UFC 223: Khabib vs. Rogan (This is #2 Bullsh*t)

No MMA analyst is more influential than Joe Rogan. Rogan has more Twitter followers than any other MMA analyst, with over four million, and his podcast, the Joe Rogan Experience, has over 2.5 million subscribers. And with over 20 years of commentary un…

No MMA analyst is more influential than Joe Rogan. Rogan has more Twitter followers than any other MMA analyst, with over four million, and his podcast, the Joe Rogan Experience, has over 2.5 million subscribers. And with over 20 years of commentary under his belt, it is safe to say that Rogan is considered the […]

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Viewership Drops For UFC 223 Prelims

It’s time to look at how the viewership for the UFC 223 prelims did on network television. The ratings have come out, and the prelims for the show pulled in 892,000 viewers on FOX Sports 1. By looking at these numbers, it shouldn’t come as a big surprise due to some fights falling out due […]

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It’s time to look at how the viewership for the UFC 223 prelims did on network television.

The ratings have come out, and the prelims for the show pulled in 892,000 viewers on FOX Sports 1.

By looking at these numbers, it shouldn’t come as a big surprise due to some fights falling out due to Conor McGregor’s bus incident, which had to go head-to-head with the Oklahoma City vs. Houston game that did 2,673,000 viewers on ABC.

The show peaked during the main event of the prelims that saw Karolina Kowalkiewicz pick up a decision win over Felice Herrig with 1,057,000 viewers. The show beat the average for pay-per-view prelims in 2017 of 834,000.

The latest PPV prelims on FOX Sports 1 was UFC 222, which drew 905,000 viewers. The rest of the PPV prelims that have taken place this year was UFC 221 that did 697,000 viewers as well as UFC 220, which featured a better card that was headlined by Stipe Miocic successfully retaining his heavyweight strap against Francis Ngannou in the main event. Those prelims did 905,000 viewers.

The pre-fight show pulled in 373,000 viewers, the weigh-ins broadcast pulled in 47,000 viewers live on FS2 and on FS1 at 9 p.m. did 128,000 viewers. Finally, the post-fight show did 138,000.

Here are the average viewership numbers for UFC PPV preliminary cards over the last year:

UFC 208 – 874,000

UFC 209 – 1,033,000

UFC 210 – 723,000

UFC 211 – 1,148,000

UFC 212 – 732,000

UFC 213 – 657,000

UFC 214 – 886,000

UFC 215 – 418,000

UFC 216 – 653,000

UFC 217 – 1,276,000

UFC 218 – 694,000

UFC 219 – 914,000

UFC 220 – 905,000

UFC 221 – 697,000

UFC 222 – 905,000

UFC 223 – 892,000

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Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor Betting Odds Released

Undefeated smashing machine Khabib Nurmagomedov is now the UFC lightweight champion after dominating a tough-as-nails Al Iaquinta at last weekend’s UFC 223, and he could (should) be headed for one of the biggest fights in MMA history. That bout is an obvious showdown with former two-division champion Conor McGregor, who sent the hype for the […]

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Undefeated smashing machine Khabib Nurmagomedov is now the UFC lightweight champion after dominating a tough-as-nails Al Iaquinta at last weekend’s UFC 223, and he could (should) be headed for one of the biggest fights in MMA history.

That bout is an obvious showdown with former two-division champion Conor McGregor, who sent the hype for the anticipated fight into the stratosphere by throwing a metal dolly through a bus Khabib was riding after UFC 223 media day last Thursday.

If a monstrous “Eagle” vs. “Notorious” does somehow happen one day, it’s the Russian wrestling prodigy who would be favored to win. According to the odds from ‘The Oddessa Line’ (via MMA Junkie), Khabib has opened as a -165 favorite over the +135 McGregor.

It’s hardly a surprise to see Nurmagomedov open as the favorite because he’s undefeated and the hype is on him right now after he put some lopsided scores across the board on short-notice replacement Al Iaquinta. Many, including those swayed by Joe Rogan’s harsh criticism of Nurmagomedov’s striking, think that he could easily be defeated even though he peppered talented boxer Iaquinta’s face with sharp jabs and outstruck him by a gross margin.

Khabib does hold his chin a bit high when striking, that much is definitely true, and if anyone could hit him with a knockout shot it would be the power-punching McGregor.

However, we haven’t seen ‘The Notorious’ since his second-round TKO win over Eddie Alvarez in the main event of November 2016’s UFC 205, and he’s mainly been in the news for his over-the-top and now, illegal out-of-the-cage antics since his reported $100 million purse to box Floyd Mayweather last August.

A rematch between the Irish megastar and ‘Money’ has been rumored for the octagon, and with McGregor facing assault charges in New York for the incident last week, his UFC return is uncertain for 2018 – and perhaps ever.

You’d have to think he’ll return at some point, however. Will it be as an underdog against Khabib or as a massive favorite against Mayweather?

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Ray Borg Calls Out Online Trolls Following Conor McGregor Bus Attack Injury

Ray Borg was forced out of his UFC 223 fight after he was cut inside his eye when Conor McGregor and his goons attacked a bus carrying UFC fighters in Brooklyn last week. Borg was subjected to online trolls, likely McGregor fans, who assailed the UFC flyweight for pulling out of his fight. He finally […]

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Ray Borg was forced out of his UFC 223 fight after he was cut inside his eye when Conor McGregor and his goons attacked a bus carrying UFC fighters in Brooklyn last week.

Borg was subjected to online trolls, likely McGregor fans, who assailed the UFC flyweight for pulling out of his fight.

He finally opened up about the fallout of UFC 223 on The MMA Hour on Monday:

“They didn’t see the rest of it, when I wiped my eyes and the glass went right onto my face.”

“My eye was a little irritated, but I didn’t really think much of it, and it wasn’t until later that day that the small shards and particles of glass that were on my cornea were what really caused the irritation. I personally didn’t even want to get looked at by a doctor, but as I was trying to get on with my weight cut, my eye just started killing me and I was advised to go see a doctor and get checked out.”

Borg’s eye was injured when glass from the bus window McGregor smashed came into contact with his cornea, forcing him out of his fight with Brandon Moreno.

As much as Borg wanted to fight on Saturday night, both a UFC Doctor and a hospital deemed him unfit to fight:

“I was first checked out by the UFC doctor. The doctor that they always have there, I forget his name, but I got checked out by him first. He looks in my eye and tells me it looks like I have some corneal abrasions, maybe iritis, because I was kinda sensitive to light. So as I get to the hospital, they admit me and they didn’t just look at my eye and say, ‘Oh, yeah, your eye looks a little messed up. You can’t fight.’ They ran a whole [gamut of tests]. They did it twice just to double-check to make sure. I had them do it twice.”

“To be honest, I thought I was going to be fine. My coach Brandon [Gibson], he had told me that he had gone through the same thing before, to where he’d had shards of glass in his eye and it just bugged him and bugged him, and then they kinda gave him some drops and some medication and he was better in a few days. Even the UFC doctor told me that it would be better within 72 hours, so I truly thought, ‘Okay, you know what, I came in, got checked out like they needed me to. Maybe they’ll just send me on my way and give me stuff that USADA will approve and I can take the next couple days until fight night and be fine.’

“But no, after that the UFC doctors as well as the doctors in the emergency room didn’t advise me to fight Saturday night.”

Borg and Moreno will instead fight at UFC Fight Night: Chile in May. Borg says he was the target of online trolls when the news of bis removal broke:

“I was advised to kinda just leave it alone, not say anything, just let the trolls be troll. I was always told don’t feed the trolls, don’t feed the trolls. But it had gotten to the point where some of these people were just getting so outrageous, so outrageous that I had to defend myself. I can’t just ignore certain things, same thing with wanting to get off the bus when all this happened. I felt the need to defend myself, so as much as I would’ve rather not put all my personal [information online], put a doctor’s note and everything that gave me — I would’ve rather not had to do that, but unfortunately the fanbase that is involved with MMA right now required me to do that.”

The person behind this particular injury is Conor McGregor, who was charged and arraigned in New York for assault charges in connection to the attack.

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Khabib Nurmagomedov Doesn’t Want UFC Title To Change Him

This past weekend (April 7, 2018), Khabib Nurmagomedov scored a one-sided decision victory over Al Iaquinta in the main event of UFC 223 from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York to become the promotion’s undisputed 155-pound champion. And while it’s been a long road to the title for the undefeated Dagestani fighter, he admitted […]

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This past weekend (April 7, 2018), Khabib Nurmagomedov scored a one-sided decision victory over Al Iaquinta in the main event of UFC 223 from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York to become the promotion’s undisputed 155-pound champion.

And while it’s been a long road to the title for the undefeated Dagestani fighter, he admitted that he’s a bit worried about the belt, as he doesn’t want it to change him:

“I’m a little bit worried about this belt,” Khabib said during a post-fight media scrum (transcript via MMAjunkie). “Sometimes you think, ‘You’re UFC champion (and) a lot of stuff.’ But I’m a little bit scared about this. I don’t want to change. I want to be same Khabib, like, before belt and after the belt. This is not about me. This is about all people around me.”

Originally, Nurmagomedov was set to take on Tony Ferguson at UFC 223, but Ferguson was forced to withdraw just a week prior to the event after suffering a freak knee injury. Then, the UFC called on featherweight champion Max Holloway to step up on short notice, but Holloway was deemed medically unfit to fight on the day of weigh-ins by the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC), which led to Iaquinta accepting the fight.

Now, it’s currently unclear who Nurmagomedov will take on next, but he said that he’s hoping to defend his title by the end of the year:

“With the belt comes a lot of attention, a lot of money – crazy stuff, a lot of crazy stuff,” he said. “I don’t want this belt to change me. I want to stay focused. Next month is Ramadan coming. After Ramadan, I want to begin training, come back this year and defend this title.”

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Khabib Nurmagomedov Doesn’t Want UFC Title To Change Him

This past weekend (April 7, 2018), Khabib Nurmagomedov scored a one-sided decision victory over Al Iaquinta in the main event of UFC 223 from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York to become the promotion’s undisputed 155-pound champion. And while it’s been a long road to the title for the undefeated Dagestani fighter, he admitted […]

The post Khabib Nurmagomedov Doesn’t Want UFC Title To Change Him appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

This past weekend (April 7, 2018), Khabib Nurmagomedov scored a one-sided decision victory over Al Iaquinta in the main event of UFC 223 from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York to become the promotion’s undisputed 155-pound champion.

And while it’s been a long road to the title for the undefeated Dagestani fighter, he admitted that he’s a bit worried about the belt, as he doesn’t want it to change him:

“I’m a little bit worried about this belt,” Khabib said during a post-fight media scrum (transcript via MMAjunkie). “Sometimes you think, ‘You’re UFC champion (and) a lot of stuff.’ But I’m a little bit scared about this. I don’t want to change. I want to be same Khabib, like, before belt and after the belt. This is not about me. This is about all people around me.”

Originally, Nurmagomedov was set to take on Tony Ferguson at UFC 223, but Ferguson was forced to withdraw just a week prior to the event after suffering a freak knee injury. Then, the UFC called on featherweight champion Max Holloway to step up on short notice, but Holloway was deemed medically unfit to fight on the day of weigh-ins by the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC), which led to Iaquinta accepting the fight.

Now, it’s currently unclear who Nurmagomedov will take on next, but he said that he’s hoping to defend his title by the end of the year:

“With the belt comes a lot of attention, a lot of money – crazy stuff, a lot of crazy stuff,” he said. “I don’t want this belt to change me. I want to stay focused. Next month is Ramadan coming. After Ramadan, I want to begin training, come back this year and defend this title.”

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