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Perhaps the biggest star in all of combat sports, Israel Adesanya endorsed Verdict and our scoring system this week. We discuss that and more below in this week’s edition of OverUnder.
What does this mean? Fighters that want to come back from ‘retirement’ must be in the USADA testing pool for 6 months before they can fight, according to Article 5.7.3 of the UFC Anti-Doping Policy. The final UFC PPV of the year takes place 6 months from today on December 16th, in Las Vegas. If McGregor is going to follow these rules, he needs to enter the pool by the end of today.
Can he get an exemption? Yes. The UFC has the authority to grant exemptions to the 6-month rule in ‘exceptional circumstances.’ The complicated part of this story is that USADA doesn’t seem keen on the exemption.
What he said: Izzy said that Verdict ‘is the way to go’ for judging and that we haven’t gotten it wrong yet when discussing the state of judging in MMA. He was upset after seeing his teammate Kai Kara-France lose a controversial decision to Amir Albazi.
Where he said it: Adesanya brought up Verdict when he appeared on an episode of the MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani.
What did he say? Win or lose against Sean O’Malley, Aljamain Sterling said he’d no longer be fighting in the Bantamweight division after UFC 292 in August.
The Consequences: If Sterling defeats O’Malley, he’d have to relinquish his Bantamweight title. It also means that Sterling will no longer get PPV points since he’s not a Champion which will impact him financially.
How much was it? Masvidal said that the biggest payday of his career was around $5 Million for a single fight on the ‘It Needed to be Said Podcast'.
Which fight was it? He didn’t mention the fight, but it’s safe to assume that it was likely his first fight against Kamaru Usman or his fight against Nate Diaz. His first fight against Usman was a major box office success, with $77.9 Million in PPV revenue alone.
His argument: Islam thinks that beating Ciryl Gane, who’s never been a Champion, doesn’t justify Jon Jones’ status as the pound-for-pound #1 fighter in the world.
The other side: Moving up a weight class that’s 65 pounds heavier than your previous weight class and finishing the top fighter in the division is the strongest case for what ‘Pound for Pound’ actually means.
When’s his debut? Valter Walker will make his UFC debut on September 23rd against Jake Collier in the Heavyweight division.
Is he good? So far, he looks really good. He’s undefeated at 11-0 and has finished his last 4 fights by knockout. He finished Alex Nicholson in his last fight to become the Titan FC Heavyweight Champion.
Who is he? John Gotti III is the grandson of John Gotti, who was an American gangster and boss of the Gambino crime family in New York City. During his reign, Gotti was one of the most vicious mob bosses that’s ever lived.
What happened? The referee stopped the fight because Gotti and Mayweather kept talking smack to each other. This infuriated Gotti, who shoved the referee and started to attack Mayweather, leading to a massive melee between the two camps.
If you've made it up to here, thanks for reading. OverUnder drops every Friday at 8 AM ET.