🇫🇷 Vive La France!

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 breakdown recent Jose Pedraza vs Richard Commey fight which ended in a draw, along with the upcoming Andy Ruiz vs Luis Ortiz fight at heavyweight. Teddy and Ken have Johnathon Banks on to discuss how training camp is going with GGG in advance of the Canelo trilogy…

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 🌍

A Crossroads Fight At Heavyweight

Andy Ruiz Jr and Luis Ortiz will square off on Saturday night in what looks to be a really dangerous fight for both men.

Ruiz Jr, who just over 3 years ago shocked the world by stopping Anthony Joshua on 6 weeks notice to capture the unified crown, is looking to position himself to challenge again for heavyweight honours for a third time.

His last fight against fellow Mexican-American Chris Arreola was far from impressive, as he was dropped and repeatedly hurt by a fighter who was well past his prime. Against the hard hitting Cuban, those same mistakes will have more severe consequences.

Ortiz has more miles on the odometer than his younger rival (just how many more is a constant source of debate amongst boxing fans) and carries huge one shot power, even at his advanced age.

He's only ever lost to Deontay Wilder (no shame in that), and although he has been hurt, most recently against Charles Martin, he's always come through and decisively beaten every opponent in front of him.

A loss here is worse for Ortiz than it is for Ruiz Jr. The latter's age means he can still rebuild, whilst things are a little more complicated for Ortiz. Should he lose on Saturday, retirement looks very likely.

What to look for in the fight:

  1. Andy Ruiz Jr to look to score with his lightning quick jab-right-left hook combination in between Ortiz throwing the southpaw 1-2. Timing does often beat speed, but when you reach Ortiz's age, speed kills.

  2. Ortiz to catch Ruiz Jr as he "admires his work". Ruiz Jr isn't as flat footed as he could be given his size for a heavyweight, and immobility here against a puncher like Ortiz could he seemed dropped at the very least.

  3. Ortiz's chin. Ortiz was dropped by Charles Martin several times last time out and looked every bit beyond his 40 years of age. Power is the last thing to go, but fighters chins rarely get better with age.

Odds (Courtesy of MyBookie.Ag)

Ruiz Jr -385

Ortiz +240

The UFC Lands In France

The UFC makes it French debut in Paris on Saturday in an event that has a real PPV-esque feel to it given the quality of the fights on the night.

In the main event, former interim heavyweight champion and hometown hero Cyril Gane takes on the rising KO artist Tai Tuivasa for what is an unofficial number 1 contender bout for a shot at Ngannou's crown.

Gane is coming off a loss to the champion, in a fight he went into as a favourite given his prodigal talent and reputed sparring history with the champ. He had success on the feet but lost the fight on the ground to Ngannou's superior wrestling.

Tuivasa is on a 5 fight KO win streak, most recently knocking out UFC KO record holder Derrick Lewis at UFC 271 with a devastating elbow. He is a talented kickboxer in his own right and will definitely look to test Gane's chin early and see just how much his first MMA loss has affected him mentally.

The co-main event is one of the best co-mains we've seen on recent cards, with Marvin Vettori taking on former champion Robert Whittaker in what is unfortunately only 3 rounds of action.

Both of these men have come up short twice against the current champion Israel Adesanya, and are essentially fighting for the title of the 2nd best middleweight in the world.

Vettori’s game isn't flashy but he makes up for it with relentless forward pressure and a seemingly unbreakable chin.

Whittaker is a more sophisticated striker, but as shown against Jared Cannonier and Darren Till, he can lose rounds against educated pressure fighters, and Vettori has got got good momentum going into this fight following a career best win over Paulo Costa.

What to look for in the fights:

  1. Gane to stick and move his way to victory. It's highly unlikely Tuivasa will have success trying to take Gane down, so his chances of victory will be on the feet. Gane is more mobile and accurate, so look for him to score points and potentially move for a post round 3 finish.

  2. Tuivasa leg kicks. Tai will want to limit Gane's movement and his powerful leg kicks would play a factor here. Don't be surprised if this plays a big part of his strategy for the first 2 rounds.

  3. Vettori and Whittaker to go the distance. Finishes have been rare with these two combined, and given how durable they both are it looks like this one will go to the cards.

Fight ⏰ for this weekend

Boxing: Ruiz Jr vs Ortiz (Saturday 3rd/Sunday 4th)

  • 🇺🇸 Full Card: 9pm Eastern/ 6pm Pacific | Main Event: 11:30pm Eastern/ 8:30pm Pacific

  • 🇬🇧 Full Card: 2am | Main Event: 4:30am

  • 🇦🇺 Full Card: 11am Eastern/ 9am Western | Main Event: 1:30pm Eastern/ 11:30am Western

UFC: Gane vs Tuivasa Saturday 3rd/Sunday 4th)

  • 🇺🇸 Full Card: 3pm Eastern/ 12pm Pacific | Main Event: 5pm Eastern/ 2pm Pacific

  • 🇬🇧 Full Card: 8pm | Main Event: 10pm

  • 🇦🇺 Full Card: 5am Eastern/ 3am Western | Main Event: 7am Eastern/ 5am Western

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

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