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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.
Fight News From Around The 🌍
Cinderella Man Steps Up
Since James J. Braddock shocked the world by beating Max Baer for the heavyweight championship in 1935, The term 'Cinderella Man' has been bestowed to many of boxing’s underdogs.
Former IBO lightweight champion Maxi Hughes is the latest to wear the crown, as the British lightweight has been consistently beating the odds in this latest stage of his career.
His controversial defeat to George Kambosos aside, “Maximus” hasn’t tasted defeat since 2019, buoyed by underdog victories against good operators like Kid Galahad and Jovanni Straffon.
He’ll have to dig deep again tomorrow night against an undefeated and technically skilled William Zepeda, who has a strong case for being the best opponent he’s faced yet.
Zepeda has the quiet confidence that his undefeated record and the backing of Oscar De La Hoya bring with it.
Golden Boy are putting a lot of stock behind him being their next big star, and a win against Hughes will be factored in as part of the “plan” of building his profile in a stacked lightweight division.
He has the skill-set to back the belief in him from his team, with more than respectable power, stamina and combination punching that has taken him to touching distance of 30 professional victories.
Hughes is no stranger to being up against the odds, and it’ll be interesting to see whether he tears up the Golden Boy script with another upset win, or if the William Zepeda traim keeps steamrolling ahead to bigger and better things.
Don’t Blink
Fan favourite Tai “Bam Bam” Tuivasa takes on Marcin Tybura in a UFC Fight Night main event at UFC Apex in Las Vegas tomorrow night.
The two were originally scheduled to fight over 3 rounds at UFC 298, but a Tuivasa couldn’t recover in time from a meniscus injury, paving the way for them to now get it on over 5 rounds.
Tuivasa is coming off three consecutive stoppage losses against Alexander Volkov, Sergei Pavlovich and Ciryl Gane. Whilst these are all elite names at heavyweight, Tuivasa will be in a precarious position should he lose a 4th bout inside the distance in the space of 18 months.
Tybura is a little better placed when it comes to recent form, entering the Octagon on the heels of a technical knockout loss against current interim champion Tom Aspinall. Before then, he had won 7 of his last 8 fights in the UFC.
At 38 years old, he can’t afford another slip-up if he has any aspirations of maintaining his Top 10 status and mounting any sort of challenge to the Top 5 positions in an increasingly competitive division.
The same goes for Tai, who may be 8 years younger, but still in desperate need of some positive momentum.
Throw in the fact it’s a great clash of styles, with Tuivasa looking to strike and Tybura wanting to bring the geography of the fight to the mat, and we should have the ingredients of a fantastic fight night main event.
Fight Odds
Fight ⏰ for this weekend
Boxing: Zepeda vs Hughes (Saturday 16th/Sunday 17th)
🇺🇸 Full Card: 10pm Eastern/ 7pm Pacific | Main Event: 12am Eastern/9pm Pacific
🇬🇧 Full Card: 2am | Main Event: 4am
🇦🇺 Full Card: 1pm Eastern/10am Western | Main event: 3pm Eastern/12pm Western
MMA: Tuivasa vs Tybura (Saturday 16th/Sunday 17th)
🇺🇸 Full Card: 7pm Eastern/4am Pacific | Main Event: 9pm Eastern/6pm Pacific
🇬🇧 Full Card: 11pm | Main Event: 1am
🇦🇺 Full Card: 10am Eastern/7am Western | Main event: 12pm Eastern/9am Western