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UFC – Ultimate Fighting Championship

UFC mega star Conor McGregor is supposed to be promoting the new season of TUF, which premieres tonight (May 30) on ESPN. Instead, the former UFC lightweight champion is at war with his fellow combatants on Twitter.

Yet again.

“This guy woke up, did a bump, and started tweeting,” welterweight veteran Matt Brown wrote.

McGregor and Brown have been at odds on social media over the past few days, which started with an argument over the promotion’s official record for most knockouts. “The Immortal” is within striking distance after laying waste to Court McGee at UFC Charlotte.

In a follow-up interview, Brown dismissed the idea of McGregor having any legitimate shot at setting the all-time mark and referred to the power-punching Irishman as a coked-up bum. Not surprisingly, that didn’t sit well with “Notorious,” who took aim at Brown’s past drug use in a now-deleted tweet.

“Matt Brown, heroin addict,” McGregor wrote, before continuing his assault.

“Former user vs. current coke addict,” Brown replied. “Let’s go!”

ESPN inadvertently got Alexander Volkanovski involved in the conversation by tweeting a fantasy matchup between “The Great” — who is the current featherweight champion and No. 2-ranked fighter at pound-for-pound — and McGregor, who previously held titles at both 145 and 155 pounds.

“The UFC P4P Number 1 (ye right) needs weighing scales and specific divisions to compete against me,” McGregor tweeted. “So who’s really who and what’s what? The BMF title, the baddest jackasses in the sauna title. Little bums. Little one division, never champion bums! Nothin bad about ya’s!”

McGregor is referring to the BMF headliner between lightweight rivals Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje, booked for UFC 291 on July 29 in Salt Lake City. Poirier is 2-1 against “Notorious” but Gaethje — despite his best efforts — has yet to fight the former champion.

McGregor, who turns 35 in just a few weeks, has not competed since breaking his leg against Poirier at UFC 264. He’s expected to make his Octagon return against Chandler at some point later this year, but his USADA procrastination continues to delay their pay-per-view (PPV) grudge match.

For much more on McGregor’s coaching gig on TUF 31 click here.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Top-ranked Bellator featherweights Aaron Pico and Pedro Carvalho will collide at the upcoming Dublin show on Sept. 23, promotion officials confirmed to MMA Fighting. The event will take place at the 3Arena in Ireland.

Pico (11-4) won a decision over short-notice replacement James Gonzalez in his most recent appearance in April, rebounding from a defeat to Jeremy Kennedy in 2022, when he suffered a shoulder injury in the first round. Pico won six in a row going into that match.

Carvalho (13-7) will attempt to get back to the willing column after dropping a decision to Kennedy this past February in Dublin. In fact, three of Carvalho’s past four fights took place in the neighborhood of his MMA team SBG, with the Portuguese fighter winning the other two against Mads Burnell and Daniel Weichel.

The card will feature Birmingham’s own Fabian Edwards challenging Johnny Eblen for the middleweight title in the main event. Check the updated lineup below.

Johnny Eblen vs. Fabian Edwards
Brian Moore vs. Otto Rodrigues
Aaron Pico vs. Pedro Carvalho
Mads Burnell vs. Daniel Weichel
Sinead Kavanagh vs. Sara Collins
Luke Trainer vs. Laurynas Urbonavicius
Mark Ewen vs. Noah Gugnon
Kenny Mokhonoana vs. Josh O’Connor
Chiara Penco vs. Mackenzie Stiller
Nicolo Solli vs. Romain Debienne

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Justin Gaethje believes he only has two or three more years left of fighting at the highest possible level.

Gaethje, 34, will make his 12th walk to the Octagon this July for a long-awaited rematch with Dustin Poirier. The leather-slinging lightweights will headline UFC 291 with the BMF title up for grabs. More importantly, the winner will likely find themselves in line for one last opportunity to become a UFC world champion. With ‘The Highlight’ admittedly on the back end of his already iconic career, his summertime clash with ‘The Diamond’ could very well be a do-or-die situation.

In an interview with MMA Fighting, Justin Gaethje shared thoughts on the inevitable end of his run, including a tentative timeline.

“It’s just the fact of the matter that I would say, by 37, I would like to not be doing this anymore,” Justin Gaethje said. “I’m 34 now. Two or three years is a long time, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s not that long. I’ve been doing this for 12 or [13] years, so ultimately it’s the back end of my career in this sport. That’s just the train of thought that I had.

“We’re so emotional after these fights that I wouldn’t believe anything that we say for a week. It was just my thought process after. I’m not going to be here forever. I’m glad that you guys are here to enjoy this with me. I was really talking to the fans in that moment.”

Justin Gaethje Knows the Importance of Not Overstaying His Welcome

Since making his promotional debut in 2017, the former WSOF lightweight champion has become a fan favorite for his high-octane style of fighting that has earned him Fight of the Night honors on seven separate occasions. ‘The Hightlight’ has also bagged Performance of the Night bonuses four times and he was one-half of the 2017, 2018, and 2021 Fight of the Year. However, Justin Gaethje recognizes that he can’t keep up the pace he has come to be known for forever and has no intentions of overstaying his welcome.

“I’ve been a huge fan of this sport. I’ve followed so many of the athletes and I’ve seen examples of people fighting too long, people quitting too early, people stopping at just the right moment,” Justin Gaethje explained. “I’d like to fall in that ‘just the right moment’ situation.

“I would say as soon as I believe I can’t be the best in the world with the skills that I possess, I don’t see any reason to go in there and risk what we’re risking each and every fight.”

Despite his throw-caution-to-the-wind approach, Gaethje understands what the long-term effects of such a style could have on his health. Of course, ‘The Highlight’ will never actually allow those concerns to affect the way he handles business inside the Octagon. Yes, the risk is far greater, but he has made peace with that and will continue to do so until the day he takes off his gloves for the final time.

“I’m human,” Justin Gaethje said. “The older you get, the wiser you get. The wiser you get, the more you understand that nothing is for sure, tomorrow’s not promised. So yeah, you start to think about these things more, but ultimately I think that’s not a concern of mine.

“It doesn’t play a factor when I go in there. I’d like to be healthy, but I know the risk involved and I have to be content with the situation that I’ve put myself in. Once I’m able to be content there, I’m able to live a little bit more free, I guess.”

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UFC – Ultimate Fighting Championship

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Conor McGregor has lofty expectations for the next stage of his career.

The former two-division UFC champion is expected to make his return to action in late 2023 against Michael Chandler following the duo’s coaching run on The Ultimate Fighter 31, which already wrapped filming and begins airing Tuesday night. McGregor has not competed since July 2021, when he suffered a devastating leg injury in his trilogy bout against Dustin Poirier, however he likes what he sees in the Chandler matchup.

“Not only just a return — the greatest return in combat sports,” McGregor said in a UFC-produced interview. “This is going to be [that]. I’m going to kick this guy in the head. He’s just tailor-made for being kicked all over the place, and that’s what I’m aiming for. I am aiming to wrap this steel bar around the opponent. And you’re going to see a visual of the leg hanging off [at UFC 264] and then you’re going to see a visual off a head hanging off. So I’m excited for that and motivated for that, and steady making my way towards it.”

While there remains no definitive timeline for McGregor’s return, UFC president Dana White recently revealed that the promotion is targeting late November or December. McGregor left the UFC’s anti-doping program with USADA during the recovery of his leg injury and is required to return to the pool for six months before he is eligible to compete again.

Chandler carries just a 2-3 record over five UFC appearances since joining the promotion in 2021 after a lengthy run as one of the faces of Bellator, but has quickly established himself as one of the most exciting fighters in the promotion’s lightweight division. His battle with Justin Gaethje even captured MMA Fighting’s 2021 Fight of the Year award.

“He’s put on some exciting fights. He’s eager. He’s willing to fight. He’s a gamer, you’d call him. And he’s not a bad fighter either, so I’m happy with the opponent,” McGregor said.

“I don’t actually care. I accepted this show, it was me and Chandler, so again it doesn’t bother me. What do I hope for in this world? I hope for 100 more fights. I hope for consistency. I hope for a run. I’ve had this on, off, on, off for the last while and I just want to get this nice consistency going. And I’m now, when I come back, this is where it’s at.”

Consistency is something McGregor has long coveted.

The Irishman has fought just four times since becoming a two-division champion in 2016 with his victory over Eddie Alvarez. McGregor holds a paltry 1-3 record over that time, with his lone win stemming from a 2020 contest against Donald Cerrone. McGregor has taken several lengthy breaks since the Alvarez fight, but by the time he returns to face Chandler, it will have been the longest break of his UFC career. And he’s tired of that inconsistency.

“One [fight per year] is not [enough]. I need [more]. I want four — three or four,” McGregor said. “If I can get where I need to get to, three or four a year is perfect. One is madness. And it’s been one, one, one on, one year off, one on, one year off, and then obviously with the leg thing it’s been a bit longer.”

McGregor, 34, reiterated his interest in fighting at both lightweight and welterweight, but also mentioned a matchup against UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski “could be a nice one at some stage.” He and Volkanovski even traded barbs over Twitter on Tuesday regarding a potential matchup.

First up, though, is TUF 31 and Chandler — as well as a late 2023 return that McGregor hopes marks the beginning of a more active chapter for his MMA career.

“We’re not done yet,” McGregor said. “We’re not done yet, so by the time it’s done, I feel I’ll have a full circle and I’ll be where I want to be.”

MMA Fighting – All Posts

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