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Former Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight Derek Brunson has taken aim at a showdown with YouTube star turned boxer Jake Paul following a triumphant Professional Fighters League debut against Ray Cooper III at the 2023 PFL Championships on Friday in Washington, D.C.

Brunson (24-9) signed with the PFL in October after he “mutually” parted ways with the UFC. The North Carolina native entered his first assignment with the company on the heels of back-to-back losses to Jared Cannonier and Dricus Du Plessis inside the Octagon. Brunson rebounded and found his way back into the win column in his catchweight clash with Cooper at The Anthem.

Apart from facing some adversity in the first round, where Cooper staggered him while countering a takedown, Brunson managed to control and beat up the Hawaiian throughout the three-round affair. Judges awarded him 30-27, 30-25 and 30-25 marks on the scorecards. Afterward, Brunson looked forward to partaking in the biggest fights…

Five new Professional Fighting League world champions took home a belt and a $1 million payday Friday night at the 2023 PFL Championships in Washington D.C.

However, the main event saw a familiar face claim championship glory. Last year’s lightweight champion Olivier Aubin-Mercier (21-5, 10-0 PFL) defended his title against the surging “Cassius” Clay Collard in a competitive scrap. Collard dug in stinging body shots and pushed the Canadian back to the fence, but Aubin-Mercier routinely worked Collard (24-11, 6-3 PFL) on the ground. This resulted in "OAM" taking a unanimous decision win with a trio of 49-46 scorecards in his favor.

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With multiple Bellator MMA champions in the crowd to promote eventual cross-promotional fights as a part of PFL’s takeover of the former rival promotion, the future of PFL looked exciting Friday night.Ferreira Shocks Goltsov You never know what’s bound to happen when giants face off. 244-pound Dennis Goltsov locked heads a…

The 2023 Professional Fighters League Playoffs wrap up on Friday in Washington D.C. at the 2023 PFL Championships. The undercard airs live on ESPN+ at 5:30 p.m. ET, with the main card starting on ESPN Pay-per-View at 8 p.m ET. Round 1 A featherweight tilt pitting Blyden (9-2, 0-0 PFL) against Stirn (15-6, 0-2 PFL) kicks off festivities for the 2023 PFL Championships. Blyden, who missed weight by 0.8 pounds, enters his promotional debut on the strength of a three-fight winning streak. Stirn, 31, has won four in a row. Jerin Valel serves as the third man in the cage. They touch gloves, and we are underway. Blyden presses forward behind jabs and leg kicks, shoots in for takedown and sneaks behind his counterpart. He drags Stirn down to the mat and climbs to the back. Stirn stands and breaks away from danger, only to concede a pair of mat returns. Blyden feeds knees to the back of the legs with the two men once again upright. He continues to win the hand battle and maintains an…

#RIZIN45 Press Conference #3📸

4 more matchups for New Year's 👀 pic.twitter.com/dp9dulOS2l

— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) November 24, 2023 Rizin Fighting Federation’s year-end show has gained four matches and lost one a bit over a month before it takes place.

Per a press release provided by the organization on Friday morning, Rizin 45 will be gaining four matches, including one involving a pound-for-pound talent. The Dec. 31 show will take place in its annual showcase site of the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, and multiple championship tilts will play out across the evening. Four new fights have graced the lineup, while one additional match has been scratched.

Bouts added to the billing include a major women’s super atomweight tilt (108 pounds) between no. 1 atomweight Seika Izawa (11-0) and aging divisional stalwart Miyuu Yamamoto (6-7). Izawa claimed the top spot by knocking off Ayaka Hamasaki at Rizin 33 to end 2021…

“The Young Punisher” might not be as young anymore, but he wants to show he still has plenty of punishment left to give.

Brazil’s Pedro Munhoz (20-8, 2 NC) will be returning to the Octagon on March 9 at UFC 299 against Kyler Phillips (11-2) in a significant bantamweight matchup. This is just the second fight reported for this event, one that does not officially have a location or venue on the books. The fight card will be headlined by a 135-pound championship rematch between Sean O'Malley and Marlon Vera. News of this Munhoz-Phillips tilt broke courtesy of Phillips’ management team of Iridium Sports.

Munhoz has struggled the last few years, with just two wins since 2020 over Jimmie Rivera and Chris Gutierrez. In that three-year stretch, he has lost decisions to Frankie Edgar, Jose Aldo, Dominick Cruz and Marlon Vera in a veritable murderer’s row of bantamweight opposition. Before this rough patch, Munhoz registered victories over the likes of Cody Garbrandt, Rob Font a…

The Ultimate Fighting Championship will be putting on the Joe Pyfer show in February.

Currently unranked as a middleweight with the company, Pyfer (12-2) will be snagging a main event spot against Sherdog’s no. 15-ranked Jack Hermansson (23-8) on Feb. 10. The two 185ers will battle it out atop an evening scheduled at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on the currently unnamed UFC Fight Night card. News of this pairing was announced by the UFC on Thursday.

Since making his debut off of his second chance on Dana White's Contender Series, Pyfer has rattled off three straight stoppages in the Octagon. Pyfer introduced himself to the promotion by blasting Alen Amedovski in under four minutes. “Bodybagz” returned to the cage over six months later to lay waste to Gerald Meerschaert, and he earned win no. 3 in the UFC by rendering Abdul Razak Alhassan unconscious with an arm-triangle choke in October. As a pro, Pyfer has only gone the distance one time, in his second bout against Dere…

The time and place of Alexander Volkanovski vs. Ilia Topuria is now official.

Per the promotion on Thursday, UFC 298 will take place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, on Feb. 17. The Ultimate Fighting Championship had previously announced that the featherweight championship clash of Volkanovski (26-3) vs. Topuria (14-0) would sit atop the billing, and its date of Feb. 17 had been discussed as well. However, the destination of California was not official until its announcement.

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This event will be the first at this venue since UFC 270 in early 2022, when Francis Ngannou beat Ciryl Gane for the heavyweight strap. The home to NHL team Anaheim Ducks has played host to a number of major UFC cards over the years, from UFC 76 titled “Knockout” which did not feature a single knockout to UFC 157 which brought women’s MMA to the organization. This fight card will feature the first men’s headliner in a division below light heavyweight for the building,…

Some Thanksgiving fight announcements. Happy Thanksgiving everybody! pic.twitter.com/wNDkaxQ0nB

— danawhite (@danawhite) November 23, 2023 Jalin Turner will be stepping in for the man who last beat him in a bit over a week.

At UFC 290 in July, Turner (13-7) fell short in a thrilling nailbiter by split decision to Hooker. The Kiwi, who was scheduled to take on Bobby Green (31-14-1, 1 NC) at UFC Austin, has since injured his arm and has withdrawn from the Green pairing. The damage was inflicted to the same arm that Hooker hurt in his fight with Turner. Now, Turner will be taking on Green on Dec. 2 at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas, according to the promotion on Thursday.

Making his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut in 2018 unsuccessfully against Vicente Luque, the 6-foot-3 Turner dropped down to lightweight and has competed in that weight class for the majority of his subsequent matches. “The Tarantula” is currently skidding, having…

[embedded content] Editor's note: The article has been updated at 4:45 p.m. ET to reflect the cancellation of a bout.

After all the vitriolic back-and-forth about their Professional Fighters League rubber match, Chris Wade vs. Bubba Jenkins 3 failed to get off the starting block.

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The weigh-ins for 2023 Season Championships took place on Friday, and all six championship affairs are set and ready to go on Friday. The main event will take place in the lightweight division as Olivier Aubin-Mercier looks to repeat against Clay Collard. Collard (24-10) came in at 154.8 pounds, as did Aubin-Mercier (20-5). While all 12 finalists made weight, three undercard fighters missed weight: Ray Cooper III (186.8), Wade (148.4) and Josh Blyden (146.8). Cooper and Blyden have been fined percentages of their purses, and Wade's match has been canceled.

The PFL 2023 Championships will air on ESPN+ pay-per-view on Friday. The main card starts at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, whi…

In the eyes of champion Alex Pereira, Khamzat Chimaev is no Ricardo Arona.

“Poatan” made history in November by becoming the first fighter in Ultimate Fighting Championship history to win titles in both the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions. The former 185-pound king—who went 1-1 with a knockout victory and defeat to Israel Adesanya in 2022 and 2023—moved up in weight to take on former champ Jan Blachowicz in July. The triumph put Pereira in contention for 205-pound gold, and he claimed it by vanquishing Jiri Prochazka in the second round at UFC 295.

After picking up the strap, the 9-2 former kickboxer from Sao Bernardo do Campo, Sao Paulo, Brazil, had plenty of men calling his name as potential suitors for his first defense. Among those was Chimaev, who recently experienced high-level success at middleweight by topping former welterweight kingpin Kamaru Usman on the scorecards. The Chechen, who frequently calls out champions in various divisions, asked UFC …

Sean Strickland is confident that training partner Sadibou Sy could duplicate his Professional Fighters League success in the UFC.

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Sy will attempt to win the welterweight championship for a second consecutive year when he faces Magomed Magomedkerimov at the 2023 PFL Championships on Friday at the Anthem in Washington, D.C. The main card airs via pay-per-view on ESPN+ beginning at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.

The 36-year-old Swede has won seven straight outings since 2022, showcasing a varied striking arsenal that includes a skilled jab, a toolbox of kicks and knees in close quarters. During the current PFL season, Sy has scored a pair of spectacular finishes against Jarrah Al-Silawi and Shane Mitchell. Strickland, the UFC's reigning middleweight king, has seen Sy’s skills firsthand.

“He would be the welterweight champion [in the UFC],” Strickland said on his YouTube channel. “Then I’d probably have to fight him for the middleweight belt. Sadi is the…

Now that he’s firmly entrenched on the Professional Fighters League roster, Bubba Jenkins is all for the organization’s recent acquisition of Bellator MMA.

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“I love it. It’s a beautiful thing,” Jenkins said during a PFL media day. “Anytime the PFL is doing anything and making news, making waves, I’m appreciative of the higher ups doing these things. Especially to strengthen the roster and get some other guys in here, some other pigs to hunt in the woods is a good thing for me, so I’m excited.”

Jenkins will lock horns with Chris Wade in a trilogy bout on the prelims of the PFL Championships card on Friday at The Anthem in Washington, D.C. The main card airs via pay-per-view on ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, while prelims stream on ESPN+ beginning at 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT.

Jenkins has more than a passing familiarity with Bellator. The 35-year-old Californian went 8-3 during an 11-bout stint with the promotion from 2013 to 2016, but he wasn’t especi…

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Professional Fighters League talent Khai Wu has firsthand knowledge of what it’s like to train alongside Meta Platforms founder Mark Zuckerberg.

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Zuckerberg, who generated headlines for his interest in an MMA fight against fellow mogul Elon Musk, crossed paths with Wu when he went to train at Guerrilla Jiu-Jitsu in Pleasanton, California. While Zuckerberg won’t be reaching the pinnacle of the sport anytime soon, Wu believes it’s important to put his training into the proper perspective.

“People are going, ‘Well, how good is he?’ It’s like if you compare him to a UFC Fighter or PFL fighter, like what are you categorizing them as? But someone as successful as him at his age getting into martial arts, it’s like, man, he takes it very seriously,” Wu said during a PFL media day. “It’s not a gimmick. It’s not like an act where he’s doing this for fun and then you don’t expect to see him in the next couple weeks. No, he’s been doing it …

Jim Miller will make his 43rd walk to the Octagon when he squares off against Gabriel Benitez in a lightweight bout at UFC Fight Night 234.

The Las Vegas-based promotion confirmed the booking in a release on Wednesday. UFC Fight Night 234 takes place on Jan. 13 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a rematch between Magomed Ankalaev and Johnny Walker. Other bouts confirmed for the event include a flyweight clash pitting Manel Kape against Matheus Nicolau and a bantamweight scrap between Ricky Simon and Mario Bautista.

Miller, who also holds the UFC record for most wins (25), has been victorious in four of his last five promotional appearances. Most recently, the New Jersey native scored a 23-second knockout victory against Jesse Butler at UFC on ESPN 46 on June 3.

Benitez will return to active competition for the first time since August 2022, when he scored a first-round TKO victory against Charlie Ontiveros at UFC on ESPN 41. Prior to that tri…

Francisco Trinaldo seems to have found a new passion in the world of bare knuckle MMA.

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One of the most popular fighters on Season 1 of “The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil,” Trinaldo parted ways with the UFC in 2022, some 10 years after his debut. Thirteen months later he made his bare knuckle foray at Gamebred Fighting Championship 6, where he defeated Sasha Palatnikov via technical knockout 1:55 into Round 1 when his opponent suffered a knee injury.

“I love to fight MMA without gloves, but I have to recognize that, after 13 months without fighting, I was nervous in the beginning,” Trinaldo told Sherdog.com. “But as soon as my opponent hit me, I woke up and started to have fun. I was prepared for a bloody war, but it was not necessary. I loved the experience and I can't wait for [Jorge] Masvidal to decide who will be my next opponent.”

“Massaranduba” had no problem revealing a list of names he has targeted as potential adversaries.

“I'm 45 [years o…

Francisco Trinaldo seems to have found a new passion in the world of bare knuckle MMA.

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One of the most popular fighters on Season 1 of “The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil,” Trinaldo parted ways with the UFC in 2022, some 10 years after his debut. Thirteen months later he made his bare knuckle foray at Gamebred Fighting Championship 6, where he defeated Sasha Palatnikov via technical knockout 1:55 into Round 1 when his opponent suffered a knee injury.

“I love to fight MMA without gloves, but I have to recognize that, after 13 months without fighting, I was nervous in the beginning,” Trinaldo told Sherdog.com. “But as soon as my opponent hit me, I woke up and started to have fun. I was prepared for a bloody war, but it was not necessary. I loved the experience and I can't wait for [Jorge] Masvidal to decide who will be my next opponent.”

“Massaranduba” had no problem revealing a list of names he has targeted as potential adversaries.

“I'm 45 [years o…

What are we doing/what have we done to ensure this situation doesn’t happen again, Micheál? Since the heinous and horrific murder of an Irish citizen in broad daylight at the hands of a foreign criminal there has been a zero action response from the 3 parties in power. Nothing at… https://t.co/EZpu40Ql8R

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) November 21, 2023

Conor McGregor recently went on a tirade against the Irish government regarding the murder of Ireland native Ashling Murphy at the hands of an immigrant.

A 23-year-old high school teacher and musician, Murphy, was murdered by Slovakian immigrant Jozef Puska while walking alongside the Grand Canal in Tullamore, County Offaly, in January 2022. Puska, who was also a sex offender in his native country, was arrested earlier this month and sentenced to life by a unanimous jury in a Dublin court.

Puska was reportedly unemployed and living on welfare since arriving in Ireland, which has …

Jake Paul claims that a potential MMA rematch against Nate Diaz is nowhere close to coming to fruition.

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While Diaz exited the UFC with a stoppage win over Tony Ferguson in September 2022 ,his long-anticipated boxing clash against Paul only materialized this past August. Paul went on to earn a unanimous decision win over the Stockton, California, native and after the bout, both parties expressed interest in setting up a rematch under MMA rules.

However, “The Problem Child” claims there has been complete radio silence from Diaz’s camp after a bit of initial interest. One potential point of contention is Diaz not wanting to fight under the Professional Fighters League banner. Diaz is rallying for the bout to be organized by his own promotion, Real Fight Inc., which co-promoted his boxing clash with Paul so far. Paul signed with the PFL earlier this year and is also a minority owner of the organization.

Paul discussed the possibility of an MMA bout…

A strawweight meeting between former Dana White Contender Series participants Rayanne Amanda dos Santos and Talita Alencar has been added to the UFC Fight Night 233 card.  

The news was first reported by MMAFighting.com.  UFC Fight Night 233 takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Dec. 9 and is headlined by a bantamweight bout between Yadong Song and Chris Gutierrez.

After a unanimous decision loss to Denise Gomes on the Contender Series in 2022, Dos Santos has racked up a three-fight winning streak. She is coming off a unanimous decision victory against Jillian DeCoursey in May to secure the Invicta FC atomweight championship.   

  Meanwhile, Alencar recently appeared on Week 7 of the latest edition of the Contender Series, where she fought her way to a unanimous draw against Stephanie Luciano. Prior to her bout with Luciano, Alencar was on a four-fight winning streak that included three rear-naked choke finish…

Jan Blachowicz believes Jamahal Hill might not be in his best shape when he attempts to reclaim the light heavyweight title against Alex Pereira.

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Hill , who defeated Glover Teixeira to be crowned champ at UFC 283 in January, had to vacate his strap in July after suffering a torn Achilles tendon during a pickup basketball game. Meanwhile, Pereira went on to capture the vacant title with a Round 2 technical knockout win over former champ Jiri Prochazka at UFC 295 earlier this month.

Hill claims that he has been guaranteed a title shot upon his return to the Octagon, which will most likely be against Pereira. However, Blachowicz believes the long hiatus could negatively affect “Sweet Dreams.”

“We’ll see how he’s going to feel after the injury because sometimes it’s hard coming back in great shape,” Blachowicz told MiddleEasy. “You still got something in the back of your head that you have surgery and you’re coming back. You don’t know how your leg…

Dan Hooker is out of his upcoming clash against Bobby Green with less than 10 days to go before fight night.

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Hooker was scheduled to take on Green in the co-main event at UFC on ESPN 52, which goes down at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas on Dec. 2. “The Hangman” has now been forced out of the matchup due to an arm injury, according to the New Zealand Herald. Multiple outlets have since confirmed the news. A replacement opponent for Green is being sought.

Earlier this year, Hooker pulled out of a scheduled clash against Jalin Turner at UFC 285 in March due to a broken hand. He later went to defeat Turner via split decision at UFC 290 but broke his arm in the fight. The Kiwi has now reportedly been forced out of UFC Austin due to a similar injury.

“It’s just one of those things. I’ve been kicked a thousand times in the last two months and he just got me on the right spot. It’s broken on the same spot as I broke it last time,” Hooker told the…

Anderson Silva believes the end of the partnership between the UFC and USADA could be a good thing.

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During an interview on the Flow podcast, “The Spider” said that he believes testing should be more flexible, taking place only during the week of the fight.

“Depending on the sport, yes [there has to be strict control]. If it's an Olympic sport, it has to be there. I think the UFC shouldn't be so strict,” Silva said. “It’s not an Olympic sport. The training that MMA athletes do is completely different from that of any other fighting athlete, because they put themselves at extremes. The guy trains boxing, wrestling, jiu-jitsu, sparring, physical preparation and a lot of other things. There was a season that injured a lot of people. When a guy is undergoing medical monitoring, taking something without it being out of control, he won't get injured. This won't change his performance at all in the fight. I am in favor of drug testing during fight week. If…

A heavyweight matchup has been added to the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s second pay-per-view event of 2024.

Justin Tafa (7-3) will take on Marcos Rogerio de Lima (21-9) at UFC 298 on Feb. 17. Both fighters confirmed the booking on social media following an initial report from MMAFighting.com. UFC 298 is headlined by a featherweight title tilt between Alexander Volkanovski and Ilia Topuria and is expected to be held in Los Angeles, though the location and venue are not official.

Tafa is currently unbeaten in his last four outings, which includes three first-round stoppages and one no contest. “Bad Man” is coming off a knockout win against Austen Lane at UFC 293 on Sept. 9.

Meanwhile, de Lima has gone 2-2 in his last four Octagon appearances. In his most recent outing, he suffered a 33-second KO defeat to Derrick Lewis at UFC 291 in July.

Donn Davis: The next time we're on here, when people laugh that we're gonna be a co-leader, we're gonna be a co-leader. #TheMMAHour pic.twitter.com/Rw5ZHsRjhi

— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) November 20, 2023

PFL founder Donn Davis believes the promotion’s latest acquisition has UFC CEO Dana White worried.

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After months of rumors, PFL officially announced its acquisition of Bellator on Monday. Davis believes that while White wasn’t previously worried about the PFL, this latest move has the UFC head honcho concerned.

“Everybody knows Dana well enough that he only dismisses things that worry him, or else he just doesn’t comment. He didn’t comment on the PFL for four years because he wasn’t worried. He has commented on the PFL a lot in the last six months. He’s worried,” Davis said during an appearance on "The MMA Hour.”

While PFL and Bellator have been in competition for the status of No. 2 MMA promotion in the …