By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch Senior Columnist
There were no events this past weekend so I’ll just cover some of the news.
Bellator Middleweight Champion Johnny Eblen (14-0) doesn’t like that
the Professional Fighters League (PFL) is reportedly in talks to buy
Bellator. Word is that Paramount has been looking to sell Bellator for
months and a PFL-Bellator merger would create a much larger company,
one that could perhaps be a little stronger competition against the
UFC.
However, Eblen doesn’t like it as it reduces competition among the
companies promoting fights. For the fighters, it’ll create more
competition for some of them because of the overlapping weight
divisions. However, PFL doesn’t have a middleweight division so it’s
unclear what would happen there with a fighter like Eblen or other
guys in the Bellator Middleweight Division.
It feels like it’s only a matter of time before PFL buys Bellator but
I wouldn’t be surprised if that doesn’t happen. Bellator has two more
events planned for this year, 300 and 301, but after that nothing else
has been announced. That makes me think something is going to happen
sooner rather than later.
*************
The UFC’s final three pay-per-views of the year are all gonna feature
some big fights. At UFC 294 on the 21st of October Islam Makhachev
(24-1) defends his UFC Lightweight Championship against Charles
Oliveira (34-9, 1 No Contest) in a huge rematch from UFC 280 and Paulo
Costa (14-2) fights Khamzat Chimaev (12-0). Both of those are very
interesting.
Then on November 11th UFC 295 happens with UFC Heavyweight Champion
Jon Jones (27-1, 1 No Contest) defends against Stipe Miocic (20-4) and
Jiri Prochazka (29-3-1) fights Alex Pereira (8-2) for the vacant UFC
Light Heavyweight Championship. The Prochazka-Pereira fight is more
interesting to me as a fight but I understand why Jones’s potential
final fight would be the headliner.
Finally, on December 16th UFC 296 takes place with UFC Welterweight
Champion Leon Edwards (21-3, 1 No Contest) defending against Colby
Covington (17-3) and UFC Flyweight Champion Alexandre Pantoja (26-5)
defending against Brandon Royval (15-6). That card also has Shavkat
Rakhmonov (17-0) vs. Stephen Thompson (17-6-1), Ian Machado Garry
(13-0) vs. Vicente Luque (22-9-1), and Tony Ferguson (25-9) vs. Paddy
Pimblett (20-3) so there’s plenty of big names there.
It remains to be seen how many people are going to be willing to plunk
down their hard-earned cash for these shows all in a row. I don’t know
if that’ll affect the buyrates or if I’m misjudging but we’ll just
have to wait to see.
*************
UFC Strawweight Champion Zhang Weili recently met Shaquille O’Neal and
did the same thing she did when she met Francis Ngannou, lifted him
up. She didn’t get Shaq up quite as high as Ngannou but he is much
taller so that surely made it more awkward. The point is, she can
generate a lot of power with her legs. Yes, I’m scraping the bottom of
the barrel here but there’s not much going on so bear with me.
My new epic fantasy book is out. It’s called Kingdom of Zarias: The End’s
Beginning. The exciting epic fantasy series Kingdom of Zarias
returns with the 4th book in the series. After the harrowing events of
Book 3 the residents of the Kingdom of Zarias continue on their paths.
Serena Summers continues to learn and grow as a fighter, desperately
seeking to become stronger before she loses anyone else in her life.
Daniel Summers discovers new parts of the world that open his eyes to
just how little he truly knows. A new hero, Lamar Abeers, arrives to
join the fight against evil. Plus, Zach Summers, Tiana Highsmith, and
Xavien Ekens continue their journeys with their friends, and a new
ruler of Vhaharen is crowned. The world has found a little peace.
However, that peace is only temporary. In a shocking act of violence,
the monstrous villain Galren strikes from the shadows and changes the
world forever. This is Book 4 in the series. There’s lots of action,
magic, and monsters in the Kingdom of Zarias. It’s like a tabletop
game in novel form. It’s on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and many other
places. If you’re interested, I would greatly appreciate it if you
would check it out and support me. Also, here’s the link to my
Compendium book about the Kingdom of Zarias series- KoZ Compendium Thank you
very much, have a good day.
Comments and suggestions can be emailed to me at
hydenfrank@gmail.com and you can follow me on Twitter at @hydenfrank.
Thanks for reading and have a good day.
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