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- 🥊 Middleweight Madness
🥊 Middleweight Madness
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.
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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 🌍
A Changing Of The Guard
The UFC resumes its Pay Per View schedule tomorrow night in Toronto, Canada, as Sean Strickland makes the first defense of his middleweight title against top contender Dricus Du Plessis.
DDP’s title-challenging momentum has been building up gradually over his 4 years in the UFC. His last three wins have all been stoppages against high-level operators like Robert Whittaker and Darren Till, solidifying his position as the top contender in the middleweight class.
A planned title bout with then champion Israel Adesanya was disrupted by injury, paving the way for Strickland's upset victory and claiming of the middleweight strap. Now with a chance to make history as the UFC’s first ever South African champion, he’ll be extremely motivated to make Sean Strickland’s title reign a short one.
Strickland shocked the world by dethroning Adesanya back in September, beating him comprehensively over 5 rounds to become the first American middleweight champion since the now-retired Luke Rockhold.
Whilst he generates plenty of controversy outside the octagon, there’s no denying that Strickland is a fighter in every sense of the word, both mentally and physically.
He’s overcome a difficult past to go on and become a world champion in the world’s top fighting organisation, making his way up from welterweight to becoming one of the most technical fighters on the roster. The UFC hasn’t done him any favours with DDP as a first defense, so he’ll need to tap into the same resources that got him that brilliant win against Adesanya if he is to be victorious tomorrow night.
The pre-fight intensity between the two has been building up for a few months now, culminating in a now infamous exchange at UFC 296.
They’ll get the chance to settle any beef tomorrow, where a win for either man will cement him as the best middleweight in the world, potentially launching a new middleweight title legacy. Expect them both to be at their best when they finally clash in the only place it matters: the Octagon.
What to look for in the fight:
Longevity. DDP is a fast starter and is very twitchy on the feet early on, but Strickland’s experience of intense championship rounds compared to his could prove decisive as the fight progresses.
Centre line. DDP possesses insane athleticism and strength for the weight, but head movement is a real weakness of his. Look for Strickland to pump out his jab consistently and set him up for straight right hands.
Fun Fact: The last time the middleweight title was on the line* and Israel Adesanya wasn’t involved was when GSP fought Michael Bisping back in 2017.
*Luke Rockhold vs Yoel Romero for the interim in 2018 isn’t counted as Romero missed weight so was ineligible to win it.
Fight Odds
Mayer Goes For Gold
Tomorrow night across the pond, Natasha Jonas will defend her IBF welterweight title against former unified super-featherweight champion and fellow Olympian, Mikaela Mayer.
Jonas will be fighting in her home town of Liverpool for the first time since she became a two-weight world champion, riding a real purple patch in her career, picking up four world titles in two different weight classes in less than 2 years.
Mayer is on the comeback trail, having been a unified champion at super-featherweight, but losing her titles to Alicia Baumgardner at the end of 2022 in a razor-close decision that could have gone either way.
The younger, but equally as experienced Mayer will be fighting at welterweight for the first time. She’ll have to contend with a hostile crowd, but given her elite pedigree, it’s unlikely that the American will be phased.
This scrap has the potential to be a real Fight of the Year contender, with both women possessing great skill and the ability to produce high volume in the ring.
Fight ⏰ for this weekend
Boxing: Jonas vs Mayer (Saturday 20th/Sunday 21st)
🇺🇸 Full Card: 2pm Eastern/ 11am Pacific | Main Event: 5pm Eastern/ 2pm Pacific
🇬🇧 Full Card: 7pm | Main Event: 10pm
🇦🇺 Full Card: 6am Eastern/ 4am Western | Main event: 9am Eastern/ 7am Western
MMA: UFC 297 (Saturday 20th/Sunday 21st)
🇺🇸 Full Card: 10pm Eastern/7pm Pacific | Main Event: 12am Eastern/ 9pm Pacific
🇬🇧 Full Card: 3am | Main Event: 5am
🇦🇺 Full Card: 2pm Eastern/ 12pm Western | Main event: 4pm Eastern/ 2pm Western