Jake Paul might still be returning to the ring in July after all.
Happy Punch has reported that Paul will compete against Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) star and former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Welterweight, Mike Perry, on July 20, 2024. The report did not specify what type of contest the match up would be or where. That date was originally scheduled to be Paul’s 11th professional boxing match (9-1) against Mike Tyson in AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Paul vs. Tyson was recently delayed and rebooked for the venue on November 15, 2024. The change in timing came as a result of Tyson suffering an ulcer flare-up and brief hospitalization.
Should Perry, 32, be the next man to challenge the 27-year-old “Problem Child” in the boxing ring, it will be Perry’s return to gloved combat for the first time since his UFC departure in April 2021 and his first boxing match since 2015. However, Perry has been flawless in life after UFC, winning five consecutive bare-knuckle boxing (BKB) matches in BKFC.
The closest Perry has gotten to stepping into the ring with gloves on came when he was the official backup fighter for Logan Paul vs. Dillon Danisin October 2023.
Gervonta Davis will square off against Frank Martin on Saturday night. | Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images
The Gervonta Davis vs. Frank Martin fight card will feature four title fights at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev., on Saturday night.
In the main event, Gervonta Davis will put his WBA lightweight title on the line against Frank Martin. Both Davis (29-0) and Martin (18-0) have yet to lose in their professional career.
David Benavidez (28-0) will square off against Oleksandr Gvozdyk (20-1) for the WBC interim light heavyweight title in the co-main event.
Check out the Tank vs. Martin fight card below.
Main card (PPV.com at 8 p.m. ET)
Tank Davis vs. Frank Martin – WBA lightweight title
David Benavidez vs. Oleksandr Gvozdyk – WBC interim light heavyweight title
Carlos Adames vs. Terrell Gausha – WBC middleweight title
Gary Antuanne Russell vs. Alberto Puello – WBC interim super lightweight title
Prelims (MMA Fighting at 5:30 p.m. ET)
Mark Magsayo vs. Eduardo Ramirez – Super featherweight
Romain Villa vs. Ricardo Salas Rodriguez – Welterweight
Elijah Garcia vs. Kyrone Davis – Middleweight
Daniel Blancas vs. Aro Schwartz – Super middleweight
Justin Viloria vs. Angelo Antonio Contreras – Super featherweight
Stacey Selby vs. Jalen Hill – Super lightweight
Mia Ellis vs. Margaret Whitmore – Super featherweight
Brayan Gonzalez vs. James Mulder – Super bantamweight
Despite being MMA’s first simultaneous three-division world champion Anatoly Malykhin is far from being a household name in the world of combat sports. However, a scrap with former UFC titleholder Francis Ngannou could change that.
Boasting an impressive 14-0 record with a 100% finish rate, ‘Sladkiy’ has established himself as one of ONE Championship’s most formidable foes across three different divisions. Starting with capturing the interim heavyweight belt, Malykhin inevitably traded in his temporary title for undisputed gold against the division’s former king, Arjan Bhullar—but not before becoming a two-division champion with a highlight-reel knockout of Reinier de Ridder to claim the light heavyweight title.
Determined to etch his name in the history books, Malykhin dropped down two weight classes, challenging de Ridder for the middleweight title at ONE 166 in Qatar. Though it took him a little bit longer the second time around, the result was the same. Malykhin finished ‘The Dutch Knight’ in round three to claim his third strap.
During a recent interview with MMA Fighting, Malykhin addressed a potential matchup with Ngannou, suggesting that he could be “a big problem” for the former UFC-turned-PFL superstar.
“I can say that my strong points are that I move better than him and also I do great body shots,” Malykhin said through an interpreter. “I think me on my feet would be a big problem for him.”
ONE CEO Chatri Sityodtong has little interest in seeing Anatoly Malykhin fight Francis Ngannou
A fight between Anatoly Malykhin and Francis Ngannou would be a huge opportunity for the 13-year-old promotion as it continues to fight for its piece of the pie in the U.S. market, but ONE Championship’s founder and CEO, Chatri Sityodtong, doesn’t appear to be terribly interested in the heavyweight superfight.
Commenting on the potential showdown, Sityodtong made it clear that the hurdles of a cross-promotion with PFL are not the issue. It’s that he simply doesn’t believe Ngannou would be much of a challenge for his three-division star.
“I don’t think it would be competitive,” Sityodtong told MMA Fighting. “Francis has one-punch KO power, great striking, but he doesn’t have a ground game. I mean, genuinely [he has] blue belt level jiu-jitsu and no wrestling. Anatoly would take him down in a heartbeat. I don’t think it would be competitive, just to be very blunt, and I’m speaking as a lifelong martial artist. I’m trying to be as objective as possible, and I’ve been doing 40 years of Muay Thai and 15 years of jiu-jitsu. I’m just speaking from personal experience and I’m trying to be objective.
“We all know in all the different weight classes, wrestling is the one discipline that allows you to dictate where the fight takes place. If a wrestler wants to keep it standing, he keeps it standing. If he wants to take you down or she wants to take you down, they’ll take you down, especially a world-class wrestler — a Russian national team wrestler like Anatoly Malykhin. [But] we’ve always been open [to cross promotion].”
Before signing with the Professional Fighters League, Ngannou met with Sityodtong to work out a potential deal. ONE ultimately walked away from the negotiating table with the CEO noting that he and ‘The Predator’ were not fully aligned on “non-financial matters.”
Considering it’s been more than a year since Ngannou signed with the PFL and he has yet to make his Smart Cage debut, it kinda feels like Sityodtong made the right move.
Chael Sonnen | Photo by Amy Kaplan/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Chael Sonnen is fully invested in his third crack at Anderson Silva.
The longtime UFC rivals meet again this Saturday in Sao Paulo, Brazil, this time under boxing rules, and Sonnen is treating this matchup as seriously as their two previous middleweight title fights.
Despite the rule set seemingly favoring Silva, one of the most feared strikers in MMA history, Sonnen is not only unconcerned with the adjustments he’ll have to make, he’s also treating this as much more than a glorified exhibition bout for his opponent.
“Somebody said he would have the advantage for a boxing match,” Sonnen said at an open workout in Sao Paulo on Tuesday. “That might be true, I don’t have any idea. I had the advantage in MMA matches and he still found a way to get his hand raised. I don’t really understand the point when people say that. My anxiety would not be any less if this was a wrestling match, it wouldn’t be any less because I’ve been doing it my whole life. I would want to beat him, I would see the opportunity, I would be here talking to all of you guys, inside I would be very nervous, which is what I am now — it’s what I am for the boxing match, and I will never offer you an excuse.
“I will be devastated if I lose this match to him. There’s no part of me that will laugh or smile or think, ‘Aw shucks, this is boxing.’ I could not possibly care less what the rules are. I’m not planning to follow the rules anyway. In all fairness, I never follow the rules. I fought him twice, I cheated him twice, and then he brings me in here like he can trust me. Fool me once, shame on me; fool you twice, you know the expression.”
Sonnen and Silva have a storied history, with Sonnen nearly upsetting Silva at UFC 117 before succumbing to a fifth-round triangle choke, and then losing by TKO to Silva in their rematch at UFC 148. Both bouts were pay-per-view hits and an indelible part of each fighters’ legacies.
However, Sonnen has not won a fight since 2018, while Silva has found some success since making the move to pro boxing. Silva opened as -500 favorite in the matchup and one could assume that Saturday’s bout is a setup for Silva to shine.
Sonnen doesn’t disagree with the assessment, which is one reason why he’s happy to bring up plenty of his old jibes that he’s made at the expense of Brazil.
“They hand-picked me because they think I’m an easy win,” Sonnen said. “Then they keep acting like I’m supposed to come in here nice and be about respect and don’t bring in the mud and don’t bring up the computers, don’t talk about the time [Antonio Rodrigo] Nogueira fed a bus a carrot. You know what, I made that story up. You want to know what really happened the first time I met Nogueira? He thought my phone was a pop tart, he took it and he bit it in half. I would have called and told someone about that or posted on social media, but you can’t really use your phone when it’s broken in half, it turns out.
“I think they did call me in [to be an easy win], and I bring that up because what an insult. There’s nothing nice about that. Why am I supposed to come in here and be polite and respectful? It’s a boxing match. The first rule to win a boxing match, damage. He’s literally invited me to his career-ending party, of which they’ve already started the parade, and I’m supposed to be grateful about it. Oh, by the way, we’re going to get in the ring and try to damage one another.”
Sonnen outboxing Silva to finally score a win over the Brazilian legend would be one of the most surprising outcomes ever seen in combat sports, but Sonnen isn’t going in there looking for a Hail Mary shot. He’s not going to approach this fight like their first two encounters either.
This time, Sonnen is practicing patience.
“If I was going to give you a prediction for Saturday night, I’m going to be out there for a while,” Sonnen said. “I’m not going to go out and try to knock him out with my power. There’s an expression in boxing, but it’s very true: If you look for the knockout, you will not win a decision. That was a mistake I made in the MMA fights. There was an urgency. There was an urgency to get him down because I didn’t want to be stuck on my feet with him.
“I didn’t want to be in that range. I watched what he did to Forrest Griffin, I watched what he did to Vitor [Belfort] and so many other guys, and I’ll be able to calm that this time. With the bigger gloves, I’ll be able to calm that. I’m not going to go out there and think I can put pressure on him and make him quit. I tried that twice and that’s not the strategy to beat Anderson.”
Israel Adesanya has been away from the octagon for the longest time during his UFC tenure. Now, he and fellow City Kickboxing standouts Dan Hooker and Kai Kara-France may have just been confirmed for an upcoming event.
UFC 305 is set to take place at the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia. The most recent event down under saw Adesanya lose his middleweight throne to the persistent Sean Strickland.
Though the event will be getting underway in two months’ time, no headlining bout has been announced. However, fan-favorite Dan Hooker insisted that he should be competing on August 17.
“I want that day. I want it on Perth, so I kind of stood my ground a little bit,” Hooker told Combat TV. “They said I’ll be on the card but I’ve just got no idea who I’ll be fighting.”
“I don’t care if they’re ranked, unranked, higher, lower, left, or right. I just want to be [fighting] on that date.”
Hooker then may have made a huge revelation on two other stars who could make an appearance on the card.
“You know, like, Kai [Kara-France] is on it, Izzy [Israel Adesanya] is on it. I just want to have fun with my mates.”
Related: Dricus Du Plessis vs. Israel Adesanya confirmed for UFC 305?
He later doubled down on his belief that himself, Israel Adesanya, and Kai Kara-France will all be competing at UFC 305.
“We’ve stood our ground on Perth. The UFC said, ‘Yeah, we’ll get him on that date.’ And then, whoever. Whoever steps up, whoever steps forward. That’s kind of it now.”
“It could be absolutely anyone. Just that date, I’ll fight any man. Then I get to sit back, pop a beer, watch Kai fight, watch Israel fight, and have a good night out with my mates.”
At present, only Casey O’Neill vs. Tereza Bleda and Tom Nolan vs. Alex Reyes have been scheduled for the pay-per-view.
Dominick Reyes arguably deserved to beat Jon Jones when they met back in 2020. Instead, the controversial loss had a lasting impact on his career.
Following an undefeated start to his UFC run, Reyes earned a title shot and pushed Jones to the brink in a back-and-forth title fight at UFC 247. As much as he believes he should have walked out of that arena with the UFC light heavyweight title around his waist, the now 34-year-old fighter felt like he had to do something different to get back to that peak again.
So he left his teammates and coaches in California and began exploring options at different gyms, because Reyes felt like that’s what he needed if he was going to eventually capture UFC gold. What resulted instead was a tumultuous run that included three knockout losses in a row and questions if Reyes should even continue fighting.
“I lost my way,” Reyes said on The MMA Hour. “I was looking for something I already had. I thought I needed to do more after the Jones fight. I felt like I could have given more somehow, when in reality, I gave everything I had and then some. It took a lot from me. I was searching for more and I lost my way looking for something that wasn’t there.
“I used to think, ‘Oh, I need to go to a bigger gym and work with better guys,’ and that’s not always the case. You’ve got to do focused work for you. What would work for you. Not going out there and searching for something that you already have.”
Reyes admits his wake-up call didn’t come from a friend or relative pointing out his mistakes. It turns out losing consecutive bouts to Jan Blachowicz, Jiri Prochazka, and Ryan Spann provided Reyes with all the evidence he needed to a reunite with his old team.
“Who are my couple of opponents? They helped me out,” Reyes said. “That’s the only way to learn in this industry, by losing fights and getting those real wake-up calls and those reality checks. ‘You’re not doing something right. This is not how you fight. You’re making some serious mistakes here. What do you got to do to get back to you? What makes you special?’
“Going to work with Glover [Teixeira] and Alex [Pereira] and them, yeah, they’re great fighters and everything, but they don’t know what makes me special, truly. They weren’t there in the beginning. They don’t know my entire journey. They have not seen me come up from a little guy to who I am now. It’s hard for them to help improve my skills when they don’t really know me.”
Going back to his old coaches wasn’t as easy as just showing up to the gym one day like nothing ever happened. Reyes knew it was going to take more than that to mend fences.
“I had to humble myself,” Reyes said. “I had to come in and say, ‘Listen, I made a mistake, would you guys be willing to take me back?’ I went around searching for things that I thought I needed, but I actually didn’t. It’s all love. Really, truly.”
As difficult as it all was, Reyes couldn’t be happier with the results.
At UFC Louisville this past Saturday, Reyes secured his first win in nearly five years when he knocked out former GLORY kickboxer Dustin Jacoby in the opening round. It may not have made him a UFC champion like a win over Jones would’ve done in 2020, but it showed Reyes that everything he went through was worth it.
“I just stayed the course,” Reyes said. “I never gave up on myself. I just kept fighting, kept training, kept getting better. Here I am back in the winner’s circle, two-year layoff from fighting and it’s like I never left.”
Following the emphatic knockout, Reyes felt like he was guaranteed to get rewarded with a post-fight Performance of the Night bonus, but he wasn’t actually among the four fighters handed that extra $ 50,000 paycheck.
That changed after Reyes reached out directly to UFC CEO Dana White, who wasn’t in attendance at UFC Louisville so didn’t make the call on the bonuses handed out that night.
“I recently talked to Dana [White] and I got the bonus now,” Reyes revealed. “I messaged him and we talked and he said, ‘Yeah, you absolutely deserve it,’ so now I got the bonus. He wasn’t there that night so it’s hard say what happened that night and how it felt in the arena. Because if you were in the arena, I was the performance of the night.
“I’ll never forget how loud it was that night. I can still feel it. I can still feel it going through my body, the energy of all those people.”
As far as what comes next, Reyes isn’t thinking too far ahead. He really hopes to get at least one more fight in 2024, although he’s not sweating the details about when it happens.
The same goes for future aspirations of title contention, because getting lost in that pursuit at least partially played in a part in the struggles Reyes endured over the past few years.
“I’m not even thinking about that,” Reyes said of the title. “I’m just enjoying this, and then the next fight and then the next fight, and then we’ll see. It’s one of those things where, there’s no point in reaching to that right now.
“That’s always the goal, to be champ. Always the goal to be a champ. I’m not here to just fight and that’s it. I’m here to be champ, yes, but I’m not there yet. Let’s continue to win, continue to put it together and then we’ll get there.”
![[Ariel Helwani] But since this morning, mutiple sources are now saying feelers are being sent out again for June 29. For a replacement and/or new fight(s). In short, there seems to pessimism all over again regarding the status of the 303 main event.](https://external-preview.redd.it/WSl38ckJ8GpUojd7_Kr4ei-TyFMlJmIqKHDBDSX5wwE.jpg?width=108&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=00354e06dc6d3d8ab7bfc3d36f2fc159c0d66b08 "[Ariel Helwani] But since this morning, mutiple sources are now saying feelers are being sent out again for June 29. For a replacement and/or new fight(s). In short, there seems to pessimism all over again regarding the status of the 303 main event.")
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