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Dana White Unveils Timeline For Potential Conor McGregor vs. Khabib Match-Up

In most mixed martial arts (MMA) circles, it’s long been thought that when UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor returns to the Octagon – if he does return – it would be against interim champion Tony Ferguson. But with “The Notorious” galavanting about Europe and flaunting the newfound wealth of his $100 million payday to box […]

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But with “The Notorious” galavanting about Europe and flaunting the newfound wealth of his $100 million payday to box Floyd Mayweather last year, it’s anything but a certainty that the Irish megastar will unify his title with “El Cucuy” anytime soon. It’s made for a messy lightweight title picture, to say the least – and that landscape only grew messier when top contender Khabib Nurmagomedov put on one of the most dominant performances of his dominant career against Edson Barboza at UFC 219 (Dec. 30, 2017) last Saturday night in Las Vegas.

McGregor is currently seeking some sort of ownership or promoters stake for his next fight, making his return seem more likely for the summer (hopefully) than for the spring. So that might mean we see the oft-scheduled Ferguson vs. Nurmagomedov booked yet again for sometime early in 2018 according to UFC president Dana White, who told Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole that if McGregor is ready to fight early this year, they’ll book Ferguson vs. Khabib for March with the winner fighting the Irishman.

If he’s not, well, the UFC would have to wait it out and then make Ferguson vs. Khabib for the official title, something fans have been crying for quite a lot recently:

“Khabib looks like an unbelievable force and is a star in the making. As long as Conor is willing to fight by March, we could do Khabib versus Tony and then the winner fights Conor for the title,” White said. “Of, if Conor wants to sit out until next fall, then we’d have to make Khabib versus Tony for the title, not the interim title.”

That’s a lot that has to go right for McGregor to meet Nurmagomedov, a fight that’s arguably the biggest match they could make on the heels of Nurmagomedov’s big win, which came months after McGregor vs. Ferguson was the fight to make over McGregor’s fast-fading trilogy match with Nate Diaz.

Regardless, White said McGregor is looking to fight in August, but that’s too long for him to go without defending the belt and ‘can’t happen’:

“I love that matchup (against Nurmagomedov), but Tony Ferguson is the interim champion, and Conor and I haven’t really figured out when he’s coming back and what’s going on,” White said. “So Conor has some big decisions to make here, really quick. If he waits — I don’t think Conor wants to fight until August, but if he waits until August or September, that’s around two years since the belt has been defended, and that can’t happen.”

The controversial executive sounds like he’s finally beginning to “get tough” on McGregor, who’s earned an immeasurable amount of criticism for failing to defend either of his UFC titles since first winning the featherweight gold from Jose Aldo over two years ago.

However, the UFC needs bankable stars right now, and McGregor is clearly their biggest meal ticket, so they’ll more likely to talk a big game in the media while they wait on pins and needles for him to return and defend his belt.

So the saga goes on, with no concrete news in sight. Here’s to hoping fans don’t have to wait until September to find out.

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UFC Rankings Update: McGregor Somehow Rises On P4P List

Two of the UFC’s top pound-for-pound fighters picked up pivotal wins at last weekend’s (Sat., December 30, 2017) UFC 219 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, with women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg securing a decision win over Holly Holm and dominant lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov brutally pounding Edson Barboza in an at-times hard-to-watch co-main event. For […]

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For those efforts, Cyborg and Khabib deservedly earned a rise up the official pound-for-pound rankings, with Cyborg moving up one spot to No. 9 and Khabib finally debuting at No. 14. That’s to be expected; however, perhaps the most shocking rise up the pound-for-pound list was made by Conor McGregor, who somehow surpassed Georges St-Pierre to overtake the No. 2 spot despite not fighting for almost 14 months at this point.

St-Pierre’s drop was most likely precipitated by his recent vacating of the middleweight title hardly one month after he won at UFC 217 on November 4, yet he has fought for a UFC title much more recently than McGregor. By comparison, No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter Demetrious Johnson recently topped Anderson Silva for the record for most consecutive title defenses in UFC history with 11; McGregor has none.

There’s no doubting “The Notorious’” electric drawing power and scintillating knockout ability, but his UFC return is currently unknown – and perhaps even unlikely – after he reportedly earned $100 million to box Floyd Mayweather last August. He’s been rumored to finally defend the lightweight belt against interim champion Tony Ferguson, but those are only rumors.

His status as by far the biggest star in MMA is obviously keeping him near the top of the media-generated rankings, however, and that’s unlikely to stop until he finally returns and loses a fight – if he ever does.

Check out the full rankings courtesy of UFC.com right here:

POUND-FOR-POUND
1 Demetrious Johnson
2 Conor McGregor +1
3 Georges St-Pierre -1
4 Max Holloway
5 Daniel Cormier
6 TJ Dillashaw
7 Stipe Miocic
8 Tyron Woodley
9 Cris Cyborg +1
10 Tony Ferguson -1
11 Cody Garbrandt
12 Robert Whittaker
13 Amanda Nunes
14 Khabib Nurmagomedov *NR
15 Joanna Jedrzejczyk -1

FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Demetrious Johnson
1 Joseph Benavidez
2 Henry Cejudo
3 Ray Borg
4 Jussier Formiga
5 Sergio Pettis
6 Wilson Reis
7 Brandon Moreno
8 Ben Nguyen
9 John Moraga
10 Dustin Ortiz
11 Alexandre Pantoja +1
12 Matheus Nicolau *NR
13 Magomed Bibulatov +2
14 Deiveson Figueiredo
15 Louis Smolka -2

BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: TJ Dillashaw
1 Cody Garbrandt
2 Dominick Cruz
3 Raphael Assuncao
4 Jimmie Rivera
5 Marlon Moraes
6 John Lineker
7 Bryan Caraway
8 John Dodson
9 Aljamain Sterling
10 Thomas Almeida
11 Pedro Munhoz
12 Eddie Wineland
13 Brett Johns
14 Rob Font
15 Tim Elliott *NR

FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: Max Holloway
1 Jose Aldo
2 Frankie Edgar
3 Brian Ortega
4 Josh Emmett +1
5 Cub Swanson -1
6 Ricardo Lamas
7 Chan Sung Jung
8 Yair Rodriguez
9 Jeremy Stephens
10 Darren Elkins
11 Dennis Bermudez +1
12 Renato Moicano -1
13 Dooho Choi
14 Myles Jury +1
15 Mirsad Bektic -1

LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Conor McGregor
1 Tony Ferguson (Interim Champion)
2 Khabib Nurmagomedov
3 Eddie Alvarez
4 Edson Barboza
5 Justin Gaethje
6 Dustin Poirier
7 Kevin Lee
8 Nate Diaz
9 Michael Chiesa
10 Michael Johnson
11 Al Iaquinta
12 Beneil Dariush
13 Anthony Pettis
14 Francisco Trinaldo
14 James Vick

WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: Tyron Woodley
1 Stephen Thompson
2 Rafael Dos Anjos
3 Colby Covington
4 Robbie Lawler
5 Demian Maia
6 Jorge Masvidal
7 Darren Till
8 Neil Magny +4
9 Santiago Ponzinibbio
10 Kamaru Usman +1
11 Donald Cerrone -1
12 Carlos Condit -4
13 Gunnar Nelson
14 Dong Hyun Kim
15 Yancy Medeiros

MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: Robert Whittaker
1 Yoel Romero
2 Luke Rockhold
3 Jacare Souza +1
4 Georges St-Pierre -1
5 Chris Weidman
6 Kelvin Gastelum
7 Michael Bisping
8 Derek Brunson
9 Anderson Silva
10 David Branch
11 Uriah Hall
12 Vitor Belfort
13 Krzysztof Jotko
14 Lyoto Machida
15 Paulo Costa

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Alexander Gustafsson
2 Volkan Oezdemir
3 Glover Teixeira
4 Jimi Manuwa
5 Ovince Saint Preux
6 Mauricio Rua
7 Misha Cirkunov
8 Corey Anderson
9 Ilir Latifi -1
10 Patrick Cummins
11 Rogerio Nogueira
12 Jan Blachowicz
13 Tyson Pedro +1
14 Gadzhimurad Antigulov -1
15 Jared Cannonier

HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Stipe Miocic
1 Francis Ngannou
2 Alistair Overeem
3 Fabricio Werdum
4 Cain Velasquez
5 Mark Hunt
6 Derrick Lewis
7 Alexander Volkov
8 Marcin Tybura
9 Curtis Blaydes
10 Stefan Struve
11 Aleksei Oleinik
12 Andrei Arlovski
13 Junior Albini
14 Travis Browne
15 Tim Johnson

WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: Rose Namajunas
1 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
2 Jessica Andrade
3 Claudia Gadelha
4 Karolina Kowalkiewicz
5 Tecia Torres
6 Carla Esparza +3
7 Michelle Waterson
8 Cynthia Calvillo -2
9 Felice Herrig -1
10 Alexa Grasso
11 Cortney Casey
11 Paige VanZant +1
13 Randa Markos +1
14 Joanne Calderwood -1
15 Maryna Moroz

WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Nicco Montano
1 Sijara Eubanks
2 Lauren Murphy
3 Alexis Davis
4 Roxanne Modafferi
5 Barb Honchak
6 Liz Carmouche
7 Montana De La Rosa
8 Rachael Ostovich
9 Mara Romero Borella
10 Shana Dobson +1
11 Gillian Robertson +1
12 Kalindra Faria +1
13 Bec Rawlings +1
14 Melinda Fabian +1
15 Emily Whitmire *NR

WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Amanda Nunes
1 Valentina Shevchenko
2 Holly Holm
3 Julianna Pena
4 Raquel Pennington
5 Germaine de Randamie
6 Cat Zingano
6 Ketlen Vieira +1
8 Sara McMann
9 Ronda Rousey
10 Marion Reneau
11 Katlyn Chookagian
12 Bethe Correia
13 Leslie Smith
14 Aspen Ladd
15 Sarah Moras -1

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Khabib Offers To Fight Conor McGregor & Tony Ferguson In Same Night

Fresh off of his viscerally satisfying three-round destruction of top-ranked striking machine Edson Barboza in the co-main event of last night’s (Sat., December 30, 2017) from Las Vegas, Khabib Nurmagomedov isn’t messing around making his next intention known. Perhaps looking to make up for lost time due to the streak of injuries that held him […]

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Fresh off of his viscerally satisfying three-round destruction of top-ranked striking machine Edson Barboza in the co-main event of last night’s (Sat., December 30, 2017) from Las Vegas, Khabib Nurmagomedov isn’t messing around making his next intention known.

Perhaps looking to make up for lost time due to the streak of injuries that held him to three fights in three-and-a-half years, ‘The Eagle’ told reporters at the post-fight press conference that he was sick of the top lightweights – namely champion Conor McGregor and interim champion Tony Ferguson – talking about him while he was hurt and avoiding him when he was actually healthy like he clearly is now:

“When I’m injured, these guys talk. When I’m here, where are they?”

The 25-0 grappling sensation has obviously appeared to be nothing short of utterly dominant in his UFC tenure, so much so that it’s become apparent the only things that seem able to beat him are his own medical problems.

He’s now past those, at least for now, and he revealed he’s planning on fighting three times next year. With that goal known, Khabib said he would fight both McGregor and Ferguson on the same night if they allowed it:

“If UFC approves, I’ll fight both Conor and Tony in the same night. Why not? I swear, this is no joke.”

The nonstop Dagestani wrestler has been scheduled to fight Ferguson several times before, with injuries to one fighter or another calling the bout off to the point it seems like it would never happen because it just wasn’t meant to. But that theory could easily be tested yet again because it’s unknown if or when McGregor will actually return to MMA and defend the title.

That could make Ferguson vs. Khabib the final step in earning a ticket to face McGregor, but with the outspoken Irishman on vacation enjoying his $100 million payday for boxing Floyd Mayweather, they – and every other UFC fighter – may never get that chance again.

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Dana White Seriously Just Denied Conor McGregor Hasn’t Defended A Title

With no clear direction to go in concerning lightweight champion Conor McGregor’s first title defense, many impatient UFC fans have cried for the controversial star to be stripped of his belt. It may be hard to argue with those fans, yet with the UFC in need of bankable stars now more than ever, just don’t […]

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With no clear direction to go in concerning lightweight champion Conor McGregor’s first title defense, many impatient UFC fans have cried for the controversial star to be stripped of his belt.

It may be hard to argue with those fans, yet with the UFC in need of bankable stars now more than ever, just don’t expect it to happen anytime soon.

That’s according to UFC president Dana White, who told ESPN.com that anyone who suggests McGregor should be stripped is just a “Conor hater” and the UFC has done their job by stripping him of the 145-pound title after he won lightweight gold in 2016:

“For people to suggest that, you’re just a Conor hater. Because if you look at how everything played out, Conor has fought everybody. When he won the 155-pound belt, he dropped the 145-pound belt, which we made him do. He tried not to do it, but he contractually had to let go of the 145-pound belt.”

White has recently stressed that he hopes McGregor will fight in the Octagon next summer because he ‘needs to defend that title;’ however, according to him, it’s not fair to state that the Irish star hasn’t defended a title even though he hasn’t. In a baffling bit of redirection, White categorically denied that McGregor has failed to defend his title despite him having absolutely no title defenses in the UFC or his entire MMA career:

“He became the 155-pound champion, and his next fight was against Floyd Mayweather. He has to defend the title now. So, how has he never defended the title?

There’s some f—ing exaggeration in saying the guy’s never defended a title,” White said. “He fought everybody on his way up 145 pounds. He fought [Chad] Mendes, [Dustin] Poirier. He beat Max Holloway, the only guy to beat Max Holloway in four years.

“It wasn’t Conor’s fault [dos Anjos] got hurt. It is Conor’s fault he did Mayweather, but we decided to do the Mayweather fight and everybody gave a f—. And after the fight, every fighter in the UFC gave him props for representing the sport.”

Well, it’s not exactly an exaggeration considering that McGregor just hasn’t completed a single title defense – that much is simply the plain fact of the matter.

True, he beat several top fighters on his way up the featherweight ladder, but that and losing to Mayweather in a boxing match do not equal a successful title defense in a different division. So ‘props’ or not, again, McGregor has yet to defend a title and has tied up one of the deepest and most talented divisions in the sport to the point where top-ranked contenders Khabib Nurmagomedov and Edson Barboza don’t know what they’re fighting for at tomorrow’s UFC 219 from Las Vegas even though the winner would clearly be worthy of a title shot.

Welcome to today’s UFC, fans, where what you see in facts can be denied by Dana White. Regardless of what he says, however, McGregor has never defended a title, and it will remain to be seen if he does.

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Dana White Confirms Meeting With Floyd Mayweather’s Team

During a somewhat slow period of time for actual MMA news, retired boxing great Floyd Mayweather Jr. decided to drum up his own headlines by stating he could make $1 billion for 3-4 UFC bouts if he chose to unretire and compete in the Octagon. Immediately the reaction, at least from MMA fans, was that […]

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Immediately the reaction, at least from MMA fans, was that without any former wrestling and/or grappling credits to his name, Mayweather would be worked over in a matter of seconds by even the greenest of pro MMA fighters. However, the predictably did not stop several UFC names including dominant flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson from immediately offering their services against Mayweather.

Thankfully, Mayweather put the rumors to rest by ‘clarifying’ what he had actually meant during the initial interview about with the UFC – that he ‘could’ make a billion with the UFC if he wanted to, not that he was actually going to do it. A sigh was let out from the MMA universe after Mayweather vs. McGregor sucked the air out of anything MMA or combat sports-related this summer, but there’s also reason to believe Mayweather to the UFC isn’t completely off the table just yet.

Speaking on FOX Sports’ ‘Undisputed’ today, UFC president Dana White said he still could not rule out Mayweather in the UFC:

Show host Skip Bayless asked White what his take on Mayweather in the UFC was, and White left the door open for a huge spectacle:

“Right, so when he had come out earlier and said that so people were asking me about it, and I said that he would, you know, don’t count anything out on him coming over to the UFC, that anything is possible. I still don’t. Listen, you guys know, I was here. I did not believe McGregor Mayweather would happen and it did, so anything is possible.”

Talks have reportedly gone so well that White even said he was meeting with Mayweather’s team later in the day:

“I actually have a meeting with those guys today. I do. With his crew, yes.”

Bayless the suggested such a meeting would at least signify the potential for some kind of business, and co-host Shannon Sharpe suggested perhaps another boxing match, to which White agreed could be coming next year:

“Well, I’m interested in getting into boxing in 2018, so we’ll see.”

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Five Ways The UFC Is Becoming More Like WWE

When UFC 1 took place on a cold November night back in 1993 from McNichols Arena in Denver, Colorado, it ignited the beginning of the world’s foremost mixed martial arts (MMA) competition, fueled by the concept of the best fighting the best to call themselves champion. It may have been extremely rough around the edges in […]

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It may have been extremely rough around the edges in those ‘dark’ days where the sport having few rules and regulation had it on the precipice of doom, but the opposite is very much true today. After the Fertitta brothers along with Dana White purchased the UFC for a paltry sum and turned it into a legitimately regulated competition watched on pay-per-view the world over, the UFC exploded into a global brand that put shows on nearly every weekend.

When its popularity peaked in 2016 on the heels of the Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz rivalry, the Fertitta brothers saw an opportunity to cash in, and cash in they did. Selling the UFC to Hollywood talent giant WME-IMG (now Endeavor) for a then-record $4.2 billion, one of the biggest franchise sales in sports (of any kind) history was complete. But all was not rosy. This year has seen the advent of some truly horrific pay-per-view and television ratings, with UFC 213, UFC 215, and UFC 216 ranking as three of the lowest-watched PPVs ever, while December’s TUF 26 Finale was the least-watched UFC live event of all-time.

So while it was undoubtedly rough around the edges in its infancy, the UFC is dealing with a whole different set of problems heading into 2018, and many would argue that the UFC owners don’t exactly know what they’re doing. A growing sense is that the Hollywood agency is now trying to book the more mainstream, over-the-top spectacle fights rather than those that clearly have a more legitimate meaning based on meritocracy.

It’s lead to a steady stream of criticism that the UFC is becoming more like pro-wrestling and their WWE counterpart, obviously not the most endearing of words from fight fans. The argument, unfortunately, cannot be totally denied. Let’s take a look at the reasons why:

5.) Titles Mean Next To Nothing:

Endeavor has to be commended for finally getting the middleweight division moving in the right direction by booking Robert Whittaker vs. Luke Rockhold for UFC 221, but there is one weight class that is an absolute mess in the UFC.

It’s obviously Conor McGregor’s held-hostage lightweight division, where “The Notorious” fought once and won the belt way back at UFC 205 in November 2016 before leaving to box – and lose – to Floyd Mayweather for the entirety of 2017. McGregor made the record-setting payday he was always looking for and can’t be blamed for doing it, but the fact remains the 155-pound landscape, which is still one of the most talented in MMA, has no clarity whatsoever at the current moment.

An interim belt was given to Tony Ferguson at October’s UFC 216, but without a path to a unification bout with McGregor, he opted to have elbow surgery, leaving not one but two champions on the sidelines with no real news about a return. Take into account the middleweight situation as well, where Michael Bisping was allowed to avoid the top 10 contenders by facing a retiring No. 14 Dan Henderson and an unretiring Georges St-Pierre, who had never even fought in the division. St-Pierre won and vacated the belt hardly a month later.

Interim titles are also created around much more frequently, making them seem more like the WWE titles that are handed over and won back on a never-ending cycle.

Because of these occurrences, UFC titles seem like little more than gold belts to be flaunted after a win rather than symbols of true MMA supremacy to be defended with pride.

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