The Weekend Bulletin

A quick snapshot at the weekend that was.

Biggest Upset: Mario Heredia (+800) over Samuel Peter

Notable New Champions:

• OneFC Strawweight Champion: Joshua Pacio
• Unified Women’s World Middleweight Champion: Claressa Shields
• Interim UFC Middleweight Champion: Israel Adesanya
• Interim UFC Lightweight Champion: Dustin Poirier
• Fight To Win Pro Women’s Strawweight Champion: Mayssa Bastos
• IBF Women’s World Featherweight Champion: Brenda Karen Carbajal

A Few Storylines Going Forward:

1. The Future is Now: Well, a couple title pictures in the UFC got a whole-lot more crystal clear. After two absolutely brilliant and riveting interim title fights, two new interim champions have been crowned and two title pictures are set. Israel Adesanya and Dustin Poirier turned in breathtaking performances against their championship-level opposition, and have earned their title shots against Robert Whittaker and Khaibib Nurmagomedov, respectively. I detest interim titles, but at the very least, it gives us a chance to get properly excited (until someone drops out with an injury).
2. Who’s Next?: Against a better-than-his-record shows Anthony Crolla, who some were giving much more hope than was warranted, Vasyl Lomachenko once again showed that he’s probably the best active puglist in the sport with an absolute trouncing in four rounds. Crolla was a WBA mandatory challenger, so now that Loma has some flexibility? Loma himself says maybe Luke Campbell, maybe Mikey Garcia. Has Arum warmed up on the Garcia idea that he cooled off on after Garcia’s no-show against Errol Spence? We shall see what the future holds for Hi-Tech.
3. Who’s Left?: After Claressa Shields’s historic win over Christina Hammer, her last foe to becoming the undisputed middleweight champion and biggest female boxer in the world, the only question remaining is…what now? The only fight that makes any kind of sense as far as competitiveness and stature that’s even remotely doable is a catchweight bout with Cecilia Braekhus. Is it far-fetched? Sure, absolutely.