Another fight, another huge win for Brian Ortega. The 27-year-old American became the first man to finish Frankie Edgar with strikes in the co-main event of UFC 222, which took place Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ortega landed a vici…
Another fight, another huge win for Brian Ortega. The 27-year-old American became the first man to finish Frankie Edgar with strikes in the co-main event of UFC 222, which took place Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ortega landed a vicious elbow to wobble Edgar and then knocked him out with a brutal […]
Brian Ortega proved the doubters wrong in his latest fight that took place at UFC 222. As seen in the co-main event of Saturday’s (March 3, 2018) UFC 222 event on pay-per-view at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, Ortega scored a big victory over…
Brian Ortega proved the doubters wrong in his latest fight that took place at UFC 222. As seen in the co-main event of Saturday’s (March 3, 2018) UFC 222 event on pay-per-view at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, Ortega scored a big victory over former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar. For those who […]
Surging featherweight star Brian Ortega shocked the MMA world when he knocked out Frankie Edgar (highlights here) in the co-main event of last night’s (Sat., March 3, 2018) UFC 222 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, nailing “The Answer” with a vicious elbow and an absolutely beautiful uppercut to seal the deal. Becoming the first […]
Surging featherweight star Brian Ortega shocked the MMA world when he knocked out Frankie Edgar (highlights here) in the co-main event of last night’s (Sat., March 3, 2018) UFC 222 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, nailing “The Answer” with a vicious elbow and an absolutely beautiful uppercut to seal the deal.
Becoming the first man to ever finish Edgar, Ortega capitalized on the biggest opportunity of his career after taking the fight on short notice when champ Max Holloway was forced out of the original UFC 222 main event against Edgar. The sheer scope of the exhilarating win left the previously No. 3-ranked jiu-jitsu wiz with no options but a title shot against ‘Blessed.’
After the fight, Dana White discussed Ortega’s knockout on the FOX Sports 1-aired post-fight show with Megan Olivi, noting that he surprised everyone by using his hands rather than his vaunted jiu-jitsu:
Yeah, and to do it with punches. You know, you’d expect Ortega to win, you expect him to do it by submission, but he finishes him with punches. It just sets up an incredible match-up between Ortega and Holloway, so, that’s next.”
White gave praise to the legendary Edgar, adding that he was highly confident wanted to fight again after facing Ortega. A star was born, however, and the UFC’s top man continued the praise of his rising 145-pound talent:
“Well, listen, Frankie Edgar is so tough, man, and he’s been in there with everybody, and I now he was very confident for this fight. He wanted to turn around again right after this fight and fight again. And, uh, you know, you found out tonight that Ortega’s for real. If you didn’t believe it in the Cub Swanson fight, you know it now.”
This evening’s (Sat., March 3, 2018) UFC 222 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, delivered in every sense of the term, with three hyped potential future stars picking up victories capped off by a classic win from an all-time great champion. In the main event, women’s featherweight champ Cris Cyborg stopped Yana Kunitskaya after […]
This evening’s (Sat., March 3, 2018) UFC 222 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, delivered in every sense of the term, with three hyped potential future stars picking up victories capped off by a classic win from an all-time great champion.
Max Holloway is back with another jab at absent UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor. Last week “The Notorious” posted on Instagram that he was definitely returning to MMA, and had even offered to replace Holloway and fight Frankie Edgar in the main event of this weekend’s (Sat., March 3, 2018) UFC 222 from the T-Mobile Arena […]
Max Holloway is back with another jab at absent UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor.
Last week “The Notorious” posted on Instagram that he was definitely returning to MMA, and had even offered to replace Holloway and fight Frankie Edgar in the main event of this weekend’s (Sat., March 3, 2018) UFC 222 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
However, the bout never materialized due to the UFC supposedly not having enough time to promote the event, and that left Edgar’s manager Ali Abdel-Aziz and coach Mark Henry blasting the claims in their own respective social media tirades.
Andel-Aziz claimed McGregor did truly offer to fight at UFC 222 but only if he could compete for a newly-created 165-pound belt, a division that has never been in the UFC.
Edgar soon revealed that McGregor’s post was the first he had heard about it, offering his own doubts that it was ever a realistic possibility considering he hadn’t heard from his employers about the potentially massive fight. But McGregor’s longtime training partner and friend Artem Lobov insisted that their camp was preparing to train and that the fight was “very, very close.”
“The Russian Hammer” reiterated that stance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani on Monday, but the featherweight champ isn’t buying it whatsoever. After recently trolling McGregor with a photo of him being stopped by Floyd Mayweather after “The Notorious” had posted a photo of their 2013 match-up where he defeated a young Holloway, “Blessed” fired back with another comedic response.
Although he’s injured and unable to compete this weekend, Holloway blasted McGregor’s claims that he would fill in on the card by offering a laughable scenario where he would amputate his leg in order to fight 125-pound champion Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson for a newly-created 115-pound belt:
One more update @arielhelwani. After I was pulled from 222, I offered to amputate my leg and fight for a 115lb belt against DJ. It was very very close. Plans were in place. But I was told there wasn’t enough time. Stay blessed, The DEFENDING Champ (no need TM what he can't claim) https://t.co/iFCB2NcHFA
Solid work from “Blessed,” who was many fans and media members’ pick for 2017’s “Fighter of the Year” after two impressive third-round stoppages of all-time great Jose Aldo.
He no doubt wants a rematch with McGregor, and with stinging social media barbs like this, he could have an outside shot at getting one.
Of course, the infamous Irishman will have to commit to returning first, and even though he appeared to do just that on social media, nothing is close to confirmed.
UFC 222, meanwhile, will go forward with a short-notice women’s featherweight title fight between Cris Cyborg and Yana Kunitskaya from Las Vegas this weekend.
Last week, absent UFC lightweight champ Conor McGregor ‘confirmed’ his MMA return with the mere flick of an Instagram post before taking it a step further and claiming he even offered to fill in for featherweight champ Max Holloway against Frankie Edgar at this weekend’s (Sat., March 3, 2018) UFC 222 from Las Vegas. Even […]
Last week, absent UFC lightweight champ Conor McGregor ‘confirmed’ his MMA return with the mere flick of an Instagram post before taking it a step further and claiming he even offered to fill in for featherweight champ Max Holloway against Frankie Edgar at this weekend’s (Sat., March 3, 2018) UFC 222 from Las Vegas.
Even though the potentially monstrous comeback fight never came close to materializing due to the UFC saying they didn’t have enough time to capitalize, the claim understandably set a big news-starved MMA world (with much of it due to ‘The Notorious” hiatus) afire for at least one night.
Both Edgar’s manager Ali Abdel-Aziz and boxing coach Mark Henry were quick to fire back at McGregor with seething responses to the outlandish news, but “The Answer” stayed relatively mum on the dream match-up. Until now, that is, as the former lightweight champ spoke up about the never-to-be fight to Ariel Helwani on today’s episode of The MMA Hour. The New Jersey ironman said he awoke to see rumors of it online, but that was the fist he had heard of it:
“I woke up from a nap and I saw it on Twitter. That’s the first I heard of it.”
Apparently, word later arrived that McGregor did offer to fight at UFC 222, but wanted it to be for a never-before-contested 165-pound belt, something Edgar called ridiculous considering McGregor was yet to defend either his lightweight or featherweight belt:
“I mean, come on, there is no 165-pound belt. You know what I’m saying? I want to fight on the moon. You know what I mean? Come on.
“He doesn’t want to defend his own belt. What, he wants to fight me? I mean, hey, that’d be great. That’d be great for me. Let’s be real. I’m not scared to fight anybody. Come on, I’ve been doing this too long to be scared to fight anybody. I mean, if anything, that would be very good for me, to fight Conor McGregor.”
Mandatory Credit: Steve Flynn-USA TODAY Sports
And while Edgar would love to face McGregor and the payday he brings in the Octagon, he didn’t believe it was close to true because Dana White didn’t call him – even if he would fight McGregor at any weight:
“I would’ve fought him in any weight class, to be honest with you.
“I think if it was real, Dana would’ve called me personally. He’s done it before. With something like that, Dana would’ve called me personally, and he didn’t, so I have to think that it wasn’t real.”
To “The Answer” – and many others – McGregor was simply keeping his name in the news, something he does perhaps better than any fighter other than his forever-rival Floyd Mayweather.
With that taken into consideration, Edgar said he wouldn’t let the Irishman get him sidetracked. He has his hands full with Ortega – a hungry, rising contender who is active in the UFC unlike ‘The Notorious’:
“I don’t know, I think Conor’s just being Conor, man. He’s the best at it, right? He’s the best at making news and staying relevant. I don’t mean relevant, he’s the most popular guy in our sport, this and that, but staying in the news cycle. He does it better than anybody, except maybe Floyd Mayweather.
“I’m not surprised by it, and I’m not getting sidetracked by it because it doesn’t matter,” Edgar added. “It’s non-news to me. Because the news is I’m fighting a guy who fights in the UFC right now, Brian Ortega.”
Despite the drama, Edgar doesn’t believe he and McGregor will ever fight because of the opportunities they’ve had to do so when McGregor was actually at featherweight and it didn’t happen.
So ‘The Answer’ put the talk about the unlikely payday with McGregor aside because he is aware of the dangerous challenge he has waiting in only five days:
“If we’re going to fight, we’ll fight. But I doubt it,” Edgar said. “I really don’t think we’ll ever cross paths. I really don’t. … We’ve had many times it could’ve been real, and it just never materialized. And if it didn’t materialize then, I just don’t see why would it happen now.
“I’m putting it totally aside, because it’s easy with this whole Conor news and Max, it’s easy to get sidetracked and think about Max, think about Conor,” Edgar said. “I’ve got to focus on Ortega, man. It’s a dangerous fight. Everyone says, ‘Oh, it’s a risky fight,’ and they’re right. I’m putting a lot of the line and that’s my focus.”
