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The stakes will be much greater when Sean O'Malley and Marlon Vera run it back.

UFC CEO Dana White announced Monday that O’Malley, the promotion’s reigning bantamweight champion, will lock horns with Vera in a rematch atop the UFC 299 lineup in March. An exact date and venue for the event were not confirmed.

O’Malley suffered his lone professional defeat to Vera at UFC 252 in August 2020. In that bout, “Sugar” was hindered by an apparent ankle injury before losing to Vera via first-round technical knockout. The MMA Lab standout has since rebounded to go unbeaten in his next six promotional appearances, culminating in a second-round TKO of Aljamain Sterling to claim 135-pound gold at UFC 292 this past August.

Vera has won five of his last six fights in UFC competition — with a split-decision defeat against Corey Sandhagen the only blemish on his ledger during that time. In addition to besting O’Malley, Vera owns notable wins over the likes of Pedro Munhoz, …

While it won’t come quite as early as he wanted, Alexander Volkanovski will still get a relatively quick return to the Octagon.

The reigning featherweight king will defend his belt against Ilia Topuria in the UFC 298 headliner, UFC CEO Dana White announced on Monday. A date and venue for the event are currently unknown, though the card will take place sometime in February.

Volkanovski is coming off a first-round knockout loss to Islam Makhachev in his second bid to become a two-division champion at UFC 294 this past October. The City Kickboxing accepted the bout on short notice when Makhachev’s original foe, Charles Oliveira, was unable to compete after suffering a cut in training. An emotional Volkanovski requested a quick return in the aftermath of the defeat, targeting UFC 297 in January. Instead, his first 145-pound title defense since July — a third-round TKO of Yair Rodriguez at UFC 290 — will occur the following month.

Topuria, meanwhile, has been v…

Sean Strickland’s first middleweight title defense won’t come against Khamzat Chimaev as originally anticipated.

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UFC CEO Dana White announced Monday that Strickland will face Dricus Du Plessis in the UFC 297 main event. While Chimaev defeated Kamaru Usman in what was billed as a title eliminator at UFC 294 on Oct. 21, “Borz” might not be ready to compete in January after suffering a torn ligament in his hand during the bout.

UFC 297 takes place on Jan. 20 in Toronto and will also see Raquel Pennington square off against Mayra Bueno Silva for the vacant women’s bantamweight title.

Du Plessis was initially supposed to face then-champion Israel Adesanya in a grudge match at UFC 293, but the South African standout was not healthy enough to fight at the event. That opened the door for Strickland, who took a surprising five-round verdict against “The Last Stylebender” to claim 185-pound gold in Sydney on Sept. 9. Strickland has won nine of his las…

The owner of one of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s longest-ever unbeaten streaks without a title shot is ready to press the issue.

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Welterweight contender Belal Muhammad (23-3, 1 NC) will only fight for the title next even if he has to wait for it, according to his manager Ali Abdelaziz, who recently spoke to MMA Fighting about his client’s long climb up the 170-pound ladder. Undefeated in his last 10 outings, with nine wins and a no contest against current champ Leon Edwards, and ranked No. 2 on the welterweight ladder, Muhammad has long been rallying for a shot at the title. While many consider “Remember the Name” to be most deserving of the next chance at the belt, the promotion has passed him over repeatedly, most recently in favor of Colby Covington, who is scheduled to challenge Edwards at UFC 296 on Dec. 16.

While Covington hasn’t fought since a decision win over Jorge Masvidal in March 2022, Muhammad has competed three times since the…

Jorge Masvidal reached a plea deal with prosecutors on Monday to have two felony charges dropped in relation to his attack on Colby Covington on March 2022.

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According to a report from MMAjunkie.com, Masvidal pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor battery charge in Miami-Dade County (Fla.) court as part of the plea agreement. Masvidal, who was in attendance alonside his attorney, Saam Zanganeh, was sentenced to time served and court costs. Time served includes previous appearances at police stations and court hearings.

More significantly for Masvidal, two felony charges of battery and criminal mischief were dropped. The former UFC welterweight contender had faced up to 15 years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine for the felony charges. The guilty verdict for the misdemeanor battery charge will remain on Masvidal’s criminal record. Covington was reportedly given the option to be in court, but he was not present on Monday.

Masvidal attacked Covington out…

Islam Makhachev doesn’t see Conor McGregor earning himself a legitimate title shot upon his return.

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Former Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight and featherweight titleholder McGregor (22-6) has been out of action since 2021, nursing a broken leg he suffered in his trilogy clash against Dustin Poirier. The Irish star recently made a return to the UFC’s drug-testing pool after months of back-and-forth with the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), which would make his return possible next April.

Despite having dropped three of his last four, McGregor has remained a popular callout for elite lightweight contenders, including former champ Charles Oliveira. However, current lightweight champ Makhachev (25-1) isn’t interested in fighting McGregor unless “Notorious” deserves a title shot, which he doubts will happen.

Makhachev believes the climb up the rankings will not be easy for McGregor, who is currently expected to fight Michael Chan…

Whoa JavierBaez in Miami got attacked by some random with a knife but shows why wrestling is important to know pic.twitter.com/zxVcE2T3AW

— TerranceMcKinney (@twrecks155) November 3, 2023

Retired MMA fighter Javier Baez recently stopped a knife attack with his bare hands—and made it look effortless.

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Baez was attacked by a knife-wielding stranger in the parking lot of his apartment complex in Cutler Bay, Fla., last Wednesday. The 34-year-old deftly avoided an attack before slamming his attacker to the pavement and locking in an arm-triangle choke. The knife can then be seen falling out of the hands of the assailant, identified as 50-year-old Omar Marrero.

Miami-Dade police subsequently arrested Marrero who now faces two felony charges. Baez told multiple news outlets that the attacker had aggressively approached his car with a 14-inch knife before brandishing another foot-long knife to attack him. From there it was all…

It appears Islam Makhachev and Charles Oliveira won’t have their rematch at the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s first pay-per-view card of next year.

While yet to be announced, UFC 297 is being targeted for Jan. 20 in Toronto. Per a recent report from Ariel Helwani, Oliveira (34-9) would attempt to reclaim the lightweight strap against Makhachev (25-1) in the main event of the night. However, Helwani’s report has been dismissed by UFC CEO Dana White who told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, “Anything is possible, it’s whenever both are ready.” Helwani’s report was also dismissed as “fake news” by Makhachev’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, who told Okamoto that the champ will be ready to fight on March 9.

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Makhachev dropped Oliveira before submitting him to win the vacant strap at UFC 280 last October. The Dagestani has since defended his title twice against featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, first via a closely contested decision in February followed by a hi…

Tye and Kade Ruotolo have been going to war on the grappling mats ever since they began training in the sport at age 3.

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The twin brothers are currently undefeated under the ONE Championship banner while wreaking havoc in separate weight classes. The possibility of the Ruotolos facing each other in a grappling match in ONE has been a hot topic of conversation among fans of late.

Furthermore, with Tye recently securing the inaugural welterweight submission grappling championship against Magomed Abdulkadirov, the interest in a fantasy matchup between two champion brothers is bound to increase.

Tye addressed the possibility while speaking to media following ONE on Prime Video 16.

“My brother and I are always open to fighting each other because we do it every day,” he said. “It’s nothing out of the ordinary. Currently, I have three wins over my brother, which is funny because most of the time he was beating me, but I caught him in the end ev…

Reigning ONE bantamweight muay thai champion Jonathan Haggerty has finally achieved one of his primary goals as a combat sports athlete with his latest outing against mixed martial arts champion Fabricio Andrade.

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Haggerty (20-4) impressively secured the vacant bantamweight kickboxing title via Round 2 knockout in a champion vs. champion main event clash against Andrade (29-1) at ONE on Prime Video 16 and is now a two-sport world champion.

While most fans expected the fight to be a back-and-forth affair, things seemed quite different inside the ring. Interestingly, as per Haggerty's post-fight comments, the Englishman isn't shocked by the outcome of the bout.

“I wasn’t surprised at all,” he said. “I was going in for the knockout. I was saying all week that he’d be getting knocked out. I feel like he knew himself that he was going to be stopped and beat but he was just putting up a front and showing face which is what you have to do as a fighter.…

Jailton Almeida called out heavyweight contender Ciryl Gane after a lopsided decision win over Derrick Lewis at UFC Fight Night 231 on Saturday.

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Almeida (20-2) was a heavy favorite going into his headlining clash against the feared knockout artist in the UFC’s return to Sao Paulo, Brazil after four years. Unsurprisingly, “Malhadinho” used a grappling-heavy approach to completely nullify Lewis’ (27-12) offense, notching a new heavyweight control time record of over 21 minutes.

However, Almeida’s performance raised certain concerns in the commentary booth, particularly for Michael Bisping. Bisping and Brendan Fitzgerald felt Almeida could have looked harder for a finish, with the referee having to call for activity in a thoroughly lopsided fight. Meanwhile, Dominick Cruz repeatedly gave credit to Almeida’s composure and for not risking giving away any positions against Lewis.

Almeida himself felt he had put on a show. However, he also claims t…

A featherweight bout has been added to the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s last event of the year.

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Andre Fili (22-10) and Lucas Almeida (14-2) are set to trade leather at UFC 296 on Dec. 16. The booking was first announced by Almeida on social media.

Almeida had never gone the distance in 12 pro wins when he made an appearance on “Dana White’s Contender Series” e in 2021. While he suffered his first pro loss against Daniel Zellhuber via unanimous decision, Almeida got a UFC call after picking up another finish on the regional circuit. Almeida scored a technical knockout win over Michael Trizano in his UFC debut in June 2022 but went on to suffer a submission loss against veteran Pat Sabatini this past June. The Brazilian was scheduled to fight Wiliam Gomis at UFC Paris in September, but the 32-year-old was forced out due to an injury.

Meanwhile, Fili has only won one of his past five outings since 2020 — a split decision victory against top…

Currently unranked at middleweight, Caio Borralho has his sights set on top contender Dricus Du Plessis.

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Borralho (15-1) took on Russian standout Abusupiyan Magomedov (25-6) in front of his home fans, as the UFC returned to Sao Paulo, Brazil, after four years on Saturday night. “The Natural” displayed immense composure in taking his opponent to deep waters and roping in an emphatic decision, just barely falling short of a finish. The Brazilian is also now on the second-longest win streak in the promotion's middleweight division (five), trailing only his next target, Du Plessis (six).

“Dricus Du Plessis, you cannot run from me anymore,” Borralho said during his post-fight interview in the Octagon. “I just won [against] a guy that lost to the champion. So now I want your head and after that I’m coming to [get] my belt.”

While Borralho is likely to break into the UFC middleweight rankings in the next update, the Brazilian certainly did shoot for…

Even Dana White had to acknowledge the sheer shock of Francis Ngannou’s performance against Tyson Fury in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Oct. 28.

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Ngannou was a massive underdog going into his boxing debut, a non-title clash against World Boxing Council heavyweight champ Tyson Fury. Fight odds aside, Ngannou’s career was also under the keen scrutiny of detractors who believed the former Ultimate Fighting Championship champ “fumbled the bag” by exiting the promotion over contract disputes earlier this year.

However, “The Predator” emerged as the biggest winner of the night, knocking Fury down en-route to a controversial split decision loss for which he reportedly earned upwards of $10 million.

White has previously not had much praise for Ngannou, hinting that the Cameroonian was mistaken in thinking that he had a McGregor-Mayweather-esque booking at hand. However, even the UFC head honcho couldn’t help but acknowledge the caliber of the near upset by N…

Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight contender Jailton Almeida is coming into his own as a star.

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A month before going into a headlining clash against Derrick Lewis in Sao Paulo, Almeida was pleasantly surprised with a visit from one of Brazil’s biggest superstars, Wagner Moura. Moura is known for playing roles like Pablo Escobar in Netflix’s “Narcos” and colonel Nascimento in “Elite Squad.” Moura, 47, is also a purple belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

During a recent visit to his hometown of Salvador, Moura contacted Almeida’s physical therapist regarding a training session with the UFC star. While Almeida was in touch with Moura ahead of their training session on Oct. 5, “Malhadinho” had no idea he was talking to a superstar.

“He texted me saying his friend Wagner was a fan of mine and wanted to train, so I was like, ‘Sure, tell him to stop by for our gi session on Thursday,’” Almeida told MMAFighting's Trocação Franca podcast. “He sent …

Dalby hands Bonfim the first loss of his career 😳 #UFCSP pic.twitter.com/HAox22gqv9

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) November 5, 2023

The UFC Fight Night 231 co-main event was a tale of two rounds.

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Highly-touted Dana White’s Contender Series alum Gabriel Bonfirm controlled the opening stanza, but Nicolas Dalby turned up the pressure in Round 2, eventually overwhelming his foe for a technical knockout victory at the 4:33 mark of the period. Those momentum swings helped Dalby and Bonfim earn “Fight of the Night” and $50,000 apiece for their efforts in an entertaining welterweight scarp.

Elsewhere, Elves Berner received a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” check for laying waste to short-notice foe Kaynan Kruschewsky in their featured 165-pound catchweight affair. The Chute Boxe representative caught his foe with a perfectly-placed left hand behind the ear, sending Kruschewsky face-first to the canvas at the 4:01 mark of Round 1. Read more about UFC Fight Night 231 Bonuses: Dalby, Bonfim, Brener, Petrino Garner $50K

Jailton Almeida took a step toward an Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight title shot after rag-dolling former title challenger Derrick Lewis (50-44, 50-44, 50-45) in the UFC Fight Night 231 main event at Ibirapuera Gymnasium in Sao Paulo.

Almeida (20-2) had his way all night with Lewis on the ground. “Malhadinho” has finished 12 fights by submission in his career but cautiously and calmly contained the devastating Lewis (27-12).

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Unfortunately for the 32-year-old Brazilian, the victory still left much to be desired. Almeida’s respect for Lewis’ power was on full display.

Despite spending most of the fight in mount, Almeida took little risks in trying to finish Lewis. Referee Marc Goddard even warned Almeida several times to work, ignoring the effort needed to hold down the 265-pounder.

Almeida controlled most of the 25 minutes and even staggered Lewis with a head kick in the first round. There were moments when Lewis found space and let …

Sherdog's live UFC Fight Night 231 coverage will begin Saturday at 6 p.m. ET. BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Diakiese (-155), Fernandes (+130)Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:J.L. Kirven scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round: Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:J.L. Kirven scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:J.L. Kirven scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:The Official Result BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Moura (-550), Ruiz (+410)Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:J.L. Kirven scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:J.L. Kirven scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:J.L. Kirven scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:The Official Result BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Gomes (-125), Hill (+10…

What a battle! ⚔️

The judges have called this fight a majority draw.#UFCSP pic.twitter.com/UpfbiGfQhW

— UFC (@ufc) November 5, 2023

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Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos was a follow-up punch or two away from pulling off one of the biggest comebacks of the year.

Dropped in the opening minute by the heavy-handed welterweight Rinat Fakhretdinov, dos Santos ate overhand rights from the Russian like they were free samples at UFC Fight Night 231.

Fakhretdinov, who entered the fight on a 20-bout win streak, fell in love with his fist and went away from his wrestling background in Round 2. This allowed dos Santos enough time to find and home for his snapping lead body kick.

Tired and tender heading into Round 3, Fakhretdinov succumbed under the assault of dos Santos’ body attack and was nearly finished before being saved by the bell. Two judges scored the third round 10-8 for dos Santos and the war was ultimately scored a majorit…

Hear from @AlexPereiraUFC after he became the third inductee into the GLORY Hall of Fame. pic.twitter.com/lNunza8c9T

— GLORY Kickboxing (@GLORY_WS) November 4, 2023

Alex Pereira has been inducted into the Glory Kickboxing Hall of Fame, the promotion announced over the weekend.

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Pereira captured titles at middleweight and light heavyweight while compiling an 11-4 mark in the kickboxing organization. He also set the record for most championship defenses in Glory middleweight history. “Poatan” joins Joe Valtellini and Semmy Schilt as the third fighter to be inducted into the promotion’s Hall of Fame.

“Alex Pereira was one of the greatest champions in Glory history,” said Scott Rudmann, co-founder and vice chairman of Glory. “His accomplishments in the GLory ring speak for themselves, as the only man ever hold the champions belt in two weight classes simultaneously.

“Alex continues to make huge waves in combat sports w…

Shortly after becoming a newly-crowned two-sport world champion, Jonathan Haggerty is already looking forward to the next challenge.

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Haggerty (20-4), ONE Championship’s reigning bantamweight muay thai champion, took on reigning mixed martial arts champion Fabricio Andrade (29-1) in a meeting for the vacant bantamweight kickboxing title at ONE on Prime Video 16 on Friday.

While many expected a competitive bout, “The General” managed to dismantle his Brazilian adversary via knockout in the second frame at the 1:57 mark. Haggerty's speed and precision proved too much for “Wonder Boy” to handle. It was a clean head kick that landed on Andrade a minute into Round 2 that began the finishing sequence for the Brit. Ultimately, he managed to knock down the MMA champion with punches and earn himself the rare honor of being crowned a two-sport world champion.

“The General” isn't done chasing gold, either.

“Fabricio, I want your MMA belt,” he annou…

Known for his keen interest in mixed martial arts, META CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently ran into the first roadblock of his MMA journey.

The Facebook founder took to Instagram on Friday to reveal that he'd undergone surgery for an ACL tear sustained during a training session in preparation for his first "competitive MMA fight early next year."

Despite the seriousness of the injury, the 39-year-old is confident he will make a full recovery and is still looking forward to a potential bout once he's cleared to compete.

“Tore my ACL sparring and just got out of surgery to replace it,” Zuckerberg wrote on Instagram. “Grateful for the doctors and team taking care of me. I was training for a competitive MMA fight early next year, but now that’s delayed a bit. Still looking forward to doing it after I recover. Thanks to everyone for the love and support.”

Interestingly, rumors of a possible MMA bout between the Facebook founder and Elon Musk began making the …

WOW!!🤯

Suzuki gets the KO from bottom position and is the new RIZIN Featherweight Champion!

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📡 Watch on @FITEtv !🔻https://t.co/eEpfmslhPp pic.twitter.com/fsvLfe9ZKD — RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) November 4, 2023 After coming up short in his first title bid in June, Chihiro Suzuki made the most of his second opportunity by scoring a crushing first-round knockout victory on Saturday at Rizin Fighting Federation “Landmark Vol. 7” in Baku, Azerbaijan. Suzuki finished Vugar Karamov with a vicious upkick and punches 88 seconds into the opening round to claim the Rizin featherweight title.

Suzuki (12-3, 1 NC, 7-1, 1 NC Rizin) found himself on the mat following an early takedown from Karamov (19-5, 5-2 Rizin), who postured up and punched from the top. When Karamov stood up to try to pass Suzuki’s guard, Suzuki countered with an upkick from the bottom. His heel connected flush with Karamov’s jaw and the dazed Azerbaijani fig…

The UFC women’s bantamweight division will crown a new champion at the beginning of 2024.

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Raquel Pennington will face Mayra Bueno Silva for the 135-pound title at UFC 297 in Toronto on Jan. 20. Multiple outlets confirmed the booking following an initial report from Ag.Fight. The bantamweight belt was vacated when Amanda Nunes announced her retirement following a victory against Irene Aldana at UFC 289 in June.

Pennington, who came up short in her first title bid against Nunes at UFC 224 in May 2018, enters the matchup on five-fight winning streak. Most recently, “Rocky” garnered a split decision triumph over Ketlen Vieira at UFC Fight Night 214 on Jan. 14. Her resume also includes victories against the likes of Aspen Ladd, Macy Chiasson, Pannie Kianzad, Aldana, Miesha Tate and Jessica Andrade.

Bueno Silva appeared to have earned a signature triumph when she submitted Holly Holm in the second round of their clash at UFC on ESPN 49 this past Ju…