Since 2011, Josh has been a contributing editor to Wrestling Observer/F4WOnline.com and also hosts the Punch-Out podcast. He has also written for Fight Magazine, Bloody Elbow, Bleacher Report, and other websites. He's a 2000 graduate of the University of Maine, worked in pro sports, and once was an indie ring announcer.
One of the sport’s most elusive figures may go back into MMA’s version of witness protection if a Thursday social media post is accurate.
Nate Diaz, set to main event UFC 244 a week from this Saturday against Jorge Masvidal in one of the year’s most anticipated fights, posted on Twitter that due to a USADA claim that he has “elevated levels that they say might be from some tainted supplements”, he’s out of the fight.
Diaz said he only eats food from Whole Foods, natural supplements, and no meat. He added that unless UFC, USADA, or “whoever is f**king with me fixes it”, he’s not fighting as well as alluding that someone offered to keep the violation quiet until after the fight.
To this point, UFC, USADA, nor Dana White have confirmed the news, but Yahoo’s Kevin Iole tweeted White was with President Donald Trump having dinner so he was indisposed. ESPN’s Ariel Helwani said this is not a prank and the situation is fluid, but that the fight hasn’t been canceled.
Masvidal is still down for the fight for which a “BMF” title was being created for:
You not the baddest mofo in the game (i am) but you are one of the cleanest mofo’s @NateDiaz209 I’ll see you nov 2. I know your name is clean. I don’t need @usantidoping to tell me shit!
The 34-year-old Diaz returned to the UFC in August for the first time in three years in a dominant win over Anthony Pettis that helped set up the Masvidal fight. If he is indeed out, it seems unlikely Masvidal would take a short notice fill-in even though UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman tweeted that he would take the fight and still fight Colby Covington in December.
While the card is deep, the co-main event is Kelvin Gastelum vs. Darren Till which isn’t exactly a PPV headliner. Fellow welterweights Stephen Thompson and Vicente Luque are also on the card, but Masvidal has already fought, and lost, to Thompson.
While Conor McGregor seems like a long shot for Masvidal should the fight fall through, the popular Irish fighter did call out the winner. He said today he is preparing for a mid-January return in Las Vegas, but Diaz did fill in on short notice to fight McGregor in their first battle, so anything is possible, especially with a MSG main event and big pay-per-view money on the line.
Impact Wrestling co-executive vice president Scott D’Amore, Impact World Champion Brian Cage, and Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie were part of an hour-long conference call Thursday, hitting up a variety of topics on the company’s past and future ahead of their official weekly AXS TV debut this Tuesday.
The whole call can be heard below, but a few highlights:
D’Amore addressed the rumor of the TNA brand returning for one night in April during WrestleMania weekend in Orlando. He said it’s early in the process, but that “we don’t run from our history, we embrace it.”
On Kylie Rae returning to the company, “the door is certainly open if she is interested.”
D’Amore and Valkyrie were asked a lot about intergender matches which D’Amore said they are proud to be at the forefront of. Valkyrie jokingly challenged Cage to a title match and Cage retorted with that it didn’t go well for Valkyrie when they wrestled in another organization.
D’Amore said their rebuilding process is over and that they have spent two years putting out a great product. He talked about restoring trust in the Impact name. He said they had to rebuild that when he and Callis took over two years ago. After a lot of negativity in ’18, he feels they have reclaimed a lot of that trust in ’19, but need to keep at it.”
D’Amore said that other wrestling organizations are competition, but in a good way. “While other companies are competition, they aren’t enemies. For us to success, they don’t have to fail. Competition breeds innovation. We need to answer the challenge,” he said.
Other topics include Joey Ryan’s signing, co-promoting with New Japan Pro Wrestling and WOW, Killer Kross’ status, returning to the UK, some prank calls, and running on Tuesday nights.
TMZ reported Thursday that former two-division UFC champion Randy Couture suffered a heart attack Wednesday and is in intensive care in a Los Angeles hospital.
Few details are available at this time, but the report said that Couture suffered the attack after a workout at Jay Glazer’s Unbreakable gym when he didn’t feel right. Amazingly, he walked himself to the hospital where he is expected to make a full recovery.
The 56-year-old is a three-time UFC champion and was one of the faces of the company in their formative years with classic bouts against Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell. He famously won the heavyweight title for a second time as an underdog in a dominant win over Tim Sylvia in March 2007.
The fourth member of the UFC Hall of Fame would later lose the title to Brock Lesnar in another famous fight beginning Lesnar’s first and only title reign.
“The Natural” retired after April 2011’s UFC 129 when he was knocked out by Lyoto Machida, closing out his career with a 19-11 record in his late 40s.
At a press conference in Moscow Thursday, former two-division UFC champion Conor McGregor announced that he will return to action on Saturday, January 18th in Las Vegas, NV.
As far as the opponent, McGregor said he is leaving that up to the UFC as they are “crafty” and might flip it on him. ESPN’s Ariel Helwani reported that the leading candidates are Justin Gaethje or Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone but that nothing has been signed yet.
While not formally announced by the company, it would be UFC 246.
The Irishman then outlined his “season”: the January 18th return, a challenge to the winner of Nate Diaz-Jorge Masvidal for the BMF title, and a challenge to the winner of UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov-Tony Ferguson in Moscow. That fight hasn’t been signed as of now.
Helwani added that McGregor was pushing for a December 14th return against Frankie Edgar but UFC had no interest in that fight and they already had three title fights on the show so it didn’t make financial sense. ESPN and UFC weren’t planning on having a January PPV, but McGregor’s return changed that plan.
McGregor has been out of action since October 2018 when he was submitted by Nurmagomedov in Las Vegas. A series of issues outside the cage has followed him including two sexual assault claims, a resolved problem with a man whose cell phone McGregor broke in Miami, and an unresolved issue where he punched a man at a Dublin bar for refusing a shot of whiskey.
Here's Conor McGregor announcing that he'll return to the Octagon JAN. 18 in Las Vegas – Leading potential opponents are Cerrone and Gaethje per @arielhelwani
With those two words Wednesday night on AEW Dynamite, the Young Bucks accepted the challenge of Santana and Ortiz and will face the duo at AEW Full Gear.
The Bucks took on the Best Friends on the show, defeating them after hitting More Bang For Your Buck on Chuck Taylor. After the match, Matt Jackson took the mic and made the Full Gear match official.
AEW Champion Chris Jericho had thrown out the challenge on the former LAX’s behalf during a segment on last week’s Dynamite. Santana and Ortiz made their first appearance at All Out in August, doing a run-in on the Bucks and the Lucha Bros. They made their in-ring debut on the Dynamite premiere, teaming with Jericho against the Bucks and Kenny Omega, later forming The Inner Circle along with Sammy Guevara and Jake Hager.
The Saturday, November 9th, pay-per-view officially has Jericho defending his title against Cody and Kenny Omega challenging Jon Moxley.
According to SCU’s sources, Atlas will report to the WWE Performance Center in January and has been telling indie promoters he’s no longer available after December. The California native continued to turn heads at this year’s PWG Battle of Los Angeles where talent scouts from WWE and AEW were present.
The 24-year-old recently worked for Ring of Honor and has turned down offers from both Impact Wrestling and MLW.
“The word on the street is that he grew up with WWE, and that was his dream. It’s actually a surprise they haven’t taken him. He has a good look, a good physique, had charisma and can go in the ring. Friends of his said that they recommend he go with AEW because they’re looking at doing things right now with new people whereas in WWE it would be a long wait. In the end, it probably depends on who sells themselves best to him as to plans,” Meltzer wrote.
Atlas (real name Kenny Marquez) has been wrestling for just three years and made headlines in February 2018 when he announced he was gay.
As he publicly campaigns for a fight against Frankie Edgar, former two-division UFC champion Conor McGregor is being investigated for sexual assault case, the second such accusation he’s faced in the last 12 months.
The second allegation stems from an incident last week outside a pub in Dublin, Ireland, where a woman in her 20s claims she was sexually assaulted in car. McGregor has not been charged and hasn’t been interviewed about the claim.
In a statement to the Times, McGregor’s publicist said, “Conor McGregor is frequently the subject of rumors. He emphatically denies any report accusing him of sexual assault.”
McGregor’s tumultuous life outside the cage has been a story for the majority of the year:
– He was charged with a felony and a misdemeanor after an incident with a man outside a Miami nightclub in which McGregor destroyed his cell phone. Charges were later dropped.
McGregor has said he wants to return to action soon and was pushing for a December fight with the former UFC lightweight champion Edgar, but Dana White said there’s no interest in doing that fight. He has been out of action for a year.
Welcome to our live coverage of UFC on ESPN 6: Reyes vs. Weidman from the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts, available on ESPN2.
For the first time since January 2018 for UFC 220, the Octagon heads back to Boston with a main event featuring a former champion looking to make a splash in a new weight class as well as a heated co-main event.
Undefeated light heavyweight Dominick Reyes looks to continue his surge as he welcomes former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman to the 205-pound division in the night’s headliner. Reyes looks to make it twelve straight wins to start his career while Weidman wants to get his name into the mix for Jon Jones’ next challenger as he looks to bounce back from a loss to Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza last November.
In the co-main event, featherweights Yair Rodriguez and Jeremy Stephens will pick up where they left off after their main event fight last month in Mexico City was stopped in 15 seconds due to an accidental eye poke from Rodriguez on Stephens. The two had a heated confrontation at the host hotel after the fight, and the bad blood will continue Friday night.
Also on the main card is the next fight for former NFL player Greg Hardy as he welcomes Ben Solosi to the UFC, Joe Lauzon returns after an 18-month layoff in his hometown against the debuting Jonathan Pearce, and top women’s flyweight contender Maycee Barber looks to remain undefeated as she takes on the fast-rising Gillian Robertson.
Follow along with our live coverage of the event beginning at 6 p.m. Eastern with preliminary action all the way through the main card.
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ESPN 2 PRELIMS
Hey, everyone. I’m Josh Nason, longtime contributing editor and podcaster for the website carrying you through tonight’s UFC Boston coverage like a doctor delivering a baby. I also should note that tonight marks five years since I’ve been married and my wife was cool with me coming to see sweaty men and women try to hurt each other. I’d say I picked the right one.
I’m also coming off a three day trip to Pat Laprade country for my day job and may be ingesting caffiene at a breakneck pace in a few hours.
Tonight’s coverage is going to be a bit different than traditional play by play. You can get there at 100 other websites so you don’t need that here. Interwoven with the action will be some historical stuff and thoughts from the UFC’s near-decade run in Boston, the somewhat adopted hometown of Dana White. I’ll give you the flavor and what happened, but think of this more like Bill Simmons than punchkicktakedownholyshithesdead type recaps. Ok? Ok.
Also, hit me up on Twitter at anytime for questions, your thoughts, or a happy anniversary, goddammit.
As of 6 PM, it’s a bit light in here attendance-wise with probably a few thousand hardcores. I’m not sure how the ticket sales went but typically this has been a strong UFC market since UFC 118 way back in August 2010. However, this is a Friday night show which they haven’t done here before without a strong local presence. With no Red Sox postseason run in October and a decent weather night, they should do just fine.
For those keeping track, there’s not a ton of media stars here tonight other than myself. Past JNPO guest Jeff Wagenheim of ESPN is front and center and MMA Junkie’s John Morgan is here as well. Neither ESPN’s Ariel Helwani or “Handsome” Brett Okamoto is here. I also haven’t seen Chuck Mindenhall, but he’s usually a late comer due to the autographs he has to sign.
> Tanner Boser (17-5-1, 1-0 UFC) def. Daniel Spitz (6-3, 1-3 UFC) by u/d (30-27×3) Heavyweights
Boser (a Canadian) is making his UFC debut against Not Mark Spitz who wants to even his UFC record at 2-2. Boser has shades of an in-shape, young Roy Nelson but I’m mainly saying that due to his mullet hairstyle. Both guys are small for heavyweights.
The first round was kind of dull punctuated by some idiots who were trying to get themselves over by chanting “We want Costa” and “We want Randy” and saying such innovative things like “My grandmother could fight tougher than you.” I gave this to Boser for landing more leg kicks and being the more aggressive of the two. Spitz had a cold start. Overall, both of these guys didn’t impress that much.
I also gave the second to Boser. Spitz is getting in range, but isn’t throwing any combos and can’t get off the starting block. The inside of his left knee looks he’s been stung by 100 bees due to the leg kicks. Spitz is also the taller of the two, but isn’t using his jab nor leg kicks. Weird game plan so far. By the way, they showed his knee on the big screens which got the crowd cringing.
The 3rd round wasn’t anything to write home about, so I won’t do so here. I scored the fight 30-27 Boser. You can fast forward through this one on your DVR.
> Arnold Allen (13-3, 1-0 UFC) def. Kevin Holland (16-5, 3-2 UFC) by second round submission (3:38) Middleweights
Holland did a flip inside the cage and Allen said in the pre-fight interview that he didn’t want this to be boring. This is Allen’s UFC debut and I don’t remember anything about past Holland fights but this is his fifth Octagon appearance.
Great first round! Holland took control halfway through the round and opened up a cut on Allen’s forehead for some juice. He was working for an RNC but Allen was game and eventually worked for his own RNC and an armbar attempt at the end of the round. I gave this 10-9 to Holland, but this was a lot of fun and the fans woke up.
In the second, Allen kept throwing up submissions from the bottom (armbars, triangles), THE DEFINITION of being active from your back. Holland slowed down a bit and Allen took advantage, eventually locking in another tight RNC for the tap midway through the second when Holland gave him his back. If you like young prospect fights, check this one out.
Allen got some promo time and asked for a $50,000 bonus for a standing wheelchair for his brother, a paralyzed military vet. Even being close to the cage, you can’t really hear the promos. Why is that?
Memory Lane: At the first UFC show here in 2010, the Boston Globe’s Bob Ryan was in attendance as this was when the U was desperately trying to appear to mainstream columnists and media folks to help normalize the sport. He was game and stayed for a quite a while, but his column wasn’t as kind. He was polite, but he wasn’t a fan and hasn’t been back since.
> Sean Brady (11-0, 1-0 UFC) def. Court McGee (19-9, 8-8 UFC) by u/d (30-27 x2, 29-28) Welterweights
It’s our third UFC debut of the night and the crowd oooohed when the title card came up. Brady’s from Philly, so it has to be the last name, right? (He’s got a big cheering section here, so he travels well.)
On the flip side, I wonder how much longer the UFC will keep McGee around with a loss. He has a great backstory, but there’s a lot of fighters with great backstories. At 34 and not having won two in a row since 2013, I dunno.
In Boston, we’re used to loud “Brady! Brady!” chants, but not for a Philly guy. For his newfound fandom, Brady got kicked accidentally in the nuts and it made me wish that fighters would taunt fans a bit more while they’re waiting for things to, let’s say, clear up. McGree isn’t that guy, but you get it. Following his recovery, Brany dropped McGree with a left and started to light him up a bit. He looks super comfortable on his feet. McGee hasn’t been finished since April 2016 for what that’s worth. 10-9 BRADY BRADY BRADY
Brady slowed a bit in the second, but was still faster than McGee who did land a few good shots. If Brady wins, this is a great litmus test to pass in a 16-fight UFC veteran. 10-9 BRADY BRADY BRADY
As we begin the third, McGee is also suffering from bee stings of the left leg. I gave this to McGee (almost typed Bauer) as Murphy survived but was never in real danger. Again, good test for your first time out. Brady could be one to watch on the early prelims in 2020.
> Randy Costa (5-1, 0-1 UFC) def. Boston Salmon (6-3, 0-2 UFC) by first round TKO (2:15) Bantamweights
Finally, the fans behind us get to see their local guy Costa…against a guy who has the first name Boston. WEIRD. To help the occassion, Salmon came out to the Halloween theme music which kinda worked. People love Costa so this could get LauzonLoud with a finish. What’s that mean? I’ll tell you after the fight.
Costa earned his big pop, sending Salmon to another loss with a first round TKO finish. Both guys were throwing early and landing, but Costa kept getting the best of it and started hurting Salmon with hard rights. Salmon relented and fell on his ass and Herb Dean called the fight. On the LauzonLoud scale, that got a 7.5. Costa had a picture of his late friend Devin Currier which you can read about here. That was a fun moment for the local kid from Taunton, MA.
Memory Lane: Alright, so the LauzonLoud scale comes from the aforementioned UFC 118 when Lauzon fought Gabe Ruediger and submitted him in two minutes. To say the crowd popped for the Brockton, MA, native is an understatement and remains one of the loudest cheers I’ve ever heard at any sporting event. (Shoutout to friend of the site Martin Foster for the reminder.) With a few more locals left to do, that means a few more opportunities to bring out the LauzonLoud meter.
> Sean Woodson (7-0, 1-0 UFC) def. Kyle Bochniak (8-4, 2-5 UFC) by u/d (30-26, 30-27×2) Featherweights
The last time UFC was here was last January for UFC 220, aka The Night Stipe Temporarily Took Francis Ngannou’s Soul. As part of that, three locals and three teammates (Rob Font, Kyle Bochniak, Calvin Kattar) won all thier fights in about a 90-minute stretch which was a fun series of moments. Bochniak has lost both of his fights since then, so he needs a win here against yet another UFC virgin in Woodson.
Woodson is about as lean and lanky as they come and doesn’t give a f*ck that this is Bochniak’s hometown. He’s in there talking shit and throwing some fun looking knees. Bochniak seems content to wrestle and grapple for the most part though and won the round 10-9.
Woodson opened up the second using his reach advantage with his arms and legs and Bochniak can’t seem to take him down. But, Bochniak’s pressure isn’t giving Woodson any space to do much. Woodson is also taking deep breaths, but is still trying to figure out some combos. This was a hard round to score, but I’ll give it to Bochniak. I’m really curious what Woodson will look like in a year as there’s something here, but this feels just a little over his head.
Bochniak landed a few punches to liven up the crowd in the third. He ate a big knee from Woodson and stuck his tongue out. He wasn’t scared of Woodson’s power at all and was walking him down with his arms down. I’d give the edge to Bochniak in another close round 10-9. Again, I want to see what Woodson looks like in another 12-18 months.
Jesus, I got this completely 100% wrong. I need to watch this again as one judge gave a 10-8 to Woodson, so apparently my contacts weren’t working. As the kids say, LOL.
The crowd has filled in quite a bit, but it won’t be sold out as there’s a lot of upper bowl seats on the sides that are empty. Fun fact: the Garden recently changed all their seats from the classic Bruins gold to dark blue and the new ones are apparently noticeably smaller than their predecessors.
> Molly McCann (10-2, 3-1 UFC) def. Diana Belbita (13-5, 0-1 UFC) by u/d (30-26 x 3) Women’s Flyweights
One thing I wish the UFC would do away with for the in-arena experience: the focus on the eyes.
Good first round. McCann landed a nice right hand and a spinning back fist, but Belbita was game and in McCann’s face the whole time. McCann landed a takedown and was working hard to close the round 10-9.
in the second, McCann kept working for a head and arm choke against the fence and the ref docked Belbita for (I guess) holding onto the fence? Similar to the NFL, they should be mic’d up so the live crowd can actually understand what’s going on. McCann got mean in this one, brutalizing an increasingly overhwlemed Belbita on the mat, landing in heavy leather and elbows. At one point, she was fully mounted on Belbita’s neck and looked to be going for the stoppage. 10-8 McCann bordering on a 10-7.
McCann did just enough to win the third 10-9. Nothing of note. 30-26 scorecard for me, but I could see 30-25.
Memory Lane: Back before this ESPN deal happened, UFC held their first-ever FS1 event (on the network launch day, no less) here in Boston on a Sunday night headlined by Chael Sonnen submitting Shogun Rua, Travis Browne knocking out Alistair Overeem in the first round, and a young Conor McGregor defeating a younger Max Holloway on the sixth fight of the night. McGregor got a top guy entrance though and was a focus of promotions during fight week.
> Charles Rosa (12-3, 3-3 UFC) def. Manny Bermudez (14-2, 3-2 UFC) by submission (2:46) Featherweights* (Bermudez missed weight by 2 pounds)
Both guys are local, but Rosa is the one fans are into. He’s got a crazy story and has been out of action for I believe two+ years due to a scary sounding muscular atrophy issue. At 33, that’s tough to lose two years in your prime. He’s looking to go a perfect 3-0 in the building.
This was one of those finishes where no one knew what happened. Rosa and Bermudez were up against the cage for most of the first round with Rosa throwing up submissions from the bottom while Bermudez was trying to land punches. Rosa was able to get in an armbar that Bermudez had to verbally tap to. The ref called the fight and the fans were confused for a few seconds before they realized what happened.
It appeared the prelims were going to run long, but that submission allowed them to end right at 9 PM. Amazing how that happens.
ESPN2 MAIN CARD
I say this every time out, but the Baba O’Reilly highlight reel is among the best sports highlight package videos ever made. Also, no big surprise, but Greg Hardy was booed when shown on the opening video package.
> Darren Stewart (11-4 1 NC, 4-4 1 NC UFC) def. Deron Winn (6-1, 1-1 UFC) by split decision (29-28 x 2, 28-29) Middleweights* (Winn missed weight by 2.5 pounds)
Winn is the Lawlor killer, having bested our Le Champion in his return to MMA for Oscar de la Hoya’s failed MMA promotion. He missed weight by nearly three pounds, so the EMPIRE~! will count that as revenge unitl Winn makes his MLW debut.
This was a lot of Winn wrestling negating Stewart’s attempts at striking for a 10-9 Winn round. The crowd is being polite, but if this keeps going, the boos will come.
In the second, Stewart caught Winn charging in with a low knee where you could the pop of the cup. Ouch. Stewart did a better job fending off Winn through most of the round and landing some strikes, but Winn is relentless at smothering and getting in for takedowns. Still, I gave this to Stewart 10-9.
Winn looked tired opening up the third, allowing Stewart to pick him apart while taking minimal damage on the outside. Then, Stewart surprisingly went for a takedown of his own and Winn couldn’t defend. There’s also a screeching Winn fan behind me yelling unintelligible commands, so if you see someone on press row with bleeding ears, that’s me. Winn did hear her command of “ONE MORE TAKEDOWN” and did just that. Even with him being gassed, I think Winn did enough to take the third 10-9 but could see a split here.
I feel obligated to tell you The Schmoe has sat down in front of me on press row. Also, women’s strawweight champion Weili Zhang is here in the building if you missed her on your TV set.
> Maycee Barber (#12, 8-0, 3-0 UFC) def. Gillian Robertson (#15, 7-4, 4-2 UFC) by first round TKO (3:04) Women’s Flyweights
This should be a lot of fun: two rising UFC prospects that could fight again a few more times in their career before its over. Also, Dana White randomly went into the crowd to either meet someone or take pictures.
This one didn’t last long. Simply put, Barber started lighting up Robertson on the feet with lefts and rights. Robertson wasn’t doing much in the way of defending so the ref made the mercy call without any fight from Robertson.
Also simply put, Barber has the potential to be the UFC breakthrough women’s star they desperately want. Post-fight, she called out Paige VanZant which the crowd liked. (I had to read this on Twitter, because you can’t hear what is being said. I don’t think I’m that deaf, but I’m being made to feel like I am.)
I can confirm Jack Encarnacao is in the building.
> Joe Lauzon (28-15, 15-12 UFC) def. Jonathan Pearce (9-4, 0-1 UFC) by first round TKO (1:33) Lightweights
You ready to get LauzonLoud? The last local guy on the show got a hero’s welcome and if he wins, my ears may start to bleed again.
Lauzon hurt Pearce with a right hand and body locked him down, securing a reverse half nelson of sorts that Pearce couldn’t defend. Herb Dean had an easy choice after Lauzon landed right hand after right hand after right hand. Imagine for your first fight that you get to take on Lauzon in this atmosphere. Pearce took one for the UFC team tonight. Lauzon was emotional after the win and rightfully so. He went into this with three straight losses and will look for his first two-fight winning streak since 2013-14.
On the LauzonLoud meter, I gave that a solid 8. Had the upper deck been full, that would have come close to ’10.
Memory Lane: Of the six shows in Boston’s UFC history, I have only missed one: McGregor vs. Siver (January 2015). It was a Sunday and the Patriots were playing in the AFC title game at the same time of the show and it was also freezing rain outside. That was also the show where McGregor jumped out of the cage to confront Jose Aldo and Donald Cerrone fought Benson Henderson on super short notice, filling in for Eddie Alvarez. There’s part of me that has always regretted not coming to that show.
> Greg Hardy (6-1, 3-1 UFC) def. Ben Sosoli (7-3 1 NC, 0-1 UFC) by u/d (29-28) Heavyweights
No big surprise, but Hardy was roundly booed. He’s facing an Australian making his UFC debut that is giving up a ton of reach and height. I don’t know about you, but this feels like a squash match about to happen.
Early on, Hardy showed patience in having leg kicks set up punches despite fans booing the action. Sosoli was having difficulty getting anything going as Hardy was simply quicker. The fans really started hating this when Hardy was clowning around at the end of the first. 10-9 Hardy.
Fans really started getting on this in the second round as Sosoli made virtually no progress outside a few punches that didn’t have any effect. Meanwhile, Hardy was content to play defense and land hard body kicks and a few good punches. He needs the cage time, but the fans don’t want to hear it. Sosoli looks overmatched. 10-9 Hardy
So, Hardy used his inhaler between rounds which is illegal. I didn’t see it, but it’s all over Twitter. Apparently no one caught it, so we’ll see what happens there. The fans also were chanting “f*ck Greg Hardy” so there’s that. The third round was very bad and not something you expect to see this late in the card quality-wise. Sosoli did land a few good punches and Hardy didn’t really do anything. 10-9 Sosoli
No post-fight interview for Hardy probably because they wanted to avoid the question about the inhalder. I will assume this gets overturned if Sosoli appeals which he should.
Stephens came out to Childish Gambino’s ‘This is America’. Well done. If you’re new here, this is a make-up from the Mexico City main event that got shut down after 15 seconds after Rodriguez accidentally eyepoked Stephens. We’ll see what the strategy is here with both guys given this is a possible 15 minutes instead of a possible 25. Boston didn’t care for Rodriguez much, lustily booing him. Villain!
This was a very competitive first round that Rodriguez edged out. He’s super fast and was constantly pushing the pace with spinning elbow attempts and a lot of kicks. Stephens is up for it, but he’s having a hard time keeping up. R10-9 Yair.
Round 2 was crazy. Yair hit a liver kick and went on the offensive, beating Stephens like a drum and nearly finishing him. Stephens kept playing defense and eventually worked his way back up and the fans lost their minds. He grounded Yair, but didn’t land anything that damaging. Rodriguez won the round 10-9 but what a round it was.
Stephens refused to touch gloves to open the third. These guys are into it!
Sadly, the third round couldn’t match the second. Rodriguez had to defend ground and pound from Stephens who was being willed by the fans to finish him. It’s a shame we couldn’t see this play out over five rounds. 10-9 Stephens
Stephens is right up there with Daniel Cormier, McGregor, and Randy Couture as the most popular UFC Boston fighters that aren’t from here. Fans didn’t like the decision but that was to be expected. #FightForever
> Dominick Reyes (#4, 12-0, 6-0 UFC) def. Chris Weidman (#8 MW, 14-5, 10-5 UFC) by first round TKO (1:43) Light Heavyweights
No one seems to know anything on the Hardy situation with this inhaler. His agent says he was cleared to use it and it appears USADA approves of it. However, Marc Ratner said it was illegal. This sport’s rules are very complicated sometimes.
Anyway, this one is compelling for all the reasons you would expect. Weidman hasn’t exactly won a lot over the last few years and has been knocked out cold a few times in those losses. Reyes is looking to take the jump to official title contender status and an impressive win here would help do that…if Jon Jones is interested.
Reyes dropped Weidman with a right hand and that was basically it. He landed a few extra right handed hammer fists that knocked Weidman cold and that was that. Yikes.
This has to be it for Weidman after being on the opposite end of another lights out performance. For Reyes, a first round finish over a name like Weidman, even at this stage, is something to build off. He called out Jones after the fact. Weidman didn’t retire and said he’ll come back better. We’ll see.
And with that, my six hour watch has ended. Thanks for reading!
According to PW Insider’s Mike Johnson, Luchasaurus has an injured hamstring and is out of Wednesday’s tag team championship tournament match on AEW Dynamite.
Filling in to team with Jungle Boy is fellow Jurassic Express member Marko Stunt. The duo will face the Lucha Bros (Pentagon Jr and Fenix) in a first round bout.
Johnson said the call was made to pull the big man from the match this afternoon so he wouldn’t further aggravate the injury.
AEW debuts in Philadelphia tonight with that match, Best Friends vs. SCU in another first round tag tourney match, AEW women’s champion Riho defending against Britt Baker, Jon Moxley and PAC vs. Adam Page and Kenny Omega, and AEW World Champion Chris Jericho vs. Darby Allin in a street fight for Jericho’s title.
Last week in Boston, Private Party advanced to the semifinals with a win over The Young Bucks and will face the winner of the Jurassic Express-Lucha Bros match while the Dark Order earned a first round bye and will face the winner of SCU vs. Best Friends.
Our very own Bryan Alvarez of Figure Four Daily and the Bryan & Vinny Show was a featured guest on this week’s ‘Talk Is Jericho’ with the reigning AEW world champion Chris Jericho, the audio of which you can stream below.
Bryan talked to Jericho about his second book, “100 Things WWE Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die“. They discussed why Bryan wrote the book and the process behind it, what he doesn’t want people to do when reading it, the first experience both men had with WrestleMania, Bryan’s relationship with Chris Benoit, WWE business, reclaiming lapsed fans, NXT, and, of course, AEW.
For those fans in the Seattle, WA, area, Bryan is doing a book signing Saturday at the Barnes and Noble at the Northgate Mall at 2 PM local time. Pick up a copy of the book while you’re there or bring one you have. Follow his Twitter account for any updates or for questions.
Former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez picked the right time to try his hand at professional wrestling.
Months after making his in-ring debut, the 37-year-old has signed a “lucrative, multi-year” deal with WWE according to ESPN’s Marc Raimondi’s sources and has informed UFC that he is retiring, withdrawing from USADA’s testing pool.
On Friday at a press conference in Las Vegas, it was announced that Velasquez will face WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar at this month’s Crown Jewel event in Saudi Arabia. It’s unclear whether the match is for Lesnar’s title.
Velasquez himself hasn’t officially announced the news as of this writing nor has UFC publicly acknowledged it.
Velasquez has wrestled twice thus far this year, once at AAA’s TripleMania and again at their New York Uprising event. There was interest from New Japan Pro Wrestling and All Elite Wrestling in signing Velasquez, but after he appeared in the show-closing segment of last Friday’s SmackDown’s debut on Fox, it signaled that a WWE deal was imminent.
Velasquez famously defeated Lesnar for the UFC heavyweight gold at UFC 121 in December 2010. After racking up a 13-1 record and two title reigns, injuries besieged the Mexican-American star and he fought just three more times (1-2) over a six year stretch. He last attempted a comeback in February, but was defeated by Francis Ngannou in just 26 seconds.
Here’s your three dark matches and notes from AEW Dynamite at Boston’s Agganis Arena Wednesday night:
Pre-Dynamite: Kip Sabian defeated “The Librarian” Peter Avalon (w/Leva Bates) and Sonny Kiss in a three-way
Avalon got loud boos coming out and then got into bashing the Red Sox for not playing in October to ripping on Tom Brady to the Bruins for not winning last year’s Stanley Cup Finals. Kiss got a huge pop coming out and they kept going for whatever he did.
Sabian and Kiss kept throwing or kicking Avalon outside the ring so they could go one-one-one. Avalon eventually got in and kicked Kiss when he was going for a Stratus-esque Matrix move. People hated Avalon and loved Kiss, but started coming around to Sabin when he did a flip off the middle rope to the outside on Avalon. He later hit double pinning combination that also got a good reaction.
Bates got involved, hitting Kiss with her library books while the referee was distracted which kept him on the outside. Sabian hit the Avida Kadriva for the pin on Avalon to end a decent match.
Post-Dynamite: The Dark Order and Hybrid Two (Angelico and Jack Evans) defeated SCU and Cima
As expected, fans were into SCU’s entrance. SCU and Cima did a great four-man sequence on Grayson with all four guys doing spots on him in the corner. Evans did a great flip series into the corner before stopping short for an eye rake on Daniels. Kazarian got the hot tag, clearing house with a stunner/ddit combo on the Order. He later hit a spectacular slingshot stunner on Grayson.
The finish came out of nowhere as Evans got an innovative bridge of sorts on Scorpio Sky for the pin. Everyone worked hard, but the fans weren’t that into it outside the big spots.
Post-Dynamite: Kenny Omega defeated Joey Janela in an unsanctioned lights out match
Spoiler: This got insane. Luckily, both men walked out under their own power.
Justin Roberts stuck with the unsanctioned rules of saying AEW wasn’t sanctioning this match after the lights went out and back on. Why unsanctioned? They never explained. Even though they were a bit tired, nearly everyone stayed around for this and got into it quick with “Kenny Kenny” chants and the Terminator clap.
Janela brought a chair in early, but we got Omega chops and a Janela tope early on. It didn’t take long for more chairs and a ladder to get brought into the ring. Janela laid them all out in the middle of the ring and threw one at Omega’s head. Omega later got the upper hand with a bulldog onto the chairs and a big Terminator dive outside.
Omega hit two Dragon Sleepers in the ring and despite Janela trying to fight him off, he hit another one on the ring apron to a “holy sh*t” chant. Omega teasted a One-Winged Angel on stairs on the floor, but Janela reversed into a belly to back suplex to regain control. Janela rearranged the stairs and made a table bridge (upsdie down) between that and the ring apron, but didn’t use it right away, tossing Omega into the ladder a few tmes instead. He reversed Omega into a nasty looking belly to back on the ladder. Ouch.
We got lots of V-triggers, a Janela brainbuster and standing superlex off the top, and several near falls. Omega took a lot of punishment, going into the ladder and a back body drop on a folded up table with the metal legs exposed.
Janela set up a ladder in the ring and laid Omega on a table. He climbed nearly all the way up and missed a frog splash, allowing Omega to regain the advantage. A big Omega clothesline off the ropes and a double-armed DDT still wasn’t enough. He then took a bad looking bump on that aforementioned table bridge, but was ok. Janela hit a double foot stomp on a chair laid out on Omega’s chest, but that only got two. To say this is wild is an understatement.
Janela set up a series of chairs back to back to back and laid Omega chest first on the top of them. He then went to the top, but Omega escaped and battled Janela, trying for a superplex. He eventually just tossed him off spine first on the chairs in one of the nastiest spots you’ll see that doesn’t feature blood. Omega hit a V-trigger to the back of Janela’s head and hit another V-trigger on a folded chair for the pin. Jesus. You need to see this.
Omega did a promo and put over both Janela and the fans, doing his signature signoff.
Notes:
– The live crowd was insane most of the night, strong at the start and the finish with a little slowdown in the middle. While some of the middle matches took a while for them to get into due to personalities involved, they popped for the big spots and finishes.
– Outside the really big names, they were really into Riho, Darby Allin, and Dustin Rhodes.
– As expected, all three announcers (Tony Schiavone, Jim Ross and Excalibur) got a great ovation coming out, especially Schiavone and Ross.
– The arena took a while to fully fill in, but they were loud from the get-go. The Agganis is only one level and with less than 1/4 cut off for the stage, it didn’t take too much to get loud.
– When AEW went off air, Cody put over Dustin Rhodes as better than he’s ever been at 50 years old and his usual speech about how AEW and its fans are a family.
Bellator MMA announced Wednesday that former PRIDE heavyweight champion and all-time great Fedor Emelianenko will face former UFC light heavyweight champion and former PRIDE star Rampage Jackson on Sunday, December 29th.
The heavyweight fight will main event Bellator’s Japanese debut, taking place at Tokyo, Japan’s famed Saitama Super Arena. The event is being billed as Bellator vs. RIZIN with the expectation the two sides will continue their past of interpromotional fights.
It will be simulcast on DAZN and Paramount Network.
Emelianenko, 43, re-signed with Bellator this summer for what’s expected to be the final time as he once again prepares for retirement. He’s 2-2 in his run with the company and is coming off a 35-second January loss to Ryan Bader in the finals of the Heavyweight Grand Prix.
Jackson, 41, won his first four Bellator fights, but has lost two of his last three. He last was seen defeating Wanderlei Silva by second round TKO in September 2018.
Former WWE Champion Alberto El Patron will fight former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz in the main event of Combate Americas’ debut pay-per-view on December 7th in Hidalgo, Texas, announced on Ariel Helwani’s ESPN show.
The fight will be at a 210 pound catchweight and the event itself will cost $39.99.
The former Alberto Del Rio signed with Combate last October, returning to a sport he hasn’t competed in since 2010. During that run, the 42-year-old went 9-5 and famously was knocked out by Mirko Cro Cop while wearing a mask at a 2003 PRIDE event. Helwani said El Patron (Jose Rodriguez) has been training with Bellator two-division champion Ryan Bader and UFC light heavyweight C.B. Dolloway for the fight.
After a tumultuous few years that saw El Patron released from both WWE and Impact Wrestling, he has been relatively quiet on the wrestling scene outside the co-creation of Nacion Lucha Libre with Chavo Guerrero.
The 44-year-old Ortiz is coming out of retirement again after runs with Bellator and a one-off fight with Oscar De La Hoya’s failed MMA effort last November when he knocked out Chuck Liddell. He signed with Combate, the brainchild of UFC co-founder Campbell McLaren, earlier this year. He has won four of his last five dating back to May 2014.
The two had a slight confrontation in August at a Combate event:
Former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez confronted and beat down Brock Lesnar to close WWE SmackDown’s debut on Fox Friday night.
Following Lesnar’s short WWE title win over Kofi Kingston, Velasquez, a rookie pro wrestler who has been in the ring twice for AAA, walked out with Rey Mysterio. Wearing a large left knee brace over his jeans, Velasquez took off his shirt and double-legged Lesnar to the mat, laying in some ground and pound. Lesnar teased going back in the ring to fight, but eventually left with Paul Heyman to close the show.
While not yet announced, it’s assumed Velasquez has signed a WWE contract. AEW’s Cody Rhodes had mentioned they were interested in Velasquez and that he would take him on as a project. ESPN’s Marc Raimondi reported that Velasquez is in “advanced talks” with WWE, but hasn’t signed as of yet. Velasquez said he has been talking with both NJPW and AEW.
The 37-year-old Velasquez took the UFC heavyweight title from Lesnar in October 2010 via first round TKO. After struggling with injuries over the past few years, he returned to the UFC in February and lost to Francis Ngannou in just 26 seconds.
Velasquez is still under UFC contract, and it’s unclear what his status is with the company. WWE and UFC have a history of working together when situations like this arise as Lesnar returned to UFC for a fight at UFC 200. There’s also Ronda Rousey who never officially retired from UFC, but spent a year in WWE with Dana White’s blessing. Raimondi reported they approved his Friday appearance.
Velasquez worked out at the WWE Performance Center in July 2018 and said he had a positive experience. He made his debut at AAA TripleMania in a six-man tag match with the aforementioned Cody and also worked at their Invading New York show. He was also scheduled for their now-postponed Los Angeles event.
