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At UFC 259 this weekend (Sat., March 6, 2021), Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya attempts to become the fifth UFC fighter in history to hold two belts at the same when he challenges 205-pound kingpin, Jan Blachowicz.

He does this not just because of the fame or the money, but because of his philosophy on martial arts and his desire to establish a legacy for himself as one of the greatest fighters to ever live. And where does much of the framework he’s built up over the years regarding martial arts come from?

Anime.

Yes, Israel Adesanya is an otaku. He’d even describe himself as a “weeb.” And while we’re certainly not going to put a derogatory spin on his love of Japanimation, we will say that his passion for Naruto and The Last Airbender goes far deeper than your average fan. There is no “Last Stylebender” without The Last Airbender.

Indeed, Adesanya is the self-declared Jinchuriki possessed by the nine tails demon. And he plans to unlock the chakra power within himself to become the greatest fighter in history.

So join us as Combat Culture digs deep on Adesanya’s anime references and how they play into his ambitions to win a second (and perhaps third) belt. From Izzy’s favorite show to the anime tattoos on his body to the anime character he named his $600,000 sports car after, we have decoded the obvious (and not-so obvious) callbacks to Naruto, The Last Airbender, Death Note, Full Metal Alchemist, and more.

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Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 259 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET, then the remaining undercard balance on ESPN/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC 259: “Blachowicz vs. Adesanya” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.

That’s according to “Rocket,” man, burning out his fuse up here alone.

Not long before UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya — all 193 pounds of him — jumps up in weight to challenge current light heavyweight kingpin Jan Blachowicz, No. 4-ranked contender Aleksandar Rakic will try to insert his name into the 205-pound title chase by turning away power-punching division veteran Thiago Santos.

And if “Rocket” has to root for someone in the UFC 259 pay-per-view (PPV) main event, taking place this Sat. night (March 6, 2021) inside APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada, he’s sticking with Adesanya, simply because “The Last Stylebender” is the bigger fish to fry.

“The new era is coming,” Rakic told reporters at the UFC 259 media day (transcribed by MMA Junkie). “Honestly I would like to fight Israel. He’s the biggest name. All respect to Jan, he’s the champion, but Israel is the bigger name. To fight against him and to win against him and take all his legacy would be great. I need to make a great performance on Saturday like I do always, let the UFC know I’m coming for the title.”

Rakic (13-2) is on a mission to prove he belongs in the championship conversation after dropping a split-decision to Volkan Oezdemir at UFC Fight Night 165. Unfortunately, his follow-up win over Anthony Smith did little to convince fickle fight fans he’s the chosen one.

Hammering “Marreta” would certainly help change that.

Regardless, a victory for Adesanya may send him up yet another weight class to fight Jones, or back down to middleweight to resume his obligatory title defenses. And who knows what sort of chaos would ensue if Blachowicz starches “The Last Stylebender.”

We’ll find out this weekend in “Sin City.”

To see the rest of the UFC 259: “Blachowicz vs. Adesanya” fight card and PPV lineup click here.

The future MMA fighter and current women’s boxing sensation lashes out against boxing’s power structure and sexism.

This Friday marks the return of Claressa Shields (10-0, 2 KOs) into the boxing ring. The two-time Olympic gold medalist and undisputed middleweight champion is moving down to 154 lbs for an undisputed championship unification with Marie-Eve Dicaire (17-0, 0 KOs) in Claressa’s hometown of Flint, Michigan.

Unlike her past several bouts, which have aired on Showtime, DAZN, and even the final HBO card, Shields will be headlining her own pay-per-view on Fite.tv as part of an all-women’s boxing showcase titled “Superwomen.” Shields has been vocal about sexism and substandard pay for women in boxing, and her interview with MMA Fighting was no different.

“This is what women’s boxing needs,” Shields said. “Men need to know that we’re not going to wait on them. I’m going to a place where no man has had to go. Like no man has had to go and fight his own pay-per-view card without any backing from the boxing networks. No man has had to do that. But the fact that I have to do it is showing that boxing is sexist.

“It’s also showing that I’m not afraid to go out here and make something for myself. I think that this will set a whole new wave for women’s boxing and other women are going to be fighting against the other best women and you’re going to have some super fights and there’s going to be women’s pay-per-views after this fight. This is just a great start.”

Shields did compete once in 2020 prior to the pandemic disrupting everything, but when boxing did resume there was no fight date for her when Showtime released its schedule. Showtime and Shields have had a close “working relationship” throughout her career, but after she was left in the dark, her team decided to take matters into their own hands by forming their own pay-per-view to highlight herself and women’s boxing as a whole.

“I always thought I should be pay-per-view,” Shields said. “I always thought that. Women’s boxing would flourish a lot more if we start now, and even if the numbers aren’t great, at least we’re starting to build our pay-per-view base.

“I always wanted to fight on pay-per-view or fight on the undercard of Manny Pacquiao or Errol Spence when they fought on pay-per-view. That was something I had said to Showtime and was just never given those opportunities.”

Shields actually did make her pro debut on the Andre Ward vs. Sergey Kovalev pay-per-view in 2016, but it was on the non-televised undercard and her subsequent fights have not been on any pay-per-view platform. It’s only fairly recently and definitely after the rise of women’s MMA that women’s boxing has garnered more attention. Katie Taylor has been a feature attraction for Matchroom Boxing, Amanda Serrano is headlining a Ring City USA card on NB Sports later this month, and Mikaela Mayer has been spotlighted on Top Rank on ESPN shows. There is obviously a wide pay discrepancy between top women’s boxers compared to top men, and even within the sport itself women’s boxing maxes out at 10 two-minute rounds as opposed to 12 three-minute rounds for men.

The big news of course as it pertains to Shields’ career is her impending move to MMA. She signed with PFL late last year with her debut expected for June. She intends to compete in both sports, which should be beneficial to her bank account as well as just staying active in 2021.

“This is great. I have a busy year,” Shields said. “I have the fight in March, my boxing match and then I have my MMA debut in June. Then I want to have another boxing match. I would love to get Savannah Marshall in the boxing ring this year. She’s been doing a whole lot of mouthing off and talking, saying I went to MMA to run away from her and all this stuff she’s been saying. Like girl, you only got one belt and I’ve got nine. Hush up. I want to shut her up.

“So hopefully we make that fight happen, maybe August or September and then have my last MMA fight to close out the year.”

The Shields vs. Dicaire “Superwomen” pay-per-view airs on March 5th at 9 PM ET/6 PM PT on Fite.tv. Former boxing champ turned future UFC champ Holly Holm will serve as a co-commentator.

Jake Matthews Has Quite Literally Grown Up In The UFC, And He Believes That Experience Will Give Him An Advantage Against The Undefeated Sean Brady At UFC 259

Read the Full Article Here

Check out the midweek betting odds for Saturday’s UFC 259 event, where three different titles will be on the line!

This weekend’s super-stacked UFC 259 card is scheduled to go down this Saturday (March 6th) form the promotion’s APEX facility in Las Vegas, Nevada. Three world championships will sway in the balance on the PPV main card. The 205-pound strap will be up for grabs in the main event, the women’s 145-pound title in the co-main, and then the bantamweight belt being decided just before that. Bloody Elbow is here to hook you up with the ever-shifting betting odds for these monumental matchups, as well as for the rest of the UFC 259 lineup!

The main event has the UFC’s light heavyweight king, Jan Blachowicz, defending against the 185-pound champ, Israel Adesanya. The oddsmakers are strongly favoring Israel to get the job done to be crowned the UFC’s first 185-pound and 205-pound double champ. Adesanya’s straight up moneyline is currently being offered up around the -230 mark. As for the defending champ, Jan isn’t getting much respect. His moneyline is existing in underdog territory at a height of +190.

The co-main event for UFC 259 will be for the women’s featherweight championship between the champ-champ Amanda Nunes, and her challenger, Megan Anderson. Being cemented as the female G.O.A.T. of MMA, it’s no surprise to see Nunes as an extreme betting favorite here, and Anderson stuck with a massive underdog label. For the low low cost of just -1050, gamblers can lay the price on “The Lioness,” or at a lofty value of +675 they can take the price on the challenger.

Last but certainly not least, we’ve got a pick’em fight here for the 135-pound strap! Bantamweight champ Petr Yan will be facing a much-deserving Aljamain Sterling, with both the champ and the challenger on deck with -110 moneylines, respectively. These betting odds perfectly depict the current state of the UFC’s bantamweight division, which has become the most competitive at the top. The gap between the top-10 and the top-20 really isn’t that vast, with predicting the outcomes seeming to be more of a coin flip than anything else. This title fight is no different and I love it!

Check out the UFC 259 betting lines, courtesy of Odds.com:

Be sure to check back in with Bloody Elbow to catch the final betting odds on fight day, as the moneylines tend to shift a bit following the weigh-ins. Be sure to subscribe to our Bloody Elbow Presents YouTube channel to stay up to date with all of our podcast content. Happy hunting!

Bloody Elbow Presents the ‘Best of the C’Mon Now MMA Podcast’.  The show is a deep dive with host, Trent Reinsmith, into the bigger news & goings on in MMA, both inside + outside the cage; presented with a critical, unbiased eye.

Our compilation show is a deep dive with host, Trent Reinsmith, into the bigger news and goings on in MMA, both inside and outside the cage; presented with a critical, unbiased eye.

Here is some detail on what’s going on here… the “regular” ‘C’mon Now MMA Podcast’ is a daily podcast of varying lengths, which can be found here: cmonnow.substack.com/. This show, however, is a compilation of some of the best topics covered on the daily show over the past week.

This week –

1. Dana White throws Ciryl Gane under the bus for no reason.
2. I hope Khamzat Chimaev gets the testing and care he should before he returns.
3. Daniel Cormier is wrong, Dana White does not need to keep bothering Khabib Nurmagomedov.
4. Why was Bobby Green’s weight cutting failure not a big issue? Have we begun to accept these things instead of still pushing for change?
5. Curtis Blaydes makes a good point as to why “show and win” pay should go away — it doesn’t make for more exciting fights.
6. Dana White gives Ottman Azaitar a second chance.
7. Kamaru Usman is critical of Colby Covington not fighting Leon Edwards.
8. Of course T.J. Dillashaw shouldn’t get an immediate title fight.
9. Let’s not give Dana White the bulk of the credit for the success of the UFC.
10. Curtis Blaydes might want to leave the UFC as fast as he can.
11. Hell no, Jon Jones shouldn’t fight Derrick Lewis.
12. Derrick Lewis should fight out his UFC contract and get free agent offers so he can drive up the price on his next contract.
13. Kevin Holland says some dumb things about Covid-19.

If you enjoy our show, give us a shout out in the comments here on Bloody Elbow, or give us a “like”, share & subscribe over on whichever BE Presents Podcast Channel happens to be your listening platform of choice: SoundCloud, YouTube, iTunes & Apple TV, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, TuneIn, OverCast, or Player FM, & NOW AMAZON MUSIC! – While you’re there, don’t forget to subscribe to Bloody Elbow Presents; that way you’ll always be the first to get all of BE’s daily MMA offerings. For previous episodes of the show, check out our playlists on all of our BE Presents channels.