Author: Anton Tabuena

Amanda Serrano will rematch Katie Taylor in Dublin Ireland.

Perhaps the most important and entertaining women’s boxing match in history happened last April, with undisputed lightweight champion Katie Taylor besting Amanda Serrano over 10 rounds.

That major event involved major purses the first time around, and it could be even bigger in this recently booked repeat.

Immediately after Amanda Serrano’s back-and-forth entertaining win over Erika Cruz on Saturday night, Taylor stepped in the ring, and they made their rematch official. It will once again be Undisputed champ vs Undisputed champ, with Taylor holding all the belts at lightweight, and Serrano holding all the featherweight titles.

The bout will happen on May 20, and this time it will happen in Taylor’s backyard in Dublin, Ireland.

Interestingly enough, UFC’s Irish superstar Conor McGregor recently offered to sponsor this event and help make it happen at the massive and iconic 80,000 capacity stadium Croke Park in Dublin.

The UFC’s four 8-man Asian tournaments have concluded.

UFC quietly completed four highly entertaining 8-man tournaments late Saturday night, as part of the Lewis vs Spivac undercard. These “Road to UFC” Asian tourneys were originally supposed to be completed in South Korea to much more local fanfare, until Chan Sung Jung bowed out to injury and UFC had to move the entire card to Las Vegas.

The biggest standout among the four tournament winners was Rinya Nakamura, who improved to 7-0 and won the bantamweight tournament final in just 33 seconds. Although known as an accomplished wrestler, he just ran through Toshiomi Kazama with strikes and again showcased his explosiveness and top level athleticism. Nakamura completed his impressive tournament run by finishing all three opponents.

Countries such as South Korea, Japan, China, Indonesia and India were all represented in the finals of the four divisions, but only four men from three countries secured official UFC contracts with their tournament wins. Road to UFC also notably produced the UFC’s first fighter born in India, with Anshul Jubli winning the lightweight tournament.

Also officially earning their UFC contracts were featherweight winner “The Korean Tiger” Jeong Yeong Lee, who won a close decision while stating that he had a torn ACL, and flyweight winner Hyun Sung Park, who picked up a quality submission win.

Full Road to UFC results and highlights:

Flyweight Finals: Hyun Sung Park (South Korea) def. Seung Guk Choi (South Korea) by Submission (Rear naked choke), R3

Bantamweight Finals: Rinya Nakamura (Japan) def. Toshiomi Kazama (Japan) by KO (Punch), R1

Featherweight Finals: Jeong Yeong Lee (South Korea) def. Yi Zha (China) by Decision (Split)

Lightweight Finals: Anshul Jubli (India) def. Jeka Saragih (Indonesia) by TKO, R2

UFC is trying to monetize every inch of their Octagon.

The UFC has a new “official global sports drink,” as they’ve just announced a sponsorship deal with PRIME, a brand founded by popular YouTubers and former boxing opponents Logan Paul and KSI.

The lucrative deal will replace Bodyarmor, which sponsorship ran for five years. According to a report from the Sports Business Journal, this PRIME deal would be for three years and worth “high-seven figures annually.”

The UFC, who has aggressively tried to monetize just about every inch of their Octagon, announced that they’ll also be including the PRIME brand in the “newly launched Octagon-shaped Cornermen Stool,” and will be renaming the red and blue corners as “PRIME Hydration Recovery Zones.”

The deal is set to start at UFC 284. It’ll be curious to see how they’ll play this out in broadcasts, and whether it’ll be the commentators or Bruce Buffer awkwardly introducing athletes fighting out of the “Red PRIME Hydration Recovery Zone.”

According to the press release, PRIME will also have “key brand placement” during UFC PPV weigh-ins that “highlights the importance of proper hydration.”

The new deal will run alongside UFC’s many other bankable sponsorships. In the beverage side alone, UFC has Monster Energy as their “official energy drink” and “official water,” Modelo as their “official beer,” Jose Cuervo as their “official tequila,” Howler Head as their “official flavored whiskey,” and Wildcard as their “official ready to drink vodka.”

It’s worth noting that the initial selling point for the UFC banning outside sponsorships in 2015 was so that fighters don’t look unprofessional or plastered with ads like NASCAR vehicles. In the end, the sponsorship market moved from paying fighters to mostly paying the UFC, who is now making bank while looking… well, like plastered NASCAR vehicles.

UFC now makes over a billion dollars a year, and is expected to keep growing. On the other hand, UFC fighters are estimated to get just around 17% of the revenue, which is in line with what the promotion themselves targeted to keep for years.

UFC’s sub-20% revenue share pales in comparison to the near 50% in other major sports leagues, and the even bigger share in boxing that go from around 60% to over 80%.

Big words from Raul Rosas Jr.

18-year-old Raul Rosas Jr. isn’t lacking in confidence.

The teenage prospect is set to have his second UFC fight against Christian Rodriguez at UFC 287, but he’s already looking ahead in the future… way ahead. According to Rosas, he will not only become the youngest ever UFC champion, he vowed to win his first of three UFC belts within the year.

“I’m ready to go out there and show my skillset, like I’ve always done. I don’t care who I face. I’m ready to show that there’s levels. Tune in April 8, I will show my skillset and that I deserve to fight for the title,” Rosas said during an appearance at Fury FC 73.

“Right now, me saying that I’m going to be champion—a lot of people think that I’m crazy (when I say) that I’m going to become the youngest UFC champion, but I believe in myself. Mark my words, I will be champion in one year or less,” he stated.

“I’m just getting started. Like this is nothing to me. I ain’t celebrating nothing yet until I have them three belts around my waist,” Rosas proclaimed. “135, 145, 155. Let’s go! Wooo!”

Rosas made those seemingly outrageous promises at Fury FC 73, where his older brother, Kevin Rosas, lost his professional MMA debut.

Rosas previously stated that he’s already good enough to beat Aljamain Sterling and take his belt right now. The UFC bantamweight champion, who previously trained with Rosas in the past, recently revealed some pretty bad gym etiquette from the teenager.

Confidence is important in sports, but these statements might just age out worse than the time Brandon Vera notoriously proclaimed himself as a future two division UFC champion back in 2006. Vera had a solid career, but he would never earn even a title shot.

For what it’s worth, Vera made those claims when he was a heavily hyped 8-0 prospect, with a WEC title and four UFC wins capped by a TKO over former champ Frank Mir. Rosas has one UFC win to his name, and six regional bouts that all happened within a year.

Jon Jones became the youngest ever UFC champion at 23 years and 242 days old. Rosas still has a lot of time if he wants to go for that record, but any talk about title shots — let alone three belts — are just immensely premature right now.

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About the author: Anton Tabuena is the Managing Editor for Bloody Elbow. He’s been covering MMA and combat sports since 2009, and has also fought in MMA, Muay Thai and kickboxing. (full bio)

Valerie Loureda debuted at WWE’s NXT Level Up.

After five fights with Bellator, Valerie Loureda announced in 2022 that she’ll be leaving MMA after signing with the WWE, and making the full time switch to pro-wrestling.

The 24-year-old, who is 4-1 in MMA, made her debut on Friday night at WWE’s NXT Level Up. She entered the ring under the name “Lola Vice,” which she will be using moving forward in her pro-wrestling career.

The MMA veteran leaned into her taekwondo background during her debut, landing various kicks including axe kicks and spinning kicks, eventually pinning her opponent, Dani Palmer.

Watch some of her highlights below, or on the longer clip embedded above.

Here’s a glimpse of her skills on the mic.

Loureda, or I guess Lola Vice, fought in Bellator from early 2019 to late 2021. Her last bout was a split decision victory over Taylor Turner, which bumped her overall, and likely final, MMA record to 4-1.

Jake Paul and Tommy Fury got heated for a bit.

Jake Paul and Tommy Fury got in a bit of a scuffle and had to be separated by security during the Artur Beterbiev vs Anthony Yarde event in London.

Right before the main event, both boxers stepped in the ring to promote their upcoming bout. They faced off in the middle, but things got heated once Paul pointed and poked at Fury’s cheek.

After a brief scuffle, tensions cooled down and they naturally still talked some smack, where a shirtless Fury questioned Paul’s previous opponents.

“This shit’s been going on too long. He will never box again. I’m not 50, I ain’t 40, I ain’t an MMA guy. I’ve been doing this my whole life, and I swear to God, you’re finished come 26th of February,” Fury proclaimed.

“I guarantee you, I swear to God, if it’s the last thing I do in boxing, you are over in four weeks. Enjoy the last few weeks of your so-called boxing career.”

Paul responded by calling Fury’s opponents “taxi drivers” and brought up his more accomplished brother, Tyson Fury.

“Tommy has so much to lose. His family’s gonna disown him when I knock him the f—k out,” Paul said. “Sorry, Tyson, I love you, but it’s over for your brother.”

While both men tried to talk smack and intimidate each other, the heavyweight champion in Tyson Fury was seen cackling about the entire situation after.

After their first bout fizzled due to visa issues, Jake Paul and Tommy Fury have been rebooked to face each other once again, this time in Saudi Arabia, on February 26.