By MMA Junkie Staff | April 30, 2021 4:35 pm Follow @MMAjunkie It appears Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 23 event has lost a preliminary card fight the day before the show. Gabriel Benitez (22-8 MMA, 6-4 UFC) came in at 150.5 pounds Friday for his featherweight bout against Jonathan Pearce (10-4 MMA, 1-1 UFC) –
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1:42 AM ET Diego Sanchez, one of the longest-tenured athletes in UFC history, is officially no longer with the promotion. The UFC terminated Sanchez’s contract Tuesday, according to UFC president Dana White. Sanchez, 39, basically announced the split on Thursday, as he posted “Free at last” on his personal Instagram. Sanchez was scheduled to face
Due to medical issues, Yoel Romero will no longer be facing Anthony “Rumble” Johnson next Friday and is out of the Bellator light heavyweight grand prix. Bellator issued a statement Thursday night announcing that Romero is out of the Bellator light heavyweight grand prix due to his failure to clear pre-fight medical testing. This, of
Welcome to Midnight Mania! Have we seen the last of inaugural Ultimate Fighter (TUF) champion and former title challenger Diego Sanchez inside the Octagon? “The Nightmare” has been vocally complaining about his treatment from UFC, claiming they left him at the airport and disrespected him via commentary. Today, he posted “FREE AT LAST, FREE AT
By Mike Bohn and John Morgan | April 30, 2021 12:41 am Diego Sanchez’s storied UFC tenure has come to an end. After more than 16 years and 32 fights with the promotion, “The Ultimate Fighter 1” winner Sanchez has been released from his UFC contract. MMA Junkie verified news Sanchez (30-13 MMA, 19-13 UFC)
8:39 AM ET Rose Namajunas did not move very far, but her climb was tremendous. She entered last Saturday’s UFC 261 as the No. 2 strawweight in the ESPN divisional MMA rankings. Now she is just one spot higher at No. 1 — but she’s also once again a UFC champion, after knocking out Zhang
After suffering a brutal knockout loss in the UFC 261 main event, Jorge Masvidal is taking Kamaru Usman’s snappy post-fight remarks in stride. Coming into UFC 261, Jorge Masvidal had never been knocked out in his UFC career. He has been on the giving end of knockouts, though, particularly in 2019, when he was regarded
No. 3-ranked middleweight contender Marvin Vettori is still bitter about his split-decision loss to Israel Adesanya at the UFC on FOX 29 event back in April 2018, which is probably why ”The Italian Dream” has been yapping about it ever since. In fact, “The Last Stylebender” suggests that Vettori is more proud of his loss
By Matt Erickson | April 29, 2021 4:10 pm The PFL is back for its second event of the 2021 regular season with welterweights and light heavyweights on the docket. 2021 PFL 2 takes place Thursday at Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, N.J. The main card airs on ESPN2 following prelims on ESPN+. (Click
8:32 PM ET The UFC has pulled a welterweight matchup between Donald Cerrone and Diego Sanchez from its event on May 8 and is seeking a new matchup for Cerrone on the same date, sources confirmed to ESPN on Wednesday. Sanchez (30-13) is off the UFC Fight Night event in Las Vegas, sources said. The
ONE on TNT IV took place April 28, 2021, from inside the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore. Here are the highlights and fast results from the event. The main card tipped off with Colbey Northcutt, sister of Sage Northcutt, earn a submission victory over Courtney Martin to improve to 2-1, and undefeated in ONE Championship (2-0). Here
ONE Championship concludes its month-long stint on TNT tonight (Weds., April 28, 2021) with a title fight at the helm and a slew of familiar faces to set the stage. MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE coverage of tonight’s main card, which kicks off at 10 p.m. ET on TNT. We’ll also provide quick results of the
By John Morgan | April 28, 2021 11:50 pm Undefeated Dutchman Reinier de Ridder is now a two-division champion, adding ONE’s light heavyweight belt to the middleweight title he already owns with a decision win in the main event of ONE on TNT IV, which aired Wednesday in the U.S. And de Ridder (14-0) earned
8:30 AM ET Kamaru Usman has risen to the top of the game, taking over the No. 1 spot in the ESPN pound-for-pound men’s MMA rankings. Usman (19-1) retained his UFC welterweight championship with a dazzling knockout of Jorge Masvidal on Saturday, his 18th consecutive victory and fourth title defense. He takes over the top
Former Bellator champion Darrion Caldwell is making his bantamweight return to face Leandro Higo again but this time at Bellator 259. News of the fight announcement was first reported by Alexander K. Lee of MMAFighting. The fight is scheduled for April 15 in Uncasville, Conn. In Addition, the card will be headlined by featherweight champion
Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) light heavyweight champion Jon Jones wants “Deontay Wilder money” to fight reigning heavyweight titleholder Francis Ngannou, but since No. 2 ranked contender Derrick Lewis is willing to do it for far less, “Bones” is now “out of the picture” when it comes to 265-pound title shots. And that folks, is
By Mike Bohn | April 28, 2021 3:30 pm DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla. – Gilbert Burns is captivated by the challenge of striking with Stephen Thompson at UFC 264. Does that mean Burns (19-4 MMA, 12-4 UFC) will only try to stand with Thompson (16-4-1 MMA, 11-4-1 UFC) when they meet in their high-stakes welterweight bout
4:42 PM ET Conor McGregor has donated $500,000 to a Boys & Girls Club in Louisiana as an apparent resolution to an issue he had with rival Dustin Poirier. The hefty donation from McGregor’s team came in to the Boys & Girls Club of Acadiana on Monday, club president and CEO Missy Andrade told ESPN