One of the world’s best grapplers will continue his MMA transition next month under the ONE Championship banner.

Kade Ruotolo (1-0) will take on Ahmed Mujtaba (10-4) at lightweight at ONE 169, promotion officials told MMA Junkie. The event (Prime Video) takes place Nov. 8 at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

Ruotolo, a 21-year-old from Hawaii, is a ONE submission grappling champion and won the Craig Jones Invitational grappling tournament in August – and its $1 million prize. The renowned jiu-jitsu black belt and his twin brother, Tye, both signed deals with ONE to grapple and eventually transition to mixed martial arts.

Kade Ruotolo made that move in June at ONE 167 and submitted Blake Cooper with a first-round rear-naked choke. The finish was good enough for a $50,000 performance bonus in Bangkok.

Mujtaba, a 31-year-old from Pakistan, has fought for ONE since 2016 and is 4-4 with the promotion. Three of those four wins are stoppages. But potentially working against him is that three of his four losses are by submission.

In the main event at ONE 169, three-division champion Anatoly Malykhin will defend his heavyweight title against “Reug Reug” Oumar Kane. Two-division champ Christian Lee will defend his lightweight title against unbeaten Russian challenger Alibeg Rasulov.

LAS VEGAS – Clayton Carpenter beat Lucas Rocha with a second-round technical submission Saturday to open the preliminary card at UFC Fight Night 244 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Take a look inside the fight with Carpenter, who stayed unbeaten in his return after a 20-month layoff and called out recent flyweight title challenger Steve Erceg for his next test.

Clayton Carpenter def. Lucas Rocha

Clayton Carpenter

Result: Clayton Carpenter def. Lucas Rocha via technical submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 2:12
Updated records: Carpenter (8-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC), Rocha (17-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC)
Key stats: Carpenter has four of his past five wins by stoppage, including back-to-back rear-naked chokes.

Carpenter on the fight’s key moment

Clayton Carpenter def. Lucas Rocha, UFC Fight Night 244

“As soon as I took the back, I felt like it was pretty sunk already before it was really under his chin. It took me a second to really get my second hand involved. I was trying to choke him out with one arm. I wanted to ‘Nate Diaz’ him – I wanted to choke him out with one arm like Nate Diaz and try to get the $50K (bonus), but I was like, I’ll probably just stick to the finish.”

Carpenter on his layoff and Steve Erceg

May 4, 2024; Rio de Janeiro, RJ, BRAZIL; Alexandre Pantoja (red gloves) fights against Steve Erceg (blue gloves) during UFC 301 at Rio Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jason Silva-USA TODAY Sports

“It was the roughest sh*t ever. I mean, I could give two f*cks if people forgot about me. But for me, it was bullsh*t. It felt like the biggest c*ck block of my life: I get in here, first-round sub, win my (UFC) debut, the next thing you know, I’m out. And I was supposed to fight f*cking Stephen Erceg. I was all hyped. He was ducking me the first few times, ducking me on (Dana White’s Contender Series) and postponed our second fight (booking). It was after that postponed that I had my stuff happen to me (and I was out).”

Carpenter on what he wants next

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – OCTOBER 12: (L-R) Clayton Carpenter punches Lucas Rocha of Brazil in a flyweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on October 12, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)

“I’m going to talk to my coaches about that. I dealt with some adversity in this fight camp that I had to power through. I’m going to talk to my manager and talk with my generals and see what the best decision on that is. I am counting the days (for Erceg) … counting the days. (I) can’t wait”

To hear more from Carpenter, check out the video of the full post-fight interview above.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 244.

Julianna Pena questions Kayla Harrison’s readiness as a title challenger.

Peña (13-5 MMA, 8-3 UFC) edged out Raquel Pennington to reclaim the bantamweight title less than two weeks ago at UFC 307. Earlier that night, Harrison (18-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) defeated Ketlen Vieira to emerge as a top contender.

However, Peña insists on completing her trilogy with Amanda Nunes. The pair split their two title appearances, but Nunes retired before they could fight a third time. Harrison revealed that she was peeing blood during her weight cut for UFC 307, and will likely need some time off before her next fight.

Peña jumped at the opportunity to say Harrison is not ready for a title fight.

“The girl wants to take time off because she even knows that she can’t make the weight and that she’s not a rightful 135’er,” Peña told MMA Today. “She’s too big. She obviously can’t already make the first fight, which is making it to the octagon. She needs time off. That, to me, is already a loss.”

Peña was also not impressed with Harrison’s performance against Vieira, where she outgrappled the Brazilian, but tasted blood for the first time in her career. “The Venezuelan Vixen” is willing to fight Harrison next, but only if Nunes opts to wait.

“Secondly, there was nothing that I saw in her fight against Ketlen Vieira that was, ‘Oh, some world beater. Oh my gosh, I’m terrified: Kayla Harrison,’” Peña said. “Give me a break. She went out there three weeks early and she still gassed out. This is a five-round fight. This is 25 minutes of fighting. She can’t make championship weight like she claimed she was going to make. ‘Oh, I’m going to make 135 on the head.’ She said, ‘That wasn’t me making 136 on that last time, that was God.’ You’re going to need double the God. You have to make 135.0 on the head.

“She can’t even do that. The first fight is already lost. The second fight, she gassed out in three rounds. Come fight me for 25 minutes and you’ll see what it’s like to actually fight in championship rounds, making championship weight and fighting for the championship belt. She can’t even make it. … Kayla Harrison, get in line. I’ve got unfinished business to attend to. Everyone wants to say I dropped the ball for not calling out Kayla Harrison. Kayla Harrison just came to the party. Amanda Nunes is the big fight, the money fight, the fight that people want to see.”

Former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou returns to MMA this week for the first time in nearly three years.

Here’s how to watch the PFL: Battle of the Giants pay-per-view with lineups, fight info and much more.

Broadcast and streaming info

PFL 6 Ceremonial weigh-ins at the Overtime Elite arena in Atlanta, Georgia. Wednesday, April 27, 2022. (Matt Ferris / PFL).

The PFL: Battle of the Giants event takes place Saturday at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The prelims stream on ESPN+ at 1:30 p.m. ET. The main card airs on pay-per-view (ESPN+) at 4 p.m. ET and features three title fights at the top of the lineup.

Heavyweight superfight: Francis Ngannou vs. Renan Ferreira

PFL Super Fights: Battle of the Giants Press Conference at the The Anthem in Washington D.C., Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024. (Cooper Neill / PFL)

Francis Ngannou (17-3) is back in MMA for the first time since a decision win over Ciryl Gane in January 2022 at UFC 270, which marked his final UFC title fight. His contract expired after that and he eventually vacated the belt to leave the promotion for greener pastures in the PFL. He boxed Tyson Fury a year ago in Saudi Arabia for his debut in that sport and impressed with a split decision loss, but was knocked out by Anthony Joshua when he attempted a boxing follow-up in March.

Renan Ferreira (12-3) won PFL’s 2023 $1 million heavyweight season with a second-round knockout of Denis Goltsov this past November. He’s always a threat with his hands with 11 of his 13 wins by KO, and that was his way to a quick and easy win over Bellator heavyweight champ Ryan Bader in February. The Brazilian took out Bader in just 21 seconds.

Women’s featherweight superfight: Cris Cyborg vs. Larissa Pacheco

Larissa Pacheco, Cris Cyborg

Cris Cyborg (27-2) and her Bellator title take on Larissa Pacheco (23-4), the reigning PFL women’s featherweight winner, in a battle of Brazilians. After 15 years of being a massive favorite against nearly everyone she faced, Cyborg is a slight underdog to Pacheco, who upset Kayla Harrison to win the 2022 PFL women’s lightweight season, then won the featherweight season in 2023. Cyborg has seven straight wins since her upset loss to Amanda Nunes nearly six years ago, including a first-round knockout of Cat Zingano at Bellator 300 a year ago.

Bellator middleweight title: Johnny Eblen vs. Fabian Edwards

Johnny Eblen def. Fabian Edwards, Bellator 299

Bellator middleweight champ Johnny Eblen (15-0) will put his title on the line against Fabian Edwards (13-3) in a rematch only 13 months after their first meeting. Eblen knocked out Edwards in thee third round of their first in Dublin at Bellator 299. Since then, Edwards beat Aaron Jeffery by decision in March in a title eliminator to get another shot. Eblen beat PFL champ Impa Kasanganay in a crossover fight in February to stay unbeaten.

Other key matchups

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA – FEBRUARY 24: AJ McKee celebrates after fighting Clay Collard during the 2024 PFL vs Bellator: Champs event at Kingdom Arena on February 24, 2024 in Riyadh. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** AJ McKee

Former Bellator featherweight champion A.J. McKee (22-1) will try to stay on track at lightweight when he takes on Paul Hughes (12-1) to open the main card. McKee is 4-0 since he moved to 155 pounds, and after three straight decisions got a 70-second armbar submission of Clay Collard in Saudi Arabia in February. Former Cage Warriors featherweight champ Hughes has six straight wins, including three straight by knockout.

Ex-Bellator bantamweight champ Raufeon Stots (20-2) returns to take on Marcos Breno (15-3) on the prelims. After he lost the 135-pound title to Patchy Mix in April 2023, Stots rebounded 11 months ago with a second win over rival Danny Sabatello. Breno’s most recent fight came against Sabatello, as well – but it was a second-round submission loss at Bellator 294, which snapped a modest three-fight winning streak.

Full fight card

MAIN CARD (DAZN pay-per-view, 4 p.m. ET)

• Francis Ngannou vs. Renan Ferreira – for heavyweight superfight title
• Cris Cyborg vs. Larissa Pacheco – for women’s featherweight superfight title
• Champ Johnny Eblen vs. Fabian Edwards – for Bellator middleweight title
• Husein Kadimagomaev vs. Zafar Mohsen
• A.J. McKee vs. Paul Hughes

PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 1:30 p.m. ET)

• Marcos Breno vs. Raufeon Stots
• Dedrek Sanders vs. Makkasharip Zaynukov
• Nacho Campos vs. Ibragim Ibragimov
• Mostafa Nada vs. Ahmed Sami
• Youssef Al Housani vs. Taha Bendaoud

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for PFL: Battle of the Giants.

LAS VEGAS – Julia Polastri beat Cory McKenna with a split decision Saturday on the preliminary card at UFC Fight Night 244 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Take a look inside the fight with Polastri, who picked up her first UFC win after a loss in her promotional debut in June.

Julia Polastri def. Cory McKenna

Julia Polastri

Result: Julia Polastri def. Cory McKenna via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)
Updated records: Polastri (13-4 MMA, 1-1 UFC), McKenna (8-4 MMA, 3-3 UFC)
Key stats: Polastri outstruck McKenna 142-98 and more than doubled up on her in significant strikes. She also stuffed five of McKenna’s six takedown attempts.

Polastri on the fight’s key moment

Julia Polastri def. Cory McKenna, UFC Fight Night 244 1

“I knew she was still grappling with me. When she grappled with me, I was stronger than her and I saw that I frustrated her. That was the strategy and I think that I did the game plan right. But she surprised me because I didn’t know that she was so tough. She’s very tough, but it’s cool because we could bring a good fight for you.”

Polastri on the split decision

“I was really confident because I saw that I took control of all the fight, but it surprised me. But OK – the win came. That’s what matters.”

Polastri on what she wants next

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – OCTOBER 12: (R-L) Julia Polastri of Brazil punches Cory McKenna of Wales in a strawweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on October 12, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)

Advertisement

“I’d really like to fight again this year. If we can do it at the last card of the year, it will be awesome because my camp (can start) in November and until the last card, we have eight weeks. I jumped in this fight with three weeks’ (notice), so if I have eight weeks, I can do a lot more and it will be awesome to do another fight this year.

“I think for now, I need to put my feet on the ground. I’d really like to fight again (this year), but I don’t have a name specifically. I really like to be prepared for anybody that they bring me. I know I’m just beginning, but I I have a lot of potential to show and I’d really like to catch a fight with my camp complete. Anybody that they bring to me, I’m going to be happy to fight.”

To hear more from Polastri, check out the video of the full post-fight interview above.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 244.