Former two-weight champion, Conor McGregor may have outlined his intentions to scoop a record-setting third title in the future…
Former two-weight champion, Conor McGregor may have outlined his intentions to scoop a record-setting third title in the future in the form of a welterweight crown, however, has called for the inception of a new ‘Realest Motherf*cker’ championship – which he claims he’s already the inaugural holder of.
McGregor, a former undisputed lightweight gold holder and featherweight champion, has been sidelined for three years since he headlined UFC 264, most recently taking on former interim champion, Dustin Poirier.
Fracturing his left tibia and fibula in his rubber match trilogy with his Lafayette arch-rival, McGregor was slated to return at UFC 303 at the end of last month, with another injury setback cancelling that return.
And playing up a potential symbolic BMF title fight with former-foe, Max Holloway in a long-anticipated rematch after the Hawiian’s ascension at UFC 300, McGregor has now called for the creation of a brand-new title – which he claims he already owns.
“The realest motherf*cker belt is mine,” Conor McGregor posted on his official X account.
“Finger has Octagon, My Octagon canvas I’m debating BLACK AND GOLD. With Baguette ropes. Rope a dope, Proper. Ya know the way I do it. Mister don’t blink once. Ya can’t.”
Finger has Octagon. My Octagon canvas I’m debating BLACK AND GOLD. With Baguette ropes. Rope a dope, Proper. Ya know the way I do it. Mister don’t even blink once. Ya can’t. https://t.co/n0rlyCy1Hb
Without a victory since 2020, outspoken Dubliner veteran, McGregor most recently recorded a first round high-kick knockout win over Hall of Fame star, Donald Cerrone in just 40-seconds in his most recent outing at the welterweight limit.
Do you expect to see Conor McGregor return later this year?
Alex Pereira’s recent successful defence of his light heavyweight title at UFC 303 has added the Brazilian’s name to the ever-growing list of fighters who have successfully changed weight divisions within the UFC. Today we take a look at some of the most notable examples (along with a few that didn’t fare quite as well). […]
Alex Pereira’s recent successful defence of his light heavyweight title at UFC 303 has added the Brazilian’s name to the ever-growing list of fighters who have successfully changed weight divisions within the UFC. Today we take a look at some of the most notable examples (along with a few that didn’t fare quite as well).
CONOR McGREGOR
The original ‘champ champ’. The first man to simultaneously hold championship belts in two different weight divisions. “The Notorious” signed with the UFC back in 2013 having won both the featherweight and lightweight titles in Cage Warriors and within two-and-a-half years he knocked out Jose Aldo to claim the 145lb belt.
Image: Conor McGregor IG
Less than a year later, he put on perhaps the best display of his career when he beat Eddie Alvarez at the iconic Madison Square Garden to claim the 155lb strap. He has also competed in the welterweight division, fighting Nate Diaz twice and Donald Cerrone. His recent (now postponed) comeback bout against Michael Chandler had been set to take place over five rounds at 170lbs.
DANIEL CORMIER
“DC” enjoyed huge success fighting as a heavyweight prior to signing with the UFC in 2013. He beat Antonio “Big Foot” Silva and Josh Barnett to win the Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix in 2012 and began his UFC career with wins over former heavyweight champion Frank Mir and Roy Nelson, before making the decision to move down to 205lbs as his team-mate Cain Velazquez was the heavyweight champion at the time.
Cormier submitted Anthony “Rumble” Johnson in 2015 to claim the vacant light heavyweight title, and three years later he made the decision to move up and challenge then-champion Stipe Miocic for the heavyweight title. He shocked the world by knocking out Miocic in the first round, although the Cleveland-born firefighter gained his revenge by beating Cormier twice in 2019/2020, retiring him from the sport.
Image: Robert Whittaker Instagram
ROBERT WHITTAKER
“Bobby Knuckles” signed with the UFC back in 2012 off the back of some impressive performances on The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes and had mixed results during his time competing in the welterweight division. He won three of his first five fights, but losses to Court McGee and Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson convinced Whittaker to test the waters at 185lbs.
What followed was an eight-fight winning streak, wins over the likes of Yoel Romero and “Jacare” Souza and the UFC middleweight title. Whittaker lost the belt to Israel Adesanya in 2022 but is still riding high at 185lbs and finds himself in the title picture once again after his recent knockout victory over Ikram Aliskerov.
HENRY CEJUDO
The 2008 Olympic gold medallist won his first four fights inside the Octagon to earn a shot at then-UFC flyweight champion Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson back in 2016. Although Cejudo was knocked out in the first round, he soon worked his way back into title contention with some impressive victories over Wilson Reis and Sergio Pettis.
The rematch was a much closer affair, and “Triple C” ended Johnson’s record-breaking title reign and emerged victorious by way of a contentious split decision. A year later he moved up to 135lbs to challenge Marlon Moraes for the vacant UFC bantamweight title. He finished Moraes and then beat former champion Dominick Cruz in his first title defence in 2020, before relinquishing his belt and announcing his retirement, in what seemed like a power play due to contract issues with the UFC.
3 Fighters Who Moved Down A Weight Division…With Disastrous Results!
T.J. DILLASHAW
T.J. Dillashaw enjoyed two separate runs as UFC bantamweight champion. He shocked the MMA world when he destroyed Renan Barao at UFC 173 to capture the 135lb belt. After losing the title to Dominck Cruz two years later, he regrouped and beat Raphael Assuncao and John Lineker to earn another shot at gold.
He knocked out former team-mate Cody Garbrandt (who had won the belt from Cruz a year earlier), and after finishing “No Love” again in a rematch, made the decision to cut to 125lbs to challenge Henry Cejudo for the flyweight title.
The decision proved disastrous. Dillashaw was knocked out after just 32 seconds, and a couple of months later it was announced he had been suspended for two years by USADA due to testing positive for EPO in the lead-up to the Cejudo fight.
He returned after his suspension ended and beat Cory Sandhagen to earn another shot at the 135lb belt but went into the fight against Aljamain Sterling carrying a serious shoulder injury and was finished easily. He has since walked away from the sport.
CODY GARBRANDT
Cody Garbrandt came into that first bantamweight title fight with T.J. Dillashaw unbeaten at 10-0 and riding high off the back of a career-best performance against Dominick Cruz. The two losses he suffered at the hands of Dillashaw seemed to affect him badly. He was also knocked out by Pedro Munhoz in his next fight, and although he would claim a highlight reel finish over Raphael Assuncao in 2020, a defeat to Rob Font soon afterwards convinced him a change was needed.
Image: Cody Garbrandt Instagram
With no discernible path back into the bantamweight picture, “No Love” decided to make the cut to 125lbs for a fight against Australian flyweight contender Kai Kara-France at UFC 269. Another first-round knockout defeat followed, and Garbrandt stepped away from the spotlight for a much-needed break.
His return to the bantamweight division has been a little less calamitous. Wins over Trevin Jones and Brian Kelleher, followed by a submission loss to Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC 300 have hinted that perhaps his future lies slightly outside of the title picture for now, but most definitely should be at 135lbs.
DAN HOOKER
“The Hangman” picked up a string of impressive wins in the UFC’s lightweight division between 2017 and 2021, beating the likes of Paul Felder, Al Iaquinta, Gilbert Burns and Jim Miller. His record at 155lbs during that five-year spell sits at 8 wins and 4 defeats, but losses against the biggest names in the division such as Michael Chandler, Dustin Poirier and Islam Makhachev convinced the Australian to think about a move down to 145lbs.
Image: UFC.com
His featherweight debut against Arnold Allen in London, England ended disastrously. At 6 feet tall, Hooker looked frail and weakened at 145lbs, and Allen destroyed him in little over two minutes. Hooker has since returned to the lightweight division and reeled off victories over Claudio Puelles and Jalin Turner.
One thing we know for certain: finding the right weight class is of paramount importance for a fighter. It can be the defining factor between a promising career and a championship legacy in the highly demanding world of the UFC.
Michael Chandler has not fought since his loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 281 in November of 2022. He has spent the best part of a year and a half at this stage trying to answer questions of when he will be fighting Conor McGregor and whether this wait has been worth it. Everything finally […]
Michael Chandler has not fought since his loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 281 in November of 2022.
He has spent the best part of a year and a half at this stage trying to answer questions of when he will be fighting Conor McGregor and whether this wait has been worth it.
Of course, fighting McGregor is an opportunity that simply doesn’t get any bigger in this sport but if the fight never happens, Chandler could have missed out on some incredibly significant time in his career now that he is 38 years old.
Chael Sonnen does not see it this way because of the goal that “Iron” Mike approached this fight with.
Chael Sonnen Argues That Michael Chandler Has Still Got What He Wanted Out Of Conor McGregor Without Fighting Him
Though some would consider this a big setback for the former Bellator fight because of how long he has waited, Sonnen believes that he has still gained massively from this period of his career.
“The Bad Guy” argues that by being spoken about in connection with the biggest fight that is possible means that he has been able to increase his own stock and name value without ever stepping inside the Octagon.
Sonnen argues that Chandler has been given the McGregor exposure without actually needing to fight him first.
“Michael Chandler, behind the scenes, his number one motivation to fight Conor McGregor, it was not some big huge lucrative payday like so many people think. Michael Chandler was playing a long game, he thought, ‘I match-up very well, Conor’s got the fans, I go in there, I beat him, I leave with all the fans’. Well, he’s kind of there. I mean, in all fairness, we’re all chomping at the bit to see Michael Chandler.
“What I’m trying to suggest for you is it doesn’t really matter. Michael Chandler, I believe, is a top five draw right now and I don’t believe after his last fight that he was. I think all this media, all this attention, the things that are dangling, you and I discussing him, I think he’s actually gone up. I think he got what he wanted without having to throw a punch.”
Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov’s rivalry is alive and well as the Irishman took aim at ‘The Eagle’ in…
Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov’s rivalry is alive and well as the Irishman took aim at ‘The Eagle’ in a deleted tweet.
McGregor quote tweeted an ESPN tweet from 2018 about Nurmagomedov saying he’ll leave the UFC if they get rid of his teammates. Out of nowhere, the Irishman responded to it and claimed Nurmagomedov had since left his wife, and he sent out a tweet which he quickly deleted, but it was captured by Spinnin Backfist.
“Fast forward he has since abandoned, betrayed, and fled Russia entirely. Leaving his children and mother and wife/cousin behind,” Conor McGregor wrote in a now-deleted tweet.
The tweet seemingly came out of nowhere, but McGregor did delete it, which he is known to do. But, it’s clear the Irishman is still not a fan of Nurmagomedov and continues to take shots at him whenever possible.
Conor McGregor blasts Khabib Nurmagomedov over tax situation
Earlier this year, a report came from Russia that Khabib Nurmagomedov owes $3.3 million to the Russian Federal Tax Service and his accounts have been frozen.
“That’s typical rat behavior,” Conor McGregor said on a Duelbits live stream. “Scurrying rat. So, he has bills to pay. Two main events or something he has in the UFC and he owes his bollocks to the Russian government. So, he’s gonna pay his f—kin’ money that he owes instead of siphoning it out through to other countries. I’m ecstatic and delighted that that’s coming on top of him.
Mandatory Credit: Steven Ryan
“We all will welcome him back into the fight game where he’s ran from,” he continued. “It’s a rat trap. The rat trap has been set. We’re excited about that and to see where it goes. We noticed a little rat scurrying on back. We see him back around. The fat rat we call him.”
It’s clear that McGregor is still not a fan of Nurmagomedov and it’s likely he will continue to take shots at him whenever possible.
Former two-division champion, Conor McGregor has claimed his return to the UFC is “loading” once more amid links to…
Former two-division champion, Conor McGregor has claimed his return to the UFC is “loading” once more amid links to a comeback fight at UFC 310 before the end of the year in December, in a rescheduled fight against former title challenger, Michael Chandler.
McGregor, a former undisputed lightweight champion and featherweight titleholder, has been sidelined for the last three years from the Octagon, most recently headlining UFC 264.
And slated to return at the end of last month in a UFC 303 headliner against the above-mentioned, Chandler, former champion, McGregor was sidelined once more through injury – citing a fractured toe on his left foot which forced his exit from the International Fight Week card.
“Scammers, him and his wife,” Conor McGregor posted on his official X account in a series of now-deleted comments. “Scammers. Buy the shorts that he quit in the most important fight of his life. Scammers, him and his wife. Scammers. Broke scammer alert.”
Dustin Poirier says Khabib might be buying he’s ufc 302 fight kit for charity
Without a victory since 2020, McGregor’s most recent professional win came in the form of a dominant opening round knockout win over Donald Cerrone, dispatching the former lightweight title challenger with a stunning high-kick finish inside just 40-seconds in their welterweight main event showdown.
Do you think Conor McGregor returns to the Octagon by the end of the year?
Former two-division champion, Conor McGregor has claimed his return to the UFC is “loading” once more amid links to…
Former two-division champion, Conor McGregor has claimed his return to the UFC is “loading” once more amid links to a comeback fight at UFC 310 before the end of the year in December, in a rescheduled fight against former title challenger, Michael Chandler.
McGregor, a former undisputed lightweight champion and featherweight titleholder, has been sidelined for the last three years from the Octagon, most recently headlining UFC 264.
And slated to return at the end of last month in a UFC 303 headliner against the above-mentioned, Chandler, former champion, McGregor was sidelined once more through injury – citing a fractured toe on his left foot which forced his exit from the International Fight Week card.
“Scammers, him and his wife,” Conor McGregor posted on his official X account in a series of now-deleted comments. “Scammers. Buy the shorts that he quit in the most important fight of his life. Scammers, him and his wife. Scammers. Broke scammer alert.”
Dustin Poirier says Khabib might be buying he’s ufc 302 fight kit for charity
Without a victory since 2020, McGregor’s most recent professional win came in the form of a dominant opening round knockout win over Donald Cerrone, dispatching the former lightweight title challenger with a stunning high-kick finish inside just 40-seconds in their welterweight main event showdown.
Do you think Conor McGregor returns to the Octagon by the end of the year?
Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov’s rivalry is alive and well as the Irishman took aim at ‘The Eagle’ in…
Former two-division champion, Conor McGregor has claimed his return to the UFC is “loading” once more amid links to…
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