RIZIN Light Heavyweight Champion Jiri Prochazka Signs Contract With The UFC

RIZIN Fighting Federation Light Heavyweight Champion Jiri Prochazka has signed an exclusive UFC contract, per Brett Okamoto of ESPN.

Prochazka is currently riding a 10-fight winning streak, with nine of those coming from the top Japanese MMA promotion RIZIN.

The Czech Republic fighter won the promotion’s Light Heavyweight Championship in April of 2019, stopping Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal in the third round.

He made his first defence of the belt on New Year’s Eve, defeating former-UFC veteran C.B. Dollaway within a round.

Robert Whittaker Pulled From UFC 248 Bout Against Jared Cannonier

Robert Whittaker has been taken off his co-main event fight at UFC 248 in March against Jared Cannonier, citing “undisclosed personal reasons.”

Reported on Wednesday evening by Ariel Helwani of ESPN, it was also mentioned that the UFC are looking for a replacement opponent for Cannonier.

This is the third time in recent years that Whittaker has been taken off of fights. In 2018, Whittaker was pulled from a fight against Luke Rockhold due to an undisclosed injury.

Last year, Whittaker suffered a hernia, sidelining him against Kelvin Gastelum only a few days before the fight.

The UFC 248 was set to be Whittaker’s first since losing his UFC Middleweight Championship to Israel Adesanya in October.

The fight was a clear move-up in competition for Cannonier, who’s current three-fight winning streak has made him emerge as a title contender.

Still in place for the UFC 248 card is the main event, which will see Weili Zhang make the first defence of her UFC Strawweight Championship against Joanna Jedrzejczyk.

Here’s the full card for UFC 248 as of right now:

Bout 1: Weili Zhang (20-1) vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk (16-3) (UFC Strawweight Championship)

Bout 2: Jeremy Stephens (28-17) vs. Calvin Kattar (20-4) (Featherweight)

Bout 3: Beneil Dariush (17-4-1) vs. Drakkar Klose (11-1-1) (Lightweight)

Bout 4: Neil Magny (21-7) vs. Jingliang Li (17-5) (Welterweight)

Bout 5: Emily Whitmire (4-3) vs. Polyana Viana (10-4) (Strawweight)

Bout 6: Guido Cannetti (8-4) vs. Danaa Batgerel (6-2) (Bantamweight)

Bout 7: Jose Alberto Quinones (8-3) vs. Sean O’Malley (10-0) (Bantamweight)

Bout 8: Alex Oliveira (20-8-1) vs. Max Griffin (15-7) (Welterweight)

Bout 9: Rodolfo Vieira (6-0) vs. Saparbeg Safarov (9-2) (Middleweight)

Bout 10: Mark Madsen (9-0) vs. Austin Hubbard (11-3) (Lightweight)

Grant Dawson Off UFC 246 Card, Leaving Chas Skelly Without An Opponent

This weekend’s UFC 246 card has lost a preliminary fight, as Grant Dawson has pulled out from his fight against Chas Skelly.

The featherweight fighter announced via Instagram on Tuesday that he couldn’t fight “due to circumstances out of my control,” and that he wished “to get my bout rescheduled as soon as possible.”

Dawson is two-fights into his UFC career, defeating Julian Erosa and Mike Trizano in 2019.

Skelly’s singular fight in 2019 saw him get a decision victory over Jordan Griffin. Before then, he lost twice.

UFC 246 still has four fights set for it, including a main event between Conor McGregor and “Cowboy” Donald Cerrone. Here’s the whole card so far:

Bout 1: Conor McGregor (21-4) vs. Donald Cerrone (36-13) (Welterweight)

Bout 2: Holly Holm (12-5) vs. Raquel Pennington (10-7) (Bantamweight)

Bout 3: Alexey Oleinik (57-13-1) vs. Maurice Greene (8-3) (Heavyweight)

Bout 4: Claudia Gadelha (17-4) vs. Alexa Grasso (11-3) (Strawweight)

Bout 5: Anthony Pettis (22-9) vs. Diego Ferreira (16-2) (Lightweight)

Bout 6: Maycee Barber (8-0) vs. Roxanne Modafferi (23-16) (Flyweight)

Bout 7: Andre Fili (20-6) vs. Sodiq Yusuff (10-1) (Featherweight)

Bout 8: Nasrat Haqparast (11-2) vs. Drew Dober (21-9) (Lightweight)

Bout 9: Aleksa Camur (5-0) vs. Justin Ledet (9-2) (Light Heavyweight)

Bout 10: Tim Elliott (15-9-1) vs. Askar Askarov (10-0-1) (Flyweight)

Bout 11: Ode Osbourne (8-2) vs. Brian Kelleher (19-10) (Bantamweight)

Bout 12: Sabina Mazo (7-1) vs. JJ Aldrich (8-3)

UFC on ESPN+ 28 Finds Main Event In Kevin Lee vs. Charles Oliveira

UFC on ESPN+ 28 has finally found it’s headlining bout in Kevin Lee and Charles Oliveira. It was reported on Tuesday morning by Combate that the matchup was made to headline the card which will take place on March 14th, at the Nilson Nelson Gym in Brasilia, Brazil.

Lee’s last fight was scheduled for three rounds, but ended within one when he knocked Gregor Gillespie out with a head kick. The fight was the first three-round bout that Lee had been booked in since mid-2017.

Oliveira last fought in November, finishing Jared Gordon within 90 seconds with punches. The win extended his winning streak to six-straight, dating back to mid-2018.

Now with the main event added to it, the March card in Brazil is near complete. Here’s the full lineup thus far:

Bout 1: Kevin Lee (18-5) vs. Charles Oliveira (28-8) (Lightweight)

Bout 2: Paige VanZant (8-4) vs. Amanda Ribas (8-1) (Strawweight)

Bout 3: Johnny Walker (17-4) vs. Nikita Krylov (26-7) (Light Heavyweight)

Bout 4: Elizeu Zaleski (21-6) vs. Alexey Kunchenko (20-1) (Welterweight)

Bout 5: Jussier Formiga (23-6) vs. Brandon Moreno (16-5-1) (Flyweight)

Bout 6: Demian Maia (28-9) vs. Gilbert Burns (17-3) (Welterweight)

Bout 7: Francisco Trinaldo (24-7) vs. John Makdessi (17-6) (Lightweight)

Bout 8: Mayra Bueno Silva (6-0) vs. Maryna Moroz (9-3) (Flyweight)

Bout 9: Veronica Macedo (6-3-1) vs. Bea Malecki (1-0) (Bantamweight)

Bout 10: Rani Yahya (26-10) vs. Enrique Barzola (16-5-1) (Bantamweight)

Gian Villante To Face Ben Rothwell In Heavyweight Bout on UFC 249 Card

Fighting at the 265 pound weight class for the first time since 2011, Gian Villante will face Ben Rothwell at UFC 249, on April 18th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, USA.

Broken by Mark La Monica of Newsday, it was revealed on Monday night that the matchup would be added to the undercard of the pay-per-view event.

Villante’s sole fight last year was a first-round loss to Michael Oleksiejczuk. The UFC veteran has a 7-8 record in the promotion, with his longest winning streak being two-fights long.

Rothwell recently got out of his three-fight losing streak, prevailing over Stefan Struve in December with a second-round finish.

Currently set to main event the card is Khabib Nurmagomedov defending his UFC Lightweight Championship against Tony Ferguson, a fight which has been sought after for years.

Here’s the full card for UFC 249 so far:

Bout 1: Khabib Nurmagomedov (28-0) vs. Tony Ferguson (25-3) (UFC Lightweight Championship)

Bout 2: Jacare Souza (26-8) vs. Uriah Hall (15-9) (Middleweight)

Bout 3: Jessica Andrade (20-7) vs. Rose Namajunas (8-4) (Strawweight)

Bout 4: Ben Rothwell (37-12) vs. Gian Villante (17-11) (Heavyweight)

 

Demetrious Johnson To Battle Adriano Moraes For ONE Flyweight Championship In April

ONE Championship announced on Monday that Demetrious Johnson would return to face the promotion’s Flyweight Champion, Adriano Moraes on their April 11th card in China.

Johnson has been on a 3-0 run since entering ONE Championship. Most recently he went to a decision victory over Danny Kingad, winning a 135 pound tournament.

Moraes is a two-time ONE Championship Flyweight Champion. He won the interim belt in 2017, prevailing over Kairat Akhmetov. He went on to stop Danny Kingad within a round to make his first defence.

Moraes dropped the belt in a split decision fight to Deje Eustaquio in 2018, although avenged his loss in early 2019, getting back his belt.

Despite being held at what is traditionally known as bantamweight (135 pounds), the belt is known as the Flyweight Championship.

The championship fight is the sole bout announced so far for ONE Championship: Reign of Dynasties.

Makhmud Muradov vs. Antonio Carlos Junior Off UFC on ESPN+ 28 Card

Main card fight between Antonio Carlos Junior and Makhmud Muradov is off of the UFC on ESPN+ 28 card which is set for March 14th.

Announced on Muradov’s Instagram and reported by Mike Bohn of MMAJunkie, it was found out on Monday that the fight would not happen.

The fight was scrapped after Carlos Junior had to pull out with an injury.

Carlos Junior was attempting to snap his two-fight losing streak, which started in 2019. He was originally meant to fight Brad Tavares on this card, but that fight also went out of the picture once Tavares faced injury.

Muradov is 2-0 in his short UFC run thus far, defeating Alessio Di Chirico and Trevor Smith in 2019. Those wins combined with previous ones makes his current winning streak 13 fights.

While the card currently does not have a main event announced for it, there is many fights booked already. Here’s the card so far, which will take place at the Nilson Nelson Gymnasium in Brasilia, Brazil:

Bout 1: Paige VanZant (8-4) vs. Amanda Ribas (8-1) (Strawweight)

Bout 2: Johnny Walker (17-4) vs. Nikita Krylov (26-7) (Light Heavyweight)

Bout 3: Elizeu Zaleski (21-6) vs. Alexey Kunchenko (20-1) (Welterweight)

Bout 4: Jussier Formiga (23-6) vs. Brandon Moreno (16-5-1) (Flyweight)

Bout 5: Demian Maia (28-9) vs. Gilbert Burns (17-3) (Welterweight)

Bout 6: Francisco Trinaldo (24-7) vs. John Makdessi (17-6) (Lightweight)

Bout 7: Mayra Bueno Silva (6-0) vs. Maryna Moroz (9-3) (Flyweight)

Bout 8: Veronica Macedo (6-3-1) vs. Bea Malecki (1-0) (Bantamweight)

Bout 9: Rani Yahya (26-10) vs. Enrique Barzola (16-5-1) (Bantamweight)

 

Laying Down Leather #8: ONE, New Year Dash, and More!

Good morning and welcome to another edition of Laying Down Leather, the casual blog post discussing my thoughts on events throughout the past week.

MMA

The sole MMA event I watched this weekend was ONE Championship. It was a fast and fun little card. I wasn’t a fan of how the first two fights weren’t available to watch in Canada (and the USA I think?), but oh well. I’m very happy that I get to watch on Youtube for free.

Here’s my three stars:

  1. Rodtang Jitmuangnon

Obviously, it’s worth giving credit to Rodtang’s performance in the main event over Jonathan Haggerty. Rodtang was able to put away to his rematched foe in three rounds, not needing scorecards like their fight before. Body shots galore!

2. Stamp Fairtex

Stamp Fairtex wasn’t given the hardest opponent possible, but she did put on a phenomenal performance in the co-main slot. She continued to be a dominant and very entertaining fighter, dancing on the way to the ring. Like seriously, the dancing she did would gas some people out before the fight.

3. Raimond Magomedaliev

Getting his first win in ONE finally, Raimond Magomedaliev put on a very good performance over Joey Pierotti. Doing lots of damage in the clinch, he put an end to the fight after putting Pierotti in a guillotine choke. It was a performance that showed he deserves to be in ONE.

Fight of the Night: Adam Noi vs. Victor Pinto (Kickboxing)

The fight of the night has to go to Adam Noi and Victor Pinto. The fast-paced three-round fight seemingly never slowed down. It was a close one to score, as both fighters were having their moments. I highly recommend people find this fight and watch it.

Read the live coverage of ONE Championship: A New Tomorrow here.

Wrestling

I watched NJPW’s New Year Dash earlier this week.

Jushin “Thunder” Liger’s retirement ceremony was happy and sad. Sad because of course he’s leaving, but happy because it was a very positive moment. And honestly, this was the best way to retire. He didn’t need to retire (to our knowledge), but he chose to under his own terms. Nothing is more sad than someone being forced to retire, but we didn’t have to see that. Enjoy retirement, Liger.

I’m very invested in this KENTA versus Tetsuya Naito rivalry. Looks very exciting.

I think I’ll skip out on watching the Fantastica Mania tour sadly. I’ve been too busy with work and school, and honestly, it started without me noticing. Oh well!

Upcoming Work

Sad news, but I will not be covering UFC 246 live. However, I’ll have some content being put out leading up to the fight night. And, I’ll have a report out the next day of the whole card.

I have some fun little projects I’m working on right now that should see their debut on this site later this year. I’ll talk about it more in coming weeks.

As usual, more stuff will be put on lwos.life as well too. The lwos.life K-pop Awards are still being worked on.

Eric Spicely To Return Against Punahele Soriano on UFC on ESPN 8 Card

Punahele Soriano’s (7-0) second UFC fight will happen in March, against Eric Spicely (12-5) on the UFC on ESPN 8 card.

First reported by Farah Hannoun of MMAJunkie, it was reported on Sunday morning that the matchup was made.

Soriano made an explosive debut in the UFC at UFC 245 in December, stopping Oskar Piechota within a round. The fight extended his professional MMA record to an undefeated 7-0.

The Hawaiian fighter earned his UFC contract via TV series Dana White’s Contender Series, winning on the first episode of the third season.

Yorgan de Casto, who won on the same Dana White’s Contender Series episode of Soriano is fighting on the card as well, facing Greg Hardy.

Spicely’s last fight was a loss to Deron Winn via decision in June. The fight was his return fight to the UFC, having a two-fight stint in CES during 2019. Previously, Spicely had a 2-4 record in the UFC.

UFC on ESPN 8 is set to take place at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, USA, on March 28th, with Francis Ngannou and Jairzinho Rozenstruick headlining the card.

Here’s how the full card looks so far:

Bout 1: Francis Ngannou (14-3) vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruick (10-0) (Heavyweight)

Bout 2: Raphael Assuncao (27-7) vs. Cody Garbrandt (11-3) (Bantamweight)

Bout 3: Greg Hardy (5-2) vs. Yorgan De Castro (6-0) (Heavyweight)

Bout 4: Khalil Rountree (8-4) vs. Sam Alvey (33-13) (Light Heavyweight)

Bout 5: Tecia Torres (10-5) vs. Mizuki (14-5) (Strawweight)

Bout 6: Aspen Ladd (9-1) vs. Julianna Pena (9-3) (Bantamweight)

Bout 7: Carlos Felipe (8-0) vs. Jeff Hughes (10-3) (Heavyweight)

Bout 8: Davey Grant (9-4) vs. Louis Smolka (16-6) (Bantamweight)

Bout 9: Randy Costa (5-1) vs. Martin Day (9-3) (Bantamweight)

Bout 10: Punahele Soriano (7-0) vs. Eric Spicely (12-5) (Middleweight)

 

Mark Madsen To Face Austin Hubbard At UFC 248

News broke Saturday that undefeated fighter Mark Madsen (9-0) will return to the UFC in March, facing Austin Hubbard (11-3) on the UFC 248 card.

First reported by Farah Hannoun of MMAJunkie, the bout is scheduled to be on the preliminary portion of the card and set at lightweight.

Madsen made his UFC debut in September, stopping Danilo Belluardo in just over a minute with strikes, co-main eventing the card.

Hubbard has a 1-1 record in the UFC, recently getting his first promotional win over Kyle Prepolec via unanimous decision.

Both fighters have competed in regional promotion LFA before, never losing under that banner.

From Denmark, Madsen has fought for recognized promotion Cage Warriors when they have toured to the country. He went 3-0 in 2019.

Schedule to headline UFC 248 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA is Weili Zhang and Joanna Jedrzejczyk. Zhang will be putting her UFC Strawweight Championship on the line, which was earned in August with a TKO victory over Jessica Andrade.

Here’s the full card for UFC 248 so far:

Bout 1: Weili Zhang (20-1) vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk (16-3) (UFC Strawweight Championship)

Bout 2: Robert Whittaker (20-5) vs. Jared Cannonier (13-4) (Middleweight)

Bout 3: Jeremy Stephens (28-17) vs. Calvin Kattar (20-4) (Featherweight)

Bout 4: Beneil Dariush (17-4-1) vs. Drakkar Klose (11-1-1) (Lightweight)

Bout 5: Neil Magny (21-7) vs. Jingliang Li (17-5) (Welterweight)

Bout 6: Emily Whitmire (4-3) vs. Polyana Viana (10-4) (Strawweight)

Bout 7: Guido Cannetti (8-4) vs. Danaa Batgerel (6-2) (Bantamweight)

Bout 8: Jose Alberto Quinones (8-3) vs. Sean O’Malley (10-0) (Bantamweight)

Bout 9: Alex Oliveira (20-8-1) vs. Max Griffin (15-7) (Welterweight)

Bout 10: Rodolfo Vieira (6-0) vs. Saparbeg Safarov (9-2) (Middleweight)

Bout 11: Mark Madsen (9-0) vs. Austin Hubbard (11-3) (Lightweight)