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Canelo Alvarez is less than 24 hours away from another high-profile boxing match. This time, the knockout artist is set for a high-profile showdown opposite Jaime Munguia this Saturday night (May 4, 2024) LIVE on DAZN boxing pay-per-view (PPV) from inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

It’s a huge fight for Alvarez, who may be slowing down a bit at this stage in his career. Meanwhile, Munguia is exciting and undefeated (43-0), so the potential for fireworks is obvious. Of course, he’s never faced anyone quite like Canelo!

It’s not, however, Alvarez’s only clash this week. At the pre-fight press conference on Wednesday, Alvarez tore into Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya, labeling him a scammer, thief, and asshole. De La Hoya didn’t take kindly to those words and responded with his own barbs, but he’s also threatened legal action.

Based on the social media post above, De La Hoya is at least partially living up to his threat. He hasn’t yet sued Canelo, but he has issued a cease and desist letter. It reads as follows:

“At yesterday’s press conference your client, Canelo Alvarez, falsely accused my client, Oscar De La Hoya, of stealing from boxers. He said this outrageous lie not once, but several times — both in English and Spanish — and it has now been republished to millions around the world.

You surely understand the legal implications of such blatantly false allegations … He falsely accused Oscar of a crime with specific intention of supposedly warning other boxers not to do business with Oscar or Golden Boy. Clearly, Canelo intentionally defamed Oscar and Golden Boy.

Canelo’s statements were also made with actual malice. Obviously, Canelo harbors great animosity and ill-will towards Oscar (repeatedly referring to him as a “f—king asshole” and even stooping to using a derogatory slur regarding gay people to try and insult Oscar). But Canelo also knows full well that neither Oscar nor Golden Boy ever stole anything from him or anyone else. In fact, Golden Boy has paid Canelo every penny he was entitled to receive from his fights with Golden Boy … Canelo knows that it was Oscar and Golden Boy who established Canelo’s current market value with the groundbreaking deals they negotiated for him. Although Canelo may be disappointed that his career has plateaued since he left Godlen Boy, that disappointment does not justify making such outrageous defamatory statements.

Accordingly, we hereby demand that Canelo cease and desist from making any further false and preposterous allegations against Oscar and Golden Boy. We also demand that Canelo immediately retract his defamatory allegations that Oscar stole from boxers. Oscar and Golden Boy reserve all rights to sue Canelo for the damages caused by these defamatory accusations, including punitive damages designed to ensure Canelo learns his lesson.”

Maybe after Canelo’s boxing match wraps up, he’ll have time to retract his statement and apologize? Or, more likely, he’ll share some more choice words with De La Hoya.

Stay tuned for further developments.

Insomnia

MMA is a brotherhood unlike most others, but uhhh, this is a new weight cutting technique to my eyes.

Michael Page and Khamzat Chimaev team up for a technique tip!

Mark Hunt is anticipating a big legal win opposite Dana White in the near future.

Makhmud Muradov withdrew from UFC 301 for undisclosed reasons, and that may have been his last action as a UFC fighter.

Kamaru Usman has proven himself a real friend on many occasions.

Jose Aldo’s development from hyper athletic Muay Thai destroyer to tactical and savvy veteran has been incredible to watch.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Just a perfect step forward with the hook-cross:

6’8” and 6-0, Tallison Teixeira is a Heavyweight prospect to watch.

From the quick move into an S mount to how quickly he tucked the trapped wrist in the armpit, Marques would appear to be quite good at armbars.

Random Land

Now grappling sport just dropped.

Midnight Music: Punk rock, 1987

Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.

Alex Pereira appears to be game for a potential heavyweight clash with current UFC champion Jon Jones.

On Friday, Pereira was in attendance for UFC 301’s Q&A in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and was asked about recent comments Jones made regarding a fight at heavyweight. Pereira, who just defended his UFC light heavyweight title for the first time against Jamahal Hill at UFC 300, was intrigued to say the least.

In typical Pereira form, “Poatan” didn’t have anything bad to say about Jones and remained rather cordial when discussing their potential matchup. Pereira has already mentioned a possible move up from 205 pounds in order to capture a third UFC belt so getting the two together inside of the Octagon might not be as hard as it seems.

“He said he wants this fight, and my job is to fight. This is for the promotion to decide, so let’s see what happens now,” said Pereira in Portuguese (h/t MMA Fighting).

“After my last fight I said I wanted to fight at heavyweight, but had no answer [from the UFC], so I kind of forgot it and my plans have changed. But there was this message from Jon Jones last night, so I don’t know if this might change [plans moving forward]. Becoming a three-division champion is very hard and not many people try it, but if I have that opportunity, I just want to bring joy to everyone and a better life for my family.”

This is great to hear from Pereira, but a variety of obstacles need to be cleared in order for a potential matchup against Jones to take place. Not only is Jones just returning from a torn pectoral muscle, but the UFC legend is expected to fight Stipe Miocic in his Octagon return. If victorious in that fight, Jones was expected to then meet current interim UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall in a title unification bout.

As for Pereira, he’s already targeting a rematch with former UFC light heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka. After that, “Poatan” could find himself matched up against a well-deserving Magomed Ankalaev. It’s anyone’s guess right now, but any fight involving Pereira seems like the most attractive to fight fans at this time. His knockout ability is simply too good to pass up.

Thoughts?

Charles Oliveira is used to his own difficult weight cuts, but this week the former UFC lightweight champion helped teammate, Elves Brener, make weight for his fight at UFC 301 on Saturday night (May 4, 2024) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Brener, who is scheduled to meet lightweight finisher Myktybek Orolbai on the UFC 301 “Prelims” undercard, did not have a good cut down to 156 pounds. The lightweight prospect hasn’t really struggled with weight cuts through three UFC fights thus far, but things nearly took a turn for the worse ahead of this weekend’s card in Brazil.

Brener took to social media to share his grueling weight cut and it only raised red flags. Oliveira can been seen hugging his teammate and trying to assist him with his cut, but Brener nearly toppled over when he stood up. It was a scary scene to say the least. Check it out below:

Surprisingly, Brener successfully cut down to 156 pounds for Friday’s early weigh ins (results HERE). His fight with Orolbai has been made official, but what exactly will this agonizing weight cut cost Brener when it’s time to fight on Saturday?

Fight fans will have to monitor Brener’s condition heading into tomorrow, especially since UFC 301 already lost a “Prelims” fight due to a scary weigh in.

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MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 301 fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches at 6 p.m. ET, followed by the remaining undercard balance on ESPN2/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 301: “Pantoja vs. Erceg” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive events archive right here. For the updated and finalized UFC 301 fight card and ESPN+ lineup click here.

Ryan Garcia is ready to knock Conor McGregor out cold after the former UFC double champion bashed “King Ry” for recently failing a drug test for his massive win over Devin Haney.

Garcia, who shocked the boxing world last month by scoring multiple knockdowns against Haney en route to a decision win, was linked to a failed drug test earlier this week. The boxing superstar has denied all allegations, but it’s not a great look coming off a career-defining win. At least that’s how McGregor sees it.

After learning that Garcia popped for performance-enhancing drugs, McGregor took to social media on Thursday and absolutely destroyed the young fighter. It was odd to say the least because “Notorious” and Garcia have been friendly over the years. McGregor even consoled Garcia following his loss to Gervonta Davis in April 2023. Still, the UFC star felt obligated to jump on X and label Garcia as a “cheat” while calling for a “lifetime ban.”

Garcia, who is hellbent on proving his innocence, did not take kindly to McGregor’s callout. On Friday, the boxing superstar released a video discussing the situation and taking the time to send a scathing message directly to “Notorious.”

Check it out below:

“I’ll knock Conor McGregor out bad. I’ll let him take steroids and I’ll still show you.”

McGregor, who hasn’t fought professionally since July 2021, will have his own fish to fry inside of the Octagon at UFC 303 this June. He will make his official return to UFC against Michael Chandler in what is lining up to be the biggest comeback in mixed martial arts (MMA) history.