MMA News

BJPENN.COM Staff - March 2, 2026

ONE Championship returns to the iconic Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, this Friday, March 6, with another stacked installment of its weekly event series. ONE Friday Fights 145 features 14 bouts across Muay Thai, kickboxing, and MMA, with athletes from around the globe competing for a US$100,000 contract and a spot on ONE’s main roster.

Curtis Calhoun - March 2, 2026

UFC middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev wanted to continue Arman Tsarukyan’s RAF 6 brawl hours after the event. UFC lightweight contender Arman Tsarukyan was at the center of a new controversy last weekend at Real American Freestyle 6.

Cole Shelton - March 2, 2026

Max Holloway wanted the chance to run it back with Charles Oliveira. Holloway and Oliveira first fought back in 2015 when both were at featherweight in the main event of a Fight Night card in Saskatoon. However, the fight ended in the first round as Oliveira suffered a neck injury, and since then, both have become UFC champions, so a rematch made sense.

BJPENN.COM Staff - March 2, 2026

The rematch the combat sports world has been waiting for is now official. ONE Championship has confirmed that Rodtang “The Iron Man” Jitmuangnon and Takeru “Natural Born Krusher” Segawa will collide for the ONE Interim Flyweight Kickboxing World Title in the main event of ONE Samurai 1 on Wednesday, April 29, at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan.

Cole Shelton - March 2, 2026

Charles Oliveira believes he can score a knockout win over Max Holloway at UFC 326. Olivera is set to rematch Holloway for the BMF belt on Saturday in a highly-anticipated bout. Heading into the fight, Oliveira is a +172 underdog, while the Hawaiian is a -225 favorite on FanDuel.

Fernando Quiles Jr. - March 2, 2026

Brendan Schaub believes a UFC middleweight title fight between Khamzat Chimaev and Sean Strickland is too good to pass on. Strickland recently turned in a stellar performance against Anthony Hernandez in the UFC Houston headliner. A perfectly timed knee to the body, followed by a barrage of punches led to a TKO finish for the former 185-pound champion. It was such a highly regarded showing that some are calling for Strickland to be the first challenger for Chimaev’s middleweight gold.

Curtis Calhoun - March 2, 2026

Former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson will return to MMA at age 42 to headline an upcoming Professional Fighters League card. 42-year-old Benson Henderson hung up his MMA gloves following a lopsided defeat to Usman Nurmagomedov at Bellator 292 in March 2023. Three years later, Henderson will make another title run in the Professional Fighters’ League.

Fernando Quiles Jr. - March 2, 2026

Conor McGregor’s coach isn’t a fan of Max Holloway and Charles Oliveira having to cut weight for a BMF title fight. Weight cutting has long been a hot topic in MMA. The sport has seen its share of scary incidents on weigh-in day and fight cancellations. Cameron Smotherman’s recent collapse during early morning weigh-ins left the door open for even more debates.

Harry Kettle - March 2, 2026

UFC welterweight Ian Machado Garry has provided an update on a possible clash between him and Islam Makhachev. For the longest time now, Ian Machado Garry has been working his way up through the welterweight division with the intention of eventually becoming world champion. Outside of a narrow loss to Shavkat Rakhmonov, in which he impressed a lot of people, he hasn’t really had too many setbacks since joining the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Harry Kettle - March 2, 2026

UFC champion Khamzat Chimaev has called out Colby Covington, and he’s also provided an update on his next fight. It’s safe to say that Khamzat Chimaev is enjoying himself on social media these days. Whether it is at the expense of his fellow fighters or the fans, he likes winding people up, and you’d have to say that he’s getting quite good at it. Alas, what we really want is for him to get a fight booked, with Nassourdine Imavov seemingly being the leading contender – alongside Sean Strickland who recently defeated Anthony Hernandez.

Harry Kettle - March 2, 2026

UFC veteran King Green has called for a major fight at the UFC White House event in the wake of his win over Daniel Zellhuber. When you talk about entertaining veterans in mixed martial arts, King Green is up there with the best of them. Regardless of who they put him in the cage with, he goes out there and fights his own style, and more often than not, he’s able to win over a fair few of his critics by turning back the clock and proving that he belongs in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Harry Kettle - March 2, 2026

UFC flyweight Lone’er Kavanagh has set a timeline for himself to become a world champion after his win over Brandon Moreno. Last Saturday night, Lone’er Kavanagh pulled off the biggest win of his mixed martial arts career to date. He was able to get the best of Brandon Moreno, a former two-time UFC flyweight champion, and he did so fairly comprehensively with a decision triumph in Moreno’s home country of Mexico.

Fernando Quiles Jr. - March 1, 2026

Jon Jones is claiming he’s in negotiations with UFC about possibly competing on the White House card. Jones has been pounding the table for a spot at the historic event, but he has been met with some hesitancy. UFC CEO Dana White publicly said that it’s difficult for him to trust “Bones” in such a spot. Given that Jones is an American who is widely regarded as one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time, most agree that a UFC White House spot makes sense for “Bones.”

Fernando Quiles Jr. - March 1, 2026

Alex Pereira appears to be chasing UFC history, and Daniel Cormier is all for it. UFC CEO Dana White turned some heads when he announced that the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship is being vacated. A new 205-pound titleholder will be crowned when former champion Jiri Prochazka meets Carlos Ulberg in the main event of UFC 327 on April 11 in Miami.

Fernando Quiles Jr. - March 1, 2026

Jack Della Maddalena and Carlos Prates are on a collision course. It was announced that the former UFC Welterweight Champion and the Fighting Nerds standout are scheduled to collide in the UFC Perth main event on May 2. The pivotal 170-pound clash will be held inside RAC Arena.

Fernando Quiles Jr. - March 1, 2026

Kamaru Usman has responded to Colby Covington’s callout with a retro quote from his intense feud with “Chaos.” There is certainly history between Usman and Covington. The two engaged in a heated war of words before first meeting inside the Octagon in late 2019. It was a memorable bout that ended with Usman breaking Covington’s jaw on his way to a fifth-round TKO finish. The rematch took place in Nov. 2021 and Usman scored a unanimous decision victory.

Chris Taylor - February 28, 2026

The Octagon headed south of the border for tonight’s UFC Mexico City event, and four fighters wound up taking home performance bonuses. The fight card was headlined by a men’s flyweight bout featuring former division champ Brandon Moreno taking on Lone’er Kavanagh. The contest proved to be a coming out party for the young English fighter in Lone’er Kavanagh. The prospect was able to get the better of Brandon Moreno right from the opening bell, easily outpointing the former champion in the opening two rounds. While rounds 3, 4 and 5 were much closer, ‘The Assassin Baby’ never really got any momentum and wound up losing a unanimous decision. It was a massive win for Kavanagh, one which will push him right near the top of the flyweight rankings.

Chris Taylor - February 28, 2026

Tonight’s UFC Mexico City event was headlined by a men’s flyweight bout featuring former champ Brandon Moreno taking on Lone’er Kavanagh. Moreno (23-10-2 MMA) had entered this evening’s main event looking to rebound, this after suffering a TKO loss to Tatsuro Taira in his most previous Octagon appearance at December’s UFC 323 event in Las Vegas (see that here). Prior to that setback, the former flyweight champion was coming off back-to-back decision wins over Amir Albazi and Steve Erceg.