Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
All the UFC and Bellator fight announcements that were first reported or confirmed by MMA Junkie in the past week.
MMA fight announcements are hard to follow. With so many outlets and channels available, it’s nearly impossible to organize.
But here at MMA Junkie, we’ve got your back.
Each week, we’ll compile all the newly surfaced fights in one spot. Every Monday, expect a feature listing everything you might have missed from the UFC or Bellator.
Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie from Jan. 30-Feb. 5.
Check out these photos from the fights at UFC Fight Night 209 in Paris, featuring Gane vs. Tuivasa, Whittaker vs. Vettori, and more.
Check out these photos from the fights at UFC Fight Night 209 at Accor Arena in Paris. (Photos by Per Haljestam, USA TODAY Sports)
(Gallery updated throughout the event.)
Floyd Mayweather-managed Makhmud Muradov and UFC debutant Abusupiyan Magomedov will collide in France.
A middleweight bout is the most recent addition to UFC Paris.
[autotag]Abusupiyan Magomedov[/autotag] and [autotag]Makhmud Muradov[/autotag] will square off in a three-round bout on the promotion’s France debut card Sept. 3 at Accor Arena. Both fighters recently confirmed the booking on social media following.
Magomedov (24-4-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) will look to make his promotional debut after back-to-back canceled UFC bookings. Visa issues have been an issue for Magomedov, who withdrew from fights scheduled for December and March. Entering UFC Paris, Magomedov has won back-to-back outings.
Muradov (25-7 MMA, 3-1 UFC) is the only UFC fighter officially part of Floyd Mayweather’s “Money Team“. He is both the first Tajikistan-born and Uzbek fighter in promotion history. He’ll look to bounce back from his first promotional loss, which came at the hands of a down-but-not-out Gerald Meerschaert in August.
With the addition, the UFC Paris lineup includes:
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After a pair of scrapped fight bookings, Abusupiyan Magomedov once again is scheduled for his UFC debut.
After a pair of scrapped fight bookings, [autotag]Abusupiyan Magomedov[/autotag] once again is scheduled for his UFC debut.
Magomedov (24-4-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) will take on [autotag]Joaquin Buckley[/autotag] (14-4 MMA, 4-2 UFC) in a middleweight fight on the UFC’s June 4 Fight Night card. A person with knowledge of the booking confirmed the matchup to MMA Junkie, but asked to remain anonymous since the promotion has yet to make an official announcement.
The June 4 event does not yet have a publicly announced venue or location, but is likely to take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas with a broadcast on ESPN and ESPN+.
Magomedov reached the PFL’s 2018 middleweight playoff final, but was knocked out by Louis Taylor in 33 seconds and came up short of the $1 million prize. In 2019 and 2020, he picked up submission wins for EMC and KSW. Then in late 2021, he was set to take on Gerald Meerschaert in his UFC debut, but had the fight scrapped when Meerschaert pulled out. He was booked to fight Aliaskhab Khizriev at UFC on ESPN 33 eight days ago, but had to pull out of the card, himself.
Buckley has back-to-back wins and victories in four of his past five fights. His current run started with a viral moment in October 2020 when he knocked out Impa Kasanganay with what became the Knockout of the Year on most lists and one of the best KOs in history. After a TKO of Jordan Wright, he was knocked out by Alessio Di Chirico in January 2021, but bounced back with a TKO of Antonio Arroyo and a split decision over Abdul Razak Alhassan in February.
With the addition, the UFC’s June 4 event now includes:
Joanne Wood vs. Alexa Grasso was scrapped last year, but they’ll get a chance to do it again.
[autotag]Joanne Wood[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Alexa Grasso[/autotag] has been rebooked for UFC Columbus.
Wood will take on Grasso at UFC Fight Night on March 26, promotion officials announced Wednesday. The event takes place at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, and airs on ESPN.
Wood (15-7 MMA, 7-7 UFC) and Grasso (13-3 MMA, 5-3 UFC) originally were scheduled to fight last November at UFC Fight Night 198, but Grasso was forced out because of an injury.
Wood has lost four of her past six fights. After defeating Jessica Eye at UFC 257, Wood dropped a unanimous decision to former title challenger Lauren Murphy at UFC 263. She drew Taila Santos after Grasso’s withdrawal and lost the bout by first-round submission.
Grasso was booked to fight Viviane Araujo next week at UFC 270. But when Araujo pulled out due to injury, the fight was scrapped. The 28-year-old Mexican fighter strung together her first winning streak in the UFC when she scored two consecutive wins over Ji Yeon Kim and Maycee Barber, and now she’ll turn her attention to Wood.
Also joining the UFC Columbus lineup is a middleweight matchup between Dana White’s Contender Series graduate [autotag]Aliaskhab Khizriev[/autotag] (13-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) and fellow debutant [autotag]Abusupiyan Magomedov[/autotag] (24-4-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC), and a matchup between ranked flyweights [autotag]Matheus Nicolau[/autotag] (17-2-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) and [autotag]David Dvorak[/autotag] (20-3 MMA, 3-0 UFC).
With the additions, the UFC Columbus lineup includes:
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With two middleweights out, their UFC Fight Night 199 opponents have agreed to fight.
Changes have hit the UFC Fight Night 199 lineup.
[autotag]Caio Borralho[/autotag] will have to wait a little longer for his promotional debut because of visa issues ahead of his Dec. 18 fight vs. [autotag]Dustin Stoltzfus[/autotag].
Borralho isn’t the only one to lose his opponent on that card. [autotag]Abusupiyan Magomedov[/autotag] has withdrawn from his fight, so [autotag]Gerald Meerschaert[/autotag] (33-14 MMA, 8-6 UFC) and Stoltzfus (13-3 MMA, 0-2 UFC) have been paired up. Contracts have not yet been signed, but agreements are in place.
Two people with knowledge of the situation informed MMA Junkie of the changes Friday but asked to remain anonymous since the promotion has yet to make an official announcement.
Meerschaert, 33, has won back-to-back fights after a knockout loss to Khamzat Chimaev in September 2020. Thus far in 2021, Meerschaert has submitted Bartosz Fabinski and Makhmud Muradov.
Stoltzfus, 30, signed with the UFC after a DWCS win in 2020. Through two UFC appearances against Kyle Daukaus and Rodolfo Vieira, Stoltzus still seeks his first promotional victory.
UFC Fight Night 199 takes place at the UFC Apex and streams on ESPN+. Check out the current lineup below.
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