The new issue of the Observer is up on the site right now covering these stories:
Match and performer of the week
Preview of Crown Jewel, favorites and directions
Preview of Full Gear, directions, business and more
Update on perhaps the most important business story this year and its ramifications as the Cung Le lawsuit against UFC is headed for trial next year. We talk about the trial, what it means to UFC, WWE and the MLW lawsuit against WWE. We also have notes from discovery on the actual pay that Conor McGregor, Georges St-Pierre, CM Punk, Ronda Rousey and Jon Jones got for their biggest career fights.
Tyson Fury vs. Francis Ngannou, the story behind coming one round short of one of the biggest upsets in boxing history. We look at what happened, how this fight was a prelude of the change of the business of major events and why, how the PPV did and why it doesn’t really matter, the celebrities and what happens next.
We preview the 2023 Hall of Fame with research on the wrestlers with the best matches throughout their careers, best tag matches, annual MVP, Most Outstanding, Best Draws and best tag team votes involving candidates on the ballot or in the Hall of Fame and who comes across well in this.
A look at the Vladimir the Superfan documentary
The most detailed look at the TV ratings from the past week, numbers, competition, gains and losses over the last year, placings and segment-by-segment.
Women’s Grand Prix show draws big crowd
Injuries plaguing Stardom
Stardom PPV and tag tourney coverage
Big match this weekend in All Japan
A tag match this past week that you should see
Nakajima’s NOAH farewell
New Japan U.S. house show notes
Update on a women’s dream match that was planned but now is uncertain and why
New Japan Super Juniors tag team tournament news
Ronda Rousey working indies against AEW stars
Talks of two pro wrestlers and fights with Jake Paul
CM Punk talks unionization of wrestlers
New documentary coming out in two weeks
Jon Moxley returns from concussion
Jon Moxley talks concussion protocols
Impact signs two U.K. wrestlers
Impact U.K tour
Bryan Danielson injury details
Notes on Ric Flair’s two new deals with AEW
Talks on Omega vs. MJF
More on the CMLL/AEW deal
Ticket advances for WWE & AEW shows
International TV ratings and top streaming numbers
Merch sales
Derrick Lewis arrest
UFC pay
This weekend’s UFC show
Why FOX didn’t bid to keep Smackdown
Raw’s live show growth
Fastlane actual gate numbers
What record did WWE claim that doesn’t look to be accurate
Lots of injury updates
Reviews of al the major WWE house shows
WWE signs a three-time national college wrestling women’s champion
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Monday Update
Bryan and I will be back tonight talking Raw television negotiations, Raw, Most Outstanding Wrestler of 2023, Giulia, NWA, Power Struggle and the rest of the latest wrestling and MMA news. We have our Hall of Fame show up on the site with several voters talking about their picks, surprisingly similar which is interesting. People have heavily praised that show to us. People have noted that there has been more Hall of Fame research done in the last year and I think a lot of voters that have studied have come to more clear consensus.
The TKO earnings call covering WWE and UFC will be tomorrow at 5 p.m. Eastern. It will cover business from July through September. They will likely talk about advance sales for the Royal Rumble.
J.P. Morgan did a major analysis of the WWE & UFC business. They believe the stock is undervalued and should be trading at $100. It is undervalued. They estimated a 42 percent increase in the Raw rights fee to $375 million, felt that stock drop over concerns that Saudi Arabia will back the PFL to be real competition for UFC as being overblown, especially when UFC made its own deal with Saudi Arabia. Plus they expect cost savings from WWE & UFC working together. They pointed out WWE Raw costs 97 cents per viewer hour, barely one-third of the NFL and less than half of baseball. Smackdown’s new deal puts them at $1.35, but that’s misleading and will be far higher because Smackdown viewership will drop greatly with the move to USA. AEW’s TV deal is ridiculously low compared to these other entities. They list potential bidders for Raw as Disney (FX), Amazon, WBD (TBS and/or TNT) and USA. They also mentioned Apple and Netflix. They talked about a unique deal where the first two hours would air on FX and the third hour would move to Hulu. They listed WBD as a longshot due to AEW, but also felt Fox may bid for AEW after losing WWE.
I’ve got a Sports Illustrated article regarding the battle for Will Ospreay as well as the battle for the main event spot at WrestleMania.
Raw tonight is from Wilkes-Barre, PA with Miz (babyface) vs. Bronson Reed vs. Ricochet vs. Ivar with the winner getting an IC title shot at Gunther, a women’s Battle Royal for a title shot at Rhea Ripley and Damian Priest & Finn Balor vs. New Day in what I believe will be a non-title match plus Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Akira Tozawa. One would think they’ll be setting up directions for War Games in three weeks in Chicago. The show had 7,200 tickets out as of earlier today. We’re looking for live reports from the show with Main Event results or any things not on the live television show to [email protected]
We’re looking for your thoughts on both Crown Jewel and NJPW Power Struggle, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]
Jorge Masvidal plead guilty to misdemeanor battery charges and in exchange his two felony charges were dropped from the March 2022 incident where he allegedly punched Colby Covington as Covington was coming out of a restaurant. If you think that closes the chapter, you’re wrong. As soon as it was closed, Masvidal wrote on social media, “It’s going to be a f***ing movie now. All these orders, all these restraining orders been lifted off. It’s going to be a f***ing movie.” Masvidal then went on Ariel Helwani’s show and all he talked about is what he would do if he saw Covington on the street. I can’t even imagine what the prosecution in the case would be thinking now.
Dana White announced new UFC title fights with Sean Strickland vs. Dricus du Plessis for the middleweight title on 1/20 in Toronto, Alexander Volkanovski defending the featherweight title against Ilio Topuria in February and Sean O’Malley defending the bantamweight title against Marlon Chito Vera in March.
A story about the new “Iron Claw” movie about the Von Erich family in Entertainment Weekly. There will be a red carpet preview of the movie tomorrow night in Dallas.
As we noted in yesterday’s update, and was confirmed today by the promotion, the 11/18 Tam Nakano vs. Suzu Suzuki match for the World of Stardom title is off the Osaka show due to Nakano’s left knee injury. As of right now, no decision has been made regarding the title. There is hope of doing the match on the 12/2 Big Winter PPV show in Nagoya, but that is not a definite at this point because it’s not clear if Nakano will be ready. (thanks to Jose Gonzalez, Mori Ono and Aoi Ito)
This is Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite so far: MJF vs. Daniel Garcia for the AEW title, Samoa Joe vs. Keith Lee for the ROH TV title, Jay White vs. Mark Briscoe, Penta vs. Swerve Strickland, Julia Hart vs. Red Velvet
NXT tomorrow has :Tiffany Stratton vs. Fallon Henley in an Iron Survivor qualifying match, Dijak vs. Tyler Bate in an Iron Survivor qualifying match, Bron Breakker vs. Von Wagner, Noam Dar vs. Akira Tozawa for the Heritage Cup
Ric Flair was brought to Schembechler Hall today to speak to the University of Michigan football team. Flair is friends with Jim Harbaugh, the coach of the team, who he knew from the late 80s when Harbaugh was quarterback for the Chicago Bears.
AEW will be doing an event on 11/16 at the Inglewood High School Gym. Paul Wight and Matt Menard will be the announcers as AEW wrestlers and fans compete in three point shooting, free throw shooting and a dunking contest. R.J. City and Lexy Nair will host a pre-show event. The event will benefit the Brotherhood Crusade, which is an organization helping to improve the quality of life for low-income, underserved and under-represented disenfranchised people.
Henry Cejudo vs. Merab Dvalishvili was teased by both fighters on social media.
Wipeout with John Cena debuts its new season on TBS tomorrow at 9 p.m., head-to-head with NXT.
MLW has added a ladder match with Rickey Shane Page & Akira vs. 1 Called Manders & Matthew Justice for its 11/18 FITE+ special from Philadelphia.
The Grizzled Young Veterans appear for House of Glory Wrestling On 12/1 at the NYC Arena in New York. The Mane Event tag team of Midas Black & Jay Lyon defend their tag titles against Zack Gibson & James Drake, the former Dyad from NXT. Matt Cardona vs. Mike Santana for the HOG title is the main event, plus Swerve Strickland vs. Mike Bailey which on paper looks like a tremendous matchup is also on the show.
Impact will be doing a Throwdown Thursday comedy show on Saturday night in Mississauaga, ONT at the Dan Kolov Arena. It’s a comedy show where Impact talent will play characters out of a 1970s low-rent regional promotion.
The return of WaleMania will be 4/4 in Philadelphia at the Franklin Music Hall.
Results from yesterday’s Samurai TV 27th Anniversary Fan Appreciation Festival: Sakura Hirota & Ayako Sato b Humko Hoshi b Ibuki Hoshi & Arisa Shinose & Tsukasa Fujimoto, Aja Kong & Hiroyo Matsumoto & Ryo Mizunami b Yuuri & Yukari Hosokawa & Kaede Mtsushita, Arisa Nakaima & Saki & Haruka Umesaki b Maya Yukihi & Ungai Sayaka & Riko Kaiju,Abdullah Kobayashi & Batten x Burabura & Kankuro Hoshino b Danshoku Dino & Gorgeous Matsuno & Makoto Oishi, Yuya Aoki & Musashi & Shoki Kitamura & Takuya Nomura b Masato Tanaka & Daisuke Sekimoto & Kazunai Murakami & Yuji Hino. They also had talk segments with Keiji Muto and Kaito Kiyomiya, where Muto talked about his WCW days and knocked wrestlers doing dangerous things. Shota Umino also had a talk segment with Masahiro Chono, talking about New Japan, Will Ospreay and Chono’s five G-1 tournament wins. (thanks to Wrestling Nutshell)
Welcome to F4WOnline.com’s live coverage of UFC 287: Pereira vs. Adesanya 2, emanating from the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida.
The Octagon returns to Miami for the first time since UFC 42 in April 2003 with a massive title fight rematch and the self-proclaimed “King of Miami” fighting in front of his hometown fans for the first time in 13 years.
UFC Middleweight Champion Alex Pereira makes his first title defense against the man he defeated for the title, former UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya, in the main event. Pereira scored a fifth-round knockout of Adesanya in their title fight at UFC 281 in November in a fight that Adesanya was on his way to winning on the scorecards. Including their kickboxing bouts, Pereira now holds three wins over Adesanya, who is looking for revenge and to reclaim his spot at the top of the 185-pound division.
In the co-main event, Gilbert Burns looks to keep himself in the welterweight title picture when he comes into enemy territory and fights the hometown star, Jorge Masvidal. Masvidal is looking to end a three-fight losing skid, though he’s also teased retirement should he suffer another loss.
Also on the main card is an exciting bantamweight bout between Rob Font and Adrian Yanez, a welterweight tilt pitting Kevin Holland against Santiago Ponzinibbio, and a bantamweight bout between rising 18-year-old prospect Raul Rosas Jr. and Christian Rodriguez. A stacked preliminary card is capped off by a bantamweight battle pitting Kelvin Gastelum against Chris Curtis.
Follow along with our live coverage of the event beginning at 6 p.m. Eastern time with preliminary action all the way through the main card.
We are looking for your thoughts on tonight’s event, so send a thumbs up, a thumbs down or a thumbs in the middle along with a best fight and a worst fight to Dave at [email protected].
*A heavyweight bout between Karl Williams and Chase Sherman has been scratched from the card due to medical issues for Sherman, announced by Jon Anik as the broadcast began.
ESPN+ PRELIMS | 6:30 PM ET/3:30 PM PT
> Women’s Strawweights- Jaqueline Amorim (6-0, 0-0 UFC) vs. Sam Hughes (7-5, 2-4 UFC)
Amorim throwing kicks early and lands two right hands. Amorim landing more as she mixes punches and kicks. Amorim gets a takedown and is in the guard. Hughes looks for a triangle but Amorim passes guard and takes the back. They end up getting to their feet and Hughes lands an elbow. Amorim gets the back and they go to the mat and she has a choke locked in. Hughes is fighting it and is able to break free. Amorim still has the back and lands some punches. Amorim gets the choke locked back in as they’re standing. It is locked in tight but Hughes fights it off again. They get to their feet. 10-8 Amorim.
They trade and Amorim pulls guard as they go to the mat. Hughes lands a couple of shots from the top. They end up back on their feet and Amorim is looking slow. Amorim tries for a takedown but Hughes defends. Amorim goes for another one but ends up pulling guard. Hughes is warned again about grabbing in the gloves. They get to their feet and Amorim is gassed. Amorim tries for a takedown as she pushes Hughes against the fence. They go to the mat and Hughes is attacking a leg but they get to their feet. Hughes gets a takedown. 10-9 Hughes, 19-18 Amorim.
Hughes lands a punch and a kick as Amorim pulls guard. They scramble up. Hughes lands a nice jab. Hughes lands a kick and Amorim tries to pull guard again. Hughes is inside the full guard. Both are throwing punches on the mat. Hughes with some elbows and big hammerfists. Hughes in control from the top as Amorim is trying to find an arm. Both landing punches on the mat. Hughes landing from the top. They get to their feet. Hughes lands a front kick. Amorim tries a takedown but Hughes defends and ends up on top and lands some punches. They get to their feet and Hughes with a combo late. 10-9 Hughes, 28-28 DRAW.
Official Result- Sam Hughes def. Jaqueline Amorim by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
> Featherweights- Shayilan Nuerdanbieke (38-10, 3-1 UFC) vs. Steve Garcia (13-5, 2-2 UFC)
They trade to start before Garcia lands a groin strike and we have a timeout. They get back to action and Nuerdanbieke lands a right hand. He drops Garcia with a right hand and starts landing from the top. Nuerdanbieke with an elbow. They end up getting to their feet and Nuerdanbieke has the back. Nuerdanbieke gets it down and is working in the guard and lands another big elbow. He lands another as he’s in control from the top. They get to their feet. Garcia lands a big left hand and rocks Nuerdanbieke with some follow-up punches. Nuerdanbieke grabs the body and lands a head kick late that might have been illegal. 10-9 Nuerdanbieke.
Garcia landing to start the second and rocks Nuerdanbieke with a combo. They clinch against the fence. Garcia with an uppercut and drops Nuerdanbieke with a body kick and finishes it off. What a finish from Garcia!
Official Result- Steve Garcia def. Shayilan Nuerdanbieke by knockout (strikes) at :36 of Round 2
They trade leg kicks early on. Bahamondes with a leg kick then a left hand. Bahamondes with another leg kick. Ogden lands a jab and leg kick. Bahamondes with some more leg kicks. Bahamondes with another leg kick then lands a left hand over the top. Bahamondes continues to land with more volume. Bahamondes with a body kick. 10-9 Bahamondes.
Ogden throwing the jab early as they trade leg kicks. They trade combinations. Bahamondes with a body kick. Ogden looked for a takedown but Bahamondes defended. Bahamondes with a leg kick. Ogden landed a left hook as Bahamondes landed a jab. They continue to trade. Ogden lands to the body. Ogden with a left hand. They trade late and Bahamondes with a high kick. 10-9 Bahamondes, 20-18 Bahamondes.
Bahamondes with a left hand then a leg kick. They continue to trade with Bahamondes landing with more volume as he’s mixing in his combinations. Ogden lands a jab but Bahamondes fires back with some kicks. Bahamondes continues to land hard leg kicks. Bahamondes with a left hand as Ogden is backing up. Ogden with a high kick. Bahamondes with a spin kick to the body. They trade late. 10-9 Bahamondes, 30-27 Bahamondes.
Official Result- Ignacio Bahamondes def. Trey Ogden by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Calvillo with a high kick. Godinez with a combo ending with a right hand. Calvillo throwing a lot but barely landing anything. They trade low kicks. Godinez lands a right hand. Calvillo lands a left hand. Godinez with a nice right hand. Godinez lands another right hand. Calvillo with a high kick. She lands a side kick. Calvillo scores a takedown. She works from the top before standing late. 10-9 Godinez.
Godinez lands a combo early as both are looking for openings at a distance. Both land right hands. Godinez lands a right hand. Calvillo with a few leg kicks. Godinez lands a combo. Godinez lands a left hand then a front kick. Calvillo is being more active and landing with more volume in this round. They both land in close range as they trade kicks. Calvillo lands a nice left hand. Godinez with a left hook. They trade late. Close round. 10-9 Godinez, 20-18 Godinez.
Calvillo with an inside leg kick. Godinez with a left hand and body kick. Godinez with the double jab and a body kick. They trade and Godinez lands a high kick. Godinez with a couple of left hands and lands a right hand. Calvillo is landing the jab. Godinez with an overhand right. They trade leg kicks. Godinez with a combo. Calvillo is trying to find an opening for a takedown. Godinez with a front kick to the body. Both are trading in close range and Godinez with a high kick. They trade inside the pocket. Godinez with a body kick. They both land inside the pocket. They trade and Godinez grabs the back and kind of gets a takedown. They break and Calvillo with a high kick. Close fight. 10-9 Calvillo, 29-28 Godinez.
Official Result- Lupita Godinez def. Cynthia Calvillo by split decision (28-29, 29-28, 30-27)
> Middleweights- Gerald Meerschaert (35-15, 10-7 UFC) vs. Joe Pyfer (10-2, 1-0 UFC)
Meerschaert with a body kick. Pyfer with a body kick. Pyfer just misses a right hand. Pyfer lands a big right hand and Meerschaert’s head snapped back. Meerschaert with a body kick and Pyfer drops him with a big combo and is landing big shots from the top. Meerschaert is trying to cover up but Pyfer continues to land and it is stopped. Big finish from Pyfer.
Official Result- Joe Pyfer def. Gerald Meerschaert by TKO (punches) at 3:15 of Round 1
Both missing leg kick attempts early. Waterson lands a leg kick. Pinheiro lands a right hand. Pinheiro with a combo. Waterson lands a big spinning elbow. Pinheiro with a leg kick. They trade punches. Pinheiro lands a solid combo. Waterson with a leg kick. Waterson lands a combo but Pinheiro lands a counter right hand. Waterson lands a body kick that drops Pinheiro to her butt but she gets right up. Pinheiro lands a big right hand late and then a late flurry. 10-9 Waterson-Gomez.
Waterson with some front kicks and rocks Pinheiro. Waterson continuing to land kicks and Pinheiro lands a right hand. Pinheiro with a big combination. Pinheiro pushes it against the fence. Waterson with a leg kick. Pinheiro tries for a takedown but Waterson defends by landing some punches. Waterson back landing leg kicks. They trade late as Pinheiro lands a big right hand. 10-9 Waterson-Gomez, 20-18 Waterson-Gomez.
Waterson gets a brief takedown and has the back against the fence. They’re battling for underhooks against the fence. They separate and Waterson lands some front kicks. Pinheiro with a right hand. Pinheiro with a nice body kick. They continue to trade as Waterson is landing side kicks. Waterson looks for a takedown late as they go the distance. 10-9 Pinheiro, 29-28 Waterson-Gomez.
Official Result- Luana Pinheiro def. Michelle Waterson-Gomez by split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
> Middleweights- #15 Kelvin Gastelum (17-8 1 NC, 11-8 1 NC UFC) vs. #14 Chris Curtis (30-9, 4-1 UFC)
They trade leg kicks. Gastelum with the jab. Gastelum with a combo. Gastelum with a leg kick. He lands another. Curtis lands a left hand as Gastelum lands a leg kick. Gastelum lands a hard jab. Gastelum with a left hand. Gastelum lands a jab then lands a combo attacking the body. Gastelum with the jab and Curtis lands a leg kick. Curtis lands a right hand to the body. Gastelum with a leg kick and follows with a solid combination. Gastelum with a left hand, then a leg kick, then a combination. Gastelum with a leg kick. He lands a combo. Gastelum with a combo. 10-9 Gastelum.
Gastelum with a leg kick but Curtis fires back with a flurry of punches, landing to the head and body. Gastelum with a left hand. Curtis lands a body shot and they go to the mat and Gastelum is on the back and landing punches. They get to their feet and Curtis tries to capitalize but they clinch against the fence. They trade combinations. Curtis lands some hard body shots. They trade inside the pocket and Curtis lands some hard body shots. Gastelum with a combo. Curtis lands a big uppercut and they trade wild late.
Curtis lands a knee to the body. Curtis with a double jab and lands another. Gastelum with a leg kick then lands the jab. Curtis lands a leg kick. They trade inside the pocket. Gastelum with a straight left hand. Curtis lands a left hand and an elbow. Gastelum with a left hand and then another. Curtis lands to the body. Gastelum with a left hand, then Curtis lands a right hand. They trade and Gastelum pushes it against the fence. Curtis with a right hand to the body then a knee to the body. Curtis with some body shots. Curtis with a big right hand and a short elbow. Curtis is finding a home to the body. Gastelum lands a combo. Curtis with more body shots. Gastelum with a left hand. Gastelum tries a takedown but they stay on the feet. They trade big shots late. Fantastic fight. 10-9 Curtis, 29-28 Gastelum.
Official Result- Kelvin Gastelum def. Chris Curtis by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
ESPN+ PPV MAIN CARD | 10 PM ET/7 PM PT
> Bantamweights*- Raul Rosas Jr. (7-0, 1-0 UFC) vs. Christian Rodriguez (8-1, 1-1 UFC)
*Rodriguez missed weight by one pound
Rosas goes right for a takedown and they push it against the fence. Rosas trying hard for the takedown as he has the leg and he completes it. Rosas grabs the neck but Rodriguez spins over into side control. They get to their feet and Rosas is trying hard to get it back down. Rosas has the back. Rosas gets it down for a second. Rosas jumps onto the back of Rodriguez and is working for a choke. He has the body triangle and is working for a choke. Rosas is squeezing but Rodriguez is playing good defense. They go to the mat and Rosas still is looking for the choke. Rosas ends the round on the back. 10-9 Rosas Jr.
Rosas tries a takedown but Rodriguez ends up on top. They scramble up and Rosas is trying to get it down as he has the back against the fence. He’s trying to get it down as they go the mat and Rodriguez is on top. They’re scrambling around and Rodriguez remains on top in side control. Rodriguez has the back and he is looking for a choke. Rodriguez with some body shots. Rodriguez with a right hand. 10-9 Rodriguez, 19-19.
Rodriguez lands a right hand. Rodriguez lands another as Rosas was coming forward. Rosas shoots for a takedown but Rodriguez stuffs it. Rosas shoots again but Rodriguez sprawls away. Rosas tries again but Rodriguez sprawls and switches to the back. They stand and Rodriguez drags it down as he has the back mount. Rodriguez with some punches from the back. He lands more as Rosas is in a lot of trouble. Rodriguez landing a lot of punches from the back. Rodriguez continues to land from the back. Rodriguez lets it get back to the feet. Rosas lands a left hand and Rodriguez lands a counter. 10-9 Rodriguez, 29-28 Rodriguez.
Official Result- Christian Rodriguez def. Raul Rosas Jr by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
> Welterweights- Kevin Holland (23-9 1 NC, 10-6 1 NC UFC) vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio (29-6, 11-5 UFC)
Holland with a side kick. Holland with a left hand. Holland lands another left hand but Ponzinibbio counters with a leg kick. Ponzinibbio lands a leg kick but slips on it. Holland with a couple of leg kicks. Holland lands a left hand. They trade leg kicks. Holland landing more leg kicks here. Holland with some more leg kicks. Holland with a knee and they trade punches. Ponzinibbio with a combo ending with a left hand. Holland with a body kick and lands a right hand that drops Ponzinibbio late. 10-9 Holland.
Ponzinibbio with some kicks early in the second. Ponzinibbio lands a right hand. Ponzinibbio with a leg kick. Holland with a leg kick. He lands another. They both land in close range and Ponzinibbio lands a big leg kick. Ponzinibbio lands a right hand. Ponzinibbio with a left hand followed by a leg kick. Holland with a leg kick but Ponzinibbio checks it. Ponzinibbio lands a good combo but then Holland hurts Ponzinibbio with a right hand and they clinch. Holland lands a right hand. 10-9 Holland, 20-18 Holland.
Ponzinibbio lands a couple of leg kicks. Ponzinibbio with a left hook. Ponzinibbio with a leg kick. Holland with some jabs. Ponzinibbio with a leg kick. They trade wild punches. Ponzinibbio with some leg kicks. They trade kicks. Holland then drops Ponzinibbio with a big right hand followed by a left hand that put Ponzinibbio to the mat face first and it is stopped. What a finish by Holland!
Official Result- Kevin Holland def. Santiago Ponzinibbio by knockout (punch) at 3:16 of Round 3
> Bantamweights- #6 Rob Font (19-6, 9-5 UFC) vs. #12 Adrian Yanez (16-3, 5-0 UFC)
Font lands a right hand. Yanez lands a right hand. Font lands the jab. They trade right hands. Yanez lands a nice right hand. He lands another. Font lands the jab. Yanez lands a big right hand inside the pocket. Yanez with the jab. Yanez lands a leg kick. Font with a leg kick. They trade inside the pocket. Font with a big combination. Font landing lots of hard shots as Yanez is retreating. Font with another combo and he drops Yanez with a right hand. Font landing from the top and it is stopped. What a finish from Font!
Official Result- Rob Font def. Adrian Yanez by TKO (punches) at 2:57 of Round 1
Masvidal with a leg kick. Burns with a body kick then a leg kick. Masvidal with more leg kicks. Burns lands a right hand. Burns lands a body kick. Masvidal with a quick combo ending with a leg kick. Burns lands some kicks. Burns lands a right hand then a body kick. Burns with an overhand right. Masvidal lands a right hand then a leg kick. Burns lands a right hand. Burns with the calf kick. Masvidal lands a jab and Burns gets a late takedown and lands some hammerfists from the top to end the round. 10-9 Burns.
Burns lands a right hand and Masvidal was hurt against the fence. Burns goes for a takedown and gets it and is in the guard of Masvidal. Burns controlling from the top and landing while he’s staying active. Burns lands a few left hands but not much is happening. They get to their feet. Burns still has the back. Burns gets another big takedown. They get to their feet and Masvidal lands a couple of knees. They break. Masvidal with a body kick. Burns lands a right hand. Masvidal landed a right hand as well. 10-9 Burns, 20-18 Burns.
Burns just misses a high kick. Masvidal with a leg kick. Burns lands a right hand. They trade leg kicks. Burns lands a couple of jabs. Masvidal with some leg kicks. He lands another. Masvidal with a spin kick and he lands a few more kicks. Burns lands a left hand. Burns lands a right hand. Burns with a jab then lands a big right hand. Masvidal lands a right hand. Burns with some big punches. Burns with more big shots. Burns with a couple of left hands then a cracking right hand. Masvidal lands a combo. Burns shoots for the takedown as he pushes it against the fence. Burns gets the takedown and is in side control and lands some elbows. Burns has the back at the end. 10-9 Burns, 30-27 Burns.
Official Result- Gilbert Burns def. Jorge Masvidal by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
> UFC Middleweight Championship- C Alex Pereira (7-1, 4-0 UFC) vs. #1 Israel Adesanya (23-2, 12-2 UFC)
Both landing kicks early on. Adesanya with a leg kick. They trade calf kicks. It’s been all trading leg kicks for the first two minutes here. Adesanya lands a right hand. Adesanya lands a body kick. Pereira with a leg kick and Adesanya lands a body kick. Adesanya with a leg kick. He lands a body kick. Adesanya lands a left hand. Pereira with some more leg kicks late. 10-9 Adesanya.
Adesanya with a high kick. He lands a leg kick then goes high. Pereira lands a high kick. They trade punches and Pereira landed hard. Pereira with a left hook. Adesanya lands a jab then a right hand. Pereira landed some punches as well. Adesanya with a left hand. Pereira lands the jab. Adesanya with a right hand. Adesanya with an inside leg kick. Adesanya lands a left hand. Adesanya with a combo to the body. They trade inside the pocket. Pereira with a leg kick. Adesanya lands a big right hand that hurts Pereira and then another right hand followed by a hammerfist knocks Pereira out cold! Wow, what a finish by Adesanya to win the title back!
Official Result- Israel Adesanya def. Alex Pereira by knockout (punches) at 4:21 of Round 2 to win the UFC Middleweight Championship
Former UFC welterweight champion Colby Covington will press charges against Jorge Masvidal in connection with an alleged assault Monday outside a Miami Beach, Florida, restaurant.
Masvidal was arrested Wednesday night and charged with aggravated battery with bodily harm and criminal mischief. He was released on $15,000 bond and his first appearance in court will be on April 21st.
Masvidal could face up to 15 years in prison for the battery charge if convicted.
A released police report detailed some of what allegedly happened, the details of which were unknown following Monday night.
According to Covington, the 37-year-old Masvidal allegedly punched him twice while wearing a hooded sweatshirt and a mask over his face, fracturing a tooth and causing an abrasion on his wrist in addition to $15,000 worth of damage to his $90,000 Rolex watch.
Covington told police he identified Masvidal by his voice and hair sticking out from the hoodie. Masvidal and his agent tweeted on social media shortly after the alleged incident, indicating there was a conflict and that Covington had suffered some kind of injury to his teeth.
The impetus appears to be Covington saying something about Masvidal’s children, but it’s unknown when or to who. Covington claimed Masvidal was saying as much to him during the incident and in a Tuesday morning tweet, Masvidal indicated something of the sort happened.
On Wednesday, Masvidal appeared before the Nevada Athletic Commission as he was applying for a promoter’s license for his bare knuckle fighting organization. However, he asked for the application to be delayed and again alluded to the Covington incident.
“I had a mutual combatant with another athlete, and you know, I can’t say too much on this, but if we could table [the application] for later, that would be amazing,” Masvidal said.
**********
That wasn’t the only notable legal issue involving a UFC star this week as former two-division champion Conor McGregor was arrested and had his car seized in West Dublin, Ireland, Tuesday due to dangerous driving.
McGregor was released after passing alcohol and drug tests and his car was released back to him.
As was reported, McGregor was pulled over, arrested and charged with several offenses that eventually ended up being the dangerous driving charge which comes with a possible six-month prison term and/or fines.
McGregor is recovering from a broken leg suffered in his third fight with Dustin Poirier last July with Dana White saying he expects the 33-year-old to return this fall.
After this month’s UFC 272 when Colby Covington defeated rival Jorge Masvidal, Masvidal said their issues weren’t over.
He wasn’t lying.
The two got into an altercation outside a Miami Beach, Florida, restaurant Monday night and Masvidal has been charged with felony battery as a result.
Covington wasn’t identified due to invoking Marsy’s Law which “gives crime victims meaningful and enforceable constitutional rights equal to the rights of the accused.”
According to Miami Beach Police Public Information Officer Ernesto Rodriguez, the other person involved lost teeth.
The only video was posted by TMZ of Covington outside the restaurant afterward, surrounded by police, talking to a social media personality who he was having dinner with. From what he is saying, it appears Masvidal initiated the conflict in some form.
Shortly after, Masvidal posted a video on Twitter tagging Covington where he said it was a “show your face challenge” and that “if you talk sh*t, you gotta back it up.”
In tweets from Masvidal’s manager, the issue stemmed from Covington allegedly talking about Masvidal’s children in some form. Manager Malki Kawa also alluded to Covington missing a tooth from the altercation which would correlate with the information provided above.
Masvidal also nodded at Covington talking about his children in a Tuesday morning tweet.
Good morning to everyone except those that think talking about someone’s kids is cool
The two were teammates at the Dan Lambert-led American Top Team before Covington left ATT after issues with Masvidal and others. Masvidal claimed Covington didn’t pay a coach that helped him train for a fight which Covington denied.
Welcome to F4WOnline.com’s live coverage of UFC 272: Covington vs. Masvidal, emanating from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The Octagon remains in Las Vegas, but shifts to the T-Mobile Arena for this pay-per-view event headlined by a five-round grudge match between two heated rivals.
Former best friends and teammates Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal square off in the main event in a fight that has been building for years. The two used to be long-time training partners at American Top Team, and even lived together at one point, but their relationship deteriorated as Covington was straining his time at the gym. Both are coming off losses in title fights to UFC Welterweight Champion Kamaru Usman.
In the co-main event, it will be another five-round bout as lightweights Rafael Dos Anjos and Renato Moicano meet in a 160-pound catchweight bout. Moicano is stepping in on just a few days’ notice after Rafael Fiziev was forced out after testing positive for COVID-19. Also on the main card is a featherweight bout between Edson Barboza and Bryce Mitchell, a welterweight bout pitting Kevin Holland against Alex Oliveira, and a heavyweight fight as Serghei Spivac takes on Greg Hardy.
Follow along with our live coverage of the event beginning at 6 p.m. Eastern time with preliminary action all the way through the main card.
We are looking for your thoughts on tonight’s event, so send a thumbs up, a thumbs down or a thumbs in the middle along with a best fight and a worst fight to Dave at [email protected].
ESPN+ PRELIMS | 6 PM ET/3 PM PT
> Light Heavyweights- Dustin Jacoby (16-5-1, 4-2-1 UFC) vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk (16-4 1 NC, 4-2 1 NC UFC)
Jacoby lands a combo and a leg kick as Oleksiejczuk was coming forward. Jacoby with a leg kick. Oleksiejczuk lands a left hand. We have a timeout for an eye poke. They get back to action and Oleksiejczuk lands a straight left hand. Jacoby throws a high kick but eats a left from Oleksiejczuk. Jacoby tries a leg kick but Oleksiejczuk grabs it and throws Jacoby to the mat but they get up and break. Jacoby lands a left hook. Oleksiejczuk with a left hand. Jacoby with a step-in knee and looks for a takedown against the fence. They’re trading in close range at the end. Oleksiejczuk with a left hand. Close round. 10-9 Oleksiejczuk.
They’re trading and Jacoby tags Oleksiejczuk with some punches and knees and Oleksiejczuk goes down for a moment. Jacoby looking to finish but Oleksiejczuk gets to his feet and both are throwing. They’re inside the pocket against the fence and both throwing and landing. They break to the center. They tie up against the fence and Jacoby gets the takedown. They get up and Jacoby with a knee. They break. Jacoby landing and looks for a takedown against the fence but Oleksiejczuk reverses. Both slowing down. Oleksiejczuk lands a left hand. Jacoby throws a left hand and they tie up against the fence. They stay clinched at the end of the second. 10-9 Jacoby, 19-19.
Jacoby lands some short shots to start the third. Oleksiejczuk lands a left hand. They’re both landing in short range. Oleksiejczuk gets poked in the eye again and we have another timeout. They get back to action and Jacoby lands a nice jab. They trade in close range. Jacoby throwing the jab. Oleksiejczuk lands a nice right hand. They clinch and Jacoby lands a knee as he’s working for a takedown. Jacoby with a right hand as he’s pressuring against the fence. Jacoby working hard for the takedown. Jacoby with a knee then two elbows. Close fight. 10-9 Jacoby, 29-28 Jacoby.
Official Result- Dustin Jacoby def. Michal Oleksiejczuk by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
> Lightweights- Devonte Smith (11-3, 3-2 UFC) vs. Ludovit Klein (17-4, 1-2 UFC)
Both looking for openings to start the fight. Klein lands a body kick. Smith with a leg kick. Klein with a head kick. They trade punches. Klein lands a hard left hand and a flurry against the fence as Smith clinches him up to stop the flurry. They remain clinched and both landing knees. They’re broken up by referee Marc Goddard. Smith with a leg kick. Klein with a head kick following two punches and had Smith hurt late. 10-9 Klein.
Smith landing lots of kicks to start the second, landing some hard kicks to the body. They clinch and Klein with some shoulder strikes. They break to the center and Smith landing some kicks and following it with right hands. Klein with a leg kick. Klein throws a kick but misses Smith and Smith went for the takedown but Klein defended. They clinch and Klein with some inside knees to the thigh of Smith. Smith with some knees and a right hand. Klein with a short uppercut. They break and Smith almost gets a takedown but Klein defended well and Smith pushes it against the fence. Klein with some shoulder strikes. 10-9 Smith, 19-19.
Smith with two leg kicks to start the third. Klein with a front kick to the body and Smith is retreating. Klein with more body kicks. They clinch against the fence. Klein landing to the body and Smith lands as they break. Smith with a body kick. Klein with a left hand. They trade body kicks. Klein with a leg kick. They clinch against the fence. Klein with some shoulder strikes. They break. Smith with the jab and a left hand. Smith with a combo and Klein lands a body kick. Smith lands the jab. Smith with a right hand. They trade in close and Smith lands a big knee and follows it with an elbow. Klein goes for the takedown but Smith defends against the fence. They break to the center. Klein with a leg kick. Klein with a body kick. Close fight. 10-9 Klein, 29-28 Klein.
Official Result- Ludovit Klein def. Devonte Smith by split decision (28-29, 29-28, 30-27)
> Flyweights- #13 Tim Elliott (17-12-1, 6-10 UFC) vs. #15 Tagir Ulanbekov (13-1, 2-0 UFC)
Elliott come forward with his lead leg up. Elliott with some low kicks. Ulanbekov with the jab. They trade kicks. Elliott gets a takedown. Elliott lands a knee as Ulanbekov was getting up, and it may have been illegal. Elliott still landing on the feet. Ulanbekov with a right hand. Elliott gets another brief takedown but they’re right back to the feet. They break as both land a jab. Elliott gets another takedown. Ulanbekov with a right hand. They trade in close range. Ulanbekov with the jab as Elliott lands a combo. Elliott lands a left hand and Ulanbekov goes to his knees for a moment but gets up. Elliott gets a takedown but they get up and are clinched. They break at the end. 10-9 Elliott.
Ulanbekov with a right hand. Ulanbekov shoots for a takedown but Elliott sprawls away. Ulanbekov lands a right hand. Elliott with a combination to the body. Ulanbekov gets a takedown. Ulanbekov gets the back as they stand. Elliott scrambles out and lands a right hand as they break. Elliott with a right hand as he grabbed the glove of Ulanbekov, which is illegal. They clinch and sprawl and Elliott ends up in the mount but they stand and break. Ulanbekov gets a takedown but Elliott uses some momentum to get back up. They clinch and Ulanbekov with some uppercuts. They’re tied up against the fence. Ulanbekov drops for a takedown but Elliott defends. 10-9 Elliott, 20-18 Elliott.
Elliott with a body kick. Elliott with some body shots in close range. Ulanbekov lands a right hand. Ulanbekov lands a combination. Ulanbekov landing punches as Elliott is trying to land leg kicks. Ulanbekov gets a brief takedown and has the back of Elliott as they stand. Ulanbekov trying hard for the takedown. Ulanbekov has the back and is landing knees to the thighs and legs of Elliott. Ulanbekov jumps on the back and has the body triangle as they go to the mat and Ulanbekov looking for the neck. He has the neck crank in as he’s trying to find the rear-naked choke. Ulanbekov with some left hands. Ulanbekov is bleeding pretty good right now. Ulanbekov with some left hands. Elliott survives but a big third from Ulanbekov. Close fight. 10-9 Ulanbekov, 29-28 Elliott.
Official Result- Tim Elliott def. Tagir Ulanbekov by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
> Featherweights- Brian Kelleher (24-12, 8-5 UFC) vs. Umar Nurmagomedov (13-0, 1-0 UFC)
Nurmagomedov with a front kick. Nurmagomedov with a head kick. Both miss on their punches as they clinch against the fence. Nurmagomedov has the double underhooks against the fence. They break and Nurmagomedov goes for a takedown but Kelleher defends and they clinch again. Nurmagomedov has the back and the neck and gets the rear-naked choke locked in and Kelleher taps!
Official Result- Umar Nurmagomedov def. Brian Kelleher by submission (rear-naked choke) at 3:15 of Round 1
ESPN PRELIMS | 8 PM ET/5 PM PT
> Women’s Flyweights- Maryna Moroz (10-3, 5-3 UFC) vs. Mariya Agapova (10-2, 2-1 UFC)
They feel each other out in the early going before they clinch as Moroz has the body lock. Agapova with some short punches. Moroz trying hard for the takedown as Agapova lands some hard elbows. Some of those were 12-6 elbows. Moroz gets the takedown and has the back of Agapova. Moroz looking for the choke. Moroz has the hooks in. Moroz still working for the choke. Agapova fighting it. It might be in. Agapova gets out and Moroz grabs the arm and has an armbar in but Agapova escapes and has the back. They’re clinched against the fence and end the round there. 10-9 Moroz.
Moroz throws some punches before they clinch against the fence. They battle for underhooks. Moroz trying for the takedown and gets it to the mat. Moroz has the back and is landing punches from the top. Moroz with some big elbows from the mount. Moroz has the back and is landing punches. Moroz goes for the arm-triangle choke. It is in deep and Agapova taps! What a finish by Moroz.
Official Result- Maryna Moroz def. Mariya Agapova by submission (arm-triangle choke) at 3:27 of Round 2
> Light Heavyweights- Nicolae Negumereanu (11-1, 2-1 UFC) vs. Kennedy Nzechukwu (9-2, 3-2 UFC)
They start slow in the first minute as Negumereanu lands a couple of punches. Negumereanu lands some leg kicks. Nzechukwu lands a jab. Negumereanu with a leg kick. Negumereanu is trying to rush in but Nzechukwu keeping him at a distance. Nzechukwu with a body kick. Negumereanu with a right hand and Nzechukwu lands some counter punches. They trade late. Close round. 10-9 Nzechukwu.
Negumereanu coming forward to start the second and Nzechukwu landing the counter shots as Negumereanu is coming forward. Negumereanu gets the body lock looking for the takedown. Negumereanu trying for the takedown as they go to a knee for a moment. Negumereanu with some knees. They’re separated by referee Mark Smith. Negumereanu with a right hand. Nzechukwu with a leg kick. He lands a jab then a left hand. Nzechukwu with a hard jab and then lands a hard combination that hurts Negumereanu. Nzechukwu lands some left hands. Negumereanu tries for a takedown against the fence but time runs out. 10-9 Nzechukwu, 20-18 Nzechukwu.
Nzechukwu pokes Negumereanu in the eye at the start of the round and there’s a timeout. A point is taken away from Nzechukwu. They get back to action and Nzechukwu lands a big knee and some punches. He lands another big knee and Negumereanu gets a takedown but they quickly get up. They break the clinch and Nzechukwu did grab the fence at one point. Nzechukwu lands a left hand. They trade and Nzechukwu lands more in close range. Negumereanu lands a right hand. Nzechukwu lands some punches and lands a solid combination. Negumereanu with a right hand and Nzechukwu lands some counters. Nzechukwu lands a nice left hand. Nzechukwu landing punches. Nzechukwu with big shots and they trade big punches at the end. 9-9 Nzechukwu with the point deduction, 29-27 Nzechukwu.
Official Result- Nicolae Negumereanu def. Kennedy Nzechukwu by split decision (27-29, 29-27, 29-27)
> Women’s Strawweights- #3 Marina Rodriguez (16-1-2, 5-1-2 UFC) vs. #4 Yan Xiaonan (13-2 1 NC, 6-1 UFC)
They’re both throwing early and Xiaonan has landed a leg kick and right hand. Xiaonan with an overhand right. Rodriguez with a leg kick. Xiaonan with a combination. Xiaonan with a leg kick. Rodriguez lands a combination. Xiaonan with a leg kick. Rodriguez with a leg kick. Xiaonan with an inside leg kick. They trade in close range and we have a timeout for a low blow on Xiaonan. They get back to action and trade and Xiaonan with a late takedown. 10-9 Xiaonan.
Rodriguez tries for a takedown but Xiaonan defends. Rodriguez with a leg kick. Xiaonan with a combination. Rodriguez with a leg kick. Xiaonan with a close range combo. Rodriguez lands and Xiaonan looks for the body lock but lets go. Xiaonan goes for the takedown and has the back as they’re on their knees on the mat. Xiaonan has the body as they stand and now has the back. They break. Rodriguez with a combo and lands a knee and then has the back as they scramble for a moment. Rodriguez with a knee to the body and an elbow as they break. Rodriguez lands a big right hand late. 10-9 Rodriguez, 19-19.
Xiaonan with a leg kick. Rodriguez throws some punches but misses. They both land in close range. Xiaonan with a leg kick and Rodriguez lands a counter left. They trade jabs as Rodriguez is the one pressuring. Rodriguez lands a knee to the body as they clinch and then lands an elbow before they break. They’re trading in close and Rodriguez lands a big left hand. Rodriguez with a combo and Xiaonan lands a nice left hand. Xiaonan with a big left hand. Rodriguez with an overhand right. Rodriguez with a big knee and several elbows against the fence. Close fight. 10-9 Rodriguez, 29-28 Rodriguez.
Official Result- Marina Rodriguez def. Yan Xiaonan by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
They both land some hard punches. Turner with a body kick. Mullarkey with the jab. Turner lands a big right hand and Mullarkey looks for the takedown. They break and both land big shots and Turner gets wobbled. They clinch against the fence. Mullarkey with an elbow. They break and Turner lands some big kicks. Turner lands a right hand. Turner lands a big combination. They both land in close range. Mullarkey throws a head kick and Turner catches it and puts him on the mat for a moment. Mullarkey stands and eats some body punches from Turner. Mullarkey lands a right hand. Turner with some nice right hands. Mullarkey with a high kick. Mullarkey gets a takedown and is in side control. Mullarkey tries to get the full mount but Turner gets him inside his full guard. 10-9 Turner.
Turner lands a right hook that hurts Mullarkey and Mullarkey goes down and Turner starts unloading with punches on the mat and it is all over. Big finish from Turner as he scores his fourth straight win.
Official Result- Jalin Turner def. Jamie Mullarkey by TKO (punches) at :46 of Round 2
Hardy with a leg kick. Spivac goes for the takedown and they tie up and Spivac gets the big takedown. Spivac lands a right hand. Spivac has the back as they stand but Spivac gets it down again. They get back up and Spivac gets him back down. Spivac gets the mount and lands big punches and it is over! Big finish by Spivac.
Official Result- Serghei Spivac def. Greg Hardy by TKO (punches) at 2:16 of Round 1
> Welterweights- #14 (MW) Kevin Holland (21-7 1 NC, 8-4 1 NC UFC) vs. Alex Oliveira (22-10-1 2 NC, 11-9 1 NC UFC)
Oliveira with a leg kick. Holland landing a lot of leg kicks. Oliveira lands some leg kicks that trip up Holland. Oliveira gets a takedown but they get up. They both land punches that hurt each other. Oliveira with a body kick. Holland continuing with the leg kicks. Holland still landing the calf kicks. Oliveira lands a nice leg kick and then another and gets a brief takedown and has the back and has a rear-naked choke but Holland is giving a thumbs up at the end of the round. 10-9 Oliveira.
They trade leg kicks to start the second. Holland lands a right hand that drops Oliveira and he’s landing big punches looking for the finish. Holland with big elbows and it’s all over! What a finish by Holland in his welterweight debut.
Official Result- Kevin Holland def. Alex Oliveira by TKO (strikes) at :38 of Round 2
Barboza with some leg kicks to start. Barboza with a leg kick. Barboza with more kicks. They trade kicks. Mitchell drops Barboza briefly with a right hand and is now looking for a takedown. He gets it and is in the closed guard of Barboza and landing punches. Mitchell with an elbow from the top. Mitchell lands more from the top. Mitchell continues to work from the top and is landing some shots but not a ton is happening. Barboza kicks Mitchell off and they stand. They trade late. 10-9 Mitchell.
Mitchell gets a takedown and is in the guard of Barboza. Mitchell continuing to land from the top. Mitchell with pressure as the guard is closed. Barboza is not doing anything to get out from the bottom. They get to their feet for a moment but Mitchell gets it back down and is landing punches. Barboza grabbed the fence at one point. Mitchell with more smothering from the top as this is a dominant round. 10-8 Mitchell, 20-17 Mitchell.
Mitchell throws a kick and Barboza lands a right hand and Mitchell falls to the mat for a moment. Mitchell gets the takedown and is working in the closed guard. Mitchell with some more work from the top and Barboza looks to be throwing up for a triangle choke or an armbar. Mitchell gets out and is back on top and in full mount from the top. He moves to the side and then back on top and is switching positions consistently while landing from the top. He finishes the fight on top and in dominant fashion. 10-8 Mitchell, 30-25 Mitchell.
Official Result- Bryce Mitchell def. Edson Barboza by unanimous decision (30-25, 30-26, 30-27)
> 160-pound Catchweights- #6 (LW) Rafael Dos Anjos (30-13, 19-11 UFC) vs. Renato Moicano (16-4-1, 8-4 UFC)
They trade in close range as Moicano lands a body kick and they clinch. Moicano gets the back of Dos Anjos but Dos Anjos scrambles away. They break and Dos Anjos with a combo and a body kick. Dos Anjos gets the takedown. They get to their feet. Dos Anjos with a knee to the body. Dos Anjos ducks under a Moicano right hand and gets a big takedown. Dos Anjos in side control against the fence. Dos Anjos is smothering from the top as he lands some left hands. Dos Anjos with full control from the top as he lands some punches and elbows. 10-9 Dos Anjos.
Dos Anjos with a body kick. Dos Anjos tries for a single leg but Moicano slips out. Dos Anjos lands a nice left hand. Moicano with a right hand. Dos Anjos tries for a takedown and gets the back of Moicano. They break and Dos Anjos lands some left hands and a body kick. Dos Anjos with a body kick. Dos Anjos gets the takedown. Dos Anjos working from the top and is in the guard of Moicano. Dos Anjos with some big elbows. Dos Anjos ends the second on top. 10-9 Dos Anjos, 20-18 Dos Anjos.
Dos Anjos landing to start the third but neither doing a whole lot. Moicano lands an uppercut followed by a left hand. Dos Anjos with a head kick and then a knee. Dos Anjos lands a head kick and Moicano starts to run away. Dos Anjos gets Moicano down and is landing big punches and looking for the finish. Dos Anjos with big left hands and this should be stopped. Dos Anjos working in the half-guard and has slowed down. Dos Anjos with some elbows and punches. Dos Anjos ends the round on top with a big round. 10-8 Dos Anjos, 30-26 Dos Anjos.
They check on Moicano and let him continue, though the fight should’ve been stopped by someone already. Dos Anjos with a combination. Moicano lands a right hand. Dos Anjos gets the takedown and is working from the guard of Moicano. Dos Anjos continues to work from the top as Moicano is exhausted on the bottom. Dos Anjos with more elbows and punches. Dos Anjos with more nasty elbows that cuts Moicano open again. They get up at the end and this fight should be stopped. 10-8 Dos Anjos, 40-34 Dos Anjos.
Marc Goddard is letting it go on. Moicano with a right hand. Moicano misses a spinning back fist. Moicano with a high kick. Dos Anjos with a combo. Dos Anjos with a high kick. Dos Anjos gets a takedown. They get to their feet. They trade punches. They trade and Moicano making a strong comeback late and landing some solid punches. Moicano with a right hand and a jab. Moicano with an uppercut and Dos Anjos lands a left hand. 10-9 Dos Anjos, 50-43 Dos Anjos.
Official Result- Rafael Dos Anjos def. Renato Moicano by unanimous decision (49-45, 49-44, 50-44)
Masvidal with a leg kick. Covington lands and Masvidal complains about an eye poke. Covington goes for a takedown but Masvidal defending. Covington still has the back and they go to the mat. Covington has a hook in and has the neck. Covington landing punches from the back. Covington landing but some are to the back of the head and he’s getting warned by Herb Dean. They get to their feet and Covington with some elbows before they break. They trade kicks. 10-9 Covington.
The each block kicks as Covington slips. Masvidal with a leg kick and lands a left hook. Masvidal with another leg kick. Masvidal with a body kick followed by a couple of jabs. Masvidal lands the jab. Covington goes for a takedown and Masvidal lands some hard elbows to defend. We have a groin strike but they get back to action and Masvidal lands some good punches. Masvidal drops Covington with a punch and Covington moves to the back and looks for a choke. They got up and separated. Covington throws wild strikes. Covington with the jab. Masvidal lands a combo. Masvidal with a leg kick. Covington lands a left hand and then another. 10-9 Masvidal, 19-19.
Covington with a combo as he pressures Masvidal to the fence. Covington goes for a takedown but Masvidal defends. Covington lands a combo. Covington gets a takedown. Covington with some elbows and body punches from the top. He lands more elbows. Covington with more smothering ground-and-pound from the top as he moves to the half-guard. Covington looks for a choke but lets go. Covington tries again but Masvidal scrambles and Covington gets his back once again. Masvidal gets up late and lands a left hand. He lands another. 10-9 Covington, 29-28 Covington.
Masvidal with a high kick then a leg kick. Covington with a head kick. Covington lands a combo. Covington lands a big punch and looks for the takedown. Covington with a big flurry and he’s looking to finish Masvidal against the cage. Covington presses it against the fence again. They break and Masvidal with an elbow then a body kick. Masvidal lands a right hand that hurts Covington and he’s landing more that has Covington backing up. Covington lands a combo. Covington lands against the fence and they clinch up. 10-9 Covington, 39-37 Covington.
Covington lands a combo and has Masvidal against the fence and gets it to the mat. Covington in the half-guard and the crowd is booing. They get to their feet and Covington still has the back. Covington gets it down and still has the back. Covington hanging on and Masvidal is trying to escape but Covington keeps control of the back. Covington trying to get a choke and is looking for a neck crank but gets the mount for a moment and is landing punches. He gets it back and Covington is talking trash at the end. 10-9 Covington, 49-46 Covington.
Official Result- Colby Covington def. Jorge Masvidal by unanimous decision (49-46, 50-44, 50-45)
Jorge Masvidal pulled out of his fight with Leon Edwards at December 11th’s UFC 269, taking one of the company’s better pay-per-view draws off the show.
Masvidal cited an “undisclosed injury” for his withdrawal. Edwards said he was disappointed but “honestly I knew this fraud didn’t want to fight me anyway.”
Edwards and Masvidal first interacted two years ago after a UFC London event when Masvidal punched Edwards backstage, later delivering his famous “three piece and a soda” line. Edwards has been trying to get the fight ever since.
Several fighters have offered to take the spot against Edwards, a top contender for a welterweight title shot who is riding a ten-fight unbeaten streak.
Among them includes Khamzat Chimaev, a popular prospect who returned to action recently after a long bout with COVID-19 and picked up a dominant stoppage win. Belal Muhammad also threw his hat into the ring after his March fight with Edwards was stopped in the second round due to an accidental eye poke. Former title challenger Gilbert Burns also showed interest.
It’s unknown if UFC wants to keep Edwards on the card as it’s already co-headlined by lightweight champion Charles Oliveira vs. Dustin Poirier and women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes against Julianna Pena.
Masvidal’s teammates at American Top Team will be busy this Saturday in pro wrestling as they take part in a street fight match opposite Chris Jericho’s Inner Circle faction at AEW Full Gear.
Masvidal has been part of the angle between the two sides, knocking out Jericho with a running knee strike at the company’s Grand Slam event in Queens, New York. It’s unknown if Masvidal will appear Saturday and, given the injury, whether he could get physical if the situation arose.
Detailed look at the WWE draft, the rosters in different categories, strengths, weaknesses, depth and why so many picks were expected going in. Divisions strengthened, weakened, decimated, key personalities and more looking forward on the WWE roster
This past week in G1, who were the stars, standings, key matches and a rundown of every match, what to see, what to miss, storylines and what’s coming next
WWE Crown Jewel update
The death of Reggie Parks, the famous beltmaker who had a long career in the industry
WWE & AEW business in September, the numbers, what do they mean, comparisons, who watches what show and live attendance
Complete rundown of this past week’s UFC show and what’s coming this week
TV changes for the month of October
Detailed look at ratings, including what shows people watch together with the most frequency, how wrestling rates with sports and entertainment programming, men vs. women viewership
Promotion in serious talks about a new TV deal
The return of Women of Wrestling and distribution
How U.S. wrestlers fared in world championships
Behind the Alberto Rodriguez lawsuit over the Tito Ortiz fight
Lots of wrestlers getting TV media gigs
Promotion has new distribution method for next major PPV
Ticket sales for all the major shows between now and the end of the year
What regulatory incompetence led to the death of a fighter
International TV ratings
New WWE coaching staff members
Another top star contract expiring soon
Oldest skewing major wrestling show of the year and what’s being done to fix it
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MONDAY NEWS UPDATE
Bryan and I will be back tonight with Wrestling Observer Radio talking Raw, ratings, G-1 as well as taking you email questions to [email protected]
I wouldn’t worry much about Raw ratings tonight. Besides the usual Monday Night Football game (Indianapolis Colts vs. Baltimore Ravens), there are Boston Red Sox vs. Tampa Bay Devil Rays and San Francisco Giants vs. Los Angeles Dodgers baseball playoff games. Baseball numbers are way up and are going against almost every wrestling show for the next few weeks.
Raw is from the Chase Center in San Francisco, head-to-head with the Giants-Dodgers. The advance was weak going in and I can see some people with tickets not coming. Main event is Charlotte Flair & Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks & Bianca Belair, plus in King of the Ring, Ricochet vs. Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston vs. Jinder Mahal, and Queen’s Crown has Doudrop vs. Natalya and Shayna Baszler vs. Dana Brooke. Big E & Riddle & Randy Orton vs. Bobby Lashley & A.J. Styles & Omos is the announced dark match main event.
UFC is looking at doing a Jorge Masvidal vs. Leon Edwards fight on its 12/11 PPV show. If that goes through, then the Brandon Moreno flyweight title defense against former champion Deiveson Figueiredo will be moved from that show to 1/22. Edwards is listed as a -275 favorite.
G1 at 5:30 a.m. Eastern tomorrow morning from Sendai’s Xebio Arena
Hiromu Takahashi vs. Ryohei Oiwa non-tournament
Taichi vs. Tama Tonga
Sanada vs. Yoshi-Hashi
Kazuchika Okada vs. Chase Owens
Hirooki Goto vs. Evil
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Jeff Cobb
There will also be an A block show on Wednesday morning a 5:30 a.m.
Hiromu Takahashi vs. Kosei Fujita non-tournament
Kota Ibushi vs. Satoshi Kojima non-tournament
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Yujiro Takahashi
KENTA vs. Tanga Loa
Toru Yano vs Zack Sabre Jr.
Shingo Takagi vs. Great O’Khan
With Kazuchika Okada’s match with Sanada last week he broke the Kenta Kobashi mark for 142 four-star matches with his 143rd. He also has the most four-star singles matches with 107 (thanks to Leonard Mendez Told)
OTT from Saturday night in Dublin before about 300 fans for a 20 month break in the city. OTT runs 10/30 most likely with full capacity allowed because the restrictions on attendance end 10/22. B Cool & Jay b Captain Sexsea & Fabulous Nicky, Paddy M b Sean Maxer Guinness, Debbie Keitel & CT Flexor b Sammy D & Lana Austin, Charlie Sterling b Justin Daniels, Session Moth Martina won three-way over Mark Haskins (former champion) and Terry Thatcher t wi the Gender Neutral championship, LJ Clearly b Adam Maxed, Will Ospreay & Aussie Open b Scotty Davis & Shota Umino & Yota Tsuji. Main event said to be off the charts. the show was a tribute to Ryan Smile. Ospreay, a close friend of his, gave a speech about him and told stories of how they met and their happiest times in wrestling. He broke down many times and cried. He was embraced by Aussie Open as he struggled his way through the speech. He then put a Ryan Smile T-shirt in the middle of the ring and put his IWGP world heavyweight title belt over it and then left in a surreal moment.
Tickets for the 2022 Royal Rumble at the Dome in St. Louis goes on sale tomorrow with Travel Packages. Thursday is the presale and Friday is the general public onsale. This would be the biggest event on sale until WrestleMania. (thanks to William Zdon)
A quick note that Hall of Fame ballots have not been sent out yet. I’ve said this on some shows. It’s very time consuming and my schedule is pretty brutal right now.
Although it has been known for some time, ROH officially announced this year’s Final Battle for 12/11 at the Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena in Baltimore. It’s the company’s next show with paying spectators as they were still doing empty arena TV tapings to keep results secret.
A huge match on the NXT UK show Thursday has Ilja Dragunov defending the U.K. title against A-Kid, which should be a classic.
AEW
AEW announced Heritage Night for the Rampage tapings in Miami which had very weak ticket sales as of the weekend. If you bring your flag you get in for $10 and get a photo with Cody Rhodes.
Tony Khan turned 39 yesterday.
UFC
Sam Alvey vs. Ian Heinisch are set for a February 5 show.
OTHER NOTES
Best wishes to Ontario independent wrestler Curt Sturrock (who uses the name Scotty O’Shea) who suffered multiple seizures at his home and was diagnosed with a brain bleed from a massive tumor on the left side of his brain. Surgeons in Hamilton, ONT were able to remove the entire tumor. More tests are scheduled for later this week.
Tomohiro Ishii vs Vinnie Massaro will be on the 11/12 West Coast Pro Wrestling show in San Francisco at The State Room.
Defy Wrestling from Saturday night in Portland, OR before 500 fans: Coyote Azteca b Alan Extreme, Titus Alexander b Jordan Oasis, Derrick Shaw b Eric Right, Ricky Gibson & Eddie Pearl won three-way over Kevin & Brian Cook and Juicy Finau & Toa Liona, Viva Van b Vertvixen, Eddie Kingston & Brody King b Schaff & Ethan HD in a no DQ tornado match
IWA Mid South runs its 25th anniversary show on 10/14 in Jeffersonville, IN at The Arena with Jake Crist defending their world title against Kongo Kong, Larry D vs. Alex Zayne, Fred Yehi vs. Shane Mercer and more.
United Wrestling Coalition on Saturday night in Wrightstown, NJ at Kelly’s Banquet hall with shows at both 3 pm.. and 7 p.m. The 3 p.m. show is a benefit for John Begley.
CCFC, the MMA promotion that C.M. Punk announces for, is running 10/29 for a grappling show at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia and 10/30 for an MMA show headlined by Nah-Shon Burrell (18-11) vs Kyle Stewart (14-4). li. Merab Dvalishvili, a UFC star known for his grappling game, will be on the 10/29 show. They also announced a show on 11/19 in Tunica, MS at the Horseshoe Tunica Hotel & Casino with DeAndre Anderson (5-0) vs. Da”mo Blackshear (10-4). And they will be running 12/17 at the Hard Rock in Atlantic City for an MMA show with a featherweight title bout and 12/18 with a grappling show.
Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling from Saturday night in Swansea, IL: Jason Breed b Waco, Big Texan b Rick Ruby, Ken Kasa & Attila Khan b Pete Madden & Sean Vincent, Gil Rogers b Kowalski-DQ, Billy McNeil & Bobby D b Shawn Santel & Mauler McDarby, War Machine b Gary Jackson, 2 Colt Scorpio b Superstar Steve Fender (thanks to Patrick Brandmeyer)
When the New York Giants quarterback got crushed on a play against the Dallas Cowboys, the trainers came out and gave an “X” sign like in pro wrestling to show that Daniel Jones was legit injured. (thanks to Kevin Witt)
DDT tomorrow at Korakuen Hall has Daisuke Sasaki vs. Isami Kodaka for the Universal title and Konosuke Takeshita & Shunma Katsumata vs. Harashima & Naomi Yoshimura for the KOD tag titles.
Bryan Danielson, Adam Cole (Austin Jenkins), Ruby Soho (Dori Prange) and Minoru Suzuki were all unannounced surprises on AEW’s All Out on 9/5 from the NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates, IL.
The show may end up historical and certainly felt like it was historic in the building. It felt it just as much if not more watching on television with the announcers soundtrack. In the days that have passed, many have talked about it as the best U.S.-based PPV show in history and it has to be in the discussion. There have been a few better shows judged strictly by match quality, and it’s too soon to ascertain anything long-term of what it means. Short-term it led to Dynamite beating Raw for the first time ever same day in the same week.
But when you consider atmosphere, news value, crowd, announcing match depth and creativity, it’s a hard one to beat.
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MONDAY NEWS UPDATE
Bryan and I will be back tonight talking Raw and the rest of the latest wrestling and MMA news. You can send questions to tonight’s show to [email protected]
What should be among the biggest episodes of Raw this year takes place tonight from the TD Garden in Boston. The entirely redone show has Bobby Lashley vs. Randy Orton for the WWE title and Big E has vowed to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase tonight. Raw goes head-to-head with the Baltimore Ravens vs. Las Vegas Raiders season debut of Monday Night Football. Usually that means a decline in Raw but with this show I would expect an increase. Also on the show is Damien Priest defending the U.S. title in an open challenge against Jeff Hardy. Charlotte Flair vs. Shayna Baszler in a non-tile match, Natalya vs. Rhea Ripley, Doudrop vs. Eva Maria and New Day & Mansoor & Mustafa Ali vs. A.J. Styles & Omos & T-Bar & Mace are also announced for the show.
Anyway the key is I don’t expect Dynamite, even though it’ll be in front of a sold out Prudential Center in Newark, NJ on Wednesday, to be matching Raw in the ratings this week even with the football opposition, but who knows?
AT&T has sold TMZ to FOX ahead of the upcoming WarnerMedia/Discovery merger.
Thanks to Tyler Davis, Richard Hartshorn, Derrick Maul, Mike Youngblood and Richard Dunbeck for the reports from the weekend WWE shows. We’re looking for reports from Boston tonight for anything not on the live Raw show to [email protected] as well as your thoughts on last night’s ROH PPV show, thumbs up, down or middle, best and worst match. On the show last night, Jake Atlas vs. Taylor Rust match was cut short due to an injury by Atlas which explains why the match felt so off.
An update on the Mike Johnson report that ROH may not have any more shows before fans this year. According to ROH, that is not correct and Final Battle will be taking place in front of fans in Baltimore in December. They are taping television in front of no fans tonight and tomorrow night.
Jake Paul said that he would love to box Jorge Masvidal next. Paul said that today to Ariel Helwani on the MMA Hour. Paul said that hopefully Dana White would allow Masvidal to take the fight and said he thinks it would be his toughest challenge and biggest fight. Masvidal would probably accept that fight but UFC also most likely would not allow it.
Shinjiro Otani has broken two bones in his left forearm and will need surgery, and thus will be out of action for some time.
WWE
On the new “Feel the Power” podcast, Big E talked extensively about his own battles with depression and suicidal thoughts when talking about the death of Shannon Spruill. Xavier Woods said he had similar battles and thanked Tyler Breeze and Viktor of the Ascension for helping him get through it (thanks to Post Wrestling)
AEW
Dark Elevation for tonight:
Nyla Rose vs. Skye Blue
Daniel Garcia vs. Lee Moriarty
Emi Sakura vs. Queen Aminata
Butcher & Blade vs. Turbo Floyd & Truth Magnum
Penelope Ford vs. Layna Lennox
Frankie Kazarian vs. Ren Jones
Jade Cargill vs. Shawna Reed
Anna Jay & Tay Conti vs. Elia Shae & Jaylee
Garcia vs. Moriarty is the match that led to Moriarty being offered an AEW contract.
UFC
After Jim Miller pulled out of this Sunday’s show due to COVID, his opponent, Nikola Motta will now face replacement fighter Cameron VanCamp who will make his UFC debut after winning his last two fights via submission in less than 30 seconds.
OTHER NOTES
Just want to mention former pro wrestling legend Joe Laurinaitis, Road Warrior Animal, would have turned 61 today. The Road Warriors as far as being influential and over would be very close to the top of any tag team in history.
The game show “You Bet Your Life,” a show taken from the Groucho Marx show from like 60 years ago, debuted on FOX with Jay Leno and Kevin Eubanks as host. There was a pro wrestling category:
AEW Dynamite is the newest wrestling league to challenge the WWE. What does AEW stand for?
The guess was American Extreme Wrestling
What wrestler and Trainwreck co-star performed his own intro music with lyrics, “It’s the franchise boy I’m shining now. You can’t see me. My time is now?”
The contestants debated between Dwayne Johnson and John Cena before picking Cena
The WWE used to be called WWF, but that name already belonged to a charitable organization. What does WWF stand for?
The contestants knew it was the World Wildlife Fund.
What pro wrestler plays the role of Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy?
The contestants said Jason Momoa, who is not a wrestler. When they were told Dave Bautista was the correct answer, none of the contestants had heard of his name.
What famous WWE wrestler started in UFC but finished as a pro wrestler.
The contestants knew it was Ronda Rousey. What, you think they should have said Matt Riddle?
Koji Iwamoto, who had been out after testing positive for COVID, will be returning for All Japan on Thursday night..
On the TV show “Billions” this week, there was a discussion of wrestling and the name Big Cat Ernie Ladd was name dropped.
United Wrestling Coalition presents OzzyFest III, on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Kelly’s Banquet Hall in Wrightstown, NJ. Ozzy is the son of Daily Murder, who is three years old and was born with multiple congenital heart defects and every year the promotion attempts to do a show t raise money to help offset all the major health costs.
Welcome to F4WOnline.com’s live coverage of UFC 261: Usman vs. Masvidal 2, emanating from the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.
The Octagon is back in front of a full arena of UFC fans for the first time since March 2020, and they are treated to a stacked card featuring three title fights.
In the main event, UFC Welterweight Champion Kamaru Usman defends against his rival, Jorge Masvidal. It is a rematch from UFC 251 in July, which was won by Usman by unanimous decision. However, Masvidal took that fight on just a week’s notice, something he has consistently reminded everyone of, and Usman asked for a rematch with Masvidal on a full training camp to show that the result would be no different.
In the second title fight, UFC Women’s Strawweight Champion Zhang Weili returns for the first time since her Fight Of The Year with Joanna Jedrzejczyk in March 2020, and she will defend against former UFC Women’s Strawweight Champion Rose Namajunas. Namajunas is coming off a win over Jessica Andrade in July to earn a shot at re-gaining the title she once held.
In the third title fight, UFC Women’s Flyweight Champion Valentina Shevchenko looks to continue her dominance of the division as she defends against former UFC Women’s Strawweight Champion Jessica Andrade. Shevchenko is coming off a successful title defense over Jennifer Maia in November, while Andrade looks to win a title in a second division after a knockout win over Katlyn Chookagian in October earned her a title shot.
Also on the main card, it is a middleweight battle as Uriah Hall takes on former UFC Middleweight Champion Chris Weidman, and former title challenger Anthony Smith goes against Jimmy Crute in the main card opener.
Follow along with our live coverage of the event beginning at 6 PM eastern time with preliminary action all the way thru the main card.
We are looking for your thoughts on tonight’s event, so send a thumbs up, a thumbs down or a thumbs in the middle along with a best fight and a worst fight to Dave at [email protected].
ESPN2 PRELIMS | 6 PM ET/3 PM PT
> Na Liang (15-4, 0-0 UFC) vs. Ariane Carnelossi (12-2, 0-1 UFC) Women’s Strawweights
They are teeing away off on each other and Liang lands some punches and Carnelossi landing some hard punches and Liang gets a takedown. They get to their feet and Carnelossi lands a left hook. They trade and Liang lands a right hand. They clinch and both are landing and Liang looks for a takedown against the fence and gets it. Liang picks Carnelossi up and slams her down for better position and goes for an armbar but Carnelossi escapes to the top. Liang tries for the armbar again but Carnelossi escapes and lands a right hand. Liang looking for a leg and Carnelossi landing some punches. Carnelossi gets in side control and is landing short punches and takes the back as she’s landing. Liang has slowed down. Liang gets to her feet and lands some big punches. Carnelossi looking for a triangle and then gets a mounted triangle in and lands but Liang escapes. Carnelossi with some big punches at the end of the round. 10-9 Carnelossi.
Liang had to be carried to her corner and she’s exhausted. They are teeing off to start the second. Liang gets a takedown and has the side against the fence and lands but Carnelossi gets the back and is looking for the choke. Carnelossi ends up in the guard of Liang and is landing punches. She’s landing and the referee stops the fight. Nice win by Carnelossi in a wild fight.
Official Result- Ariane Carnelossi def. Na Liang by TKO (punches) at 1:28 of Round 2
Molina with a leg kick. Aori with a body kick. They trade punches and kicks. They clinch against the fence. Molina with some knees and body punches. They break and both land right hands. Molina lands a combo and Aori lands a combo. Aori gets a big takedown. They get to their feel and Aori has the back standing. They get to the clinch and Aori with a knee to the body. They battle for underhooks before breaking. They trade right hands. Molina with a high kick. They trade late. 10-9 Aori.
They trade and Aori gets a brief takedown and has the back but they scramble up. Molina with a combo. Molina landing punches and kicks as Aori is looking for openings. Aori with a body kick and Molina grabs the leg and lands a right hand. Aori with a right hand. Molina with a right hand. Aori with a short right hand. Molina lands a right hand and Aori goes down for a second and then Aori lands and Molina slips down to the mat for a second. Aori then starts landing punches after Molina stands and they are trading. Aori lands a flying knee. They are trading. Aori with a spinning elbow. Aori with a right hand. Molina with a series of punches. They trade at the end and Molina drops Aori right down near the end with a right hand and might’ve finished it if time didn’t run out. 10-9 Molina, 19-19.
They are teeing off to start the third and both are landing some good punches. Aori lands a right hand. Molina lands a combo. Molina lands a combo. Aori throwing punches. Molina with a right hand. Aori coming forward and throwing. Molina with a series of combos. Molina landing in close range. Aori showing no head movement. Molina landing lots of punches and is hurting Aori but Aori just standing there and taking them and is throwing. Molina with a standing elbow. Molina with combos after combos and he’s landing big punches. They are trading and Molina is still landing with lots of volume but Aori is firing back. Molina with more punches. They are just standing and throwing late and the fight ends. This fight was wild. 10-9 Molina, 29-28 Molina.
Official Result- Jeffrey Molina def. Aoriqileng by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-27)
> Kazula Vargas (11-4, 0-2 UFC) vs. Zhu Rong (17-3, 0-0 UFC) Lightweights
Rong is the first fighter born in the 2000’s to fight in the UFC. They are trading and both throwing big punches. Rong lands a right hand. Vargas landing with more volume in the first half of the fight. Vargas landing punches and kicks as Rong isn’t doing a whole lot. Rong now lands a right hand. Vargas throwing the jab. Vargas with a combo. They trade at the end. 10-9 Vargas.
Rong lands and gets a takedown and Vargas has a guillotine locked in tight. Rong is trying to fight it off but Vargas is squeezing. Vargas still looking for it but Rong finally escapes and takes the back and is landing punches. Vargas then sweeps to the top and is working in the half-guard. They get to their feet and are clinched before breaking. Rong with a high kick that Vargas blocks. Rong goes for a late takedown. 10-9 Vargas, 20-18 Vargas.
Rong landing early. Rong with a right hand. Vargas lands some punches. They trade in close range. Vargas’ punches are coming slower. Rong lands a right hand. Rong tags Vargas with a right hand. Rong lands a combo. Rong landing some good punches. They are both landing. They both continue to land and Rong is going for takedowns and gets it and they scramble and Rong ends up on top and lands at the end. 10-9 Rong, 29-28 Vargas.
Official Result- Kazula Vargas def. Rongzhu by unanimous decision (30-26, 29-28, 29-28)
> Danaa Batgerel (7-2, 1-1 UFC) vs. Kevin Natividad (9-2, 0-1 UFC) Bantamweights
They are trading early and Batgerel lands a high kick then a right hand and drops Natividad with a left hook and is landing and Herb Dean stops it. It might have been a little bit early as Natividad was defending but Batgerel was going to finish this anyways. Great win by Batgerel.
Official Result- Danaa Batgerel def. Kevin Natividad by TKO (punches) at :50 of Round 1
ESPN PRELIMS | 8 PM ET/5 PM PT
> Patrick Sabatini (13-3, 0-0 UFC) vs. Tristan Connelly (14-6, 1-0 UFC) Featherweights
They were looking for openings and both were throwing, then Sabatini landed a left hook that rocked Connelly and was sending him down but Sabatini grabbed him and took him down. Sabatini working from the half-guard and landing punches. They continue to battle on the ground. Sabatini takes the back. Sabatini working for the choke as he lands punches from the back. Sabatini now going for the rear-naked choke and almost had it in. 10-9 Sabatini.
They trade to start the second. Connelly throws a right hand and Sabatini ducks under and gets a takedown. Sabatini stands and Connelly looks for upkicks but Sabatini passes to side control. Sabatini in control and then switches to the back. Connelly tries to stand and Sabatini is on his back and they scramble back to the ground and Sabatini is back in side control. Sabatini in the crucifix position and landing punches. Sabatini then gets the back and is squeezing tight with the body triangle. Sabatini threatens with an arm-triangle but Connelly turns and gives up his back. Connelly throwing back punches but Sabatini still has full back control as the round ends. 10-8 Sabatini, 20-17 Sabatini.
Sabatini coming forward and is looking for the takedown but Connelly keeps it upright. They tie up and both looking for underhooks. Connelly grabs the neck but lets go. They both battle in the tie-ups. They break and both are circling. Sabatini seems to be trying to stall out the fight. Connelly lands a right hand. Sabatini tries a takedown but Connelly sprawls and defends and they tie-up and go against the fence. They break and Connelly lands a right hand. Sabatini lands a right hand. They clinch and Connelly gets a takedown. Connelly ends the fight on top landing. 10-9 Connelly, 29-27 Sabatini.
Official Result- Pat Sabatini def. Tristan Connelly (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
> Karl Roberson (9-3, 4-3 UFC) vs. Brendan Allen (15-4, 3-1 UFC) Middleweights
Allen with a high kick to start. Allen with a leg kick. They trade jabs. Allen with a right hand and Roberson with a body kick. Roberson with a left hand. Allen with a right hand. Allen lands a right hand and a leg kick. They trade and clinch against the fence. Allen gets a takedown against the fence. Allen moves to the mount against the fence. They get to their feet and Allen gets a takedown and is working in the half-guard. Allen then rolls and attacks the leg and locks in a heel hook and gets Roberson to tap with less than ten seconds to go in the round. Outstanding showing by Allen.
Official Result- Brendan Allen def. Karl Roberson by submission (heel hook) at 4:55 of Round 1
> Dwight Grant (10-3, 2-2 UFC) vs. Stefan Sekulic (12-3, 0-1 UFC) Welterweights
Grant lands a right hand. Sekulic with a leg kick and Grant counters with a right hand. Not a whole lot of action going on two minutes in. Grant lands a left hand. Grant with a right hand to the body. Grant with a big inside leg kick after Sekulic lands a left hand. Sekulic just barely lands a flying knee. Grant with a left hand. Grant with a high kick. Sekulic looking for a takedown and kind of gets it late and they trade on the mat before getting to their feet at the end. 10-9 Grant.
They trade punches early but again not much happening in the first minute. Grant lands a right hand that rocks Sekulic. Grant now throwing with bad intentions and is landing. Sekulic tries a takedown but Grant defends and then Sekulic throws all sorts of strikes that miss. Grant just misses a left hook. They trade leg kicks. Sekulic gets a body-lock takedown. Grant easily works his way up to his feet. They trade punches. Sekulic shoots for a takedown but Grant defends against the fence as the round ends. 10-9 Grant, 20-18 Grant.
Grant with a leg kick. Sekulic lands a left hand and Grant gets a takedown and is in the guard of Sekulic and lands some punches. Grant gets to his feet and Sekulic stands. Sekulic with a leg kick. Sekulic shoots for a takedown against the fence and gets it. They get to their feet and Grant lands a right hand. Grant lands a right hand. Sekulic lands a short left hand and Grant counters with a big right hand. Sekulic lands a left hand that rocks Grant and then just misses a flying knee but gets Grant to the ground. Sekulic with a guillotine choke locked in. Grant is trying to fight it offf and he somehow survives the fight! Wow, what an ending. 10-9 Sekulic, 29-28 Grant.
Official Result- Dwight Grant def. Stefan Sekulic by split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
> Alex Oliveira (22-8-1 2 NC, 11-7 1 NC UFC) vs. Randy Brown (12-4, 6-4 UFC) Welterweights
Brown with a quick leg kick. Oliveira with a couple of leg kicks. We have a timeout for a groin strike but they get back to action. They trade leg kicks and Oliveira lands a leg kick that trips up Brown. Brown lands a hard right hand. Brown then drops Oliveira with a right hand and gets on top and was landing lots of punches but Oliveira survived. Brown then gets the mount and has the back as they stand. Brown then gets a standing rear-naked choke and is trying to get the hooks in as they go to the mount and Oliveira taps! Beautiful finish by Brown as he submits Oliveira with a one-armed rear-naked choke.
Official Result- Randy Brown def. Alex Oliveira by submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:50 of Round 1
ESPN+ PPV MAIN CARD | 10 PM ET/7 PM PT
> Anthony Smith (#6, 33-16, 9-6 UFC) vs. Jimmy Crute (#13, 12-1, 4-1 UFC) Light Heavyweights
They trade body kicks to start. Smith lands the jab. Crute with a leg kick. Crute with more leg kicks. Smith lands a left hand and Crute lands a right hand. Crute with a leg kick and Smith pushes Crute back with a jab. Smith landing the jab at will. Crute lands a leg kick. They trade punches. Smith lands the jab but eats a leg kick from Crute. Smith lands a big right hand. Crute lands a left hook. Crute with a leg kick. Smith with some leg kicks. Crute falls to the ground afterwards and Smith tries to rush in and Crute gets a takedown and has the back and is landing punches. They get up and Crute drags it back to the ground but they stand and break. Crute gets another late takedown and ends the round on top landing. 10-9 Smith.
The fight was stopped in between rounds due to Crute’s leg being badly injured and he couldn’t even stand on it at all. Great call by the doctors and great win for Smith.
Official Result- Anthony Smith def. Jimmy Crute by TKO (doctor stoppage) at 5:00 of Round 1
> Uriah Hall (#9, 16-9, 9-7 UFC) vs. Chris Weidman (#11, 15-5, 11-5 UFC) Middleweights
Weidman threw a kick and landed on the leg of Hall and Weidman’s leg snapped in half. This was bad. It was exactly like when Weidman fought Anderson Silva at UFC 168 and Silva’s leg snapped on a leg kick. Weidman is down and in tremendous amount of pain. I can’t believe what I just saw.
Official Result- Uriah Hall def. Chris Weidman by TKO (injury) at :17 of Round 1
Shevchenko with a leg kick. Shevchenko with a left hand. Shevchenko with a combo. Andrade with a body kick. Shevchenko gets a takedown right into side control but they quickly get up. Shevchenko takes her right back down but they get up. Shevchenko has the back and Andrade with a back elbow. Shevchenko lands a kick as they break. Shevchenko lands and Andrade shoots for a takedown but Shevchenko defends. Shevchenko gets another takedown against the fence and is looking for a rear-naked choke but lets go. Shevchenko still has the back. Shevchenko landing some knees in the tie-up. Shevchenko gets another takedown and passes into side control. That’s five takedowns so far. She ends the round there. 10-9 Shevchenko.
They trade and then Shevchenko gets a big takedown. Shevchenko in the half-guard and looking to set something up. Shevchenko landing from the top but Andrade gets it to the feet and has the body lock. Shevchenko landing short punches. Andrade trying to lift Shevchenko up but can’t. Shevchenko gets Andrade back down to the mat. Shevchenko getting the crucifix position and starts to land punches. Andrade is stuck. Shevchenko landing elbows now. It is stopped. Dominant performance from Shevchenko as she retains the title.
Official Result- Valentina Shevchenko def. Jessica Andrade by TKO (elbows) at 3:19 of Round 2 to retain the UFC Women’s Flyweight Championship
> Zhang Weili (C, 21-1, 5-0 UFC) vs. Rose Namajunas (#1, 9-4, 7-3 UFC) UFC Women’s Strawweight Championship
Weili with a leg kick. She lands another. They both throw and Weili with an inside leg kick. Weili with a leg kick. Namajunas then lands a head kick that sents Weili right down to the ground and lands some follow-up shots and it is stopped. What a finish by Namajunas! Weili was upset about the stoppage after but then saw a replay and wasn’t as upset. Namajunas regains the title in an incredible finish.
Official Result- Rose Namajunas def. Zhang Weili by knockout (head kick) at 1:18 of Round 1 to win the UFC Women’s Strawweight Championship
Usman with the jab. Masvidal with a leg kick. Masvidal with a leg kick. Usman lands a right hand. Masvidal with a right to the body. Usman with a leg kick. Masvidal with a leg kick and they trade punches. Masvidal lands and then Usman gets a big takedown. Usman landing left hands and a couple went to the back of the head and Usman was warned. Masivdal landing from the bottom. Usman lands a big elbow. Masvidal landing a series of elbows from the bottom. They work their way to the fence and get to their feet. Usman lands some punches and they break. Masvidal with a leg kick. Usman lands a right hand and then the jab. Masvidal with a body kick. Masvidal with a leg kick. Masvidal with a combo then a flying knee. 10-9 Usman.
Masvidal with an inside leg kick. Masvidal with an inside leg kick. They trade punches. Usman then drops Masivdal with a right hand and hammerfists knock Masivdal out cold. Usman with the massive finish as he retains the title and settles the score with Masvidal.
Official Result- Kamaru Usman def. Jorge Masvidal by knockout (punches) at 1:02 of Round 2 to retain the UFC Welterweight Championship
We have a loaded issue of the Wrestling Observer this week, with business and history features.
We update WWE financials, with comments from Nick Khan, Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon and Kristina Salen talking about the state of the company, the state of sports business, what media companies are looking at right now, AEW, plus a look at WWE revenue and profits. We also look behind the numbers at what they mean, how every category is doing and what categories the company is no longer reporting on. We also look at the decline of WWE ratings as compared to that of cable television and network television.
Also in this issue:
The new attempt at a unique concept PPV with the Triller promotion and Ben Askren vs. Jake Paul, the show, the match, the blitzed announcers, Ric Flair, comparisons to other similar things and long-term sustainability.
Kenny Omega vs Rich Swann match, followed by a story on famous title unification matches throughout pro wrestling history. We look at some of the biggest and most important matches of all-time that were two champions unifying a world title from 1920 to the present.
WrestleMania business numbers when it came to the two live shows, with real attendance, real gates and what it means.
New Smackdown announcing team, Pat McAfee talks his debut, Daniel Bryan talks his current situation and contract, thoughts on Daniel Bryan’s future, new hires and departures at WWE, change in show distribution, former star talks coming out of retirement, how the WWE & AEW shows rank among sports programming, WWE star bio released, Damien Priest talks Bad Bunny, more on Kalisto being let go, Dr. Wagner Jr. talks WWE, political reason for a winning streak, and most-watched YouTube segments on his week’s WWE programming.
A major feature on the career of Steve Austin and the A&E special, his background, how he got into wrestling, the WCW years, the Stone Cold name, life after wrestling, and what were key things not talked about on the documentary.
Mickie James garbage bag situation and the firing of Mark Carrano.
MLW’s new television deal, who else was in talks about that deal, MLW returning to shows with fans and a spinoff planned.
Coverage of this past week’s UFC show, business notes, where the top fighters are headed plus match-by-match coverage.
More detail on ratings than any other source, we have how every segment on NXT and AEW did as well as how it did with different age groups, genders and more, plus a look at all other wrestling shows of the past week.
Results of the major pro wrestling events of the past week.
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FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE
Garrett Gonzalez and I will be back tonight talking the news of the week and previewing this weekend’s shows and we will also be doing shows Saturday night after UFC, Sunday after Impact and Monday after Raw. You can send email questions to the show to [email protected]
Shows from now through 5/11 in Tokyo, Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto have been canceled due to the government declaring a state of emergency in those cities due to rising COVID rates. The NOAH show in Yokohama, a suburb of Tokyo, is still on for tomorrow. All Japan will be running its scheduled shows on Sunday, next Thursday and 5/3 at Korakuen Hall but they will be empty arena shows.
In a surprise, after the great showing by Robert Whittaker last Saturday, UFC seems to be leaning toward Israel Adesanya vs. Marvin Vettori to headline the 6/12 PPV show.
Smackdown tonight on FOX. They have announced that 205 Live tonight has Tony Nese & Ariya Daivari vs. The Singh Brothers and Ashante Adonis vs. August Gray.
New Japan Strong tonight has the finals of the tournament for the New Japan Strong title with Tom Lawlor vs. Brody King at 10 p.m. Eastern on New Japan World. Also on the show is Rocky Romero vs. Wheeler Yuta and TJP & Clark Connors vs. Chris Dickinson & JR Kratos.
ESPN 2 has the opening of the PFL season tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern. It also airs in Spanish on ESPN Deportes. All matches are first round matches in the featherweight and lightweight tournament:
Lance Palmer (145.4) vs. Bubba Jenkins (146)
Movlid Khaybulaev (145.5) vs. Lazar Stojadinovic (145.8)
Natan Schulte (156) vs. Marcin Held (155.8)
Anthony Pettis (156) vs Clay Collard (154.6)
LFA live tonight on UFC Fight Pass from Shawnee, OK at 9 p.m. Eastern:
Zac Pauga (205.6) vs. Logan Nail (205.8)
Tabatha Ricci (116) vs. Shawns Ormsby (116)
Mark Martin (171) vs. Renato Valente (172.8) – Valente missed weight and had to pay a penalty to Martin
Bruce Souto (203.4) vs. Cristian Torres (207.6) – Torres had to pay a penalty to Souto for missing weight
Jake Childers (145.8) vs. Canaan Kawalhae (144)
Piera Rodriguez (114.8) vs. Svetlana Gotsyk (114.8) for the vacant strawweight title
A story on Bruno Sammartino being honored today by a park in Ross Township being named after him and his family being there for the changing of the name. (thanks to Mike Kuzmuk)
Very sad to read about the condition of Steve McMichael, the former Chicago Bears star who later announced and wrestled for WCW and is now battling ALS. It’s such a horrible disease. Best wishes to him and his family because they’ve got a tough fight ahead of them. McMichael has maintained his sense of humor in these very adverse circumstances.
For this week we will be doing polls on tomorrow’s UFC show and Sunday’s Impact Rebellion PPV show, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]
UFC PPV tomorrow lineup and weights in one of the deepest shows in a long time. The top four matches in particular are all big:
ESPN+ at 5:30 p.m.
Liang Na (116) vs. Ariane Carnelossi (115)
Aori Qileng (126) vs. Jeffrey Molina (126)
Kazula Vargas (155) vs. Rong Zhu (156)
Danaa Batgerel (136) vs. Kevin Natividad (135.5)
ESPN at 8 p.m.
Pat Sabatini (146) vs. Tristan Connelly (146)
Karl Roberson (185) vs Brendan Allen (186)
Dwight Grant (170) vs. Stefan Sekulic (171)
Alex Oliveira (171) vs. Randy Brown (171)
ESPN+ PPV at 10 p.m.
Anthony Smith (206) vs. Jim Crute (205.5)
Uriah Hall (185) vs. Chris Weidman (186)
Valentina Shevchenko (124.5) vs. Jessica Andrade (124.5) for flyweight title
Zhang Weili (114.5) vs. Rose Namajunas (114.5) for strawweight ttle
Kamaru Usman (169.5) vs. Jorge Masvidal (170) for welterweight title
Bianca Belair vs. Bayley was officially announced for the 5/16 WrestleMania Backlash PPV with the Smackdown women’s title at stake.
There will be a Hana Kimura Memorial show on 5/23 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. The show will be available to watch live all over the world although the carrier was not announced. But it’s an 11:30 a.m. start in Japan meaning it will start at 10:30 p.m. on 5/22 Eastern time.
WWE
Reader Chris Cassidy noted that even though the Drew McIntyre autobiography isn’t scheduled to be out until 5/4, he saw a copy at his Barnes & Noble store in Burlington, MA so it’s likely in many stores.
IWA from Saturday in Sydney, Australia: Randal the Masked Kamikaze b Head Hunter Rig, Charli Evans b Jessica Troy in a submission match, Sam Osborne b Robbie Zucco, Mehmet the Turkish Delight b Sam Osborne, Jimmy Townsend & Dazza b Will Kiedis & Brad Alexander, Tree Hugger Luchi b Apollo the Alpha Male, Jackson Kelly b Chris Abbot to win the IWA title that Abbott had held for more than 900 days (thanks to Kirk Beattie)
Glory Pro Wrestling from Saturday in St. Louis: Deacon Cash b Stephan Newton, Allie Kat b Hyan, Moses & Raim de la Suede b Chris Hendriz & ATM, Manders b Xavier Walker, Arik Cannon b Warhorse, Paco Gonzalez b Mat Fitchett, Jake Something b Myron Reed (thanks to Patrick Brandmeyer)
The PFL announced deals with BILD in Germany and RMC Sport in France/Belgium, with both networks carrying all events this season starting with tonight’s show.
KSW airs at 2 p.m. Eastern tomorrow on KSWTV.com. The main event has heavyweight champion Phil De Fries (264) vs. Tomasz Narkun (224), plus lightweight champion Marian Ziokowski (155) vs. Maciej Kazieczko (155).
MLW has put tickets on sale for its 7/10 show in Philadelphia at the 2300 Arena at www.MLW2300.com. Announced for the show are Jacob Fatu, Ross & Marshall Von Erich, Alex Hammerstone, Mil Muertes, Tom Lawlor, Myron Reed, Josef Samael, Mads Krugger, Alicia Atout, Calvin Tankman, Richard Holliday, Ikuro Kwon, Myron Reed, Gino Medina and Konnan.
AAW tomorrow night at 6:05 p.m. Eastern time will be on Twitch live from Villa Park, IL,. There are tickets available or the show. Matches announced are:
Ace Perry vs. Jake Lander
Matt Justice vs. Fred Yehi
Schaff vs. Davey Vega
Mat Fitchett vs. Thomas Shire
Hyan vs. Skye Blue 2/3 falls
Myron Reed vs. Brayden Lee for the Heritage title
The biggest and most-talked about issue of the year, the 2020 awards issue, is out today. The issue covers the awards winners as voted on by the readership in these categories. It also has all the top place winners for every category, comments on the awards for this year as well as a listing dating back to 1980 of all the awards winners in all the different categories.
We also have the performer and match of the week.
WWE Elimination Chamber show, with notes on direction, business, interest level, poll results and star ratings.
Also in this issue:
The new television war in Canada on Wednesday, how the first week went and what to look for, details on the WWE’s A&E Documentaries, who is being covered and more, reaction to Undertaker’s comments about current wrestlers being soft, migration of WWE Network to Peacock, Sasha Banks talks wanting to quit a few years ago, WWE business approaches, how WWE & AEW are doing as compared to televised sports this past week, Bill Goldberg on TV, notes on lots of new signees and are starting in camp including some not revealed yet, new WWE Network event, update on the Vince McMahon/Oliver Luck legal case, Ric Flair on why he doesn’t talk to the other Horsemen, Arn Anderson talks why a major international star flopped in WWE, WWE wins awards, the current WWE market value and the most-watched shows of the past week on the WWE Network.
This past week’s UFC show, the background, how it affects fighters going forward, and details behind the late changes in the show.
Television ratings of the past week, including segment-by-segment numbers for the past two weeks on Wednesday, who was watching in different age groups, how different segments did on Raw & Smackdown and more.
ORDERING INFO: Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].
Rates in the United States are $14.50 for 4 issues, $35.50 for 12, $70 for 24, $116 for 40 and $149.50 for 52.
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If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.
SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE
Bryan and I did our weekend show last night talking about New Japan Castle Attack, Smackdown and the reaction to the awards, which was and continues to be hilarious.
Jorge Masvidal was announcing on last night’s Canelo Alvarez show on DAZN and later said he would be getting a welterweight title shot at Kamaru Usman in September. He said he just got word of it. Ali Abdelaziz, the manager of Usman, denied what Masvidal said. “Masvidal doesn’t decide anything,” he told MMA Fighting. “He needs to sit down and keep working his wrestling. When the champ makes a decision maybe he will give them an opportunity but for now, nothing happening.”
This has been one of the worst weeks for wrestling deaths in the U.S./Canada region. Besides Don Serrano, Art Michalik and Johnny DeFazio, who all had interesting life stories, Dean Higuchi (Dean Ho) passed away on 2/20 but the word just around yesterday. He was a bodybuilder and weightlifting powerhouse who wrestled from 1962 to 1983. We talked about him on last night’s show and have a feature coming this week. He was listed as 80 years old but that math makes no sense. He was in the 1956 Mr. America contested and placed, opened up Dean Higuchi’s Gym in Honolulu in 1957, and also played college football prior to opening the gym. He was known as “The Happy Hawaiian” and worked most of his career in British Columbia, but was the top babyface for Roy Shire in the late 70s with a number of memorable feuds with Alexis Smirnoff, Buddy Rose, Don Muraco & Earl “Mr. Universe” Maynard and Roddy Piper. He was WWWF tag team champion with Tony Garea. He headlined other territories as well. He helped mentor Ricky Steamboat when both were in Georgia. He was a star everywhere he went.
For Google searches this past week, there were only two things that cracked the list. Canelo Alvarez had 1 million searches for first place yesterday. UFC didn’t even crack the list, which is very rare, so the interest in last night’s show was at a low point. Nothing else made the list all week except Big Show was No. 10 on Wednesday with 50,000 searches.
AEW’s women’s tournament special is now up on the Bleacher Report site:
Thunder Rosa vs. Riho in a U.S. semifinal
Ryo Mizunami vs. Yuka Sakazaki in the Japan final
Rin Kadokura & Mei Suruga & Hikaru Shida vs. Maki Itoh & Emi Sakura & Veny
The Rosa vs. Riho winner faces Nyla Rose in the U.S. final tomorrow on YouTube. There will also be a Road To show tomorrow building the Wednesday Impact which would be expected to do a big number with Shaquille O’Neal wrestling and Paul Wight doing a interview on the show, plus Tully Blanchard’s first match on national television in decades with FTR & Blanchard vs. Jurassic Express.
WWE
Wrestling with Demons reported that Miranda Gordy, the daughter of Terry Gordy, got a recent tryout.
We didn’t get to talk about it last night, but the Jmmie Rivera vs. Pedro Munhoz fight was great and worth going out of your way to see. The Cyril Gane vs. Jarirzinho Rozenstruik main event definitely doesn’t fit into that category.
SportsBetting.ag put up these odd for UFC 261
Valentine Shevchenko -335 vs. Jessica Andrade +275
AEW
AEW has opened up another 168 tickets for Wednesday’s show. The Sunday PPV sold out instantly. (thanks to William Zdon)
This week’s New Japan show on Roku which was released Thursday was Shingo Takagi vs. Hirooki Goto and Tomohiro Ishii vs. Evil from last February in Sapporo. The channel had been accessed by almost any device and not just TV’s connected to Roku.
Deathmatch Down Under announced Robbie Eagles vs. Mark Davis for 3/6 in Melbourne. They’ve also changed their tag team tournament to teams only from Victoria to avoid any changes if there is a lockdown on the borders of the state of Victoria. Australia has almost no cases and if they do they plan leaving or coming into the state. (thanks to Kevin Chiat)
Stardom from yesterday in Nagoya: Tam Nakano b Gokigen Death, Momo Watanabe & AZM & Saya Kamtani won a three-way elimination trios match over Maika & Himeka & Natsupoi and Natsuko Tora & Saki Kashima & Konami, Utami Hayashishita b Ruaka, Mayu Iwatani b Lady C, Bea Priestley b Starlight Kid, Syuri b Unagi Sayaka, Giulia b Saya Iida
Stardom from today in Nagoya, the final show before late Tuesday night (U.S.) time on PPV from Budokan Hall: Ruaka b Lady C, Starlight Kid won three-way over Saya Iida and Maika, Bea Priestley & Konami b Natsupoi & Himeka, Natsuko Tora & Saki Kashima b Mayu Iwatani & Gokigen Death, Giulia & Syuri b Tam Nakano & Unagi Sayaka, Utami Hayashishita & Momo Watanabe b Saya Kamitani & AZM
Progress results from yesterday on the WWE Network from London’s Theatre Peckham (taped ahead of time): Warren Banks b Dann Black, Luke Jacobs b Ethan Allen, Kid Lykos & Kid Lykos II b Gene Mummy & Big Guns Joe, Elijah b Chuck Mambo, Luke Jacobs b Warren Banks to earn a Progress world title shot, Cara Noir b Chris Ridgeway to keep the world titel, Kanji won the Womens’ Thunderbastard match to get a title match with Jinny (thanks to Shannon Walsh and wrestlingwithdemons.com)
Results from the SWE East Texas Wrestlefeset from yesterday in Carthage, TX: Christi Jaynes b Malia Hosaka to retain the SWE title, Action Jackson b Andrew Anderson, Rodney Mack won a gauntlet match, Niles Plonk b Adam Asher-DQ, Davey Boy Smith Jr. b Matthew Justice, Miranda Gordy b Amber Nova, SWE champion Charlie Haas b Frank Stone, Bam Bam Malone & Heart Throb Jaden b Rivero & Tommy Gunn, Blood Hunter b Michael Shafer, Mil Muertes b Tino Valentino, Boogeyman b DJ Michaels, Trevor Murdoch b Jeremy Wyatt to keep NWA National title, Christi Jaynes b Miranda Gordy-DQ to keep the SWE women’s title, Blood Hunter b Davey Boy Smith Jr., Mike Anthony & Jon Omari b Heart Throb Jaden & Bam Bam Malone. Among those appearing as part of the show but not wrestling were Kevin Sullivan, Teddy Long and Melina. James Beard was there to induct Terry Gordy into their Hall of Fame.
Welcome to F4WOnline.com’s live coverage of UFC 251: Usman vs. Masvidal, emanating from UFC Fight Island in Yas Island, Abu Dhabi.
The UFC heads to Fight Island for the first of four events over the span of two weeks, with the annual big July pay-per-view kicking off the action in Abu Dhabi, headlined by three title fights including arguably the most anticipated fight of the year.
UFC Welterweight Champion Kamaru Usman looks to made another successful title defense when he defends against the BMF of the UFC, Jorge Masvidal, in the main event. Usman is coming off a late finish of Colby Covington in December in his first title defense. Masvidal looks to add to his BMF Title by winning UFC gold, and he takes the fight on just six days’ notice after Gilbert Burns tested positive for COVID-19.
In the co-main event, Alexander Volkanovski defends the UFC Featherweight Championship for the first time against the man he defeated for it in December, Max Holloway. Holloway, arguably the greatest 145-pounder of all-time, is looking to regain the title while Volkanovski is out to stamp his claim as the best featherweight in the world.
In the third title fight on the card, the vacant UFC Bantamweight Championship is on the line as Petr Yan takes on former UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo. The title became vacant after Henry Cejudo’s sudden retirement in May, and Yan looks to score his tenth straight win and gain a UFC title. Aldo looks to join the ranks of being a fighter to win titles in two different UFC weight divisions.
Filling out the main card is a rematch in the women’s strawweight division as former champions Jessica Andrade and Rose Namajunas run it back from their title fight in May 2019, and the main card opener sees Amanda Ribas taking on Paige VanZant in what is likely to be VanZant’s final UFC appearance. A deep prelim card is headlined by a light heavyweight bout as Volkan Oezdemir welcomes former RIZIN champion Jiri Prochazka, winner of ten straight fights, to the UFC.
Follow along with our live coverage of the event beginning at 6 p.m. Eastern time with preliminary action all the way through the main card.
We are looking for your thoughts on tonight’s event, so send a thumbs up, a thumbs down or a thumbs in the middle along with a best fight and a worst fight to Dave at [email protected].
ESPN PRELIMS | 6 PM ET/3 PM PT
> Martin Day (9-3, 0-1 UFC) vs. Davey Grant (11-4, 2-3 UFC) Bantamweights
Grant right away with a couple of leg kicks. Grant with a right hand to the body. Grant landing more inside the first two minutes. Day misses a spin kick. Day then knocks Grant down with a right hand as he was coming in and Day gets into his guard. They get to their feet. Grant with a head kick that is mostly blocked. Grant gets a takedown and is landing from the top. They stand before the round ends. 10-9 Day.
They trade kicks to start the second. Grant starting to land his punches and now Day fires back. Grant with some body punches and then lands a right hand. Grant with a combo and then lands a flying knee. Grant lands a nice combo and Day is retreating. Day circling around and Grant lands an elbow and then some knees and a right hand. Grant with some body punches and then lands a flush left hook. Grant landing against the fence and then gets a takedown into side control. Grant grabs the neck looking for a choke but lets go. Grant gets back into side control. Grant goes for an armbar but Day is able to spin out and goes into Grant’s guard. They scramble up and Day lands a side kick and Grant stumbles down as the round ends. 10-9 Grant, 19-19.
They trade to start the third. Day lands a nice right hand and then a body kick. Day pressing forward and throwing as Grant is circling away. Grant shoots for a takedown but Day defends. Grant lands a combo. Day now lands a combo. Grant with a tomahawk elbow and then lands a combo to the body. They are trading punches as both are trying to secure the last round. Grant then lands a huge left hand and Day goes out cold. What a finish by Grant.
Official Result- Davey Grant def. Martin Day by knockout (punch) at 2:38 of Round 3
> Karol Rosa (12-3, 1-0 UFC) vs. Vanessa Melo (10-7, 0-2 UFC) Women’s Bantamweights* (Melo missed weight by 5 pounds)
Rosa landing punches and kicks early on. Rosa with some kicks and then a combo. Melo with a left hand. Rosa lands a flush right hand. Melo lands a right hand. Rosa lands a combo. Rosa with an inside leg kick as Melo lands a right hand. Rosa landing the jab and slips to the mat for the second time but gets right up. Rosa gets a takedown and works from the top. She finishes the round on top. 10-9 Rosa.
Rosa landing to start the second and Melo lands a right hand. Rosa clinches and pushes Melo against the fence. Rosa gets Melo to the ground and is in side control and landing elbows. Melo landing lots of punches as she has Melo pinned down. Melo not doing much to defend but she survives the round. Big round for Rosa. 10-8 Rosa, 20-17 Rosa.
Rosa landing to start the third and lands a running knee to the body. They trade leg kicks. Rosa lands a jab. Rosa lands an inside elbow. Melo with a leg kick. Rosa shoots for a takedown but Melo defends and lands a knee followed by a left hook as they stand. Rosa still landing more as we get inside of two minutes left. They clinch against the fence and Rosa lands some short knees. They trade knees against the fence. They stay clinched as the fight ends. 10-9 Rosa, 30-26 Rosa.
Official Result- Karol Rosa def. Vanessa Melo by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-27)
> Raulian Paiva (#14, 19-3, 1-2 UFC) vs. Zhalgas Zhumagulov (13-3, 0-0 UFC) Flyweights* (Paiva missed weight by 3 pounds)
Paiva with a high kick to start. Paiva with another high kick. Zhumagulov switching up his stances as he lands. Paiva lands a short uppercut and then with a body kick. Zhumagulov with a body punch and Paiva ripping away with some kicks. Paiva with some more body kicks. Paiva with another body kick. Zhumagulov with another kick. Zhumagulov gets a late takedown but Paiva gets to his feet. Close round. 10-9 Paiva.
They trade to start the second but a slow pace in the first minute of the second. Zhumagulov with a leg kick. Zhumagulov with a left hand to the body and then another. Paiva with a body kick and Zhumagulov fires back with a leg kick. Paiva misses a head kick. They clinch against the fence. Paiva looking like he’s getting tired as he has slowed down. Paiva with a body kick. Zhumagulov with more left hands to the body. Zhumagulov gets a late takedown and lands some elbows as the round ends. 10-9 Zhumagulov, 19-19.
Paiva with some leg kicks to start the third. Zhumagulov with some more left hands to the body and Paiva with some more leg kicks. Zhumagulov with a right hook. Zhumagulov scores a takedown but Paiva able to get to his feet. They trade as Paiva pushes Zhumagulov against the fence. Paiva with a right hand. Paiva with a low kick to the groin of Zhumagulov and we have a timeout. Zhumagulov is in a lot of pain and this could be called off. Zhumagulov able to continue and going right after Paiva and gets a quick takedown but they get right up. Paiva with another groin strike right as the fight ends. Close fight. 10-9 Zhumagulov, 29-28 Zhumagulov.
Official Result- Raulian Paiva def. Zhalgas Zhumagulov by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
> Marcin Tybura (18-6, 5-5 UFC) vs. Maxim Grishin (30-7-2, 0-0 UFC) Heavyweights
Grishin landing to the body to start and Tybura landing some leg kicks. Grishin with a heavy leg kick. Tybura lands a left hand and they clinch. They break. They clinch and Tybura looking for a takedown against the fence. Grishin has double underhooks and lands an elbow and they break. Tybura with a leg kick. They clinch again. Tybura trying for the single leg takedown and they fall to the mat. Uneventful round. 10-9 Tybura.
Tybura with a body kick. He lands another but it actually went low and we have a timeout. They get back to action and Tybura misses a left hand as they clinch. Tybura with some knees and then lands another shot to the groin. Actually it was Grishin that landed a groin shot but we get back to action in the clinch. Tybura with an elbow. Tybura with more work in the clinch and gets a late takedown. 10-9 Tybura, 20-18 Tybura.
They clinch up to start the third and Tybura is trying hard for the takedown. Tybura lands some knees. Tybura finally gets the takedown and is in the guard of Grishin. Tybura gets the back of Grishin and is looking to flatten him. Tybura lands some punches. Tybura has the body triangle and is landing punches. Tybura with more punches as the fight ends. Boring fight. 10-9 Tybura, 30-27 Tybura.
Official Result- Marcin Tybura def. Maxim Grishin by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
> Leonardo Santos (17-3-1, 6-0-1 UFC) vs. Roman Bogatov (10-0, 0-0 UFC) Lightweights
Bogatov slips and Santos tries to land some punches but Bogatov gets up. Santos with some leg kicks. Bogatov then pokes Santos in the eye and we have a timeout. Santos with a body kick. Bogatov tries a spin kick and Santos grabs the back and tries to take it down. Santos with a hammerfist. He lets Bogatov go. They trade and Santos lands a knee. Santos with a hard leg kick. Bogatov with a body kick. Bogatov tries a takedown but Santos spins out and Bogatov lands a body kick. They go to the mat and Santos has the back as the round ends. 10-9 Santos.
Both looking to land to start the second and Santos with a body kick. Bogatov going for a takedown against the fence. They break and Bogatov with the jab. Santos then starts landing some right hands and Bogatov is in trouble. Santos with more right hands and some big knees and then lands another massive right hand. Bogatov looks about out on his feet. Bogatov tries a takedown but Santos defends and is landing some punches. Santos landed a head kick in the flurry as well. Santos with more punches from the back. Some of the punches were to the back of the head. Santos might have punched himself out here. Bogatov able to get into the guard of Santos and is now landing punches. Bogatov with a late flurry from the top. 10-9 Santos, 20-18 Santos.
Bogatov with a jab and is looking for a takedown and gets it but they get right back up. Bogatov lands a groin strike and Santos falls to the mat and is in lots of pain. He was down for a long time but continued on. Bogatov tries for a takedown. Bogatov has the single leg but Santos defending well. Santos still defending the takedown attempts. Bogatov landed another groin strike and Santos is hurting again. We get back to action with no points being taken away. Bogatov gets a takedown but Santos gets to his knees. Santos is landing short punches as Bogatov tries to flatten him out. Bogatov then knees Santos in the head as Santos is on the ground and we have another timeout. Marc Goddard took two points away from Bogatov and Santos continues. Bogatov going for a finish but time runs out. 9-8 Santos with the point deductions, 29-26 Santos.
Official Result- Leonardo Santos def. Roman Bogatov by unanimous decision (29-26, 29-26, 29-26)
> Makwan Amirkhani (15-4, 5-2 UFC) vs. Danny Henry (12-3, 2-1 UFC) Featherweights
Henry with a body kick as Amirkhani is looking to find his range. Henry with a jumping switch kick. Amirkhani with a flying knee to the body and he gets the body lock and scores the takedown. Amirkhani looking for a guillotine and switches to the anaconda choke. He has it in deep and Henry goes out cold! Big submission win for Amirkhani.
Official Result- Makwan Amirkhani def. Danny Henry by submission (anaconda choke) at 3:15 of Round 1
> Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos (22-6, 8-2 UFC) vs. Muslim Salikhov (15-2, 3-1 UFC) Welterweights
Zaleski with a body kick. They trade kicks. Salikhov with a leg kick. Salikhov just misses a spin kick. Zaleski with a body kick and just misses a big right hand. Salikhov lands a nice left hook. They clinch for a moment but break with nothing happening. Zaleski with a right hand and Salikhov was hurt and turns into a takedown but Zaleski ends up on top and lands some big punches as the round ends. 10-9 Zaleski.
Zaleski with a huge kick that hurts Salikhov. They stand and trade. Zaleski tries a spin kick but Salikhov sees it coming and just throws Zaleski to the mat. Salikhov lands some punches from the top and they stand. Salikov with a kick and then lands an uppercut and Zaleski just eats it. Zaleski with a front kick. Close round. 10-9 Salikhov, 19-19.
Zaleski with a body kick. Salikhov lands a right hand. Zaleski with a body kick and just misses a wheel kick. Salikhov lands a right hand as Zaleski was ducking under. They trade and Salikhov lands a nice right hand. Not a lot of output in the third. Salikhov just lands a spin kick and then lands a right hand. Zaleski landing slightly more in the round. Close fight. 10-9 Zaleski, 29-28 Zaleski.
Official Result- Muslim Salikhov def. Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos by unanimous decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28)
Oezdemir with an early left hand. Oezdemir with another left hand. Prochzaka with a jab and follows it with a combo. Oezdemir with a left hand. Oezdemir with a leg kick and then lands a combo and Prochazka is retreating. Prochazka with a jab and then lands a combo. Oezdemir with a leg kick. Prochazka with a right hand. Prochazka with a body kick and Oezdemir counters with a left hand. Oezdemir with a leg kick. Oezdemir with a combo. Both men are landing. Oezdemir tries a takedown but Prochazka defends against the fence. 10-9 Oezdemir.
Prochazaka with a high kick and then lands a right hand. Oezdemir was stunned and Prochazka starts throwing. Prochazka with a big right hand that lands and Oezdemir goes down out cold. What an incredible finish by Prochazka.
Official Result- Jiri Prochazka def. Volkan Oezdemir by knockout (punch) at :49 of Round 2
Ribas with a quick inside leg kick. Ribas with a body kick. Ribas with a left hand and then lands a couple of knees to the body. They stay clinched and Ribas gets VanZant to the ground. VanZant is cut open. Ribas has a tight squeeze of the neck from side control. Ribas tries to take the back and then now looks for an armbar from the bottom. She has it locked in and VanZant taps! Ribas gets the big win in what is likely VanZant’s final UFC bout.
Official Result- Amanda Ribas def. Paige VanZant by submission (armbar) at 2:21 of Round 1
> Jessica Andrade (#1, 20-7, 11-5 UFC) vs. Rose Namajunas (#2, 8-4, 6-3 UFC) Women’s Strawweights
Andrade with lots of head movement early on. Andrade landing some leg kicks as Namajunas is trying to land some punches. Namajunas lands a right hand as Andrade lands a leg kick. Namajunas lands some punches as she circles away. They trade leg kicks. Andrade with a left hook to the body. Namajunas lands a big right hand. Andrade lands a right hand. Namajunas lands a right hand and they clinch. Namajunas with a knee and Andrade lands a right hand as they break. They trade late. 10-9 Namajunas.
Namajunas with a high kick as Andrade is still moving her head around something fierce. Andrade with a couple of leg kicks. They trade punches. Namajunas just misses a flying knee. Andrade with a leg kick but eats a snapping jab from Namajunas. Namajunas lands a combo. Andrade with a body punch. Andrade lands a right hand. They trade punches. Namajunas tries a flying knee and misses and falls to the ground but is able to get up quickly. Namajunas with the jab. Namajunas with a right hand. They trade kicks. Andrade tries a takedown but Namajunas defends. Andrade lands some good late. 10-9 Namajunas, 20-18 Namajunas.
They are trading to start the third and Namajunas is landing more. Namajunas is bleeding out of her nose. Andrade landing some good punches. They trade and Andrade throws Namajunas to the mat and Andrade gets in the guard. Namajunas able to kick Andrade off and they stand. Namajunas lands a good combo. Andrade with a right hand. They continue to trade as the blood is pouring more out of Namajunas’ nose. Namajunas gets a takedown but Andrade is able to scramble up. Namajunas lands a big jab. They trade at the end. Great fight. 10-9 Andrade, 29-28 Namajunas.
Official Result- Rose Namajunas def. Jessica Andrade by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
> Petr Yan (#3, 14-1, 6-0 UFC) vs. Jose Aldo (#6, 28-6, 10-5 UFC) UFC Bantamweight Championship
Aldo is looking for leg kicks early. Yan landing some early punches. Yan lands a big right hand. Aldo with a big leg kick and Yan trips to the mat but gets up. Aldo with a body punch and then a jab. Yan with a combo to the body that partially lands. Yan with a right hand. Aldo with a heavy leg kick. Aldo with another leg kick and Aldo goes to the mat and Yan is on top. Yan lands a big body punch that hurt Aldo and Aldo was turtling up. Yan lands a barrage of punches looking for the finish but Aldo survives. Yan gets the round on that late ground flurry. 10-9 Yan.
Both looking for openings to start the second. Yan with a high kick that Aldo blocks. Aldo with an inside leg kick. Aldo lands a combo. Aldo with another leg kick. Aldo with another hard leg kick. Yan lands a left hand. Yan with another left hand. Aldo with a right hand. Yan with a leg kick. Aldo with a leg kick followed by a jab and then a body kick. Yan lands a left hand. Yan switches stances. They trade late. Close round. 10-9 Aldo, 19-19.
Aldo with a body kick and then a knee to the body. Aldo with a right hand to the body. Yan lands a left hand. Yan with a left hand. Yan with the jab and he’s being warned about his fingers again. Aldo with a left hand to the body and then a short uppercut. Yan with an inside leg kick. Aldo with a flurry and then lands a knee against the fence.Yan just misses a big right hand. Yan with the jab. Aldo continues to work the body. Yan misses a flurry as Aldo was ducking under. Aldo with a body punch and Yan lands a combo in return. Aldo with an uppercut. They clinch and Yan lands an elbow as they break. Yan with a body kick. Yan lands a right hand late. Another close round. 10-9 Yan, 29-28 Yan.
Aldo with a body kick. Yan with a body kick and some leg kicks. Aldo with a couple of right hands. Aldo with some body shots and Yan fires back and lands a clean left hand. Aldo with a knee to the body. Yan lands a flurry. Aldo with a short uppercut. Yan goes for a takedown but Aldo defends. Yan with a left hand followed by a body kick. Aldo slowing down a little. Yan with a combo against the fence. Yan with a flurry and lands a hard right hand. Yan gets Aldo down and Yan landing punches from the top. Yan gets into Aldo’s guard and lands a couple of big punches. Yan with more big punches and he puts a stamp on this round. 10-9 Yan, 39-37 Yan.
Yan with a big combo that rocks Aldo. Yan knocks Aldo down with a left hand and is landing punches from the top looking to finish. Yan goes into Aldo’s half-guard. Yan landing big punches from the half-guard. Aldo looking to survive. Yan isolating the arm and landing big punches. Yan with more big punches as he gets the back of Aldo. Aldo is bleeding all over the place. Yan with big hammerfists. Lots of shots taken by Aldo there and it could have been stopped. Yan with a knee to the body and then more punches. Aldo taking too much punishment but it isn’t being stopped. He continues to land punches and it is finally stopped. Yan is the new 135-pound title holder. Impressive win.
Official Result- Petr Yan def. Jose Aldo by TKO (punches) at 3:24 of Round 5 to win the UFC Bantamweight Championship
> Alexander Volkanovski (C, 21-1, 8-0 UFC) vs. Max Holloway (#1, 21-5, 17-5 UFC) UFC Featherweight Championship
Volkanovski with an overhand right. Holloway looking to find his range. Holloway with a body kick. Volkanovski with a leg kick. Holloway with a combo to the body. Holloway with another body kick after Volkanovski lands a leg kick. Holloway landing with more volume in the first half. Holloway with an uppercut. They trade leg kicks. Volkanovski with a combo. Holloway lands a straight right hand. Holloway with a leg kick. Holloway with a leg kick and then lands a spinning back kick and a head kick sends Volkanovski to the mat. 10-9 Holloway.
Holloway landing some punches and kicks and Volkanovski is trying to figure things out in the second. Holloway with more leg kicks. Holloway with some more leg kicks. Volkanovski lands some good punches. Volkanovski switches stances for a moment and they trade leg kicks. Holloway with a knee to the body. Volkanovski with a left hook. Holloway tries a head kick but blocked by Volkanovski. Volkanovski with a body kick. Holloway with another high kick that just missed. Holloway drops Volkanovski with an uppercut late. 10-9 Holloway, 20-18 Holloway.
Volkanovski with a hard leg kick. Holloway attacking the leg as Volkanovski circles around. Volkanovski is pressing forward now and Holloway lands a flying knee. They trade leg kicks. Volkanovski shoots for a takedown against the fence but Holloway defends and they are clinched against the fence. Holloway pressing forward and lands a jumping switch kick. Holloway just misses an uppercut. Volkanovski with an inside leg kick. They trade late. Close round. 10-9 Volkanovski, 29-28 Holloway.
They trade to start the fourth. Both men landing some good shots but they are both searching for openings. Volkanovski with a couple of leg kicks and Holloway fires back with leg kicks. Holloway lands a good combo after eating a leg kick from Volkanovski. Holloway with a spin kick to the body. Volkanovski lands a jab. Volkanovski gets a takedown near the fence but Holloway is able to work to his feet quickly. They break to the center of the Octagon. Volkanovski tries another takedown but Holloway defends with some uppercuts and Volkanovski lets go. Volkanovski with a good combo. Holloway with a flurry and lands a nice right hand late. 10-9 Holloway, 39-37 Holloway.
Holloway with a body kick. Holloway with a good combo and a nice left hand. They trade kicks and Holloway landed a good high kick. They trade in a clinch and Volkanovski lands a good left hand. Volkanovski with a left hand. Volkanovski with a high kick that is blocked by Holloway and then Holloway throws a head kick. Volkanovski with a left hand. Holloway with an uppercut. Volkanovski with a leg kick. Holloway landing slightly more. Holloway with a combo and the right hand lands right on the chin. Volkanovski shoots for a takedown but Holloway defends though Volkanovski finishes a takedown. Holloway quickly works to his feet. They break and Volkanovski lands a left on the break. Volkanovski with a combo. Volkanovski tries for another takedown but Holloway defends. Volkanovski with a leg kick. Both men are swinging for the fences. Volkanovski with a late takedown. 10-9 Volkanovski, 48-47 Holloway.
Official Result- Alexander Volkanovski def. Max Holloway by split decision (47-48, 48-47, 48-47) to retain the UFC Featherweight Championship
Masvidal with a leg kick. Masvidal lands more kicks. Usman gets a takedown off a kick and he’s in Masvidal’s guard. Usman with an elbow. Masvidal lands some punches from the bottom. Usman stands and Masvidal tries to scramble up. Usman still has his arms locked around Masvidal but they break. Usman with a body punch. Masvidal with a leg kick. Masvidal with a knee to the body and lands some punches as they break. Usman goes for a takedown against the fence but Masvidal defends. Masvidal lands an elbow. They break. Masvidal with a body kick and a straight left hand. Masvidal lands a quick combo after Usman lands a jab. Masvidal with a right hand. 10-9 Masvidal.
Masvidal with a body kick. Usman tries to grab a single leg but Masvidal slips away. They are clinched against the fence and not much is going on other than Usman just holding on. Masvidal with some knees as Usman lands a couple of body punches. Masvidal lands an elbow. Usman lands a left hand. Masvidal just misses a right hand and they clinch again. Usman with a foot stomp. Usman with more foot stomps and shoulder strikes. Masvidal with some body punches. Usman with some body punches. They break. Masvidal with a body kick. Masvidal lands a combo. Usman with a body punch. Masvidal lands a right hand. 10-9 Usman, 19-19.
Masvidal with a leg kick. Masvidal with a body kick. They fight in close range against the fence and then clinch and Usman with more foot stomps. Usman with some body punches and they break. Usman lands a right hand. Masvidal with a body kick. Usman in deep for a takedown but Masvidal defends. Usman landed a punch right to the groin. Back to action and Masvidal with a body kick. Masvidal with a leg kick. Usman gets a takedown. Masvidal gets to his feet but Usman takes him right back down. Usman working in side control. Masvidal trying to spin out but Usman ends up in his guard. Usman with a couple of elbows from the top. 10-9 Usman, 29-28 Usman.
Usman with a big body kick. Usman goes for a takedown but Masvidal defends against the fence and they are clinched. Usman with some foot stomps and body punches. Masvidal lands a knee as they break. Usman gets a takedown. They get to their feet and are clinched. Usman with body punches and more foot stomps. Usman lands a left hand. Masvidal lands a flurry before they break. Masvidal with a body kick. Usman lands a left hook after missing a takedown attempt. Usman lands another left hand and they clinch again. They end the round clinched against the fence. 10-9 Usman, 39-37 Usman.
Usman lands a left hand. They trade punches and Usman gets a takedown against the fence. Usman working from the top and landing some elbows. Usman working in side control. Masvidal able to scramble but Usman keeping him down. Usman gets the neck and is keeping Masvidal down. Usman lands a knee to the body. They get to their feet. They trade knees and break. Masvidal with a left hand. Masvidal with a body kick. They trade late. 10-9 Usman, 49-46 Usman.
Official Result- Kamaru Usman def. Jorge Masvidal by unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 49-46) to retain the UFC Welterweight Championship
Despite losing title challenger Gilbert Burns due to a positive COVID-19 test over the weekend, the UFC is looking at one of their original hopeful challengers to welterweight champion Kamaru Usman to fill the pay-per-view void.
According to published reports, Jorge Masvidal has taken his place and barring negative COVID tests from either he or Usman, the fight is expected to headline this Saturday’s UFC 251. ESPN’s Ariel Helwani said both men have agreed to the fight.
Helwani reported that both men will be on their way to Las Vegas shortly where they will need to take another test, pass, fly to Abu Dhabi, take another test, pass, and then another test on Friday, similar to what other fighters on these Fight Island shows are having to do.
The UFC has yet to make an official announcement about any of this, even Burns being out of the fight, until both men pass their tests and the fight can officially be signed.
He and Usman were initially targeted over several months and had a notable verbal altercation while doing interviews on Radio Row during Super Bowl week. After a failure to come to a deal on the fight, Masvidal became increasingly vocal both about pay and of the promotion, choosing to sit out despite Dana White saying he had signed a new contract. Burns, coming off a recent win over former champion Tyron Woodley, became an easy, and less expensive, option.
Masvidal’s last fight was his win over Nate Diaz in November 2019 for the “BMF” title while Usman cruised to a win over Colby Covington last December.
We have a feature on systemic prejudice in the U.S. as the lead story in this week’s issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Also in this issue:
The Dana White/Jon Jones story, explaning the economic realities, the economic fallacies and where things stand with both men’s arguments. We look at what does and doesn’t make sense economically, why Jones and Conor McGregor and all the top draws have lost value to UFC, plus exactly what both men have said about each other and where things stand.
The economics of what Jones has drawn in the past, and the numbers of recent UFC show.
The unwritten WWE rule about not criticizing other talent in a public forum outside of storyline-related reasons, why it was broken this past week, what was said, as well as looking at the ties beween the ownerships of the different wrestling companies with Donald Trump, statements released, and the key things no talent can say.
New WWE Network updates.
Upcoming guidelines for WWE shows, Paul Levesque talks COVID testing, notes on more WWE cuts, Vince McMahon sends out memo, original Gronkowski plans and why they changed and why now.
Upcoming Backlash and Takeover shows, an update on the XFL bankruptcy, how WWE is involved and more.
Update the Kairi Sane injury, Vince McMahon bio, Drake Maverick angle, people talked about for main roster, WWE hires new man t head the Middle East business, Kurt Angle talks why he’s not returning at this point to WWE, plus we look at the current market value of WWE and poll results, as well as WWE’s own track record.
Coverage of Saturday’s UFC show with the storylines and the business news, plus match-by-match coverage.
A large feature on the retirement of Stu Saks and the westling magazine era, the life and times and the glory years of Pro Wrestling Illustrated, the death of the magazine business, how VinceMcMahon tried to kill it early, and the different stages of the magazine era.
A feature on the wrestling career, and life of Danny Havoc from many of the people who knew him best in the industry.
In-depth looks at the ratings of all the major shows, the key demos and quarters for AEW and WWE, what happened head-to-head and what can be learned from them.
Results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week.
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FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE
The Athletic website announced today it had cut 46 staff members,which was eight percent of its working force. The cuts were across all sports and among the MMA names cut were Chuck Mindenhall, Dan Stupp, Josh Gross and Chad Dundas. They cited that subscription growth was not at the rate it had been, which is hardly surprising with less live sports.
Dana White said that Gilbert Burns was the front runner for the next welterweight title shot at Kamaru Usman. This came at the same time that Jorge Masvidal, who figured to get the next shot, claimed he was disrespected when UFC made him an offer of half of what he had made for his recent fight with Nate Diaz. He asked for a release. Masvidal said, “If I’m not worth it, let me go.”
White just said Burns wanted to fight and nobody else wanted to. From a UFC standpoint, Usman vs. Masvidal doesn’t figure to do the business of Diaz vs. Masvidal, and you don’t have a live gate. But since the PPV revenue is guaranteed by ESPN, the idea of cutting pay due to a lesser drawing match doesn’t make as much sense. You can’t argue one way for Jon Jones and another for Jorge Masvidal, which is what is happening here.
Bobby Fulton of The Fantastics tag team announced this morning that he was declared cancer free.
UFC weigh-in results for tomorrow’s show:
Prelims on ESPN+ and Fight Pass at 6:30 p.m. Eastern:
Evan Dunham (149.5) vs. Herbert Burns (149.5) – 150 pound fight
Alonzo Menifield (205) vs. Devin Clark (205.5)
Jussier Formiga (126) vs. Alex Perez (126)
Prelims on ESPN at 8 p.m.:
Charles Byrd (184.5) vs. Maki Pitolo (185.5)
Cody Stamann (145.5) vs. Brian Kelleher (146)
Gerald Meerschaeart (185.5) vs. Ian Heinisch (185.5)
Chase Hooper (145.5) vs. Alex Caceres (146)
Main card on ESPN+ PPV at 10 p.m.:
Sean O’Malley (136) vs. Eddie Wineland (136)
Neil Magny (171) vs. Anthony Rocco Martin (170.5)
Aljamain Sterling (136) vs. Cory Sandhagen (135.5)
Raphael Assuncao (136) vs. Cody Garbrandt (136)
Amanda Nunes (145) vs. Felicia Spencer (145) for women’s featherweight title
Impact looks to be making an announcement about its world title given Tessa Blanchard is still in Tijuana. The problem now is that COVID-19 is bad in Mexico so even though a lot of talent can get in from Canada and the U.K., those in Mexico, which also include AEW’s Pentagon Jr. and Jack Evans, and all the AAA talent, still are uncertain.
WWE
Smackdown tonight has Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross vs. Bayley & Sasha Banks, a face-to-face with Daniel Bryan and A.J. Styles to build up next week’s IC title match and Jeff Hardy explains last week’s arrest angle. Or at least tries to. 205 Live has Tehuti Miles vs. Oney Lorcan and Isaiah Scott vs. Jack Gallagher.
Titus O’Neil speaking in Tampa on Wednesday at the 32:40 mark of this video. (thanks to Mark Schreiner)
Odds for Takeover from www.BetOnline.agAdam Cole -300 vs. Velveteen Dream +200
Io Shirai -150 vs. Charlotte Flair +120 vs. Rhea Ripley +200
Johnny Gargano -160 vs. Keith Lee +120
Karrion Kross -250 vs. Tommaso Ciampa +170
Damien Priest -160 vs. Finn Balor +120
Yim & Blackheart & Nox -200 vs. LeRae & Kai & Gonzalez +150
And for next week:
Drew McIntyre -900 vs. Bobby Lashley +500
Asuka -500 vs. Nia Jax +300
Randy Orton -160 vs. Edge +120
Braun Strowman -1000 vs. Miz & Morrison +550
UFC
Alexander Gustafsson is coming out of retirement to face Fabricio Werdum on a 7/25 UFC show on Fight Island.
UFC has announced a new issue of UFC Chronicles on the life of Josh Samman, which is up on the site now and a betting show on tomorrow’s card which is also up on the site. There will be a Max Holloway show debuting tomorrow.
Austin Hubbard vs. Joe Solecki at lightweight has been added to the 6/20 show.
The main card for the 6/13 UFC show on ESPN+ will be Jordan Espinosa vs. Mark De La Rosa, Andre Fili vs. Charles Jourdain, Ray Borg vs. Merab Dvalishvili, Karl Roberson vs. Marvin Vettori and Jessica Eye vs. Cynthia Calvillo.
MISCELLANEOUS
CWE has announced a show open to the public on 6/12 in Winnipeg at Rookie’s Sports Bar. Itwill be restricted to only 100 spectators. Wearing a mask is recommended but not mandated and people are allowed to sit close with people they arrive wit but asked to stay away from others. They’ve also announced a tour throughout Canada form 10/17 to 11/9 with shows in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario.
Gino Gambino is donating proceeds for all his Pro Wrestling Tees sales for the rest of the year to Aboriginal Legal Services. Charli Evans, Jessica Troy, Kingsley and Shazza McKenzie are also donating their proceeds for this month through WrestlerMerch as well.
MLW Anthology this week will focus on Satoshi Kojima and his run as MLW champion with matches against Jerry Lynn, Vampiro and Johnny Smith.
This week’s ROH TV show will be featured around Brody King, including a match with Jeff Cobb.
VFW Magazine has an article on pro wrestler Ryan Oshun in the active duty U.S. Air Force.
There is a Go Fund Me for longtime subscriber and correspondent Jon Southerland, who is being treated at Clovis Community Hospital. He was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer that has spread to his liver and lungs. He was diagnosed in the first week of May. He’s currently in the ICU awaiting his first round of chemo.Chris Gonzalez is attempting to raise funds to assist in paying for his treatment and recovery. There are more details on the GoFundMe page.
Nick Aldis says he would like to defend his title against Joe Hennig in an interview with TSN 1200 in Ottawa: “The one that may surprise people but I really have faith and could really make magic with is Joe Hennig. Curtis Axel in WWE… I’m getting excited just talking about it but Joe and I attended Harley Race’s camp together in 2007 I think it was… We were all like that’s Curt Hennig’s kid. Wow. He’s just started wrestling and he was such a natural. I couldn’t believe it. I was just so envious. This perfect footwork and takes these perfect crisp flatback bumps. Perfect dropkick. I was like “I’ve been doing this for like 4 years and I can’t do it like that!”. You know for me I just don’t understand why and how that was never taken advantage of but in our world you can bet your ass that that’s how we do it. We would take you on that ride and tell you every part of that story and get you emotionally invested. Not to say that we would exploit any of those things but if anyone saw the build towards me and Cody and the emotion attached to that because of Dusty and because of what it meant to Cody. It’s genuine. It’s real. What it genuinely meant to Cody to get a shot at the title and what it meant to his family. I think that a lot of the same elements exist with Joe Hennig except with Joe Hennig it’s a real point to prove with him. I think two guys around the same age with very different paths but sort of converging at the same point in time with this ultimate prize on the line but both with real significant points to prove. I think it’s pretty hard to go wrong with that. “
Jorge Masvidal’s resurgent 2019 might not translate into an immediate big payday fight against Conor McGregor, but it appears he will get the next best thing: a UFC title shot.
During an appearance on Jim Rome’s radio show and Will Cain’s ESPN radio show Friday as part of Super Bowl week festivities, Dana White said that Masvidal (pictured above) will challenge welterweight champion Kamaru Usman during July’s International Fight Week in Las Vegas.
“That fight’s happening,” he said while airing frustrations about the verbal pull-apart conflict Masvidal and Usman had on Radio Row Wednesday while doing media. No agreements have been signed as of this writing.
White also told Rome that a Masvidal win might mean a subsequent title defense in his hometown of Miami, Florida. The UFC has only held one event in that city, UFC 42 back in 2003, headlined by then-welterweight champion Matt Hughes defeating Sean Sherk in front of less than 7000 people.
There was some hope Masvidal and McGregor would fight after McGregor’s dominant win over Donald Cerrone in January when Masvidal was in attendance. White, however, seems convinced on making the McGregor-Khabib Nurmagomedov rematch happen if the UFC lightweight champion can defeat Tony Ferguson in April.
Masvidal is coming off a November TKO win over Nate Diaz for the newly-created promotional tool known as the BMF title while Usman finished rival Colby Covington in December for Usman’s first title defense.
