Blog

🚨𝘽𝙍𝙀𝘼𝙆𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙉𝙀𝙒𝙎 🚨

From the Pitch to the SmartCage ⚽️👊

Advertisement

Former Manchester United and Les Bleus star @Evra makes his PFL MMA DEBUT at PFL Paris on Friday 23rd May#PFLParis | Friday 23rd May🎟️ On Sale NOW | LIVE on DAZN pic.twitter.com/2iCufpIFVy — PFL (@PFLMMA) April 25, 2025 With a full football career behind him, Patrice Evra is going to test the waters of combat sports with the Professional Fighters League.

Per a release by the tournament-based league on Friday, Evra, 43, will be making his professional MMA debut at PFL Europe 2 in Paris on May 23. His match will not be part of any tourney, and his opponent and weight category have not yet been determined. The soccer star suggested on social media that he would like to take on Luis Suarez in his first outing, a Uruguayan soccer talent infamous for flopping, biting and stomping on opponents.

Senegal-born Frenchman Evra bounced around a number of teams over the ye…

Our main event is OFFICIAL! 👊@IanGarryMMA weighs in at 171lbs!

[ #UFCKansasCity LIVE on @ESPNPlus | SAT | 9pmET ] pic.twitter.com/hBaTGALUA3

— UFC (@ufc) April 25, 2025 The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to Kansas City, Missouri, after two years for a 14-fight card that is now official after the UFC Kansas City weigh-ins took place.

Advertisement

Sitting atop the event is a headlining fight between Ian Garry and Carlos Prates. Both welterweight contenders successfully made weight for their five-round main event. Only one fighter missed weight as Giga Chikadze came in at 147 pounds, a full pound over the featherweight limit, for his fight against David Onama. As a result, he'll be fined 20% of his purse.

Garry (15-1) enters his first UFC main event coming off his first-ever career defeat to Shavkat Rakhmonov. "The Future" will be looking to show that he's still a top contender despite the loss and was previously undefeated…

#UFCAtlanta has its headliners 🚨@Usman84kg vs @NewMansa94@RoseNamajunas vs @FearTheMaverick

Tickets on sale May 2 | Info: https://t.co/8HQfIg4b0R pic.twitter.com/lav45WCWaz

— UFC (@ufc) April 25, 2025 The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s return to Hotlanta will have a solid one-two punch in the marquee.

Advertisement

The promotion released information about its upcoming trip to Atlanta on Friday, announcing the headliner the June 14 card. In the main attraction will be Kamaru Usman (20-4) against Joaquin Buckley (21-6) in a high-stakes welterweight showdown. It will be Usman’s return to 170 pounds after a one-off outing at middleweight, and overall, his first appearance since October 2023—he will be searching for his first victory since his rematch with Colby Covington in 2021.

Former beltholder Usman is looking to put a three-fight skid in the rear-view, with two of those three coming to Leon Edwards with the third defeat against…

WHO WILL BE THE BADDEST OF THEM ALL???

The hometown kid @DustinPoirier challenges @BlessedMMA for the BMF belt in his final trip to the Octagon!#UFC318 | @GNOSports | Learn More: https://t.co/GUdzvfNyaj pic.twitter.com/fDnILvrVwW

— UFC (@ufc) April 25, 2025 Two of the most beloved Ultimate Fighting Championship fighters will run it back one more time.

Advertisement

The trilogy bout for Max Holloway (26-8) and Dustin Poirier (30-9, 1 NC) is on the books for UFC 318 on July 19. The two lightweights will collide for Holloway’s symbolic “BMF” belt, a title not currently connected to actual championship accolades. This event will also serve as the promotion’s return to “The Big Easy” for the first time in over a decade, with Tim Boetsch and Dan Henderson duking it out in New Orleans' Smoothie King Center back in June 2015. Of note, Poirier won by knockout on that fight card.

Over the last several years, Holloway has excelled against co…

Top-ranked Ultimate Fighting Championship Mateusz Gamrot is taking a bit of a stroll outside of the top 15 for a time.

Per the promotion on Thursday, Gamrot (24-3, 1 NC) will be taking on Ludovit Klein (23-4-1) in a major lightweight tilt at UFC on ESPN 68, also known as UFC Vegas 107. They will serve on the main card but not as the main attraction, with that spot going to the flyweight title eliminator between Erin Blanchfield and Maycee Barber. The fighters will all throw down inside of the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on May 31.

In the Octagon thus far, former two-division KSW king Gamrot has yet to amass a win streak greater than four. He debuted in 2020, lost a decision to Guram Kutateladze and went on to rattle off fought straight wins. A top contender match against Beneil Dariush did not go his way in 2022, so he settled for winning three more to climb the leaderboard again. Once more, the Polish combatant came up short when it mattered most, dropping a split verdict…

Two more bouts have been added to the UFC Vegas 106 lineup, as Sodiq Yusuff wil meet Mairon Santos at lightweight, while Julian Erosa will take on Melquizael Costa at featherweight.

Advertisement

MMAFighting.com was first to confirm Yusuff vs. Santos, while Ag.Fight initially brought word of Erosa vs. Costa. UFC Vegas 106 — also known as UFC Fight Night — takes place on May 17 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a welterweight tilt pitting Gilbert Burns against Michael Morales.

Yusuff will be making the move to 155 pounds on the heels of back-to-back losses against Edson Barboza and Diego Lopes at featherweight. Prior to that, Yusuff had been victorious in six of his first seven Octagon appearances.

Santos, meanwhile, has won 15 of his first 16 professional outings — including two victories in UFC competition. The 24-year-old Brazilian debuted in the Octagon with a second-round KO of Kaan Ofli at UFC on ESPN 62 before taking a split verdict ov…

زمزم الحمادي تنظم لرابطة "PFL MENA"! 🤩

البطلة الإماراتية البالغة من العمر 17 عامًا، لاعبة متألقة في رياضتي الجوجيتسو والفنون القتالية المختلطة، حيث فازت ببطولة العالم للفنون القتالية المختلطة فئة الشباب "IMMAF"، وبطولة العالم للجوجيتسو للناشئين والشباب "JJIF" في عام 2023. pic.twitter.com/caZ5cPMyFc

— PFL MENA (@PFLMENA) April 23, 2025

Advertisement

Professional Fighters League MENA has signed 17-year-old Zamzam Al Hammadi with designs on showcasing the decorated grappler in amateur MMA bouts during the upcoming season.

Al Hammadi, who hails from United Arab Emirates, earned championship victories at IMMAF Youth World Championships and the JJIF World Youth Championships in 2023. Her mother is a judo practitioner and her sister also competes in grappling and MMA. According to Sherdog.com records, Al Hammad boasts a 9-0 amateur MMA record.

“We’re thrilled to bring in one of the fastest rising young stars, not just in the Middle E…

  After 11 years of retirement, Alexandre Franca Nogueira is making a comeback.

Advertisement

The 47-year-old “King of the Guillotine” has accepted a special invitation from Japanese promotion Roman Combat to face another previously retired veteran, 41-year-old Hatsu Hioki, who last competed against Mikur Azakura at Rizin 12 in 2018. The 155-pound bout will take place on Saturday at Gen Sports Palace in Tokyo.

“The best moments of my career were in Japan. When the Japanese promoter invited me to fight there against another veteran, I immediately accepted,” said Nogueira, who is known in Brazil by the nickname “Pequeno,” which means small.

A Shooto champion between 1999 and 2005, Nogueira likes the special rules of the event.

“One round of 15 minutes, with gi in Pride rules and the weigh-ins 20 minutes before each fight. I loved that,” said Nogueira.

Known for his amazing guillotine technique that finished the likes of Rumina Sato, Stephen Pallin…

😅Carlos Prates’ mother asks him to KO Ian Machado Garry quickly:

"Don't give the opponent a chance to play too much. Finish the war quickly. The way mommy likes it."

Advertisement

🎥 @espnmma ▫️ pic.twitter.com/kd6TqBa3fv — Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) April 22, 2025

Carlos Prates’ mother wants her son to finish Ian Garry in style.

Prates headlines UFC Kansas City opposite Garry on Saturday at the T-Mobile Center in Kansa City, Missouri. One of the quirkiest fighters on the roster, Prates is also known for his heavy smoking habits along with his finishing skills.

After losing his father at the age of 1, Prates was primarily brought up by his mother, Regina Prates. Prates admittedly starting getting into fights as a kid while simultaneously developing drinking and smoking habits. That’s when his mother decided to put him into sports, and he initially became a muay thai fighter. Regina revealed that fighting, which comes natural…

[embedded content]

Movsar Evloev believes the UFC doesn’t want him to fight for the featherweight title.

Advertisement

Evloev is unbeaten in nine UFC outings with wins over Dan Ige, Diego Lopes, Arnold Allen and Aljamain Sterling. However, the undefeated Russian is yet to receive a title shot.

Even Lopes surpassed him for the gold bid, suffering a unanimous decision loss against Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 314 earlier this month. With Evloev being essentially undeniable, both Volkanovski and Lopes had agreed to fight him if they won the title.

But Evloev believes his title shot might still be out of reach. The 31-year-old was in attendance at UFC 314 and tried to congratulate Volkanovski personally. However, he was allegedly stopped by UFC security and taken to a different side of the room, away from the cameras. While Evloev believes he is already deserving of a title shot, he is undeterred and willing to prove himself as many times as needed.

"As …

👀😱 Israel Adesanya wants to rematch Sean Strickland because after losing the fight he felt bullied, the same way as in his childhood:

"This time I am gonna come at him correct. I used to get bullied a lot as a kid. He's an embodiment of that, in the sense that he attacked… pic.twitter.com/s240fZlqck

— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) April 22, 2025

Advertisement

Israel Adesanya is linking up with David Goggins to try and avenge his loss against Sean Strickland.

Adesanya lost his middleweight title to Strickland via a lopsided unanimous decision at UFC 293 in 2023. While Adesanya was fighting twice a year on an average during his title reign, the Strickland loss admittedly made him realize that he needed to slow down. “The Last Stylebender” has since fought only twice, suffering consecutive stoppage losses against Dricus Du Plessis in 2024 and Nassourdine Imavov this past February.

Adesanya now wants to return to action with a rem…

[embedded content]

Former UFC signee Pietro Menga on Tuesday was jailed for 15 and five months years after pleading guilty to conspiracy to sell or transfer prohibited weapons and conspiracy to supply cocaine.

Advertisement

According to a statement from the Greater Manchester Police, Menga had a “lucrative job as a middleman for an organized crime group, where he was directly involved in sourcing large quantities of cocaine for customers across the region, all of which he made commission on.”

Over time, authorities were able to identify Menga through a messaging platform service called Encrochat. Through a series of anonymous messages, it was determined that Menga used the handle “wirelessshark” to have conversations with other criminals “openly discussing the sale and purchase of wholesale amounts of drugs and firearms.” Based on the messages on his phone, a drug expert estimated Menga had been involved in the the sale of drugs with a street value well over $50…

Mark Hunt won’t be able to sue the UFC, promotion CEO Dana White and Brock Lesnar, per a ruling from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday.

Advertisement

According to courthousenews.com, the Ninth Circuit upheld a previous ruling from U.S. District Judge Jennifer Dorsey in 2023, when she determined that Hunt failed to prove that the promotion and White booked him against Brock Lesnar at UFC while knowing that his opponent was using performance enhancing drugs. The Ninth Circuit took a slightly different stance than Dorsey in its decision.

"Unfortunately, Hunt does not point to any evidence in the record of any physical, emotional, economic, or reputational damage or harm attributable to Defendants-Appellees’ conduct," the three-judge panel wrote in its ruling. "Indeed, while maintaining that such evidence does in fact exist, Hunt acknowledged both in his reply brief and at argument that evidence of damages has not yet been 'adequately presented.'"

<…

[embedded content]

Mario Bautista is eyeing a rematch against Cory Sandhagen if both of them win their next outings.

Advertisement

Bautista is scheduled to fight Marlon Vera at UFC 316 on June 7 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. While Bautista isn’t looking past Vera, he is expecting a Top 5 opponent if he wins at UFC 316. And Bautista’s first preference would be Sandhagen, who submitted him in the first round of his UFC debut in 2019.

“Don’t want to look too far forward, but if I get past ‘Chito’ my No. 1 pick would be against Sandhagen,” Bautista told Home of Fight. “I would love to get that rematch back, and it would feel a little weird if I somehow passed him in the rankings without fighting him.”

While Bautista is now 9-2 in the UFC and riding a seven-fight winning streak, Vera is on a two-fight skid. Meanwhile, Sandhagen comes off a unanimous decision loss against Umar Nurmagomedov that ended a three-fight winning streak. “The Sandman” i…

Carlos Prates is well prepared for his next headlining opportunity.

Advertisement

The Brazilian, who arrived in Kansas City, Missouri, on Monday, spoke to Sherdog.com about his upcoming fight with Ian Garry in the UFC on ESPN 66 main event on Saturday night. Prates was originally supposed to face Geoff Neal at UFC 314 in a three-round bout on April 12 before his opponent withdrew from the event.

"I didn’t do anything different in that camp. Actually I always train for five rounds, even when I fight three rounds, so it was basically the same,” Prates said. “The only difference is that I brought BJJ master Vagner Motta to help me with takedown defense and ground skills.”

According to The Fighting Nerds representative, the scale will not be a problem for him, either.

"Since my last fight I started to work with my nutritionist to gain weight and get stronger in the division. I started this camp weighing 90 kilograms (198 pounds), but I'm already weighing 82 k…

Vitor Belfort recently interacted with larger-than-life figure from another sport for the second time.

Advertisement

Having lived in Florida with his family for more than 10 years, the former UFC champion was in attendance at UFC 314 in Miami earlier this month.

In an exclusive interview with Sherdog.com, Belfort commented on his meeting with basketball legend Shaquille O'Neal, praised The Fighting Nerds and advised former opponent Jon Jones to not face Tom Aspinall.

“In this video I made with Shaquille, he remembered the day we met 29 years ago. It was at my debut at Super Brawl 2 in Hawaii in 1996. I was 18 years old and he went to the event with the entire Los Angeles Lakers team,” Belfort told Sherdog.com. “If I'm not mistaken, the next day would be Kobe Bryant’s debut with the Lakers. In this meeting, I told him, remember I told you that you would fall in love with this sport. It was so nice to meet him again, [with both of us] in attendance as MMA…

🚨 Nassourdine Imavov on why he isn't interested in the Caio Borralho fight:

"He'll get KOed. He'll sleep. Then they're gonna say 'It's normal. He was [ranked] #1, you see'.

Advertisement

That's their way of managing their careers. Falling forwards. It's better to fall forwards than… pic.twitter.com/t1s5b8dg6i — Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) April 21, 2025

Nassourdine Imavov believes losing to him would be Caio Borralho’s biggest claim to fame.

Borralho was rallying for a matchup against Imavov until recently. However, Imavov explained why the matchup didn’t make sense for him. The UFC middleweight contender has no doubt that he would knock Borralho out. However, the Frenchman believes Borralho’s team would then claim that it was expected that he would lose to the top contender.

"He'll get KO’ed. He'll sleep,” Imavov said. “Then they're gonna say 'It's normal. He was [ranked] No. 1, you see.’ That's their way of managin…

Arman Tsarukyan defends Islam Makhachev's stance of not fighting Ilia Topuria.🤝

"Islam doesn't want to fight him because if he beats Topuria, people gonna say 'You again beat a 145-pound fighter.' And if Islam beats me, I think he's done with this division."

Advertisement

🎥 @JaxxonPodcast pic.twitter.com/CL4Y9W8qCL — Red Corner MMA (@RedCorner_MMA) April 21, 2025

Arman Tsarukyan understands why Islam Makhachev doesn’t want to fight Ilia Topuria.

Topuria recently vacated his featherweight title and is rallying for a lightweight gold bid against Makhachev. However, Makhachev isn’t willing to fight “La Leyenda” immediately, as he claims he has little to gain from the matchup.

Makhachev has defended his title twice against two-time featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski, who was once the No. 1 pound-for-pound UFC fighter. Regardless, many undermined those wins, saying Makhachev beat a smaller opponent. Hence, Makhachev doesn’t …

Tagir Ulanbekov once decided to obey Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov and certainly doesn’t regret it.

Advertisement

The late Abdulmanap, father of former UFC champ Khabib Nurmagomedov, is regarded as a pioneer of Russian MMA who trained a legion of elite fighters. Ulanbekov is one the fighters who benefitted from the tutelage of Abdulmanap since his early career.

Back in 2006, Ulanbekov joined his cousins, who were going to join Abdulmanap’s gym. Abdulmanap summoned Ulanbekov and one of his cousins — both of whom had long hair — and asked them to shorten it by the next day. Ulanbekov decided to obey and there was no looking back.

“So we’re in the gym, I had longer hair back then,” Ulanbekov told Red Corner MMA. “Both me and one of my cousins. So he looked at us and said, ‘You two, where are you from?’ And I said, ‘We came here to train.’ He took my hair like this [grabbed] pulled me out of the line-up and said, ‘I’ll grab your hair and throw a knee. Cut it off by…

Nazim Sadykhov will get a homecoming when he meets Nikolas Motta at UFC Baku.

Both fighters confirmed the lightweight booking following an initial report from MMAjunkie.com. The UFC Fight Night event takes place at Baku Crystal Hall in Baku, Azerbaijan, on June 21 and is headlined by a light heavyweight showdown between Khalil Rountree and Jamahal Hill.

A native of Baku, Sadykhov is 3-0-1 in his first four Octagon appearances — with a draw against Viacheslav Borshchev the only blemish on his ledger thus far. In his last outing, the Longo-Weidman MMA representative scored a first-round doctor stoppage win against Ismael Bonfim at UFC Vegas 102 on Feb. 15.

Brazil’s Motta will be competing for the first time this year. The 32-year-old is coming off a 2-0 campaign in 2024 that saw him saw him defeat Tom Nolan via first-round TKO and take a three-round verdict over Maheshate Hayisaer.

🏆🔥Carlos Prates says a win over Ian Garry puts him one fight away from the title:

"I want to fight twice this year and then fight for the belt in 2026."

Advertisement

🎥 YT Nicolas Henrique▫️ pic.twitter.com/zdRj1QHgSf — Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) April 20, 2025

Carlos Prates thinks he is on the cusp of getting a UFC title shot.

Prates is scheduled to headline UFC Kansas City -- also known as UFC on ESPN 66 -- against Ian Garry on Saturday at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri. “The Nightmare” believes a win over Garry puts him just one more win away from a UFC welterweight title shot. While Prates has been unusually active since his UFC debut last year, the Brazilian is in no rush to fight again this year. Prates is looking at two fights this year and expecting a title shot by next year if he wins.

“I believe that if I beat Ian Garry, I’ll fight one more time and then I will fight for the title,” Prates tol…

😳Khamzat Chimaev shares a photo of him submitting Caio Borralho

📸 @KChimaev ▫️ pic.twitter.com/acLZpwkM1u

— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) April 21, 2025

Advertisement

Khamzat Chimaev is flexing about his sparring session with Caio Borralho amid rumors of a matchup between the two.

Borralho recently claimed that Chimaev has accepted a matchup with him, potentially for an interim middleweight title. “The Natural” also believes it’ll be a bigger draw than Chimaev fighting champ Dricus Du Plessis for the title.

“Khamzat said yes! The only thing that makes sense is the Interim belt!” Borralho wrote on X. “This fight is gonna be bigger than him vs Dricus! Mark my words.”

Khamzat said yes!

The only thing that makes sense is the Interim belt!

This fight is gonna be bigger than him vs Dricus! Marks my words

— Caio Borralho (@BorralhoCaio) April 20, 2025

While Chimaev didn’t refute rumors of the …

A trio of women’s fights have been officially announced for UFC Vegas 106 on May 17.

Advertisement

The Las Vegas-based promotion confirmed two strawweight bouts — Tecia Pennington vs. Luana Pinheiro and Denise Gomes vs. Elise Reed — and one bantamweight contest — Luana Santos vs. Tainara Lisboa — in a recent post on social media.

UFC Vegas 106 — also known as UFC Fight Night 256 — takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a welterweight clash pitting Gilbert Burns against Michael Morales.

Pennington snapped a two-bout skid in her last outing, when she outpointed former 115-pound queen Carla Esparza at UFC 307 this past October.

Pinheiro is looking to end a three-fight losing streak that includes losses to Amanda Ribas, Angela Hill and Gillian Robertson. Her last victory came in April 2023, when she took a split verdict over Michelle Waterson-Gomez at UFC 287.

Gomez has won four of her last five Octagon appearances and is coming of…

Ahmad Sohail Hassanzada’s UFC debut has been put on hold after he was arrested on two felony charges over the weekend.

Advertisement

According to Sacramento County Main Jail records, Hassanzada has been charged with a lewd or lavicious act with a child under 14 and a lewd act on a child/victim aged 14 or 15 where the defendant is 10 or more years older than the victim. Bail has been set at $400,000, and Hassanzada’s next court appearance is scheduled for Tuesday. Ag.Fight was first to report the news.

Hassanzada was slated to make his first Octagon foray against Evan Elder at UFC Kansas City on Saturday. Without mentioning the arrest, the promotion announced that Gauge Young will now face Elder on the card, which is also known as UFC on ESPN 66.

A native of Kabul, Afghanistan, Hassanzada made his second appearance on Dana White's Contender Series this past September, where he earned a UFC contract with a third-round submission of Dylan Mantello. The 28-y…