Esther Lin, MMA Fighting Tito Ortiz’s win over Alberto “El Patron” has been wiped off the books for now. The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) has overturned Ortiz’s victory against the former WWE superstar to a no decision following their fight this past December in Hidalgo, Texas. According to the official results page published by the TDLR lists the fight as a “no decision” after Ortiz originally wrapped up a first round rear naked choke to beat “El Patron” in the first ever Combate Americas pay-per-view. The news was first reported by MMAJunkie. Combate Americas officials confirmed to MMA Fighting that the fight was overturned to a no-decision, but even the promotion doesn’t have any further details regarding why the

Bryce Mitchell (pictured) is in talks to fight Charles Rosa in a featherweight bout at UFC Oklahoma City on May 2 | Esther Lin, MMA Fighting “Thug Nasty” could be seeing “Boston Strong” in the cage soon. MMA Fighting confirmed with sources that Bryce Mitchell (12-0) and Charles Rosa (12-3) are in talks to meet in a featherweight bout at the UFC’s upcoming Fight Night show in Oklahoma City, Okla., at Chesapeake Energy Arena on May 2. The matchup was first reported by BJPenn.com. Mitchell, 25, is 3-0 since signing with the UFC off of The Ultimate Fighter 27. In his most recent fight at UFC on ESPN 7, he authored one of the best submissions of 2019, a first-round twister of

Esther Lin, MMA Fighting A would-be physician with business ties to several MMA stars faces serious charges after being indicted over a fraud and money laundering scheme that allegedly sought to defraud Medicare of over $120 million. The United States Department of Justice released a statement Wednesday announcing that Francisco Patino, 65, of Wayne County, Mich., has been charged in a superseding indictment with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and one count of money laundering. An initial indictment saw Patino charged with two counts of health care fraud and one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and pay and receive health care kickbacks. Patino

Stephen A. Smith | Quinn Harris-USA TODAY Sports He might be new to MMA, but Stephen A. Smith doesn’t want to hear any criticism of his criticism. The ESPN pundit appeared on Sirius XM’s Ak & Barak show to discuss his harsh assessment of Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, which made the rounds after Smith said he was “disgusted” by Cerrone’s 40-second loss to Conor McGregor at UFC 246. MMA personalities ranging from McGregor to Joe Rogan to UFC president Dana White himself have rebutted Smith’s opinion, but the hot take artist has defended and qualified his statements and he did so again, citing his inexperience with covering cagefighting as a reason for his approach. “Fellas, I’m learning the sport,” Smith said. “Muay Thai,

Khabib Nurmagomedov | Esther Lin, MMA Fighting Khabib Nurmagomedov is well aware of the ups and downs of the Conor McGregor experience. Hardly a week goes by where a second meeting between the two stars is not mentioned in some capacity, which is understandable given their lengthy and personal feud, Nurmagomedov’s fourth-round submission victory in their first fight at UFC 229, and the immediate chaos that ensued afterwards. For his part, the UFC lightweight champion has mostly moved on from a rematch, at least until McGregor builds his resume back up to levels that he deems acceptable. McGregor’s 40-second destruction of Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone this past January did not do the trick, according to Nurmagomedov. “Cowboy always lose all his main event

Thiago Santos lost a split decision against UFC light heavyweight king Jon Jones in July 2019. | Esther Lin, MMA Fighting Thiago Santos had fans clamoring for a rematch with Jon Jones after beating him on the scorecard of one judge at UFC 239. But a lot of things have changed since his double knee surgery. Nine months after Santos’ impressive showing this past July, Jan Blachowicz has inserted himself in the light heavyweight title picture with a first-round knockout against Corey Anderson at UFC Rio Rancho. And Dominick Reyes is also in the running after going the distance with Jones in a close, hotly disputed decision loss to Jones at UFC 247. Santos is “almost 100 percent certain” he’ll

Guilherme Cruz, MMA Fighting When Henry Cejudo won the vacant 135-pound title last June with a TKO win over Marlon Moraes at UFC 238, he became only the fourth champ-champ in UFC history. The win also immediately raised questions from fans about how he would defend both titles. Well, so far, the answer has been he won’t defend either. Cejudo was stripped of his flyweight title late last year, and eight months later, he has yet to defend his bantamweight belt. Furthermore, Cejudo seems dead set on fighting anyone other than the top-ranked bantamweight contenders, calling for fights with Alexander Volkanovski, Jose Aldo, and even Valentina Shevchenko in lieu of title defenses against the Petr Yans and Aljamain Sterlings

Esther Lin, MMA Fighting Veteran referee Marc Goddard chose to keep quiet when former UFC interim champ Colby Covington attacked him, even after two weeks’ worth of “incalculable” abuse from the public. Goddard said Covington’s response to his performance in the UFC 245 title fight against champ Kamaru Usman was “totally and utterly inappropriate, abusive,” and “threatening.” As a result, he said, he received death threats and accusations he had a financial interest in the bout. But he resisted the impulse to respond, reasoning the damage to his career as an official would be greater than the satisfaction of defending himself. ”Imagine if an official had done that,” he said. “That’s 20 years of my life down the drain.

Brazilian bantamweight Vanessa Melo is once again stepping in as a replacement in the UFC. | Jason Da Silva-USA TODAY Sports Vanessa Melo is once again replacing Duda Santana in the UFC, this time against Sarah Alpar at UFC Oklahoma City on May 2. Both fighters confirmed the change on social media following a report by Combate. Melo (10-7), who replaced Santana the first time in November, taking on Tracy Cortez in Sao Paulo, still looks for her first win in the Octagon after losing a pair of decisions in 2019. Melo also stepped in as a replacement in her debut, when she supplanted Marion Reneau against Irene Aldana last September. The Brazilian beat five opponents in 10 months to earn

Dolly Clew, Cage Warriors Ever since Thursday’s announcement that the promotion would return to Dublin on Aug. 15, conversations regarding who will be the next Irish fighter signed to the UFC have ramped up significantly. Last week, it was announced that top prospect Ross Houston had vacated the Cage Warriors title after being released from the organization. Later the same day, it was revealed that Northern Ireland’s Rhys McKee would fight for Cage Warriors gold when the promotion docks in Belfast on May 16. Given the well trodden path between Cage Warriors and champions in Europe, McKee has long been considered the next fighter from the island to sign for the world’s flagship promotion, and Cage Warriors president Graham