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Arman taps Pitbull with a RNC in Moscow pic.twitter.com/HH7apvCefr

— Red Corner MMA (@RedCorner_MMA) May 31, 2025

Arman Tsarukyan hasn’t fought mixed martial arts in more than a year, but he’s doing his best to stay busy in the meantime.

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The Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight contender submitted ex-Bellator MMA champ Patricky Freire with a rear-naked choke in the final round of their grappling match at ADXC 10 in Moscow on Saturday. It’s the second triumph in a grappling match for Tsarukyan since his last Octagon appearance, as he also defeated Makkasharip Zaynukov via unanimous decision at Karate Combat 54 on May 2.

Tsarukyan defeated Charles Oliveira via split decision in a title eliminator bout at UFC 300 in April 2024. However, a back injury forced him out of a scheduled title shot against Islam Makhachev at UFC 311 in January, and the Russian is not expected to receive a title shot in his next promotional …

🚨 WARNING EXPLICIT LANGUAGE🚨 pic.twitter.com/gfOf4XBFbd

— Jonny Meat (@JonnyBones) May 31, 2025

The future of the heavyweight division remains murky at best, but one thing is crystal clear: Jon Jones is enjoying himself.

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The UFC heavyweight champion took to social media on Saturday to troll Tom Aspinall following a seminar in Thailand, where “Bones” claimed a large percentage of those in attendance came from the U.K. Jones jokingly gave credit to Aspinall, a native of Lancashire, England, for the boost.

“Just wrapped up the biggest seminar in Phuket history,” Jones wrote. “Half the crowd flew in from the UK—how wild is that?! Massive shoutout to my guy Tom for all the free promo… couldn’t have done it without you.

“Seriously though, I’m beyond grateful for this brand new UK following. You guys showed up with so much love and energy, and I felt every bit of it.”

Just wrapped up the biggest sem…

"Khaos" Williams (15-4) has a new opponent with a little more than a week to go before UFC 316. 

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Williams was originally scheduled to fight Uros Medic in a welterweight matchup at UFC 316 on June 7 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. However, Medic announced via Instagram he has been forced to pull out of the fight due to a sinus illness that eventually required antibiotics.

“Hey everyone I wanted to share that my team and I had to make the tough decision to withdraw from my upcoming fight due to some health issues I've been dealing with behind the scenes,” Medic wrote. “I've been battling a stubborn sinus infection that affected my training, breathing and recovery, that eventually had to be treated with antibiotics. It wasn't an easy call to make, but out of respect for the sport, my team, and you guys, I know this is the right move. I'll be back as soon as I'm fully healthy.”

Williams was then briefly matched with replaceme…

🇧🇷THE CHAMPION HAS A NAME

AND HIS NAME IS ROBERTO SATOSHI SOUZA 🙌

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⏱️ANOTHER WIN IN UNDER A MINUTE

[ LIVE on https://t.co/SJYljaZ7L1 ] pic.twitter.com/LDRbyeBDw3

— RIZIN.tv (@RIZINTV_) May 31, 2025 Rizin Fighting Federation lightweight champion Roberto Satoshi de Souza extended his streak of stoppage victories to four with a quick destruction of “Road to UFC” veteran Won Bin Ki in the main event of Rizin “World Series in Korea” in Incheon, South Korea on Saturday. De Souza blitzed Ki with punches and choked him out just 50 seconds into their non-title main event bout.

De Souza (19-3, 12-2 Rizin) chose to stand with Ki (18-10, 0-1 Rizin) and that decision paid off when he landed a lunging right hook that dropped the South Korean early in the fight. De Souza followed up with more punches on the ground before he took Ki’s back and locked on a rear-naked choke. Within seconds, Ki was rendered unconscious and the brief…

Boom!

Another antitrust class action drops against the UFC

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By Phil Davis.

Alleging fighters not under contract with them are harmed by their monopoly stranglehold.

Change is coming. pic.twitter.com/zY02uq4KM1 — Erik Magraken (@erikmagraken) May 30, 2025 The Ultimate Fighting Championship is going to have to start paying its attorneys overtime at this rate.

On Friday, news broke that Phil Davis, on behalf of himself and other fighters in his class, filed an antitrust lawsuit against the UFC in the U.S. District Court in Nevada. Davis is represented by the law firm of Berger Montague, which recently settled one antitrust case with the promotion for $375 million, with those funds paid to the fighters. It also represents the suit helmed by Kajan Johnson, repping another class of fighters similar to the settled case involving Cung Le.

While those class action suits sought monetary damages, the goals of Davis e…

Maycee Barber (@MayceeBarber) #UFCVegas107 Official Weight: 126.5

Complete weights ➡️ https://t.co/x20OTpUwn7

— UFC News (@UFCNews) May 30, 2025 Editor's note: The article was updated at 1:45 p.m. ET on May 30 to reflect the purse fine amounts for the heavy fighters.

Not one but two de facto Ultimate Fighting Championship title eliminator matches just crashed and burned on the scales ahead of UFC Vegas 107.

Headlining the 10-fight card is a women's catchweight contest between Erin Blanchfield and Maycee Barber. While Blanchfield hit her proper marks, the same could not be said for the surging Barber. As for the rest of the card, things did not go so well. The bantamweight contest between Ketlen Vieira and Macy Chiasson was shifted before weigh-ins to a featherweight bout, with Vieira sustaining a 25% fine of her purse because of this. Additionally, the bout between Trevin Giles and Andreas Gustafsson fell through before weigh-ins…

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship title challenger Stephen Thompson will be drawing an unranked opponent who is just as dangerous as any contender.

According to the UFC on Friday morning, Thompson (17-8-1) will be appearing at UFC Nashville on July 12. Inside of the Bridgestone Arena in Tennessee, the welterweight veteran will square off with a man 15 years his junior in Gabriel Bonfim (17-1). “Wonderboy” expressed immediate excitement when the news went public, stating, “Time to prove this old man’s still got it” on social media.

Once a single scorecard away from claiming the 170-pound throne, Thompson has fallen on hard times the last several years. Winner of just one bout since 2021, that victory came over Kevin Holland via corner stoppage when Holland busted both of his hands in their 2022 encounter. That triumph is bookended by four losses to top talents Gilbert Burns, Belal Muhammad, Shavkat Rakhmonov and Joaquin Buckley—the latter two by stoppage. Of note,…

🚨 𝘽𝙍𝙀𝘼𝙆𝙄𝙉𝙂: Patrick Habirora moves up to welterweight to take on England’s Danny Roberts in the #PFLBrussels main event!

🇧🇪 Patrick Habirora 🆚 Danny Roberts 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

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Patrick Habirora moves up to 170lbs to face his toughest test to date in front of his hometown fans,… pic.twitter.com/WxEx0TeWqF — PFL Europe (@PFLEurope) May 30, 2025 The first round of Professional Fighters League Europe’s bantamweight tournament will kick off in a bit over a month.

Per a release from the PFL on Friday, the lineup for the nine-fight show at the ING Arena in Brussels, Belgium, is official. While the organization had hinted that local combatants would serve high on the marquee, the billing reflects this and adds four 135-pound quarterfinals as well. These fights will all go down on July 5, with the European broadcast airing on Dazn while stateside viewers do not currently have established means to watch the event live.

The main attra…

While Arman Tsarukyan had a title shot booked last year, now even Paddy Pimblett doesn’t want to fight him.

Pimblett (23-3) plans to return to action when the Ultimate Fighting Championship hosts their yearly Abu Dhabi pay-per-view in October. The Liverpudlian has long been calling out former featherweight champ Ilia Topuria. However, that ship has sailed for the time being, as “La Leyenda” is booked to fight Charles Oliveira for the vacant lightweight title at UFC 317 on June 28. While Pimblett still hopes for a callout from Topuria if the Georgian-Spaniard wins, he thinks a fight against Justin Gaethje is more plausible.

“I'm hoping to fight in Abu Dhabi in October. I think that's when I'm going to be back in the cage. I was thinking Ilia might call me out if he wins [against Oliveira]. I'd love to beat him if he gets the belt,” Pimblett told BBC. “I'd love to fight him anyway but he's booked, so I think it's more than likely Justin Gaethje.”

Barring …

Israel Adesanya reveals Dana White tried to convince him not to fight at #UFC293 against Sean Strickland

“Dana was like ‘Listen kid, you got enough money. Just chill out.’

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I was like ‘nah’… in hindsight maybe Dana was right.”

🎥 @stylebender #UFCpic.twitter.com/esU9L3SxwY

— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) May 30, 2025 Israel Adesanya slightly regrets not listening to Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White.

Adesanya (24-5) defended the middleweight title five times before losing it to rival Alex Pereira. However, Adesanya put a fairytale ending to their saga by knocking out “Poatan,” also avenging two previous kickboxing losses.

Adesanya was then scheduled to defend his title against Sean Strickland (29-7), whom many considered unworthy of a title shot. “The Last Stylebender” was a -400 favorite ahead of his UFC 293 fight against Strickland, a +350 underdog.

However, Strickland put on a defensi…

Muhammad Mokaev says Dana White sent him money after his car crash, just a few months after being cut from the UFC

"Not sure what for but it meant a lot to me." 👏🙏 pic.twitter.com/1FZ2m4TYnO

— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) May 30, 2025

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According to Muhammad Mokaev, Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White doesn’t forget fighters even if they are no longer with the promotion.

Mokaev (14-0), a former UFC flyweight, recently revealed that White helped him months after parting ways with the promotion. Mokaev’s UFC contract was not renewed after a unanimous decision win over Manel Kape in July 2024. While many blamed his wrestling-heavy style, there were also reports of behavioral issues with which brass had a problem. Mokaev recently said that it wasn’t White, but the matchmakers who didn’t want him on the UFC roster.

To make things worse, Muhammad lost control of his Mercedes-Benz A35 AMG and had an acciden…

Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight king Alexandre Pantoja is not ready to slow down any time soon.

“The Cannibal” is preparing to face Kai Kara-France for the second time, not just with professional stakes but flyweight gold on the line. The two first collided on the quarterfinals of “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 24, where the victor of the season—Tim Elliott—ended up getting a crack at Demetrious Johnson’s throne. While Pantoja prevailed by a two-round decision, the stakes are substantially higher nine years later. Pantoja spoke to Sherdog on Thursday about his final weeks of camp, where he will serve as the co-main event of UFC 317 on June 28 in Las Vegas.

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"I love to fight in Vegas at T-Mobile,” Pantoja exclaimed. “Actually, it was fighting in there two years ago, against Brandon Moreno in UFC 290, that I got my belt exactly in the International Fight Week. Last year I was there as guest fighter too, so I'm really excited to make my 4th title…

[embedded content] Rizin Fighting Federation will make its debut in South Korea this weekend with eight mixed martial arts fights.

Headlining the World Series in Korea event is a fight between Rizin lightweight champion Roberto Satoshi de SouzaRoberto de Souza vs. Road to UFC veteran Won Bin Ki. All fighters except for one successfully made weight for the card as Johnny Case came in .7 pounds over the limit for his lightweight fight against Juri Ohara. As a result, he is not eligible to win the fight, and it will be ruled a no contest if Ohara is not victorious.

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De Souza enters the main event with a professional record of 18-3. The Japanese-Brazilian fighter is on a three-fight winning streak since losing to Patricky Freire, which includes title defenses over Luiz Gustavo and Vugar Karamov. Meanwhile, South Korea's "The Danger" has won two of his last three fight, including a TKO victory over Tatsuya Saika. Ki (18-9) will look to score the biggest w…

Editor's note: The article was updated at 11:05 a.m. on May 30 to add an additional statement from Ruffy.

Up-and-coming Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight Mauricio Ruffy is open to learning from anyone, anywhere.

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The Fighting Nerds prospect has won three times since debuting with the promotion in 2024. Knocking out Jamie Mullarkey to put himself on the map, he went on to win on the scorecards against James Llontop, and most recently, demolish Bobby Green with a spinning wheel kick at UFC 313. The Brazilian is at a crossroads, having reached rankable opposition given that Green recently resided within the confines of the top 15 at 155 pounds. According to Ruffy, he is quite close to a return to the promotion.

The fighter born Mauricio de Lima Santos, whose nickname refers to “One Piece” main character Monkey D. Luffy, recently turned down a fight against top-ranked Mateusz Gamrot, as he was unwilling to step up on nine days. This did not put …

[embedded content] Jon Jones is having a great time toying with anyone who asks him if he plans on fighting again.

The current Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight champion has been the subject of a long-lasting “will he or won’t he” question about if whether he will step back into the Octagon. In November 2024, Jones opted against taking on interim beltholder Tom Aspinall to face champ emeritus Stipe Miocic, whom he dispatched within three rounds. While he and Aspinall, per the UFC, are on a collision course, Jones is as coy as ever about the subject.

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When appearing on ”DeepCut with VicBlends” on Thursday, the champion waffled on what he has in mind for a competitive future, even going so far as to say he is “focusing on love” as of late. He also hinted that he might have other prospects outside of combat, but did not go into any detail.

“I don’t know what life holds as far as fighting and competing,” Jones said in response to being asked if …

Sean O'Malley has gone above and beyond to prepare for his rematch against Merab Dvalishvili.

O’Malley will get a chance to avenge his title loss against Dvalishvili in the main event at UFC 316 on June 7 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The former bantamweight champ was dethroned by “The Machine” via unanimous decision at UFC 306 last year.

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The loss prompted significant changes in his lifestyle to prepare for the rematch. “Suga” has stayed away from the camera, stopped smoking marijuana and had surgery to repair a hip injury. Additionally, the flamboyant competitor has abstained from social media almost entirely.

Apart from the lifestyle changes, O’Malley also claims to have changed his training method. Most notable is his focus on grappling, whether to work on his defensive wrestling to stop takedowns or to get up in the event that his seat hits the canvas. The former champ believes that this specialized camp has allowed him to be …

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Here’s everything you need to know about the upcoming UFC 318 card.

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UFC 318 takes place July 19 at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. Dustin Poirier will make his final Octagon appearance in a trilogy fight with Max Holloway in the main event. Meanwhile, ranked middleweights Marvin Vettori and Brendan Allen will trade leather in the co-headliner.

The early prelims will start at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT, followed by the prelims at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT and the main card at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT. The early prelims will be available on ESPN+ and Disney+, while the next set of prelims will be available on ESPN/ESPN+/Disney+.

The main card can only be viewed on pay-per-view via ESPN+ in the U.S.

Tickets for the event are now available on the UFC’s official website through Ticketmaster.

Jon Jones assembles a 'dream team' of fighters for $10

"Yoel [Romero], Alex [Pereira], Tom [Aspinall]" 👀

(via. @DirtyBoxing_) pic.twitter.com/QD6LfviJDr — Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) May 28, 2025

While it seems that Jon Jones doesn’t want to fight Tom Aspinall, he does acknowledge the Englishman’s skills.

Jones has stalled the Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight title picture, neither vacating his belt nor fighting interim champ Aspinall. However, Jones recently included Aspinall in his “dream team” of three fighters.

Dirty Boxing recently posted a fantasy contest to build a dream team with virtual currency, including three fighters picked from a curated list. The fighters were listed in three different tiers worth $5, $3 and $2:

$5: Mike Perry, part owner of Dirty Boxing, former UFC fighter Yoel Romero and heavyweight champ Jones.$3: Former UFC light heavyweight champ Alex Pereira, former featherweight cham…

JUST IN: Debut Patches are coming to UFC.

UFC athletes will now wear a Debut Patch on their gear for their first fight. After the bout, the patch will go into a 1/1 signed trading card.

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Andreas "Bane" Gustafsson will be the first athlete in history to wear a UFC Debut Patch. pic.twitter.com/GzmU0UjDjM — Topps (@Topps) May 28, 2025

Ultimate Fighting Championship card collectors have a fresh concept to get excited about.

Topps has exclusively produced UFC cards since signing a deal with the promotion last year. Topps and the UFC have now collaborated for a Debut Patch Program, starting with UFC Vegas 107 “Blanchfield vs. Barber” on May 31.

All UFC debutants on the card will wear a small patch on the right sleeve of their walkout jersey, starting with Andreas Gustafsson on the prelims. The patches will later be removed and made into a one-of-one trading card signed by the fighters themselves. These cards wi…

There is growing support behind the movement to remove Jon Jones from his position as UFC heavyweight champion.

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As of Wednesday afternoon, an online petition “to strip Jon Jones of the Undisputed UFC Heavyweight Belt” had garnered more than 125,000 signatures on Change.org. The statement on the petition page is as follows:

Jon Jones is now the longest reigning champion in UFC heavyweight history and has only fought [two] times in that period.  There is a clear interim champion, Tom Aspinall, who has defended his interim championship belt. Aspinall is ready to fight Jones. Jones refuses to fight him. Therefore, we as fans must let Dana White know: It is time to strip Jon Jones of the heavyweight title. He clearly has no intentions of fighting anytime soon. 

Jones claimed the vacant heavyweight crown with a submission of Ciryl Gane at UFC 285 in March 2023. Even after Tom Aspinall captured the interim heavyweight belt in Jones’ in…

UFC legend B.J. Penn will have to be at least 100 feet away from his mother — or 100 yards from her work or residence — for the next 180 days.

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According to a report from MMAFighting.com, Judge Jeffrey Ng approved a temporary restraining order filed by Lorraine Shin on Tuesday. Shin claims that she has been subject to “extreme psychological abuse” from Penn, who has allegedly taken her personal belongings, stolen her mail, attempted to remove security cameras from her home and tried to prevent her from calling the police.

Penn, who was arrested twice this week for abuse of a family or household member, must appear in court on June 10 for a full hearing on the restraining order. As part of the restraining order, he is not allowed to “threaten, physically abuse or psychologically abuse” his mother. Additionally, Penn cannot “contact, write, telephone or otherwise electronically contact” Shin mother or anyone living with her. If Penn violates any of…

Roy Jones Jr. is willing to help Ilia Topuria perfect his striking technique ahead of his lightweight debut.

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Topuria, a former featherweight champion, will move up to 155 pounds to face Charles Oliveira for the vacant lightweight strap in the UFC 317 headliner on June 28 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. While “El Matador” is known for his knockout power, Jones Jr. believes he could help the Georgian-Spaniard build upon the skills he already possesses.

“I would make a lot of difference [to Ilia Topuria’s camp for Charles Oliveira] because I teach how to get the most out of the striking, how to stay set while you're doing it,” Jones Jr. told Prime Casino.

"Because in MMA you gotta always be set because guys can take your legs out, but the way I fight you always stay set, so I think what I teach would be advantageous to anybody who chose to indulge in it and get what I really teach.”

The 56-year-old Jones Jr. compiled a 66-10 boxing rec…

🚨𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗡𝗘𝗪𝗦 🚨@MoTownPhenom signs with the PFL

He steps in to replace Jay-Jay Wilson and will face Gadhzi Rabadanov in new 2025 PFL World Tournament Lightweight Semifinal Main Event in Wichita, Kansas on June 20th!

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[ #PFLWorldTournament | Friday, June 20th |… pic.twitter.com/IBOWmHf805 — PFL (@PFLMMA) May 28, 2025

Kevin Lee’s Professional Fighters League debut will come with a berth in the lightweight tournament finals at stake.

The promotion announced on Wednesday that Lee will replace the injured Jay-Jay Wilson and face Gadzhi Rabadanov at PFL World Tournament 6 in Wichita, Kansas, on June 20. The 155-pound semifinal will serve as the card’s headliner. According to a release, Lee enters the tournament as an official alternate despite having not competed in the first round.

PFL World Tournament 6 takes place at INTRUST Bank Arena and features semifinals at lightweight, bantamweight and women’s flyweigh…

Saturday’s UFC Vegas 107 card has undergone a few changes, the promotion announced on Wednesday.

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Due to visa issues, both Oban Elliott and Seok Hyun Ko have been removed from their respective bouts. As a result, Elliott and Ko will now square off at UFC Baku on June 21 in Azerbaijan.

Elliott was scheduled to face Ramiz Brahimaj at UFC Vegas 107, while Ko was initially slated to meet Billy Goff. Now, Brahimaj will lock horns with Goff on Saturday in a new welterweight booking.

Meanwhile, MarQuel Mederos has been removed from a lightweight clash against Bolaji Oki due to illness. Mederos has been replaced by Michael Aswell in the contest.

UFC Vegas 107 — also known as UFC on ESPN 68 — takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a women’s flyweight showdown pitting Erin Blanchfield against Maycee Barber. Prelims begin on ESPN+ at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT, while the main card begins on ESPN and ESPN+ at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.