Author: Dan Hiergesell

It all goes down later tonight (Sat. June 5, 2021) at UFC Vegas 28 live on ESPN+ from inside UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada, as heavyweight knockout artist, Jairzinho Rozenstruik, takes on promising contender on the rise, Augusto Sakai, in the main event.

In addition to the heavyweight headliner, contenders Walt Harris and Marcin Tybura will meet in a heavyweight co-main event, welterweight veteran Santiago Ponzinibbio will look to get back in the win column when he battles undefeated youngster Miguel Baeza, and in middleweight action Tom Breese will try to hand Antonio Arroyo his third-straight UFC loss.

Take a look below at UFC Vegas 28’s complete fight card line up and start times:

Main Card (ESPN+)
7:00 p.m. ET / 4:00 p.m. PT

Jairzinho Rozenstruik vs. Augusto Sakai
Walt Harris vs. Marcin Tybura
Roman Dolidze vs. Laureano Staropoli
Santiago Ponzinibbio vs. Miguel Baeza
Dusko Todorovic vs. Gregory Rodrigues
Tom Breese vs. Antonio Arroyo

‘Prelims’ Undercard (ESPN+)
4:00 p.m. ET / 1:00 p.m. PT

Montana De La Rosa vs. Ariane Lipski
Tanner Boser vs. Ilir Latifi
Francisco Trinaldo vs. Muslim Salikhov
Makwan Amirkhani vs. Kamuela Kirk
Alan Patrick vs. Mason Jones
Manon Fiorot vs. Tabatha Ricci
Sean Woodson vs. Youssef Zalal
Claudio Puelles vs. Jordan Leavitt

Here are all the ways to catch the action:

Online

• UFC Vegas 28: ‘Rozenstruick vs. Sakai’ entire fight card can be viewed via the ESPN+ streaming app.
• Subscriptions cost $5.99 per month.

Television

• UFC Vegas 28: ‘Rozenstruick vs. Sakai’ entire fight card can also be streamed via Xbox One, Apple TV, Android TV, Samsung Smart TV, and ChromeCast.

Tablet/Mobile

• UFC Vegas 28: ‘Rozenstruick vs. Sakai’ entire fight card can be viewed via ESPN+ streaming app through Google Play and iTunes stores.

Bars

• 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 28 fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the ESPN+ preliminary card bouts at 4 p.m. ET, followed by the ESPN+ main card start time at 7 p.m. ET.

Augusto Sakai will have a prime opportunity to launch himself into the upper echelon of heavyweight contenders later tonight (Sat. June 5, 2021) at UFC Vegas 28 live on ESPN+ from inside UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada, when he meets Jairzinho Rozenstruik in the main event.

For Sakai, this will be his second-straight main event appearance under the UFC banner. He is coming off a TKO loss to heavyweight legend Alistair Overeem back in Sept. 2020, but Sakai still holds an overall UFC record of 4-1 and remains a key name in the division’s top 10.

Luckily for Sakai, he will have his chance to right the ship later this evening at UFC Vegas 28 when he takes on Rozenstruik in a five-round battle. It will be Sakai’s invitation to take out a known contender and place himself back in contention heading into the later half of 2021.

“It’s two tough guys fighting for the win and it will definitely impact the division,” Sakai told MMA Fighting. “The winner won’t gain many positions [in the ranking] since the division is a bit stuck right now, but the winner — in this case me — will impact the division because will enter the radar for the top-5 and the radar for a title shot, which is what we’re both going after.”

Sakai, 30, has blossomed quite nicely since coming over from Bellator MMA and joining UFC back in 2018. The Brazilian’s maturation has been interesting to watch as his level of competition continues to rise. Rozenstruik will yet again pose a big threat to Sakai and his climb up the divisional ladder, but if Sakai can pull out of the main event win he could set himself up for a very important fight next time around.

“I know that just the win over Jairzinho won’t be a big step towards a title shot,” he said. “We know we have to defeat Jairzinho to fight one more to earn a title shot. There’s a lot of people in front of me. My focus is on Jairzinho, on beating him, and then we’ll see how the division stands, what will happen, to find a fight that really makes sense for us.”

As for the fight itself, Sakai has an incredible amount of respect for Rozenstruik. He understands the dangers of fighting a knockout artist like “Bigi Boi,” but Sakai still believes he will find a finish and could do it quickly.

“I expect a good fight and a win. A quick one,” he said. “I want to end this fight as soon as possible, by knockout or submission. I’m ready to put on a great show, but we know Jairzinho is very tough and hits really hard. He has a lot of knockouts in the division, so we have to be smart and be careful. But I hope to end this fight as quick as possible, and I’m ready for it.”

“Ngannou made him walk backwards and was able to connect a hand, so that’s an opening [in his game],” he continued. “Overeem didn’t win, but he dominated every round until Jairzinho landed his hand. Making him walk backwards and maybe attack with takedowns, attack with my grappling, that’s another opening I see.”

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Vegas 28 fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the ESPN+ preliminary card bouts at 4 p.m. ET, followed by the ESPN+ main card start time at 7 p.m. ET.

Kelvin Gastelum will be filling in for another UFC main event with Paulo Costa recently withdrawing from his fight with Jared Cannonier on Aug. 21.

Per ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, Costa pulled out of this main event bout due to undisclosed reasons. Cannonier and Gastelum have verbally agreed to the fight, but no contracts have been signed.

Gastelum, who will still get a sizeable camp for this main event, is coming off a decision loss to former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker back in April. He had filled in on short notice after Costa withdrew due to a severe flu. Gastelum ultimately came up short in that fight but he’s still a dangerous contender at 185 pounds and someone who could drag Cannonier into the later rounds.

As for Cannonier, who is also coming off a decision loss to Whittaker, this is an opportunity to prove he’s still a contender on the rise in the middleweight division. Before his loss to “Bobby Knuckles,” Cannonier produced three-straight TKO wins to start off his 185-pound run.

What say you, fight fans? Who wins this new main event between Cannonier and Gastelum?

Stick with Mania for more “Cannonier vs. Gastelum” fight card news.

Santiago Ponzinibbio will try to capture his first Octagon win since 2018 tomorrow night (Sat. June 5, 2021) at UFC Vegas 28 live on ESPN+ from inside UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada, when he matches up with undefeated welterweight contender Miguel Baeza.

Ponzinibbio, who won seven-straight fights at 170 pounds from 2015-2018, made his long-awaited return to the cage this past January after suffering a litany of injuries from 2019-2020. Unfortunately for Ponzinibbio, he ran into welterweight finisher Li Jingliang and suffered his first knockout loss in over five years.

The loss was crushing to Ponzinibbio’s welterweight stock considering he had missed so much time as other fighters ranked up. There are some fighters that are put in that type of position and never rebound from a devastating knockout loss after such a long layoff. Luckily, Ponzinibbio is not one of those fighters. He is already putting the loss to Jingliang behind him and keeping his focus on becoming the best welterweight fighter in the world.

“Let me tell you this, I had a lot of expectations for my return, but it was a lot of mixed feelings,” Ponzinibbio told MMA Fighting. “The result wasn’t what I expected, and I was shaken because I was on a seven-fight winning streak, fighting for the top of the division, and all that time wasted because of the infection, but that’s how the sports is. A punch landed, it sucks.”

“This fight doesn’t define me,” he continued. “I got in too slow due to my time away. I was starting to connect my jab and my calf kicks in the end of the first round, I was starting to show my game, and one hand connected on the right spot. It wouldn’t have knocked me out if it landed anywhere else but that’s how the sport goes, the best athlete does not alway wins. I believe I’m better then him but that’s in the past, I’ve turned that page.”

For what it’s worth Ponzinibbio didn’t look completely lost in his return. Sure he had to shake off some cage rust, but “Gente Boa” started to regain the confidence and timing that led to his previous seven-fight win streak. Jingliang simply didn’t give Ponzinibbio enough time to really dust the cobwebs off and regain his full capabilities.

“If we had fought 15 minutes and I had given my all in there, showed the world [what I got] and he still beat me, OK,” he said. “But that way, man…there wasn’t much of a fight. I started too slow, he was throwing and I was dodging everything, seeing everything. I would have gotten much stronger in the second round, but that punch landed on the right spot, and it’s over. It’s frustrating. I think I’m better [than him], I hope someday we can do a rematch, but it’s a sport.”

Ponzinibbio, 34, still carries an impressive 9-3 UFC record into this weekend’s festivities. And despite his recent knockout loss Ponzinibbio remains one of the most skilled knockout artists in the division. If he’s able to take out a talented youngster like Baeza he should be able to jump back into the top 15 and make another push towards title contention.

“My goal is the world title. I’m 100 percent focused on this fight and I believe a good win will put me back in the ranking to start climbing again. I’m very talented, I train with great guys and great coaches, and I know my potential. This loss doesn’t define who I am and I’ll show that Saturday.”

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Vegas 28 fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the ESPN+ preliminary card bouts at 4 p.m. ET, followed by the ESPN+ main card start time at 7 p.m. ET.

While nothing is finalized just yet it looks like Darren Till will be headed back to London for his main event clash with middleweight contender Derek Brunson this September.

Per ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, Till’s matchup with Brunson, which was originally scheduled to headline UFC’s Fight Night event on Aug. 14, is likely to be moved to Sept. 4 in order to headline the promotion’s return to England.

Again, nothing is official. The report also states that if UFC does in fact move Till vs. Brunson to Sept. 4 then the UFC 266 pay-per-view (PPV) scheduled for the same date would be moved.

Till, who is coming off a unanimous decision loss to Robert Whittaker back in July 2020, was expected to face Marvin Vettori at UFC on ABC 2 this past April, but a broken collarbone knocked him out of the fight. If Till’s upcoming matchup with Brunson does in fact get moved to London then it will be the first time “Gorilla” is competing in his home country of England since Jorge Masvidal knocked him dead back in 2019. Till is just 1-1 since moving up to middleweight after his loss to “Gamebred” so a win over Brunson would be huge for his 2022 title aspirations.

Brunson, 37, is currently riding another one of his patented win streaks. The middleweight veteran is coming off an easy decision win over Kevin Holland to push his current streak to four. This will be Brunson’s third-straight main event bid for UFC, but his first action on English soil. For what it’s worth, Brunson is currently 3-2 in UFC headliners.

Stick with Mania for ongoing updates for this “Till vs. Brunson” fight card.

Logan Paul is under the impression that he can somehow defeat Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a exhibition boxing match this weekend live on Showtime PPV. It may seem completely insane for the YouTube star to even dream of beating “Money” inside the squared circle, but Paul needs his confidence nonetheless.

Paul, 26, hasn’t been nearly as active in the boxing ring as little brother, Jake. The elder Paul only has one professional bout to his name which came in the form of a split-decision loss to KSI back in Nov. 2019. Competing against someone like KSI two years ago and then turning around to fight Mayweather is like a tax attorney randomly trying to execute open-heart surgery. Things aren’t going to go the way you want.

That said, Paul believes he’s in this position for a reason. He believes that the sport of boxing chose him. Despite the fact that he’s about to fight a professional boxer who went 50-0 in his career doesn’t seem to bother the social media influencer one bit.

“I didn’t choose boxing, boxing chose me,” Paul said during an interview with Showtime. “Seriously, I got challenged to box. I answered that challenge and then kind of fell perfectly into the sport. Truthfully, boxing’s a bit easier on the body than MMA. MMA’s f—king hard.

“I got bad knees. I’m old now. I’m aging. My upper body’s strong. My upper body always has been strong. I got dense-ass bones. I’m in like the top half-percentile in bone density. My strength is all here. MMA is tough. The lower body knows.”

Now that Paul is in a massive position to fight “Money” Mayweather live on PPV in front of millions of viewers he’s going to put his best foot forward. While it would be impossible for Paul to build up to the same skill level as Mayweather the YouTube sensation is going to rely on his natural gifts to get a win this Sunday on PPV. This includes fighting with heart and relying on his power.

“Fight my heart out. Fight my f—king heart out,” said Paul when asked about his strategy against Mayweather. “Fight my heart out. That’s the beautiful thing about this sport. Experience, it’s fantastic. In almost any industry, experience is going to trump everything else. But at the end of the day, this is a fight and anything can happen.”

With the odds stacked against him it may seem like Paul is in over his head. The YouTube sensation has never fought a competitor quite like “Money” and his skills will never, ever be on par with Mayweather. That said, Paul is not shying away from the bright lights. In fact, he believes he thrives in situations like this one that would make most of us crawl up in a ball and disappear.

“I often have to ask myself ‘am I affected by this?’” Paul said. “You look at this crowd, you see all these people, the hot lights, the pressure, you want to do well, your friends and your family’s watching and I always want to be real with myself. Am I affected by this? But I love this. I love this. This is me in my element. This is what I came out to Hollywood to do when I started making videos.

“When I started making f—king videos on YouTube, that was the cusp, the precipice for all this. This is it. This is endgame. This is what I signed up for. This is what I wanted. This is me in my element. I love this s—t. All of it’s exciting for me.”

For the complete Mayweather vs. Paul fight card and lineup click here. For much more on the Mayweather vs. Paul boxing event on June 6 click here.