UFC Betting Sites – The Best MMA Online Bookies

Hollywood starlet Sydney Sweeney will return to the big screen to play former WBC super welterweight champion and boxing hall of famer Christy Martin, a new biopic from Black Bear Pictures directed by David Michôd.

“I grappled and did kickboxing from 12-19 years old. I’ve been itching to get back into the ring, train, and transform my body,” Sweeney told Deadline. “Christy’s story isn’t a light one, it’s physically and emotionally demanding, there’s a lot of weight to carry. But I love challenging myself.”

Producers have referred to Martin as “the female Rocky.”

In addition to her trailblazing run throughout the 1990s, which included a coveted spot on the cover of Sports Illustrated (it was a big deal back then), Martin had a tumultuous personal life, surviving a murder attempt by her then-husband in 2010.

“Christy Martin not only legitimized female boxing, she overcame gender stereotypes, and fought through emotional, physical, and financial abuse,” Sweeney continued. “I’m passionate about the fighting world, Christy’s story shines a light on her incredible rise to the top while showing the struggles of fame behind the curtains. I feel compelled to tell a story about a woman who faced so much adversity and didn’t allow it to defeat her. It’s powerful, and emotional.”

The untitled project is expected to begin shooting this fall.

But won’t rule out a jump to NFL.

Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson has been released from WWE.

According to longtime wrestling reporter, Dave Meltzer, Steveson was unable to make the transition from amateur wrestler to professional showman while competing in the promotion’s developmental program and was sent packing earlier this week.

“Gable Steveson is very grateful for the opportunities he had with WWE and would like to thank everybody in the organization who helped him get there,” manager Dave Martin wrote in a statement provided to The MMA Hour.

“He would also like to thank all the fans who have supported him on his professional wrestling journey. Now, Gable is ready to resume competing against elite-level competition and looks forward to sharing big news with you all very soon.”

Steveson, 23, has been training with Henry Hooft and Robbie Lawler at MMA gym Kill Cliff FC in South Florida, according to Martin, and multiple NFL teams have also expressed interest in meeting with the Minnesota Gopher. An announcement on his athletic future is expected in the coming days.

Keep an eye on Twitter.

It’s not just us, fight fans. Even TKO executives admit that UFC Apex events are lame compared to proper shows. Here’s what they said about the future of the venue on the latest earnings call.

The UFC has heard fan complaints about the Apex being a terrible venue to watch fights, and while they’re not planning to stop holding events there full-stop, there’s some hope that we’ll see less events there in the future.

In a new TKO earnings call, one investor asked why the UFC continued to hold shows in the Apex when demand was so strong for live shows in domestic and international markets.

“Bringing events on the road is as much about growing our fan base as it is generating income,” TKO COO Mark Shapiro replied (quotes via FightOracle). “But it’s also about ensuring that we maintain certain margins and profitability profile, and there’s a cost benefit analysis for us that we view opportunity costs of doing events domestically, internationally and holding them at Apex.”

“And what we do in any budget cycle, as I’m sure you could appreciate, is terming the right mix not just to generate top line revenue but to ensure profitability. And those Apex events do carry the lowest cost structure for us, to hold them in our home turf in Las Vegas. So I don’t think we found the perfect mix yet, but rest assured that we’re looking at the numbers and working to do so.”

“If we’re going to err on one side, we’re going to air on the side of going on the road,” TKO CFO Andrew Schleimer chimed in. “[When] we are in the Apex in front of a couple of hundred people, it’s just not the same experience, and we’re not getting that touch. And we get that feedback.”

Considering the WWE is now experimenting with holding some of its own smaller shows at the Apex, we have our doubts that the executive suite is done leveraging profitability vectors with increased utilization of the UFC Apex. Boo.

But there’s one VC-friendly way the UFC can undoubtedly escape from the Apex, and that’s with site fees. Over the years, more and more cities are paying the UFC to come and put on shows, which is a wild inversion compared to the early days when MMA was actively barred from most states.

The more site fees offered, the more shows outside the Apex. And there are a lot of sites fees being offered.

“Site fees, frankly, they’re becoming the norm,” Shapiro said. “When we take the show on the road, we’re going to need subsidies and or cash in order to bring our events to your city.”

“And beyond that, the cities where we’re already getting site fees? We’re coming back for year two, and we’re seeing those site fees increase. So demand is high and the dollars that cities are willing to pay for our business is increasing with every phone call we have.”

That may be bad news for stuffy taxpayers hoping cities would put their money towards social services and crumbling infrastructure. But it’s good news for us sports fans who hate watching fights at the sterile UFC Apex. Now let’s hope the C-Suite gives matchmakers some of that site fee money to make these Fight Night line-ups pop.

Those hoping to see a better performance from ‘Black Beast’ will be happy to hear he’s coming into St. Louis way healthier than he was in Sao Paulo.

Derrick Lewis comes into his St. Louis main event against Rodrigo Nascimento on a 1-3 skid over the past two years, but “The Black Beast” believes his recent record doesn’t reflect the improvements he’s made in his training and fitness.

“I’m feeling great right now,” Lewis reiterated during media day interviews. “I actually really feel like this is my prime. Whenever I was in my twenties, early thirties or whatever, I didn’t feel as good. And now I’m feeling fantastic right now.”

This was similar to what Lewis said coming into his UFC Sao Paulo main event against Jailton Almeida, a plodding five round decision that did nothing for either fighter’s reputation. But Lewis was battling a lot of issues coming into that fight that he’s willing to share with us now.

“I came in great shape for that fight,” he said. “The only thing that was bothering me, I tore both of my shoulders the week before the fight. Like after I signed. I said, ‘Yeah, I accept the fight.’ Then a few days later, I tore both my shoulders doing stupid jiu jitsu drills, my rotator cuffs from on both sides. So I couldn’t really push off or throw a punch. And even throwing an uppercut hurt it.”

“And the week of the fight, that Monday, I had two ear infections in my left ear and my right ear at the same time and I didn’t get over that until, like, three weeks after the fight.”

Derrick prefers to concentrate on the positive from that fight: competing for twenty five minutes without running out of steam.

“It was a bad performance but I was I was feeling great, you know?” Lewis concluded. “I was feeling great. I was surprised for myself that I even went five rounds. I was comfortable in there, but it was just that I didn’t have any strength in my shoulders.”

If things work out against Nascimento in St. Louis, Lewis wouldn’t mind a redo against Almeida.

“I would love a rematch with Almeida [after I] get through this fight right here,” he said. “I’m not looking past my guy, nothing like that. Get through this fight right here, I would like Almeida again for sure. This time in in the US, I don’t wanna go back to over there [to Brazil] no more.”

And no more 25 minute fights.

“I wanna get it over with quick,” he declared. “I’m in shape. I’m actually damn sure I’m in shape to go five rounds. But I wanna finish this guy in the first for sure. I like finishing the fights in the first. “Like the one I did in Utah, it was so good and I didn’t have to worry about even breathing that fight.”

That was Lewis’ 30 second flying knee knockout of Marcos Rogerio de Lima at UFC 291.

“It was so so quick,” he said, smiling at the memory. “I would love something like that again.”