Blog

UNDENIABLE 😱@TAKM_MMA has done the unthinkable! He stops @YaroslavAmosov!!! #Bellator301 | LIVE NOW | @SHOsports 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/g1qJ1hxUp9

— Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) November 18, 2023

They call him “The Ass Kicking Machine” for a reason.

Advertisement

Jason Jackson shocked the world Friday night after ending mixed martial arts’ longest unbeaten streak when he masterfully knocked out Bellator MMA welterweight champion Yaroslav Amosov (27-1) in the third round (2:08) of the Bellator 301 main event at Winstrust Arena in Chicago.

Jackson (17-4) may have come in as the underdog but after winning his last six fights, the Kingston, Jamaica, native fought with the poise of a polished champion. Amosov tried desperately to get the heavy hitter to the mat and Jackson turned him away at every opportunity.

Forced to engage with him on the feet, Amosov looked to bait Jackson into a big shot or a takedown, but again Jackson wouldn’t …

Sherdog's live Bellator 301 coverage will begin Friday at 5 p.m. ET. Round 1 We have reached what Bellator has so far claimed is just its “final event of the year.” The chatter about the future of the promotion has reached a fever pitch on fight night, but regardless of what comes next, 16 fights are on the docket in Chicago including several huge ones on the main card. We start off in the featherweight division, as France’s Landu (19-9, 4-1 BMMA) tries to make Kobayashi (27-5-2, 0-2 BMMA) feel unwelcome in his return to the promotion. Referee Mike Cimmarusti takes the first assignment of the night, and he watches a glove touch, as the fighters get down to it. Landu marches forward out of his corner, only to have his lead leg kicked hard. Landu counters with an overhand right, and he tumbles to the mat and recovers. Landu crowds his opponent, tossing out a kick or two to find his range. Kobayashi returns fire with a low kick and ducks a looping punch, and he misses on a seco…

Our Main Event is locked in! 🔒@BrendanAllenMMA is in at 186lbs for tomorrow's #UFCVegas82 Main Event! pic.twitter.com/PPveKbHoSi

— UFC (@ufc) November 17, 2023 The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to Las Vegas for its latest card, which is now set after the UFC Fight Night 232 weigh-ins took place.

Headlining the 14-fight card is an intriguing battle between Brendan Allen and Paul Craig. Both middleweight fighters successfully made weight for the five-round fight. As for the rest of the card, two fighters came in heavy. Both Lucas Alexander and Rafael Estevam were both two pounds over for their fights against Jeka Saragih and Charles Johnson, respectively. Meanwhile, Ailin Perez initially checked in half a pound over for her fight against Lucie Pudilova, but she returned to make 136 pounds with extra time. Alexander and Estevam were fined as a result.

Advertisement

This marks the first UFC main event for Allen (22-5), who is …

[embedded content] After taking some time away from in-cage activity, referee Mario Yamasaki is ready to get back down to business.

The longtime referee will be returning to the sport to officiate the Professional Fighters League Finals on Nov. 24 in Washington, D.C. The 59-year-old born in Sao Paulo currently resides several miles outside of the U.S. Capitol, where he and his brother operate Yamasaki Academy. Its main stable located in Rockville, Maryland, he splits time between the U.S. and Brazil. Yamasaki spoke to Sherdog about his past career as well as his comeback.

“I’ll be with my brother Fernando and Jerin [Valel], who is coming from Canada,” Yamasaki explained about his upcoming event coverage. “The rules are basically the same except for the elbows which are not allowed in PFL. Very anxious to ref some of those six finals. The promotion here in Washington is huge after all, the show will pay six million dollars for six finalists that night.”

Yamasaki reveale…

Ruslan Satiev showed he could swim in deep waters.

The undefeated Dobryna Gym prospect made a successful One Championship debut with a split decision over Galaktic Sports rep Farid Alibabazade in a three-round ONE Friday Fights 41 flyweight showcase on Friday at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. Two of the three ringside judges sided with Satiev (5-0, 1-0 ONE), who was forced beyond the first round for the first time in his career.

Advertisement

Alibabazade (8-6, 0-1 ONE) answered repeated takedowns with an active bottom game and nearly sprang the upset. However, Satiev successfully navigated the Azerbaijani’s spidery guard, more often than not dictated the terms of their engagement and racked up points with positional advances and intermittent ground-and-pound. Knees to the head proved to be his most effective weapon on the mat.

Further down the undercard, Satiev stablemate Gadzhimurad Amirzhanov kept his perfect professional record intact and did s…

[embedded content] What might be Bellator MMA's final event of the year is now official.

Headlining Bellator 301 is a welterweight title fight between champion Yaroslav Amosov and challenger Jason Jackson. The co-main event will also see the bantamweight championship on the line as Sergio Pettis looks to unify against interim beltholder Patrick Mix. All fighters on the card made weight, with the exception of Keri Melendez, who came in .6 pounds over the flyweight limit for her fight against Sabriye Sengul. She has been fined a percentage of her purse, and the fight will otherwise proceed as scheduled.

Advertisement

The undefeated Amosov (27-0) is coming off decision wins over Douglas Lima and Logan Storley. The 30-year-old is 8-0 inside the Bellator cage. "Dynamo" stepped on the scale weighing 169.6 pounds.

Meanwhile, this is the biggest fight in the career of Jackson (16-4). "The Ass-Kicking Machine" is on a six-fight win streak that includes a decision win ove…

Even the undefeated, undisputed Chael Sonnen is man enough to shed tears at a powerful story.

On Thursday, Paramount+ released the documentary series of Ultimate Fighting Championship great Anderson Silva. The five-part series, currently out in Brazil and titled “Anderson ‘Spider’ Silva,” spans five episodes and chronicles much of Silva’s life. The show begins in his childhood and showcases his accolades in competition including winning and defending the UFC middleweight title.

Advertisement

To hype up the release of the docuseries, Paramount+ also posted a video of Silva and Sonnen getting together to watch it together. Sonnen famously posted on Tuesday a few photographs of a tattoo on his shoulder of former rival Silva, and the video took fans behind the scenes. As it turned out, this tattoo resulted from a bet between the two fighters.

“If [Sonnen] cried [while watching the series], he would have to tattoo my face on his arm,” Silva revealed. “If he didn’t…

[embedded content]

Brendan Allen doesn’t agree with Khamzat Chimaev being ranked in the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s middleweight division.

Chimaev (13-0) made his long-awaited permanent move to middleweight at UFC 294 last month against short-notice replacement Kamaru Usman (20-4), who also made his debut at 185 pounds. A -300 favorite on some sportsbooks going into the fight, “Borz” managed to eke out a majority decision.

While the fight was widely believed to be a middleweight title eliminator, Chimaev was allegedly not even discussed as a potential opponent while booking Sean Strickland’s upcoming defense against Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 297 on Jan. 20.

However, “Borz” landed directly at No. 8 on the middleweight ladder as per the newly updated UFC rankings.

No. 10 ranked middleweight Brendan Allen slammed the UFC ranking system for giving Chimaev a spot in the Top 10 of the division, despite him having not fought a true middleweight, let a…

[embedded content]

Bellator MMA bantamweight champion Sergio Pettis is finally coming into his own as a mixed martial arts star and out of the shadow of his elder brother Anthony Pettis.

Advertisement

Despite making his professional debut back in 2011, Sergio for the longest time felt he was known solely as the younger brother of former World Extreme Cagefighting and Ultimate Fighting Championship king Anthony. It was back-to-back losses against Rob Font and Jussier Formiga in his UFC days that changed things for “The Phenom.”

After exiting the UFC with a win over Tyson Nam, Pettis went on to rack up five consecutive wins under the Bellator banner, which includes three title fights. Pettis returned to action in June after an 18-month layoff due to an ACL surgery and successfully defended his throne against featherweight champ Patricio “Pitbull” Freire.

Pettis is now scheduled to defend his throne at Bellator 301 on Nov. 17 against Patrick Mix (18-1), who …

[embedded content]

Feared knockout artist Patricky “Pitbull” Freire is extremely confident going into his clash against striking ace Alexandr Shabliy.

Advertisement

Freire (25-11) and Shabliy (23-3) will meet in the semi-final of Bellator MMA’s lightweight grand prix, which will open the action at Bellator 301. The event will go down at Wintrust Arena in Chicago on Nov. 17.

One of the biggest fan favorites in the world of mixed martial arts, Pitbull is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt who has scored 17 of his 25 career wins via knockout or technical knockout.

Training out of Pitbull Brothers gym in Brazil alongside younger brother Patricio Freire, Patricky is confident of pulling off a first-round stoppage against Shabliy.

“Of course, I am ready. I have the best team in the world full of world champions,” said Patricky at the Bellator 301 pre-fight press conference. “I trained with this team for more than 10 years and I believe in my wrestling, my strikin…

[embedded content]

Welterweight contender Jason Jackson will draw from lessons learned by his teammate Logan Storley’s losses against Yaroslav Amosov when he challenges the reigning champ in the Bellator 301 headliner at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago on Nov. 17.

Advertisement

Storley has faced Amosov (27-0) twice so far, dropping a closely-contested split decision loss in 2020 before suffering a lopsided unanimous decision this past February. Nevertheless, Storley’s Kill Cliff FC teammate Jackson (16-4) is registering every bit of information from those losses as he goes into his title bid against the undefeated Ukrainian.

“Logan told me everything. He left nothing out. I have been studying Amosov for years because I have always wanted to fight him since he is the best in the division,” Jackson said at the Bellator 301 pre-fight press conference. “If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best.”

Currently riding a six-fight win streak with wins ov…

A middleweight showdown pitting Gregory Rodrigues against Brad Tavares has been booked for UFC Fight Night on Feb. 10.

Rodrigues announced the pairing on social media. The UFC Fight Night event doesn’t currently have an official location or headliner.

The 31-year-old Rodrigues has won three of his last four Octagon appearances. Most recently, “Robocop” knocked out Denis Tiuliulin with elbows in the opening stanza of their encounter at UFC 292. The Kill Cliff FC representative is 5-2 during his tenure with the Las Vegas-based promotion, with all but one of those victories coming by knockout or technical knockout.

Tavares, meanwhile, is a 23-time Octagon veteran who made his first UFC appearance in 2010. Most recently, the 35-year-old Hawaiian snapped a two-fight skid with a unanimous decision triumph over former middleweight champ Chris Weidman at UFC 292.

It appears that UFC Fight Night 233 will be headed to the promotion’s home base.

Advertisement

The card, which was originally supposed to be held in Shanghai, China, on Dec. 9, is changing locations to the UFC Apex in Las Vegas for reasons that are currently unknown. Multiple outlets confirmed the news following an initial announcement from MMA manager Shu Hirata on social media.

According to a report from MMAjunkie.com, the four Road to UFC bouts scheduled for UFC Fight NIght 233 will no longer take place on the card. Additionally, a light heavyweight bout pitting Brendon Ribeiro against Mingyang Zhang has been scrapped due to travel issues related to the change in location.

UFC Shanghai was slated to be the first event in China since 2019, when Weili Zhang defeated Jessica Andrade to capture the strawweight crown in the UFC Fight Night 157 main event.

Barring any further changes, UFC Fight Night 233 is expected to be headlined by a bantamweight cl…

In a somewhat controversial move, Francis Ngannou has been ranked by the World Boxing Council at heavyweight.

Advertisement

As reported by Reuters, Ngannou has entered the WBC poll at No. 10 following a split-decision defeat to Tyson Fury on Oct. 28 in Saudia Arabia. The former UFC heavyweight champion scored a knockdown of Fury and was competitive throughout the fight, which allowed him to receive a 95-94 scorecard from one ringside judge. Fury, meanwhile, received tallies of 96-93 and 95-94 to get the split-decision nod.

While many observers believed Ngannou deserved to win the fight, it is rare for the WBC to rank an athlete with no professional wins on his record. “The Predator” was making his pro boxing debut after parting ways with the UFC earlier this year. Fury, meanwhile, will move on to an undisputed heavyweight championship fight against Oleksandr Usyk, which has been targeted for Feb. 17.

Ngannou is also signed to Professional Fighters League,…

Newly-crowned interim heavyweight champ Tom Aspinall caught Jamahal Hill’s attention with a first-round knockout win over Sergei Pavlovich in the co-main event at UFC 295.

Aspinall stepped up on less than three weeks’ notice, battled through crippling back pain and showed up to knock out the surging Russian, who was on a six-fight, first-round finishing streak. The Brit’s performance has Hill considering a move up to heavyweight in the future to test himself against the latest sensation.

“I think Tom is a stud, I think Tom is like the new prototype of what heavyweights are,” Hill told TNT Sports. “I definitely wanna do my thing at 205 and then go up and eventually see him too. So, Tom, get ready for me baby, someday. I think he has great movement. I think his coaches focus on a lot of good things, the right things to give him an edge in this game. A lot of them have the same philosophy as my coaches have and employ with me and things like that. I think he’s defi…

Contrary to popular belief, Khamzat Chimaev was reportedly not even considered as a potential opponent for Sean Strickland’s first title defense at UFC 297.

Advertisement

After years of troublesome weight cuts and dominant finishes at welterweight, Chimaev (13-0) made a move to middleweight last month opposite Kamaru Usman, who also made his short notice debut at 185 pounds. “Borz” picked up a majority decision win over Usman in the co-main event at UFC 294. While the fight was believed to be a title eliminator, Chimaev’s victory wasn’t especially decisive.

Strickland (28-5) is now scheduled to defend his throne against South African standout Dricus Du Plessis (20-2) in the UFC 297 main event on Jan. 20 in Toronto. According to Strickland’s manager, Iridium Sports Agency’s Lance Spaude, Chimaev’s name didn’t come up during UFC 297 conversations.

“Never even brought up in the discussion,” Spaude said on the MMA Mania "Sound & Pound” podcast. “I don’t r…

Chase Hooper doesn’t want to rush his climb to the upper echelon of the Ultimate Fighting Championship's lightweight roster.

Advertisement

Hooper (12-3) made his promotional debut in 2019 as an undefeated 10-0-1 prospect and went on to score a first-round stoppage win over Daniel Teymur. While “The Dream” continues to show flashes of brilliance, his career has since gone back and forth as he's encountered steeper competition.

Currently 4-3 in the UFC and coming off a decision win over Nick Fiore in May, Hooper is set to take on Jordan Leavitt (11-2) at UFC Fight Night 232 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday. Reflecting on his career so far, the 24-year-old from Enumclaw, Washington, recently detailed his career strategy to stay in the game for the long run.

“The Dream” believes a slow and steady approach is the way to ensure a lengthy successful career.

“My second fight in the UFC was against a 20-fight vet in [Alex] Caceres, and I felt like he …

Themba Gorimbo will return to action against Kiefer Crosbie on Feb. 3 at a yet-to-be-announced Ultimate Fighting Championship event.

Gorimbo confirmed the booking on social media following an initial report from MMA Mania. The card does have an official location or headliner.

Gorimbo (11-4) made headlines earlier this year due to his inspirational story, which came to light following his first promotional triumph against Takashi Sato at UFC Fight Night 223 on May 20. The South Africa native debuted in the Octagon with a loss to A.J. Fletcher at UFC Fight Night 219 after competing primarily on the African regional scene.

An SBG Ireland product, Crosbie will look to bounce back from a first-round submission loss against Kevin Jousset in his promtional debut at UFC 293. His 10-4 career mark notably includes a 3-3 stint in Bellator MMA.

UFC Fight Night 232 has undergone a couple of changes less than a week before Saturday’s card.

Advertisement

Christian Leroy Duncan (8-1) was originally scheduled to welcome undefeated Brazilian debutant Cesar Almeida (4-0) to the Octagon at Saturday’s event at the UFC Apex. However, Almeida withdrew due to an infection and has now been replaced by Russia’s Denis Tiuliulin (10-8).

Duncan is coming off the first professional loss of his career via unanimous decision against Armen Petrosyan in June. The former Cage Warriors middleweight champ will look to return to the win column with a decisive victory over Tiuliulin, who is on a two-fight skid with a 1-3 promotional record so far.

The update was first reported by Vestnik MMA on Instagram and subsequently confirmed by multiple outlets.

Meanwhile, promotional newcomer Jonny Parsons (9-3) has withdrawn from his scheduled welterweight clash against Uros Medic (9-1) due to undisclosed reasons. Parsons wil…

A welterweight matchup has been added to the first Ultimate Fighting Championship pay-per-view event of 2024, which is set to go down at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Jan. 20.

Advertisement

Sam Patterson (10-2) will face Canada's Yohan Lainesse (9-2) in what will mark the Englishman's first professional fight in the welterweight division at UFC 297. The matchup was first reported by Eurosport Nederland’s Marcel Dorff on Nov. 3 but was just recently confirmed by the Las Vegas-based promotion.

Patterson, a Brave Combat Federation alum, made his Octagon debut at UFC 286 on the heels of a six-fight win streak, including a Round 2 submission victory against Vinicius Sacchelli Cenci in Dana White’s Contender Series.

Unfortunately for Patterson, his promotional debut didn't go as planned as the Team Crossface product suffered a brutal Round 1 knockout loss at the hands of Israeli fighter Yanal Ashmoz. Meanwhile, Lainesse is 2-2 in his last four. The Canadian …

For the most part, Kayla Harrison has been an extremely active competitor since making her professional mixed martial arts debut in 2018.

Advertisement

With the exception of the COVID-altered 2020 campaign, the two-time Olympic gold medalist fought at least three times a year — and usually four — from 2018 through 2022. That changed this year, when Harrison was sidelined as the Professional Fighters League introduced a featherweight division. The two-time 155-pound champion revealed earlier in the year that it wasn’t necessarily her choice to sit out the season. However, she gained valuable perspective in multiple aspects of her life during her downtime.

Much of that had little to do with fighting.

“I was still in the gym training every day. I went from training twice a day pretty much year round to training once a day, focusing on where I can get better — a lot of the holes in my game,” Harrison said during a PFL media day. “But the biggest gains I feel li…

Clay Collard is probably more qualified than most to comment on Francis Ngannou’s professional boxing debut.

Advertisement

Collard, who owns a 9-6-3 record as a professional boxer, was just as surprised as anyone to see Ngannou hold his own against Tyson Fury in their match on Oct. 28 in Saudia Arabia — especially after training alongside “The Predator” in the past.

“I’ve got to give him props,” Collard said during a recent PFL media day. “I trained with him a little bit back at Xtreme Couture, and I never would’ve guessed that would’ve been the case, him going in there and dropping Fury. A lot of people might have him winning.

“I wish him all the success. I think he can take it as high as he wants to go in boxing or mixed martial arts. Baddest man on the planet, PFL.”

While Collard has plenty of experience in the Sweet Science, his current focus is winning the PFL lightweight championship against Olivier Aubin-Mercier on Nov. 24 in Washington, D.C. Their …

The Nevada State Athletic Commission has adopted new thresholds for several previously prohibited substances, according to a report from MMAjunkie.com.

During a meeting on Tuesday, thresholds were approved for the following substances: GW1516, dehydrochloromethyltestosterone (DHCMT) long-term metabolite (M3), clomiphene, epitrenbolone (trenbolone metabolite), and selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMS). The new policy is designed to help distinguish between drug tests results that are “atypical” and those that are “adverse.”

Advertisement

NSAC executive director Jeff Mullen offered further details on the newly-approved policy in a statement.

“Any positive test of a proposed substance which is below the respective proposed threshold would be considered atypical requiring additional investigation,” Mullen said. “This investigation may include, but not be limited to, review of the fighter’s test history, interviews, and possible additional testing. The resu…

[embedded content]

UFC Fight Pass commentator Carlos Barreto was disappointed by Alex Pereira’s decision to call out Israel Adesanya for a trilogy fight following his championship victory at UFC 295.

Advertisement

“Adesanya tried to come up to light heavyweight and lost his first fight against Jan Blachowicz. ‘Poatan’ moved up, defeated Blachowicz and got the belt after beating another former champion, [Jiri Prochazka],” Barreto said on his weekly videocast, Papo de Luta. “Adesanya already said he is taking some time off and in addition, he has unfinished business to solve at middleweight with [Sean Strickland or Dricus Du Plessis).

“‘Poatan’ should understand that the best storyline for him is undoubtedly Jamahal Hill. Glover [Teixeira] was beaten by Prochaska, and ‘Poatan’ avenged him. It would have been a perfect time to use the microphone to say ‘Hill get well soon, I ́m waiting for you and I ́m going to beat you up and avenge Glover again.’ That's the narrat…