Matias vs. Ponce Preview

The vacant IBF junior welterweight title will be up for grabs Saturday February 25th in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Devastating power puncher Subriel Matias will battle former IBO champion Jeremias Ponce.

Matias (18-1, 18 KO) avenged the only loss of his career in his last fight against Petros Ananyan where he won by ninth round TKO. The Puerto Rican fighter is mostly well known for his victory over Maxim Dadashev back in 2019 where he won by 11th round TKO. After the match Dadashev tragically died due to injuries sustained during the fight.

Despite the tragedy, Matias was able to move on from the incident due to his own personal suffering after being involved in two separate shootings. “You are talking to a dead man who God has brought back to life,” Matias expressed in an interview with ESPN in 2020.

Now that he has moved on, Matias is ready to prove he is a champion. “[This fight] is the most important of my career because it is my first [world] title [fight],” Matias said. “The fight will last for as long as it lasts. I think that the styles lend themselves to the knockout before the last bell.”

“Training has been great but the real answer is on fight night.”

The 30-year-old explained that he is ready for a battle with Ponce. “Anything could happen, but I'm confident in my abilities,” said Matias. “I know what I can do, but I'm ready to fight one or 12 rounds, regardless of what happens.”

Ponce (30-0, 20 KO) is coming off a third round TKO over Achiko Odikadze in April. He won the vacant IBO junior welterweight title in 2019 over Rico Mueller but never defended the belt. He will be making his first appearance in the United States against Matias.

Matias is known for his punching power but Ponce believes he has what it takes to finish the fight. “I do agree that the fight isn't gonna reach the final bell,” said Ponce. “It's gonna end by a knockout. But you know what I think the most? I'm gonna be the winner by knockout.”

The Argentinian fighter respects what his opponent will bring to the ring on. Saturday. “Subriel is a great fighter,” Ponce said. “Someone that always comes out swinging, ready to fight, has a lot of heart. I really admire that from him.”

Ponce went on to explain, “It’s gonna be a high-voltage affair,” Ponce said. “The fans are gonna love it. I expect both of us to come out there, you know, with our heads up high, trying to be aggressive, and everyone’s gonna love what they see.”

The three-bout main card can be seen on Showtime at 9 p.m. ET

UFC Vegas 70 Preview (Krylov vs. Spann)

UFC Vegas 70 is taking place Saturday, February 25th at the Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event will be headlined by a light heavyweight fight between hopeful contenders #6 Nikita Krylov and #8 Ryan Spann.

Krylov is on a two-fight winning streak which is the rebound he has been looking for after going 2-4 in his previous six fights. He most recently defeated former title challenger Volkan Oezdemir at UFC 280 in October. A third win in a row will get him a high-profile top five fight in a division that is chaotic at the top of the rankings.

It is hard to believe that Krylov is still only 30 years old considering he made his debut in the UFC at heavyweight back in 2013. The Russian fighter now finds himself in his first main event. How does he feel?

“It’s a big deal for me,” Krylov said. “It’s the first main event for me. I feel myself great. I’ve had a great camp, good acclimatization, and now I just wait for Saturday.”

Krylov believes he is being taken seriously as a contender now. “It means that I’m progressing, that I’m moving forward, and I’m not just staying in one place,” Krylov explained. “It means the organization is seeing what I’m doing and believes in me and trust me to main event in such an important organization, so I think it’s great. I feel great about it.”

Despite wanting a fight with a top five fighter, Krylov believes a main event with Spann was necessary. “I want fights with guys who are higher than me in the rankings because I want contender fights, but when my manager sent me, ‘I have main event for Ryan Spann,’ that’s first for me, so listen it’s a main event, so it’s good,” Krylov said. “That’s why Spann is Ok. He’s a tough guy, interesting fight.”

Aside from Oezdemir, Krylov has key victories in his career over Alexander Gustafsson, Johnny Walker, Ovince Saint Preux, Fabio Maldonado, Ed Herman and Walt Harris. A victory over Spann represents Krylov’s arrival into the title conversation.

Spann is 3-2 in his last five fights but is on a two-fight winning streak, having most recently defeated former title challenger Dominick Reyes with an impressive first round KO at UFC 281 in November. The 31-year-old is ready to fight his fight against Krylov.

“I don’t know his style,” Spann said. “I don’t know what he’s going to do, I don’t care what he’s going to try to do. I just know that if I have fun, and be calm, I’ll see everything.”

At UFC 282 the light heavyweight title changed hands, but not without chaos first. Spann revealed he was considered to step in on short notice to fight for the title or a #1 contender fight. The title fight was eventually given to former champion Jan Blachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev.

“I was going to fight, I want to say, Jan at first,” said Spann. “Then from there I was going to fight for the No. 1 guaranteed, and then fight the winner for, at the time, was an interim belt. So, Magomed and Glover were going to fight for the interim, and then I was going to fight for No. 1, because they already knew that homie was going to be out for a while.”

Blachowicz and Anakalaev fought to a draw leaving the title up for grabs and it was claimed at UFC 283 by Jamahal Hill. Spann believes he will be fighting for that title and then his teammate Kennedy Nzechukwu will take over.

“My plan is to get the belt, then I’ll leave it for Kennedy,” Spann said. “When Kennedy’s ready, I’ll either go up, or I’ll be done.”

The rest of the main card:

Middleweight - #11 André Muniz vs. Brendan Allen

Heavyweight - Augusto Sakai vs. Don'Tale Mayes

Women's Flyweight - Tatiana Suarez vs. Montana De La Rosa

Welterweight - Mike Malott vs. Yohan Lainesse

ESPN + Prelims:

Women's Flyweight - Jasmine Jasudavicius vs. Gabriella Fernandes

Lightweight - Jordan Leavitt vs. Victor Martinez

Lightweight - Joe Solecki vs. Carl Deaton III

Catchweight (130 lb) - Ode' Osbourne vs. Charles Johnson

Lightweight - Rafael Alves vs. Nurollo Aliev

Women's Bantamweight - Hailey Cowan vs. Ailin Perez

Bantamweight - Garrett Armfield vs. José Johnson

Lightweight - Erick Gonzalez vs. Trevor Peek

Wood vs. Lara Preview

Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham, England will host a dynamic title fight in the featherweight division on Saturday February 18th. Leigh Wood will defend his WBA title against hungry challenger Mauricio Lara.

Wood (26-2, 16 KO) has won three straight fights and successfully defended the title in his last fight with a 12th round TKO of Michael Conlan, in one of the best fights of 2022. The English fighter has had to prove his durability and heart in his last two fights and the fight on Saturday will be no different.

The champion would like to change the narrative that he is a late finisher against Lara.  "Believe it or not I don't come out saying, 'Leave it for the 12th', but a lot of people think I do," Wood said. "I did say before the Reece Mould [in February 2021] fight that I was probably going to knock him out in Round 9, which I did.

"Before the Can Xu fight I said accumulation would get him in the end, I would keep chipping away and I'm a big puncher. Accumulation is what did it in the end."

Wood was behind on the scorecards in his last fight but put on one of the most impressive performances in the 11th and 12th rounds in recent memory. "In the Michael Conlan fight, it was more about pushing the pace, making him work more than he likes to work because he wastes a lot of energy trying to slip and roll with every single shot, being inefficient, and I said I would get him in the championship rounds. I even said that if I hadn't have knocked him out by round 12, I would knock him out in round 12 because I believed that rounds 10, 11 and 12 were my rounds to win the fight.

"When I set out I wanted to leave a legacy, a history, and to win fight of the year and be the victor was special. Credit to Michael as well."

Lara has recently made comments about Wood pulling out of their original date back in September. Wood now has extra motivation heading in to the fight on Saturday. “[Mauricio Lara] claimed I faked my injury; he said all Englishmen are running away from him and we’re all chickens,” Wood said. “They’re big statements to make and gives it a little bit of needle and helps me push that little bit harder, when you push out them reps, a little bit harder, a little bit faster. I’ve got the bit between my teeth; he’s made it a little bite more personal.”

Wood is not overlooking Lara and sees the fight as his toughest challenge to date. When asked if Lara will be his toughest fight, “Possibly, I’m definitely treating him like he is,” explained Wood. “Styles make fights. Is this the hardest style match up for me? No. But on paper it’s the biggest test. He’s very dangerous, he’s a big puncher, unpredictable.

“His confidence is still high. I think he’ll be coming here with the belief that he can win so it’s my job to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

The champion went on to detail what he sees in Lara after studying his fights. “He’s very good at countering certain shots, he punches very hard,” he explained. “But if you starve him of success, he’ll get reckless and force it.

“There’s many weaknesses, sometimes with fighters their biggest asset is their biggest weakness and that’s probably the case with Mauricio Lara. He punches very hard but at what cost? He gases himself out looking for the big shots that sometimes aren’t there. His feet sometimes aren’t set to throw but he’ll still throw. There are few more vulnerabilities that I’m going to explore that I don’t want to say.”

Wood is looking forward to fighting in front of his home fanbase. “I’ve got a massive fan base in Nottingham, a lot of it is Nottingham Forest [Football club], I’ve been going since I was very young,” he said. “To make sure [the fans] reap the benefits my career and where I’ve got to enjoy of those big nights is important.

“I was at Carl Froch fights when he started filling out the arena and to now go do it myself and keep the boxing buzz alive in the city and keep churning out champions it inspires the next generation. That’s probably one of the most important things about these nights.”

Lara (25-2-1, 18 KO) is 14-0-1 in his last 15 fights and has not lost since 2018. He most recently defeated Jose Sanmartin by third round TKO in October giving him his second straight win after suffering a draw in high profile rematch with former champion Josh Warrington.

The 24-year-old believes Wood is still feeling the effects of his battle with Conlan nearly a year ago. “It was a tough fight, we know that he’s damaged coming into this fight, but he’s coming to defend his title and that’s what I want,” Lara said.

The Mexican fighter went on to say, “I’m grateful to him for taking this fight. We know nobody wants to face me at 126 lbs. for a world title but this one will happen, and we know what we are capable of doing.

“We know it’s a big fight. We know it’s the acid test. We know Leigh Wood is a great champion but I have big aspirations and a great desire to become world champion and as I’ve said, whatever it takes, I have to do it this time.”

Lara concluded, “We know he’s a great fighter but it’s going to be a really tough fight for him. We know how we’re preparing, we’ve caused an upset before in his country and it will be the same on February 18th.

“Believe me, if he switches off, the fight will be over quickly. It won’t go beyond the fifth.”

The main card can be seen on DAZN

UFC Vegas 69 Preview (Andrade vs. Blanchfield)

The UFC is heading back to the Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday February 18th for UFC Vegas 69. The main event will be a fight in the women’s flyweight division with major title implications. Former strawweight champion and #3 ranked flyweight Jessica Andrade will take on rising contender #10 Erin Blanchfield.

Andrade will be stepping into the fight on short notice for Taila Santos. She has won three straight fights since unsuccessfully challenging for the flyweight title at UFC 261. She most recently defeated former title challenger Lauren Murphy by unanimous decision at UFC 283 in January. The Brazilian is 4-3 since becoming a champion in 2019, but a fourth straight win could be the streak she needs to challenge for the third title of her career. The big question is which division will she earn the title shot in, should she win on Saturday?

While she is moving back up to Flyweight for this fight, Andrade plans to win back the strawweight title she once held. “I’ve said this to everyone, all year long, that want to remain a strawweight,” Andrade said. “I set my goals and that’s where I want to stay. I think that coming off four straight victories, I’m actually closer to facing (Zhang) Weili.”

Andrade continued, “And on that subject, I went to China to face Weili. I went in there, I went to her. We can fight in Las Vegas, that be great, or anywhere in the United States, but this is second nature to her. She’s spent her time at the PI, she’s done camps here, so I want to take her out to Brazil because I went to China to face her. I want to move her out of her comfort zone. I went to her, so why not do it for me? But I want to stay at strawweight, I’ve said it all along. Again, four straight wins and coming off against a prospect, I think I will be considered over here for a really clear shot at Weili.”

Aside from Murphy, Andrade has key victories in her career over Amanda Lemos, Cynthia Calvillo, Katlyn Chookagian, Rose Namajunas, Karolina Kowalkiewicz, Tecia Torres and Claudia Gadelha. The 31-year-old has proven to have tremendous power at both strawweight and flyweight. If she can finish Blanchfield in spectacular fashion she could make the case for a title shot in both weight classes. In addition to being ranked third at flyweight, she is also ranked sixth in the strawweight division.

Blanchfield is 4-0 in the UFC and her lone loss came back in 2019. She most recently defeated Molly McCann by first round submission at UFC 281 in November. The 23-year-old is now looking at the biggest fight of her life and a giant step-up in challenge in Andrade.

Despite having a short notice opponent of such high caliber, Blanchfield is not worried. “Everybody’s tough, so I don’t really care. I was just happy to get a fight,” Blanchfield said. “… I know a lot of people have been saying that, I guess because Andrade has a lot of experience in the UFC. She has a lot more fights than me or Taila. I think that’s the only reason why. She’s super tough. She’s different than Taila. But I don’t think it’s necessarily a bigger fight skill-wise. I think it might be bigger for people that know Andrade.”

Blanchfield understands the differences that Andrade will bring to the cage. “I think they’re different body types, a little bit different styles,” Blanchfield said. “It’s just adjusting to that. Andrade has to adjust to me, too. Andrade just fought and she didn’t know she was fighting me until a week ago. We both have to make a little bit of adjustments so I think we’re on an even playing field with that.”

The Rest of the Main Card:

Light Heavyweight - Jordan Wright vs. Zac Pauga

Heavyweight - Josh Parisian vs. Jamal Pogues

Light Heavyweight - William Knight vs. Marcin Prachnio

Lightweight - Jim Miller vs. Alexander Hernandez

ESPN + Prelims:

Lightweight - Nazim Sadykhov vs. Evan Elder

Women's Bantamweight - Lina Länsberg vs. Mayra Bueno Silva

Featherweight - Jamall Emmers vs. Khusein Askhabov

Light Heavyweight - Ovince Saint Preux vs. Philipe Lins

Welterweight - A.J. Fletcher vs. Themba Gorimbo

Flyweight - Clayton Carpenter vs. Juancamilo Ronderos

UFC 284 Preview (Volkanovski vs. Makhachev)

The UFC will be invading the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia on Saturday, February 11th for UFC 284. The event will feature two title fights with the main event seeing a battle for the lightweight title between champion Islam Makhachev against featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski.

Makhachev won the title in his last fight at UFC 280 in October. He won via a second-round submission over Charles Oliveira to give him his 11th straight victory, and his first title. The newly crowned lightweight champion is on the second longest current winning streak in the UFC behind his opponent Volkanovski. The two will settle the debate on Saturday to see who the pound for pound greatest fighter in the world really is.

The Russian fighter has spoken out more about his thoughts on the UFC, Dana White, and the promotion of the fight more so than his opponent. “I see that it is not such big promotion,” Makhachev said. “Dana White himself has some problems. He does not pay much attention to this fight. Here in Perth, everyone knows about the fight and is looking forward to it. And in terms of pay-per-view, yes, more could have been done. I only saw Volkanovski once, in Sydney. A tour could be organized around the world. A (news) conference could be held in America.”

Despite his thoughts about the promotion of the fight, the champion has plans on making a statement the night he defends the title. “Honestly, I want to knock him out, because everybody says [that] Islam a grappler or wrestler, but I want to show people my striking,” Makhachev said. “He is a short guy, and I really believe I can knock him out.”

The champion goes on to address his opponent’s confidence heading into the fight. “This is not his area,” Makhachev said. “I’m from other division. This is not the same power. It’s not the same, and he’s going to understand this, but he wants to try because he’s not losing. If he loses, what is he going to lose? Just belt with him, but he wants to try to jump and make some good money, make some pay-per-view money, but this is not his area.”

As far as who Makhachev wants to fight next? “Honestly, I want to fight [Beneil] Dariush. I hope he wins his next fight. Because he has a good win streak. It’s gonna be a big match,” he said.

There have been talks about Makhachev moving up to welterweight after several title defenses, but despite the size difference he will have his hands full with Volkanovski. His Australian opponent will have the advantage of fighting in his home country as the underdog which will most certainly create a frenzied Australian crowd.

Volkanovski has only fought at lightweight in the UFC once and that was in his debut back in 2016. He is currently on a 22-fight winning streak with 12 of those wins coming in the UFC. He has not lost a fight since 2013. As a featherweight champion he has defended the belt four times and now has the chance to become the UFC’s fifth two-weight world champion in history.

The Australian native believes he is being overlooked heading into this fight. "Everyone is saying that [this fight] 'it's different, it's different,' but I'm different," Volkanovski told ESPN. "People are going to say this and say that, he's a great fighter and I give him a lot of props. But I'm not just your ordinary fighter that is going to do what everyone else does, I do things differently, I prepare differently and that's going to be the difference, people are really going to see that fight time anyway.”

Volkanovski went on to say, "Again, we know he is a great wrestler and all that type of stuff, but we've shown that I've got that dog in me, that never-give-up attitude and all that type of stuff. Right now preparations have been good, we've been getting stuck into it, preparing [a long while] for exactly what we know he is going to want to do.

"So it is reasonably easy to prepare for, it's hard work, but game-planning and all that type of stuff has been reasonably easy. But that just adds to that whole story, people forgetting that [escapes against Ortega], forgetting who I am and what I've accomplished, and putting him where he is, that just makes my win even bigger. That's what I love about it."

Since his last fight, a unanimous decision victory over featherweight great Max Holloway, Volkanovski has largely been considered the pound for pound best fighter in the world. He has a chance to prove he is not only the pound for pound great, but one of the best fighters in UFC history at any weight class. He will be fighting in front of his fans in a risk-free fight where he is chasing a second belt. Will the Australian fans be an advantage or detriment to the 34-year-old? His last fight in Australia was a second round TKO victory over Jeremy Kennedy at UFC 221 in 2016.

The co-main event of the evening will be for the interim featherweight title between #2 Yair Rodriguez and #5 Josh Emmett.

Rodriguez is coming off a first round TKO over former title challenger Brian Ortega, who suffered a shoulder injury leaving him unable to fight in the second round. The Mexican fighter is 3-1-1 in his last five fights but now has the chance to solidify a shot at the featherweight title, which many critics have predicted since his young debut back in 2014.

The 30-year-old is confident he will finish the fight on Saturday. “Josh Emmett is explosive, aggressive, strong, but I think I have better tools. If I can use my abilities as I normally do, I visualize myself getting a knockout,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez has three of the most memorable knockouts in featherweight history, so the ability to finish Emmett will be present. He continued, “It’s been a successful career, it’s been a great journey. I’m always going to keep on pushing forward to become a champion.”

Aside from Ortega, Rodriguez has key victories over Jeremy Stephens, Chan Sung Jung, B.J. Penn, Alex Caceres and Dan Hooker. A win on Saturday will be the biggest of his career and depending on the result of the main event, could lead to a fantastic featherweight showdown this Summer.

Emmett is riding a five-fight winning streak having most recently the defeated Calvin Kattar by split decision last June. The 37-year-old has only lost twice in his career, both in the UFC and overall he is 18-2 and 9-2 in the UFC.

The Phoenix native acknowledges that he is fighting for a title on Saturday, but has bigger plans should he win. “I’m not going to throw it on the ground, but in my eyes, there’s only one featherweight champion, and that’s Alexander Volkanovski,” Emmett said. “So, this is more like a No. 1 contender belt. It also gives me feedback on how good I am and leads me in the right direction to where I want to go. But, I have to get through Yair first in order to do so. So, I’m solely focused on him at the moment.”

Emmett is aware of Rodriguez’s capabilities, but believes he will be the better prepared fighter on Saturday.  “He’s a great fighter,” Emmett said. “He’s ranked No. 2 for a reason. He’s one of the best in the world also. I focus on myself and even though I have training partners that can’t emulate who I’m fighting to the T because everyone’s unique in their own. And he is so dynamic, and elusive, and explosive, and crafty – you don’t know what he’s going to throw at you.

“But I’ve watched so much film on him. … I’ve prepared to the best of my ability and I’m just going to go in there and execute my gameplan, and capitalize on things that I don’t think he’ll be able to correct in that 10-week camp, and I’m going to beat him to the punch.”

Aside from Kattar, Emmett has key victories over Dan Ige, Shane Burgos, Mirsad Bektic, Michael Johnson and Ricardo Lamas. Just like Rodriguez, a victory for the interim belt would be the biggest of his career and would set him up for a blockbuster fight with Volkanovski. Both Emmett and Rodriguez can limit the amount of the time either would have to wait for a title shot with a devastating finish over one or the other on Saturday.

The rest of the main card:

Welterweight - Jack Della Maddalena vs. Randy Brown

Heavyweight - Justin Tafa vs. Parker Porter

Light Heavyweight - #12 Jimmy Crute vs. Alonzo Menifield

ESPN + Prelims:

Light Heavyweight - Tyson Pedro vs. Modestas Bukauskas

Featherweight - Joshua Culibao vs. Melsik Baghdasaryan

Flyweight - Shannon Ross vs. Kleydson Rodrigues

Lightweight - Jamie Mullarkey vs. Francisco Prado

ESPN+/ UFC Fight Pass Early Prelims:

Featherweight - Jack Jenkins vs. Don Shainis

Women's Strawweight - Loma Lookboonmee vs. Elise Reed

Featherweight - Shane Young vs. Blake Bilder

Lightweight - Zubaira Tukhugov vs. Elves Brenner

Navarrete vs. Wilson Preview

Glendale, Arizona will host a dynamic title fight as the vacant WBO junior lightweight title will be on the line Friday, February 3rd. WBO featherweight champion Emanual Navarrete will battle Liam Wilson in what is expected to be a powerful high-action battle.

Navarrete (36-1, 30 KO) has not lost since 2012 and most recently defeated Eduardo Baez in August by sixth round KO for his third straight title defense of the WBO featherweight title. The Mexican fighter is a two-division champion having also held the WBO junior featherweight title from 2018 to 2020.

There have been many questions about what the 28-year-old will do should he win on Friday. Even the long reigning champion is not sure what will be next. “I’m still undecided on what we’re going to do after this fight,” Navarrete said. “Before my last fight, we decided that if I can’t get a unification at featherweight that we would look at winning a world title at 130.”

“This opportunity presented itself so we are taking it but I also [stressed] that I wanted to keep my featherweight title and see what happens in this fight.”

Most of the questions have been about Navarrete making 126 pounds in the future as he had trouble making the weight for his last fight. He is confident he will make the right decision based on the results of his current fight. “After this fight, we will see how I feel,” said Navarrete. “Right now, with the hard work we’ve put in, making 130 won’t be a problem and I feel like I can still make 126. Let’s see how things go in this fight.”

He concluded, "God willing we get the win and become WBO [130-pound] champion, then we will decide whether to stay and defend that title or give it up and return to 126 where I am still the champion.”

Navarrete has key wins in his career over Joet Gonzalez, Christopher Diaz, Ruben Villa, Francisco Horta, Juan Miguel Elorde. Francisco De Vaca and Isaac Dogboe (twice). Becoming a three-weight world champion will rise his stock even further and perhaps he will finally get a unification bout which he has eagerly been waiting for since becoming a champion in 2018.

Wilson (11-1, 7 KO) will be fighting for his first major title and is entering the fight as a +900 underdog. The Australian fighter does not mind the lofty odds against him. “It’s crazy man,” Wilson said.

“It’s just around the corner. I haven’t done it yet. That’s the last job I’ve got to do. I’ve done the hard work in training.

“I’ve got a fight to win and that’s to become world champion. It’s been a dream of mine for many years. I made a promise to my dad when I was a young kid that I’d be world champion for him one day.”

The 26-year-old continued, “It’s been an emotional rollercoaster because I feel like I have a lot to live up to in that way. But I’ve been working very hard for it and I’m going to win this fight.

“It's the pinnacle of professional boxing. It feels pretty surreal at times as well. I lay in bed thinking about it and wow.”

Wilson believes he knows what tactics it will take to defeat Navarrete. “I’m picturing in my head he’s going to be lunging forward with his uppercut. I feel like technically he’s pretty flawed and I have to catch him when he comes in. Either way it’s going to be a good fight but the left hook will be there ready to go.”

The underdog is aware of what kind of opponent Navarrete represents. “I know he’s a dangerous opponent. He’s been undefeated for 10 years. That’s a pretty long reign for a champion and he’s very experienced. He’s been in these fights many times before. “In that sense I’m up against it. He’s very unorthodox. He’s dangerous with his lead hand, his uppercut.”

A win for Wilson will be one of the biggest upsets of 2023 and will shake things up at 130 pounds. If he can win in devastating fashion, it will announce the presence of another true power-puncher in the division, but the talks of a unification bout will have to wait until there is an IBF champion named first.

The main card can be seen on ESPN +

UFC Vegas 68 Preview (Lewis vs. Spivak) (Copy)

The UFC will be heading back to the Apex in Nevada for UFC Vegas 68 with a date and start time fans are not accustomed with. The event will take place on Sunday, February 5th and the main event will be headlined by a heavyweight battle between former title challenger #7 Derrick Lewis and #12 Sergei Spivak. The main card start time will be 1 a.m. EST/ 10 p.m. PST with the prelims kicking off at 10 p.m. EST/ 7 p.m. PST.

The purpose of the unusual start time is due to the event originally being scheduled to take place in Seoul, South Korea. The event was pulled after Korean fan-favorite Chan Sung Jung “The Korean Zombie” suffered an injury and could not fight in January or February. The UFC adjusted the start times to give UFC fans in Asia a chance to watch the event as there are 14 fighters on the card hailing from Asian countries.

Lewis is trying to rebound from two straight KO losses. He is 1-3 in his last four fights with one of the losses coming to Ciryl Gane for the interim heavyweight title. While Lewis is still a fan-favorite, he is far from the title threat he once was. But in the heavyweight division, you are two wins away from being put back into the title conversation, so a win against Spivak will be the turn around Lewis needs.

While fans and critics might think Lewis is on the back end of his career, he is out to prove he is still the same fighter that fought for a title. “I know everybody is looking at me with one eye right now like, ‘Um, I don’t know,’ so I’m gonna go out there and show them that I’m still that guy,” Lewis said.

The Black Beast continued, “It’s crazy because now I feel like while I’ve been taking my training camp serious, people aren’t taking me serious.”

Lewis explained he has a new mentality about training. “It’s a great feeling going to the gym now. I’m not getting sick of doing my training regimen. I’m real happy about even going to training now.”

“I got addicted to winning, I’m winning in life, but I also want to win in the Octagon, as well. I miss that feeling — it’s almost been a year since I had that feeling, had that sensation, so that’s what I’m chasing right now is being a winner.”

Lewis has key victories in his career over Curtis Blaydes, Aleksei Oleinik, Ilir Latifi, Blagoy Ivanov, Alexander Volkov, Francis Ngannou, Marcin Tybura, Travis Browne, Roy Nelson and Gabriel Gonzaga. He holds the UFC record with 13 knockouts and with another knockout victory against Spivak, he will remind the heavyweight division that he still as dangerous as ever.

Spivak is 5-1 in his last six fights and most recently defeated Augusto Sakai by TKO in August. The 28-year-old is 6-3 in the UFC is currently on a two-fight winning streak. The Moldovan fighter also has key victories in the UFC over Greg Hardy, Aleksei Oleinik, and Tai Tuivasa. A win over Lewis would be the biggest of his career and would solidify his name as a threat to the heavyweight title.

The rest of the main card:

Light Heavyweight - Da Un Jung vs. Devin Clark

Heavyweight - Marcin Tybura vs. Blagoy Ivanov

Featherweight - Choi Doo-ho vs. Kyle Nelson

Welterweight - Yusaku Kinoshita vs. Adam Fugitt

ESPN + Prelims:

Flyweight -  Seung Guk Choi vs. Sung Hyun Park

Bantamweight -  Toshiomi Kazama vs. Rinya Nakamura

Featherweight - Jeong Yeong Lee vs. Yi Zha –

Lightweight -  Anshul Jubli vs. Jeka Saragih –

Flyweight -  Mandy Bohm vs. Ji Yeon Kim

Flyweight - Jesus Santos Aguilar vs. Tatsuro Taira

Middleweight - Junyong Park vs. Denis Tiuliulin

Beterbiev vs. Yarde Preview

A dynamic light heavyweight title fight will take place in London at the OVO Arena on Saturday, January 28th. Artur Beterbiev will defend his WBC, WBO and IBF titles against British fighter and former title challenger Anthony Yarde.

Beterbiev (18-0, 18 KO) is coming off a title fight last June where he defeated Joe Smith Jr. by second round TKO defending the WBC and IBF belts, while winning the WBO title. The 38-year-old has been the IBF champion since 2017 and has held the WBC belt since 2019, with a total of six successful title defenses.

The Russian is expecting a good fight against Yarde. “I never do predictions for my past fights, and I not do now too, but it’s going to be a good fight. Coming to see the fight now is good. I’m looking for the good box, said Beterbiev.

The champion was asked if he as studied his opponent, “Yes, we watched his fights. Good fights.”

“We did some analysis and did some points. We’re preparing.”

The champion continued, “When I watch fights, I don’t do it like a regular person. When I watch fights, I do it for technical work, like how it’s going. Not like regular person. When I watch fights, I take some information for me and take it for our team.”

Beterbiev has been asked how long he will continue to fight win or lose on Saturday.  “Anthony Yarde, Saturday night. I’m not dreaming about someone to have fight, you know. If we have some fights coming (down the line) we will be thinking and we will take them if it’s a good fight,” he said.

Aside from Smith Jr, Beterbiev has key victories in his career over Marcus Browne, Oleksandr Gvozdyk, Callum Johnson, Enrico Kölling and Gabriel Campillo. A win on Saturday could result in a unification bout with the winner of Dmitry Bivol vs. Canelo Alvarez.

Yarde (23-2, 22 KO) has won three straight fights and previously unsuccessfully challenged for the WBO title back in 2019 in one of the best fights of the year against Sergey Kovalev. In his last fight he defeated Stefani Koykov by third round KO which took place in November.

The 31-year-old is confident, but knows he is in for a tough fight on Saturday.  “He’s a world champion, he’s the current unified world champion,” said Yarde. “If you look at what he’s accomplished so far, it’s amazing, and that’s what amps me up. So, again, I beat him, I deserve some respect.

“He’s never been in a situation where he’s lost. But for me, it’s all about me. That’s the way I am. That’s the way I operate. It’s about me and my legacy. He’s just the person with the belts, Yarde said.

In his previous title challenge Yarde had to go into enemy territory, while he will have the home field advantage in this fight. He commented on fighting in London vs. Russia. “I just feel like this one feels right. This one feels better. [The Sergey Kovalev fight] didn’t. All that matters is when we get in that ring. Everything that’s said before is all he said, she said possibilities and things like that. When we get in the ring, that’s when we’ll see. I’m ready. I just feel like it’s that time.”

The British fighter knows he must take his time against Beterbiev. "You've got to pick someone apart and then land the shots. I said this early on, my thing is I am a powerful, accurate puncher. I find the shot and, when I find it and land it, people are going to feel it,” he said.

He went on to address his critics before the fight. "If I listened to everyone that was saying things I would not be where I am today. When I started boxing people said all sorts of things until I would do it.”

"It is a compromise, you can't please everybody, in boxing or any sport, really.”

Yarde has been a busy fighter in his career, but he will enter this fight having only fought once in 2022. Beterbiev does represent the biggest victory of his career and it will represent his emergence as one of the best light heavyweights in the world.

The main card can been seen on ESPN + at 3:00pm ET

UFC 283 Preview

The UFC will be taking over the Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for UFC 283. The main event will be for the vacant light heavyweight title between former champion #2 Glover Texeira and #7 Jamahal Hill.

Texeira will be trying to rebound from losing his title last June at UFC 275 to Jiri Prochazka, in what was one of the best light heavyweight title fights of all-time. He was scheduled to rematch Prochazka at UFC 282 in December, but Prochazka was forced to pull out of the fight due to injury.

Prochazka made his own decision to vacate the title and Texeira was offered to remain in a title fight against replacement fighter Magomed Ankalaev. Texeira turned down the fight and Ankalaev went on to fight former champion Jan Blachowicz for the belt with the fight resulting in a draw, leaving the title situation a total mess. Through all the chaos, Texeira and Hill were spitefully given their shot at winning gold by the UFC.

Texeira won six straight in route to being granted his second title shot being 42 years old at UFC 267, seven years after his first title fight. He defeated Jan Blachowicz by second round submission becoming the second oldest champion in UFC history.

The former champion received criticism of turning down the fight against Akalaev at UFC 282, but he has responded. “They called me when Jiri got hurt; I wanted to take the fight with Jan,” began Teixeira. “It was short notice, Ankalaev is a southpaw, so I said, ‘I need at least six weeks to train for this guy,” Texeira said.

He went on to say, “I’m not gonna fight somebody just because I trained already, I’m already here, I’m just gonna go in to make the money. I’m gonna fight somebody confident that I can beat him. I told them, ‘Give me Ankalaev for January. Give me anyone for January, and I’ll prepare myself to beat these guys. I’ll come with confidence that I can beat him.’

“If I lose or win, I don’t care about that, but I want to be mentally and physically prepared for somebody.”

After the conclusion of UFC 282, the Brazilian is excited to be fighting for the title in his home country. “Right away, (UFC Chief Business Officer) Hunter (Campbell) and (UFC Matchmaker) Mick (Maynard) called me and said, ‘Do you want to fight Jamahal Hill in Brazil for the title?’

“I didn’t hesitate to answer that question,” Teixeira recalled with a smile. “I wanted to fight in Brazil. I wanted to fight for the title. I had six weeks when they called me, so I said, ‘I got six weeks; let’s go! Call my manager and set up everything. Let’s get it!’”

“The opportunity to fight for the title in Brazil is here and I’m embracing it. I am happy. I’m just gonna go over there and win the belt in my home country.”

Texeira understands he will not have an easy fight, even with the home field advantage as he commented on Hill. “Last fight with Thiago Santos was a knockout. That punch with Johnny Walker? The guy is dangerous. You can’t sleep on him.”

He concluded, “I think Jamahal’s biggest skills are his standup,” added Teixeira. “His standup skills are the most dangerous. He has a loose style, moves around, playing possum sometimes and then snap the punches hard — it’s Jamahal Hill style.”

Aside from Blachowicz, Texeira has key victories in his illustrious career over Thiago Santos, Anthony Smith, Nikita Krylov, Jared Cannonier, Rashad Evans, Ovince Saint Preux, Ryan Bader and Rampage Jackson. Should he win on Saturday, a much-awaited rematch with Prochazka will likely be Texeira’s next fight.

Hill is riding a three-fight winning streak into his first title fight having most recently defeated former title challenger Thiago Santos by fourth round TKO in August. The 31-year-old thinks he is going to be the more intense fighter on Saturday after his first faceoff with Texeira on Tuesday.

“(I’m) just hungry – ready for the kill,” Hill said. “Whenever I’m in a faceoff or whenever I’m in the cage, you see the difference in my eyes. It’s a competitor, and this competitor is a killer.

“I (saw) some fire in his eyes. I (saw) that he’s just ready. You can tell he’s been here before and he’s ready to go through it, but I just didn’t see the same fire that I’m coming with.”

The Michigan native is ready for the biggest challenge of his career. “I’d say Glover would probably be the biggest test of my career to this point, just because the level he’s fought at, the level he’s been fighting at, and just the experience and overall, the strength of schedule that he had,” Hill said.

Was Hill surprised by being granted the title shot? “Who expected a title fight to end in a draw, so I didn’t think anything like this would happen,” Hill said in response to the UFC 282 title fight conclusion. “Did I know I was close to a title shot? Yes I did, because I had just signed a new contract and the championship clause is in my contract.”

“I knew I was close, but I was as surprised as anybody.”

Aside from Santos, Hill has key victories over Johnny Walker and Jimmy Crute. A win over Texeira represents so many new opportunities for Hill and it opens up new possibilities in the light heavyweight title picture.

The co-main event for UFC 283 will also be for a title. Flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo will battle former champion and current interim champion Brandon Moreno for the fourth time. The first three fights were great battles with Figueiredo winning the last fight at UFC 270 a year by unanimous decision to become a two-time champion. The two are 1-1-1 against each other with Moreno having the only finish coming in their second fight.

Figueiredo is 6-1-1 in his last eight fights with the only blemishes being the loss to Moreno and a decision loss to Jussier Formiga. He has the ability with a second win over Moreno to prove he is the best flyweight in the world.

The Brazilian believes he has the edge over Moreno heading into a fourth fight. “I’m Brandon’s nightmare. Unfortunately this is the only fight the UFC has to sell, Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Brandon Moreno,” Figuiredo said.

“I think the biggest difference is his fear of me, you know, he can’t stand me. I think that’s what makes the biggest difference.”

Figueiredo is relieved to be fighting in his home country. “I fought Brandon three times already and his last two fights I feel like it was 85% Mexicans. Now he’s fighting in Brazil the whole crowd is going to be behind me. So it’s going to be a lot differences, the whole nation Brazil is going to be supporting me,” Figueiredo said.

The champion believes fighting in Brazil will be an advantage and not a challenge for him. “Brandon’s a kid who’s, you know, psychologically, mentally weak. So fighting with the crowd behind me is not going to be good for him,” he said.

“I want to get in there and win. That’s what I want to do that’s my will. So I want to get in there and win the fight and stay champion,” said Figueiredo.

Figueiredo does not think he will let his fans down. “I make exciting fights. I make thrilling fights and having the Brazilian people I’m going to be able to see the joy in their faces being there. I’m going in there to win, I’m going in there to give a show,” he said.

“I’m really going in there to give a show to everyone, all the Brazilians that are going to be there,” he said.

With a second win over Moreno, Figueiredo will separate himself from the rest of the flyweight division and a move up to bantamweight could be in his future. He must first convincingly defeat a fighter who has taken him to the brink three times.

Since losing the title at UFC 270, Moreno has rebounded well by winning the interim title in exciting fashion with a third round TKO over Kai Kara-France at UFC 277 in July. The Mexican fighter feels he has the chance to solidify his legacy on Saturday in Rio.

“Man, for me, this is a ‘Rocky IV,’” Moreno said. “For me, this is for legacy. This is a movie, right? The movie is, like, grinding by himself.”

"So man, again, of course it’s a lot of pressure and extra pressure. Go to Brazil, go to his hometown. And maybe the people will be against me or not. I don’t know, man. I don’t know.”

The interim champ continued, “Let’s see what happens. I mean, I can see this scenario, like, maybe how fierce the people will be [in favor of] Deiveson. But with the passage of the time, with the passage of the rounds, I feel I can win the hearts of the Brazilian people here in Brazil.”

Moreno has dealt with plenty adversity since losing to Figueiredo especially having to change coaching camps. But he insists he has a championship mentality heading into the tetralogy. “I think [my positivity] is something natural. I try to think positively every single time in every single scenario. And that’s it, man. I understand this fight will be very hard. But I did a lot of good things [preparing] for this one and like you say, my evolution in this sport has been really cool. [It’s not] just the physical part, but the mental part, too. I’ve grown up a lot and I’m ready to fight.”

Like Figueiredo, if Moreno wins he can move on from a storied rivalry, for now, and focus on cementing his status as the best flyweight in the world.

The rest of the main card:

Welterweight - #5 Gilbert Burns vs.  #12 Neil Magny

Women's Flyweight - #6 Jéssica Andrade vs. #4 Lauren Murphy

Light Heavyweight - #9 Paul Craig vs. #12 Johnny Walker

ESPN + Prelims:

Light Heavyweight - Maurício Rua vs. Ihor Potieria

Middleweight - Gregory Rodrigues vs. Brunno Ferreira

Lightweight - Thiago Moisés vs. Melquizael Costa

Welterweight - Mounir Lazzez vs. Gabriel Bonfim

ESPN+ and UFC FIGHT PASS Early Prelims:

Heavyweight - #15 Shamil Abdurakhimov vs. Jailton Almeida

Lightweight - Terrance McKinney vs. Ismael Bonfim

Welterweight - Warlley Alves vs. Nicolas Dalby

Women's Featherweight - Josiane Nunes vs. Zarah Fairn Dos Santos

Bantamweigh - Luan Lacerda vs. Cody Stamann

Bantamweight  - Saimon Oliveira vs. Daniel Marcos

Ajagba vs. Shaw Preview

The Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York will play host to a dynamic fight in the heavyweight division on Saturday, January 14th. Nigerian prospect Efe Ajagba will battle undefeated rising contender Stephan Shaw in a 10-round fight.

Ajagba (16-1, 13 KO) won his last fight by second round TKO over Jozsef Darmos in August. The win was a big rebound after suffering the first loss of his career by unanimous decision to Frank Sanchez last October. He was expecting to fight Oscar Rivas on Saturday but Rivas was forced to withdraw due to injury. Regardless of who he fights, Ajagba is ready to prove he is a title contender.

“I’ve made adjustments for Saturday night. We’ll see how it goes. I’m ready for him,” said Ajagba. “I wanted to fight Oscar Rivas before. But that changed. But now Shaw has the opportunity to fight me.”

Ajagba continued, “I’m ready to put on a show. I’m going to put more pressure. I can’t wait. I’m so excited to be here.”

The Nigerian fighter has been criticized for not staying active but he believes with the injuries behind him, you will see much more of Ajagba in 2023. “Since I came back from my surgery, I’ve tried to do everything to fight more,” Ajagba said. “That’s why I only had one fight last year. I’ve been trying to get more fights.”

Shaw (18-0, 13 KO) is coming off the biggest win of his career with a unanimous decision win over Rydell Booker in November. He will now get to step in on short notice and get a win over a fighter who has a significant amount of hype behind him. “It definitely gives me the incentive to go out there and beat him up even worse because I feel like he’s had that push and I haven’t,” said Shaw.

Shaw continued to say, “This is America for you; guys can come over from overseas and they can get a push from the so-called machine. But this is my time and this is my opportunity, and I’m ready to seize the moment and be victorious come Saturday night.”

The St. Louis native comes from a boxing family and believes he has all the skills necessary to defeat Ajagba. “I’ve been around boxing my entire life, this is my first love. I fell in love with boxing before I fell in love with a woman,” said Shaw.

The 30-year-old went on to explain, “I don’t see anything that he really does well besides being a puncher, but he hasn’t knocked out guys on my level. He hasn’t fought any fighters that are of my caliber other than Frank Sanchez and he came up short. In his last fight after that he fought a guy that looked like a Hungarian taxi cab driver,” said Shaw.

“Yes he has some power because he is a big man, but I’m a big man as well and I definitely have power. I have the skills and speed and ring IQ as well.”

Shaw has high hopes that a win on Saturday will lead to big things. “I hope it opens up a world title opportunity. I feel like it should be a world title fight on the horizon after I beat Efe Ajagba. Because the exposure that he has had, and him being a former Olympian and him having a good record and being a decent opponent,” he said.

The main card can be seen on ESPN+.

UFC Fight Night 217 Preview (Strickland vs. Imavov)

The UFC is back for the first card of 2023 at the Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday, January 14th for UFC Fight Night 217. The main event will be at light heavyweight between #7 (MW) Sean Strickland and #12 (MW) Nassourdine Imavov.

Strickland has stepped in short notice to replace original main event fighter Kelvin Gastelum who was scheduled to fight Imavov at middleweight, but was forced to withdraw with an injury. Strickland headlined the last main event of 2022 and will be trying to rebound from two straight losses, with the last being a razor thin split decision loss to former title challenger Jared Cannonier on December 17th.

While this is a short notice fight, Strickland had plenty to say about Imavov. “I’m not even you going to try to fucking say that name,” Strickland said. “Let’s call him the Frenchie. And if we’ve learned anything about the French – what are the French best at? Giving up. So, I haven’t really watched him fight. I know he likes to bang, he throws big punches, but he’s still fucking French. That’s a hard thing to move past. There’s a lot of history of cowardice to move on from when you’re fucking French.”

Strickland concluded, “So maybe he’s in there to prove a statement. Maybe he’s going to say that his country has fucking finally left the cowardice behind, but I don’t fucking know. Only thing the French are good at is having affairs and giving up and losing fights. But we’ll fucking find out. Maybe he’s different.”

A win would give Strickland a UFC win in his third different weight class, but more importantly a chance to go back on a run at 185 pounds. He has key victories in his career over Jack Hermansson, Uriah Hall and Krzysztof Jotko. A win over Imavov would remind the rest of the top 10 at middleweight that Strickland is not going anywhere any time soon.

Imavov has won three straight and most recently defeated Joaquin Buckley by unanimous decision in September. The 27-year-old also has key victories over Edmen Shahbazyan and Ian Heinisch. He is not impressed by Strickland’s over-the-top trash-talk.

"What can he do that Gastelum [could not]? I think [he has a] big mouth," Imavov said. "I just have to be careful of what he's saying, the words that he's using. The big mouth, that's it."

However, the French fighter has recognized the benefits a win over Strickland will bring to him. “I will have a lot of steps when I win the fight,” Imavov said. “I will be ranked better than if I did fight with Gastelum. So I’m very grateful for that.”

The rest of the main card:

Featherweight - #13 Dan Ige vs. Damon Jackson

Middleweight - Punahele Soriano vs. Roman Kopylov

Women's Bantamweight - #2 Ketlen Vieira vs. #5 Raquel Pennington

Bantamweight - #11 Umar Nurmagomedov vs. Raoni Barcelos

Prelims on ESPN+:

Bantamweight - Javid Basharat vs. Mateus Mendonça

Middleweight - Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Claudio Ribeiro

Lightweight - Mateusz Rębecki vs. Nick Fiore

Flyweight - Allan Nascimento vs. Carlos Hernandez

Featherweight - Daniel Argueta vs. Nick Aguirre

Flyweight Jimmy Flick vs. Charles Johnson

UFC Fight Night 216 Preview (Cannonier vs. Strickland)

The UFC is heading back to the Apex in Las Vegas for UFC Fight Night 216 and the last event of 2022. The main event will be in the middleweight division between former title challenger #3 Jared Cannonier and #7 Sean Strickland.

Cannonier is trying to rebound from a loss in his last fight where he challenged Israel Adesanya for the middleweight title. He has won five of his last seven fights with key wins over Derek Brunson, Kelvin Gastelum, Jack Hermansson and Anderson Silva.

The 38-year-old is looking forward to getting back in the win column in a big way. "I'm excited for this fight," Cannonier said. "I'm always excited to fight, but there's a different sort of excitement around this fight. I'm going against a guy who is going to be willing to get into a fight. He's not a guy who's going to try to be more evasive. That's exciting for me. That's super exciting and I'm very excited to have Sean as an opponent.

"That's not to discount his abilities. He's definitely a good fighter. He's top 10 for a good reason. He's a dog in there. He goes forward. He puts his fist in your face. And he's not too scared to get one put in his. So, excited."

Cannonier believes he has corrected the mistakes he made against Adesanya. "At the highest level, it's the ones who make the fewest mistakes [who win]," he said. "One of the things I have tried to ingrain in myself since the beginning, I don't want to make any mistakes in there. So it's always been [my goal] to make as few mistakes as possible. I'm not perfect, as we all know, but these fights help me to see those imperfections.”

He went on to say, "That fight with Adesanya made that imperfection in myself very apparent. ... One of the reasons I sometimes sit back and wait is because I'm trying not to make mistakes. A lot of times when you go first, that's when mistakes can happen. Those are the things I've been working on: How do I go first? What do I do to go first? Do I jump right in and start going, or do I throw the lure in and see if there's anything biting? Do I put some different bait on? We've got a whole tackle box full of techniques to use. It doesn't have to be the go button every time."

Strickland is coming off a first round KO loss to current middleweight champion Alex Pereira at UFC 276 in July. The loss put an end to a six fight winning streak but a win would have put him next in line to challenge for the title. If he can rebound with a win on Saturday it will put the 31-year-old back in the title conversation.

Cannonier will not be an easy fight and Strickland is aware of what he is up against on Saturday. “‘The Killa Gorilla,’ let’s f*cking go – sounds like a scary motherf*cker,” said Strickland. “Sounds like I don’t want to share a f*cking cell with that guy.”

Strickland plans on having a well-rounded approach against Cannonier, but claims to not have put much thought into it yet. “Maybe I’ll take him down. Maybe I’ll kickbox. Maybe I’ll box. I don’t even f*cking know these things,” Strickland said. “You’re asking questions I haven’t even thought about yet.”

Strickland has key victories over Jack Hermansson and Uriah Hall but a win over Cannonier would be the biggest of his career. A victory on Saturday would also solidify his legitamcy as a contender for the middleweight title.

The rest of the main card:

Lightweight - #9 Arman Tsarukyan vs. #12 Damir Ismagulov

Flyweight - #8 Amir Albazi vs. Alessandro Costa

FeatherweightA - #15 Alex Caceres vs. Julian Erosa

Lightweight - Drew Dober vs. Bobby Green

Middleweight - Michał Oleksiejczuk vs. Cody Brundage

ESPN+ Prelims:

Women's Strawweight - Cheyanne Vlismas vs. Cory McKenna

Welterweight - Jake Matthews vs. Matthew Semelsberger

Bantamweight- #15 Said Nurmagomedov vs. Saidyokub Kakhramonov

Lightweight - Rafa García vs. Hayisaer Maheshate

Welterweight - Rinat Fakhretdinov vs. Bryan Battle

Flyweight - #12 Manel Kape vs. #9 David Dvořák

Bantamweight - Sergey Morozov vs. Journey Newson

UFC 282 Preview

The UFC is heading back to the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada for UFC 282. The main event will be for the light heavyweight title between former champion #2 Jan Blachowicz and rising contender #4 Magomed Ankalaev.

Blachowicz and Ankalaev were originally scheduled to be the co-main event of the evening with the winner being the next to challenge for the title. However, current champion Jiri Prochazka was forced to pull out of his main event title fight with Glover Texeira due to a shoulder injury. Prochazka graciously vacated the belt rather than hold up the division and it has been said that Texeira was offered a fight with Ankalaev, but he turned it down. Blachowicz and Ankalaev will now battle to see who the best light heavyweight in the world is.

Blachowicz lost the title to Texeira at UFC 267 last October but rebounded well with a win over Aleksandar Rakic by TKO in May. The 39-year-old is ready to take advantage of the opportunity that has been opened up at UFC 282, and become a two-time champion.

“Early Christmas gift – I enjoy it – It is what it is,” Blachowicz said. “I was last to know. I was in the plane when everything happened. … I cannot believe at first. … I think I deserve this fight after (Aleksandar) Rakic, but Jiri wants to take a rematch with Glover (Teixeira) so I have to wait, do one more fight. But the universe work with me very well. I with Jiri the best recovery, but I will take my chance and be the champion again.”

The Polish fighter is no stranger to fighting for a vacated belt and in his first opportunity he took full advantage after Jon Jones vacated the title. “It’s not my fault,” Blachowicz said. “I want to fight against Jon Jones, but he don’t want to fight against me. Nobody know what he’s doing right now. Also I wanted to fight against Jiri, but he wanted the rematch. Now it’s injury, so it’s not my fault. This is not what I choose, but it is what it is. It’s the championship. This is most important thing for me.”

Blachowicz is well aware of the threat that Ankalaev brings to the fight. “Look at his record, 17-1, nine-win streak – so it’s time to stop it and make his record 17-2,” Blachowicz said. “But for sure he’s one of the best. I have a lot of respect for his skills and it’s going to be a tough fight. I expect tough fight, and I’m ready for this tough fight.”

Should he win on Saturday, Blachowicz is ready for any challenge. “After Saturday I won’t fight against Jiri,” Blachowicz said. “He don’t want to fight against me. He choose different fight, not me. So I’m ready for him when he’s going to be healthy. … It’s natural way. I believe I’m going to be next … Glover will be the best matchup for me in the title defense again, and this time I will prove that I can beat him.”

Aside from Rakic, Blachowicz has key victories in his career over Israel Adesanya, Dominick Reyes, Corey Anderson, Ronaldo Souza, Luke Rockhold, Nikita Krylov, Jimi Manuwa and Jared Cannonier. A win on Saturday would put Blachowicz in an elite group of two-time champion elite light heavyweights and it will prove his pundits that he can have another career resurgence.

Ankalaev has won nine straight fights and most recently defeated former title challenger Anthony Smith by TKO in July at UFC 277. The win was his third straight win over a former title challenger, and he will now have the opportunity to defeat a former champion to become the light heavyweight title holder.

The 30-year-old is ready to prove the world that he is the real light heavyweight champion. “The day has finally arrived – the day we have waited for, for so long – we will show what we’re worth this Saturday, we will come and take what’s rightfully ours,” Ankalaev said. “I basically did step-by-step. I pretty much knew at some point they would not have a choice to give me a title fight.”

The Russian fighter commented on the man standing his way on Saturday. “I can’t say anything bad about Blachowicz as an opponent,” Ankalaev said. “He’s a great fighter. He’s a great guy. But the thing is, this fight is my dream. This is my opportunity. I will do whatever I have to do to make sure I come out of that octagon with the title.”

Like Blachowicz, Ankalaev is ready to defend against any fighter should he become champion. “I’m here – I’m not trying to go anywhere,” Ankalaev said. “So once I get this title, I’m not trying to escape. I’m going to stand here and wait for anybody who is ready to fight. Anybody who wants to take that title off of my belt, I will make sure to fight as many times as I can.”

In addition to Smith, Ankalaev has key victories over Thiago Santos, Volkan Oezdemir, Nikita Kryloz, and Ion Cutelaba (twice). If he wins on Saturday, he will become the third champion from Dagestan in the UFC.

The rest of the main card on PPV:

Lightweight - Paddy Pimblett vs. Jared Gordon

Catchweight (180 lb) - Alex Morono vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio

Middleweight - #10 Darren Till vs. #14 Dricus du Plessis

Featherweight - #9 Bryce Mitchell vs. #14 Ilia Topuria

ESPN + Prelims:

Heavyweight - #9 Jairzinho Rozenstruik vs. #11 Chris Daukaus

Bantamweight - Raul Rosas Jr. vs. Jay Perrin

Middleweight - Edmen Shahbazyan vs. Dalcha Lungiambula

Middleweight - #15 Chris Curtis vs. Joaquin Buckley

ESPN +/ UFC Fight Pass Early Prelims:

Featherweight - Billy Quarantillo vs. Alexander Hernandez

Featherweight - T.J. Brown vs. Erik Silva

Flyweight - Vinicius Salvador vs. Daniel da Silva

Bantamweight - Cameron Saaiman vs. Steven Koslow

Crawford vs. Avanesyan Preview

The WBO welterweight title is on the line Saturday, December 10th. Pound for pound great Terence Crawford will defend his title in his own backyard of Omaha, Nebraska against former WBA champion David Avanesyan.

Crawford is coming off a 10th round TKO of Shawn Porter last November giving him his fifth straight successful title defense. Crawford was originally scheduled for a unification bout with Errol Spence Jr. to take place in November, but the fight fell through yet again. While there has been plenty debate on who is to blame for the fight not happening, at the end of the day the blame lies on both fighters.

Crawford is not letting the failed fight with Spence phase him and he is totally focused on Avanesyan. “David Avanesyan is a good fighter, Crawford said.  He’s on a good winning streak, and beat a guy in the U.K., in Josh Kelly who people thought was going to be a star. I have to train like I am facing King Kong on December 10th, because Avanesyan has everything to gain and nothing to lose. I know he is going to bring everything on December 10th, so I’m not looking past him. This will be the best Avanesyan, so I have to be the best Terence Crawford.”

The 35-year-old is ready to put on a show in Omaha. “My goal is to remind the world that world I am the best fighter on the planet so everyone needs to tune in December 10 on this new BLK Prime PPV platform. I am fighting not just to be the best, but to give fighters fair and equitable treatment in negotiations moving forward.”

Aside from Porter, Crawford has key wins over Kell Brook, Amir Khan, Jose Benavidez Jr., Jeff Horn, Julius Indongo, Felix Diaz, John Molina Jr, and Viktor Postol. Hopefully a convincing win on Saturday gives he and Spence the proper motivation to finally ink the fight that the boxing world is waiting for.

Avanesyan has won six straight fights since being TKO’d in 2018 by Egidijus Kavaliauskas. He won the vacant WBA interim welterweight title in 2015 and defended the belt one time against hall of famer Shane Mosley in what is still the biggest win of his career. He was promoted to regular champion but would lose the belt in his next fight by unanimous decision to Lamont Peterson.

The 34-year-old wants to prove his critics wrong. “American fans see that I lost to Egidijus Kavaliauskas and that he lost to Crawford. I’m a quality fighter. I’m 34 years old. I’m focused on this fight.

“I need to win this fight. There’s a good chance. I am happy. I show before six times.

The Russian fighter went on to say, “My focus is December 10th against Terence Crawford. You know Terence Crawford is a good fighter, and I know he’s a good fighter. Many boxing fans know he’s a good fighter. This is good for me.”

If Avanesyan can shock the world on Saturday, could he be set up for a unification bout with Spence? There are several unknowns heading into this fight especially with contractual obligations to a rematch, but a Crawford loss would certainly throw a monkey wrench into a welterweight unification.

UFC Orlando Preview

The UFC is invading the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida on Saturday December 3rd for UFC on ESPN 42. The main event will be in the welterweight division between former title challenger #6 Stephen Thompson and fan-favorite Kevin Holland.

39-year-old Thompson is trying to rebound from two straight losses to Gilbert Burns and most recently to Belal Muhammad last December. The former title challenger is 2-4 in his last six fights but is still one incredible performance away from reminding everyone why he challenged for the welterweight title twice.

The man they call “Wonderboy comes from a Karate background, and he is excited to face Holland who comes from a Kung Fu background, because it will be an exciting fight for the fans. “I’m smiling, I can’t stop smiling, it’s going to be fun. The reason why I’m smiling is because this is what the fans want to see,” Thompson said.

“I hate putting on, I don’t like boring fights. When I fight the Belal’s and the Gilbert Burns, especially the way they did it, it would’ve been better if they were trying for submissions and stuff. It just wasn’t an exciting fight. It reminded me of the Demian Maia-Tyron Woodley fight where they just shoot and fans are booing. Fans want to see what makes ‘Wonderboy,’ ‘Wonderboy’ and that is my striking and I’m excited for sure. I know Kevin Holland is excited as well.”

Thompson continued, “I feel like there is no pressure. This is my job here at the Karate school,” Thompson explained. “I fight for the fun of it, I don’t have to fight to make a living. So, I do it for the fun and to be entertaining. It is a way I can test myself to see how far I can go, mentally, physically, and emotionally. It forces me to be better every day.”

Thompson has key victories in his career over Geoff Neal, Vicente Luque, Jorge Masvidal, Rory MacDonald, Johny Hendricks, Jake Ellenberger, Patrick Cote and Robert Whittaker. Even though he is on a losing streak, he is always a fighter that fans are excited to see and a win over Holland will remind the pundits why he was once considered one of the most dangerous strikers in the UFC.

Holland is coming off a first-round submission loss to Khamzat Chimaev at the total mess that was UFC 279 in September. Holland was originally scheduled to face Daniel Rodriguez but agreed to a late switch to fight Chimaev at a catchweight of 180 pounds. There was “bad blood” between Holland and Chimaev during the over-exaggerated back-stage brawl at the UFC 279 press conference. This animosity made the fight fun for the fans, but Holland made a key mistake going in for a glove touch at the start of the fight. Chimaev declined and scored an immediate takedown and finished a quick submission.

Holland went into a brief retirement after UFC 279, but the 30-year-old thinks it was all part of a strategy. “Sometimes you just got to play with the water a little bit,” Holland said of his short retirement. “And I think right then and there at the time, I was playing with the water a little bit. Seeing what would go if I did decide to possibly take that route or to see if some things that were said were going to really happen. And I played the route, I tested the water and the water was great on both sides. It was great outside of the cage and it’s great to get back in the cage. So just a test of the water.”

Since his retirement and quick return, Holland has not left another quick retirement off the table. “It’s still on the table. If I wake up Sunday morning after beating ‘Wonderboy’ and you guys have Chimaev fighting for a 185-pound world title, and he’s never won a fight at ’85 in the top 15, I’m retired. I understand business is business, but favoritism is favoritism. The kid missed weight. I had to step up and fight him after he missed weight to make the fight happen. I shouldn’t have had to do that,” he said.

Holland continued, “I did what I had to do. I did what I was supposed to do as a company man, so I’m sitting here telling you guys now: Certain things have to go certain ways. If they don’t go certain ways and we don’t get what we were promised, the things we talked about aren’t honored, you might as well give me my resignation papers and go home and smoke weed and play video games for the rest of my life.”

The Texas native explains further that he wants every fighter in the UFC to be treated equally. “There’s just certain things that just don’t make sense,” Holland said. “At the end of the day, if we’re here and we’re here to be fair and we’re here to be even, everyone should have a fair chance. We’re fighters. We fight for what we want. We should be able to fight off what we want. We should be able to get the same things if we’re fighting the same way. That’s just how I feel. But I’m not here to b*tch, I’m not here to complain. I’m just here to do what I feel is right and if I feel like something isn’t right, I will move the f*ck around, because that’s what I do.”

Despite his feelings about the UFC, Holland has a goal against Thompson on Saturday. “I’ve had plenty of visions on how I see the fight playing out, but ultimately the vision that just keeps staying there is, for some reason, it’s a third-round stoppage,” Holland said. “We shall see. ‘Wonderboy’ is a fantastic fighter. We all know he does wonderful things. He’s very defensive. He does a good job of not getting hit. But I think around Round 3 I’ll start him. I think once I start to hit him, it’ll be over.”

Holland has key victories in his career over Tim Means, Alex Oliveira, Jacare Souza and Joaquin Buckley. A victory over Thompson would represent the biggest win of his career and it is hard to imagine another retirement shortly after due to the magnitude of the victory. A win on Saturday would create tremendous opportunities against the top 10 for Holland and would put him in the position to headline another card at the beginning of 2023.

The co-main event will also be in the welterweight division between Bryan Barbarena and former lightweight champion #7 Rafael Dos Anjos.

Barbarena has won three straight fights and is coming off the biggest of his career at UFC 276, where he defeated former champion Robbie Lawler by second round TKO. The 33-year-old is known for putting it all on the line and leaving everything in the octagon. He is riding two straight fight of the night honors and fans should expect nothing less from Barbarena on Saturday.

While he is coming off a win over Lawler, a win over Dos Anjos would be an even bigger deal for Barbarena who is right on the cusp of the top 15 rankings at welterweight. He is thankful the UFC has given him great matchups. “I appreciate it, I really do,” Barberena said. “I’m thankful for them giving me these matchups and making them happen. The last two have been full-circle moments. This is a full-circle moment.”

He continued, “My big brother Benson Henderson fought him eight years ago. I was in his corner for that fight, and he came up short. So it’s kind of like the little brother coming back to seek revenge. … Really, I just feel the best version of myself right now, and I’m going on a legend’s tour. It goes with the guys I’m fighting, but I’m the legend and this is my tour.”

Dos Anjos is in desperate need of a win as he is 2-3 in his last five fights and most recently was defeated by fifth round KO in a back-and-forth war in July with Rafael Fiziev. The 38-year-old has been a contender in two weight classes since 2015 but he cannot afford another bad loss. He will have to dig deep to find a way to win against a hungry contender with plenty to prove.

Even though he is coming off a loss, Dos Anjos is excited and believes Barbarena is a great matchup for him. “I’m happy with that matchup,” dos Anjos said. “He’s coming in on a (three-fight) winning streak. He’s a guy that fights forward. He’s the type of fight that I like. Being three rounds, I think of my last eight fights, seven of them were five rounds, if I’m not wrong. It was good, a little break, too, fighting three rounds. Preparation is a little easier, too. I’m happy with that matchup.”

The future Hall of Famer has key victories in his career over Renato Moicano, Paul Felder, Kevin Lee, Robbie Lawler, Neil Magny, Tarec Saffiedine, Donald Cerrone (twice), Anthony Pettis, Nate Diaz and Benson Henderson.

The rest of the main card:

Flyweight - #6 Matheus Nicolau vs. #7 Matt Schnell

Heavyweight - #4 Tai Tuivasa vs. #5 Sergei Pavlovich

Middleweight - #8 Jack Hermansson vs. Roman Dolidze

Middleweight - Eryk Anders vs. Kyle Daukaus

ESPN + Prelims:

Welterweight - Niko Price vs. Philip Rowe

Women's Strawweight - #12 Angela Hill vs. #13 Emily Ducote

Lightweight - Clay Guida vs. Scott Holtzman

Lightweight - Michael Johnson vs. Marc Diakiese

Featherweight - Darren Elkins vs. Jonathan Pearce

Women's Flyweight - #13 Tracy Cortez vs. #15 Amanda Ribas

Lightweight - Natan Levy vs. Genaro Valdez

Featherweight Marcelo Rojo vs. Francis Marshall

Women's Strawweight - Yazmin Jauregui vs. Istela Nunes

Fury vs. Chisora 3 Preview

Tyson Fury is returning to the ring on Saturday December 3rd at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England. He will defend his lineal WBC heavyweight title in a trilogy fight against Derek Chisora.

The two originally fought in 2011 with Fury winning by unanimous decision and in 2014 where Fury won by 10th round TKO. Since then Fury has stayed undefeated and has become one of the most successful heavyweight champions of all-time. Chisora has had mixed success since fighting Fury but will have the opportunity on Saturday to erase everything that has happened the last eight years by shocking the world with a win and becoming a heavyweight champion.

Fury is coming off a sixth round TKO over Dillian Whyte in April improving his record to 32-0-1 with 23 KO. He sees the fight with Chisora going the same way as the first two meetings.

“Derek Chisora has nothing that I want at all. Zero. I took his virgin record in 2011, and then I gave him a good hiding in the second fight in 2014, and then I’ll almost certainly give him a good hiding on December 3rd, Fury said.

“To say that he has anything that I want or need, he doesn’t. Neither does any of them. None of these fighters in the division has anything that I would say, ‘I want that.’ I don’t want anything. All bums will get knocked out,” he said.

Aside from Chisora and Whyte, Fury has key wins in his career over Deontay Wilder (twice), Otto Wallin, Tom Schwarz, Wladimir Klitschko, Christian Hammer, Steve Cunningham and Kevin Johnson. The boxing world is waiting to see if Fury will fight unified champion Oleksandr Usyk provided that Fury wins on Saturday and does not retire. The champion cannot take Chisora lightly as his opponent has everything to gain and very little to lose.

Chisora is coming off a split decision win over Kubrat Pulev in July which was the rebound he needed after losing decisions to Usyk and former champion Joseph Parker. The 38-year-old believes he was robbed by the judges against Usyk and hopes the same thing does not happen on Saturday.

“Let’s all be honest – on the Usyk fight, I was winning,” Chisora said. “I won that fight. I knocked him down, they didn’t give it to me. You know, this is a problem. You know, and I just hope for this fight on December 3rd that it will be fair judging and a fair ref. You know, because there’s so much going on in this camp for me, you know, I don’t want people to be biased. I just want people to come in with an open mind and be fair. You know, because I know for a fact I’m not coming to lay down. And he’s not coming to lay down, so we just want it to be – I just want it to be fair, basically.”

Chisora knows how difficult it will be to shock the world on Saturday. “It’s gonna be hard but I’m prepared to go through the storm to go get what's his and make mines. I have to knock this man out for me to win,” he said.

The co-main event of the card will also be for a heavyweight title as Daniel Dubois will defend his WBA “regular” title against Kevin Lerena.

Dubois (18-1, 17 KO)  won the title in his last fight in June with a fourth round KO of Trevor Bryan. The British fighter believes a win over Lerena catapults him into bigger fights with the likes of Fury. "I'm looking to go to the big league and progress from this fight," Dubois said. "I want to lay my mark down on this division and what ever [Lerena] brings I'm going to have to deal with it.”

The 25-year-old continued, "If they want it, Usyk or Tyson, either one of them, I don't mind who, Anthony Joshua and whoever, these are the fights I want. Having the WBA 'regular' title puts me right up there at the front of the queue. I'm No 1 ranked with the WBA, I'm doing it the right way.

"I just need to perform now, I've been out the ring a while, I need to get my career moving again.

"There are some big fights out there, I'm just outside the big league of Fury, AJ, Usyk, Deontay Wilder... These are the guys I want next and I'm fighting to get to that next level. I'm not really looking at who is behind me.”

He concluded, "I'm looking to step up to the plate, and demolish them."

Lerena (28-1, 14 KO) has won 17 straight fights and most recently defeated Mariusz Wach by unanimous decision in September. He is looking forward to the biggest opportunity of his career against Dubois.

“It’s a massive occasion, 70,000 people at the Tottenham stadium. It’s crazy; it’s surreal,” Lerena said. “I think it’s a great matchup. He’s a very tough competitor; I know the mountain ahead of me is a big one, but I’ve prepared adequately and am looking forward to the challenge. Champions are there to be beaten and beasts are there to be tamed.”

The South African fighter knows what kind of challenge Dubois will bring to the fight on Saturday. “He’s good, he’s strong,” said Lerena. “He’s the WBA world champion. [Editor’s note: Dubois holds the WBA’s secondary title, which The Ring does not recognize.] He’s got a phenomenal record: 18 wins, 17 by KO. He has a high KO ratio. It’s no secret he’s a big puncher, but you’ve got to ask yourself, ‘Who’s he knocked out?’ I’m very different from the guys he’s fought and I’m a true test for him. Now let’s see how good he really is.”

“Of course, there’s lots of weaknesses in his game. There’s weaknesses in my game. It’s just having the ability to exploit them. Does he have the ability to exploit mine? And do I have the ability to exploit his? We’re going to have to see on December 3.”

Parker vs. Ryder

The WBO interim super middleweight title is on the line Saturday, November 26th at the O2 Arena in London. Undefeated British contender Zach Parker will face battle tested veteran and fellow British fighter John Ryder.

Parker (22-0, 16 KO) is coming off a fourth round TKO of Marcus Morrison last November, giving him his fifth straight finish. He is the former British super middleweight champion and WBO International super middleweight title holder, but he will be fighting for his first major title on Saturday.

The interim belt was supposed to be up for grabs between former WBO middleweight champion Demtrius Andrade and Parker, but Andrade was forced to withdraw due to injury. Parker is happy to be fighting Ryder, but was ready to take on any challenge.

“It is going to be a good fight. At least he’s got the balls to come and fight me, unlike Andrade. He always brings it, so if we both do that and meet in the middle, it will be one for the fans,” said Parker.

Parker continued, “I have kept an eye out for him, although obviously he was at middleweight, but now he has come up with a good few wins and had a close one with Callum Smith.”

“I thought we might meet down the line and here we are. Frank is the man who has made it happen and I can’t wait for fight night now.

“That he has done this for me is a sign of the trust we have. I trust Frank and he trusts me. We were going to have the Andrade fight in Derby but the season has started now so we will have a good night for the fans at the 02 and may the best man win.

“It should be a good fight, but I reckon I will get a stoppage over Ryder. I think he is just a bit too small for super middleweight. He has boxed some but they have taken him lightly, thinking they are gonna beat him easily.”

Ryder (31-5, 17 KO) is coming off a split decision win over former middleweight world champion Daniel Jacobs in February. He has won three straight fights and feels that the winner of he and Parker should be the next fight for pound for pound great Canelo Alvarez.

“I think it makes perfect sense, really,” Ryder said. “The winner will be in line for the WBO title, obviously it’s for the interim, and I know [David] Benavidez and [Caleb] Plant are fighting a final eliminator and he [Canelo]’s got options, but I’ve spent two years chasing him [Canelo] around the world, trying to be a backup fighter [if someone drops out], and if I beat Zach Parker next week, I deserve my shot at Canelo and I think I’ve paid my dues.”

The 34-year-old went on to say, “Following him around the world to see if someone would pull out or fall ill obviously wasn’t the way to go about it, and I deserve a proper camp and proper notice and I’d love to get it on with Canelo, for sure.”

While pundits believe that Ryder is beyond his title days, he thinks he will show everyone he still has plenty of great boxing left against Parker. “I suppose he [Parker]’s looking at this as his breakout fight and seeing if he can do a number on me and it propels him on and opens doors for him, but I don’t feel like I’m an opponent just yet,” said Ryder. “I feel I have a lot to give in this sport and at 168 I feel like I’m a different animal to my days at 160, they are well behind me. I can really perform at this weight and this is where I’m going to do the things I set out to do in this sport.”

The main card can be seen on ESPN+.

Prograis vs. Zepeda Preview

The vacant WBC junior welterweight title will be on the line in Carson, California on Saturday November 26th. Former WBA champion Regis Prograis will battle former title challenger Jose Zepeda.

Prograis (27-1, 23 KO) has won three straight fights by TKO since losing a majority decision to Josh Taylor for the WBA title in 2019. The 33-year-old is confident he has better all-around skills than his opponent on Saturday. “Zepeda's never fought a southpaw this elusive, a southpaw that is strong like I am, a southpaw that has defense and a southpaw who has a chin on top of that,” Prograis said.

The New Orleans native continued, “I feel like you can hit me with anything, it's not going to do anything. But the main thing is he hasn't fought a workhorse like me, it is one of my strongest suits. I work so hard in training camp, I kill myself. And on top of that, there is my hunger.”

Prograis wants to be considered one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world. “When people introduce me, they do so as 'the former champ' you but I want to be the current champion, and not only that, I want to be known as the best in the world in my division,” Prograis said.

“That is even more important to me than being a champion, it's to be the best in the world in my division.

“There will always be debates but after Saturday, my name will be really, really high on the list. You have other fighters that are good, but I think after Saturday, my name should be at the top of the 140lbs list.”

Zepeda (35-2-2, 27 KO) has won five straight fights and has not lost since 2019. He most recently defeated Josue Vargas by first round TKO last October. The 33-year-old is willing to go to war with Prograis.

“I don’t think I have to tell you if he’s brave or not. You guys know that. I don’t have to tell you that I’m brave. If anything happens, I’m going to get up and go back to fighting, and he’s going to do the same thing,” said Zepeda.

“If he gets dropped, he’s going to come back. That’s why I keep saying ‘Fight of the year,’ and all the boxing experts know that.”

Zepeda is driven to be a champion after failing in his first two attempts. “That only gives me more motivation,” said Zepeda. “If I was able to get three opportunities for a world title, it means I’m doing things right.

“Nobody just gets three opportunities for no reason. So it means I’m doing something right each time I’m progressing, and the two times that I lost, in my book, inside the ring, I haven’t lost.

“In my first title fight, my first loss [to Terry Flanagan in 2015], that was a shoulder dislocation. In the second one [against Jose Ramirez in 2019], many people thought I won. So, I believe inside the ring; I haven’t lost a flight; I’m undefeated,” said Zepeda.

The fight can be seen on PPV.

UFC 281 Preview

The UFC is returning to Madison Square Garden in New York City for UFC 281. The main event will be a middleweight fight five years in the making. Champion Israel Adesanya will defend his title against the only man to finish him in combat sports, #4 Alex Pereira.

It only took Pereira three fights in the UFC to gain a title shot after quickly finishing Sean Strickland by KO in July at UFC 276. The 35-year-old Brazilian is 2-0 against Adesanya in kickboxing and in their last fight he KO’d the champion in the third round with a devastating left hook.

While many pundits believe Pereira’s rise to a title shot happened quicker than it should have, the built-in storyline of his KO on Adesanya made it the most intriguing matchup for the next title fight. Pereira believes the loss is still on Adesanya’s mind. “It’s still there, for sure,” Pereira said. “I don’t know how it’s going to be or how he could possibly erase that from his mind, but I know it’s still there.”

Pereira is out to prove that he will also have the edge in MMA as well. “I’m going to show people that I’ve been training MMA for a while and how dangerous I can be in MMA,” he said.

The challenger believes he is better than Adesanya regardless of what type of fight happens on Saturday. “We’ve both evolved a lot, but I think I have the edge in kickboxing, because I’ve evolved a lot after the fight,” he said. “People want to say, ‘Oh, but now this is an MMA fight.’ But many people think this is going to be a kickboxing fight inside an octagon. So with that said, who do you think is going to have the edge? Me, who kept doing kickboxing for all those years, or him, who stopped training kickboxing?”

Should Pereira win, booking a fourth fight with Adesanya would be the logical choice. If Pereira wins in dominant fashion, does the UFC still book an immediate rematch? Pereira does not think so. “He does deserve that, but I think if they come and ask him after that for a rematch, I don’t think he wants that,” Pereira said.

Adesanya is looking to defend the middleweight title for the sixth time. He most recently defeated Jared Cannonier by unanimous decision at UFC 276 in July. His only MMA loss came in 2021 when he moved up in weight to light heavyweight and attempted to become a two-weight world champion, but he was defeated by then title holder Jan Blachowicz via unanimous decision.

The 33-year-old has embraced the history he has with Pereira and what it means to his mental state leading up to the fight. “I like the pressure on me,” Adesanya said. “I like it on me in this one. I saw last night, I’m like, ‘Why am I the favorite in this on the betting odds?’ I never check them but I just happened to see something on Instagram and I was like, ‘How the f*ck am I the favorite?’ I feel like we should change that. How do we change that or something, fake an injury? I don’t know. We’ll see. I think we should bet on him this fight. Yeah, we’ll just see what happens.”

The champion has commented on the two losses to Pereira. “We’ve dusted that off, we’ve cut it off, and I can see what I did wrong,” Adesanya said. “So, it’s not gonna be like last time. This is a different fighter you’re facing, and now I’ve become another fighter. I’ve re-birthed myself. I’ve re-birthed it, and I just feel like I want to have fun. That’s the goal. But this fight, I’m gonna have fun. That’s the ultimate goal. And when I have fun, I’m the best in the world.”

Does Adesanya think Pereira will be his toughest title defense? “No, I don’t think [he presents the toughest challenge],” Adesanya told ESPN. “He’s very one-dimensional. He’s early on in this game as well so I’m even glad to get him now. I don’t know who he has in his corner. I know he has Glover [Teixeira] and his boxing coach. I don’t know what their background is, I don’t really mind, I just worry about me. I definitely know he’s not as smart as me in the cage. I know that for a fact.”

“The Last Stylebender” has been one of the most successful UFC champions in recent years, but he is not motivated by staying champion in this fight.  “Beating him, that’s what matters,” Adesanya said on his YouTube channel. “Like, the belt? F*ck the belt. Just beating him, a killer like him, that’s what matters.”

Aside from Cannonier, the champion has key wins over Robert Whittaker (twice), Marvin Vettori (twice), Paulo Costa, Yoel Romero, Kelvin Gastelum, Anderson Silva, Derek Brunson and Brad Tavares.

If Adesanya defeats Pereira there will be few new challenges at middleweight, so perhaps we may see him move back up in weight. He must first get by his storied rival, but if he loses on Saturday, we could have a thrilling fourth fight on our hands.

The co-main event at UFC 281 will be for the women’s strawweight title between champion Carla Esparza and former champion #2 Zhang Weili. Esparza is a two-time champion but is looking for her first successful title defense. She has won six straight fights and won the title in her last fight with a split decision victory over Rose Namajunas at UFC 274 in May.

Despite her success, Esparza is often seen by the MMA community as the underdog including in this title defense. The champion is not letting it phase her. “It is funny,” Esparza said. “Before, I would say early in my career it would kind of bum me out like ‘hey, I’m a good fighter!’ But now it just makes me smile and laugh. Like I know that I have a little secret but people [say] this is going to happen or that is going to happen and I’m just like OK but deep down I have my secret like you’ll see.”

She continued, “But I don’t need to talk about it. That’s been the style of my coach and my team since I’ve been there. Do your talking in the cage. I don’t need to tell you what I’m going to do. I’m going to show you.”

The 35-year-old knows what type of challenge Zhang represents. “I have done my studying and I have seen holes and things I can take advantage of,” Esparza said about Zhang. “But at the end of the day, at this level and being a former champ, everyone’s going to be really good. I think it’s because she’s so dangerous and she comes out really strong that she has had these explosive first-round finishes. I’m definitely not looking past how dangerous she is and her knockout power and how strong she is because I think that’s obvious to see.”

Esparza went on to say, “But I’m pretty strong myself or else I wouldn’t be here at this point. I go into every fight that the possibility [is there], it’s a dangerous sport. It’s the hurt business. I go in there and prepare the best I can and let the cards fall where they may.”

The champion is confident heading into Saturday and has added motivation for this title defense. “I don’t think Weili has ever fought anyone like me. She’s never had this type of fight and I think she’s even said that in interviews. We’ll see how she reacts because I’ve never seen her go against someone like me so I don’t know how good she is there. It’s not easy fighting someone completely different than you have seen before.”

“It’s always great to win but to silence all the doubters, there’s a little bit of extra satisfaction to that,” Esparza said. “Unfortunately or fortunately, it’s something I’ve gotten to do a lot in my career.

“I’m a betting underdog usually and my friends and family have thanked me because I’ve won them a lot of money in the past. It is what it is. I definitely don’t mind being the underdog.”

Zhang is coming off a highlight reel knockout of Joanna Jędrzejczyk in a rematch at UFC 275 in June. The win was a much-needed rebound after losing two straight to Rose Namajunas in title fights. The 33-year-old will be challenging for the title a third time after becoming champion in 2019 and defending the belt once against Jędrzejczyk in their first fight.

The former champion is confident she has the skills to counter Esparza’s grappling ability. “Each one of my fights are gonna be a very exciting fight and I don’t fear if we wrestle or grapple,” Zhang said. “So, I don’t fear anything from Carla Esparza.

“I think her previous opponents — the mistake they made is that they get trapt by Carla, getting in her fighting rhythm,” she concluded. “So what I’m gonna do Saturday night is I’m not going to get trapt by her, I’m going to set up some traps for her.”

Aside from Jędrzejczyk, Zhang has key wins over Jessica Andrade, Tecia Torres and Jessica Aguilar. If she wins what is next for the strawweight title picture? There could be third fight with Namajunas or does the UFC give Esparza a rematch? #3 Amanda Lemos just had an impressive TKO victory on November 5th and represents a new title challenger in the division we have not seen yet. However, both fighters on Saturday have a great case for staying at the top of the title conversation.

The rest of the main card:

Lightweight - #2 Dustin Poirier​vs. #5 Michael Chandler​​​​

Bantamweight - #12 Frankie Edgar vs. Chris Gutiérrez​​​​

Lightweight - #12 Dan Hooker vs. Claudio Puelles​

ESPN + Prelims:

Lightweight - Brad Riddell vs. Renato Moicano​​​​

Light Heavyweight - #7 Dominick Reyes vs. #12 Ryan Spann​​​​

Women's Flyweight - #15 Molly McCann vs. #12 Erin Blanchfield​​​​

Middleweight - Andre Petroski​vs. Wellington Turman

Early Prelims on ESPN+ and UFC Fight Pass:

Lightweight - Matt Frevola vs. OttmanAzaitar​​​​

Women's Strawweight - Karolina Kowalkiewicz​vs. Silvana Gómez Juárez​​​​

Featherweight - Michael Trizano vs. Choi Seung-woo​​​​

Bantamweight - Julio Arce vs. Montel Jackson​​​​

Light Heavyweight - Carlos Ulberg vs. Nicolae Negumereanu​​

Neil Magny Breaks UFC Welterweight Wins Record

UFC welterweight Neil Magny made history on Saturday at UFC Vegas 64. With a third-round submission of Daniel Rodriguez he passed UFC legend Georges St. Pierre for most wins in welterweight history with 20.

The 35-year-old may be the record holder, but he knows the importance of acknowledging the fighters that have come before him, such as St. Pierre. “I believe Georges St-Pierre is the greatest welterweight of all time. It was cool to be able to get to the point that I have the most wins [in welterweight history] in the UFC right now, but I just have to accept that his career is far different than mine. I can’t look at Georges St-Pierre’s career and look at what he’s done in the sport and feel like I fell short, or didn’t accomplish enough ,because that’s just added mental pressure that I don’t need,” said Magny.

Magny wants to define his own legacy despite the comparisons that may be made to St. Pierre, now that he has passed him in the record books. “This is a lot of pressure,” Magny said. “I feel like if I buy into the hype and constantly compare myself to GSP, when that day comes for me to walk away from it, I may have dark shadow over my head like, ‘You had an OK career, but you were no GSP.”

“I accept that. I know I’m not GSP. I’m Neil Magny. I’m comfortable with my own name in the history books and blazing a path for myself.”

Magny may not be the casual fans most beloved welterweight, but he has been one of the toughest fighters in the sport since starting his UFC career in 2013. He has been one of the most active 170 pounders in the UFC but he has quietly been an “any time, any place” fighter. He is not big on trash-talk or one for calling out those above him in the rankings. However, he answers the call to fight when no one else will. He has taken a humble approach to being a welterweight contender but he has not been afraid to battle elite fighters, feared prospects, or challengers who have seen him as a gatekeeper.

Rodriguez was on a four-fight winning streak entering Saturday’s fight but he learned that Magny is not ready to accept the gatekeeper title. “Even though I took the gatekeeper from D-Rod personal, it was nothing against him. I mean, if I go out there and I fall short when it matters most, and I end up being a gatekeeper, it’s not because of him — it’s because of my actions,” Magny said. “So, for me to go out there and fight to the best of my ability, that’s what’s going to start changing those narratives, even when it comes down to like the odds and that kind of thing for people betting and that kind of stuff.

“As much as I took it personal with that gatekeeper comment, it is literally more so motivating,” he continued. “Like, alright, cool. Are you a gatekeeper? If not, go out there and prove otherwise. And that’s kind of like where I’m heading now.”

Among the record for most welterweight wins, Magny also holds other impressive accolades. He fought 10 times in two calendar years, he is one of only three fighters to win five fights in a calendar year, and he has wins over three former champions. While these are hall of fame statistics, Magny has not been close to fighting for a title, but that is still his plan.

“It’s great to be the all-time winner or whatever else, but at the end of the day, I want the stamp on my career,” Magny explained. “I want to be labeled the champion for the rest of my life, and that’s not something someone is going to give me. I have to go out there and get it.”

He continued, “I do appreciate the win against Daniel Rodriguez tonight. I do appreciate holding the record for most wins in the welterweight division but that’s not the end goal for me now. Maybe five years from now, 10 years from now, I’ll look back like all right, that was good enough. But right now, I still want to be called UFC welterweight champion and I definitely feel like I can get it done.”

While many pundits do not recognize Magny as a hall of fame fighter right now, challenging for a title would certainly build a better case for him to be more widely considered one of the best in UFC history. Even though we are in an era where longevity is often overlooked by fans and critics, you cannot deny the impact that Magny has made on the UFC’s welterweight division over the last nine years.