whittaker at UFC 298 in February, where the Brazilian put on a gritty performance in his return to action after a year and a half.

“Borrachinha” was reportedly in talks about a potential clash with Jared Cannonier next before the Ultimate Fighting Championship abruptly suggested the Strickland booking. While Costa was even more excited about fighting “Tarzan,” the former champ seemingly turned down the offer.

“This is great stuff. UFC, suggest I fight [Jared] Cannonier. It’s a nice fight and I love the idea to fight Cannonier and they suggest that fight for June,” Costa said on The Coach and The Casual podcast

“But then, two days ago UFC come and say, …

A matchup of promising middleweights has been added to a UFC Fight Night event on June 15.

Andre Muniz (24-6) will take on Ikram Aliskerov (15-1) at UFC Fight Night at the promotion’s Apex in Las Vegas. The matchup was first reported by Brazilian mixed martial arts reporter Laerte Viana on X (formerly known as Twitter). Both Muniz and Aliskerov have since confirmed the pairing on social media.

Muniz is coming off a split-decision win over Jun Yong Park in his last outing this past December. “Sergipano” kicked off his Ultimate Fighting Championship career with a five-fight winning streak before suffering consecutive stoppage losses against Brendan Allen and Paul Craig.

Meanwhile, Aliskerov’s last pro loss came against Khamzat Chimaev under the Brave CF banner back in 2019, which “Borz” has labeled the toughest matchup of his career. The Dagestani standout earned his UFC contract with a Round 1 submission victory on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2022 a…

A women’s flyweight matchup between Viviane Araujo against Jasmine Jasudavicius has been added to a UFC Fight Night event scheduled for July 13.

The booking was first reported by MMAjunkie.com and later announced by Jasudavicious on social media. The event does not have a confirmed location or headliner.

Araujo is coming off a unanimous decision loss against Natalia Silva in February and is 1-3 in her last four. Her only win in this stretch came via unanimous decision over Jennifer Maia in October 2023.

Meanwhile, Jasudavicius comes off a bonus-winning submission win over Priscila Cachoeira at UFC 297 in June and is 3-1 in her last four. The Canadian’s most recent Octagon outing saw her bounce back from a unanimous decision loss against Tracy Cortez in September 2023.Viviane Araujo vs Jasmine Jasudavicius

Andrei Arlovski will lock horns with Martin Buday in a heavyweight bout at an Ultimate Fighting Championship event on June 15.

Buday confirmed the booking on social media following an initial report from MMAjunkie.com. UFC Fight Night is expected to take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. A headliner has not been announced.

The matchup with Buday will mark Arlovski’s 42nd Octagon appearance — the second most in UFC history behind Jim Miller. After winning four straight contests from April 2021 to April 2022, the 45-year-old Belarusian has dropped his last three promotional outings. Most recently, “The Pit Bull” suffered a unanimous decision defeat to Waldo Cortes-Acosta at UFC Fight Night 234 on Jan. 13.

A winner on Dana White’s Contender Series in October 2021, Buday kicked off his UFC tenure with four consecutive triumphs. That ended in his last outing, when the Slovakian suffered a second-round TKO loss against Shamil Gaziev at UFC 296.

Makhmud Muradov has withdrawn from a proposed middleweight booking against Michel Pereira at UFC 301.

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The 34-year-old Uzbekistan native announced the news in a post on social media.

“In 20 days, for the second time, an infection emerged that needed to be removed, and my team and I decided to cancel the fight,” Muradov wrote on Instagram (via translated text). “…We will be back soon.”

UFC 301 takes place on May 4 at Rio Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and is headlined by a flyweight championship clash between Alexandre Pantoja and Steve Erceg. It is unclear if Pereira will remain on the card against a replacement opponent. Pereira va. Muradov was slated for the pay-per-view portion of the event.

Muradov has won just once in his last four Octagon appearances. His last outing against Aliaskab Khizriev ended via no contest in just 11 seconds when Muradov was unable to continue following an accidental eye poke from his opponent at UFC Fight …

Alex Polizzi believes Sean Strickland’s intentions are to always pull his teammates up, even though the UFC fighter might appear a bit harsh at times.

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Polizzi has been promoted to the main event spot at PFL 2 opposite Impa Kasanganay at The Theatre at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas on Friday after Phil Davis was forced out of the originally scheduled headliner against Rob Wilkinson. Going into matchup, Polizzi is putting in work with the likes of UFC veterans Chris Curtis and Sean Strickland at the Xtreme Couture gym in Las Vegas.

Never very far from the headlines, Strickland recently generated more controversy by putting a beating on streamer Sneako during a sparring session. While many believe Strickland could have gone easier on the untrained streamer, Polizzi doesn’t have an issue considering it was consensual.

“It’s kind of what you said, a lot of fighters want to, not all are gonna do it,” Polizzi said in an interview with The AllStar. “…

Jose Mariscal called out old foe Bryce Mitchell after his win over Morgan Charriere at UFC Fight Night 240 on Saturday.

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Mariscal derailed the French standout’s hype train by putting on an impressive display of pace and pressure to rope in a split-decision win. “Chepe” subsequently called out Mitchell, who defeated him on the regional scene in 2017.

“There’s a lot of guys but the one specific ranked guy – I fought him in the regional scene, I fought him in his hometown and they gave it to him obviously,” Mariscal said during a post-fight media scrum. “I was cool about it, I said, ‘I will see you again one day.’ And I would like to callout Mr. Bryce Mitchell.”

Mariscal would ideally want the rematch at The Sphere in Las Vegas, where the UFC is planning a unique card to honor Mexican Independence Day on Sept. 14.

“Yeah man, I’m that Mexican that deserves to be in that Sphere fight, you know,” Mariscal said. “I go out there and show exactl…

While Sean Strickland had initially advised Chris Curtis against accepting a short-notice clash against Brendan Allen, he was certainly impressed with his teammate’s performance.

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Curtis replaced Marvin Vettori against Allen at UFC Fight Night 240 on three weeks’ notice. Curtis put on a gritty display, losing a split decision that some observers felt could have gone in his favor. Strickland also had “The Action Man” winning even though he had initially suggested turning down the booking.

UFC "Curt we need you on a week notice"

ME "Curt you haven't really been training because you wanted to take time off for you new baby, just say no"

Curt goes and out strikes a guy coming off the couch with a week of training lmao! pic.twitter.com/hJKvDfMeRm

— Sean Strickland (@SStricklandMMA) April 7, 2024

During the filming of a promo video, Strickland claims to have gone easy on Curtis, who according to him was out of shape and…

Ben Tynan revealed his inspiration for the pair of jeans shorts he wore in his impressive win over Duke Didier at One on Prime Video 21.

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Tynan sent the Australian crashing to the canvas with an elbow and followed it up with vicious ground-and-pound, securing a stoppage at the 2:36 mark of Round 1. “Vanilla Thunder” improved his perfect finishing streak to six, which includes two ONE Championship outings. If that were not impressive enough, Tynan wore a pair of jean shorts while doing it.

Asked about the shorts, Tynan explained that they were inspired from pro wrestling, which he grew up watching.

"I’ve always had a vision of fighting in these jean shorts,” Tynan said at the post-fight press confeence. “I don’t know where it started from. It might’ve come from the days of watching professional wrestling as a kid and seeing big beefy dudes in jean shorts beat each other. I always had that image that I wanted to be one of those guys, so being a…

Kade Ruotolo with an arm-in RNC (?). He wasn't even sure what to call it. His move to MMA can't come soon enough (scheduled for June 7th at ONE 167). #ONEFightNight21 pic.twitter.com/0vtbYXr9vl

— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) April 6, 2024

Kade Ruotolo revealed that the unique “Ruotolotine” submission that both he and twin brother Tye pulled off at One on Prime Video 21 was always on the table for them.

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The ONE lightweight submission grappling champion took on Francisco Lo in a 180-pound catchweight clash on April 5. Ruotolo finished Lo with an arm-in rear naked choke, which he labeled the “Ruotolotine,” breaking the curse of going without a finish every time he shared a card with his brother. His brother Tye went on to defend his ONE welterweight submission grappling title against Izaak Michell later in the night with the same submission.

Kade revealed that once he pulled off the “Ruotolotine,” he also floated the idea to…

Jon Jones recently gave his side of the story to Albuquerque police regarding an encounter with drug-testing agents at his home last month.

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According to an updated report from the Albuquerque Police Department, Jones admitted he was “bothered” by the arrival of agents from Drug Free Sport International, the new anti-doping partner of the UFC. Jones told APD in a phone conversation on April 6 that he did use profanity during the sample collection but he did not threaten to harm either of the agents. MMAjunkie.com was first to bring word of the updated police report.

In an initial police report, Jones was accused of threatening DFSI employee Crystal Martinez and taking her phone. As a result, a summons was issued charging Jones with assault and interference with communications.

In the updated report, Jones admitted that he was “bothered a little because he had been hungover from the night before.”Jones also denied taking Martinez’s phone, but he…

Marvin Vettori was clearly not impressed with Brendan Allen’s performance.

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Vettori, who was originally supposed to face Allen in the UFC Fight Night 240 main event before withdrawing from the card due to injury, took to social media to critique Allen’s split-decision victory over replacement foe Chris Curtis at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday night. It was Allen’s seventh consecutive triumph within the Las Vegas-based promotion and sixth in a row at middleweight. In the immediate aftermath, “All In” made his case for a 185-pound title shot, something that Vettori doesn’t believe he deserves.

“Allen [what the f—k you] calling for the title, man? You looked like dog s—t, got rocked every single round and prayed you were getting the takedown just to hang in there,” Vettori wrote on X. “That s—-t was embarrassing.”

Allen wtf u calling for the title man you look like dog shit got rocked every single round and prayed yo…

Chris Curtis appeared to be in a great deal of pain at the conclusion of the UFC Fight Night 240 main event.

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As it turns out, there was good reason for that, as “The Action Man” likely suffered a torn hamstring in the waning moments of his split-decision loss to Brendan Allen at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday night.

News of Curtis’ injury was first revealed on the post-fight show on ESPN+, and the middleweight later revealed similar concerns in a post on Instagram. If the injury is confirmed, that could mean a four-month recovery for Curtis.

“Not the result we wanted, but it is what it is,” Curtis wrote. “I thought we had it, but congrats to [Brendan Allen]. Love you brotha and enjoy the night. But remember, it's 1-1, you owe me the trilogy lol. Rest up and enjoy your family. Thank you all for the support, and I'm sorry. I felt good, I was ready, maybe I'm just getting to old for this s—t. Lol time will tell. Until next time guys.

…

Ignacio Bahamondes’ victory over Christos Giagos on Saturday saw him bounce back from a loss that sent him to a difficult space in life.

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Bahamondes scored a high-reel, bonus-winning knockout over Giagos in the very first round of their UFC Fight Night 240 clash. That allowed “La Jaula” to return to the win column after a decision loss against Ludovit Klein in August 2023 that snapped a three-fight winning streak.

Bahamondes revealed that while losing a fight is hard enough, he also had the added grief of his wife’s miscarriage, which happened a couple of weeks after the defeat to Klein. Bahamondes had no will to train but depended on faith to get his life back on track, which he successfully did. The 26-year-old is now expecting another child from his wife, who is five months pregnant.

“You know, for an MMA fighter, losing is not something nice,” Bahamondes said at the post-fight press conference. “I think it is the worst for a fighter. My w…

Jean Matsumoto wants Raul Rosas Jr. for his sophomore Ultimate Fighting Championship outing after a successful debut against Dan Argueta.

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Matsumoto submitted Argueta in a second-round buzzer beater at UFC Fight Night 240, scoring his third career submission via guillotine choke. While Matsumoto admits that the empty Apex was good to start off his promotional journey, the Brazilian believes he’s even better with a crowd in attendance. Matsumoto called for a spot on the UFC’s card scheduled for Mexican Independence Day on Sept. 14 at The Sphere in Las Vegas.

“Actually, fighting here was better because of no pressure, since it was my debut,” Matsumoto said during a post-fight media scrum. "But honestly, I’m a better fighter with the crowd, and I’m willing to fight in front of the crowd. And I heard there is a huge event coming to Vegas at The Sphere, Mexican Independence Day, and I’d love to be part of that show.”

Matsumoto also has a Mexican …

Nora Cornolle has revealed that she and opponent Melissa Mullins had mutually agreed to miss weight for their UFC Fight Night 240 clash.

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Cornolle folded Mullins with a devastating knee to the body followed by head kicks in the second round to start off the preliminary card at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday. While Cornolle weighed in at 138 pounds, Mullins weighed in at 138.5, making it essentially a catchweight bout.

Cornolle subsequently revealed that a catchweight bout was being discussed throughout the day of the weigh-ins. According to “Wonder,” Mullins was in bad shape when they met at the UFC Performance Institute, where they were both cutting weight.

Cornolle claims Mullins immediately approached her with the proposal of a catchweight contest, which she was also considering as she didn’t want the bout to fall through. But Cornolle planned on trying to make weight till the very end and advised her opponent the same.

Howeve…

Superbon Singha Mawynn is eyeing both kickboxing and muay thai gold after defeating Marat Grigorian in their trilogy clash at ONE Friday Fights 58.

Superbon picked up a hard-fought unanimous decision victory over Grigorian to claim the ONE Championship interim featherweight kickboxing title, also improving his head-to-head record against the Armenian to 2-1. While Grigorian had his moments midway through the fight, Superbon regained momentum in the championship rounds to seal the victory. Superbon labeled it the “hardest” fight of his career but believed he had done enough to get his hand raised.

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“I think this is the hardest fight in my career, but I’m happy to beat him… I think I’ve done everything to win every round,” the 33-year-old said during the post-fight press conference. “There were rounds that I didn’t do good, but I think I did enough to get the win.”

Superbon also believes his win warrants a rematch against reigning featherweight kickbo…

Ignacio Bahamondes’ clean finish made him $50,000 richer.

The Chile native received a “Performance of the Night” bonus for his first-round stoppage of Christos Giagos in a featured lightweight clash at UFC Fight Night 240 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday Bahamondes floored his adversary and secured victory with a perfectly-placed head kick at the 3:34 mark of Round 1.

Elsewhere, Jose Mariscal and Morgan Charriere received “Fight of the Night” honors and $50,000 apiece for their featherweight scrap. Both men enjoyed periods of success in a back-and-forth affair, but one late burst in the third frame helped clinch a split-decision triumph for Mariscal.

Finally, Cesar Almeida garnered the card’s other $50,000 “Performance of the Night” award for his stoppage of Dylan Budka in a preliminary middleweight clash. With Budka fading after having a takedown stuffed, Almeida teed off with elbows to the side of the head, powered into top position and sealed h…

Brendan Allen exacted a subtle measure of vengeance against Chris Curtis.

Allen continued his steady climb on the Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight ladder and avenged one of his five career defeats, as he picked up a split decision over the former CES MMA titleholder in the UFC Fight Night 240 headliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Judges Derek Cleary and Eric Colon saw it 48-47 and 49-46 for Allen, while Michael Bell turned in a 48-47 scorecard for Curtis, who replaced Marvin Vettori on late notice and did so admirably.

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The two rivals traded strategic barbs across five well-fought rounds. Curtis (31-11, 5-3 UFC)—who won their first meeting by technical knockout in December 2021—hammered the Kill Cliff Fight Club standout with body-head combinations, dazed him with a left hook in the third round and forced him to work for every inch of ground he gained. Allen mostly held his own in the standup department but excelled at shooti…

The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to its home base of the Apex in Las Vegas this weekend with a packed slate headlined by an electric middleweight rematch between Brendan Allen and Chris Curtis.

UFC Fight Night 240 kicks off Saturday at 3 p.m. ET/12 p.m. PT.

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BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Dixon (-360), Cornolle (+285)Round 1 Consider tonight’s event a dress rehearsal of next week’s gala event of UFC 300. The UFC will trot out 12 pairs of combatants inside of the UFC Apex to keep the seemingly indefinite streak of consecutive weekends going. It all begins with an international catchweight contest, as both fighters failed to make weight and the formerly bantamweight bout still stayed together. France’s Cornolle (7-1, 1-0 UFC) eclipsed the weight limit by 2.5 pounds while unbeaten Brit Mullins (6-0, 2-0 UFC) surpassed the 136-pound cap by two pounds herself. Fines likely went straight to the commission and promotion instead of to o…