UFC 313 is almost here, and everyone is busy picking sides and making predictions. Will it be Alex Pereira‘s thunderous punches or Magomed Ankalaev‘s relentless wrestling that prevails? Israel Adesanya and Colby Covington ( a wrestler!) are both picking the champion to prevail. Why? Read the latest edition of our MMA News Roundup to find out!

We’ll begin the journey with Adesanya and other fighters’ picks for UFC 313 main event. And then, we’ll follow the training regime of Charlie Cox, the actor leading Marvel’s Daredevil: Born Again. Finally, we’ll take a look at Stephen A. Smith and Dana White slamming the fight between Gervonta Davis and Lamont Roach. So without any further ado, let’s dive right in!

Israel Adesanya and Colby Covington pick Alex Pereira to win at UFC 313

Taking to his YouTube channel, Israel Adesanya weighed in on the upcoming fight between Alex Pereira and Ankalaev. ‘The Last Stylebender’ pointed out that the elephant in the Octagon was Pereira’s leg licks. But coming to UFC 313, ‘Poatan’ might just have become a wrestler, too. Well, he is a black belt in BJJ and is getting better at the fighting style. But would it be enough for him to secure a win against Ankalaev? Izzy certainly thinks so. He said, “I just think this is going to go leg kicks, leg kicks, leg kicks, left hook. Alex Pereira by KO. … He’s going to knock him out in the fourth or fifth round.”

Adesanya is not alone. Colby Covington and Robert Whittaker also weighed in on the matchup between the light heavyweights. When Covington asked ‘The Reaper’ about his prediction, Whittaker chose the Brazilian champ. He said, “It’s so hard. It’s either Pereira knocks him out or he gets held down for 5 rounds. I’m gonna go with Pereira. Just because every round starts with them on their feet and Pereira hits so hard.” ‘Chaos’ agreed with Whittaker. Pereira indeed had a knack for weakening his opponents with his calf kicks. And that’s why he chose Pereira as well. 

We would still have to wait for Saturday to witness the outcome of the matchup. But one thing is for certain. It’d be pretty entertaining. And you know what else is entertaining? Marvel’s new series, ‘Daredevil: Born Again’. After all, the actor trained with an MMA veteran. 

‘Daredevil: Born Again’ actor trained with MMA veteran

Yes, you read that right! Charlie Cox trained together with Chris Fields, the Irishman with a professional MMA record of 12-8-1. According to an IG post by MMA Island, Fields said, “He [Cox] started doing hour-long sessions and they turn into two hours. He had a few like kind of move-arounds with very high-level amateurs in the gym, Roman David, he had to move around with him in the cage. We were kind of doing some light sparring and stuff like that. He enjoyed that, too.”

Well, the actor succeeded in surprising the veteran. Fields claimed that Cox would go through his sessions and yet return with a smile on his face the next day. Needless to say, that is reflected in the acrobatic fight sequences in the series. Even the visual shared on Instagram focused on how Cox was molding himself into the character of the blind vigilante of Hell’s Kitchen while training. 

Moving from reel-life action back to real-life action, let’s look at the final story in today’s episode. Dana White promised a big change in the realm of boxing after he signed the deal to bring in TKO Boxing into the world. And his first order of business? Lay bare the deplorable state of boxing with Stephen A. Smith!

Stephen A. Smith and Dana White reveal the truth behind boxing

During the recent episode of First Talk on ESPN, Smith and White had a talk regarding the shortcomings of boxing. Smith pointed out, “The problem with boxing in my estimation is that one ‘L’ is an excuse to allow interest to diminish. That’s recent. Back in the day, that wasn’t the case with boxing. When you brought up the great ones, they all had, most of them had an ‘L’. In UFC, you don’t have to be undefeated to be considered great, and to be considered somebody that will put forth a great event.” 

But Dana White had a plan to clean that slate. He revealed that his son was in attendance of the Gervonta Davis vs. Lamont Roach fight. However, his review was heartbreaking. White said, “He said, ‘The live event was terrible.’ It was disorganized. We’re going to clean that up and make the live events great again too.”

White has always maintained his dissatisfaction with the production of boxing events. In comparison with the much faster-paced UFC events, boxing events are slower. And, at the end of the main event, there are too many people from both sides in the ring – something White abhors. Think back to the brawls in the UFC (like UFC 229); one spark and everything would be up in flames.

So, all we need to do as fight fans is wait and watch White make boxing great again.

Who do you think would win the fight between Pereira and Ankalaev? Did you watch the action scenes from Daredevil: Born Again? How well did Cox perform in the live-action series? What are your thoughts on White’s move to the realm of boxing? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.