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🇰🇿 The Big Drama Show Returns
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.
THE FIGHT with Teddy Atlas: Spence vs Ugas | Tyson Fury vs Dillian Whyte | Canelo vs Bivol| Stevenson vs Valdez on Apple Podcasts — podcasts.apple.com
Teddy Atlas and co-host Ken Rideout breakdown the upcoming fights of Errol Spence vs Yordenis Ugas, Tyson Fury vs Dillian Whyte, Canelo Alvarez vs Dmitry Bivol and Shakur Stevenson vs Oscar Valdez. Thanks for being with us.
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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
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GGG Chases History
Gennadiy "GGG" Golovkin is looking to join a very exclusive club.
If he beats Japan's Ryōta Murata on Saturday (the night after his 40th birthday), he'll join the greats George Foreman and Bernard Hopkins as the only boxers to unify a division in their fourth decade of life.
Golovkin (41-1-1, 36KOs) is coming off a career-long 16-month layoff, which last saw him easily dispatch Kamil Szeremeta in the first defence of his IBF title.
His first reign as a middleweight titlist saw GGG pull within even of the all-time mark for most middleweight title defences, though when exactly his first reign began remains in dispute given the various WBA middleweight titles in existence.
GGG is credited with 20 defences of the WBA middleweight title, which tied that established by Bernard Hopkins 13 years prior.
Perhaps greater than the history itself, a win on Saturday brings GGG a step closer to his desired trilogy with the pound for pound king Canelo Alvarez.
These two controversial defeats are the only blemishes on an otherwise pitch perfect career.
A victory over his bitter rival, with the added bonus of a titles in a potential second weight class, will definitely be on his mind when it comes to motivation coming into this high stakes unification.
The WBA champion Murata (elevated from Regular champ following Canelo's move up to 168), will be looking to spoil the party, albeit on his home turf.
He is no stranger to history himself, becoming the first Japanese boxer to win an Olympic gold in almost 50 years, as well as the first to win a medal higher than Bantamweight.
His only career losses were both avenged via stoppage victories, and whilst he hasn't set the division alight since his debut in 2013, he remains a tougher opponent than many will be giving him credit for.
His power is respectable and enough to keep the iron-chinned Golovkin honest, and his amateur pedigree will allow him to go toe to toe with GGG on in ring IQ.
This is definitely no lay-up to Canelo for GGG. If he wins it, he'll be made to work for it.
Don't take our word for it, hear it for yourself.
Don't Forget About Ryan
Ryan Garcia will look to keep his name towards the top of the red-hot lightweight division with a convincing victory over the tough but so far unheralded Emmanuel Tagoe.
He was last seen in action in January of last year, when he scored the best win of his young career by knocking out Olympic gold medallist Luke Campbell.
He also showed vulnerability in that fight, getting dropped hard in the 2nd round before recovering well to hurt the Brit with stinging power shows, before closing the show in the 7th.
He'll be looking to continue his 5 fight KO streak against the Ghanaian, who is coming in having won every fight of his pro career since losing his debut back in 2004.
He's a real veteran, having moved up the ranks steadily and fought respectable levels of opposition, even picking up an IBO world title in 2016.
On the world stage however, he's unproven.
2 years ago you could have labelled the same accusation against Garcia, but the win over Campbell showed that he's more than just social media hype and good looks.
He can fight too.
A win here could set up all sorts of match-ups at Lightweight, most tempting of all being the winner of the upcoming undisputed title fight between George Kambosos Jr and his former amateur rival Devin Haney.
Two & A Half Title Fights At UFC 273
After what feels like a lifetime, the UFC returns to
Saturday night, The UFC returns to doing what it does best: delivering blockbuster Pay Per View cards.
In what was originally meant to a trilogy fight between Alex Volkanovski and Max Holloway, we instead have the veteran Jung Chan-sung stepping in for the latter.
Fight fans know him as the Korean Zombie and he seems to have been around forever.
Forever actually equates to just over 11 years since he made his UFC debut, with the first (and only) ever twister submission in UFC history.
Since then, he's provided countless wars and highlight reel knockouts, firmly cementing himself as a fan favourite within the sport.
In what will surely he his last chance at UFC gold, he'll have to up against a true force of nature in Alexander "The Great" Volkanovski.
If there were some lingering doubts of his status as a champion following the controversial second Holloway fight, they were firmly eradicated following his back and forth war with Brian Ortega back in September.
He showed in that fight that he has the talent necessary to dominate the division, as well as the world class toughness to be able to get out of multiple VERY dangerous situations and still come out on top.
The trilogy lingers over any fight that either of them [Volk & Holloway] partake in, and the champion will be looking to erase any shred of doubt left should he get past The Korean Zombie.
But that's not all.
Aljamain Sterling is another champion who will feel like he has a lot to prove to the MMA fandom, and even to himself.
The controversy of the DQ title win has perhaps shrouded just how good of a fighter he really is.
This is a very accomplished grappler whose striking has improved hugely under the tutelage of Matt Serra and Ray Longo.
He won't be able to change the nature of how he won the UFC Bantamweight title, but he does have an impact on his legacy as a champion after the fact.
Petr Yan won't be in any mood to help him in this regard.
The bad blood that there was between the two has only intensified following Aljamain's win, and Yan subsequently cemented his status as the "uncrowned" champion with a competitive but ultimately dominant win over Cory Sandhagen back at UFC 267.
The "loss" to Sterling halted the seemingly unstoppable momentum he was building in the UFC, as a polished boxer with world class combat sambo credentials to go alongside it.
He was looking on track to record a win against his rival before the illegal knee.
Should he remain unaffected by the way the first fight ended, and keep his composure, he could get back on the horse and continue his march through the division.
And now for the "half" of the 2 and a half title fights on the card. The People's Main Event.
This one between the fast rising Khamzat Chimaev and the veteran Gilbert Burns is essentially a number 1 contender fight for a shot at the champion Kamaru Usman.
Burns has already had his chance, and really hurt the champion before eventually being stopped in the third round.
As a veteran competitor and immensely talented fighter in his own right, he'll definitely feel that if he derails the Khamzat hype train, he's stamped his ticket back to title contention.
That's a big if.
It's hard to remember a fighter having such hype around him as the young Swede.
His first 4 UFC fights have seen him absorb 1 significant strike.
He's the full package of natural power, educated striking and as you can imagine, world class MMA grappling.
His talent has seen him propelled up the rankings, to within touching distance of a title shot.
Will the Khamzat train keep chugging along, or will Durinho bring it to a halt?
Fight ⏰ for this weekend
Boxing: Golovkin vs Murata (Saturday 9th/Sunday 10th)
🇺🇸 Full Card: 5.10am Eastern/ 2.10am Pacific | Main Event: 8.10am Eastern/ 5.10am Pacific
🇬🇧 Full Card: 10.10m | Main Event: 1.10pm
🇦🇺 Full Card: 7.10pm Eastern/ 5.10pm Western | Main Event: 10.10pm Eastern/ 8.10pm Western
Boxing: Garcia vs Tagoe (Saturday 9th/Sunday 10th)
🇺🇸 Full Card: 9pm Eastern/ 6pm Pacific | Main Event: 11pm Eastern/ 8pm Pacific
🇬🇧 Full Card: 2am | Main Event: 4am
🇦🇺 Full Card: 11pm Eastern/ 9pm Western | Main Event: 1am Eastern/ 11pm Western
UFC: Volkanovski vs The Korean Zombie (Saturday 9th/Sunday 10th)
🇺🇸 Full Card: 10pm Eastern/ 7pm Pacific | Main Event: 12pm Eastern/ 9pm Pacific
🇬🇧 Full Card: 12pm | Main Event: 2am
🇦🇺 Full Card: 9am Eastern/ 7am Western | Main Event: 11am Eastern/ 9am Western