Author: Dan Hiergesell

Not only will Colby Covington be in attendance later tonight (Sat., Apr. 24, 2021) at UFC 261 live on ESPN+ PPV from inside VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla., but “Chaos” is also looking to square up inside of the Octagon with the winner of Kamaru Usman vs. Jorge Masvidal 2.

Covington, who is coming off a dominant TKO win over former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley back in Sept. 2020, is currently waiting for his second shot at UFC gold. UFC president Dana White told reporters earlier this week that Covington is expected to face the winner of UFC 261’s main event rematch between Usman and Masvidal so “Chaos” is simply trying to make the most out of his opportunity.

Covington was planning on attending UFC 261 from the minute it was announced and even declared himself the unofficial main event backup, but now he’s aiming for White to put together a post-fight faceoff with the winner.

“I hope that Dana puts that together,” Covington told MMA Junkie. “I would love to go look the winner in the eyes and let them know I’m next. Then the fans can see how cowardice they are when they go hiding and they go looking for a way out or ‘retirement’ or ‘I’m walking away from the sport.’ I’m hoping I get to look them in the eyes tomorrow night, but I don’t know if there will be enough men in the building to hold me back from what I’m going to do to the winner tomorrow night.”

If Covington had his choice of opponent he’d prefer to see Usman defeat Masvidal for a second time and retain his UFC welterweight title. While “Chaos” shares a long history with Masvidal he’s already lost to Usman inside of the Octagon at UFC 245 in what many consider the greatest 170-pound title fight of all time. Covington is eager to take another shot at Usman and prove he’s the better fighter.

“Of course I would rather it be ‘Marty Fakenewsman,’” Covington said. “We have unfinished business. That first fight, there’s a bad taste in my mouth, there’s a bad taste in the fans’ mouth. … That fight needs to be run back. That’s the best fight that people want to see and it’s the fight that the fans deserve. But honestly, he’s already talking about retiring, so I don’t see that fight happening. He’s probably going to retire and not fight me. Masvidal doesn’t want to fight me. He’s already turned down that fight for a year. He knows who his daddy is. Jorge Masvidal’s my son, and he knows what.”

It’s only a matter of time before we find out if a full camp will help Masvidal take out Usman. If he does there’s a good chance the two welterweights run it back for a trilogy fight. If Usman is able to control Masvidal like last time and secure his fourth-straight title defense then Covington will get his shot at the champ.

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 261 fight card right HERE, starting with the early ESPN2/ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET, then the remaining undercard balance on ESPN/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.

Former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis came up short in his Professional Fighters League (PFL) debut last night (Fri., Apr. 23, 2021) at PFL 1 live on ESPN2 from inside Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, N.J., when “Showtime” lost to former UFC fighter Clay Collard via unanimous decision in the main event.

Despite coming in as a massive favorite Pettis failed to deliver when it mattered most. Collard was on him from the opening bell and “Showtime” seemed to have trouble dealing with the pressure. Collard even scored two knockdowns in the second round and the fight was nearly waved off.

Pettis needed a finish in the third round to walk away with the win. The former UFC champion launched a hail mary head kick and flying knee that temporarily rocked Collard with one minute left, but “Showtime” couldn’t put the comeback together. It was impressive to see Pettis stomach all of the punishment he did over the course of three rounds, but Collard ultimately walked away with the upset.

Check out the video highlights below courtesy of PFL:

For complete PFL 1 results and coverage click here.

Conor McGregor has decided to buy the Dublin pub where he sucker punched an elderly man back in 2019.

According to a report by The Currency News, McGregor has returned to the scene of the crime and dropped a whopping $2 million to $2.5 million to walk away with ownership of the Irish bar. The report also states this is McGregor’s second pub purchased within the Dublin area.

Remember, McGregor landed himself in hot water back in 2019 after punching an elderly man in the face for reportedly refusing a shot of his Proper No. 12 whiskey. McGregor had bought an entire round of shots for the bar and couldn’t handle the rejection at the time. “Notorious” quickly apologized for his actions, but the incident provoked serious backlash within the area. In one case, the Salty Shamrock Irish Pub ended up pouring out all of McGregor’s whiskey down the toilet (watch it HERE).

McGregor was brought up on assault charges for his actions and even faced jail time, but “Notorious” ended up pleading guilty and avoided any serious punishment. The former UFC champion was fined €1,000 for the punch, but McGregor probably spends more than that on toilet paper each month.

After news leaked of McGregor’s purchase the MMA superstar took to Twitter to chime in on the situation.

“Ye and your mans barred.”

McGregor, who had to overcome a litany of legal issues over the past few years to finally make his way back to the Octagon, is currently lined up to fight Dustin Poirier in a trilogy bout at UFC 264 this July. Poirier just defeated McGregor via second-round TKO at UFC 257 this past January.

Jorge Masvidal always knew that Jake Paul would finish Ben Askren when the two met in a boxing match earlier this month on pay-per-view. After all, “Gamebred” finished Askren in six seconds at UFC 239 and knows exactly how to put “Funky” away.

While most of the MMA world was pulling for Askren to finally shut Paul up and send him back to his life of social media posts and YouTube videos, Masvidal was rooting for Paul to come out with the win. “Gamebred” even helped train the young entertaining in the lead up to the boxing match (watch it HERE) and seemed eager to help him defeat a former UFC fighter.

Luckily for Masvidal, his efforts paid off. Paul absolutely swarmed Askren in the early going of their fight and ended up landing a monstrous right hand that sent “Funky” crashing to the canvas (highlights HERE). It was a beautiful knockout finish, especially for someone with a limited background in combat sports like Paul, but not something that surprised Masvidal.

“All I gotta say is, I told you so, I told everybody. The MMA world was mad at me that, you know, he was representing MMA,” Masvidal told ESPN. “Never. Never not once ever was he representing MMA. How dare anybody say that guy is representing MMA, when every interview he’s ever done about strikers is, ‘I don’t need to strike, I can just wrestle these guys to the ground.’

“And he’s been saying that in interviews for ten years plus, and now we’re supposed to get behind this guy who doesn’t respect mixed martial arts,” Masvidal continued. “Because it is mixed martial arts, it’s not just wrestling, or just boxing, you know. So obviously, when he went in there, I mean called it. I was the first guy to call it.”

While Paul will sit down to figure out his next boxing opponent Masvidal will have his own opportunity to capture combat greatness this weekend at UFC 261 live on ESPN+ PPV from inside VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida. Masvidal will be meeting UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman in a main event rematch.

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 261 fight card right HERE, starting with the early ESPN2/ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET, then the remaining undercard balance on ESPN/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.

Reigning UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya is expected to defend his 185-pound title in a rematch with Marvin Vettori at UFC 263 on June 12, per a recent report by Combate.

As of now, UFC 263 has no official venue or location. That continues to be a work in progress, but UFC will likely opt to host the event in front of a live crowd making the choices limited.

Adesanya, who is coming off a decision loss to UFC light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz back at UFC 259, remains undefeated at 9-0 in the middleweight division. “Last Stylebender” may have come up short in his quest for two UFC belts, but the 31-year-old star is still one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world today. Adesanya already holds a decision win over Vettori from back in 2018 so this will be the champion’s first opportunity to defend his title in a rematch.

Vettori, 27, is 5-0 since his loss to Adesanya three years ago, including a recent main event beatdown over Kevin Holland earlier this month. The Italian contender has lobbied for this rematch with “Last Stylebender” for quite come time and believes he’s evolved enough to hand the champion his first loss at middleweight. Vettori will likely have to rely on his grappling skills that just earned him a middleweight-record 11 takedowns against Holland.

UFC 263 is also expected to feature a flyweight rematch between current champion Deiveson Figueiredo and top contender Brandon Moreno. The two flyweights fought to a draw back at UFC 256 in Dec. 2020.

For more UFC 263 fight card news click here.

Jon Jones has seemingly priced his way out of a heavyweight showdown with current UFC titleholder Francis Ngannou.

Jones, who relinquished his light heavyweight title in 2020 in order to move up to the heavyweight division, was hoping to land a massive superfight with “Predator” sometime this year. Ngannou is coming off a second-round finish over Stipe Miocic at UFC 260 to claim the title. If there was ever a time to book the matchup it would be now.

Unfortunately for fight fans hoping to see Jones take on the baddest man on the planet, “Bones” has essentially priced himself out of contention. Jones is looking for too much money to sign on the dotted line so UFC officials are now looking to book a heavyweight rematch between Ngannou and Derrick Lewis.

“We tried to work with Jon, and we eventually have to move on because realistically, and in all honesty, Derrick Lewis is the guy who deserves the fight,” UFC president Dana White said on “The Bill Simmons Podcast.” “Derrick Lewis is a heavyweight, he beat Francis Ngannou, he’s looked good in his last couple of fights, he’s ranked in the top three, I think, and he deserves the fight. That’s the fight that should happen. We’ll just roll and do what we do. When Jon’s ready, he’ll let us know.”

White went on to explain the issues UFC is having with Jones.

“In his deal, he’s talking he wants $30 million guaranteed,” said White. “The way that this works is, these guys all share in the pay-per-view. … He will share in the profits of the fight. That’s how it works. That’s how you run a business, and you don’t go broke.”

While fans were hoping to see Jones’ heavyweight debut in 2021 it’s unknown at this time if that will actually happen. It would have been nice to see Jones lock horns with Ngannou and fight for the illustrious UFC heavyweight title, but we’ve seen UFC drop the ball throughout the years and this is really no different.

That said, Lewis has been on an absolute tear and is coming off a blistering knockout win over Curtis Blaydes to push his current win streak to four. Ngannou and Lewis met once before all the way back in 2018 and produced one of the worst heavyweight fights of all time. They’ll be looking to flip the script if the rematch ends up getting booked.

What do you think, fight fans? Should UFC pay what Jones wants? Or does Lewis deserve the next heavyweight title shot?

Sound off!