Tag: UFC 296

Have we seen the last of Colby Covington? Former UFC title contender Chael Sonnen Seems to think so

Colby CovingtonIs it possible that we never see Colby Covington inside the Octagon again? Chael Sonnen certainly thinks so. In…

Colby Covington

Is it possible that we never see Colby Covington inside the Octagon again? Chael Sonnen certainly thinks so.

In the months leading up to his highly anticipated return at UFC 296, Covington talked a very big game but failed to deliver, offering up a relatively flat and uninspiring performance against reigning welterweight world champion Leon Edwards. Following the loss, ‘Chaos’ was still in relatively good spirits, promising the live crowd that he would be back and better than ever.

But will he really?

Chael Sonnen is not convinced Colby Covington wants to start Over

Covington intends to be more active in the future, even angling for a scrap with Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson in 2024. Another name that has popped up for Covington is undefeated standout Shavkat Rakhmonov. Chael Sonnen likes both of those ideas, but after ‘Chaos’ came up short in three title fights, two of which he arguably didn’t earn, ‘The American Gangster’ is not convinced that the staunch Trump supporter is willing to work his way back up.

“I love your suggestion of Rakhmonov. I’m just not sure Dana will even make that suggestion to Colby,” Sonnen said after UFC 296 (via MMAJunkie). “What I worry about is will he take it? I don’t know where his heart is at. To go up that mountain as many times as he did. Colby’s career is a riddle.

“He’s had three world title fights, he was an interim champion, he never lost, he woke up one day, he wasn’t the interim champion. He fought the reigning ‘BMF’ champion, dominated him, and never became ‘BMF’ champion. I think that there’s some real frustrations. I just don’t know if he wants to start over. That’s the hard truth. I don’t know that we see Colby Covington again.”

After winning seven straight fights, Covington scored his first UFC title opportunity against Kamaru Usman at UFC 245. ‘Chaos’ suffered a fifth-round knockout, but he talked his way into a rematch two years later. And while he fared much better in the sequel, he still lost via a unanimous decision.

He has now lost three of his last five dating back to 2019.

Paddy Pimblett plans cornrows hairstyle post-UFC 296 : ‘My hair just moved, I’m not rocked at all’

Paddy Pimblett set to keep cornrows hairstyle after UFC 296 I'm not rocked my hair just movedUFC lightweight, Paddy Pimblett explains the decision to put his hair in cornrows for his ~UFC 296 fight against…

Paddy Pimblett set to keep cornrows hairstyle after UFC 296 I'm not rocked my hair just moved

UFC lightweight, Paddy Pimblett explains the decision to put his hair in cornrows for his ~UFC 296 fight against Tony Ferguson. 

Pimblett entered a lose-lose situation on Friday night when he faced off against fan-favourite, Ferguson. The 39-year-old “El Cucuy’ entered the fight on a four-fight losing streak and would extend that record by one after the official decision was read out. 

It’s unclear what Ferguson will do next, but most feel that the once-promising title challenger should hang up he gloves. As for Paddy Pimblett, the Scouser’s winning streak has continued, but for his approval rating, its unlikely that he has gained back a lot of the fans he lost following the events of his fight against Jared Gordon last year.

Paddy Pimblett talks new look

Pimblett walked out as hyped as always, but was this time sorting a new hairstyle. The 28-year-old would fight with cornrows in, a style which has been taken on by numerous fighters attempting to keep hair out of their eyes. 

“It’s quite funny, because whenever I used to play Fight Night or the UFC game or anything like that, I’d always put cornrows on my character,” Pimblett said of his new hairstyle. “But the reason I’ve done it was because I’m sick of getting hit with little punches and left hooks and stuff like that and people would be, ‘He’s rocked! He’s rocked!’ Like, nah, my hair just moved. I’m not rocked at all. (H/T MMA Fighting)

“I think it was a little bit of a tactical one as well because also my hair goes in my eyes and I’ve got to lift my chin up and I think I’ve done a little bit of a better job keeping my chin down tonight with the cornrows.”

What did you think of Paddy Pimblett’s new look?

Tony Ferguson vows to continue fighting despite seventh straight loss at UFC 296: ‘I’m not retiring, casuals’

Tony Ferguson vows to continue fighting after UFC 296 loss I'm not retiring casualsFormer interim lightweight champion, Tony Ferguson urged fans and supporters of him earlier this week to “keep the faith”…

Tony Ferguson vows to continue fighting after UFC 296 loss I'm not retiring casuals

Former interim lightweight champion, Tony Ferguson urged fans and supporters of him earlier this week to “keep the faith” in the immediate aftermath of his one-sided unanimous decision loss to Paddy Pimblett at UFC 296 last weekend, and now insists he will not consider retiring from active competition.

Ferguson, a former interim lightweight champion and divisional stalwart, suffered his seventh consecutive Octagon loss in his main card fight with Pimblett over the course of the weekend, dropped in the opening round en route to a judging loss.

Briefly rallying in the third and final round to push Liverpool native, Pimblett back to the Octagon fence as he struggled with noticeable fatigue, Tony Ferguson succumbed to his seventh consecutive loss – tieing the successive losing streak record in the promotion alongside former two-weight champion, B.J. Penn to boot. 

And reacting to Oxnard veteran, Ferguson’s loss to former Cage Warriors champion, Pimblett at UFC 296, promotional CEO, White urged The Ultimate Fighter victor to consider retiring. 

“I would love to see Tony (Ferguson) retire,” Dana White said after UFC 296. “When you talk about a skid, you look at the guys he fought, too. That plays a factor into it and how did he look right up until he lost? Tony tonight looked like he should retire.”

Tony Ferguson insists he will not retire after UFC 296 loss

“Listen, Tony’s been an absolute warrior and a dog in this sport,” White continued. “I don’t want to disrespect him by publicly talking about him retiring but I would love to see him retire. That’s really where my head’s at.”

And on his official Instagram account today, Ferguson, who turns 40 years old in two months time, claimed he would not call time on his career – echoing calls for fans to “keep the faith”, before emphatically stating “I’m not retiring, casuals”. 

What do you think is next for Tony Ferguson after UFC 296?

Aljamain Sterling Disputes Dana White’s ‘Weird’ explanation of UFC 296 Ticket Snub: ‘Not Trying to fan the flames’

Aljamain SterlingAljamain Sterling made his way to T-Mobile Arena for the UFC’s final pay-per-view of the year. Unfortunately, the ‘Funk…

Aljamain Sterling

Aljamain Sterling made his way to T-Mobile Arena for the UFC’s final pay-per-view of the year. Unfortunately, the ‘Funk Master’ was never able to make it past the front door.

Asked about the situation during his appearance at the UFC 296 post-fight press event, Dana White addressed Sterling’s issue with gaining access to the event by saying:

“Well they were tickets that … he was with a sponsor. I don’t know how they got pulled or what happened, but the team reached right out to him, and he was like, ‘Yeah, never mind, I’m good, I’m gonna leave’” (h/t BJPenn.com).

Reacting to White’s take on the incident via his YouTube channel, Sterling was left admittedly confused by White’s comment, noting that he has always gone through the UFC to attend a live event and not through a sponsor or some other third-party source.

“I’m not trying to fan the flames, I just think somewhere there was a little bit of a disconnect,” Sterling said. “The only thing I didn’t understand was someone sent me a clip of I guess Dana saying that the tickets were through a sponsor. I don’t know what that was about because I’ve never had tickets from a sponsor for any of the UFC fights, I always go through the same exact channels every single time.

“This is the first time that that’s actually happened so … that was weird. I don’t know if that was like what someone told him, but no, I actually asked for tickets through the UFC channels.”

Though he missed out on catching all the action of UFC 296 live, ‘Funk Master’ did take in the event at a local bar.

Aljamain Sterling has been out of action since suffering a second-round knockout loss to Sean O’Malley at UFC 292, surrendering his bantamweight world title in the process. Since then, Sterling has teased a potential move to featherweight in 2024 with the hopes of welcoming back top-ten-ranked contender Calvin Kattar to the Octagon.

Before his loss against O’Malley, Sterling was riding a nine-fight win streak.

Robert Whittaker calls bluff on Strickland – du Plessis brawl at UFC 296: ‘I thought it was staged, mate’

Robert Whittaker calls bluff on Strickland - du Plessis brawl at UFC 296 it looked fake mateFormer undisputed middleweight champion, Robert Whittaker has claimed he believes last weekend’s violent scuffle between defending divisional champion, Sean…

Robert Whittaker calls bluff on Strickland - du Plessis brawl at UFC 296 it looked fake mate

Former undisputed middleweight champion, Robert Whittaker has claimed he believes last weekend’s violent scuffle between defending divisional champion, Sean Strickland and former foe, Dircus du Plessis was “staged” – as the pair prepare for a grudge match at UFC 297 next month.

Whittaker, the current number three ranked middleweight contender, has been sidelined since he featured at UFC 290 back in July of this year during International Fight Week, suffering a surprising second round loss to incoming title challenger, du Plessis – succumbing to second round strikes in a TKO defeat.

As for Strickland and du Plessis, the duo faced off at a heated press conference on Friday in Las Vegas ahead of next month’s title fight in Canada, with the latter boldly reminding Strickland of the admitted child abuse and physical abuse he was the victim of at the hands of his late father. 

Seated just two rows apart at UFC 296 over the weekend on fighter row, Strickland and Pretoria native, du Plessis engaged in a violetn scuffle in the crowd, with the defending middleweight champion removed from the arena as a result. 

Robert Whittaker doubts legitimacy of UFC 296 brawl

Again goading Strickland following the incident, du Plessis mocked the finishing rate of the brash champion, however, the above-mentioned, Robert Whittaker believes the brawl between the two was orchestrated and staged.

“I thought it was staged, mate, honestly,” Robert Whittaker said on the MMArcade Podcast. “Because it was weird, it was weird the way it happened. You saw the way (Sean) Strickladn was like, ‘Move aside, please.’ Makes sense, but then he jumps in WWE style. The way he was punching, the way he kind of like, I don’t know, fake punching to the back of Dricus (du Plessis).”

“Maybe it was just for entertainment, and which case, you can’t really give him anything for it. I don’t know. It’s a bit silly. He’s the champ.” 

Also sharing his thoughts on the skirmish between his two rivals, ex-two-time champion, Adesanya claimed he was all for the brawl, praising Strickland for landing what he described as a “sucker punch”. 

Ray Longo rips ‘Atrocious’ Colby Covington after UFC 296 trash talk: ‘I have absolutely no use for the guy’

Ray Longo rips atrocious Colby Covington after UFC 296 trash talk I have no use for the guyVeteran head coach, Ray Longo has unleashed a scatching response to former interim welterweight champion, Colby Covington after the…

Ray Longo rips atrocious Colby Covington after UFC 296 trash talk I have no use for the guy

Veteran head coach, Ray Longo has unleashed a scatching response to former interim welterweight champion, Colby Covington after the UFC 296 headliner’s verbal onslaught aimed at opponent, Leon Edwards ahead of their title fight over the weekend, labelling the outspoken contender as “atrocious”. 

Headlining UFC 296 over the course of the weekend, Clovis native, Covington suffered a one-sided unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 49-46) loss to Birmingham native Edwards in his third pursuit of undisputed welterweight championship. 

Receiving a slew of criticizm ahead of his bout with Edwards, Covington was blasted after he poked fun at the murder of the former’s father inside a London nightclub, claiming the former crime boss was likely residing in hell – where he vowed to take Edwards during their title fight.

Ray Longo blasts Colby Covington after UFC 296

And sharing his thoughts on Colby Covington’s comments, Serra-Longo MMA head coach, Ray Longo hit out at the former, labelling him and his display as “atrocious”.

“I got absolutely no use for the guy (Colby Covington), at all,” Ray Longo said on the Anik-Florian Podcast. “I just don’t. Ever since he threatened you (Jon Anik), he knows where you live, he can go f*ck himself. Couldn’t give a sh*t about that guy. What he did with Leon Edwards I think is atrocious. You know, there’s promoting a fight, then there’s being a total misfit in life and that’s the way I see it with that guy.” 

“…And, man, talk about karma, because what a piece of sh*t that fight was,” Longo explained. “I mean, the guy did absolutely nothing. And to be able to take a pro-Colby crowd, and by the end of the fight have the crowd against you – good luck, man man. I hope it was worth the money, the extra 25 percent… I think he cost (Donald) Trump the election, how about that? ‘Oh, Mr. President, Mr. President is here to watch me. Who do you got? The Queen of England.’ This motherf*cker called somebody a dope? I’d love to see this guy’s f*cking college transcripts. He’s a f*cking moron.”