Tag: Manny Pacquiao

Conor McGregor Reacts To Max Holloway’s UFC 222 Pullout

The MMA world was dealt collective disappointment yesterday when word arrived that UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway had been forced out of his scheduled UFC 222 main event versus Frankie Edgar. The tough-as-nails champion wanted to fight no matter what, detailing what he said would go through in order to meet Edgar in a month’s […]

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The MMA world was dealt collective disappointment yesterday when word arrived that UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway had been forced out of his scheduled UFC 222 main event versus Frankie Edgar.

The tough-as-nails champion wanted to fight no matter what, detailing what he said would go through in order to meet Edgar in a month’s time. But ultimately he simply could not compete in the alotted timeframe.

The UFC set out to replace the March 3 fight card’s main event with two high-profile bouts, seeking to book bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw against former teammate Cody Garbrandt in a rematch of their UFC 217 affair with Edgar then taking on surging contender Brian Ortega in the co-main.

Dillashaw turned the bout down, however, citing the birth of his child and lack of training before mocking ‘No Love’ with a brutal photo from his knockout win last November.

And it remains an uncertain spot for the promotion and the rapidly-approaching event, but the mocking surrounding the card didn’t stop there. UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor got in on the action by trolling Holloway with a photo from his 2013 win over “Blessed”:

When there is no referee to save you.

A post shared by Conor McGregor Official (@thenotoriousmma) on

‘The Notorious’ loves to rub salt in the wounds of his former opponents, yet it’s understandable if fans asked whether he should be doing so with his fighting future still very much up in the air as he acts a fool with his newfound mega-riches from boxing Floyd Mayweather.

This injury is bad timing for Holloway for sure, but the young Hawaiian has been a model of consistency for the UFC during his rise to championship status. He’s also stated he’s willing to take on any and all comers as champion, something that would most likely be true if he wasn’t hurt.

The same simply cannot be said for McGregor, who campaigned for a UFC bout versus Mayweather this week rather than a title defense against the winner of Tony Ferguson vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Is it time for McGregor to stop kicking willing fighters while they’re down and get back to fighting in MMA himself? Did that time pass long ago?

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Pic: UFC 223 Poster Suggests It’s For ‘World Lightweight Championship’

Everyone remotely associated with MMA is looking forward to the Tony Ferguson vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov main event at April 7’s UFC 223 from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York – even if they don’t which version of the lightweight title will be on the line. Of course Ferguson is the interim champion as Conor […]

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Everyone remotely associated with MMA is looking forward to the Tony Ferguson vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov main event at April 7’s UFC 223 from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York – even if they don’t which version of the lightweight title will be on the line.

Of course Ferguson is the interim champion as Conor McGregor drags his feet in deciding or announcing his long-awaited comeback, but the very real possibility of “The Notorious” never coming back after his $100 million payday to box Floyd Mayweather last year has the UFC is the precarious position of having to potentially strip their biggest star of a title again.

Yet they won’t come out and say it, as Dana White danced around the question when asked at a UFC 220 media event last month, giving his predictable and tiresome ‘we’ll see what happens’ in response. The situation was only clouded when White said the winner of Ferguson vs. Khabib would ‘be the champion,’ but gave no indication of what they would decide for McGregor.

With speculation running wild that they will strip him of a second title, the recently released UFC 223 poster may be an indication of those plans. Based on a photo of the poster released last night, the UFC 223 main event will be for the ‘world lightweight championship’ – not interim – suggesting McGregor would be stripped by fight time. Check it out:

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Conor McGregor Was Google’s Most Searched Athlete In 2017

Conor McGregor is currently drawing the collective ire of the mixed martial arts community in the months after his circus-like boxing match against undefeated champion Floyd Mayweather last August. The UFC lightweight champion is without a UFC fight booking to defend his title, which he won in November 2016, the first time, and many have […]

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Conor McGregor is currently drawing the collective ire of the mixed martial arts community in the months after his circus-like boxing match against undefeated champion Floyd Mayweather last August.

The UFC lightweight champion is without a UFC fight booking to defend his title, which he won in November 2016, the first time, and many have criticized him for allegedly avoiding top lightweights Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov, who will fight at April 7’s UFC 223.

The Irish megastar furthered those beliefs this week by appearing to goad Mayweather to come and take him on in the UFC, a fight that undoubtedly draw more massive numbers but also risk tarnishing his status in the eyes of fans.

That may not matter to the money-focused McGregor, however, who’s appeared more focused on flaunting his reported $100-million payday to box Mayweather than actually fighting again. He can afford to, and no matter what he chooses to do next, he’s proven to be not only the UFC’s biggest star but also one of the biggest in sports overall. Mayweather vs. McGregor brought in over 600 million dollars and 4.3 million pay-per-view buys, and now word has broken from Dana Rebecca (via Bloody Elbow) that McGregor was the highest-searched athlete of 2017 according to the following numbers:

The boxing match with Mayweather was the second-biggest combat sports of all-time, and the over-the-top promotion world tour no doubt sent McGregor’s star into the stratosphere. The UFC suffered on PPV without him in 2017, failing to notch a million-plus selling card without their biggest star, who had three of his own in 2016 alone.

But they profited majorly for the year overall thanks to the fight, showing just how star-driven a sport MMA truly is. People love to follow whatever McGregor does, no matter if they love him or hate him. True, his fanbase may be beginning to wane as he drags his feet and draws out his UFC return – if it ever comes at all.

But if and when his next fight is announced, and it most likely will be towards the second half of the year, the hype will be back on in a big way. That’s the effect he had and has on the entire sport, and his internet search numbers prove it.

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Floyd Mayweather Continues MMA Hype With Second In-Cage Video

Floyd Mayweather is continuing his hype train for an improbable mixed martial arts (MMA) debut. One day after ‘Money’ posted a video of him stepping into a cage that got a response from his recent boxing enemy Conor McGregor, the undefeated boxing legend is back pouring on the hype more than he ever has for […]

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Floyd Mayweather is continuing his hype train for an improbable mixed martial arts (MMA) debut.

One day after ‘Money’ posted a video of him stepping into a cage that got a response from his recent boxing enemy Conor McGregor, the undefeated boxing legend is back pouring on the hype more than he ever has for his supposed MMA comeback, which he seemed to shoot down late last year.

Today, Mayweather posted the following video where he says, “2018. Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather. MMA. What are the odds?” The odds would seem to be astronomically high, but check out the spot anyway:

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Conor McGregor Slams Floyd Mayweather For Stepping Into MMA Cage

Earlier today, ‘retired’ boxing legend Floyd Mayweather set the collective online mixed martial arts world ablaze after he posted a video of him briefly stepping into an MMA cage, prompting speculation that the UFC debut he shot down late last year could actually happen. It’s unlikely to happen, but if he were to make his […]

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Earlier today, ‘retired’ boxing legend Floyd Mayweather set the collective online mixed martial arts world ablaze after he posted a video of him briefly stepping into an MMA cage, prompting speculation that the UFC debut he shot down late last year could actually happen.

It’s unlikely to happen, but if he were to make his MMA debut against say, former boxing rival Conor McGregor, it may just become the biggest over-the-top scene in the history of MMA – if not combat sports as a whole.

So with the prospect of another record-setting purse (after his first one to box Mayweather has kept him on the sidelines and not defending his UFC belt) in plain view, McGregor was quick to respond to ‘Money’s’ short video on Twitter, laughing at his old foe by calling him his ‘son’ and signing off as ‘Senior’:

Standard operating procedure for “The Notorious,” whose future still remains unknown even though the MMA universe is crying for him to finally defend a UFC title – something he hasn’t done a single time since winning the featherweight title in December 2015.

It’s clear he’s all about the money, and it’s tough to blame him considering this is prizefighting, after all, but if McGregor truly just wants to take ‘money’ fights and never defend his belt, then the UFC owes it to the rest of the lightweight division to strip him and let them continue trying to further their careers.

That would open up a path for McGregor to potentially fight Mayweather in the octagon, something that seems highly unlikely due to the fact most believe ‘Money’ would get destroyed in MMA just like McGregor was stopped in the boxing ring.

The immediate fashion in which McGregor responded makes it seem like the UFC could be working on something in that regard, and it would probably be the Irishman’s first choice for his return if it were indeed a viable option.

For the sake of MMA purists everywhere, let’s hope it is not.

In today’s spectacle-focused era under Endeavor (formerly WME-IMG), it may be, however, so don’t be surprised if this topic heats up quite a bit in the next few days.

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Floyd Mayweather Posts ‘Training’ Video In MMA Cage

Floyd Mayweather just won’t let the rumors about him fighting in the UFC octagon go away. After causing a minor uprising when he teased a ‘billion-dollar’ three or four-fight deal with the UFC in the months after his tenth-round TKO of UFC champion Conor McGregor last August, ‘Money’ finally confirmed it just wasn’t going to […]

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Floyd Mayweather just won’t let the rumors about him fighting in the UFC octagon go away.

After causing a minor uprising when he teased a ‘billion-dollar’ three or four-fight deal with the UFC in the months after his tenth-round TKO of UFC champion Conor McGregor last August, ‘Money’ finally confirmed it just wasn’t going to happen, yet he seems to be teasing it anyway.

Today, Mayweather posted a video on Instagram of him stepping into an MMA cage and taking a few steps – not exactly official training, but a solid troll nonetheless. Check it out:

No matter what the intention of this post was, and it was most likely just to keep the ‘retired’ boxer’s name at the front of combat sports, it remains highly unlikely if not guaranteed that he never sets foot in the octagon or any other MMA cage.

Mayweather has made a career out of only accepting matches where the advantages were all in his camp, and he’s obviously been very successful at that.

Fighting in the UFC would be the exact opposite of how he’s done business his entire career, but it cannot be denied that a Mayweather vs. McGregor match-up in the octagon would be one of the biggest combat sports spectacles of all-time – if not the biggest.

Just don’t count on it, fans.

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