By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch Senior Columnist
No events again this week so I’ll yet again venture into the world of MMA news as we welcome in the new year and hope that 2024 is better for everyone.
UFC Welterweight Champion Leon Edwards (22-3, 1 No Contest) has announced that he plans on defending his title at UFC 300 in April. He also said he hopes to fight again during the summer in his home city of Birmingham, England.
Going by the official UFC rankings the man who gets the title shot against Edwards at UFC 300 should be Belal Muhammed (23-3, 1 No Contest). Is that going to be an exciting enough matchup for the UFC to book that fight, though?
17 of Muhammed’s 23 wins have come via decision. To be fair, 12 of Edwards’ 22 wins have come via decision. So will the UFC be willing to book this fight that’s more than likely going the full five rounds and could easily be less than thrilling? They might not have a choice, as pretty much everyone else who could possibly be in line is injured or coming off of a loss.
So it’s either they give Conor McGregor (22-6) the title shot or make Edwards-Muhammed 2 the third title fight on the card. I think that’s what they do. Dana White has talked about making UFC 300 with a crazy fight card. Three title fights certainly accomplishes that.
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Mark Coleman (16-10, UFC Hall of Famer) recently had hip surgery and
is now battling an E. Coli infection in that hip. I hope he has a
speedy and full recovery from both the surgery and the infection.
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Juan Archuleta (29-5) was scheduled to defend his Rizin Bantamweight Championship against Kai Asakura (21-4) at Rizin 45 on New Years Eve.
However, he missed weight by over five pounds and was stripped of the championship and only Asakura was eligible to win the title.
Asakura went on to win by TKO at 3:20 of the second round after a knee to the body followed by punches.
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Also at Rizin 45, Kyoji Horiguchi (32-5, 1 No Contest) defeated Makoto Shinryu (16-2-1, 1 No Contest) by rear-naked choke submission at 3:44 of the second round to win the inaugural Rizin Flyweight Championship.
Horiguchi is also a two-time Rizin Bantamweight Champion as well as a former Bellator Bantamweight Champion. Following his win over Shinryu Horiguchi proposed to his longtime girlfriend and she said yes so things are really going well for him right now.
That’s about it for the news, unless you want to talk about Fury Pro Grappling 8, where Aljamain Sterling lost a decision to Kevin Danztler, who just butt-scooted the entire match. The highlight of the entire event was Pat Sabatini submitting Niko Price with the rare Suloev Stretch.
Things will pick up as we head into the new year. I hope everyone has a great 2024.
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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