Photo by Brandon Magnus/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) strawweight titleholder, Jessica Andrade, hasn’t even made her first title defense and she’s already planning for a champion vs. champion “s…
Photo by Brandon Magnus/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) strawweight titleholder, Jessica Andrade, hasn’t even made her first title defense and she’s already planning for a champion vs. champion “super fight” against reigning flyweight titleholder, Valentina Shevchenko.
Someone should gently remind “Bate Estaca” that she’s facing the 19-1 Weili Zhang in the UFC Fight Night 157 five-round main event, scheduled for this Sat. night (Aug. 31, 2019) inside Universiade Sports Centre in Shenzhen, China.
“After I win on Saturday, I will ask to face Valentina,” Andrade told BJPenn.com. “I think Shevchenko is one of the best girls in all of the divisions. She’s faced Joanna [Jedrzejczyk], Amanda [Nunes] and I believe it would be a great test, so this is what I want, hopefully by the end of the year or beginning of the next year.”
Shevchenko (18-3) came up short in two separate fights against reigning women’s bantamweight titleholder, Amanda Nunes, and has since dropped down to the flyweight division, where “Bullet” promptly captured four straight wins, picking up the 125-pound title in the process.
As for Andrade (20-6), she’s competed as high as bantamweight, but was unable to compensate for her height and reach disadvantage, prompting a move down to the strawweight class, where she now rules the 115-pound roost.
But would a win over Zhang be enough to earn a Shevchenko super fight?
The UFC Shenzhen weigh-in results have been released as the fighters took the stage to get ready for battle inside of the Octagon under the promotion banner. UFC Shenzhen (also known as UFC on ESPN+15) is set to take place on Saturday, August 31, 2019 at the Shenzhen Universiade Sports Centre in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. […]
The UFC Shenzhen weigh-in results have been released as the fighters took the stage to get ready for battle inside of the Octagon under the promotion banner.
UFC Shenzhen (also known as UFC on ESPN+15) is set to take place on Saturday, August 31, 2019 at the Shenzhen Universiade Sports Centre in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.
The main card will air on ESPN+ at 6 am ET. The preliminary card will air ESPN + at 3 am ET.
Jessica Andrade vs. Weili Zhang in a women’s strawweight title fight will serve as the headliner. In the co-headliner, Li Jingliang vs. Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos in a welterweight bout will take place.
Rounding out the five bout main card is Mark De La Rosa vs. Kai Kara-France in a flyweight bout, Movsar Evloev vs. Zhenhong Lu in a featherweight bout, and Mizuki Inoue vs. Wu Yanan in a flyweight bout.
UFC Shenzhen Weigh-In Results
UFC officials held the weigh-ins for UFC Shenzhen on Thursday evening and here are the weigh-in results:
MAIN CARD (ESPN+, 6 a.m. ET)
Champ Jessica Andrade (114.5) vs. Weili Zhang (115) – for strawweight title
Li Jingliang (171) vs. Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos (170.5)
UFC China’s Elizeu Zaleski wants to climb his way up the rankings without talking trash about his opponents. One of the UFC’s most exciting welterweights at the moment, Elizeu Zaleski, also has one of the divi…
Jason Silva-USA TODAY Sports
UFC China’s Elizeu Zaleski wants to climb his way up the rankings without talking trash about his opponents.
One of the UFC’s most exciting welterweights at the moment, Elizeu Zaleski, also has one of the division’s longest winning streaks. Seven straight has tied him with number one contender Colby Covington and puts them only one behind Leon Edwards, with eight, and the champion, Kamaru Usman, who has 10. However, ‘Capoeira’ does not seem to be getting the same treatment as Covington or ‘Rocky’.
Although his highlight reel is full of flashy finishes, Zaleski occupies only the 14th spot in the UFC rankings and will take on an unranked, dangerous knockout artist in Li Jingliang at UFC China. In an interview with Combate, Elizeu says he won’t change his personality in order to promote his fights and is willing to climb the rankings by just being himself.
“I think that this whole selling yourself thing is about how you use your words. Today, it’s a business, everyone looks at the more lucrative side of it, but I try to keep the more philosophical point of view in martial arts. My work is done in the Octagon, I want to use promotable words to make families want to watch me, not to make them angry at me.”
“I always call somebody out after my fights. When I talk to a reporter, I do it, too, but it’s never delivered.” Elizeu continued. “I want to do what I came here to do, which is to fight. They want me to talk trash about some guy? About a guy’s family? It’s a matter of opinion. What the fans want. Whoever admires martial arts and take them seriously supports me and tells me I’m on the right path.”
In his last outings, Elizeu Zaleski (21-5) defeated the likes of Sean Strickland, Luigi Vendramini and most recently, in March, Curtis Millender, among others. His last and sole Octagon loss happened in his debut, when he dropped a split decision to Nicolas Dalby in May 2015.
Now, Elizeu Zaleski is expected to take on Li Jingliang at UFC Fight Night 157’s co-main eveent, on August 31, in Shenzhen, China. The card is expected to be headlined by a female strawweight title fight between the champion, Jessica Andrade, and challenger Weili Zhang.
UFC Fight Night 157 — which is set to go down on Saturday. Aug. 31, 2019 inside Shenzhen Universade Sports Centre Arena in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China on ESPN+ — officially has its title fight, as women’s S…
Photo by Yifan Ding/Getty Images
UFC Fight Night 157 — which is set to go down on Saturday. Aug. 31, 2019 inside Shenzhen Universade Sports Centre Arena in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China on ESPN+ — officially has its title fight, as women’s Strawweight champion, Jessica Andrade, and top contender, Weili Zhang, both made weight during the early weigh-ins.
Andrade checked in at 114. 5, while Zhang — who was the first fighter to tip the scales — weighed in at 115 on the dot.
Jessica is looking to be successful in her first-ever title defense after winning the 115-pound title earlier this year after knocking out Rose Namajunas in the main event of UFC 237 in Rio de Janiero, Brazil (see it again here).
Zhang, meanwhile, hopes to makes history by becoming the first Chinese-born champion for UFC, all while collecting consecutive win number 20, fourth inside the world-famous Octagon.
Coach Mark Henry claims Conor McGregor passed on previous chances to fight Frankie Edgar. During a recent ESPN interview with Ariel Helwani, Conor McGregor mentioned some of the fighters he intends to face…
Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports
Coach Mark Henry claims Conor McGregor passed on previous chances to fight Frankie Edgar.
During a recent ESPN interview with Ariel Helwani, Conor McGregor mentioned some of the fighters he intends to face upon his return. One of them is former UFC lightweight champion and featherweight title contender Frankie Edgar.
“The Answer” already responded by accepting the challenge, but according to his coach Mark Henry, “The Notorious” already turned down multiple fight offers.
“He didn’t want to fight Frankie before and he had opportunities to,” Henry said on MMA Fighting.com’s Eurobash podcast.
“It’s like he didn’t want to fight him, he had a couple of chances. [When Jose Aldo was forced out of UFC 189] he knew Mendes wasn’t in a camp, that he was filming a hunting show and he hadn’t trained in a long time. He knows that Frankie trains all year round and it would’ve been perfect timing. Mendes had just lost the fight before to Aldo.
“That week, Frankie was ranked ahead of Chad too and they switched it fast after Chad got the fight…Frankie was ranked ahead of him, he had more wins than him. Chad had just lost within two fights prior to the title fight.”
“When he had the opportunity to fight Frankie again he turned it down,” he continued. “When Chad and Frankie fought each other, [McGregor] said that Frankie would lose and if Frankie does beat [Mendes], [McGregor] would fight him, which then happened too, and then he didn’t fight Frankie again after that.
“There have been a lot of excuses, but all in all, he’s bashed other people and he’s seems to have been pretty respectful to Frankie. And Frankie’s been pretty respectful to him, like he has been to everybody.”
Edgar just announced his drop to 135 pounds, his third weight class in the UFC. But as far as the possible McGregor fight goes, Henry is keeping the options flexible.
“I think 145 would be great. Even 150 or something like that, that’s cool,” he said. “I think Conor is a professional, even with his last cut to [145] against Aldo, he’s a true professional. The guy’s never missed weight, you’ve got to give him credit.
“I’ve always thought [Edgar was McGregor’s kryptonite], and I still think he is today,” he added. “I think Frankie would definitely do well with him. I’ve never said he’d roll him over or anything, but I think it would be a great fight.”
Edgar last competed at UFC 240 in July, when he fought for the UFC featherweight title against champion Max Holloway. He lost via unanimous decision.
Photo by Brandon Magnus/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Nik Lentz has made his feelings towards B.J. Penn known very clearly, saying that the former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Welterweight and Lightweight champion of the wo…
Photo by Brandon Magnus/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Nik Lentz has made his feelings towards B.J. Penn known very clearly, saying that the former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Welterweight and Lightweight champion of the world is nothing more than a “dirtbag” and “drug addict.”
Despite their recent beef, Lentz says he’s always cared for Penn’s well-being and wants to be the one to step in and prevent him from spiraling down even further after videos surfaced online of “The Prodigy” involved in another bar fight.
But despite their bad blood and upcoming fight that has yet-to-be locked down, Lentz has offered up his assistance and home to Penn.
“Somebody needs to talk to BJ, and that’s the reason why I took the fight in the first place, B.J., is because I told you that you need to get your life together. Clearly there is something wrong here. We can see that fighting and fame is slipping away from you,” he told TMZ Sports.
“So I am going to give you an opportunity that most people won’t. I am going to give you some advice and then I am going to help you, okay.”
“Number one, you are going to get out of Hawaii. Clearly there is people there that are not good for you, they are bad influences. We are going to get you away from that and you are going to come to South Florida and you are going to stay with me,” he said.
“After you stay with me, I am going to let you train at my gym. I am going to get you ready for the fight better than anybody has. But I am still going to smash you. I am going to kick the ever-living dog shit out of you.”
According to Lentz, UFC gave him a potential date of October 18 in Boston at UFC on ESPN 6 for their bout, but they haven’t signed on the dotted line just yet. And while helping training the man you are set to fight doesn’t make that much sense (it’s downright bizarre), Nik says it’s for a greater purpose.
“Afterwards you are going to realize through the whole process that I am going to teach you how to be a real man. Because what you are doing now is no good. You can’t be getting knocked out in front of the Lava House. It’s not good. It’s bad for you career, bad for UFC and it’s bad for me. I need this fight to happen because I want to take care of my family,” he added.
“So we are going to work together. I am going to help you out, set you up. I got a nice place for you, I just bought this new house. I got a place for you to stay and your are going to train with me and teach you to be a man because right now you are a monster.”
“You need to fix that that, Alright, my man? you need to fix it. We are watching a live train wreck and we’ve been watching it for a long time and somebody needs to go in there and stop him before he ends up dead.”
“I am going to help him more than anyone in his life. I am still going to kick his ass and make money at the same time, but I am still going to help him”
While the chances of Penn actually taking Lentz up on his offer to live and train with him are slim, it doesn’t seem as if “The Carny” is trying to troll “The Prodigy” and is sincere in his surprising offer.
