Tag: Kevin Lee

[WATCH] Conor McGregor Reveals Options For His Next Fight

Following almost a year of absence from the octagon, UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor may be on his way back The Irishman has options, however. Among the possibilities, McGregor claims that there may be a chance to set up another money-spinning boxing bout with Floyd Mayweather Jr. Should he return to the UFC, a lightweight […]

Following almost a year of absence from the octagon, UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor may be on his way back The Irishman has options, however. Among the possibilities, McGregor claims that there may be a chance to set up another money-spinning boxing bout with Floyd Mayweather Jr. Should he return to the UFC, a lightweight […]

Conor McGregor Reveals What Needs To Happen For Him To Fight In December

The hype off of UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor’s unsuccessful professional boxing debut against Floyd Mayweather Jr. is beginning to die down, and mixed martial arts (MMA) fans are ready to see “The Notorious One” return to the Octagon. Currently, an interim 155-pound championship bout has been put in place to determine who will (likely) […]

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The hype off of UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor’s unsuccessful professional boxing debut against Floyd Mayweather Jr. is beginning to die down, and mixed martial arts (MMA) fans are ready to see “The Notorious One” return to the Octagon.

Currently, an interim 155-pound championship bout has been put in place to determine who will (likely) challenge the Irishman upon his return to unify the lightweight belts. McGregor held a Q&A event earlier today (Fri. September 29, 2017) in Glasgow, and answered a variety of questions pertaining to his fighting future.

When asked about the possibility of a rematch with Mayweather inside the boxing ring, McGregor believes it’s very possible and wouldn’t be surprised if he got a call from “Money” to fight again due to his rumored tax issues:

As it pertains to the original match-up, McGregor believes fighting Mayweather could have potentially been the easiest fight of his career had he prepared for the bout differently:

After, unquestionably, the biggest payday of his career from his August 26th meeting with Mayweather, the Irish knockout artist says he’s still counting his money from the event:

In regards to MMA competition, McGregor says he’d be more than willing to fight on the UFC’s December 30th pay-per-view (PPV) card, but the only way he’d be up for it is if he only needs to show up for the weigh-ins and the fight – not seeming too willing to participate in the usual press conferences he’s famous for:

McGregor then touched on a rival he made during his preparation for his fight against Mayweather – Paulie Malignaggi, who served as one of McGregor’s sparring partners for some time before the ex-two-weight boxing champ departed due to some unfavorable pictures and videos of him from their sparring sessions leaked out. McGregor challenged Malignaggi to meet him inside the Octagon to settle their differences:

Lastly, McGregor acknowledged next month’s (incorrectly assuming it’s this weekend) interim title bout between Ferguson and Lee and claimed he’d make a decision on his fighting future after the match-up takes place (quote via MMA Junkie):

“Let me see what these two fools do this weekend,” McGregor said.

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Fabricio Werdum Issues Apology For Homophobic Slurs Towards Ferguson

Former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum made headlines yesterday (Thurs., September 28, 2017) when he got into a highly-publicized spat with interim lightweight contender Tony Ferguson at the UFC 216 media lunch. Werdum appeared to talk over Ferguson in his native Portuguese as the two were interviewed in very close proximity, something that made “El […]

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Former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum made headlines yesterday (Thurs., September 28, 2017) when he got into a highly-publicized spat with interim lightweight contender Tony Ferguson at the UFC 216 media lunch.

Werdum appeared to talk over Ferguson in his native Portuguese as the two were interviewed in very close proximity, something that made “El Cucuy” demand his chance to speak clearly, which then incited “Vai Cavao” to unhinge with an expletive-filled tirade where he repeatedly used the offensive-to-some insult of ‘maricon’. The scene evolved into a testosterone-fueled standoff, with a UFC PR exec coming in to separate the two fighters.

Werdum explained his side of the story shortly after the heated back-and-forth, but apparently, that wasn’t enough in his eyes. After what was most likely a fervent backlash due to ‘maricon’ being perceived as a clear homophobic slur, Werdum decided to issue an apology to anyone he offended in the LGBT community:

Werdum insisted ‘maricon’ was a common term in the Spanish culture, in which he grew up after being born in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

He speaks Portuguese and Spanish fluently and has even served a member of the UFC commentary team. He also chose to insult Ferguson in both languages yesterday, and said he only stopped short of assaulting Ferguson because he knew he had a title fight coming up at UFC 216, where Werdum will take on Derrick Lewis:

“I just don’t punch him because I know he’s got a fight coming up and Chris is a very nice guy with me all the time. I don’t want to break everything. I almost, maybe just like one second, I snap his head — 100 percent. Like PRIDE rules.”

Even if the slur he used is a common occurrence in his language as he insists it is, he was always going to get a heavy amount of criticism for using the world so freely in a public setting, and overall it’s just not a good look for a sport that is still truly trying to burst into the mainstream outside of megastar lightweight champion Conor McGregor.

And in a year like 2017 where pay-per-view (PPV) buys have languished in record-low numbers at times, Werdum’s use of perceived homophobic slurs, whether he meant them or not, just isn’t going to help the UFC’s new owners repay the massive loans they took out to buy the promotion in 2016.

What do you think about the situation? Did Werdum do enough to remedy the damage, or did he make too big of a scene to apologize his way out of?

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Kevin Lee: UFC Rankings Don’t Really Mean S*it – I’m No. 1

Kevin Lee is currently ranked No. 7 in the UFC rankings, but he’ll take on No. 2-ranked Tony Ferguson in the main event of next weekend’s (Oct. 7, 2017) UFC 216 with an interim 155-pound title hanging in the balance. Lee has won five straight fights, with four of those victories coming by way of […]

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Kevin Lee is currently ranked No. 7 in the UFC rankings, but he’ll take on No. 2-ranked Tony Ferguson in the main event of next weekend’s (Oct. 7, 2017) UFC 216 with an interim 155-pound title hanging in the balance.

Lee has won five straight fights, with four of those victories coming by way of stoppage, making quite a name for himself in the process. Given his recent success, Lee obviously feels as if he deserves to be ranked higher, but he also recently said that he doesn’t ‘give a f*ck about the rankings’:

“It don’t really matter,” Lee said during Thursday’s UFC 216 conference call. “Like, I don’t see even why other fighters are putting … them rankings, they don’t matter. Y’all make the rankings. I don’t give a f*ck about the rankings. The only thing everybody above me in this division got on me is some years, is some time. That’s it.”

He also explained why some fighters ranked above him don’t necessarily deserve to be:

“When you look at the rankings, they don’t mean nothing,” Lee said. “Some of these dudes that’s in the top 25, top 30, they’ll beat any of the guys in the top five. They got Nate Diaz, who’s got plenty of losses, in the top five. It don’t make sense. They got Justin Gaethje, who only got one (UFC) fight against … apparently beating Michael Johnson in this game is really something, because you got Khabib up there at No. 1, and you got Gaethje with one fight up above me.

“The rankings don’t really mean shit. You could say I’m No. 7. You could say whatever you want to say. I think I’m No. 1, and I’m just going to prove it on October 7th.”

At the end of the day, Lee has the opportunity to prove what he is saying. If he can come out on top next weekend, he’ll have a belt wrapped around his waist in addition to being one step closer to proving he’s the best lightweight in the world.

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Tony Ferguson Says Conor McGregor Needs To ‘Defend Or Vacate’

Surging lightweight contender Tony Ferguson will finally get his chance to claim UFC gold when he takes on Kevin Lee in the main event of next weekend’s (Oct. 7, 2017) UFC 216 from Las Vegas, Nevada. The winner will be named the interim 155-pound champion. Typically, an interim champion would fight an undisputed champion to […]

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Surging lightweight contender Tony Ferguson will finally get his chance to claim UFC gold when he takes on Kevin Lee in the main event of next weekend’s (Oct. 7, 2017) UFC 216 from Las Vegas, Nevada. The winner will be named the interim 155-pound champion.

Typically, an interim champion would fight an undisputed champion to unify the titles, but it’s not certain that the winner of UFC 216’s main event will be the next challenger to Conor McGregor’s throne. In fact, many expect McGregor to take on rival Nate Diaz in a trilogy match upon his return to the Octagon.

Ferguson feels as if the UFC is going to try to keep McGregor, who is without question the sport’s biggest star, away from a ‘real contender’:

“Money talks and (expletive) walks, so obviously they’re going to protect their pocket, and they’re going to keep ‘McNuggets’ away from a real contender,” Ferguson said today during a conference call.

“El Cucuy”, however, feels as if McGregor should be forced to fight either himself or Lee next, adding in that the Irishman needs to ‘defend or vacate’ the title he won with a second round knockout of Eddie Alvarez at last November’s UFC 205:

“The next fight for Conor should be whoever wins this interim lightweight title,” Ferguson said. “If it’s myself or Kevin Lee, that (expletive) needs to defend or vacate, and he needs to unify that belt.

“Anything else, as far as him trying to fight Nate, the (expletive) rankings and everything else that the UFC stands for, goes out the window, man. I mean, really? You have rankings for a reason. You have an interim belt for a reason – that’s so you can unify the thing.”

Ferguson also made a rather bold claim regarding a potential third fight between McGregor and Diaz, saying that fans will be ‘pissed’ if the UFC books it:

“If they want to put that fight together, that’s great,” Ferguson said. “But you know the fans will be pissed, because they obviously know that Diaz and Conor is going to make a lot of money, but the real righteous thing to do is to make sure the belts become unified. That’s what really needs to happen.”

That likely isn’t true given the fact that the first two fights between the two headlined two of the best-selling UFC pay-per-views of all-time, but Ferguson may have a point in regards to an interim champion being most deserving of the next crack at an undisputed champion.

What do you make of “El Cucuy’s” comments?

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Kevin Lee: I May Give Conor McGregor a Shot at the Real Championship

Kevin Lee has once again questioned the authenticity of Conor McGregor as a UFC champion ahead of his interim title clash with Tony Ferguson next week At UFC 216, Lee will have the opportunity to get his hands on the interim version of the 155-pound title but must overcome the impressive “El Cucuy”. Lee, who […]

Kevin Lee has once again questioned the authenticity of Conor McGregor as a UFC champion ahead of his interim title clash with Tony Ferguson next week At UFC 216, Lee will have the opportunity to get his hands on the interim version of the 155-pound title but must overcome the impressive “El Cucuy”. Lee, who […]