Tag: UFC on FOX 29

Eddie Alvarez vs. Dustin Poirier II Is Finally Official

Eddie Alvarez and Dustin Poirier will finally throw down in their awaited rematch:

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The lightweight division’s most anticipated rematch is finally official.

Former champ Eddie Alvarez will face No. 4-ranked Dustin Poirier at July 28’s UFC on FOX 30 from the Scotiabank Centre in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, according to a report from MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani. ESPN’s Brett Okamoto was the first to report the bout.

Alvarez tweeted that the fight was official today, but was rebuffed by Poirier’s claim that there was “1,000 percent” no fight. Apparently, that turned around rather fast, and the two archrivals will meet on a rapidly expanding UFC on FOX event that looks like one of the best of the summer so far.

After accusing Alvarez of refusing to agree to the bout multiple times, ‘The Diamond’ had set his own deadline of May 4, but the UFC was apparently able to talk him into the match-up.

The two rivals threw down in an exciting, back-and-forth war at last May’s UFC 211, with Poirier gaining the early edge before Alvarez came storming back to hurt “The Diamond.” The fight then came to an anticlimactic end when the former UFC and Bellator champion hit a downed Poirier with an illegal knee that referee Herb Dean somehow deemed inadvertent, causing the fight to result in a no contest.

Since then, both fighters have fought and beaten fan-favorite slugger Justin Gaethje in two rousing, brutal slugfests, putting their paths on a collision course once again. With the fight’s addition, UFC on FOX 30’s lineup now features three high-profile match-ups with championship implications in Alvarez vs. Poirier, Jose Aldo vs. Jeremy Stephens, and Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Tecia Torres.

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Eddie Alvarez Says Poirier Rematch Is Official, But ‘Diamond’ Shoots Him Down

Will this anticipated lightweight rematch ever happen?

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A rematch between Eddie Alvarez and Dustin Poirier has seemed inevitable ever since the controversial ending to their rousing first fight at last May’s UFC 211 from Dallas.

And earlier today, it appeared the fight was finally close to happening when Alvarez tweeted he would “see Poirier in Calgary” in reference to July 28’s UFC on FOX 30 from Canada:

That fakest of well wishes suggests Alvarez cleared up his recently discussed contract dispute with the UFC, which was reportedly strong enough to state there was that the rematch Poirier was “not f***ing happening” without the new deal.

But now it seems that “The Diamond” is the one denying the fight will happen, as his camp reportedly told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto today that their May 4 deadline to sign the bout was a serious one, causing the bout to ‘one thousand percent’ be off as of now:

So while Alvarez insists the fight is official from his end, Poirier confirmed his deadline was solid to MMAjunkie yesterday, and Alvarez still hasn’t signed the agreement, he wasn’t really even in discussions for the fight right now:

“I gave him a week deadline for the first time I accepted the fight last week,” Poirier said. “I gave him the whole week, and he still didn’t accept. Then we talked to the UFC and extended it to Monday for him to say yes.

“He still didn’t say yes, so pretty much everything they’re saying now, I don’t know. I’m not even talking with (the UFC).”

Poirier has been campaigning for the obvious rematch ever since Alvarez blasted him with an illegal knee in a fight he felt he was winning (and that was somehow declared a no contest), the former UFC and Bellator champion went on to coach The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) opposite Justin Gaethje instead.

The two fought in a rousing war won by Alvarez at December 2017’s UFC 218, and Poirier also dispatched ‘The Highlight” in another slugfest at April 14’s UFC Glendale, shifting their paths back to one another again.

Overall, however, Poirier is sick of planning his life about Alvarez’ availability, or lack thereof, so he insists the fight won’t happen in Calgary:

“I had a trip to Asia planned,” he said. “I’d have to really cancel a bunch of stuff, and I would have if they’d let me know in the week and a half I gave them to say yes, for him to get his contract figured out.

“I’ll fight him at another date. But it’s looking like Calgary is not going to happen.”

‘The Diamond’ was also still calling him out on Twitter as early as last night, poking fun at the t-shirt Alvarez received for achieving 25 clean USADA drug tests:

The negotiations for a rematch many fans believed should have already happened appear to be getting a bit confusing, but it also seems it will happen at some point down the road.

With a mess of a logjam at the top of the immensely talented UFC lightweight division as the UFC awaits the return of champ Khabib Nurmagomedov, former champ Conor McGregor, and former interim champ Tony Ferguson, there probably isn’t a better match-up for either fighter to prove they belong in the title picture with those elite stars.

It’s just going to happen on their own respective terms from the looks of it.

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UFC on FOX 29 Medical Suspensions: Six Fighters Face Long Layoffs

With every decision comes a consequence and for those fighters who took part in battle at UFC on FOX 29, it’s their time to faces those consequences in the form of medical suspensions. UFC on FOX 29 took place on Saturday, April 14, 2018, at the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona. The main card […]

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With every decision comes a consequence and for those fighters who took part in battle at UFC on FOX 29, it’s their time to faces those consequences in the form of medical suspensions.

UFC on FOX 29 took place on Saturday, April 14, 2018, at the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona.

The main card aired on FOX Sports 1 at 8 p.m. ET while the preliminary card was be split broadcasted on FOX Sports 1 at 6 p.m. ET and the promotion’s streaming service, UFC Fight Pass, at 3:30 p.m. ET.

Justin Gaethje vs. Dustin Poirier in a lightweight bout headlined this event while Carlos Condit vs. Alex Oliveira in a welterweight bout served as the co-main event.

Rounding out of the four bout main card was Israel Adesanya vs. Marvin Vettori in a middleweight bout and Cortney Casey vs. Michelle Waterson in a women’s strawweight bout.

Some of the more notable suspensions include Dustin Poirier, Cortney Casey, Tim Boetsch, Ricky Rainey, John Moraga, and Lauren Mueller being suspended for 180 days.

Here are the entire medical suspensions, courtesy of MMA Fighting:

Dustin Poirier: Suspended 180 days pending MRI on knee and medical clearance; regardless faces minimum 45-day suspension

Cortney Casey: Suspended 180 days unless medically cleared; regardless faces minimum 30-day suspension

Tim Boetsch: Suspended 180 days unless medically cleared; regardless faces minimum 30-day suspension

Ricky Rainey: Suspended 180 days unless medically cleared; regardless faces minimum 45-day suspension

John Moraga: Suspended 180 days unless medically cleared; regardless faces minimum 30-day suspension

Lauren Mueller: Suspended 180 days unless medically cleared; regardless faces minimum 30-day suspension

Krzysztof Jotko: Suspended 60 days due to knockout, hard bout

Justin Gaethje: Suspended 45 days due to TKO

Alex Oliveira: Suspended 45 days

Carlos Condit: Suspended 45 days

Marvin Vettori: Suspended 45 days

Antonio Carlos Junior: Suspended 45 days due to hard bout

Brad Tavares: Suspended 45 days

Daniel Moret: Suspended 45 days due to knockout

Matthew Lopez: Suspended 45 days due to TKO

Luke Sanders: Suspended 45 days

Patrick Williams: Suspended 45 days

Dhiego Lima: Suspended 30 days due to a hard bout

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Sean O’Malley Reveals Exclusive Reebok Shirt To Debut On 4/20

Surging UFC bantamweight Sean O’Malley avoided any potential trouble for pretending to light a joint on live TV last weekend, and now he’s headed for a lucrative sponsorship deal. The touted 135-pound striker recently revealed on this week’s episode of The MMA Hour that he was the latest fighter to sign an exclusive deal with the […]

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Surging UFC bantamweight Sean O’Malley avoided any potential trouble for pretending to light a joint on live TV last weekend, and now he’s headed for a lucrative sponsorship deal.

The touted 135-pound striker recently revealed on this week’s episode of The MMA Hour that he was the latest fighter to sign an exclusive deal with the UFC’s apparel partner Reebok, and that the shirt will go on sale on a date that almost definitely coincides with his latest public appearance.

That date, of course, is this Friday, April 20, 2018, and apparently, the shirts are already selling like hotcakes:

“Actually, my manager hooked it up. I am going to sign a two-year deal with Reebok, so I am excited about that. These shirts will go on sale on 4/20 at UFC.com and MMAWarehouse.com.Reebok didn’t make enough shirts to stock their one Reebok.com store.”

This would only seem to reinforce the fact that the UFC is tabbing O’Malley as one of the biggest future stars after he debuted on Dana White’s “Tuesday Night Contender Series” last summer, following it up with a decision win over Terrion Ware in his official promotional debut at The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 26 Finale last December and a second UFC win over Andre Soukhamthath at March’s UFC 223, a bout where “Sugar” injured his foot and required surgery on afterward.

He said it wasn’t anything his “medicine” couldn’t take care of during his now-classic post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, however, and it’s become plain to see that a big part of O’Malley’s drawing power is going to be centered around the ganja.

Based on Nate Diaz’ ability to make cash outside of the octagon using the booming business of legalized medicinal and recreational marijuana, it’s not a bad plan for success.

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UFC on FOX 29 Sees Slight Increase In Final Ratings

The final ratings are in for UFC on FOX 29. The overnight ratings for Saturday’s event were 1,780,000 viewers. The show pulled in 2,020,000 viewers, which marks the fourth lowest event on FOX but up from the record-low of 1,770,000 viewers that was brought in by the Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza vs. Derek Brunson fight. The good […]

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The final ratings are in for UFC on FOX 29. The overnight ratings for Saturday’s event were 1,780,000 viewers.

The show pulled in 2,020,000 viewers, which marks the fourth lowest event on FOX but up from the record-low of 1,770,000 viewers that was brought in by the Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza vs. Derek Brunson fight.

The good news is that the show peaked big in the main event, which ended up being the highest-rated part of the show when it did 2,640,000 viewers.

By looking back on the history books, the previous two events that did better than UFC on FOX 28 as of late was back in April that was headlined by Demetrious Johnson vs. Wilson Reis and going back to the 2016 show headlined by Carlos Condit vs. Demian Maia.

Keep in mind that the historically, the longer the main event goes, the better viewership is.

Despite the fact that it was still among the lowest-rated UFC events on FOX, the show did better than it was expected to do by the media due in large part to the lack of marquee stars.

The main event saw Dustin Poirier score a TKO victory over former WSOF champion Justin Gaethje on Saturday night at the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona.

The event had to go up some tough competition as they went head-to-head with Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Boston Bruins Stanley Cup playoff game on NBC that pulled in 1,775,000 viewers.

The prelims drew 970,000 viewers on FOX, which marks the second best prelims on FOX since the prelims that were leading to the Holly Holm vs. Valentina Shevchenko fight in 2016. The UFC on FOX 29 prelims were headlined by Antonio Carlos Jr.’s first round win over Tim Boetsch. The prelims for UFC on FOX 28 pulled in 1,216,000.

Here are the viewership numbers for UFC on FOX events thus far this year:

UFC on FOX 27: 1,770,000

UFC on FOX 28: 2,037,000

UFC on FOX 29: 2,020,000

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Kevin Lee: Dustin Poirier Would Just Get Taken Down By Khabib

Heading into his main event bout with Edson Barboza this Saturday, UFC lightweight Kevin Lee pays close attention to his division, and like everyone else, he was thoroughly entertained by last Saturday’s UFC on FOX 29 main event between Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje. However, unlike most everyone else, Lee says he didn’t see anything ‘championship-level’ out […]

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Heading into his main event bout with Edson Barboza this Saturday, UFC lightweight Kevin Lee pays close attention to his division, and like everyone else, he was thoroughly entertained by last Saturday’s UFC on FOX 29 main event between Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje.

However, unlike most everyone else, Lee says he didn’t see anything ‘championship-level’ out of either man, focusing on Poirier’s post-fight call out of newly-crowned champion Khabib Nurmagomedov (via MMA Fighting):

“I seen it. I know Poirier was calling for a title fight and all this but I don’t know, it just seems like those dudes are in a different category. Can you really look at it and say Poirier’s a championship-level fighter? I just don’t see it. He looked good. He did good versus Gaethje, it was an exciting fight, I think he should go out and look for more exciting fights, but it didn’t really seem like a championship-level fight to me to be honest.”

“Speaking as a fan, what are you really looking for? He’s just going to go out there and get taken down by Khabib, he’s going to fight just like anybody else will fight Khabib or fight some of these top guys. I just don’t see too much from his style except exciting fights. I think him and Eddie (Alvarez), him and Gaethje again, something like that.

“He makes exciting fights, he should go out there and keep doing that, but leave the real fighting and the real championship-level s**t to the other guys.”

Lee, who’s combat base is wrestling, says that Poirier’s striking-based game won’t be enough to keep Nurmagomedov’s take downs at bay.

”The Motown Phenom” will have a chance to get back on track towards the title as he prepares to take on Edson Barboza at this Saturday’s UFC Fight Night in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Lee had come up short against Tony Ferguson for the interim lightweight belt in October.

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