3+ week, 3+ day ago (312+ words) WBC light heavyweight champion David Benavidez will look to defend his 175 lbs title for the first time on November 22, against the seasoned Anthony Yarde. Benavidez is coming off a unanimous decision win against David Morrell in his last outing back in February. Yarde, meanwhile, beat Lyndon Arthur via unanimous decision back in April. Not long after the Morrell win, interim champion Benavidez was promoted since undisputed champion Dmitry Bivol vacated the WBC belt. Benavidez vs Yarde promises fireworks. Benavidez is all about action whenever he fights. Yarde, interestingly, is cut from the same cloth. Twenty-four of his 27 professional wins have come via knockout, and the Brit has heavy hands and has seen it all inside the ring. It's a scintillating contest, to say the least. Ahead of the fight, let's have a look at more details on Benavidez vs Yarde....

2+ week, 4+ day ago (463+ words) One week removed from winning his first regional MMA title, Ethyn Ewing is set to make his Octagon debut on extremely short notice at UFC 322. Set to take place at New York City's iconic Madison Square Garden, UFC 322 is topped by a pair of massive title bouts that will see Islam Makhachev and Weili Zhang both try to claim UFC belts in new weight classes when they challenge Jack Della Maddalena and Valentina Shevchenko. The rest of the card is stacked with plenty of intriguing fights, but a scheduled prelim bout between Cody Haddon and Malcolm Wellmaker did undergo a major change the night before weigh-ins when Haddon was forced off UFC 322 due to injury. First reported by Marcel Dorff, Ewing steps in to replace Haddon for a massive opportunity in his short-notice UFC debut. Like UFC 322 headliner Della Maddalena,…...

1+ week, 5+ day ago (430+ words) Top heavyweight contender Waldo Cortes-Acosta will compete for the fifth time this year when he steps in on short notice to fight at UFC Qatar this Saturday. Set to close out a nine-week stretch of consecutive events before the UFC ends 2025 with a pair of cards in December, UFC Qatar marks the promotion's first visit to the country and is headlined by a pivotal lightweight bout between Arman Tsarukyan and Dan Hooker. The card was also supposed to see Serghei Spivac take on Shamil Gaziev in a battle between top heavyweight contenders, but Cortes-Acosta will now step in to replace Spivac and face Gaziev on just 3 days' notice (first reported by Carlos Contreras Legaspi). Following Legaspi's initial report, Cortes-Acosta confirmed the news via both his Twitter and Instagram accounts. Estamos firmes Estamos activos estamos listos Currently the UFC's #6-ranked heavyweight…...

3+ week, 4+ day ago (344+ words) For the second consecutive week, the UFC remains status quo with a Fight Night card from the UFC APEX. Amid a betting scandal rocking the MMA world from last week's event, the promotion pushes forward with a 12-fight card before taking a near month-long break from its home state. The main event could wind up being a swing fight in a crowded welterweight division, as Gabriel Bonfim takes on Randy Brown in a five-rounder. It also marks the first main event spot for both men, despite Brown (20-6 MMA, 14-6 UFC) having competed in the promotion since 2016. Brown has won four of his last five fights, as his last win came in April with a KO/TKO stoppage against Nicholas Dalby (23-6-1 MMA, 7-5-1, 1 NC UFC) in a bounce-back effort following a loss to Bryan Battle (12-2, 1 NC MMA) last December at UFC 310. Meanwhile, Bonfim…...

3+ week, 3+ day ago (499+ words) The UFC is back in Las Vegas, NV tonight (November 8) for the second of back-to-back UFC Fight Night cards at the UFC APEX facility. The main event will see Randy Brown try to snatch Gabriel Bonfim's spot in the rankings when the two men meet in a welterweight clash. Bonfim comes into the night riding the momentum of three-straight victories, while Brown returned to the win column with a second-round knockout of Nicolas Dalby in April after having his own three-fight winning streak halted by Bryan Battle. Joseph Morales will formally kick off his second stint with the UFC in the night's co-main event after winning the flyweight finals of The Ultimate Fighter 33. "Bopo" takes on Matt Schnell, who snapped a three-fight skid in his last outing when he took a unanimous decision over Jimmy Flick. The rest of the…...

31+ min ago (418+ words) The UFC heavyweight division may be in limbo for longer than anticipated. That's because its champion, Tom Aspinall, is still struggling to recover from a gruesome eye injury suffered at UFC 321 during his fight against Ciryl Gane in October. This incident resulted in the fight being ruled a No Contest, capping off an otherwise exciting card in Abu Dhabi. The biggest loser from the ordeal was Aspinall himself. Speaking to longtime MMA journalist Ariel Helwani of Yahoo Sports' Uncrowned Combat, Aspinall broke down his recovery timeline since the fight transpired alongside his relationship, or lackthereof, with UFC brass. According to Aspinall, the UFC has been radio silent during the fallout from the fight. "[Dana White] hadn't spoken to me, and he was already giving updates on my health. He had no idea what had gone on," Aspinall told Helwani Tuesday....

1+ week, 1+ day ago (436+ words) Gable Steveson managed to outdo his MMA debut with an even faster finish in his sophomore outing at Anthony Pettis FC 21. A busy weekend of MMA highlighted by the UFC's first visit to Qatar on Saturday also included plenty of regional action, and on Sunday night Steveson's second MMA bout was promoted to the headlining slot for Anthony Pettis FC 21 ahead of fights for the promotion's welterweight and lightweight titles. Steveson proved that he was more than deserving of the main event spotlight, as he only needed 24 seconds to knock out Kevin Hein and improve his professional MMA record to 2-0. Taking place at the Isleta Resort & Casino in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Anthony Pettis FC 21 featured a six-fight main card following a mix of amateur and pro action during the night's prelims. Steveson was competing under the Anthony Pettis FC banner…...

2+ week, 2+ day ago (470+ words) A massive UFC 322 card closed out with a highly-anticipated welterweight title fight between Jack Della Maddalena and Islam Makhachev. Serving as the main event for the UFC's annual trip to Madison Square Garden, the matchup saw Makhachev move up to 170 lbs. after vacating his lightweight belt in order to pursue championship glory in a second weight class. Both men carried the momentum of massive win streaks into their UFC 322 clash, but it was Makhachev who put on a dominant performance in a new weight class to dethrone Della Maddalena. Entering the cage for his first title defense after unseating Belal Muhammad at UFC 315, Della Maddalena found himself as a prohibitive underdog against his first challenger even though he was undefeated in the UFC. Makhachev successfully defended his lightweight belt four times before deciding to make the move up to 170 lbs.,…...

3+ week, 5+ day ago (451+ words) Former UFC two-division champion Jon Jones is holding out hope for his next big fight in a triumphant return to the promotion next year. Jones (28-1, 1 NC MMA) briefly retired this summer, which allowed Tom Aspinall to get promoted to UFC Heavyweight Champion. Aspinall's (15-3, 1 NC MMA) first title defense last month at UFC 321 couldn't have gone worse, as an eye poke from former UFC Interim Heavyweight Champion Ciryl Gane abruptly ended their main event fight in Abu Dhabi. The fallout from the fight has been interesting, to say the least. Some suggest the fight should have been a disqualification win for Aspinall instead of the ruled No Contest outcome. Regardless, despite not defending or losing his heavyweight title, Aspinall maintained the belt as he awaits successful recovery from the eye poke. Jones, meanwhile, recently dismissed Aspinall's performance in a sit-down interview…...

3+ week, 6+ day ago (433+ words) In the latest twist to the cancelled boxing match between Jake Paul and Gervonta Davis, former UFC star Nate Diaz claims he's agreed to step in the ring for a rematch with Paul. With only one fight under his belt so far this year, influencer-turned-boxer Paul was slated to return to the ring for a second time later this month to take on boxing star Davis in an exhibition bout at Kaseya Center in Miami, FL. Davis has officially pulled out of the fight after being handed a civil lawsuit from an ex-girlfriend in yet another legal scandal for "Tank, leaving Paul without an opponent for a Netflix boxing event that was also supposed to see former UFC titleholders Anderson Silva and Chris Weidman square off in a trilogy fight. There's been plenty of talk and speculation regarding who might…...