Tag: KO

Dana White Reveals Massive PPV Estimates For Khabib vs. Conor

It’s no secret that Khabib vs. Conor is going to be massive. The anticipated lightweight title fight at UFC 229 on October 6 from Las Vegas is being billed as the biggest UFC bout of all-time. It’s even expected to surpass the heralded two million buy threshold on pay-per-view (PPV). That’s a level a UFC event […]

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It’s no secret that Khabib vs. Conor is going to be massive.

The anticipated lightweight title fight at UFC 229 on October 6 from Las Vegas is being billed as the biggest UFC bout of all-time. It’s even expected to surpass the heralded two million buy threshold on pay-per-view (PPV). That’s a level a UFC event has never attained.

McGregor’s short-notice fight with Nate Diaz set the record for PPV buys at 2016’s UFC 196 due to their heated build-up. That event brought in nearly 1.6 million buys. Khabib vs. Conor is expected to bring in much, much more according to Dana White.

The UFC President appeared on ESPN’s “Get Up” this morning (via MMA Fighting) to discuss the fight before today’s inaugural press conference. The presser will go down live from New York City and airs on ESPN. White revealed the monstrous PPV estimates that UFC 229 is trending at:

“It’s massive. There has been a lot of talk about this thing doing 2 million buys. We’re trending right now at 2.5 million buys so that’s how big this fight is. The biggest fight we’d ever done was Diaz vs. McGregor at almost 1.6 million pay-per-view buys. Then we did the Floyd Mayweather fight. And now this by far is the biggest fight and one of the biggest fights ever in combat sports to be honest with you.”

White’s job is obviously to sell fights. He’s often said whatever it takes to get that goal accomplished. However, UFC 229 is legitimately one of the biggest UFC bouts ever booked. His words may actually mean something here.

A Long-Awaited Return

The UFC has been anxiously awaiting McGregor comeback for two years. He set his rivalry with Nurmagomedov ablaze when he stormed the Barclays Center and got arrested. It was an insane scene that could work out for the UFC in the end. White admitted that the UFC overlooked certain things in order to get McGregor back in the cage:

“Conor works very well with us. We work well with him. There’s certain things you have to deal with Conor McGregor but he’s worth it. For example, the New York thing. The fact he thought he could come here and have this beef with Khabib in the middle of New York City and the way that it was done that was obviously the craziest thing. Normal, typical stuff for Conor is showing up an hour late for press conferences,”

The fight is trending to break the UFC record for PPV sales, yet it’s also a fight fans should cherish. McGregor made an insane amount of money to box Floyd Mayweather last year. His time in the cage (or ring) could be coming to an end soon.

McGregor has since spent his time enjoying that money. It’s not enough, White says, because of McGregor’s fighting spirit:

“I said this might be the last time you see Conor McGregor when you make his kind of money. He loves to fight. The reality is this — when you make a lot of money when you haven’t had money — you go out and buy a bunch of things, you take care of your family and do some fun stuff but it gets old real quick. It took Conor two years and here we are.”

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Twitter Reacts To Jon Jones’ USADA Suspension & Return

Jon Jones’ USADA suspension make it seem like he got off easy. Today Jones was given a 15-month suspension for his second USADA violation. Jones was suspended when he tested positive for anabolic steroid Turinabol. He knocked ‘DC’ out to regain his long-held light heavyweight belt in a thought-to-be historic scene. The knockout then became a […]

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Jon Jones’ USADA suspension make it seem like he got off easy.

Today Jones was given a 15-month suspension for his second USADA violation. Jones was suspended when he tested positive for anabolic steroid Turinabol. He knocked ‘DC’ out to regain his long-held light heavyweight belt in a thought-to-be historic scene. The knockout then became a no contest.

The troubled-but-historic great had been on the sidelines awaiting his punishment ever since. Jones has teased a return to action on social media. That seemed like a longshot considering he was facing a potential four-year suspension. Today, we just found out the opposite is true.

Jones will be eligible to return on October 28, putting his return at November 3’s UFC 230 as a distinct possibility. The MMA world was understandably abuzz with the news. Find out how MMA Twitter reacted to the news here:

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McGregor’s Coach: Khabib Is ‘The Boogeyman’ At All Divisions

John Kavanagh is doing everything in his power to make sure Conor McGregor shows up to UFC 229 rust-free.

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It’s been almost two years since Conor McGregor has fought inside the UFC’s Octagon.

Back in November 2016, McGregor defeated Eddie Alvarez for the 155-pound championship. That was the last time we saw the Irishman in the cage. The MMA megastar decided to take some time off and participated in a big-money exhibition boxing match against Floyd Mayweather.

Now, with a new champion at lightweight, McGregor is itching to get back to the top of the UFC world. He’ll fight Khabib Nurmagomedov in the main event of UFC 229 next month in Las Vegas. “The Eagle” is a dominant 155-pound champion that has yet to lose in his fighting career.

It’s quite a difficult thing for McGregor to return to after two years on the sidelines. In that regard, McGregor’s head coach, John Kavanagh, recently said in an interview with The MacLife that he’s providing a training camp that is attempting to prevent the dreaded “ring rust”:

“I think it’s how you approach training – I think if your gym environment and how you compete in the gym is very separate from how you compete – then for sure there will be ring rust,” Kavanagh said.

“But if you’re regularly putting yourself in stressful types of sparring situation, which is the best we can get in the gym environment, it more resembles competition then. So, Conor – specific for this training camp we have had a lot of very intense training sessions, sparring sessions – and it’s done in the environment he’s going to compete in.

“We have spectators for a lot of the spars – so we’re trying to make the training environment mimic as close to the competition environment so there isn’t as much as a disconnect between the two of them.”

The Undefeated Champion

Kavanagh also talked about the appeal of handing “The Eagle” his first career defeat.

Nurmagomedov is the only undefeated champion in the UFC at the moment. For the McGregor camp to take that away would be a major feather in their cap:

“Absolutely. I think it’s no mystery to say that Khabib is the boogeyman at all divisions at the moment. There isn’t another unbeaten champion that I can think of. And just that constant, aggressive wrestling style – for anyone that’s tough to face. So to actually beat that guy, the guy that everybody is saying is unbeatable, it’d be a huge feather in the cap to do that.”

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Greg Hardy Booked For Fight Pass-Aired Bout This Month

Greg Hardy’s next fight is set for a Fight Pass-aired event:

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Greg Hardy has his next fight set.

The controversial MMA veteran will continue his pro-MMA journey when he competes in a regional bout at the end of the month. Hardy has been scheduled to face 1-1 competitor Ray Jones (1-1) at Xtreme Fight Night 352 on September 29 from the River Spirit Casino Resort in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The fight was first reported by MMAjunkie. It will air on UFC Fight Pass.

Hardy, of course, brings notoriety from his time as a Pro Bowl NFL players – and the domestic violence scandal that followed. UFC President Dana White has repeatedly stated Hardy deserves another chance in MMA.

The hulking knockout slugger began his fight career in amateur bouts. He dominated all comers with ease. Hardy then graduated on to appear on Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series (DWTNCS). Two knockout wins (in 57 and 17 seconds) at DWTNCS 9 and 16 got him signed to a developmental deal with the UFC.

That journey will continue against Jones at Xtreme Fight Night 352.

But many fans will wonder why Hardy isn’t facing an opponent with at least somewhat more skill. He’s beaten all of the lesser-experienced fighters that he’s faced. Hardy may not be ready to take on top-level pros, but he deserves a step up in level of opponents.

This fight will most likely end in another brutal first-round knockout for Hardy. The real questions will start when he actually faces a heavyweight who can make him dig deep.

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Dan Hardy Destroys Herb Dean For UFC Moscow Late Stoppage

Rising UFC middleweight Merab Dvalishvili put on a brutal showing against a respected veteran at last week’s (Sat., Sept. 15, 2018) UFC Fight Night 136 from Olympic Stadium in Moscow, Russia. But he didn’t just beat longtime fighter CB Dollaway at the UFC’s debut in Russia. No, he floored him and absolutely rained down one […]

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Rising UFC middleweight Merab Dvalishvili put on a brutal showing against a respected veteran at last week’s (Sat., Sept. 15, 2018) UFC Fight Night 136 from Olympic Stadium in Moscow, Russia.

But he didn’t just beat longtime fighter CB Dollaway at the UFC’s debut in Russia. No, he floored him and absolutely rained down one of the most one-sided beatings the Octagon has unfortunately ever witnessed. Dvalishvili was only doing his job, however, the true fault of the fight was on referee Herb Dean.

Dean let Dvalishvili land countless shots on a turtled Dolloway who was making no effort to defend himself whatsoever. Dan Hardy, who was cageside calling the fights, pleaded for longtime official Dean to stop, yet he would not answer. He finally stepped in to call off the fight in a strange scene. The comparisons to disgraced ref Mario Yamasaki for the inexplicable decision had already begun, however.

Hardy appeared on this week’s episode of The MMA Hour to detail his opinion of Dean’s jaw-dropping negligence. The former welterweight title contender offered his respect for the longtime official, but also insisted the fight was over:

“It’s difficult to criticize Herb Dean because he’s refereed me before and he’s been excellent. He’s had an excellent career as a referee so far. I mean, I don’t know what went wrong, to be honest. For me and I think for everyone in the arena who starts to boo, I think we all saw the fight was over.”

“The Outlaw” then went in Dean a bit more, adding that he did Dolloway a disservice by letting him take so many shots:

“I feel like Herb did him a disservice there,” Hardy said. “He could have saved him from at least 10 seconds of punches. He was curled up on his side, then he moved belly down, and for me, that’s too many, when they’re belly down, they’re done.”

Hardy admitted that Dolloway was a warrior, but the fight had reached a point where he had nothing left to give. At said point, Hardy believed, it was the ref’s job to save the fighter from themselves:

“I watched the fight back today and I think it was 26 seconds before the end of the round, I said something about Dollaway, fatigue had taken over and he had not a lot to give,” Hardy said. “He was trying to fight back he’s a warrior, he wouldn’t give up. I always appreciate a guy who will take a beating until the referee stops it, but that’s what the referee is for is to save the fighters from themselves and from their ego and pride.”

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UFC Issues Ticket Refunds For UFC Sao Paulo

This weekend’s (September 22, 2018) UFC Fight Night 137 (UFC Sao Paulo) at Ginásio do Ibirapuera in São Paulo, Brazil, has simply been a mess from the opening bell. The main event was originally a light heavyweight match-up between Glover Teixeira and Jimi Manuwa. Teixeira was forced and Brazilian middleweight Thiago Santos stepped in to […]

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This weekend’s (September 22, 2018) UFC Fight Night 137 (UFC Sao Paulo) at Ginásio do Ibirapuera in São Paulo, Brazil, has simply been a mess from the opening bell.

The main event was originally a light heavyweight match-up between Glover Teixeira and Jimi Manuwa. Teixeira was forced and Brazilian middleweight Thiago Santos stepped in to fight in his home country. Manuwa then withdrew from the fight himself due to injury.

Manuwa issued a statement on his withdrawal earlier today.

Middleweight Eryk Anders replaced him to meet Santos at light heavyweight. It was a dizzying series of events that lost Teixeira, Manuwa, Neil Magny, Tonya Evinger, and Ketlen Vieira due to injury.

The news is a concerning series of events for the UFC and fans. So much so that the promotion has offered refunds for anyone who purchased a ticket due to never-ending switch-ups. The refunds will be available until September 21.

UFC Sao Paulo promises to bring next to no mainstream value because of not only the injuries but the overall lack of star power even before them. The UFC’s Fight Nights on FOX Sports 1 have been struggling mightily all through this year. Let’s hope their new TV deal with ESPN changes that in 2019.

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