One of the more unexpected MMA beefs in recent times has taken place between Chael Sonnen and Jorge Masvidal after both men criticized and called each out during appearances on The MMA Hour. At one stage, “Gamebred” was defending Ariel Helwani who had a heated exchange with Sonnen live on air and unsurprisingly, “The Bad […]
One of the more unexpected MMA beefs in recent times has taken place between Chael Sonnen and Jorge Masvidal after both men criticized and called each out during appearances on The MMA Hour. At one stage, “Gamebred” was defending Ariel Helwani who had a heated exchange with Sonnen live on air and unsurprisingly, “The Bad Guy” has continued to get the last word in.
There was even talk of them fighting although there was never anything set in stone even if they could have come face-to-face during a UFC event at one stage. In a recent post on X, Sonnen reignited the feud by coming up with a new idea.
At 47-years old, the former UFC title challenger doesn’t intend on making any kind of serious combat sports return though he did box Anderson Silva in an exhibition bout this past June. Masvidal, on the other hand, has recently stated that he will return to the UFC in April next year for a Miami event after initially retiring in 2023.
Sonnen suggested that rather than him stepping inside the Octagon with the former BMF champion, he would nominate a champion to be his tribute. That man who could welcome Masvidal back to the UFC would be none other than “The Welsh Gangster” Oban Elliott who has a great relationship with Sonnen.
I nominate @obanelliottufc to whip Jorge in my place. Miami you say?
Elliott has gone 3-0 inside the Octagon this year after earning his spot on the rankings via 2023’s season of the Contender Series. Wins at UFC 298, UFC 304 and UFC 309 have proved that the 26-year old doesn’t just walk the walk and talk the talk like his greatest inspiration, he can perform inside the Octagon as well.
Oban Elliott secured his first finish inside the Octagon in the second fight of the night at UFC 309 when he squared off with Bassil Hafez at welterweight. “The Welsh Gangster” came into the fight off back-to-back wins since signing via Dana White’s Contender Series last year but wanted to produce a statement this time […]
Oban Elliott secured his first finish inside the Octagon in the second fight of the night at UFC 309 when he squared off with Bassil Hafez at welterweight.
“The Welsh Gangster” came into the fight off back-to-back wins since signing via Dana White’s Contender Series last year but wanted to produce a statement this time around.
His displays against Val Woodburn and Preston Parsons showed a lot of sides to his game, but with both wins coming via decision, a finish is what he wanted at UFC 309. That’s exactly what he delivered at the world’s most famous arena.
The opening two rounds weren’t particularly action-packed, with Elliott seemingly winning the fight convincingly with his striking from the outside, utilizing his speed and a variety of kicks to stop Hafez from closing the distance. Despite the favorite appearing in control up until the finish, two judges had the fight even going into the third whilst one had Hafez up two.
At the start of the third frame, a huge right overhand from the Welshman sent his opponent crashing to the canvas.
Several follow-up strikes on the ground forced Marc Goddard to step in and wave the fight off, producing the first finish of the night back in the old gloves.
Oban Elliott secured his first finish inside the Octagon in the second fight of the night at UFC 309 when he squared off with Bassil Hafez at welterweight. “The Welsh Gangster” came into the fight off back-to-back wins since signing via Dana White’s Contender Series last year but wanted to produce a statement this time […]
Oban Elliott secured his first finish inside the Octagon in the second fight of the night at UFC 309 when he squared off with Bassil Hafez at welterweight.
“The Welsh Gangster” came into the fight off back-to-back wins since signing via Dana White’s Contender Series last year but wanted to produce a statement this time around.
His displays against Val Woodburn and Preston Parsons showed a lot of sides to his game, but with both wins coming via decision, a finish is what he wanted at UFC 309. That’s exactly what he delivered at the world’s most famous arena.
The opening two rounds weren’t particularly action-packed, with Elliott seemingly winning the fight convincingly with his striking from the outside, utilizing his speed and a variety of kicks to stop Hafez from closing the distance. Despite the favorite appearing in control up until the finish, two judges had the fight even going into the third whilst one had Hafez up two.
At the start of the third frame, a huge right overhand from the Welshman sent his opponent crashing to the canvas.
Several follow-up strikes on the ground forced Marc Goddard to step in and wave the fight off, producing the first finish of the night back in the old gloves.
At UFC 309 on November 16, one fighter will make a childhood dream come true when he makes the walk at the world’s most famous arena, Madison Square Garden. 2024 has been a year of bucket list moments for Oban Elliott who has earned back-to-back wins inside the Octagon. The Welsh fighter secured his UFC […]
At UFC 309 on November 16, one fighter will make a childhood dream come true when he makes the walk at the world’s most famous arena, Madison Square Garden. 2024 has been a year of bucket list moments for Oban Elliott who has earned back-to-back wins inside the Octagon.
The Welsh fighter secured his UFC contract on the Contender Series and will now look to make it three wins in a row at welterweight when he faces off with Bassil Hafez on the prelims. Elliott is a big pro wrestling fans and therefore, it’s no surprise that his MMA idol growing up was none other than “The Bad Guy”, Chael Sonnen.
They’ve been in communication for many years but at Elliott’s debut at UFC 298 in February, they finally got to meet in person. Though this was clearly a full-circle moment for “The Welsh Gangster”, it was also a great interaction for Sonnen, as he spoke about in a recent video on his YouTube channel.
Sonnen gave some insight into Elliott’s life and career so far and how he feels privileged that the rising talent would take him along for each step of the journey.
“It’s a bit of a triple threat from Oban. He’s got the skills, came with the DNA and the grit. Little boy that had a dream and never lost sight of it, right. All discipline is is remembering what your goal is. That’s all it is but it’s a very hard thing to do and he embraced social media, he was a smart guy… when he did the whole thing, he stayed nice. He’s a real triple threat.”
Elliott’s personality and mentality is what Sonnen wanted to draw the most attention to. He went on to compare him to Anthony Smith who Sonnen believes is another fighter that doesn’t just know how to fight and play the game, he’s a strong individual outside the cage too.
“He never got somewhere and forgot how he got there and that’s a special kind of person. The fighter, yeah man, this guy can squabble. He’s about to fight at Madison Square Garden. He went from a railroad with a guy with a dream thanking Lord in heaven above that he got airtime on Ariel Helwani’s show, he’s going to be fighting at Madison Square Garden so it’s quite a story and there’s a lot more to it. I’m just getting started but moving forward, learn the name.”
At UFC 309 on November 16, one fighter will make a childhood dream come true when he makes the walk at the world’s most famous arena, Madison Square Garden. 2024 has been a year of bucket list moments for Oban Elliott who has earned back-to-back wins inside the Octagon. The Welsh fighter secured his UFC […]
At UFC 309 on November 16, one fighter will make a childhood dream come true when he makes the walk at the world’s most famous arena, Madison Square Garden. 2024 has been a year of bucket list moments for Oban Elliott who has earned back-to-back wins inside the Octagon.
The Welsh fighter secured his UFC contract on the Contender Series and will now look to make it three wins in a row at welterweight when he faces off with Bassil Hafez on the prelims. Elliott is a big pro wrestling fans and therefore, it’s no surprise that his MMA idol growing up was none other than “The Bad Guy”, Chael Sonnen.
They’ve been in communication for many years but at Elliott’s debut at UFC 298 in February, they finally got to meet in person. Though this was clearly a full-circle moment for “The Welsh Gangster”, it was also a great interaction for Sonnen, as he spoke about in a recent video on his YouTube channel.
Sonnen gave some insight into Elliott’s life and career so far and how he feels privileged that the rising talent would take him along for each step of the journey.
“It’s a bit of a triple threat from Oban. He’s got the skills, came with the DNA and the grit. Little boy that had a dream and never lost sight of it, right. All discipline is is remembering what your goal is. That’s all it is but it’s a very hard thing to do and he embraced social media, he was a smart guy… when he did the whole thing, he stayed nice. He’s a real triple threat.”
Elliott’s personality and mentality is what Sonnen wanted to draw the most attention to. He went on to compare him to Anthony Smith who Sonnen believes is another fighter that doesn’t just know how to fight and play the game, he’s a strong individual outside the cage too.
“He never got somewhere and forgot how he got there and that’s a special kind of person. The fighter, yeah man, this guy can squabble. He’s about to fight at Madison Square Garden. He went from a railroad with a guy with a dream thanking Lord in heaven above that he got airtime on Ariel Helwani’s show, he’s going to be fighting at Madison Square Garden so it’s quite a story and there’s a lot more to it. I’m just getting started but moving forward, learn the name.”
Surging Welsh prospect, Oban Elliott, is set to make his way over to the Emerald Isles, where he will face off against a hometown hero, in a fight that will likely determine who is next to compete for the Cage Warriors 170lb title. Ever since turning pro, Oban Elliott has been looked upon as the […]
Surging Welsh prospect, Oban Elliott, is set to make his way over to the Emerald Isles, where he will face off against a hometown hero, in a fight that will likely determine who is next to compete for the Cage Warriors 170lb title.
Ever since turning pro, Oban Elliott has been looked upon as the next big thing out of Wales. Training out of Shore MMA, alongside the likes UFC featherweight Jack ‘Tank’ Shore and Bellator bantamweight Brett Johns, ‘The Welsh Gangster’ could not ask for a better stable to further hone his skills.
However, hype and expectation can be a double-edged sword. Very early on in his pro career, Elliott was matched up with some killers in the Cage Warriors roster, dropping a pair of early losses. But rather than rest on his laurels and fade away like so many hype trains before him have, Elliott bounced back with a vengeance.
Now riding a three-fight winning streak, Oban Elliott is now in sight of a Cage Warriors title shot, and past that, a call-up to the UFC. At Cage Warriors 153, Elliott will face off against James Sheehan, who has walked a remarkably similar road to Elliott in terms of his pro career.
With both men in excellent form, combined with the fact that they currently appear set to compete in the co-main event of a card headlined by a welterweight title unification bout between Rhys McKee and Jimmy Wallhead, it would be logical to assume that their fight is an unofficial No.1 contender matchup.
In a recent interview with LowKickMMA’sFrank Bonada, Oban Elliott appeared to confirm that the winner would be guaranteed a shot at gold. He stated the following:
“It’s a massive fight. The winner gets a title shot. But I don’t give a f***. Like that makes a f***ing difference to me. But yeah, it’s a big fight. These are the big nights that I wanted… I stayed the course, and I’ve worked my way up to get to these nights. It’s gonna be a big one.”
When pressed on the matter of a potential title shot, ‘The Welsh Gangster’ made it abundantly clear that it wasn’t something on the forefront of his mind:
“I literally don’t care anyway. Whether someone has got some f***ing belt to put on their shoulders to take Instagram photos with, and call themselves the champion, that’s fine. But I wake up every single day and look at myself in the mirror, and see the f***ing man. Regardless of whether I’ve got a f***ing belt or anything else. But it is a world title eliminator. It’s kinda obvious.”
Irish crowds are known to be some of the best in the world when it comes to MMA, loyally backing their fighters from the early prelims all the way to the main card, regardless of the result.
When Oban Elliott walks into the 3Arena in Dublin, he is already anticipating a hostile environment, which he intends to fully embrace. He stated that:
“I will probably be the most hated man in that arena. We’re already putting things in place for where I’m gonna be going afterward. Because I just don’t think that I’m gonna be able to help myself when you’ve got all them thousands of Irish people booing me.”
However, whilst he may plan to antagonize the Irish fans, there is a level of respect between him and Sheehan.
“He recognizes who the man is in this weight class. Edith (Labelle) asked him about a world title fight, and his response was all about me. So, respect there, to Sheehan. He knows what’s going on. He knows what the atmosphere’s like in the dressing rooms. He knows who the man is. Look, he’s a great fighter, and we’re gonna get it on.”
Oban Elliott and James Sheehan will face off in the co-main event of Cage Warriors 153 in Dublin, Ireland, on the 29th of April.
Check out the full interview with Oban Elliott right here:
Surging Welsh prospect, Oban Elliott, is set to make his way over to the Emerald Isles, where he will face off against a hometown hero, in a fight that will likely determine who is next to compete for the Cage Warriors 170lb title. Ever since turning pro, Oban Elliott has been looked upon as the […]