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“The best seller, MMA Rule Book For Dummies, by yours truly is available worldwide.”

Aljamain Sterling has dropped an ‘MMA Rulebook For Dummies’ ahead of his bantamweight championship rematch with Petr Yan at UFC 273.

Sterling, the current champ, is clearly making light of Yan being disqualified for landing an illegal knee in the fourth round of their previous title fight at UFC 259.

To make sure ‘No Mercy’ doesn’t flout the rules again, ‘Funk Master’ read out his ‘Rules For Dummies’ in a video post on Twitter.

“Almost go time! Getting all my essentials packed!”

“Going over some Fight IQ with the team…..Ya know so that they never lose their belt. The best seller, MMA Rule Book For Dummies, by yours truly is available worldwide. Even in Russia and Thailand. Tag a friend or a [clown] who needs this book!”

Sterling will look to unify the bantamweight titles against Yan in this Saturday’s UFC 273 co-main event at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.

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Former UFC champion Demetrious Johnson gives some advice to reigning titleholder Deiveson Figueiredo.

After three memorable fights, the UFC has decided to match up Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno for an unprecedented fourth time. The two are slated to face each other sometime in July, with Figueiredo once again defending the flyweight strap after reclaiming it at UFC 270 in January.

But as of late, both Moreno and Figueiredo have expressed interest in a different opponent in the form of Kai Kara-France. And if you ask former perennial UFC 125-pound champion Demetrious Johnson, it is the right thing to do.

“Why do a fourth fight? Why?” Johnson told Ariel Helwani in his Monday appearance on The MMA Hour. “Fight Pantoja. Let Pantoja fight. Let Kai Kara-France fight. Fight somebody totally different. Go out there, get your mojo back if you feel like you need it. Get a fresh look in front of you.”

“Everybody’s always trying to chase this title. Don’t chase the title, the title will come if you’re worthy of it, if your path leads you to that. Don’t just try to run down a road and run in the same f—ng roadblock.

“Fight somebody else, then maybe, you’ll find something else in the other fighters you go against. And then when you approach that roadblock again, you’re like, ‘Ah, I know how to do this this time. It’s not the same thing I’ve been looking at for the past two to three years.’ Do something different.”

As someone who was in the same position years ago, “Mighty Mouse” understands the money involved in booking a fourth fight between Moreno and Figueiredo. But for him, it’s still not worth closing the doors on potentially massive opportunities.

“Yes, it makes a lot of money sense for the UFC, and maybe for the athletes, too,” Johnson said. “I know how the UFC contracts are structured, so whether Brandon Moreno fights Figueiredo or Kai Kara-France, I’m sure he’s probably gonna get the same pay.

“Them boys ain’t gonna get pay-per-view points. They never gave flyweights pay-per-view points. Don’t act like y’all getting 800,000 pay-per-view buys.

“You’re better off fighting Kai Kara-France or Pantoja,” he continued. “And then if you get that, boom. You get your show and your win, so you probably make $ 250K. Then, you might be in the escalator, so you fight another one.

“That’s another $ 250K, so you just made $ 500K. And now, you fight for a world title, then you get your $ 30K Reebok sponsorship.”

Johnson then offered some advice.

“At the end, you’ll be like, ‘Hey, I got two fights in my contract. You know what? I don’t want to re-sign. I want to fight this one. I believe in myself.’ You go out there and fight, and let’s say you win the belt, next thing you know you’re in a great position.”

The 35-year-old Johnson is currently signed with Singapore’s ONE FC after that 2018 “trade” with the UFC in exchange for Ben Askren.

Johnson bounced back from his 2021 KO loss when he faced ONE’s Muay Thai champion Rodtang Jitmuangnon on March 26th. He won via second-round submission in a mixed-rules bout.

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Arnold Allen believes Leon Edwards is the ‘No. 1 guy’ in British MMA.

UFC featherweight prospect and British MMA talent Arnold Allen believes Leon Edwards is the best fighter in British MMA.

Allen, who was fortunate enough to spar with Edwards in the past, claims ‘Rocky’ is on a completely different level than his peers and credited the Team Renegade BJJ standout for helping him to prepare for Dan Hooker at UFC London.

“No. I think Leon Edwards is the best,” Allen, who beat Hooker via first-round TKO, told Ariel Helwani during a recent appearance on The MMA Hour (h/t MMA Fighting). “Having sparred with him, he’s the best. That man’s a different level. We sparred a good few rounds. He helped me a lot with advice for the fight and stuff like that. For me, he’s the No. 1 guy.”

Edwards, who is teased to challenge Kamaru Usman for the welterweight title during International Fight Week in July, thanked Allen for the compliments.

Allen and Hooker are two of the hottest talents in British MMA right now, with both fighters amassing a combined twenty-fight win streak. Allen, who trains under Tristar head coach Firas Zahabi, is No. 6 in the UFC featherweight rankings while Edwards, who trains out of Birmingham, England, is the No. 3-ranked welterweight in the world.

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“But is he going to knock him out in an MMA fight? No. Not when Conor gets kicking — he’s going to kick Jake Paul’s head right off his shoulders.”

Anthony Smith might be warming up to Jake Paul, but ‘Lionheart’ doesn’t think the 5-0 boxer stands a chance against Conor McGregor in MMA.

Smith, a former UFC light heavyweight title challenger, laughed off Paul’s claim that he would KO McGregor in MMA, opining that ‘The Notorious’ would kick ‘The Problem Child’s’ head ‘right off his shoulders’ despite being at a considerable size disadvantage.

“First of all, Conor’s half his size right now,” Smith said on The Fighter vs. The Writer podcast. “People do miss that. Jake’s a big dude and he’s fighting short, stocky, wrestler welterweights. Jake Paul’s my size. He’s a big goddamn dude. He’s way north of 200 pounds. Him fighting Conor in a boxing match, that would probably be a pretty good fight, to be honest with you. But is he going to knock him out in an MMA fight? No. Not when Conor gets kicking — he’s going to kick Jake Paul’s head right off his shoulders.”

“People say that Jake can wrestle a little bit so [he] might be able to keep it a little bit competitive for a minute or so,” Smith added. “But no, in an MMA fight, he’s going to get barbecued.”

McGregor, for his part, doesn’t appear even remotely interested in the matchup. The former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion has all but snubbed Paul on social media and is more focused on his UFC comeback.

McGregor will look to return to the cage this summer where he is expected to compete at welterweight. The Irishman told The Mac Life in an interview last month that he is eyeballing a title fight versus Kamaru Usman: “I believe myself vs. Usman for the 170-pound title for my comeback fight is the one I’m eyeballing at the minute.”

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Check out all the fights announced over the past week in the UFC, Bellator and other promotions.

Fights on Tap is a weekly roundup of all the fights booked in the UFC, Bellator and other promotions.

It’s fight week! UFC 273 is ahead of us, but before we get excited about such a stacked pay-per-view, let’s take a moment to appreciate the Cage Warriors doubleheader that kept us thoroughly entertained this past weekend. Cage Warriors 135 and 136 were great events, but the latter could be in the running for ‘Event of the Year’ easily. CW 136 had every fight end in a finish, including Christian Leroy Duncan’s title-winning flying knee TKO of Djati Melan and Manny Akpan’s capoeira-style kick that flattened Connor Hitchens.

Now, let’s look ahead to the updated schedule of the UFC and Bellator. The UFC either announced or finalized ten fights this week, and the recent additions are scattered across upcoming pay-per-view and Fight Night events.

Bellator has confirmed the next title defense for middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi, who returns against undefeated prospect Johnny Eblen at Bellator 282 in June. In his most recent appearances, the ‘Dreamcatcher’ has successfully defended his title twice, finishing John Salter and Austin Vanderford by technical knockout at Bellator 264 and Bellator 275. Meanwhile, ’The Human Cheat Code’ has improved to 11-0 as a professional, with his unanimous decision win over the aforementioned Salter earning him his first championship opportunity under the Bellator banner.

UFC 273 — April 9

Anthony Hernandez vs. Josh Fremd — middleweight

Alexey Oleynik vs. Jared Vanderaa — heavyweight

UFC Fight Night — April 16

Devin Clark vs. William Knight — heavyweight

UFC Fight Night — April 30

Andre Fili vs. Joanderson Sá Brito — featherweight

UFC Fight Night — May 14

Jake Hadley vs. Allan Nascimento — flyweight

UFC Fight Night — June 4

Joaquin Buckley vs. Abusupiyan Magomedov — middleweight

UFC 275 — June 11

Kyung Ho Kang vs. Saimon de Oliveira — bantamweight

UFC Fight Night — June 18

Julian Marquez vs. Wellington Turman — middleweight

Phil Hawes vs. Deron Winn — middleweight

UFC Fight Night — June 25

Josh Parisian — Alan Baudot — heavyweight

Announced Bellator fights:

Bellator 278 — April 22

Erik Perez vs. Cee Jay Hamilton — bantamweight

Bellator 279 — April 23

Janay Harding vs. Dayana Silva — women’s featherweight

Bellator Paris — May 6

Lorenz Larkin vs. Anthony Adams — middleweight

Youcef Ouabbas vs. Mathieu Ducios — middleweight

Victor Verchere vs. Bourama Camara — welterweight

Bellator 282 — June 24

Gegard Mousasi vs. Johnny Eblen — middleweight

Magomed Magomedov vs. Winner of Enrique Barzola vs. Josh Hill — bantamweight

Leandro Higo vs. Winner of Jornel Lugo vs. Danny Sabatello — bantamweight

Alejandra Lara vs. Ilara Joanne — women’s flyweight

Announced Professional Fighters League (PFL) fights:

PFL 1 (2022 Regular Season) — April 20

Cory Hendricks vs. Clinton Williams — light heavyweight

PFL 2 (2022 Regular Season) — April 28

Bruno Cappelozza vs. Stuart Austin — heavyweight

Brendan Loughnane vs. Ryoji Kudo — featherweight

Ante Delija vs. Matheus Scheffel — heavyweight

Renan Ferreira vs. Jamelle Jones — heavyweight

Lance Palmer vs. Chris Wade — featherweight

Bubba Jenkins vs. Jo Sungbin — featherweight

Denis Goltsov vs. Sam Kei — heavyweight

Ali Isaev vs. Klidson Abreu — heavyweight

Sheymon Moraes vs. Boston Salmon — featherweight

Alejandro Flores vs. Saba Bolaghi — featherweight

Announced KSW fights:

KSW 69 — April 23

Sebastian Przybysz vs. Zuriko Jojua — bantamweight

Sara Luzar Smajić vs. Natalia Baczyńska — women’s flyweight

Paweł Polityło vs. Patryk Chrobak — bantamweight

Robert Ruchała vs. Michele Baiano — catchweight (150 lbs.)

Wojciech Kazieczko vs. Lubomir Lesák — featherweight

Maciej Kazieczko vs. Wilson Varela — lightweight

Artur Szczepaniak vs. Jivko Stoimenov — welterweight

Announced Invicta FC fights:

Invicta FC 47 — May 11

Emily Ducote vs. Alesha Zappitella — women’s strawweight

Courtney King vs. Chelsea Chandler — women’s featherweight

Lindsey VanZandt vs. Jillian DeCoursey — women’s atomweight

Lisa Verzosa vs. Serena DeJesus — women’s bantamweight

Janaisa Morandin vs. Liana Pirosin — women’s flyweight

Jennifer Chieng vs. Alyssa Linduska — women’s strawweight

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UFC veteran and former title challenger Bethe Correia opened up about the “psychological torture” she endured as a fighter.

UFC veteran Bethe Correia has had her share of ups and downs. She made a strong impression in her first three UFC fights as a 9-0 competitor before running into Ronda Rousey in 2015.

From there, “Pitbull” has mainly been on a skid, only winning two of her next eight fights. In 2021, Correia fought out what would be her final MMA fight against fellow Brazilian Karol Rosa and lost via decision.

In January, the 38-year-old Correia brought up the idea of possibly entering bare-knuckle boxing and jiu-jitsu but affirmed that her retirement from MMA is final. In a recent guesting on MMAFighting.com’s Trocação Franca podcast, she explained why.

“I felt physically well, but I think it was more of the mental [aspect],” Correia said. “A time comes when you can’t take it anymore. I think 90 percent of the athletes that stop fighting MMA do it because of the psychological pressure.

“We always think we can do it, that our bodies are conditioned to fight, but it’s such a psychological torture, it’s not fun anymore. When it gets to that point, MMA becomes a bit dangerous. You can have an irreversible injury.”

Correia says she saw a difference in her experiences in the gym. That, for her, pushed the idea of calling it quits.

“Training wasn’t pleasurable anymore,” she said. “I couldn’t stand people demanding me high performance and doing everything perfect. I got more sad than happy [after training].

“In the past, I saw it as a challenge. ‘I’ll be better tomorrow, I’ll train better tomorrow.’ Then I started going home sad, had no desire to train, and that’s bad. When you get to that point, it’s no longer pleasurable for you.

“I was afraid of injuring my eyes again and having to undergo surgery one more time. That made me worry about protecting my eyes [more than anything] during training. The problem isn’t the fight, that’s only 15 minutes. The problem is training hard every single day.”

Correia ended her MMA career with a record of 11-6-1.

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Biggest ADCC Trials ever draws over 1,000 competitors

With over 1,000 competitors registered for the event, the ADCC West Coast trials were the biggest ADCC trials event ever. Held at the West Gate Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, these trials served as a primer for the World Championships in September.

Keith Krikorian Wins 66 kg Division Following 3 Trials Silver Medals

10^th Planet black belt Keith Krikorian is no stranger to the ADCC organization. He competed at the ADCC Worlds in 2019 and had made it to the finals of the trials three times prior to the 2022 West Coast Trials. These credentials earned Keith the #1 seed in the 66 kg division in Vegas, where he made the most of his position. He had six matches prior to the finals, defeating the likes of Robert Diggle and Damien Anderson prior to the first-place match. In the final Keith squared off with Josh Cisneros. Cisneros, who had quite the run himself, was seeded third in the division. He had notable wins over Adam Benayoun, Gavin Corbe, and Gianni Grippo throughout the tournament. In the final, Krikorian was set on hunting the leg lock. He entered the 50/50 position and quickly locked on an inside heel hook to which Cisneros was forced to tap. The win gave Krikorian his first gold in four ADCC trials events and a World Championship birth in September.

Brianna Ste-Marie Becomes First Female to Win Both East and West Coast Trials

Brazilian Top Team black belt Brianna Ste-Marie had her best year as a competitor in 2021. The Canadian grappler won the IBJJF No-Gi Worlds and American Nationals, the WNO 135 lb. belt, and the ADCC East Coast Trials. Brianna entered the West Coast Trials with plenty of momentum and showed why she was the #1 seed in the -60 kg division. On her way to the final Ste-Marie earned victories over world-class CheckMat black belts Raquel Canuto and Nathalie Ribeiro. She utilized a combination of her dangerous half guard game and pressure passing to earn four submissions in six matches. In the final she faced Jasmine Rocha. Ste-Marie controlled the match, passing Rocha’s guard and threatening various chokes. The final score was 3-0 and Ste-Marie became the first female competitor in ADCC trials history to win both the east and west coast events.

Jacob Rodriguez Follows in Brother’s Footsteps with Winning Performance at 88 kg

88 kg competitor Jacob Rodriguez put on the best performance of his career at the ADCC West Coast Trials. Brother of heavyweight standout Nick Rodriguez, “JRod” used his technique and athleticism to secure six submissions out of seven matches, the most of any competitor on the day. In the final, Jacob hit one of the best submissions of the event. His opponent was Hunter Colvin of Brothers Jiu-Jitsu, a pro MMA fighter and veteran of Polaris, Submission Underground, Fight to Win, and WNO. Hunter cleared Jacob’s legs and appeared to secure a guard pass, but Jacob immediately started working a buggy choke. He adjusted it several times before finally getting the tap from Hunter. Jacob was a blue belt during the trials and received his purple belt from Craig Jones after his victory in the final.

Full results for the ADCC West Coast Trials can be found below.

Male

66 kg – Keith Krikorian

77 kg – William Tackett

88 kg – Jacob Rodriguez

-99 kg – Paul Ardilla

+99 kg – Kyle Boehm

Female

-60kg – Brianna Ste. Marie

+60 kg – Amy Campo

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Manny Akpan went full on Eddy Gordo this last weekend on the Cage Warriors undercard.

Capoeira is one of those martial arts that rarely feels like it has a truly functional place in modern combat sports. But, when it works, it provides one of the most remarkable meeting points of style and function. This last Saturday, on the Cage Warriors 136 undercard, featherweight prospect Manny Akpan showed a great example of just how cool the Brazilian dance-fight style can be in a catchweight fight against Connor Hitchens.

Akpan started the bout with a couple fun side kicks and hook kicks out of a side-on stance, and even managed to reverse a clinch into a fantastic bodylock throw. Unfortunately for him, that quickly resulted in getting swept. He and Hitchens spent much of the first frame, from that point on, trading grappling control positions—neither man able to open up with much offense without letting their opponent sweep or escape. Following a trio of failed spinning backfists late in the round, however, Akpan found himself mounted, eating shots apparently overwhelmed at the bell.

Momentum firmly on Hitchens’ side, he hit a power double early in the second and looked to have this fight firmly in control. Right up until the referee stood him up from guard with just 30 seconds left in the round. Just enough time for Akpan to pull off something remarkable.

Elsewhere on the card, unbeaten middleweight prospect Christian Leroy Duncan moved his record to 6-0, capturing the CWFC middleweight title in the process, with a flying knee knockout of champion Djati Melan.

The 26-year-old Range Academy student put on one hell of a show to capture CWFC gold. Don’t be surprised if his next step is one into the UFC Octagon in the not too distant future.

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Marshall was the only woman to defeat Shields in the amateurs.

WBO middleweight champion Savannah Marshall (12-0, 10 KOs) once again showcased her vaunted punching power on Saturday in Newcastle, England.

Towards the end of round three, Marshall hurt Belgian challenger Femke Hermans (12-4, 5 KOs) with her lead left hand. With Hermans struggling to keep her balance, she was backed into a corner where Marshall would uncork a vicious left hook that had the crowd on its feet and knocked Hermans off her feet. There was no chance of her getting up within 10 seconds and the fight was called off.

Watch the video below:

It’s the first time that Hermans has ever been knocked out and it was a tremendous shot.

The bigger story here is that Marshall’s win has lined her up for a super showdown with WBA, WBC, and IBF champion Claressa Shields (12-0, 2 KOs), who’d bested Ema Kozin in the United Kingdom a couple of months ago. Marshall is the only woman to have beaten Shields in either amateur or professional boxing, having won on points in the 2012 AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships.

Two of Marshall’s (T)KOs in the pros have come against opponents Shields went the distance with: Femke Hermans and Hannah Rankin. It’d be a much anticipated clash of styles between the power of Marshall and the superior speed and boxing skill of the two-time Olympic gold medalist Shields.

Boxxer promoter Ben Shalom says the plan is to hold this fight in the UK in June or July, and we could get a formal announcement in a matter of days.

Here’s what Shields, who attended Marshall vs. Hermans, had to say about Savannah’s power:

“I’m not Femke Hermans or any of the other girls she has fought,” Shields said (via ESPN). As much punch power as she got, if that’s all she’s got it’s going to be a wipeout. She’s going to have trouble with me and she’s definitely not going to knock me out. No, she’s not the biggest puncher. It’s not going to take a single punch to beat me.

“Femke made her miss and I’m 19 times faster than Femke so what do you think I’m going to do?”

No doubt that 2022 could be a banner year for women’s boxing if we do get both Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano and Claressa Shields vs. Savannah Marshall in the same year.

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Marshall was the only woman to defeat Shields in the amateurs.

WBO middleweight champion Savannah Marshall (12-0, 10 KOs) once again showcased her vaunted punching power on Saturday in Newcastle, England.

Towards the end of round three, Marshall hurt Belgian challenger Femke Hermans (12-4, 5 KOs) with her lead left hand. With Hermans struggling to keep her balance, she was backed into a corner where Marshall would uncork a vicious left hook that had the crowd on its feet and knocked Hermans off her feet. There was no chance of her getting up within 10 seconds and the fight was called off.

Watch the video below:

It’s the first time that Hermans has ever been knocked out and it was a tremendous shot.

The bigger story here is that Marshall’s win has lined her up for a super showdown with WBA, WBC, and IBF champion Claressa Shields (12-0, 2 KOs), who’d bested Ema Kozin in the United Kingdom a couple of months ago. Marshall is the only woman to have beaten Shields in either amateur or professional boxing, having won on points in the 2012 AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships.

Two of Marshall’s (T)KOs in the pros have come against opponents Shields went the distance with: Femke Hermans and Hannah Rankin. It’d be a much anticipated clash of styles between the power of Marshall and the superior speed and boxing skill of the two-time Olympic gold medalist Shields.

Boxxer promoter Ben Shalom says the plan is to hold this fight in the UK in June or July, and we could get a formal announcement in a matter of days.

Here’s what Shields, who attended Marshall vs. Hermans, had to say about Savannah’s power:

“I’m not Femke Hermans or any of the other girls she has fought,” Shields said (via ESPN). As much punch power as she got, if that’s all she’s got it’s going to be a wipeout. She’s going to have trouble with me and she’s definitely not going to knock me out. No, she’s not the biggest puncher. It’s not going to take a single punch to beat me.

“Femke made her miss and I’m 19 times faster than Femke so what do you think I’m going to do?”

No doubt that 2022 could be a banner year for women’s boxing if we do get both Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano and Claressa Shields vs. Savannah Marshall in the same year.

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