November 4, 2022, marks five years since Georges St-Pierre’s most recent UFC fight

Former two-division UFC champion Georges St-Pierre last fought on November 4, 2017. St-Pierre, who returned to the octagon after nearly four years of inactivity, defeated Michael Bisping on that night to claim the UFC middleweight title. That date is significant because on November 4, 2022, it will be five years since St-Pierre fought under the UFC banner.

The five years that St-Pierre has been away from the octagon are significant because sometime in 2017 the UFC reportedly changed their promotional agreements. That change put a maximum period on those deals of five years. It seems as if St-Pierre was under one of those updated deals when he signed to fight Bisping in 2017 because the UFC Hall of Famer recently announced (perhaps a few days prematurely) that he is no longer under contract with the UFC.

“I don’t know the exact date, but I’m glad I’m free,” St-Pierre told MMA Junkie. “I can do whatever I want. But my days of trying to prove I’m the strongest guy in the world are gone, you know what I mean?”

It does not sound like St-Pierre is interested in returning to MMA or trying his hand at boxing, but he also did not slam the door shut on the possibility of participating in some type of athletic competition.

“I could do something, but it needs to be something well organized, and maybe something where the risks of injury are to the minimum, not something that’s too crazy because my days of competing are over,” St-Pierre said. “If I do it, I will do it well and train my ass off. You never say never, but it needs to be in the right timing. We’ll see.”

Bloody Elbow’s business expert John Nash also chimed in on the possible end date of his contract.

St-Pierre’s career MMA record stands at 26-2. He was a two-time UFC welterweight champion. His second title reign began in April 2008 when he defeated the man who ended his first run as champ, Matt Serra. St-Pierre defended his crown nine times before stepping away from the sport in November 2013 following his split decision win over Johny Hendricks.

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A rundown of the biggest headlines and news from the world of competitive grappling.

A new EBI absolute champion was crowned this past weekend, with EBI 20 marking the first time that Gordon Ryan was not competing for the title. Two of his teammates were vying for the title however, as both Giancarlo Bodoni and Luke Griffith were invited to compete. In the end it was Nicky Rodriguez who emerged victorious, after he submitted Ezequiel Zurita in the opening round and finished Griffith in EBI overtime in the quarterfinal.

Rodriguez then submitted Austin Baker in the semifinal to book his place in the final. Opposite him was Kyle Boehm, who had submitted all three of his opponents in less than fourteen minutes in total. The two men battled their way through the regulation time before going to EBI overtime, where Boehm is undoubtedly an expert. Rodriguez got the finish by rear-naked choke in the end though and walked away with the grand prize.

Full results for the event can be found here.

Janaina Lebre announces her arrival at IBJJF Grand Prix 2022

The IBJJF Grand Prix also took place this past weekend and it featured the very first female edition, with four Lightweight women battling it out. With multiple-time world champions in the bracket, many fans would have overlooked the young Janaina Lebre coming into it. She made sure that will never happen again though, because she managed to defeat both Luiza Monteiro and Anna Rodrigues on points.

There was also a men’s Medium-Heavyweight tournament as well, where the opening round saw Isaque Bahiense submit Andre Porfirio and Manuel Ribamar defeated Ronaldo Junior by just two points. The final had plenty of action in a tough match between Bahiense and Ribamar but in the end, Bahiense managed to score two advantages and win by the thinnest of margins.

Full results for the event can be found here.

Claire North dominates at Medusa 3

Medusa is going from strength to strength and the all-female promotion has just staged their third event. As always there were two tournaments under both Combat Jiu-Jitsu and EBI rules, featuring flyweights and bantamweights respectively this time around. Bre Stikk put on a great display in the CJJ division, submitting both of her first opponents in regulation time before defeating Kiaya Jackson in EBI overtime in the final.

It was Claire North who really stole the show though, as she took just a little over five minutes to submit all three of the women she faced in the EBI division. She started out by catching Leticia Yuka with a Z-lock in less than a minute before submitting Sophia Casella with an armbar in around a minute and a half. The final was her longest match of the night, but it still took her less than three minutes to lock up a Kimura against Peyton Letcher.

Full results for the event can be found here.

Gordon Ryan gets called out by everyone

It’s tough at the top, and Gordon Ryan is most definitely at the top of the BJJ world. After his incredible performance at ADCC 2022 where he dethroned Andre Galvao as the superfight champion and became the first person to win a gold medal in three different weightclasses, it’s no surprise that a lot of competitors want a piece of the action. He’s undoubtedly the biggest name in the sport so it only makes sense for athletes to challenge him.

The most recent person who wanted a match against Ryan was Tye Ruotolo, but Ryan was so confident that he would dominate him that he was prepared to fight both him and his brother Kade one after the other. Shortly after that Ronaldo Junior gave an interview after his third-place finish at the IBJJF Grand Prix and he also asked for a match against Gordon Ryan, but he wanted it to be in the gi instead.

Quick Hits

• Thor star Chris Hemsworth was spotted at the IBJJF Pan Pacific tournament supporting his twin sons competing under their coach, Thalison Soares.
• Danielle Kelly is set to compete against a Russian Sambo champion, Mariia Molchanova, on a ONE Championship card set for November 18th.
• Nate Diaz was removed by security at the Jake Paul v Anderson Silva boxing match after he and his team were involved in a backstage brawl.
• Kyle Boehm made some huge accusations, alleging that John Danaher’s students have fixed matches when they meet in competition and intended to do so again at EBI 20.

Technique Corner

D’arce from top Half-guard, to Anaconda Choke

Butterfly guard to Kani Basami, to Heelhook

Berimbolo counter to the Omoplata

Meme of the Week

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Jake Paul is now the betting favorite in a potential boxing bout with Nate Diaz.

The YouTube sensation turned prizefighter known as Jake Paul just produced a unanimous decision victory in a boxing match with MMA royalty in Anderson Silva. On the mic after his match, Paul called out the now ex-UFC fighter Nate Diaz, who is fresh off of an MMA victory over Tony Ferguson. After Diaz sub’d Ferguson back in September, betting odds surfaced for a potential boxing match between him and Jake Paul. After Jake bested “The Spider,” those odds were drastically changed.

Last month Diaz opened up as a -200 betting favorite, with a +150 comeback on Paul. That line has now completely shifted around, with Paul now being heavily favored over Diaz. Jake is now listed as a sizable -260 betting favorite, and a $ 100 bet his way stands to make a profit of $ 38.46. Diaz has now fallen deep into underdog territory at +200, so dropping a $ 100 on Nate could possibly payout $ 300 altogether.

The website states that this fight must happen in 2023, it must be boxing only, and they can use any size gloves. The winner also must be declared at ringside.

With both fighters appearing down for a boxing match against one another, and with the build up seeming to have already begun, it feels like it’s only a matter of time before Jake and Nate have a fight date. You probably won’t be surprised these two get booked, but are you surprised at the odds flip?

Check out the betting odds for Jake Paul vs. Nate Diaz, courtesy of Sportsbetting.ag:

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Nate Diaz suggests Anderson Silva was on the payroll against Jake Paul.

Nate Diaz has suggested Anderson Silva was on the ‘payroll’ against Jake Paul as the Stockton local isn’t convinced the latter won the fight legitimately.

“Your all on payroll,” Diaz Tweeted with a video of rap legend Tupac saying he doesn’t “support the phonies”.

Diaz’s comments come after the UFC veteran and fan favorite reportedly started a backstage brawl with Jake Paul’s entourage in which he appeared to slap someone in the face.

‘The Problem Child’ clapped back at Diaz after his decision win over ‘The Spider’, branding Diaz a ‘street gangster’ and urging him to settle their differences in the boxing ring instead of the streets.

“Everyone wants that fight. He tried to fight people in the hallway. Nate, stop fighting people for free,” Paul, who extended his record to 6-0, told reporters at Saturday’s post-fight press conference in Arizona.“ Let’s do it in the ring, okay? I know you’re a little slow, buddy. But we can make that fight happen.”

“It’s typical of him. That’s what he likes to do. He’s a street gangster. He likes to act tough and he’s really not. Why are you trying to beat someone up in the hallway?”

Diaz has vowed to ‘take over’ boxing and ‘own another sport’ after closing out his UFC contract with a submission victory over Tony Ferguson at UFC 279. He told reporters last month: “I want to get out of the UFC and show all the fighters how to take over and own another sport. Boxing, kickboxing, jiu jitsu, I’m the creme de la creme right here and I’m coming for you.”

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The UFC flyweight division may be getting smaller. 

It appears as though Askar Askarov is leaving the UFC.

The ‘Bullet’ announced on Saturday that he requested his release from the promotion because of recent health concerns. No details were provided, but it should be noted that Askarov was forced out of a scheduled fight with Brandon Royval at UFC Vegas 62 over weight-related issues.

“Due to the fact that my return was delayed for health reasons and this was my last fight under the contract, I asked the UFC to release me,” wrote Askarov in Russian on Instagram. “To which, I received a positive response.

“First, let’s put health in order, and then we’ll see what and how,” continued Askarov.

Askarov went 11-0 as a professional before signing with the UFC three years ago. The former ACB flyweight champion fought to a split draw with Brandon Moreno in his first Octagon appearance. He rattled off three consecutive wins over the likes of Tim Elliott, Alexandre Pantoja and Joseph Benavidez, but his newfound momentum would soon come to a halt.

Following his unanimous decision over Benavidez, the No. 4 flyweight withdrew from a fight against Alex Perez, citing an undisclosed injury sustained in training. He was booked in a potential No. 1 contender against Kai Kara-France at UFC Columbus, where he suffered the first loss of his professional career.

From there, Askarov has yet to return to the Octagon. After fights with the aforementioned Perez and Royval fell through, the 30-year-old has decided to get his affairs in order before returning to competition.

Askarov leaves with an overall record of 14-1-1.

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Who’s next for Jake Paul?

Jake Paul got the biggest win of his career, knocking down Anderson Silva in the final round and winning a well earned decision.

Perhaps it was Father Time finally catching up to the 47-year-old UFC legend, old habits showing up, or a bit of both, but Silva again spent too much time being tentative or playing to the crowd. Like many of his past MMA fights, Silva’s output was way too low and he just waited for long stretches, giving up important rounds even when he had clear advantages in many areas.

Every time Silva pressed and put Paul on his back foot, he looked like the much more technical and more complete boxer, despite lacking that pro boxing experience on paper. Unfortunately, he didn’t do that enough, and sat in the middle of the ring and unnecessarily allowed Paul to play his game.

Maybe it was age and his body not being able to keep that pace up, but Silva lacked urgency and only tried to pressure forward in spurts. Paul didn’t really get to truly impose his game, as much as Silva just decided to fight his kind of fight, but to his credit, Paul did very well every time he got — or was given — those chances. He was obviously more comfortable from distance, and when Silva engaged him there, Paul was able to rack up his punch count, bloody his nose, and take pivotal rounds.

Maybe it was also a good sign of late fight adjustments, but that the knockdown at the end was actually from an exchange on the inside, landing a right as Silva was trying to break away. I’m not sure about the two other wide scores, but Paul clearly deserved that hard fought decision.

As expected, the YouTuber turned boxer still clearly has a lot to improve on — like his footwork, inside-fighting, and even his basic composure when he fights off his back foot — but he passed an important test at this point of his young career.

• Paul probably deserves a good step up next, but I’m not sure he will get it. They’re already hyping up a future bout against UFC superstar Nate Diaz, which will be a much more lucrative show than this, but I’m not sure if it will actually be a harder fight.
• Askren and Woodley were both undersized against Paul, but Diaz has even fought a division lower than them both. Diaz will be the much smaller man, which means Paul’s power will probably translate better than it did against Silva here. Even with his toughness and historically good chin, I’m not sure if a past-prime Diaz can still push a high pace against the larger, younger opponent. I do hope he gets that payday though.
• UFC vet Uriah Hall was on the undercard, and while he also had spurts of tentativeness that he (and Silva) have both been criticized for before, he did pitch a shutout. Hall won his pro boxing debut, taking all four rounds against NFL vet Le’Veon Bell. He then called out Jake Paul, but without a highlight reel finish and with more lucrative match ups available, I’m not sure why the YouTuber would accept it.

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Check out which fighters won performance bonuses from UFC Vegas 63: Kattar vs. Allen. 

UFC Vegas 63 started with a bang, but ended on a whimper. The featherweight headliner came to an abrupt end after an unfortunate injury, and the welterweight co-headliner was OK.

The preliminary portion of the card saw Christian Rodriguez get his first UFC win with a first-round submission of Joshua Weems. ‘CeeRod’ took advantage of a takedown attempt from Weems, using it to set up the slick anaconda choke that forced his opponent to tap. Cody Durden used a wrestling-heavy approach to control Carlos Mota for a unanimous decision. Though the promotional newcomer threatened with several armbar attempts on the ground, Durden kept himself out of danger. Steve Garcia Jr. lived up to his moniker of ‘Mean Machine’ after he walloped Chase Hooper in 92 seconds. The Jackson-Wink MMA product scored three (!) knockdowns, with the final one (and some follow-up punches) putting the ‘Dream’ down for good. Excellent win for Garcia Jr.! Jun Yong Park submitted Joseph Holmes in the second round of their fight. Once they went to the ground, the ‘Iron Turtle’ softened ‘Ugly Man’ up and sunk in the rear-naked choke. Marcos Rogério de Lima clubbed and subbed his way to a quick win over Andrei Arlovski, his American Top Team (ATT) teammate. It took a few attempts, but Pezão secured the rear-naked choke on the ‘Pitbull,’ and it was over. For his next outing, the Brazilian asked to return at UFC 283, the upcoming pay-per-view event set for Rio de Janeiro. Roman Dolidze caught Phil Hawes in a leg lock, popped his knee and knocked him out inside of one round. It was clear Hawes’ knee was severely injured after the submission attempt, but he returned to his feet and continued against Dolidze. Unfortunately, ‘No Hype’ was on borrowed time and got melted by a brutal combination.

The main portion of the card had Khalil Rountree extend his win streak to three after he defeated Dustin Jacoby by split decision in an early contender for ‘Fight of the Night’. There was some discourse over the decision, but the ‘War Horse’ did enough for the win on two of three judges’ scorecards. Tresean Gore slept Josh Fremd with a nasty guillotine choke. ‘Mr. Vicious’ snatched up his neck and squeezed, forcing the ‘Big Yinz’ to try and wall-walk (!) his way out of it, but Gore refused to let go. Shortly after, Fremd was asleep. Waldo Cortes-Acosta defeated Jared Vanderaa by unanimous decision. Max Griffin brought the ‘Pain’ against Tim Means in the co-main event of the evening. The 36-year-old bested the ‘Dirty Bird’ on the feet and the ground for a split decision.

Reigning UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski wrote he was ‘looking for a statement’ from Calvin Kattar vs. Arnold Allen. And though ‘Almighty’ stopped the ‘Boston Finisher’ by TKO, it was not the statement he wanted to deliver. Kattar hurt himself in the first round and Allen capitalized, but a win by injury may not be the best way to announce yourself as the new No. 1 contender in the division. In his post-fight interview with Michael Bisping, Allen suggested he fight for the interim featherweight championship while Volkanovski pursues champ-champ status in his next appearance.

Performance of the Night: Tresean Gore, Roman Dolidze, Steve Garcia Jr. and Christian Rodriguez

Christian Rodriguez def. Joshua Weems by submission (anaconda choke) at 4:07 of Round 1

Steve Garcia def. Chase Hooper by TKO (punches) at 1:32 of Round 1

Jun Yong Park def. Joseph Holmes by submission (rear-naked choke) at 3:04 of Round 2

Marcos Rogerio de Lima def. Andrei Arlovski by submission (rear-naked choke) at 1:50 of Round 1

Roman Dolidze def. Phil Hawes by KO (punches) at 4:09 of Round 1

Tresean Gore def. Josh Fremd by submission (guillotine choke) at 0:49 of Round 2

Arnold Allen def. Calvin Kattar by TKO (knee injury) at 0:08 of Round 2

Fight of the Night: No FOTN

Cody Durden def. Carlos Mota by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

Khalil Rountree def. Dustin Jacoby by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

Waldo Cortes-Acosta def. Jared Vanderaa by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

Max Griffin def. Tim Means by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)

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The undisputed women’s lightweight champion Katie Taylor defends her crown.

Katie Taylor puts her WBA, WBC, WBO and IBF lightweight titles on the line at the Wembley Arena tonight versus the unheralded Karen Elizabeth Carabajal. Ireland’s Taylor will hope to prove, again, that she’s one of the best boxers on the planet on route to a rematch with Amanda Serrano. Carabajal will be looking to shock the world and pull off a massive upset (as a 9-1 underdog).

You can follow all the action here, with the main card getting underway at 1 p.m. ET and the main event expected to start around 6 p.m ET. The event airs exclusively on DAZN. Check back here for all the results and highlights.

Live results:

Main card (1 p.m. ET, main event 6 p.m. ET):

Undisputed lightweight championship: Katie Taylor (c) vs. Karen Elizabeth Carabajal

European featherweight championship and IBF title eliminator: Jordan Gill (c) vs. Kiko Martinez

Light heavyweight: John Hedges vs. TBC

Light heavyweight: Thomas Whittaker-Hart vs. Mickey Ellison

Super welterweight: Jordan Reynolds vs. TBC

Heavyweight: Johnny Fisher def. Alfonso Damiani by TKO, round 1 (2:03).

EBU European super bantamweight championship: Ellie Scotney def. Mary Romero by unanimous decision (97-93, 97-94, 96-94).

Lightweight: Gary Cully def. Jaouad Belmehdi by TKO, round 1 (0:35)

How to Stream

Taylor vs. Carabajal will air exclusively on DAZN PPV, with the prelims airing on DAZN in over 200 countries including the USA, Canada, UK and Ireland. The event will not air on DAZN in Australia or New Zealand. 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.

Live news, updates and round-by-round commentary is available here on Bloody Elbow.

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See how the Bloody Elbow staffers picked to win at UFC Vegas 63.

It’s another crowded evening for combat sports with a UFC event flying under the radar. If you’re not watching Katie Taylor, Vasiliy Lomachenko or Anderson Silva box on Saturday night then you might be interested in seeing Calvin Kattar take on Arnold Allen in the soon to be champion-less featherweight division.

UFC Vegas 63 goes down at the UFC APEX facility. Also on the card is Tim Means vs. Max Griffin, Dustin Jacoby vs. Khalil Rountree and Andrei Arlovski vs. Marcos Rogerio de Lima.

In the main event, as a staff, we’re leaning hard towards Allen here. Four BE staffers have the Englishman winning in his first ever main event, with just one of us thinking Kattar can keep the gate to the upper echelons of the featherweight division shut.

You can check out the rest of our picks below! And don’t forget to add your own in the comments.

*Reminder: I’m making my picks based solely on fighter’s past winning percentages as an experiment to see how effective that nugget of data is at predicting fight outcomes. More on that here. You can see the data here. This method of picking fights is currently 44-28. Once 1,000 fights have been logged like this, we’ll take a look at what it all might mean.

Calvin Kattar vs. Arnold Allen

Zane Simon: Heading into the Vivi this week, I had it in my mind to pick Kattar here. His durability and pace combined with consistent pressure and power make him a striking opponent unlike anyone that Allen has faced to date. The nearest comparison would be Allen’s fight with Sodiq Yusuff. A fight where Allen had to depend on damage and cleaner strikes while getting outworked over 3 rounds. However… over his career, Kattar has regularly had trouble with opponents who can use consistent defensive footwork to slip out of the pocket and land counters off the back foot. That’s something Allen has been excelling at lately. If Allen decides to go ham like he did against Hooker, he may burn himself out and find himself in a brutal war of pace he can’t match. But if he keeps this tight and technical, I think he can do enough to take the decision. Arnold Allen by decision.

Tim Bissell: Calvin Kattar’s winning percentage is .636 (7-4) whereas Arnold Allen is undefeated in the UFC, so my official pick is for the Brit. Experiment aside I would still be picking Allen, based off the strength of his past performance. Arnold has always looked an intriguing prospect in the UFC, but against Dan Hooker he finally crossed the threshold of being a threat. His aggression and precision were frightening in that fight and I think that spells trouble for Kattar, who has seems to have trouble avoiding getting into wars of attrition on the feet. If Kattar stubbornly stays in the pocket after getting the worse of the stand-up exchanges, it could be a long and painful night. But even if he responds smartly and takes it to the ground (or if Allen does that after finding stiff opposition on the feet), I still see Arnold coming out on top. Arnold Allen via decision

Staff picking Kattar: Kristen
Staff picking Allen: Bissell, Stephie, Zane, Dayne

Tim Means vs. Max Griffin

Zane Simon: Y’all know I love the ‘Dirty Bird’, but it feels like something of a minor miracle that, after 15 years of striking wars, Means is 4-2 since getting KO’d by Niko Price in 2019. He’s getting hurt more often than he used to, but when guys can’t put him away they struggle badly with his technical acumen for prolonged pocket exchanges. That could be Max Griffin too. After all, he’s not exactly the deepest striker around. But, he has surprising power, and a solid ability to draw opponents on to strikes in a way that I think could regularly catch Means as he tries to initiate offense behind volume and pressure. At some point in this fight, it seems like Means will get hurt. Whether he rallies and steals back the win is anyone’s guess, but I’ll take Max Griffin via TKO, round 1.

Tim Bissell: For how long he’s been in the UFC, and for how many quality opponents he’s faced, it’s pretty impressive that Means has managed to maintain a positive winning percentage (.583). Griffin, on the other hand, has quietly had 13 UFC fights in his career thus far and is a below 500 fighter (.462). So the metric is picking Means here and I’ll agree with that one, too. Means isn’t the most versatile fighter in the UFC, but what he does — he does well. And that can be enough to beat a fighter like Griffin, whose wrestling is better than Means but not enough to dominate him. I’m picking the tough and crafty Means to rebound from his last fight and hurt Griffin in the clinch (also, us Tims have to stick together). Tim Means via TKO.

Staff picking Means: Bissell, Dayne
Staff picking Griffin: Kristen, Stephie, Zane

Dustin Jacoby vs. Khalil Rountree

Tim Bissell: Jacoby has been pretty darn impressive since trading his kickboxing mitts for UFC gloves. He’s 7-0-1 (.875) in the UFC and that’s enough for the metric to pick him over Rountree (.545). I’m agreeing with this pick, too. Jacoby has a gaudy strikes landed per minute stat at 6.62, which leads active UFC light heavyweights. He’s also third in strike differential and fifth in significant strike defence. This combination of accuracy and defense could lead to an early shower for Rountree. Rountree does lead the division in knockdowns per minute, but we’ve seen on a couple of occasions now that he’s willing to take a hit to land on of his own. Dustin Jacoby via TKO.

Zane Simon: I’m honestly not sure why Dustin Jacoby took this fight. It’s incredibly dangerous and does almost nothing for his standing in the light heavyweight division. As the more consistent, defensive, and efficient striker, it’s hard not to pick him to win here. But we’ve seen Rountree be plenty violent when he finds the right openings. I’ll take Dustin Jacoby via TKO, round 3, but this could be a wild one early.

Staff picking Jacoby: Bissell, Stephie, Zane, Dayne
Staff picking Rountree: Kristen

Waldo Cortes-Acosta vs. Jared Vanderaa

Tim Bissell: The undefeated prospect gets the pick here via the metric. And it’s hard to go against that. This feels like match-making designed to showcase Cortes-Acosta, who obliterated his opponent on the Contender series. Vanderaa has a .286 winning percentage after seven Octagon contests and he looked poor last time out, falling to Chase Sherman by TKO. Waldo Cortes-Acosta via KO.

Zane Simon: Cortes-Acosta is faster, and throws in combination. Not necessarily the most important thing at heavyweight, where durability reigns supreme, but we’ve seen Vanderaa cracked on that front too. Waldo Cortes-Acosta via KO, round 1.

Staff picking Cortes-Acosta: Bissell, Kristen, Stephie, Zane, Dayne
Staff picking Vanderaa:

Tresean Gore vs. Josh Fremd

Tim Bissell: Tresean Gore (0-2) has not looked at home in the UFC in his past two outings, being bested handily by Bryan Battle and Cody Brundage. Josh Fremd (0-1) lost his debut to Alex Hernandez, who looks to be somewhat of a problem in the division moving forwards. With both men’s wp tied at 0, the metric considers their overall records. Fremd has a .750 record, better than Gore’s .600 record. Fremd also has seven more fights than Gore. That experience is probably key here against a fighter a 3-2 fighter who might not be long for the Octagon. Josh Fremd by decision.

Zane Simon: Gore doesn’t seem ready to compete in the UFC, and blitzing other unready talents on the Ultimate Fighter didn’t do much to prep him. He’s likely faster and stronger than Fremd, but Fremd is longer, more aggressive, and tougher. If he goes out and puts a pace on Gore, I doubt Gore will be able to match it. Josh Fremd via TKO, round 2.

Staff picking Gore:
Staff picking Fremd: Bissell, Kristen, Stephie, Zane, Dayne

Andrei Arlovski vs. Marcos Rogerio de Lima

Tim Bissell: The metric picks Arlovski here by a very narrow margin (.050). The former champ has an impressive plus .600 record spanning his 37 fights in the promotion. You might think that is buoyed because of his early career in MMA, where he looked ferocious. However, the ‘Pitbull’ has quietly put together a 7-3 record in his last ten and a current win streak of four fights. I was an Arlovski stan when I first started watching this sport, so I’m happy to go along with this pick. I think he’ll win by continuing to shun his age (43) and put on the more active and threatening display in there against a 37-year-old opponent who might not be refined enough to land something that hurts him. Andrei Arlovski via decision.

Zane Simon: The thing with Andrei Arlovski’s recent run of success is that it mostly comes in fights where he can comfortably out-strike his opponent all the way through. He hasn’t been much of one to rally from behind once he’s lost the initiative early. And Marcos Rogerio de Lima is a guy who almost always carriers the opening round of his fights. Marcos Rogerio de Lima via KO, round 1.

Staff picking Arlovski: Bissell
Staff picking de Lima: Kristen, Stephie, Zane, Dayne

Chase Hooper vs. Steve Garcia

Zane Simon: Kind of a stylistic layup for Hooper given how much wrestling and grappling have been drilled into Garcia’s aggressive style over the years. Chase Hooper via submission, round 2.

Staff picking Hooper: Bissell, Kristen, Stephie, Zane, Dayne
Staff picking Garcia:

Joseph Holmes vs. Jung Yong Park

Zane Simon: Holmes’ size and willingness to stand in the pocket and pick his shots have me a little concerned about Park here, given how busy he is offensively and how much he tries to stay right in the face of his opposition. Beyond that, though, Park is the more natural, fluid striker, better wrestler, and better conditioned fighter. As long as he doesn’t get slept by one big counter, he should be able to bully his way through Holmes. Jung Yong Park via decision.

Staff picking Holmes: Bissell
Staff picking Park: Kristen, Stephie, Zane, Dayne

Roman Dolidze vs. Phil Hawes

Zane Simon: Dolidze has size and power, but his ability to be a fight finishing threat never feels consistently tied to any one technique. A lot of his fights are just spent trying to drag his opponents to the mat and grind on them. Hawes is likely too strong and compact a wrestler to make that a reasonable gameplan. After which, he’s also the much more consistent striker and varied offensive threat. Phil Hawes via decision.

Staff picking Dolidze: Bissell, Stephie, Dayne
Staff picking Hawes: Kristen, Zane

Joshua Weems vs. Christian Rodriguez

Zane Simon: I dunno, something about Rodriguez’s skill set just feels off for me. Slow paced, dynamic without a lot of connecting parts. A love of flashy sub attempts. Weems may not be a safe fighter, but he’ll go out and brawl and try to put some serious power on people. Joshua Weems by decision.

Staff picking Weems: Zane
Staff Picking Rodriguez: Bissell, Kristen, Stephie, Dayne,

Cody Durden vs. Carlos Mota

Zane Simon: If Mota isn’t in shape to take this bout on short notice, then Durden will likely put the grind to him and take over as the bout goes on. But, assuming Mota’s ready, I really like his trigger counters against Durden’s blitzing offensive style. I also don’t really trust Durden as a consistent control wrestler, in part because he seems to fade pretty hard after fast first rounds himself. I’ll take Mota to score big on a short notice gamble. Carlos Mota via TKO, round 2.

Staff picking Durden: Bissell, Dayne
Staff Picking Mota: Kristen, Stephie, Zane

Anton won the week going 10-2, with his only misses being on Charles Oliveira and Petr Yan. It was also a strong week for Zane and Dayne, both of whom went 9-3. That’s enough for Zane to keep his place atop the leaderboard and for Dayne to leapfrog Kristen into second place.

My picking method was 9-3 at UFC 280, with the misses coming on Mateusz Gamrot, Sean Brady and Gadzhi Omargadzhiev. There has been some debates in the comments regarding what I’m doing with this column. Some commenters have expressed their dissatisfaction at me using this space as an open experiment with. However, there more positive reactions to negative ones. So I’m going to keep on with the experiment. Though, I will take on some aspects of the criticism and make some tweaks to try and better enhance the reading enjoyment of my specific picks. I do very much appreciate all the feedback (good and bad) and I’m looking forward to generating additional content from this picking experiment down the line. The eventual goal is to analyze a number of different metrics (one at time because that’s all I have the spoons for) and see which hold the most weight. Thank you for your patience as I take you on this journey and for tuning and sharing your opinion, on the column and the fights themselves.

Leader board (as of Sept 3):

1. Zane 53-19 .736

2. Dayne 48-21 .696

3. Kristen 41-19 .683

4. Anton 30-18 .625

5. Bissell 44-28 .611

6. Victor 18-12 .600

7. Stephie 43-29 .597

8. Lewis 3-3 .500

Bloody Elbow – All Posts

Check out the results and live coverage of the main event from tonight’s boxing featuring Vasyl Lomachenko vs Jamaine Ortiz

Vasyl Lomachenko returns after nearly a year out with a rust-shaking fight against Jamaine Ortiz. There’s no belts on the line, and he’s had more proven opponents, but entertainment is always on the cards with the Ukranian great.

Lomachenko (16-2-0, 11 KOs) is of course one of the most recognisable fighters in modern boxing, his flowing, almost-dancing footwork and high volume making him a must-watch. Ortiz (16-0-1, 8KOs) has nowhere near the level of experience or exposure, but he’ll be looking to grab this chance with both hands- a good showing even in a loss would bounce his career to another level, and he’s got some tricks that Lomachenko will have to work around.

This post will provide live play-by-play of the main event. The card starts at 6:15 p.m. ET exclusively on ESPN+, with the main card starting at 8 p.m. ET and the main event expected some time after 10 p.m. ET, but keep an eye out here to make sure you don’t miss it.

Main Card:

Lightweight: Vasyl Lomachenko vs Jamaine Ortiz

Featherweight: Robeisy Ramirez vs. Jose Matias Romero

Featherweight: Duke Ragan vs. Luis Lebron

Middleweight: Troy Isley vs. Quincy LaVallais

Heavyweight: Richard Torrez vs. Ahmed Hefny

Lightweight: Abdullah Mason vs. Angel Barrera

Middleweight: Nico Ali Walsh vs. Billy Wagner

Super-featherweight: Haven Brady Jr vs. Eric Mondragon

Welterweight: Delante Johnson vs. Esteban Garcia

Bloody Elbow – All Posts