The Review & Preview - #4
The GOAT debate is over.
Happy Monday!
The GOAT debate is over and I probably owe Jon Jones an apology.
I had doubts if the monster that ruled the light heavyweight division still existed.
How wrong was I?
His two minute destruction of Ciryl Gane proved that he still has the hunger and drive to compete at the very highest level and asserting that level of dominance after a three year lay off is just mind blowing.
We only watched Jones for two minutes, so the big test comes when someone can take him deep and there is also a question around Ciryl Gane but the time for doubting has to stop.
He is definitively the GOAT.
He is the new heavyweight champion & he is here to stay.
Welcome back Jonny Bones.
All romance aside, it was a very disappointing show from Ciryl Gane.
I am a huge fan of the Frenchman and he is much better than what he showed us this weekend.
The more I look at it, the more I think Jones beat him mentally more than physically.
Rewatching the fight and the pre fight announcements by Bruce Buffer, especially.
He looks unfocused and nervous.
A million miles away from man we watched embrace the Paris atmosphere last year.
This is not taking anything away from Jones, he was just levels above but I believe Gane will kick himself forever after that performance.
Prelim round up.
We called this the biggest card of the year on Friday and it certainly didn’t dissapoint.
Firstly, Shavkat Rakhmonov vs Geoff Neal was amazing.
After missing weight by 5lb, I thought Neal was on for an early beating but he asked questions of Rakhmonov that nobody else has ever been able to.
Now, Rakhmonov answered them and was happy doing so, but he finally looked like he had been in an actual fight.
The fact he answered the questions, landed his own shots and then managed to finish the fight in the third round proves he is made of the correct stuff.
Shavkat Rakhmonov. Future UFC champion.
In the co-main, one of the biggest upsets in recent memory.
I mentioned last week that there were rumours Valentina Shevchenko was on the decline but I didn’t subscribe to that way of thinking.
I hadn’t seen enough in her recent fights to believe she was sliding.
But, this fight with Grasso exploited some holes in her game that have never been there before.
Don’t get me wrong, Alexa Grasso is a great fighter and fully deserves her win but when you see Valentina gasping for air after one attacking sequence, you have to start asking questions.
Also, the mistake she made to allow Grasso to take her back and ultimately finish the fight, was SO uncharacteristic.
Valentina doesn’t make big mistakes.
Or she never used to.
Luckily for Alexa Grasso, she was there to take advantage and becomes the third Mexican UFC champion to be crowned in as many months.
The UFC building a new performance institute in Mexico demonstrates how keen they are to grow Mexican MMA and now they have three active world champions. The sport is about to boom in Mexico.
VIVA MEXICO.
An honourable mention also to Ian Garry.
The Irishman is backed heavily by Conor McGregor and he looked really good this weekend.
Despite being dropped heavy in round 1, he put on a striking masterclass in rounds 2 and 3 and put himself on the map at welterweight.
All capped off with a ‘Billi Walk’ - that was acknowledged by the man himself.
Boxing
In the fight of the weekend, Ohara Davies knocked out Lewis Ritson with one of the nicest body shots you will see.
The performance of Ohara was brilliant here, I am so happy to see him dropping all the big ego stuff he had going on a few years ago and now just letting his talent do the talking.
He dominated the fight in my view and broke Ritson up round by round.
He also landed one of our picks so well done if you were on!
I am not sure how much further he can go at super lightweight but he has put himself back in the conversation for some big fights.
As for Ritson, it may be time to close this chapter of his life.
He is a million miles away from the destructive lightweight puncher who burst on the scene a few years ago and I just don’t think 140 suits him, at all.
His power has gone now he is up at a new weight and he isn’t defensively good enough to survive at any sort of level.
He has had a good career.
The Crowd
One big worry for me was the crowd in Newcastle.
A few years ago, Lewis Ritson was selling out the Arena in Newcastle in seconds.
He was backed by Eddie Hearn but even so, there can’t have been more than 1500 people at the fight this weekend.
Now, the promotion was suspect to say the least but it was still incredibly disappointing.
This was a really competitive domestic fight, it deserved a proper audience.
There is a bigger issue here because outside of Smith vs Eubank, I don’t think Boxing has sold out any event in the last 18 months.
Even the old school ticket sellers, Anthony Joshua etc are massivley struggling to sell tickets.
Cost of living crisis plays a part but Boxing can’t blame that.
It isn’t delivering in this country and fans may be finally turning their back.
Elsewhere…
On the Davies vs Ritson undercard, Thomas Patrick Ward was stopped in five rounds by by Otabek Kholmatov and I was so impressed by Uzbek.
A lot of hardcore fans have thrown his name about in recent years but they throw any obscure name around they can, in the hope they can be the first in the know.
But this guy is legit.
Amazing shot selection, serious power and a decent chin.
Big nights ahead for him.
Over in the USA, Brandon Figueora won the Interim WBC featherweight title and landed us a bet in the process!
I thought he looked really good and struggled to give Magsayo many rounds.
It wasn’t uncompetitve but Figueora ended every conversation in the fight.
Anytime he was under pressure, he fired back with better shots and ultimately closed out each round.
Really impressive and another big threat in the featherweight division.
Looking Forward
Matchroom released the news this week that Amanda Serrano was out of the Katie Taylor fight in a couple of weeks time and then shortly after they released news that Callum Smith was out of this weekends card in Liverpool.
According to reports, it is only a minor niggle for Callum and it won’t impact his upcoming fight with Beterbiev, so that is good news!
The card in Liverpool will still go ahead this weekend, albeit it is just a lot weaker.
One positive is the fact UK fans will be able to watch Diego Pacheco up close.
He is someone who may be able to make a big splash at super middleweight in the future and he takes on well known British fighter, Jack Cullen.
Jack is up against it here, clearly.
But, he does always bring it and we can expect him to go for it against Pacheco which should make for a good fight.
Robbie Davies Jr also returns.
His original opponent, Liam Paro, would have been a brilliant fight but glad Robbie can still get some ring time.
We haven’t been able to see too much of him since switching to Shane McGuigan but he is a very capable fighter and hopefully McGuigan has had a similar impact as he has with other fighters and Robbie can begin to climb the rankings.
The sleeper on the card is the rematch between Thomas Whitakker Hart and Michael Ellison.
TWH is a product of Team GB and highly regarded in The Rotunda gym in Liverpool.
He lost, fair and square, against Ellison last time but he will be keen to bounce back.
He is a talent but the pressure is on here.
Let’s see if he can handle it.
Also on the undercard, Peter McGrail makes his Matchroom debut and local favourite Paddy Lacey returns.
Paris Anyone?
In addition to the Liverpool card, we have a decent little card over in Paris.
Tony Yoka headlines against Carlos Takam and he should be able to get a win there but Yoka was touted as a potential world champion and has failed to live up to the hype.
This isn’t the Takam of old but Yoka needs to prove he can actually make a dent in this heavyweight division.
Interesting.
On the undercard, one of my favourite active fighters returns, Dan Azeez.
Azeez, who trains under Buddy McGirt, is a proper throwback.
He fights every couple of months, never dissapoints and is racking up belts at speed.
He goes for the European title this weekend and I think he will win it.
A proper throwback fighter than all UK fans should get behind.
UFC
The UFC is also rolling out another card and the headliner between Petr Yan and Merab Dvalishvilli is a bit of a banger.
Yan was looking unbeatable at one point but has dropped a few fights and been critical of the UFC in the process.
I don’t think he lost his last fight against Sean O’Malley but regardless, he has to win this if he is to become the dominant bantamweight champion that should predicted him to be.
We have a couple of good matchups on the prelims too and we will get stuck into them in Friday’s newsletter!
Once again, thanks for reading The Combat Club Newsletter.
I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments and please keep sharing!
See you on Wednesday!