- THE FIGHT with Teddy Atlas
- Posts
- 🥊 Juggernaut Seeks Vengeance
🥊 Juggernaut Seeks Vengeance
The Fight Team
September 22, 2023
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 🌍
Joe Joyce Goes Again
Joe Joyce wouldn’t have expected himself to be in this position a year ago.
He had just scored his career-best win against Joseph Parker, stopping him in the 11th round in what seemed like a victory that was going to propel him to a title shot.
Not if Zhilei “Big Bang” Zhang was going to have anything to do with it. The Chinese Olympian pulled off a major heavyweight upset in stopping Joe Joyce back in April, and he’ll be looking to repeat the feat on Saturday night as both men return to London for the rematch.
The tricky southpaw Zhang proved to be too quick and accurate for the tough but potentially fading Joyce, who looked nothing like we’ve seen from him in the past few years.
Zhang took advantage of this and grabbed the WBO interim heavyweight belt off of him as a result.
Both men are approaching 40, so a shot at the title looks unlikely for whoever is on the losing side.
Joyce is confident that he remains the superior fighter, but just had a bad night at the office. Throw in the fact he more than likely underestimated Zhang, and you can see why he suffered his first defeat in the pros.
Zhang won’t be as sure, and will take a lot of confidence from the way the first fight went. It’ll be interesting to see if he follows a similarly aggressive strategy from the off, or if he mixes things up.
Either way, we are in for a great heavyweight scrap tomorrow night.
Get Teddy’s thoughts on how the fight will go down below.
Top Lightweight Contenders Do Battle
When two fighters have 5 Fight of the Night honours between them in relatively short spells in the UFC, you’re likely in for a treat.
Rafael Fiziev takes on Mateusz Gamrot in a five round main event that definitely won’t be the last for either of these exciting fighters.
Fiziez is coming off of a a majority decision loss in a three round war with a certain Justin Gaethje, and will be eager to get back in the win column and regain the title fight momentum he had before suffering defeat in London.
Gamrot is coming off a razor tight win against Jalin Turner, and just before was beaten by Beneil Dariush.
In arguably the UFC’s most talented division, winning streaks are paramount in building a case for a shot at the title, and these guys know all about stacking wins one after the other.
Relatively recent blips may have gotten in the way, but a win here will get the ball rolling again for a contender who will likely be looking at the winner of Makhachev vs Oliveira 2 in the not too distant future.
It’s high stakes, and as ever, the UFC provides us with two ultra talented fighters going at it with a point to prove.
It’s hard to make a case for Fiziev, despite his striking advantage. The looming threat of Gamrot’s takedowns will severely limit — if not entirely neutralize — “Ataman’s” kicking game, which is a big part of his overall offense. In addition, we’ve seen cardio issues from Fiziev in the later rounds and he should expect a relentless, punishing pace from “Gamer.” I’m not even sure the one-hitter quitter is on the table considering Gamrot has never been finished, so all we’re left with is 25 minutes of Fiziev trying to create space to work his hands ... and that space will never come.
What to look for in the fight:
Space. Fiziev will always be conscious of the threat of a takedown from Gamrot, who likes to mix in takedowns with well timed attacks over the top. If he can’t create enough space to put striking volume on him, it could be a long night for him.
Durability. We’ve seen Fiziev fade in the later rounds, whilst Gamrot tends to be a slow starter and get more comfortable as the fight goes on. Look for the last two rounds to be decisive here.
Fight ⏰ for this weekend
Boxing: Zhang vs Joyce II (Saturday 23rd/Sunday 24th)
🇺🇸 Full Card: 2pm Eastern/ 11am Pacific | Main Event: 5pm Eastern/ 2pm Pacific
🇬🇧 Full Card: 7pm | Main Event: 10pm
🇦🇺 Full Card: 4am Eastern/ 2am Western | Main event: 7am Eastern/ 5am Western
MMA: Fiziev vs Gamrot (Saturday 23rd/Sunday 24th)
🇺🇸 Full Card: 7pm Eastern/ 4pm Pacific | Main Event: 9pm Eastern/ 6pm Pacific
🇬🇧 Full Card: 12am | Main Event: 2am
🇦🇺 Full Card: 9am Eastern/ 7am Western | Main event: 11am Eastern/ 9am Western