Zuffa Boxing returns on Sunday with Zuffa Boxing 03 from the Meta APEX in Las Vegas. The event is headlined by a clash between Efe Ajagba and former IBF heavyweight champion Charles Martin.
Ajagba is on the verge of being a top 10 heavyweight in the world and likely would already be considered as such had things broken better for him on the scorecards in his most recent fight. That night, Ajagba took on Martin Bakole, seen as one of heavyweight’s boogeymen, avoided by most in the division for the difficulties he can present to opponents.
Ajagba controlled much of that fight in May 2025, but the scorecards resulted in a majority draw, with one judge scoring the fight 96-94 in Ajagba’s favor and the other two ruling the fight a 95-95 draw.
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Ajagba was rewarded for his performance against Bakole with a proposed IBF title eliminator against Frank Sanchez, who handed Ajagba his lone defeat in a 2021 meeting. Ajagba was unhappy with how the purse bid for the fight shook out and declined to move forward with the bout, ultimately leading to the termination of his contract with Top Rank, which opened the door for the heavyweight contender to sign with Zuffa Boxing.
While Martin does hold the distinction of being a former world heavyweight champion, the circumstances of his title reign are unusual.
Martin won the IBF title in a 2016 bout with Vyacheslav Glazkov that saw Glazkov unable to continue due to a knee injury suffered during a third-round knockdown. Less than 90 days later, Martin was no longer champion, suffering a second-round knockout to Anthony Joshua.
Martin has insisted he was “badly injured” 10 days before the Joshua fight and continued to chase a rematch for years, rising to the fringes of title contention with a few wins before suffering repeated setbacks in the form of losses to Adam Kownacki, Luis Ortiz and Jared Anderson.
After losing to Anderson in July 2023, Martin got back in the win column with a stoppage of unheralded Matthew McKinney the following November. He has not fought since, marking 15 months out of the ring.
The light heavyweight co-main event between Umar Dzambekov and Ahmed Elbiali appears to be the standout fight on the card, with unbeaten Dzambekov looking to continue building his resume against a tough out in Elbiali, whose lone loss came to former world champion Jean Pascal.
Let’s take a closer look at the rest of the fight card for Sunday night with the latest odds before getting to a prediction and expert pick on the main event below.
Zuffa Boxing 03 fight card, odds
Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook
- Efe Ajagba -1100 vs. Charles Martin +650, heavyweights
- Umar Dzambekov-1400 vs. Ahmed Elbiali +700, light heavyweights
- Abel Mejia -800 vs. Jaybrio Pe Benito +500, lightweights
- Leonardo Ruiz -1400 vs. Casey Streeter +700, middleweights
- Antonio Woods -425 vs. Mark Beuke +300, middleweights
- Oswaldo Molina -1200 vs. Joshua Clark +650, lightweights
- Emiliano Alvarado -2500 vs. Devin Gantt +1000, junior featherweight
- Dariial Kuchmenov -3000 vs. Jorge Lagunas +1000, lightweights
Where to watch Zuffa Boxing 03
Date: Feb. 15 | Location: Meta APEX — Las Vegas
Prelims begin at 6 p.m. ET
Main card begins at 9 p.m. ET
Watch live: Paramount+ (subscribe now for as little as $8.99 per month)
Prediction
As a 31-year-old on a six-fight unbeaten streak who was being lined up for a title eliminator, Ajagba is very much a contender at heavyweight. Martin started his career 23-0 and won a world title, but has fallen very much into a spot as a gatekeeper for the division. That’s not a knock because divisions benefit from gatekeepers; they’re good enough to fend off pretenders, and a win against them carries actual meaning.
Ajagba came up short against Frank Sanchez, which does raise some questions about whether he is ready to fully break through to the upper echelon of heavyweights and if he isn’t, Martin is talented enough to knock him down the ladder. But Ajagba’s performance against Bakole showed he can handle big, awkward heavyweights who carry some power in their fists.
This is a fight set up to get Ajagba a win over a former champion and he should be able to do just that. Pick: Efe Ajagba via UD
![Heathrow has said passenger numbers were 60% lower in November than before the coronavirus pandemic and there were “high cancellations” among business travellers concerned about being trapped overseas for Christmas as Omicron spreads. The UK’s largest airport said the government’s travel restrictions had dealt a fresh blow to travel confidence and predicted it was likely to take several years for passenger numbers to return to pre-pandemic levels. This week ministers said passengers arriving in the UK would have to take a pre-departure Covid test, as well as a post-flight test, because of fears about the spread of the new variant. “[The] high level of cancellations by business travellers concerned about being trapped overseas because of pre-departure testing shows the potential harm to the economy of travel restrictions,” the airport said in an update. Heathrow said the drop in traveller confidence owing to the new travel restrictions had negated the benefit of reopening the all-important corridor to North America for business and holiday travel last month. Eleven African countries have been added to the government’s red list, requiring travellers to quarantine before reuniting with families. “By allowing Brits to isolate at home, ministers can make sure they are reunited with their loved ones this Christmas,” said John Holland-Kaye, the chief executive of Heathrow. “It would send a strong signal that restrictions on travel will be removed as soon as safely possible to give passengers the confidence to book for 2022, opening up thousands of new jobs for local people at Heathrow. Let’s reunite families for Christmas.” Heathrow said that if the government could safely signal that restrictions would be lifted soon, then employers at Heathrow would have the confidence to hire thousands of staff in anticipation of a boost in business next summer. The airport is expecting a slow start to 2022, finishing next year with about 45 million passengers – just over half of pre-pandemic levels. This week Tui, Europe’s largest package holiday operator, said it expected bookings for next summer to bounce back to 2019 levels. However, Heathrow said on Friday not to expect the aviation industry to recover for several years. “We do not expect that international travel will recover to 2019 levels until at least all travel restrictions (including testing) are removed from all the markets that we serve, at both ends of the route, and there is no risk of new restrictions, such as quarantine, being imposed,” the airport said.](https://wordupnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/shutterstock_1100012546-scaled-400x240.jpg)
![Heathrow has said passenger numbers were 60% lower in November than before the coronavirus pandemic and there were “high cancellations” among business travellers concerned about being trapped overseas for Christmas as Omicron spreads. The UK’s largest airport said the government’s travel restrictions had dealt a fresh blow to travel confidence and predicted it was likely to take several years for passenger numbers to return to pre-pandemic levels. This week ministers said passengers arriving in the UK would have to take a pre-departure Covid test, as well as a post-flight test, because of fears about the spread of the new variant. “[The] high level of cancellations by business travellers concerned about being trapped overseas because of pre-departure testing shows the potential harm to the economy of travel restrictions,” the airport said in an update. Heathrow said the drop in traveller confidence owing to the new travel restrictions had negated the benefit of reopening the all-important corridor to North America for business and holiday travel last month. Eleven African countries have been added to the government’s red list, requiring travellers to quarantine before reuniting with families. “By allowing Brits to isolate at home, ministers can make sure they are reunited with their loved ones this Christmas,” said John Holland-Kaye, the chief executive of Heathrow. “It would send a strong signal that restrictions on travel will be removed as soon as safely possible to give passengers the confidence to book for 2022, opening up thousands of new jobs for local people at Heathrow. Let’s reunite families for Christmas.” Heathrow said that if the government could safely signal that restrictions would be lifted soon, then employers at Heathrow would have the confidence to hire thousands of staff in anticipation of a boost in business next summer. The airport is expecting a slow start to 2022, finishing next year with about 45 million passengers – just over half of pre-pandemic levels. This week Tui, Europe’s largest package holiday operator, said it expected bookings for next summer to bounce back to 2019 levels. However, Heathrow said on Friday not to expect the aviation industry to recover for several years. “We do not expect that international travel will recover to 2019 levels until at least all travel restrictions (including testing) are removed from all the markets that we serve, at both ends of the route, and there is no risk of new restrictions, such as quarantine, being imposed,” the airport said.](https://wordupnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/shutterstock_1100012546-scaled-80x80.jpg)
