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🤦♂️ Boxing Is A Mess
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: Valdez over Conceicao, McGregor vs MGK, Belfort finishes Holyfield, Silva KOs Ortiz on Apple Podcasts — podcasts.apple.com
Teddy Atlas and co-host Ken Rideout discuss Oscar Valdez's controversial win over Robson Conceicao, Conor McGregor's encounter with Machine Gun Kelly at the MTV Music Awards, and the Triller event.
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Fight News From Around The 🌍
A Sad Day For Boxing
That wasn't The Real Deal.
The Evander Holyfield we saw get stopped by former UFC champion Vitor Belfort in the Triller main event was a shadow of his old self. This is a man who was a two weight Undisputed world champion, with victories over George Foreman, Mike Tyson, Riddick Bowe, Dwight Muhammad Qawi and many other Hall of Famers.
Boxing fans all over the world are virtually unanimous in the agreement that Holyfield shouldn't have been in the ring, aged 58, without a professional fight in 10 years. But the concerns didn't matter. Ultimately, the man is a fighter and he went out, like so many legends before him, unrecognisable from his prime years.
Belfort's celebrations post-fight caused controversy, and with his past history of PED use and significant age gap with Holyfield compared with his original opponent Oscar De La Hoya, it raises questions as to how even he was allowed to be in the ring to begin with.
Whether it's down to the lack of financial support for retired fighters (tune into the latest episode to hear more on this) or the failure on the part of the promoters to make the biggest fights for the fans, these kind of events arise as a result of Boxing's own flaws.
Unless we pressure our sport to be better, these side shows are only going to keep enticing retired fighters back in with the thrill of the fight and the promise of a payday.
As we saw on Saturday, our legends deserve better than this.
The Lionheart Returns 🦁
Former title challenger Anthony "Lionheart" Smith returns this weekend against up and coming contender and #12 ranked Ryan Spann.
The word "veteran" is somewhat overused across combat sports. But for MMA, you'll be hard pressed to find someone who is only 33 years old and has had 51 professional fights across the UFC and other organisations.
Smith has seen it all and faced all kinds of opponents, from losing soundly to one of the greatest of all time in Jon Jones, to brilliant inside the distance victories against the likes of Alex Gustafsson and Shogun Rua.
His deep resume and experience should be enough to see of the challenge of Ryan Spann, but Smith's form over the last few years has been inconsistent, as seen with his back to back losses to Glover Teixeria and Aleksander Rakic.
He's now back in the win column, but will he be able to keep the streak going in pursuit of another shot at UFC gold?
Win or lose, Smith is a true fighter and a testament to the mental and physical strength it takes to get into that Octagon.
Speaking of MMA...
We had the privilege of speaking to the next superstar of the UFC yesterday, fresh off of his KO win against Luigi Vendramini.
Paddy "The Baddy" opened up on the debut performance, his mentality, background and future plans as he rises up the ranks.
How To Land A Body Shot
Give any fighter the choice between taking a well timed punch to the head and a well timed body shot, and chances are they're going to pick the punch to the head every time.
Teddy knows a thing or two about landing body shots effectively in a fight, and shares his knowledge below.
Fight ⏰ for this weekend
MMA: Smith vs Spann (Saturday 11th/Sunday 12th)