Video: Impressionist Al Foran nails hilarious takes on Nate Diaz, Conor McGregor, Mike Tyson, more

Evander Holyfield’s son won’t be matching the legendary boxer’s incredible start to his career. On Saturday at TrillerVerz 5 at Kia Forum in Inglewood, Calif., Evan Holyfield suffered the first loss of his pro boxing career when he was left face down on the mat by a hammer right hand from Jurmain McDonald in the second round. McDonald, a journeyman with a 6-5 pro record, entered the bout as a massive underdog while Holyfield was as high as a -10,000 favorite in the betting, according to Pro Boxing Odds.

Carla Esparza’s wedding day attire included all the usual bells and whistles, plus a one-of-a-kind accessory that it’s safe to say no other bride has worn before. A week after defeating Rose Namajunas at UFC 274 to regain the UFC strawweight championship, Esparza followed through with her plans to wear the belt as she became wed to groom Matt Lomeli at a ceremony Saturday. Esparza told MMA Fighting ahead of the Namajunas rematch that she stressed over her title fight being so close to her wedding and that people had suggested she bring the championship with her should she be victorious.

Jan Blachowicz is back in the win column, even though his UFC Vegas 54 victory over Aleksandar Rakic ended in an unfortunate way. Was it enough to put in him the position to try and regain the UFC light heavyweight title against the winner of the UFC 275 main event between Glover Teixeira and Jiri Prochazka?

Ryan Spann only needed one mistake from Ion Cutelaba to snatch a powerful guillotine choke in the first round and get the win in UFC Vegas 54’s co-main event. It was non-stop action from the opening second until the last, with Spann tagging Cutelaba hard on the feet before a scramble up from the ground led to the opening for the submission. Once Spann had his hands locked, Cutelaba was trapped with no chance to escape and was forced to tap, with the stoppage coming at 2:22 in the opening round.

Few things spark more heated debates in the MMA sphere than MMA Math. Take Alex Pereira’s case as an example. Sure, Pereira was a decorated two-division champion in GLORY, and his definitive move to MMA was inevitably going to draw eyeballs. But the fact he held two wins over UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya in kickboxing made him an overnight sensation. After just two UFC wins in four months, he’s already been paired up in a potential No. 1 contender bout with Sean Strickland on July 30.

Conor McGregor appears to be healing up just fine. Last July, McGregor snapped his leg against Dustin Poirier in their trilogy fight at UFC 264. Since then, “Notorious” has been on the sidelines recovering, with a stated intention of returning to the octagon sometime this year. For the last few months, McGregor has been regularly posting videos of his gym work as updates on his recuperation. Over the weekend, McGregor posted another pair of videos of him working his boxing and all signs seem to suggest that McGregor may not be far off from a return.

The Mixed Martial Arts Hour is back in your life! Below is a rundown of Monday’s show, which begins at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT / 6 p.m. UK time. 1 p.m. ET: Ariel Helwani, along with GC and NewYorkRic, recap the weekend in combat sports. 1:30...

Watch Jan Blachowicz vs. Aleksandar Rakic full fight video highlights from the main event of UFC Vegas 54, courtesy of the UFC and other outlets. UFC Fight Night: Blachowicz vs. Rakic took place May 14 at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada. Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz (29-9) took on top contender Aleksandar Rakic (14-3) in the night’s main event. The fight aired live on ESPN 2 and ESPN+.

Aleksandar Rakic is already looking ahead at a rematch as he begins his road to recovery following an ugly injury on Saturday. The Austrian light heavyweight contender lost by TKO to Jan Blachowicz in the main event of UFC Vegas 54 when his right leg gave out in the third round. It was later reported that Rakic will undergo at MRI on Monday to determine how much damage was potentially done to his knee, specifically his MCL and LCL.

Jan Blachowicz would much rather celebrate a knockout or submission win, but he’s certainly not going to complain after getting his hand raised in UFC Vegas 54’s main event. Following a back-and-forth fight through two rounds, Aleksandar Rakic stepped backwards during an exchange in the third and his...

Allan Nascimento handed Jake Hadley the first loss of his career with a dominant grappling showcase at UFC Vegas 54. The Brazilian, who trains alongside uncrowned UFC lightweight king Charles Oliveira, used his wrestling, top control, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu acumen to keep Hadley underneath him for a huge amount of time over three rounds, which resulted in a unanimous decision win. All three judges scored the fight 30-27 for Nascimento, who celebrated with a photo of his recently deceased father in his hand.

Katlyn Chookagian is a Fight Night bonus winner for the first time after six years with the UFC. “Blonde Fighter” and opponent Amanda Ribas earned the UFC Vegas 54 Fight of the Night award for their back-and-forth three-round battle, officials announced shortly after the conclusion of the show. This is the first bonus for both women, who will each receive an extra $50,000 as a reward.

Gregor Gillespie is still very much part of the UFC roster, but he’s no longer eligible for the promotion’s rankings with his last fight coming more than 12 months ago. The confusion over his status came on Sunday after the automated UFC Roster Watch account on Twitter noted that Gillespie had been removed, which led many to believe he had somehow been released. Gillespie then sent out a message of his own to clarify any confusion while also explaining why he hasn’t fought since a win over Diego Ferreira back in May 2021.

Tom Aspinall is planning to put on a show when the UFC returns to London this summer. In March, Aspinall headlined the UFC’s first event in London in three years, and he did so in style, submitting Alexander Volkov in the first round, and sending the fans into a frenzy. The event was such a success that UFC President Dana White decided the company needed to run it back, and so now, Aspinall will headline the promotions return to the O2 Arena this summer, where he will be taking on divisional standout, Curtis Blaydes. And it’s a booking that Aspinall could not be more happy about.

MMA has always been known for being a world where anything goes, and as far as the UFC is concerned, that also applies to what comes out of fighters’ mouths. On Saturday, Andrea Lee coach and cornerman Tony Kelley drew criticism from media, fans, and fighters, when he made offensive comments about Lee’s opponent Viviane Araujo between rounds. Speaking to Lee, Kelley let her know that he felt Araujo was cheating, saying, “That’s what they’re gonna do. They’re dirty f******* Brazilians. They’re going to f****** cheat like that.”

Katlyn Chookagian has now put together her longest UFC winning streak after picking up a fourth victory in a row with a split decision over Amanda Ribas. The flyweights battled it out for three rounds with Chookagian’s striking being the deciding factor, as she connected with the better shots while Ribas constantly looked to take the fight to the ground. In the end, Chookagian produced more offense and that led to two judges scoring the fight 29-28 in her favor, with the third official going 29-28 for Ribas.

The final card for Eagle FC 47 has been finalized for Friday night, May 20 from the FLX Arena in Miami. The main event will feature ex-UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos taking on fellow octagon veteran Yorgan De Castro. This will be Dos Santos’ first fight since he was released from the UFC back in March 2021 following four consecutive losses with the promotion.

Amanda Ribas might have entered UFC Vegas 54 in a compromised state. Following Ribas’ fight with Katlyn Chookagian on the main card of Saturday’s UFC event, her father Marcelo revealed on Instagram that the fighter suffered a ‘total rupture of the biceps tendon’ 25 days before fight night. Ribas went on to lose a split decision to Chookagian after a competitive contest.

According to boxing legend Floyd Mayweather, his scheduled exhibition boxing match is back on. The undefeated professional boxer took to Instagram on Tuesday to post that The Showcase in the Skies event — as well as his bout with former sparring partner Don Moore — that was originally slated to take place this past weekend will now take place May 21 in Dubai at the Burjal Arab helipad. FITE currently has the event listed on their current schedule for this Saturday.

Bantamweight standouts Jack Shore and Ricky Simon will square off at a UFC event scheduled for July 16. Multiple people with knowledge of the promotion’s plans confirmed the matchup to MMA Fighting after a report from MMA reporter Alex Behunin. The July 16 event’s city and venue have yet to be confirmed.