Tom Aspinall returned to action and to the win column on Saturday at UFC London, and his post-fight callout has already garnered a response from Jon Jones and Ciryl Gane. Plus, Mark Zuckerberg earns his blue belt, a one-second KO, more comically bad celebrity boxing, and more! It’s your Sunday MMA Quick Hits for July 23, 2023!
Ciryl Gane, Jon Jones react to Tom Aspinall Callout
Two of the UFC’s top heavyweights have responded to a callout by UFC London victor Tom Aspinall.
Aspinall made short work of Marcin Tybura at the o2 Arena on Saturday, and proceeded to call out the winner of Ciryl Gane vs. Serghei Spivac at UFC Paris — saying he’d be in attendance for the fight. Aspinal added he’d beat the winner of that fight, then go on to fight and defeat heavyweight champ Jon Jones.
Well, both Gane and Jones have now responded. Lauding Aspinall for a “great performance,” Gane warned him to be “careful what you wish for.”
Great performance Tom, careful what you wish for.
See you in Paris 😉
— Ciryl Gane (@ciryl_gane) July 22, 2023
As for Jones, his response was simple. “Sounds good,” followed by a “lol.”
Sounds good lol
— BONY (@JonnyBones) July 22, 2023
Jones is widely believed to be nearing retirement. The former UFC light heavyweight champion returned from a self-imposed multi-year hiatus in March to defeat Gane, capturing the heavyweight title vacated by Francis Ngannou in the process.
Next up for “Bones” is his first heavyweight title defense, against Stipe Miocic at UFC 295 in November. After that, names like Sergei Pavlovich and Aspinall are in the mix, should Jones opt to continue fighting.
Fighter injures himself warming up in cage
All that pre-fight jumping and bouncing backfired for one fighter at FFC 64 in Lima, Peru this past Thursday.
Miguel Grijalva, an 8-0 flyweight, took a few sidesteps then jumped up ahead of his fight with Martin Mollinedo — only to suffer a potentially serious injury upon landing when his leg buckled. After receiving medical attention, Grijalva was removed from the cage, and the promoter actually announced Mollinedo as the winner of the fight — even though the opening bell never sounded.
It’s unlikely that decision will hold water, as the sport’s record-keepers are likely to consider this a cancelled bout, not a loss.
NO SE PUEDE CREER 😨
🤦🏻♂️ Miguel Grijalva 🇪🇨 entró al octágono con saltitos y malabares. Pero se torció la rodilla y se retiró antes de la pelea estelar de la #FFC64
🇵🇪 Martín Mollinedo resultó ganador#FFCxDSPORTSFight @javierganinmma @mveramoreira pic.twitter.com/CCQbjg6Wp9
— DSports (@DSports) July 21, 2023
One second KO?
Titan FC 83 witnessed a one-second head kick KO on Friday night — though whether that was actually one second probably deserves some debate.
Regardless, it’s a “freaky fast finish” (with apologies to the PFL) for Luis Hernandez, who delivered the kick on Brian Topp. Hernandez is now 3-0, Topp 1-5, so the matchmaking here was never stellar.
A ONE SECOND KO 🤯 #TitanFC83
(via @UFCFightPass) pic.twitter.com/YgFjFB3ff5
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) July 22, 2023
There have been a few complaints about the lack of a glove touch, especially given Hernandez had his arm extended — but he doesn’t appear to be making an effort to actually touch gloves, and you know the saying: “protect yourself at all times.”
Alan Belcher wins comically bad Misfits Boxing 8 bout against Chase DeMoor
How bad has this celebrity boxing trash become? At Misfits Boxing 8, UFC and BKFC vet Alan Belcher — as legit as they come in combat sports — took on Chase DeMoor, a so-called “influencer” (no clue as to why anyone would let him influence them on anything) best known for chucking a water bottle at Nate Diaz in New Orleans.
DeMoor was stepping up on 24 hours notice to replace Hasim Rahman Jr., an actual boxer. So in other words, a body with a name replacing an athlete. And things went as bad as you would expect. DeMoor refused to actually box, opting to clinch up — with his corner outright telling him to ignore the referee’s instructions to break the clinch.
At one point, DeMoor turned away from Belcher to retreat to his corner, which led to accusations of punches to the back of your head (maybe don’t turn your head!), which in turn led to DeMoor’s corner squabbling with the ref.
The entire fiasco should have been waved off, but that would have been a disservice to Belcher. He wound up securing a TKO victory when DeMoor again turned away from his opponent, forcing the ref to finally call the fight.
It’s really, really past time for this trend to be done. Celebrity boxing sucked twenty years ago. It sucks now, especially when the celebrity in question is paired up with a legit fighter.
Watch out! Zuck earns blue belt
Facebook/Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg has earned his blue belt. Watch out, Elon Musk!
Zuck earned the promotion under Dave Camarillo, and announced the news on Instagram.
