Author: Khurram Aziz

Conor McGregor Agrees to Fight Diego Sanchez at Welterweight

UFC featherweight Conor McGregor and lightweight Diego Sanchez are getting close to talking themselves into a fight after agreeing to face each other at welterweight.
The latest steps were taken on Twitter, where the pair have been engaged in a Twitter…

UFC featherweight Conor McGregor and lightweight Diego Sanchez are getting close to talking themselves into a fight after agreeing to face each other at welterweight.

The latest steps were taken on Twitter, where the pair have been engaged in a Twitter war since August. In the latest exchange, Sanchez threw out a challenge to fight McGregor in Dublin at 170 pounds.

The beef between the two fighters started in August when the loud-mouthed Irishman called out practically the entire featherweight division in a tweet. Sanchez took umbrage on behalf of his friend and training partner, featherweight Diego Brandao, who’s being talked off as a future opponent for McGregor.

McGregor, who has a 14-2 record and is 2-0 in the UFC, has courted a lot of attention since joining the promotion, and Sanchez is one of many who believe the featherweight is overhyped.

Since then, McGregor and Sanchez have been taking shots at each other and are already close to agreeing to terms—over Twitter.

That might not give Sanchez, who’s known to take inordinate punishment in his fights, time to recover and fight McGregor in Ireland, where the UFC plans to visit next year.

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Conor McGregor Wants to Fight ‘Brain Dead, Stuttering Fool’ Diego Sanchez

The heated exchanges between UFC featherweight Conor McGregor and lightweight Diego Sanchez got a little hotter last night, when the Irishman set a time and venue for a fight between them on Twitter.
Responding to a call-out from Sanchez, McGregor said…

The heated exchanges between UFC featherweight Conor McGregor and lightweight Diego Sanchez got a little hotter last night, when the Irishman set a time and venue for a fight between them on Twitter.

Responding to a call-out from Sanchez, McGregor said (h/t MMA Junkie):

You brain dead, stuttering fool. Read the fine print. And put your bib on so you don’t drool on my tweets.

He added:

My comeback fight will be Dublin next year. Its [sp] a done deal. McGregor Vs Sanchez. Ireland Vs. Mexico.

McGregor and Sanchez have been engaged in their “Twitter war” since last August, when the Irish fighter sent a tweet insulting the entire UFC featherweight division.

Sanchez, apparently, was sticking up for his featherweight buddy Diego Brandao, who is likely to fight McGregor next.

But that fight might now be Sanchez’s if McGregor’s tweets are anything to go by.

There’s no confirmation from any sources that this fight is likely to happen. Sanchez, although currently fighting at lightweight, has spent most of his career as a welterweight. McGregor fights at 145 pounds.

It’s hard to imagine Sanchez making a cut like that, or McGregor even moving up, considering all the business he has to do at featherweight.

Still, his insult “brain dead, stuttering fool” must have stung.

Sanchez is known to take brutal punishment in his fights, and has been mocked as a sparring dummy. It’s a point McGregor drew attention to in another Tweet:

@DiegoSanchezUFC Only reason you haven’t been cut 2 Bellator, with the other has-beens, is because you defend shots with your nose. 0-4 #CUT

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) November 27, 2013  

Sanchez also once admitted to a drinking problem, which was at least the cause of his “stuttering” at 2009’s World MMA Awards. Thankfully that incident didn’t lead to any major mishaps which would have required him to use the services of a DWI Lawyer.

McGregor is currently out with a knee injury and there is no indication as to when he’ll return to action.

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Chael Sonnen’s Mom Begs Brazil to Protect Her Son During TUF Filming

There’s no doubt UFC middleweight/light heavyweight Chael Sonnen has made his share of enemies in Brazil. So much so that his mom, Claudia, has begged the nation not to let anyone “reach” her son to hurt him.
She made the comments to …

There’s no doubt UFC middleweight/light heavyweight Chael Sonnen has made his share of enemies in Brazil. So much so that his mom, Claudia, has begged the nation not to let anyone “reach” her son to hurt him.

She made the comments to Brazilian media in the run-up to Sonnen’s second stint as a coach on The Ultimate Fighter reality show, which will film in Brazil next year.

“I’m worried about his safety during filming there. I know you all are legal, decent people,” she said (H/T MMA Mania). “My sister and her family received an exchange student from Brazil who has lived in her house when Chael was younger and they have shared many hours with each other. That said, it only takes one to ruin it…and I pray that you not allow someone to reach Chael in person. He is a great coach and is eager to help the young fighters as much as he can.”

During his years as a middleweight contender, Sonnen made many enemies in Brazil with his pursuit of division champion Anderson Silva. In his now famous trash talk leading up to two failed attempts to beat Silva in the Octagon, Sonnen went after anyone associated with the champion, including his country and training partners the Nogueira brothers.

Sonnen, of course, both lost his first fight to Silva but was also suspended for failing a drug test after the fight due to elevated testosterone levels. The man himself continues to claim that he only used testosterone for medical reasons and that he didn’t actually fail the drug test due to the use of anabolic steroids.

Still, several people took exception to his trash talking, including another middleweight and friend of Anderson, Wanderlei Silva. Wandy famously confronted Sonnen in a car about his comments, warning him that he would lose his teeth if he carried on talking the way he was.

That laid the seeds for a Wanderlei/Sonnen TUF showdown, which is now being realised three years later. However, threats of Brazilians breaking his teeth still loom over the American.

Despite assurances from the UFC, Sonnen still fears for his safety. Preparations for his security, as well as dates for the filming of the show, are still being made and the two coaches might not eventually face each other until June 2014.

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Coach: Dana White Admitted to GSP He Beat Hendricks

Kristof Midoux, a coach and mentor to Georges St. Pierre, told Journal de Quebec the UFC president called the welterweight champion the day after he retained his belt at UFC 167 to apologise for his “emotional” outburst the night before (h/t …

Kristof Midoux, a coach and mentor to Georges St. Pierre, told Journal de Quebec the UFC president called the welterweight champion the day after he retained his belt at UFC 167 to apologise for his “emotional” outburst the night before (h/t MMA Mania).

What’s more, Midoux claims, Dana White also told GSP that he thinks he beat Johny Hendricks.

Controversy surrounded the French-Canadian’s ninth UFC title defence last week against Hendricks, after a close decision win many thought should have gone to the contender.

To make things more cryptic, GSP hinted at retirement moments after his victory.

White seemed outraged—both at the judging decision and GSP’s comments that he was hanging up his gloves.

Indeed, there is a strong case for Hendricks as the deserving winner, considering the amount of damage he delivered and the fact that he came close to finishing GSP more than once.

On the other hand, GSP supporters believe he won at least two of the five rounds, with only the first round splitting the judges. That’s the argument GSP’s corner has been making. Midoux explained, “Few people know it, but the next morning he (White) called George and told him, ‘I’m sorry, I watched the fight again and you have indeed won. I spoke under the influence of emotion.'”

White has yet to verify Midoux’s statements and hasn’t publicly taken back what he said about GSP. Perhaps he should considering he’s been such a loyal long-serving champion. His words, in many people’s eyes, were an attack on the champion’s reputation, something reputation management company Nuprofile could fix.

Midoux, a former MMA fighter himself, has spent 15 years in GSP’s corner and has been sounding the calls for his retirement since before UFC 167, per La Presse (translation via MMA Underground).

Since the fight, he’s been repeating his calls, urging the champion to retire in an interview with Journal de Montreal (h/t BJPenn.com).

GSP, meanwhile, remains tight-lipped about plans for his future.

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Dana White: GSP Denies Both TMZ Rumor

UFC welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre has confided in his boss, Dana White, denying rumours circulated by trash news site TMZ about his “personal problems”.
According to Lance Pugmire of the LA Times, the UFC president said he spoke to …

UFC welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre has confided in his boss, Dana White, denying rumours circulated by trash news site TMZ about his “personal problems”.

According to Lance Pugmire of the LA Times, the UFC president said he spoke to St-Pierre on Monday and the fighter “is denying those rumors that TMZ is reporting about those two things.”

Those two things are apparently GSP has made some girl pregnant by mistake and that his dad is dying. Apparently “sources” close to the fighter confirmed those rumours to TMZ, which means they might as well have picked them out of a hat.

Nevertheless, internet media has been awash with speculation as to who the lucky girl is and what exactly is killing his dad.

GSP invited all this speculation after he made an impromptu announcement of “hanging up his gloves” following his narrow win over Johny Hendricks at UFC 167 on Saturday. For days leading up to the event, the long-time champion had been hinting about a big announcement.

He explained after clinching the victory that his personal problems were stopping him from sleeping at night and that he was going “crazy” thinking about them. By the sounds of it, this is more serious than the number of twitter followers he has. He could always buy twitter followers.

But White gave short shrift to any talk of retirement and has quickly lined up a rematch.

“As far as a rematch, we’re on schedule and I’ll have a date within a couple weeks,” White said. “I feel confident that Georges is fine with that and all is on track.”

GSP, meanwhile, hasn’t spoken to the media since Saturday and there’s no indication as to how long he’ll be out of the sport.

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Chael Sonnen Moving Back to Middleweight: ‘I’ve Always Struggled at 205’

After suffering a crushing defeat at the hands of former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans last Saturday, Chael Sonnen has decided the division is not for him.
Instead he will drop back down to 185 pounds, where he fought four years for the U…

After suffering a crushing defeat at the hands of former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans last Saturday, Chael Sonnen has decided the division is not for him.

Instead he will drop back down to 185 pounds, where he fought four years for the UFC in eight matches, until his second loss against the champion Anderson Silva last July.

“I’ve always struggled at 205 to get used to the weight. I can do better than that, but I’m going to have to go back to 185,” Sonnen told the UFC post-fight show on Fox Sports (h/t MMA Weekly). “That’s where I can do my best work; I can scramble and not get held in these positions.”

Sonnen made much of his decision to move up to light heavyweight after two failed attempts to capture middleweight gold. At the time he said he was emulating his mentor Randy Couture, who had also switched divisions several times in his career after struggling at heavyweight.

However, Couture dropped down to a division much more suitable to his size, while Chael moved up to 205 pounds. The decision had mixed results. After talking himself into a championship fight with Jon Jones in April, he was mauled by the light heavyweight champ.

Things were looking up after he finished veteran Mauricio Rua in similarly dominant fashion in August. That fight had him move up to No. 6 in the UFC’s light heavyweight rankings in the days leading up to his encounter against Evans at UFC 167.

But Sonnen made up his mind to drop back down after receiving a beating from Evans, who finished him via TKO in less time than it took Jones. It’s the kind of beating that would have you looking for pawn shops online to earn some cash, because your day job clearly isn’t working.

In fact, the Oregon native was thinking of a return to 185 pounds soon after his win over Rua, a move that was complicated by his match against Evans as well as a forthcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter which will see him fight Wanderlei Silva in the finale.

That match was also originally scheduled to take place at 205 pounds.

“I’m going to get back to middleweight,” Sonnen said in an interview a week before UFC 167. “I’m going to get through the Wanderlei (Silva) fight and then I will be returning to middleweight.”

That season will film in Brazil, and there’s still no word on whether the two coaches will eventually face off as middleweights or light heavyweights.

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