Andreas HaleAug 6, 2025, 02:51 PM

CloseAndreas Hale is a combat sports reporter at ESPN. Andreas covers MMA, boxing and pro wrestling. In Andreas’ free time, he plays video games, obsesses over music and is a White Sox and 49ers fan. He is also a host for Sirius XM’s Fight Nation. Before joining ESPN, Andreas was a senior writer at DAZN and Sporting News. He started his career as a music journalist for outlets including HipHopDX, The Grammys and Jay-Z’s Life+Times. He is also an NAACP Image Award-nominated filmmaker as a producer for the animated short film “Bridges” in 2024.

An expected third fight between Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev will be on hold indefinitely after it was announced Tuesday that Beterbiev will return Nov. 22 against Deon Nicholson.

The fight will be on the undercard of The Ring IV “Night of Champions” event headlined by David Benavidez vs. Anthony Yarde.

Beterbiev, the former undisputed light heavyweight champion, is coming off a majority-decision loss to Bivol in February, the first defeat of his professional career. He defeated Bivol by majority decision to become undisputed champion in their first meeting last October.

Instead of sticking with Riyadh Season as their promotional outfit, Beterbiev and Bivol lobbied for their trilogy fight to take place in Russia with different organizers.Saudi Arabia’s Chairman of General Entertainment Authority, Turki Alalshikh, gave his blessing for the Russian fighters to move forward, but Beterbiev will opt for another opponent instead.

Beterbiev (21-1, 20 KOs), 40, will face a relative unknown in Nicholson (22-1, 18 KOs) and is expected to be a heavy betting favorite. Fighting out of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Nicholson, 34, has fought relatively low-level opposition in his pro career, which began in 2016. Beterbiev will represent a massive step up in competition for Nicholson, whose only loss was by knockout to Efetobor Apochi in 2021.

After their February rematch, Beterbiev and Bivol were unable to come to terms for a third fight, and Beterbiev voiced his frustrations on social media. Bivol, who relinquished the WBC title rather than face Benavidez, was ordered by the IBF to face Michael Eifert in a mandatory title defense. While Beterbiev has decided to move on to another opponent, it is not known whether Bivol will agree to defend the title against Eifert.