Jake Paul looks set to finally face Tommy Fury on the third time of trying, in a reportedly signed deal that would see them fight in Saudi Arabia next month, but what does that mean for KSI? KSI has made it no secret in that his end goal is a fight with Jake Paul, stating his come back to boxing after 3 years out of the ring, was to defeat the American youtuber, turned pro boxer. But since returning to the ring, KSI's level of opponent raises a lot of questions, having barely as much as taking a punch in his 3 times entering the ring, all of which was won in way of knockout. His first time back in the ring was facing debutant Swarmz , a man who had no boxing experience previous to his fight, there being no shocks when KSI took him out in the second round without as much as breaking a sweat. Later on in the same night, he returned to face Mexican pro boxer, Luis Alcaraz Pineda who held a pro record of 2-7 at the time of their fight. The Mexican was out of his depth on the night, whether it was down to the intensity of the Brit's pace, or the sold out 02 arena being a bit overwhelming for the young man, and was taken out in the third round, having barely thrown a punch in the entire fight. KSI, otherwise known as JJ, took pride in the fact he was fighting a pro boxer before Jake Paul, who had been a lot more active in the pro scene. JJ's third fight since his return was facing Faze Temper, who entered the ring with a record of 2-1. There was a lot of criticism for KSI when he took this fight, as fans had already seen Temper knocked out cold by rival and potential alternative opponent, Slim. In respect to the British youtuber, all of his fights since his return were not his first choice opponent, being forced to find them as replacements due to pullouts from the original scheduled fighters, but when you compare resumes between Jake Paul and KSI, it looks a bit worrying and that's even before Jake faces Tommy. KSI's pro career kicked of with a split decision over Logan Paul, something many fans recgonise as his only respectable win, while Jake has twice beat Tyrone Woodley and recently beat combat sports great, Anderson Silva. It can even be argued that Pauls victories over Ben Askren and Anesongib hold more weight in terms of opponents, so what does a fight with Fury mean for KSI? Pressure will definitely be added on picking his next opponent for starters, as he risks the fight slipping away from him, an importance of upping the level of competition being clear. The people being rumored not being good enough as his name is linked with Slim (6-0), Salt Papi (3-0) and Tyrone Woodley (0-2). While Salt Papi and Slim are good fights, and both are unbeaten, their wins have come to the hands of people in the influencer scene, something JJ must separate himself from if he wants to be taken seriously as a challenger. A rumored fight of Joe Fournier (9-0, 9ko's) would do just that. If KSI was to take on Joe next and get passed him, a lot of people would instantly put him on the same level as Jake, as comparisons could be made between Joe Fournier and Tommy Fury and some would argue that Joe is the tougher opponent. Fournier won the vacant WBA international light heavyweight belt by defeating Wilmer Mejia in the eighth round in the Dominican Republic, a fight that raised him the 11th in world ranking, by fighting him, KSI would boast a formidable opponent under his belt and gain a wealth of respect. I see this as KSI's only option now that Jake Paul is set to face Tommy Fury, a test is due for the British youtuber, now more than ever!

The veteran trainer Robert Garcia sees a flaw in the former unified lightweight champ, Teofimo Lopez’s approach as he thinks a new training team might be the answer to his ill fate. Lopez had a flying start to his professional career as he became the world champion at the age of just 22. The Takeover overwhelmed Vasyl Lomachenko to get his name carved on the world title but since then hasn’t been able to impress the fans. The Vegas native has been under immense pressure after losing to George Kambosos Jr. back in November 2021. That loss shattered his confidence and has never been the same afterwards. Lopez survived a scare against Sandor Martin in December last year where he got a split decision in his favour which many thought could have gone easily to the Spaniard. Now with Lopez gearing up for another run at the title, coach Garcia thinks that Lopez just needs a fresh environment to get back in the mix. “Teofimo is a great person. He’s a good fighter for boxing too, so I would love to see him perform well and get well and do the right thing. Maybe have better training camps and have better sparring partners.” said Garcia when asked what has been going wrong for Lopez. Lopez is by no means an ordinary fighter as he climbed to the top quite early in his career. Garcia could have a valid reason for Lopez’s bad form. As of now, Lopez has no fight lined up for the coming months. The 25-year-old has decided to take some time out and refresh his mind before he can again vouch for the world title.

Following an injury sustained while competing against Jared Gordon at UFC 282 in December, Paddy Pimblett (20-3) will stay on the sidelines for a considerable future. 'The Baddy' injured his ankle during the contentious match, which the judges unanimously decided in his favour. Pimblett left the cage in discomfort after suffering an ankle injury, which he believes was caused by Gordon's opening leg kick. He had the injured ankle checked out by a doctor, according to a recent VLOG broadcast on the fighter's YouTube page. Former Cage Warriors champion Pimblett has four victories under his belt and is currently unbeaten inside the UFC octagon. The goal of "The Baddy" was to be prepared for UFC 286 in March. UFC Welterweight Champion Leon Edwards will defend his title against former champion Kamaru Usman in the London event. However, a recent visit to the doctor revealed that Pimblett won't be able to compete on the card. In addition to suffering from significant swelling, "The Baddy" has lost cartilage in the affected area. Even worse, the ligaments surrounding the Liverpudlian's fibula have been damaged in a Grade 2 way. When it comes to such injuries, Grade 2 normally denotes anything between 10 and 90% of the affected area being torn. Usually, it takes several weeks to fully recover. If everything goes according to plan, "The Baddy" should be able to return before the year is over.

The UFC president Dana White has briefed the media about why his Power Slap League’s 2023 launch was moved back a week. One of the most talked about events in the fighting community, Power Slap League received a major hit when its creator, Dana White was found having a feud with his wife in public. The league was already surrounded by controversies since its creation and was on the brink of being abandoned after the White incident but its production team somehow managed to keep this idea alive as we are just a few days away from its first official event. The league was supposed to debut last week but a fresh clash between president Dana White and his wife Anne during a New Year’s Eve nightclub party delayed its commencement. The fans were left pondering what led to its delay but now White himself has come forward and given an explanation of what led to its postponement. White was talking to the media at the UFC Vegas 67 post-fight press conference and clarified the reasons for moving it one week back. “It’s insanely entertaining, and people are gonna like it,” White said. “We pushed it back a week because I was supposed to do a whole media tour, which obviously wasn’t going to happen when I got back [from Mexico].” White has claimed that the league is good to go as its major partner TBS sees this as a massive public attraction but believes it will take time to reach that level.

People often say 'third times the charm' in life and in the case of Jake Paul and Tommy Fury, it might well be the case after reports that a fight agreement has been made between the two big personalities to finally settle their long standing rivalry, in a huge showdown in Saudi Arabia. A lot of fans will be skeptical on whether or not Tommy Fury, younger brother of the WBC heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury, will make it the squared circle come fight night, having already backed out twice of a fight with the youtuber turned pro boxer. The first one put down to injury and the second cancellation being down to visa issues, that permitted Fury from entering the United States. Supposedly, to get the fight to happen, Paul offered Fury his biggest career pay day with a mega 2,500,000 dollar offer for the fight, an even bigger offer than his two previous scheduled bouts with the Englishman. These two fighters have been no stranger to controversy over the years, both in their own lives and when they clash, making no secret of their shared hatred for one another, something that makes for quite the story line. It has been reported that a possible date has been made which will see these two showdown on the 25th of February, meaning the fight many fans have been eagerly awaiting may be closer than we all realized. Expect fireworks in and out of the ring, both men will feel they have a lot to lose and a lot to prove. A look at the tale of the tape shows this to be quite the intriguing match up, with the two young stars currently unbeaten and clash quite well. Jake will come into the fight with a slight height advantage, but a healthy reach advantage, while Tommy enters the ring with a vast of boxing experience, something he is likely to utilize against the American. Tommy's jab is far superior to Jake's, as well as his movement and general boxing IQ, but has question marks on his chin and shot selection, while Jake comes into this bout with explosive power and a strong overhand right that threatens Fury come fight night. Whether this fight will make fight night or not, expect to see a lot of controversy from here on out with a lot of spiteful back and forth between the two.

Muhammad Mokaev vs. Jafel Filho at flyweight is the latest addition to March's UFC 286 card. When Mokaev (9-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) faces Filho (14-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC) at the March 18 event at The O2 in London, he will attempt to continue his ascent up the division with dreams of becoming the After defeating Roybert Echeverria via first-round knockout on DWCS, Filho is making his UFC debut. During his time with Shooto Brasil and P2 Fight, Filho has won five straight fights. All five of his previous victories have resulted in a finish. Mokaev returns after submitting Malcolm Gordon in the third round at UFC 280 in October. With recent victories over former LFA champion Charles Johnson and Cody Durden, he is 3-0 in the UFC. Mokaev, 22, is one of the flyweight division's most promising prospects. Prior to last year, when he signed with the UFC, he had productive runs with Celtic Gladiator and Brave CF. Recently, Mokaev underwent surgery after suffering a shoulder dislocation. Despite this, he intends to make a comeback at UFC 286 as he had planned to do in 2023. The most recent addition to UFC 286 is Mokaev/Filho. Rafael Fiziev and Justin Gaethje's lightweight matchup has also recently been added. A welterweight title trilogy between Leon Edwards and Kamaru Usman will be the main event of UFC 286.

Since his knockout loss to Ngannou, Miocic's resurrection has been in jeopardy. The most prolific heavyweight in the UFC era, he won three title fights throughout his first reign as champion, which included a decision victory against then-rival Ngannou. Before giving up the title, he won two rematches and exacted revenge on Cormier for a devastating setback. Since losing the title to Ngannou in March 2021 by knockout, Miocic has so far not engaged in a fight. Nevertheless, the 40-year-old firefighter and paramedic believe a match with the new champion in July would be ideal. For a brief period, Miocic served on the receiving group for Jones' heavyweight introduction. Jones said a matchup with Miocic was planned for UFC 282 in December. Dana White, president of the UFC, later told journalists the idea was not in the cards. Jones and Miocic were supposed to compete against each other throughout 2022, but because of scheduling conflicts, Jones was paired with Gane. “Stipe is still obviously very much in the mix,” UFC president Dana White said on Saturday, minutes after confirming the heavyweight division’s major happenings. “He’s going through some stuff right now that he’s dealing with. The timing just didn’t work for him.” At UFC 218, Miocic and Jones were initially scheduled to square off, with Jones going higher in weight to take on the reigning champion. That plan was abandoned after Jones failed a drug test, according to White. It is not clear at this time if the UFC has plans for a match between the winner of the most anticipated bout between Jones and Gane versus Stipe Miocic in July. However, it is not uncommon for fighters to express their desire for specific opponents or matches on social media or in interviews. Jon Jones is a highly decorated mixed martial artist and a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest fighters in the history of the sport. Ciryl Gane is a French mixed martial artist and a rising contender in the UFC's Heavyweight division. He has an impressive professional record. Both of these fighters have only 1 loss in their MMA career. A match between these two fighters would be highly anticipated by fans and could have major implications for the Heavyweight division's rankings and future title opportunities. As for Miocic, he is a former UFC Heavyweight Champion, and a match between him and the winner of Jones vs Gane would be exciting to watch as well.

Just two days past his first round knockout victory over Faze Temper, KSI headed over to address his future to his fans on a twitter space. Inside the space was fellow fighters Anthony Taylor and Paul Bamba, adding to the spice of the live talk. Anthony Taylor, who lost a MD to KSI's stableman Idris Virgo, was keen on discussing a future showdown with KSI himself as he suggested an eliminator showdown to earn the showdown with the Brit. His suggestion being him facing Joe Fournier and Salt Papi facing off with Tyrone Woodley, before facing the winners off to earn the big KSI fight. An idea that landed well with a few of the fans that was listening live and would surely be stuck on the youtuber's mind as a potential set up to his return to the ring. KSI's former PT jumped into the space to address Anthony Taylor's KSI call out, saying "you lost your ticket" referring to his loss on the Misfits x DAZN 004 undercard, something that the American MMA fighter, turned boxer agreed with, further expressing his desire to set up the eliminators to earn back the right to call him out, while showing Leon a lot of respect. KSI was then asked about if he would ever let Dillon Danis have an opportunity to fight on a Misfits boxing card after his pullout on the main event, with KSI responding with - "the only way he'd get on, is if he had to pay money if he pulled out." Jake Paul was a recurring talking point across the whole twitter space, nearly being involved in every question that KSI was asked, with the British youtuber expressing his desire to sit back and asses his options to bring the super fighter closer, with a emphasis on upping the level and avoiding fighting fellow influencers. "Everyone is always going to slate everything I do, until I fight Jake Paul" - KSI when addressing criticism of the rumored future opponents "Jake looked kind of worried, I'm not going to lie. I don't think he expected me to do that." - KSI on whether he saw Jake Paul's reaction to his knockout (pictured below). The live was ended off with KSI being asked about a potential bout with Jay Swingler who is 1-0 under the Misfits stable, "I don't think Jay would want to fight me, I don't think many people would want to fight me after what they saw me do to Temper".

With the announcement of the potential match-up between the UFC legend Jon Jones and Ciryl Gane, the UFC heavyweight division’s future looks brighter now. The bout will be headlining the main event UFC 285 which will take place on March 4, 2023, at the T-Mobile Arena facility in Paradise, Nevada, Las Vegas. The showdown will be for the heavyweight title which got vacated as Francis Ngannou was released by UFC. Dana White revealed that the promotion will be terminating The Predator’s contract despite one fight left in his contract. Now that everything is making its path, the gloomy clouds are still over UFC heavyweight prospect Curtis Blaydes. He has been on the list of fighters who were likely to face Jon Jones in his comeback. Curtis Blaydes has stated that he understands why the UFC has booked the Jon Jones vs. Ciryl Gane fight, but he also acknowledges that the match-up is not based solely on meritocracy. He likely means that Jones and Gane were chosen to fight each other based on factors other than their current rankings or recent performance in the octagon. “Obviously I’ve seen the news, Gane is getting another title shot vs. Jones,” Blaydes wrote on Facebook. “Most likely I’ll be getting the Pavolich who just beat Tuivasa. That’s cool with me, I get why Gane got the shot and it wasn’t based off meritocracy and that’s not a news flash, the UFC is always gonna to match make based off who puts the most asses in the stands and eyes on the fight. I hope I’ll only need one more win to prove I can put asses in the stands and get a title shot.” Several factors likely led to the booking of the Jon Jones vs. Ciryl Gane fight. Some of these include: Jon Jones is a former champion and one of the biggest stars in the sport, so the UFC likely wants to keep him active and in high-profile matchups. Jones and Gane have different fighting styles which can make this fight an exciting one. Promotional aspect and the fans' demand for this match up. There is nothing new when it comes to the announcement of such a match-up. UFC has been a business-oriented promotion and knows how to attract money. A clear example is the clash of Petr Yan vs Sean O’Malley even though there was a big difference between their rankings. But the fan favorite Suga generated good numbers. After receiving criticism from UFC President Dana White for failing to support his comments against fighter compensation and the UFC's business operations with aggressive performances that would win him fans, Blaydes decided to make the shift. White lauded the heavyweight's abilities but asserted that he was performing incorrectly and needed to keep occupied. Blaydes, 31, has won seven of his last eight fights and three in a row. He hasn't participated in the competition since defeating Tom Aspinall in July through TKO as a consequence of an injury. Blaydes currently ranks #4 in the division. He stated that because the Jones bout was not on the board, his next opponent, if not Pavlovich, would have to be a higher-ranked opponent. “Long as my next opponent is ranked higher than me (which somehow Pavlovich is now) I’m down to fight,” Blaydes wrote on Instagram.

George Kambosos Jr. has given the deadline on his return to the ring and it’s likely the Australian will be back in action in late April or early May. The former unified lightweight champion hasn’t had a great time in 2022 as he lost his titles to American Devin Haney. In their rematch back in October, Kambosos Jr. was unable to impress the audience as he looked off-colour and was no match to Haney’s superior ring IQ. At one point in time, the ‘Ferocious’ even indicated calling off on his professional career but has now hinted that he will be making his comeback in the early part of 2023. “It looks like the end of April or the start of May, I’ll fight. It’ll give me a good period to heal up from the three big fights. Lopez, Haney, and Haney again, all within a year.” said George Kambosos Jr to Fighthype. Earlier, Kambosos Jr. dismissed the offer to fight the division’s newcomer, Shakur Stevenson, insisting that he wanted some time out to recover from the losses. With Stevenson’s option now out of the sight, it’s likely he could be facing either Joseph ‘Jojo’ Diaz or Jezreel Corrales. The Aussie fighter stipulated that he will be fighting a former champ on his home soil of Sydney. “We’re all in the talks. It’ll be a former world champion. It looks like it could be in Sydney. It could be in Vegas as well. There are a lot of options and possibilities.” added Kambosos Jr. Kambosos Jr. needs a big performance on his return if he wants to stay relevant at 135.

The former interim lightweight champ Justin Gaethje is set to make his return to the ring this spring against highly talented Rafael Fiziev at UFC 286. The Highlight, Gaethje has been out of action for quite some time now after losing to the Brazilian submission specialist, Charles Oliveira in April 2022. The Highlight was inches away from the title but really couldn’t finish the job. Now the 34-year-old is again starting his run to the top from the scratch but he will have a stern test coming his way in the form of Fiziev. Fiziev is on an absolute roll in the UFC, winning all of his last six fights inside the octagon. But the manner in which they have come has taken everyone by surprise. In his last fight, the ‘Ataman’ shocked the onlookers by finishing the former champ, Rafael dos Anjos. Fiziev entered the fight as an underdog but that didn’t stop him from showcasing his talent as he landed a devastating left hook in the final round to seal the deal. In his run of six wins, it includes victories over Bobby Green, Renato Moicano and Brad Riddell. The Gaethje-Fiziev duel will probably decide the next no.1 contender in the division to contest for the lightweight strap. So that adds extra pressure on the fighters involved in this bout.

Anthony Joshua's long awaited return to boxing looks to be set in motion with the Brit set to face off with Jermaine Franklin (21-0, 14 ko's), who's sole defeat came to a narrow points loss to AJ rival, Dillian Whyte. AJ will be entering the ring, off the back of a two loss streak, both being points decisions to the hands of Ukrainian, Oleksandr Usyk and will be looking to kick start his return to the top and reclaim his world titles, but looks to be facing a formidable opponent in that first step in the journey. A lot of people had Franklin up on the scorecards when he took on the 'bodysnatcher' Dillian Whyte, so fans know that this isn't going to be an easy fight for the two-time world champion, but the fight news has come with its fair share of criticism, with many fans wishing for more of a test, throwing names such as Hrgovic, Otto Wallin and fellow countryman in Dillian Whyte. A lot of names have been thrown at the Brit, but it looks to be set in stone that he will be making his return to the ring against Jermaine Franklin, who he himself will be looking to shake off his own recent defeat. In a fight looking to be set for April, Joshua will be needing to create a statement when he enters the squared circle, with all of his rivals on the up and threatening to leave him behind to obscurity. Deontay Wilder made his return, cooly dispatching off Helenius, while Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk hold the belts of the division, along with their unbeaten records. The future of the heavyweight division is starting to shape up nicely, should the right fights be made, with a lot of big names and big personalities in the division. A potential unification battle between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk looms. Deontay Wilder came back with a bang. Anthony Joshua seeks redemption and a few names lurk in the shadows awaiting their chances, in Joe Joyce and Daniel Dubouis. No matter what can be said for AJ's next fight, there can be no denying that the future sparks promise.