MMA NEWS
**The UFC returns to Las Vegas on Saturday and kicks off a busy month at the UFC Apex with Fight Night cards set for every Saturday along with Dana White’s Contender Series running weekly on Tuesdays.
Saturday’s card was hit with more changes over the past 24 hours. Ray Borg had to withdraw due to undisclosed reasons and his fight with Nathan Maness is off, according to MMA Junkie. On Friday, late replacement fighter Charles Ontiveros was deemed ineligible to fight and his bout with Markus Perez was canceled.
Here is the updated card with results from the weigh-ins held Friday morning:
MAIN CARD (9 pm Eastern on ESPN+)
*Derek Brunson (186) vs. Edmen Shahbazyan (185.5)
*Joanne Calderwood (126) vs. Jennifer Maia (124.5)
*Vicente Luque (170.5) vs. Randy Brown (170.5)
*Bobby Green (156) vs. Lando Vannata (155.5)
*Trevin Giles (185) vs. Kevin Holland (184)
PRELIMINARY CARD (6 pm on ESPN+)
*Frankie Saenz (136) vs. Jonathan Martinez (140.5*) – Martinez missed the bantamweight limit by 4.5 pounds
*Gerald Meerschaert (204.5) vs. Ed Herman (206)
*Nate Maness (144.5) vs. Johnny Munoz (145.5)
*Jamall Emmers (146) vs. Vincent Cachero (145)
*Chris Gutierrez (135.5) vs. Cody Durden (135.5)
**UFC president Dana White spoke with the media after Friday’s weigh-ins and below are the notes:
*He is very excited for the new main event between Derek Brunson and Edmen Shahbazyan, which will be a three-round fight as opposed to five due to it being shifted to the main event on one week’s notice
*He said Conor McGregor is retired and he’s sitting back and waiting to see what happens, he knows McGregor wants the winner of Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Justin Gaethje
*White said Nurmagomedov vs. Gaethje is likely for Fight Island
*On the incident last weekend involving Dan Hardy and referee Herb Dean, he said that anyone that works for him that approaches a judge, referee, or official will be fired and that can never happen again and implied Hardy has been given a warning to never to do it again
*UFC 253 in September is on the agenda for the next Nevada Athletic Commission and the pay-per-view could be in Vegas featuring Israel Adesanya vs. Paulo Costa, he added “we are home for a while”
*White is going to fly out and watch Mike Tyson train for the exhibition fight against Roy Jones Jr. but isn’t likely to attend the fight on September 12th
*He isn’t even thinking about fans coming back right now and they are “nowhere near close” to a period where fans can return
*There were a few production issues at Fight Island that he wants to tweak for next time but was happy with how things ran
*They are trying to figure out how to pull off Ultimate Fighter including the logistics of trying to put fighters into a house and has no timetable for it
*Max Holloway deserves another fight against Alexander Volkanovski but understands Volkanovski’s position that he’s won two fights and they have to make a decision on it
*He said he believes the fighters will be paid more with the Venum deal than with the Reebok one
**A submission victory by Ahmad Al Darmaki over Bogdan Kirilenko was overturned Friday with Al Darmaki disqualified after putting his hands on referee Marc Goddard. Al Darmaki submitred Kirilenko with a rear-naked choke and didn’t immediately release the hold causing Goddard to get involved. Al Darmaki shoved Goddard twice and placed his hands on the referee at the UAE Warriors event.
Ahmad Al Darmaki was just DQ’d after he refused to release an RNC against Bogdan Kirilenko. Things got physical between him and ref Marc Goddard.#UAEWarriors12 pic.twitter.com/XF1azA1Jzs
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) July 31, 2020
**Georges St-Pierre has joined French broadcaster RDS to serve as an analyst for their UFC coverage beginning with UFC 252 on August 15th. RDS is the UFC’s French-language broadcast partner in Canada and will be airing the prelims from 8-10 pm Eastern prior to the pay-per-view.
**Here are the results from Thursday’s Invicta FC 41 event from Kansas City, Kansas:
*Alexa Culp def. Natalya Speece by rear-naked choke at 3:59 of Round 2
*Caitlin Sammons def. Claire Guthrie by split decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28)
*Kaitlin Young def. Latoya Walker by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-27)
*Erin Blanchfield def. Brogan Walker-Sanchez by unanimous decision (30-26 all)
*Montserrat Ruiz def. Janaisa Morandin by submission at 3:28 of Round 1
**Invicta FC’s next card is scheduled for Thursday, September 17th headlined by an Atomweight fight between Ashley Cummins and Alesha Zappitella.
**ESPN’s Brett Okamoto reports that a heavyweight fight between Walt Harris and Alexander Volkov has been added to the UFC 254 card on Saturday, October 24th underneath the lightweight title fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Justin Gaethje.
**Aljamain Sterling, Uriah Hall, and Joseph Benavidez each have birthdays today.
*****
WWE Q2 2020 Earnings Report & Analysis w/ Brandon Thurston
Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics joins John Pollock to discuss and analyze WWE’s second-quarter earnings report and subsequent call with media analysts on its performance this quarter.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2020/07/31/wwe-q2-2020-earnings-report-analysis-w-brandon-thurston/
*****
REWIND-A-DYNAMITE 7/29/20: MJF’s Address, Matt Cardona & Ariane Appear
John Pollock and Wai Ting discuss AEW Dynamite with the arrival of several new faces to the company, Excalibur misses the show, Raw ratings, an interview with Cody & more.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2020/07/30/rewind-a-dynamite-7-29-20-mjfs-address-matt-cardona-ariane-appear/
*****
upNXT 7/29/20: The Thicc Boi Dream Has Come True
Braden Herrington welcomes John Siino to chat all about this week’s WWE NXT featuring the main event of Finn Balor vs Dexter Lumis vs Timothy Thatcher. Plus, Johnny Gargano vs Roderick Strong in a show-stealing match.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2020/07/30/upnxt-7-29-20-the-thicc-boi-dream-has-come-true/
*****
ASK-A-WAI: Ask Us Anything! (August 2020)
John Pollock and Wai Ting answer their patrons’ questions from the POST Wrestling Forum in the August 2020 edition of Ask-A-Wai.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/39815725/
*****
REWIND-A-RAW 7/27/20: Kairi Sane’s Farewell, McIntyre vs. Orton, DDT/NOAH
John Pollock and Wai Ting discuss WWE Raw including Asuka vs. Sasha Banks and a farewell to Kairi Sane, lots of WWE business notes, and the announcement of DDT and NOAH’s merger.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2020/07/28/rewind-a-raw-7-27-20-kairi-sanes-farewell-mcintyre-vs-orton-ddt-noah/
*****
NJPW Sengoku Lord POST Show with Wai Ting & Mike Murray
Wai Ting and Mike Murray review NJPW Sengoku Lord 2020 as Bullet Club’s EVIL makes his first IWGP Heavyweight & Intercontinental Title defense against former LIJ stablemate, Hiromu Takahashi.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2020/07/26/njpw-sengoku-lord-2020-post-show-evil-vs-hiromu-takahashi/
*****
TRMPS #19: Fast & Furious 6 (2013) w/ Joey Lewandowski & Joe Two
Nate Milton takes another trip to the “Fastiverse” with Joey Lewandowski & Joe Two (2 Fast 2 Forever). The guys sit down in the theater (six feet apart, of course) to review the 2013 box-office blockbuster, “Fast & Furious 6”!
https://www.postwrestling.com/2020/07/25/trmps-19-fast-furious-6-2013-w-joey-lewandowski-joe-two/
*****
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