🦈 The Welterweight Big Fish

April 15, 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 breakdown the weekend's fights with UFC 273 -- Volkanovski Korean Zombie, Sterling Yan, Chimaev Burns -- and boxing's Gennady Golovkin vs Ryota Murata. Also quick hits on Garcia vs Tagoe, Fundora vs Lubin, and UFC's Dern vs Torres.

Thanks for being with us. The be…

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 Step Closer To Undisputed

Errol Spence Jr will be looking to make good on his self proclaimed title of "Big Fish" amongst the stack of talented fighters at welterweight.

Looking at his pedigree, it's very difficult to argue against him being the top fighter at his weight class.

He's gone and unified the 147 lbs division, and unlike his injury prone peer Keith Thurman, he's gone on to defend that unified crown.

If Spence wins this weekend, he will Floyd Mayweather Jr in beating two reigning champions on the way to two unification fights at welterweight.

It could set the stage for the long-awaited showdown with WBO champion Terence Crawford, who is now a promotional free agent after leaving Top Rank. If Spence were defeat Crawford, he could become the first welterweight to win three unification matches.

Talking about this fight as a sweepstakes for Crawford would be somewhat disrespectful to the quality of the fighters in discussion.

Yordenis Ugas has come up the hard way, defecting from the Cuban National team to make it as a pro in the states, following his bronze medal success in 2008.

After being on the end of some questionable decisions, he announced himself as a true contender at the weight, ironically enough with another questionable decision against Shawn Porter for the WBC title.

The plaudits from that fight contributed towards his current title run, where he ultimately proved himself as the one and only WBA champion at the weight by modern day legend Manny Pacquiao in the summer.

It was a fight that was originally scheduled for Spence Jr, who ultimately withdrew due to a serious eye injury.

His misfortune, lead to Ugas' greatest win, and ultimately paved the way for Saturday's unification.

Spence Jr won't be looking to do the Cuban any favours tomorrow night, and will be looking to score his first knockout win since 2018.

He showed that his near fatal car crash back in 2019 hasn't affected his quality, as he scored a decisive win over Danny Garcia in December 2020.

His ring generalship, world class jab and thudding power are there for all to see.

A statement win, will cement him as one of the modern day elite fighters, and really push him into discussion for Top 3 pound for pound.

But to be the best, the definitive "Big Fish" you need to clean out your division, and Yordenis Ugas is fresh off retiring one of the best fighters of all time, so he won't be laying down for Spence at all.

Champion vs champion, with a view to crowing one undisputed king of the division.

This is what Boxing should be.

Bring on Saturday night.

The Best Of The Rest?

When we talk about UFC welterweights, it's often the same three names that pop up:

  • Kamaru Usman

  • Colby Covington

  • Khamzat Chimaev

With the champion looking likely to defend against #2 ranked Leon Edwards sometime in the summer, and Covington and Chimaev potentially squaring off for the #1 contender spot, that leaves those just below the summit of the division to fight for their place at the table.

That's where this Saturday's UFC Fight Night comes in.

Vincente Luque and Belal Muhammed will be looking to keep their names in the running for a crack at one of the names mentioned above, and fire their way to being real names at 170 lbs.

Luque already holds a a KO win against Muhammed from back in 2016, and will look to repeat the feat with another decisive victory.

The American born Brazilian has only lost to top tier opposition (Leon Edwards & Stephen Thompson) since his UFC debut, and continues to improve with each fight.

Muhammed, whilst not having quite the same level of opposition on his resume, has still built his way up to contention, with a recent shutout win over Thompson giving credence to the belief that he has improved since the loss to Luque the fist time around.

Both these men will be hungry to prove that they are bona fide contenders in a welterweight division that is stacked with talent, but where the title conversation often revolves either around the rivalry between Usman and Covington, or the excitement around the super talented Khamzat Chimaev.

Saturday night at the UFC Apex, is a chance for one of Luque or Muhammed, to enter that conversation.

Million Dollar Bellator

It's sometimes easy to forget that there is another MMA show in town, especially with the consistent quality matchups that the UFC put one week after week.

Bellator 277 won't be looking to be forgotten anytime soon, with two high quality title fights on the main card, one of them with a $1 million payout on the line.

Featherweight champion AJ McKee will be looking to prove he's up there with elite UFC company at 145 lbs with a second win against Patricio "Pitbull" Freire.

The champion is undefeated and full of confidence, with an all round game that he, and many others, are confident would fare well in the UFC's own featherweight division.

Pitbull has an elite pedigree himself, having knocked out UFC newcomer Michael Chandler back in 2019 to become a 2 weight Bellator world champion.

Former UFC contender Corey Anderson will be looking to earn almost 10x what he ever pocketed from his former employer, as he takes on Light Heavyweight champion Vadim Nemkov for the $1 million Grand Prix prize money.

Anderson had mixed success in the UFC, but was always considered a difficult proposition for anyone in the Top 10, and holds wins over the last two UFC champions at 205 lbs, Glover Teixeria and Jan Blachowicz.

Nemkov is a decorated combat sambo and kickboxing champion, and a protege of of of the greatest mixed martial artists of all time, Fedor Emelianenko.

Whilst the reigning champs in both fights may be looking at this as a sort of UFC audition, you can't fault Bellator for the quality of this card, or the level of compensation for the fighters.

We Have A Problem (Child)

5 years ago, you didn't think you'd hear Teddy Atlas and Jake Paul in the same sentence.

But on Thursday, Teddy and Ken had an in depth discussion with Jake about all things boxing, UFC and his future plans.

Love him or hate him, Jake Paul is here to stay.

Fight ⏰ for this weekend

Boxing: Spence Jr vs Ugas (Saturday 16th/Sunday 17th)

  • 🇺🇸 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: Luque vs Muhammed (Saturday 16th/Sunday 17th)

  • 🇺🇸 Full Card: 8:30pm Eastern/ 5:30pm Pacific | Main Event: 10:30pm Eastern/ 7:30pm Pacific

  • 🇬🇧 Full Card: 1:30am | Main Event: 3:30am

  • 🇦🇺 Full Card: 10:30am Eastern/ 8:30am Western | Main Event: 12:30pm Eastern/ 10:30am Western

Bellator 277: McKee vs Pitbull II (Friday 15th/Saturday 16th)

  • 🇺🇸 Full Card: 10pm Eastern/ 7pm Pacific | Main Event: 12pm Eastern/ 9pm Pacific

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

  • 🇦🇺 Full Card: 9am Eastern/ 7am Western | Main Event: 11am Eastern/ 9am Western

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

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