Not many were pleased with Frankie Edgar getting the next title shot, but featherweight champion Max Holloway is having none of that. Holloway defends his 145-pound title against “The Answer” in the main event of UFC 240 on July 27 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. However, it was initially expected that he would face Alexander Volkanovski […]
Not many were pleased with Frankie Edgar getting the next title shot, but featherweight champion Max Holloway is having none of that.
Holloway defends his 145-pound title against “The Answer” in the main event of UFC 240 on July 27 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. However, it was initially expected that he would face Alexander Volkanovski instead, who was fresh off a win over Jose Aldo in May.
In the end, it was Edgar who was given the crack at the title and not many were pleased with the UFC’s decision. However, it’s a fight that will always excite Holloway, especially because of Edgar’s legendary status:
“Frankie is Frankie, man,” Holloway said during a media lunch on Thursday. “If you don’t give this guy the respect that he deserves, he did something that was unthinkable in a division higher than us when he was a much smaller dude, and I can’t wait.
“These are the fights that excite me. The man’s a legend, the man’s a legend, and if he’s not a Hall of Famer, a future Hall of Famer, then he’s definitely a Hall of Famer in my eyes at least, and I’ve got nothing but respect for him.”
Holloway Believes Edgar Will Be Better Than Before
This will be the third time the UFC attempt to book a Holloway vs. Edgar fight after injuries derailed the previous two fights. But “Blessed” still remains motivated and even believes the New Jersey native could offer a different challenge than if they faced initially:
“It’s not hard to get motivated at all,” Holloway explained. “It’s weird, you know, because, like, I was supposed to fight him, and then it didn’t happen. Supposed to fight him again, and then it didn’t happen. So this is the first time in my career I ever had to do that with somebody, period. So, it’s not crazy hard, but he gets better, you know what I mean?”
“So the feeling that you want someone and this, that, and you game plan for that one other thing, he’s only had one fight in between the fights we (were scheduled for). And he saw my two fights, and he got to see the different films and strategize and whatever, but it’s just different.”
Jorge Masvidal and his team are trying to strike while the iron is hot. ‘Gamebred’ is going for the biggest fish in UFC waters with his recent callouts of Conor McGregor. Masvidal’s manager Abe Kawa recently insisted Masvidal will onl…
Jorge Masvidal and his team are trying to strike while the iron is hot. ‘Gamebred’ is going for the biggest fish in UFC waters with his recent callouts of Conor McGregor. Masvidal’s manager Abe Kawa recently insisted Masvidal will only take a fight against ‘The Notorious’ or welterweight champion Kamaru Usman. Yet it doesn’t seem […]
Watch the weigh-ins for Manny Pacquiao vs. Keith Thurman, starting at 4 PM ET/1 PM PT on Friday, July 19th. It’s a big night for boxing on Saturday, July 20th, as Manny Pacquiao (61-7-2, 39 KOs) takes on W…
Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images
Watch the weigh-ins for Manny Pacquiao vs. Keith Thurman, starting at 4 PM ET/1 PM PT on Friday, July 19th.
It’s a big night for boxing on Saturday, July 20th, as Manny Pacquiao (61-7-2, 39 KOs) takes on WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman (29-0-1 NC, 22 KOs) in a major matchup for the 147 lbs division. Pacquiao is seeking a major world title yet again to add to his collection of belts, while Thurman is aiming for the highest-profile win of his career.
Before they meet in the ring, they first have to make weight. You can watch the Pacquiao vs. Thurman weigh-ins at the top of the page beginning at 4 PM ET/1 PM PT.
The full fight card is as follows:
PPV card (9 PM ET)
Keith Thurman (146.5) vs. Manny Pacquiao (146.5)
Yordenis Ugas (147) vs. Omar Figueroa (147)
Sergey Lipinets (147) vs. Jayar Inson (147)
Luis Nery (118.5) vs. Juan Carlos Payano (117.5)
FOX card (7 PM ET)
Caleb Plant (168) vs. Mike Lee (167)
Efe Ajagba (242) vs. Ali Eren Demirezen (247.5)
Manny Pacquiao vs. Keith Thurman airs live on FOX PPV on Saturday, July 20th from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The broadcast begins at 9 PM ET/6 PM PT. Bloody Elbow will have live round-by-round coverage of the main event.
A look at Thurman vs Pacquiao and other matchups featured on a surprisingly deep boxing card. Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Manny Pacquiao (61-7-2, 39 KOs) will face Keith Thurman (29-0, 22 KOs) for his WBA welterweight sup…
A look at Thurman vs Pacquiao and other matchups featured on a surprisingly deep boxing card.
Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Manny Pacquiao (61-7-2, 39 KOs) will face Keith Thurman (29-0, 22 KOs) for his WBA welterweight super title in what will be one of the last important fights in the Filipino’s legendary career.
Pacquiao shouldn’t need an introduction with combat sports fans at this point. He’s one of the modern greats, has won titles from flyweight to super-welterweight, had legendary rivalries with Erik Morales and Juan Manuel Marquez and you might remember a clash with Floyd Mayweather Jr. being a rather anticipated fight.
Although he’s been past his best for a good few years now, Pacquiao has remained a top welterweight despite his decline. Since getting robbed against Jeff Horn in Australia in 2017, he’s looked very good for his age in his last two but it should be noted that his opponents were, respectively, shot in the case of Lucas Matthysse, or a notorious headcase who didn’t seem that interested in trying to win the fight in the case of Adrien Broner.
In the ring, much of the mobility and ability to push an incredible pace that made Pacquiao such a special fighter in his prime is gone by now. But even at 40, he’s still very fast, still punches hard enough to keep anyone honest and if he can’t push a pace as hellish as he did a decade ago, he always shows up in excellent condition which allows him to still finish his fights very strong.
Thurman once had a claim as the top welterweight after unifying his WBA title with the WBC title held by Danny Garcia in 2017. However his inactivity and unwillingness to fight emerging top fighters like Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr. means he’s been passed over since in the eyes of most observers.
He is a good mi- range boxer, mostly looking to outbox his opponents and potentially catching them with a big counter. He packs a decent punch but has a bad tendency to just start swinging as hard as he can and to abandon the generally subtler work that brought to this point as soon as he hurts his man.
There’s always questions about what we will get with fighters Pacquiao’s age but barring a sudden fall of a cliff since January, I expect his style to mesh pretty well with Thurman’s. They should deliver a competitive and fun to watch fight on Saturday. Given that Thurman doesn’t push a particularly high pace, especially against southpaws, and the he tends to fight late in fights, I’m leaning towards Pacquiao adding another line to his great résumé and taking a close-ish but clear decision.
In addition to this clash of top-5 welterweights, the event features a surprisingly deep undercard, with another pair of good fights at welter, a bantamweight KO machine and a super-middleweight title fight headlining the prelims on FOX.
Luis Nery (29-0, 23 KOs) beat the then top bantamweight in the world, Shinsuke Yamanaka twice in 2017 and 2018 but the fights were marred by a positive test for the first one and Nery missing the weight for the second one. This prevented him from officially taking Yamanaka’s spot and he’s now on a second climb to the top. He’s scored 3 KOs against lesser competition since and is taking another step towards his goals with a fight against former WBA champion Juan Carlos Payano (21-2, 9 KOs). Payano will be mostly known as the victim of a vicious KO from the new king of the division, Naoya Inoue but he’s a solid veteran who will be a threat if Nery doesn’t show up at his best. But at 34 and not being much of a puncher, I expect Nery’s aggressive style and power to blow him away early.
At welterweight, we’ve got former WBC lightweight champion Omar Figueroa Jr. (28-0-1, 19 KOs) in a clash of styles with Cuban stylist Yordenis Ugas (23-4, 11 KOs). Figueroa’s forehead to forehead inside fighting style has remained very fun to watch at welterweight, but it’s not as effective as it was at lightweight and he had a tough time against John Molina Jr. in his last outing. The slick boxer Ugas is coming off of a very good performance in a split decision loss (which I think he should have won) for the WBC belt against Shawn Porter. He’s also a bit taller and has the skills to handle himself on the inside so I’m picking him to outbox Figueroa and win a relatively comfortable decision.
Still at 147, Sergey Lipinets (15-1, 11 KOs) who moved up after losing his super-lightweight title to Mikey Garcia and just retired former titlist Lamont Peterson. He’s a tough pressure fighter but I think he lacks a bit of size at 5’7” to be a factor at welterweight. He was initially scheduled to fight veteran John Molina Jr. (30-8, 24 KOs) who would have been a nice test but had to withdraw on fight week with a back injury. He has been replaced on very short notice by Filipino Jayar Inson (18-2, 12 KOs) who was scheduled to fight on the preliminary card.
And rounding out the undercard and headlining the Fox prelims is the first defense of IBF super-middleweight champion Caleb Plant (18-0, 10 KOs). He made his claim as a top fighter taking the belt against the tricky José Uzcategui with a very disciplined and complete performance. His first defense is unlikely to teach us much about where he stands exactly in the elite of the division as he’s facing a competent enough fighter that doesn’t really seem like anything special in Mike Lee (21-0, 11 KOs). That should be a nice appetizer for a promising card capped off by one of the last opportunities to see a legend in the twilight of his career.
Full card:
Main Card – PPV – 9:00pm ET / 6:00pm PT
Keith Thurman (29-0, 22 KOs) vs Manny Pacquiao (61-7-2, 39 KOs)
WBA welterweight “super” title, 12 rounds.
Yordenis Ugas (23-4, 11 KOs) vs Omar Figueroa Jr. (28-0-1, 19 KOs)
Welterweight, 12 rounds.
Luis Nery (29-0, 23 KOs) vs Juan Carlos Payano (21-2, 9 KOs)
WBC silver bantamweight title, 12 rounds.
Sergey Lipinets (15-1, 11 KOs) vs Jayar Inson (18-2, 12 KOs)
Welterweight, 10 Rounds.
Preliminary Card – FOX – 7:00pm ET / 4:00pm PT
Caleb Plant (18-0, 10 KOs) vs Mike Lee (21-0, 11 KOs)
IBF super-middleweight title, 12 rounds
Efe Ajagba (10-0, 9 KOs) vs Ali Eren Demirezen (11-0, 10 KOs)
Heavyweight, 10 rounds
Preliminary Card – Youtube/Facebook – 4:45pm ET / 1:45pm PT
Genisis Libranza (18-1, 10 KOs) vs Carlos Maldonado (11-3, 7 KOs)
Flyweight, 8 rounds
Abel Ramos (24-3-2, 18 KOs) vs Jimmy Williams (16-2-1, 5 KOs)
A look at Thurman vs Pacquiao and other matchups featured on a surprisingly deep boxing card. Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Manny Pacquiao (61-7-2, 39 KOs) will face Keith Thurman (29-0, 22 KOs) for his WBA welterweight sup…
A look at Thurman vs Pacquiao and other matchups featured on a surprisingly deep boxing card.
Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Manny Pacquiao (61-7-2, 39 KOs) will face Keith Thurman (29-0, 22 KOs) for his WBA welterweight super title in what will be one of the last important fights in the Filipino’s legendary career.
Pacquiao shouldn’t need an introduction with combat sports fans at this point. He’s one of the modern greats, has won titles from flyweight to super-welterweight, had legendary rivalries with Erik Morales and Juan Manuel Marquez and you might remember a clash with Floyd Mayweather Jr. being a rather anticipated fight.
Although he’s been past his best for a good few years now, Pacquiao has remained a top welterweight despite his decline. Since getting robbed against Jeff Horn in Australia in 2017, he’s looked very good for his age in his last two but it should be noted that his opponents were, respectively, shot in the case of Lucas Matthysse, or a notorious headcase who didn’t seem that interested in trying to win the fight in the case of Adrien Broner.
In the ring, much of the mobility and ability to push an incredible pace that made Pacquiao such a special fighter in his prime is gone by now. But even at 40, he’s still very fast, still punches hard enough to keep anyone honest and if he can’t push a pace as hellish as he did a decade ago, he always shows up in excellent condition which allows him to still finish his fights very strong.
Thurman once had a claim as the top welterweight after unifying his WBA title with the WBC title held by Danny Garcia in 2017. However his inactivity and unwillingness to fight emerging top fighters like Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr. means he’s been passed over since in the eyes of most observers.
He is a good mi- range boxer, mostly looking to outbox his opponents and potentially catching them with a big counter. He packs a decent punch but has a bad tendency to just start swinging as hard as he can and to abandon the generally subtler work that brought to this point as soon as he hurts his man.
There’s always questions about what we will get with fighters Pacquiao’s age but barring a sudden fall of a cliff since January, I expect his style to mesh pretty well with Thurman’s. They should deliver a competitive and fun to watch fight on Saturday. Given that Thurman doesn’t push a particularly high pace, especially against southpaws, and the he tends to fight late in fights, I’m leaning towards Pacquiao adding another line to his great résumé and taking a close-ish but clear decision.
In addition to this clash of top-5 welterweights, the event features a surprisingly deep undercard, with another pair of good fights at welter, a bantamweight KO machine and a super-middleweight title fight headlining the prelims on FOX.
Luis Nery (29-0, 23 KOs) beat the then top bantamweight in the world, Shinsuke Yamanaka twice in 2017 and 2018 but the fights were marred by a positive test for the first one and Nery missing the weight for the second one. This prevented him from officially taking Yamanaka’s spot and he’s now on a second climb to the top. He’s scored 3 KOs against lesser competition since and is taking another step towards his goals with a fight against former WBA champion Juan Carlos Payano (21-2, 9 KOs). Payano will be mostly known as the victim of a vicious KO from the new king of the division, Naoya Inoue but he’s a solid veteran who will be a threat if Nery doesn’t show up at his best. But at 34 and not being much of a puncher, I expect Nery’s aggressive style and power to blow him away early.
At welterweight, we’ve got former WBC lightweight champion Omar Figueroa Jr. (28-0-1, 19 KOs) in a clash of styles with Cuban stylist Yordenis Ugas (23-4, 11 KOs). Figueroa’s forehead to forehead inside fighting style has remained very fun to watch at welterweight, but it’s not as effective as it was at lightweight and he had a tough time against John Molina Jr. in his last outing. The slick boxer Ugas is coming off of a very good performance in a split decision loss (which I think he should have won) for the WBC belt against Shawn Porter. He’s also a bit taller and has the skills to handle himself on the inside so I’m picking him to outbox Figueroa and win a relatively comfortable decision.
Still at 147, Sergey Lipinets (15-1, 11 KOs) who moved up after losing his super-lightweight title to Mikey Garcia and just retired former titlist Lamont Peterson. He’s a tough pressure fighter but I think he lacks a bit of size at 5’7” to be a factor at welterweight. He was initially scheduled to fight veteran John Molina Jr. (30-8, 24 KOs) who would have been a nice test but had to withdraw on fight week with a back injury. He has been replaced on very short notice by Filipino Jayar Inson (18-2, 12 KOs) who was scheduled to fight on the preliminary card.
And rounding out the undercard and headlining the Fox prelims is the first defense of IBF super-middleweight champion Caleb Plant (18-0, 10 KOs). He made his claim as a top fighter taking the belt against the tricky José Uzcategui with a very disciplined and complete performance. His first defense is unlikely to teach us much about where he stands exactly in the elite of the division as he’s facing a competent enough fighter that doesn’t really seem like anything special in Mike Lee (21-0, 11 KOs). That should be a nice appetizer for a promising card capped off by one of the last opportunities to see a legend in the twilight of his career.
Full card:
Main Card – PPV – 9:00pm ET / 6:00pm PT
Keith Thurman (29-0, 22 KOs) vs Manny Pacquiao (61-7-2, 39 KOs)
WBA welterweight “super” title, 12 rounds.
Yordenis Ugas (23-4, 11 KOs) vs Omar Figueroa Jr. (28-0-1, 19 KOs)
Welterweight, 12 rounds.
Luis Nery (29-0, 23 KOs) vs Juan Carlos Payano (21-2, 9 KOs)
WBC silver bantamweight title, 12 rounds.
Sergey Lipinets (15-1, 11 KOs) vs Jayar Inson (18-2, 12 KOs)
Welterweight, 10 Rounds.
Preliminary Card – FOX – 7:00pm ET / 4:00pm PT
Caleb Plant (18-0, 10 KOs) vs Mike Lee (21-0, 11 KOs)
IBF super-middleweight title, 12 rounds
Efe Ajagba (10-0, 9 KOs) vs Ali Eren Demirezen (11-0, 10 KOs)
Heavyweight, 10 rounds
Preliminary Card – Youtube/Facebook – 4:45pm ET / 1:45pm PT
Genisis Libranza (18-1, 10 KOs) vs Carlos Maldonado (11-3, 7 KOs)
Flyweight, 8 rounds
Abel Ramos (24-3-2, 18 KOs) vs Jimmy Williams (16-2-1, 5 KOs)
Recent years have seen the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Bantamweight division grow to rival the Lightweights in depth, and UFC on ESPN 4 event this Saturday (July 20, 2019) inside AT&T …
Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images
Recent years have seen the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Bantamweight division grow to rival the Lightweights in depth, and UFC on ESPN 4 event this Saturday (July 20, 2019) inside AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas, adds yet more to the pile. On this edition of “New Blood,” the series where I have to search YouTube in way too many languages to find the footage I need, we check out a pair of rising Bantamweights: Erick Silva’s brother Gabriel Silva and 6’ “Contender Series” standout Domingo Pilarte.
Silva — the younger brother of veteran Erick Silva — actually debuted in 2011 at the age of 17, but has yet to fight more than once in a calendar year. That’s not to say he hasn’t impressed, though; indeed, two years after a 2017 decision over Kamil Lebkowski in the latter’s native Poland, “Gabito” took just 83 seconds to wipe out Jake Heffernan in March.
He has spent his last two fights at Featherweight, but returns to 135 pounds this weekend.
There honestly aren’t that many visual similarities between Gabriel and Erick outside of sheer aggression. Where Erick is all about throwing a grab-bag of off-the-cuff strikes, Gabriel is a heavy-handed bruiser, marching forward with heavy, jab-free swings. He can switch-hit, but he uses the same general strategy in either stance: lead with his power hand, follow with as many hooks as needed.
He’s a similar physical force with his wrestling, ducking in for high-amplitude slams when the mood arises. I haven’t seen him do terribly much from the top, but he can dish out damage with his ground-and-pound and looks to have decent control.
As I’ve said in my other previews for this card, Gabriel’s cardio is definitely better than Erick’s. I’m still not sure it’s good enough, though. Lebkowski made him work in the first two rounds, and Silva was reduced to desperate takedowns and inactive top control in the third. His lack of striking set ups and tendency to put everything into every punch makes for an inefficient style, but without a jab or other basic striking tenets, I’m not sure how effective he can be if he paces himself.
Silva’s young, strong, aggressive and well-rounded. He just needs 15 minutes of cardio if he doesn’t want to follow in his brother’s ignominious footsteps.
Opponent: Ray Borg will be the smaller man on fight night, but an excellent gas tank and exhausting, grappling-heavy style makes him a sink-or-swim test for Silva’s cardio. It’s also extremely appealing from an entertainment standpoint.
Houston’s Pilarte, training under UFC veteran Daniel Pineda and Brazilian jiu-jitsu great Jorge “Macaco” Patino, has won five straight since his sole professional defeat in 2014. After edging Adrian Yanez under the LFA banner, Pilarte took on Vince Morales on Season Two of “Contender Series,” surviving a first-round knockdown to choke out the favored “Vandetta” early in the second. He was set to make his Octagon debut against Brian Kelleher in Nov. 2018, but was forced to withdraw because of injury.
At 6’0,” Pilarte is the tallest Bantamweight on UFC’s roster, edging a sextet of 5’11” competitors that includes Sean O’Malley and Cory Sandhagen. Despite his prodigious size, he’s all about aggression, pushing forward behind his heavy straight left. He’ll plant his feet and throw back rather than retreat in the face of fire, and if he’s got his man hurt, he’s willing to compromise his height and slug it out inside. He’s got a solid uppercut in close, and beyond the left hand, prefers hitting the head/body with his rear leg and the thigh with his lead leg.
I was pleasantly surprised by his wrestling prowess — I’m used to people with Pilarte’s build doing all of their takedown work in the clinch, but “Son of Fire” has a solid shot. He’s technical enough to hit takedowns even when he’s tired and does an excellent job of quickly transitioning to the back once it hits the ground. He’s no slouch off of his back, either, demonstrating a quality armbar that he admittedly might want to vary up a bit.
And now, the biggest and reddest of big red flags: his striking defense is atrocious. He keeps his right hand at his waist, dips his head to his left with clockwork regularity, and leaves his chin up. Overhand rights are the traditional panacea against tall dudes and Pilarte’s striking style is practically begging for one, especially since he’ll step into his opponent’s range when trying to unload. His chin won’t hold up forever, and while he has some decent pop, he’s not a hard enough puncher to compensate for defensive lapses with overwhelming firepower.
He also punched himself out in his loss to Caio Machado, though that was a while back and he didn’t seem like he was slowing down after a wild round with Morales.
Pilarte’s entertaining and is likely to be on one end or another of a post-fight bonus whenever he fights, but he’ll peak around the middle of the division unless he drastically overhauls his defense.
Opponent: Felipe Colares didn’t have much to offer in his Octagon debut and figures to be something of a showcase foe for Pilarte, not dangerous enough to exploit “Son of Fire’s” myriad technical lapses. Pilarte gets off on the right foot.
Tape:
Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC on ESPN 4 fight card this weekend, starting with the ESPN “Prelims” that are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET, then the main card portion that will also air on ESPN at 9 p.m. ET.
To check out the latest and greatest UFC on ESPN 4: “dos Anjos vs. Edwards” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.
