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It appears that Alex Pereira will be with the Ultimate Fighting Championship for the foreseeable future.

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The reigning light heavyweight champion revealed Wednesday on "The MMA Hour” that he signed a new eight-fight contract with the UFC this past Friday.

“Starting this fight, there’s eight more,” Pereira said. “My relationship with the UFC is very good. I’m very grateful how the UFC and my management team get together. They’ve been doing great things together. I think the UFC also appreciates who I am because I’m a composed guy, I’m focused and I deliver.”

Pereira, who turns 37 in July, is scheduled to face Jamahal Hill in the UFC 300 headliner on April 13 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The booking came together at the last minute as the promotion struggled to find a suitable feature bout for a landmark event.

The former two-division Glory Kickboxing champion has found great success in the UFC, vanquishing longtime rival Israel Ad…

Brian Ortega got to see Alexander Volkanovski at the top of his game.

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He isn’t so sure that was the case when Volkanovski relinquished the title to Ilia Topuria at UFC 298 this past weekend.

Ortega dropped a five-round verdict to Volkanovski in their featherweight title tilt at UFC 266 in September 2021. While Ortega absorbed more than 200 significant strikes in that bout, he also placed Volkanovski in serious peril with with submission attempts in the third and fourth frames. Neither was successful, which allowed Volkanovski to take a clear victory on the scorecards.

Volkanovski’s reign ended at UFC 298, where after winning the first round on all three scorecards, “The Great” succumbed to a right hook from Topuria 3:32 into Round 2 to signal a new era at 145 pounds.

“Props to Ilia. He won. That was a very devastating KO he got,” Ortega said at media day ahead of UFC Mexico City. “For Volk, I’m trying to look at it from both perspectives. Top…

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There will be a special guest on hand to award the newly-created title belts to the winners of the featured bouts at PFL vs. Bellator.

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PFL Chairman Donn Davis revealed to ESPN that former boxing heavyweight champion Mike Tyson will present the Champion of Champion title belt at Saturday’s event in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia.

"I called Mike two weeks ago, because I thought there was nobody more fitting to award the first ever in combat sports belt that goes to a champion beating a champion than the greatest champion of all time in Mike Tyson," Davis said.

The championship hardware will go to the winner of the evening’s headliner, Renan Ferreira vs. Ryan Bader, as well as Impa Kasanganay vs. Johnny Eblen and Patricio Freire vs. Gabriel Braga. The event marks the first cross-promotional venture for both organizations since PFL acquired Bellator last year.

"I'm really looking forward to this because this is the unification of …

#ONEFightNight19 highlight video: Martyna Kierczynska busts up Nat Jaroonsak pic.twitter.com/Bb9WGOYE3P

— Sherdog (@sherdogdotcom) February 17, 2024

Polish striking sensation Martyna Kierczynska delivered a standout performance against Thai star Nat “Wondergirl” Jaroonsak at ONE Fight Night 19, and now she knows her next assignment.

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Sherdog.com has learned that Kierczynska has been booked to face three-time muay-thai world champion Ekaterina Vandaryeva at ONE Fight Night 20. The three-round 125-pound muay-thai clash will go down March 8 at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok.

Jaroonsak was initially scheduled to face Dayane de Souza Cardoso in a mixed-rules contest at ONE Fight Night 19. However, Cardoso was forced to withdraw, and Kierczynska stepped in as a late replacement.

Fortunately for her, the gamble yielded great rewards. Going into the muay-thai rules clash as an underdog, the Polish phenom earned a …

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To say that mixed martial arts fans were disappointed with the announcement of the UFC 300 main event would be an understatement.

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After all, UFC CEO Dana White had promised a mind-blowing headliner, but instead, the revelation of the Alex Pereira vs. Jamahal Hill feature was almost buried at the conclusion of last Saturday’s UFC 298 event.

While the main event might lack the “wow” factor that was expected, UFC 300 is nonetheless one of the deepest cards in recent memory. Hill, who will be making his return from a ruptured Achilles tendon, doesn’t understand the criticism.

“There’s been a lot of outrage, a lot of disappointment and things like that,” Hill said on his YouTube channel. “To be honest, it’s crazy to me because for the most part a lot of these people are the same people that have spent the better part of a year or however long calling me ‘cry baby,’ but it’s crazy to see how a card can be stacked—the main card lit…

Viewers will be able to watch Francis Ngannou’s boxing match against Anthony Joshua for slightly less than they paid to see “The Predator” take on Tyson Fury last October.

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According to PPV.com, Ngannou vs. Joshua will be $69.99 and is available to order now. Meanwhile, Ngannou vs. Fury, which aired on pay-per-view via ESPN+, cost $79.99. Ngannou vs. Joshua takes place on March 8 at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Ngannou made his boxing debut against Fury on Oct. 28. The former UFC heavyweight champion outperformed all expectations, as he dropped Fury in Round 3 en route to losing a competitive split decision. The Cameroonian-born Frenchman is also under contract with Professional Fighters League and has vowed to return to MMA at some point, though a date for his promotional debut has yet to be confirmed.

Joshua meanwhile, owns a 27-3 career mark in professional boxing, with 24 of those triumphs coming by way of knockout. After droppi…

Injuries suffered in sparring have forced Leah McCourt to pull out of a proposed featherweight clash against Sinead Kavanagh at Bellator 302.

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McCourt announced the news Tuesday in a post on social media. McCourt vs. Kavanagh was scheduled to be the Bellator 302 co-main event. It’s currently unknown if Kavanagh will remain on the March 22 card against a replacement opponent.

“Devastated to have to write this and let you know during a sparring accident, I sustained a broken rib and torn oblique. I cannot get medically cleared to fight nor could I physically be able to fight in Belfast. This may require surgery and will know more in the next few weeks,” McCourt wrote.”The muscle has been ripped from the bone and the pain is excruciating. When I didn’t get the title fight, I asked what fight wanted, it was this so especially disappointed.

“I don’t understand the heartbreak and pain of circumstances of everything that’s happened so far this year,…

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6⃣Weight Classes3⃣Cities3⃣Action Packed Nights

𝗦𝗮𝗻 𝗔𝗻𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗼. 𝗟𝗮𝘀 𝗩𝗲𝗴𝗮𝘀. 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗴𝗼. Get ready for the start of the 2024 #PFLRegularSeason 🔜 pic.twitter.com/DKaCPUtU6F

— PFL (@PFLMMA) February 20, 2024

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The Professional Fighters League season will begin in April with events in three different cities.

The organization announced on Monday that its season format — which now will include fighters from Bellator MMA — will take place on April 4, April 12 and April 19 in San Antonio, Las Vegas and Chicago. Fighters in six different weight classes will compete in the PFL season, with the winners earning a $1 million prize at the end of the campaign along with their championship status.

“The toughest test in MMA, the PFL regular season, just got tougher with the addition of stars from Bellator,” said PFL CEO Peter Murray in a release.

“The PFL is excited to kick off the 2024 regular season in front of our great fans in San A…

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Alexander Volkanovski is maintaining a strong sense of resolve on the heels of his second consecutive knockout loss.

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Volkanovski relinquished the featherweight title to Ilia Topuria in the UFC 298 headliner this past Saturday, as he succumbed to a devastating right hook from his opponent at the 3:32 mark of Round 2. The defeat ended a championship reign at 145 pounds that had lasted more than 1,500 days for the 35-year-old Australian.

In a video on his YouTube channel, Volkanovski assessed his performance, pointing out some of the positives that occurred before the decisive punch landed.

“This is a crazy game we play,” he said. “We can’t win them all. Sometimes you’re the hammer, sometimes you’re the nail. Last fight I was the nail; I’ve been the hammer many times. I’ve ruined a lot of people’s parties many times. [Saturday] night, Ilia got the job done.

“I thought I was doing great. I felt great in there. I think the judge…

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Brandon Moreno has received a spot in his own ESPN commercial.

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The former flyweight champion will make his “This is SportsCenter” commercial debut on all ESPN platforms ahead of his bout against Brandon Royval in the UFC Fight Night 237 headliner this Saturday.

The humorous spot is entitled “Elevator” and depicts Moreno and his team arriving at their desired floor as they would for a fight night walkout. Meanwhile, SportsCenter anchor Nicole Briscoe looks on indifferently as the fighter exits and the elevator doors close.

The commercial features both English and Spanish-language versions. In the Spanish version, SportsCenter anchor Jorge Eduardo Sanchez and ESPN Deportes commentator Mauricio Pedroza struggle to exit the elevator as Moreno bounces around and his coach barks out instructions.

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“Early mornings are part of the job here at ESPN. Whether it’s your team hyping you up or a cup of coffe…

WHOA! 😲😲😲@MikeChandlerMMA just called out @TheNotoriousMMA on #WWERaw! pic.twitter.com/pUN2dUFW1r

— WWE (@WWE) February 20, 2024

The power of the UFC-WWE merger under the TKO Group Holdings umbrella was on full display Monday night.

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UFC lightweight Michael Chandler appeared on WWE Raw and took the microphone to call out Conor McGregor in front of those in attendance at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. The timing worked out well because Chandler had been in attendance for UFC 298 at the same venue two days prior.

“Hey, what’s up Anaheim. You are now in the presence of the most entertaining UFC fighter on the planet,” Chandler said. “Hey, now there’s a man from Ireland that’s been making me wait for way too long, and I’ve still got one dude on my mind. Conor McGregor, get your candy ass back to the Octagon. We’ve got some unfinished business, boys. God bless. I’ll see you at the top.”

Chandler has been awa…

A featherweight showdown pitting Nate Landwehr against Pat Sabatini has been added to the UFC on ESPN 54 lineup.

The Las Vegas-based promotion announced the booking in a release on Tuesday. UFC on ESPN 54 takes place on March 30 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and is headlined by a women’s flyweight bout between Erin Blanchfield and Manon Fiorot.

Landwehr had a three-bout winning streak snapped in his last outing, when he dropped a unanimous decision against Dan Ige at UFC 289 last June. Prior to that, the former M-1 Global champion had earned successive victories over Ludovit Klein, David Onama and Austin Lingo.

Sabatini, meanwhile, has been victorious in five of his seven Octagon appearances. Most recently, the 33-year-old suffered a first-round KO loss to Diego Lopes at UFC 295 this past November.

U-Next adds PFL to MMA line-up https://t.co/kpszADy0hh @PFLMMA

— Loren (@lorenmackpro) February 20, 2024

Professional Fighters League has a broadcast home in Japan.

The PFL recently announced a multi-year agreement with Japanese streaming platform U-Next to broadcast its events in Japan. This includes the PFL regular season events, PFL Europe and PFL MENA as well as archival content. Additionally, Bellator MMAr events will continue to broadcast on U-Next, beginning with Bellator 302 in Belfast on March 22.

The deal will kick off with Saturday’s PFL vs. Bellator card in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

“A core component of our global expansion strategy is to partner with leading media platforms in key territories around the world, and we couldn’t be more excited about this multi-year agreement with U-NEXT to bring the best in MMA to fans in Japan,” said PFL SVP of International James Frewin in…

The PFL vs. Bellator card has undergone some last-minute shuffling during fight week.

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2023 PFL featherweight finalist Gabriel Braga will step in against Bellator champion Patricio Freire following the withdrawal of Jesus Pinedo due to injury. Multiple outlets confirmed the booking following an initial report from Ag.Fight.

Meanwhile, Aaron Pico, who was Braga’s original opponent, is expected to remain on the card in a rematch against Henry Corrales. That bout was first reported by MMAjunkie.com.

Braga was victorious in his first 12 professional outings — including three triumphs during the 2023 PFL campaign — before falling to Pinedo via third-round TKO at the organization’s championship event this past November.

Freire is coming off back-to-back losses to Chihiro Suzuki and Sergio Pettis. Prior to that, “Pitbull” had been victorious in 10 of his previous 11 professional outings.

Pico and Corrales initially squared off at Bellato…

Co-main event competitors Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa are among nine fighters facing a potentially lengthy layoff on the heels of UFC 298.

Whittaker is suspended for 180 days unless he receives doctor clearance for a potential fracture to his hand. The former middleweight champion also received a 60-day suspension pending physician clearance for lacerations to his right eye and foot. At a minimum, he is suspended 45 days with 30 days of no contact.

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Costa, meanwhile, is facing a potential 180-day sit unless cleared due to potential fractures to his right foot and leg. He is also suspended 60 days for lacerations pending doctor clearance, and at a minimum, is suspended 45 days with no contact for 30 days.

Whittaker took a hard-fought unanimous decision verdict against Costa in their middleweight clash at UFC 298.

The California State Athletic Commission recently released a list of medical suspensions from the event. UFC 298 took place on Sat…

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While the lineup for UFC 300 is nearly complete, the promotion’s return to Rio de Janeiro is currently in limbo with the availability of several top Brazilian stars in question.

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UFC 301 is scheduled to take place on May 4 at Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro and is currently without a headliner. However, Alex Pereira, who is slated to face Jamahal Hill in the UFC 300 main event, would be willing to make the 21-day turnaround to compete in his home country.

“We were talking with the UFC to make this fight in Brazil,” Pereira said through an interpreter on YouTube. “Then they came up with the idea to bring it a little earlier and make it on UFC 300, which for me is a good thing because I’ve already been training hard. The fight being before what was expected makes it even better for me. I’m in good shape, I’ve been training hard, and I’m excited for the fight.”

It’s not unprecedented for Pereira, who has made quick turnarounds du…

𝑾𝑯𝑨𝑻 𝑰𝑻’𝑺 𝑨𝑳𝑳 𝑨𝑩𝑶𝑼𝑻 on February 24th

Who will stand victorious with the throne on Saturday? 👑🏆

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[ #PFLvsBellator | Saturday, Feb 24th | 3pm EST | 🎟https://t.co/C7U3kwS1zr ] pic.twitter.com/XgVRXSDmYj — PFL (@PFLMMA) February 19, 2024

More than just bragging rights will be on the line when some of the top fighters from Professional Fighters League and Bellator MMA square off on Saturday.

The organizations on Monday unveiled a special commemorative PFL vs. Bellator champs belt that will be up for grabs during Saturday’s pay-per-view card. These belts, along with a championship ring, will be awarded to the winner of the heavyweight clash between Renan Ferreira and Ryan Bader and the middleweight bout pitting Impa Kasanganay against Johnny Eblen.

According to a promotion official, these belts will not be defended at future events. Instead, they are more symbolic in nature.

PFL vs. Bellator takes place at…

Ian Garry is no stranger to criticism these days, and that was once again the case following his latest triumph.

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Before Garry took the podium at the UFC 298 post-fight press conference, UFC CEO Dana White was asked by a media member about what was perceived to be a “listless” performance from the Irishman in a split-decision triumph against Geoff Neal at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, on Saturday night. As it turns out, Garry had just entered the venue when the question was posed.

“Hey Ian, this guy thinks your fight sucked tonight,” White yelled toward Garry. “He wants to know my opinion on your fight sucking tonight “ … To say that his fight wasn’t a good fight, it might not have been a great fight compared to the rest of the night with the card … Did Ian go on and put on an unbelievable performance tonight, like a knockdown drag-out war and win the fight? It wasn’t Whittaker-Costa, but he won the fight.”

Shortly thereafter, Garry …

Merab Dvalishvili cemented his spot as the bantamweight division’s No. 1 contender with his unanimous decision triumph over Henry Cejudo at UFC 298.

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UFC CEO Dana White confirmed that the Georgian standout would be next in line at Saturday’s post-fight press conference while praising his performance against Cejudo, an Olympic gold medalist and former two-division champion.

“He looked good tonight. He did what he had [to do],” White said. “In my opinion, you can’t take three years off in a combat sport. It’s never done well for anybody. Cejudo looked great in the first round. I thought he started to gas out in the second round. Merab just got stronger as the fight went on.”

Dvalishvili himself acknowledged the slow start, but he was clearly in control over the bout’s final 10 minutes.

“I think I’m getting better every round. If it was five rounds, I’m sure you guys could imagine what was going to happen. I guess I don’t warm up in the locker r…

When the Ultimate Fighting Championship came calling to offer him a spot atop the promotion’s 300th event, Jamahal Hill jumped at the opportunity.

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Hill is set to return to action for the first time since January 2023 when he meets current light heavyweight king Alex Pereira in the UFC 300 main event on April 13 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The bout seemingly came together at the last minute, as it was announced by Dana White at the conclusion of UFC 298 on Saturday night.

“I’m at a loss for words,” Hill said in a backstage interview with the UFC. “For them to have that trust that I could come and show up and put on a main event that’s worthy of a card of this magnitude motivates me and fires me up. It fires my team up. We’re ready to go. The time off has also fired me up. I’m just ready to go. I’m ready to get back in there.

“You always want to be appreciated for your work and the things that you sacrifice,” he added. “That’s all that …

Now that he has momentum back on his side, Robert Whittaker would like to keep it going for the rest of the year.

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The former middleweight champion returned to the win column in the UFC 298 co-main event, outdueling Paulo Costa over three rounds for a unanimous decision triumph on Saturday at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. Victory didn’t come easily, as Whittaker was wobbled by a spinning head kick from Costa in the late stages of Round 1. Still, “The Reaper” was able to recover and outland his opponent over the bout’s final 10 minutes.

“Obviously I’m very happy with it,” Whittaker said at the post-fight press conference. “I always look like this after fights. Plus I had a firefight with Costa, it shows a little bit. More than the win itself, I’m satisfied with what I wanted to achieve and I achieved that.”

As for the kick that nearly changed the course of the fight, Whittaker didn’t let it alter his focus.

“I just brushed it off,” …

More than anything, UFC 298 will likely go down in history as a changing of the guard in the featherweight division.

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Ilia Topuria ended the lengthy championship reign of Alexander Volkanovski in emphatic fashion, knocking out the Aussie standout with a clean right hook at the 3:32 mark of Round 2 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, on Saturday night. Prior to the finish, the fight was quite competitive, with Volkanovski taking the opening stanza on all three judges’ scorecards.

Ultimately, it was a matter of Topuria figuring out his opponent’s timing and finding the right opening.

“First of all, I don’t need the judges,” Topuria said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “When I’m fighting, they can go and take their time to break. The guy [Volkanovski] was really fast, very fast jabs. With his kicks, he surprised me a little bit. It took me a little time to study him, and I had to knock him out in the second round.

“I was just …

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Producing a high-quality fight card can be a challenging process, especially when it’s an event like UFC 300.

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After plenty of buzz and speculation, UFC CEO Dana White announced Saturday night that Alex Pereira will defend the light heavyweight title against Jamahal Hill in the UFC 300 headliner. While it wasn’t necessarily the type of jaw-dropping main event some were expecting, it helps round out one of the promotion’s deepest overall cards in recent memory.

According to White, there are a lot of factors that went into finding the suitable headliner for the highly-anticipated card.

“This was not about money,” White said at the UFC 298 post-fight press conference on Saturday night. “It was all about timing. We’ve got three killer cards in a row and in this business you have injuries and all kinds of other bulls—t that goes on behind the scenes. We’ve been talking about [UFC] 300 forever. We were just trying to make the best f…

Alexander Volkanovski may have lost his featherweight title on Saturday night, but he was nonetheless compensated quite nicely for his efforts.

Volkanovski took home an event-high $750,000 for his second-round knockout loss to Ilia Topuria ($350,000) in the UFC 298 headliner at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, on Saturday night. The 35-year-old Australian was one of 13 fighters who earned a six-figure payday, according to salary figures released by the California State Athletic Commission.

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Meanwhile, former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker was the card’s second second biggest earner, as he banked $400,000 for a unanimous decision triumph over Paulo Costa ($250,000) in the evening’s co-main event.

Note: The disclosed purses reported by state athletic commissions do not include any performance-based or discretionary bonuses that may be awarded to a fighter by the promotion. Additionally, the reported figures do not reflect any deduction…