Tag: Khabib Nurmagmedov

Floyd Mayweather Explains Only Way He’d Fight Khabib

Floyd Mayweather is back to claiming that he would fight the UFC lightweight champion.

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Floyd Mayweather explains the only way that he would be willing to fight UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. Yes, we’re back to this topic again.

The talk about this potential fight all came once Mayweather made some comments about Khabib starting a brawl following his fight against Conor McGregor at the UFC 229 pay-per-view event. This led to Khabib challenging the boxing legend to a fight.

Mayweather made headlines this week while speaking with TMZ Sports as he stated that he would be willing to come out of retirement to fight the UFC champion.

Floyd Mayweather Wants It His Way

However, there’s a catch. That is Khabib having to come over into his world and box him.

“They came to me talking about the Khabib fight,” Mayweather said (H/T to MMaFighting). “Khabib called me out, I didn’t call Khabib out. They said it has to happen in the octagon. I said, ‘You just tell me where Khabib has made nine figures before in the octagon. If he hasn’t made nine figures, he’s not the A side. I’m the A side. So if you guys want the fight to happen, you must come my way. My way, my rules.”

Mayweather continued by stating that it’s his way or nothing at all. He claims to be living a great life and if the fight doesn’t happen then it won’t hurt him at all.

“Has to [be boxing],” Mayweather concluded. “My way, my rules. I’m Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather. Even if it don’t happen, I’m comfortable. I’ve got a great life. Houses all over L.A. I’m retired and I’m still living a great life.”

Although the chances of this fight actually happening are slim, people thought the same thing when McGregor was trying to make a fight happen with Mayweather last year. As much as this fight sounds ridiculous which is it, time will tell how all of this plays out.

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Video: Dana White Has Intense Interview Over UFC 223 Bus Attack

Dana White got into an intense interview who brought up the UFC 223 bus attack involving Conor McGregor.

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Dana White has an intense interview with Waleed Aly of the Channel 10 show to promote UFC Fight Night 142 in Adelaide and UFC 234 next February. This is when Aly brought up the UFC 223 bus attack.

Back in April during fight week of the UFC 223 pay-per-view event, McGregor and several members of his entourage decided to fly from Ireland to Brooklyn, New York to get revenge on current lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.

It all started once the UFC lightweight champion got into an argument with McGregor’s training partner, Artem Lobov, earlier that week. This led to McGregor attacking the fighter bus that had Nurmagomedov on and he was arrested as a result, then was charged with three counts of assault and one count of criminal mischief.

Aly brought up how there haven’t been any real punishments involving these fighters for their actions. This includes the bus attack and their UFC 229 post-fight brawl.

“We have a hearing that’s coming up in front of the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) that’s coming up in December. They will lay down fines and suspensions and whatever they’re going to do. They’re actually coming after me for the promotion of the fight. So it was a bad night and believe me everybody asks me this question, White said (H/T to News.com).

Dana White Fires Back

White continued by stating that this incident isn’t good for business as they don’t need outside drama in order to sell fights.

You know, ‘This happened and it was bad, but it’s good for your business’, it’s really not good for business when things like that happen. We don’t need that type of stuff to sell a fight.”

This led to White defending himself by stating that McGregor was definitely punished for his actions.

“We do a show called UFC Embedded where we follow the fighters around. So those cameras were there when that happened because of that. But do you understand, he (McGregor) got arrested. He went to jail! He had to go before the New York Attorney-General. So they already took care of it, what am I going to do? What’s a suspension going to do? He was suspended, he couldn’t fight because he was in jail!”

Dana Doesn’t Back Down

Aly doubled down with his take and made it known that he wasn’t criticizing White but trying to get an answer from him.

“I’m levelling, that’s what I do. I put on fights. This guy was arrested, he was down there because we were supposed to be talking about a fight he was going to be in. He came and attacked a bus and got arrested and went to jail.”

White brought up how the UFC is overseen by the NSAC. Following their UFC 229 post-fight brawl, they’re both suspended for their actions.

“Now we’re overseen by the NSAC, so these guys can’t fight. They’re both on suspension, they’re going to get fined a certain amount of money. Whatever that number is that they suggest and then there’s going to be a suspension held out. That’s what Nevada does, they govern us. So what else am I going to do? Suspend them for another year? It doesn’t make sense.”

Finally, the UFC President made it known that reality is always better than a script that is written for MMA. Anyone who thinks otherwise is wrong.

“Let me tell you what, reality is better than any script you could ever write. If you think that we would put our top guy in a position where he attacks a bus. Hurts other fighters then gets sued by all of them and then gets arrested. We’re not that good.”

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Tyron Woodley Thinks Khabib & GSP Wouldn’t Stand Chance Against Ben Askren

Tyron Woodley believes Ben Askren could beat both of these fighters. Do you agree with him?

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Tyron Woodley thinks so highly of Ben Askren that he thinks he could beat two top names. Those stars are former two-division champ Georges St-Pierre and UFC lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov. This is of course if he signs with the UFC, which is looking likely to happen.

The trade between ONE and the UFC would allow the former Bellator MMA and ONE welterweight champion to be freed from his contract with ONE. In exchange, former flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson would be allowed to sign with ONE. Both sides see this as a win.

Regarding the UFC welterweight champion, he spoke with fans on Instagram where he sent a warning to Khabib and GSP. According to Woodley, he thinks Khabib has never fought someone like Askren.

“Khabib is a ‘G’ but Khabib ain’t never fought nobody like Ben,” Woodley said (H/T to Bloody Elbow). “He never fought anybody like Ben, he ain’t never fought nobody like Michael Chandler.”

Woodley continued by stating that fighters like Askren and Chandler would wreck life on the UFC champ.

“Those guys would wreck him on life. Chandler’s intensity is more, his striking is better. Ben doesn’t have the same intensity but his style is not one of intensity.”

Woodley’s Continued Praise

He is very high on Askren for obvious reasons and pointed out his constant pressure when wrestling with his opponents.

“His style is one of scrambling, one of static strength, one of consistency, pressure, and ground and pound is ridiculous, jiu-jitsu is ridiculous, wrestling is ridiculous.”

Woodley also praised his ability to put himself in positions to be successful like no other fighters he’s seen.

“His ability to get in close and put himself into positions where he’s going to be successful is bar none some of the best I’ve ever seen.”

Woodley, who trains with Askren with Duke Roufus in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, also spoke about a fight with GSP.

“GSP would never stand a chance against Ben,” Woodley said. “Ben thrives against guys’ offensive onslaughts and GSP’s whole thing was always timing.”

The UFC champion stated that Askren’s grappling skills are just on another level compared to other fighters.

“If you ever see some video a long time ago, Ben Askren grappling against Jake Shields and I’m going to tell you this one thing — the highlights of the video were not on that video. Ben is just on a different level.”

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Conor McGregor Breaks Down UFC 229 Loss

Conor McGregor has issued a lengthy statement on his fight at UFC 229 as well as a potential rematch against Khabib.

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Conor McGregor breaks down in a long-form manner his latest loss inside of the Octagon under the UFC banner. McGregor lost to UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov in the headliner of UFC 229 from Las Vegas, Nevada.

If fight fans wondered what the former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion thought about his latest performance, he’s let them know. He took to his official Instagram account where he gave some analysis on it.

In his lengthy post on this social media platform, he gave a round-by-round breakdown of this fight and noted that he doesn’t have a problem with not getting an immediate rematch with Khabib.

“Thoughts on my last fight. Round 1. I believe from a sport standpoint, round 1 was his. Top position against the fence. Zero position advancement or damage inflicted. But top position. From a fight standpoint the first round is mine.”

McGregor continued by bringing up how he thought in the second round, the UFC champion was running away inside of the Octagon.

“Actual shots landed and a willingness to engage. Straight left early. Knee to the head on the low shot. Elbows in any and all tie up scenarios. Opponent just holding the legs against the fence for almost the entire round. Round 2 he is running away around the cage before being blessed with a right hand that changed the course of the round, and the fight. It was a nice shot.”

Conor brought up how it was a dominating round for Khabib and should’ve given his standup game more respect in hindsight.

“After the shot I bounced back up to engage instantly, but again he dipped under to disengage. That is the sport and it was a smart move that led to a dominant round, so no issue. Well played. If I stay switched on and give his stand up even a little more respect, that right hand never gets close and we are talking completely different now.”

The former UFC champ admitted that while preparing for this fight, he didn’t give Khabib striking skills any respect, which in his words won’t happen again.

“I gave his upright fighting no respect in preparation. No specific stand up spars whatsoever. Attacking grapplers/wrestlers only. That won’t happen again. I also gave my attacking grappling no respect. To defense minded. Lessons. Listen to nobody but yourself on your skill set.”

He stated that he must take his own advice as he’s the master of this game and fix the mistakes that he made.

“You are the master of your own universe. I am the master of this. I must take my own advice. Round 3. After the worst round of my fighting career, I come back and win this round. Again walking forward, walking him down, and willing to engage. Round 4. My recovery was not where it could have been here. That is my fault.”

McGregor understands that he made a critical error of abandoning his over hook at an important time in this round.

“Although winning the early exchanges in 4, he dips under again and I end up in a bad position with over 3 on the clock. I work to regain position and end up upright, with my back to the fence. A stable position. Here however, I made a critical error of abandoning my over hook at this crucial time, exposing the back, and I end up beaten fair and square.”

Conor ended the statement by stating that he will make his return with his confidence being high and well prepared.

“What can I say? It was a great fight and it was my pleasure. I will be back with my confidence high. Fully prepared. If it is not the rematch right away, no problem. I will face the next in line. It’s all me always, anyway. See you soon my fighting fans I love you all.”

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John Kavanagh Explains Why Conor McGregor Lost To Khabib

Conor McGregor’s head coach breaks down what caused him to lose at UFC 229.

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John Kavanagh explains what factored into Conor McGregor’s latest loss and the adjustments he would make if they got a rematch.

McGregor lost to UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov in the headliner of last week’s UFC 229 from Las Vegas, Nevada. McGregor’s coach spoke with Ariel Helwani of ESPN about what he would do differently should they book a rematch.

Kavanagh Explains

”If I could go back, maybe the mentality was a little too defensive,” Kavanagh said (H/T to MMAMania). “Conor’s a very offensive fighter and when his time to land was there – and we did have opportunities – it wasn’t there the way it was in the Eddie [Alvarez] fight, for example. The Eddie fight was off a big training camp for Diaz 2, which was off a big training camp for Diaz 1. So we had a lot of cage time.”

Ring Rust?

He continued by stating that coming into this fight, he didn’t think ring rust would play a factor but it did.

”This one, like you said, it’s almost two years out. I said I didn’t think ring rust would play a part, but I have to be honest, when I look at it now, when I replay it in my head, I do feel like it played a little bit of a part.”

What Went Right

The head coach brought up how McGregor didn’t quite get his shots off but thought that his takedown defense was on par.

“He didn’t quite get his shots off like he normally would. I thought defensively he did quite well defending a lot of takedowns, especially in round 3. But Khabib is amazing, amazingly effective MMA fighter. His style is suffocating, it’s relentless, and he does it better than anyone else.”

To Expand

Kavanagh believes that they won the third round and wants to spend more time on offense.

”In round 3 that we won, the shots that Conor were landing didn’t quite have the sting that they normally would, he wasn’t able to do things how he normally would,” Kavanagh concluded. “So yeah, if we could turn back time, I would have liked to spend more time on offense and capitalizing on those scenarios when they presented themselves, which they did.”

Conor Agrees?

Kavanagh wouldn’t say whether he thinks that McGregor would agree with his take on the mistakes in this fight. But understands that McGregor is focused on his pro-MMA career despite outside distractions.

”That’s what’s made him who he is, he is able to juggle things like that,” he said. “It’s just been part of his journey the whole way through that we’re always vying for his attention between his other interests. But he is very focused.”

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Anthony Pettis Believes Conor McGregor Is True Champion

Pettis explains his belief about this bold statement.

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Anthony Pettis believes Conor McGregor is the true UFC lightweight champion heading into UFC 229.

Pettis is also booked for this event. He’ll take on former interim lightweight champ Tony Ferguson in the co-main event.

Pettis won his last bout in impressive fashion. He was able to score a submission win over Michael Chiesa to get back to his winning ways.

‘Showtime’s’ View At 155 Pounds

Pettis recently stated in an interview that he believes Nurmagomedov is the best fighter in the division.

But just because that is the case, he doesn’t believe Khabib is the true champion. He believes McGregor is and will prove that come fight night due to his striking power.

“Khabib (is the best lightweight),” Pettis said in Las Vegas (H/T to MMAJunkie). “I think Conor wins. Knockout. I don’t know what round, because Khabib gets hit. Conor has the weapon to put him away.”

Holes

Pettis brought up how everyone saw the holes in Nurmagomedov’s game in his most recent fight. “Showtime” believes McGregor will emerge on top because of them:

“We all saw holes in his striking game. We saw his last fight against Al (Iaquinta). We’ve seen how he performs. If he comes like that against Conor, it’s over. I’m sure he’s motivated and I’m sure Conor is motivated.”

The True Champion

Pettis stated that in his eyes, he sees McGregor as the true champion of the weight class. The reason for this is due to him scoring a second-round KO over Eddie Alvarez to win the title at UFC 205 in November 2016:

“I think Conor’s win over Eddie solidifies him as the champion,” Pettis said. “Khabib beat Al Iaquinta. That’s just facts. The belt is where it is. They had to do it for the business – they had to move it forward. But if it was true to the game, Conor would be the champion.”

The UFC 229 pay-per-view event is set to take place on Saturday, October 6, 2018, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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