MMA

MMA

What I believe, though, is that I love fighting not in spite of my athletic limitations but because of them. Fighting is hard. The defining aspect of combat sports is discovering that you are worse at fighting than you had assumed and that getting better will be a grueling process that will chew you up, physically and mentally, unless you spend a life-altering amount of time on it. Therein lies the appeal.

Cory Sandhagen has a dangerous game,

Before I fought Kelvin I was offered Abus and I said no. I didn't like it. I didn't think it made sense. I want to go up in the rankings.

Everyone sees the glasses, everyone sees the top knot. I just didn't get my pink shorts tonight, so hopefully I get that in the future.

It's not the name I wanted- I wanted a big name.

DANIEL CORMIER IS DISGUSTED. He's sitting at a table in a high-back chair, and he begins to aggressively slide his chair around so he can really get up close and personal about the disdain he's feeling right now. "That's my boy," Cormier says as his chair grates against the cement. "Don't you talk s--- about Steven Seagal. Don't you do it."

RIZIN Fighting Federation returned to action on Sunday with the massive RIZIN 51 card in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. Two title fights, the heavyweight world grand prix final, and the second round of the flyweight grand prix made RIZIN 51 must-see TV for fight fans (and if we're being honest, vastly superior on paper to UFC Perth, which preceded it).

He's 1-0 in LFA, but his biggest accomplishments came in Jungle Fight, where he captured both the middleweight and light heavyweight titles. On paper, that kind of success in two thin divisions should be promising-especially for a UFC roster that needs depth. Unfortunately, Costa doesn't project as much of a threat at the next level. He's a pressure fighter who comes forward looking for the finish, but his approach is raw.

it's been such a nice, slow process getting here, and that's a good thing,

My wife's pregnant and she's at a really high-risk. So we have to go hospital. We've been going hospital every week basically or twice a week. Sometimes you just got to step back and remember fighting's just a part-time thing,

The PFL Europe Nantes card took a heavy blow with the loss of French star Abdoul Abdouraguimov, embroiled in a dispute with the promotion, but the show must go on. Friday featured semifinal action in the lightweight and bantamweight divisions, with fighters looking to land in the finals later this year. With the loss of "The Lazy King," meanwhile, Amin Ayoub vs. Keweny Lopes served as the night's main event.

Another questionable selection from the matchmakers, Rafael Tobias comes in with a shiny 13-1 record at just 22 years old-but the résumé doesn't hold up under scrutiny. Most of his fights have been in small Brazilian promotions with little accessible tape, and the one time he stepped up in competition, at LFA, he was knocked out in the second round by what I'd call a proven but low-level fighter. He's never been successful in a cage I rate at all, and that's concerning

German MMA standout and longtime veteran Daniel Weichel stepped out of retirement to headline Saturday's Oktagon 76, at home in his native Germany. Weichel, a former Bellator MMA standout, grand prix fighter, title challenger, and tournament winner, had over 50 fights in MMA to his name as a professional. On Saturday in Frankfurt, he would fight for the first time since 2023 when he took on Mali's Aboubakar Tounkara in lightweight action.

Charles Oliveira is going to need a new dance partner for next month's UFC Rio main event. On Friday, it was revealed that lightweight Rafael Fiziev was out of his fight with Oliveira, set to headline the UFC's return to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on October 11, 2025. Octagon Update was first to report news of Fiziev's withdrawal, which is reportedly due to injury.

On Friday, promotion officials confirmed a previous report by Club De Las MMA that #6-ranked Waldo Cortes-Acosta (14-2) will face the #10-ranked Ante Delija (26-6) at a UFC Fight Night event on November 1, 2025. The bout is expected to serve as the card's five-round main event at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. Delija has just one fight

Croden is an LFA veteran who holds a win over Bellator MMA and The Ultimate Fighter alum Katharina Lehner among her six victories. She enters her UFC debut on a two-fight win streak, but has struggled to stay active, with the Lehner win coming in October 2023, and a victory against Ashley Deen following a year later. When UFC Vancouver rolls around, another year will have passed.

I explained it to them like I was a superhero. The first slide on my little PowerPoint for the kids said Malcolm 'The Machine' Wellmaker, and I told them my superhero name was 'The Machine,'

Smith is still circling another fight, after submitting Niko Price at UFC 317 in June. "Looking for another fight. Waiting for that call," he told media outlets including Cageside Press on Tuesday. Looking back to the Price bout, "I overcame a lot, not only in the cage, but outside in preparing for that fight," he recalled. "Fight camp wasn't easy. A lot of bumps in the road, but I think I handled it well."