POST IT NOTES
**We have released a POST Profile audio documentary looking at the story behind the main event of UFC 117 between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen. Their first fight occurred on this date ten years ago, and we go back to look at how Sonnen got the title fight and his promotion of the first fight, as well as its aftermath.
MMA NEWS
**ESPN’s Brett Okamoto is reporting that two title fights will headline the UFC 255 pay-per-view on Saturday, November 21st. UFC flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo will defend his title against Cody Garbrandt, who is cutting down from bantamweight and has never fought at the weight. In the other fight, Valentina Shevchenko will defend the UFC women’s flyweight title against Jennifer Maia, who upset Joanne Calderwood last Saturday.
Figueiredo became the UFC flyweight champion after defeating Joseph Benavidez last month with a dominant performance with a first-round stoppage. Figueiredo had previously defeated Benavidez in February but missed weight and therefore, the vacant title was only on the line for Benavidez in that first fight. Figueiredo is 19-1 with his only loss coming by decision to Jussier Formiga in March 2019. Garbrandt (12-3), the former bantamweight champion, lost three fights in a row and stepped away for 15 months returning this past June where he knocked out Raphael Assuncao at UFC 250.
Maia would be expected to be a heavy underdog against Shevchenko. She is a former Invicta FC flyweight champion and came to the UFC in 2018 and has gone 3-2 inside the promotion with decision losses to Liz Carmouche and Katlyn Chookagian, who Shevchenko holds victories over. Maia had been scheduled to fight Viviane Araujo this past weekend, but her opponent tested positive for COVID-19 with Calderwood taking the short-notice fight. Shevchenko (19-3) became the women’s flyweight champion in December 2018 and has defended the title successfully against Jessica Eye, Carmouche, and Chookagian. Her only losses in the UFC have been to bantamweight & featherweight champion Amanda Nunes. The main card airs at 10 pm Eastern that night on the Paramount Network and DAZN.
**ESPN’s Ariel Helwani reports that light heavyweight Corey Anderson was let out of his existing UFC deal and has signed a multi-year deal with Bellator MMA. Anderson (13-5) is 30 years old and has fought for the UFC since 2014 when he won the light heavyweight contract on Season 19 of The Ultimate Fighter. Anderson went 10-5 in the UFC’s light heavyweight division including a four-fight win streak in 2018-19 including wins against Glover Teixeira, Ilir Latifi, and Johnny Walker. In his last fight, he was knocked out by Jan Blachowicz this past February. In Helwani’s reporting, he noted that Anderson had multiple fights left on his UFC deal when he requested and was granted the release.
**Combate was the first to report that bantamweights Marlon Moraes (23-6-1) and Cory Sandhagen (12-2) will headline the UFC’s Fight Night event on Saturday, October 10th. Moraes has won five of his last six fights and is coming off a split decision win against Jose Aldo that led to frustration among many that Aldo received a title fight following that loss. Sandhagen is coming off a submission loss to Aljamain Sterling at UFC 250 in June that ended a seven-fight win streak for the 28-year old.
**Bellator has released an updated card for Bellator 244 that will see Ryan Bader (27-5, 1 NC) defend the light heavyweight title against Vadim Nemkov (11-2) in the main event on Friday, August 21st in Uncasville, Connecticut. The main card will include a featherweight fight between Julia Budd (13-3) and Jessy Miele (9-3), and a heavyweight fight between Roy Nelson (23-19) and Valentin Moldavsky (9-1).
**Here is the full card for tonight’s Bellator 243 event in Uncasville, Connecticut and results from Thursday’s weigh-ins:
MAIN CARD (10 pm Eastern on the Paramount Network)
*Michael Chandler (155.9) vs. Benson Henderson (155.6)
*Matt Mitrione (262.6) vs. Timothy Johnson (263.2)
*Myles Jury (155.5) vs. Georgi Karakhanyan (155.5)
*Curtis Millender (174) vs. Sabah Homasi (175)
PRELIMINARY CARD (7:15 pm Eastern online)
*Adam Borics (150.2) vs. Mike Hamel (154.6*) – Hamel missed weight for their 150-pound catchweight fight and received a fine for an undisclosed amount
*A.J. Agazarm (145.3) vs. Cris Lencioni (145.8)
*Charlie Campbell (155.8) vs. Naina Dung (155.1)
*Dalton Rosta (185.7) vs. Mark Gardner (184.8)
*Hamza Salim (205.1) vs. Grant Neal (204.7)
*Tara Graff (125) vs. Valerie Loureda (125.3)
**On Saturday night, the UFC Fight Night card at the UPC APEX in Las Vegas will feature the following fights and includes the results of today’s weigh-ins:
MAIN CARD (9 pm Eastern on ESPN+, TSN 2 & TSN 5 in Canada)
*Derrick Lewis (265) vs. Aleksei Oleinik (227)
*Chris Weidman (186) vs. Omari Akhmedov (185.75)
*Darren Stewart (186) vs. Maki Pitolo (186)
*Yana Kunitskaya (135.5) vs. Julija Stoliarenko (136)
*Beneil Dariush (158*) vs. Scott Holtzman (156) – Dariush was fined 20% of his purse for missing the lightweight limit
PRELIMINARY CARD (6 pm on ESPN+)
*Tim Means (171) vs. Laureano Staropoli (174.5)
*Kevin Holland (183.5) vs. Joaquin Buckley (185) – So, Holland made weight two weeks in a row after his fight last weekend against Trevin Giles was canceled moments before the fight due to Giles fainting
*Nasrat Haqparast (156) vs. Alexander Munoz (156)
*Andrew Sanchez (185.5) vs. Wellington Turman (185.5)
*Gavin Tucker (146) vs. Justin Jaynes (146)
*Peter Barrett (145.5) vs. Youssef Zalal (146)
*Irwin Rivera (136) vs. Ali Alqaisi (136)
**TSN 2 in Canada will be carrying the UFC prelims beginning at 7 pm Eastern on Saturday night, according to its schedule.
*****
POST PROFILE: Silva vs. Sonnen – Ten Years Later
John Pollock documents one of the biggest feuds in MMA history that led to Anderson Silva defending the UFC middleweight championship against Chael Sonnen in August 2010 at UFC 117.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2020/08/07/post-profile-silva-vs-sonnen-ten-years-later/
*****
BWE Retro Edition: WWF Rebellion 2001
Martin is joined by Cristen Brinkerhoff, Florence Bullock & Liv Heller (formerly of the “No Sell It” podcast) to take an irreverent look back at the UK-only PPV, WWF Rebellion 2001.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2020/08/06/bwe-retro-edition-wwf-rebellion-2001/
*****
REWIND-A-DYNAMITE 8/5/20: Jericho-Cassidy Debate, Nick Khan-WWE, Raw Ratings
John Pollock and Wai Ting discuss AEW Dynamite featuring the debate between Chris Jericho & Orange Cassidy with moderator Eric Bischoff, and tons of news including Raw ratings and WWE hiring Nick Khan.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2020/08/06/rewind-a-dynamite-8-5-20-jericho-cassidy-debate-nick-khan-wwe-raw-ratings/
*****
upNXT 8/5/20: “He’s An Angry Elf”
The BDE chat all about this week’s NXT featuring the main event of Undisputed Era vs Imperium for the NXT Tag Team Championship (and a huge Pat McAfee angle), plus Keith Lee vs Cameron Grimes, Rhea Ripley vs Dakota Kai and more.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2020/08/06/upnxt-8-5-20-hes-an-angry-elf/
*****
REWIND-A-WAI #67: WWF Capital Carnage 1998
John Pollock and Wai Ting review WWF Capital Carnage 1998, a UK-only PPV from London, England headlined by a Fatal Four-Way match featuring Steve Austin vs. The Undertaker vs. Mankind vs. Kane.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/40104017
*****
REWIND-A-RAW 8/3/20: Raw Underground, Rock-XFL, TNT-Dynamite
John Pollock and Wai Ting discuss WWE Raw featuring the return of Shane McMahon with Raw Underground, Montez Ford is poisoned, and we chat all the latest news including the sale of the XFL.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2020/08/04/rar-8-3-20-raw-underground-rock-xfl-tnt-dynamite/
*****
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