Dustin Poirier and Charles Oliveira are two of the top lightweights in the world, but both have opened as underdogs for upcoming fights scheduled for UFC 299 and UFC 300.
Poirier clashes with rising star Benoit Saint Denis in a five-round battle that serves as the co-main event of UFC 299 in March. The fight is Poirier’s first appearance since suffering a shocking head kick knockout loss to Justin Gaethje this past July.
Meanwhile, Saint Denis has rattled off five straight wins — all by knockout or submission — while staking his claim to a No. 13 spot in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings.
The opening odds for the fight from Sportsbetting.ag have Poirier as an underdog to Saint Denis, although betting lines can obviously shift depending on how much money is wagered on each athlete.
Dustin Poirier +130
Benoit Saint-Denis -150
Based on those odds, a $ 100 bet would return $ 130 if Poirier pulls off the upset, while it would require a $ 150 bet on Saint Denis to get back $ 100.
As for the new fight booked for UFC 300, Arman Tsarukyan enjoys favorite status over Oliveira as the lightweights compete in a No. 1 contender’s fight. The winner is expected to eventually fight for the 155-pound title after clashing on the historic card on April 13 in Las Vegas.
Charles Oliveira +170
Arman Tsarukyan -200
Tsarukyan earned his status as the favorite after he demolished Beneil Dariush in the first round in December, which extended his win streak to three in a row overall.
As for Oliveira, the former UFC lightweight champion also scored a win over Dariush this past May, and he was scheduled to face Islam Makhachev in October, however he suffered a nasty gash during training that knocked him out of the fight. Rather than re-booking that rematch again, Oliveira now takes on one of the top prospects at lightweight, with Tsarukyan seeking the biggest win of his UFC career.
UFC heavyweight champion, Jon Jones has confirmed he has undergone a surgical procedure to in order to address a long-standing elbow injury amid his continued sidelining from the Octagon, as he continues recovery from an operation to address a pectoral tendon tear suffered ahead of a planned comeback last November.
Jones, a former two-time undisputed light heavyweight champion, pound-for-pound number one and current heavyweight gold holder, has been sidelined since he clinched vacant spoils back in March at UFC 285, landing a dominant opening round guillotine choke submission win over Ciryl Gane.
Slated to make his comeback in a heavyweight title fight defense against former two-time champion, Stipe Miocic at UFC 295 back in November, a pectoral tendon tear forced Endicott native, Jones from the matchup.
In his place, an interim title has been introduced to the division, with Tom Aspinall clinching said title with a blistering opening round KO win over Russian finisher, Sergei Pavlovich at Madison Square Garden.
Jon Jones undergoes elbow surgery amid UFC absence
However, amid his continued sidelining, Jones has confirmed he’s undergone a surgical procedure to address an elbow injury – namely the shaving down on numerous bone spurs during his time away from active competition.
“Back out here in California with Dr. [Neal] ElAttrache, this time instead of doing a pec repair, we are working on my left elbow,” Jon Jones said on Instagram. “I’m actually about one hour off the table. We had a two-hour surgery shaving down some bone spurs. The good news is it’s about a 10 week healing process, and I’m out for months anyway, because of this pec surgery, so i thought I’d just kill two birds and get this elbow taken care of once and for all.”
| Jon Jones has revealed he underwent surgery on his left elbow earlier today.
He says the recovery is around 10 weeks and got it done as he knew he was going to be out anyway so he thought he’d "kill two birds” whilst he also recovers from his torn pec.#UFC #MMA pic.twitter.com/6rIBymAHWy
— MMA Orbit (@mma_orbit) January 8, 2024
“I appreciate all the support,” Jon Jones explained. “Your boy’s back in the sling, back on this recovery journey. Still on this recovery journey. Sometimes you have to take a small step back in order to move forward, and I’m patient. I appreciate you guys support, your love and your positive energy, and Iw ill be back. Love you all.”
When do you expect Jon Jones to make his UFC return?
Anthony Joshua and Matchroom Sport’s Eddie Hearn had to call an audible after Deontay Wilder’s upset loss to Joseph Parker dashed plans of a long-awaited Joshua vs. Wilder showdown. But as far as back-up plans go, they certainly could’ve done worse.
Joshua is slated to face MMA’s lineal heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou in a blockbuster 10-round boxing match in March in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
“Obviously delighted, just a great fight,” Hearn said Monday on The MMA Hour.
“Everyone’s going to play my previous clips [of me saying] that Francis Ngannou couldn’t win an English title before he fought Tyson Fury. I feel like he’s earned that shot — or certainly to continue at that level. And I fancy the fight. You’ve heard me say before, I really believe AJ knocks him out. But he’s a dangerous fight. I know that this guy’s a big, big lump that can really punch, and I think he has no fear, which makes him dangerous. But I just feel like AJ’s in a great place, and I expect him to pick him apart and knock him out.”
An Olympic champion and longtime player in boxing’s heavyweight title scene, Joshua, 34, was expected to face Wilder on March 9 if both he and the American won their respective bouts at the Day of Reckoning event on Dec. 23. Joshua ultimately did his part, cruising past Otto Wallin with a sensational showing, however Wilder failed to live up to his end of the bargain, losing a listless decision to Parker. That left Joshua without a worthy dance partner for his next bout — and so Wilder’s loss quickly became Ngannou’s gain.
“The Predator” is 0-1 as a professional boxer but stunned the combat sports world by giving Tyson Fury one of the toughest tests of his career in their Oct. 28 bout. The former UFC heavyweight champion knocked down Fury in the third round and came within a single round on a single scorecard of scoring one of the biggest upsets in boxing history.
“You can’t really say that he’s not a credible opponent,” Hearn said of Ngannou. “I’ve heard Carl Froch and others say, ‘Oh, this is just a cash grab.’ No, this is a dangerous fight. Like, AJ actually has a lot to lose here. Coming off the Wallin fight, he’s in a wonderful position to go and fight for the IBF world title, which we hope will happen after the Francis Ngannou fight. But it’s kind of like, there’s a lot of jeopardy in this fight. A lot of jeopardy. If you lose to Francis Ngannou — Francis Ngannou is 0-1, right? So it’s not a great look, losing to Francis Ngannou. So he’s going to do everything he can to avoid that.
“They’re taking this very seriously,” Hearn added. “In their mind, this is the toughest fight of their career. Francis Ngannou is a very dangerous man, and they’ll be training, absolutely, with every ounce in their soul to be victorious.”
The timing of the bout appears to be a win-win for both men. Ngannou’s stock in combat sports is higher than ever before, while Joshua is once again in the championship mix after responding from back-to-back losses to Oleksandr Usyk with three straight wins in 2023.
Hearn said Joshua has yet to finalize the specifics of his camp but will decide soon whether Ben Davison will remain his head trainer for Ngannou after the partnership bared fruit with an impressive showing over Wallin. That decision, he said, will likely be made “this week.”
Hearn reiterated that more details regarding the bout will be announced at a kickoff press conference in London on Jan. 15, including an official date, but for now he’s pleased with where things ended up. And while he’s confident in Joshua’s abilities, he’s also fully aware that Ngannou has made a habit of defying the odds in his combat sports career.
“I still believe that AJ will show you the levels of boxing in this fight,” Hearn said. “But listen, I’ve been wrong before. I’m an AJ fanboy. And the reason that people aren’t pooh-poohing this fight is because they realize it’s a dangerous fight now. They realize AJ should win, but this guy [Ngannou] is for real — and what I said earlier is key. He has no fear.
“Normally a guy without a boxing background should be going in fighting Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, but half petrified, really, of really not knowing what to do. I saw an Instagram post earlier of [Ngannou] with Guido Vianello, who’s a heavyweight. He’s back sparring already. I mean, I’ll be honest with you, it made me — I won’t say, I had a change of underwear. It was like, he’s dangerous. He’s dangerous because he just doesn’t really know, he hasn’t been there. [But] he’s been there now, so he’s going to be more dangerous.
“It’s a fight that you have to watch through your fingers, because both guys have extreme power, the kind of power that could switch your lights off like that. And it’s going to be electric.”
There are five fights that former middleweight champion and UFC commentator Michael Bisping thinks ‘must happen’ this year. With title fights headlining the next three pay-per-view events, the UFC is coming out strong in the first quarter of 2024 leading into the historic UFC 300 event in April.
Before revealing the list of fights that he says has to happen this year, Bisping said a bit of a disclaimer.
“Of course there’s a lot of if, buts, and maybes, but the thing is if there’s a possibility for these fights to. happen, they’re probably going to happen because that’s what the UFC does. They give the people the fights that you want to see. This ain’t boxing,” Bisping said.
Looking deeper into the year, past UFC 300, the fifth fight Bisping thought must happen this year was Israel Adesanya versus Dricus Du Plessis. The two have already marketed the fight after Du Plessis defeated Robert Whittaker at UFC 290 this past July. Adesanya entered the octagon after the win and assaulted Du Plessis with words.
Du Plessis faces champion Sean Strickland in the UFC 297 main event on Jan. 20 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
The fourth bout on Bisping’s list was a women’s super fight that pits champion against champion. He believes women’s strawweight champion Zhang Weili should challenge flyweight titleholder Alexa Grasso. It would give Zhang the opportunity to become a double champion.
Moving into the Top 3, Bisping mentioned Conor McGregor. McGregor is expected to return this summer against Michael Chandler potentially as a middleweight. Regardless of the outcome of that fight, Bisping thinks McGregor versus Nate Diaz 3 could happen within the next 12 months. With as big as the first two fights were, it’s easy matchmaking for the promotor.
The second fight on Bisping’s Top 5 list was lightweight champion Islam Makhachev taking on second-ranked Justin Gaethje. Gaethje is coming off a head kick knockout win over Dustin Poirier, and he hasn’t faced Makhachev yet.
The fight that Bisping most wants to see in 2024 tops his list and is a heavyweight tussle. Heavyweight champion Jon Jones facing interim champ Tom Aspinall got to number one spot.
Jones was slated to faced former two-time champion Stipe Miocic but was forced out of the fight due to a shoulder injury suffered in training. The fight will likely be rebooked after Jones fully recovers.
Even if Jones defeats Miocic upon his return, he and Aspinall may not meet. There’s been some hints that Jones may retire following the fight. Miocic likely will as well.
Michael Bisping: Top 5 UFC fights that ‘must happen’ in 2024
Ian Machado Garry on one hand wants to make Sean Strickland answer for all the things he’s said. On the other, he feels like the UFC middleweight champ needs a hug.
Garry on Monday responded to Strickland’s recent comments about he and his wife, Layla Machado Garry, and detailed his side of a run-in at the UFC Performance Institute that the champ revealed in one of several verbal shots.
“I would say it was a scene,” Garry said Monday on The MMA Hour. “It was more of a glance, and him being shuffled into a lift, and that was it. And he had a little snicker on his face, and I shouted something at him — I don’t know what I shouted at him, but I shouted something at him before I even had a chance to think.
“My body went straight into fight mode, and then the doors closed. There was nothing much to it, to be honest.”
Strickland’s version agreed with Garry’s in that the UFC prevented a physical confrontation with the standout welterweight, who Strickland called a “f****** cuck” and a “f****** funny little dweeb.” In his typical way, the middleweight champ mixed insults with backhanded compliments, saying he liked Garry and thought he was “a dumbass f****** kid who got some p**** that was too good for him and it got in his head and it f***** you up.”
As Garry noted, he had a gut response to Strickland at the UFC PI, and while he couldn’t remember what it was, it probably wasn’t a verbal olive branch. He isn’t sure what would have happened had he gotten close to Strickland, but one thing he wouldn’t have done was throw down.
“I would have f****** talked to him, for sure,” Garry said. “I don’t know. See, this is the thing, I’m not going to start throwing hands with the bloke, because I’m a better person than that, and I would like to be above all the s*** that was said, and just sit there and be to him, ‘I feel sorry for you, man. I feel sorry for you — I feel sorry that all this s*** has you that hurt that you’re attacking everybody else.’
“I feel like that’s what I’d like to say — what I would have said, I don’t know.”
Garry later addressed Strickland in response to the middleweight champ’s emotional interview with Theo Von, pointing out the hypocrisy in declaring talk of child abuse off the table while attacking he and his family.
If Garry had one point he wanted to get across, it’s that Strickland’s behavior is more than distasteful — it’s wrong.
“I don’t personally care what happened in his childhood, or what happened in his past that has him the way he is now,” Garry said. “I don’t care what happened in your past. Don’t attack and project your pain onto other people, or other people’s families, because you can’t deal with it correctly.
“The UFC PI has mental health and has ways to deal with athletes’ mental health. Go talk to them and deal with it the way it should be dealt with — talk about it. Get rid of it, express it, release it, because to attack other people’s families and other people’s loved ones because you have childhood trauma, it’s completely unfair. It’s inexcusable. You don’t have a reason to attack other people because you are in pain. That’s my outlook on it.”
Garry has done a lot of processing about Strickland and the wave of negative attention directed at he and his family. The experience hasn’t been a pleasant one, but it’s been necessary to move forward in a positive way. For him, that means eventually making Strickland answer for his words in the octagon.
In the meantime, he would suggest Strickland find some other way to promote fights, because the champ is already finding out what it means to be on the receiving end of toxic talk.
“Don’t speak in that manner about anybody else on the planet,” Garry said. ”Deal with your issues first, and if I was someone who was throwing stones in the glass house vibes, protect your house first before you start throwing them at other people.”
| Jon Jones has revealed he underwent surgery on his left elbow earlier today.
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