MMA NEWS
**UFC president Dana White revealed on Wednesday that the main event of the UFC’s Fight Night card on August 1st is off. A scheduled bantamweight main event between Holly Holm and Irene Aldana will no longer take place on that card after Aldana had to withdraw due to an unknown reason. White confirmed that the middleweight fight on the card between Derek Brunson and Edmen Shahbazyan will be the new main event and will remain a three-round fight. ESPN’s Ariel Helwani noted that they are hoping to rebook Holm vs. Aldana for October 5th. Holm’s manager Lenny Fresquez told MMA Fighting that there was an attempt to find a new opponent for Holm but it didn’t come together. The manager stated that Holm wants to fight someone that will get her to a title fight and the two candidates would be Aldana or Aspen Ladd and Ladd is out due to injury.
Next Saturday’s Fight Night card will see the UFC return to Las Vegas, where the event is scheduled to take place from the UFC Apex.
**In a bit of a surprising fight announcement, Joanne Calderwood is taking a late notice fight against Jennifer Maia on August 1st. Calderwood was scheduled to fight flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko this past June but an injury to the champion delayed the fight. After Viviane Araujo was removed from her fight with Maia, Calderwood agreed to take the fight on short notice. Calderwood has won three of her last four fights coming off a split decision against Andrea Lee last September. Maia posted back-to-back decision victories against Alexis Davis and Roxanne Modafferi until dropping a decision to Katlyn Chookagian last November at UFC 244.
**Araujo was forced to withdraw from the fight against Maia after she was screened in Las Vegas and tested positive for COVID-19. The news of Araujo’s positive test was first reported at MMA Fighting.
**UFC welterweight contender Gilbert Burns announced that his latest COVID-19 test came back negative earlier this week. Burns was forced to withdraw from his title fight against Kamaru Usman at UFC 251 earlier this month after testing positive for the virus. Burns spoke to MMA Fighting and said he quarantined for two weeks after the positive test and still feels some of the effects and feels “85%”. His coaches have advised him to take another two weeks off. Burns told the website that he spoke with Dana White this past weekend, who told him he was next in line to fight Usman.
**Prior to this Saturday’s trilogy fight with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, 44-year old Antonio Rogerio Nogueira has indicated it may be his last fight. Nogueira spoke to the media in Abu Dhabi and cited injuries that have been tough to deal with over the past three years that forced him to withdraw from several fights. Rua holds two wins over Nogueira after they first met in the PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix in June 2005 with Rua winning by decision and had a rematch in August 2015 at UFC 190 where Rua won by decision again. Since 2015, Nogueira has only fought four times with his last fight taking place in May 2019 when he was knocked out by Ryan Spann.
**For Canadians this Saturday, TSN’s coverage of the UFC Fight Night card begins with the prelims at 6 pm Eastern on TSN2 and TSN5. The main card will air at 8 pm on TSN3 and TSN5 and they will also carry the post-show at 11 pm on TSN5.
**Bellator has made a change to its Friday night after Steve Mowry tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday. Mowry was set to fight Rudy Schaffroth and they are attempting to keeping Schaffroth on the card. Between Rounds Radio was the first to report that Bellator is attempting to put Ras Hylton into the vacant slot on the preliminary card.
**Titan FC is holding a card in Miami on Thursday night that will stream on UFC Fight Pass. They are scheduled to hold six fights with the main event featuring Jared Gooden taking on Trent McCown. Over the course of the next week, there will be events from Titan FC, Bellator, UFC, LFA, and Invicta FC.
ON THIS DATE
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REWIND-A-WAI #66: NOAH Destiny 2005
John Pollock and Wai Ting review Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Destiny 2005 from the Tokyo Dome featuring Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada and Kenta Kobashi vs. Kensuke Sasaki.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2020/07/21/rewind-a-wai-66-noah-destiny-2005/
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REWIND-A-RAW 7/20/20: RK-Show, Ric Flair Off Raw, BTE
John Pollock and Wai Ting discuss WWE Raw and the fallout from The Horror Show at Extreme Rules, the NY Post’s story on Ric Flair, and your feedback.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2020/07/21/rewind-a-raw-7-20-20-rk-show-ric-flair-off-raw-bte/
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WWE THE HORROR SHOW AT EXTREME RULES POST SHOW
John Pollock & Wai Ting review WWE The Horror Show at Extreme Rules featuring Braun Strowman vs. Bray Wyatt in a Swamp Match, Asuka vs. Sasha Banks for the Raw Women’s Championship, and Seth Rollins vs. Rey Mysterio in an Eye for an Eye Match.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2020/07/20/wwe-the-horror-show-at-extreme-rules-post-show/
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IMPACT SLAMMIVERSARY POST SHOW
John Pollock is joined by Nate Milton and Davie Portman for a review of Impact Wrestling’s Slammiversary pay-per-view as they crowned a new Impact champion and had multiple surprises.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2020/07/19/impact-slammiversary-post-show/
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REWIND-A-SMACKDOWN 7/17/20: Bro-Home Show, AEW/NXT, Horror Show Preview
John Pollock & Wai Ting review Friday Night SmackDown, discuss the AEW vs. NXT ratings, the NY Times covers Hana Kimura and a preview of Sunday’s Extreme Rules.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/39443878
*****
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