Tag: conor mcgregor vs manny pacquiao

Dana White Confirms Conor McGregor Is ‘One Hundred Percent’ Coming Back This Year

Much of the hype and buzz around the main event of this weekend’s (Sat., April 7, 2018) UFC 223 from Brooklyn, New York, has been around the last-minute replacement of Tony Ferguson by featherweight champion Max Holloway, who will meet Khabib Nurmagomedov for the lightweight title, but there’s a much bigger prize on the line. The […]

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Much of the hype and buzz around the main event of this weekend’s (Sat., April 7, 2018) UFC 223 from Brooklyn, New York, has been around the last-minute replacement of Tony Ferguson by featherweight champion Max Holloway, who will meet Khabib Nurmagomedov for the lightweight title, but there’s a much bigger prize on the line.

The winner of the pivotal 155-pound showdown will supposedly move on to face Irish superstar Conor McGregor, who is rumored to be stripped this weekend so the lightweight division can move on until his return from a year-and-a-half hiatus while boxing Floyd Mayweather.

With “The Notorious” banking a reported $100,000,000 payday, he’s been more interested in flaunting his newfound wealth than defending either of his UFC titles, both of which he could now be stripped. It’s left the MMA world wondering if he’ll ever return, but UFC president Dana White insists he will – and soon.

During today’s (Wed., April 4, 2018) UFC 223 pre-fight press conference from Brooklyn, White confirmed McGregor is ‘one hundred percent’ returning this year:

“Conor is coming back this year 100 percent. He will fight this year. We’ll see how this thing plays out and we’ll go from there.”

That would suggest McGregor would be paying attention to UFC 223’s main event very closely, and not only could he find out his next opponent during the event, but his longtime friend and training partner Artem Lobov is also participating on the card.

Regardless, however, White said “The Notorious” won’t be at the card even if it would have been awesome to have him there:

“As far as I know, he’s not, no,” White replied when asked if McGregor would attend UFC 223.

“It would be awesome if Conor came. This is a fight that is obviously very important to him and his future. It would be awesome if Conor was here, but no, I don’t think he has any plans to be here.”

Indeed it would, because it could be argued there’s never been a time when the UFC needed their biggest star.

Will the infamous Irish knockout artist truly be back this year?

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Video: Khabib & Max Holloway Engage In Boisterous UFC 223 Staredown

It may not have been the oft-scheduled Tony Ferguson vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov bout fans were looking to see, but the short-notice main event between Nurmagomedov and Max Holloway is as filling a replacement fight that could have been found in less than a week. The featherweight champ flew from his native Hawaii with a ton […]

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It may not have been the oft-scheduled Tony Ferguson vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov bout fans were looking to see, but the short-notice main event between Nurmagomedov and Max Holloway is as filling a replacement fight that could have been found in less than a week.

The featherweight champ flew from his native Hawaii with a ton of weight to cut to even make 155 pounds, displaying the definition of the fighting spirit he always touts.

He’ll need if he’s going to hand the 25-0 Dagestani an improbable first loss on Saturday night. The two top-ranked fighters squared off in a boisterous staredown at today’s UFC 223 pre-fight press conference as Khabib’s many Brooklyn faithful screamed his name at the top of their lungs. Check it out via MMA Fighting below:

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UFC 223 Press Conference Video

It may have undergone a significant last-minute change, but this weekend’s (Sat., April 7, 2018) UFC 223 from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, still promises to be the biggest pay-per-view (PPV) of 2018 so far. In the main event, featherweight champion Max Holloway will step in on short notice to battle surging lightweight […]

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It may have undergone a significant last-minute change, but this weekend’s (Sat., April 7, 2018) UFC 223 from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, still promises to be the biggest pay-per-view (PPV) of 2018 so far.

In the main event, featherweight champion Max Holloway will step in on short notice to battle surging lightweight challenger Khabib Nurmagomedov for the 155-pound title.

In the co-main event, perhaps the biggest fight in the short history of the UFC women’s 115-pound division will take place when Rose Namajunas rematches former dominant champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk.

The fighters are live in NYC for the traditional pre-fight presser. Watch the action unfold here:

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Tony Ferguson Claps Back At Conor McGregor & Nate Diaz

Tony Ferguson may be in the unfortunate position of having been forced out of a fourth fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov at this Saturday’s UFC 223, but he isn’t going to let two fighters who don’t even have fights booked call him out. When news of the knee injury that forced Ferguson out of his fight […]

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Tony Ferguson may be in the unfortunate position of having been forced out of a fourth fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov at this Saturday’s UFC 223, but he isn’t going to let two fighters who don’t even have fights booked call him out.

When news of the knee injury that forced Ferguson out of his fight with Khabib and allowed Max Holloway to step in broke on Sunday night, UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor was surprisingly silent, but soon broke it the following day with an especially off-color joke.

Ferguson took offense, and called McGregor out on social media today, telling “The Notorious” he couldn’t pull out of a fight if her never fought:

Fan favorite Nate Diaz was also quick to was quick to call “El Cucuy” out for not being able to “make it to war.”

But Ferguson took a similar path to responding to Diaz, who hasn’t fought since he lost a majority decision to McGregor in the rematch at August 2016’s UFC 202. He offered his opinion that Diaz couldn’t talk given he’s supposedly turned down fights with much of the lightweight roster:

There’s no denying the sting that being forced out of the biggest fight of your career – the fourth overall time Ferguson vs. Khabib has been called off – but “El Cucuy” also has a solid point here.

McGregor and Diaz can continue to make fun of the lightweight division’s top online all they want, but at some point, they’re going to have to get back in the octagon after long bouts of not fighting and back up that talk at some point.

“El Cucuy” is injured, true, but he was headed for a dangerous match-up in the octagon, which is much more than can be said for McGregor and Diaz lately.

Whose side are you on?

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Khabib Calls Out Conor McGregor: Where Is This ‘Burger King?’

When it was unveiled that Tony Ferguson was injured and had been forced out of his massive title fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov at this Saturday’s (Sat., April 7, 2018) UFC 223 from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, MMA lost its biggest fight of the year thus far. Featherweight champion Max Holloway ultimately took advantage […]

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When it was unveiled that Tony Ferguson was injured and had been forced out of his massive title fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov at this Saturday’s (Sat., April 7, 2018) UFC 223 from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, MMA lost its biggest fight of the year thus far.

Featherweight champion Max Holloway ultimately took advantage of the opportunity and stepped up on short notice to fight the undefeated Nurmagomedov, but there was predictably another name whom ‘The Eagle’ wanted to fight on short notice.

That man was, of course, lightweight champion Conor McGregor, whom UFC president Dana White insisted he would much rather save for a bout he had enough time to promote and take full advantage of his biggest star.

But during an appearance on The MMA Hour this week, Khabib told Ariel Helwani that McGregor, who has largely been out of the spotlight save for a recent Burger King commercial, could have made weight to fight him:

“Where is this Burger King?” Nurmagomedov said. “Take this Burger King here.

“Now, where is this guy? Six days to make weight. He can make weight. Bring this guy.”

That guy would not be brought, however, even though a fight between the two is arguably the biggest fight the UFC could currently book outside of perhaps a McGregor vs. Georges St-Pierre super fight.

But it’s also a perceivably bad match-up for McGregor, who has struggled with top wrestlers who were not on the level of the peerless Dagestani grappler. Due to that perception, Khabib believes the UFC is trying to save McGregor from the beatdown he would lay on him:

“I think they want him to look nice,” Nurmagomedov said. “He famous. If I change his face … they won’t take somebody who has crazy face.”

While McGregor will not be participating at UFC 223 this weekend, White did speculate he would return sometime around this September to face the winner of this Saturday’s main event, and one of the biggest match-ups in UFC history could transpire if it is Nurmagomedov, even if a rematch with Holloway would be huge as well.

In Khabib’s eyes, the possibility has gained so much steam, it’s the most interesting fight in MMA or boxing right now:

“It’s most interesting fight in MMA and boxing right now.”

Indeed it may be, and the only thing standing in the way of it happening is a win over Holloway this weekend, something Khabib is heavily favored to secure.

Well, that and McGregor actually coming back from his self-imposed hiatus to face the steamrolling mat technician.

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Tony Ferguson Bashes UFC For Stripping Interim Title Due To ‘Freak Injury’

Shortly after UFC president Dana White broke the news that Tony Ferguson was out of his UFC 223 main event versus Khabib Nurmagomedov and would be replaced by Max Holloway last night, White also clarified that “El Cucuy” would lose his interim lightweight championship without fighting. Ferguson is not surprisingly unhappy with that call after […]

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Shortly after UFC president Dana White broke the news that Tony Ferguson was out of his UFC 223 main event versus Khabib Nurmagomedov and would be replaced by Max Holloway last night, White also clarified that “El Cucuy” would lose his interim lightweight championship without fighting.

Ferguson is not surprisingly unhappy with that call after suffering a torn LCL in a strange fall while doing some UFC-obligated media promotion last weekend.

Today (Mon., April 2, 2018) “El Cucuy” spoke up with his position on The MMA Hour, revealing that he was hurt by the UFC after finding out he would be stripped of his title while watching White on ESPN.

He doesn’t believe his title will go away, and he doesn’t think it should considering he hurt himself while doing UFC-mandated media obligations:

“I haven’t spoken with the UFC yet about what’s next,” Ferguson said on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour. “So when I saw what was in the [ESPN] interview, it shocked me, man, it hurt me even more. It was something I couldn’t control with this injury. This all started snowballing this weekend, man. Of all weekends. The UFC hasn’t said anything to me about my title going away, and I don’t think it will go away.

“You shouldn’t strip a champion due to a freak injury that happened during a UFC-obligated media event,” Ferguson said.

The otherwise surging lightweight then detailed the timeline of events, claiming that he tripped over a large cable in a dark production room on the FOX Sports set as he went to say hello to a crew member. He worked out with it but felt more pain, and then his knee got progressively worse to the point he knew he wouldn’t be able to fight on Saturday night:

“I tweeted this happened on Friday, but it actually happened on Thursday when I was doing my media obligations for UFC. I was walking to say [hello] to a FOX crew member and I walked and I slipped on one of those big black thick cords on the production studio. It was dark, hard to see and I wasn’t wearing my shades, I actually had my prescription sunglasses on. That was when I was about to do my interview on ‘The Herd’ with Kristin.

“It was just a matter of, I slipped, man,” Ferguson said. “I heard it pop. Once we got back to the car after FOX interviewed us, I turned to my wife to tell her what happened, and she was concerned. I had a couple of my team members, and UFC staff with me. Afterwards I went home and did a pool workout and I felt tension and danger in my workout. I woke up on Friday with some pain and I still tried to push through it. You guys know me, I’m tough. I tried to train later that evening after taking a day of rest but my knee locked up.

“I woke up Saturday with even more pain, but I tried to push through it and train again,” Ferguson said. “But it locked up on me, my knee was giving out a few times, and slowly it dawned on me, I knew something was f*cked up and more serious.”

Admitting that he needed a medical opinion, Ferguson got an MRI and saw the bad news, and even though he wanted to have the doctors give him something to help fight through the pain, that ultimately just wasn’t an option. He does, however, want to explore his options and return in less than a year:

“I’m not a doctor,” Ferguson said. “But when I saw my MRI image, dude, I don’t know about you, but I was like it looked like a flag with my ligament, it was hanging on the side of the pole. I wanted them to shoot me with some sort of numbing shot or whatever they put, but they said it was likely it would blow up my whole entire knee.

“I have a ruptured LCL ligament, is what they told me.

“According to the doctor, it’s off the fibula bone. Athletes with LCL sprains can usually heal in a few weeks if they stay off it. I got one doc who says I need surgery, I got one who says I have other options so they are going to send me to a specialist to see what I need to do. So I am fighting to be back in less than a year.”

So with that recovery timeline now staring him down, Ferguson cited the situation last year where Robert Whittaker fought and defeated Yoel Romero for the interim belt while then-champ Michael Bisping was slated to fight Georges St-Pierre that November.

With that recent scenario a similar occurrence as his current one, he simply wants the UFC to do the right thing and allow him to keep his belt:

“I mean seriously, there is a precedent for having a fight for a “real” title and keeping an “interim” title intact,” Ferguson said. “They just did that with Robert Whittaker last year.

“I just hope they do the right thing.”

As the storied 155-pound division falls into even more utter chaos, that may not be the case for ‘El Cucuy.’

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