The MMA world continues to wait for the official return of its all-time biggest star.

It feels like Conor McGregor will never fight again. At age 35, the iconic figure is getting ready to bask in the Hollywood spotlight at its fullest after the release of the trailer for his first big movie role in Road House. “The Notorious” has maintained that he will be coming back to fight again this year despite his absence since July 2021. It’s just a matter of whether or not it will still be against his originally planned opponent and rival coach on The Ultimate Fighter 31, Michael Chandler.

McGregor kicked off 2024 by claiming his return fight against Chandler would be in June at middleweight. UFC CEO Dana White has since denied his former two-division champion’s words, leaving everyone in this nonstop vortex of speculation. Therefore, other possibilities could be afloat, and UFC 300 still needs a main event. That brings McGregor’s fellow former double champion Daniel Cormier to the conclusion that the UFC should pivot to a Nate Diaz trilogy bout. Although McGregor doesn’t need a specific opponent to bring the ultimate attraction, says Cormier, he proposes to go with the biggest possible option.

“If McGregor fights Diaz, that is what I believe draws the general fan in as much as anything that they could do in the UFC right now,” Cormier said on DC & RC. “Just because of Nate Diaz and the intrigue, the way the first fight played out, the way the second fight played out. It is still two of the highest-grossing pay-per-views in UFC history.

“These two men when you put them together make a lot of money and it is far enough out there to be considered an attraction. I also believe at this point in their careers, sure, Nate Diaz isn’t the guy he was before. He’s not the guy that fought the most beautiful striking exhibit against Michael Johnson in Florida, where he went and, ‘Conor McGregor, you’re taking everything I worked for.’ He’s not that same guy, but neither is Conor McGregor.”

The McGregor-Diaz rivalry took place in 2016 and started with Diaz’s epic short-notice upset win via second-round rear-naked choke at UFC 196. At UFC 202, they ran things back and put on a show for five rounds that saw the Irishman even the score with a majority decision victory. Each has gone 2-3 in their five bouts since then when including Diaz’s boxing debut against Jake Paul last year.

It’s already been somewhat of a nightmare come true for Chandler to go through this whole process. The former three-time Bellator lightweight champion last fought in November 2022, missing out on all of last year simply due to sticking to the hopes of fighting McGregor. Ultimately, Cormier believes it might just be best to move on for either man, especially if Chandler still has title aspirations.

“I think Michael Chandler is actually stepping back to fight Conor McGregor,” Cormier said. “I think Michael Chandler is leaving the elite of that division right now, and stepping back to fight Conor. He’s choosing the name and the money over competition.

“Michael Chandler still has championship ideas in his mind, and competitively, he is taking a step back. The reality is this: when you watch who Dustin [Poirier] is fighting now, Benoit Saint-Denis. Who Charles Oliveira is fighting now in Arman Tsarukyan. There is still [Rafael] Fiziev out there. If you fight Fiziev and you beat Fiziev, now you’re back on the shortlist because no fight is gonna get him a title fight right now, but there are fights that are gonna get him closer.”

TOP STORIES

Aftermath. Chris Curtis: Sean Strickland doing well after UFC 297 loss, fighting ‘doesn’t define him as a person’

Status. Aljamain Sterling: ‘Comical’ that UFC stacked 299 ‘to make it feel like’ Sean O’Malley is the draw

Tough. Matt Brown expects Kayla Harrison to go through hell making bantamweight: ‘There’s no right way to almost kill yourself’

Nope. Larissa Pacheco: Cris Cyborg calling for UFC 300 slot a ‘cry for help’, unsure if Cyborg wants to fight her

Triple C-Ya? Henry Cejudo teases potential second retirement with UFC 298 loss: ‘It’s all or nothing’

Careful. UFC 298 fighters advised about marijuana testing, possible fines and weight-cutting rules in California

VIDEO STEW

BROADENED HORIZIN.

Sound & Pound: UFC welterweight Oban Elliott checks in.

Free fight.

The War Room: Dolidze vs. Imavov.

Champ camp.

Aspinall and MVP.

LISTEN UP

Heck of a Morning. MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck discusses if Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler could end up headlining UFC 300 after all.

MORNING MUSIC

SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Lift it.

Newcomer.

Autographs.

Throwback.

Story time.

Unblocked!

Finally.

Guy is wrecked.

Signed.

FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Corey Anderson (17-6) vs. Karl Moore (12-2); Bellator Belfast, March 22

Mohammed Usman (10-2) vs. Mick Parkin (8-0); March 23, UFC Vegas 89

Edmen Shahbazyan (12-4) vs. Duško Todorović (12-4); UFC Vegas 89, March 23

Junior Tafa (5-1) vs. Karl Williams (9-1); UFC Vegas 89, March 23

Dariya Zheleznykova (8-1) vs. Montserrat Rendon (6-0); UFC Vegas 89, March 23

Roberto “Satoshi” de Souza (15-3) vs. Keita Nakamura (36-11-2); RIZIN Landmark 9, March 23

Igor Tanabe (5-0) vs. Kiichi Kunimoto (20-11-2); RIZIN Landmark 9, March 23

Trevor Peek (9-1) vs. Charlie Campbell (8-2); UFC Vegas 90, April 6

FINAL THOUGHTS

This feels like a repetitious statement, but I still want to see McGregor vs. Chandler purely for the fact that the idea of that matchup has wasted an entire year and counting of Chandler’s career. An absolute travesty of the highest order.

Thanks for reading!

EXIT POLL

If you find something you’d like to see in the Morning Report, hit up @DrakeRiggs_ on Twitter and let him know about it. Also, follow MMAFighting on Instagram and like us on Facebook.

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Aljamain Sterling believes Sean O’Malley unwittingly sabotaged UFC 300.

On April 13, the UFC will deliver its next big landmark event featuring a slew of exciting matchups, including the featherweight debut of former 135-pound champ Aljamain Sterling. However, many fight fans have been left underwhelmed by the variety of high-stakes matchups announced. The ‘Funk Master’ believes much of the blame for that can be placed on O’Malley, who is set to headline a loaded UFC 299 card a month before UFC 300.

Speaking with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Aljamain Sterling suggested that the promotion is loading up UFC 299 with some big-money matchups to make Sean O’Malley look like more of a draw than he truly is.

“It’s just kind of funny that the UFC felt the need to stack this card so much to make it feel like Sean is the draw,” Sterling said. “It’s actually comical, because I know people were kind of trying to sh*t on the [UFC] 300 [card].

“I’m like, well, a lot of those fights that people probably would’ve wanted [for UFC 300] were on 299, for whatever reason. It doesn’t take much to kind of draw conclusions — [if] you want to build somebody up, you build [them] up and you bring the other eyeballs with all these other people.”

In December, Sterling was critical of O’Malley’s drawing power after he had received his pay-per-view bonus check from their UFC 292 clash. The promotion has not yet revealed the official buyrate for the event, but reports suggest it was somewhere in the range of 300,000 to 350,000 buys.

Aljamain Sterling Says O’Malley Needs to ‘Be Real’ with himself

In addition to the main event rematch between Sean O’Malley and Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera, UFC 299 is stacked top-to-bottom with intriguing matchups, including the debut of Bellator MMA star Michael ‘Venom’ Page who faces fan favorite Kevin Holland. Fans will also see a lightweight clash between Dustin Poirier and Benoit Saint-Denis and the return of Gilbert Burns who meets Aussie standout Jack Della Maddalena.

O’Malley will be seeking a bit of redemption in the evening’s main event as he runs it back with the only man to hold a win over him inside the Octagon.

“I just think at some point you’ve got to be real with yourself in your analysis when you’re approaching these fights, and I just hope Sean is doing the right things to get himself prepared for this,” Sterling added. “May the best man win. I don’t have a dog in the race. I really don’t care as long as Merab [Dvalishvili] gets the next crack in the title.”

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Former women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm didn’t expect to be facing Kayla Harrison in her next fight, but that’s the name UFC matchmakers brought her.  

The two will clash on the historic UFC 300 fight card on April 13 and it’s a fight that makes Holm excited.  

“I’m always open to anything and when they called they said it was Kayla Harrison.  And they announced it that day, so it was definitely like new news for me and I’m definitely excited about it.  This is a fight that I’m excited.  I’m excited for this fight, really excited for this fight,” Holm told The MMA Hour. 

While Harrison will be making her promotional debut, she’ll also be fighting for the first time as a bantamweight.  Some have questioned whether she can make weight, but Holm isn’t worried about that.  

“I don’t know what she walks around at, how much watch she drops.  I don’t know all those details, but for me if someone was to tell me I had to go to 125, I can’t make 125,” said Holm.  “You think about that and that is a concern but I feel like she’s a professional and she’s not just been in MMA but obviously other professional sports and her judo and everything.  I give that confidence in her that she’s going to make weight.”

“I don’t really know her history.  I don’t think she’s missed weight,” Hold continued.  “As long as it’s not one of those things where, oh I’ll get close enough and hopefully still get the fight.  Nothing like that.  Be professional about it and make weight and let’s rock n’ roll.”

Related: Miesha Tate skeptical about Kayla Harrison at bantamweight

“I’m on the stance that you need to make weight.  That’s just how it is, and I think her mindset should be on I’m going to make weight because she took the fight at 135.  I think it’s simple.  It shouldn’t be super detailed.  You think about the fight, Wonderboy (Stephen Thompson).  His opponent came in three pounds over and people were like ‘it’s only three pounds,’ and he’s like, ‘yeah, if it’s only three pounds then go and lose the three pounds.  There’s two ways to look at it, so oh it’s only this, or well it’s only that.  You can look at it from a lot of different angles.  As a professional, you’ve got to make weight.  I work hard to make my weight, so I expect the same.” 

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Larissa Pacheco wonders if Cris Cyborg really wants to fight her.

PFL’s biggest event to date is set for Feb. 24 in Saudi Arabia, with a pay-per-view offering that features multiple clashes between PFL and Bellator champions after the two companies merged. But Pacheco is the only active PFL champion not added to the card.

Pacheco told MMA Fighting she was informed in early January that she will not be on the card and was OK with it since PFL guaranteed her that Cyborg and Kayla Harrison also wouldn’t be fighting each other. Harrison has since signed with the UFC to fight Holly Holm, and Cyborg competed in boxing before recently calling for a fight with the retired Amanda Nunes at UFC 300. Cyborg also mentioned facing Pacheco in a future PFL pay-per-view, but only after meeting Leah McCourt at the upcoming Bellator show in Ireland.

“I stepped aside from this [online] confrontation between [Cyborg and Harrison] because I won’t be chasing anyone. I’m the champion, after all,” Pacheco said. “I won the PFL belt twice, in two different weight classes. I know the value of my work. I also know my stereotype doesn’t sell. I know that. [PFL] was trying to do this fight between Kayla, the American sweetheart, and one of the greatest athletes in the history of the sport [Cyborg], the reason why we’re all fighting today. I stepped aside and let them kill themselves, I won’t be fighting for scraps. I don’t need that.”

Pacheco said the news of Harrison moving to the UFC made sense with how much Harrison has been “running” as of late, and that the situation is now “a big mess”. Pacheco said she was appalled to see Cyborg asking for a UFC return given her relationship with company CEO Dana White, especially by calling out a fighter who retired from the sport.

“I believe I’m at a higher level than the athletes [Cyborg] was fighting [in Bellator],” Pacheco said. “I don’t have anything to prove to anyone. Everybody thinks PFL is weaker but it’s quite the opposite. We might not have the media, but the money on the line makes people give their all in there. It changes lives, as it changed mine. Am I going to fight for almost nothing? Many fighters left the UFC for PFL and say they’ve made more in a year than in their entire UFC careers.

“We don’t make a living off of media. We need media, sure, but media doesn’t pay our bills. But it’s all good, UFC is still the No. 1 promotion and has its importance, but I see Cris’ situation as a cry for help. She wants to retire already, that’s a fact, and she’s shooting at wherever she thinks she’s going to get paid more — or where she can keep her name in the media for longer and continue to make money to provide to her family and have a comfortable life.”

Cyborg is currently under contract with PFL, and the promotion has shifted its plans for 2024 since acquiring Bellator. PFL added a women’s flyweight tournament to its upcoming season. It also has no plans of running tournaments for the women’s featherweight and lightweight division. That means Pacheco won’t be able to chase her third consecutive $ 1 million check, therefore she said she’s in negotiations for a higher purse instead.

As for the proposed Cyborg clash, Pacheco said she’s down to compete on one of the Bellator shows, especially if it’s held in Brazil, or on a future PFL pay-per-view.

“The scenario is quite clear for me,” Pacheco said. “Cris left the UFC in an ugly way, fighting Dana White. Dana White has made it pretty clear he doesn’t like her, he doesn’t like working with her. He has his reasons and she has hers, that’s not up to me [to judge]. The promotion where she was the champion and had all the safety was Bellator, and now PFL has acquired Bellator, so PFL is her home. I don’t see a reason not to do this fight, only if she doesn’t want it.

“I’m the champion, and I have earned it. I don’t see why waste such a big fight against two big names just because of ego or whatever. They can do a great promotion behind it just like they’re doing with this card in Saudi Arabia.”

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“Got The Job Done”
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Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight!

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Times have changed inside the Octagon.

It wasn’t all that long ago that UFC and MMA were fighting to be seen as a legitimate sport. Athletes were presented at their best and demanded to uphold a certain level of professionalism. For example: does anyone remember the controversy of transgender fighter Fallon Fox way back in 2013? Heavyweight “Meathead” Matt Mitrione made some aggressive comments on a podcast — not even the actual UFC broadcast — and found himself suspended by the “appalled” organization. Two days later, UFC released a full Code of Conduct for its athletes.

Here’s an excerpt: “Fighters shall conduct themselves in accordance with commonly accepted standards of decency, social convention, and morals, and fighters will not commit any act or become involved in any situation or occurrence or make any statement which will reflect negatively upon or bring disrepute, contempt, scandal, ridicule or disdain to the fighter or the UFC.”

How about a notably banned course of action in the code of conduct? “Derogatory or offensive conduct, including without limitation insulting language, symbols, or actions about a person’s ethnic background, heritage, color, race, national origin, age, religion, disability, gender or sexual orientation.”

In 2011, a former champion was fired for making crappy rape jokes on Twitter. In 2021, Israel Adesanya’s similar comments didn’t get a lick of attention from the promotion, even when the New Zealand government did take notice.

At some point, that code of conduct was thrown the window. Former Middleweight champion Sean Strickland’s anti-LGBT comments prior to UFC 297 have reignited the conversation, and UFC CEO Dana White addressed the situation during an appearance on “The TRUTH Podcast” with Vivek Ramaswamy. Nowadays, UFC is a bastion of free speech … unless you’re hoping to walk out with one specific flag.

“We had a guy early on when the COVID thing started, Tyron Woodley. He came out in Black Lives Matter everything. I think he had Black Lives Matter socks on, covered head to toe in Black Lives Matter,” White began (via MMA Junkie). “At the press conference leading up to his fight, they would ask him a question and he would say, ‘Black Lives Matter.’ They’d ask him another one, (he’d answer) ‘Black Lives Matter.’ I didn’t say s—t to him, knock yourself out …

“This is America. Everybody can have their own opinion. I’m not telling anybody what to do, what to say, what to think, how to feel. We’re human beings in America, do your thing, knock yourself out, I’ve got the platform. People get pissed off, people get offended, people get this and that. We just had it happen with Sean Strickland.

“We’re up in Canada. Sean Strickland said a lot of things. I don’t agree with 95 percent of what this guy says, but it’s his right to say it. And if you don’t like it, tune in on Saturday night, he’s gonna get punched in the face. If you don’t like him, you get to see him get punched in the face, so there you go. Don’t get too upset and don’t take it too serious.”

Strickland ended up coughing up his belt at UFC 297 to Dricus Du Plessis, but the loss has done little to quiet him down. Ultimately, White’s response to the situation clarifies what we mostly already know about the UFC in 2024: anything goes, for better or worse. Although it is pretty weird how the promotion edited Islam Makhachev’s UFC 294 post-fight speech, removing the champion’s call to stop the violence in Palestine before posting his interview on YouTube.

Insomnia

A large skull isn’t the only similarity between Tito Ortiz and Henry Cejudo. Although, there is no other scenario where I would be willingly sharing a Cejudo advertisement, so maybe it’s a thoughtful display of brilliance?

Undefeated 26-year-old boxing champion Shakur Stevenson says he’s retiring from professional competition. Think he fights in the next six months?

I have no way of verifying this, but Twitter says Renato Moicano learned English from Call Of Duty. I’m choosing to believe.

SUMO!

Forget UFC 300, this is the real UFC showcase in April.

There’s no chance Tony Ferguson tore his MCL during David Goggins’ Hell Week, right? No chance at all?

A pair of legendary fighters and their portrait photographs:

Slips, rips, and KO clips

That was … not a great takedown attempt. Slick spinning back kicks though!

Getting calf kicked by an opponent who appears to be 50ish pounds heavier seems f—king terrible.

Great placement on this body shot:

Random Land

Oh nuts.

Midnight Music: A request/submission from my mom.

Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.

MMAmania.com – All Posts

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

A new Bellator light heavyweight champion will be crowned in March as the brand is set to debut for the first time under the PFL umbrella.

Multiple people with knowledge of the promotion’s plans confirmed to MMA Fighting that Bellator’s return will take place March 22 in Belfast, and in the main event, Corey Anderson faces Ireland native Karl Moore for the vacant title. A venue has yet to be revealed for the event. Ariel Helwani was first to report the news.

The booking is set after Vadim Nemkov vacated the title as he makes the move to the heavyweight division.

Anderson gets his third crack at the title after facing Nemkov on two separate occasions, with the first fight ending in a no-contest at Bellator 277 and the second resulting in a decision loss seven months later at Bellator 288. Following the short series with Nemkov, Anderson was able to get back in the win column with a split decision win over Phil Davis at Bellator 297 this past June.

Moore has won four straight bouts as he gets ready to challenge for Bellator gold, and he’ll do so in front of his home country.

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