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Nick Diaz: I’m Disappointed With Eddie Alvarez After UFC 205

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Coming in to UFC 205, the story of the main event and the show itself focused on making history. As the first ever show to take place in New York City, the November 12 pay-per-view had a lot on the line, before even considering the three titles up for grabs on the main card. When all was said and done, it was Conor McGregor who emerged as the biggest winner, arguably overshadowing the history-making event with his own record-shattering victory. Claiming a promotional first of two titles held at once, ‘The Notorious’ put away Eddie Alvarez with a dominant TKO.

There’s been plenty said about the Irishman’s masterful performance in NYC, and understandably so. Once again living up to his own hype and trash talk, McGregor’s show at UFC 205 proved a lot of people wrong. On the opposite side of the coin, questions over Alvarez’s performance were raised. Not shying away from these, the former champion himself claimed he had no-one to blame but himself. Straying away from the expected ground game, Alvarez chose to stand and trade with McGregor.

Nick Diaz’s Opinion

Speaking during an appearance on The Jasta Show, popular UFC welterweight Nick Diaz gave his opinion on UFC 205’s main event. Although Alvarez had taken shots at Nate Diaz before his fight with McGregor, Nick insists there are no hard feelings:

“I have nothing against Alvarez, I actually like Alvarez. He started popping off (about Nate) but I don’t care. Just in general, I’m just disappointed in him for that fight. I want to feel sorry for him, I don’t want to disrespect Eddie Alvarez, I don’t. What I’m saying is, he invested a lot of time and energy elsewhere. In the time leading up to that fight, I think McGregor put a lot more time and understanding in to it. Eddie Alvarez kinda just thinks he’s the winner, and he believed that. McGregor knows why he is the winner. I have to base my faith on stuff I know, things I see, not just by pumping myself up. I know what I’m looking at. A lot of other people don’t have the time of day to do that, and have a whole life on the side. I think that’s what he’s got, these guys are like waist deep. I will beat you down in to the ground.”

Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports

Half-Hearted?

After hearing what Nick Diaz has to say, has your opinion about Eddie Alvarez’s performance changed? Obviously not taking anything away from Conor McGregor, but was the former champion simply focused on too many other things in his life?

Check out the full interview with Nick Diaz on the Jasta Show:

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Jose Aldo: Conor McGregor Was ‘Never Champion’

The MMA universe is still pondering the UFC’s curious decision to change the main event of UFC 206 into an interim featherweight title bout between Max Holloway and Anthony Pettis, but newly re-branded official champion Jose Aldo isn’t among those surprised Conor McGregor was stripped of the title. After he won the interim title versus Frankie

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After he won the interim title versus Frankie Edgar at July 9’s UFC 200, Aldo was given the belt that only he had boasted until McGregor knocked him out in a shocking 13 seconds at last year’s UFC 194 following a nearly yearlong build-up of epic circumstances. He campaigned for a rematch, yet the promotion decided to book McGregor against then-lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos and then Nate Diaz twice when ‘RDA’ broke his foot.

McGregor then went on to face and defeat Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight title at UFC 205, a fight that made Aldo threaten to leave the promotion for good. Now that’s he the champion (although many would argue with the decision), Aldo spoke up to say he knew this would happen because his loss was a fluke and McGregor was ‘never champion’ (via UFC.com):

“I knew this would happen,” Aldo said. “To me, I have always been the champion. I lost that fight because of a (fluke).

“I know I could win in a rematch. I knew I would be champion again. It’s not my fault that (McGregor) is a coward, that he was never champion. I don’t see myself losing to anyone in this weight class, or any other.”

Aldo now plans on defending his official title against the winner of Holloway vs. Pettis, and as for whom he’d rather fight, ‘Junior’ said an elusive bout with former lightweight champion ‘Showtime’ would obviously be the bigger fight:

“I don’t care — I’ll be prepared to face whoever wins,” Aldo said of the Pettis-Holloway battle. “Of course, Pettis has a bigger name; he was champion once, and it would be a bigger fight. But if Holloway wins. it’s fine.

“I’m going to win anyway.”

Strong words from arguably the greatest featherweight in the history of the UFC, but fans may be beginning to wonder where the Aldo of old is, as the champion hasn’t been able to show up to the Octagon all that often in recent years.

And when he does, he’s even admitted to coasting to decisions, relying on his superior talent rather than letting it all hang out with his formerly furious goal of finishing each and every fighter he met. This new, more brash version of Aldo is certainly drawing more headlines, but at some point he’ll have to put forth a dominant win for fans to truly accept him as champion – right or wrong.

Do you believe he should be given his respect as the true champion, or was he just dealt the benefit of some odd circumstances?

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Jose Aldo Reveals Next Move After Regaining Title

Jose Aldo is once again siting atop the UFC’s 145-pound division after the promotion made the decision to promote the Brazilian to the division’s official champion, and make next week’s UFC 206 match-up between Anthony ‘Showtime’ Pettis and Max Holloway an interim featherweight title bout. The 145-pound strap was previously held by ‘The Notorious One’

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The 145-pound strap was previously held by ‘The Notorious One’ Conor McGregor, who downed Aldo in just 13 seconds to capture the title in their main event meeting at UFC 194 in December, but was stripped of the belt for not having defended it 11 months after having won it.

Aldo recently spoke to SporTV’s Planeta (courtesy of MMA Junkie) to discuss McGregor’s current situation, stating that the next two possible bouts for the heavy-handed Irishman, in his opinion, are bouts with himself or No. 1-ranked lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov. Now that he is the undisputed champ, however, Aldo is eying a title defense before getting his shot at redemption against McGregor:

“I think both are very tough fights for him, either at lightweight with Khabib (Nurmagomedov) or a rematch with me. So he chose to let go of mine. It’s no problem. Of course, first I want to do a (title) defense and then, yes, I will want to pursue a fight with (McGregor).”

After being denied his rematch with McGregor after suffering his first defeat in almost ten years Aldo threatened to retire from the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA) altogether and pursue other ventures. It seems now ‘Scarface’ has decided to give it a second go, and stated that he always knew that he would once again reign as the division’s champion immediately after he lost the title:

“I think I’ve always been the champion, and I will always be the champion,” he said. “As long as I’m at featherweight, no matter what happens, I’ll keep being the champion. So this, for me, was something that was already certain. The minute I lost, I knew, the next day, the belt would be mine again. It was just a matter of time. Of course, (it was) not the way I wanted, but I’m happy because I know I’m the champion.”

While Aldo’s ambition to pursue other sports still lies within him he is prepared to continue to test himself inside of the Octagon and fight out the remainder of his UFC contract, and is eyeing a return to action around February or March of next year:

“I said that if one day I left the UFC, (because) I wanted to try other sports, I said if I returned to MMA I wanted it to be to the UFC, because I’m the best in the world and the best in the world is the UFC,” Aldo said. “So I had to be there, always motivated. That’s my life. There’s no way I can escape and want something else, so I’m very motivated. I have a few fights left on my contract, but I also want to test myself in other things because I think I can also do well (in them).

“I’d been training, even with everything that’s been happening. I’ve been training and helping out my friends here (at Nova Uniao). And now we’re already making the arrangements to fight in the future. I think maybe in February or March we’ll be fighting hopefully. I don’t want to wait too long because it’s been a while since my last fight. I don’t want to go too long without fighting.”

With the featherweight division’s picture looking to take better form after next week’s interim title bout between Pettis and Holloway, it looks like Aldo will be challenging the winner of that bout to a potential title unification bout next year.

Holloway and Pettis will meet in the main event of UFC 206 live on pay-per-view (PPV) for the interim featherweight title, from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on December 10, 2016.

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Bethe Correia Rips ‘Weak’ Miesha Tate For Retirement

After losing for a second straight time against Raquel Pennington at Nov. 12’s UFC 205, former women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate announced her retirement. The announcement seemed to be well respected by the MMA community, but No. 9-ranked Bethe Correia didn’t feel that same way. Instead, the Brazilian blasted Tate for showing ‘weakness’: “She showed

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“She showed she’s bipolar because when the UFC didn’t want her fighting for the belt, she wanted to retire. She lost to Raquel and got herself in a bad phase, lost to Amanda, and announced her retirement,” Correia said during a Q&A session in Brazil courtesy of MMA Fighting. “When you’re not going the way you want and you run away from it, that shows weakness.”

Correia has lost two of her last three bouts to date including a brutal knockout loss to Ronda Rousey at UFC 190, although she did bounce back with a victory over Jessica Eye this past September. The “Pitbull” claims that her losses have only motivated her to improve, but not to retire:

“I’ve been through a lot of tough moments in the UFC and never wanted to retire. Quite the opposite. My fight against Ronda left a damage here, and I want to fight more, win more, to have experience, in order to have Rousey vs. Correia 2, maybe here in Sao Paulo, so it can be very different, and leave with my head up.”

Aside from her comments about Tate’s retirement, Correia also detailed a history of bad blood between the two combatants:

“My history with Miesha Tate is very old,” Correia said. “First, she called me out as an athlete on social media, and also said a lot of bad things about my personal life, demoralized me as an athlete, and I wanted to fight her, but our paths went different directions.

“I wanted to fight her again, but at that moment she… I even said I’d fight her for free, in any card, in her backyard, really, because I still have the things she said about me stuck in my throat, especially about my loss to Ronda. She said some bad things, but in the end I saw that her attitude, announcing her retirement, that I’m way above her.”

Do you agree with Correia’s comments or did Tate make the correct call?

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Khabib Challenges Tony Ferguson To March Title Fight

The post Khabib Challenges Tony Ferguson To March Title Fight appeared first on LowKick MMA.

The UFC lightweight division had a new champion crowned in New York City, and it’s caused quite a fuss. As is usual with anything Conor McGregor does, his victory over Eddie Alvarez altered a wide landscape. First off, the future was very unclear at 155 and 145 pounds. Although the Irish star had committed to six months of leave, he also stated he’d be defending both belts in good time. Those plans got stripped away, as did his featherweight title, as the UFC made plans to save UFC 206 and also promote Jose Aldo.

Anthony Pettis and Max Holloway do battle for the junior belt, and so the focus is now on the lightweight division on McGregor’s return. For one top contender in Khabib Nurmagomedov, that day could not come soon enough, or at least it seemed that way for a while. The 24-0 animal from American Kickboxing Academy vowed to ‘torture’ McGregor for five rounds recently. ‘The Eagle’ and ‘The Notorious’ shared a heated backstage confrontation before UFC 205, and after both were victorious it looked like a fight was dead certain.

Not So Fast

Now that the trash talking Irishman is out of play for the moment, Khabib is setting his sights elsewhere. In an interview with RT, as quoted by MMAFighting.com, Nurmagomedov says he now wants to fight Tony Ferguson next:

“I feel very bad about this (McGregor taking a break) because before this year I have two years rest because I have injured all the time. Now I don’t want [to be] waiting for this guy. If Conor don’t want fight before May/June, I want to take other fight. I want to fight for the interim belt with Tony Ferguson.

“Last time he was injured. He pulled out, not me. He’s not coming to April 16 to the fight. Before I have been injured and now it’s, why not? Now, I think the UFC wants to make this fight. I feel this and for me its perfect date is March. Not early, only March.”

“Tony Ferguson is tough guy, tough opponent. Nine-win streak. Why not? I think this is real high level lightweight fight. Not Conor versus me I think this is real high level fight.”

Mandatory Credit: Etzel Espinosa-USA TODAY Sports

History

Nurmagomedov and Ferguson have twice been due to dance, but injuries on both sides have hindered that match up. Now that both men are healthy, as are their impressive streaks, is a March interim title clash a no-brainer?

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Coach: Conor McGregor Beating Tyron Woodley Is ‘Doable’

Conor McGregor’s fighting future is currently a cloudy mess. After adding the UFC lightweight title to his collection that already includes the UFC featherweight title at Nov. 12’s UFC 205, McGregor made it clear that he had a plethora of options waiting for him, although it was also said that he likely wouldn’t fight until

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Conor McGregor’s fighting future is currently a cloudy mess.

After adding the UFC lightweight title to his collection that already includes the UFC featherweight title at Nov. 12’s UFC 205, McGregor made it clear that he had a plethora of options waiting for him, although it was also said that he likely wouldn’t fight until the spring due to the fact that he has a baby on the way.

On option that the brash Irishman discussed was the possibility of jumping up to welterweight and fighting 170-pound champion Tyron Woodley in hopes of winning a third title in a third different wait class.

Many have laughed McGregor’s talk of this possibility off, but his longtime coach John Kavanagh doesn’t agree with what the masses are saying:

“I don’t see why not,” Kavanagh said on The MMA Hour. “I don’t know. Maybe it won’t happen. We’ve got so many irons in the fire at this stage. But I don’t see what other people are saying, ‘There’s no way Conor can touch this guy.’ There is. No one is perfect. There’s openings there. Of course, he’s a bigger man, he’s got more power and you’ve gotta be super careful. But Conor trains with big guys like this. I see him do amazing things in the gym all the time.”

The two fighters appeared to have some tension between them during the lead-up to UFC 205 where Woodley also fought. In fact, “The Chosen One” said after the event that he would sign on to face the “Notorious” one.

Woodley would undoubtedly be the bigger man if the the bout were to actually materialize, but Kavanagh feels as if McGregor beating the 170-pound champion is very ‘doable’:

“He’s not enormous,” the coach said. “He’s not some Goliath man. He’s a little bit bigger. Conor would have reach on him, he would have technique on him in the striking, for sure. He’d have to of course deal with that power. … I certainly don’t in my head go, ‘Oh my God, no. We couldn’t possibly beat him.’ It’s a doable fight.”

Do you share Kavanagh’s view?

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