There was a point in the not-so-distant past that Justin Gaethje was so unknown he was without a Wikipedia entry. Now the UFC newcomer is making headlines in and out of the cage.
The Ultimate Fighter 26 coach told Andrew Capucetti of TMZ Sports that c…
There was a point in the not-so-distant past that Justin Gaethje was so unknown he was without a Wikipedia entry. Now the UFC newcomer is making headlines in and out of the cage.
The Ultimate Fighter 26 coach told Andrew Capucetti of TMZ Sports that current UFC lightweight champion ConorMcGregor is “terrified” of his fighting style, but that he would look forward to the opportunity of trying not to get hit by McGregor‘s big left hand.
And when McGregor launches his clothing line in 2018 (h/t Damon Martin for MMANYTT.com), don’t expect Gaethje to be rocking the new threads unless he is collecting a check.
Gaethje replied to TMZ Sports by saying, “If he wants to sponsor me he can sponsor me. I ain’t paying for that s–t.”
When asked if any fighter would make it to 50-0 like Floyd Mayweather, Gaethje said MMA is too brutal a sport to hit the half-century mark.
But retiring undefeated is the plan for Gaethje.
The former World Series of Fighting lightweight champion is currently at 18-0 and said he plans to hit 30-0 and exit the sport.
30-0 is a long way off for Gaethje. Standing in the way next is former UFC and Bellator champion Eddie Alvarez at the TUF 26 finale on December 1. There is no easy road in the UFC, and Gaethje‘s willing to accept that challenge on his way to reaching ultimate glory.
Many if not most in the combat sports world gave Conor McGregor incredibly high praise for his performance in a loss against boxing great Floyd Mayweather last weekend (Sat., August 26, 2017) from Las Vegas, Nevada. The MMA megastar was able to land more punches on the elusive “Money” than former boxing champion Manny Pacquiao […]
Many if not most in the combat sports world gave Conor McGregor incredibly high praise for his performance in a loss against boxing great Floyd Mayweather last weekend (Sat., August 26, 2017) from Las Vegas, Nevada.
The MMA megastar was able to land more punches on the elusive “Money” than former boxing champion Manny Pacquiao and a host of other world-class pros, and even though he ultimately succumbed to a tenth-round TKO at the hands of the undefeated champion, “The Notorious” proved he was a tough and game boxer until gassing late. Not everyone felt that way, however, as his former rivals Jose Aldo and Rafael dos Anjos took a moment to revel in his defeat on Twitter.
Yet Aldo insists he wasn’t the proprietor of that tweet as he cleared the air on the situation while speaking to the media at his restaurant “Famous Burger” in Rio de Janiero, Brazi (via MMA Fighting), saying that his social media team actually sent it while he was watching a football game:
“First of all, I didn’t even watch the fight. I went to a football game, which is the No. 1 sport for me. I love it, so I didn’t even watch the fight or know what happened.
“There’s some people that take care of my social media, so I can’t even say what happened because I didn’t stop to watch the fight. I talked about it (that night) because I was surrounded by boxers, and they talked about the fight, but I haven’t watched it so I can’t comment on it.
“It’s tough. You know what every athlete has a company that handles his social media. So that’s it.”
The words may be hard to believe for some fans, with many believe the decorated former champion to still be bitter from his jaw-dropping 13-second knockout defeat from “The Notorious” at UFC 194 in 2015. The timing is a bit suspect as well because Aldo’s coach just suggested “Scarface” could fight out his UFC deal and go to boxing himself.
With his mind on the sweet science, Aldo offered a view that McGregor really didn’t accomplish much in facing Mayweather, because he landed punches on an old fighter who didn’t train seriously to fight him:
“Of course not. It’s not a moral (victory). First of all, you’re trying to prove (what) against a 41-year-old fighter who hasn’t fought in years… Of course, it’s a fight for a lot of money, but a moral victory would be against an active boxer, a champion. Then he wouldn’t even last a round. It’s a completely different sport.
“Mayweather just waited for the time to attack. He hasn’t fought in two years. Many people talk shit, not the media, but many people keep saying ‘oh, he landed more punches than Pacquiao, Cotto and everyone else,’ but they don’t take into consideration that (Mayweather) hasn’t fought in two years. He didn’t even train properly for the fight. He knew it would work. Brother, one chance in a million for Conor to defeat Mayweather.”
Regardless of all these dynamics, however, Aldo has some ground to make up in his own division, as he just lost the belt to Max Holloway in devastating fashion at UFC 212 this June.
There are some potentially interesting match-ups available to him in the UFC, but with him not appearing to be in a hurry to fight his way back to a title shot, he risks becoming remembered as a generational talent who may have fallen quite short of living up to his overall potential due to inactivity and injuries.
Perhaps, he doesn’t care, and he has accomplished something most would never dream of in rising up from a kid fighting to live on the streets to the position of a respected UFC champion. No one can take that away from him, but defining his own career on his own bitterness at McGregor won’t gain him any fans.
Showtime executive vice president Stephen Espinoza told Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Snowden on Friday that the Aug. 26 superfight between Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather Jr. is “tracking” to generate more than 4 million pay-per-view purchases.
Accor…
Showtime executive vice president Stephen Espinoza told Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Snowden on Friday that the Aug. 26 superfight between Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather Jr. is “tracking” to generate more than 4 million pay-per-view purchases.
According to the Los Angeles Times‘ Lance Pugmire, Espinoza said “it’s too early to declare a hard number,” but the fight is “tracking in the mid-to-high 4 million pay-per view buys.”
Pugmire added the fight is “expected” to top $600 million in total revenue and has a chance to exceed the record 4.6 million pay-per-view purchases generated by Mayweather’s 2015 fight against Manny Pacquiao.
“If we don’t reach the record, we’re going to be very, very close,” Espinoza said.
According to Pugmire, final pay-per-view numbers are expected to be released next week.
Skepticism rightly enveloped the lead-up to the fight, which pitted the undefeated Mayweather against McGregor in the UFC lightweight champion’s first-ever boxing match.
But in a pleasant surprise, Mayweather and McGregor put on a far more entertaining and competitive show than anyone could have expected.
While McGregor was ultimately defeated via 10th-round TKO, the Irishman held his own before the stoppage. According to MMA Fighting’sMike Chiappetta, McGregor landed 111 punches total—30 more than Pacquiao connected on in his unanimous decision defeat against Mayweather.
“He’s a tough competitor,” Mayweather said after improving to 50-0, perMMAFighting. “I think we gave the fans want they wanted to see. He was a lot better than I thought he was.”
Oscar De La Hoya has finally explained his last outburst before Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor took place. It’s no secret that De La Hoya was strongly against the idea of a “Money Fight” between Mayweather and McGregor. The bout took place on Aug. 26. Mayweather won the bout via 10th round TKO. Just before […]
Oscar De La Hoya has finally explained his last outburst before Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor took place. It’s no secret that De La Hoya was strongly against the idea of a “Money Fight” between Mayweather and McGregor. The bout took place on Aug. 26. Mayweather won the bout via 10th round TKO. Just before […]
Oscar De La Hoya was not a fan of last week’s (Sat. August 26, 2017) Mayweather vs. McGregor mega-fight, and he made that very clear on Twitter the night before the fight. De La Hoya took to Twitter just hours before the event’s weigh-ins and delivered an expletive-filled rant against the event claiming that the […]
Oscar De La Hoya was not a fan of last week’s (Sat. August 26, 2017) Mayweather vs. McGregor mega-fight, and he made that very clear on Twitter the night before the fight.
De La Hoya took to Twitter just hours before the event’s weigh-ins and delivered an expletive-filled rant against the event claiming that the fight disrespected the sport of boxing. He also went on to promote what he considers to be boxing’s ‘real fight’ in Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin later this month (September 16, 2017).
UFC President Dana White would respond to this Tweet by asking if De La Hoya was ‘snorting coke and drinking booze again’:
De La Hoya appeared on The MMA Hour earlier this week to react to his Twitter beef with White, claiming that he was simply defending his sport (quotes via MMA Fighting):
“Just trying to defend my sport,” De La Hoya said. “My sport gave me everything I have. My sport allowed me to win an Olympic gold medal, to win 10 world titles in six different weight classes. I’ve been boxing since I was 4 years old. I was a little fed up by what was taking place. Obviously emotions run through my veins and I was just defending the sport that I dearly love.”
As for White’s response, the UFC boss’ words did disappoint him, however, he will continue to defend his sport and promote Canelo vs. GGG:
“I just brush it off,” he said. “I never attacked him personally, whatsoever. I was obviously very disappointed by his words. But it is what it is. I’m gonna continue defending the sport of boxing, I’m gonna continue respecting the MMA. And move on to Sept. 16.”
“This is the fight that people have been asking for,” De La Hoya said.
De La Hoya then offered his thoughts on the Mayweather vs. McGregor fight, admitting he watched it despite his criticism, and noted that he believes Canelo Alvarez would have finished off the Irishman within one or two rounds:
“After seeing Saturday’s fight, Canelo probably would have knocked him out in one round or two rounds,” De La Hoya said. “Canelo is a knockout guy, he’s a guy who’s not gonna trick people into making a fight last longer than it should last.”
Many felt that referee Robert Byrd’s stoppage of Conor McGregor’s bout with all-time boxing legend Floyd Mayweather last Saturday night (August 26, 2017) from Las Vegas was a bit too early, but if one medical doctor is correct, that is far from the case. True, McGregor was still standing after absorbing an unanswered assault from […]
Many felt that referee Robert Byrd’s stoppage of Conor McGregor’s bout with all-time boxing legend Floyd Mayweather last Saturday night (August 26, 2017) from Las Vegas was a bit too early, but if one medical doctor is correct, that is far from the case.
True, McGregor was still standing after absorbing an unanswered assault from Mayweather in the tenth round, an onslaught he attributed to fatigue more than any damage “Money” was dealing.
However, based on former ringside physician Darragh O’ Carroll, MD’s stance on the situation, fatigue was far from the reason Byrd stopped the historic fight. O’ Carroll broke down the details of the bout’s conclusion to TONIC (via MMA Mania), believing it was stopped because McGregor began showing signs of a mild traumatic brain injury:
“Byrd’s calculation to call a stoppage was likely not based on signs of fatigue, but rather signs of traumatic brain injury. Ataxia, or dizziness and loss of balance, is one of the hallmarks of concussion, a type of mild traumatic brain injury. Fatigue may cause sluggish and slow movements, but does not cause the imbalance and poor coordination exhibited by McGregor in the 10th round. Being wobbly, in the setting of pugilistic trauma, will always be treated as the result of head trauma and not as fatigue. To let a fighter continue on would be grossly negligent.”
That’s obviously a serious concern for any athlete to hear, let alone a combat sports fighter who is constantly hit in the head. With chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) becoming a prevalent issue amongst fighters who are moving on from their notoriously short and brutal MMA careers, this instance may prove that brain damage avoids no fighter, not even the best and brightest like McGregor.
Mixed martial arts is young enough as a major sport to not have anything close to a full data set proving how impactful CTE is in former fighters, and few studies have been conducted on MMA fighters thus far. But it’s obviously caused a huge stir in the National Football League (NFL), and could become a point of emphasis when fighters finally decide they need a collective bargaining agreement with the UFC.
That’s been coming for what seems like years now, so perhaps hearing that even the biggest UFC star is subject to lasting effects of getting hit will motivate them to do just that even further. For their sakes, let’s hope so.
There was a point in the not-so-distant past that Justin Gaethje was so unknown he was without a Wikipedia entry. Now the UFC newcomer is making headlines in and out of the cage.
De La Hoya then offered his thoughts on the Mayweather vs. McGregor fight, admitting he watched it despite his criticism, and noted that he believes Canelo Alvarez would have finished off the Irishman within one or two rounds: