UFC Betting Sites – The Best MMA Online Bookies

The heavyweight division is being held up because someone is playing games.

“That’s not me, that’s someone else at the top of the division,” interim champion Tom Aspinall said on his YouTube channel (transcribed by MMA Fighting). “It’s not me. I’m here to fight people. [I] love this stuff, this is what I was born to do, this is what I wanted to do since the year started — since the last fight against Pavlovich — I’ve wanted to get back in there.”

Aspinall was calling for the promotion to strip Jon Jones of the 265-pound strap after “Bones” got injured and delayed his Stipe Miocic title defense. When the promotion plans to rebook that battle remains to be seen, but Jones claims to already have a date.

“Bit of a strange conundrum with my division,” Aspinall continued. “Usually, when the champ is coming back, the interim [champion] would obviously fight the champ. Jon Jones is holding sh*t up, let’s be honest. He’s playing games, so me and Curtis Blaydes though. We have history, we fought before — granted it was 15 seconds, it wasn’t an actual fight. I got injured, Curtis takes the win, but now it’s time to get a bit of payback.”

With Jones on the sidelines until further notice, Aspinall will battle No. 4-ranked title contender Curtis Blaydes in the UFC 304 pay-per-view (PPV) co-main event, scheduled for Sat., July 27, 2024 at Co-op Live in Manchester, England.

“If I’m not going to fight Jon, which obviously that’s not going to happen right now, this is the ideal situation,” Aspinall explained. “So [I’m] very, very happy, very, very motivated, for it. I’m going to put absolutely everything into the training camp, absolutely everything into the lifestyle, and, yeah, looking forward to it very much.”

A victory over Blaydes is likely to guarantee Aspinall a shot at the winner of Jones vs. Miocic … if and when that fight ever happens.

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight Jack Marshman is making his way back to combat sports — but “The Hammer” won’t be competing in mixed martial arts (MMA). Instead, Marshman will be ditching his gloves after signing a multi-fight contract with BYB Extreme Bare Knuckle Fighting Series.

“The addition of Marshman is just a small sign of things to come. We are only getting bigger, badder and better,” said BYB’s European Director of Operations and former BKB co-founder, Jim Freeman. “I’m ecstatic about the opportunity to work with Greg [Bloom] and the [BYB] team to continue to grow BYB and the sport of bare knuckle across the globe.”

Freeman and his team from BKB merged with BYB Extreme earlier this month. Expect “The Hammer” to make his debut for the bare knuckle promotion at some point this summer.

Marshman, 34, compiled a 23-10 record in MMA, also competing for Cage Warriors Fighting Championship and BAMMA across the pond. The Welsh slugger was last seen dropping a unanimous decision to Sean Strickland at UFC Vegas 12.

BYB Extreme returns on June 14 with “Brawl in Duval” in Jacksonville, Florida.

WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury will collide with WBA, IBF, and WBO titleholder Oleksandr Usyk atop the “Ring of Fire” pay-per-view (PPV) boxing event this Sat. night (May 18, 2024) in Saudi Arabia, and both combatants are scheduled to appear at today’s final press conference in Riyadh.

The LIVE stream gets underway at 2 p.m. ET in the embedded video above.

“It feels absolutely fantastic to be in the great Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, I’m feeling fantastic,” Fury said during this week’s Grand Arrivals (watch them here). “I can’t wait to put a good show on. There’s so many people coming. It’s such an event. All the big stars are here. It’s going to be epic. I can’t wait for Saturday night.”

Fury insists this is the most important fight of his career.

“If I was fighting an old dosser on Saturday night who had five fights and lost them all, it would be very important to me,” Fury continued. “Every fight I’ve ever had is important to me. Every little fight along the way was important to me. I believe that every left and right turn I’ve ever taken in my life, every time I’ve fallen over, and every time I’ve climbed up was all leading to this moment. It’s destiny.”

For the completed “Fury vs. Usyk” fight card and DAZN PPV lineup click here. For more boxing news and notes click here.