Category Archives: Bloodyelbow.com

Check out the press conference for this controversial fight.

This weekend Chris Eubank Jr. faces Conor Benn in a bout that is being promoted as ‘Born Rivals’ on DAZN boxing. The inevitable match-up between these British boxing stars comes 30 years after their fathers (Chris Eubank Sr. and Nigel Benn) fought a two fight series that remain as some of British boxing’s most electrifying contests. The Eubank vs. Benn rivalry from the early 90s is considered, by many, as the greatest boxing rivalry the UK has ever witnessed.

The younger Eubank and Benn will attempt to do the rivalry justice on Saturday at London’s O2 Arena. The event is on UK time, with the main card going live at 2PM ET on DAZN.

This fight already had a lot of drama about it. But that drama is now threatening to kibosh the entire event. Yesterday it was revealed that Benn had tested positive for the banned substance clomiphene. This has prompted the British Boxing Board of Control to announce that any fight involving Benn is prohibited and will not be sanctioned. Benn, Eubanks Jr. and Eddie Hearn are claiming that, despite this, the fight will go ahead.

The final press conference for the bout happens at 7AM ET on Thursday. You can watch that live right here.

Full fight card

• Chris Eubank Jr vs. Conor Benn (catchweight)
• Mary Romero vs. Ellie Scotney (junior featherweight)
• Galal Yafai vs. Gohan Rodriguez (flyweight)
• Harlem Eubank vs. David Martin (junior welterweights)
• Lyndon Arthur vs. TBA (light heavyweight)
• Felix Cash vs. Connor Coyle (middleweight)
• Matty Harris vs. Chris Healey (heavyweight)
• Shannon Courtenay vs. Gemma Ruegg (bantamweight)
• Chloe Watson vs. Nancy Franco (flyweight)

Bloody Elbow – All Posts

Jose Aldo says his future could include boxing, but not MMA, due to UFC contract status.

It seems that earlier reports on Jose Aldo’s status as a UFC fighter were at least partially incorrect. While the former two-time UFC featherweight champion might be retired from MMA, he is still very much under contract with the UFC.

In a recent interview with Globo Esporte, Aldo said he is exploring his options, adding that MMA is not one of those possibilities unless he fights for the UFC.

“I’m trying to see the best path I’ll take right now,” Aldo said. “I won’t fight MMA, that’s for sure. I thank everybody calling me from other promotions, but I haven’t left the UFC, I remain under contract with them. I’ll see where I’ll fit.”

Aldo, who had one fight left on his UFC deal when he announced his retirement from MMA in September, has had his eye on competing in boxing. With MMA not in the cards, the 36-year-old seems interested in stepping into the boxing ring.

“Boxing is a possibility,” Aldo said. “It was always a dream I had in my life, I never hid that from anyone. It was always a dream. But let’s see. Everybody says I’m still young, that I have a few years [left]. First, for now, with the birth of my son, I want to enjoy my family, and then I’ll think of the professional side.”

Aldo and his wife, Vivianne Perreira, welcomed Jose Aldo III on the same day the fighter announced his retirement from MMA.

Aldo’s last UFC fight was an August decision loss to Merab Dvalishvili. The longtime WEC/UFC competitor was on a three-fight winning streak, his longest run of consecutive victories since he went unbeaten between 2006 and 2014.

Bloody Elbow – All Posts

Khamzat Chimaev has opened up as a favorite over UFC super prospect Bo Nickal.

Bo Nickal hasn’t even had his official UFC debut yet, that’ll be against Jamie Pickett at UFC 282 in December, but he already has a short list of desired opponents up his sleeve. Nickal is aiming high and the second he earned his UFC contract, he called out undefeated contender Khamzat Chimaev. Betting odds have just been released for this potential matchup, and considering the experience discrepancy, they might not be as wide as one would think.

Online gambling website Sportsbetting.ag has Chimaev opening up as a moderate -300 favorite, with Nickal holding an initial underdog offering of +250. The site states that this match must take place before September 30, 2023 for action.

The three-time NCAA Div-1 national wrestling champion is only 3-0 as a professional, but his supernatural skillset has aided him in achieving three first-round finishes — with less than a half a round of total cage time. So far the hype has been real for Bo, but the same exact thing can be said about Khamzat’s stellar career. Chimaev has been acing every test that’s been put in front of him, aside from the scale of course, amassing an unblemished record of 12-0.

What are your thoughts on this betting line? Are they legit the way they are? Would you consider Nickal a live dog against Chimaev at these odds? Maybe you think the lack of experience in Bo warrants a much wider line against a much more proven Khamzat? Either way, I think it’s safe to say that we all would love to see this match actually happen.

Check out the betting odds for Brandon Moreno vs. Deiveson Figueiredo, courtesy of Sportsbetting.ag:

Be sure to subscribe to our Bloody Elbow Presents YouTube channel to stay up to date with all of our podcast content. Stay glued to Bloody Elbow for all of your event coverage including play-by-play, results, highlights, and more! Happy hunting!

Bloody Elbow – All Posts

Henry Cejudo recently spoke about a potential Jones vs. Adesanya fight during a live Q&A.

We haven’t seen Jon Jones in the Octagon since February 2020. That’s when he defended his UFC light heavyweight title against Dominick Reyes.

Since then, Jones has vacated the title, claimed he was moving to heavyweight, attempted to finesse a big money match-up versus Francis Ngannou and been arrested on suspicion of domestic assault.

The domestic assault charge, stemming from a 911 call to Caesar’s Palace the night after Jones was honoured at the 2021 UFC Hall of Fame ceremony, was later squashed when the alleged victim did not opt to participate in the case against Jones.

Since avoiding serious repercussions from this arrest, the latest in a long string of incidents that have involved Jones throughout the bulk of his UFC career, Jones appears to be re-focused on preparing to fight in the UFC’s heavyweight division.

It has been speculated that Jones could return to the cage in 2023. However, it’s best to see it before you believe with most things in MMA; even when it doesn’t involve the twists and turns that often include Jones.

Despite there being approximately zero chance that they face each other in competition, Jones has also spent much of the last few years beefing online with Israel Adesanya.

Each misstep from Jones has been met with derision from Adesanya. And each fighting performance from Adesanya has been met with scoffs from Jones. Occasionally the pair have directly exchanged barbs, which usually resulted in one telling the other that they could beat them in a fight.

One person who is sure that fight would go in favour of the much (much) larger Jones is Henry Cejudo, who has trained Jones a little since ‘Bones’ was famously booted from Mike Winkeljohn’s gym.

In a live Q&A Cejudo spoke about the pair and what would happen if they ever fought.

“Jones would kill Israel,” he claimed (ht Sportskeeda). “If you were to let Jones, like, literally kill him, Jones would kill him. That’s how much he doesn’t like him.”

Cejudo went on to say he himself isn’t that wild about Adesanya. He cited a tweet by Adesanya as the reason why.

“But it’s understood though. The reason why I kind of started not becoming a fan of Israel is just because of the simple fact that he talked about his [Jon Jones’] mom who is deceased. For me that was like a dealbreaker.”

UFC middleweight champion Adesanya is undefeated at 185 lbs. His sole MMA loss was at light heavyweight, when he jumped up a division to challenge Jan Blachowicz for the title.

Since that hiccup, Adesanya has defended his middleweight title to Marvin Vettori, Robert Whittaker and Jared Cannonier. He is currently scheduled to face Alex Pereira at UFC 251 on November 12. Pereira has two wins over Adesanya (one KO) in kickboxing.

Bloody Elbow – All Posts

Former title contender Anthony Smith has been struggling with his recovery since his ankle break at UFC 277.

Things didn’t end well for former UFC title challenger Anthony Smith in his most recent fight at UFC 277 against Magomed Ankalaev. Not only did he end a three-fight win streak, he also broke his ankle in the process.

But that’s not the worst part. According to “Lionheart,” his path to recovery has been rocky, to say the least.

In his recent interview with MMAFighting.com’s The Writer and Fighter podcast, Smith said his ankle had already healed up and that he’d been off crutches for two weeks now. He is, however, dealing with other health issues.

“I don’t even know if I’ve mentioned it too much but the night before I went to Paris [for UFC Paris], I had a weird allergic reaction to some meds. It was pretty hairy there for a little while,” he revealed.

“It was a really bad anaphylactic reaction. I was losing my airway, I couldn’t swallow. I was having a tough time breathing. Kind of barely got to the hospital in time before things got too rough. Then after I got back from Paris, they found a blood clot in my leg. So I’ve been battling this blood clot for a while.”

At first, Smith refused to believe that he was, indeed, dealing with a blood clot.

“It’s a pretty big deal and I didn’t really know that. You don’t really think about those kinds of issues when you’re my age when you’re healthy and active.

“Now I’m extremely versed in blood clots. You definitely don’t want one of those kicking off into your lungs or your brain or your heart. Blood clots don’t just go away overnight. It’s a long ordeal, typically. Your body has to absorb it, that takes time and the blood thinners, you can’t really do anything on blood thinners.

“You can’t take any shots to the head out of fear of brain bleeds. I can’t even get massages because they don’t want to dislodge it and send that son of a bitch straight to my lungs or something. That would be a problem. You just never know what can happen. So that sucks.”

Smith was planning his return for January, but the blood clot situation has left him in limbo. And that has been a frustrating situation to deal with.

“It’s like I’m just getting f–d around every corner. I try to look at it as positively as possible. Maybe it’s just my turn. I’ve been super fortunate. I’ve grinded really hard and put a lot of work in and was super active for a lot of years. Maybe it’s just my turn to struggle a little bit.

“Chris Weidman has always dealt with that his whole entire career. He’s kind of been injury ridden and struggled staying healthy and getting through camps healthy. I just bring him up because we’re such good friends so I know the intricacies of his career and his path.

“It could be worse. I could be battling through some of the things he’s battling through. Trying to keep a positive mindset about it. It’s tough when you’re in it.”

The 34-year-old Smith currently holds a win-loss slate of 36-17.

Bloody Elbow – All Posts

The former UFC fighter parted ways with the promotion last week. 

Aspen Ladd is headed to the Professional Fighters League (PFL).

Following her recent release from the UFC, Ladd is joining the PFL roster and expects to compete in the soon-to-be announced women’s featherweight division in the upcoming 2023 regular season. The promotion and Ladd confirmed the signing on Tuesday.

“I want to thank the Professional Fighters League for giving me the opportunity to continue my career in the PFL SmartCage,” said Ladd in a statement. “I am excited about the PFL’s sport season format where you win and advance based on talent and merit. I look forward to testing myself against the best women’s featherweights in the world.”

Though hailed as a future contender in the bantamweight division, Ladd would never gather momentum as her repeated struggles on the scales led to several fight cancelations throughout her UFC tenure. Pivotal fights against Leslie Smith, Macy Chiasson and Sara McMann were canceled, with the latter being the catalyst for her release.

Ladd and McMann were scheduled to fight at UFC Vegas 60 this past September, but the MMA Gold product weighed in at 138 pounds — two pounds over the bantamweight limit. Because that was the third time she missed weight, UFC president Dana White said the release ‘had to happen’ now.

“She’s not made weight so many times,” said White. “It had to happen. Not something you want to do, but something that had to be done.”

When she was in action, Ladd went 4-3 in the UFC, with wins over Tonya Evinger, Sijara Eubanks and Yana Kunitskaya among her highlights. However, in her final appearances, she suffered consecutive decision losses to Norma Dumont (at featherweight) and Raquel Pennington at UFC Vegas 40 and UFC 273, respectively.

There is no word yet on an opponent for Ladd, but that will chance as the 2023 regular season approaches.

Bloody Elbow – All Posts

Emelianenko admitted he was surprised to see so many of his countrymen become draft dodgers.

On Sep. 21, Russian president Vladimir Putin announced a “partial mobilization” in Russia, marking the country’s first mobilization since the second world war. Shortly thereafter, the country’s defense ministry, Sergei Shoigu, revealed that 300,000 Russians “with previous military experience” would be drafted.

In the wake of Putin’s announcement, tens of thousands of Russian citizens have attempted to leave the country in order to avoid being drafted for the war. Many lined up along the country’s southern border with Georgia, with more than 90,000 Russians crossing into Georgia in the past two weeks.

As footage continues to show cars waiting for days to approach the border, Russian MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko admitted he was surprised to see so many of his countrymen become draft dodgers.

“For me personally, it was a great discovery and a slight shock when you read the news in our country, what is happening in the military registration and enlistment offices and that people are fleeing the draft,” Emelianenko told Championat.

Emelianenko served in the Russian army between 1995-7, first as a military firefighter before becoming a member of the Tank Division near Nizhny Novgorod. Upon completing his service, Emelianenko began competing in MMA for the Rings fight league.

The legendary heavyweight also revealed that none of the fighters in his team, which includes Bellator light-heavyweight champion Vadim Nemkov, have been enlisted in the war.

“We live for today but we are all getting ready,” Emelianenko said.

Bloody Elbow – All Posts

Brazilian outlet Combate claimed that Chimaev had his passport seized during a recent trip to Russia.

Khamzat Chimaev’s manager has refuted reports that the UFC fighter had his Russian passport seized during a recent trip to his native country.

The report, which was published by Brazilian outlet Combate, claimed that Chimaev had his passport “confiscated” in St. Petersburg, where he was transiting before catching a second flight to Chechnya. Though it remains unclear why Chimaev’s passport may have been seized, Combate noted that Russia “has been recruiting soldiers for the war in Ukraine.”

Combate also claimed that Chimaev, who currently resides in Sweden, is attempting to solicit the help of the Swedish government in order to secure his exit.

However, according to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, Chimaev’s manager Majdi Shammas denied the reports that the fighter was stuck in Russia. Shammas added that his fighter is not facing any travel restrictions.

Chimaev’s social media accounts are filled with pictures from his recent trip to Chechnya. The UFC fighter visited Ramzan Kadyrov, the strongman leader of Chechnya accused of well-documented human rights abuses, including forced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and state-sponsored purges of LGBTQ+ peoples. He also participated in training sessions with the dictator’s teenage sons, and visited the Akhmat MMA fight club, an entity facing U.S. Treasury sanctions.

Bloody Elbow – All Posts

Tito Ortiz talks about his would-be boxing match with Dana White in 2007, along with some lessons he learned from the UFC president.

UFC president Dana White and Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz were scheduled for a boxing match in 2007. Contracts were drawn up and everything, only for it to fall through in the end.

White did a Q&A in 2014, claiming that the reason why the fight didn’t happen was that he “used to beat the living shit” out of Ortiz in sparring.

Eight years later, “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” and former Mayor Pro Tempore of his hometown shared his side of the story with Paddy Pimblett on the Chattin’ Pony Podcast.

“It was supposed to be 50/50 (split) on any money that was revenue from the fight. And then when it came about to the contract to sign — and I’ve always signed a bout agreement for a fight that I was doing — that wasn’t in it. I wasn’t making nothing of it. It was a lose-lose situation for me.

“They were negotiating one of my contracts and I said to Lorenzo, ‘We need to put this clause in that me and Dana will box. On TV.’ We were supposed to do it on Spike and ended up… the contract came and said I was making zero off of it.

“I was like, ‘Hold on a second, I thought you said we’d do 50/50?’ He’s like, ‘No, we can’t do that.’ I said, ‘Well, I’m not fighting. But just don’t go on the scale and say Tito’s a no-show and he’s afraid to fight me.’ Well, shit. That’s exactly what he did.

“I’m not fighting anybody for free. And he was doing it to make a name for himself, and he did well. It was a lose-lose situation for me and a win-win situation for him.”

Ortiz did corroborate White’s statements of their sparring sessions, but he remembers it a bit differently.

“Me and Dana used to spar a lot when I first got into it, ‘cause I never knew how to box. And as I got the better of him, and I got bigger and I got faster and I got stronger, I was the world champion, he’s like ‘alright, me and you can’t spar anymore.’ And I go, ‘Why??’ He goes, ‘’Cause you’re f—ng hurting me, man!’ I’m like. ‘Alright, that’s fine.’”

Ortiz did admit that he shared some fun times with White, and even revealed an important lesson he learned from the UFC boss.

“We had good times together, and I miss those. He was a really good dude, but business comes first, I get it. He was en route to making UFC huge to what it is today, and I really didn’t see that vision that he had. I wish I would’ve.

“I think I would’ve played things a little differently, but at the end of the day, I learned negotiation from him. It was either his way or no way. And that’s the way I thought, I said ‘F—k it, it’s my way or no way.’

“And I think that might’ve been my little mistake, but he’s a few years older than me. We were so close friends that we talked shit to each other all the time that talking shit is OK.

“I think he took to heart a lot of things that I said, and I took to heart a lot of things that he said. Of him calling me a pussy or a stupid man. It’s like, a stupid man can’t be a multimillionaire. A stupid man can’t run a business. A stupid man can’t run a family. I think, in my mind, and successfully.”

In May, the 47-year-old Ortiz broached the idea of a possible UFC return against fellow OG Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. His last fight happened in 2019 against former WWE talent Alberto Del Rio, where he won via first-round submission.

Bloody Elbow – All Posts

‘Lionheart’ is the latest fighter to extol Nickal’s wrestling prowess at the expense of Chimaev.

Add Anthony Smith to the growing list of fighters who would favor Bo Nickal over Khamzat Chimaev.

When Nickal challenged Chimaev following his successful appearance on Contender Series this past Tuesday, the three-time NCAA Division I National champion was met with a mixed reaction from prominent figures in the sport. Some, such as UFC president Dana White, advised Nickal to ‘not get crazy here,’ while others such as former two-division UFC champion Henry Cejudo praised him for the request.

Though he agreed with White, Smith echoed the same sentiment as Cejudo, who said Nickal would ‘100 percent’ out-wrestle Chimaev. Given his credentials, ‘Lionheart’ told Michael Bisping on the Believe You Me podcast that the ‘Allen Assassin’ should have no issue with ‘Borz,’ or any other wrestler for that matter.

“He will ragdoll Khamzat in a wrestling match,” said Smith. “It wouldn’t even be competitive. He’s that f—king good. There’s not a Dagestani-Russian wrestler in the UFC that’s going to be beat Bo Nickal. I don’t even care what weight class you say it is.

“There isn’t one that’s going to beat him in a wrestling match,” continued Smith. “There just isn’t. The only reason he didn’t wrestle in the Olympics [is] just the guy ahead of him is just better. But he’s the second best wrestler in the entire world, anywhere around that weight class. That’s just how it is. He is that good.”

A fight against Chimaev is likely nowhere in the immediate future, but Nickal still expects to share the Octagon with him at some point. For now, the newcomer has his first UFC assignment set against Jamie Pickett at UFC 282 on Dec. 10 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Chimaev was previously in action at UFC 279, where he submitted Kevin Holland via first-round D’arce choke.

Bloody Elbow – All Posts