🥊 Heavyweight Stakes

November 18, 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 UFC 281 card with Alex Pereira upsetting Israel Adesanya, Dustin Poirier submitting Michael Chandler, Weili Zhang dominating Carla Esparza, and Chris Gutierrez delivering a scary KO to Frankie Edgar.

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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 🌍

Jaime Munguia Returns

Former super-welterweight champion Jaimie Munguia has had a very forgettable 2022.

In what was meant to be the year he graduated to world honours in a 2nd weight class, having dispatched world level contenders Gabe Rosado and Kamil Szeremeta in 2021, he instead has a couple of stoppage wins against C-level opposition.

Saturday he'll most likely get his third as the 40-0 middleweight faces Gonzalo Coria.

Although he's faced off against decent opposition, whenever Coria has mixed it with in world class operators, he's failed to make a mark. He has a two-round knockout defeat to current WBO middleweight champion Zhanibek Alimkhanuly on his record, as well as a loss to former 160 lbs title challenger Artur Akavov.

Should Munguia make quick work of Coria, as he's expected to do, he'll have no excuses when it comes to pushing for a middleweight world title in 2023, with a bout against IBF & WBA champ "GGG" Golovkin the most likely to come to fruition given the promotional ties of both fighters.

The Beast Takes On The Polar Bear

A heavyweight clash between Derrick Lewis and Sergey Spivak is this weekend’s UFC Fight Night 215 main event.

Derrick Lewis will look to bounce back after consecutive defeats to Tai Tuivasa and Sergei Pavlovich. His #7 spot in the UFC heavyweight rankings will be on the line at the UFC Apex facility as he faces rising contender Sergei "The Polar Bear" Spivak, who has entered the rankings at #12 following his impressive victory against Augusto Sakai in August.

It's easy to forget, after two KO losses, that Derrick Lewis is the most successful KO artist in UFC history (13), and he'll be looking for number 14 against his 27 year old Moldovan opponent on Saturday.

He's been in and around the top of the division for years, but it could be the beginning of the end for one of the most popular fighters on the roster.

His power and toughness brought him to the brink of world title honours, but as his punch resistance has begun to wane in recent fights, with 3 stoppage losses in his last 5 fights, it could be a perfect opportunity for a hungry, young contender like Spivac to claim a big name scalp on the quest for UFC gold.

Power is the last thing to go in a fighter, and Derrick Lewis will always have the option to end the fight if he lands clean. Spivak has shown holes in his striking and doesn't have great lateral movement, so the longer the fight stays standing, the better chance Lewis has of pulling off the victory.

But the younger, multi-dimensional Spivac has more tools in his arsenal than Lewis, and this will likely be his undoing on Saturday.

What to look for in the fight:

  1. Fence work. Spivak has elite Judo and could look to trip Lewis into a dominant position from the fence. Transitioning into side control would be effective from here and keeping weight on one of Lewis’ legs he can make it far more difficult for him to use his hips to get away. Submissions or ground and pound will likely follow if.

  2. Takedown timing. Lewis successfully managed to time Curtis Blaydes' takedown attempts, eventually finishing the fight with a devastating uppercut. If he's able to suss out Spivac's rhythm, he will be able to set traps for the less sophisticated striker to fall for.

Odds (Courtesy of MyBookie.Ag)

Lewis +160

Spivac -208

Fight ⏰ for this weekend

Boxing: Munguia vs Coria (Saturday 19th/Sunday 20th)

  • 🇺🇸 Full Card: 9pm Eastern/ 6pm Pacific | Main Event: 11pm Eastern/ 8pm Pacific

  • 🇬🇧 Full Card: 2am | Main Event: 4am

  • 🇦🇺 Full Card: 1pm Eastern/ 11am Western | Main Event: 3pm Eastern/ 1pm Western

UFC: Lewis vs Spivac (Saturday 19th/Sunday 20th)

  • 🇺🇸 Full Card: 4pm Eastern/ 1pm Pacific | Main Event: 6pm Eastern/ 3pm Pacific

  • 🇬🇧 Full Card: 9pm | Main Event: 11pm

  • 🇦🇺 Full Card: 8am Eastern/ 6am Western | Main Event: 10am Eastern/ 8am Western

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