Author: mmafighting
Renan Ferreira needed just 21 seconds to seemingly punch his ticket to a huge fight with Francis Ngannou. Ferreira stopped Bader in quick and devastating fashion in the main event of Saturday’s PFL vs. Bellator card to pick up the lone win for PFL throughout the festivities, which according to the promotion, will earn him the right to face the former UFC heavyweight champion in Ngannou’s PFL debut after he takes on Anthony Joshua in a boxing match in March. Ngannou let Ferreira enjoy the moment and decided not to take part in a faceoff, but his reaction was certainly…
This is the PFL vs. Bellator live blog for Renan Ferreira vs. Ryan Bader, the heavyweight main event on Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Ferreira joined PFL in 2021, making an immediate splash in the heavyweight season in a controversial bout with Fabricio Werdum the resulted in a No Contest. In 2022, he was finally able to break through and earn a spot in the PFL playoffs that year, but lost to future champion Ante Delija in the semifinals. But in 2023, Ferreira put it all together, knocking out Matheus Scheffel, Maurice Green, and Denis Goltsov to claim the PFL…
Vadim Nemkov returned to heavyweight and he did it in style. On Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Nemkov faced 2021 PFL heavyweight champion Bruno Cappelozza in the first champion vs. champion fight on PFL vs. Bellator. It was Nemkov’s first fight at heavyweight in nine years, and his return to the division after vacating his Bellator light heavyweight title, and the Russian phenom looked just as dominant up a weight class, demolishing Cappelozza in the second round to claim the “Super Belt.” Despite looking bigger as a heavyweight, Nemkov retained his speed from 205 pounds, darting around Cappelozza on the…
A.J. McKee didn’t break a single sweat in a matchup many believed would be a crazy, competitive war. McKee got Bellator on the board when he faced PFL’s Clay Collard in the lightweight main card opener of the PFL vs. Bellator event on Saturday in Saudi Arabia, submitting the exciting Collard in just over a minute with relative ease. Check out video of the finish below. After cracking Collard multiple times on the feet, McKee got an easy takedown. In transition, the former Bellator featherweight champion locked in a tight guillotine, before moving to a triangle, then to a triangle…
Pride never die! While UFC Mexico and PFL vs. Bellator have taken most of the headlines this weekend, they are far from the only MMA action this Saturday as Gliwice, Poland, KSW: Epic took place featuring a number of special matchups. And one of those fights in particular delivered a throwback highlight. The second fight of the evening was a “No Holds Barred” modified MMA bout between Muslim Tulshaev and Konrad Rusinski, which basically meant old-school Pride rules, allowing knees and kicks to the head of a downed opponent. And apparently that’s a ruleset that Tulshaev enjoys, because he brutalized…
Logan Paul once again has found himself in the middle of a highlight during one of his WWE matches at Saturday’s Elimination Chamber premium live event. Paul took part in the six-man men’s Elimination Chamber match in Perth, Australia, along with Randy Orton, Bobby Lashley, Kevin Owens, Drew McIntyre, and LA Knight. The winner would be set to go on to Wrestlemania to face Seth Rollins for the world heavyweight title. Paul, the current U.S. champion, made it to the final three competitors, but also took a memorable bump from Lashley — a Strikeforce and Bellator veteran — getting speared…
Johnny Eblen faces a PFL champion this weekend, but he’s thought about how he’d fare against the UFC’s middleweight champion. Currently No. 5 at 185 pounds in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings, Eblen sits just a few spots behind Dricus du Plessis, who won a split decision over Sean Strickland at UFC 297 this past January to become UFC champion. Eblen brings Bellator’s middleweight title into his fight with PFL light heavyweight champion Impa Kasanganay this Saturday. During an appearance on The MMA Hour, the undefeated Eblen expressed confidence in how a bout between he and du Plessis might play…
Brandon Royval hopes a win in a pivotal rematch this weekend sets up a meeting with another rival in the near future. “Raw Dawg” headlines UFC Mexico City this Saturday opposite two-time flyweight champion Brandon Moreno. It’s the second meeting between the two, with Moreno having scored a first-round TKO of Royval at UFC 255 in November 2020. During that fight, Royval also suffered a shoulder injury. Not only does Royval have the opportunity to avenge that loss, but an impressive performance could earn him another crack at current flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja. Royval dropped a unanimous decision to Pantoja…
Yair Rodriguez believes a win over Brian Ortega in the co-main event of UFC Mexico City will punch his ticket to another crack at the UFC featherweight title. But it also gives him the opportunity to face someone he truly dislikes in new champ Ilia Topuria, who captured the title this past Saturday when he knocked out Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298. “I would love to f*** him up,” Rodriguez said at UFC Mexico City media day. “No, I don’t want to fight him, I want to f*** him up. There’s a f****** big difference on that, just to make…
Ryan Bader knows that he’s at a point in his career where fights have to mean more than just a paycheck. His upcoming fight to headline the first-ever PFL vs. Bellator card certainly qualifies as he prepares for a champion against champion clash with Renan Ferreira on Feb. 24 in Saudi Arabia. Of course, Bader has always been willing to face the best fighters in the world — he’s done that over and over again through 39 fights and 17 years in the sport — but now he’s seeking matchups that will really add something special to his résumé. That’s…