- UFC 216: Following the issues that lead to the UFC Flyweight title fight featuring Demetrious Johnson and Ray Borg being postponed to Saturday night, many thought that Borg would not be able to make weight. Yet, Borg was able to make weight for his biggest fight to date, as he tries to dethrone Johnson before “Mighty Mouse” can break Anderson Silva’s record for title defenses (11).There was drama though, as the main event for the interim lightweight title was in jeopardy. Kevin Lee, who has been one of the most outspoken men in MMA, came into the official weigh-in’s on Friday morning with five minutes remaining in the window.When Lee arrived we found out that he was only one pound over the 155 limit. NSAC chairman Bob Bennett invoked a rule where Lee had one hour to lose one pound. at 12:15 Vegas time, Lee came back in only a hotel towel to weigh-in one last time and keep his title opportunity. Not only did Lee come back having lost a pound, he actually lost 1.5 pounds for his fight with Ferguson. Will Lee be able to overcome having to cut 20 pounds in 24 hours, and not only win the title, but the Conor McGregor Sweepstakes.
- Canelo-GGG Ordered By WBC, Golovkin Doesn’t Want It In Vegas.The scoring issue which lead to a controversial draw between Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez, seems to have put a sour taste in the mouth of Golovkin. It also bothered Golovkin’s promoter, Tom Loeffler. Loeffler is confident that a rematch will take place (rumored to be in May of 2018), yet Nevada may not be the home for it, per Loeffler’s comments to MMAJunkie Radio.
“We’ll sit down with Bob (Bennett) and there are some things we’d want to address if the fight goes back to Vegas – we won’t rule out Vegas, but I know there was some hesitation from the ‘GGG’ side… (GGG’s) never had that issue when he’s fought in California or New York or even in London. We just want to make sure it’s a fair playing field for both sides.”
Following that statement by Loeffler, Golden Boy Promotions President, Eric Gomez commented that…
“Regardless of if they did or didn’t order the rematch, we are going to try to make it happen,” Eric Gomez, president of Golden Boy Promotions, told ESPN. “We’ll do whatever it takes to make it happen because it’s the fight that the fans want, it’s what the fighters want, and it’s what the media wants.”
- Deontay Wilder To Fight His Original Opponent After Luis Ortiz Tests Positive… Somehow Victor Conte Is Involved:
Luis Ortiz, the scheduled opponent for WBC world heavyweight champion, Deontay Wilder, tested positive in a test conducted by VADA,Ortiz tested positive for two banned substances that were found in his prescribed blood pressure medication. Which would not have been an issue if Ortiz had informed VADA of his usage prior to the test.Jay Jimenez, who acts as Ortiz’ manager attempted to clarify the current situation with his fighter and the WBC’s decision to move to a new opponent.“To clarify the Luis Ortiz situation, this is the real and only version of the current process. Mr. Sulaiman and the WBC have NOT suspended or removed Luis from their rankings. The WBC’s decision was as follows, they did not sanction the fight based off the fact that they are worried for Luis’s health. And to be honest, I must respect and admire their decision because I agree, the fighter’s health is paramount. So, the WBC will schedule a visit with one of their approved physicians to check Luis health, and make sure he is 100% healthy and fit to fight, and that the blood pressure pills will not affect him physically.”
“Once Luis has passed all physical exams and is medically cleared to fight by the WBC, we will begin to work on a possible fight towards the end of the year. Also, once all is resolved, we hope that we can reschedule the Wilder fight in the first quarter of next year. Wilder has shown much interest in fighting Ortiz, and the best fighters in the division, so I know it will not be a hard fight to renegotiate. Thank you to everyone for your support. This soon will be corrected, and Luis can continue on with his career.”
Ortiz was found to fail a drug test once before in 2014 following his victory over Lateef Kayodet, and Stiverne Wilder’s new opponent failed a drug test prior to an interim title fight against Alexander Povetkin.
Yet, Ortiz has someone else aside from Jimenez on his side. As former BALCO head and the man at the center of the baseball steroid issues of the 2000’s, Victor Conte, released a video defending Ortiz.
“Deontay’s definitely scared of Ortiz, just the way he acts… But most of his team is more afraid for Deontay than Deontay’s afraid for himself. Most definitely, because the team knows how much money they’ve put behind him already, and they’re starting to get those benefits back. But they know that their biggest payday is with AJ right now, so they’d rather hold out and get that fight.”
- Anthony Crolla and Ricky Burns seek redemption:In September of last year, Crolla (31-6-3) lost his WBA lightweight title to Jorge Linares, and he suffered an even more convincing unanimous decision defeat to the Venezuelan in March of this year. Burns (41-6-1) lost his light-welterweight title to Julius Indongo back in April, and is moving down to 135 lbs. to take on Crolla this weekend.Given the fact that both fighters are coming off of title losses, most fans would expect them to take easy fights to get back on the winning track. But that’s not the way Anthony Crolla and Ricky Burns operate. They each want the biggest stage and toughest test possible, and they know that a victory gets them one step closer to regaining their championship status.
“A win propels me right to where I was,” Crolla said. “I’ve been around long enough to know that these are the fights people want to see. I want to be involved in big fights.”
- McGregor; “Byrd Shouldn’t Have Stopped The Fight”:In an interview, Conor McGregor expressed his displeasure with the decision by official, Robert Byrd to stop his fight with Floyd Mayweather.
“I thought it was an early stoppage. How the f*** can you stop a fight if there were no knockdowns or nothing previous? The round before that I almost had him dropped. I hurt him to the body in the round before. How the f*** can you stop it like that at the first sign of a wobble? You’ve got to let these fights go on.”
McGregor also discussed Byrd’s wife, Adalaide Byrd, and her inexpiable scorecard, adn how that played into his situation with Robert.
“The referee was a weird one now the more I look back on it… Especially after Adalaide Bird had that thing with the Canelo and GGG fight, that was her. Adalaide and Robert Byrd are husband and wife, that’s a bit weird, that’s when I started looking back on the fight… Why did he not give (Mayweather) instruction? Why was he staring at me? He had a vendetta against me straight off the bat. Early exchanges in the tie up, instead of just separating he would reach around and pull me away.”
