The lone major combat event this past week was a Bellator heavyweight title match between little known undefeated champion Vitaly Minakov (14-0) and former UFC heavyweight contender Cheick Kongo on Friday. Minakov scored a 48-46 unanimous decision by the judges and after the win said, “Now I feel like a real champion.”
Kind of odd for him to say that, when he hasn’t fought top tier guys in the heavyweight ranks, but the true test will be if makes the jump to the UFC and fights the heavyweights there.
Fox Sports first reported that UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones (19-1) requested random drug testing for his fight with Glover Teixeira (22-2) months before their April 26 bout at UFC 172. UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta told ESPN that the UFC has agreed to pay for the random drug testing conducted by the Maryland State Athletic Commission.
With the Nevada State Athletic Commission banning TRT, and UFC following suit, there has been a bigger emphasis on eliminating performance enhancing drugs from mixed martial arts. We’ll see what kind of impact Jones’ request for random drug testing will have in the future and how feasible it will be to randomly test all fighters.
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I hope you’re ready for the next three weeks, as there will be some major fights coming up, starting with UFC Fight Night: Nogueira vs Nelson this Friday, live from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
UFC heavyweight stars Antonio Minotauro Nogueria (34-8-1) and Roy Nelson (19-9) will be headlining the event, followed by Saturday’s mega boxing match between welterweights Manny Pacquiao (55-5-5) and Timothy Bradley (31-0) in Las Vegas.
That will be followed by next week’s UFC heavyweight title eliminator on Fox, when Fabricio Werdum (17-5-) takes on Travis Browne (16-1-1) for the right to fight UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez (13-1).
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The month will close out in Baltimore, with UFC 172, Jon Jones versus Brazil’s Glover Teixeira, a match that has been years in the making, with Teixeira on a 20-fight win streak and Jones’ lone loss being a disqualification.
April showers bring May flowers, but there’ll be no gloom this month for fight fans and TV Mix will be there for all the biggest events, kicking off with Pacquiao versus Bradley this week in the fight capital of the world.
David Kano is lead writer for MMA Show News and co-host of The Hollywood MMA Show. You can follow him on Twitter @TheDKano.
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SOURCE: TVMix.com
