Young American Curtis Blaydes broke into the elite of the heavyweight division, confidently defeating New Zealand veteran Mark Hunt in the co-main event at UFC 211, held today in Australian Perth.
This Saturday in Perth, Australia, we will have UFC 221 tournament, in the main event of which former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold will meet Yoel Romero in a fight for a interim title. On the eve Romero failed weight, so the title will be at stake for Rockhold only.
UFC middleweight Yoel Romero of Cuba was unable to make weight at the weigh-in before the fight for an interim title with Luke Rockhold. At the first attempt Romero showed an extra 3.3 pound. The Cuban was given several hours to prepare for the second attempt, but the fighter again showed a rather impressive extra weight for the title fight - 2.7 pound.
Famous rapper Snoop Dogg is a big fan of mixed martial arts and often comments on UFC fights. Sometimes a musician allows himself and impartial statements - for example, to Conor McGregor after the defeat to Floyd Mayweather in a fight by the rules of boxing. Snoop Dogg's behavior did not go unnoticed, and veteran Matt Brown promised the rapper a "serious conversation" at the meeting.
WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev shared his expectations on the fight with the IBO title holder Igor Mikhalkin, and also told about future plans after the fight.
Mixed martial arts veteran Mark Hunt reacted sharply to the statement of UFC boss Dana White that former heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar could return for one fight.
Unbeaten Ukrainian light heavyweight Alexander Gvozdyk, who occupies the second place in the WBC rankings, said that he was glad to step closer to the fight for the world title in a meeting for the WBC interim belt on March 17.
"I'm looking forward to taking the next step to the world title. I know almost nothing about my rival Mehdi Amare, but I'm happy to fight in the US at Madison Square Garden in New York, which is Mecca of boxing. Thanks to all my team for making it a reality," said Gvozdyk.
Former contender for the world heavyweight title Chris Arreola spoke about sparring with the now unified cruiserweight champion Murat Gassiev. According to Arreola, the Russians had the strongest punch among all his sparring partners.
"I would say that in my fights Vitali Klitschko had the strongest punch. He's just real puncher. As for sparring, Murat had the heaviest punch. This guy is fucking strong. I saw his blows, and said to myself "no", and then - boom! - that's all. The craziest thing is that you see these blows, but you cannot avoid them. And they really hurt," said Arreola.
The experienced Russian MMA fighter Alexey Oleynik will fight on May 12 at UFC 224 tournament in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His rival will be a young local fighter Junior Albini.
WBO and WBC cruiserweight champion Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk and IBF and WBA title holder Russian Murat Gassiev will meet in the final of the World Boxing Super Series on May 11 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
