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Credit: Dave Mandel Credit: Dave Mandel Credit: Gleidson Venga Credit: Gleidson Venga

The first card for Professional Fighters League’s second season has a new main event.

Larissa Pacheco will replace Svetlana Khautova and face Olympic gold medalist Kayla Harrison in a lightweight bout on Thursday at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y. The promotion revealed the change to the headliner on Monday, but a reason for Khautova’s exit was not given. Pacheco was originally slated to face Roberta Samad on the main card. Samad will now meet Moriel Charneski instead.

The main card for PFL 1: 2019 Regular Season will air on ESPN2 beginning at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, while the preliminary draw streams on ESPN+ at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT.

Harrison has kicked off her professional MMA career with finishes of Brittney Elkin, Jozette Cotton and Charneski under the PFL banner.

A two-time UFC competitor, Pacheco exited the Las Vegas-based promotion following back-to-back losses…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNDYx8Vc9Gs&w=560&h=315]

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- The shiny new Legacy Fighting Alliance lightweight championship belt is destined for prominent placement at Force of One Martial Arts, the Clovis, N.M.-based gym where Harvey Park got his start in MMA approximately a decade ago.

“We’ve won belts, but nothing this big or heavy or nice,” Park told Sherdog.com. “We’ll put it out there on the reception desk for maybe a month for whoever wants to take a picture with it. We have a shelf with all the belts we’ve won, and we’ll just put that one there on the top.

“And it’ll stay there until we win a bigger one.”

In an ideal world, Park will never defend the title he claimed with a technical knockout of Demarques Jackson at LFA 64 on April 26. Fighting for a promotion with a proven track record as a springboard to the UFC, the 33-year-old Curry County (N.M.) Sheriff’s deputy has won three straight contests and 10 of his last 11 professio…

UFC Fight Night 151 wasn’t necessarily an event for the record books. That is, at least, until Donald Cerrone and Al Iaquinta showed up in Ottawa.

The lightweight contenders put on a show for five rounds in the UFC Ottawa headliner, with Cerrone winning a unanimous decision on the strength of a career-best 138 significant strikes and two knockdowns. While he was bloodied and outgunned, Iaquinta never showed any quit during the 25-minute encounter.

Not only did that effort earn “Fight of the Night” honors, but the lightweight clash also was praised by UFC President Dana White on social media.

“Congrats to [Donald Cerrone] on the impressive win last night and MUCH respect to the incredibly TOUGH and BAD ASS [Al Iaquinta] for an amazing fight,” White wrote on Instagram.

Cerrone has now won three fights in a row and two straight since returning to 155 pounds. Iaquinta, meanwhile, was unable to capitalize on the momentum he gained from a win over Kevin Lee in hi…

You can sign up for a free seven-day trial of ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC on ESPN+ live on your computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. Donald Cerrone’s ferocity was too much to bear, even for Al Iaquinta. Crushing kicks and savage multi-punch bursts spurred “Cowboy” to a unanimous decision over Al Iaquinta in the UFC Fight Night 151 headliner on Saturday at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, Ontario. Cerrone (36-11, 23-8 UFC) extended his Ultimate Fighting Championship record for career victories with a sublime performance and carried all three scorecards with room to spare: 49-45, 49-45 and 49-46.

The first 10 minutes were competitive, but Cerrone found another gear in the third round and never looked back. He tenderized Iaquinta’s upper and lower leg with kicks while chewing up his face with searing jabs and combinations of two, three and four punches or more. Iaquinta (14-5-1, 9-4 UFC) refused to buckle but hit the deck on multiple…

The Battle For Middleweight Supremacy #CaneloJacobs pic.twitter.com/lGhnQ5zCWT

— DAZN USA (@DAZN_USA) May 5, 2019

DAZN is the exclusive streaming partner of Bellator MMA. You can sign up here.

It might not have been the all-out action brawl that fight fans were hoping for, but Saul Alvarez proved once again that he is the best middleweight in the world.

Alvarez (52-1-2, 35 KOs) used a methodical approach to best Daniel Jacobs over 12 rounds in the main event of a DAZN-streamed boxing card at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The Mexican superstar racked up several early rounds by stalking his Brooklyn-based opponent with sharp jabs and thudding hooks to the body. “Canelo” never got over-zealous with his attacks and instead jabbed and countered Jacobs throughout.

With the contest slipping away, “Miracle Man” came on strongly in the latter stages of the fight. Jacobs (35-3, 29 KOs) tried turning the fight into an all-out brawl…

They will run it back in Anaheim!@DC_MMA @StipeMiocic 2 headlines #UFC241 Aug. 17! pic.twitter.com/FBEsS4qFAT

— UFC (@ufc) May 5, 2019

They are running it back at UFC 241, as Daniel Cormier will put his heavyweight title on the line when he rematches Stipe Miocic in the main event.

The promotion officially confirmed the bout following reports that the rematch was being targeted earlier in the week. The two initially fought at UFC 226 where Cormier became a “champ-champ” when he knocked out Miocic in the first round. Since then, the former champion has been campaigning for the rematch and hasn’t fought since. Cormier, on the other hand, fought at UFC 230 where he submitted Derrick Lewis in the second round to retain his heavyweight title.

Cormier had been linked to a potential fight against Brock Lesnar, but Lesnar told Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White that he was retiring.

UFC 241 Is set to go down at t…

You can sign up for a free seven-day trial of ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC on ESPN+ live on your computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app.

Saturday's UFC Fight Night 151 card airs live on ESPN+ at 5 p.m. ET.

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

Round 1 Sherdog Scores Adam Martin scores the round:Ant Walker scores the round:Jay Pettry scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Adam Martin scores the round:Ant Walker scores the round:Jay Pettry scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Adam Martin scores the round:Ant Walker scores the round:Jay Pettry scores the round:The Official Result Round 1 Sherdog Scores Adam Martin scores the round:Ant Walker scores the round:Jay Pettry scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Adam Martin scores the round:Ant Walker scores the round:Jay Pettry scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Adam Martin scores the round:Ant Walker scores the round:J…

Nicco Montano was the UFC’s inaugural female flyweight champion, but a bad weight cut ultimately cost her the chance to ever defend that crown.

While she works on the weight-cutting process, Montano will move up a division to bantamweight, where she is expected to make her Octagon return sometime this summer. Sherdog.com confirmed the move with Montano’s manager, Ricky Kottenstette, who said a potential return to flyweight is contingent upon how well her cut to 135 pounds proceeds.

A date and opponent for Montano’s sophomore UFC appearance have not been announced.

Montano made her way through Season 26 of “The Ultimate Fighter” with victories over Lauren Murphy, Montana De La Rosa and Barb Honchak on the reality show before taking a five-round verdict against veteran competitor Roxanne Modafferi at the “TUF 26” finale to claim the 125-pound belt.

Since then, it’s been one unfortunate incident after another for the 30-year-old New Mexico resident. First, ton…

Brandon Royval armbars Joby Sanchez #LFA65 pic.twitter.com/ZdtxDL8Vot

— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) May 4, 2019 After Brandon Royval came up short against Casey Kenney for the Legacy Fighting Alliance flyweight title last November, he vowed to make sure it didn't happen again. So far, he's been right.

Royval stood toe-to-toe with Joby Sanchez for a few minutes in the LFA 65 main event Friday night inside Dobson Arena in Vail, Colorado, though the loose, sometimes wild striking didn't last very long. Royval (9-4) shot in for a takedown, but Sanchez stuffed him and immediately went to work on a D'Arce choke. "Raw Dawg" remained patient and battled through the submission attempt and then turned the tables on his foe.

Royval swept Sanchez (12-5) once he escaped the D'Arce, hooked Sanchez' left leg and then rolled him into a textbook armbar. Sanchez had nowhere to go and had no choice but to tap out, officially ending the entertaining d…

3 fights. 3 wins. 1 new strawweight champ!

Congrats to @115_brianna! Incredible performances all night! #PhoenixRising pic.twitter.com/XQ1eQFyKqT

— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) May 4, 2019 Brianna Van Buren ran the gauntlet. The 25-year-old Californian submitted Kailin Curran with a rear-naked choke and took possession of vacant Invicta Fighting Championships gold at 115 pounds in the final of a one-night, eight-woman tournament at Invicta Phoenix Rising Series 1 on Friday at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas. Curran (6-7, 2-1 Invicta) bowed out 3:49 into Round 2.

Van Buren (8-2, 4-1 Invicta) had all the characteristics of a runaway freight train. She struck for multiple takedowns in the first round, pairing them with suffocating top control and punishing ground-and-pound. Curran offered little in the way of effective resistance. Van Buren went back to work in Round 2, where she executed another takedown, climbed to full …

UFC interim lightweight champion Dustin Poirier has been on an unbelievable tear in the ultra-competitive 155-pound division, and his boxing coach has a good idea of one of the reasons behind it.

“The Diamond” has beaten some of the best fighters in the planet at lightweight including Anthony Pettis, Justin Gaethje, Eddie Alvarez and most recently defeated Max Holloway to win the interim title and propel himself into a unification bout against undefeated champion Khabib Nurmagomedov later this year.

Poirier’s boxing coach at American Top Team, Dyah Davis, recently spoke to BJPenn.com and praised his fighter’s ability to maintain his stamina throughout a fight. While Davis is aware fans know Poirier for his boxing ability and power, he commended his ability -- in particular against Holloway -- to land big shots in the final rounds of a five-round fight:

“What’s crazy is with Dustin, his stamina threshold is crazy,” Davis said. “He can go long and still have power …

@LFAfighting goes down tomorrow night at 7pm MT! #ElevationFightTeam pic.twitter.com/a16gM3NfO7

— Elevation Fight Team (@ElevationMMA) May 3, 2019

The Legacy Fighting Alliance is returning to Vail, Colo., for LFA 65, where every fighter on the main card has successfully made weight.

Brandon Royval hit the scales at 125.4 pounds, as he prepares to face Joby Sanchez (125.6) in the LFA 65 main event this Friday at the Dobson Arena in Vail, Colo. Co-headlining the card will be a featherweight battle between Jose Mariscal (145.2) and Brazilian Joanderson Sa de Brito (145.6).

LFA 65, which airs live on AXS TV on Friday, May 3 at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, also features a featherweight showdown between Youssef Zalal (144.6) and Matt Jones (145). Women's strawweights Pauline Macias (116) and Sarah McLeod (115.6) will throw down as well. At middleweight, Adam Stroup (185.6) meets Hayward Charles (186). Rounding out the main card will be a b…

Featherweights headline our first-ever South Carolina card! @MoicanoUFC takes on @KoreanZombieMMA in the main event at #UFCGreenville! https://t.co/giFOrQkywR pic.twitter.com/NMLrhHyjEf

— UFC (@ufc) May 2, 2019

The Ultimate Fighting Championship will be taking its first trip to South Carolina this June, putting on what is sure to be a thrilling main event between Renato Carneiro and Chan Sung Jung.

First reporting this was Combate on Thursday morning. The UFC confirmed this story later on Thursday, announcing that "Moicano" (13-2-1) will meet "The Korean Zombie" (14-5) in the main event of UFC Fight Night 154 in Greenville, S.C., on June 22.

Carneiro suffered the first knockout loss of his career in his most recent performance against Jose Aldo, snapping a two-fight win streak over Cub Swanson and Calvin Kattar. Throughout his career, all of his stoppage wins have come by submission, never knocking out an opponent.

Jung…

After UFC President Dana White announced that Brock Lesnar would be retiring and no longer challenging current heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier for the heavyweight title, the promotion immediately announced plans for Cormier to take on Stipe Miocic in a rematch for the belt. The UFC is rumored to be looking at booking the fight on the UFC 241 card in August.

The pair previously met last July at UFC 226 in a fight that Cormier won via knockout in the opening round. The loss ended Miocic's record for heavyweight title defenses at three and snapped a six-fight winning streak which dated back to 2015.

Despite the bout not being officially announced, the betting lines have already been drawn and according to BetOnline, the champion is listed as the slight betting favorite to retain his title at -150 with Miocic coming in as the underdog at +130.

Cormier is currently riding a seven-fight win streak and is undefeated as a heavyweight, going 13-0 while capturing both the UFC…

Angela Hill will make a relatively quick turnaround from her victory at UFC Fight Night 150 this past Saturday.

“The Ultimate Fighter 20” will replace the injured Felice Herrig and face Xiaonan Yan in a strawweight bout at UFC 238. Herrig announced her withdrawal due to a torn ACL early this week. UFC officials confirmed the new matchup with broadcast partner ESPN.

Hill ended a two-bout skid with a unanimous decision triumph over Jodie Esquibel at UFC Fort Lauderdale on Saturday. The former Invicta champion is 4-6 over the course of two stints with the Las Vegas-based organization.

Yan, meanwhile, has kicked off her promotional tenure with successive triumphs over Kailin Curran, Viviane Pereira and Syuri Kondo to run her professional mark to 10-1.

UFC 238 takes place at the United Center in Chicago on June 8 and is headlined by a showdown for the vacant bantamweight title between Henry Cejudo and Marlon Moraes.

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Unbeaten King of the Cage champion Patrick Mix has signed with Bellator MMA and will make his promotional debut at Madison Square Garden.

Mix will square off against Ricky Bandejas in a bantamweight bout at Bellator 222 on June 14. Sherdog.com confirmed the booking with a promotion official on Wednesday. Bellator 222 is headlined by a light heavyweight duel between Chael Sonnen and Lyoto Machida. The card also includes a welterweight tournament bout between Rory MacDonald and Neiman Gracie as well as an inter-promotional bantamweight championship clash pitting Darrion Caldwell against Kyoji Horiguchi.

Mix and Bandejas will scheduled to square off under the Ring of Combat banner in June 2017 for the promotion’s vacant bantamweight crown, but the bout was ultimately canceled.

A native of Angola, N.Y., Mix has captured the KOTC bantamweight crown while compiling a 10-0 career mark. His resume includes …

Bryan Barberena and Randy Brown will lock horns at UFC Greenville on June 22.

The Las Vegas-based promotion recently announced the welterweight bout along with a bantamweight clash pitting Andre Ewell against Anderson dos Santos. UFC Fight Night 154 takes place at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C. and streams on ESPN+ following prelims on ESPN2. A headliner has not been announced for the card.

Barberena is coming of a thrilling third-round TKO loss to Vicente Luque that garnered “Fight of the Night” honors at UFC on ESPN 1. The 29-year-old MMA Lab product has alternated wins and losses in his last six Octagon appearances.

Brown, meanwhile, competed just once in 2018, suffering a second-round knockout loss to Niko Price at UFC Fight Night 133. The Ring of Combat veteran is 4-3 during his tenure with the UFC and 10-3 as a professional overall.

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One Championship play-by-play announcer Michael Schiavello can outline the differences between his organization and many of its contemporaries. In his estimation, respect and integrity are often lacking in the marketing of many western MMA promotions, including the Ultimate Fighting Championship. “The Voice” believes pay-per-view business models in combat sports are built around emotions like disdain and disrespect.

“The name calling, the crazy stunts, throwing things through windows [and] at each other, threatening each other on Twitter,” Schiavello told Sherdog.com. “That’s how you sell PPVs to a largely western audience, which is sad. Are a lot of the UFC guys fighters or martial artists? There’s a difference between the two. That’s not how true martial artists act. That’s how fighters act.”

Schiavello likes the idea that One Championship does not utilize a pay-per-view model and can center its market…

Brock Lesnar apparently isn’t making another UFC return, so Daniel Cormier and Stipe Miocic are going to run it back.

According to a report from ESPN on Tuesday, Cormier and Miocic have verbally agreed to a rematch at a UFC pay-per-view event in Anaheim, Calif., on Aug. 17. Cormier defeated Miocic via first-round knockout at UFC 226 last July to briefly become a two-division champion. After the bout, Lesnar confronted Cormier in the Octagon, which appeared to set the stage for a future matchup between the two.

Those plans, according to UFC President Dana White, have changed. White previously said on multiple occasions that he wanted to make Cormier vs. Lesnar, but the bout never materialized. Instead, the WWE talent is staying retired.

“He told me he’s done,” White told ESPN of Lesnar’s plans. “He’s retired.”

Lesnar returned to the Octagon after more than four years away at UFC 200, where he defeated Mark Hunt via unanimous decision. The former heavyweight …

Greg Hardy was compensated quite handsomely for his first Ultimate Fighting Championship triumph.

The controversial former NFL Pro Bowler earned $150,000 for his first-round technical knockout victory over Dmitry Smoliakov ($10,000) in the UFC Fight Night 150 co-main event at the BB&T Center in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Saturday night. That’s a bigger paycheck than nine-time Octagon veteran Jack Hermansson, who garnered $82,000 for his upset of Ronaldo Souza ($210,000) in the evening’s middleweight headliner.

The Florida State Boxing Commission released salary figures from the event on Tuesday.

Former heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski was the card’s top earner, as he took home $300,000 for a contentious split-decision loss to Augusto Sakai ($24,000) in a preliminary bout. Other fighters to earn six-figure salaries at UFC Fort Lauderdale were Glover Teixeiera ($210,000), Jim Miller ($180,000) and Mike Perry ($110,000).

Note: The disclosed purses repor…

A light heavyweight bout pitting Paul Craig against Alonzo Menifield has been added to the UFC on ESPN 3 lineup.

Promotion officials recently announced the booking. UFC on ESPN 3 takes place at the Target Center in Minneapolis on June 29 and is headlined by a rematch between Tyron Woodley and Robbie Lawler. The card will air on ESPN following prelims on ESPN+.

Craig has won two of his last three Octagon appearances and is coming off a third-round submission of Kennedy Nzechukwu at UFC on ESPN 2 on Marc 30. “Bearjew” finished 10 of his 11 professional victories via tapout overall.

Menifield received a UFC contract after earning a pair of victories on Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series. The 31-year-old Dallas resident had a successful Octagon debut, as he knocked out Vinicius Moreira in the opening stanza at UFC Brooklyn on Jan. 19 to improve his career mark to 8-0. All of Menifield’s victories have come inside of two rounds.

Rory MacDonald will need medical clearance before he can advance to face Neiman Gracie in the Bellator welterweight grand prix.

MacDonald is facing a potential 180-day medical suspension following his majority draw with Jon Fitch at Bellator 220 this past Saturday. The welterweight champion must be cleared for a potential right later epicondyle injury or he will be sidelined six months. He must also receive clearance for a potential 60-day sit due to a facial cut on his right side. Fitch, meanwhile, must be cleared for a scalp laceration or he will be suspended 60 days.

MacDonald questioned his drive to compete immediately following the grueling five-round bout with Fitch but later clarified those comments and said he expects to face Gracie at Bellator 222 on June 14 in New York.

The California State Athletic Commission released medical suspensions from the event, which took place at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif. Four other fighters from Bellator 220 are fac…

Kyoji Horiguchi will attempt to hold titles in two promotions when he faces Darrion Caldwell at Bellator 222.

A promotion official confirmed the bantamweight matchup to Sherdog.com on Monday following an initial report from ESPN.com. Caldwell’s Bellator belt will be on the line in the rematch. Bellator 222 takes place on June 14 at Madison Square Garden in New York and is headlined by a clash between Chael Sonnen and Lyoto Machida.

Horiguchi retained his Rizin bantamweight crown by submitting Caldwell with a guillotine choke in the third round of their first meeting on New Year’s Eve. He returned to action at Rizin 15 on April 21, when he knocked out former UFC competitor Ben Nguyen 2:52 into the opening frame. The American Top Team representative has won 12 consecutive fights since losing a five-round decision to Demetrious Johnson in a flyweight championship bout at UFC 186.

Caldwell has not competed since Horiguchi ended his four-fight winning streak at Rizin …

Jack Hermansson is definitely the talk of the town as far as UFC middleweights go with his hugely impressive back-to-back wins over David Branch and now Ronaldo Souza.

Hermansson came into his bout against “Jacare” as a late-notice replacement for the injured Yoel Romero on the UFC Fight Night 150 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida this past weekend. Despite being the betting underdog, the Swedish-born, Norwegian-based fighter defied the odds by putting on the best performance of his nine-fight UFC career by taking out a perennial contender in grappling ace Souza.

UFC color commentator Joe Rogan took to his Instagram account to hail the Swede’s performance stating that he was “seriously impressed” given the short turnaround and the quality of his opponent.

“I was seriously impressed with [Jack Hermansson’s] fight with [Ronaldo Souza] last night. He came into the fight as an underdog against a man who in unquestionably one of the best 185lbs fighters on earth and earn…