Conor McGregor Criticized By Ukraine President Zelensky Over Ties With Vladimir Putin

Conor McGregor, Vladimir Putin, ZelenskyConor McGregor has come under fire for his connection with Vladimir Putin by Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. Conor McGregor posed for a photo with Putin About four years, Russia hosted the FIFA World Cup final in Moscow. Former UFC two-division champ Conor McGregor was in attendance at the grand event alongside the President of Russia, […]

Conor McGregor, Vladimir Putin, Zelensky

Conor McGregor has come under fire for his connection with Vladimir Putin by Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Conor McGregor posed for a photo with Putin

About four years, Russia hosted the FIFA World Cup final in Moscow. Former UFC two-division champ Conor McGregor was in attendance at the grand event alongside the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin. The Irish superstar got the opportunity to meet the infamous leader and uploaded a photo with the 69-year-old on his Instagram.

Following the meeting, ‘The Notorious’ heaped praises on Putin for the hospitality he received as a guest. McGregor even announced that he had gifted the first bottle of his Proper 12 whiskey to the Russian President but wasn’t sure if the offering reached past security who inspected the bottle for any poisonous substances. McGregor said, “President Putin’s security detail is second to none as I’m sure you know, you don’t mess around with Vladimir.”

Zelensky critical of the Irish Superstar

In a recent meeting with Irish politicians Sean O Fearghail and Mark Daly in Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv, President Zelensky expressed his disappointment with Conor McGregor. According to the president, McGregor “wasn’t being supportive of Ukraine” by getting a photo taken with the controversial politician.

Given the recent developments surrounding the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia, the Irish delegation discussed the issue and offered their support against the aggressors.

“He felt he wasn’t being supportive of Ukraine,” Mr Daly told the Irish Independent. “This man is fighting a war but he knows what’s going on all around the world including in Ireland.”

Senator Daly assured that O Fearghail and he will advise the EU to accept Ukraine’s request of being a member of the union.

“We will be asking our colleagues across Europe to support their application to join the European Union. When they are teaching leadership in universities for years to come, this will be the standard,” he added.

EXCLUSIVE: Joseph Holmes “Wasn’t Expecting (Amedovski) To Drop From The Knee” After 1st-Round Finish At UFC Vegas 55

Joseph HolmesUFC middleweight Joseph Holmes talked about his most recent winning efforts inside the cage against Alen Amedovski. Making his professional debut in Bellator, Joseph Holmes made his way into the UFC through Dana White’s Contender Series last October. After a rocky start in his debut against Jamie Pickett, ‘Ugly Man’ Joe got back to winning […]

Joseph Holmes

UFC middleweight Joseph Holmes talked about his most recent winning efforts inside the cage against Alen Amedovski.

Making his professional debut in Bellator, Joseph Holmes made his way into the UFC through Dana White’s Contender Series last October. After a rocky start in his debut against Jamie Pickett, ‘Ugly Man’ Joe got back to winning ways in his latest outing at UFC Fight Night 206. Taking on Alen Amedovski at UFC Vegas 55, Holmes emerged victorious in the opening minute with a rear-naked submission.

Joseph Holmes was surprised to see Amedovski go down

Holmes has been clear about his intentions of getting bonuses in his fights, and with his latest first-round finish, it may surprise many to know that he did not receive any kind of bonus. In a sequence that began with a straight knee to the head, Holmes sent Amedovski down the canvas and followed up with multiple strikes to secure the submission.

In an exclusive interview with LowKick MMA, Joseph Holmes talked about his recent win over Amedovski and explained what was going through his mind when he saw his opponent go down from what seemed to be a light knee strike.

“No, I wasn’t expecting him to drop from the knee,” Holmes said. “It was actually super surprising. I just threw the knee because I was told to, and I just threw it in that split second. The moment it hit him, I was like ‘damn! Did I really drop this guy? Oh shit, I’m ready to be done. Let me try and finish this fight.”

Holmes did not receive any bonuses

During the same interview, Holmes was probed by the interviewer on whether he received any behind-the-scenes bonuses. While the UFC does make public the winners of the night’s incentives, many fighters have talked about getting paid more behind the camera.

“No bonuses, no behind-the-scenes bonus, nothing,” Holmes said. “They showed me no love for that performance, man.”

With a finish like that, it wouldn’t have been crazy to hand ‘Ugly Man Joe’ a Performance of the Night bonus. Regardless, the Texas native stays confident about his ambitions to win some down the line as he looks to continue putting on exciting fights for the fans.

Watch: Kevin Vallejos Locks Up Standing Rear-Naked Choke

Featherweight Kevin Vallejos locked up a standing rear-naked choke that forced this opponent to tap in the first round of their fight at Samurai Fight House 4. Vallejos was matched up with fellow undefeated Argentinian Gabriel Vargas as part of the event’s main card. Vargas got right to work trying to wrestle early but struggled…

Continue Reading Watch: Kevin Vallejos Locks Up Standing Rear-Naked Choke at MMA News.

Featherweight Kevin Vallejos locked up a standing rear-naked choke that forced this opponent to tap in the first round of their fight at Samurai Fight House 4.

Vallejos was matched up with fellow undefeated Argentinian Gabriel Vargas as part of the event’s main card. Vargas got right to work trying to wrestle early but struggled to control Vallejos against the cage and was forced to return to space as Vallejos pursued him with punches.

Another clinch from Vargas and an attempt to grab a single-leg takedown quickly backfired, as Vallejos grabbed his neck and pulled Vargas upright.

Vargas briefly struggled to fight Vallejos’ hands but was forced to tap as soon as the choke was fully locked-in.

While a standard rear-naked choke certainly isn’t a rare submission in MMA, finishing them from a standing position isn’t something that happens very often.

The 19-year-old Vallejos improves his record to 5-0 with this win. This was his third finish in the first round and fourth stoppage victory overall. The Argentinian fighter also went 4-0 as an amateur fighter with four finishes before turning pro in 2021.

What’s your reaction to Kevin Vallejos’ standing rear-naked choke finish?

Continue Reading Watch: Kevin Vallejos Locks Up Standing Rear-Naked Choke at MMA News.

Watch: Kevin Vallejos Locks Up Standing Rear-Naked Choke

Featherweight Kevin Vallejos locked up a standing rear-naked choke that forced this opponent to tap in the first round of their fight at Samurai Fight House 4. Vallejos was matched up with fellow undefeated Argentinian Gabriel Vargas as part of the event’s main card. Vargas got right to work trying to wrestle early but struggled…

Continue Reading Watch: Kevin Vallejos Locks Up Standing Rear-Naked Choke at MMA News.

Featherweight Kevin Vallejos locked up a standing rear-naked choke that forced this opponent to tap in the first round of their fight at Samurai Fight House 4.

Vallejos was matched up with fellow undefeated Argentinian Gabriel Vargas as part of the event’s main card. Vargas got right to work trying to wrestle early but struggled to control Vallejos against the cage and was forced to return to space as Vallejos pursued him with punches.

Another clinch from Vargas and an attempt to grab a single-leg takedown quickly backfired, as Vallejos grabbed his neck and pulled Vargas upright.

Vargas briefly struggled to fight Vallejos’ hands but was forced to tap as soon as the choke was fully locked-in.

While a standard rear-naked choke certainly isn’t a rare submission in MMA, finishing them from a standing position isn’t something that happens very often.

The 19-year-old Vallejos improves his record to 5-0 with this win. This was his third finish in the first round and fourth stoppage victory overall. The Argentinian fighter also went 4-0 as an amateur fighter with four finishes before turning pro in 2021.

What’s your reaction to Kevin Vallejos’ standing rear-naked choke finish?

Continue Reading Watch: Kevin Vallejos Locks Up Standing Rear-Naked Choke at MMA News.

‘Technical Savage’ Henry Cejudo Offers Striking Advice To Conor McGregor, Urges Him To ‘Take Notes’

Henry CejudoFormer two-weight UFC champion, Henry Cejudo has once more offered advice on striking setups and finishes to his fellow former two-division titleholder, Conor McGregor – this time dissecting his UFC 249 knockout win over Dominick Cruz. Henry Cejudo, a former undisputed bantamweight and flyweight gold holder, retired from professional mixed martial arts back in May […]

Henry Cejudo

Former two-weight UFC champion, Henry Cejudo has once more offered advice on striking setups and finishes to his fellow former two-division titleholder, Conor McGregor – this time dissecting his UFC 249 knockout win over Dominick Cruz.

Henry Cejudo, a former undisputed bantamweight and flyweight gold holder, retired from professional mixed martial arts back in May of 2020 following his co-headlining win against Cruz in Jacksonville, Florida.

In the time since, the Los Angeles native has been linked with a return to the Octagon continually. And earlier this month, officially returned to the USADA (United State Anti-Doping Agency) testing pool ahead of a speculated return to the UFC. 

Welcoming the opportunity to land a featherweight title fight in his return against current champion, Alexander Volkanovski, Cejudo, an Olympic gold medalist in freestyle wrestling, has also been linked with a bantamweight title fight against division gold holder, Aljamain Sterling. 

Henry Cejudo once again offers striking advice to Conor McGregor

Receiving the wrath of the aforenoted, McGregor in a bid to offer him striking advice recently, Cejudo has once again urged the Dubliner to “take notes” on his victory against Cruz.

“Yo @TheNotoriousMMA (Conor McGregor) take notes,” Henry Cejudo tweeted. “This is what I’m talking about distance combine with the right timing. Sincerely – the technical savage.”

With a definite timeframe for an Octagon return for McGregor currently unclear, the 33-year-old former undisputed lightweight and featherweight champion headlined UFC 264 back in July against former interim titleholder, Dustin Poirier – suffering a first round doctor’s stoppage TKO defeat after fracturing his left tibia at the end of the frame.

The Crumlin native has welcomed the opportunity to compete at the welterweight limit in his UFC comeback, and recently received offers to compete for lightweight gold against Charles Oliviera – however, a return opponent has yet to be determined at the time of publication.

Aljamain Sterling Reveals He Made $400,000 Before Taxes At UFC 273, Questions Michael Chandler On Fighter Pay

Aljamain SterlingUndisputed UFC bantamweight champion, Aljamain Sterling has revealed that before taxes and expenses, he received a $400,000 payday for his successful title defense and unification win over Petr Yan at UFC 273 in the pair’s rematch, questioning recent thoughts from UFC lightweight, Michael Chandler on the infamous fighter pay issue. Sterling, who co-headlined the April […]

Aljamain Sterling

Undisputed UFC bantamweight champion, Aljamain Sterling has revealed that before taxes and expenses, he received a $400,000 payday for his successful title defense and unification win over Petr Yan at UFC 273 in the pair’s rematch, questioning recent thoughts from UFC lightweight, Michael Chandler on the infamous fighter pay issue.

Sterling, who co-headlined the April pay-per-view event at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida – confirmed that he received a payday in the region of $400,000 for his victory over the Dudinka native, however, likely walked away with $110,000 in pocket following taxes and expenses.

“Full disclosure, my last fight, I made $400,000,” Aljamain Sterling told MMA Fighting during a recent interview. “That’s before taxes, that’s before i paid my coaches, that’s before expenses, and I owed money in taxes from last year. Because of COVID and everything, the things I had to do for my personal side of that, I had to do with family and take care of family and pay stuff, remodeling this, remodeling that, so I owed money.”

“I probably walked way with about $110,000,” Aljamain Sterling explained. “Now I get to spend that, and I have to budget it, and I’ve got to put away money for savings, and put away stuff for my investments, so not I have to budget all this out to make sure I don’t go broke. So it sounds like, ‘You made a sh*t ton of money,’ and yes and no.”

Aljamain Sterling took umbrage with Michael Chandler’s recent comments on the issue of fighter pay

Previously, playing down the issue of fighter pay and compensation in the organization, one-time lightweight title challenger, Chandler pointed to the fact that UFC president, Dana White has had many sleepless nights in order to make sure the promotion succeeded, while fighters only had to worry about training and competing.

“Michael Chandler fought for Bellator, he made a sh*t ton of money for Bellator, he was a world champion in Bellator, (and) I think he was also a national champion at the Division I level, so he has all those things going for him,” Aljamain Sterling said. “The average fighter comes up, they’re not a wrestler, they’re not a national champion, they didn’t become a Bellator champion, they don’t have all those credentials and accolades, they don’t come from money – I’m not saying Michael Chandler comes from money, I don’t know anything about his backstory, but he doesn’t understand the situation of the other fighters.”

“Clearly, he doesn’t understand this, because he wouldn’t have said what he said if he did – the backstory of the other fighters that aren’t making the type of money that Michael Chandler is making, and that’s the difference.”

“Once he looks at it from a different perspective, I think he would change what he was saying,” Aljamain Sterling said. “But him saying Dana White had 10,000 sleepless nights, Michael Chandler, you’ve been competing since you were out of the womb pretty much. What about all your sleepless nights of training, cutting weight? What about all the other fighters training, cutting weight? You can’t say all we do is go to the gym, train, sleep and repeat. Some of us have second jobs.”

“I had a second job all the way through my career until after I beat ‘Tanquino” (Augusto Mendes), after two split decision losses,” Aljamain Sterling said. “I have a college degree. I would have been potentially making more money doing that in the beginning of my career if I had just stuck to that and I’d have been making more money than what I was making if I had just stuck to fighting.”