🦁 Repeat Or Revenge?

July 29, 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 break down UFC London with Paddy the Baddy Pimblett and Molly McCann collecting big wins, Aspinall Blaydes ends in disappointment, and more discussion on the full main card. Teddy and Ken also talk about Canelo vs GGG 3 along with the recent Isaac Dogboe split dec…

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  • 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 🌍

The Last Dance at 154 lbs?

There was a time when Danny Garcia was as close to the undisputed king of the light welterweight division, having run through the likes of Lucas, Kendall Holt, Erik Morales (twice), Amir Khan, and Zab Judah.

In most of these cases, he was the underdog going into the fight, and despite that he always managed to deliver the goods.

Yet somehow, there is an overall feeling he hasn't quite pushed on since his 140 lbs run between 2012 and 2015.

A move to welterweight never quite worked out the way a lot of boxing fans would have expected given his success at 140. He picked up the vacant WBC strap against Robert Guerrero, but ultimately came up short in subsequent challenges against Keith Thurman, Shawn Porter and more recently against Errol Spence Jr.

The Spence loss was the only time where it felt like Garcia was thoroughly beaten. You could make legitimate arguments for him winning his previous two losses (particularly against Thurman).

This probably acted the final nail in the coffin to his successful but ultimately underwhelming welterweight run, and has now pushed him to the challenging waters of light middleweight, where he'll look to prove his quality amongst a new set of contenders.

Jose Benavidez Jr will be the first to welcome him to this new division on Saturday.

Benavidez, once one of the most highly regarded prospects in the sport, returned from a three-year layoff last year following a knockout loss to Terence Crawford in 2018. 

Benavidez, whose career was sidetracked by a gun attack in 2016, performed respectably against Crawford but looked rusty last year in getting a draw against the unheralded Francisco Torres.

He's rangy and tall, presenting a physical challenge for Garcia and a template for the kind of fighters he'd be facing.

However, if Garcia is able to carry his natural power and freakish chin (he's never been down as an amateur or pro), through to 154, he'll present a problem for any of the top contenders, as well as the undisputed king himself.

Garcia would be an underdog if he were to challenge said king Jermell Charlo but it’s hard not to think of it as a potentiality sometime next year, especially considering Garcia's profile compared to a lot of the other light middleweights on the PBC books.

But if there's one thing that we've learned about the Philly native, is that he never backs away from a challenge, having faced some of the top names of each division he's been in.

He'll be looking to apply the same rule at light middleweight, in what will surely be his final roll of the dice at a world title.

The Lioness Is Back On The Hunt

Last December, Julianna Peña pulled off one of the biggest upsets in the history of the UFC by submitting the dominant double champ Amanda Nunes in 2 rounds.

The Brazilian, widely considered the greatest female mixed martial artist of all time, not only defeated, but violently ko'd Ronda Rousey, Cris Cyborg, Holly Holm, and Miesha Tate and holds two victories over a fellow pound-for-pound elite Valentina Shevchenko.

The UFC essentially had the create the women's flyweight division because nobody was capable of beating her.

That is, until a certain Julianna Peña came along.

She weathered an initial storm from Nunes, who was probably guilty of treating the fight as another routine title defence and in the process, underestimating her opponent.

By the second round, there was a lull in her energy levels, and Peña capitalised to secure a huge win and her status as champion.

The Venezuelan Vixen's scrappy and in your face style may not be pretty, but it could prove to be Amanda's kryptonite once again.

However, there is an argument that the result of the first fight was the culmination of a lot of things going wrong for Nunes, namely in her approach and in the supposed quality of her pre-fight camp.

There's a big chance that she realises the error of her ways the first time around and comes in with a huge point to prove in the rematch, having to adopt the mindset of the challenger for the first time since 2016.

The fight comes down to whether Peña's style will really be able to cause Amanda problems again past the 1st and 2nd rounds, or if Amanda can focus on her superior striking game and pick Peña apart on the feet.

The old saying claims that winning the title makes a fighter 30% better.

Peña may need more than that % increase to retain her title, but if she did it once, why not twice?

Another Rematch At Flyweight

Brandon Moreno takes on Kai Kara France in the co-main event slot for the interim Flyweight title.

Moreno won the first fight back in 2019 by way of a competitive but ultimately decisive unanimous decision.

In the two-and-a-half years since they first met, Moreno is 3-1-1 with one championship victory to his credit. His last three fights have all come against the now champion Figueiredo.

Kara France is the winner of three straight with two knockouts and managed to win four his last five. His most impressive victories during that span came over Russian Askar Askarov and former bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt.

Moreno may have a slight edge due to his very recent history with 25-minute title fights over the last two years against the most dangerous fighter in the division.

However, Kara France has evolved significantly since their first fight, and if he can display some of the trademark City Kickboxing striking tools that have helped his world champion teammates, then he stands a very good chance of becoming the third UFC champion from that gym.

Fight ⏰ for this weekend

Boxing: Garcia vs Benavidez (Saturday 30th/Sunday 31st)

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

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

  • 🇦🇺 Full Card: 11am Eastern/ 9am Western | Main Event: 1pm Eastern/ 11am Western

UFC 277: Peña vs Nunes (Saturday 30th/Sunday 31st)

  • 🇺🇸 Full Card: 10pm Eastern/ 7pm Pacific | Main Event: 12am Eastern/ 10pm Pacific

  • 🇬🇧 Full Card: 3am | Main Event: 5am

  • 🇦🇺 Full Card: 12pm Eastern/ 10am Western | Main Event: 2pm Eastern/ 12pm Western

Don't forget to tune in to the latest episode 🎧

Thanks for being with us and see you next week #BANG💥