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🇦🇺Thunder Down Under
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 🌍
Under The Radar Title Action
The junior lightweight/super featherweight division isn't stacked with the kind of talent of the late 90s and early 2000s, when the likes of Mayweather, Corrales, Pacquiao, Marquez, Morales and Barrera had successful title runs.
However, Saturday night could mark the start of a shift in one of boxings former glamour divisions. Unified champion Shakur Stevenson's move up to lightweight has created a title vacuum that will be partially filled on Saturday night.
32-year old Rey Vargas will make a quick transition from featherweight to Jr. lightweight, having captured the WBC belt from the hard hitting Mark Magsayo last year. Vargas has most of his career at Jr. featherweight, making five title defences before moving on up. At 5"10, he's rangy and is huge at both the weights where he's picked up world championships. Now at super featherweight, there's a chance that the size will start to catch up with him.
Hoping to bring a rude awakening is 29-year old O’Shaquie Foster. The American has been in and around the title picture for years, but has always represented a high-risk low reward option for a lot of champions at 130 lbs. On Saturday, he'll get his chance against a very good fighter, who is one fight away from becoming a 3 weight world champion at only 32 years of age.
Whoever picks up the win, they will add themselves to a growing list of top contenders at the weight, with Emmanuel Navarrete recently proving his chops again by picking up the WBO super featherweight strap last week in a Fight of the Year contender against Liam Wilson.
The likes of Oscar Valdez, Robson Conceição and Joe Cordina are in and around the world title picture and will all be keen to fight each other for honours in the next 12 months, potentially raising the profile of the division back to where it used to be in it's heyday.
What to look for in the fight:
Natural size. Foster is a natural 130 pounder whilst Vargas is not. It'll be interesting to see whether the natural size advantage will start to wear down the taller but much leaner Vargas.
Lead left. Vargas likes to lead with a looping left hook to the body. Whilst the mechanics of this might have worked well for him against smaller opponents, a bigger (and southpaw) fighter like Foster might capitalise on this and counter over the top. Look for this key exchange.
Volk Goes For Glory
The UFC returns to Australia for the first time in almost 4 years this weekend, as recently minted lightweight champion Islam Makhachev takes on the featherweight champion and hometown hero Alex Volkanovski in the main event.
Just minutes after Islam had choked out Charles Oliveira for the vacant belt, he was challenged by a confident Volkanovski, who is looking to join the illustrious list of simultaneous two weight UFC world champions. A win against Islam, who is not only in his physical prime but significantly bigger than him, would cement his status as a the #1 pound for pound fighter in the sport.
Makhachev will be seeing it as an opportunity to claim that spot as well. A win against a smaller, but nonetheless extremely talented and tough Volkanovski would not only be a hell of a first title defence for him, but it would put him in the discussion for the pound for pound #1 position. He's already shed the title of "Khabib's protege", having earned his own stripes and established himself as the top dog in arguably the UFC's most competitive division.
Saturday gives him a chance to go a step further, and to do it in Volk's backyard would make it all the more sweet. Don't count on the hometown champion to make it as easy as it seemed against Oliveira. He's coming for the lightweight belt, and it will make for a phenomenal fight.
The co-main event for the PPV card is also a great fight, as the mercurial Yair Rodriguez takes on the hard hitting Josh Emmett for the interim featherweight title and a guaranteed shot at the champion, no matter what occurs in the main event.
Emmett hasn't lost since 2018, when he was KO'd by Jeremy Stephens. Since then, he's won 5 in a row, with wins against fighters who were considered to be more technical than him like Calvin Kattar and Shane Burgos. Despite this, he pulled through and found a way to win each time, which is testament to his confidence at the moment, combined with his takedown pressure and killer overhand right.
Yair Rodriguez seems to have been around the UFC forever, and has been touted for the strap ever since his highlight reel stoppage of the Korean Zombie back in 2018. Since then, he's had ups and downs, but his talent is undeniable. Saturday, he gets his first real chance at putting his hands on UFC gold, and he'll need all of the technical smarts and octagon IQ that he has to be able to hold Emmett at bay for five rounds.
What to look for in the fights:
Takedowns. Islam will shoot for takedowns eventually, and the geography of where the fight takes place will be determined by how well Volkanovski defends against them. Should he be able to use his considerable strength and low centre of gravity to his advantage, it will work on his favour on the feet. Should he get into a similar position as he did against Brian Ortega, it could spell trouble.
Hooked. Volkanovski's striking is unassuming but super effective. He keeps balanced and throws his overhands and left hooks with mean intentions. Islam's head movement when standing leaves a lot to be desired, so look for Volk to set him up to land a big left hook following a throwaway right hand at some point. It could turn the tide of the fight.
Calm. Yair sometimes fights like he has something to "prove" and can get pulled into exchanges that he doesn't need to get into. If he can avoid this, it looks likely he will outpoint Emmett or even stop him late. Should he get drawn in, it could spell danger for him.
Hear From The Champ Himself
We highly recommend going back and checking out our interview with Volk himself, where he discussed the aftermath of his win over Brian Ortega and much more. Teddy and Ken do a great job at highlighting his true character as a champion that'll be on full display this weekend.
Fight ⏰ for this weekend
Boxing: Vargas vs Foster (Saturday 11th/Sunday 12th)
🇺🇸 Full Card: 10pm Eastern/ 7pm Pacific | Main Event: 11pm Eastern/ 8pm Pacific
🇬🇧 Full Card: 3am | Main Event: 4am
🇦🇺 Full Card: 2pm Eastern/ 12pm Western | Main event: 3pm Eastern/ 1pm Western
MMA: UFC 284 (Saturday 11th/Sunday 12th)
🇺🇸 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