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[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiquJUSxuXI&w=560&h=315]

Up-and-coming light heavyweight Aleksandar Rakic has signed a new six-fight contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

The 28-year-old Austrian announced the news via social media on Monday. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“Pleased to announce I have signed a new long-term contract with [six] fights in the UFC,” he wrote. “This is the [third] contract with the company in [two] years.”

Rakic saw a 12-fight winning streak come to an end in his last outing at UFC Fight Night 165, where he dropped a split decision to former title challenger Volkan Oezdemir on Dec. 21. Rakic outlanded his foe by a 75-to-63 count in significant strikes, and seven of the eight media scorecards tracked by MMADecisions.com saw the fight in favor of the American Top Team representative.

Rakic began his UFC tenure with four consecutive triumphs, a streak that included first-round KO/TKO wins over D…

Tight squeeze by @TOOSWEET_Alpar #DWCS pic.twitter.com/YZMIdKvmYx

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) August 14, 2019

Vanessa Melo will replace Duda Santana and face Sarah Alpar at UFC Oklahoma City on May 2.

Both Melo and Alpar confirmed the new bantamweight booking on their Instagram stories Monday following an initial report from Combate. UFC Oklahoma City takes place at Chesapeake Energy Arena and also features a strawweight showdown between Claudia Gadelha and Marina Rodriguez. The Fight Night event does not yet have a headliner.

Melo is still looking for her first Octagon triumph after dropping unanimous verdicts against Irene Aldana at UFC Fight Night 159 and Tracy Cortez at UFC Fight Night 164 in 2019. The 31-year-old Sao Paulo, Brazil, native owns a 10-7 professional mark that includes eight wins by decision and two via submission.

Alpar, meanwhile, will be making her promotional debut after submitting Shanna Young on Season 3…

One Championship “King of the Jungle” will be a spectator-less event.

One CEO Chatri Sityodtong announced on Monday that the Feb. 28 card will be closed to the public due to the outbreak of the coronavirus in Singapore. Instead, it will be a broadcast only event.

“In light of the coronavirus situation in Singapore, I have made the decision to convert ONE: King of the Jungle on February 28 into a closed event for broadcast only,” Sityodtong wrote. “The Singapore Indoor Stadium will not be open to the general public, but the event will proceed behind closed doors as scheduled live on all TV and digital platforms across 150+ countries around the world. If you purchased tickets to attend the event at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, you will receive a full refund.”

The coronavirus outbreak originated in China, where it has reportedly killed 1,770 people and infected 70,000. There have been more than 71,000 cases of coronavirus worldwide, with the largest outbreaks outsi…

Israel Adesanya apparently has designs on moving up in weight once he extends his reign at middleweight, but the targeted opponent does not reside in the division one might expect.

In a recent interview with Submission Radio, City Kickboxing coach Eugene Bareman revealed that Adesanya would eventually like to square off against heavyweight titlist Stipe Miocic.

“Israel stated, and I think it’s a very good plan, he’s gonna do his thing in the middleweight division. There’s some really tough challenges,” Bareman said. “He should clear those out. There’s at least three or four more good challenges. But three or four more fights for Israel is like maybe within this year. So, after that, what’s the next challenge? For him, and we’ve done it in all the sports that we’ve participated in, it’s to move up in weight. And trust me, if he has these three or four more middleweight fights, we will push to fight Stipe [Miocic], 100 percent.

“If Israel can get the business done …

Corey Anderson saw his light heavyweight championship dreams go up in smoke at UFC Rio Rancho.

The fighter known as “Overtime” entered Saturday’s card on a four-bout winning streak, but a powerful right hook from Jan Blachowicz brought an emphatic conclusion to their headlining bout just 3:08 into the opening stanza. Anderson, who was favored in the bout, previously defeated Blachowicz via unanimous decision at UFC 191 in 2015.

While a victory would have positioned Anderson for a crack at reigning 205-pound king Jon Jones, it was Blachowicz who was able to posture for his own opportunity with the reigning champion seated cageside in his adopted home state.

Anderson is taking the loss in stride, however. The 30-year-old released a statement on social media, and he seems to be ready to move forward.

“A great coach once told me ‘You have 5 minutes to sulk and then it's on to the next one.’ We live and we learn,” Anderson wrote. “Back to the drawing board. I ap…

Jon Jones was front and center for Jan Blachowicz’s attempt to lay claim to the No. 1 contender spot at light heavyweight, and the reigning champion was more than pleased to see a new challenger emerge.

After Blachowicz vanquished Corey Anderson via first-round knockout in the UFC Fight Night 167 headliner in Rio Rancho, N.M., on Saturday night, Jones appeared to be fired up as he and the Polish fighter shared a moment in the aftermath of the bout.

“I though he [Blachowicz] looked great. He looked tremendous. Crisp boxing, great takedown defense. He just looked really good,” Jones said during a backstage interview on ESPN+. “I was happy to see Corey Anderson eat his words. He’s been talking so much trash.”

Prior to UFC Fight Night 167, Anderson mentioned that he was looking forward to being the one to defeat Jones after the champion had a close call against Dominick Reyes at UFC 247 one week prior . However, a short right hook from Blachowicz sent Anderson to the…

John Dodson had no intention of serving as a steppingstone for Nathaniel Wood.

Dodson halted the eight-fight winning streak of the Englishman known as “The Prospect,” winning via third-round technical knockout in a preliminary bantamweight tilt at UFC Fight Night 167 in Rio Rancho, N.M., on Saturday.

“The Ultimate Fighter 14” winner entered the contest having lost three of his last four Octagon appearances, and he had an inkling the promotion was looking to build upon Wood’s momentum.

“Feels amazing to get back into the win column. It wasn’t easy. Nathaniel Wood is a tough opponent and I want to make sure I continue trashing these young opponents that they are giving me,” Dodson said. “I keep giving them the wins and then they are getting the title contention spots and now I want the same thing for myself. This win builds me back up.

“They keep giving me these tough opponents. When I lost to Marlon Moraes, they started boosting him up. When I lost to Petr Y…

Jan Blachowicz put a lasting stamp on a card that had been mostly memorable for all the wrong reasons.

The 36-year-old Pole earned a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus for his first-round knockout of Corey Anderson in the UFC Fight Night 167 main event at the Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho, N.M., on Saturday night. A right hook from Blachowicz sent Anderson to the canvas, and one follow-up hammerfist ended the contest at the 3:08 mark of Round 1.

Elsewhere, Daniel Rodriguez received the evening’s other $50,000 “Performance of the Night” check thanks to his upset of of local favorite Tim Means in a preliminary welterweight affair. Rodriguez, who took the bout on short notice, floored “The Dirty Bird” at the end of the first round and hurt his opponent with punches again in Round 2 before securing a guillotine choke submission 3:37 into the period.

Finally, Scott Holtzman and Jim Miller garnered “Fight of the Night” honors and $50,000 apiece for their pr…

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC on ESPN+ live on your computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. Sherdog's live UFC Fight Night 167 coverage will begin at 5 p.m. ET. Check out the MMA Forums to discuss the card or enter your comments and predictions below. Round 1 Hello fight fans, welcome to the UFC Rio Rancho play-by-play. We kick things off in the flyweight division, as De La Rosa (11-3, 2-3 UFC) -- one half of the first married couple in UFC history competing on the same card together -- takes on Raulian Paiva (18-3, 0-2 UFC). Both men are trying to snap two-fight skids, and our referee is Robert Romero. A touch of gloves clocks them in, and the fight night is underway. De La Rosa opens up with a leg kick, as Paiva looks to set up his jab. Paiva strings together a combination, and De La Rosa throws right back at him but largely comes up short. The two clash legs together, but the shin-to-shin contact does not appear to make eithe…

Bellator MMA has beefed up its March event in Connecticut in a big way on Friday.

Sherdog.com has confirmed on Friday a series of fights from a promotional official for its upcoming Bellator 241 card on March 13. Most notably is a main card offering, as Anatoly Tokov (29-2) locks horns with Fabio Aguiar (17-1) in the middleweight division.

Tokov has won all five of his bouts under the Bellator banner since signing with the promotion in 2017, including four finishes. His two defeats coming to current Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter Ramazan Emeev and 2018 Professional Fighters League champ Magomed Magomedkerimov, he also dropped a one-round bout in 2012 deemed an exhibition. Tokov sports a finish rate of 79 percent, with eight of his last 10 victories coming by stoppage.

Aguiar will be making his organizational debut after 15-month layoff -- the longest in his career. The Brazilian's only defeat came to recent UFC signee Bruno Silva, and he has rattled off nine con…

Let's run it back!

We're official for #UFCRioRancho pic.twitter.com/7kvFefCH4L

— UFC (@ufc) February 14, 2020 The Ultimate Fighting Championship touches down in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, for its latest card, and it is now official after the weigh-ins. Editor's note: The article has been updated at 2:15 p.m. ET on 2/14/20 to reflect additional information about Ray Borg.

Headlining the ESPN+ event is a light heavyweight bout with potential title ramifications as Corey Anderson will look to earn a title shot at the expense of Jan Blachowicz. Anderson (13-4) is on an impressive four-fight winning streak after being knocked out in back-to-back bouts to Jimi Manuwa and Ovince St. Preux. Prior to knocking out Johnny Walker, he won decisions over Patrick Cummins, Ilir Latifi and Glover Teixeira. "Overtime" looked prepared on the scales, and came in at 205 pounds.

Blachowicz (25-8) had his own four-fight winning streak snapped by …

It appears that Morgan Charriere will get a second chance to win a Cage Warriors Fighting Championship belt after all.

A person with knowledge of the situation who asked to stay anonymous informed Sherdog that Charriere will face Darko Banovic at CW 113 for the interim featherweight championship. The Frenchman was considered to locked horns with featherweight titleholder Mads Burnell (13-3) in the co-main event, but the latter pulled out of the match.

Charriere (15-7-1) is 2-1 in his Cage Warriors career. After dropping his first with the promotion against Soren Bak at CW 103, "Luffy" got back on track thanks to a split decision victory over Lewis Monarch at CW 106. In his latest appearance, the Team Chapa Quente representative stopped Dean Truman in the third stanza of their encounter at CW 109.

Banovic (15-7) will arrive at the most important fight in his career riding a two-bout winning streak. "Face Smasher" did just that against Gary Ellison in 31 secon…

Combate Americas is returning to Tucson, Arizona, in March.

The promotion announced via press release on Thursday that its upcoming event on March 13 will be titled “Superfly.” The event will take place at the Tucson Arena in the Tucson Convention Center in Tucson. Combate Americas: "Superfly" will air on AXS TV stateside at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, while it will be simulcast in Spanish on Univision and TUDN USA that night. This will be the fifth time the organization has traveled to this southwestern U.S. city.

The event will be headlined by a flyweight tilt between Juan Puerta (18-6) and Ivan Lopez (14-4-1). Of this matchup, Combate Americas CEO Campbell McLaren lauded these two and the division, stating, "The flyweight division is home to some of the most intense and fast-paced action in the sport, and one of our best assets, so it's about time we dedicate the main card of our TV show to this group of men and women."

Serving in the co-headliner is another flyweigh…

Fight News! @NotoriousNewell looks to bounce back in his 3rd appearance for Bellator & fresh off a win, Zach Zane intends to improve to & in the Bellator cage at #Bellator241.

Get your s to see them fight at The @MoheganSun on 3/13. https://t.co/qKTklp90Hu pic.twitter.com/3EZ5D4k3iw

— Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) February 13, 2020 Bellator MMA is adding on to its March event in Connecticut with a hometown fighter against a Hawaiian. Editor's note: This article has been updated on 6:15 p.m. ET on 2/13/20 after the promotion changed the date and location of the bout from May to March and San Jose, California, to Uncasville, Connecticut.

According to the promotion on Thursday, Nick Newell (16-3) will be meeting Zach Zane at lightweight at Bellator 241 on March 13.

Newell dropped his most recent bout against Luis Muro in October, suffering a narrow split decision defeat at Bellator 232. Prior to the loss, Newell made …

Ultimate encaminha @FabricioWerdum x @oleynikufc para o UFC 250, em São Paulo | combate | Globoesporte https://t.co/zQpLSg9Hnj com @vevyrodrigues

— Raphael Marinho (@raphamarinho) February 13, 2020 The Ultimate Fighting Championship is stacking its return to Brazil in May with another major heavyweight battle.

According to a report from Combate on Thursday, former heavyweight champ Fabricio Werdum (23-8-1) will be returning from a lengthy suspension to face off against Alexey Oleynik (58-13-1). The two will reportedly meet at UFC 250, which is set to go down on May 9 at the Ibirapuera Gymnasium in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Werdum has not competed since losing in the UFC Fight Night 127 headliner against Alexander Volkov at UFC Fight Night 127 in March 2018. The 42-year-old Brazilian has been under suspension after testing positive for banned substances in April 2018, but received a 10-month reduction in his sentence from the U.S. Ant…

Karl Roberson will square off against Makhmud Muradov in a middleweight bout at UFC 249.

Newsday was first to report the contest. UFC 249 takes place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., on April 18 and is headlined by a lightweight title clash between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson.

A competitor on the initial season of Dana White’s Contender Series, Roberson has been victorious in four of his six Octagon appearances. Most recently, the 29-year-old submitted Roman Kopylov in the third round at UFC Fight Night 163.

Muradov, who is managed by boxing great Floyd Mayweather, has kicked off his promotional tenure with victories over Alessio Di Chirico and Trevor Smith. The 30-year-old Uzbekistan native is currently on a 13-bout winning streak and is 24-6 as a professional overall.

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Corey Anderson didn’t see the outcome of the UFC 247 headliner between Jon Jones and Dominick Reyes as a robbery.

Jones ultimately retained his light heavyweight title with a controversial unanimous decision triumph over Reyes on Saturday at the Toyota Center in Houston, but many unofficial scorecards had the verdict going the other way.

“Dominick threw more punches and landed more, but, percentage-wise, I think Jon landed more,” Anderson told TMZ Sports. “You could flip the coin on that one, it could have went either way.”

Anderson lobbied hard to face Jones in recent weeks, but the champion ended up electing to fight Reyes, in part because of the Californian’s previously unblemished record. While watching the UFC 247 main event, “Overtime” had concerns that he would lose his chance to make history.

“When I was watching, I was like, ‘Man, I could lose that opportunity to be the one to beat Jo…

Claudia Gadelha will lock horns with Marina Rodriguez in a strawweight tilt at UFC Fight Night in Oklahoma City, Okla.

The Las Vegas-based promotion announced the matchup on Wednesday. UFC Oklahoma City takes place at Chesapeake Energy Arena on May 2, and the main card will stream on ESPN+. A headliner has not been revealed for the event.

Gadelha was expected to face Alexa Grasso at UFC 246, but Grasso missed weight by 5.5 pounds and the bout was canceled. The 31-year-old Brazilian has won two of her last three promotional appearances and is coming off a decision triumph over Randa Markos at UFC 239 last July.

Rodriguez has experienced an interesting run in the UFC thus far, battling Cynthia Calvillo and Markos to majority draws while posting decision wins against Jessica Aguilar and Tecia Torres. The 32-year old Dana White’s Contender Series alum is 12-0-2 as a professional overall.

We’re very excited to announce that Manny Pacquiao has signed with PSM for full service representation! Manny is one of the greatest boxers of all time & we look forward to working with Arnold, Ping and the rest of the team back in Manila to maximize his historic career. #GP pic.twitter.com/lrdDCNcGrf

— Paradigm Sports Management (@ParadigmSM) February 11, 2020

A potential boxing match between Manny Pacquiao and Conor McGregor could be one step closer to reality.

Pacquaio, a multiple time world boxing champion, has signed with Paradigm Sports Management, according to a release from the firm on Tuesday. That is the same team that represents McGregor.

According to a release, Paradigm is expected to work with Pacquiao’s existing team, which includes business manager Arnold Vegafria, associate Ping Nepomuceno and attorney Brando Viernesto.

“I am proud to partner with Paradigm Sports Management and am excited for the oppor…

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Valentina Shevchenko was dominant against Katlyn Chookagian at UFC 247, but she still could be sidelined for a significant period of time following her latest flyweight title defense.

Shevchenko received a six-month medical suspension after Saturday’s event at the Toyota Center in Houston, according to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. “Bullet” defeated Chookagian via third-round technical knockout in the UFC 247 co-main event. The specific nature of her term was not revealed, although it is likely that Shevchenko can have that suspension reduced with doctor cle…

Gegard Mousasi and Douglas Lima will square off for Bellator’s recently vacated middleweight bout in San Jose, Calif., on May 9.

Bellator president Scott Coker announced the matchup on Tuesday. Mousasi vs. Lima will serve as the co-main event for Bellator 243 at the SAP Center. In the evening’s headliner, Ryan Bader will defend his light heavyweight belt against Vadim Nemkov.

Since we can’t have a cross-promotional superfight I’ll give you another.

On May 9, @Mousasi_MMA vs. @PhenomLima for the vacant @BellatorMMA middleweight world championship. pic.twitter.com/8TVpcWP9sa

— Scott Coker (@ScottCoker) February 11, 2020

Rafael Lovato Jr. relinquished the middleweight title earlier this week due to a brain condition that could threaten his MMA career.

Mousasi lost the middleweight title to Lovato Jr. via majority decision at Bellator 223 in London last June. He returned to the win column in his most recent outing, taki…

The Kansas Athletic Commission is making a big change in the wake of the judging controversy in Saturday’s UFC 247 headliner.

Kansas boxing commissioner Adam Roorbach told ESPN on Monday that the KAC will give promotions the option of having open, or “real-time,” scoring for every fight. What that means is judges’ scores will be public knowledge — for fans, broadcasters and corners — after each round instead of only at the end of a bout.

How that format is utilized will be up to the promoters that hold events in the state. They can use it for the entirety of a card, for some fights or not at all. Also, the scoring information can be distributed to select parties if desired.

"I come from outside of the combat sports world," Roorbach said. "But I've been a sports fan my whole life. It always mystifies me why the fighters and fans don't know what the score is until the end. No one has ever given me a good explanation as to why.”

The open scoring format will be put in…

A last minute injury has forced Nicco Montano to withdraw from a bantamweight clash against Macy Chiasson at UFC Rio Rancho on Saturday.

MMAFighting.com was first to report that Montano had withdrawn from the bout due to a sprained MCL in her knee. As a result, Shanna Young will step in on less than a week’s notice to face Chiasson in the bantamweight bout.

UFC Fight Night 167 takes place at the Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho, N.M., and is headlined by a light heavyweight rematch between Corey Anderson and Jan Blachowicz. The card will stream in its entirety on ESPN+. Chiasson vs. Young is slated for the early preliminary portion of the card, which begins at 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT.

Montano, the promotion’s inaugural flyweight champion, made her bantamweight debut at UFC Fight Night 155, where she dropped a unanimous verdict to Julianna Pena on July 13. The New Mexico native was stripped of the flyweight crown when she was unable to defend the belt in a timely f…

Douglas Lima and Ilima-Lei Macfarlane will continue to compete under the Bellator MMA banner for the foreseeable future.

The California-based promotion announced on Monday that it has re-signed both champions to exclusive multi-year contract extensions to remain with Bellator. Neither Lima nor Macfarlane currently have fights booked.

"Both Douglas Lima and Ilima-Lei Macfarlane continue to prove they are two of the most dominant fighters on the Bellator roster,” said Bellator President Scott Coker. "They made their Bellator debuts very early on in their careers, have climbed to the top of their respective divisions and have come to represent what this promotion is all about. As champions, both have taken on all challenges and have succeeded in every opportunity. I look forward to watching them continue their careers with us.”

The 32-year-old Lima recaptured the 170-pound belt with a five-round unanimous decision victory over Rory MacDonald in the finals of the wel…