Category Archives: Bloodyelbow.com

An ongoing investigation into betting irregularities reportedly kept coach James Krause out of the corner of Miles Johns

Moments after winning his fight at UFC Vegas 65, Miles Johns, who fights out of Glory MMA, told UFC commentator Michael Bisping, “My coach (James Krause), last night at the dinner table, got pulled and they said the UFC was suspending him so he couldn’t be here in my corner…” According to reports, Krause has not been formally suspended, but he was pulled from the event because of the ongoing investigation into betting irregularities surrounding the November 5 bout between the Krause-coached Darrick Minner and Shayilan Nuerdanbieke.

In the hours leading up to that fight, which took place on the UFC Vegas 64 card at the UFC Apex, Nuerdanbieke moved from a -220 favorite to -420. U.S. Integrity, a company that investigates betting irregularities, caught the line movement and notified sportsbooks. The organization also noted increased bets for Nuerdanbieke to win via first-round knockout and for the bout to last fewer than 2.5 rounds.

The bets that came in on Nuerdanbieke, who had zero previous finishes with the UFC, cashed when Nuerdanbieke capitalized on an injury to Minner’s leg and scored a knockout win 1:07 into the contest.

Following UFC Vegas 65, ESPN reported that while Krause had not been formally suspended by the UFC or the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC), the two organizations decided that the coach should not corner fighters while there is an open investigation. In addition to his coaching duties, Krause runs a Discord channel that focuses on MMA betting.

U.S. Integrity is not the only organization looking into the Nuerdanbieke vs Minner bout. Following UFC Vegas 64, the UFC released a statement that it would be looking into the betting around the fight.

“Like many professional sports organizations, UFC works with an independent betting integrity service to monitor wagering activity on our events,” the UFC statement read. “Our betting integrity partner, Don Best Sports, a leading global supplier of real-time betting data for North American sporting events, will conduct a thorough review of the facts and report its findings. At this time, we have no reason to believe either of the athletes involved in the bout, or anyone associated with their teams, behaved in an unethical or irresponsible manner.”

In mid-October, the UFC updated its code of conduct to prevent fighters from betting on UFC fights. The memo also noted:

“Athletes should also be aware that in most states these same prohibitions apply to some or all of (i) relatives living in the same household as an athlete. (ii) an athlete’s coaches, managers, handlers, athletic trainers, medical professionals and staff and (iii) any other person with access to non-public information regarding participants in any MMA match.”

The UFC released a statement to ESPN following UFC Vegas 65, which read:

”The wagering activity around the Darrick Minner and Shayilan Nuerdanbieke bout from November 5 remains under review by our betting integrity partner Don Best Sports. At this time, we have no information that either of the athletes involved in the bout, or anyone associated with their teams, was involved in any wrongdoing.”

Earlier this week, Nevada Deputy Attorney General Joel Bekker said during the NSAC meeting that an “injury occurred during training” and that the result of that pre-fight injury, “had all kind of effects on betting lines.”

Bekker added, “I believe we’re going to also take action against him for not disclosing the injury.”

The commission plans to address the issue at its next meeting. During the November meeting, the NSAC took action against Ilir Latifi for not disclosing a medical condition before his most recent fight.

In a precedent-setting ruling, the commission suspended Latifi for three months for not disclosing a staph infection on his pre-fight medical questionnaire. When handing down Latifi’s punishment, the commission noted that future repercussions could be more severe.

The NSAC did not comment on why Krause was not allowed to coach Johns at UFC Vegas 65.

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KSI will box Dillon Danis on January 14th in London, England.

Has the movie Idiocracy become a reality in the world of combat sports? Well, that very well could be the case as YouTube star KSI is officially booked against Dillon Danis in a boxing match. The bout is scheduled to take place on January 14, 2023 at Wembley Arena in London, England and the PPV will stream live on DAZN.

We already have some build up to this circus after Danis confronted KSI this past weekend and a skirmish broke out. Plus shortly after that incident, Anthony Taylor proceeded to clock Danis right in the face, which kicked off a parking lot brawl between opposing clans.

KSI is officially 1-0 (Logan Paul), but this year he did pick up two knockouts in boxing exhibitions against Luis Alcaraz Pineda and Brandon Scott. I’m afraid that this means that KSI is the experienced veteran in this scenario, and should be favored to get the win. Which reminds me to inform you to stay tuned to Bloody Elbow for those KSI vs. Dillon Danis betting odds that are coming soon!

Danis is a legit BJJ black belt, but known for his striking he is not. Although this will be his professional boxing debut, he does have a perfect 2-0 MMA record. Both of those matches were with Bellator, but things got dicey for him on the feet in those fights before he got his foes into his world. Parking lot scuffle aside, Dillon’s last scrap was in 2019, so there is a chance that his boxing has improved since then. It’s a small chance, but hey it’s still a chance nonetheless.

Is this matchup important? No. Will it be entertaining? It might be, but probably not as amusing as the lead up to the fight. Who do you got in this one?

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Check out all the action from KSI’s latest celebrity boxing spectacle.

This Saturday there is a really weird card competing against UFC Vegas: Lewis vs. Spivak for fight fans’ attention. However, this event, hosted by KSI’s Misfit Boxing promotion, probably draws people in who’ve never seen a UFC fight in their lives.

MF x DAZN: X Series 3 is a celebrity boxing event with a slight veneer of professionalism. The main event is Hashim Rahman Jr. (who was supposed to fight Jake Paul earlier this year) taking on disgraced former NFL player (and former UFC heavyweight) Grey Hardy (who is filling in for Vitor Belfort). This will be Hardy’s second ever pro boxing bout. He crushed a can a few months ago for his first.

The rest of the card is filled with influencers and reality TV stars.

The event starts at 6 p.m. ET on DAZN.

Full fight card/Results

Hasim Rahman Jr vs. Greg Hardy

Josh Brueckner vs. Chase DeMoor

King Kenny vs. DK Money

Deen The Great vs. Walid Sharks

Minikon vs. Nick Joseph

Faze Temperr vs. Overflow

Brandon Buckingham vs. Ice Poseidon

Live Stream

MF x DAZN: X Series 3 will air exclusively on DAZN across the globe excluding Russia, South Korea and MENA regions. Viewers in Argentina, Chile and Colombia can only watch the fight if they download the DAZN app from the Apple App Store or Android Google Play store and sign up as a subscriber there instead of via a web browser.

In the US DAZN costs $ 19.99 a month or $ 99.99 per year.

In Canada a monthly subscription to DAZN is $ 20 and an annual subscription is $ 150. In the UK you can get a monthly subscription for £7.99.

DAZN can be viewed on the following devices:

Mobile Devices

• iPhone, iPad
• Android phones, tablets
• Amazon Fire tablet

TV & Streaming Devices

• Amazon Fire TV
• Amazon Fire TV Stick
• Android TV
• Apple TV
• Google Chromecast
• LG Smart TV, Smartcast
• Panasonic Smart TV
• Samsung Smart TV
• Sony Smart TV

Games Consoles

• PlayStation 4
• PlayStation 5
• XBox One
• XBox Series X | S

Pay-Per-View events are available to watch either live or on-demand. Events will be available to buy, and to watch, for 7 days after they go live.

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Khamzat Chimaev wants to fight Alex Pereira in Brazil and then Colby Covington in London.

Khamzat Chimaev wants to fight Alex Pereira and Colby Covington in back-to-back fights just two months apart.

The wildman from Chechnya who fights out of Stockholm, Sweden revealed in a recent interview with MMA Fighting that he spoke with UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby about fighting Pereira in Brazil and then Covington in London.

‘Borz’ claims Shelby gave both matchups the green light but that Covington, the former interim welterweight champion, must come before Pereira, the newly-crowned middleweight king.

“Before, I was thinking if Kamaru Usman wins his fight, I will fight with him next,” Chimaev told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto in a recent interview (h/t MMA Fighting). “But he lost. And I was thinking if [Israel] Adesanya won his fight, who’s he going to fight? There’s only me. And he lost as well. Now [Pereira and Adesanya] want to rematch in March, I don’t know what they’re going to do.”

“So I said to Sean Shelby and Dana as well, I’m ready for Pereira in Brazil. Directly after that, March, if Colby wants to fight, I’d take my title and I’d go down to 170 and fight Colby as well.”

He continued: “Sean Shelby, I spoke with him [about Pereira] and he said first, ‘Yeah, let’s go brother, we’ll do it’. Then I don’t know what’s happening. He said, ‘OK brother, we’ll go Colby first.’ So maybe Colby, for me it doesn’t matter. Colby isn’t talking about the fight or about me, so you know how Colby is doing when he fights somebody, he doesn’t stop talking, so I don’t know. We will see.”

Khamzat (12-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) last fought at UFC 279 where he submitted Kevin Holland in a catchweight bout at 180 pounds. He is currently #3 in the UFC welterweight rankings and has only been taken to a decision once, finishing all but two of his UFC opponents in the first round.

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Check out this video of Daniel James pulling off a major upset by stopping Tyrell Fortune at Bellator 288.

We got a major heavyweight upset on the Bellator 288 main card when Daniel James stopped Tyrell Fortune with strikes in the second round.

Fortune, a hearty -300 betting favorite, had a pretty success opening round round. He was able to blast a takedown and locked up a full on rear-naked choke, but a +250 betting underdog in James leaned into his hand fighting to find a way out of that terrible situation.

The ending came early in the second round as the fighters were exchanging in the pocket. As Fortune went to throw an overhand heater, he missed big and overextended himself. Misfortune struck Fortune as the hometown fighter in James reached all the way down into the Chicago soil to load up one of the most heavyweight uppercuts that you will ever see. The former NCAA wrestling champion tried to roll out of the way, but he was late to the party due to missing big with that overhand.

The devastating blow sent Tyrell crashing down to the canvas, and from there Daniel got on top of and proceeded to drop elbow after elbow. The referee gave Fortune a chance to improve his position, but it was clear that this match was over and done with.

The 40-year-old James is 14-6-1 overall, and his professional debut was actually at Bellator 112 back in 2014. He fought for LFA a couple of times earlier in his career, but his last six-outings occurred on the Russian circuit. It wasn’t until facing Fortune here that he made his return to Scott Coker. It looks like Bellator have added themselves a new heavyweight knockout artist to the mix that actually cuts weight to make the limit.

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Check out all the action from Bellator 288.

Bellator is in the Windy City today with two of its titles on the line. In the main event, Bellator 288 will host a rematch between Vadim Nemkov and Corey Anderson for Nemkov’s Bellator light heavyweight title.

Anderson challenged Nemkov for this title earlier this year, in the finale of the promotion’s light heavyweight grand prix. However, an accidental clash of heads forced that bout to become a no contest.

The co-main has Patricky Pitbull putting his Bellator lightweight title on the the line versus Team Khabib member Usman Nurmagomedov.

The prelims can be viewed live below, on YouTube. The stream starts at 6 p.m. ET.

The main card is available on YouTube for folks outside the US. You can view those here, starting from 9 p.m. ET. People in the US can catch the main card on Showtime.

Quick results:

Main card:

Vadim Nemkov def. Corey Anderson via unanimous decision (48-47, 49-46, 49-46)

Usman Nurmagomedov def. Patricky Pitbull via unanimous decision (50-45, 50-44, 50-44)

Timur Khizriev def. Daniel Weichel via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)

Daniel James def. Tyrell Fortune via TKO (elbows) – Round 2, 0:27

Levan Chokheli def. Roman Faraldo via unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27, 29-27)

Prelims:

Imamshafi Aliev def. Sean Fallon via TKO (cut) – Round 1, 3:20

Killys Mota def. Jairo Pacheco via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Archie Colgan def. Jesse Hannam via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 0:50

Sullivan Cauley def. Jay Radick via KO (punches) – Round 1, 1:01

Jordan Newman def. Jayden Taulker via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 3:20

Laird Anderson def. Rob Fenicle via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 2:28

Isaiah Hokit def. Matias Nader via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 3:48

Wladmir Gouvea def. Kory Moegenburg via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 1:46

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The legendary heavyweight will have one more shot at gold before calling it a career. 

Fedor Emelianenko is getting a championship opportunity in the final fight of his legendary career.

CBS Sports’ Brent Brookhouse and Shakiel Mahjouri report that Emelianenko and reigning Bellator heavyweight champion Ryan Bader are expected to headline Bellator 290, the upcoming event scheduled for Feb. 4, 2023, at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California. Bellator 290 airs on CBS, which is the first time the promotion will host an event on the network.

“We have been working tirelessly on growing this brand into the global powerhouse it is today and a primetime slot on CBS has always been one of our key objectives,” said Bellator president Scott Coker in a press release. “With a healthy roster full of many of the world’s very best fighters, along with elite up-and-coming prospects and legends of the game, I’m very excited to showcase this event on the most-watched network in America.”

Emelianenko and Bader have fought before at Bellator 214, where the ‘Last Emperor’ was knocked out by ‘Darth’ in 35 seconds in the Heavyweight World Grand Prix finals over three years ago. Emelianenko rebounded with first-round KOs of Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson and Timothy Johnson at Bellator 237 and Bellator 269, respectively.

Following his win over Johnson, Emelianenko revealed that he had one more fight on his current contract with Bellator and set his sights on a rematch with Bader.

Bader retained the heavyweight title in his first defense at Bellator 226 after Cheick Kongo could no longer continue due to an accidental eye poke. The Power MMA Team product dropped down to light heavyweight for his next defense of that title, only to lose it to Vadim Nemkov by second-round TKO. The former two-division champion would stay at 205 to compete in the Light Heavyweight World Grand Prix, but was taken out by Corey Anderson in the semifinals.

Bader returned to heavyweight in 2022, successfully defending his title twice against Valentin Moldavsky and the aforementioned Kongo.

Also announced for Bellator 290 is a fight between the winner of Vadim Nemkov vs. Corey Anderson 2 and Yoel Romero for the light heavyweight championship.

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“Dude, the way he [Adesanya] responded to that loss is better than anybody ever.”

Joe Rogan thinks Israel Adesanya handled his UFC 281 stoppage loss to Alex Pereira like a true champion.

Pereira defeated Adesanya for the third time (2-0 in kickboxing) after stopping ‘The Last Stylebender’ with a vicious flurry of punches against the fence in the fifth and final round of the UFC 281 main event to become the new middleweight champion.

Adesanya handled the loss particularly well considering it was his first TKO loss in MMA and the first time he had lost the middleweight championship. Rogan credited the dethroned champ for showing up to the UFC 281 post-fight press conferences in defeat and making no excuses for his performance, claiming he handled ‘that loss better than anybody ever’.

“Dude, the way he responded to that loss is better than anybody ever,” Rogan said on his Joe Rogan Experience podcast (h/t MMA Fighting). “The dude shows up to the press conference with a f****** fur coat like a king. Dope-ass watch on and just says, ‘He got me.’ He basically said ‘the hunter is now the hunted, I’m coming after him, I’m going to find a way to beat that dude. I was on my way to beating him, and he got me.’

“He was honest about all of it. About how Pereira landed a bunch of calf kicks early on and f***** up his leg and he couldn’t move right. Those calf kicks have changed the game.”

Adesanya later revealed he was ‘disappointed’ with the stoppage but didn’t blame referee Marc Goddard for his decision. Some fighters feel the fight was stopped too early, but Rogan believes Goddard made the right call and saved Adesanya from unnecessary damage.

“I don’t think Pereira was going to stop,” Rogan said. “He had more time, ‘Izzy’ was stationary and Pereira was gonna hit him with some big shots. We don’t need to see ‘Izzy’ with his eyes rolled back behind his head flat out unconscious. I think it was a good stoppage.

“I could see where he’d be upset about it, too. I could see where other fights have gone on longer and they have, but it’s a subjective call and Marc Goddard is one of the very best in the world. He’s top 2 or 3, he might be No. 2, I think Herb Dean’s No. 1. He was saying ‘Bring back Steve Mazzagatti.’ (laughs) Then he went on Andrew Schulz’s podcast on Monday, they were drinking, having fun. He handled it very, very well.”

Following the fight, Adesanya called for an immediate rematch, claiming that Pereira won the battle but that he will win the war.

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A pair of heavy-handed light heavyweights is headed Down Under. 

Jimmy Crute is gearing up for his return to the Octagon.

The UFC announced that Crute and Alonzo Menifield have agreed to fight at UFC 284, the upcoming pay-per-view event scheduled for Feb. 12 at the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia.

Following two ‘Performance of the Night’ awarded finishes of Michał Oleksiejczuk and Modestas Bukauskas, Crute suffered back-to-back losses to Anthony Smith and Jamahal Hill. The ‘Brute’ would spend 2022 on the sidelines as he underwent knee reconstruction surgery. According to Crute, the surgery was necessary to avoid a potentially ‘career-ending injury’ after years of accumulating damage throughout his career.

Now recovered, the No. 12 ranked light heavyweight has quite a test ahead of him in Menifield.

‘Atomic’ has won four of his past five fights. He rebounded from a unanimous decision loss to William Knight with two consecutive first-round (T)KOs of Askar Mozharov and Misha Cirkunov at UFC Vegas 56 and UFC Vegas 62, respectively.

UFC 284 is headlined by a lightweight championship fight between Islam Makhachev and Alexander Volkanovski.

The current line-up is as follows (in no particular order):

• Islam Makhachev vs. Alexander Volkanovski
• Yair Rodriguez vs. Josh Emmett
• Robert Whittaker vs. Paulo Costa
• Kai Kara-France vs. Alex Perez
• Tyson Pedro vs. Zhang Mingyang
• Jimmy Crute vs. Alonzo Menifield
• Justin Tafa vs. Parker Porter
• Joshua Culibao vs. Melski Baghdasaryan
• Shannon Ross vs. Kleydson Rodrigues
• Jack Jenkins vs. Don Shainis

Stay tuned to Bloody Elbow for more updates to event as they become available in the coming weeks.

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Smith has been out of action nursing injuries for the last several months, but that doesn’t appear to have dimmed his competitive spirits.

It seems Anthony Smith still hasn’t forgotten that promo Ryan Spann cut heading into their 2021 Fight Night main event. Attempting to channel Rorschach’s line from the watchem about Smith being “locked in here with me,” Spann was quickly made to eat his words when the two men stepped in the cage on fight night, with Smith picking up the first round submission.

‘Lionheart’ has been out of action for the last several months, dealing with an ankle injury, knee surgeries, and multiple infections, but it doesn’t seem the extended time riding the bench has dulled his competitive instincts at all.

Coming off a big win over Dominick Reyes at UFC 281, Spann issued a callout to the top five of the light heavyweight division. Most specifically, for his chance to fight at UFC gold. In a recent appearance on Michael Bisping’s Believe You Me podcast, Smith took a moment to remind Spann to ‘check the record.’

“I don’t know what happened in our fight that left him with any kind of confidence that he can still beat me or that he deserves a rematch,” Smith said (transcript via MMA Mania). “I had him on ice skates until he was shooting takedowns, I strangled him, and then stood over his body, reminding him what he was going to do to me. So, he’s my b—ch forever and he knows it.”

While Smith has denied any interest in re-matching Spann in the past, this time around he did sound a little more open to the idea—provided, of course, that Spann works his way up to it.

“Eventually, he may work himself into a situation where we’re gonna rematch, but I already fought down when I gave him an opportunity,” Smith continued. “Until he does something where I go, ‘Oh, wow. That was super impressive,’ he can f—k off. Him being an asshole didn’t work out for him the last time. He barely handled the first fight, how’s he gonna handle the second?”

Although no fight announcement has been made, Smith has stated that he’s ready to return to action and expects his next bout to be made public soon. Most recently, the Factory X talent suffered a TKO loss to Magomed Ankalaev, back in July at UFC 277. That fight broke a streak of three-straight victories for the 34-year-old.

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