Tag: Kevin Lee

The focus of the collective mixed martial arts world was on today’s (Fri. Jan. 19, 2018) UFC 25th Anniversary Series press conference from Boston, where rumors abound that the UFC would strip the lightweight championship from Conor McGregor in order to have Tony Ferguson face Khabib Nurmagomedov for the undisputed title in the main event of April’s UFC 223 from Brooklyn.

But in true UFC form, the promotion wasn’t willing to back up their recent talk tough talk, instead sending out president Dana White to say he still had no update on the absent champion even though the winner of Ferguson vs. Nurmagomedov “would be the champion” (whatever that means) when asked about the messy scene in the very first question of the press conference:

“I have no update. The winner of this fight will be the champion.”

And in true White fashion, the polarizing frontman gave the increasingly tiresome non-update that has gained him much ire from the MMA community for years, but seemingly even more so lately under new owners Endeavor:

“We’ll see what happens.”

Asked if he was frustrated by McGregor’s lack of activity or his recent behaviors, White said he wasn’t surprised by it based on his reported $100 million payday to box Floyd Mayweather last August, which made it uncertain he would ever return to the octagon.

No matter what his decision is, however, White repeated his frequent statement that leaving the talented lightweight division in limbo just isn’t fair to the other elite contenders in the weight class:

“No, I said leading into the Mayweather fight, I made it pretty clear, I’ve been in this business for a very long time, when you make an obscene amount of money like that, who’s know if they’ll ever come back?

“And right now, the position we’re in, Conor’s saying, ‘maybe I’ll come back in August, maybe I’ll come back in September.’ That’s almost two years. It’s not fair to the rest of the guys in the division. The division has to go on. You know, these guys have been fighting their whole career, everyone wants to get to that pinnacle, um, and it’s the fair thing to do.

“Listen, I take so much shit for how much I like Conor McGregor and everything else, but the division has to go on.”

Finally questioned if his lengthy sit on the sidelines was hurting his star power, White stood by his front man and suggested McGregor was one of the biggest stars in all of sports, let alone the UFC:

“I think Conor McGregor is not only one of the biggest stars in mixed martial arts, one of the biggest stars in all of sports on earth. So, this fight is ridiculous. And after this fight happens, whenever Conor does decide to come back I think it will be massive.”

There’s little evidence suggesting McGregor’s return – be it against Ferguson, Khabib, or anyone, really – would be by far the biggest fight going in MMA the moment news of it broke. The problem is we don’t know when that fight will come, or if it ever will.

That has the MMA world on edge anticipating their biggest star’s next move and from the sound of things, fans are going to be waiting significantly longer.

Just don’t expect any clarity from the UFC themselves – as usual.

 

The post Dana White Provides Frustrating Non-Update On Conor McGregor’s Title Status appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Accused of being held hostage by Conor’s McGregor 14-month inactivity, the UFC lightweight division got at least some degree of clarity when this week UFC president Dana White revealed interim champion Tony Ferguson would face top-ranked contender Khabib Nurmagomedov at April 7’s UFC 223 from Brooklyn, New York.

Not surprisingly, White wouldn’t say if the bout would be for the undisputed 155-pound title after the UFC stripped ‘The Notorious’ as had been rumored the night before.

So even though the UFC said they would ‘absolutely’ strip their biggest name of the belt, it’s probably not in their best financial interest to do so. They can have an unprecedented fourth attempt at booking Ferguson vs. Khabib, and perhaps it will finally happen to deliver a nice pay-per-view haul that would set up a truly monstrous unification bout with McGregor.

As we’ve seen, there’s far from anything close to a guarantee that it will, however, and McGregor’s head coach John Kavanagh is well aware of that fact. During a recent Facebook live interview (via MMA Fighting), the Straight Blast Gym coach said he wouldn’t be surprised if it didn’t happen because Nurmagomedov’s grinding top-control style comes with a high price:

“I do think there is a really high risk of it not happening. It’s been scheduled twice and it has not happened twice.

“It’s very impressive what Khabib can do when he is fighting, just that pace he has and the relentless pressure, but it does require you to train in a certain way that brings on injuries. There is a reason why he is averaging one fight or less over the last couple of years because of multiple surgeries and so on. He’s got a lot of miles on the athletic clock. I would almost see as there being a high likelihood of one pulling out before the fight happens.”

Kavanagh went on to assume both fighters did make it and predicted Nurmagomedov would get through some adversity to wear down ‘El Cucuy,’ but wouldn’t have the stopping power to finish the fight just as he didn’t in his dominant unanimous decision win over Edson Barboza at December 30’s UFC 219:

“Let’s assume both get through their training camps, they’re both healthy, it happens and it’s five rounds. I think Tony will have some moments in the first round or two where he gets close with some guillotines or triangles, but I think Khabib powers out of them and wears him down as he does.

“I don’t think he really has the stopping power to finish him. His victory over Barboza was very impressive and so one sided, but he didn’t really break him up. His face wasn’t bashed up and rearranged, it was more just the volume of shots and guard passing and so on. I think that would start to wear on Tony and he’d start to steal rounds with takedowns. Yeah, Khabib by unanimous decision.”

The specter of the popular Irishman would always loom large over the division even if the UFC does decide to strip the title from him according to Kavanagh. That dynamic, he said, will loom large no matter how UFC 223 is sold.

And with the “Notorious’” shadow hanging overhead, his coach claimed the winner of Ferguson vs. Nurmagomedov would always have to face the Irish star to be called the true champion:

“I think regardless of what way it’s sold, I think it’s still going to be known who the champion is. I know that’s going to upset a lot of people, but there you go, that’s my opinion on it.

“If it happens that those guys fight each other, and if it happens for the belt, they’re both going to think to themselves, ‘I’ve got to beat Conor to be really seen as the champion.’”

The post Coach: Conor McGregor Will Still Be Real Lightweight Champ After UFC 223 appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.