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Charles Oliveira is certain that a win over Arman Tsarukyan should earn him the next lightweight title shot.

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Oliveira is scheduled to take on surging Armenian-Russian contender Arman Tsarukyan (21-3) at UFC 300 on April 13. Meanwhile, the same card features Justin Gaethje’s BMF title defense against Max Holloway.

While some believe the BMF title fight winner might create a stalemate in the lightweight title picture, Oliveira is certain that a win over Tsarukyan earns him the next gold bid.

“Not at all, I don’t even think about that,” Oliveira said in an interview with MMA Mania. “Everyone knows that I’m the next one in the line so I’m gonna be the next one to get the title, and I’m ready for it.”

While Oliveira acknowledged the skillset of both fighters, “do Bronx” expects Gaethje to best Holloway.

“Man, Holloway is a really nice guy, and he moves a lot,” Oliveira said. “He has a type of game that he moves a lot, but G…

While Corey Anderson has finally become a mixed martial arts world champion, the realization hasn’t completely dawned on him.

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Anderson won the vacant href="/organizations/Bellator-MMA-1960">Bellator MMA light heavyweight title with a unanimous decision win over Karl Moore at the Bellator Champion Series Belfast on March 22. While most of Anderson’s career was spent in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, “Overtime” never got a gold bid in the promotion despite being perennially ranked. Anderson decided to part ways with the UFC following a first-round knockout loss to Jan Blachowicz in 2020, as the promotion allegedly refused to give him a pay raise and agreed in 20 seconds when he asked for his release.

Anderson signed withBellator MMA and racked up a three-fight KO streak, including a finish of Ryan Bader in under a minute to earn an immediate title shot against Vadim Nemkov. While Anderson was outclassing Nemkov in their first clash at Bell…

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Dana White has high expectations for the upcoming UFC 300 card, which goes down at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on April 13.

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With the promotion’s early struggles, White had imagined he would be in his 70s by the time UFC 100 came around. However, things took off and the Ultimate Fighting Championship emerged as an industry leader, hosting cards almost every weekend with its 300th event on the horizon.

“I’ll tell you a story, so me and Lorenzo [Fertitta] are at the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City when we first started putting on these events,” White told TNT Sports. “And we’re walking down home and there are these two old men and they’re fighting, screaming at each other in the hallway. Lorenzo was like, ‘That’s gonna be me and you at UFC 100.’ This is UFC 31 or something, 100 seemed like it was gonna be – we’re doing five events a year – so we were figuring we’d be in our seventies when UFC 100 would come. Obviously, thing took off…

Jose Aldo’s return from retirement to help bolster the UFC 301 card in Rio de Janeiro was met with celebration by Brazilian fans.

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In addition to Aldo, the promotion’s return to Rio de Janeiro includes Brazilian standouts such as flyweight champ Alexandre Pantoja, Caio Borralho and Michel Pereira — making the card more appealing to fans in the country.

Aldo will face Jonathan Martinez in a bantamweight bout on May 4 at Rio Arena. In an interview with Sherdog.com, Nova Uniao coach Andre Pederneiras shared additional details regarding negotiations for Aldo’s UFC return.

“Since last year we were negotiating for the last fight of Aldo’s UFC contract. Since I started to negotiate with Sean Shelby, three months ago, many names were considered,” Pederneiras said. “Of course, we started from the top of the rankings, trying some names that would make sense for a last fight at home, but most of those names were not available.

Dominick [Cruz] needed more…

Herb Dean will be the third man in the cage for the light heavyweight title fight between Alex Pereira and Jamahal Hill in the UFC 300 main event.

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The Nevada State Athletic Commission announced the referee and judging assignments for the two championship bouts at UFC 300 during a Tuesday meeting. Derek Cleary, Sal D’Amato and Ron McCarthy will serve as cageside judges for the bout. This will be the first time that Dean has officiated a UFC fight involving Pereira, but he did oversee Hill’s victory against Thiago Santos in August 2022.

Jason Herzog will be the referee for the strawweight championship clash between Weili Zhang and Xiaonan Yan, and Mike Bell, Ben Cartlidge and Chris Lee will serve as the cageside judges. This will be Herzog’s first time reffing one of Zhang’s fights, but he did officate Yan’s decision win over Claudia Gadelha in November 2020.

UFC 300 takes place on April 13 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

One of the most intriguing storylines heading into UFC 300 is Kayla Harrison’s ability to make the cut to 135 pounds.

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According to her strength and conditioning coach, Jeremy Fedoruk, Harrison is currently “ahead of schedule” to make the bantamweight limit for her April 13 clash with Holly Holm. Fedroruk has been working with Harrison since the two-time Olympic gold medalist joined American Top Team in 2018. Fedoruk says Harrison made the decision to cut to 135 pounds after meeting with him and nutritionist Eric Pena.

“That decision was made by the team after we talked, and we didn’t see any issues for her to reach 135,” Fedoruk told Sherdog.com. “We already reached 145 pounds in the past, now we have to lose 10 more pounds.”

In the past, Harrison has relied on her power to impose her will on opponents, but Fedoruk doesn’t expect the former Professional Fighters League lightweight champ to lose strength with the drop in weight class.

“Our ca…

The card for Week 1 of the upcoming Professional Fighters League season has undergone several changes, the organization announced Tuesday.

UFC and Bellator veteran Blagoy Ivanov will replace Bruno Cappelozza and face Sergey Bilostenniy in a preliminary heavyweight bout. Meanwhile, Ilara Joanne will step in for former Bellator title challenger Denise Kielholtz and lock horns with ex-UFC contender Taila Santos in a flyweight clash.

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Finally, a proposed bout pitting Kaytlin Neil against Veta Arteaga has been removed from the event, while a bantamweight showcase fight between Bryce Meredith and Ty Johnson has been added to the card.

PFL 1 takes place on April 4 at the Boeing Center in San Antonio, Texas and features heavyweights and women’s flyweights. In the main event, Ante Delija will meet Valentin Moldavsky.

A veteran of 26 professional bouts, Ivanov will return to action for the first time since July 2023, when he dropped a unanimous decisi…

Anthony Hernandez will lock horns with Roman Dolidze in a middleweight bout at UFC 302.

MMAFighting.com was first to report the pairing. UFC 302 takes place at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, on June 2 and will also include a heavyweight scrap pitting Jailton Almeida against Alexander Volkov.

Hernandez will take a five-fight promotional winning streak into the matchup with Dolidze. Most recently, “Fluffy” secured a second-round submission triumph against Roman Kopylov at UFC 298 on Feb. 17. His current streak also includes victories over the likes of Edmen Shahbazyan, Marc-Andre Barriault, Josh Fremd and Rodolfo Vieira.

Dolidze, meanwhile, is coming off back-to-back defeats for the first time in his professional tenure. The skid began with a unanimous decision defeat against Marvin Vettori at UFC 286 and continued with a majority decision loss to Nassourdine Imavov in the UFC Fight Night 235 main event. Prior to that, the 35-year-old Georgian …

While he isn’t retiring, Brandon Moreno needs some time away from mixed martial arts.

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The former UFC flyweight champion announced via social media on Monday that he is taking a break to “rest” from the stresses of the sport. Moreno, a two-time title holder, is coming off a split-decision defeat to Brandon Royval in the UFC Fight Night 237 headliner on Feb. 24.

“I feel like I’m at a point in my life where I’m putting in the work, I’m dedicated, but the results just aren’t there, and it’s very frustrating,” Moreno said in Spanish on Instagram (translation via MMAjunkie.com). “This is something that makes me very sad, but something that makes me who I am is that I always find a way to come back.

“I think with all the technical aspect things aside, I think I’m just tired. I’m tired of the media, the same questions, the vibe, the constant pressure. I don’t even think it’s a single moment anymore. I think it’s everything I’ve piled on my shoulders …

Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight Khusein Askhabov has been suspended for two years due to anti-doping violations.

Combat Sports Anti-Doping (CSAD), which took over the UFC’s drug testing program from the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) in January, announced on Monday that Askhabov has been suspended for 24 months due to a failed drug test. Askhabov tested positive for metabolites of the anabolic steroid Methandienone (aka Dianabol or D-Bol) in an out-of-competition sample collected in Grozny, Chechen Republic on Feb. 6. Askhabov’s suspension became effective on Feb. 28, the day he was notified of a provisional suspension to the adverse findings.

“Lion” returned to competition after a three-year hiatus for his UFC debut in February 2023 against Jamall Emmers, where he suffered the lone professional loss of his career via unanimous decision. While Askhabov was scheduled to fight Daniel Pineda in October, the fight fell through after he was a…

A clash of top heavyweight contenders has been booked for UFC 302 on June 1, as Jailton Almeida (20-3) will take on Alexander Volkov (37-10) at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.

Multiple outlets confirmed the booking following an initial report from Leo Guimaraes of the Brazilian outlet Super Lutas. Almeida also confirmed the bout on social media.

Almeida will look to bounce back from the first Ultimate Fighting Championship loss of his career when he takes on Volkov at UFC 302. “Malhadinho” was outwrestling Curtis Blaydes before getting knocked out by hammerfists in the second round of their UFC 299 encounter earlier this month, marking the end of a 15-fight winning streak.

Meanwhile, Volkov is riding a three-fight winning streak, which includes a submission win over Tai Tuivasa in his most recent outing at UFC 293 in September 2023. Notably, “Drago’s” only losses in recent years have come against reigning interim champ Tom Aspinall and forme…

Payton Talbott’s admitted insensitivity might have had something to do with him choosing a career in mixed martial arts over one in psychology.

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The undefeated Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight prospect had never trained in MMA until the age of 17 or 18, when he saw Conor McGregor’s highlights while sitting at a restaurant. Talbott was getting his bachelors in psychology from the University of Nevada when he started dabbling in the sport.

“I have a bachelor’s in it [psychology]… I did general but towards the later years I got super into the neuroscience courses because they were more interesting to me. But I started out wanting to do clinical…I got into that [MMA] when I was a senior in high school,” Talbott said during an appearance on "The MMA Hour.”

“When I just graduated, I like didn’t have sports anymore, I was just super bored. And I had always been interested in psychology, so I just did both of those. I was an amateur fighte…

Dana White has given his verdict on the MMA’s greatest of all time debate.

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Former lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and reigning heavyweight champion Jon Jones are arguably the two frontrunners in the race for the MMA GOAT along with others like Demetrious Johnson and Anderson Silva. For White, however, there is no question Jones holds the No. 1 spot. “Bones,” who made 13 successful defenses of the light heavyweight belt, returned from a lengthy hiatus to claim the heavyweight crown with a first-round submission of Ciryl Gane at UFC 285. Jones career record stands at 27-1 with one no contest, but his lone defeat was a controversial disqualification loss to Matt Hamill.

“He’s never been beat,” White told Lex Fridman. “He destroyed everyone at light heavyweight, which at the time was the toughest weight class in the company, in the sport. And then he moved up to heavyweight, won easily at heavyweight. And when you look at the guy and you look …

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It appears that Merab Dvalishvili will receive his long-awaited title shot.

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Dvalishvili was expected to be Sean O’Malley’s opponent for his first title defense before “Suga” called out Marlon Vera after claiming the belt with a knockout of Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292. In the meantime, “The Machine” went on beat Henry Cejudo at UFC 298 last month to extend his winning streak to 10. While most thought the Cejudo victory would have cemented Dvalishvili’s title shot, O’Malley shifted focus to featherweight champ Ilia Topuria after successfully defending his bantamweight strap against “Chito” at UFC 299 earlier this month.

While Dvalishvili couldn’t figure why O’Malley wasn’t interested in fighting him, he had faith in the UFC giving him the much-awaited gold bid. And it appears the Georgian was correct, as O’Malley recently confirmed him as his next opponent — albeit without a date and location. Dismissing allegations of ducking Dva…

A featherweight clash pitting Edson Barboza against Lerone Murphy will serve as the headliner for a UFC Fight Night event on May 18.

Multiple outlets confirmed the booking following an initial report from MMA journalist Laerte Viana. The card is expected to take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and also includes a flyweight showdown between Tim Elliott and Tatsuro Taira.

Barboza is 4-3 in UFC competition since moving to 145 pounds from the lightweight division. The 38-year-old Brazilian is coming off a 2-0 campaign in 2023 in which he defeated Billy Quarantillo via first-round knockout at UFC on ESPN 44 and outpointed Sodiq Yusuff over five rounds in the UFC Fight Night 230 headliner.

A native of Stockport, England, the 32-year-old Murphy has yet to taste defeat in 14 professional outings. After battling Zubaira Tukhugov to a split draw in his Octagon debut at UFC 242, “The Miracle” has been victorious in his last five Octagon appearances. Most recently,…

Maycee Barber looked strong during a unanimous decision triumph against Katlyn Cerminara at UFC 299, but that wasn’t the case shortly after the event.

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Barber revealed Monday via social media that she was hospitalized for nine days due to an infection following the March 9 card in Miami. According to the post, doctors struggled to identify the cause.

Following my fight, I spent [nine] days in the hospital being tested and treated for an infection that they thought were a mix of different things from strep A to staph,” Barber wrote on Instagram. “Being in the hospital and still not having a true definitive answer while battling a 105 degree fever for days, having extremely low blood pressure, HR, and oxygen, was incredibly hard. Despite having multiple IV antibiotics and medications over the course of several days, they were unable to get my fever to drop, which eventually led to me developing pneumonia. It definitely wasn’t what I had planned and wa…

It just keeps getting worse for Igor da Silva.

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According to a report from MMAFighting.com, da Silva had his fight purse withheld by the Nevada State Athletic Commission after biting Andre Lima’s arm in the second round of their flyweight clash at UFC on ESPN 53 this past Saturday. Da Silva, who is commonly referred to as Igor Severino, was disqualified at the 2:52 mark of Round 2 once it was determined there were bite marks on Lima’s arm.

It is unclear how much da Silva was set to earn because purses are no longer disclosed by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Da Silva was subsequently cut by the UFC, and he could face further discipline at the next NSAC meeting. A similar incident in combat sports occurred on June 28, 1997, when Mike Tyson bit off part of Evander Holyfield’s ear in their boxing rematch. As a result, Tyson had his boxing license revoked — it was reinstated on appeal in 1998 — and he was fined $3 million.

Da Silva, who at…

Karl Williams uniquely challenged Stipe Miocic to a cookout following his victory over Justin Tafa at UFC on ESPN 53.

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Williams dominated Tafa on the ground for three rounds to cruise to a unanimous decision win on Saturday. Williams used his Octagon interview to issue a one-of-a-kind challenge to former heavyweight champ Stipe Miocic for a barbecue cookout.

“I wanna call out if I can, Stipe Miocic. He works at the firehouse and he said he’s gonna be barbecuing,” Williams said. “He’s working on learning how to barbecue, so this summer let’s do a charity cookout if he’s not busy, you know. He’s an important man. But if you got some time, your firehouse against me and my crew at a charity barbecue [to] help firefighters. So that’s my biggest thing.”

A barbecue enthusiast himself, Williams later explained that the idea of a cookout occurred to him when Miocic got talking about barbecuing with his team of firefighters. Williams had a firefighter nei…

Daniel Cormier says he won’t be returning to NCAA wrestling commentary after criticism received during his latest stint.

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Cormier is a former NCAA All-American wrestler from Oklahoma State University and a two-time member of the U.S. Olympic wrestling squad. After switching to MMA and becoming a two-division UFC champ, “DC” was invited to continue calling fights for the NCAA wrestling championship. Despite his vast experience in combat sports and commentating, Cormier’s commentary has drawn mixed reviews. While some saw Cormier’s energetic style as the way forward, others criticized him for not being technical enough.

Cormier has decided to step away from NCAA commentary after his latest gig over online backlash.

“You guys have it. I am out sorry to ruin your experience! You know I don’t ask to do this. Very important people ask me to do it. Anyhow carry on my friend, I am out. Back to the minor leagues for me.

“Guys [I’m] out. This will be my…

Diego Sanchez recently went on an Instagram rant against his former coach Joshua Fabia in a form of retaliation after being allegedly traumatized for years.

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Fabia initially came to the limelight during Sanchez’s bizarre release from the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2021. Fabia asked the UFC for every medical report of Sanchez’s career, raising concerns about the fighter’s health. When the UFC asked for an assurance about Sanchez’s sound health, the fighter told the promotion through a lawyer that he couldn’t vouch for his health, as he was no health professional and hadn’t recently undergone neurological evaluation. A booking with Donald Cerrone fell through following this, and Sanchez was abruptly released from the promotion.

Sanchez soon parted ways with Fabia, who then accused the fighter of taking advantage of him, being an addict and having sexual abuse issues. While Sanchez initially didn’t respond to Fabia, he has now accused the awa…

Now that she’s back on a winning track, Rose Namajunas is ready to make moves in the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s flyweight division.

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The ex-strawweight champion earned her first 125-pound victory on Saturday night, as she took a unanimous decision triumph over Amanda Ribas in the UFC on ESPN 53 headliner at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The bout was competitive for the duration, but Namajunas enjoyed more control time and appeared the land more strikes of consequence throughout. Perhaps just as important was the fact that “Thug” Rose is getting more comfortable in her new weight class.

“I felt actually pretty good,” Namajunas said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “There was some things to work on. I wasn’t as quick, as snappy, as I wanted to be. My arms are a little bigger. I also could feel my strength was great. I know everybody thinks I’m small or weak or something like that, so it’s just good to get better at the grappling aspect o…

Payton Talbott is ready to take on tough competition to climb his way up to a dream matchup against Sean O'Malley.

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Talbott delivered a lopsided beatdown of Cameron Saaiman to score a second round TKO win at UFC on ESPN 53. With his second consecutive finish in as many UFC outings, Talbott inched just a little bit closer to a potential clash against thereigning bantamweight champ, whom the Reno native had named as his “dream matchup” after his Contender Series win last year. Talbott is willing to take on tough competition to make it into reality.

“I just need to keep having performances like that [to get the O’Malley fight], do my dirty work and just keep eating dogs like that,” Talbott told media after the fight (video via MMAjunkie.com). “I know I need to put my time in and solidify myself against game opponents, so I’m more than willing to do that.”

While he is currently undefeated, Talbott called for a chance to correct a loss against one …

The straw hat worn by Fernando Padilla during his UFC on ESPN 53 walkout is a representation of a new chapter with added responsibilities in his life, according to the Mexican featherweight.

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Padilla dropped Ecuadorian debutant Luis Pajuelo before submitting him with a standing brabo choke less than three minutes into their fight on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Padilla was seen sporting a straw hat during his walkout and after the fight, which he later revealed was a tribute to a fictional anime character. Padilla’s hat resembled that of Monkey D. Luffy, also known as "Straw Hat" Luffy, a protagonist in the Japanese manga series “One Piece” and founder and captain of the “Straw Hat Pirates.”

Much like Luffy, Padilla, who has been a longtime member of the Team Oyama gym in Irvine, California, is looked up to by his teammates. Under the guidance of head coach Colin Oyama, Padilla is ready to take up some leadership responsibilities and plan…

Andre Lima picks up the win over Igor Severino due to a DQ from Severino, who bit Lima’s arm 😳 #UFCVegas89 pic.twitter.com/NQTJuSh9G3

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) March 23, 2024

A clash of highly-touted flyweight debutants met an unfortunate end due a blatant foul on the preliminary card at UFC on ESPN 53.

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Undefeated Dana White’s Contender Series graduates Igor da Silva and Andre Lima met in the second fight of the card, setting the standard high early on with fast-paced action. Both fighters went toe-to-toe from the very onset, splitting the judges’ scorecards for the first round. The second round continued to show all the promises of a barnburner before Lima complained of da Silva biting him in a clinch position.

Referee Chris Tognoni paused the contest and called in the cageside doctor to inspect. A deep bite mark could be seen on Lima’s left bicep, leading to da Silva getting disqualified at the 2:52 mark of Round 2. This…