Heavyweight veteran Jake Collier made the most out of his co-main event bid earlier tonight (Sat., Jan. 15, 2022) at UFC Vegas 46 live on ESPN/ESPN+ from inside UFC Apex i…
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Heavyweight veteran Jake Collier made the most out of his co-main event bid earlier tonight (Sat., Jan. 15, 2022) at UFC Vegas 46 live on ESPN/ESPN+ from inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, when he finished Chase Sherman via first-round submission (rear-naked choke).
Both heavyweights landed good shots early, but it was Collier who had the clear power advantage. “Prototype” eventually worked the fight to the ground and quickly transitioned to full mount. From there, Collier landed sharp elbows and punches from the top as Sherman tried to buck him off. Sherman eventually turned over and it allowed Collier to sink in the choke.
Collier, 33, finds himself back in the win column after losing a close split-decision to Carlos Felipe his last time out. He looked better than ever tonight and should be able to make a quick turnaround giving the little damage he absorbed. Fellow heavyweight fighter Justin Tafa called Collier out after the fight so maybe that’s a matchup UFC will look to book.
For complete UFC Vegas 46 results and coverage click here.
Lightweight prospect Viacheslav Borshchev turned in the first UFC finish of the new year earlier tonight (Sat., Jan. 15, 2022) at UFC Vegas 46 live on ESPN/ESPN+ from insi…
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Lightweight prospect Viacheslav Borshchev turned in the first UFC finish of the new year earlier tonight (Sat., Jan. 15, 2022) at UFC Vegas 46 live on ESPN/ESPN+ from inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, when the former kickboxer stopped Dakota Bush via first-round TKO (punches).
Bush wasted little time pushing the pace and trying to take Borshchev out of his game on the feet. Borshchev stayed patient and looked solid in some of his takedown defense. During an exchange along the cage Borshchev was able to launch a heavy left hook to the body that instantly put Bush down. Borshchev followed up with some insurance shots as Bush covered his face and waited for the referee to step in.
Borshchev, 30, is now 6-1 since turning pro back in 2019 and has scored five finishes along the way. This was a significant debut for the Team Alpha Male prospect and a knockout performance that should score Borshchev a more meaningful matchup at 155 pounds his next time out.
Calvin Kattar is hoping to prove his doubters wrong later tonight (Sat., Jan. 15, 2022) at UFC Vegas 46 live on ESPN/ESPN+ from inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, as the featherweight c…
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Calvin Kattar is hoping to prove his doubters wrong later tonight (Sat., Jan. 15, 2022) at UFC Vegas 46 live on ESPN/ESPN+ from inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, as the featherweight contender takes on a streaking Giga Chikadze in the main event.
This is a big spot for Kattar to say the least. Not only is the 33-year-old fighter coming off one of the worst statistical losses in UFC history at the hands of Max Holloway, but many people are already counting him out for Saturday’s fight. That would include Chikadze, who has been pumping up a title shot against Alexander Volkanovski these past few weeks more than his main event clash with Kattar.
Regardless of all of the outside noise Kattar has a job to do at UFC Vegas 46. It will be his first action since his loss to Holloway one year ago, but Kattar’s coach, Tyson Chartier, believes his fighter is ready to show up and prove he’s better than Chikadze.
“If we go out there on Saturday night and do our job, it’s not gonna be a good look for Giga going out and doing all of these interviews wanting to fight for the title,” Chartier told MMA Fighting earlier this week. “I’m not saying he’s overlooking Calvin but we would never make the same mistake of overlooking anybody. Once you get to the UFC — especially in the top-15 — anybody can win on any given night.
“But, yeah man, keep thinking about Alex and we’ll keep thinking about you. It doesn’t matter. It’s something to laugh about after the fight, but we have that [New England] Patriots mentality.”
While Kattar and Chikadze don’t share a massive feud or anything like that there is a small history between the two fighters. Chikadze had a few things to say following Kattar’s performance against Holloway and that has stuck with Kattar’s team ever since. Chartier believes it has helped keep Kattar focused and dialed in heading into his awaited return.
“I don’t think it was anything specific, but when somebody wins and they call your name, you can either choose to kind of laugh it off, or you can take it to build the chip,” Chartier said. “If you go out there and say, ‘Hey, I want to fight you,’ in Boston those are fighting words. If you say you want to fight me, then I’m gonna fight you.
“So it wasn’t anything that was said in particular, I think it was just the vibe, saying his name on TV and everything. I’m not speaking for Calvin, but if you go out there and say, ‘I want to fight Calvin,’ for someone like Calvin, or someone from our neck of the woods, that’s disrespectful. You don’t tell us you want to take half our money, take our ranking, and have us take that lightly. I just think when someone’s itching to fight you, you’re not gonna celebrate that too much, other than thinking, ‘Okay, this guy’s trying to take what’s mine.’”
Luckily, time has been on Kattar’s side since his last Octagon appearance one year ago. No fighter wants to sit out that long, but the layoff provided Kattar the ability to reassess himself as a fighter and make the proper adjustments for a memorable 2022 campaign.
“He’s just been a sponge this past year,” Chartier explained. “He took the time he needed to take off and then we was back in the gym. Even when there was no contact and we were trying to be safe, he was still in the gym learning and working on different things, different skill sets. He’s been itching to get back in there because you always want to get that bad taste out of your mouth, but he’s been listening to the team and everyone around him. We just needed to take some time, work on some things and he did that.
“We were ready to get back in there in the fall but it never materialized. Calvin’s attitude with that stuff is always, ‘I’ll never get worse with an extra few months.’ It’s been a long camp but he has the right outlook on it. The team outlook is let’s focus on things we can control, because if you start looking at all these things, the could’ve, would’ve, should’ve, or the things that could’ve been done differently, you just end up as a sour person that never gets anything productive done. The one thing we can control is getting Calvin better each day he’s on the mat. He’s worked on a lot of things this year and hopefully that comes out on Saturday night because that’s when it really counts.”
MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Vegas 46 fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the ESPN+ preliminary card bouts at 5 p.m. ET, followed by the ESPN+ main card start time at 7 p.m. ET.
To check out the latest and greatest UFC Vegas 46 news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive here. For the updated and finalized “Kattar vs. Chikadze” fight card and ESPN+ lineup click here.
Sean O’Malley is not a fan of the upcoming bantamweight title fight between Aljamain Sterling and Petr Yan, especially because the two fighters aren’t headlining their own event.
O’Malley,…
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Sean O’Malley is not a fan of the upcoming bantamweight title fight between Aljamain Sterling and Petr Yan, especially because the two fighters aren’t headlining their own event.
O’Malley, who has been one of the more popular fighters on the UFC roster since his Octagon debut back in 2017, is one of the more promising contenders in the bantamweight division today. He’s coming off a spectacular knockout finish over Raulian Paiva at UFC 269 and has a massive following on social media to help boost his overall UFC stock.
While O’Malley is slowly working his way up the 135-pound ladder in hopes of one day fighting for a UFC title he’s left to sit back and see how the top of the division plays out. An upcoming title fight rematch between Sterling and Yan will provide some much-needed clarity heading into 2022, but O’Malley isn’t impressed with that impending matchup whatsoever.
The rematch between Sterling and Yan was originally booked to co-main event UFC 272 this coming March. But after a main event trilogy fight between Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway fell through for UFC 272 the promotion was left with Stering vs. Yan 2 as the main event. That didn’t seem to sit well with the people in charge so the rematch was subsequently moved to UFC 273 in April, which will now be headlined by Volkanovski vs. Korean Zombie.
It’s a mix-and-match that we’ve seen done before, but O’Malley believes it speaks volumes to the lack of star power provided by “Funk Master” and “No Mercy.”
“You know what is crazy to me, that Petr and ‘Aljo’ can’t main event their own pay-per-view. So their (the UFC’s) main event (Alex Volkanovski vs. Max Holloway 3) pulled out and they (Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling) could not just be the main event? They’re not big enough.” said O’Malley on a recent episode of his ‘TimboSugarShow’ podcast. “It is so weird. This (135lbs) is the best division in the UFC. (Well) maybe, and they can’t even headline their own pay-per-view!”
O’Malley, who has carved out a 7-1 record throughout his tenure with the promotion, is already a bigger star than both Sterling and Yan. But considering O’Malley had a setback against Marlon Vera in 2020 and continues to disagree with the promotion over compensation to fight ranked opponents it’s going to take him a little longer than expected to fight his way to a title shot.
Until that time comes “Suga” will have to wait and see how Sterling vs. Yan 2 plays out, whether it’s a marquee matchup or not.
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
The first UFC card of the new year will finally go down later tonight (Sat., Jan. 15, 2022) as UFC Vegas 46 plays out live on ESPN/ESPN+ from inside UFC Apex in …
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
The first UFC card of the new year will finally go down later tonight (Sat., Jan. 15, 2022) as UFC Vegas 46 plays out live on ESPN/ESPN+ from inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. The main event of the evening with feature a featherweight clash between perennial contender Calvin Kattar and surging striker Giga Chikadze.
In addition to the featherweight headliner, flyweight contender Brandon Royval will make his return to action against Brazilian finisher Rogerio Bontorin, and Katlyn Chookagian and Jennifer Maia will meet in a pivotal clash of former UFC women’s flyweight title challengers. Not to mention the Octagon debuts of talented prospects Viacheslav Borshchev, Joanderson Brito, and Joseph Holmes.
Take a look below at UFC Vegas 46’s complete fight card line up and start times:
Calvin Kattar vs. Giga Chikadze Jake Collier vs. Chase Sherman Brandon Royval vs. Rogerio Bontorin Katlyn Chookagian vs. Jennifer Maia Dakota Bush vs. Viacheslav Borshchev Bill Algeo vs. Joanderson Brito
Check out a list of sports bars and pubs near you that will most likely be showing tonight’s fights CLICK HERE.
MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Vegas 46 fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the ESPN+ preliminary card bouts at 5 p.m. ET, followed by the ESPN+ main card start time at 7 p.m. ET.
To check out the latest and greatest UFC Vegas 46 news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive here. For the updated and finalized “Kattar vs. Chikadze” fight card and ESPN+ lineup click here.
Jake Paul wasn’t lying about making serious money inside of the boxing ring and his 2021 earnings are about to make a ton of fighters jealous.
According to a recent report by Forbes, th…
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Jake Paul wasn’t lying about making serious money inside of the boxing ring and his 2021 earnings are about to make a ton of fighters jealous.
According to a recent report by Forbes, the YouTube sensation earned a whopping $40 million for his three boxing fights in 2021. Paul also earned an additional $5 million from other business endeavors to push his total to $45 million. That is more than Canelo Alvarez, who was the only other boxer to crack the top 50 of the world’s highest paid athletes with $34 million in earnings.
Paul, 24, has taken the combat sports world by storm over the past 12 months. After smashing former MMA world champion Ben Askren with a first-round knockout (highlights HERE) last April Paul ended up fighting former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley in August. The social media star went all eight rounds with “Chosen One” and walked away with a split-decision nod.
In December, Paul and Woodley fought again in a short-notice rematch. After five rounds of boring action Paul clocked Woodley with a monstrous right hand that turned the former UFC champion into an ironing board. It was easily the greatest performance of Paul’s career thus far and one of the very best finishes of 2021 (watch it HERE).
Paul, who was filthy rich even before his transition to boxing, has been ridiculing UFC president Dana White over fight pay for quite some time. The YouTube star believes fighters can make a lot more money by marketing themselves and selling fights inside of the boxing ring. It’s been surprising to see Paul become such an advocate for struggling MMA fighters, but now we know why. “Problem Child” made $40 million in 2021 from just three trips to the boxing ring.
It will be interesting to see what Paul can do in 2022 as he gears up for a switch over to MMA.
