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A decision machine. Far from entertaining. Part of the worst title fight in UFC history. The list goes on for Carla Esparza, a two-time strawweight champion not getting the respect her achievements deserve. The first title defence of her second reign against Zhang Weili on Saturday night is one many expect she’ll lose, handily at that, but the 35-year-old is excited. Continue reading “UFC 281: Esparza keen to extinguish lingering criticisms vs. confident Weili in first title defence”
Down on the scorecards, Jiri Prochazka recovered from sustained periods of danger to reign supreme as the new light-heavyweight titlist in his third UFC appearance – submitting Glover Teixeira with 28 seconds left in R5. Valentina Shevchenko looked human against a determined Taila Santos display after former foe Joanna Jedrzejczyk announced her retirement following a thunderous R2 KO loss during a highly-anticipated rematch with former champ Zhang Weili.
Continue reading “UFC 275: Prochazka pips Teixeira to LHW title with R5 sub after Shevchenko’s razor-thin defence”
With no UFC card for fans to digest this past weekend, I look back at the five things we learned from May’s electric UFC 274 PPV card – where one championship was controversially stripped on the scale beforehand, another title fight changed hands and plenty more happened besides. Continue reading “UFC 274: Key observations, five things we learned from May 7’s PPV card”
Ahead of next month’s PPV event in Singapore, with two championship fights and a highly-anticipated title eliminator at strawweight, the six headline fighters spoke on a virtual press conference with a variety of answers – from what’s to come for them respectively in June and potentially beyond, like double-champ status and one fighter eyeing another title rematch. Continue reading “UFC 275 Virtual Presser: Santos keen to wrestle, Joanna targeting revenge and more”
After falling short against Valentina Shevchenko in her bid to become a two-weight world champion, the former women’s strawweight titlist headlined a largely forgettable Fight Night card from the Apex on Saturday night and wasted no time: delivering a first-round standing arm-triangle choke win over her Brazilian compatriot, Amanda Lemos on her return to 115lbs. Continue reading “UFC Vegas 52: Andrade earns historic sub win over Lemos on return to strawweight division”
Surging strawweight contender Marina Rodriguez has dented two hype trains in 2021, first knocking out Amanda Ribas on Fight Island in January and now outlasting Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Mackenzie Dern on the scorecards during her second successive main event, after which she stressed a readiness to fight for UFC gold – displays like this make it feel inevitable.
Continue reading “UFC Vegas 39: Marina Rodriguez ruins Mackenzie Dern’s showcase night with harsh lesson”
Armed with five straight victories, it might be difficult to deny Carla Esparza another shot at strawweight gold for much longer after a commanding display like this one…
Continue reading “UFC Vegas 27: Carla Esparza dominates Yan Xiaonan, calls for title shot vs. Rose Namajunas”
Israel Adesanya retained his middleweight belt after a bizarre 25-minute showing against Yoel Romero in the UFC 248 main event, though it was the card’s other championship bout which stole the show: Weili Zhang’s first title defence was one for the history books against former strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk. Continue reading “UFC 248: Israel Adesanya retains middleweight strap, but Weili-Jedrzejczyk steals the show”
Mo and Sports 