Former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida has booked his second trip to the Bellator cage. He’ll face Chael Sonnen when Bellator returns to Madison Square Garden in New York City on June 14. 

Bellator officials confirmed the news to MMAWeekly.com following an initial report by ESPN.

Machida (25-8) made the move from the UFC to Bellator in 2018 despite winning his final two bouts in the Octagon opposite Eryk Anders and Vitor Belfort. He made his promotional debut at Bellator 213 in Hawaii in December, where he took a split-decision nod over former Bellator middleweight champion Rafael Carvalho.

Machida will attempt to keep his streak alive when he faces Sonnen (31-16-1) in a light heavyweight bout.

Sonnen has been fighting his own personal version of Belfort’s proposed Legends League under the Bellator banner. Sonnen made his promotional debut by losing to Tito Ortiz before going on to win bouts against Wanderlei Silva and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. 

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Sonnen’s last trip to the cage was a loss to Fedor Emelianenko in the semi-final round of the Bellator Heavyweight Grand Prix in October of 2018. 

No other bouts have been announced for Bellator’s return to Madison Square Garden at the time of publication.

Article source: https://www.mmaweekly.com/lyoto-machida-fight-chael-sonnen-bellator-madison-square-garden-new-york

Following a highly successful amateur career, bantamweight Mitch Raposo is set to make his pro debut.

As Raposo puts it, following an undefeated run in the amateurs that culminated in two championships, there was nowhere left for him to go but turn pro.

“I was a Cage Titans and AMMO Fight League amateur champion I went 6-0,” Raposo told MMAWeekly.com. “(I had) really good performances; some people thought it was great, but I hold myself up to really high standards.

“I spent my whole amateur career fighting the best there was, and once there was nobody left to fight or people were turning down fights, I had to turn pro. I have like 30 to 35 rounds of experience under my belt, which is a crazy amount of experience at 20 years old.”

Experience aside, Raposo feels that his maturation physically was the biggest thing that he’ll be bringing with him to the pro ranks that he picked up during his amateur run.

“I’ve put on at least 15lbs since my amateur debut, and I feel like more of an adult right now,” said Raposo. “My killer instinct, my power, I got all that experience out of the way. Moving up a weight class and letting my body fill up, I feel the best I’ve ever felt.

“I feel like people will see the same skillset that I’ve always done, but they’ll see a more violent version of myself. The only questions anybody had was about my finishing ability, but after (my pro debut) nobody is going to have anything to say about that.”

On Saturday in Plymouth, Mass., Raposo (0-0) will make his pro debut against Rob Fuller (0-3) in a Cage Titans 43 main card bantamweight bout.

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“He’s kind of a brawler,” Raposo said of Fuller. “He throws bombs.

“I don’t think he’s really bigger than me. I think we weigh the same. He’s a little taller than me and might have the reach, but I think with my speed and footwork on the feet I think I’ll drop him and put him away. If he runs at me like he does other people I’m going to take him down and pound him out.”

When it comes to 2019, Raposo looks to build a solid foundation during his first year as a pro, and set up for big moves either by year’s end or in 2020.

“It’s always fight by fight, but I am a very motivated kid and I’m always in the gym, so I’d like to finish the year at 4-0,” said Raposo. “By the summer of 2020, if I’m not in the UFC already, I don’t see how I’m not on Dana White’s Contender Series.

“That’s the goal for me: get to 4 or 5-0, get on Dana White’s Contender Series, and get into the UFC in 2020.”

Article source: https://www.mmaweekly.com/mitch-raposo-heads-into-cage-titans-43-targeting-dana-white-contender-series

The UFC’s return to Russia has a new main event after Aleksei Oleinik was tapped to replace Alexander Volkov in the headline fight against Alistair Overeem on April 20 in Saint Petersburg.

Sources close to the contest confirmed the news on Wednesday following an initial report from ESPN.

There’s no word on what happened to Volkov but it appears he was pulled from the card and the UFC sought out a replacement to face Overeem in the main event.

Oleinik steps into the fight with a 4-1 record in his past five fights including submission victories over Mark Hunt, Junior Albini and Travis Browne.

The crafty ground specialist has quietly been creeping up the rankings in the heavyweight division and now he’ll face a former title contender in Overeem when they clash on April 20.

Overeem comes into the fight off a TKO victory in his last performance against Sergey Pavlovich in his UFC debut.

Overeem vs. Oleinik will now headline the second UFC card from Russia and first event held in Saint Petersberg.  

Article source: https://www.mmaweekly.com/aleksei-oleinik-replaces-alexander-volkov-meets-alistair-overeem-in-ufc-russia-main-event

(Courtesy of UFC)

Kelvin Gastelum defeated the former middleweight champion Michael Bisping with a Performance of the Night at Fight Night Shanghai in 2017. Next, he faces Israel Adesanya for the interim middleweight title at UFC 236 on April 13.

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Tune in Saturday, April 13, for UFC 236 full live results, where Max Holloway and Dustin Poirier battle for the next shot at UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. In the UFC 236 co-main event, Kelvin Gastelum and Israel Adesanya fight for the interim middleweight belt and a shot at champion Robert Whittaker.

Article source: https://www.mmaweekly.com/watch-kelvin-gastelum-retire-michael-bisping-ufc-236-free-fight

(Courtesy of Bellator MMA)

Bellator MMA held a press conference in London on Tuesday featuring the stars of Bellator 222: Mousasi vs. Lovato. Bellator made several announcements and the stars of Bellator 222 fielded questions ahead of the event that takes place at SSE Arena on May 11.

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Middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi puts his title on the line against undefeated Rafael Lovato Jr. in the Bellator 222 main event.

Article source: https://www.mmaweekly.com/bellator-unleashes-several-announcements-at-mousasi-vs-lovato-london-press-conference