CombatSports.org

Linton Vassell won the battle but lost the war.

On Thursday night, PFL 4 took place at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT and in the main event, Vassell took on Valentin Moldavsky in a heavyweight trilogy matchup, eking out a split decision. It was a hard-fought battle with Moldavsky controlling much of the action but Vassell landing more damaging blows, including dropping Moldavsky with a big knee, and that damage ultimately won him the fight on two judges’ scorecards.

Unfortunately, because of his previous loss during the regular season, Vassell missed out on the heavyweight playoffs, which Moldavsky was already locked for. Moldavsky will face teammate Oleg Popov in the semifinals of the heavyweight playoffs.

In the co-main event, Dakota Ditcheva demolished Chelsea Hackett to earn the No. 1 seed in the flyweight playoffs. Ditcheva dropped Hackett almost immediately and swarmed her. Hackett battled through but Ditcheva continued to pour on the pressure, finally finishing things off with a ruthless body shot. Ditcheva will face Jenna Bishop in the first round of the playoffs.

In the featured fight of the evening, Denis Goltsov punched his ticket to a fifth PFL playoffs with a dominant performance against Thiago Santos. Goltsov caught Santos early with a check hook, dropping the former UFC light heavyweight title challenger. Goltsov then followed him to the ground and worked Santos over with control and punches until the referee was forced to stop the bout. Goltsov enters the playoffs as the No. 1 seed at heavyweight and will face Tim Johnson in the semifinals.

In the main card opener, Liz Carmouche once again defeated Kana Watanabe to earn a spot in the flyweight playoffs. A rematch of a 2021 fight in Bellator that saw Carmouche score a 35-second knockout, this time around Watanabe gave Carmouche all she could handle and was on her way to an upset until Carmouche locked in an armbar in the final 10 seconds to get the impressive comeback finish.

On the prelim portion of the evening, Oleg Popov and Taila Santos both clinched spots in the heavyweight and flyweight playoffs respectively.

Check out the full PFL 4 results here.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Illness
| BJPenn.com

Professional Fighters League (PFL) will be back in action later tonight (Thurs., June 13, 2024) to host PFL 4 live on ESPN/ESPN+ from inside Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, featuring a stacked card full of heavyweight and women’s flyweight hopefuls. Each fighter will be looking to secure their own playoff spot with a chance to win $ 1 million at the end of the year.

Headlining Thursday’s event is a heavyweight trilogy fight between Russian finisher Valentin Moldavsky and Bellator veteran Linton Vassell. Their first fight back in 2019 saw Moldavsky capture a unanimous decision win, but Vassell ended up winning the rematch in Mar. 2023 with a memorable first-round knockout (punches and elbows). The two heavyweights will settle the score atop PFL 4’s main card.

The event — which will air LIVE on ESPN+ — is set to begin with “Prelims” at 5:30 p.m. ET and then the main card at 9 p.m. ET. Don’t miss a second of action!

PFL 4 QUICK RESULTS

Heavyweight: Valentin Moldavsky vs. Linton Vassell
Women’s Flyweight: Dakota Ditcheva vs. Chelsea Hackett
Heavyweight: Denis Goltsov vs. Thiago Santos — Goltsov def. Santos via first-round TKO (punches)
Women’s Flyweight: Liz Carmouche vs. Kana Watanabe — Carmouche def. Watanabe via third-round submission (armbar)
Women’s Flyweight: Taila Santos vs. Jena Bishop — Santos def. Bishop via Split Decision
Heavyweight: Oleg Popov vs. Davion Franklin — Popov def. Franklin via Unanimous Decision
Heavyweight: Marcelo Golm vs. Tyrell Fortune — Fortune def. Golm via Unanimous Decision
Women’s Flyweight: Ilara Joanne vs. Shanna Young — Joanne def. Young via Unanimous Decision
Heavyweight: Timothy Johnson vs. Danilo Marques — Johnson def. Marques via first-round TKO (punches)
Women’s Flyweight: Juliana Velasquez vs. Lisa Mauldin — Velasquez def. Mauldin via second-round TKO (punches)
Women’s Flyweight: Saray Orozco vs. Sumiko Inaba — Inaba def. Orozco via Split Decision

PFL 4 HIGHLIGHTS

Denis Goltsov vs. Thiago Santos

Liz Carmouche vs. Kana Watanabe

Timothy Johnson vs. Danilo Marques

Juliana Velasquez vs. Lisa Mauldin

For all the latest PFL and Bellator MMA news and notes click here and here.

MMAmania.com – All Posts

submitted by /u/event_threads
[link] [comments]
MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

The first ever UFC card in Saudi Arabia has a new main event.

Khamzat Chimaev has been forced off the card after falling “violently ill” and he’s being replaced by highly touted middleweight prospect Ikram Aliskerov, who now faces former UFC champion Robert Whittaker in the headliner on June 22 from Riyadh.

UFC CEO Dana White announced the change to the card on Thursday.

It’s obviously unfortunate news for Chimaev, who hoped to earn a title shot with a win over an established former champion like Whittaker. Now the undefeated Chechen has to wait until an undetermined time in the future once he’s healthy again to get back in action.

As for Aliskerov, the 31-year-old Russian gets the biggest opportunity of his life after he was originally scheduled to compete in the co-main event at Saturday’s UFC Vegas 93 card from the UFC APEX in Las Vegas. Instead, he’ll push his fight date back one week with a chance to face Whittaker in the main event from Saudi Arabia.

Since arriving in the UFC, Aliskerov has been a human wrecking ball, tearing through his first two opponents in less than five minutes total time with knockouts over Warlley Alves and Phil Hawes. The only blemish on Aliskerov’s entire resume came back in 2019 when he lost to Chimaev.

Whittaker vs. Aliskerov now headlines the UFC Saudi Arabia card on June 22 with the event airing live on ABC in the United States.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Jake Paul and Sean O’Malley are ready to step and save UFC 303.

Emanating from T-Mobile Arena on June 29, the International Fight Week finale was expected to be headlined by the long-awaited return of former two-division titleholder Conor McGregor. It’s been nearly three years since we’ve seen the Irishman step inside the Octagon, but after all the rumors and reports, it really started to look like the wait was almost over.

Unfortunately, McGregor’s quote-unquote “greatest comeback in combat sports history” against former Bellator champion Michael Chandler is in some serious jeopardy with the UFC reportedly sending out “feelers” to various fighters hoping to find either a replacement for McGregor or a brand new fight altogether.

Well as it turns out, they won’t have to look very far.

After exchanging words on social media, ‘The Problem Child’ and reigning bantamweight world champion ‘Sugar’ Sean O’Malley went face-to-face, giving fans a little taste of the UFC vs. PFL clash they hope to bring to ‘Sin City’ later this month.

Dana White is more likely to jump off the Cosmopolitan than allow this fight to happen inside the Octagon, but you’ve got to appreciate the marketing tactic here. Two of the biggest names in combat sports today coming together. Paul pushing his new personal care brand.

Not to mention the inclusion of Rubi Rose, a popular American rapper and songwriter with more than 5.3 million followers on Instagram.

Jake Paul vs. Sean O’Malley may not be enough to save the UFC’s disastrous month

It’s been a rough month for Dana White and Co. Not only are they on the verge of losing one of the biggest tickets of the year, but their high-stakes headliner between Khamzat Chimaev and Robert Whittaker on June 22 has reportedly fallen through with ‘Borz’ suffering an undisclosed medical emergency.

Adding insult to injury, the UFC 303 co-main event is now in need of replacing. Former light heavyweight titleholder Jamahal Hill was originally expected to square off with Khalil Rountree Jr., but ‘The War Horse’ was forced to bow out after being flagged for a banned substance.

Carlos Ulberg agreed to step in and take Rountree’s spot, but it now sounds like the fight needs yet another replacement.

“In addition to working on a new main for 303, I’m told UFC is also looking at a new co-main for that card,” Ariel Helwani revealed on X. “The current co-main – Hill x Ulberg – might need a replacement now too, and if so it could get bumped down. One new fight that has been discussed – not for the main – is Brian Ortega x Diego Lopes.”

LowKickMMA.com

UFC

submitted by /u/event_threads
[link] [comments]
MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Savannah Marshall feels great about her MMA debut, and even better about where she’s going.

This past Saturday, Marshall made her MMA debut against Mirela Vargas in the main event of PFL Europe 2. And while the current undisputed super-middleweight boxing champion had some difficult moments early, she rallied to earn a first-round TKO. Speaking on The MMA Hour about it, Marshall noted that it was unlike anything she ever experienced before.

“When I was in the changing rooms, Tom Aspinall told me, ‘It’s not like boxing. They start fast. They start really fast,’” Marshall said on The MMA Hour. “In boxing, you can go out there, feel your range, get your jab going, three rounds in you pick up the pace. He was like, ‘No, there’s none of that. It starts fast.’ And wow! I knew it starts fast, but straight away she buckled me with a leg kick. It was just so intense and so fast-paced. Even when I got out the cage, I sat in medical doing a checkover, and I started [thinking] ‘What on Earth has just happened?’

“It was just so quick. Before I knew it, I was up, and then I was back on the floor, then she had me in a head-and-arm, then I was back up. Honestly, the adrenaline and the buzz, it was just crazy. … The way I can describe it is fight or flight. It was literally kill or be killed, that’s how it felt for me.”

Marshall’s foray into MMA was a calculated move by both her and PFL to set up an eventual matchup with the current top pound-for-pound female boxer in the world, Claressa Shields. That would be a rematch of 2022 boxing match. As such, Shields, who also competes in MMA for PFL, was in attendance on Saturday and criticized Marshall’s performance and opponent, saying her own fights in PFL were much more difficult challenges. And while some might let that bother them, Marshall isn’t too caught up in that part of things.

“I think there’s respect there, but deep down there’s still that little bit of needle,” Marshall said. “Not just her side but even mine as well. There’s always little sly digs all the time. Even that comment there, I totally disagree. I remember Claressa’s first opponent didn’t even throw a punch. She didn’t do anything. Whereas I feel Mirela Vargas, hats off to her. Fair play because that girl who turned up was not the girl I spent three months watching on YouTube. It was the best version of her I’ve ever seen. I wasn’t expecting that.

“It is what it is. The whole reason why the PFL have signed me is for a potential matchup with Claressa. I’m OK with that. I’m not stupid. I’m not fooled by the illusion that they want me for my MMA skills. They want me for a potential matchup with her, so I’m OK with this, I’m OK with the buildup. It doesn’t bother me that she was sitting there, ripping me, because that is Claressa in full Claressa mode.”

After the fight, the two women did face off in the cage and it seems that a rematch is a forgone conclusion, but the question is when? Shields is scheduled to face Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse on July 27 in the boxing ring, and Marshall was open about not being done with her boxing career. But whenever it does happen, Marshall feels very good about her chances against “The GWOAT” in an MMA fight.

“I’d like to have Claressa next,” Marshall said. “I think in an ideal world I’d like to have a couple more, but I understand it’s business and I want to ride that wave. I think I showed that I’m OK, I can get up off the floor, I’ve still got to work on me standup, adjusting to the whole defending kicks, that sort of thing, takedowns. I don’t want to show too much of the stuff that I’ve been working on because I never really had a chance to show it on Saturday.

“So yeah, I’m quite confident I’d do Claressa in the cage. I really do [think so].”

MMA Fighting – All Posts

With speculation flying that the Conor McGregor’s UFC 303 return against Michael Chandler may be in jeopardy, bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley offered to save the event by fighting influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul.  

“I’ll fight Jake Paul to save UFC 303,” O’Malley posted on social media on Wednesday.  Paul responded saying he’d ‘kill’ O’Malley in an MMA fight and called “Sugar” a ‘small man.’  

I’ll fight @jakepaul to save UFC 303

— Sean O'Malley (@SugaSeanMMA) June 12, 2024

MMA fight before Tyson ✅ @PFLMMA https://t.co/D5OYICXUx2

— Jake Paul (@jakepaul) June 12, 2024

100% will kill Omalley in MMA

He’s a small man

PFL Vs UFC June 29th

— Jake Paul (@jakepaul) June 12, 2024

Of course, the two are signed to different fight promotions with O’Malley holding the UFC’s 135-pound title.  Paul is signed to the Professional Fighters League (PFL) but hasn’t made his MMA debut yet.  He competes in the cruiserweight division in boxing.  Although a match between the two is a virtual impossibility and wouldn’t be sanctioned by any athletic commission, the two didn’t let that stop them from facing off on Thursday. 

Cleaning this boy up and getting the W @itscalledw_

June 29th PFL Vs UFC @SugaSeanMMA @RubiRose pic.twitter.com/IyujNTrOrG

— Jake Paul (@jakepaul) June 13, 2024

Paul was scheduled to take on Mike Tyson on July 20 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas but a medical scare forced the bout to be postponed until Nov. 15.  Paul is expected to still fight on the July fight card with reports swirling that he’s taking on Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship’s “Platinum” Mike Perry.  Paul last fought in March stopping Ryan Bourland in the first round.  

O’Malley is expected to meet top bantamweight contender Merab Dvalishvili later this year in his second title defense.  He successfully defended the belt at UFC 299 in March, defeated Marlon Vera in a one-sided unanimous decision.  

MMAWeekly.com | UFC and MMA News, Results, Rumors, and Videos