The Ultimate Fighting Championship came to the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio tonight for UFC Fight Night 40: “Brown vs Silva.” The event was headlined by a five-round welterweight matchup between local favourite Matt “The Immortal” Brown and Brazilian standout Erick “Índio” Silva.
In tonight’s co-main event, Costas Philippou battled Lorenz “The Monsoon” Larkin in a pivotal middleweight showdown. Erik “New Breed” Koch took on Daron “The Detroit Superstar” Cruickshank and Neil Magny faced Tim “The Dirty Bird” Means. MMARising.com has live play-by-play for the card.
Three days after she celebrates her 16th birthday, highly-touted prospect Yukari Yamaguchi will make her professional kickboxing debut at J-Girls: “The Shining Wild Angels 2nd” on June 22nd in Tokyo, Japan. Yamaguchi faces veteran Megumi Igawa in a 105-pound mini flyweight bout on the card.
Mere weeks after winning her long-awaited pro debut, 15-year-old “Muay Thai Genius” Saya Ito returns to the ring on May 18th at Tenkaichi 71 in Koza, Okinawa, Japan. Ito is set to face off against former J-Girls Mini Flyweight Champion Haru “Taj Mahal” Tajima in a three-round bout.
TUF 18 semi-finalist Sarah “Cheesecake” Moras is set to make her official UFC debut on July 6th at The Ultimate Fighter 19 Finale in Las Vegas, Nevada. Moras faces off against unbeaten Octagon newcomer Alexis “Sneaky Zebra” Dufresne in a featured bantamweight bout on the card.
Fresh off of her win over Jessamyn “The Gun” Duke, Bethe “Pitbull” Correia faces another member of the Four Horsewomen stable on August 2nd at UFC 176: “Aldo vs Mendes 2” in Los Angeles, California. Correia battles veteran submission specialist Shayna “The Queen of Spades” Baszler.
CFA Women’s Featherweight Champion Ashlee Evans-Smith is set to make her World Series of Fighting debut on June 21st at WSOF 10: “Branch vs Taylor” in Las Vegas, Nevada. Evans-Smith takes on Invicta FC veteran Marciea “Black Widow” Allen in a featured bantamweight bout on the card.
UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon “Bones” Jones retained his belt with a five-round Unanimous Decision win on April 26th at UFC 172 in Baltimore, Maryland. Jones earned his 11th straight victory by defeating top contender Glover Teixeira and he remains on top of the light heavyweight rankings.
Multi-time Muay Thai world champ Germaine “The Iron Lady” de Randamie steps back into the UFC Octagon on June 14th at UFC 174: “Johnson vs Bagautinov” in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The Dutch striking sensation faces Russian standout Milana Dudieva in a bantamweight bout.