Author: Dan Hiergesell

Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold made a successful return to combat sports earlier today (Sat., April 20, 2024) at Karate Combat 45 from Dubai, U.A.E., stopping veteran kickboxer Joe Schilling with a nasty third-round knockout (punches).

This was a bizarre booking to say the least, but one that sparked the interest of mixed martial arts (MMA) who remember just how good Rockhold was. The former UFC champion hasn’t captured a professional win in combat sports since a TKO victory over David Branch all the way back in 2017. This includes a three-fight losing skid to end his UFC career and a failed attempt to defeat Mike Perry in bareknuckle boxing.

On Saturday, Rockhold dusted the gloves off for a matchup with Schilling at Karate Combat 45. By taking away Rockhold’s ability to grapple the playing field was more or less even. Schilling is certainly a shell of his former self, but he can still crack. It was going to be an interesting watch for fight fans.

While the action was back-and-forth for the majority of the main event scrap it was Rockhold who pulled through with the finishing blow. He connected on a huge right hook in the third round that connected flush and dropped Schilling where he stood. Rockhold followed up with a few ground-and-pound shots before the referee peeled him off.

Check it out below:

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Stick with Mania for more Karate Combat 45 results and coverage.

Ryan Garcia has become one of the most unstable and unpredictable athletes in combat sports, which is probably why people want to see him fight undefeated boxing champion Devin Haney later tonight (Sat., April 20, 2024) live on DAZN pay-per-view (PPV) from inside Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

In case you weren’t aware, Garcia has been the talk of the town over the past few months and not for good reason. The young boxer has displayed some troubling behavior in the public eye and in his personal life. Even those close to him thought Garcia was dead not too long ago.

Add in Garcia’s massive weight miss on Friday and his subsequent on-stage beer chugging and he’s clearly having a tough time keeping his head in the game.

Fortunately, everything will come to a head tonight in Brooklyn. Haney is hands down one of the best pound-for-pound boxers in the sport today and is already a sizeable betting favorite to walk out of New York Saturday with another win under his belt. That is, of course, unless Garcia does what he thinks he’s going to do and delivers one of the biggest upsets of the year.

Early Saturday, Garcia took to social media to deliver one final message to Haney and any fight fans looking to purchase the pricey PPV later tonight.

“Don’t be scared from what you witness tonight.”

“I’m not talking about me doing something to get DQ.

Pure boxing.

This is WAR.”

“KILL OR KILL NOTHING ELSE.

See you at the fights.

This would be an event like you never seen before.

Next tweet will come soon after the fight.”

What’s your final verdict? Will Garcia bring “war” tonight in Brooklyn and stop Haney in his tracks? Or will Garcia eat his own words and crash and burn?

Let us know!

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For complete Haney vs. Garcia results, coverage, and highlights click HERE.

Fight fans witnessed one of the more rare and disgusting occurrences in all of mixed martial arts (MMA) on Friday night (April 19, 2024) at the Dynasty Combat Sports 91 event in Lincoln, Nebraska, as a fighter puked inside of the cage and was unable to continue.

As you may know, hurling your insides up during an amateur or professional MMA fight is not tolerated. It’s not something that happens too often in the sport, but when something like that does unfold the fight is pretty much waved off right away. Not only due to the fighter getting sick and probably feeling like crap, but also because of the cleanup. I don’t care how tough MMA fighters are there’s nobody that wants to fight through some sticky canvas vomit.

On Friday, towering middleweight prospect, Kwajuan Mensah, simply couldn’t hold his lunch. During his undercard bout with an inexperienced Zach Ross-Williams, Mensah puked up some sort of blue vomit. It landed in the middle of the Dynasty Combat Sports cage as Ross-Williams threw his hands up in disgust and walked away. It’s unknown at this time exactly why Mensah got sick during the fight, but it wasn’t a great scene.

Check it out in the above video player.

Mensah, who is now 2-3 in his amateur MMA career, will certainly have a chance to rebound later this year and correct any mistakes he made inside the cage on Friday night. He may have been feeling the effects of the fight itself, a bad weight cut, food poisoning, or just about anything else that would make a fighter nearly puke on their opponent.

One of the most intriguing boxing matches of the year will unfold later this evening (Sat., April 20, 2024) live on DAZN pay-per-view (PPV) from inside Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, as Devin Haney (31-0, 15 KO) puts his undefeated record on the line against controversial boxing star Ryan Garcia (24-1, 20 KO).

This fight has been years in the making and it has come with a lot of baggage. Simply put, Haney and Garcia do not like each other at this point in their respective careers. They’ve traded some serious trash talk over the past few months and nearly came to blows during a change encounter this past February in Las Vegas.

Fight week has not been a breeze either. Garcia’s instability on social media and on stage has created even more buzz around their fight this weekend, but “King Ryan” is truly starting to worry some people around the combat community. From his erratic behavior to missing weight by three pounds and then chugging a beer on stage, Garcia has become a loose cannon full of unpredictability.

Fortunately, the fight will still proceed as planned. Despite his egregious weight miss, Garcia will cough up $1.5 million to Haney to keep their fight in tact for Saturday night in Brooklyn. It will be Garcia’s chance to prove all of his doubters wrong, knock off one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in boxing, and put all concerns about his own career to rest.

Without any other major combat event taking place this weekend — we’re pretty sure fight fans are still recovering from UFC 300 — Haney vs. Garcia will be the talk of the town. Check out all of the viewing details below so you don’t miss a second of the action!

Start Time

• Sat., April 20, 2024 from inside Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York
• DAZN PPV and PPV.com main card begins at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT
• The “Prelims” undercard will start at 4:30 p.m. ET, 1:30 p.m. PT
• Haney vs. Garcia main event is expected to begin around 11 p.m. ET / 8 p.m. PT

Online Viewing

• Haney vs. Garcia PPV main card can be viewed through the DAZN network (watch HERE) or PPV.com (watch HERE).
• Current DAZN subscribers will pay $69.99 to watch the PPV main card, while PPV.com will cost $79.99
• The Haney vs. Garcia ‘Prelims’ undercard will air LIVE and FREE on YouTube.

Television Viewing

• For U.S. viewers, DAZN can be broadcast directly on your television via Chromecast, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, LG Smart TV, Samsung TV, Apple TV, PlayStation, or Xbox.
• The PPV card can also be streamed using the PPV.com app. Details HERE.

Mobile Viewing

• Haney vs. Garcia PPV card will be accessible through the DAZN app via Android, Amazon Fire, and Apple.
• Viewers can also download the PPV.com mobile app to catch the main card action. Find out how to watch HERE.

Bets & Wagers

• For those feeling lucky you can visit DraftKings Sportsbook for all your official Haney vs. Garcia fight odds and prop bets.

PPV Main Card (8 p.m. ET)

Devin Haney vs. Ryan Garcia
Arnold Barboza Jr. vs. Sean McComb
Bektemir Melikuziev vs. Pierre Dibombe
John Ramirez vs. David Jimenez
Charles Conwell vs. Nathaniel Gallimore

“Prelims” Undercard (4:30 p.m. ET)

Sergiy Derevyanchenko vs. Vaughn Alexander
Darius Fulghum vs. Cristian Olivas
Jonathan Canas vs. Marcus Bowes
Amari Jones vs. Armel Mbumba-Yassa
Kevin Newman II vs. Eric Robles
Shamir Canal vs. Pedro Borgaro

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For complete Haney vs. Garcia results, coverage, and highlights click HERE.

Aljamain Sterling may have been the only winner from UFC 300 to not receive a post-fight interview inside of the cage, but “Funk Master” still believes he had one of the most dominant performances on the card.

Sterling, who was coming off a TKO loss to Sean O’Malley back at UFC 292 in which he lost his UFC bantamweight title, was making his official UFC featherweight debut at UFC 300. “Funk Master” was matched up against a returning Calvin Kattar, who had not competed since blowing his knee out against Arnold Allen all the way back in Oct. 2022.

Needless to say, Sterling was the betting favorite to take care of business and return to the UFC win column in fashion.

Unfortunately, Sterling did not turn in the outing that many fight fans were hoping for. On a historic card like UFC 300 many were expecting for Sterling to come out guns blazing and do everything he could to find a finish against Kattar on the ESPN undercard. While Sterling dominated every minute of every round by utilizing his superior wrestling and grappling there weren’t too many moments of excitement. “Funk Master” has never been the most electric fighter on the roster, but he has some pretty solid submission wins under his belt and would have benefited greatly from a finish on the biggest card of 2024.

As expected, Sterling has received some backlash for his UFC 300 performance. On top of not getting a post-fight interview from UFC color commentator Joe Rogan the former UFC bantamweight king now finds himself defending his victory over Kattar. According to “Funk Master,” he had one of the best outings of anyone on the card.

“Our fight on that particular night of UFC 300 was not the most entertaining. But it was the most dominant fight I think you could’ve possibly looked at from the entire card from top to bottom. I think I’m arguably the top 3 most dominant on that entire fight card.

“You got a guy [Kattar] who, on average, lands about 4-5 strikes per minute, who was reduced to about 0.5.”

Sterling 34, now finds himself ranked No. 8 in the UFC’s featherweight division after his unanimous decision win over Kattar. His performance wasn’t good enough to land Sterling a No. 1 contender’s bout at 145 pounds, but a finish in his next Octagon appearance could leave “Funk Master” close to title contention.

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For complete UFC 300 results, coverage, and highlights click HERE.

Jamahal Hill is just six days removed from his devastating knockout loss to Alex Pereira at UFC 300 and he has already scheduled his next fight.

Per a recent social media announcement by Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Hill will step back inside of the Octagon to meet fellow light heavyweight contender Khalil Rountree at UFC 303 on June 29 from Las Vegas, Nevada. It will be part of the promotion’s annual International Fight Week.

In case you were vacationing in the Bahamas last week, Hill met Pereira atop the historic UFC 300 card in “Sin City” to try to win his 205-pound belt back. It was the first time Hill was competing since rupturing his Achilles during a basketball game in July of 2023. Hill was coming off a one-sided beatdown over Glover Teixeira at UFC 282 before his freak accident, but decided to relinquish his title due to the injury.

Unfortunately for Hill, his return fight came against Pereira, who was making his first official title defense of the UFC light heavyweight championship. Pereira was a small betting favorite, but it didn’t take long for Hill to find out that “Poatan” hits harder than most. Pereira cracked Hill with a massive punch in the first round that sent him crashing to the canvas and out for the count. It was a rude awakening for “Sweet Dreams” considering he had never been knocked out before.

The former UFC light heavyweight champion is looking to turn the page fairly quickly as he books his return against Rountree this June. Rountree has been on an absolute tear of late, winning his last five trips to the Octagon. This includes a recent third-round TKO stoppage over former UFC title challenger Anthony Smith. It’s a great challenge for both men, especially for Hill who is less than one week removed from an Alex Pereira knockout punch.

UFC 303 is currently expected to be headlined by the return of Conor McGregor. The former UFC double champion will make his first walk to the Octagon since July 2021 when he takes on fellow lightweight contender Michael Chandler in the biggest main event of the year.

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Stick with Mania for more UFC 303 fight card news.