Boxing fans were eager to see the undefeated Tyson Fury fight fellow Brit Anthony Joshua or WBA, IBF, and WBO heavyweight champ Oleksandr Usyk in 2022 but those fights did not work out.
Joshua ended up losing to Usyk and it did not make a lot of sense for Fury to fight him coming off a loss even though the Gypsy King was interested. Fury wanted to fight Usyk in Dec 2022 but the Ukrainian champ said he needed more time to prepare.
Frank Warren Looking At March 2023
The IBF had earlier pushed for Usyk to defend his belt against Filip Hrgovic stating that he was the mandatory contender but have now backtracked on that and are pushing for a WBA title defense against Daniel Dubois who is also managed by Fran Warren.
This is one reason why Warren is now confident that a fight between Fury and Usyk will take place in 2023. Warren seems optimistic that he will be able to get the deal done in time for March 2023. Both fighters are keen to step into the ring and the two camps now need to work out the terms and conditions.
UFC welterweight star Khamzat ‘Borz’ Chimaev took to social media this week to tell his fans that he is struggling to book a fight as no one wants to fight him. Borz said the UFC spoke to four different opponents from four different countries but all of those fights fell through.
Chimaev fought last in Sep 2022 at UFC 279 when he caused a fiasco by missing weight by 7 lbs. His fight with Nate Diaz fell through and he ended up fighting Kevin Holland. Borz ended up winning that easily in the first round. Chimaev’s head coach maintains that he can still make welterweight or move up a weight class and fight the UFC middleweight champion next.
UFC Fighters Don’t Believe Chimaev
Paulo Costa who fights at middleweight and Belal Muhammed took to social media to call out Chimaev and his bogus claims. Costa has said in the past that he is ready to fight Borz but at the moment Costa is having problems with his UFC contract as he wants to be paid more.
Belal Muhammed is ready to fight Borz at welterweight but he isn’t sure if Borz will agree to the fight and make the weight! We will have to wait till Jan 2023 to see who Borz faces next as the UFC is on holiday mode for the next couple of weeks!
The game between Portugal and Uruguay was interrupted when a fan got past security, jumped on the ground and got the attention of the world as he was running with a rainbow colored flag and a blue t-shirt with two slogans.
The message on the front said ‘SAVE UKRAINE’ while the message at the back said ‘RESPECT FOR IRANIAN WOMAN.’ The man was soon tackled to the ground by security and escorted out of the stadium.
FIFA Bans Protestor For All World Cup Games
Italian Mario Ferri identified himself as the one who carried out the protest. He has a reputation of doing this in football matches and said that he wanted to send out a strong message on all of these key issues. Ferri says he has friends in Ukraine and spent a month in Ukraine in Feb 2022 as a volunteer after Russia invaded Ukraine.
He also wanted to support ONE LOVE after Qatar banned countries from allowing their captain’s to wear the rainbow colored armband. Ferri said that he was released within an hour after his arrest and was handed a ban that will not allow him to enter and watch any more games at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Conor McGregor confirmed on social media that he is now facing a second lawsuit from former friend and training partner Artem Lobov. McGregor was hit with a lawsuit initially from Lobov who claimed that Mcgregor’s Proper 12 whisky ideas was his idea and he needed to be financially compensated for the same.
McGregor Hit With Defamation Lawsuit
McGregor responded this week to the Artem Lobov lawsuit by releasing a mocking tune calling Artem Lobov a rat multiple times while humming a tune. McGregor has now confirmed that Artem Lobov has filed a new lawsuit for defamation of character against him and his dad.
McGregor continued to taunt Lobov on social media with more name calling. He also ended up calling out Lobov to settle their differences inside the SBG Concord gym where they used to train together. McGregor said they could fight for the whole lot and settle their differences at SBG Concord instead of going the legal route.
McGregor wanted Lobov to show up and fight him on Nov 29 at 10.30 pm but it looks like Lobov did not take up the fight challenge and will go down the legal route.
MMA fans were keen to seen Jon Jones make his debut at heavyweight at UFC 282 in Dec 2022. The UFC tried to put together a match between Jon Jones and former heavyweight champ Stipe Miocic but things did not work out as Miocic wasn’t keen on signing the contract even though Jones encouraged him to do so on social media.
Jon Jones Should Return At UFC 285 In March 2023
Jones hasn’t fought for the last 2.5 years after deciding to relinquish his UFC lightheavyweight belt and move up to heavyweight. The current UFC champion Francis Ngannou is currently sitting out due to an injury and is expected to be ready to fight in early 2023.
However the UFC continues to have problems in getting Ngannou to agree to the terms of his next fight. Reports suggest that Jon Jones will fight for the UFC heavyweight belt at UFC 285 which is set to take place in March 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
If the UFC cannot get a deal done with Ngannou, then it is likely that they will strip him of the heavyweight title and Jones will end up fighting either Curtis Blaydes or Ciryl Gane for the UFC heavyweight title.