🥊 Behind Closed Doors

September 30, 2022

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.

Teddy Atlas and co-host Ken Rideout breakdown fights from the past weekend with ESPN's Keyshawn Davis vs Omar Tienda and Shakur Stevenson vs Robson Conceicao, along with heavyweight match up Joe Joyce vs Joseph Parker.

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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.

Fight News From Around The 🌍

Boxing Recap

As there's no major boxing this weekend, we take a look back at the results of the weekend.

Joyce def. Parker by Round 11 KO

Rumour has it that Joe Joyce's forward pressure has added itself to the list of certainties of life, alongside death and taxes.

In all seriousness though, he put in a relentless and devastating performance against a younger and faster Joseph Parker, who is a former world champion in his own right.

On Saturday, Joyce became the first person to stop Parker in 33 fights, with the Kiwi having been in the ring with the likes of Joshua, Whyte and Dereck Chisora and always going the distance.

Despite early success from Parker, Joyce took over from the middle rounds onwards and thudded Parker into submission before a big left hook put him down for the count in the 11th.

There's an argument to be made that he is now the number 3 heavyweight in the world behind Fury and Usyk, and despite his advanced age, he still feels like an exciting prospect with a lot to look forward to in the division.

Stevenson beats Conceição by UD

Shakur Stevenson's talent is on display for all to see, with many (perhaps prematurely) calling him the second coming of Floyd Mayweather.

He pitched another shutout on Friday against an Olympic gold medallist in Robson Conceição, barely losing a round and scoring a knockdown ahead of a wide points win.

The controversy around his failure to make the 130 lbs weight limit was overshadowed by a mixture of excitement over his 135 lbs prospects and the fact that the fight was widely criticised for being "boring".

Whatever your opinion on the fight, there's no denying that Shakur is talented. However, if he wants to capture a wider appeal of some of his peers (Ryan Garcia and Tank Davis for instance), he'll need to show that he can be a ruthless finisher as well as a master boxer.

Fights with Devin Haney and Lomachenko would be on the horizon for him given they are all aligned with Top Rank.

Whilst these are great fights from the purist perspective, there's a desire to see just a little more from Shakur in terms of pure entertainment value.

UFC Returns To The Apex

The UFC returns to the Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday, with a Top 5 Strawweight match up between Mackenzie Dern and Xiaonan Yan.

Dern was one of the most decorated female grapplers in the world before transitioning to mixed martial arts. Despite her obvious talent, her MMA career has been somewhat of a mixed bag so far. Since that career-best showing against Nina Nunes, Dern’s last two performances against Marina Rodriguez and Tecia Torres have highlighted flaws in her game that need to be corrected.

Still on the right side of 30 and only six years into her pro career, there is still the potential for things to click to the point that she becomes a real contender at 115 pounds.

While Dern came to the UFC with a lot of hype, Yan’s rise has bee more under the radar. One of the prospects picked up for the promotion’s 2017 debut on the Chinese mainland, Yan was largely unproven as a pro fighter but quickly affirmed her talent with win after win, the highlight of which was against UFC vet Angela Hill.

Despite back to back losses, one of which being against the current champion Carla Esparza, she's managed to stay in the Top 5 of the division, and a win here against Dern could manoeuvre her closer to a title shot.

Dern will be more confident in her overall arsenal, and a win for her, given her profile, could see her positioned as a prime candidate for the winner of Esparza vs Zhang at UFC 281.

Even if the fight is closed to the public and media (allegedly due to a high profile private booking), it certainly should be an interesting one with consequences for the strawweight title.

What to look for in the fight:

  1. Grappling. Yan displayed a lot of vulnerability on the mat against Esparza and that same weakness will be something Dern will look to exploit in the first couple of rounds.

  2. No strikes. Neither woman is renowned as a great finisher on the feet, even though Yan is more educated as a striker. She could win rounds and score points standing, but her takedown defence is unlikely to hold up to Dern and she will most likely be on the mat fairly early into the fight.

Fight ⏰ for this weekend

UFC: Dern vs Yan (Saturday 1st/Sunday 2nd)

  • 🇺🇸 Full Card: 7pm Eastern/ 4pm Pacific | Main Event: 9pm Eastern/ 6pm Pacific

  • 🇬🇧 Full Card: 12am | Main Event: 2am

  • 🇦🇺 Full Card: 10am Eastern/ 8am Western | Main Event: 12pm Eastern/ 10am Western

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