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Jose Aldo is retiring from mixed martial arts following a decorated career in the sport.

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Sherdog.com confirmed the news with sources close to the fighter following an initial report from Combate.com. The UFC has agreed to grant Aldo his release even though the former featherweight champion still had one fight remaining on his contract, which will allow him to puruse other combat sports endeavors if he so chooses.

Aldo was reportedly offered a fight at UFC 283 in Rio de Janeiro on Jan. 21, but he hadn’t made a decision about his career at that time.

The Nova Uniao standout exits the sport at 36 years old with a 31-8 mark following an 18-year career. He captured 145-pound gold in World Extreme Cagefighting and the UFC and was a top contender during his recent transition to bantamweight, falling short in a title bid against Petr Yan at UFC 251.

It’s likely that Aldo continues to test his skills in other combat sports going forward. There …

Gregory Rodrigues had to dig deep to earn victory at UFC Fight Night 210.

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The Brazilian absorbed a heavy knee early on in his co-main event encounter with Chidi Njokuani, and that blow opened a massive cut on his forehead. The man known as “Robocop” admitted that he needed a moment to regain his bearings.

“I know I was dizzy,” he said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “I was like, ‘Man what happened?’ The blood starting coming down. i was kind of blind, trying to figure out [what I was going to do] … After that cut, everybody is gonna be confident to try to finish the fight. Then I started to throw my hands to show him I’m still there.”

Rodrigues did exactly that. His rally began in the second half of Round 1, as he hurt and dropped the Bellator veteran. That set the stage for a relatively quick finish in the second frame, when he tripped Njokuani to the canvas and unloaded with ground strikes for a stoppage at the 1:27 mark of the pe…

Cory Sandhagen was mostly happy with his performance at UFC Fight Night 210, but he can also empathize with Yadong Song’s situation.

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Sandhagen emerged with a technical knockout win after four rounds when the cageside doctor determined Song couldn’t continue due to a significant cut over his left eye. Sandhagen caused the gash when he landed an elbow early in the fight, and the wound got progressively worse as time passed. Sandhagen was confident that he had already seized momentum and would’ve have continued to take control in a fifth round.

“It was definitely a step forward. Song’s a hell of a fighter. I knew that he was gonna be super tough. The guy hits really hard. He defended my takedowns really well,” Sandhagen said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “I think I was starting to figure him out as the fight went on, so I was really looking forward to a fifth round.

“That [stoppage] was kind of a bummer. These people that I’m fightin…

[SENSITIVE STOMACH WARNING]

These before and after pics of Greg Rodrigues' getting stitched up are WILD #UFCVegas60

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(via @danawhite) pic.twitter.com/6juxEbRZtj — Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 18, 2022

A nasty gash didn’t faze Gregory Rodrigues, but the wound isn’t for the faint of heart.

The Brazilian known as “Robocop” suffered a signficant cut on his forehead early in the opening round of his middleweight clash with Chidi Njokuani at UFC Fight Night 210 when his opponent connected flush with a knee. Rodrigues kept fighting and rallied to defeat Njokuani via second-round TKO in Saturday’s co-main event at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

After the bout, UFC president Dana White shared before-and-after photos of Rodrigues’ cut (via Bleacher Report), which was pretty gruesome until it was stitched up. The former Contender Series competitor has won four of five Octagon appearances, and he proved tha…

WHAT A COMEBACK #UFCVEGAS60 pic.twitter.com/lIrFPnZpq4

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) September 18, 2022

Gregory Rodrigues and Chidi Njokuani delivered on their pre-fight hype — and then some — in the UFC Fight Night 210 co-main event.

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The middleweights received “Fight of the Night” honors and $50,000 apiece for their slugfest at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday. Njokuani opened a nasty cut on Rodrigues forehead with a knee early, but the Brazilian known as “Robocop” rallied to drop his foe later in Round 1 before ending the fight with ground-and-pound at the 1:27 mark of Round 2.

Elsewhere, recent Dana White’s Contender Series winner Joseph Pyfer garnered a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus for his quick finish of Alen Amedovski in a featured middleweight affair. Pyfer stalked his opponent near the fence, dropped him with a massive right and sealed his win with one follow-up strike 3:55 into the opening stanza. Read more about UFC Fight Night 210 Bonuses: Rodrigues, Njokuani, Pyfer, Jackson Receive $50K

Yadong Song will likely bear the evidence of his encounter with Cory Sandhagen forever.

The 30-year-old Sandhagen kept his spot in the Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight line, as he prompted a cut stoppage against the fast-rising Team Alpha Male contender in their UFC Fight Night 210 headliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The end came between the fourth and fifth rounds, and it certainly seemed justified.

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The fight was competitive from start to finish. However, Sandhagen (15-4, 8-3 UFC) landed the signature blow in the second round, where he stepped into an elbow strike in the center of the cage and hacked open a ghastly diagonal gash above his counterpart’s left eye. Song (19-7-1, 8-2-1) fought through adversity initially, but the cut only widened and deepened as the bout progressed. By the time Round 4 was over, it became clear that he should go no further. Resilient Rodrigues Dismisses Njokuani Former Legacy Fighting Allian…

Sherdog's live UFC Fight Night 210 coverage will begin Saturday at 4 p.m. ET.

Check out the MMA Forums to discuss the card or enter your comments and predictions below.

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BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Motta (-205), VanCamp (+175)Round 1 The UFC is having a bit of a comedown from the last week’s ridiculous pay-per-view mess, trotting out a low-key Fight Night with one single ranked matchup that sits atop the event – to top it off, a plurality of the competitors came straight off or are one fight in from Dana White’s Contender Series matches. This includes the first fight on the card, where 2020 signee Motta (12-4, 0-1 UFC) had the misfortune of drawing motivated Jim Miller in his UFC debut earlier this year. Motta was not the only man to get a tough first out, as VanCamp (15-6-1, 1 NC; 0-1 UFC) squared off against power-punching welterweight Andre Fialho a few months ago only to get punched out. Both of these two lightweights will try to r…

ACTION JACKSON WASTED NO TIME 👊 #UFCVegas60 pic.twitter.com/VV0lo2o06b

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) September 17, 2022

Neither grief nor Pat Sabatini could slow down Damon Jackson.

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Roughly a week after the sudden death of his older brother, the Fortis MMA representative strengthened his position in the Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight division and struck Pat Sabatini into submission in the first round of their featured UFC Fight Night 210 prelim on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The end came 69 seconds into Round 1.

Jackson (22-4-1, 5-2-1 UFC) unleashed a devastating front kick to the face that staggered the former Cage Fury Fighting Championships titleholder, then went to work. He sprawled on an attempted takedown and climbed to full mount before advancing to the back and flattening out a clearly compromised Sabatini (17-4, 4-1 UFC). Jackson uncorked a series of unanswered punches to the side of the …

Ultimate Fighting Championship great Anderson Silva believes his old boss should lace up the gloves and do some fighting for himself.

UFC head Dana White recently stated that Silva might be inducted to the UFC Hall of Fame in the future, and Silva had some thoughts about his former employer he wanted to get out. Silva is planning on boxing Jake Paul at the end of October, and White was not entirely sold on the whole endeavor while expressing his distaste for the YouTuber-turned-boxer. “The Spider” spoke with Brazilian outlet Combate this week, initially to promote his boxing match with Jake Paul, scheduled for Oct. 29 in Phoenix.

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“If the two of them have a problem, I think Dana should agree to fight Jake, that would end all this controversy,” Silva remarked. “Put [on] the gi, do MMA. Jake understands a lot about MMA, so I think it would be a nice MMA fight for the two of them.”

Getting the topic back on track to his own upcoming fight, Silva had som…

1️⃣3️⃣5️⃣.5️⃣ for @SongYadongLFG - your #UFCVegas60 main event is official 👏 pic.twitter.com/elPAeVTAOj

— UFC (@ufc) September 16, 2022 After a hectic pay-per-view offering, the Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to relative normalcy with UFC Fight Night 210.

The now 13-fight card is headlined by a bantamweight contest between contenders Cory Sandhagen and Yadong Song. Both main event fighters successfully made their contracted weights, which was a stark contrast to the drama last week. All fighters made weight except for Aspen Ladd (138), who weighed in two pounds heavy for her bantamweight fight against Sara McMann, and middleweight Alen Amedovski (186.5), who initially clocked in half a pound over for his 185-pound scrap with Joseph Pyfer. Ladd vs. McMann has since been canceled by the UFC, while Amedovski came back to weigh 185.5 pounds.

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While a title shot seemed inevitable after back-to-back stunning knockou…

Once again, a fighter’s retirement came to an end just a few months after saying goodbye to the sport.

On Thursday night, ESPN announced that Marlon Moraes (23-10-1) has come out retirement to sign with the Professional Fighters League. The report mentioned, that per Moraes’ manager Ali Abdelaziz, the contract was not finalized but was expected to come together shortly. Minutes later, Moraes publicized his return to the organization, and he will be competing at 145 pounds when he does come back. There is no currently announced event or opponent for his first fight back, although PFL recently picked up fellow ex-Ultimate Fighting Championship vet Shane Burgos as well.

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Moraes initially wrote a thorough retirement message in April, when he stated that he was going to hang up his gloves.

“I want to thank everyone – Sean Shelby, Dana White and the UFC for giving me so many opportunities,” Moraes wrote. “I want to thank my family, my coaches, my manager…

Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC One of these two Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweights’ undefeated records will come to an end soon.

The news broke on Thursday from Fight Bananas that Bryce Mitchell (15-0) is now booked against fellow unbeaten 145-pounder Movsar Evloev (16-0) on Nov. 5. The two will battle it out on UFC Fight Night 214, which does not currently have a headliner and is not expect to be capped off by this matchup. Mitchell spoke of his fight news on his social media shortly before the report came out, and other outlets have also confirmed this pairing.

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“Thug Nasty” Mitchell has rattled off five straight wins since prevailing in the 27th season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” where he beat Tyler Diamond by majority verdict to earn the fabled “six-figure contract.” Mitchell started off his career with nine straight wins, with his first eight coming by submission within two rounds. Since then, he has gone the dis…

A featherweight showdown pitting Arnold Allen against Calvin Kattar is in the works to headline the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s Oct. 29 card.

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UFC president Dana White revealed to promotion broadcast partner ESPN on Wednesday that the bout has nearly been finalized. The UFC Fight Night 213 takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and also is expected to include a 145-pound co-main event between Edson Barboza and Ilia Topuria.

The 28-year-old Allen has lost just once in 19 professional outings. The Englishman is 9-0 in the Las Vegas-based promotion and is coming off a first-round technical knockout victory against Dan Hooker at UFC Fight Night 204 on March 19. His record includes other notable wins against the likes of Sodiq Yusuff, Gilbert Melendez, Nik Lentz and Mads Burnell. This will be Allen’s first five-round main event in the UFC.

Kattar, meanwhile, has been in four consecutive headlining bouts — all of which have gone the full fi…

Sodiq Yusuff will not remain on this Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 210 card following the withdrawal of co-main event opponent Giga Chikadze.

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Instead, Yusuff will relocated to UFC Fight Night 211 two weeks later, where he will welcome newcomer Don Shainis to the Octagon in a featherweight bout. The Las Vegas-based promotion recently announced the update. UFC Fight Night 211 takes place on Oct. 1 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a strawweight scrap between Mackenzie Dern and Xiaonan Yan.

The 29-year-old Yusuff has been victorious in five of his first six promotional appearances — with his lone setback coming to ranked featherweight Arnold Allen. The Dana White’s Contender Series alum is coming off a three-round verdict over Alex Caceres at UFC Fight Night 203 on March 12.

A native of Stoughton, Mass., Shainis will take a five-fight winning streak into his Octagon debut. Shainis is a Cage Titans featherweight champion and has earn…

After a controversial ending to their first meeting, Liz Carmouche and Juliana Velasquez are going to run it back at Bellator 289.

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The California-based promotion confirmed the booking on Wednesday following an initial report from MMAFighting.com. Bellator 289 takes place on Dec. 9 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., and the evening’s main card airs on Showtime. The card will feature the bantamweight grand prix semifinals, as Raufeon Stots meets Danny Sabatello, while Magomed Magomedov takes on Patrick Mix.

Carmouche took the flyweight crown from Velasquez in their first bout at Bellator 278 this past April. Velasquez appeared to be well on her way to a decision triumph when Carmouche trapped in her in a mounted crucifix and landed a series of elbows to earn a technical knockout victory 4:48 into the fourth round of their clash at Neil S. Blaisdell Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. Velasquez protested the stoppage and ultimately filed an appeal, …

OFFICIAL: @BiaggioAli1234, Muhammad Ali's grandson, Signs Contract with the Professional Fighters League! pic.twitter.com/UUQB6EpXO1

— PFL (@PFLMMA) September 14, 2022

Professional Fighters League is hoping to tap into a legendary legacy with its latest addition.

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The promotion announced Wednesday that it has signed Biaggio Ali Walsh, the grandson of boxing great Muhammad Ali. Walsh is currently an amateur MMA fighter and is expected to compete on the undercard of the PFL Championships on Nov. 25 against an as yet to be announced opponent. He is expected to eventually make his professional debut under the PFL banner, as well.

“The Professional Fighters League is committed to growing the league and the sport of MMA, it is incumbent upon us to look for the future stars of our sport, we have found one of those stars in Biaggio” said PFL CEO Peter Murray. “We are excited to watch Biaggio’s journey from amateur to professiona…

Ikram Aliskerov waltzed into the Ultimate Fighting Championship and nearly took someone else’s limb with him.

One of five prospective mixed martial artists signed by the UFC on Week 8 of Dana White’s Contender Series, the Eagle Fighting Championship alum submitted Mario Filipe de Sousa with a kimura in the first round of their middleweight showcase on Tuesday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Filipe de Sousa (15-3, 1-2 DWCS) raised the white flag 2:09 into Round 1 but not before suffering some apparent damage to his left shoulder.

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The 29-year-old Aliskerov (13-1, 1-0 DWCS) waded through considerable fire from the lanky Brazilian, attacked the hips and secured a takedown. The onetime victim of Khamzat Chimaev landed in side control, isolated the arm and torqued it behind Filipe de Sousa’s back for the tapout. Aliskerov has rattled off five consecutive victories and will be joined on the UFC roster by Farid Basharat, Trevor Peek, Bruna Emanuele Brasil …

A matchup of between middleweight contenders Jared Cannonier and Sean Strickland has been rebooked for UFC Fight Night on Dec. 17.

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Strickland initially revealed the news in an interview with MMA journalist Helen Yee. Cannonier and Strickland were initially slated to meet at UFC Fight Night 212 before Strickland was forced to withdraw due to a finger infection. A venue for the event has not been made official.

Cannonier is coming off a failed attempt at middleweight gold at UFC 276, where he dropped a five-round verdict to Israel Adesanya on July 2. Prior to that, “The Killa Gorilla” had been victorious in five of six promotional appearances, earning wins over the likes of Derek Brunson, Kelvin Gastelum, Jack Hermansson and Anderson Silva.

Strickland had a bid for title contention shot down at UFC 276, as he suffered a first-round KO defeat to former Glory Kickboxing champ Alex Pereira in his most recent Octagon appearance. That defeat snappe…

Sherdog's live DWCS 2022 Week 8 coverage will begin Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET.

Check out the MMA Forums to discuss the card or enter your comments and predictions below.

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Round 1 Lewis is making his second appearance on the Contender Series after falling to Mo Miller in September 2021, while Peru’s Marcos, a title holder in the 300 Sparta organization, brings a sparkling 12-0 record to the bout. Mike Beltran gets the evening’s opening referee assignment. Marcos takes the center of the cage but it’s Lewis who strikes first with a couple jabs and a leg kick. Marcos lands a hard kick to the lead leg of Lewis. Lewis with a front kick and a left hook, but Marcos responds with a combination. A kick up the middle by Marcos wobbles Lewis, and he shoots for a single leg out of desperation. He clings to the leg for a few moments before separating. marcos lands hard 2-3 combination. Marcos is pressuring Lewis with combinations and an uppercut gets through nicely. Ma…

Nova Uniao coach Andre Pederneiras recently expressed confidence that Jose Aldo would not retire following his loss to Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 278. However, he was not able to confirm that Aldo would compete at UFC 283 in Rio De Janeiro in January.

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Three weeks have passed since that fight and Aldo’s next move remains uncertain. In an interview on the YouTube talk show "Cara a Tapa," Aldo told journalist Rica Perroni that he still hasn’t decided on his next step. The former featherweight champion revealed that he has been approached by the UFC to fight in Rio de Janeiro, but he hasn’t given the promotion an answer because he hasn’t yet decided if he is going to retire.

During the interview Aldo was also asked about who he considers to be the greatest Brazilian fighter of all time, and he didn't think twice in his response.

“That´s easy, myself,” he said. “I won the title twice, dropped my weight, and I could very well get an opportunity to fi…

Norma Dumont! pic.twitter.com/xdVRfg6D6P

— Alex Davis (@Alexdavismma) September 11, 2022

The real cause of the backstage melee that forced Dana White to cancel the UFC 279 pre-fight press conference last week may have come from an unlikely source.

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According to long-tenured manager Alex Davis, a discussion between Darren Till and another Englishman triggered the incident.

“I was informed backstage that what started the fight was a discussion about the death of Queen Elizabeth between Darren Till and another British guy,” Davis told Sherdog.com. “As you know, some people in England support the Royal Family and others hate them and that was the cause. Till and this other British guy started the fight and eventually it spread.”

Davis was in Las Vegas with Norma Dumont, who earned a dominant unanimous victory against Danyelle Wolf in a featherweight bout at UFC 279. Thanks to that triumph, the manager believes Dumont cou…

While Khamzat Chimaev didn’t show any ill effects from a failed weight cut during his victory over Kevin Holland at UFC 279, coach Andreas Michael saw enough behind the scenes to follow the doctor’s recommendation to quit cutting weight one day prior.

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“We took the first [eight pounds] quite easy, and then it’s like, ‘We’re going to take the rest in the morning. So we had about [five to six pounds] left. But then some complications started happening during the night,” Michael told ESPN. “[Chimaev] started getting cramps, started throwing up, he started being dizzy. His body was seizing up, and we called the UFC. We called the physician and we wanted the advice from them, because I’m not a doctor. I don’t know what’s safe and not safe, and I always take the safe route. We’re playing with people’s lives here – it’s not a joke.

“Actually, he had about six pounds to lose, but we drank before because he needed to hydrate a little bit before we weighed in…

Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Getty/UFC Credit: Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com Credit: Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com Credit: Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com Credit: Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com Credit: Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com Credit: Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com Credit: Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com Credit: Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com Credit: Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com Credit: Keith Mills Credit: Keith Mills Credit: Keith Mills Credit: Keith Mills Credit: Keith Mills Credit: Keith Mills Credit: Keith Mills Credit: Keith Mills Credit: Keith Mills Credit: Keith Mills

Parker Porter will welcome Tunisian heavyweight Slim Trabelsi to the Octagon at UFC 280 on Oct. 22.

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ESPN was first to report the booking. UFC 280 takes place at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi and is headlined by a lightweight championship clash between Charles Oliveira and Islam Makhachev. Porter was initially slated to face Ha…

One on Prime Video 6 has a location and venue.

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The Singapore-based promotion announced Monday that the event will take place at Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand, on Jan. 13 and will feature a superfight blending MMA and muay thai rule sets between Nong Stamp and Anissa Meksen. One muay thai world champions Nong-O Gaiyanghadao and Rodtang Jitmuangnon are also expected to compete on the card, which streams live in primetime in the United States via Amazon Prime Video.

One Championship also announced plans to produce a weekly show entitled “One Lumpinee” in conjunction with a partnership with the Royal Thai Army. The promotion will host 52 events in Thailand beginning in 2023, with each card being broadcast in more than 150 countries.

According to a release, “the landmark partnership will help transform muay thai and the martial arts ecosystem in Thailand into a global attraction, while establishing Lumpinee Stadium as the mecca of muay thai an…