Jake Paul is picking on someone his own size and is prodding the boss man Dana White to allow Derek Brunson a fight for some real money. Ever since the YouTuber-turned boxer Jake Paul has entered the combat sports scene, it seems he has been at odds with UFC president Dana White. At first, the […]
Jake Paul is picking on someone his own size and is prodding the boss man Dana White to allow Derek Brunson a fight for some real money.
Ever since the YouTuber-turned boxer Jake Paul has entered the combat sports scene, it seems he has been at odds with UFC president Dana White. At first, the UFC boss jokingly offered up a $1 million dollar wager that Ben Askren would defeat the former Disney star. After Paul passed the Askren test with flying colors by knocking him out in 90-seconds, he went after Askren’s teammate Tyron Woodley next. In late August, the “Problem Child” advanced to 4-0 as a boxer after taking Woodley to the bank in an eight-round boxing match.
According to Dana White, Paul needs to face someone his own size as it has been apparent in his last few fights that the “Problem Child” has enjoyed a marginal weight and size advantage. With the UFC’s #4-ranked Derek Brunson calling his name, Paul is now shifting his attention from Jorge Masvidal to his latest philanthropy effort.
Dana admitted this morning that I would destroy “170” pound Masvidal.. So Dana will you give Brunson permission to make some real money? Dana? pic.twitter.com/HtxyWYC99m
“Dana admitted this morning that I would destroy “170” pound Masvidal.. So Dana will you give Brunson permission to make some real money? Dana?” Jake Paul posted on Twitter.
At face value, it looks like Paul biting on Brunson’s feint might be a joke, but at least Paul is advocating for an opponent his size now. In August, Paul met Woodley at an agreed 190-pound weight limit but still towered over the former UFC welterweight champion. Derek Brunson recently headlined UFC Vegas 36 where he weighed in at 186 pounds and dominated Darren Till en route to a rear-naked choke submission victory.
Do you think Derek Brunson would beat Jake Paul in a boxing match?
The UFC will be starting 2022 with a middleweight title fight rematch. UFC President Dana White revealed to The Daily Telegraph that Israel Adesanya will rematch Robert Whittaker in January. The fight still isn’t a done deal, but it’s something the promotion is actively working on booking. “That’s a fight we want to make, so […]
The UFC will be starting 2022 with a middleweight title fight rematch.
UFC President Dana White revealed to The Daily Telegraph that Israel Adesanya will rematch Robert Whittaker in January. The fight still isn’t a done deal, but it’s something the promotion is actively working on booking.
“That’s a fight we want to make, so we’re working on it,” White said (via MMAJunkie). “I will get that done. That’s what we’re working on – we’re working on January.”
The fight will likely headline the pay-per-view, but according to White, unfortunately, Adesanya-Whittaker 2 won’t happen in Australia or New Zealand.
Image Credit: Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
“You know what sucks? With everything that’s going on right now, when you think about that fight, that fight should be done over there (in Australia or New Zealand). But that ain’t going to happen,” White said about Adesanya-Whittaker 2. “Listen, I don’t like to be all cocky and sh*t, but we will do everything in our power to get that stuff worked out.”
Israel Adesanya is coming off a decision victory over Vettori to defend his middleweight title. The victory also got him back into the win column after he lost a decision to Jan Blachowicz for the light heavyweight title. He has defended the middleweight three times with the other two defenses coming over Paulo Costa and Yoel Romero.
Robert Whittaker, meanwhile, is on a three-fight winning streak since losing his belt to Adesanya by TKO. During his winning streak, he has beaten Kelvin Gastelum, Jared Cannonier, and Darren Till by decision.
Who do you think will the rematch between Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker?
Jorge Masvidal has reacted to Leon Edwards shutting down the idea of them meeting inside the Octagon. There is unfinished business between Masvidal and Edwards. Back in 2019, Masvidal punched Edwards backstage following a UFC London event. Edwards has insisted that he’ll meet Masvidal again one day, whether inside the Octagon or on the streets. […]
Jorge Masvidal has reacted to Leon Edwards shutting down the idea of them meeting inside the Octagon.
There is unfinished business between Masvidal and Edwards. Back in 2019, Masvidal punched Edwards backstage following a UFC London event. Edwards has insisted that he’ll meet Masvidal again one day, whether inside the Octagon or on the streets. The bout has yet to materialize.
Ariel Helwani reported that the UFC was primed to make the fight happen in early 2022. Edwards seemingly poured cold on those plans with the following tweet.
My next fight will be for the world title I don’t want to hear nothing about a guy coming off 2 fight skid and Got ko his last fight
“My next fight will be for the world title. I don’t want to hear nothing about a guy coming off [a] two-fight skid and got KO’d his last fight,” Edwards wrote.
Jorge Masvidal caught wind of Edwards’ response to Helwani’s report. He decided to send a not so friendly, yet “super necessary” message to “Rocky.”
If you not gonna fight then keep my name out your p**sy a*s mouth you clout chasing biatch #supernecessary
“If you not gonna fight then keep my name out your p**sy a*s mouth you clout chasing biatch”
Edwards has received some criticism for shutting down a bout with Masvidal. Top-ranked welterweight Gilbert Burns ripped Edwards on social media.
“You are scared! You call Masvidal out now you don’t want to fight. You call me out only when I have a title shot, now [you’re] ducking! You are fake. Man this [makes] zero sense to me. First the guy hit you with three-piece and a soda [in] your own country, nothing happened. You been asking for this fight for years, last month you just did and now you turn the fight down. Man [is it] just me or this guy doesn’t like to fight? It’s crazy!”
Edwards is the number three-ranked UFC welterweight. Masvidal sits at the number six spot. Masvidal is coming off a second-round knockout loss to UFC Welterweight Champion Kamaru Usman in their rematch. Edwards has gone 9-0, 1 NC in his last 10 outings.
Former champion and UFC color commentator Michael Bisping is familiar with how Conor McGregor acted at the 2021 MTV Music Video Awards on Sunday, insinuating that the superstar was wasted on pain medication. McGregor, UFC’s biggest cash cow, was seen in a scuffle with the multi-platinum recording artist Machine Gun Kelly. After a brief altercation, […]
Former champion and UFC color commentator Michael Bisping is familiar with how Conor McGregor acted at the 2021 MTV Music Video Awards on Sunday, insinuating that the superstar was wasted on pain medication.
McGregor, UFC’s biggest cash cow, was seen in a scuffle with the multi-platinum recording artist Machine Gun Kelly. After a brief altercation, “The Notorious” chucked his open beverage at the enigmatic rock star. McGregor can be seen walking around with a black cane as he continues the recovery process. Here is a video that captured some of the chaos that unfolded.
According to McGregor’s team, the superstar never asked MGK for a picture despite numerous outlets reporting as such. Outside of the fact that MGK attended Conor McGregor’s last fight, the two do not know each other.
McGregor was last seen in the Octagon in a trilogy match against Dustin “The Diamond” Poirier. The fight started furiously, and after McGregor was taken to the ground, things only got worse. After getting up at the end of the round, the Irish superstar launched a punch only for his ankle to snap from under him.
The image of McGregor screaming in the corner for a doctor stoppage was certainly stark. Since then, McGregor has been on the mend, healing up his damaged leg. In the eyes of Michael Bisping, he has seen this story before. In fact, he’s seen it in himself.
“I’ve been there,” Bisping said on his “Believe You Me” podcast. “I mean, I’ve not been there doing that at the MTV f*cking music awards. What I mean is that I’ve had surgery, and the medication that they give you, you lose your f*cking mind. I think a lot of that was (Sunday) because he was out of his mind, on the pain pills because that’s how it goes.
Bisping has undergone various surgeries throughout his storied MMA career but retired from the sport following his knockout loss to Kelvin Gastelum in Shanghai, China in late 2017. With experience taking painkillers for surgeries, Bisping explained that they really change the way your mind operates.
“They make you very f*cking antsy, very erratic, very angry. Me and Callum, Callum is the calmest kid ever. Callum was f*cking arguing with everything I was saying when he had surgery. They kind of make you like that. I don’t know. I’m not making excuses for him, but just from what I saw, I was like, ‘Yeah, I’ve had that feeling before.’” Bisping reiterated.
The former middleweight champion is no stranger to going under the knife. Bisping has endured surgery several times throughout his career, which includes neck surgery and an operation to replace both of his knees. With how the narcotics affected Bisping’s mind, he is not surprised to see McGregor acting out against a celebrity on his off time.
Do you agree with Michael Bisping? Is Conor McGregor abusing painkillers?
UFC lightweight Michael Chandler has denied Justin Gaethje’s claims that he was “seeking attention” with his vaccination comments. Chandler has certainly been involved in more controversy and back-and-forth with his upcoming opponent than in his first two UFC fights. The former three-time Bellator Lightweight Champion made his promotional debut earlier this year at UFC 257. […]
UFC lightweight Michael Chandler has denied Justin Gaethje’s claims that he was “seeking attention” with his vaccination comments.
Chandler has certainly been involved in more controversy and back-and-forth with his upcoming opponent than in his first two UFC fights. The former three-time Bellator Lightweight Champion made his promotional debut earlier this year at UFC 257. Against the always-tough and entertaining Dan Hooker, Chandler burst onto MMA’s biggest stage in style. A first-round TKO win over the New Zealander saw him immediately break into title contention.
After the retirement of the legendary Khabib Nurmagomedov, Chandler then faced UFC veteran Charles Oliveira for the vacant 155-pound belt at UFC 262 in May. Despite coming close to securing victory in the opening round, “Iron” was on the receiving end of an incredible comeback from “Do Bronx.” A second-round defeat saw his title hopes come crashing down for the time being.
With a matchup against former interim champ Justin Gaethje, Chandler has the chance to immediately stake his claim for a second crack at gold. But the blockbuster clash hasn’t always been set in stone. Discussion about whether the state of New York would require fighters to be vaccinated for COVID-19 left Chandler’s third appearance in doubt, especially after the 35-year-old claimed he wouldn’t be getting the vaccine “FDA approval or not.”
In response, Gaethje suggested his upcoming opponent was “seeking attention” by discussing the private matter in the public eye. But during a recent appearance on The MMA Hour, Chandler suggested that wasn’t the case because he made the comments during a small Instagram Live session.
“The funny thing about the vaccination thing was, I didn’t come out, I didn’t do one story to tell people about it, about the vaccine. I didn’t get on your show and start talking about the vaccine. I was in a private Instagram Live session with a couple thousand people or whatever it was. Five minutes after I hit ‘End Live,’ one of the MMA media outlets come out and said Chandler isn’t getting vaxxed, and then I got labeled an anti-vaxxer.
“I don’t personally have the vaccine right now. I don’t know if I ever will get the vaccine. Personally, I just believe that we live in the greatest country on the planet. I believe that this is the greatest country on the planet because of our individual liberties and our individual choices, especially when it comes to our bodies and our medical history and our health. So that’s where I stand on it. And it wasn’t a heel turn whatsoever. It was just the people who labeled me an anti-vaxxer obviously thought I was a heel, when really I was just answering a question.” (h/t MMA Fighting)
When specifically asked about the comments “The Highlight” made, Chandler suggested Gaethje would have been right in his assessment had the #4-ranked lightweight announced his thoughts on the vaccine on a show or interaction with the media.
“If I had hopped on and done a media tour about how I’m not taking the vaccine or if I was telling everybody that the vaccine was garbage or something, of course that would be me seeking attention,” Chandler said. “I was in a private Instagram Live, on my own IG Live with my followers and a couple thousand people that were asking questions about it — and then the article broke and came out. So that was the funny thing too, which, that’s completely fine, it’s a hot-button issue. It’s a hot topic right now. People are 100 percent against it, people are 100 percent for it, and then there’s a lot of people in between who don’t know what to think, so it’s just a huge issue on a world stage.
“So if I had done that, yes, I would be 100 percent OK with Justin Gaethje saying I was seeking attention. But the fact that it was on an Instagram Live and a media outlet picked up my words and put them out there, that shows you right there that it was a private [discussion], no different than me and you having a private conversation at a restaurant and someone overhearing it and then acting like, hey, since I have this huge platform I shouldn’t be talking about it. Well, wait a second, I was talking about it basically in a private forum.”
In the end, it appears that athletes traveling into New York for the purpose of competing won’t be required to prove that they’ve had the vaccination. Luckily for the fighters and the fans, that means the highly anticipated bout between Gaethje and Chandler looks set to go ahead. With the rules clarified, the Missouri native can’t wait to throw hands inside the prestigious Madison Square Garden.
“We’re all systems go for Madison Square Garden on November 6th,” Chandler said. “Obviously it’s just become a world right now where a lot of things are up in the air. You never quite know. You never know if you’re fighting at Madison Square Garden until you’re there, the event starts, and they call your name and you’re walking to the octagon. So that’s the state of the world that we live in, [but] as of right now, all systems go and I couldn’t be happier to fight in Madison Square Garden under the UFC banner. It’s going to be a huge show and a phenomenal card that they put together.”
Chandler vs. Gaethje joins a host of exciting bouts on what looks set to be one of the most stacked cards of the year. Headlining UFC 268 will be a championship rematch between welterweight king Kamaru Usman and the always-outspoken Colby Covington. In the other title rematch at the event, Zhang Weili will look to reclaim the strawweight gold from “Thug” Rose Namajunas.
With the likes of Luke Rockhold, Sean Strickland, Al Iaquinta, Frankie Edgar, Shane Burgos, and Edmen Shahbazyan all set to be in action, November 6 could well see one of the best pay-per-views of the year go down.
Who do you think will have their hand raised on November 6? Michael Chandler or Justin Gaethje?
Jake Paul has opened up on the thought of facing Anderson Silva in his next boxing venture. Ever since his debut in the sport of boxing, Jake Paul has been one of the biggest names in combat sports. And despite being just four fights into his professio…
Jake Paul has opened up on the thought of facing Anderson Silva in his next boxing venture. Ever since his debut in the sport of boxing, Jake Paul has been one of the biggest names in combat sports. And despite being just four fights into his professional career, the 24-year-old already has a handful of […]
