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The latest coverage from across combat sports.

UFC 331 full card lands: Van-Pantoja II headlines LA’s first numbered card in eight years, Tsarukyan returns against Ruffy

The flyweight title rematch nobody stopped asking for since the 26-second injury ending, a five-round lightweight assignment with real danger attached, an Ortega-Moicano rematch nearly a decade in the making, and Gable Steveson on the same night the man who knocked out Junior dos Santos for MVP walks back into the octagon.

Andrew WeissmannAug 64 min read

MMA

Abdelaziz says PFL passed on extending Nurmagomedov before New York, and the 90-day clock is now running

The manager put a number on the table before the Colgan fight. The promotion declined it. The champion gambled on himself, won in one round, and became the most consequential free agent in the sport four days into the MVP MMA era.

Andrew WeissmannAug 55 min read

BJJ

Gracie runs the table at BJJ Stars 19 for the R$200,000 Masters GP, Moicano taps Pitbull in under four minutes

The 16-man bracket at Vibra São Paulo paid the biggest prize in the event’s Grand Prix history, and a Gracie collected it. In the night’s marquee superfight, the UFC lightweight needed less than a round’s worth of clock to submit a former Bellator champion.

Andrew WeissmannAug 54 min read

MMA

Remembering Allan Nascimento, the flyweight who earned everything the long way

The Brazilian grappler died Monday at 34, an apparent heart attack in his sleep, six weeks after his last walk to the octagon. He leaves a 22-7 record, two Performance of the Night bonuses, and a career that stood for patience in a sport that rarely rewards it

Andrew WeissmannAug 44 min read

Business

FightStar signs global DAZN deal, putting the UK regional promotion in 200-plus territories free to view

Twelve years after starting out in Huddersfield working men’s club territory, the London-based promotion lands a worldwide streaming home. Three events this year, starting August 23 at Indigo at The O2, with a former UFC fighter in the co-main and a £25,000 tournament running underneath.

Andrew WeissmannAug 35 min read

MMA

PFL New York wrap: Nurmagomedov flattens Colgan in the final fight of his deal, Ditcheva returns to a complicated night

The champion needed one round to close out his contract in front of the men who just bought the company. The co-main event winner walked out 16-0, booed, skipped by the broadcast, and asking the same question about the merger as everyone else.

Andrew WeissmannAug 25 min read

Muay Thai

Lovato meets Jaworski at ONE Fight Night 47 with the vacant middleweight grappling throne in view

The 42-year-old who upset Giancarlo Bodoni in Tokyo faces the young Pole moving up from his failed title bid against Tye Ruotolo. Nobody holds the middleweight submission grappling belt yet. Both men are treating September 4 as the audition.

Andrew WeissmannAug 24 min read

UFC Belgrade wrap: Medic delivers a 30-second homecoming, Stirling stops Blachowicz, and the card finished almost everything

Twelve finishes in fourteen fights. A Serbian headliner who needed half a minute. An undefeated New Zealander who just ended a former champion’s night in one round. The promotion’s first walk into Belgrade could not have been scripted more cleanly if the matchmakers had written the endings themselves.

Aug 16 min read

MMA

Dana White dismisses the MVP-PFL merger, Jake Paul fires back with Netflix numbers, and the promotional war has its opening week

The UFC boss says stacking two promotions nobody watches does not produce a rival. Jake Paul says his Netflix debut outdrew a UFC card. Both spoke on the same day, both picked the metrics that suit them, and the market has not voted yet.

Jul 314 min read

MMA

UFC Belgrade preview: Serbia finally gets its card. Medic’s knockout streak meets the man who came back from a mexican prison

The only ranked Serbian on the roster gets his first main event at home, against an opponent who spent eight months in a Mexican prison and came back to win three straight. A former champion, two heavyweight experiments, and a face-off that needed security fill out the promotion’s first walk into Belgrade Arena.

Jul 317 min read

MMA

Nabiev’s PFL New York bout scrapped as commission refuses to clear his opponent, Khabib Nurmagomedov confirms

The undefeated light heavyweight is one of five bout casualties in a fight week that has seen the New York State Athletic Commission decline multiple fighters. Nurmagomedov posted the confirmation himself from New York, where he is cornering his cousin’s title defence on Friday.

Jul 313 min read

BJJ

Fowler-Rodriguez II booked for UFC BJJ 11, this time at Fowler’s weight class and for his belt

The two men who have each won one of the promotion’s absolute tournaments meet again on September 24, over two years after their first fight. Rodriguez won that one 6-0 at no weight limit. This one is at 205 pounds and for the light heavyweight belt around Fowler’s waist.

Jul 314 min read

MMA

The PFL is becoming MVP MMA. Here is what the merger actually means.

Jake Paul and Nakisa Bidarian’s promotion has absorbed one of MMA’s largest companies. The combined roster runs to nearly 400 athletes across boxing and MMA. The PFL brand becomes MVP MMA. The ecosystem the UFC has spent a decade defining now has a genuinely different-shaped competitor in the room.

Jul 307 min read

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Volkanovski’s coach says the hole in Ruffy’s game is closed before UFC 331: ‘Arman’s in for a fight’