By: Frank Hyden< MMATorch Senior Columnist
There were no big MMA events this past week so I’ll just touch upon
some news. There’s not a lot going on and I had some stuff pop up so
this will be kind of short. Apologies.
Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion Tom Aspinall (15-3) has been named
the backup fighter for the upcoming title fight between UFC
Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones (27-1, 1 No Contest) and former UFC
Heavyweight Champion Stipe Miocic (20-4) at UFC 309 on November 16th.
Former UFC Light Heavyweight and UFC Heavyweight Champion turned
commentator Daniel Cormier (22-3, 1 No Contest) says this doesn’t matter because neither Jones nor Miocic will fight Aspinall on short notice.
I want to say this isn’t true but reality and history tell us it
likely is. Jones vs. Miocic was scheduled for UFC 295 but Jones got
injured and had to pull out. Miocic was offered a fight against Sergei Pavlovich (18-3) but turned it down since short notice fights are
dangerous. Aspinall took the fight against Pavlovich on short notice and won the Interim UFC Heavyweight Title in the process.
Aspinall is such a dangerous fighter that neither Jones nor Miocic is going to want to fight him on short notice. Jones has repeatedly said that his fight against Miocic is likely his last fight so he’s not going to risk his send-off being marred.
Miocic has been a great fighter but he hasn’t fought in three years and recently turned 42 years old. Maybe he’s been able to fight back Father Time but it’s pretty obvious Jones doesn’t think so.
Jones is a strong favorite over Miocic but against Aspinall it would be much closer. Aspinall has been promised the winner to unify the heavyweight titles but we’ll have to wait to see what really happens
with that, as it’s easy to imagine both Jones and Miocic retiring
after their fight.
I just hope there’s no injuries before Jones and Miocic finally fight.
Let’s get that fight over and done with.
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Former UFC Bantamweight Champion Aljamain Sterling (24-4) was
scheduled to face Movsar Evloev (18-0) at UFC 307 on October 5th but has suffered an injury in sparring and been forced to pull out.
There’s been no word about whether Evloev remains on the card against a new opponent or if he’ll fight at a later date.
UFC 307 is headlined by a fight between UFC Light Heavyweight Champion
Alex Pereira (11-2 MMA, 33-7 Kickboxing, 1-0 Boxing) and Khalil Rountree (13-5, 1 No Contest). It’s almost a guarantee that this fight won’t go to a decision but maybe that means that it will? Either way, I think Pereira picks up the win.
UFC Bantamweight Champion Raquel Pennington (16-8) will defend against
Julianna Pena (11-5). This fight I could definitely see going the
distance and I would give Pennington a slight edge but a lot can
happen during a fight so a Pena win wouldn’t be surprising in the least.
Stephan Thompson (17-7-1 MMA, 20-0, 1 No Contest Kickboxing) will
fight Joaquin Buckley (19-6) while Jose Aldo (32-8 MMA, 1-0-1 Boxing)
will face Mario Bautista (14-2) and Kayla Harrison (17-1 MMA, 45-7 Judo) will fight Ketlen Vieira (14-3).
It always stinks to lose a matchup on a card due to injury but this event seems more prepared to withstand such a loss compared to other
UFC events we’ve seen in the past.
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IBF Heavyweight Champion Daniel Dubois (22-2) knocked out Anthony Joshua (28-4) in the 5th round of their fight last weekend to retain
his title. Dubois knocked down the favored Joshua a few times and dominated him.
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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