Christopher Reive looks at the week that was and the weekend ahead in combat sports. This week, featuring an interview with UFC star Tyson Pedro.
A cautionary tale, starring UFC light heavyweight Tyson Pedro
Remember December 2018? The world was vibing to Ariana Grande's Thank U, Next and Drake's album Scorpion. Jason Momoa was gracing theatres everywhere with his take on Arthur Curry. Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder had just fought to a draw in what would be the first of three fought between the two. And I was on my honeymoon in Fiji drinking cocktails by the pool. In summary, it was a great time for most.
For Tyson Pedro, it was the start of a long, dark era in his career.
The Australian UFC light heavyweight, then ranked No14 in the world, was in the biggest spot of his life – taking on Brazilian legend and former champion Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua in the co-main event of a Fight Night in Adelaide. The fight was going reasonably well for the rising Australian – until it wasn't. Pedro lost the fight via third-round TKO, suffering an ACL injury in the process.
"The initial one, I knew it straight after the fight. I didn't even need to see the doctor," he recalls. "I heard it snap so I was ready to go and knew it was going to be nine months and then I'd be back on the horse."
But it wasn't nine months.
While in New Zealand training at Auckland's City Kickboxing for a bout scheduled for the 2020 card in Auckland, Pedro got tripped awkwardly while grappling and tore his meniscus, forcing him out of the fight. He got it repaired, but did the same injury while training at home during the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic in Australia. After getting his knee looked at, the surgeon found his ACL had not repaired properly. He had to have yet another major surgery, and his initial thought of a nine-month layoff became three-and-a-half years, with the 30-year-old set to return in late April.
"Each one is three months, laying in bed, your wife looking after you," Pedro recalls. "You just get f***ing over it. It was all a test.
"A lot of good came out of it, but, shit, surely I could have gotten the lessons some other way."
Moral of the story: injuries are no fun; even when you're taking the appropriate steps to recover, there could be an issue. Also, what you see of an athlete while they're performing – be it in the cage, footy field, netball court, wherever – is only a minuscule glimpse of the work they put into their craft and we should all appreciate them.
The time wasn't without its bright spots. He and his wife welcomed their daughter into the world - who Pedro says taught him "how to relove again" - and with no UFC money coming is as he wasn't competing, Pedro launched several businesses to keep himself busy with work.
Now fit and ready to go once more, Pedro will meet Ike Villanueva (18-13) at a Fight Night on April 24 looking to get the ball rolling inside the octagon again.
With members of City Kickboxing currently stuck in Australia, including coaches Eugene Bareman and Mike Angove, and UFC stars Carlos Ulberg and Blood Diamond, Pedro has been training with them as well as UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski at Freestyle Fighting Gym in Wollongong to prepare himself.
It could be a sign of things to come for Pedro, who told me he was looking into relocating his family to New Zealand following his upcoming fight, so stay tuned on that front.
The Gypsy King's farewell tour?
Over in the boxing world, WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury made a rather shocking revelation that his upcoming bout against Dillian Whyte could be his last as he considers hanging up the gloves. I can only imagine my reaction was the same to most people: is he, though?
Fury, at the tender age of 33, noted the fact he's rich beyond his wildest dreams and still a picture of health at this point in his career, and there was no need to continue – aside from entertaining the idea of a one-off special bout against current UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou. Of course, that's a fight we'll all pay to see – whatever special rules may be attached to it – but it's getting away from the bigger picture in that we are so close to being in a position to see an undisputed championship fight in the heavyweight division. The winner of Fury v Whyte surely moves on to face the winner of Oleksandr Usyk v Anthony Joshua's rematch for the WBO, WBA, IBO and IBF titles to find the first undisputed king of the heavyweights since Lennox Lewis in 2000. It's the second part of that equation where things might hit a snag, with Usyk committing himself to the Ukranian defence efforts for the foreseeable future (more on that below).
That could mean Fury is left waiting should he get passed Whyte, when a different place in history is just a win away. Should Fury hang up his gloves with a win over Whyte, he would finish his career unbeaten in 33 career bouts and join Rocky Marciano as the only heavyweight champions to retire unbeaten. Of course, this could all just be a marketing move to try and sell a card headlined by a bout in which many expect something of a clinic. Either way, I'll be buying it to watch Fury's 'last fight'... so, I guess, job done?
The war in Ukraine
If you have any feeling other than understanding for Oleksandr Usyk opting to return to his home country, taking up arms and joining the territorial defense battalion to fight against the Russian forces, you should probably take a look at yourself. In a shocking turn of events, there are, indeed, things bigger in this world than sports. As Usyk said of his decision: 'My soul belongs to the Lord and my body and my honor to my country.' In an interview with CNN – which he conducted from a basement in Kyiv – Usyk noted it wasn't just invading forces they needed to be aware of, but looters as well.
Usyk is just one of many Ukrainian sporting heroes to make such a decision. Former three-weight boxing world champion Vasily Lomachenko has also done so, putting the potential of a blockbuster bout against unified lightweight champion George Kambosos Jr. In Australia late this year in serious doubt. The Klitschko brothers, Wladimir and Vitali, have also taken up arms and reports say they are two of 24 people of a 'kill list' kept by Russian president Vladimir Putin. Vitali is currently the Mayor of Kyiv, where the initial attacks have taken place.
Retired tennis player Sergiy Stakhovsky, reigning Bellator MMA welterweight champion Yaroslav Amosov, former English Premier League defender Oleh Luzhnyi and Yuriy Vernydub, who recently managed Moldovan outfit Sheriff Tiraspol to a famous Champions League win over Real Madrid, are among others who have also joined the defence efforts.
Teamwork makes the dream work
With the Russian and Ukrainian teams out of the International MMA Federation's Super Cup event in Bahrain next week, Oceania has been called up to take one of the vacant spots.
Matt Toa from Hammerhead MMA in Dunedin will be one of the coaches leading the team, which features New Zealand's Alisha Burtt (bantamweight), Prashanth Guda (featherweight), Kasib Murdoch-McKeich (lightweight), Mitchell Kelly (welterweight), and Jonas Grace (middleweight). Australian-based Abraham Paku (heavyweight) was expected to compete, but was forced to withdraw due to "document issues and other complications".
Oceania will take on Ireland in the first round of the Cup. Nine fighters will be part of each team, consisting of seven men and two women across different weight divisions, and the first team to make it to five victories moves on. The event is scheduled to begin on March 9 (local time)
This weekend
Kiwi in action alert - Michelle Montague will make her professional debut on Saturday afternoon (NZ time) in the Professional Fighters League challenger series, where one of the eight athletes fighting will join the US$1m tournament bracket for the season ahead.
I talked about Montague's rise last week, which you can revisit here. The PFL challenger series will be broadcast on Sky Sport 4 from 3pm. If you're not familiar with the PFL, I will warn you now that the pacing of their shows is horrific - they have a two-and-a-half hour broadcast for just four fights.
In the UFC, the sideshow that has been Colby Covington v Jorge Masvidal will meet its climax on Sunday afternoon when the highly ranked welterweight contenders square off. Former training partners turned bitter rivals, the fight has been an easy sell for the UFC in terms of pushing a storyline and the bout itself should really be quite good. That chat between the two leaves a lot to be desired though - I saw on UFC pundit say after Friday's press conference that it had made him want to watch the fight less... so sort of the opposite of what those pressers are supposed to do.
Australian lightweight Jamie Mullarkey is also on the card, and his bout against American Jalin Turner should end up being a contender for Fight of the Night. Great matchmaking in that one. That's the last fight on the free part of the card (ESPN and Sky Sport Now), before the pay-per-view section (available on Sky Arena, Sky Sport Now and Spark Sport) which features five bouts, headlined by Covington and Masvidal.
In boxing, the bout between Roman 'Chocolatito' Gonzalez and Julio Cesar Matrinez should be a great contest at super flyweight, with Chocolatito looking to bounce back from losing his world titles to Juan Francisco Estrada last time out. That card goes down on Sunday (NZT). Also on the card will be the debut of young Australian Skye Nicolson, who moves into the pro ranks after an impressive amateur career.
