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UFC 275 Weigh-in
Photo by Yong Teck Lim/Getty Images

Check out the fifth episode of Embedded for UFC 275.

FC 275 is almost here, and as usual, Embedded is here as well. The show that gives you an inside look at the marquee contestants on PPVs has issued the fifth episode for this weekend’s big show in Singapore, and it serves as a brief introduction to the fighters at the top of the card.

We start off with Jiri Prochazka, who is doing a light workout after a long day of media. They’re doing a lot of ground work.

Weili Zhang talks about the face-off with opponent Joanna Jedrzejczyk, saying that Joanna was so sweet and that she told her she was beautiful. She expects the rematch to be as vicious as the first fight. But she wants to dominate.

We get our first Embedded look at Jack Della Maddalena in the workout room. He’s excited to be the first fight on the PPV and to get a winning streak going.

Valentina Shevchenko tells Michael Bisping and DC that isn’t going to get overconfident. She wants the finish but will fight five rounds if needed. She doesn’t think Taila Santos can win anywhere. Santos’ coach says that part of training is to hold the beast back until the actual fight.

Glover Teixeira walks in to some applause and he’s very jovial as always. After everyone there makes fun of “soft” Bisping for a bit, Glover says his best weapon is his grappling and he plans to use it, because that also helps your striking by mixing it up. The joking continues when Glover asks Bisping if he’s the same weight as Cormier now. That was funny. DC says Bisping’s 225. Glover picks him up and he’s like, “230! He’s 230!”

And that’s it! UFC 275 goes down tomorrow in Singapore.

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Jake Paul’s return set for Aug. 6 at MSG

by Site Admin ~ June 10th, 2022

Amanda Serrano and Jake Paul.
Amanda Serrano and Jake Paul. | Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images

Jake Paul’s return to the boxing ring is less than two months away.

Jake Paul’s next fight will be at Madison Square Garden.

The YouTube sensation turned professional boxer announced on his social media that he’ll headline a Showtime PPV card at the famed arena in New York on August 6th. In the co-main event, Amanda Serrano will defend her featherweight titles in her first appearance since her narrow loss to Katie Taylor up at lightweight.

Opponents for both fighters have yet to be announced.

Paul (5-0, 4 KOs) spent his 2021 fighting former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley. He won the first one by eight-round split decision, then iced Woodley in the rematch via 6th round KO. He was supposed to face Tommy Fury in lieu of a Woodley rematch, but Fury withdrew due to injury and Woodley subbed in. While not confirmed, Eddie Hearn indicated that Paul vs. Fury would most likely be next.

Serrano (42-2-1, 30 KOs) is coming off a split decision defeat to Katie Taylor in what was the biggest women’s boxing match in history. Both women earned seven-figure purses and filled up MSG with their boisterous fanbases. The seven-division world champion currently holds the WBC and WBO titles at 126 lbs, and on Twitter she said she would be “back at my natural weight.” Serrano, who is promoted by Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions, has fought on Paul’s last two pay-per-view main events, including her most recent title defense over Yamileth Mercado in August.

Obviously by returning to featherweight, a Taylor vs. Serrano rematch won’t be immediate.

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UFC 275 Weigh-in
Photo by Yong Teck Lim/Getty Images

Check out the fourth episode of Embedded for UFC 275.

UFC 275 is almost here, and as usual, Embedded is here as well. The show that gives you an inside look at the marquee contestants on PPVs has issued the fourth episode for this weekend’s big show in Singapore, and it serves as a brief introduction to the fighters at the top of the card.

We start off with Jiri Prochazka, who is out exploring Singapore with his coaches. He is happy to be there, and they sit down to a nice dinner. Glover Teixeira is training at the hotel, and said that 20 years ago to the day was his MMA debut in the WEC. He’s been in the UFC for 10 years now. His coach says he always goes hard in practice.

Joanna Jedrzejczyk does a photoshoot and sings a little as well. Then does some media with DC, saying that she’s crafty and just has to use the right skillset to beat Weili. Weili shows off her abs for a picture. She then does some media as well. Glover tells a media member a story about telling his grandpa that he was the champion, and his grandpa just kept repeating “of the entire world?”. Glover gets emotional, saying that his grandpa said he’d probably not be around if he could become champion, but he’s 96 and still there.

Prochazka says he has been working on his wrestling and grappling since the start of the year and is prepared for anything Teixeira has for him. Glover greets the other fighters in line to do media. Taila Santos says she sees flaws in Valentina Shevchenko’s game and will exploit them. Valentina explains that all her opponents say that but no one has done it yet.

They do face-offs. Everyone is respectful. Weili tells Joanna she looks beautiful.

And that’s it! UFC 275 goes down this weekend in Singapore.

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Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson face off for their UFC 249 matchup in 2020.
Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson face off for their UFC 249 matchup in 2020. | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Dana White says he’s ‘sold’ on the idea of having Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov as opposing coaches on the Ultimate Fighter.

Even after five attempts, the UFC failed to make the much-hyped matchup between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson. The two men have since gone their respective paths, with “The Eagle” heading into retirement and “El Cucuy” falling from grace and into an unfortunate skid.

Nonetheless, the what-ifs between the two men remain to be a hot topic. Recently, Khabib brought up the idea of possibly coaching against Ferguson in a future season of The Ultimate Fighter reality show. He even sent a personal message to UFC president Dana White to make it happen.

“If me and Tony, we’re gonna Ultimate Fighter coach, I think they can create some good content,” Khabib told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto in a recent interview. “If they interested, if Dana respond my message…”

“I don’t wanna give him pressure, but Dana, we have to finish two business: Islam Makhachev and Ultimate Fighter. Please, call me back, brother. Because if you don’t call me back, I’m gonna be in Vegas, June. Then you have to send me message, and your location.

“Be careful, Dana. We have to finish our business, brother. Call me back.”

White never seemed to get that message until recently, when he appeared on Barstool Sports’ My Mom’s Basement with Robbie Fox. And he says he’s on board with the idea.

“I’ll consider it. Congratulations. I will absolutely entertain that idea,” he said. “Hopefully, they’ll get pissed off enough with each other that they actually want to fight.

“I’m in. You sold me.”

The 33-year-old Khabib retired after his UFC 254 title defense against Justin Gaethje to end his career with a 29-0 slate. The 38-year-old Ferguson (25-7), meanwhile, is on a four-fight losing streak. He last fought at UFC 274 against Michael Chandler in May where he was viciously knocked out cold with a single front kick to the chin in the second round.

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Connelly & Laramie in latest batch of UFC cuts

by Site Admin ~ June 10th, 2022

Tristan Connelly celebrates his 2019 victory over Michel Pereira.
Tristan Connelly celebrates his 2019 victory over Michel Pereira. | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC

It looks like the UFC isn’t done trimming back its roster with the apparent release of another four fighters from the promotion.

With the news that the UFC had cut five fighters from its roster this week, it seemed highly likely that we hadn’t seen the end of the promotion’s spring housecleaning. True to expectations, it looks like another four fighters will be finding their next MMA bouts outside the Octagon.

That news comes from the removal of a fresh batch of athletes from the UFC.com online rosters, as tracked by the UFC Roster Watch Twitter bot. Most notable among the apparent releases is former welterweight-turned-featherweight Tristan Connelly. The Canadian fighter made an electric UFC debut back in 2019, defeating current rising contender Michel Pereira by decision. Unfortunately for Connelly, his career has since been hampered by injuries. A 2021 move to featherweight resulted in back-to-back losses, to Pat Sabatini and Darren Elkins.

Joining Connelly is fellow Canadian featherweight TJ Laramie. A standout regionally, Laramie punched his ticket to the UFC during the 2020 Contender Series season. Laramie went 0-2 with the world’s largest MMA promotion, however, with a first round sub loss to Darrick Minner and his own decision loss to Sabatini this last April.

TSN’s Aaron Bronsteter confirmed Connelly & Laramie had been released from the promotion.

Felipe Colares and Niklas Stolze round out the reported cuts. Colares suffered the first stoppage loss of his career in May, in a 3rd round TKO defeat to Chase Hooper—also losing back-to-back fights for the first time in the process. Stolze went 0-3 during his brief UFC career, dropping fights to Ramazan Emeev, Jared Gooden, and Benoit Saint-Denis. His losses to Gooden and Saint-Denis marked the first stoppage defeats of his career as well.

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Glover Teixeira is set to face Jiri Prochazka at UFC 275.
Glover Teixeira is set to face Jiri Prochazka at UFC 275. | Photo by Yong Teck Lim/Getty Images

Champion Glover Teixeira is promising an exciting title defense against Jiri Prochazka at UFC 275.

Just a couple of days away from his first title defense, light heavyweight champion Glover Teixeira has one of the most dangerous contenders in the division ahead of him. Jiri Prochazka is expected to bring one of the most unpredictable styles and some of the most fearsome knockout power into the fight, but the Brazilian sounds confident that he’ll show why he’s the champ.

In an interview with Ag Fight, Glover made sure to remind fans and pundits that he’s got plenty of his own credentials as a knockout artist. Even though Teixeira’s has only one win via strikes in the past six years, the 42-year-old vows to give ‘Denisa’ a hard time on the feet right from the start.

“I’ll beat him up. That’s what you expect of me and that’s what I always deliver,” Glover explained. “People who have seen me in the beginning of my career, when I fought at Bitetti, Shooto and up until my Jon Jones fight in the UFC [know how I am]. Then when I fought Gustafsson with a broken nose, still going after him. That’s what I’ve always done. I’ll go after him and I’ll rough him up. I don’t need to talk, because I do it. I’m looking for the finish, for sure.”

A Brazilian jiu-jitsu blackbelt, Teixeira has been able to rely on his grappling to score important wins on his road to capturing his late-career championship, especially when things got rough on the feet. Although he does not believe Prochazka will try to engage him on the ground and expects a striking battle, the Brazilian is ready to take advantage of any opportunities that might come along in the fight.

“He’s unpredictable. You’ve got to expect anything and be ready for anything all the time,” Teixeira said of his opponent. “I have to do my thing. I don’t think he’ll look for a ground fight, because he knows I’m strong there. We’ll see. I’m ready and focused for this fight. No kidding. I don’t think about my opponents too much. I’ve been sharpening my hands, too. People forget that I also have lots of knockout wins in my career. It’s good that they forget, though, because my hands are sharp.”

Currently on a six-fight winning streak, Teixeira (33-7) defeated notable names such as Jan Blachowicz, Thiago Santos and Anthony Smith on his climb to the top of the division. His last defeat came in July 2018, when he dropped a unanimous decision to Corey Anderson.

Teixeira vs. Prochazka is set for the UFC 275 main event, on June 11, in Singapore. In the night’s co-main event, women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko is scheduled to face challenger Taila Santos.

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Light heavyweight champion, Glover Teixeira, is an underdog to Jiri Prochazka in the UFC 275 main event
Light heavyweight champion, Glover Teixeira, is an underdog to Jiri Prochazka in the UFC 275 main event | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Check out the midweek betting odds for Saturday’s UFC 275 card, where light heavyweight champion, Glover Teixeira, is an underdog yet again… this time to Jiri Prochazka.

UC 275 is going down this Saturday, June 11th, from the Singapore Indoor Stadium in… well, Singapore. The UFC’s light heavyweight title will sway in the balance in the main event when the champ, Glover Teixeira, takes on his challenger, Jiri Prochazka. Before we get to the betting odds, you might want to sit down because you’re in store for a major shock.

Oh wait! Glover being an underdog isn’t a surprise at all. In fact, it’s actually pretty standard at this point. Unlike the champion in the UFC 275 co-main event, flyweight queen Valentina Shevchenko, this will be the fourth straight time that Teixeira is clocking in with a plus line. Against the odds, Glover stopped Anthony Smith with strikes, choked out Thiago Santos, and then slapped an RNC on Jan Blachowicz to win the strap. Do the bookies care? No, and the 42-year-old is currently available as a +170 dog.

Is probability broken? Probably, but it’s darn difficult to pick against Jiri Prochazka when pitted against anyone at 205-pounds. He’s been incredibly lethal, and in a variety of ways, knocking out the last ten people that stood across from him in a cage. This division is one that highly rewards the sort of freak athleticism that Jiri possesses, and it’s hard to envision an aged Teixeira being able to stand up to his firepower. The oddsmakers feel the same way and are offering up Prochazka as a -200 betting favorite.

Check out the UFC 275 betting odds, courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook:

Be sure to check back in with Bloody Elbow to catch the final betting odds on fight day, as the moneylines tend to shift a bit following the weigh-ins. Don’t forget to subscribe to our Bloody Elbow Presents YouTube channel to stay up to date with all of our podcast content. Happy hunting!

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The far-right figure appeared on an episode of Tyson’s ‘Hot Boxin’ podcast that never made air.

Following in Joe Rogan’s footsteps, Mike Tyson became the latest combat sports figure to platform radical right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on his popular podcast.

The legendary boxer hosted Jones on a recent episode of his ‘Hot Boxin’ podcast. However, the episode was reportedly nixed due to pressure from corporate entities.

Tyson also faced backlash from fans who questioned his decision to platform a dangerous conspiracy theorist. The former world champion responded by accusing his critics of communism.

“Communists man,” Tyson said during a recent appearance on Jones’ show. “If he is bad then we all don’t like him and if you like him you’re bad too. That’s communism.”

Jones has long been banned from all major platforms, including Spotify, which canceled ‘The Alex Jones Show’ in 2018 “due to repeated violations of Spotify’s prohibited content policies.”

Jones has peddled conspiracies about white genocide, vaccines, 9/11, and climate change. He claimed that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012 and the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018 were false flag operations, which led to parents of victims and survivors being harassed and threatened.

Despite being a media pariah, Jones has made regular appearances on popular podcasts such as The Joe Rogan Experience. During his most appearance in October 2020, Jones discussed his doubts about climate change, Hunter Biden, vaccine concerns, globalists, and the influence of tech companies on freedom of speech.

As for Tyson, his Hot Boxin podcast has hosted notable guests such as William Shatner, Terry Crews, Dennis Rodman, Jimmy Kimmel, LL Cool J, and Snoop Dogg.

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UFC cuts Last Samurai

by Site Admin ~ June 9th, 2022

Louis Smolka prepares for his bout with Davey Grant at UFC Vegas 54.
Louis Smolka prepares for his bout with Davey Grant at UFC Vegas 54. | Photo by Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC

Louis Smolka is among five fighters who have parted ways with the world’s largest MMA promotion following recent losses.

Moving into summer, with a new ‘Road to the UFC’ tournament series about to kick off and another round of Dana White’s Contender Series on the horizon, it’s no surprise that the UFC may be looking to lean down their roster a bit. To that end, it seems the last couple fight cards have provided a few opportunities for a late spring cleaning.

Following reports from the UFC Roster Watch twitter feed (a bot that keeps track of updates to the UFC website), Louis Smolka has confirmed his release from the world’s largest MMA promotion. ‘Da Last Samurai’ first hit the Octagon way back in 2014, as part of the recently developed men’s flyweight division, opening his UFC run with a 5-1 record. That streak included an unlikely Fight Night main event slot against Paddy Holohan in Dublin, Ireland—following the cancellation of the original main event between Joe Duffy and Dustin Poirier, just days out from the event.

Smolka was released from the UFC in late 2017, after suffering four straight losses. But, a run of three wins down on the regionals saw him back in the big show just 11 months later. The 30-year-old out of Kapolei, HI had alternated wins and losses over his second UFC stint, unfortunately he broke that trend with back-to-back KO defeats—most recently losing to Davey Grant at UFC on ESPN: Blachowicz vs. Rakic in May. No word just yet as to where Smolka expects to land for his next fight, although he doesn’t sound despondent over hitting free agency.

Joining Smolka is longtime women’s strawweight fighter Felice Herrig. The ‘Lil’ Bulldog’ returned to action for the first time in two years, after dealing with multiple ACL injuries, to take on former title contender Karolina Kowalkiewicz at UFC Vegas: Volkov vs. Rozenstruik back on June 4th. Kowalkiewicz won the bout via second round submission, after which Herrig announced her retirement from MMA. She leaves behind a 14-10 record over 13-years of competition, including a 5-6 record inside the Octagon.

Andreas Michailidis, Frank Camacho, and Alex Da Silva are the other fighters listed as having been removed from the promotion’s roster. Michailidis and Da Silva both suffered decision losses on the same June 4th card Herrig competed on. The Brazilian’s release is somewhat surprising considering many felt that his bout with Joe Solecki should have been scored a draw. However both he and Michailidis found themselves at 1-3 with the promotion following their latest defeats.

Camacho last competed on the same Blachowicz vs. Rakic fight card where Smolka suffered his defeat to Grant. The ‘Crank’ was knocked out in the first round by debuting lightweight Manuel Torres. That loss brought the 33-year-old to a 2-6 record inside the Octagon, with four stoppage losses—three inside the first round.

With a non-stop string of UFC events just around the corner, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a few more fighters on the chopping block before the promotion goes on their usual Contender Series signing spree, starting in late July. Stay tuned to Bloody Elbow for more news and notes.

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Alex Perez’s booking woes continue

by Site Admin ~ June 8th, 2022

Alex Perez steps into the cage for his 2020 bout against Deiveson Figueiredo.
Alex Perez steps into the cage for his 2020 bout against Deiveson Figueiredo. | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

The top-ranked flyweight hasn’t competed in more than a year-and-a-half, despite having a half-dozen fights booked.

Heading into a fight against Deiveson Figueiredo in late 2020, it seemed like Alex Perez was poised to be a player in the UFC’s flyweight division for years to come. He was 6-1 inside the Octagon, with his lone loss coming to perennial title contender Joseph Benavidez.

Even a quick submission loss to Figueiredo didn’t exactly feel like a death sentence in a division that has long struggled to find new contenders and given multiple opportunities to fighters who could put together more wins than losses on a consistent basis. Almost two years later, however, and fans could be forgiven for carving Perez out of the contender’s circle altogether, even while he retains his #6 ranking in the division.

Perez is now facing his sixth straight cancelled UFC booking, with the recent report that Askar Askarov has withdrawn from his planned July 16th bout against the Team Oyama talent.

Perez and Askarov were first set to face off in July of 2021, before an injury forced Askarov off that card. The UFC then tried to book Perez against Matt Schnell for September (a fight they had previously targeted for May), but that fight was pushed back to December for undisclosed reasons. Unfortunately a fight week medical issue with Schnell delayed the booking again to February of this year, at which point Perez missed weight and the fight was abandoned altogether.

Due to the repeated cancellations, Perez has not competed since losing to Figueiredo back in late 2020. Hopefully the UFC can find a replacement bout to keep him on the Long Island Fight Night event. At this point just getting to step in the cage seems like it’d be a pretty big success story.

UFC on ABC 3 takes place at the UBS Arena in Elmont, NY. The card is expected to be headlined by a featherweight top contender’s bout between Brian Ortega and Yair Rodriguez.

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