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Watch Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin weigh in for this weekend’s big fight.

This weekend Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin will face off in a trilogy fight with the world’s undisputed super middleweight crown on the line. The fight comes five years after the first time they met in the ring.

Their first fight was ruled a controversial draw (thanks to a strange scorecard in favour of Alvarez). The rematch suffered postponed due to ‘tainted beef’ that affected Alvarez’s drug tests. When Canelo vs. GGG 2 finally happened it was Alvarez who came out victorious in a close and exciting contest.

This time around Alvarez is coming off his first loss since 2013, having lost to Dimtry Bivol in a light heavyweight bout last time out. Golovkin is 4-0 since his loss to Alvarez in 2018.

Today both men will be looking to weigh in no more than 168 lbs. There’s been lots of drama in their match-ups in the past. Hopefully there won’t be any on the scales today.

You can watch the weigh-ins for the fight right here. The stream goes live at 3:30PM ET. The event itself happens on Saturday night live on DAZN. The PPV card starts at 8PM ET with ring walks for the main event expected around 11 PM ET.

Full results:

Undisputed super middleweight championship: Saul Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin

WBC super flyweight championship: Jesse Rodriguez vs. Israel Gonzalez

Super middleweight: Ali Akhmedov vs. Gabriel Rosado

Middleweight: Austin Williams vs. Kieron Conway

Middleweight: Diego Pacheco vs. Enrique Collazo

Lightweight: Marc Castro vs. Kevin Mendoza

Super lightweight: Aaron Apone vs. Fernando Molina

Super flyweight: Anthony Herrera vs. Delvin McKinley

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After a string of high profile booking failures, reported missed payments, and seemingly wildly expensive events, the social media platform turned upstart boxing promotion is apparently moving on.

When video-streaming and social networking app Triller first dipped into the boxing arena, they made one hell of a splash. The company first landed in the event hosting sphere in the spring of 2020, hosting Trillerfest—a streaming music festival featuring Snoop Dogg and Wyclef Jean among other notable music acts. A few months later they announced their first boxing event: a PPV card featuring an exhibition bout between retired legends Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr.

A star studded affair, the PPV was reported (somewhat dubiously) as having sold over 1.6 million buys. With several music acts interspersed throughout, a number of celebrity special guests, and some major fight purses to pay off, however, it’s not at all clear if Triller ever actually made any kind of profit off their success—even with its potentially massive sales numbers. As if to highlight that possibility, Tyson himself went public a few months later with claims that he still hadn’t been paid his full cut from the event.

Misgivings aside, another big show followed shortly on heels of Tyson/RJJ. Budding celebrity boxing star Jake Paul took on former Bellator & One champion—and recently retired UFC talent—Ben Askren in a PPV main event that also featured performances from Justin Bieber, The Black Keys, Snoop Dogg and Ice Cube among others. Triller was still very much all-in on their formula of packing events with as much curb appeal as they possibly could, while holding fights that were barely even at an amateur level in quality.

In September of 2021, the promotion brought in former president Donald Trump to do commentary for a card featuring 58-year-old heavyweight legend Evander Holyfield in a boxing exhibition against former UFC light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort. Also on the card, a boxing bout between former UFC champs Anderson Silva & Tito Ortiz, and a showcase exhibition bout for former heavyweight boxing champion David Haye. More money, more celebrities, more spectacularly bad fights. If that didn’t seem like a recipe for success, it turns out it very likely wasn’t.

Triller held five more cards following Holyfield vs. Belfort, but saw just as many cancelled due to a variety of problems. Earlier that year the promotion won a purse bid for lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez to take on George Kambosos, for which Triller also signed a longterm deal with former HBO boxing commentator Jim Lampley. Following multiple problems with which date, which venue, and even in which country the fight would be held—and following nearly $ 10 million in expenses promoting the bout—the bid was re-awarded to Matchroom. Lampley never worked an event.

Alongside the logistical struggles, Triller was hit by several lawsuits and multiple claims of unfulfilled contractual agreements. BoxrecGrey, editor for boxing database BoxRec.com, put together a compendium of the least glorious aspects of the promotion’s two year run of events—so far the thread is 80 Tweets deep and counting.

This whole long trip down memory lane comes in the wake of a recent report from boxing journalist Dan Rafael that, following numerous reported financial struggles, it seems Triller is now out of the boxing business.

The promotion’s last scheduled event, a contest between former unified heavyweight boxing champion Andy Ruiz Jr. and former Glory two-division champion kickboxer Tyrone Spong, was cancelled almost immediately after being announced. The bout was set to take place in Mexico City on July 16th. Unfortunately for Triller, it seems Ruiz was already under contract with Premier Boxing Champions to face Luis Ortiz before negotiations for the Spong fight even began.

Triller made a big dynamic entrance into the boxing world. The exit, it seems, has been long and slow and painful for everyone involved.

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It looks like Floyd Mayweather isn’t done with his boxing exhibition bouts. The former multi-division champion is headed for a match with YouTuber Deji on November 13th in Dubai.

50-0 boxing legend Floyd Mayweather has been enjoying his retirement from the sport by… doing more boxing? ‘Money’ has been cashing fat paydays in exhibition bouts, predominantly against non-boxers. It’s a trend he’s looking to continue on November 13th, in Dubai.

Mirror Fighting reports that “Money” Mayweather will be squaring off against the YouTuber Deji as a part of Mayweather’s Global Titan Fight Series.

Along with his brother KSI, Deji has steadily blossomed into a major YouTube personality in the United Kingdom. Despite being known mostly as a content creator, Deji actually already has one professional boxing win under his belt. In is pro debut, Deji stopped fellow YouTuber Yousef ‘Fousey’ Erakat in the second round. The victory came after three amateur losses, including getting stopped by the current king of celebrity boxing, Jake Paul. While it’s clear that the social media star absolutely doesn’t belong in a boxing match with Floyd Mayweather, it seems unlikely that anyone will get hurt too bad in this cash grab exhibition.

Floyd’s last scrap was also in Dubai against retired actual boxer Don Moore. Since it was an exhibition, there was no official winner, but Mayweather easily had his way with Moore over 8 rounds. Previously, Mayweather was backin the U.S.A., in Florida, for a high profile match against YouTube sensation, Logan Paul. That lackluster bout also went the distance, with no victor being declared.

The 45-year-old started his retirement exhibition tour back at RIZIN 14 on New Year’s Eve 2018, in Japan. There the boxing great bagged a wicked quick knockout over kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa. Mayweather is currently scheduled to make his return to the Saitama Super Arena in Japan at RIZIN 38 on September 25, 2022 for another exhibition against 16-3 MMA fighter, Mikuru Asakura.

He may not be competing in officially sanctioned bouts for world titles anymore, but even in retirement it seems Mayweather is bound and determined to keep up his career as a prize fighter.

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It’s like he just found the button and jabbed it like an old elevator panel. Yikes.

With more MMA on the horizon and a major boxing PPV this weekend, we’re back to warm the engines of martial arts violence.

So after some time away, we’re back with our guy Jerry at Fight Commentary Breakdowns. We start with a kickboxing match that involves a Monkey Style Kung Fu practitioner as a participant. And you know what? It’s pretty damn good.

Now, don’t expect this to look like Eileen from Virtua Fighter or any of the more traditional depictions of Monkey Style. It’s a straight up kickboxing match that has some great back and forths. The guy doesn’t just hold his own, he does some great work in there. Perhaps this is more the style influencing his movement in a different environment, I’m not sure. But it’s not like he got embarrassed out there.

But this next item? Quite unexpected.

So here’s a pair of Jeet Kune Do vs Muay Thai bouts, and there’s some heavy facepalming to be done here. The first bout has the JKD guy looking lost and mostly flailing.

Now, there’s two fights in that video. The second one is a kickboxing match in a cage with big gloves, and the JKD guy does fairly better but is somewhat overwhelmed by the physicality and dynamism of his opponent. There’s a good amount of small things to parse here. JKD just didn’t shine as brightly as it could here, that’s all.

Also, a reminder that Jerry has another channel, Fight Commentary Chats. I joined him recently to discuss matters surrounding modern martial arts, fake martial arts, crypto and the combat sports scene, the politics of sports fandom and a few other items. I promise you, we get the bad and sad stuff out of the way early-ish.

I also managed to curse a bit less. So that’s nice.

Dambe Warriors keeps fostering some bold talent. Here we’ve got a good old-fashioned duel in which after a ton of tension and anticipation, it all ends with one devastating shot. It’s basically Samurai Kirby with life-altering consequences.

Once again, Chris Sumo does some great work in covering amazing things in Japan. Here he gets into lovely rope work utilized in the ongoing Basho this week.

YouTube user Kyokushinway is also doing some great work in providing more insights into the art and keeping eyes on it.

Here’s an otherworldly knockout that adheres to the principles of Kyokushin. Kill the body, then attack the head. All body attacks until the final shot comes along in a flash:

This one has a ton of great action, and it ends with a true stun attack:

Here’s another set of rough and tumble Sambo, courtesy of SAMBOFIAS.

Finally, a rousing knockout from last year at the SEA games in which this Silat match goes from interesting to concerning in very short order:

Have fun, treat each other well, and watch some weird stuff. And remember – you might think you can fight, but there are many guys like you all over the world.

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Bloody Elbow presents its fight week, fight night, and post-fight coverage of Gennadiy Golovkin (42-1-1, 37 KOs) vs. Canelo Alvarez (57-2-2, 39 KOs), live from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday, September 17th. After a draw in the 1st battle, and narrow victory in the 2nd war, the wait for the trilogy bout to settle one of boxing’s biggest rivalries is officially over.

This highly-anticipated trilogy match airs live on DAZN PPV (Pay-Per-View), with a special start time of 8/5PM ETPT, and the main event is expected to commence at 11/8PM ETPT.

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Nurmagomedov has not fought since his lightweight title defense against Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 in October 2020.

Khabib Nurmagomedov is enjoying life away from the cage.

The former UFC lightweight champion revealed that he is no longer watching his diet since his official retirement in 2020 and that now weighs more than 200 pounds.

“I weigh 205lb now, maybe 204lb in the morning if I don’t have dessert the night before,” Nurmagomedov said at a Human Appeal charity event in London last week. “When I was an active fighter, I was around 190lb and I cut weight to 155lb. I finished my career, I gained about five kilos, but I can’t do anything with this.”

Nurmagomedov struggled to make weight on several occasions throughout his UFC tenure. He missed weight ahead of his fourth UFC fight against Abel Trujillo at UFC 160 in May 2013, and was hospitalized two hours before his scheduled weigh-in to face Ferguson at UFC 209. The former champ also appeared sickly ahead of weighing in for his lightweight title defense at UFC 254—the final fight of his MMA career.

“It was one of the hardest things in my life to stay away from food, even now. It was hard because for 15 years I was on a diet, maybe more,” Nurmagomedov said. “To make weight, I had to stay on a diet all my life. Being a religious person, we have to stay away from a lot of things. When food comes on the table, sometimes you want to enjoy it. I have to train every day for five hours to get back to 86 kilo, or I can live a happy life. I’m going to be happy and drink Pepsi.”

While Nurmagomedov plans to enjoy life as an entrepreneur, coach, and fight promoter, he revealed that he is still training regularly to remain in shape, though not with the intensity of fight camps.

“I train maybe one hour a day, but before when I was active, I was training at least four hours everyday.”

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It looks as though USADA has tested Conor McGregor far less than others who have been inactive as long (or longer) than he has.

By official accounts, former two-division champion Conor McGregor hasn’t been subject to a USADA drug test since the third quarter of 2021. The ‘Notorious’ UFC superstar has spent the last year sitting on the sidelines as he recovers from a broken leg suffered in the first round of his trilogy bout with Dustin Poirier last July.

McGregor returned to sparring in April of this year and teased a July 2022 return. However, the longtime SBG Ireland talent’s recent role in the upcoming Road House reboot, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, appears to have pushed that expected re-entry to the UFC all the way back to 2023.

In the meantime, with all this time on the sidelines spent rehabbing, it seems the UFC’s drug testing partner has taken a back seat when it comes to watching over the fighter’s shoulder.

McGregor’s testing history according to USADA is as follows:

2015: 8
2016: 11
2017: 6
2018: 11
2019: 7
2020: 8
2021: 11
2022: 0

Breaking down those 2021 numbers a little further—for a year where McGregor fought once in January and once in July—it looks like USADA largely stepped away once he started rehab:

Quarter 1: 4
Quarter 2: 6
Quarter 3: 1
Quarter 4: 0

Bloody Elbow did reach out to USADA, who confirmed “that our Athlete Test History is accurate” in reguards to their posted online records being up to date and complete.

For the sake of comparison, other fighters who have been inactive as long (or longer) than McGregor have the following 2022 testing history:

Yana Kunitskaya: 3 (most recent fight – July 10, 2021)
Tanner Boser: 4 (most recent fight – June 26, 2021)
Warlley Alves: 4 (most recent fight – June 26, 2021)
Daniel Pineda: 4 (most recent fight – June 26, 2021)
Julia Avila: 3 (most recent fight – June 26, 2021)
Kanako Murata: 3 (most recent fight – June 19, 2021)
Jon Jones: 3 (most recent fight – February 8, 2020)
David Teymur: 2 (most recent fight – February 2, 2019)
Urijah Faber: 4 (most recent fight – December 14, 2019)
Travis Browne: 3 (most recent fight – July 8, 2017)

USADA deferred to the UFC when asked if McGregor is currently enrolled in the UFC/USADA testing program. The UFC and McGregor’s management company have not replied to an inquiry regarding McGregor’s status in the promotion’s drug testing pool as of publication time. This story will be updated if we receive a response.

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The rematch between Carmouche and Velasquez is set to co-headline the upcoming Bellator event. 

Liz Carmouche is defending the Bellator flyweight championship against the woman she recently dethroned: Juliana Velasquez.

Guilherme Cruz of MMA Fighting reported that Carmouche vs. Velasquez 2 is set as the co-headliner of Bellator 289, the upcoming event scheduled for Dec. 9 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville.

Carmouche upset Velasquez at Bellator 278 this past April. Down on all judges’ scorecards, ‘Girl-Rilla’ rallied and finished Velasquez via fourth-round TKO, but the win was shrouded in controversy. Though pinned under Carmouche in crucifix position and elbowed repeatedly, the ex-champion argued they ‘had no effect’ and should not have warranted a stoppage.

Velasquez filed an appeal for the loss to be overturned to a No Contest, but it was denied by the Hawaii State Boxing Commission. In its ruling, the commission agreed with referee Mike Beltran and his ‘decision to err on the side of caution’ when stopping the fight.

The newly crowned champion defended Beltran, who she believed ‘did the right thing’ to prevent Velasquez from either suffering an injury or going unconscious. When asked if she was interested in an immediate rematch, Carmouche was less than enthused and hoped to defend against a fresh challenger in the division. That may have to wait, depending on the outcome of her upcoming rematch.

With the win over Velasquez, Carmouche is now 4-0 in Bellator. The Team Hurricane Awesome product also holds wins over DeAnna Bennett, Vanessa Porto and Kana Watanabe.

Bellator 289 is headlined by Raufeon Stots vs. Danny Sabatello, one of two semifinals fights in the Bantamweight World Grand Prix.

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Dana White’s praise for Nate Diaz rang hollow after UFC 279

UFC president Dana White was effusive in his praise of Nate Diaz during UFC 279 fight week. If one didn’t know better, White’s claims that he and the UFC wished Diaz nothing but the best in his future endeavors would almost come across as sincere and believable.

However, the UFC actions leading up to UFC 279 spoke much louder than the empty words White offered once the promotion’s plans collapsed under the 7.5 pounds Khamzat Chimaev was overweight when he checked in for his scheduled bout against Diaz.

Chimaev weight miss caused a reshuffling of the card. With that, Diaz faced Tony Ferguson at welterweight and Chimaev met Kevin Holland at a catchweight of 180 pounds. Chimaev ran over Holland, submitting him at 2:13 of the first round and blanking him on the stat sheet. Diaz, in what was his last fight with the UFC under his now expired contract, forced Ferguson to tap at the 2:52 mark of the fourth stanza.

The shake-up of the card allowed Diaz to walk away with a win and what seemed like sincere praise from White. Neither of those things was in the script the UFC wrote when it initially booked the fight between Chimaev and Diaz.

What the UFC wanted to do was send Diaz out of the promotion with a devastating defeat. The goal was to have Chimaev demolish Diaz in the octagon and devalue his name on the free market.

Seeing what Chimaev did to Holland, the odds are good that he would have defeated Diaz in a similar — if not more — dreadful manner. That result would have provided White the opportunity to sit at the dais at the post-fight press conference and gleefully stomp on Diaz’s name and reputation.

It’s not hard to imagine White saying something about it being time for Diaz to retire and how his record since 2016 and his UFC 279 performance showed that doesn’t belong among the elite of the UFC.

Chimaev, by missing weight, prevented the UFC’s dastardly, despicable and dirty plan from playing out. Just because that plan didn’t come to fruition doesn’t mean it wasn’t the goal.

One thing Chimaev didn’t prevent was the message the promotion sent to other name fighters who might toy with the idea of being as audacious as Diaz about testing free agency. That message was clearly sent. If you tell us you’re going to leave the promotion before your last fight with us, be prepared to walk out the door under the worst possible circumstances.

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The YouTuber-turned-boxer is eyeing a potential fight with Diaz. 

Jake Paul is ‘100 percent’ interested in fighting Nate Diaz.

The former UFC superstar completed his contract with a fourth-round guillotine choke of Tony Ferguson at UFC 279 this past Saturday. In his post-fight interview with UFC color commentator Joe Rogan, Diaz laid the foundation for his next venture and said he would ’show everybody how to own another sport,’ which led to speculation that he would shift to boxing.

Though he previously expressed interest in getting into the ring with Diaz, Paul knew it would not happen because the Stockton native was still under contract with the UFC. Now that he is a free agent, the YouTuber-turned-boxer has set his sights on Diaz once again.

“100 percent, I’ll slap the Stockton out of him,” said Paul when asked if Diaz was a potential opponent.

However, before Paul vs. Diaz can happen, the ‘Problem Child’ has his hands full with Anderson Silva, the former UFC middleweight champion and combat sports icon. Because he is considered the toughest opponent of his career thus far, Paul remains focused on the task at hand.

“I’m focused on Oct. 29,” said Paul. “I have a crazy tough opponent in front of me in Anderson Silva, so that’s my main focus right now.”

Silva is 2-0 since returning to boxing, earning wins over Julio César Chávez Jr and Tito Ortiz. Paul, meanwhile, boasts an undefeated record of 5-0, with wins over Ben Askren and Tyron Woodley (x2) among his highlights.

Paul vs. Silva is set for Sat., Oct. 29, at Desert Diamond Arena in Arizona.

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