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It was nearly half a decade ago now that Arlen Janis Sr. took his two sons and signed them up at the Eddie Martinez boxing club. Janis Sr. himself boxed in his younger days and was very fond of the sport, his hopes were that his sons would take to it like he did too and enjoy and fall in love with boxing. Well, it must be in the blood, because the Janis brothers turned out not only to love the sport but they both became really good really quickly, a couple of naturals if you can say so.

The elder brother is 20 year old Virgil Janis and his younger brother is 18 year old Arlen Janis and they are both scheduled to fight in the Golden Gloves Regional on Saturday and Sunday in Omaha, Nebraska. If the brothers succeed at winning in their weight classes then they will progress to compete for the national title that is scheduled to happen mid May in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Their father has emotionally remarked about how boxing has positively influenced his life, taken him places he never thought he would go and made him a more disciplined and organized person overall and wants the same for his sons.

Both brothers won their respective weight classes in the district tournament that occurred in Grand Island, Nebraska and are hence given the opportunity to fight in the Golden Gloves Regionals which happens to be a platform for up and coming boxers. Young boxers can really impress here and get some real traction to kick off their professional boxing careers.

Arlen, the younger brother is only 18 and is mostly drawn to fight against older fighters and says that it was a scary proposition at the beginning, however, he has learned that not only can he compete against older fighters but can also beat them and is now a lot more confident and does not really care about the age difference. At the end of the day, it is all about how hard you trained, and how well you are mentally prepared for the fight he said.

Brandon Halsey will continue to fight in order to regain his middleweight title when he faces current champion John Salter at Bellator fight night 156. The fight was declared via a press release much to the excitement of mixed martial arts fans all across the country. Bellator fight night 156 is scheduled to take place on the 17^th of June and will happen at Save Mart Center in Fresno, California. The prelims will air on MMAJunkie and will be succeeded by the main card that will be telecasted on Spike.

Halsey has an impressive record both in MMA and BMAA, 9-1 and 7-1 respectively. Halsey in fact never lost his title by losing in a fight. He lost it simply because he could not make the weight division during a weigh in before a fight that was to happen against Kendall Grove on Bellator fight night 137. Halsey’s first career loss came against Rafael Carvalho courtesy of a well landed body kick by Carvalho in the second round of their fight in Bellator fight night 144.

Salter on the other hand is running high on confidence and has known nothing but winning ways for the past three fights. Salter is an experienced fighter and will be looking to get the upper hand over Halsey by sticking it out and tiring Halsey out before making his insidious moves. Salter is both a UFC and Strikeforce veteran and he only made his Bellator debut in his very last fight.

In his previous fight, Salter impressed highly when he executed a near perfect rear – naked choke hold on Dustin Jacoby during Bellator fight night 132 in the second round of their fight. However, Salter has been out of the sport since January of 2015 and this may not play out in his favor considering he has not been in the octagon in a competitive fight in over a year now.

This is going to be a tough one to predict, no fighter really has the edge over the other but they both have a lot to lose.

UFC fight night 197 is going to be big for one reason especially – the return of the one and only Jon Jones. Jones has been out of it since April last year making his come back on fight night 197 almost exactly one year later. The fight is scheduled to happen in MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and will be telecasted on a pay per view basis on FOX sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.

Jones’ record is stunning, he has twenty one wins to his name and just one loss. In fact, the loss was actually a disqualification wherein Jones supposedly landed illegal elbows on his opponent when he was on a top position. Jones was out of the sport for one year because of a one year suspension for being involved in a hit and run case in April of 2015. The ex light heavy weight champion will be facing     Ovince Saint Preux who has a record of nineteen wins and 7 losses in the UFC.

Originally, Jones was scheduled to face his past nemesis Daniel Cormier but Cormier is out due to an injury and Jones was not very pleased to find this out. When asked in an interview what he thought about Cormier’s injury, Jones said that he felt Cormier was just a little hurt and not injured. Jones felt that Cormier was faking it because he knew he would lose if he was put up against Jones again. Jones added that as an elite athlete, his body was full of little nooks and crooks but he fight through it and so should Cormier.

The online series promoting the event aired an episode where Jones was shown working hard at the gym while his opponent Ovince Saint Preux was indulging in some hard construction work.

Even though it is the headline fight of UFC fight night 197, many people have already written it off as a win for Jones, however, experts say not to take Preux for granted considering that Jones has been out for a whole year. We may be in for a shock result.

Current bantam Weight Champ Miesha Tate will be looking to keep her winning run going and to defend her title when she comes up against contender Amanda Nunes on UFC fight night 200. The fight has been marketed as the head line in the women’s category and Tate’s impeccable record of 15 wins and 0 losses will be put under threat as she will have to defend her Bantam weight title for the very first time in her career.

Dana White, the president of the UFC, himself announced the fight and while a lot of people were really excited about the prospects, there were also those that felt that the match up was not right and that either Ronda Rousey or Holly Holm deserved the title shot against Miesha Tate. Well, like it or not, it is what it is and it is going to be Nuenes who is handed the opportunity to put her name on the title come UFC fight night 200.

Furthermore, technically speaking, Amanda Nunes very much deserves this opportunity given that she weighs in 135 pounds and matches the weight division of the fight perfectly which should make it a fair and balanced fight if anything.

Whether or not Nunes can upset tate is another question and we will have to wait and see what transpires. But you can rest assured that Nunes is no slouch and she will for sure prove to be one tough female to beat when she steps foot into the octagon.

Nunes does have some great fighting ability and skills and has attracted a lot of praise for being excellent on the ground. Furthermore, she has some really dangerous flying kicks in the locker. She is also very agile and pacey.

Tate is still the favorite but this will be her toughest challenge so far. A lot of experts still feel that Tate has the edge in the fight considering her experience and predictions are that she will emerge victorious in a back and forth decision.

One thing is for sure, Nunes will not take it sitting down.

Mixed Marital Arts has not been around for too long but it sure has managed to take the sports betting industry by storm! In the world of sports betting, Horse Racing, Soccer, American Football etc. are more favored sports that majority of the people put their money on, however, Mixed Martial Arts and especially the Ultimate Fighting Championship is gaining immense popularity and is rapidly becoming one of the huge favorites among betting enthusiasts all over the world. Let us take a look at why this is –

Firstly, a lot of the basic betting rules and types of bets etc. were all already set in place by the sport of boxing and most of these betting procedures and rules was directly adapted to the sport of mixed marital arts too which meant that punters were already familiar with what they were in for and so naturally were not hesitant to give it a go. While boxing still continues to dominate, the MMA is catching up at unreal pace.

Secondly, the MMA does not shy away from promoting their fights, especially the big fights which showcase the big names. There are heated pre – fight press conferences, trailers, teasers, etc. which really draws in a lot of crowd attention and the bets start to flow.

The third reason why the MMA is soaring high in the sports betting industry is because of the predictability factor which is not too high or too low. Calling an MMA fight is not exactly a shot in the dark in most cases and therefore the punter feels empowered and feels like he or she is making an informed decision and so the odds that their bet is going to pay off is much higher.

Lastly, there are many types of bets and hence many ways in which you can win. It’s not only about calling the winner. There are bets having to do with whether the fight will end in a knock out or submission etc, there are bets where you can bet on how long or how many rounds the fight will go on for, etc. there are plenty of things to bet on and this adds to the reasons why MMA betting is at an all-time high.

It came as a shock to many UFC fans when Conor McGregor casually floated out a tweet announcing his retirement from the sport in which he said, “I have decided to retire young. Thanks for the cheese. Catch ya’s later.”  In fact, the causal nature of the tweet was even interpreted by many fans as joke.

A few hours after this tweet aired, the President of the Ultimate Fighting Championship Dana White himself announced that Conor McGregor has been yanked from UFC fight night 200 from the main event opposite Nate Diaz.

For nearly six hours after the tweet first surfaced, there was silence as both Dana White and McGregor’s manager Audie Attar refused to respond to questions that came flooding in from the media. Finally White broke the silence and said that Conor McGregor had been pulled from UFC 200 since he did not or could not make it to the press conference, for promotional photos or for any other marketing campaigns. White said that Nick Diaz had failed to show up to the press conference of his fight and White had pulled him and so he will continue to treat all fighters in the same manner. They might not have the time or inclination, but if they want to feature on UFC fight night then they are going to have to make some compromises somewhere or the other said UFC president Dana White.

When asked about whether or not Conor McGregor was seriously retiring from the sport, Dana White maintained that he did not know for sure, he said that since it was McGregor how tweeted that tweet, it was only him he would know whether he is actually retiring or just playing the fool.

On the other hand, it looks like Nick Diaz has had a change of mind and will in fact be flying to Las Vegas for promotional efforts and the pre-fight press conference. The UCF is in the process of putting together a fight for Nick Diaz.

Dana White also remarked that he still continues to respect Conor McGregor as a fighter and likes him as a person.