Knockdown Daily 1/13/22: Jessica Delboni Earns Invicta FC Atomweight Championship
Jessica Delboni's win over Alesha Zappitella leads the MMA headlines for Thursday
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Welcome to the Thursday edition of the Knockdown Daily. Today’s an incredibly busy issue that discusses a ton of fight news. Let’s start.
Jessica Delboni Beats Alesha Zappitella In Rematch, Earns Atomweight Belt
Jessica Delboni avenged a loss and became the new Invicta FC Atomweight Champion on Wednesday night, going five rounds against Alesha Zappitella for a unanimous decision win.
The fight headlined Invicta FC 45, which took place Wednesday from Kansas City, Kansas, USA.
Delboni’s win came after a dominant performance that had a good mix of striking and grappling.
While Zappitella was able to take Delboni down at times, Delboni was often able to escape positions or reverse them to take control.
Delboni was the better striker throughout, landing more accurately and frequently than Zappitella.
Delboni previously lost a controversial split decision to Zappitella last year. That fight was Zappitella’s first win since earning the belt over Ashley Cummins in 2020.
Delboni earned a rematch later in the year, defeating three fighters in a one-night “Phoenix Series” tournament.
A full report on the card can be read here.
Here are the quick results:
Main Card (8:00PM EST / 7:00PM CST) (Youtube)
Bout 1: Sarah Kleczka def. Maria Favela via Decision, Split
Bout 2: Katie Saull def. Tamika Jones via Submission, Armbar (RD 1, 4:30)
Bout 3: Helen Peralta def. Elise Pone via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 4: Hailey Cowan def. Monica Franco via Submission, Rear Naked Choke (RD 2, 3:17)
Bout 5: Ramona Pascual def. Shamir Peshewa via TKO, Strikes (RD 1, 1:00)
Bout 6: Jessica Delboni def. Alesha Zappitella via Decision, Unanimous (Invicta FC Atomweight Championship)
UFC’s January 15th Card Sees Numerous Changes
UFC’s January 15th card has continued to suffer changes. The promotion’s first “Fight Night” event of the year lost three fights recently, although some are being replaced on short notice.
Gabriel Benitez has been pulled from his fight against TJ Brown, although Charles Rosa has already been named as the replacement opponent. The new matchup was reported by Ariel Helwani on Wednesday morning.
Benitez reportedly withdrew from his fight due to a health issue.
Brown usually competes at featherweight, although he will move up to lightweight to face Rosa in this short-notice fight. Brown earned his first UFC win last time around, defeating Kai Kamaka III in May.
Rosa will be fighting to bounce back from a unanimous decision loss that he took against Damon Jackson in October.
Saidyokub Kakhramonov won’t make his second UFC appearance on the card, as he has been removed from a fight against Brian Kelleher. News of this was first reported by Cole Shelton of MyMMANews.com.
UFC is currently targeting Kevin Croom to step in and face Kelleher on the card. The fight hasn’t been finalized as of yet, per Damon Martin of MMA Fighting.
Strawweights Silvana Gomez Juarez and Vanessa Demopoulos have also been taken out of the lineup, per MMA Fighting. However, their bout will still happen, as it has been booked for UFC 270 next week.
ONE Championship’s ‘Heavy Hitters’ Down To Eight Fights Due To COVID-19 Protocols
ONE Championship’s first event of 2022 has suffered numerous changes due to COVID-19 protocols. The promotion announced Wednesday that their “Heavy Hitters” card will proceed as eight bouts in total, down four fights compared to the start of the week.
The biggest hit to the card is the loss of a title bout.
A ONE Kickboxing Championship fight between Roman Kryklia and Murat Aygun that was scheduled for the co-main event has been removed from the lineup due to COVID-19 protocols.
Lower on the card, many fights were canceled and a new pairing was announced.
Elias Mahmoudi and Walter Goncalves, two Muay Thai fighters that were set to square off, were both stripped from the card Wednesday due to protocols.
Leandro Ataides had to withdraw from his fight against veteran Yushin Okami, forcing that bout out of the lineup as well.
Jeremy Miado and Robin Catalan were also taken out of their matchups. Their previously booked opponents, Senzo Ikeda and Elipitua Siregar will remain on the card in a new booking against each other.
These changes have shortened ONE Championship’s show and moved the prelim start time ahead by 90 minutes. The show is now expected to begin at 6:30AM EST, or 7:30PM local time.
Movsar Evloev, Poliana Botelho Out of UFC 270 Bouts
Two matchups have recently left the January 22nd UFC pay-per-view lineup. The fights were set to go down as part of UFC 270 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, USA.
There won’t be a battle of undefeated featherweights at UFC 270. Movsar Evloev has been pulled from his fight against Ilia Topuria, per an announcement made on Tuesday night.
Topuria was quick to ask for a replacement, calling on ranked featherweight Dan Ige to step in on short notice. It is unknown if that fight, or any new matchup, will be given to Topuria.
Flyweight Poliana Botelho has also been removed from her bout against Kim Ji-yeon, per a report from Farah Hannoun and Nolan King of MMA Junkie. It is unknown currently why Botelho withdrew from her fight. We also do not know if Kim will remain on the UFC 270 lineup.
Joaquin Buckley vs. Abdul Razak Alhassan Rebooked For February 19th UFC Card
A middleweight fight between Joaquin Buckley and Abdul Razak Alhassan has been booked again. The fight now finds itself on UFC’s February 19th “Fight Night” card, which is expected to take place at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
News of the fight was confirmed Tuesday on Buckley’s Instagram page.
The fight was previously attempted for UFC’s January 15th card but was later scrapped.
Alhassan snapped a three-fight winning streak in emphatic fashion last time around, stopping Alessio Di Chirico in just 17 seconds with a head kick in August.
Buckley is also coming off a finish win, having stopped Antonio Arroyo in the third round of a fight in September. That performance put him back into the win column after losing to Di Chirico in early 2021.
Four Fights Join March 26th UFC ‘Fight Night’ Card
UFC’s March 26th “Fight Night” event is starting to look like a complete card. The show gained four fights recently, joining a show that is expected to take place at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, USA.
Details on every fight can be read in the article link above.
Here are the new matchups:
Bout 4: Nate Landwehr (15-4) vs. Lerone Murphy (11-0-1) (Featherweight)
Bout 3: Joanne Wood (15-7) vs. Alexa Grasso (13-3) (Flyweight)
Bout 2: Matheus Nicolau (17-2-1) vs. David Dvorak (20-3) (Flyweight)
Bout 1: Aliaskhab Khizriev (13-0) vs. Abusupiyan Magomedov (24-4-1) (Middleweight)
Interview
After A Year of Growth, James Nakashima Is Back With A New Mindset
Before his fight on Friday, James Nakashima spoke with Knockdown News. He detailed how he has remained out of competition for the past year, allowing him to focus on training and improve as a fighter. He also discussed his plans to move to Italy this year and train with Giorgio Petrosyan.
The entire article can be read here.
Column
Throwback Thursday – UFC 36: Worlds Collide
For this week's Throwback Thursday, I looked at UFC 36. The heavyweight championship changed hands in the main event, although controversy would follow in the coming months.
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