UFC 296 Preview
The UFC will be returning to the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday, December 16th for the last event of 2023. The UFC 296 main event will be for the welterweight title between champion Leon Edwards and former interim title holder and title challenger Colby Covington.
Edwards is making his second title defense since winning the belt in 2022 with one of the best and most historic knockouts in title fight history over Kamaru Usman. The Jamaican fighter is 11-0-1 in his last 12 fights and has not lost since 2015. Despite all his accolades, Edwards will enter this fight as an underdog.
The champion commented on Covington being favored by the UFC for a title fight over other more deserving contenders. “I feel like the world knows that [he doesn’t deserve it],” Edwards said. “He got beat by Usman. He beat a guy in [Jorge] Masvidal that’s basically about to walk out the door, and then [he sat] out for two years and got a title shot. Turned down all the fights that were offered to him, all the [fighters] that called him out. He got Dana White privilege, alright. And that’s it, he hasn’t earned it. I think (Donald) Trump wants him to win. I don’t know. None of it matters, right? My whole career’s been the underdog going against the favorite.”
Edwards commented when asked again about Covington’s Dana White privilege. “I think no one in this room knows why he’s fighting for a title. But we’re here now,” Edwards said. “The only thing that matters, all that matters, is Saturday night, going out there and taking him out and focusing fully on that. Whether he deserves it or not, it doesn’t matter, because he’s fighting anyway for the belt.”
Covington is known for his ridiculous trash talk, but does it fuel Edwards? “I don’t hate him. I don’t know him like that to hate him. I hate the character he’s playing. I find it strange that a grown-ass man is walking around with another grown-ass man (Donald Trump) on his clothes. It’s just a weird thing. I don’t get it. Plus I’m from different parts of the world than him. That’s his thing? That’s his thing, right? Fair play to him.”
The 32-year-old responded to the idea that Covington represents his biggest challenge. “He’s not as good as everyone thinks,” Edwards said. “He’s a guy who’s been stopped before by TKO, choked out before, and taken down before. There are many ways that you can beat him. He’s just a normal fighter that’s more scrappy, basically. Me and my team have come up with a great game plan to neutralize what he’s good at. My aim is to go out there and take him out.”
He concluded by responding to Covington’s words. “It’s easy (to brush off), to be fair, because I think everyone knows he’s playing a character, right?” Edwards said. “It’s easier to take someone like that as a joke. That’s what I’m able to do, take it for what it is. He’s a clown and I’ll treat him as such.”
The one non-win Edwards has on his record in his last 12 fights is a no-contest to Belal Muhammad in 2021 after an accidental eye-poke. It is believed that Muhammad will be next to challenge for the title and will be weighing in as a backup for the title at UFC 296.
Edwards commented, “If I have to fight Belal, I’ll fight Belal. I’ve proven that I’m way better than him, anyway, just from that one round. If he’s next, I would happily engage in it and it’s fine. I believe that I’m going to fight them, anyway, so why not fight them all as a champion? Why not fight them all as a king, making money for it, making pay-per-views? Why not do it then? I want to fight them all anyway, so it doesn’t matter who’s next.”
Covington has not fought since March of 2022 where he won a unanimous decision against rival Jorge Masvidal. He challenged Usman for the title a second time in 2021, but he lost a unanimous decision. Does he think his time has finally come?
“I’ve already been anointed and celebrated as the people’s champion, as America’s champion, as the ‘King of Miami’, and most importantly, as Donald Trump’s favorite fighter,” said Covington. “Saturday night, I can finally be celebrated as undisputed champion. This is destiny, this is a long time coming. This is facing adversity and coming back stronger from it. Sometimes the path is harder, but it’s because the ceiling is higher.”
“I never wanted a participation trophy. I’m not the biggest, I’m not the strongest, but I am the nastiest. My body is a vessel. I’ve been delayed, but on Saturday night, I will not be denied.”
The 35-year-old was long considered the best welterweight in the world not named Kamaru Usman. They put on two great back and forth fights. Now that Edwards has dethroned Usman and is the reigning champion, will Covington change his approach?
“People pay their hard-earned money for these pay-per-views, and I want them to sit back and admire greatness,” said Covington. “I can promise you it’s going to be entertaining.”
Covington knows he has to be the one to take control of the fight. “I feel like I need to go to a different level that I haven't been to before and can't let the judge or referee be in control of my own destiny. I need to create my own destiny,” said Covington.
Edwards won a clear decision in his last fight, but Covington has not been shy about what he thinks he saw in the performance. “I would say the biggest challenge is the cheating he does in the octagon,” he added.
“If you watched the last fight he did against Usman in the UK, he had seven or eight fouls. There was a compilation on Twitter the other day, of him poking his eyes, grabbing the fence, and grabbing his gloves multiple times.
“These are facts, he's always looking for ways to bend the rules and cheat a little bit, so that's my biggest concern. I've prepared for it accordingly, and I hope I see the best version of Leon on Saturday night.”
The co-main event of the night will be in the flyweight division. Champion Alexandre Pantoja will be defending the title for the first time in a rematch against #2 Brandon Royval.
Pantoja won the belt at UFC 290 in July with a split decision victory over two-time champion Brandon Moreno. He defeated Royval by second round submission in 2021, a fight that Royval has longed to get back.
The Brazilian does not have bad blood ahead of a rematch with Royval, and is focused on humbly remaining champion. “All the time when I go to sleep, I say, ‘Thank you, God, for everything you give to me to live this life and be able to go to the octagon and make all my friends and parents happy,'” Pantoja said. “That’s a lot for me. I live like a dream. I don’t like to say a dream too much because I like to live – day-by-day. I work a lot to live that. I feel very glad to be this person who everyone goes to the fight to watch and make everybody happy.”
He concluded, “I’m keeping my feet on the ground,” Pantoja said. “My wife is very tough. After this fight, maybe I need to go make things with my family – maybe a vacation together. I think that’s what people need to understand about my history.
“(I’m) a family guy, humble guy. You’re never going to see some bullsh*t about me. I don’t like trash-talking. If you pay to watch my fights, you don’t pay to watch my life. I’m not a reality show. I’m a fighter. I make sure every time I go to the octagon, I’m going to make a big show. I’m going to make sure I’m valuing all the coins.”
Royval has wo three straight since going on a two-fight skid against the last two champions Moreno and Pantoja. He most recently defeated Matheus Nicolau by KO in April. The 31-year-old has grand aspirations if he becomes champion on Saturday. Does he see a third fight with Pantoja happening immediately?
“That was going to be my first callout,” Royval said. “Two out of three. I want to fight him immediately. I want to fight him at UFC 300. I want to fight him as quickly as possible and I want to end this right now. I want to end the discussion of who is the better fighter, because I know in my head that I’m way better and way more skilled than he is.
“That being said, who knows how this fight plays out. Who knows how much time either one of us are going to need, because basically we’re both kind of wild fighters. I do live in the chaos and I do see this as both of us dragging each other to hell.”
Despite a potential third fight with Pantoja, Royval has another rematch in mind. “I want to fight Moreno again,” Royval said. “If he beats [Amir] Albazi, I want that Moreno rematch right away.”
Pantoja was the first fighter to fight for the title other than Moreno and Deveison Figueiredo since 2020. Royval wants to bring more new blood to the division’s title fights. “I want to stay active as a champion,” Royval said. “It’s just to the point where the flyweight division’s been held up for so long that I don’t want to be a champion that sits back and waits. I want to go out there and run through the division as quickly as possible and move on to my next endeavor.
“I want to fight Moreno or Pantoja immediately after this fight. I think those are the proper callouts. I think those are what I want as a man to secure my legacy and secure what I already think that I’m a better fighter than both these guys. But I have a big fat ‘what if’ with Moreno and also if I beat Pantoja, it’s 1-1. I don’t want to end anybody with a tie. I want to end that s***. I want to put a nail in the coffin and let the whole world know I’m the better fighter.”
The rest of the main card:
Welterweight - #5 Shavkat Rakhmonov vs. #6 Stephen Thompson
Lightweight - Tony Ferguson vs. Paddy Pimblett
ESPN+ Prelims:
Featherweight - #6 Josh Emmett vs. #10 Bryce Mitchell
Women's Bantamweight - #5 Irene Aldana vs. #9 Karol Rosa
Bantamweight Cody Garbrandt vs. Brian Kelleher
Women's Flyweight - Casey O’Neill vs. Ariane Lipski
Early Prelims on ESPN+ and UFC Fight Pass:
Light Heavyweight- #14 Alonzo Menifield vs. #15 Dustin Jacoby
Flyweight - Tagir Ulanbekov vs. Cody Durden
Featherweight - Andre Fili vs. Lucas Almeida
Heavyweight - Martin Buday vs. Shamil Gaziev
Welterweight - Randy Brown vs. Muslim Salikhov
UFC ON ESPN+ 91 Preview
The UFC will be returning to the Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday, December 9th for UFC on ESPN+ 91. The main event will be in the bantamweight division between #7 Song Yadong and #14 Chris Gutierrez. The event was supposed to be the UFC’s second visit to Shanghai, China, but the event was moved in November for undisclosed reasons.
Yadong is coming off a fifth round TKO over Ricky Simon in April for one of the better fights in 2023. The win was a big rebound after losing a fourth round TKO to Corey Sandhagen in 2022. The 26-year-old is 4-2 in his last six fights and is one win away from once again entering the title conversation at 135 pounds.
The Chinese fighter is confident heading into this fight with Gutierrez. “My last fight actually was kind of easy,” Song said. “I have some parts I have to work on, some details to make me feel great. I have more five-round experience. That made me feel more confident for this one.”
Yadong believes the fight will be an interesting stylistic matchup. “I think Chris is in a similar situation to me,” he said. “I think he will get nervous in the first round. It will change his style in this fight, I think.”
He respects Gutierrez, but does not feel he has the skills to defeat him. “Chris, he's a nice guy. He doesn’t talk s**t, but his skill is nothing special,” Song said. “He just kicks. Not like me. I’m well-rounded.”
Yadong knows he needs to keep winning and succinctly stated, “(I want to) be the champion,” he said. “That’s it.”
Aside from Simon, Yadong has key victories over Marlon Moraes, Julio Arce, Casey Kenney, and Marlon Vera. The fight with Sandhagen was definitely a title contender showcase, so Yadong will need to keep winning to remind everyone why he was ever mentioned in that conversation.
Gutierrez is also coming off a win to rebound from a loss. He most recently defeated Alateng Heili by unanimous decision in October. The 32-year-old is 8-1-1 in his last 10 fights with the only loss coming to long-time title contender Pedro Munhoz in April.
The Texas native is competing in his third fight in 2023 and is fighting in the first main evet of his career. How does he feel heading into his first headliner? "It's unchartered territory, for sure, because not many people get to do this," he said.
"It's a scary feeling almost in a way, but I know I'm here for a reason."
He continued with a realistic outlook on this opportunity. "I've seen people come and go in this fight game. And this fight game in general is so short. Within that time frame you've got to do as much as you can.
"One day you're here, the next you're not. One day you're fighting, the next you're not.
"I don't take it for granted. For me to be here as long as I have is a blessing.
"I try to be present where my feet are every day, and enjoy."
Gutierrez has a win over UFC legend Frankie Edgar, but Yadong represents the biggest win of his career and his arrival as a title contender at bantamweight. He is not a guy known for a calling out fighters, but with a victory he will be asked who he wants to fight in the top 5 of the rankings.
The co-main event of the night will be in the light heavyweight division between former title challenger #8 Anthony Smith and #11 Khalil Rountree Jr.
Smith is coming off a split decision victory over Ryan Spann in August, putting an end to his two-fight skid. Since fighting for the title in 2019, Smith is 5-4. The 35-year-old has been one of the busiest fighters in the UFC over the last five years and he has taken another fight on short notice inn facing Rountree.
He commented on competing in another short notice fight. “They wanted me to fight him in Austin, but there were like six days or something like that,” Smith said. “It was really short notice. I said I would take the fight but I couldn’t make 205 that fast. So I asked for a catchweight.
“Everyone was good with the catchweight, but Dana (White) isn’t a huge fan of catchweights. So he asked if I would make 205 this weekend, so he gave me an extra weekend to make the weight class. I said yeah.”
Does Smith think this fight is higher risk than reward once again fighting someone lower than him in the rankings? “The rankings are for people on Twitter and you guys,” Smith said. “We don’t really pay attention to that too much. To be honest, the UFC doesn’t really pay that much attention to it either. Rankings are like a marketing machine. It’s really easy to make people care about something more when there are numbers next to their names.
“The UFC understands how tough of a position I put myself in and how hard it is to come in on short notice and beat a guy like Khalil. And it’s even harder to look good doing it. So if you come in and you put yourself in these precarious positions and do hard things, I think you get rewarded for that.”
Smith made it clear why he wanted this fight. “I like doing crazy sh*t,” Smith said. “Taking a fight with Khalil Rountree on like 10 days’ notice is pretty crazy.”
Rountree has won four straight fights and most recently defeated former heavyweight title contender Chris Daukaus in August by first round TKO. The 33-year-old has been fighting in the UFC since 2016 and will be fighting his biggest fight on Saturday. With a win, he can solidify his place as a title contender in the light heavyweight division.
The former Ultimate Fighter finalist has a positive approach heading into the most important fight of his UFC career. “No matter what I did yesterday, I’m alive today and it’s just another day for me to just be better,” said Rountree Jr., explaining his approach to things as he readies for Saturday’s co-main event clash with Anthony Smith. “I can’t get hung up on what I did yesterday or last week or last month —it’s gone; it’s in the past.”
He continued, “This year has been a big year of growth for me,” following his fourth straight victory. “I changed my lifestyle. I moved back to Vegas, I made this a full-time thing, and with that adjustment and embracing this new lifestyle and mindset, I started to realize s*** happens and a lot of s*** happens that is out of my control.”
“Nothing is ever going to be perfect and lined up how I want it to look, and the only thing I can do is work hard,” he continued, laughing at the simple truth that is often difficult to accept. “Going through points where it’s like, ‘All right, I’m working hard’ only to get humbled by my coach where he’s like, ‘Sure, you worked hard yesterday, but today is still a brand new day.’
“I haven’t been able to sit down and be comfortable at all. This whole year has been non-stop work.”
Rountree was unphased by a location and opponent change for this fight. “(The people in my circle) say things to put it into perspective — ‘you’re fighting up, co-main, you don’t have to travel’ — and I’m like, ‘yeah, it’s all good,’ but it’s just another week of training and I know what that looks like — it’s f****** hard.
"I’m gonna do the same thing — show up, do my best, put on my best performance — but after that, there is still no break because I know something is going to come right after that, because that’s how things have been.”
The Rest of the Main Card:
Bantamweight - Tim Elliott vs. Su Mudaerji
Lightweight - Nasrat Haqparast vs. Jamie Mullarkey
Middleweight - Park Jun-yong vs. André Muniz
Welterweight - Song Kenan vs. Kevin Jousset
Prelims on ESPN+:
Flyweight - Park Hyun-sung vs. Shannon Ross
Lightweight - Steve Garcia vs. Melquizael Costa
Women's Bantamweight - Luana Santos vs. Stephanie Egger
Flyweight - Tatsuro Taira vs. Carlos Hernandez
Women's Strawweight - Rayanne dos Santos vs. Talita Alencar
UFC 295 Preview
The UFC is returning to Madison Square Garden in New York City on Saturday, November 11 for UFC 295. The main event will be for the vacant light heavyweight title between former champion Jiri Prochazka vs. former middleweight champion Alex Pereira.
Prochazka has not fought since June of 2022 where he won the light heavyweight title with a fifth-round submission of Glover Texeira at UFC 275. The fight is widely considered one of the greatest title fights of all-time and the two were booked for a rematch at UFC 282. Prochazka was forced to withdraw from the fight a month before and vacated the title.
After a draw for the title at UFC 282 between Jan Blachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev; Jamahal Hill won the vacant title with a unanimous decision victory over Texeira at UFC 283. Hill then vacated the title due to injury leaving room for Pereira to step in to fight Prochazka who was inevitably going to fight for the title again once he was healthy.
It only took Prochazka two wins in the UFC to earn a title shot and he proved against Texeira that he can win a war. The Czech fighter never lost the belt, but does he feel like the real champion right now? “Yes, sure [I feel like the champ],” Prochazka said. “I have to take it like that, because it’s my mindset to direct it for this feeling, to show that I’m the champion.”
The Czech fighter has been pulled into a war of words with Hill, but tried to remain true to the sport. “For me, what I’m doing, what I’m saying, and everything, that’s my lifestyle,” he said, “That’s everything. I like to do that with everything, like there is nothing left. This is a my last moment. That’s why I like to have this hairstyle, live by the samurai [text]. It helps me to be 100 percent here and now and to speak in the truth, to myself and to others.”
Despite the trash talk, Prochazka remains focused on getting the belt back and perhaps one day defending against Hill. “I know that Jamal spoke about me, many bad things, many good things, doesn’t matter for me,” he said. “I like him, I like other guys in the division. I will just show that I am the best in the division.”
Prochazka talked about the struggles of recovering from injury. "There is a period of when you get injured, you have to accept what you are dealing with," he said. "And then you said, 'OK, I must remain calm and approach this the right way. And it's working. To fix it, to get back to where you were, or even better, to go from zero to 100, it's going to take work. It's a lot of hard work. When you realize that, you just can be calm, focus on what you need to do each day to be better and you'll see the results [eventually]."
The 31-year-old vows to be a better version of himself against Pereira. "I think that no, there is [no advantage for Pereira] because since that fight with Glover, I have totally changed myself and my style," Procházka said. "Maybe change isn't the right word; say upgrade. I've upgraded my style. It's something I've always done, yeah, trying between the fights to take a step up and evolve. That fight was, for me, a big fight and I have to be honest, I was disappointed with my performance."
He continued speaking about his performance in his last fight against Texeira. "I was so upset with my performance that I said to myself, 'I need to do something; I need to change something,'" he said. "I needed to do something with my style. That's why I say, Glover can coach Alex however he wants, but they can't expect which Jiří will be in the cage. I totally didn't control myself. In the fight with Glover, I wasn't focused for that fight and it's something I have to delete from my style."
Pereira is coming off a split decision victory over former champion Jan Blachowicz at UFC 291 in July. The win was his UFC light heavyweight debut and it thrust him into the title picture. He also rebounded from a second round KO loss to Israel Adesanya for the middleweight title in his previous fight.
Pereira entered the UFC and much like Prochazka fought for a title in a short amount of time, as it only took him three wins in the UFC to fight for a belt. He will now have a new challenge and the potential to become one of the few fighters in UFC history to win titles in two divisions.
The former champion commented on Prochazka’s well known awkward style. “He’s definitely a hard opponent,” Pereira said. “Unpredictable, yes, but all the experience I have in fighting and kickboxing, I’m going to be using that in the fight.”
Pereira will also be leaning on his coach Glover Texeira for the preparation of this fight, after fighting five hard rounds with Prochazka. “It was definitely a hard fight,” Pereira said. “Glover was winning that fight to the moment he got submitted. Glover had all this experience, and it’s very important for me. I’m not going to think this fight is going to be easy because Glover already fought him, but with Glover and the experience he has, he’s already helped me. Regardless of whether for this fight or for the previous fight, he plays a big part of it.”
The 36-year-old believes this main event will be a fan favorite. “He’s an aggressive fighter, a lot of knockouts, me on the other hand, I’m also an aggressive fighter and try to control the fight the entire time,” said Pereira.
The Brazilian continued, “I think it’s going to be a very special fight for the fans, we’re going to give them a show.”
“Other fights tend to be a bit boring due to the match-up. This one we know due to the styles that it’s going to be an absolute show.”
The co-main event of the evening will be for the interim heavyweight title between #2 Sergei Pavlovich vs. #4 Tom Aspinall. The fight is taking place of the original main event for UFC 295 which was supposed to be for the heavyweight title between champion Jon Jones and former champion Stipe Miocic.
Fans were looking forward to a hall of fame matchup between Jones and Miocic, a fight that should have happened five years prior. With Jones pulling out due to injury and Miocic sitting out UFC 295, Pavlovich and Aspinall will battle for the right to become champion. But where does Miocic stand after an interim champion is crowned?
Pavlovich has won six straight fights and most recently defeated Curtis Blaydes by first round TKO in April. The Russian also has key KO wins over Tai Tuivasa and Derrick Lewis. He believed this day would come and knew to stay ready for a title fight. “I kept in mind that I could change for somebody in the fight between Stipe Miocic and Jon Jones,” said Pavlovich. “I expected that I would be one of them.
“In my mind, I was preparing for the title,” he added. “When I got the news I was going to be the backup for the fight, I was expecting for this to happen.”
Pavlovich continued to speak about why he believes he should be fighting for a title. "For me, I’m not surprised that I’m going to fight for the title because it’s supposed to happen,” offered Pavlovich, who posted four wins in 13 months after going without a fight in 2020 and 2021 as a result of injuries and travel issues. “I’ve been fighting for a long time, I’ve won six fights in a row, and if not this one, the next one was going to be for a title shot.”
The Russian fighter added, “After Curtis Blaydes, the UFC was saying the winner of this fight is going to have a title shot, so I was expecting it 100 percent after that fight,” continued the streaking contender, who dispatched Blaydes in May to run his record to 18-1 overall, with 15 of those victories coming by way of first-round stoppage. “There was a change in some plans, but I was thinking I was next in line.”
The preparation stayed the same regardless of the opponent. “First there is the mental preparation, and if you’re mentally ready, it doesn’t matter who you’re against,” added Pavlovich, who wrapped his camp at American Top Team in South Florida. “I was ready for the wrestling, the striking; I was ready to exchange with one of them at the last minute.
“As soon as I was mentally ready, all the other work is easy to do. It’s been 10 years of work in MMA and there is a lot of work done in order to get here.”
Aspinall is coming off a first round TKO victory over Marcin Tybura in July. He is 6-1 in the UFC with the loss coming by TKO due to a knee injury. In addition to Tybura, Aspinall has key wins over Alexander Volkov and Serghei Spivac.
The 30-year-old knows what kind of a challenge he is facing on Saturday. “I’m fighting the scariest guy in MMA in my opinion, in the worst circumstances possible without a training camp,” said Aspinall. “But I obviously think I can win. I’m not the kind of guy who shows up for money. I ain’t signing a contract and showing up if I don’t think I can win.”
But the English fighter is confident. “I truly, truly believe that I could win on Saturday night,” continued Aspinall. “I’m going to win on Saturday night. I’m an absolute winner, and I find a way to win, no matter what the circumstances [are]. The odds are definitely stacked against me, but it’ll be even better when I win the title on Saturday night. “
Aspinall aspired to fighting Jon Jones. “I would love to fight Jon Jones,” Aspinall said. “I want to test myself against that before this is all said and done. I would love to fight Jon Jones 100%.”
With Jones’ return questionable and the uncertainty of where Miocic fits into the title picture, both Pavlovich and Aspinall could bring new life to the heavyweight division. If Jones does come back, most fans want to see him fight former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou is some sort of MMA heavyweight champion of the world battle. Miocic was clearly fighting Jones for his legacy, and while he has said he would have fought either Pavlovich or Aspinall at UFC 295, is a return to fight one of them something he really needs at all? The heavyweight division has always been an older fighters division, but the newly crowned interim champion at UFC 295 will bring new blood to the UFC’s heaviest division.
The rest of the main card:
Women's Strawweight - #7 Mackenzie Dern vs. #5 Jéssica Andrade
Lightweight - #14 Matt Frevola vs. Benoît Saint-Denis
Featherweight - Diego Lopes vs. Pat Sabatini
ESPN + Prelims:
Flyweight - #14 Steve Erceg vs. Alessandro Costa
Women's Strawweight - #10 Tabatha Ricci vs. #13 Loopy Godinez
Lightweight - Mateusz Rębecki vs. Roosevelt Roberts
Lightweight - Nazim Sadykhov vs. Viacheslav Borshchev
Early Prelims on ESPN + and UFC Fight Pass:
Lightweight - Jared Gordon vs Mark Madsen
Bantamweight - John Castañeda vs. Kang Kyung-ho
Flyweight - Joshua Van vs. Kevin Borjas
Featherweight- Dennis Buzukja vs.Jamall Emmers
UFC ESPN 89 Preview
The UFC is heading back to Sao Paulo, Brazil on Saturday, November 4 for UFC on ESPN 89. The main event will be a high stakes heavyweight battle between rising contender #9 Jailton Almeida vs. former title challenger and fan-favorite #10 Derrick Lewis. Curtis Blaydes was originally scheduled to fight Almeida but withdrew from the fight for undisclosed reasons.
Almeida has won 14 straight fights and is 5-0 in the UFC with five finishes. He most recently defeated Jairzinho Rozenstruick by first round submission in May. A sixth win in a row over an accomplished fighter such as Lewis will certainly enter the Brazilian fighter into the title conversation.
Champion Jon Jones was scheduled to defend the belt against former champion Stipe Miocic at UFC 295 but an injury to Jones has forced the fight to be called off. An interim fight between Sergei Pavlovich and Tom Aspinall has now been added to the event. This turn of events has made things interesting for title hopefuls in the heavyweight division such as Almeida.
Despite Jones being new to the heavyweight division, Almeida has dreamt of fighting him but now he perhaps has a different fight to look forward to. “I maybe do worry a little about not achieving my dream of fighting against Jon Jones,” Almeida said regarding Jones’ torn pectoral. “I’ve said it in interviews that my dream is to fight Jon Jones.
“However, I’m also happy for the opportunities to fight for the title that get opened up now. Jon Jones is out and now Tom Aspinall is fighting Sergei Pavlovich. If I beat Derrick Lewis on Saturday, I could be next or maybe they make me do one more. There’s a lot going on in the division, but it might open up opportunities.”
The 32-year-old thinks he could see a potential title opportunity sooner than later. "I want to be the [backup] for UFC 295," Almeida said.
While UFC 295 would be a quick turn around for Almeida, it could be possible. "If I get out of this fight with no injuries and do what I plan to do, why not?" Almeida said.
He continued, "I want to get a good win and then be remembered the following week," Almeida said. "I'd love to be an alternate for that fight. Things happen all the time. You saw what happened in Abu Dhabi just 10 days or so before that fight card. So I'll sign up if they need me. Opportunity comes sometimes when you least expect it, so the key is to be willing and be ready."
Almeida is prepared to deal with the added pressure of fighting in Brazil. "There's no pressure and the only change is really the vibe in the crowd," he said. "It's not really that different from how it was against Rozenstruik, because that was a high-profile fight. But I think what has changed, if anything, is that I'll have the crowd on my side in Brazil."
A win won’t come easy, but Almeida is ready for a war. "He's a knockout artist, he's a guy who's every well known in the U.S. and he's pretty much fought everyone," Almeida said of Lewis. "It would be very special for me."
Lewis is coming off a TKO over Marcos Rogerio de Lima in July which extended his UFC record for KO wins to 14. The victory was also a big rebound after Lewis lost three straight fights and many people were writing him off as the hard-hitting contender he once was.
The 38-year-old plans on being himself for this fight. “I shouldn’t have no problem defeating this guy,” Lewis continued. “I haven’t seen any video of him. My coaches have though, have talked about his ground game, his front kick — I need to watch out for that. But other than that, there’s not too much for me to worry about. I feel like I shouldn’t have no problem defeating this guy. Instead of waiting around for my opponent to do something, I’m going to go out there and do what I want to do,” said Lewis.
Lewis has been fighting in the UFC since 2014 and will go down as one of the most accomplished fighters in the UFC’s heavyweight division, despite never holding a title. He has key wins over Gabriel Gonzaga, Roy Nelson, Shamil Abdurakhimov, Travis Browne, Marcin Tybura, Francis Ngannou, Alexander Volkov, Blagoy Ivanov, Ilir Latifi, Aleksei Oleinik and Curtis Blaydes. A win over Almeida will remind the heavyweight division that he is always a threat and he has yet to become a steppingstone.
The rest of the main card:
Welterweight - Gabriel Bonfim vs. Nicolas Dalby
Heavyweight - Rodrigo Nascimento vs. Don'Tale Mayes
Middleweight - Caio Borralho vs. Abus Magomedov
Middleweight - Rodolfo Vieira vs. Armen Petrosyan
Lightweight - Ismael Bonfim vs. Vinc Pichel
ESPN + Prelims:
Catchweight (165 lb) - Elves Brener vs. Kaynan Kruschewsky
Welterweight - Rinat Fakhretdinov vs. Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos
Bantamweight - Victor Hugo vs. Daniel Marcos
Light Heavyweight - Vitor Petrino vs. Modestas Bukauskas
Women's Strawweight - Angela Hill vs. Denise Gomes
Women's Strawweight - Eduarda Moura vs. Montserrat Ruiz
Lightweight - Kauê Fernandes vs. Marc Diakiese
UFC 294 Preview
The UFC is invading the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on Saturday, October 21 for UFC 294. The main event will be a rematch for the lightweight title between champion Islam Makhachev and featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski.
Makhachev was originally scheduled for a rematch with former champion Charles Oliveira where the two previously met at UFC 280. Makhachev won by second round submission to win the title. Oliveira was forced to withdraw from UFC 294 due to injury, so Volkanovski has stepped in on 12 days’ notice for another chance to become a double champion.
Makhachev defeated Volkanovski by unanimous decision in his last fight in February at UFC 284. The decision was widely criticized as many fans and critics felt like Volkanovski won the fight. Despite the criticism of his victory, the win was Makhachev’s 12th straight and his first defense of the lightweight title.
The champion does not believe Volkanovski took this fight to win the belt. During the pre-fight press conference he said, "You don't need nothing, you just need money. Everybody knows why you come, tell the people how much more they [UFC] give you for the fight. Just make money, shut up, and go home."
He continued, "This fight everything is going to change. I want to finish him and finish all the talk about the last fight. Here everything is on my side."
The Dagestani fighter traveled to Volkanovski’s backard for their first fight and the Australian fans did not make the fight any easier on him. Now the tables have turned and Makhachev will have the home filed advantage.
Volkanovski is not worried. “He needs all the advantages he can get,” Volkanovski said. “That’s all he thinks about. I don’t need none of that. I’ve got these (hands) – that’s all I worry about. I rely on my skills – not crowds, not nothing.”
Volkanovski has stayed busy since the February loss to Makhachev. He defended the featherweight title against Yair Rodriguez winning by third round TKO at UFC 290 in July. The loss to Makhachev put an end to a 22 fight winning streak but even after the loss Volkanosvki has been widely considered the greatest pound for pound fighter in the world. His most recent win certainly helped his case, but a win over Makhachev will leave no doubt who the pound for pound king is.
The 35-year-old has a newfound confidence heading into this fight. “I’m so fresh because I didn’t have to worry about a fight camp. I didn’t have to physically and mentally exhaust myself,” said Volkanovski. “I get to go into this fresh, excited and almost have fun.”
Needless to say, the featherweight champion is excited to redeem himself. "I'm feeling good. I'm excited. That's one thing that I've taken out of all this whole thing, obviously, it's crazy. But man, it's gonna be fun. I don't think I've ever been this excited for a fight.
"Obviously you get excited, but you go through camp, and camp can be exhausting. Mentally and physically exhausting thinking about the fight the whole time. Now I don't have time for that. As soon as I heard about it I had a smile on my face and it hasn't gone away even until now."
With a win Volkanovski could become just the fifth double champion in UFC history. He has promised to stay active in both divisions should he become lightweight champion. It appears the fan-pleasing fights would be waiting for Volkanovski at lightweight if he holds the belt. Makhachev will likely call for a rematch unless he loses badly, but if Volkanovski has proven anything it is that he does not turn down fights. So, if he wins, we could be in store for one of the greatest trilogy fights in UFC history.
The co-main event of UFC 294 also experienced a fighter withdrawal due to injury. Surging middleweight contender Khamzat Chimaev was originally scheduled to fight former title challenger Paulo Costa. But Costa had to undergo elbow surgery and former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman has stepped in on 10 days notice. UFC president Dana White announced that this fight will serve as a title eliminator with the winner to be the next to challenge newly crowned champion Sean Strickland for the middleweight title.
Chimaev has not fought in over a year but is coming off a first round submission win over Kevin Holland at UFC 279. The win was not short of controversy and Chimaev did not prove that he is a championship caliber fighter yet, as the card needed to be shifted around due to his missing weight. Despite the mess that was UFC 279, the Russian fighter is 6-0 in the UFC and has wins at both welterweight and middleweight.
The 29-year-old was motivated by bad blood with Costa, but with Usman he has different thoughts on why he is squaring off with the former welterweight champion. “The guy comes just to make money,” Chimaev said. “It’s a lot of money put on that. I think he gets a lot of good money when somebody fights me. It’s different-level money. That’s why he’s here. Of course, he comes to win, everyone comes to a fight to win, but he already has an excuse and he’s getting paid, so I think that’s why he comes. Everyone here, a lot of guys talk about ‘My history, this belt, this s***,’ when somebody put the money out, millions—one day everyone will forget about that but the guy is going to have his money for his family. That’s why he’s here, I think.”
Many people believe that Chimaev would eventually challenge Usman for the welterweight title, and he commented on whether he is excited to be fighting Usman later after the welterweight championship has changed hands. “Of course, because since day one I get to the UFC, everyone spoke about Khamzat-Usman, Khamzat-Usman,” Chimaev said. “Our wrestling skills, our striking, all of these things. Usman is a fighter like me, but he’s the old version, I’m new, different. Like iPhones come out, like iPhone 5, I’m like, Pro, it’s different.”
Is the phenom thinking about a title shot? “I don’t think about this fight right now, I’m focused on Usman,” Chimaev said when asked about challenging Strickland. “They promised me, like I said, before Gilbert Burns, ‘If you win against this guy you’re going to fight for the title.’ Since then, wait two years, now I fight again [at UFC 279), but didn’t get the title, so I don’t know. I’m not after just a title, I go after all heads in the UFC. Smash somebody, make money, be happy. If I finish everyone, stop everyone, they have to give me all the belts.”
Usman is riding two straight losses to Leon Edwards into this fight. Before being shocked by Edwards in their second fight and losing a majority decision in the trilogy, Usman was one of the most dominant welterweights in UFC history. The 36-year-old was on a 19-fight winning streak before conceding the welterweight title at UFC 278.
The former champion thought taking this fight was a no-brainer. “I call my coaches and I’m like, ‘Hey guys, I’ve got an opportunity’. Nobody talked me out of it. I think they probably already kind of knew where I was leaning towards.
“For me, I'm in the season of just gratitude. You know, how often do you get an opportunity [like this],” Usman said.
The Nigerian went on to say, “I've been blessed with so many opportunities to be able to entertain the world, but for a highly anticipated fight like this that people care about. It's not many.
“There's a lot of fighters that fight. They have tons of fights in the UFC, and they're done. And people don't really remember, so being blessed with an opportunity like this to be able to go out and in the sense, I guess, shock the world even though it should be the other way around.
“It’s a blessing.”
There have long been talks of Usman moving up to middleweight, is now the time? “Fighters fight. So whether it’s middleweight or welterweight let's fight, if it makes sense of course," he added. "And I know a lot of people said, ‘Why would you take this fight, it doesn't make any sense for you. You're a welterweight, you’re at the top of the welterweight, why don’t you just stay there?’
“Well, like I said, that opportunity to be able to do something that's monumental. And fighters fight, we step in there and we lay it all on the line and we take big risks [for] big rewards.”
If Dana White keeps his word and this fight is in fact a title eliminator fight, there is thought dominating my mind. No one on Earth was saying a year ago that Kamaru Usman and Khamzat Chimaev would be facing off for a chance to fight Sean Strickland for the middleweight title. Regardless of who the winner is, if they are granted a title shot, the build up to that title fight will be fun to watch,
The Rest of the main card:
Light Heavyweight - #2 Magomed Ankalaev vs. Johnny Walker
Middleweight - #11 Ikram Aliskerov vs. Warlley Alves
Bantamweight – Said Nurmagomedov vs. Muin Gafurov
ESPN + Prelims:
Flyweight - Tim Elliott vs. Muhammad Mokaev
Lightweight - Mohammad Yahya vs. Trevor Peek
Bantamweight - Javid Basharat vs. Victor Henry
Middleweight - Abu Azaitar vs. Sedriques Dumas
Catchweight (159.5 lb) - Mike Breeden vs. Anshul Jubli
Featherweight - Nathaniel Wood vs. Muhammad Naimov
Catchweight (116.6 lb) - Victoria Dudakova vs. Jinh Yu Frey
Middleweight - Sharabutdin Magomedov vs. Bruno Silva
Tszyu vs. Mendoza Preview
The WBO junior middleweight title will be on the line Saturday, October 14 in Queensland at the Gold Coast Convention Centre. Australian champion Tim Tszyu will defend his title against interim WBC champion Brian Mendoza.
Tszyu (23-0, 17 KO) is coming off a first round KO victory in June over Carlos Ocampo in which he retained the interim WBO title. He was elevated to full champion when Jermell Charlo battled Canelo Alvarez a few weeks ago. He will be defending as full champion for the first time in his home country.
While Tszyu and the boxing world have been waiting for a fight between he and Charlo, the newly crowned champion has reassured his critics he is focused on Mendoza. “He’s been my sole focus, I’m locked into taking him out and moving forward again. From what I’ve seen, his style can be awkward at times, and he throws from different angles, but I’m eager to unpack it on October 15th,” Said Tszyu.
‘I was hopeful the WBC would follow the WBO and elevate Mendoza, so we could unify but it is what it is and it’s still fight that fight fans are excited to see.”
The Australian detailed his plan for the future. “Mendoza first and then mega-fights,” he said. “Who knows how long that bloke Charlo is going to need to take this time after that performance, but knowing him it’ll be another 12 months and I’m not waiting around. Titles will come but I want the big names on my resume. I’m not waiting for anyone.”
Tszyu is motivated to prove himself in this title defense. “It’s a fight that excites me as with Charlo running off and doing his thing against Canelo for the cash,” he said.. “Mendoza was the only other guy in the division worth fighting.”
The champion has looked dominant in his last two fights with the other being a ninth round TKO over former champion Tony Harrison in March. He cannot sleep on Mendoza’s power or we could see the belt change hands again.
Mendoza (22-2, 16 KO) has won three straight having most recently defeated former interim champion Sebastina Fundora by a brutal seventh round KO in April. With the win he claimed the interim WBC junior middleweight belt and now looks to carry the momentum of three straight finishes into his first regular title fight. Prior to the Fundora win, he defeated former champion Jeison Rosario by fifth round KO.
The 29-year-old addressed the idea that he has more power than Tszyu. “The thing about me is I have power but I’m not just a power puncher. I don’t go in there trying to look for one shot. I’ll hurt you for 12 rounds. You know, old school, like I think of Miguel Cotto vs Mayorga — that was a 12th round last second knockout. I’m even content with that,” said Mendoza.
While he talked about how he has other skills than power punching, Mendoza will be looking for the knockout. “I do look for the knockout, I want to put on a big show. I think that’s why I even got called here to this beautiful country in the first place for this title fight. But I’m in there to put punishment on you for 12 rounds. Yeah, I have one-shot knockouts here and there, but you’ve seen my last few fights, it’s been the fifth round, sixth round, seven. And I carry the power late and I’m totally fine however long the fight needs to go for me to get that victory, that’s what I got to do.”
Mendoza talked about having to go into Tszyu’s home country to pull off the upset. “It’s all fuel. I’m using an entire country going against me on fight night as fuel. Nobody believes, man. Very few people actually believe that I can pull this off. Just like in my last fights. The comments don’t even get to me anymore. The last guy was supposed to kill me, and so was the guy before that. Fans are funny sometimes. I’m here to put on a great show and get that victory because the victory secures my family’s future. That’s what I’m focused on. I’m super motivated to accomplish that,” said Mendoza.
The challenger concluded, Whether it’s a knockout or decision, you can expect an explosive performance. At the end of the night, “And the new WBO super welterweight world champion, Brian “La Bala” Mendoza.”
The main card can be seen at 10:30pm ET on Showtime.
UFC Vegas 81 Preview
The UFC returns to the Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday, October 14 for UFC Vegas 81. The main event will be in the featherweight division between #11 Sodiq Yusuff vs. #13 Edson Barboza.
Yusuff has won two straight fights, he is 6-1 in the UFC, and he is 8-2 in his last 10 fights. His most recent win was by first round submission over Don Shainis a year ago. The Nigerian fighter will be facing his toughest test on Saturday and fighting in his first main event. He wants to prove to the world that he deserves to be in a headlining spot.
“It feels natural,” Yusuff said. “When I first got it, it was a little bit surreal. But the closer and closer I got, this is like this is the destined path. I feel like I’ve spent enough time here and I’ve gotten enough eyeballs on me to where the company feels like I deserve it. When Saturday comes, you’ve just got to go out there and put on a good show so they give you another one.”
The 30-year-old knows what a win over Barbosa would do for him. “They originally gave me that name for Abu Dhabi, but I couldn’t make it because of passport problems,” Yusuff said. “So I thought it was an opportunity that I already missed. So when they brought it back around, it was a yes, definitely. Edson is a legend. That’s a name I’d love to have under my resume.”
Yusuff has key wins over Andre Fili and Alex Caceres, but he will have his hands full with a veteran fighter who is still one of the most dangerous strikers in the world. Yusuff’s wrestling will likely be the difference for him, but if he gets lazy, he could get caught by Barboza on the ground.
Barboza won his last fight by first round KO over Billy Quarantillo in April, which was a huge rebound after losing two straight. The 37-year-old is 4-6 in his last 10 fights but is looking to prove he is still capable of winning a war against Yusuff.
“He’s a great fighter – definitely one of the best in the world,” Barboza said. “He’s No. 11 (in the UFC rankings), in front of me in the rankings. It’s going to be a war like always. Everybody know every time I step into the octagon I give a good fight, and this Saturday is not going to be different. It’s going to be a war.”
The Brazilian fighter is ready to win the fight no matter what Yusuff’s gameplan is. “It’s an MMA fight,” Barboza said. “I need to be ready wherever this fight go. I am ready. It’s an MMA fight. But everybody knows my style, they know the game plan is always the same. Keep it on the feet and try to stop him, try to finish the fight as soon as possible. But wherever this fight goes, I’ll be ready.”
Barboza concluded, “I see the fight at the end with me with the win. I don’t know if it’s going to be a decision or a knockout or submission. But I know if I go there and give my best, I’m going to win this fight.”
While he is getting closer to retirement, Barboza has legendary knockout victories and wins over some of the toughest in the sport. He has been fighting in the UFC since 2010 and has key wins over Bobby Green, Paul Felder, Anthony Pettis, Gilbert Melendez, Beneil Dariush, Dan Hooker and Shane Burgos.
A win for Barboza would remind the featherweight top 15 that he is never an easy fight and is always a threat. A loss would push him one step closer to a glove removal for one of the most electric fighters in UFC history.
The rest of the main card:
Women's Flyweight - #9 Jennifer Maia vs. #11 Viviane Araújo
Bantamweight - #13 Jonathan Martinez vs. #14 Adrian Yanez
Middleweight - Michel Pereira vs. Andre Petroski
Flyweight - Edgar Cháirez vs. Daniel Lacerda
Bantamweight - Cameron Saaiman vs. Christian Rodriguez
ESPN + Prelims:
Featherweight - Darren Elkins vs.T.J. Brown
Women's Bantamweight - Tainara Lisboa vs. Ravena Oliveira
Lightweight - Terrance McKinney vs. Brendan Marotte
Women's Bantamweight - Irina Alekseeva vs. Melissa Dixon
Bantamweight - #15 Chris Gutiérrez vs. Alateng Heili
Women's Strawweight - Ashley Yoder vs. Emily Ducote
UFC Vegas 80 Preview
The UFC is heading back to Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday, October 7th for UFC Vegas 80. The main event will be in the lightweight division between rising contender #10 Grant Dawson vs. battle-tested veteran Bobby Green.
Dawson has won three straight fights and is 9-0-1 in the UFC. He most recently defeated Damir Ismagulov by unanimous decision in July. The 29-year-old believes a matchup with Green is better for him now than worrying about fighting another fighter in the rankings.
“Matchups don’t make any sense to me anyway,” Dawson said. “I’m not a really big, anything outside the champion is just suggestion. The rankings change very single day. If he beats me on Saturday night, then the matchup wasn’t that weird.”
Is Green a threat? “I’m taking Bobby Green very seriously. I know how good he is, and I’m going to be honest with you, I think a win over Bobby Green does more for my career than a couple of wins over some other guys in the top 15. I just think he’s got that much of star power, he’s that big of a veteran, and I’m expecting the best Bobby Green on Saturday night.”
Dawson is excited to be fighting in his first main event. “I wanted to be a UFC world champion from day one, and if I want to be a UFC world champion, I have to know that these kind of moments are going to happen,” Dawson said. “They’re great, and I’m so happy that they’re finally starting to get here, but this was supposed to happen. I’m supposed to be in a main event. I’m supposed to be doing this kind of thing. Now I get to show the UFC you can put me in a main event and I can perform, and I can go all five rounds if need be. This is everything I’ve ever worked for.”
Green is coming off the biggest win of his long UFC career with a third-round submission over fan-favorite Tony Ferguson at UFC 291 in July. The win was a big rebound after two straight losses and a no contest in his previous three fights. The 37-year-old made his UFC debut in 2013 and is fighting in his second main event.
Ahead of UFC Vegas 80 Green did not know who Dawson was, but has now formed opinions after familiarizing himself with his opponent. “Man, I didn’t even know who that guy was. I never even heard of him, and that goes to his body of work. I think the issue is that like, he’s been kind of boring, you know? He’s been in the Apex fighting,” Bobby Green said. “But, had he been around these crowds, he’d already feel the pressure from the crowd.’
Green believes he needs to put on an exciting fight. “Even though sometimes he got some finishes, so it’s like, ‘Cool, yeah.’ But it’s a snorefest. So it’s going to be a real test for me is to moreso make a boring guy exciting. That’s the real fight,” Green said.
While his first main event did not go according to plan against now champion Islam Makhachev, Green is ready to seize the moment on Saturday. “I just feel like I didn’t have the proper time to prep for Islam,” Green said. “I was sitting on the couch, my girl was supposed to have surgery, I’m smoking a blunt, and they’re like, ‘Hey, get up and fight again.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, great. F*ck it, let’s do it.’ I think that this one’s going to be a lot different now that I had the time to prepare.”
The Rest of the Main Card:
Middleweight - Joe Pyfer vs. Abdul Razak Alhassan
Welterweight - Alex Morono vs. Joaquin Buckley
Lightweight - Drew Dober vs. Ricky Glenn
Featherweight - Alexander Hernandez vs. Bill Algeo
ESPN + Prelims:
Light Heavyweight - Philipe Lins vs. Ion Cuțelaba
Women's Strawweight - #15 Karolina Kowalkiewicz vs. Diana Belbiţă
Bantamweight - Aori Qileng vs. Johnny Muñoz Jr.
Women's Strawweight - Kanako Murata vs. Vanessa Demopoulos
Flyweight - Nate Maness vs. Mateus Mendonça
Women's Flyweight - Montana De La Rosa vs. JJ Aldrich
Alvarez vs. Charlo Preview
The undisputed super middleweight championship will be on the line at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday, September 30. Champion Canelo Alvarez will defend the title against undisputed junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo. This will be the first time that two undisputed champs face each other in boxing history.
Alvarez is defending the undisputed championship for the third time after unanimous decision wins over Gennady Golovkin and John Ryder. He is the only undisputed super middleweight champion in boxing history. The Mexican fighter has held multiple titles in four different weight classes and has been one of the top three pound for pound fighters in the world over the last six years.
The 33-year-old is now tasked with a new challenge in facing a fighter who is trying to take the leap up in weight class and prove to the rest of the world he is the best pound for pound fighter, much like Alvarez did back in 2018 in two fights with Golovkin.
The champion is ready for a great performance on Saturday. “I feel confident, I feel 100%, and that makes me feel happy, and it makes me feel confident,” said Alvarez.
Charlo has stated that Alvarez has never fought a fighter like him, but the champion responded by saying, “I’m thinking in my mind that I fought against every style, every great fighter out there. So what does he mean that I haven’t been in the ring with a fighter like him,” said Canelo.
While Alvarez has achieved more than most boxers dream of, he still has his critics. Ahead of this fight, the pundits are saying he has lost a step. Canelo responded by saying, "I feel fresh. I feel in my prime.”
While winning his last fight against Ryder, he was criticized for his performance. "I had a little injury on my hand [that was] slowing me down a little bit, but you will see Saturday night," Canelo said.
Alvarez does not take any opponent for granted. “When you love what you do, that’s what it’s all about. He’s a great fighter. It’s not for nothing that he’s undisputed champion at 154,” said Canelo about Jermell. “Now I have the opportunity to show him why I’m at the top.
“He knows how to box, he’s strong, he counter-punches fast. He has a lot of ability, but I’ve been in the ring with all kinds of fighters, and I’m ready for this. “He has a lot of good wins. Harrison, Castano. No, nobody,” said Canelo when asked if any of the fighters that Jermell has fought are similar to him.
“They have confidence and enthusiasm to win. I know. I’ve been against a lot of motivated fighters, but when they step in the ring, and they start feeling, it’s difficult.”
With a win over Charlo, an honest question for Alvarez would be, what else is there to do? He will likely be driven by his critics until he retires. These are the people who believe he did not defeat Golovkin in their first two fights, he defeated an old Sergey Kovalev, and he had too many excuses for the loss to Dmitry Bivol. With the criticism aside, Alvarez will go down as one of the greatest boxers of all-time.
Aside from Golovkin, he has key victories over Caleb Plant, Billy Joe Saunders, Sergey Kovalev, Daniel Jacobs, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, Liam Smith, Amir Khan, Miguel Cotto, Erislandy Lara, Austin Trout, Josesito Lopez, Shane Mosley, Kermit Cintron and Alfonso Gomez.
Charlo is coming off a 10th round KO of Brian Castano in May for his third straight defense of the unified junior middleweight belts. The win was a big rebound after his first fight with Castano was ruled a split draw. He will now be taking the biggest step up in a challenge he can take in a fight with Alvarez.
The 33-year-old is embracing the moment.
“I mean, it feels amazing to be able to go into a fight as historical as this. I love the sport of boxing, and for me to be able to be a part of a fight where two undisputed fighters, which has never happened in the sport of boxing, against such a large and dynamic opponent as Canelo, it feels amazing. It feels great. It feels-- it's awesome. It's super because I'm a part of such an event,” said Charlo.
He continued, “I knew that one day eventually, that I would have my opportunity. Maybe I could have been the main super attraction, or star. But it has to start from someone that's at the top, or someone like the Mayweathers and the big guys in the boxing world. So you know, I can't question God in his timing, and everything happens for a reason. And the star's in the making.”
Jermell has agreed to take this fight in place of his twin brother Jermall who is the WBC middleweight champion. While a fight between Jermall Charlo and Alvarez was much anticipated, Jermell will be stepping in to take the fight while his brother deals with personal issues.
While Charlo has used trash talk in the past to get into his opponents heads, he knows that will not work with a decorated champion like Alvarez. "I don't need to trash talk or do all that," Jermell Charlo said. "I wish that I never would've presented such a negative or bad energy but this is just who I am. I am going to give you all what it is. If you piss me off, I'm going to give you the attitude. [But] you can't care about what some other somebody else says. If you focus more on that, you won't be able to do your job.”
The champion believes he will be a different fighter against Alvarez.
"I just have it in me," Jermell told CBS Sports. "It was built in me and instilled in me. I grew with this and I have a fire in me so I just need to keep that thing lit. I hope you all are peeping the maturity that I have been through and the lessons of life that taught me that I'm growing and learning as a man, now. And growing as a man has put me in position to fight Canelo.
"Y'all are going to see that, dang, we underestimated Jermell Charlo. I like when I got haters and doubters and people that don't really know me yet. They don't really know how hard I hit because they haven't been in the ring with me yet. Hopefully, after the fight, Canelo can let you all know that I'm one of the most dangerous fighters he has fought.”
To date, Castano is Charlo’s biggest victory but a win over Alvarez would shake up the boxing world. He could become just the second male boxer in history to unify two weight classes. Terence Crawford became the first with his victory over Errol Spence Jr. in July.
The fight can be seen on DAZN PPV.
UFC Vegas 79 Preview (Fiziev vs. Gamrot)
The UFC is returning to the Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada for UFC Vegas 79. The main event will be a lightweight showdown between two fighters hungry to go on a run to a title shot. #6 Rafael Fiziev will battle #7 Mateusz Gamrot.
Fiziev is trying to rebound from a majority decision loss to Justin Gaethje at UFC 286 in March. Prior to the loss he was on a six fight winning streak and with a win he would have been on the short list to challenge for the lightweight title.
The Azerbaijani fighter believes he learned a valuable lesson in the loss to Gaethje. "I learned to cook some good humble pie," Fiziev said. "Really, I learned in this fight. like, (to) come through my emotions. I don't need to follow the fans, follow the screaming. Sometimes it makes fire too much inside of me. So, yeah, this is what I learned."
Fiziev talked about preparing for a different part of his game. “I’m always learning how to control emotions. I come back now and have to control my emotions, not listen to the people outside the cage, because when you touch him a little bit and many people start screaming, you feel it here (touches chest) and it starts a fire, you want to show more,” said Fiziev.
“We’ll see in the next fight,” he quickly responded when asked how the learning process has been going. “I’m working on it, thinking about it, because it’s so hard to control emotions in a fight.”
The 30-year-old does not have a problem being motivated to get back into the win column. “I lost, so I can talk s*** about it,” began the amiable lightweight, smiling as he voiced his frustrations, much like he would in previous interviews when he was targeting those positioned above him in the rankings. “Some fighters, they can talk s*** about it. But you? Guy who never steps in the cage, never stands in front of somebody who wants to beat your face?”
He succinctly concluded, “I just want to fight with strong guys, and after my fight, I want people to say, ‘Wow!’ That’s it.”
Fiziev has proven in his last two fights that he will not back down from a back and forth battle. With a win over Gamrot he can break into the top five of the rankings and set himself up potentially for a fight with Dustin Poirier or Beneil Dariush.
Gamrot has won five of his last six fights and most recently defeated Jalin Turner by split decision at UFC 285 in March. The Polish fighter wants to prove he is a to contender at lightweight. “I want to make statement in this lightweight division. Of course, I am a professional fighter and for me the most important is to win this fight. But I want to show my shape and good performance, and I want to finish him, Gamrot said.
While he wants to make a statement, he does respect Fiziev. “He’s a real dangerous opponent. A high-level, world-class striker. But I believe I am better all-around fighter. To be honest, I don’t care because of course I have much respect for Rafael, but my wrestling skills kill every striker.”
The 32-year-old has his sights set on champion Islam Makhachev with a win on Saturday. Gamrot said, “I don’t care because my wrestling skills always beat a striker. I am only interested in one guy in this lightweight division, and he’s a wrestler. He is Islam, and I believe he will win against Charles Oliveira. I hope that we meet in the future, maybe next year or two, to two years.”
While critics and analysts believe the champion is the best wrestler in the lightweight division, Gamrot has other ideas. “I think so we’ll see I have to meet him in the octagon and fight with him and then we get the answer who is the better wrestler than myself in my opinion I am the best wrestler in the lightweight Division”
The rest of the main card:
Featherweight - #10 Bryce Mitchell vs. #12 Dan Ige
Women's Strawweight - #8 Marina Rodriguez vs. 10 Michelle Waterson-Gomez
Welterweight - Bryan Battle vs. AJ Fletcher
Featherweight - Ricardo Ramos vs. Charles Jourdain
ESPN + Prelims:
Bantamweight - Miles Johns vs. Dan Argueta
Welterweight - Tim Means vs. André Fialho
Middleweight - Jacob Malkoun vs. Cody Brundage
Heavyweight - Mohammed Usman vs. Jake Collier
Women's Strawweight - Mizuki Inoue vs. Hannah Goldy
Women's Bantamweight - Montserrat Rendon vs. Tamires Vidal
Zhang vs. Joyce 2 Preview
The WBO interim heavyweight title will be on the line Saturday, September 23 in London. Champion Zhilei Zhang will defend the belt in an immediate rematch against former champion Joe Joyce.
The two fighters battled in April where Zhang shocked Joyce in London, outclassing him and winning by sixth round TKO. Joyce ate a barrage of power left hands which eventually closed his right eye altogether forcing the fight to be ended. Zhang proved that even at his age, he has more power, speed, and better defense than Joyce. It will be interesting to see what type of adjustments the former champion will make in the rematch.
Many pundits believed Joyce was next in line to challenge Oleksandr Usyk for the IBF, IBO, WBA and WBO titles. But the luck of the mandatory-challenger- draw forced Joyce to watch Daniel Dubois get the title shot, a fighter he dominated in 2020. Joyce who was then undefeated and coming off a KO victory over former champion Joseph Parker, chose to stay active and accepted the fight with Zhang.
The London native has reflected on what could have been. “It was frustrating that it was the guy I beat convincingly that got the shot before me,” Joyce said. “And it bothers me that I was once the WBA gold [champion] and paid the sanctioning fees, and then I was completely out of that [mix]. That’s a route I could’ve taken, but I did the WBO route and I’m in that position again. But to have to lose to Zhang, when I was so close and I could’ve just waited and took a different shot, it was quite a hard time and lesson to learn.”
Joyce believes an immediate rematch with Zhang was the way to go. “I don’t really have time to piece my way back another way, so I have to,” Joyce said. “Because I could’ve had a fight in the meantime. Someone could’ve fought Zhang instead or Zhang could’ve had that opportunity at the WBO [title]. But this is why I enacted the immediate rematch [clause], so I can get back in position.”
The former olympian turned 38 years old on Tuesday, so the run at unifying any heavyweight title must begin now. Another loss to Zhang wouldn’t make becoming a champion impossible for Joyce, but he would have a long road back to title contention. Many of his critics believe using the activation clause and insisting for this rematch was a stubborn move on Joyce’s part, because he is not willing to admit that Zhang is a bad matchup for him. However, to be the best in the world you have to beat the best in the world.
Zhang rebounded from a unanimous decision loss to Filip Hrgovic with his win against Joyce. The 40-year-old certainly flew under the radar heading into his first title fight, but he proved that he has skills that should not be slept on. He like many watching was somewhat muddled at Joyce’s speed and lack of defense.
The Chinese champion was hoping Joyce would not activate the rematch clause because he thought he was on the way to fighting Tyson Fury. "I was little bit disappointed because I was very, very close to making that Tyson Fury fight happen, right before Joe activated the rematch clause," said Zhang.
"But we had this in the contract. I had to sign the rematch clause in order to get to the first fight. So I will do whatever is right which is the rematch."
Zhang’s co-manager Terry Lane believes a second win over Joyce separates him from all other heavyweight contenders. "I think a win for Zhilei on Saturday really separates out the heavyweight division," Lane told Sky Sports. "If he is victorious, you really have Fury, Usyk and Zhang on top. Everyone else will be far, far beneath.”
He continued, "If Zhilei wins, as we expect him to again, Fury is our first target.
"We will have to sit back and see what fights get made - and perhaps more importantly, which fights do not get made.
"This division is just a constant game of 'musical chairs'."
The main card can be seen on ESPN + starting at 2:20 pm ET
Noche UFC Preview (Grasso vs. Shevchenko 2)
The UFC is returning to the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday September 16 for Noche UFC. The event is set to celebrate Mexican Independence Day and the main event will be a rematch for the flyweight title between Mexican champion Alexa Grasso and former champion Valentina Shevchenko.
Grasso defeated longtime champion Shevchenko by fourth round submission at UFC 285 in March. The win came as a big surprise to many in the MMA world because going into the fight Shevchenko was one of the most dominant champions in UFC history. Grasso was unphased, focused, and displayed a resolve she had not shown in previous fights. Will Grasso defend the title the same way she won it?
Shevchenko believes she lost the belt and Grasso did not win it. Grasso responded, “It just kind of surprised me because someone with such big experience and competing at such high level, we know that there are no accidents,” Grasso said. “I trained for that moment. You can see the video that I have before the fight. I was training that exact same position. It was something that I trained to win that fight.”
The champion has once again trained hard, but this time to honorably defend her title. “Thanks to my team and my coaches, they’re always trying to keep me focused, ‘Yeah, you’re the champion, but you’re just one more in the gym. You have to help your teammates. You have to evolve. You have to be here on time. You have to do everything we ask you to do and more.,'” Grasso said.
“I think the most important thing at this high level is to keep motivated, to keep the hunger, and do my best to evolve and improve.”
Grasso wants to show that she has improved since beating Shevchenko. “I know what I’m capable of,” she said. “I will be more prepared for this second fight, for wherever the fight goes. So, yeah, I’m just excited to show everyone what I’ve been working on. My training has changed a lot. I trained better than the last one. I did a lot of adjustments to be winning every single round now.”
She continued, “I know she’s a great athlete, she’s training super hard and she’s super competitive too. Yeah, I’m expecting her best version… She was a super dominant champion, and I’m ready for that. I’m ready for every single thing that she can be ready [to do] in the fight. I’m here to do my best, and to keep this belt with me.”
Grasso was losing the first fight, but she would not go away and stuck to a clear gameplan, which paid off in a big way in her pulling off the upset. One thing Shevchenko has shown in her last two title fights is that the longer the fight goes on, the more she gives her opponents chances to stay in the fight. Grasso was the first to take full advantage of the championship rounds against Shevchenko, but will she commit to moments early in the fight? Grasso needs to threaten Shevchenko in the early rounds and cannot fall behind on the scorecards.
Shevchenko was on a nine-fight winning streak heading into the first fight with Grasso. Another win was likely going to land her a mega-fight at bantamweight with two division champion Amanda Nunes who is the only other fighter to defeat Shevchenko (twice) in the UFC. However, Nunes has since retired after another successful title defense, so Shevchenko’s focus now can be to reign the flyweight division once again.
The former champion has reflected on her title loss to Grasso. “Watching the fight back, I would say I was winning all the fight from first to the third round, except the last moment of the fourth round,” Shevchenko said.
“And another thing, right now my mindset and my focus, I don’t go back to March. I don’t go back and think about what happened there. I did it already. I did it in my training camp. I did it for all these months.
She has realized what she needs to do to win the fight. “Right now, I’m a person who’s motivated to get rid of that feeling back then in March. I’m determined on what I have to do this Saturday. That’s my mindset. I don’t watch back. Everything I had to take from the fight I took. Now it’s strong energy, positive energy, no mercy. Go to the end.”
The Russian fighter went on to say, “The position that I’m right now, I have no choice for any sentimental things,” Shevchenko said. “I have no time for that. It’s a fight. In this fight, I have to just go without any step back, always forward.”
Shevchenko promises a convincing win. “I’m not playing around,” Shevchenko said. “I’ll just go there, my goal — enter the octagon, finish, destroy my opponent, take my belt back and continue what I have to continue.”
Shevchenko defended the title seven times and is one of the winningest champions in UFC history. We cannot completely rule out Shevechnko vs. Nunes 3 somewhere down the road which is the win she needs to cement her legacy as the greatest women’s fighter of all-time. If she wants to cement her position as the greatest women’s fighter right now, it starts with a win over Grasso on Saturday.
The rest of the main card:
Welterweight - #13Kevin Holland vs. #14Jack Della Maddalena
Bantamweight - Raul Rosas Jr. vs. Terrence Mitchell
Lightweight - Daniel Zellhuber vs. Christos Giagos
Featherweight - Fernando Padilla vs. Kyle Nelson
ESPN + Prelims:
Women's Strawweight - Lupita Godinez vs. Elise Reed
Middleweight - Roman Kopylov vs. Josh Fremd
Flyweight - Edgar Cháirez vs. Daniel Lacerda
Women's Flyweight - #14Tracy Cortez vs. #15Jasmine Jasudavicius
Lightweight - Alex Reyes vs. Charlie Campbell
Lopez vs. Gonzalez Preview
The American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas will host a dynamic title fight on Friday September 15. IBF featherweight champion Luis Alberto Lopez will defend his belt against former title title challenger Joet Gonzalez.
Lopez will be making his second title defense after defeating Irish fighter Michael Conlan by 5th round TKO in Belfast this past May. He won the belt with a majority decision win over English fighter Josh Warrington in England last December.
The champion believes he needs a convincing win over Gonzalez. “I’m going for the knockout. It’s a personal challenge that I have. Joet Gonzalez has faced great fighters like Shakur Stevenson, Emanuel Navarrete and Isaac Dogboe, and he has never been knocked out. Knocking out a tough fighter like him is a huge goal for me,” said Lopez.
He went on to say, “I know this fight will be difficult. Joet Gonzalez is a fighter who comes forward throwing a lot of punches. But I like to come forward, too. So, we know it’s going to be a real clash.”
“Representing Mexicans on such an important night is a great motivation. And I can’t wait for the fight. We’re ready. We have a plan ready, and we are going to do our job. We are going to put on a great show on September 15.”
The Mexican champion will have the added pressure of fighting on Mexican Independence Day weekend. However, in his last two fights he has proven he is comfortable with going into enemy territory so it is unlikely the pressure of representing his nation un such an important day will get to Lopez.
Gonzalez won by unanimous decision over Enrique Vivas in his last fight in April. He challenged for the WBO featherweight title in 2021 and in 2019. He believes it is now or never if he wants to become a champion.
"I'm truly grateful for the opportunity," Gonzalez said. "I've worked really hard and every time I step in the ring I want to give it my all."
Gonzalez continued, "Plan and simple, I just have to win. This is my third opportunity and now I'm here again," Gonzalez said. "I'm ready to go and I have to get this fight one. I've worked really hard and come Friday night I'm going to become IBF champion."
While he is challenging for a third featherweight title, his losses to Emanuel Navarrete and Shakur Stevenson are nothing to scoff at. Gonzalez has proven he is one of the most talented fighters in boxing today to never hold a title. With both fighters feeling they have something to prove, fans should be in for a treat Friday night in Corpus Christi.
UFC 293 Preview
The UFC will be invading Sydney, Australia on Saturday August 9th for UFC 293 at the Qudos Bank Arena. The main event will be in the middleweight division between champion Israel Adesanya and #5 Sean Strickland.
Adesanya will be making his first title defense for his second run as middleweight champion, after winning back the belt in April at UFC 287. He defeated long-time rival Alex Pereira by second round KO to become a two-time champion and solidify his spot as the greatest middleweight in the world.
This title defense against Strickland comes with a different challenge as Adesanya will be battling the most outspoken opponent he has faced during his time in the UFC. Dating back to UFC 281, Strickland has verbally attacked Adesanya with not only critique on his reign as a champion, but personal attacks as well.
Is this a dangerous game to play for Strickland? Will we see a different Adesanya in the octagon? Strickland has taken full advantage of the opportunity to run his mouth whether there is a microphone in his face or not. "This is his moment," Adesanya said. "Sunday afternoon it's my moment. Sunday, I'm going to knock this motherf---er out."
The champion continued, "He's talking all this s---, but he should be grateful. I got him his first passport. I got him his first flight out of his country. I got him this big-money fight," Adesanya said. "He tries to act like a tough guy, but there's no danger with him. He's that idiot at the back of the class who talks over you and talks loud just to get his point across."
Many pundits have questioned Adesanya’s decision to defend against Strickland. The 34-year-old has responded to his critics. “You can't punish me for my own greatness,” Adesanya said. “(I) just didn’t want to fight the same people again. I like fresh blood, and Sean, I think he's dangerous. He does some things really well against other people, so my job is to make sure it doesn't work against me. I'm used to doing that when it comes to fighting, and f*** everything else. This is about fighting.”
Adesanya is looking for a big result on Saturday. “This is like a once in a while thing, but people like to hold on to it,” he said. “It's special for this. I just feel like I need to knock this guy out with some drip tips.”
With a win over Strickland, Adesanya is expected to defend next against Dricus Du Plessis as he has also had a verbal back and forth with the South African. Adesanya must first get passed Strickland who is dangerous because he has nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Strickland is riding two straight victories into his first title shot. He most recently defeated Abusupiyan Magomedov by second round TKO in July, in a fight where he was the underdog against a rising contender. The 32-year-old has not been shy about leveraging personal attacks against Adesanya into gaining interest in this fight.
"He's a f---ing cringe lord," Strickland said at media day Wednesday. "Everything that guy does just makes you f---ing wince. When someone sucks to that degree, it's pretty easy to make fun of them."
While at times it is difficult to tell when Strickland is being cringe for the sake of cringe or being genuine, he has acknowledged leading up to this fight that Adesanya is dangerous. Despite this, Strickland believes he has what it takes to become champion.
"When I walk in that f---ing cage ... I want to go and win that belt for you guys," Strickland said Thursday. "And I want to bring some pride back to the middleweight division. I've got what it takes. I'm ready. I'm up for it."
Strickland has gained massive attention from the MMA community for his not so popular takes on culture and society. He has gained a fan-base by being unapologetic about who he is and why he is a fighter. It only took a day in Australia for him to live up to his reputation as he was seen punching a fan in the stomach.
“Boom, right in the guts,” Strickland said. “I’d only been in Australia a day and already I’d committed an assault. Initially, I thought the guy was coming up for a photo. Because anybody who wants a photo, man, I love the fans. But if you wanna come up to me and run your f…ing mouth, I’ll smack you like I smack anybody else.”
Most analysts are not giving Strickland a chance to win, but he has the advantage of knowing that as the underdog, people think he has nothing to lose and everything to gain. That is a comfortable place for a challenger to be and dangerous place for a champion. But Adesanya has proven that even when rattled, he is willing to enter the fire to achieve a victory.
Strickland is believed to have the better wrestling, but he prefers to stand and bang with a fighter even if they have superior striking. He does use forward moving pressure to his advantage, but Adesanya has plenty of weapons to counter that type of style. If Strickland can get out of the first two rounds, the fight could get interesting as the pressure continues to mount on Adesanya.
The rest of the main card:
Heavyweight - #6Tai Tuivasa vs. #7Alexander Volkov
Flyweight - Manel Kape vs. Felipe dos Santos
Heavyweight - Justin Tafa vs. Austen Lane
Light Heavyweight - Tyson Pedro vs. Anton Turkalj
ESPN + Prelims:
Light Heavyweight - Carlos Ulberg vs. Jung Da-un
Featherweight - Jack Jenkins vs. Chepe Mariscal
Lightweight - Jamie Mullarkey vs. John Makdessi
Lightweight - Nasrat Haqparast vs. Landon Quiñones
Early Prelims on ESPN+ and UFC Fight Pass:
Welterweight - Mike Mathetha vs. Charlie Radtke
Featherweight - Shane Young vs. Gabriel Miranda
Welterweight - Kevin Jousset vs. Kiefer Crosbie
UFC Paris Preview
The UFC will be invading the Accor Arena in Paris, France on Saturday, September 2 for UFC on ESPN+ 84. The main event will be in the heavyweight division between former interim champion and French Fighter Ciryl Gane vs. #7 Sergey Spivac.
The UFC debuted in France last September with Gane being the headliner on that night as well. What the event produced was a back-and-forth battle between he and Tai Tuivasa for one of the best fights of 2022. His third round KO of Tuivasa earned him a title shot in March against all-time great Jon Jones, but Gane was defeated by first round submission.
The French fighter explained that he took this fight with Spivac to spark another run at the heavyweight belt. “The better way for me, no, it’s not this way,” Gane said. “The better way for me is to do exactly what we did the last years – to put a big message this Saturday, and the message is: ‘I’m still here, I want to go back to the belt.’ This is the better way, shorter way to go to the belt.”
Gane explained what will be different about this title run. “All of my career, I was in a rush,” Gane said. “I started MMA in 2018 and I did my first fight just after six months. Since this fight, I was already in a rush until today. So, yes, I want to take my time now. I want to take my time at the gym,
“But I’m going to find some time without all of the things you have around the training and the gym. So, I don’t need to take my time in between two fights, I need more time. No, it’s about that. I need to manage my schedule without all the things you have around the fight, and like that we’re going to have time.”
The 33-year-old faced harsh criticism over his performance against Jones, but the former interim champion believes he will prove to the world that it was just a bad moment. "We were confident, comfortable with the situation," Gane said. "I was really happy to be there and fight, and then boom...it was a bad moment. It was a really bad moment...then we went back to the gym and focused on my future. But before that, we had the social media...and I understand people were really disappointed. The people expected a big war, maybe a surprise by me, and then it wasn't what the people expected. When they're disappointed, its really bad. People forgot really quickly and it's not easy but I'm strong. I had a good foundation, a good team and good family, and in real life if you walk in the street, you already have a good message from the people."
Aside from Tuivasa, Gane has key victories over Derrick Lewis, Alexander Volkov, Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Junior Dos Santos. Jones exposed holes in his grappling which was much of the talk leading up to the title fight. Gane will have his hands full on Saturday as Spivac relies heavily on his grappling and is one of the better practitioners in the heavyweight division. A convincing win for Gane will be what he needs to remind the world that he is still a title threat.
Spivac has won three straight fights and most recently defeated Derrick Lewis by first round submission in February. The Moldovan fighter is not driven by any bitterness leading up to this fight. “I can talk only good about my opponents. I respect everyone, and I respect Ciryl, too,” said Spivac.
The 28-year-old actually defended Gane regarding his loss to Jones. “Journalists talk too much, too much sh*t. Who (out of them) can go to fight in the UFC? It’s really hard to go to fight. He (Gane) is first place in the UFC. He has good results in the UFC. These (people) talk sh*t. Ciryl needs to be focused on his life. This is not important for him.”
A win over Gane represents the biggest of Spivac’s career and could lead to quite a few intriguing matchups. He has been open to a Tom Aspinall rematch, a fight he believes he was not at his best. But most importantly, a win for Spivac puts him on a list of young contenders at heavyweight that are serious threat to the belt, which has not happened in some time.
The rest of the main card:
Women’s Flyweight - #3 Manon Fiorot vs. #2 Rose Namajunas
Lightweight - Benoît Saint-Denis vs. Thiago Moisés
Light Heavyweight - #9 Volkan Oezdemir vs. Bogdan Guskov
Featherweight - William Gomis vs. Yanis Ghemmouri
Featherweight - Morgan Charriere vs. Manolo Zecchini
ESPN + Prelims:
Bantamweight - Taylor Lapilus vs. Caolán Loughran
Welterweight - Ange Loosa vs. Rhys McKee
Women’s Bantamweight - Joselyne Edwards vs. Nora Cornolle
Bantamweight - Farid Basharat vs. Kleydson Rodrigues
Catchweight (140 lb) - Zarah Fairn dos Santos vs. Jacqueline Cavalcanti
UFC Singapore Preview
The UFC is making a return visit to Singapore for the sixth time on Saturday, August 26th at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang. The main event will be a featherweight battle between former champion Max Holloway vs. two-time title challenger Chan Sung Jung.
Holloway is coming off a dominant unanimous decision victory over surging contender Arnold Allen in April. The win was the third in his last four fights with the loss coming in a third fight against champion Alexander Volkanovski.
The former champion won 13 straight fights between 2014 and 2019, he defended the belt three times, and is one of the most durable fighters in the history of the UFC. The 31-year-old will not be making his first trip to Singapore, in fact his winning streak started in the country with a TKO win in 2014. Holloway remembers this experience.
“It wasn’t just another fight,” he said, reflecting on his first trip to Singapore. “I was down two fights. You’re fighting a new guy making his debut, and it doesn’t look good if you lose, so, at the end of the day, I knew I had to do something — not only win, but put a mark on it, and that’s what I did. That started everything back in 2014.
“We’re here now, years later — I’m only 31, turn 32 at the end of the year,” he added, laughing. “People keep forgetting and I gotta keep reminding people. I’m a veteran in a lot of you guys’ eyes because I’ve been here for a minute, but another long run is on my mind.”
Many critics believed that Holloway’s chin would finally be tested in his last fight, but just like he has done many times before, he reminded the pundits to never sleep on him. “I knew what I was capable of. My team knew what I was capable of. That Arnold fight — that ‘Still Here’ fight — was just a reminder,” said Holloway. “Everyone was telling me that Arnold is the one that is going to crack my chin, and this is it, ‘Max shouldn’t be fighting,’ and blah blah blah.
“I went out there and did my thing.”
The Hawaiian fighter plans on making the same kind of statement on Saturday. “We go out there, fight ‘The Korean Zombie,’ put another stamp on it, and make myself undeniable,” he added. “The last one was to remind everybody that we’re still here, and this motivation is undeniable. Nothing but love for ‘The Korean Zombie,’ who was another guy I used to watch growing up, just like Aldo.”
“I thought we were gonna fight way earlier, but things didn’t pan out — they never do,” Holloway said, chasing his quip with a chortle. “But Mother Time found a way, we’re here now, and what better place to be. I can’t wait. He’s a legend in every sense, and I get to fight him in Asia. I’m excited.”
The same critics that thought Holloway would lose his last fight are saying he does not deserve a fourth fight with Volkanovski. Holloway responded by saying, “I know I have some history with the champ, but it’s not like I’m holding this No. 2 in the world or whatever it is — it’s not like I’m holding this position and not fighting, for years,” he said, a little frustration tinging his words. “I could see how people would be mad if I were sitting around and crying for a title shot — ‘I’m owed this! I’m owed that!’ — but I’m fighting contenders, I’m fighting tough guys.’
He concluded, “Before I got to fight the champ for a third time, I had to fight top contenders that you guys thought were gonna take me out. I got it, things didn’t go my way, I fought another contender because I want to be the best.
“I could start fighting down the line and being like ‘Let me fight the 10 and below guys, and let the champ fight 1-10,’ but no — this is the guy I’ve gotta fight to get the title shot, so this is what I gotta do.”
“My goal is to go out here and be undeniable — put a stamp on it, mail it in, and let everybody know,” he said. “I can’t wait to be out there.
Aside from the losses to Volkanovski, Holloway is arguably the best featherweight of all-time. The first two fights with the current champ were incredibly close, and both could have been scored for Holloway. The problem he is facing now is that Volkanovski may have distanced himself a bit in the last fight between the two. Of the three fights, Volkanovski looked the most dominant of the two fighters in the third fight and there was no doubt that he was the winner. However, if Holloway continues to dominate contenders, it will be difficult to argue a fourth fight with Volkanovski.
Aside from Allen, Holloway has key victories in his career over Yair Rodriguez, Calvin Kattar, Frankie Edgar, Brian Ortega, Jose Aldo (twice), Anthony Pettis, Ricardo Lamas, Jeremy Stephens, Charles Oliveira and Cub Swanson. A win over Volkanovski could put a stamp on his hall of fame status, but he must first get by Jung in Singapore.
Chan Sung Jung otherwise known as The Korean Zombie, has not fought since UFC 273, 16 months ago. In that fight he challenged Volkanovski for the title but was completely dominated by the champion losing by fourth round TKO. He is 3-3 in his last six fights but in the victories he has looked dominant.
The 36-year-old was brutally honest about his last loss for the title. “The Volkanovski fight was a a big fight so losing like that was hurtful. I had to take a break, to reassess. I watched the fight and if I (ever) fight like this again I will not continue my career,” said Jung.
The Korean Zombie is feeling revitalized by a fight with Holloway. “He’s a fighter I have wanted to fight my entire career. As he mentioned in his interview, we’ve been in the top ten for many years (and) Max and I are exciting fighters so him and me inside the octagon cannot be boring.”
The former title challenger feels great heading into Singapore. “Before every fight I believe I am in the best shape but before this fight it’s true. I’m in the best shape of my entire career both physically and mentally.”
While he has respect for Holloway, Jung knows what a victory over the former champion would do for his storied run in the UFC. “Max is one of the best fighters out of all the division, he’s a former champion and in the pound for pound ranking. Getting a win over such a legendary fighter would be a huge boost to my career.”
The Korean Zombie is already a legend in the sport of MMA and has key victories over Dan Ige, Frankie Edgar, Renato Moicano, Dennis Bermudez, Dustin Poirier, Mark Hominick and Leonard Garcia. A win over Holloway at this point would be the biggest victory of his career and could potentially be the boost he needs to go on one last improbable run at the title.
The Rest of the Main Card:
Light Heavyweight - #8 Anthony Smith vs. #10 Ryan Spann
Featherweight - #9 Giga Chikadzevs. #15 Alex Caceres
Bantamweight - Rinya Nakamura vs. Fernie Garcia
Women's Flyweight - #3 Erin Blanchfield vs. #4 Taila Santos
Heavyweight - Junior Tafa vs. Parker Porter
ESPN + Prelims:
Heavyweight - Waldo Cortes-Acosta vs. Łukasz Brzeski
Bantamweight - Toshiomi Kazama vs. Garrett Armfield
Middleweight - Chidi Njokuani vs. Michał Oleksiejczuk
Welterweight - Song Kenan vs. Rolando Bedoya
Welterweight - Billy Goff vs. Yusaku Kinoshita
Women's Flyweight - Liang Na vs. JJ Aldrich
Featherweight - Choi Seung-woo vs. Jarno Errens
UFC 292 Preview
The UFC will be invading the TD Garden Arena in Boston, Massachusetts on Saturday August 19th for UFC 292. The main event will be for the bantamweight title between underappreciated champion Aljamain Sterling and fan-favorite #2 Sean O’Malley.
Sterling is coming off a split decision victory over future hall of famer Henry Cejudo at UFC 288 in May. The win was his third straight title defense, a UFC bantamweight record and his ninth straight win overall. The champion has not been shy about the distaste he has for his next opponent.
“I want to smash this guy’s face,” Sterling said. “I want to smash the ugly mole rat. When I take this man down, that naked mole rat is getting smashed. I want him to pay for everything that he’s said – all the trash talk, all his Dana White privilege. I ain’t have none of that, and I can’t wait to take it out on him.”
Despite what he may think about O’Malley as a person, as a fighter Sterling is not looking beyond him. “Based on accolades, O’Malley is on the longer list of accomplishments, I mean the only guy he beat by split decision is Petr Yan,” Sterling said. “Everybody else is out of the UFC. So, it’s a tough test. The guy in front of you is always the toughest competition so, I’m not overlooking him by any means. He’s long. He’s rangy. I made sure I brought some great training partners to get the looks and do the same mannerisms he does in the octagon.”
The 34-year-old has predicted a convincing victory. “My prediction, I think second-round TKO,” Sterling said. “But if he gives me his neck – he’s got that little daddy long neck out there so, if he leaves that out there, I’m going to strangle his ass.”
A win over O’Malley could be Sterling’s final fight at bantamweight. “This is more than likely my last fight at 135,” Sterling said. “There’s a 99 percent chance it’s my last. If I win this, for sure, I’m out of here.”
Since he became champion in 2021, Sterling has not taken the UFC fan-base by storm. It started with him winning the title over Petr Yan by DQ after Yan landed an illegal knee to Sterling’s head. This resulted in plenty of arm-chair-quarterback opinions about whether Sterling was injured by the knee or could have continued. From that moment on his legitimacy as a champion has been heavily questioned.
Sterling responded to his critics by neutralizing Yan’s offense in the rematch and winning the fight by using his superb wrestling. He used that same grappling in his next defense against TJ Dillashaw and then again against Cejudo. Sterling’s wrestling and ability to transition from takedowns to submission attempts could spell major trouble for O’Malley.
O’Malley is coming off a split decision win over Yan at UFC 280 last October. The win was a much-debated victory as the fight could have gone either way, but it was enough to earn O’Malley the title shot. He has not lost a fight since 2020, the first of his career to Marlon Vera.
The challenger plans to silence his critics on Saturday with a dynamic finish. “I don’t really care what people say. It doesn’t really affect me. I kind of like being the underdog, being doubted. Going into this fight, I don’t have much pressure. He’s the bantamweight GOAT,” Sean O’Malley said at UFC 292 media day. “He’s on a nine-fight winning streak and he’s saying I haven’t earned the shot. How stupid will he looked when I go out there and knock him out, not even have earned being in that position, and putting his lights out. It makes him look real stupid.”
O’Malley commented on Sterling moving up to featherweight with a victory. “Yeah, I go out there and knock him out and he goes up to 145, boom, I carry on what he was doing in the division, taking people out. He goes out there and wins and moves up to 145, I’m the last person to fight for the belt. I’m the champ either way. I like this situation. It’s a win-win for me,” O’Malley said.
The 28-year-old answered questions about who he would like to fight next if he becomes champion. “If you asked me what fight is bigger, me versus ‘Chito’ rematch, or me versus Merab? I’m pretty sure we could all agree on which one is bigger,” O’Malley said.
“I’m in the fight business. I’ve been saying that. I’ve never been afraid to say that. This is a business to me. Who makes more money — me versus Merab or me versus ‘Chito?’ It’s very simple to me.”
Marlon “Chito” Vera is also fighting on the card and owns O’Malley’s only defeat. Merab Dvalishvili is Sterling’s teammate and is on his own nine fight winning streak. “The rematch needs to happen,” O’Malley said. “Everyone, even ‘Chito’ himself truly knows that wasn’t a win.
“I’ve always wanted to get that one back, and they’re like, ‘Why don’t you rematch him right away?’ I’ll do it when the time is right.”
Vera faces long-running contender Pedro Munhoz and many believe the battle has fight of the night potential. What does O’Malley think? “God, I want to be like, ‘Yeah, it will be exciting,’ but for some reason, I feel like it’s going to be so boring,” O’Malley said. “I feel like it’s going to be Pedro kind of not wanting to engage on the outside, trying to kick his legs. ‘Chito,’ we saw his last performance against Cory [Sandhagen]. There’s a possibility it could be a very exciting fight. I feel like it might be really boring.”
O’Malley concluded, “I’m hoping ‘Chito’ wins. Me versus ‘Chito’ rematch in December, Vegas, title defense. That sounds wonderful. I love that. So ideally ‘Chito.’”
Sterling’s wrestling will play a factor in this fight if O’Malley cannot utilize his length and striking from the outside like he did against Yan. His speed and accuracy could stun the champion and turn the fight in his favor, but getting at him early will be the key to victory.
The co-main event of the evening will be for the women’s strawweight title between champion Zhang Weili and #5 Amanda Lemos.
Weili won the title for the second time in her career after defeating Carla Esparza by second round submission in her last fight at UFC 281. She is 2-2 in her last four but has looked impressive in two straight victories, one of which sent former champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk into retirement.
The champion has respect for Lemos. “Lemos is good,” Zhang said. “I admit she’s a very good fighter, and she’s very aggressive. Her fighting style, she is a hard hitter, a hard kicker, she has knockout power but so do I.”
The Chinese fighter wants to prove why she is a great champion. “What I want to showcase more in this fight is to fight like water,” Zhang said. “I can fight very flowing, smooth and shapeless. I can be water and just wrap her up. Even if she makes any tiny mistake, I can catch it and finish her.”
A win over Lemos could mean a potential fight with Chinese contender Yan Xiaonan, but the champion is not looking beyond Lemos. “Let’s see what happens in this fight,” she said when asked about Yan. “Now I’m only focusing on this fight on this Saturday. This is what I’m focusing on right now.”
Lemos has won two straight fights having most recently defeated Marina Rodriguez by third round TKO last November. The Brazilian fighter is ready to shock the world. “People may not be talking about it now, but they will be talking about it after,” Lemos said. “Because it’s going to be a war. And it’s going to be historic. … The more they forget (about me), the more motivation I have to go out there and get the title. On Saturday, they will know who Amanda Lemos is.”
The 36-year-old knows she is in for a tough fight but is confident she can become the new champion. “Every fight I’ve had, I’ve always imagined I was actually fighting a champion,” Lemos said. “I’m in a good place. My head is in a good place, and I’m ready to bring a belt home. … Weili is coming very strong. A complete athlete and very strong coming up, but I’m going to show that I’m stronger and on Saturday I’m going to show who is actually the strongest in the division.”
The rest of the main card:
Welterweight - #13 Ian Machado Garry vs. #11 Neil Magny
Bantamweight - Da'Mon Blackshear vs. Mario Bautista
Bantamweight - #6 Marlon Vera vs. #10 Pedro Munhoz
ESPN + Prelims:
Middleweight - Chris Weidman vs. Brad Tavares
Middleweight - Gregory Rodrigues vs. Denis Tiuliulin
Lightweight - Austin Hubbard vs. Kurt Holobaugh [c]
Bantamweight - Brad Katona vs. Cody Gibson
ESPN + Early Prelims:
Middleweight - Andre Petroski vs. Gerald Meerschaert
Women's Flyweight - #13 Andrea Lee vs. Natália Silva
Women's Flyweight - Karine Silva vs. Maryna Moroz
Navarrete vs. Valdez Preview
The WBO junior lightweight title will be on the line Saturday August 12th in Glendale, Arizona at the Desert Diamond Arena. Champion Emanual Navarrete will be defending the title for the first time against former two-time champion Oscar Valdez.
The two were originally scheduled to fight for the vacant belt in February but Valdez was forced to pull out of the fight in December. He was replaced by Liam Wilson on short notice. Wilson fought a brilliant fight for the first five rounds against Navarrete, scoring a knockdown in the fourth round. But Navarrete came on strong in the eighth and ninth rounds winning by TKO to become champion in one of the best comebacks of the last five years.
The victory over Wilson made 28-year-old Navarrete a three-weight world champion, having also held the WBO featherweight and junior featherweight titles. Navarrete is excited to get the biggest win of his career over a fellow Mexican fighter. “Personally, I would feel complete. What is missing in my career is a victory against a rival like Valdez,” said Navarrete. “It would fill me with pride to be able to carry out such an iconic fight between Mexicans and win.”
He commented on the type of fight Valdez will bring to the ring, “I know that talking about me is talking about a lot of blows and an attractive fight. Now, with Valdez, it will be twice as spectacular. It’s going to be twice as attractive. Valdez is a fighter who has no reverse.
“We always see him going forward, throwing blows. This time, he says he’s going to blow my head off. Well, we’ll see, right? Good, all good. Very fast.”
Many pundits believe Valdez represents the biggest challenge of Navarrete’s career. To this point he has key victories over Joet Gonzalez, Christopher Diaz, Ruben Villa, Juan Miguel Elorde, and Isaac Dogboe.
Valdez is coming off a unanimous decision victory over Adam Lopez in May. Prior to that he suffered the first loss of his career in 2022 for the WBC and WBO super featherweight titles to Shakur Stevenson. He also held the WBO featherweight title from 2016 to 2019.
The 31-year-old is ready to prove that he deserves to be champion once again. “This is my chance to come back from my loss to Shakur Stevenson, when I lost my title and my undefeated record,” Valdez said. “It’s something very personal that I have. I want to come back and make a statement.
“I want to show that losing your undefeated record it doesn’t mean the end of your career.”
The Mexican fighter has a clear mindset heading into what he believes can be a career defining fight. “I always visualize myself as the best,” insisted Valdez. “It’s not that I’m arrogant and think that I’m better than anyone else. The reason I think like that is because I know the work I put in during training. I can’t train the way I do, waking up early and running the mountains the way I do, staying on my diet.
“I train the way I train to tell myself that I’m number one. I would never train this way just to tell myself that I’m the second best. I will always train this way to win and make a statement that I am the best at 130 pounds.”
Valdez has key victories in his career over Robson Conceição, Miguel Berchelt, Jayson Velez and Scott Quigg. A win for either fighter on Saturday will help define a legacy as one of the greatest Mexican champions of all-time.
UFC Vegas 78 Preview
The UFC will be returning to the Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday August 12 for UFC Vegas 78. The main event will be a welterweight battle between #9 Vicente Luque and #10 Rafael Dos Anjos.
Luque is trying to rebound from two straight losses which put an end to a four-fight winning streak. He is coming off a devastating third round KO to Geoff Neal last August, the worst loss of his career. The 31-year-old is looking forward to coming back strong against what he believes is the perfect opponent.
“Man, that was like the perfect fight. I couldn’t pick a better fight. It was crazy how it happened. At a point when I didn’t have a fight I just wanted to have an idea who I was fighting against. At least have a verbal agreement so I could start focusing on someone,” Luque explained. “Me and Ali were talking about who I was going to get next and looking at the division. I am coming off two losses but I’m still in the top 10 in the UFC. So I want to move forward and get into the mix and into the top part of the division. I wanted a fight that would move me up and we weren’t sure who it would be. Then, Ali called me and said Rafael dos Anjos.”
Luque is predicting a big result against Dos Anjos. “It’s hard to tell, I’ve been trying to predict things and I never get it right. When I’m in there, I’m never really trying to finish my opponent. But, whenever I see an opportunity I go for it,” Luque said. “In a five-round fight that presents itself many times. I will go after it and if he can withstand it, then it will be a long fight. Knowing RDA’s durability and his experience, it won’t be an easy fight, but I do believe I can finish him. I do believe I have the skills to finish him whether it’s on the ground or in striking.”
To summarize, Luque believes a win on Saturday puts his name back in the title conversation. “A win over him is going to put me back in the mix… It is a great moment for me to get a big win and get back into the mix. Get back into the talks of guys who could soon be fighting for the title,” Luque said.
There will be plenty of mutual respect between Brazilian fighters on Saturday.
“This bout against Rafael is very important for me,” Luque said. “Before I joined the UFC, I already followed his career. I’m a fan of his. As a Brazilian, I see him as a good example. It’s an honor to be facing him. I expect a tough and highly contested bout that’s full of action. It’s our nature. I’m more likely to get finishes against my opponents by submission or knockout. Rafael has more wins by decision. As a former champ, he’s fought at a very high level for several years.
“In his fights, he attacks equally on the feet or on the ground,” he added. “We’re both true and complete MMA fighters. I bring danger no matter where the fight goes. I could see myself winning early if I connect well near the start, but considering his experience level, I expect him to be able to defend well. The plan is to get a finish before the final buzzer—in a decisive fashion—so it won’t go to the judges.”
Dos Anjos is coming off a second round submission win over Bryan Barbarena in December. The former lightweight champion is 3-1 in his last four fights and is looking to find new life at welterweight. He is looking forward to starting a run with a big win over his fellow Brazilian.
"I know Vicente, we’ve fought on the same card before, but we don’t have any relationship, we’re not friends, and that’s work, and I’m really glad that the fight is going to happen this Saturday,” said Dos Anjos.
The 38-year-old continued, “Here I am fighting another contender, a tough guy, younger than me,” he acknowledged.
“I feel that I have a lot in my tank, in a polite way, my lightweight days are over. I want to compete at my best and my best is 170, and of course it’s hard not to think about the belt. I‘m a very competitive guy and I like to win. Being a former champion and former title contender in this division - I’ve fought for the title before in this division - it’s a method of winning, I have a tough challenge this weekend.
"Vicente Luque is a tough guy, but once past him, if I keep winning, a title shot will happen. I’m a former champion.
“I think the wait is shorter, it’s a matter of opportunity. If the opportunity knocks on my door. You know how this game works, so many things can change in a day, in a half-day. People get hurt and other guys are ready to go. My goal is to be ready, like I always do. Live a good lifestyle.
The Brazilian fighter confidently concluded, "If I get the call to fight a champion, get the luck, I’ve fought a champion before, and I went the distance, I got four weeks' notice. I have a lot in my tank and I’m just happy to be competing again this Saturday.
“I fought everybody, tough guys. The level I’ve been through is pretty high. It’s not the number of fights, it’s the level of competition, I think that people think I’m a BMF (Bad mother-f*****). I don't think I meet the right requirements to fight for the BMF [title].
"I’m a former champion, I had a belt. Guys who fight for a BMF, guys who never had a title.”
In his storied career Dos Anjos has key victories over Renato Moicano, Paul Felder, Kevin Lee, Robbie Lawler, Neil Magny, Tarec Saffiedine, Donald Cerrone, Anthony Pettis, Nate Diaz and Benson Henderson.
The rest of the main card:
Featherweight- Cub Swanson vs. Hakeem Dawodu
Light Heavyweight - #13 Khalil Rountree Jr. vs. #14 (HW)Chris Daukaus
Women's Strawweight - Polyana Viana vs. Iasmin Lucindo
Middleweight - A.J. Dobson vs. Tafon Nchukwi
Middleweight - Josh Fremd vs. Jamie Pickett
ESPN+ Prelims:
Bantamweight - JP Buys vs. Marcus McGhee
Lightweight - Terrance McKinney vs. Mike Breeden
Featherweight - Francis Marshall vs. Isaac Dulgarian
Heavyweight - Josh Parisian vs. Martin Buday
Women's Strawweight - Jaqueline Amorim vs. Montserrat Ruiz
Bantamweight - Da'Mon Blackshear vs. Jose Johnson
Women's Flyweight - Juliana Miller vs. Luana Santos
Sandhagen vs. Font Preview
The UFC is heading back to Nashville, Tennessee on Saturday August 5 for UFC on ESPN 50. The main event will be a fight between two bantamweights with potential title implications as former interim title challenger Corey Sandhagen will face battle-tested veteran #7 Rob Font.
Sandhagen was scheduled to fight Umar Nurmagomedov, but Nurmagomedov was forced to withdraw from the fight in July due to a shoulder injury. Font will step in on short notice but the fight will be fought at a catchweight of 140 pounds. Despite the bout being fought at a catchweight, this will most certainly be a bantamweight showcase and the winner could be next in line to challenge for the title.
Sandhagen is riding two straight wins into the fight, a TKO of Song Yadong and a split decision victory over Marlon Vera. He has rebounded well since losing a unanimous decision to Petr Yan at UFC 267 for the interim title.
The 31-year-old responded to fighting a new opponent on Saturday. “I feel like the amateur days in MMA really prepare you for the kind of s–t show that this sport can sometimes feel like it is,” said Sandhagen. “As far as things just not going to plan for reasons that are kind of no one’s fault.”
Sandhagen spoke about the kind of stakes a win over his original opponent meant for him. “[The Nurmagomedov fight was] bringing a No. 1 contender spot to me that was offered to me by the UFC if I took the Umar fight,” Sandhagen explained, “because no one else wanted to fight him.”
The former title challenger will need to put that aside because he does understand how dangerous his new opponent is. “Fighting Rob Font is a different type of challenge because Rob is super seasoned,” Sandhagen said. “And he’s had his ups and downs and his fair share of adversity in the UFC, which I think brings out the best in people.
“So Rob does pose different challenges, but I want to beat Rob just as bad as I wanted to beat Umar. And that’s how I feel about every single person that I face.”
Sandhagen concluded, “I do like that I’m switching from Umar to Font and then not Font to Umar because I am super familiar with fighting this type of person,” he said. “I’ve been doing it for a really long time now. It’s a style that I feel like I have a lot of really good and familiar answers with. So the matchup itself, as far as Rob goes as martial arts style, [I’m] extremely familiar with and very comfortable fighting that type of person on two weeks’ notice.”
Sandhagen has proven that he can hang with the best bantamweights in the world. His only bad loss in the UFC was a first round submission defeat to current champion Aljamain Sterling back in 2020. If he wants to avenge the loss he cannot look beyond Rob Font who has proven he is perfectly comfortable stepping in on short notice and fighting as the underdog.
Font is 7-3 in his last 10 fights and is coming off a devastating TKO victory over Adrian Yanez at UFC 287. The 36-year-old made his UFC debut in 2014 and he has key victories over Cody Garbrandt, Marlon Moraes, Ricky Simon, Sergio Pettis, Thomas Almeida and Matt Schnell.
Font knows what a win on Saturday means for him. “I am looking to get a huge win against Cory so I can get closer to a title match,” said Font. “It won’t be easy, but I am riding the momentum of a huge win over Adrian Yanez last time.”
The Boston native talked about losing two in a row before defeating Yanez. “There were all these doubts and the naysayers didn’t help. You cannot imagine how huge that win over Yanez was while receiving Performance of the Night and the bonus. That was sweet,” he added.
Font is planning on bringing a fan-pleasing fight to the octagon with Sandhagen. “I am super motivated," he exclaimed. “It is a huge fight with a lot of upside for me. The UFC knows I am going to put on a show and I am going to bring it, and look for a finish.”
He concluded, “This is going to be a tricky fight,” said Font. “Cory is smart and has very good footwork. Furthermore, he is explosive with good combinations.”
“I am good at that too and I hope to make the most out of my reach advantage on him. The good thing about Cory is I don’t think I need to chase him around the cage.”
The rest of the main card:
Women's Strawweight - #5 Jéssica Andrade vs. #10 Tatiana Suarez
Light Heavyweight - #15 Dustin Jacoby vs. Kennedy Nzechukwu
Featherweight - Diego Lopes vs. Gavin Tucker
Light Heavyweight - Tanner Boser vs. Aleksa Camur
Lightweight - Ignacio Bahamondes vs. Ľudovít Klein
ESPN Prelims:
Featherweight - Billy Quarantillo vs. Damon Jackson
Bantamweight - Kyler Phillips vs. Raoni Barcelos
Welterweight - Jeremiah Wells vs. Carlston Harris
Flyweight - Cody Durden vs. Jake Hadley
Flyweight - Ode' Osbourne vs. Assu Almabayev