Tag: Manny Pacquiao

Darren Till Insists He’s ‘Much Better’ Than Conor McGregor

Surging UFC welterweight Darren Till was one of the hottest rising contenders in the deeply talented 170-pound division throughout 2017. The Liverpool, England-based fighter truly blasted onto the scene by knocking out longtime veteran Donald Cerrone in the main event of October’s UFC Gdansk, a fight after which he deservedly began entertaining some potential big-name bouts. […]

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Surging UFC welterweight Darren Till was one of the hottest rising contenders in the deeply talented 170-pound division throughout 2017.

The Liverpool, England-based fighter truly blasted onto the scene by knocking out longtime veteran Donald Cerrone in the main event of October’s UFC Gdansk, a fight after which he deservedly began entertaining some potential big-name bouts.

A match-up with former title challenger Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson made the rounds, but the No. 1-ranked Karate wiz eventually said it wasn’t in his best interest to fight a lower-ranked, up-and-coming opponent. On the other hand, it would obviously give Till another sizable shot right up the ranks, something he told MMA Junkie wasn’t necessarily his goal.

For him, he knows he has a long way to go, so it was more of a challenge against one of the UFC’s best strikers in ‘Wonderboy’:

“I don’t feel like I’ve earned a title shot and, to be totally honest, I don’t even feel like I’ve earned a top-three spot. The only reason why I asked for ‘Wonderboy’ is because I think it would decipher who the best striker is (in welterweight division). But I don’t really care if it’s No. 1 or No. 10.

“He’s an excellent fighter, one of the best, and I don’t want to fight him for an easy route to the title, but because I want to test myself against the best. If he’s the guy to beat me and take all my momentum, then fair play to him. But I don’t believe he could do it.”

Even if Thompson is unwilling to face Till, the Liverpudlian striker already had another high-profile match-up in his back pocket, this time a pay-per-view (PPV) bout against fellow rising challenger Rafael dos Anjos in Brazil.

In his eyes, dos Anjos would be easy money despite his spotless track record as of late. Till believes a match-up with dos Anjos would be over in one single round, and that even UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor, who fights a weight class below the massive welterweight Till, would have destroyed dos Anjos.

With that established, Till said he was similar to the notorious Irish megastar, only ‘much better’:

“A pay-per-view against dos Anjos in Brazil would be huge, and I am totally up for it,” Till said.

“The great thing is, I would go there and beat him in a round because he’s designed for me and is just too scrappy on the feet. I think Conor McGregor would have absolutely annihilated him, and I’m twice Conor’s size. I’m also a similar fighter to Conor – just much better. I would kill dos Anjos, and I just don’t know what he’s doing in this division.”

Much of that confidence may lie in Till’s full knowledge that he’s simply much bigger and stronger than his competition. Walking at a reported out-of-fight weight of 210 pounds, Till fully acknowledged he was too big to keep fighting at 170 pounds forever.

Because of his overwhelming stature, Till said he plans on not only eventually moving up to 185 pounds but also to 205 in an effort to become an unprecedented three-weight champion:

“In all honesty, I am too big for the division,” he said. “You could see with Cerrone, and I know he’s a former lightweight, but I am huge at this weight. I’m going to spend some time taking over at welterweight, but then I will move up.

“People think I’m joking, but I’m also planning on going up to light heavyweight because I still have years to go and I’m going to continue to grow. I want to be a three-weight world champion.”

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UFC Champ Says He Won’t Avoid Defending Like ‘Afraid’ Conor McGregor

The MMA world is in a verifiable frenzy concerning UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor’s next move. With just about everyone invested in the sport wanting to know if and when he’ll return, the only one who doesn’t seem to care is “The Notorious” himself as he sits on a mountain of cash earned from his […]

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The MMA world is in a verifiable frenzy concerning UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor’s next move.

With just about everyone invested in the sport wanting to know if and when he’ll return, the only one who doesn’t seem to care is “The Notorious” himself as he sits on a mountain of cash earned from his boxing fight with Floyd Mayweather last August.

Even the most supportive McGregor fans are getting antsy, and the famed Irish slugger has yet to defend either of his titles since first winning the UFC featherweight belt from Jose Aldo in late 2015. A host of guaranteed-to-be-lucrative bouts awaits him if and when he does return, such as a unification bout with Ferguson or maybe his long-rumored trilogy match with Nate Diaz, even though that fight seems to be losing steam rather quickly.

As McGregor drags his heels, however, another UFC champion is wholly interested in getting the biggest fight he can, and he’s not shy letting those intentions be known. That man is UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw, who is currently campaigning for a super fight with dominant flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson, a bout “Mighty Mouse” doesn’t seem to be all too enthused about.

Regardless, Dillashaw is still on the hunt for it because he views it as a chance to cement his legacy as one of the sport’s pound-for-pound best, a moniker Dillashaw told FloCombat (via MMA Mania) he believes was ripped from him when Dominick Cruz outlasted him with a controversial split decision two years ago:

“This is a way to put a stamp on my legacy. I was a little hurt losing that split decision [to Dominick Cruz] and not being on a 13-fight win streak and being called the pound-for-pound best in the world.

“In my mind, I should be No. 1. So it comes down to beating Demetrious Johnson to prove I’m the best, and it’s a huge thing for my legacy to be the double champ in two weight classes.”

A win over Johnson, who has racked up 11 consecutive title defenses to stand alone with the record, would certainly go a long way in cementing Dillashaw’s potential status as one of MMA’s top pound-for-pound competitors.

Of course, there’s always the issue of tying up two divisions to make it, which could especially become a problem in Dillashaw’s 135-pound roost, where a plethora of talented challengers awaits him. Dillashaw attempted to cool those concerns by stating if he was to win the 125-pound title, he wouldn’t be like McGregor and would instead remain active by defending:

“I’m not a Conor McGregor. I’m going to be active defending my belts. I’m not afraid to fight.”

He’ll have to procure the fight first, however, and with word arriving that “Mighty Mouse” underwent successful shoulder surgery today, it could be quite some time on the sidelines before he ever gets it – if he does.

Either way, the 135-pound king is looking to do what’s necessary to build his own exposure in an era of MMA where that’s absolutely necessary, and playing off the growing discontent with McGregor’s inactivity is one way to do it.

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Nate Diaz Confirms He’s ‘Back In Action’ On Social Media

It’s been almost 17 months since we’ve seen fan favorite Nate Diaz in the octagon, and that seems like a lifetime considering the pace the MMA world moves at. After losing a closely-fought decision to archrival Conor McGregor at August 2016’s UFC 202, Diaz immediately campaigned for a lucrative trilogy match but was rebuffed by […]

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It’s been almost 17 months since we’ve seen fan favorite Nate Diaz in the octagon, and that seems like a lifetime considering the pace the MMA world moves at.

After losing a closely-fought decision to archrival Conor McGregor at August 2016’s UFC 202, Diaz immediately campaigned for a lucrative trilogy match but was rebuffed by the UFC. That set off another long period of inactivity for the Stockton, Calif.-based brawler, who called for $15 million to fight “The Notorious” a third time.

But with that number obviously not going to be met, Diaz appeared to be pricing himself out of what would rate as the most high-profile bout of his up-and-down mixed martial arts career, and with McGregor now uncertain to return and facing potential fights with Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov if and when he does, Diaz’ chances of another monstrous payday are fading fast.

So he may be forced to step into other avenues if he wants to continue his fighting career, and today, it appears he’s open to just that. Diaz posted a photo on his Instagram of a recent training session with a caption that declared he was ‘back in action.’

Check it out:

Good work wit my boy @luke_1er Back in action #beast ??

A post shared by natediaz209 (@natediaz209) on

Based on this picture, Diaz is training for his rumored foray into the boxing ring, something that has been thrown about for a few months now.

After McGregor made a high-profile shift to the sweet science for his massive boxing match with Floyd Mayweather last summer, it’s hardly a surprise to see other MMA stars looking to get paid more for a competition that only focuses on one avenue of combat sports, and Diaz has always been regarded as one of the finest boxers in MMA.

There’s little doubt his debut in the sweet science would turn heads and inspire viewers, but with his asking price at an astronomical level, could he really approach the levels he was demanding for the trilogy match opposite McGregor?

He may need the Irishman to get paid like that, but in any case, fans will be excited to see their beloved Diaz back in at least some form.

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Conor McGregor Joins Dana White In Blasting ‘Weasel’ Showtime Exec

Conor McGregor has joined in on the drama between Dana White and Showtime Sports. White called out Showtime this week for supposedly releasing the numbers incorrectly for McGregor’s August boxing match with Floyd Mayweather, apparently wanting them to release the worldwide figures of approximately 6.7 million buys rather than the 4.3 million North American buys […]

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Conor McGregor has joined in on the drama between Dana White and Showtime Sports.

White called out Showtime this week for supposedly releasing the numbers incorrectly for McGregor’s August boxing match with Floyd Mayweather, apparently wanting them to release the worldwide figures of approximately 6.7 million buys rather than the 4.3 million North American buys released by Showtime.

The UFC frontman revealed he no longer trusted the network, and would never work with them again.

Showtime Sports executive Stephen Espinoza insisted earlier today on social media that Showtime only revealed the facts, and White despised them for telling the truth:

However, one major part of the equation is not surprisingly siding with White and rapidly fired back at Espinoza.

McGregor, who’s currently mulling an anticipated UFC return and had a previous beef with Espinoza when Showtime was rumored to have cut his microphone off on the first leg of the Mayweather vs. McGregor world tour, called him a ‘weasel’ again and said the fight’s released numbers should have had a more global focus:

White and McGregor obviously want the biggest number possible to flaunt the bout as the biggest combat sports event of all-time, yet all numbers point to Mayweather vs. Pacquiao holding that actual title.

It appears a sore subject for both of the UFC’s most famous faces, but Mayweather vs. McGregor is long over with, and perhaps they’d be best served to shifting their focus to rebounding from a brutally down year for MMA in 2017.

Something tells me they may not, however.

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Dana White Goes Off On Showtime Sports In Unhinged Rant

In an otherwise down year for mixed martial arts, UFC president Dana White has gone on record saying that 2017 was the UFC’s “best year ever,” presumably based on the massive financial haul generated by last August’s Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor boxing match. The fight was buoyed by a circus-type buildup and gained 4.3 […]

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In an otherwise down year for mixed martial arts, UFC president Dana White has gone on record saying that 2017 was the UFC’s “best year ever,” presumably based on the massive financial haul generated by last August’s Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor boxing match.

The fight was buoyed by a circus-type buildup and gained 4.3 million pay-per-view buys in North America, numbers that have been largely verified and were reported by the UFC’s co-promoter, Showtime Sports, in a previous press release. The figures had the fight as the second-biggest draw in the history of North American PPV, with May 2015’s Mayweather vs. Pacquiao match outselling after gaining 4.6 million buys.

But apparently White is far from pleased with how the TV giant dealt with the numbers apparently, telling Yahoo’s Kevin Iole in a recent in-depth interview that no matter what Showtime releases, Mayweather vs. McGregor was the biggest fight ever:

“Think about this and I don’t give a shit about Showtime’s fucking full of shit press release they put out — it’s the biggest fight ever. Ever in combat sports history.”

He continued on to cite his own figures, insisting that Mayweather vs. McGregor did 6.7 million buys worldwide, and would have done up to 7 million if the streaming service had not crashed right before the fight started. With Showtime reporting lower numbers that only focused on North America, White was so mad he said he would never trust Showtime and vowed to never do business with them again:

“The thing did over 6.7 million buys and if the service didn’t drop, we would have gotten closer to 7 million,” White continued. “The way that they handled that press release and what they did — I didn’t trust them before and now I despise those fucking guys. The Showtime guys, I’ll never work with them again. Ever.”

White may have his numbers a bit mixed up, however, as he seems to be comparing the worldwide buys with Showtime’s North American figures and focusing on the discrepancy between the two numbers, which would obviously create a massive gap as one encompasses the whole world.

Showtime Sports executive Stephen Espinoza seemed to realize that, releasing a tweet earlier today clarifying that the company had released accurate North American figures that had been vetted by involved parties before being released:

When examined in that light, it seems like White was looking for some inflated numbers to tout publicly as UFC owners Endeavor look to pay back the loans outstanding on their July 2016 purchase of the MMA leader, which is currently floundering without any true stars outside of McGregor, whom they let compete in a boxing ring for his only fight of 2017.

Reports dictate Showtime is to be believed on the numbers, and White vowing to never do business with them again may seem like sour grapes from a man looking for overblown figures that just weren’t quite there.

And let’s be honest, if McGregor wanted to rematch Mayweather in boxing or ‘Money’ ever wanted to fight in the Octagon for some reason, White would probably find a reason to open talks back up with Showtime despite this perceived – and perhaps superficial – slight.

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Khabib: Conor Only Wants Fight With Old Floyd & ‘Marijuana Guy’ Nate Diaz

After Khabib Nurmagomedov’s brutally dominant smashing of Edson Barboza in the co-main event of last weekend’s (Sat., December 30, 2017) UFC 219 from Las Vegas, “The Eagle” said he was willing to fight divisional champion Conor McGregor and interim champion Tony Ferguson on the same night. And with rumors of a potential bout with McGregor surfacing, […]

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After Khabib Nurmagomedov’s brutally dominant smashing of Edson Barboza in the co-main event of last weekend’s (Sat., December 30, 2017) UFC 219 from Las Vegas, “The Eagle” said he was willing to fight divisional champion Conor McGregor and interim champion Tony Ferguson on the same night.

And with rumors of a potential bout with McGregor surfacing, the dominant Dagestani is back with a new offer for the elusive Irish champ, who is currently on the sidelines reportedly seeking a promoter’s stake in his next fight.

Khabib told TMZ Sports (via Bloody Elbow) earlier today he would go as far as to fight McGregor for free:

Asked how much it would take to meet McGregor, Khabib said he would take the exact opposite path of “The Notorious’” long-winded contract dispute and fight for zero dollars because he’s here to fight for as long as he can:

“Zero. Zero, man. I don’t need money. I need only real fight. Fight for the title. I don’t fight for the money, I fight for my legacy, I fight for history, I fight for my people. That’s why I am here. Three rounds? I am tired about this. I need like 50, 60 rounds. I want to fight all night.”

Perhaps looking to make up for lost time from the numerous injuries holding him back the last few years, Khabib doubled down on his suggestion of fighting McGregor and Ferguson on the same night:

“This is what I want. I need Tony and Conor same night. Tony Ferguson and Conor McGregor, same night.”

As for the official champ, “The Eagle” said he no longer wants real fights after he participated in a long rivalry with “marijuana guy” Nate Diaz or an aging Floyd Mayweather in the boxing ring:

“Now, everybody forget about [McGregor] because he doesn’t want real fight,” Nurmagomedov said. “He fight with only like 45-years old Floyd Mayweather or marijuana guy who lose 10 times in UFC, Nate Diaz. You know, like this is crazy.

“He has to defend his belt.”

That’s what the entire MMA world is hoping, Khabib.

We just may not see it for several months – if ever again.

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