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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Sergio Pettis and Kyoji Horiguchi will meet again in a highly anticipated rematch at RIZIN 47 on June 9, the company announced Friday. The event will take place at the Yoyogi First Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan.

RIZIN also revealed a battle of former champions Kleber Koike and Juan Archuleta in a 145-pound showdown, plus a featherweight clash between Karshyga Dautbek and Tetsuya Seki.

Horiguchi (32-5, 1 no-contest) had just won the RIZIN bantamweight title when he flew to Connecticut to challenge Pettis (23-6) for the Bellator strap in December 2021, winning all three rounds before suffering a shocking knockout in the fourth stanza. Horiguchi claimed the inaugural RIZIN flyweight belt in his most recent appearance, but moves back up to 135 pounds to rematch Pettis.

Pettis makes his return to action for his first match since losing the Bellator belt to Patchy Mix in November 2023, snapping a winning streak that lasted six fights and nearly four years. The former Bellator bantamweight champion scored victories over the likes of Patricio Pitbull and Archuleta since parting ways with the UFC in 2019, where he beat Brandon Moreno and Joseph Benavidez.

Archuleta (29-5) returns to featherweight after losing his 135-pound title to Kai Asakura at RIZIN 45 on New Years’ Eve. The 36-year-old veteran, who held the Bellator bantamweight belt in 2020 after defeating Patchy Mix, had a brief run at 145 pounds in Bellator in the past, coming up short against champion Patricio Pitbull.

Koike (32-7-1, 1 no-contest) lost his RIZIN championship on the scale in June 2023, a day before choking out Chihiro Suzuki in under three minutes — a victory automatically overturned to no-contest since he has missed weight. Koike, who dropped a decision to veteran Masanori Kanehara months later, enters RIZIN 47 off of a third-round submission victory against Yutaka Saito.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

At the Devin Haney vs. Ryan Garcia weigh-ins for Saturday’s fight, Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia will step onto the scale Friday afternoon in New York City.

Haney and Garcia have to hit 140 pounds, the championship limit for their main event showdown for Haney’s WBC super lightweight title.

Haney vs. Garcia official weigh-in video will be at 2 p.m. ET.

Check out Haney vs. Garcia weigh-in results below.

Main card (DAZN, PPV.com at 8 p.m. ET)

Devin Haney vs. Ryan Garcia

Arnold Barboza Jr vs. Sean McComb

Bektemir Melikuziev vs. Pierre Dibombe

John Ramirez vs. David Jimenez

Charles Conwell vs. Nathaniel Gallimore

Prelims (DAZN at 4:35 p.m. ET)

Sergiy Derevyanchenko vs. Vaughn Alexander

Darius Fulghum vs. Cristian Olivas

Jonathan Canas vs. Angel Reyes

Amari Jones vs. Armel Mbumba-Yassa

Kevin Newman II vs. Eric Robles

Shamir Canal vs. Pedro Borgaro

MMA Fighting – All Posts

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

TJ speaks his mind
| BJPenn.com

Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight!

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

The title situation is getting a little testy between BMF strap-hanger Max Holloway and undisputed UFC Featherweight champion Ilia Topuria.

Holloway, understandably, is at the top of the world right now. “Blessed” smoked Justin Gaethje on the UFC 300 main card (watch highlights), earning the BMF belt in one of the greatest knockouts of all time and a masterclass technical performance. At 32 years of age, Holloway is back in prime position to contend for a title at whichever weight class he chooses, and it seems that his sights are on Featherweight gold.

Initially, Topuria was uninterested in fighting Holloway. After the Hawaiian’s big UFC 300 win, however, Topuria changed course and was willing to target Holloway next. However, this adjustment comes with the caveat that Topuria wants Holloway’s BMF belt to be on the line.

The result has been a bit of friction between the two champions. In a recent social media post, Topuria met Holloway’s mild trash talk with a fairly simply ultimatum: put the BMF belt on the line, or else he intends to fight Brian Ortega instead. Oh, and Topuria is in charge of deciding when and where the fight happens too.

“The only thing questionable about me is whether I finish you by ko or submission,” Topuria wrote. “I just beat the guy that beat you not once, not twice, but 3 times. You now have the one thing that keeps you relevant and that would grant you a money fight, the BMF belt. I no longer fight for money but for legacy.

“Winning that belt while holding my title will cement me as the first. The first to hold both belts. The first to knock out Volk and what most certainly will happen when we fight, the first one to put you to sleep. Something to calm you down is this: God doesn’t shame anyone. You will have a worthy defeat against a champion who will be remembered for eternity. I decide who, when, and where. If you don’t like the terms I’m sure Ortega will oblige.”

Technically, Alexander Volkanovski lost two fights via knockout prior to coughing up his belt to Topuria, but we’ll chalk that up to creative license. Trash talk aside, there’s a relevant third party here: UFC brass, including UFC CEO Dana White, likely have a say in who, when, where, and what belts are on the line.

Now, Topuria does have leverage as an undefeated champion and serious European star. Holloway also has his leverage as a beloved former champion and current BMF kingpin. UFC has the final say in actually sending out contracts and booking fights. Hopefully, all three parties can come together, negotiate, and get something booked in relatively smooth fashion.

This match up would be too good to miss.

Insomnia

Happy Strikeforce: Nashville anniversary to all those who celebrate.

Merab Dvalishvili wants to make sure Sean O’Malley makes it to their fight in tip-top shape.

Another random edit that gave me a chuckle.

I have to assume Mike Tyson training clips are only four seconds long because he’s tired by the six second mark.

Will Joe Pyfer be able to bounce back from the first defeat of his UFC career?

I’ve always personally liked this takedown chain a lot, but doing it with your back to the fence is especially cool!

An unfortunate sequence:

Think we’ll get some real trash talk between Paulo Costa and Sean Strickland? It’s starting to heat up a bit.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

The last UFC victory for Mark Coleman … RIP Stephan Bonnar.

Say it with me: No free kicks!

Long live World Extreme Cagefighting.

Random Land

High-quality and ultra zoomed in footage taken underwater:

Midnight Music: Art rock, 1999

Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.

MMAmania.com – All Posts

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Several new fights have been announced for UFC 302, which sees Islam Makhachev defend his lightweight title against Dustin Poirier in the main event on June 1 in Newark, N.J.

As previously confirmed, former middleweight champion Sean Strickland faces Paulo Costa in the co-main event at the Prudential Center.

Also on the card, heavyweight contender Jailton Almedia attempts to bounce back from his first UFC loss when he faces Alexandr Romanov. Almeida cruised through his first few fights in the UFC, but suffered a knockout loss to Curtis Blaydes in his most recent outing before booking his return to action in June.

At welterweight, Randy Brown returns against Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos in an intriguing matchup. Brown enters the fight off two straight wins, including a Performance of the Night knockout of Muslim Salikhov back in February.

As for dos Santos, he’s gone 2-0-1 in his past three fights, including a win over highly touted prospect Benoit Saint Denis back in 2021.

Undefeated flyweights Andre Lima and Hyun Sung Park also meet on the card, while always exciting welterweight Niko Price returns against Alex Morono.

At middleweight, Anthony Hernandez looks to keep his momentum going when he faces Roman Dolidze in a key matchup at 185 pounds, while Roman Kopylov attempts to bounce back in a fight with Cesar Almeida.

Bantamweights Ailin Perez and Joselyne Edwards meet at UFC 302, as well as Sumudaerji taking on Joshua Van at 125 pounds.

Grant Dawson returns against Joe Solecki on the June card, while Phil Rowe faces off with Jake Matthews at welterweight. Finally, Mickey Gall fights for the first time since 2022 when he takes on Bassil Hafez.

Here’s the full UFC 302 card as it stands, with the bout order still to be determined:

• MAIN EVENT: Islam Makhachev vs. Dustin Poirier
• Sean Strickland vs. Paulo Costa
• Jailton Almeida vs. Alexander Romanov
• Randy Brown vs. Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos
• HyunSung Park vs. Andre Lima
• Niko Price vs. Alex Morono
• Roman Dolidze vs. Anthony Hernandez
• Roman Kopylov vs. Cesar Almeida
• Ailin Perez vs. Joselyne Edwards
• Sumudaerji vs. Joshua Van
• Grant Dawson vs. Joe Solecki
• Phil Rowe vs. Jake Matthews
• Mickey Gall vs. Bassil Hafez

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Ultimate Fighting Championship is the most valuable combat sports promotion with its business buddy, World Wrestling Entertainment, sitting comfortably in the No. 2 spot.

Combat sports are more popular than ever. That was more than evident following Saturday’s massive UFC 300 card in Las Vegas. Even before fight night, the UFC expected recording-breaking numbers at the gate and more than a million pay-per-view purchases.

Following the landmark event, UFC CEO Dana White confirmed that the event had brought in more than $ 16.5 million in ticket sales, making it the third-best in the company’s 30+ year history.

So it should come as no surprise that the UFC is listed as the most valuable combat sports organization in the world according to Forbes’ list of The Most Valuable Combat Sports Promotions Of 2024 with a whopping $ 11.3 billion evaluation.

Coming in second place is WWE, the pro wrestling giant received a $ 6.8 billion evaluation on the heels of WrestleMania 40. The two-night spectacular scored rave reviews from fans and per WWE, the gate for the event was up 78% compared to the previous record set during WrestleMania 39, with 145,298 in attendance across both nights this year.

In 2023, the UFC’s parent company Endeavor purchased WWE and merged the two organizations under one banner, TKO Group Holdings.

Two of the UFC and WWE’s competitors make forbes’ top five Most Valuable Combat Sports Companies

Rounding out the top five was All Elite Wrestling, the WWE’s top competitor in the world of sports entertainment. Owned by Tony Khan, AEW is worth a reported $ 2 billion.

Singapore-based combat sports entity ONE Championship, founded by CEO Chatri Sityodtong is listed at No. 4 with an estimated worth of $ 1.3 billion.

Coming in fifth is Matchroom Boxing, a UK-based sporting event promotions company founded by Barry Hearn and run by him and his son Eddie Hearn, valued at $ 850 million. The three other boxing promotions in the top 10 were Top Rank Boxing ($ 630 million), Premier Boxing Championship ($ 600 million) and Golden Boy Promotions ($ 450 million).

LowKickMMA.com