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Video: Conor McGregor continues to progress his skillset in grappling

It’s been some time since we last saw former two-division Cage Warriors and UFC champion Conor McGregor compete inside the octagon, a whole 16 months in fact, where he lost his second consecutive bout against former interim champion Dustin Poirier in 2021. Following his knockout defeat to Poirier earlier that year in January, they were […]

Following his knockout defeat to Poirier earlier that year in January, they were now 1-1 against one another, and it needed to be settled. McGregor TKO’d Poirier in the opening round of their first fight back at UFC 178 in September of 2014 prior to their rematch at UFC 257.

McGregor got injured in their trilogy bout, breaking his leg toward the end of the first round, resulting in another TKO defeat.

Luckily for McGregor and his fans however, in recent months, he’s finally been able to train to the fullest of his capabilities without restrictions.

Though McGregor isn’t expected to compete again until the first, or potentially the second quarter of 2023, that hasn’t stopped him from regularly posting videos of himself training.

We all know McGregor to be one of, if not the slickest and most dangerous striker in the sport of MMA, 19 of his 22 career victories coming via knockout. However, he’s been working on his wrestling and grappling lately, as his most recent video footage shows.

McGregor wrote the following in the videos caption: “Shit hot everywhere. The real goat. There’s not a place I’m not great. Some of your goats can’t even kick. Watch my wrist work here. At some points you see my opponent has the illusion of the control of my wrist but I use this silliness to open doors with it. I open the door to go right into full mount.

“Then later I open the door right to the rib cage for my knee to land flush. It’s using the opponents control of your wrist as a lever. Watch and see can you see. Leave a comment and tag your pal, the Mac is back, with another lesson on defend and attack.”

Aside from his pair of back-to-back defeats to Dustin Poirier in his last two outings, McGregor had only lost four times, all four via submission, one of which was later avenged.

If he can keep opponents from taking him down, he’s going to be a very tough man to beat once again.

Does ‘The Notorious’ Conor McGregor return to form next year in 2023?

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Henry Cejudo Believes Sean O’Malley Is Buying Into His Own Hype

Despite retiring in May of this year, Henry Cejudo has had no problem continuing to make headlines. He enjoys trolling fighters, especially fighters in his weight class of 135 lbs, and Sean O’Malley is the most recent of which he’s targeted. ‘Triple-C’ recently went onto Mike Swick’s podcast to discuss some things, one of which […]

‘Triple-C’ recently went onto Mike Swick’s podcast to discuss some things, one of which was ‘Sugar’ Sean O’Malley. Swick asked the former Olympian what his thoughts on the 25-year-old talent were:

“I’ll be honest with you Mike, I actually like the kid. In some way I’m like hating on him, but in some way I like him, I’m weird like that. But I honestly, I wish the kid the best, but I also think that he thinks he’s better than what he really is. You know what I’m saying?

“He has, even though he has the gifts, he’s got great distance, he’s got great demeanor, great fakes man. I watch of his, I’m like, very subtle. I look at all these minor little details. But, he hasn’t been built to freaking last, he hasn’t been through a war where somebody, you can give the pain, but can you take the pain?

“And that’s the difference between somebody like Sean O’Malley and me. Yeah does he have probably better striking than me? Probably, because of his length and his range and whatnot, it makes him a little dangerous, but you just gotta be the full package. You know what I’m saying?

“And it’s ironic that you didn’t have (Marlon) ‘Chito’ Vera on your thing, and right before he fought Sean O’Malley, I’m like ‘hey listen dude’, I sent him a message and we’re not even friends man, but we have a lot of friends in common. I’m like, ‘listen man, the way to beat this dude, make him fight his B-side.

“Put him in the clinch, put him against the cage, and because of his stance, he’s heavy with his left leg forward.’ I said, ‘smoke the hands, and take out the fucking kicks.

“Smoke the hands and just blasting that front kick, that calf kick, ’cause it’s been taking everybody out.’ And it’s happened to me with Demetrious (Johnson), this is why I kind of went from the karate stance to a little more neutral because people were catching onto it a little bit too much.”

Cejudo went on to say: “He (Vera) answered me right away. He’s like, ‘man that’s good to hear from you champ, that means a lot to me.’

“So I didn’t give him the gameplan, ’cause I think they already had that down, but I kinda, when somebody’s able to tell you, convey to you, it just assures it to you so much better when you fight. But you gotta have it here (points to head) when you fight.”

It’s great to see Cejudo still keeping up with the sport today in his retirement. It’s too bad he left, he retired too soon, leaving us all wanting more. He also stated that he’s 33-years-old, in the prime of his career, but he’s also satisfied with everything he’s done.

His accomplishments include an Olympic gold medal in freestyle wrestling, a gold medal in the Pan American Games, three gold medals in the Pan American Championships, a bronze medal in the Wrestling World Cup, and a UFC champion at 125 lbs and 135 lbs, both titles of which he vacated, and both of which he defended once.

However, there is one fight that would bring him back to MMA, and this won’t come as a surprise because we’ve all heard him talk about it, a title shot against UFC Featherweight Champion Alexander Volkanovski.

He also expressed interest in a modified rules boxing bout with the 20-0 multiple-time boxing champion Ryan Garcia, who’s also a 15-time amateur champion in the sport with a 215-15 record.

Who knows, maybe we’ll end up seeing him versus Sean O’Malley down the line. Cejudo only left a few months ago and he’s on top of his game, and O’Malley will continue getting better for at least five years to come.

Randy Couture Hospitalized, Needs Surgery After ATV Accident

Randy ‘The Natural’ Couture and his girlfriend Mindy Robinson were injured in an ATV accident yesterday at his ranch near Flagstaff, Arizona. Couture’s attorney Sam Spira confirmed the news: “Randy Couture and his girlfriend Mindy (Robinson) were involved in a quad (four-wheeler) accident late last night on his ranch just outside Flagstaff, Arizona. As a […]

Randy ‘The Natural’ Couture and his girlfriend Mindy Robinson were injured in an ATV accident yesterday at his ranch near Flagstaff, Arizona. Couture’s attorney Sam Spira confirmed the news:

“Randy Couture and his girlfriend Mindy (Robinson) were involved in a quad (four-wheeler) accident late last night on his ranch just outside Flagstaff, Arizona. As a result of the accident, later today, Randy will be having some orthopedic surgery. He and Mindy are expected to make a full recovery.” – Spira

The former multiple-time UFC Heavyweight and Light-Heavyweight Champion had a heart attack almost a year ago as well. He was in the middle of practice and something didn’t feel right, so he walked himself to the ER and underwent surgery.

‘The Natural’ is 57-years-old at this point, hopefully his body reacts properly to the surgery and he makes a full recovery as expected. He had a really long and incredibly successful career in the sport of mixed martial arts, he’s no stranger to adversity.

Just a few of Couture’s accomplishments include a three-time Olympic team alternate in Greco-Roman wrestling (1988, 1992, 1996), a semi-finalist at the 2000 Olympic trials, a three-time NCAA Division I All-American, and a two-time NCAA Division I National Championships second place.

He also placed in sixth at the NCAA Division I National Championships the first year he competed.

Couture’s other wrestling credentials include a two-time World Cup bronze medalist, a Pan American Games champion, a bronze medalist at the Pan American Championships, as well as a three silver medals and one gold medal at the Pan American Championships.

That doesn’t even mention his resume in mixed martial arts, where though he has a 19-11 record, he’s the first two-weight world champion this sport ever had. He’s a three-time UFC Heavyweight Champion and a two-time UFC Light-Heavyweight Champion, as well as a one-time interim UFC Light-Heavyweight Champion.

Couture was also the oldest man to win a fight in the UFC, the oldest man to win a title in the UFC, and the oldest man to ever defend a title in UFC history. He also has the most championship fights in UFC history at 15, and he’s tied with Anderson Silva for the most main even bouts in UFC history.

MMAFighting has reached out to the PFL for a statement on Couture’s status and will provide an update as soon as possible.

Robert Whittaker: ‘I’ve Been Hungry, That Break I Had Was Exactly What I Needed’

A five-round battle of former welterweights takes place this weekend at UFC on ESPN 14’s main event, as former UFC Middleweight Champion Robert ‘The Reaper’ Whittaker takes on former UFC welterweight title challenger Darren ‘The Gorilla’ Till, and he’s ready to make a statement. The Australian took a bit of a break after his failed title defense against Israel Adesanya at UFC 243, stating that he didn’t go to the gym or anything for some time following the fight. This lit a fire back in him, a ‘craving’ to get back in the gym and compete as he put it.

“It reached a point where it was like, nah, I have to get back to work, this is what I was meant to do. This is what I was put on this planet to do, I’m sure of it. Then I started speaking to the team, telling him (coach) how I feel, the problems that I had that led me here in the first place, and just that dialogue of communication, we worked out the best system and here I am, happy as Larry.”

He went on to say he’s very excited to be fighting in Abu Dhabi, stating that part of his pleasure of fighting for a living is that he gets to travel the world and fight in front of different crowds, experiencing a part of life most people can’t. It’s truly great to see ‘The Reaper’ have his desire to train and compete back, he isn’t burnt out anymore, and that’s absolutely huge. Whittaker is at his best when he’s having fun, as he stated. It’ll be very interesting to see himself and Till go at it.

Both of these men are two of the best strikers in the sport, and both are incredibly dangerous with their strikes. Some fighters are great strikers, but generally out-point their opponents, not these two. They’re both looking to take their opponents heads off the entire time. When asked why Till was the fight he wanted, ‘The Reaper’ responded, “it just looks fun”, stating that they’re both great strikers, and they’re both head hunters.

He was also asked what his biggest weapon he has to use against Till is, and what the biggest threat Till has to offer is: “His biggest threat is his left hand, he knows that as well. The thing is, that’s why I match up so much better against him than he does with me because my biggest threat, there’s too many of them. I have so many dangerous shots, I’m so creative, I have so many angles I can exploit. He’s got his left hand, that’s all he’s got.” (Transcribed by MMA Junkie)

Surely ‘The Gorilla’ has more tools than that, but ‘The Reaper’ isn’t entirely wrong, that is Till’s best strike. He went on to say it is a very dangerous strike that’s worked on many of Till’s past opponents, and that he needs to be aware of it and respect it.

Till just moved up to middleweight in his last fight against Kelvin Gastelum, who he defeated via split decision at UFC 244. Whittaker was slated to defend his title against Gastelum a little over a year ago, but was forced out with an abdomen injury. No one was giving Till a shot in that fight, but he pulled it off, and now we get to see the No. 1 ranked middleweight contender fight the No. 5 middleweight contender.

This is a great match up we’re all dying to see, who takes it? Robert Whittaker or Darren Till?