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Dana White Says Cormier vs. Jones III Could Be At Heavyweight

Ever since Jon Jones had a reduced USADA suspension announced, the fight game has been buzzing with the possibility of Daniel Cormier vs. Jones III. Cormier is the UFC heavyweight and light heavyweight champion. The only setbacks in his illustrious MMA career have come at the hands of Jones. The troubled-but-legendary “Bones” outlasted “DC” by […]

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Ever since Jon Jones had a reduced USADA suspension announced, the fight game has been buzzing with the possibility of Daniel Cormier vs. Jones III.

Cormier is the UFC heavyweight and light heavyweight champion. The only setbacks in his illustrious MMA career have come at the hands of Jones. The troubled-but-legendary “Bones” outlasted “DC” by decision at UFC 182 and knocked him out with a head kick at UFC 214. Jones then failed a drug test for anabolic steroid Turinabol.

But now Jones can return on October 28. That’s kicked discussion of a trilogy fight with Cormier into overdrive, and for good reason. Cormier is tentatively slated to fight former heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar in early 2019. Cormier vs. Jones III could be the better option.

Of course, Dana White knows it will be huge whenever it happens – if it does. White recently discussed the bout with TMZ and the results were encouraging. He admitted that he wants to see it along with many others. White even said it could happen up at heavyweight, adding a new wrinkle to the rivalry:

“I would like to see it, I think the fans would like to see it. What would be interesting is, we might see it at heavyweight.”

White then went on to say that he would do whatever Cormier wants due to his exemplary record as champion:

I’m gonna do whatever DC wants to do. Daniel Cormier has been an incredible champion for us. He’s an incredible human being. He’s a stud and I’m gonna do everything in my power to keep that man happy.”

It’s not often you hear White publicly speak in such glaring overtones for a fighter. The opposite is quite often true, in fact. But White has a guaranteed cash cow in the form a possibly legendary Cormier vs. Jones III.

You could make the case that it’s a much bigger fight than Cormier vs. Lesnar at this point. Should the UFC go straight to Cormier vs. Jones III at heavyweight?

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Conor McGregor’s Team Concerned About Khabib Missing Weight

Heading into next weekend’s (Sat., October 6, 2018) anticipated UFC 229 from Las Vegas, Khabib missing weight is a concern. It’s a valid one, as well. He missed weight for his scheduled interim title fight against Tony Ferguson before March 2017’s UFC 209. The undefeated champion was hospitalized. He required a lengthy recovery period before he […]

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Heading into next weekend’s (Sat., October 6, 2018) anticipated UFC 229 from Las Vegas, Khabib missing weight is a concern.

It’s a valid one, as well. He missed weight for his scheduled interim title fight against Tony Ferguson before March 2017’s UFC 209. The undefeated champion was hospitalized. He required a lengthy recovery period before he fought again.

‘The Eagle’ bounced back strong, however, demolishing Edson Barboza at UFC 219 last December. He then dominated Al Iaquinta to win the gold at April’s UFC 223. The win earned him a shot at former champion and archrival Conor McGregor at UFC 229. The match is being touted as the biggest in UFC history. It may just be.

Weight Concerns

But the fight is from a certainty to actually transpire. It could be stated that every fight involving Khabib is somewhat questionable until the cage door closes. McGregor’s striking coach touched on that dynamic on the Eurobash podcast (via MMA Fighting). Roddy said Khabib’s weight is definitely be a concern the week of title match:

“It could be a concern, yeah. It has happened before. Don’t focus on what is out of your control, you can only focus on what you have control over. We don’t know what could happen, anything could happen.”

If the fight were somehow cast aside due to Khabib missing weight, Team McGregor is ready. roddy said they went through a last-minute change when Jose Aldo was hurt only weeks before 2015’s UFC 189. They made it then, and Roddy insists they’ll do the same now as well.

The most important thing was to get McGregor back doing what he does best, and that’s fighting:

“We had that happen with Aldo a couple of years back, we had a last-minute change with Mendes. It didn’t really affect us. We went straight back in, made a couple of minor adjustments, we went in and we done what we needed to do.

“Anything can happen in the fight game, but we can only focus on what we have control over and that’s getting Conor prepared, getting him focused on getting back in the cage and doing what he does best — that’s what we’re focusing on.”

McGregor Improving?

That could be the most difficult task. McGregor has been out of action since his November 2016 win over former champion Eddie Alvarez. His last bout was a TKO loss to Floyd Mayweather in boxing last August.

The Irish megastar is 2-2 in his last four fights overall. Despite that fact, however, Roddy insists McGregor is actually a better fighter than we last saw. He hasn’t fought in MMA in nearly two years, but continues to get better:

“It’s familiar, it’s back to the same kind of feeling as always. He’s always cool, calm and calculated, he’s intelligent when he’s in there — knowing when to throw and when not to throw. It’s like it’s back to normal again.

“Conor has obviously improved with his hands, they’re a lot sharper. His wrestling, his jiu-jitsu too, he hasn’t stopped training. He hasn’t fought, but he hasn’t stopped improving over the past two years since he [last] fought in the Octagon. He’s a far better fighter, but he still has that same mentality. He’s still as sharp as ever, he’s still intelligent in there as always. I’m just excited to see him back in there.”

One of the biggest dynamics of the potentially historic match-up with Khabib is where McGregor truly is at in terms of skillset. He’s facing most likely his toughest test in the undefeated Dagestani grappler.

While Roddy says his hands are improving, it’s his takedown defense that will have to be on point in Vegas. Has McGregor improved enough in that department to stay upright and knock out Khabib?

We’ll find out next weekend.

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Dana White Shuts Down Nate Diaz’s ‘Nutty’ 165-Pound Title Fight Talk

Nate Diaz won’t stop campaigning for a shot at the new UFC 165-pound title. The outspoken Stockton slugger recently claimed he was fighting Poirier for the title of the all-new ‘superfighter devision’ earlier this week. The claim was soon shot down by Dana White. But Diaz isn’t giving up. He claims that Poirier isn’t down to […]

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Nate Diaz won’t stop campaigning for a shot at the new UFC 165-pound title.

The outspoken Stockton slugger recently claimed he was fighting Poirier for the title of the all-new ‘superfighter devision’ earlier this week. The claim was soon shot down by Dana White.

But Diaz isn’t giving up. He claims that Poirier isn’t down to fight him for the 165-pound belt. He’ll return to the octagon next year as a result, or so he says. Poirier quickly clapped back to say he was one hundred percent down.

White is sticking to his guns. He told TMZ Sports (quotes via MMA Mania) that the whole situation is ‘nutty as hell’ during his latest return. He added that Diaz has been strange since he signed on to fight Poirier:

“I definitely saw that,” said White in a recent interview with TMZ Sports (shown above). “It’s nutty as hell. The guy signed a deal to fight at 155 pounds against Poirier – from the minute the deal was signed and he went out on stage, he’s just been, you know – it’s completely weird. That’s what it is.”

One may believe Diaz is trying to avoid cutting down to 155 pounds to fight Poirier. Either way, “The Diamond” seems ready to fight at any weight.

As for White’s predicament, he doesn’t seem too worried. Diaz signed to fight at UFC 230. The enigmatic fan favorite will have to show up in New York as a result:

“He has to, yeah. The guy signed a deal, tickets went on sale, all this stuff is in motion – you can’t just sign a deal and then do the things he’s doing right now, and not fight. If you look at what he’s doing, I swear to God I had some police officers come in here this afternoon and say ‘Ah man, it sucks, the Diaz fight is off.’ Most people think that the fight isn’t even on because of what he’s doing on social media.”

Apparently, people think the fight is actually off. That would be a huge blow to the card. UFC 230 remains without a main event.

Diaz vs. Poirier for the belt would definitely fit that bill. It’s simply not happening according to White:

“Not only will there not, we did not ever discuss that with him, was never an option, or anything,” said White.

The UFC 165-pound division has been in discussion for quite some time. Many view it as a gap between lightweight and welterweight where fighters can stop cutting weight due to the middle ground.

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Video: Go Inside Khabib’s UFC 229 Training Camp

We shared a video going inside Conor McGregor’s UFC 229 training camp this week. Now it’s time to do the same for Khabib’s UFC 229 training camp. The undefeated UFC lightweight champion is the most dominant force in mixed martial arts right now. Khabib has laid waste to most of his opposition, and the odds […]

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We shared a video going inside Conor McGregor’s UFC 229 training camp this week. Now it’s time to do the same for Khabib’s UFC 229 training camp.

The undefeated UFC lightweight champion is the most dominant force in mixed martial arts right now. Khabib has laid waste to most of his opposition, and the odds state he’ll do the same to McGregor when they finally do battle.

He could face his most dangerous test when he meets McGregor in the main event of next Saturday night’s (October 6, 2018) UFC 229 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, nonetheless.

It’s definitely the biggest and most lucrative of his burgeoning fight career. There’s been little mainstream promotion for a fight of this magnitude it seems. But Khabib is focused on doing what he does best inside the cage no matter what.

Because of the hype involved, Khabib recently released a video with an inside look at his training camp at California’s American Kickboxing Academy. There, he continues to sharpen his peerless MMA wrestling skills with decorated UFC fighters like Luke Rockhold. Watch the first episode of his UFC 229 training camp focus right here:

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Khabib’s Father Not Allowed To Enter U.S. For UFC 229

Khabib’s father will unfortunately not be watching his son compete at UFC 229 next Saturday. Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov was actively campaigning for a United States visa so he could attend his son’s title fight with Conor McGregor in Las Vegas next weekend. An appeal to U.S President Donald Trump on social media apparently failed. The required […]

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Khabib’s father will unfortunately not be watching his son compete at UFC 229 next Saturday.

Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov was actively campaigning for a United States visa so he could attend his son’s title fight with Conor McGregor in Las Vegas next weekend. An appeal to U.S President Donald Trump on social media apparently failed.

The required visa will not be granted to Nurmagomedov. The report was first broken by RT.com. Khabib’s management confirmed the report to MMA Fighting.

The UFC lightweight champion recently discussed his father’s attempt to get into the United States at last week’s UFC 229 presser. Khabib said he was trying but efforts were proving difficult. Khabib’s father was required to provide additional information.

He is apparently unable to do so. That will render his effort to obtain the visa futile based on the short timeframe.

Addulmanap is crucial to the overall gameplan for the fight. He’s repeatedly provided input into all of his son’s fights. Khabib will move forward without his services. It’s bad timing. UFC 229 is undoubtedly the biggest fight of his career.

Khabib is undefeated. He’s arguably facing his toughest test. The same is true for the Irish superstar. ‘The Notorious’ is also in for the toughest test of his career. UFC 229 is an event unique in that regard.

‘The Eagle” is favored to win. Will the absence of his father hinder Khabib’s chances as a result?

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Report: Jon Jones Won’t Fight At November’s UFC 230

It looks like Jon Jones really won’t be fighting on the UFC 230 PPV in November.

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Jon Jones won’t be fighting at UFC 230 come November.

Should he want to, everything would fit perfectly in place. Jones’ United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) suspension is up next month on October 28th. “Bones” was given a 15-month suspension for a failed drug test last year after his third-round knockout win over Daniel Cormier.

The UFC is heading back to Madison Square Garden in November in Jones’ home state of New York. Unfortunately, it seems pretty clear that the former 205-pound champion won’t be headlining the card. UFC President Dana White and Jones’ manager have both confirmed he won’t be on the card.

Instead, reports have emerged that Jones is in talks for a rematch with Alexander Gustafsson at a later date. Despite these facts, fans are still holding out hope. Jones’ coach, Mike Winkeljohn, spoke to Submission Radio about the matter.

He himself said he doesn’t expect Jones to fight on the MSG card:

“I wouldn’t put money on him being there for the Madison Square Garden card. You know what, Jon is so smart that he wants to come back and do it right. He’s not in any rush to jump in there and do it ill-prepared.

“He wants to make sure he trains for the opponent once he finds out what that opponent is and do his homework. That’s what people don’t understand about Jon Jones, is he does his homework. Hours and hours and hours of studying tape, and hours and hours hitting these unpredictable things that he uses in the fight.

“But they’re really predictable for him because he’s put so much time into practicing. Jon is a student and a master of the game at reading his opponent. He knows what his opponent’s gonna do before they do it because he studies them.

“So, I would think Jon would want to find out who that is and have a good training camp for it.”

Currently, UFC 230 is co-headlined by a lightweight fight between Nate Diaz and Dustin Poirier. With top stars such as Conor McGregor, Jones, Brock Lesnar, Ronda Rousey, and any others ruled out – it should be interesting what ends up headlining the card.

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