This edition already went out on July 14, 2023. Subscribe to never miss an edition.
Last week, we unveiled the pound-for-pound rankings for the best 1v1 players in the world on Verdict Tournaments. Shoutout to Santino Zarcone for being at the top of the leaderboard. You can view the full rankings here.
The details: Francis Ngannou will fight Tyson Fury in a 10-round boxing match on October 28th in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia. Ngannou's manager Marquel Martin confirmed that Ngannou will make more money from this one fight against Fury than all of his UFC fights combined. The fight will be contested under the 10-point must system, and there will be a winner.
Will Fury’s WBC title be on the line? No. Ngannou is ineligible to compete for the Championship because he’s not in the WBC rankings. The fight will go on their records, which means if Ngannou wins, he’ll be 1-0 as a pro boxer with a win against Tyson Fury.
Possible leak: Khamzat's coach Azamat Dugulubgov posted a picture on his Instagram story of him doing a film study with the caption "Already studying the next opponent for Borz" and tagged Khamzat. He tried to cover up the opponent but didn't do the best job at it. It was later discovered by a fan on Twitter that the fighter he was watching was Jared Cannonier.
Why this makes sense: Jared Cannonier is the only available fighter in the top 4 of the Middleweight division that's coming off of a win. Cannonier looked like a brand-new fighter in his last performance against Marvin Vettori, and beating him would guarantee Khamzat a title shot. If Khamzat intends to move to Middleweight, there's no better opponent than Cannonier at this time.
Why he retired: Lee is ending his career because he's had several injuries that prevented him from competing at the level he wants. He has to get another surgery after losing his UFC comeback fight to Rinat Fakhretdinov 2 weeks ago. Lee previously tore both ACLs, which sidelined him for a long time. This sport is unforgiving on your body, and Lee knows that firsthand.
What's next: Kevin Lee is only 30 years old and has a very charismatic personality. He's a hard worker, and you can expect him to land on his feet. His younger brother Keith Lee is a former fighter turned social media superstar, working with Mr. Beast. There will be a lot of opportunities for Kevin.
Why? 10 PFL fighters tested positive for banned substances throughout the PFL's first three events in Las Vegas this year. All the fighters were fined and suspended, which led to them being kicked out of the 2023 Season.
What this means: The PFL cares about the integrity of the sport and intends to be around for a long time. Working with USADA is expensive and not mandatory. The PFL is going the extra mile to keep the sport clean, just like the UFC has been doing since 2015.
What did they do? The three trained together in northern California after UFC 290 this past weekend. They then went boating while Zuckerberg was water-skiing. Zuckerberg then posted a picture of them three while looking shredded.
Why this is good: It's always a good thing when of the most powerful and influential people in the world is a huge fan of MMA. Zuckerberg is bringing more eyeballs to the sport, which will help it grow.
Why not Dana? Dana didn't put the belt on Jorge Masvidal when he beat Nate Diaz for the BMF title in 2019. He brought in The Rock to tie the belt around the winner and is continuing the tradition of having someone else wrap the belt around the BMF Champion.
The problem: Masvidal is a close friend of Dustin Poirier, has trained with him for years, and is picking him to beat Justin Gaethje. He said he wanted to wrap the belt around Poirier but didn't say what he would do if Gaethje won the fight.
Why? Hill blew out his ankle during a basketball game against Daniel Cormier during the week of UFC 290. He ruptured his Achilles tendon, which will put him out of action for a long time. He decided to vacate his title since the UFC has guaranteed him a title shot in his first fight back.
What’s next? Jan Blachowicz vs. Alex Pereira at UFC 291 could go from a 3-round fight to a 5-round fight for the Light Heavyweight title. It’s either that or the winner of Blachowicz/Pereira will fight Jiří Procházka for the Light Heavyweight title.
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