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The Independent Student Newspaper at Boston University

The Daily Free Press

The Independent Student Newspaper at Boston University.

The Daily Free Press

The Daily Free Press

Emma Clement | Senior Graphic Artist

Pound-for-Pound: We’re officially in the UFC’s era of inactivity

Kyle Appleby April 7, 2025

During UFC: Moreno vs. Erceg, news broke that Geoff Neal was injured and could not compete against Carlos Prates at UFC 314, the card losing an exciting matchup. We already saw Joe Pyfer’s bout with...

Emma Clement | Senior Graphic Artist

Pound-for-Pound: Solving the UFC’s 155-pound problem

Kyle Appleby March 31, 2025
The lightweight division is the UFC’s most prestigious. It’s housed some of the most dominant and highest-skilled champions in the sport’s history and it’s always been stacked with title contenders.
Emma Clement | Senior Graphic Artist

Pound-for-Pound: Jon Jones’ title reign is far from undisputed

Kyle Appleby March 24, 2025
Tom Aspinall will officially become the longest-reigning interim champion in UFC history April 29, passing Renan Barao’s record of 534 days. The end to Aspinall’s streak is nowhere in sight.
Emma Clement | Senior Graphic Artist

Pound-for-Pound: The UFC is prioritizing popularity over merit

Kyle Appleby March 3, 2025
It’s no secret that the UFC awards some privileges to their money-making superstars. Israel Adesanya was granted an immediate rematch for the middleweight belt after suffering the worst loss of his career to a short-notice Sean Strickland.
Emma Clement | Senior Graphic Artist

Pound-for-Pound: The UFC is fixing double champions at the wrong time

Kyle Appleby February 24, 2025
It’s not often that the UFC alerts its fans of an impending announcement. So when they took to social media to announce that president and CEO Dana White had big news on Wednesday night, over 40,000 people tuned in to the boss’s Instagram Live, where he detailed a series of landscape-altering matchups alongside other news.
Emma Clement | Senior Graphic Artist

Pound-for-Pound: The UFC’s heavyweight division needs some hefty improvements

Chris Larabee February 18, 2025
With only 30 fighters on the roster, UFC's heavyweight division needs more depth to produce the quality fans want.
Emma Clement | Senior Graphic Artist

Pound-for-Pound: Dana White’s passive reaction to Mitchell and McGregor shows a dark side of the sport

Chris Larabee February 3, 2025
A two-week span between UFC cards can often feel like an eternity. Fights are rarely announced, promotional material is hard to come by and waiting for the first fight on the next card feels like waiting for Christmas as a child. This week was definitely an exception.
Emma Clement | Senior Graphic Artist

Pound-for-Pound: Merab Dvalishvili is the greatest bantamweight ever, here’s why

Kyle Appleby January 27, 2025
Merab Dvalishvili’s UFC career got off to a rocky start at the end of 2017 — two consecutive losses introduced him to the promotion. He has not lost in 15 UFC contests since. 
Emma Clement | Senior Graphic Artist

Pound-for-Pound: Dana White and the politicization of the UFC

Kyle Appleby November 11, 2024
“This is karma.” One of the most powerful lines in Donald Trump’s victory speech last Wednesday morning was not spoken by a politician, a campaign aide or even a family member. Instead, it was UFC CEO Dana White who made the remark.
Emma Clement | Senior Graphic Artist

Pound-for-Pound: My take on the UFC’s pound-for-pound rankings

Kyle Appleby November 4, 2024
Ilia Topuria’s recent win at UFC 308 didn’t move him in the UFC’s rankings, which makes me wonder what changes I’d make if I had that kind of power. Often determining matchups and used to debate legacies, the UFC rankings are always in the spotlight. I’ve ranked every champion in the UFC below, plus some non-champs I might add if I were to rank 15 fighters as the UFC does.
Emma Clement | Senior Graphic Artist

Pound-for-Pound: Ilia Topuria makes a case for fighter of the year at one of 2024’s best events

Kyle Appleby October 28, 2024
UFC 308: Topuria vs. Holloway, also featuring a co-main card with Chimaev vs. Whittaker, did not disappoint as one of the best cards of the year.
Haley Alvarez-Lauto | Graphic Artist

The Four Belt Era: What to make of Fury vs. Ngannou

Eli Cloutier October 31, 2023
This past Saturday, one of the best heavyweights in the world just barely eked out a split-decision victory over a debutant. Tyson Fury — the World Boxing Championship heavyweight champion — had to go the distance against Francis Ngannou, a man boxing professionally for the first time in his life.
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