By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch Senior Columnist
There were no events this past weekend because of Christmas so I’ll just touch upon some news items. Happy holidays to all. I hope you’re all doing well.
UFC 300 will take place on April 13, 2024 and a few fights have
already been announced for the historic show.
Jiri Prochazka (29-4-1, ranked #2 in UFC Light Heavyweight division) will face Aleksandar Rakic (14-3, ranked #5 in UFC Light Heavyweight
division) in a huge showdown that will likely determine the next
challenger to UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Alex Pereira (9-2).
Prochazka has 25 KO wins and 3 Submission wins while Rakic has 9 KO wins and 1 Submission win so the odds are pretty good that someone is getting finished in this fight.
I lean towards thinking Prochazka gets the win but I wouldn’t be
surprised if Rakic wins. Regardless of who wins, though, it should be
exciting.
Aljamain Sterling (23-4, ranked #1 in UFC Bantamweight division) will make his promotional featherweight debut against Calvin Kattar (23-7,
ranked #7 in UFC Featherweight division).
Sterling has 3 KO wins and 8 Submission wins while Kattar has 11 KO wins and 2 Submission wins so it’s about even money this fight goes the distance.
I lean towards Kattar getting the decision win here since Sterling is moving up in weight but I certainly don’t want to underestimate
Sterling. I think it’s a close fight, hopefully not a controversial
one.
Bo Nickal (5-0) will fight Cody Brundage (10-5) will square off in the middleweight division.
Nickal has 2 KO wins and 3 Submission wins while Brundage has 5 KO wins and 3 Submission wins so this fight will likely end via finish.
This should be a nice challenge for Nickal but one he should overcome. He should definitely be the heavy favorite but they fight in the cage,
not on paper. A Brundage win is possible but it would be surprising.
Jim Miller (36-17, 1 No Contest) has the most fights (42) and the most wins (25) in UFC history and he’s been confirmed by Dana White to fight on the UFC 300 card. He previously fought on both the UFC 100 and UFC 200 cards so this is really cool. Miller won those fights so it’d be awesome if he could complete that personal trilogy and win on the UFC 300 card. Even if he loses it’s an incredible accomplishment.
Miller also mentioned that this would be his retirement fight. Win or lose, what a way to go out. UFC 300 will surely be a huge show. Will it be the biggest of all-time? That remains to be seen but if it’s not, it won’t be for lack of trying. I have no doubt the UFC will try to put on the biggest show they possibly can. It’s off to a good start with the announced fights already.
Warning- From this point forward I start to go down the rabbit hole of conjecture and speculation regarding potential UFC 300 fights. There’s not a lot of news going on so if you want to skip this part I certainly understand.
Some other fighters are starting to make moves to try to get on UFC 300. Michael Chandler (23-8, ranked #5 in UFC Lightweight division),
who’s been calling out and waiting on a fight against Conor McGregor (22-6) after they coached against each other on The Ultimate Fighter 31 also recently posted a challenge to Nate Diaz (21-13) for a fight at UFC 300. Who knows what’ll happen there but surely the UFC would want McGregor on the UFC 300 card?
Israel Adesanya (24-3, ranked #1 in UFC Middleweight division) said in an interview recently that we’ll see him soon. Some people are assuming that this means his trilogy fight with UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Alex Pereira (9-2) will take place at UFC 300.
However, Pereira has posted his own hint on social media that said “30 + 300 = 3”, which some are interpreting as Pereira fighting 30 year old Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion Tom Aspinall (14-3) at UFC 300 for his 3rd championship in a different division.
Aspinall then responded with a photo of him and Pereira with Santa Claus hats on so who knows what’s going on?
UFC 300 is a huge landmark event for the company so they’ll obviously
want to do something big. What that big thing will be remains to be seen.
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In quick boxing news, there was a massive boxing PPV called Day of Reckoning last weekend. The main card saw Anthony Joshua (27-3, 3 straight wins) beat Otto Wallin (26-2, 1 No Contest) after the 5th round by corner stoppage.
Also, WBO Inter-Continental Heavyweight Champion Joseph Parker (34-3, 4 straight wins) retained that title and won the vacant WBC International Championship by defeating Deontay Wilder (43-3-1) by decision.
WBA Super Light Heavyweight Champion Dmitry Bivol (22-0) retained that title and won the IBO Light Heavyweight Championship by beating Lyndon
Arthur (23-2) by decision.
Daniel Bubois (20-2 ) beat Jarrell Miller (26-1-1)by TKO in the 10th round.
Agit Kabayel (24-0) won the WBC-NABF and WBA Inter-Continental Heavyweight Championships by beating Arslanbek Makhmudov (18-1) by TKO in the 4th round.
Jai Opetaia (24-0) retained his The Ring Cruiserweight Championship by beating Ellis Zorro (17-1) by TKO in the 1st round.
Filip Hrgovic (17-0) beat Mark de Mori (43-3-2) by TKO in the 1st round.
Frank Sanchez (24-0, 1 No Contest) retained his WBC Continental Americas Heavyweight Championship by beating Junior Fa (20-3) by TKO in the 7th round.
I hope everyone is doing well. Happy holidays.
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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