Author: Anton Tabuena

Khabib Nurmagomedov and Bobby Green were laughing after the UFC main event.

Shortly after Bobby Green’s loss to Islam Makhachev, the American was seen having a light moment and laughing with Khabib Nurmagomedov in the cage. The former lightweight champion, who was there to coach Makhachev, revealed what Green told him after the contest.

“He come to me, he come too close and said, ‘Hey, you was lightweight?’ Something like this you know,” Khabib said with a laugh.

“Of course, now I’m big because I’m now like almost two years I’m finished with fights, you know. And I try to enjoy. I try to enjoy but every day I train, spend time at the gym with the guys. But why I have to be lightweight?”

Khabib has always been one of the biggest lightweights, and certainly doesn’t need to diet or cut weight now. It’s nice to see the former UFC champion enjoy his retirement and able to laugh about his new physique, as he’s long past the days where he can still cut down to 155 lbs.

Conor McGregor tries to give UFC champion Charles Oliveira some advice.

Conor McGregor attended Bellator this weekend, and it’s where he gave an update on his recovery from injury. According to the former two-division champion, he’s going to be allowed to do some boxing sparring again in April, and expects to return a few months after that with a “different style.”

“Very good. It’s getting there, day by day,” McGregor told SevereMMA (transcribed by MMA Fighting. “Day by day, I feel better. They’re telling me to just take it easy, but I feel I can go, so I just need to kind of pull the reins back on my own self, so that’s kind of what I’m doing.”

“April, they said I can spar again and I can box again basically,” McGregor said. “So I’m just going to take it day by day. Hopefully, now, once I get back sparring, I’ll know weight, I’ll know feel, I’ll know my own style. You know what I mean? I’m going to develop a different style, I’d imagine, so I’ve been shadowboxing a bit lately and I feel like I’m just getting the bearing of myself. But I feel good. I’m grounded on my feet, I can stop and start and take off. It’s just the little twists or a torque, I’ve just got to be careful on.

“But this will be a here today, gone tomorrow type of thing in my own head. The bone will recover, it’ll connect back to itself and it’ll be like it never happened.”

Justin Gaethje is expected to face UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira next, with Islam Makhachev also being in the mix if he wins this weekend. McGregor wants to jump the line in his return though, implying that it’d be the smart move for Oliveira, since he’d make more money fighting him.

“If your man’s wise, he might give it another month or two,” McGregor said. “July seems OK for me. I can’t say too early, but July, if I’m sparring in April, May, June, July — I could slap the head off of most of these guys at the end of April.”

McGregor and his team have been pushing the idea of returning with an immediate title shot as of late, simply because he’s a huge draw.

The former champion has lost three of his last four bouts by stoppage. His last win at lightweight dates back almost six years ago.

Two-time Bellator champion Gegard Mousasi wants a boxing match with UFC legend Anderson Silva.

After leaving the UFC in 2017 as a top contender on a five-fight winning streak, Gegard Mousasi went on to become a two-time middleweight champion in Bellator. A veteran of almost 60 fights, and having one of the most decorated careers across various promotions, Mousasi is now looking to face a true UFC legend next.

He called out Anderson Silva, but wants it to be a boxing match instead of mixed martial arts.

“Unfortunately I’ve fought twice the last two years,” Mousasi told MMA Fighting. “I would have loved to fight more but it’s the pandemic. They’re gonna keep me busy this year. Three times, and I want to fight Anderson Silva in boxing. My managers are gonna push for that fight. You, Anderson, don’t run away from me.

“Now it’s up to him. I think it’s not very interesting [to fight him in MMA]. In MMA he has lost, but in boxing he’s still winning. I think it’s different and it’s more entertaining,” Mousasi said. “I threw it out to Scott [Coker] and Showtime. … I’ve been pushing for it.”

Mousasi, a two-time Bellator middleweight champ, has won 11 of his last 12 bouts dating back to his stint with the UFC. The 36-year-old has won titles across multiple divisions and various promotions such as Strikeforce, DREAM, and Cage Warriors. He is also undefeated in kickboxing, having fought two K-1 bouts, and three more under Muay Thai rules.

If the bout with Silva pushes through, it would mark a long return to boxing for Mousasi, having previously won a 2021 national title as an amateur boxer in the Netherlands.

Silva, who is considered as one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time, has found a lot of success even well past his prime and across a different sport. The 46-year-old returned to boxing in 2021, where he outboxed former champ Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and then effortlessly knocked out Tito Ortiz.

Robert Whittaker still wants a third bout with Israel Adesanya though.

Robert Whittaker is currently in an awkward spot, having lost twice to Israel Adesanya, while clearly still being the top ranked contender in the middleweight division. Although his recent loss was close and competitive, could he be in a similar position to what Rich Franklin had after his two losses to Anderson Silva before?

Whittaker believes that he doesn’t “need” to move up in weight because he can beat Adesanya, he also admits it’d be a fun idea to test out light heavyweight.

“Yeah, I can definitely see myself fighting at 205. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, because I have to cut to middleweight, and cutting sucks,” Whittaker told Submission Radio. “So, I think it might be fun.”

Whittaker, who fought for years as a welterweight, likes his chances even at 205 lbs.

“Obviously, I do understand the gravity of going up to 205. The bigger guys, the taller guys, longer reach, heavier-set guys, more power. But I think stylistically I have the style to move up to a heavier power division. But honestly, I’ll take it as it comes. It might be something fun to move up and have a dabble at, but we’ll have to wait and see.”

While open to moving up, Whittaker feels that he is “doing solid work” at 185 lbs, and plans to do enough that the UFC brass won’t have a choice but book him another title bout.

“I’m sure (Dana White) doesn’t want to have a third fight. It was a hard fight, and like, he knows the threat that I bring to it. Yeah, it doesn’t bother me, I’m not really worried about it. Just like the first time, I’m just gonna beat up everyone they’re gonna put in front of me, and then there will be no one left.”

A swole Chad Mendes got a knockout win at BKFC Knucklemania 2.

Chad Mendes hasn’t fought since his loss to Alexander Volkanovski back in 2018, but he got a dominant win in his bare knuckle boxing debut. The former UFC featherweight title contender looked incredibly jacked after moving up to 155 lbs, and he showcased some of that knockout power against Joshuah “Famez” Alvarez.

Mendes knocked him down four times, and eventually found a finish in the fourth round. Watch some of the knockdowns below:

Mendes previously revealed that he’s still under contract with the UFC, and just got permission to compete in this BKFC bout.

Also on the card, two UFC veteran sluggers faced off with Mike Perry taking a bloody decision over “Let Me Bang, Bro” Julian Lane. Perry scored with an early knockdown, and eventually won 48-46 on all three scorecards.

In the main event, Luis Palomino came back from a pretty rough stint with COVID-19 that had him hospitalized, and successfully defended his BKFC belt. Palomino won a pretty wide unanimous decision over Bellator vet Martin Brown, which marked his fourth title defense. Check out his nice walk out too:

BKFC Knucklemania 2 results

Luis Palomino def. Martin Brown via unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 50-45)

Mike Perry def. Julian Lane via unanimous decision (48-46, 48-46, 48-46)

Chad Mendes def. Joshuah Alvarez via TKO, R4, 1:34

Christine Ferea def. Britain Hart-Beltran via unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 49-46)

Gustavo Trujillo def. Stephen Townsel via KO, R1, 1:41

Christine Vicens def. Jade Masson-Wong via TKO (doctor’s stoppage), R3, 0:49

Francesco Ricchi def. Jake Bostwick via unanimous decision (48-44, 48-44, 48-44)

Ulysses Diaz def. Sawyer Depee via KO, R2 1:00

Prelims:

Edgard Plazaola def. Chevvy Bridges via TKO, R3, 1:09

Yosdenis Cedeno def. Mario Vargas via unanimous decision (48-45, 49-44, 47-46)

John Michael Escoboza def. Zion Tomlinson via KO, R4, 1:16

Luke Rockhold made claims about how drug use may have unintentionally helped Sean Strickland’s fighting style.

Luke Rockhold and Sean Strickland were supposed to face off against each other at UFC 268, until a back injury sidelined the former middleweight champion. The pair have also trained together in the past, but it’s somewhat unsurprising that the two middleweights with polarizing personalities never really seemed to get along.

Strickland, who admitted to having a neo-Nazi “phase” and claims he’d “love” to legally kill someone, has said a lot of controversial and outrageous things as of late. He also claimed he’s willing to take a “misdemeanor charge” to beat up Rockhold in the parking lot.

The former UFC champion in Rockhold attributed Strickland’s behavior to extensive drug use clouding his thoughts.

“Yeah, I don’t have a lot of respect for the man or what that man says. I don’t think anybody does. And I don’t think he really knows what he’s talking about,” Rockhold told Submission Radio. “When you’ve done that many drugs, I don’t know if things really come off clearly and if there’s much of a thought process to what he does.”

Rockhold also says this alleged drug use indirectly helped his fighting style.

“I think that’s why’s he so effective. It’s cause he doesn’t think, he doesn’t know,” Rockhold said about Strickland. “And he just fights with stupidity and it actually benefits him to a certain extent.”

As for all of Strickland’s talk about his murder fantasies, Rockhold slammed him for not having “killer instinct,” especially on his last win against Jack Hermansson.

“I think he fought f—king scared,” he said. “Honestly, I watched his last fight and I think he fought scared. He was like, you know, the pressure starts to get to you when you get to the top and you get to that potential, those title fights, and he didn’t let it go. He didn’t earn anybody’s respect.”

“He can’t — he doesn’t have that f—king mentality, that f—king killer instinct. F—king killer instinct is what it is, and if you want to charge me in the parking lot, you better have the killer instinct, because I have it. And I’m not one to f—k with.”

Rockhold also noted that his back is recovering, and he’s looking “to press on the gas” in training and make a return in June. The one-time middleweight champion hasn’t fought since 2019, where he moved up and lost at light heavyweight against Jan Blachowicz.