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If the skills explained by her coach come to fruition, Manon Fiorot is going to give Erin Blanchfield fits on Saturday.

Undefeated in the Ultimate Fighting Championship and riding a six-fight win streak in the organization itself, French striking ace Fiorot hired an important reinforcement for the camp to face Blanchfield on Saturday in Atlantic City, New Jersey: Brazilian luta-livre and jiu-jitsu black belt Flavio “Peroba” Santiago. Living in France since 2002, Santiago joined up with the burgeoning flyweight in December. He spoke to Sherdog ahead of her headlining appearance at UFC on ESPN 54, where he explained how training has fared thus far.

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“I’m really impressed by her work ethic,” Santiago gushed. “Every time I taught her some new technique, she repeated [it] until [getting] it done perfectly, and every new sparring, she came with some notes to ask me.”

The coach revealed that he was not just teaching her instructions from afar. Roughly …

A slow start did nothing to slow down Seiya Matsuda in his ONE Championship debut.

Multiple takedowns, ground-and-pound and a near submission carried the unbeaten Blue Dog Gym export to a split decision over Mikhail Gritsanenko in a ONE Friday Fights 57 catchweight showcase on Friday at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. Two of the ringside judges struck scorecards for Matsuda (4-0, 1-0 ONE), who was overcome by emotion following the three-round battle at 163 pounds.

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Gritsanenko (3-2, 0-1 ONE) leaned on deft footwork and sharp counterattacks throughout much of the first round, where he let fly with two- and three-punch combinations, occasionally punctuating them with thudding kicks to the body. It was not enough to throw Matsuda off the scent. The 28-year-old organizational newcomer took down Gritsanenko in Round 2, moved to the north-south position and locked in a kimura. Pain contorted the Russian’s face, as he tried and failed to free …

[embedded content] The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to ESPN airwaves for the second straight week.

Headlining UFC on ESPN 54 is a key women's flyweight fight between Erin Blanchfield and Manon Fiorot. Both main event fighters successfully weighed in under the 126-pound limit. As for the rest of the card, everyone made weight except for Julio Arce, who came in one pound over the featherweight limit for his bout against Herbert Burns. The match will continue, with Arce being penalized 20% of his purse that will go to Burns.

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This marks the second headlining fight for Blanchfield (12-1). Just 24 years of age, "Cold Blooded" is currently riding a nine-fight win streak. She hasn't lost since joining the promotion and is coming off impressive wins over Taila Santos, Jessica Andrade and Molly McCann. The Renzo Gracie Jiu-Jitsu product stepped on the scale at 125 pounds on the dot.

Meanwhile, this marks the first main event for Fiorot (11-1). Ten…

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Jamall Emmers wants to correct every blemish on his mixed martial arts record.

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Emmers (20-7) will take on fan-favorite Nate Landwehr (17-5) on three weeks’ notice at UFC Atlantic City on March 30.

Emmers replaced Pat Sabatini, who withdrew due to unknown reasons. “Prettyboy,” who suffered a submission loss against Sabatini in 2021, would like the opportunity to avenge that in the future. In fact, the 34-year-old wants to avenge all seven losses of his professional career, even against fighters who have retired.

“Of course, every loss I want back,” Emmers said during UFC Atlantic City media day. “Just letting everybody know this: every loss I want back. Who beat me in the UFC? Pat [Sabatini], we got Julian Erosa, who else, drawing a blank right now. Everybody that beat me, even guys that’s not in the UFC. Probably don’t even fight no more, I still want that back. It’s seven guys that beat me and I want it all back.”

E…

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Joaquin Buckley had no qualms about accepting a short-notice clash against Vicente Luque, as he has seemingly been preparing for the fight for a while now.

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Buckley (17-6) is scheduled to meet Luque (22-9) in the co-main event at UFC Atlantic City at Boardwalk Hall on March 30. Going into arguably the toughest matchup of his career, Buckley is glad for the opportunity to be able to prove his mettle.

“It feels good. This is something I have been asking for and shouting about via social media for a long time. To get that big name, to get somebody that I feel like will really get the respect that it deserves with all the work I’ve been putting in. So now that I get the fight I asked for, it’s a beautiful situation,” Buckley said during UFC Atlantic City media day.

Buckley accepted the matchup on a little more than a month’s notice, replacing Sean Brady, who pulled out due to an injury. “New Mansa” revealed that he had no issue…

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Joaquin Buckley had no qualms about accepting a short-notice clash against Vicente Luque, as he has seemingly been preparing for the fight for a while now.

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Buckley (17-6) is scheduled to meet Luque (22-9) in the co-main event at UFC Atlantic City at Boardwalk Hall on March 30. Going into arguably the toughest matchup of his career, Buckley is glad for the opportunity to be able to prove his mettle.

“It feels good. This is something I have been asking for and shouting about via social media for a long time. To get that big name, to get somebody that I feel like will really get the respect that it deserves with all the work I’ve been putting in. So now that I get the fight I asked for, it’s a beautiful situation,” Buckley said during UFC Atlantic City media day.

Buckley accepted the matchup on a little more than a month’s notice, replacing Sean Brady, who pulled out due to an injury. “New Mansa” revealed that he had no issue…

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According to Vicente Luque, Michael Page’s Ultimate Fighting Championship debut was proof that the Las Vegas-based promotion is on a different level compared to its counterparts.

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After months of negotiations with the UFC, Page signed with the promotion last December and made his debut against Kevin Holland at UFC 299earlier this month. Known for his highlight reel knockouts, “Venom” did put on a show, completely outclassing Holland on the feet mixed with some signature showboating. However, the former Bellator MMA star failed to score a finish or even hurt “Trailblazer” significantly in a fight that was seen as lukewarm by some.

Welterweight veteran Luque (22-9) also didn’t see Page looking as good in his UFC debut as the Brit did in his previous outings. “The Silent Assassin” believes it might have to do with the pressure of performing on the biggest stage in the world. Regardless, Luque is excited about the attention Page will…

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Manon Fiorot is determined to fight for a title next should she defeat Erin Blanchfield at UFC Atlantic City on March 30.

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Fiorot will headline UFC on ESPN 54 opposite Blanchfield in what is essentially a title eliminator. However, a win doesn’t guarantee an immediate championship fight, given that the title picture is currently in a state of flux.

Champion Alexa Grasso is starring opposite former champ Valentina Shevchenko in the upcoming season of “The Ultimate Fighter.” The season premieres in June, after which the two are expected to meet in a trilogy clash, causing a delay in Fiorot’s potential title shot. But the French standout is insistent on fighting for a belt next and willing to wait for her turn.

“You know, obviously, I already deserve two times the title shot, but you know life goes on, sometimes injuries [happen.] That’s the way it is. Of course, I know and I believe the next fight will be the title and I know…

The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s inaugural visit to Saudi Arabia will have a marquee bout at the top of the bill.

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UFC CEO Dana White announced late Wednesday evening that Khamzat Chimaev will face Robert Whittaker in the card’s middleweight main event on June 22. Meanwhile, Sergei Pavlovich will square off against Alexander Volkov at heavyweight in the co-headliner. Volkov had been previously expected to meet Jailton Almeida at UFC 302, but apparently those plans have changed.

White also confirmed the following three bouts for UFC Saudi Arabia: Kelvin Gastelum vs. Daniel Rodriguez at welterweight; Johnny Walker vs. Volkan Oezdemir at light heavyweight and Sharabutdin Magomedov vs. Ihor Potieria at light heavyweight.

“This card is going to be badass from top to bottom,” White said. “It’s going to be historic. It’s our first ever show from the Kingdom.”

UFC Saudi Arabia will air on ABC, per White. The event is a far cry from the card that …

AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE!

We are headed back down under to @WestAustralia for #UFC305!

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✈️🎟Visit https://t.co/zdYvdmX8jR to register for pre-sale tickets or book your Travel Package right now! | #WAtheDreamState pic.twitter.com/YueP1OKcAn — UFC_AUSNZ (@UFC_AUSNZ) March 28, 2024

For the third time in promotion history, the Ultimate Fighting Championship will bring a pay-per-view event to Perth, Australia.

UFC 305 will take place on Aug. 17 -- Aug. 18 in Australia -- at RAC Arena, the Las Vegas-based organization announced on Wednesday. According to a release, the event is part of a multi-year partnership in which the UFC will also hold a Fight Night event in Perth in the coming years. No bouts were revealed for UFC 305.

“After a record-breaking event in 2023, I can’t wait to bring another massive pay-per-view to Western Australia,” UFC CEO Dana White said in a release. “Perth is a world class city with some of the mo…

ONE Championship has announced the two featured bouts for its return to the United States.

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Stamp Fairtex will challenge Jingnan Xiong for the strawweight (125-pound) title in an MMA bout, while Jonathan Haggerty will defend his ONE bantamweight (145-pound) muay thai belt against ONE flyweight kickboxing champ Superlek Kiatmoo9.

ONE on Prime Video 26 will take place on Sept. 6 at Ball Arena in Denver and will air on Prime Video in the United States. The Singapore-based promotion made its stateside debut last May with ONE on Prime Video 10, which was headlined by a trilogy bout between Demetrious Johnson and Adriano Moraes.

Fairtex, a three-sport champion under the ONE banner, is already scheduled to defend her atomweight (115-pound) MMA title against Denice Zamboanga at One Championship 166 in Thailand on June 7. The 26-year-old has been victorious in six of her last seven MMA bouts in ONE competition.

Xiong, the reigning 125-pound que…

Former UFC and Strikeforce middleweight champion Luke Rockhold will make his Karate Combat debut against Joe Schilling next month.

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Both fighters announced the booking on social media, and it was later confirmed by multiple outlets. Rockhold vs. Schilling will take place at Karate Combat 45 on April 20 in Dubai and will be contested at 195 pounds.

Rockhold’s last combat sports appearance came at BKFC 41, where he fell to Mike Perry via second round TKO in April 2023. Prior to that, he returned from a three-year hiatus in MMA to face Paulo Costa at UFC 278, where he dropped a unanimous decision to his Brazilian foe.

Schilling, meanwhile, hasn’t competed since October 2019, when he suffered a knockout loss to Tony Johnson at Bellator 229. The 40-year-old Schilling, who is also a veteran of Glory Kickboxing, compiled a 4-6 record in MMA.

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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…