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🇬🇧 London Calling
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: Leigh Wood upset of Michael Conlan | UFC's Khamzat Chimaev Breakdown on Apple Podcasts — podcasts.apple.com
Teddy Atlas and co-host Ken Rideout discuss the huge upset in boxing over the weekend with Leigh Wood KOing Michael Conlan in the 12th round of an incredible fight on DAZN. Teddy provides a breakdown on the UFC rising star Khamzat Chimaev.
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Fight News From Around The 🌍
Return Of The Rougarou 🐺
There's probably an alternative universe out there where Regis Prograis is undisputed champion at 140 lbs.
His fight with current champion Josh Taylor was razor close, and were it held in the US it probably would have gone the way of the New Orleans native.
In this universe however, he's on a mission to regain the titles he lost to Taylor, whose future at the weight is now under serious scrutiny following his controversial win over Jack Catterall.
Tomorrow, he faces Tyrone McKenna in Dubai in his third fight since the Taylor defeat, where he has stopped both his opponents in under 6 rounds.
McKenna is a wiry, awkward southpaw with a good record himself, and will be eager to jump ahead of Prograis for a shot at the titles that the current Undisputed champion is likely to vacate.
The dispersal of belts creates a lot of opportunities for Top 10 Super-Lightweights, and Prograis will count himself as amongst those at the top of the pile when it comes to fighting for vacant titles.
His power is well documented, but he possesses underrated boxing ability and is one of the best intelligent finishers in the game.
A victory tomorrow will lead to talk of facing either Jose Ramirez or Jack Catterall for one or more of the belts that'll be left behind by Taylor's move to 147 lbs.
A fight with the latter is particularly intriguing, as they both gave Taylor all he could handle in their fights with him, and it'd be a real puncher vs boxer stylistic matchup.
However, it's still an if at this stage.
140 lbs has shown to be a deep division with lots of talent, and Prograis can't afford to overlook McKenna.
Taylor overlooked Catterall, and look how that turned out.
Great Fights Across The Pond 🇬🇧
After 3 years, the UFC returns to London.
And as ever, Uncle Dana has delivered some amazing matchups.
The main event sees perennial contender Alexander Volkov take on rising heavyweight prospect Tom Aspinall.
People tend to forget that Volkov has been an MMA world champion, albeit just not in the UFC.
It's also not his first rodeo when it comes to headlining in London, as he demolished former champion Fabricio Werdum in 1 round back in 2017.
He's faced top heavyweights across the UFC, with varying degrees of success, but always competitive and able to justify his place as a top 5 contender.
Aspinall hasn't faced the same level of opposition, but the signs of potential future heavyweight champion are there for all to see.
He has the ability to beat you wherever the fight, with world class grappling and elite striking ability.
That’s something we don’t see very often amongst the big guys, where most fighters tend to either hit like a freight train or be dominant on the mat.
Aspinall has often spoken about moving his way up slowly and not being "rushed" up the rankings.
Volkov is a definite and quite steep step up and the key to the fight could be how Aspinall adapts to the pressure of a main event and the increase in resistance from opposition.
Expect him to be tested.
Whether he comes away with the victory against "Drago", will likely depend on just how well he handles the bright lights.
The co-main event could easily have headlined, as it sees Featherweight prospect Arnold Allen take on the Lightweight turned Featherweight Dan Hooker.
Dan Hooker is one of the toughest competitors in the sport, and with this move down to Featherweight (where he actually began his UFC career), he will be looking to announce himself as a contender in a new division, where the title is held by his teammate Alex Volkanovski.
Allen seems to have been around for a long time, and his rise up the 145 lbs rankings has allowed him plenty of time to develop and mature as a fighter.
He's extremely well rounded, but his striking base will mesh nicely with Hooker in what could be a true show-stealing fight.
The card also sees the return of the mercurial Paddy "The Baddy" Pimblett, who'll be fighting for just the second time in the UFC in what will be his UK debut.
We saw him hurt in his debut before sensationally stopping Luigi Vendramini in the first round back in September.
This time around he'll be looking to entertain the home crowd and continue his seemingly inevitable rise to stardom in the promotion.
The hype around this card feels like a PPV, and it's safe to say the UFC are back on UK shores with a bang.
Fight ⏰ for this weekend
Boxing: Prograis vs McKenna (Saturday 19th/Sunday 20th)
🇺🇸 Full Card: 1pm Eastern/ 10am Pacific | Main Event: 3pm Eastern/ 12pm Pacific
🇬🇧 Full Card: 5pm | Main Event: 7pm
🇦🇺 Full Card: 4am Eastern/ 1am Western | Main Event: 6am Eastern/ 3am Western
UFC: Volkov vs Aspinall (Saturday 19th/Sunday 20th)
🇺🇸 Full Card: 4pm Eastern/ 1pm Pacific | Main Event: 6pm Eastern/ 3pm Pacific
🇬🇧 Full Card: 8pm | Main Event: 10pm
🇦🇺 Full Card: 7am Eastern/ 4am Western | Main Event: 9am Eastern/ 6am Western