Welcome to MMA News Today, your daily dose of the most interesting news from the world of mixed martial arts. July 26, 2024, Here's what we're looking at:
- Aspinall finally puts an end to petrol rumours
- Sterling secured the win in the dying seconds of the match.
- Holloway heaps praise on UFC 304 fighters
Tom Aspinall finally admits his strange pre-match preparations were a joke
Ahead of his interim heavyweight title defense at UFC 304, Tom Aspinall revealed the unique pre-fight process he's using to prepare.
The Englishman told Ariel Helwani: MMA Hour He emulated the classic bare-knuckle boxer's methods by shadowboxing around bales of hay and dousing his hands in gasoline every night.
Some immediately claimed that Aspinall was actually trying to trick Helwani, but when he never smiled, others thought the champion might be telling the truth.
A video posted during fight week shows one of the participants in this weekend's co-main event calling Helwani in the middle of the night to provide evidence of the preparations.
After teasing him for a little while longer, Aspinall confesses that it was all a joke and that he had to tell the truth because people thought he was serious.
Aljamain Sterling scores decisive victory in karate martial arts debut
Former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling made his Karate Combat debut on July 25th and emerged victorious in the final seconds of the bout.
He competed in the Pit Submission Series and won against Jay Jay Wilson at Karate Combat 48 in Nashville.
The match nearly ended in a tie, but with time running out, Sterling passed a guard, got behind his opponent and scored the winning point in the closing seconds of the match.
Speaking after the fight, a fired-up Sterling said he's now fully focused on handing Movsar Evloev his first loss in a pivotal featherweight bout at UFC 307 in October.
Also of note about this grappling match was that Sterling weighed in at a whopping 171 pounds.
Sterling also received praise from former opponent and current UFC bantamweight champion Sean O'Malley, who appeared on a call during the fight.
Max Holloway praises UFC 304 fighters' fight IQs: 'Super high, super smart'
Max Holloway believes the main event of UFC 304 will be a battle between two tacticians who will barely deviate from their game plans.
Neither welterweight champion Leon Edwards nor his challenger Belal Muhammad are known for throwing themselves into fights.
A fight like this will come down to which fighter is best able to execute their approach, and with that in mind, Holloway is backing the champion to defend in Manchester.
He analyzed the card in a recent YouTube video, in which “Blessed” spoke highly of Edwards' ability to read and control the fight.
“Belal's a tactician. He's a game planner. He doesn't stray from his game plan,” Holloway said. “But Leon's the same way. Leon's a tactician. He's a game planner. He sticks to his game plan no matter what. … A lot of people expected Leon to grapple (before the Covington fight).
“Leon's one of the few guys in the game that I respect because of his IQ,” Holloway continued. “His fight IQ is super high, he's super smart. It's just tough to fight a champion here. I think Belal's going to fight. I think it's going to be a tough fight early on, but come round three and into the championship rounds, I think Leon's going to have the advantage.”
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