Category: MMA Events

Video: 3 vs. 1 epic comeback! – Dogfight MMA ‘Bloodsport’ tournament live stream, results & highlights

Posted on by Zane Simon in MMA Events, MMA News

One of the big trends combat sports has seen in the past few years is the re-emergence of hybrid events featuring multiple bout styles, celebrity appearances, and musical acts. Triller really paved the way for this style of show, pouring massive amounts of money into concert acts and celebrity fights with seemingly little return to show for it.

Whether it’s a long term viable strategy for anyone remains to be seen, but it certainly seems to be a promotional style more people are interested in giving a try. On February 9th at the San Miguel Tarraco Arena in Spain, Dogfight Wild is pulling out all the stops.

Dogfight Wild MMA Tournament 2nd impact live stream

For international viewers, the complete Dogfight Wild show is on YouTube, streaming for free. Watch it below.

The event includes a ‘Bloodsport’ style tournament, complete with curved fighting surface, team MMA fights, bareknuckle boxing, 3 vs. 1 fights, a ‘no rules’, 25-minute one round bout, and even a few metal bands. Check it out.

Dogfight Wild 2nd Impact lineup

YouTube Main Card | 1:00pm ET / 10:00am PT
Eduardo Riego vs. Manuel Morales, Karim el Hamzaouy, Tomás Cantó – 3 v 1 MMA
César Alonso vs. Nacho de la Encima, Juan Marín, Mohamed Benchriff, Rodrigo Peñarubia, Tomás Luján – 5 v 1 MMA
Franco Tenaglia vs. Sufiane Bahri – No Rules
Victoria Albons vs. Yamilia Sánchez – Bare Knuckle
Chiky Arroyo/Bogdan Vasilache vs. Alberto Rondán/Nicolás Martínez – 2 v 2 MMA
Aitor Gaspar vs. Zdravko Tarnadzhiev – Sudden Death

Bloodsport Tournament
Sergio Hidalgo vs. Otman Ben Zahra
Emilio Monesclaros vs. Dorian Segovia

(big h/t to Caposa and his Live Combat Sport Schedule for the card info)

Results

Zdravko Tarnadzhiev def. Aitor Gaspar via TKO

Chiky Arroya & Bogdan Vasilache def. Alberto Rondan & Nicolas Martinez via TKO & submission

Dorian Segovia def. Emilio Monescarlos via KO

Otman Ben Zahra def. Sergio Hidalgo via TKO

Victoria Albons def. Yamila Sanchez via. KO

Franco Tenaglio def. Sufiane Bahri via TKO (back of the head strikes)

Bahri tried unsuccessfully to get an instant rematch. Promotion negotiated it on the spot but Tenaglio turned it down.

César Alonso def. Juan Marín via TKO, Iker Carillo via TKO, Nacho de la Encima via Sub (strikes), Rodrigo Peñarubia via TKO, & Mohamed Benchriff via TKO

Eduardo Riego def. Manuel Morales, Ivan, and Tomas Canto via Sub (guillotine, guillotine, & RNC)

‘Bloodsport’ final: Otman Ben Zahra vs. Dorian Segovia – Fight cancelled due to injury

During the broadcast, the booth announced that Otman Ben Zahra had been hospitalized after his victory over Sergio Hidalgo. The ‘Bloodsport’ tournament finale will be rescheduled for a future event.

The uncrowned king of cancelled fights, plus title chaos mark Bellator weigh-in drama

Posted on by Zane Simon in Bellator, Bellator 294, Bellator 295, MMA Events, MMA News

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Forget twitter beefs, training camp struggles, or even fight night. For fans looking for the real drama in MMA, that goes down 24 hours before the fighters ever set foot in the cage. The real drama happens at the weigh-ins. And Bellator has turned in some doozies over the years.

Unfortunately for the Showtime based fight promotion, this week was no different. Bellator is running back to back events this Friday and Saturday, with multiple titles on the line. Well, that was the plan anyway. The problem is, at Thursday’s Bellator 294 weigh-in event, title challenger DeAnna Bennett missed weight for her rematch bout against current flyweight champion and former UFC contender Liz Carmouche.

DeAnna Bennett misses weight for title fight

Bennett came in at 126.2 pounds, more than a pound over the 125 pound limit on her third attempt to make championship weight. It’s the third time Bennett has failed to make the flyweight limit. As a result she’s now ineligible to take home the the title, should she defeat Carmouche on Friday night in Honolulu, HI. Given the opportunity to decide her own fate, Carmouche elected to keep her title on the line in the booking. So should Bennett defeat ‘Girl-Rilla’ in the Bellator 294 main event, the belt will be vacated, with neither woman taking home gold.

Liz Carmouche gave her thoughts on the situation in a media scrum after weigh ins.

“She showed up weigh-in day 11-pounds over. And then we were able to convince her and her fight team to continue cutting. She showed up and she was five-and-a-half pounds over, and the commission tried to step in cut the fight. And just like then, I said, ‘No, I want the fight. I came here to fight.’ Just like I am now. I came here because I’m a champion, I came here because I wanted to fight. Knowing full well that this is an opponent who has a far more consistent history of not making weight than of ever making weight.”

As for why she chose to keep the title on the line? For Carmouche it’s a matter of confidence and principal. She came ready to prove that she’s a champion, whether her opponent was prepared or not.

“It’s a risk coming into the fight altogether. I could face her and at least I know, because I did everything right—anything could happen. I could lose that fight, and that would have been what would have happened anyway, right? [The belt] just doesn’t go to her. So, at least this is us really putting it on the line, and me showing how much I believe that I am the champion. And how much I truly believe that it’s not going to be her.”

“This is going to make me want to be that much more violent. And to shut her up, and to see if I can’t push for her to get cut from Bellator. And not have to listen, and anybody have to put up with this anymore. That’s my goal on Friday night; is to shut her up and end her career.”

Ray Borg keeps fight cancellation record strong

For Bellator’s 295 card on Saturday, the weigh in flub isn’t quite so high profile or disastrous in terms of carrying the event, but it is every bit as—if not even more—expected. Former UFC flyweight title challengers Ray Borg and Kyoji Horiguchi had been set for a clash at 125 lbs.

It’s not a division Bellator has spent much time promoting over the years. They’ve never even had a flyweight champion, but it seems they were prepared to take a crack at opening up the weight class. For some reason, they chose Ray Borg for the task.

“I’ve made a lot of changes in my life in terms of not just dieting and how all that goes, but it’s psychological with me now,” Borg told MMA Fighting of dropping down to flyweight again, while also admitting that he was hesitant to accept the offer initially. “I’m not hung up on dumb stuff. I’m not cheating on diets, and I just have a really strong mentality going into [weight] cuts. My last three [fights] showed that I was first on the scale, first to weigh-in. The questions are going to come up, the doubts are going to be there, but I brought those upon myself.

“One thing I’ve accepted is I’ve had a bunch of bad weight cuts, and it’s kind of helped me move forward, and I don’t really eat from that tree anymore.”

According to an announcement from Bellator officials, Borg had to be removed from his bout against Horiguchi due to “weight management issues.” He never even made it to the scales on Friday.

It’s just the latest problem for the ‘Tazmexican Devil’ in a career plagued by them. At this point, the 29-year-old is more or less the uncrowned king of flyweight fight cancellations—having had 17 bouts in his 21 fight career fall through before getting to the cage. That puts him ahead of UFC contender Alex Perez at 14, and ‘OG’ flyweight fight cancellation legend Ian McCall at 12 (h/t Caposa).

In other news, featherweight fighter Chris Lencioni missed weight by more than 6 pounds for a bout against Bellator newcomer Blake Smith, who also missed the featherweight limit by .4 pounds. All other fighters across the two Bellator events came in at or under their agreed upon limits.

Bellator 294 weigh-in results

Main Card

  • Liz Carmouche (125) vs. Deanna Bennett (126.2)*
  • Tim Johnson (262) vs. Said Sowma (239.2)
  • Arlene Blencowe (146) vs. Sara McMann (145.6)
  • Danny Sabatello (135.6) vs. Marcos Breno (136)
  • Levan Chokheli (169.6) vs. Michael Lombardo (170.8)

Prelims

  • Killys Mota (156) vs. Kenneth Cross (155.2)
  • Tyrell Fortune (259.6) vs. Sergei Bilostennyi (240)
  • Cris Lencioni (152.4)** vs. Blake Smith (146.4)**
  • Anthony Adams (185.6) vs. Sharaf Davlatmurodov (185.4)

Bellator 295 weigh-in results

Main Card

  • Raufeon Stots (134.2) vs. Patchy Mix (135)
  • Ilima-Lei Macfarlane (126) vs. Kana Watanabe (125.6)
  • James Gonzalez (145.8) vs. Aaron Pico (145.6)
  • Charlie Leary (164.2) vs. Yancy Medeiros (162.4)

Prelims

  • Mads Burnell (144.4) vs. Justin Gonzales (145.6)
  • Adli Edwards (145.6) vs. Kai Kamaka (145.4)
  • Veta Arteaga (125.8) vs. Sumiko Inaba (124.4)
  • Aalon Cruz (156) vs. Bobby King (155.4)
  • Kasim Aras (251.8) vs. Davion Franklin (259.2)
  • Bruna Ellen (125.6) vs. Ilara Joanne (125.4)
  • Masayuki Kikuiri (169) vs. Alexey Shurkevich (170.8)

*Due to Bennet’s weight miss, she will be ineligible to win the Bellator flyweight title.
**Chris Lencioni vs. Blake Smith will move ahead at a catchweight.

PFL 2023 Season opener results: Brendan Lougnane TKO’s Marlon Moraes with low kicks

Posted on by Zane Simon in MMA Events, PFL

PFL 2023 kicked off their season last night in Las Vegas, NV. There, 22 fighters from the featherweight and light heavyweight divisions faced off for their first chance to win “points” and qualify for this year’s tournament brackets. In the main event, last season’s featherweight winner Brendan Loughnane, took on former UFC bantamweight title contender Marlon Moraes. The night also marked the PFL 2023 debut of former UFC light heavyweight title contender Thiago Santos.

For Moraes this was just the latest in a long series of attempts to get back to winning ways. The Brazilian rose quickly through the ranks of the UFC, after signing with the promotion in 2017. But after a loss to Henry Cejudo in his bid for gold at UFC 238, the American Top Team fighter went on a 1-4 slide, culminating in his exit from the world’s largest MMA promotion (and a very brief retirement).

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Unfortunately a change in scene hasn’t righted the ship. Moraes lost via 3rd round TKO to fellow Brazilian Sheymon Moraes in November of last year, in his PFL debut. His first run in the promotion’s regular season hasn’t gone any better, with a second round TKO loss at the hands of Brendan Loughnane.

Despite Moraes coming in with the reputation as a brutally powerful kicker, it was actually the Brit that steered the tone of the action with his legs. The first calf kick he threw notable buckled Moraes’ lead leg. A followup shortly after had the Brazilian in trouble. By the end of the first round, Moraes had already switched stances and been dropped by low kicks alone. The fight didn’t last long into round 2.

Champ Rob Wilkinson spoils Thiago Santos’ PFL 2023 debut

In the co-main event, last year’s light heavyweight season winner ‘Razor’ Rob Wilkinson got off to a decent, if not exactly thrilling start with a three round decision over Thiago Santos. The Brazilian fired a number of hard kicks from distance, but had fewer answers when Wilkinson closed the pocket with punches or takedown attempts. A couple of strong rounds banked for the Aussie were enough to bank him the fight, despite a better third round for Marreta, where he was able to stay on his feet longer and land the harder kicks and punches between bouts of Wilkinson’s cage wrestling offense.

That loss marks the third in a row for the 39-year-old former UFC title contender. Santos exited the UFC on back-to-back defeats against Magomed Ankalaev and current champion Jamahal Hill before announcing his signing with the PFL last fall. For Wilkinson, this is his 7th consecutive victory. The VT1 Gym athlete is unbeaten since a pair of UFC losses in 2017-18 forced his exit from the promotion.

Jotko flounders, Bubba Jenkins punishes Chris Wade

In other main card action, relatively unknown SBG Ireland fighter Will Fleury spoiled both the light heavyweight and PFL 2023 debut of former UFC middleweight Krzysztof Jotko. Fleury, a former Bellator competitor, moved to 12-3 with the split decision win. Jotko dropped to 24-7, having exited the UFC off a loss to Brendan Allen in October of last year.

2021 featherweight tournament champion Movlid Khaybulaev got his 2023 campaign off to a strong start with a three round unanimous decision victory over former Shooto contender Ryoji Kudo. Khaybulaev (20-0-1 1 NC) spent the entirety of 2022 riding the pine, nursing an injury, having beat Brendan Loughnane on the way to his million-dollar prize the year before. Both men appear on track to face off in this year’s PFL 2023 featherweight bracket. For Kudo, the loss took his PFL record to just 1-4 in five attempts, knocking his record down to 11-5-1 overall.

The main card opened with a featherweight grudge match between two former finalists: Bubba Jenkins and Chris Wade. Jenkins and Wade first met under the PFL banner back in 2021, when Wade defeated the former Bellator top prospect via unanimous decision in the semi-final round of that year’s tournament. Wade would go on to lose to Khaybulaev in the finals. Jenkins rallied well though, making it all the way to the tournament finals the next year, only to lose to Brendan Loughnane.

The two men had plenty of bad blood on display in the lead up to this fight, with Jenkins claiming that he wouldn’t even look to wrestle Wade, hoping to punish him with standup instead. That didn’t happen, with a the two men largely engaged in a grappling heavy affair that saw Jenkins pull out a straight forward 30-27 unanimous decision victory.

PFL 2023, event 1 results

Main Card
Brendan Loughnane def. Marlon Moraes via TKO (low kicks) at 1:11 of Round 2
Rob Wilkinson def. Thiago Santos via UD (29-28×3)
Will Fleury def. Krzysztof Jotko via SD (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Movlid Khaybulaev def. Ryoji Kudo via UD (30-27×3)
Bubba Jenkins def. Chris Wade via UD (30-27×3)

Prelims
Marthin Hamlet def. Mohammaed Fakhreddine via sub (Face crank) at 1:05 of Round 1
Joshua Silveira def. Sam Kei via Sub (RNC) at 2:46 of Round 1
Alejandro Flores def. Daniel Torres via UD (29-28×3)
Gabriel Alves Braga def. Jesus Pinedo via SD (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Ty Flores def. Delan Monte via UD (29-28×2, 29-27)
Impa Kasanganay def. COry Hendricks via UD (29-28×2, 30-27)

PFL 2023, event 1 highlights