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Tony Ferguson Wants Title Unification Fight Against Conor McGregor in 2018

UFC interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson called for a 2018 title unification bout with Conor McGregor in an Instagram post Friday.
According to ESPN.com’s Brett Okamoto, Ferguson posted the following message after he underwent elbow surgery, whic…

UFC interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson called for a 2018 title unification bout with Conor McGregor in an Instagram post Friday.

According to ESPN.com’s Brett Okamoto, Ferguson posted the following message after he underwent elbow surgery, which isn’t expected to keep him out for an extended period of time: “I asked Doc if he could make my elbows any more sharper. Well … [with] a wink and a nod it was done!!! T’was a very minor surgery and now getting ready to unify my belt with McNuggets in the first [quarter] of the year (March – April), as recovery is going great!!! #DefendorVacate.”

The 33-year-old Ferguson became interim champ at UFC 216 in October when he defeated Kevin Lee by submission.

McGregor won the lightweight title at UFC 205 in November 2016 when he knocked out Eddie Alvarez in the second round.

The Irishman hasn’t fought for the UFC since then, though, as he shifted his focus to boxing. McGregor went on to lose to Floyd Mayweather Jr. by 10th-round technical knockout in August.

It is unclear when McGregor intends to return to the Octagon, and UFC President Dana White said last month that he “might never fight again,” per Steven Marrocco and John Morgan of MMAJunkie.com.

There is significantly more money in boxing than mixed martial arts for McGregor, and this week, boxing legend Manny Pacquiao said he reached out to McGregor about a potential fight, according to Okamoto.

In the MMA world, McGregor is the sport’s biggest draw, and he is among its most successful competitors with a record of 21-3.

Ferguson is 23-3, and he is in the midst of an impressive 10-fight winning streak.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Manny Pacquiao Confirms Talks Have Begun For Conor McGregor Boxing Match

It’s currently unknown if Conor McGregor will ever return to the UFC to finally defend one of his titles, and based on his recent outside-the-cage-troubles and obsession with boxing, it may stay that way. Nearly every aging name in the sweet science has called out for a boxing match with “The Notorious” since his tenth-round […]

The post Manny Pacquiao Confirms Talks Have Begun For Conor McGregor Boxing Match appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Nearly every aging name in the sweet science has called out for a boxing match with “The Notorious” since his tenth-round TKO loss to Floyd Mayweather on August 26, a fight where the Irishman made an alleged $100 million, and that includes Mayweather’s former rival Manny Pacquiao. The decorated Filipino great recently teased that he wants to square off with McGregor, but not many gave it much credit.

But Pacquiao insisted it could indeed become reality today, telling reporters that he had opened talks with McGregor’s team as reported to news wire service AFP (via Yahoo!):

“If we can negotiate it, I have no problem. It is OK with both of us.”

Photo by Mark J. Rebilas for USA TODAY Sports

Asked if he and his team had been getting into specific details on when such a mega fight would happen, Pacquiao said that the sides had made an initial meeting but it had not progressed any further:

“Initially, but we have not yet had any follow-up conversations,” Pacquiao said.

So some opening talks have been had, but the fight appears to be far from a certainty as of right now. Pacquiao also stressed that the fight would have to come during his recess as a member of the Philippine Senate and that he could face a number of potential opponents in Malaysia, Dubai, or Macau:

“It depends who they can finalise as my opponent by April.”

McGregor has one boxing match, a stoppage loss to one of the best all-time, while Pacquiao is a decorated former champion of an alarming eight divisions who also had his own rivalry and battle with Mayweather, losing an uninspired decision to “Money” in boxing’s so-called ‘Fight of the Century’ in May 2015.

‘The Notorious’ has been making headlines for anything from outbursts such as his Bellator 187 scene where he shoved referee Marc Goddard and slapped a security guard to galavanting about town with singer Rita Ora, but next to nothing is known about when he’ll return to the Octagon or if he ever will. With a payday like the one he made for facing Mayweather, there is a legitimate chance he never does.

And while another boxing match with an aging legend who’s out of his prime may seem like a ridiculous prospect given he’s yet to defend a UFC title, there’s little doubt the fight would be a massive pay-per-view success based on the rumored numbers Mayweather vs. McGregor garnered.

Are you in any way interested in seeing McGregor face off with ‘Pacman?’

The post Manny Pacquiao Confirms Talks Have Begun For Conor McGregor Boxing Match appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Report: Conor McGregor & Manny Pacquiao in Talks For April Bout

Here we go again. The last time Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight title holder Conor McGregor was in action, he did so inside a boxing ring. McGregor suffered a 10th round TKO loss to future Hall of Famer Floyd Mayweather. McGregor hasn&…

Cub Swanson Says McGregor & Rousey Have Been Pampered by UFC

Cub Swanson feels there’s no doubt that two fighters have gotten special treatment under the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) banner. Those fighters just so happen to be the most polarizing figures in the history of mixed martial arts (MMA). Swanson is talking about UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor and former women’s bantamweight queen Ronda Rousey. […]

Conor McGregor Confirms Focus Is On Fighting In 2018

Conor McGregor hasn’t stepped foot inside the UFC Octagon since winning the promotion’s lightweight title with an emphatic knockout victory over Eddie Alvarez at November 2016’s UFC 205. Instead, he landed a lucrative boxing fight with Floyd Mayweather, which took place this past August, and his fighting future has been up in the air ever […]

The post Conor McGregor Confirms Focus Is On Fighting In 2018 appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

UFC President Dana White has even said that the Irishman may never fight again. And although he appears to continue to get himself into troublesome situations outside of combat sports, McGregor recently confirmed that his focus is on returning to fighting in 2018, but it may not take place in the Octagon:

“My focus is getting back into the right ring or Octagon. 2017 was historic. I have transcended both the sport of MMA and boxing,” McGregor told his sponsor Betsafe (via The Mac Life). “At this stage of my career, as it has been for the majority of my UFC career, potential opponents must lobby for fights with me. We could see Conor McGregor anywhere. I run the fight game, the fashion game, the whiskey game, or whatever the next business endeavor might be.”

“I have every intention of fighting in 2018 if my compensation and business development endeavors accurately reflect my influence on combat sports.”

It’d be a bit difficult to see the UFC allowing McGregor box again despite the financial gains his fight with Mayweather brought the promotion, but nothing McGregor does should be surprising these days.

If he were to return to the Octagon, it was expected that he’d take on interim lightweight titleholder Tony Ferguson, but “El Cucuy” recently underwent elbow surgery.

What do you expect the “Notorious” one’s next move to be?

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Cub Swanson Criticizes UFC For Treatment of McGregor & Rousey

No. 4-ranked UFC featherweight contender Cub Swanson has long been a top-10 perennial contender, but a coveted UFC title shot has always eluded him. Now of course that’s due in part to Swanson, who meets Brian Ortega in the main event of UFC Fight Fight Night Fresno this weekend (Dec. 9, 2017), coming up short […]

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No. 4-ranked UFC featherweight contender Cub Swanson has long been a top-10 perennial contender, but a coveted UFC title shot has always eluded him.

Now of course that’s due in part to Swanson, who meets Brian Ortega in the main event of UFC Fight Fight Night Fresno this weekend (Dec. 9, 2017), coming up short in a few pivotal bouts, but he also feels it could be due to the path the UFC has put him on.

As he sees it, it’s ‘a lot harder’ for a fighter like him to reach the pinnacle as opposed to fighters with higher profiles like Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey:

“Fighters like that, they get hand-picked opponents their entire career,” Swanson told Yahoo! Sports. “Guys like me, they’re like, ‘Yeah, he’s winning, but let’s give him tougher and tougher and tougher and tougher guys.’ That’s literally how they book my fights. It’s a lot harder for somebody like me to have an undefeated career than somebody like a Conor or a Ronda.”

Both McGregor, who currently serves as the UFC lightweight champion, and Rousey, a former bantamweight titleholder, are two of biggest stars mixed martial arts has ever seen, with both reaching heights unlike those of any other fighter.

Swanson, however, feels as if both McGregor and Rousey were ‘pampered’ by the UFC:

“That’s very fair, but I also think both of them were very pampered,” he said. “You know I’ll take slack for saying that, but it’s very true. I tell young fighters this all the time. Me and Ortega both, we’re just another fighter from California. We’re not from a country that doesn’t have any other fighters and so we don’t have an entire country backing us up. So we’re not an easy sell from a promoter’s perspective.”

He also claimed that the two stars have been ‘compensated above and behind’:

“One, they’re being compensated above and beyond,” he said. “Two, their opponents were picked at the right time and it was the right person. When [McGregor fought] Chad Mendes, that fight, [Mendes] wasn’t even training when Aldo pulled out. Five other people were training and they went with the guy who is the least in shape. Same thing happened with Nate Diaz. Five other people signed on the dotted line and Nate Diaz got the fight because he was the least in shape. There was too much money to be lost. It’s simple.”

Does Swanson have a point here, or have both McGregor and Rousey earned their fortunes?

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