A&K Fight Night:Fight Night 161 Preview, Jones v Adesanya beef, Fedor v Rampage announced plus more

This week's A&K Fight Night features a preview for the upcoming UFC Fight Night 161 event, Jon Jones and Israel Adesanya's twitter beef, and the possibility of the two fighting, Fedor Emelianenko vs 'Rampage' Jackson announcement for Bellator Japan and more!

UFC Fight Night 161 Preview

UFC Fight Night 161 will take place on October 12, 2019 at the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida.

The main and co-main event's are the big talking point of the fight card, with Joanna Jedrzejczyk taking on Michelle Waterson in the main event and Cub Swanson faces Kron Gracie in the co-main.

As of recent reports today, Joanna Jedrzejczyk will not be able to make the weight limit for the UFC event.

Top MMA journalist Ariel Helwani has come out on ESPN and revealed that, "according to multiple sources, Jedrzejczyk informed the UFC over a week ago that she would not be able to make the strawweight limit of 116 pounds."

"The UFC offered Waterson the opportunity to fight at an agreed upon catchweight, but Waterson's camp has thus far declined that offer."

If she misses weight but the fight proceeds, Jedrzejczyk would have to pay Waterson 30 percent of her purse, per the Florida State Boxing Commission.

As a result of the news, there's plenty of speculation as to whether the main event will go ahead.

Joanna Jedrzejczyk hasn't fought since her loss to Valentina Shevchenko in December of 2018, but will be looking to get back to winning ways when she faces #8 ranked women's strawweight fighter Michelle Waterson.

Before her loss to Rose Namajunas at UFC 217, Jedrzejczyk had a flawless MMA record of 14-0, however since that fight she has a record of 1-3 and hasn't looked the same fighter since.

The former women's strawweight champion was one of the most feared fighters on the planet, due to her ability to starch anyone who she faced in the octagon-although, that has since changed after her fight with Namajunas.

Waterson on the other hand is currently on a 3 fight win streak after decision victories over Cortney Case, Felice Herrig and Karolina Kowalkiewicz.

The "Karate Hottie" currently holds a record of 17-6, and in an interview with Bloody Elbow she spoke about how ready she is for UFC Fight Night 161.

“For me, this is a championship fight. I’m training for it as if I was fighting for the belt.”

If only Joanna was training as hard...

Nevertheless, Cub Swanson and Kron Gracie will likely be pushed up to the main event spot if the women's strawweight match does not take place.

Kron Gracie, member of the prestigious Gracie family, has recently moved into the UFC, after his debut submission win over Alex Caceres which made his MMA record rise to 5-0.

Recently Gracie spoke with the UFC and said, “I represent a lot more than myself. I represent jiu-jitsu, I represent my family."

However, he does not feel the pressure, despite facing American mixed-martial-artist Cub Swanson.

Swanson is currently on a 4 fight losing streak, however the winner of the Fight of the Year 2016 is no easy fight-win or lose Swanson will bring his best, making the possibility of losing the event's main event not as costly for the fans.

Dream fight Jones v Adesanya taking shape

After Israel Adesanya's perfect performance at UFC 243 to become the UFC's middleweight champion, Jon Jones took to twitter give his verdict on Adesanya's performance.

UFC Light Heavyweight champion Jon Jones tweets following Israel Adesanya's UFC 243 win

Jon Jones is the UFC's Light Heavyweight champion won the vacant title after defeating Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 232 and has since successfully defended it twice against Anthony Smith and Thiago Santos.

Jones has a record of 25-1, with the loss, considered by many as very controversial, coming against Matt Hamil after the referee deemed Jones' elbow strikes to be illegal and called the fight as a Hamil victory by disqualification.

Throughout his career there have been ups and downs, but a fight against "Stylebender" Adesanya would be one for the ages.

Jones has always been the taller fighter with a large reach advantage in many of his fights, however Adesanya is the same height (6 ft 4 in) and build as Jones, in addition to the pair having similar striking styles, making the fight not one to be missed if Dana White and the UFC can pull it off.

"That's a really big fight!" Exclaimed Dana when asked about the possibility of the possible fight.

Current mass trash talking between the two, stylistically makes sense and Dana White likes the idea of it-exciting times ahead for MMA fans.

Fedor Emelianenko vs Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson to headline Bellator Japan

Two of the biggest names from the PRIDE Fighting Championship era will make their long-awaited returns to Japan on December 29th when Fedor Emelianenko and Quinton Jackson headline Bellator: Japan.

Russian MMA fighter Emelianenko holds a record of 36-8 1 NC, and signed for Bellator back in 2017.

He has 2 wins (over Chael Sonnen and Frank Mir) and 2 losses (from Matt Mitrione and Ryan Bader) in the organisation, but is considered one of the greatest of all time in mixed-martial-arts.

Up until 26 June 2010 Emelianenko was unbeaten, including wins over four former UFC champions, one Pride FC champion, one former and two future K-1 champions, and two Olympic medalists.

His opponent, "Rampage" Jackson, called Fedor " an idol" when speaking about the announcement of the fight.

American fighter Jackson has a record of 36-11, with a Bellator record of 5-2.

The former UFC Lightweight champion hasn't fought since his knockout victory over rival Wanderlei "The Axe Murderer" Silva-the pair have fought twice with Jackson coming out on top in their final two meetings.

“This will, unquestionably, be a monumental event for Bellator and I am looking forward to the moment that Fedor and ‘Rampage’ walk out to a crowd that has known them since their careers began,” said Scott Coker (CEO of Bellator MMA).

Anthony "Rumble" Johnson interested in fighting Francis Ngannou

Anthony "Rumble" Johnson is returning to the UFC and will be moving up to heavyweight this time round.

It's been two years since Johnson announced his retirement after losing to Daniel Cormier, and since that he's been involved in a variety of businesses and has become an ambassador for Bare Knuckle Fighting Championships, however he has called time on his retirement and will be returning to the octagon.

When asked about why, Johnson named heavyweight fighters Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier as inspiration.

"Honestly, I’m back because I want to come back and D.C. and Stipe actually got me motivated to come back."

“I give them the credit for it, for making me want to fight again. Their last fight was such a good fight. It made me just get that itch again to want to beat some people up again.”

Now that he’s back in the gym, Johnson is targeting his next fight in April 2020, although first he has to re-enter the USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency) testing pool for at least six months before he’ll be eligible to compete again.

“I think the scariest guy in the division for them is Francis. The scariest, not the best but the scariest," replied Johnson when asked about what his opinion is on the current UFC heavyweight roster.

“I think him and I will meet eventually but most people just want the fight. To me and hopefully to Francis, it has to happen at the right time,” Johnson explained. “Not just a fight happen, just to get everybody else’s rocks off. If I fight Francis, I want it to be for something serious.

The possibility of two knockout artists, Ngannou and Johnson, coming together will be the biggest metaphor for power there's ever been.