- THE FIGHT with Teddy Atlas
- Posts
- 💤 1 More Sleep
💤 1 More Sleep
Welcome to this week’s edition of The Fight With Teddy Atlas Newsletter, your one stop shop for all things combat sports related, brought to you by Teddy and The Fight team.
Every Friday, we bring you:
A combat sports news digest with all the headlines you need to know from Boxing and Mixed Martial Arts.
Highlights from the podcast and across the fight world.
Fight times and information you need to know ahead of time.
How to’s and tips for Boxing from Teddy himself.
THE FIGHT with Teddy Atlas: UFC 267 Recap | Canelo vs Plant Preview | Jake Paul vs Tommy Fury on Apple Podcasts — podcasts.apple.com
Teddy Atlas and co-host Ken Rideout discuss the past weekend with UFC 267, along with the recent Jermell Herring vs Shakur Stevenson fight. They then cover both Canelo Alvarez vs Caleb Plant and the recent announcement of Jake Paul vs Tommy Fury.
Thanks for being with us. The best way to support is…
Fight News From Around The 🌍
History is on the line. And it's personal.
Boxing's pound for pound king Canelo very rarely seems emotionally invested in his fights. He carries himself with a stoic demeanour and does his talking in the ring, often to devastating effect.
A young champion from Tennessee has brought out a different side to him.
Ever since the two came to blows during the press conference in September, it's been clear that there is no love lost between them. Canelo clearly doesn't rate Plant as a huge challenge, describing him as "nothing he hasn't seen before". He's made it clear that he'll take extra satisfaction in knocking out Plant.
Plant on the other hand, has highlighted Canelo's flaws more than any of his recent opponents. This included his past drugs conviction, his controversial wins and even the fact that he got wobbled by Jose Cotto.
Whether Plant will be able to expose any flaws in the ring, is a different question all-together.
He has the style to cause Canelo problems, with an array of jabs and constant lateral movement in his arsenal. A deep amateur career also complements his undefeated professional record, showing he has more ring IQ than his years suggest.
Canelo however, is a different beast.
Yes he has struggled in the past against boxers with great feet (Mayweather and Lara come to mind). But this a fighter that still keeps learning and adding to his already elite skillset with each fight. His ability to make in ring adjustments is perhaps his strongest skill, besides his great head movement, power and chin.
Many are predicting him to make fairly quick work of Plant, along similar lines to how he dealt with Billy Joe Saunders back in May.
Whoever becomes the first ever undisputed super middleweight world champion on Saturday, it'll be a historic night and the sort of fight that boxing needs far more often.
UFC 268 Is Finally Here.
The depth of the UFC 268 card is something to behold.
A testament to just why the UFC has been growing so rapidly in recent years. A commitment to making strong matchups and peppering them all across the pay per view cards.
Boxing take notes.
If the main event between Usman and Covington is even 30% of the spectacle that their first fight was, then we are in for an absolute treat.
Usman has struggled for real tests ever since winning the belt in such a dominating fashion against Tyron Woodley in May 2019. The only opponent who has really pushed him has been Covington, with the two going back an forth for 4 and a half rounds when they last matched up in at UFC 245.
Usman eventually finished him in the 5th, but no one has come close to challenging the Welterweight champion in the same way ever since.
The personal animosity between the two adds another level on intrigue. There was no reconciliation after the first fight, as Covington left the arena swiftly after and still claims to this day that the stoppage was early.
He rebounded with a stoppage of Tyron Woodley several months later, but it's clear that Usman has been his main priority ever since, wanting to right the wrong and avenge his 2nd career defeat.
Title rematches are a bit of a theme of the card, with Rose Namajunas defending the Strawweight crown against Zhang Weili in the co-main event.
She sensationally knocked her out with a beautifully timed head kick back in April to win the belt, and will be looking to start another reign at the top of the Strawweight division.
Zhang Weili will be looking to become a 2x champion herself and win back the belt. The loss to Rose was her first ever stoppage loss and the first loss she's suffered since her pro debut in 2013.
This is a woman who hasn't tasted defeat often in her career and it'll be fascinating to see how she responds to the setback.
Amazingly, it doesn't end there.
Opening the main card is Justin Gaethje vs Michael Chandler in a lightweight number 1 contender fight.
Originally the third last fight of the card, it got moved so that Trevor Wittman could have more time to prepare Namajunas and Usman as opposed to have all three of his fighters fighting consecutively.
Both these guys have KO power and have promised to not take a backwards step when they collide in the middle of the octagon.
Gaethje will really fancy his chances at finishing Chandler and cementing himself as the next in line to challenge the winner of Oliviera vs Poirier after UFC 269 in December.
Chandler, a former 3x Bellator champion, is 1-1 in the UFC, having recently come off a loss to the champion champion Oliviera.
He'll take comfort from the fact he was mixing it up well with him before the stoppage, but he'll need to be more along the lines of how he was against Dan Hooker in his UFC debut to have a chance at beating Gaethje.
Saturday night can't come soon enough.
Fight ⏰ for this weekend
Boxing: Canelo vs Plant (Saturday 6th/Sunday 7th)
🇺🇸 Full Card: 9pm Eastern/6pm Pacific | Main Event: 11:30pm Eastern/8:30pm Pacific
🇬🇧 Full Card: 1am | Main Event: 3:30am
🇦🇺 Full Card: 12pm Eastern/9am Western | Main Event: 2:30pm Eastern/11:30am Western
Boxing: UFC 268 Usman vs Covington (Saturday 6th/Sunday 7th
🇺🇸 Full Card: 10pm Eastern/ 7pm Pacific | Main Event: 1am Eastern/10pm Pacific
🇬🇧 Full Card: 2am | Main Event: 5am
🇦🇺 Full Card: 1pm Eastern/10am Western | Main Event: 4pm Eastern/1pm Western