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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Leah McCourt wants her title shot.

A matchup between McCourt and featherweight champion Cris Cyborg appeared to be all but guaranteed this past October when McCourt and Cyborg both made short work of their respective opponents, Sara McMann and Cat Zingano, at Bellator 300. The two even faced off inside the cage in anticipation of a future fight.

With Bellator acquired by the PFL and Cyborg angling for a fight with Kayla Harrison (which won’t be happening anytime soon with Harrison jumping to the UFC), it would appear Cyborg is still in need of a dance partner. But McCourt has yet to hear if she’ll be asked to take that spot.

“I’m just a bit frustrated, I’m a bit pissed off, because I’ve felt since this acquisition has happened, I’ve just been dismissed publicly again and again as the No. 1 contender,” McCourt said on The MMA Hour. “I’ve fought everybody in Bellator, I’ve fought some of the best girls in the world. If you look at the girls I’ve fought, I deserve to be the No. 1 contender and to be fighting for the world title next, and I just haven’t had that kind of recognition, and it’s just been constantly taken away.

“Kayla and Cyborg, Larissa [Pacheco] and Cyborg – it’s never been the Bellator No. 1 contender, so that’s been frustrating. Look what’s happened now. Kayla’s went to the UFC, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens.”

PFL CEO Peter Murray told the media Wednesday that the league is shuttering its women’s featherweight division in favor of a women’s flyweight tournament next year, which seemingly clears the path for two-time PFL 145-pound champion Larissa Pacheco to become part of the Bellator roster – and be a prime option to fight Cyborg.

McCourt is hoping for some indication from officials that she is ahead of Pacheco in the pecking order.

“You would think so, but…I’m still in the dark,” McCourt said. “You have to ask them.”

For now, McCourt is back in training, focused on staying in shape for the next opportunity that comes. She’s even more focused on helping to support teammate Ryan Curtis. Curtis recently suffered a devastating injury in training that severely damaged his neck and spine, and McCourt has been doing everything in her power to spread the word and raise funds for her friend and his family (donate to Curtis’ GoFundMe page here).

Whether it’s Cyborg or someone else, McCourt is just ready to get back in the cage and take care of business.

“Before this happened, I’d been given kind of an idea and a rough kind of opponent, but I just needed to get back in to prepare for that because I know that’s what Ryan would want,” McCourt said. “He’s lying in a hospital bed, and we’re so close, my success is his success, everyone knows it’s what he’d want me to be doing. So I’m just hoping to get the right fight and have a fight soon.”

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Dricus Du Plessis claims that Sean Strickland admitted to him that the South African was the better man on the night at UFC 297. Du Plessis unseated Strickland as middleweight champion in the main event last week via split decision. The bout was close, but in the end, a new champion was crowned in Toronto.

While Strickland gave Du Plessis props for his performance in the post-fight press conference, he also mentioned that an illegal headbutt cut him during the fight, impairing his ability to see. Speaking on SuperSport Unplugged recently, Du Plessis explained that, despite the decision being debated amongst the MMA community, Strickland himself admitted he knew he had been defeated before the scorecards were even read.

Related: Sean Strickland photo of eye injury: ‘They had to stitch through muscle to get it closed’

“He came to me in the cage,” Du Plessis said. “And I think this is the first time I’ve said this – he came to me in the cage immediately after the fight, before they announced me as the new champion. And I went to him and I shook his hand and I said, ‘You’re a warrior, well done. It was a great fight.’ And he said ‘No, you definitely beat me.’ He said to me ‘You deserve it, you won that fight.’”

Dricus Du Plessis tells @SuperSportTV that Sean Strickland admitted he lost the fight after UFC 297👀#UFC #MMA pic.twitter.com/GOJruXZxKv

— FightCrack (@FightCrack) January 27, 2024

With his victory, Du Plessis remains undefeated in the UFC and extends his current win streak to nine-straight. After having had very public issues with the likes of former champion Israel Adesanya in the past, it will be interesting to see who the UFC decides to feed the new champion for his first title defense.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Francis Ngannou’s head coach Eric Nicksick is no longer surprised when big fights come to Ngannou, whether it be in the ring or MMA cage.

After taking lineal heavyweight boxing champ Tyson Fury to the absolute limit this past October, Ngannou returns in March to face Anthony Joshua in Saudi Arabia. When Nicksick found out about the matchup, it was business as usual.

“He never ceases to amaze me,” Nicksick told MMA Fighting. “This guy has been playing chess, and we’ve all been playing checkers, and it couldn’t happen to a better guy. So I’m very happy for our guy.

“It’s just, man, it’s been such a smooth sailing process ever since he’s kind of moved over and done his thing. I’m excited to get back out there, I can’t wait to go see our guy compete, and then I think there’s so many things that we can build on and show even a better version of [the] Francis you saw versus Tyson Fury.”

Ngannou, a former UFC heavyweight champion who left the company and signed with the PFL, lost a split decision to Fury in his pro boxing debut in a fight where he knocked Fury to the canvas.

While “The Predator” hasn’t shown all of his boxing skillset as of yet, Nicksick understands as preparations are set to begin for the Joshua fight that the element of the unknown is pretty much out the window for his next massive opportunity.

“I think obviously him surprising a lot of people in the outcome, and the way that he performed in the Tyson Fury fight, so the cat’s kind of out of the bag,” Nicksick explained. “The nice thing from a coaching perspective, I feel like there’s a lot of things that we didn’t show in that fight and improvements that we can build [upon]. So we’re going to sit down and kind of go over what his thoughts are on the approach, see if we could find some holes and some variables that we can change, have a different style approach against Anthony Joshua.

“I think it’s going to be a fun fight. But moreover, there’s the X-factor that our guy always is going to carry, and that’s that power. Once he hits you, once he’s able to kind of dictate his power on somebody and make them move and make them vulnerable, I think that’s when really you’re gonna start seeing the good things happen in that fight.”

In a recent interview on The MMA Hour, Ngannou discussed the matchup with Joshua and declared that if Joshua takes the knockdown shot Fury took, he doesn’t “guarantee he’s standing up.”

When asked about if Joshua is more prone to being knocked out than Fury, Nicksick can’t confidently say that’s true. However, the coach can see avenues where the opportunities to land the knockout blow will present themselves more than they did in Ngannou’s first pro boxing appearance.

“Well, I’m not going to sit here and say that I think he’s more susceptible to get knocked out [than Fury], but I’ll say that he’s more susceptible to us finding him stylistically, whereas Tyson does such a good job of movement, and angles, and kind of just rolling off the punches and things like that. That’s why we tried to utilize a little bit more of the ring control and put him in a bar to limit some of his movement, whereas I feel like Anthony is going to be there more often.

“He’s more of a plot fighter, kind of works well behind his jab, but I feel like we can find him there in the pocket rather than having to chase him down or try to hunt him down. So there’s some differences there, but by that style of fight, if he’s going be there in the pocket, Francis will find you.”

Following the loss to Fury, Ngannou’s performance earned him the No. 10 ranking in the WBC heavyweight rankings, which heading into the bout was extremely difficult to fathom.

After shocking the boxing world, if Ngannou can do it again by coming away with an upset victory, the amount of lanes that open up to him in boxing are endless. Much like booking the fight with Joshua, that result will be par for the course in Nicksick’s eyes.

“I mean, none of this surprises me anymore,” Nicksick said. “I’ll say, from my perspective as his head coach in MMA, watching him just completely tear his knee in half and then be able to go and beat Ciryl Gane on one leg, I was a believer forever. I mean, I’ve always believed in the guy, but I remember, I was the guy from the camp saying, ‘Yo, I think we should pull out your leg is a mess,’ he’s like, ‘No, I’m good, I’m just going too beat this guy on one leg. I know I can do it,’ and I’m like, ‘Holy s***, here we go.’

“And after that, man, I’m just like, bro, whatever you tell me, [if you tell me] we’re going to drive to the moon, then we could drive to the moon, but whatever you tell me, I’m in.”

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Two Royal Rumble battles and two championship showdowns highlight one of WWE’s biggest nights of the year this evening (Sat., Jan. 27, 2024) from St. Petersburg, Fla., start time set for 8 p.m. ET on Peacock.

It’s one of professional wrestling’s biggest nights, the annual World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Royal Rumble event happening TONIGHT (Sat., Jan. 27, 2024) live at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla., starting at 8 p.m. ET. All those desiring to watch the show have two places to watch. If you’re in the United States, it’s streaming exclusively on Peacock. If you’re anywhere else on this globe, it’s on the WWE network.

Aside from the traditional men’s Rumble — as has happened every year since 2018 — we have a women’s Rumble as well. We’re also getting two championship matches: Roman Reigns vs. three challengers for the WWE universal championship and social media star (and shockingly decent professional grappler), Logan Paul, puts his United States championship on the line against Kevin Owens.

Look, when Paul said he was going to be a professional wrestler, I didn’t actually expect him to be decent at it. Instead, he has done some very good work on that stage, on a level you don’t see from neophytes very often.

This was what he did at last year’s Rumble:

I legitimately am looking forward to seeing what he and the other WWE athletes do this year.

WWE Royal Rumble 2024 Quick Results:

30-man Royal Rumble
30-woman Royal Rumble
Roman Reigns vs. LA Knight vs. AJ Styles vs. Randy Orton in a fatal four-way match
Logan Paul vs. Kevin Owens

WWE Royal Rumble 2024 Full Results:

Men’s Royal Rumble

Final result:

Women’s Royal Rumble

Final result:

Roman Reigns vs. LA Knight vs. AJ Styles vs. Randy Orton in a fatal four-way match

Final result:

Logan Paul vs. Kevin Owens

Final result:

For more WWE Royal Rumble 2024-related coverage click HERE.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Dricus du Plessis claims Sean Strickland admitted he lost their title bout.

Earlier this month, du Plessis claimed the middleweight title with a split decision win over Strickland at UFC 297. In the cage immediately afterwards, both men were complimentary of one another, with Strickland giving du Plessis credit for the win and asking for a rematch. But shortly afterwards, Strickland changed his tune, claiming that an illegal headbutt cut him open and that he was robbed. But du Plessis says that’s not what Strickland told him in the cage.

“I chatted to him afterwards,” du Plessis said on SuperSport Unplugged. “But then I saw his Tweet saying that — I understand calling for a rematch in the sense that you get the public behind. Saying, ‘Oh, you know you didn’t win that fight.’ He came to me in the cage — I think this is the first time publicly I’ll say this — he came to me in the cage right before they announced me as the new champion. I went to him and I shook his hand, and I said, ‘You’re a warrior, well done, was a great fight,’ and he said, ‘No, you definitely beat me.’ He said to me, ‘You deserve it, you won that fight, you beat me.’ I said, ‘I also think so. I have to agree with you on that.’

“After I won the fight. You could see in his face, he knew. When the ref held our hands, he knew he wasn’t winning that fight. Then, of course, he talks about the headbutt, which is not true. I remember the exact punch I caught him with that caused the bleeding.”

Du Plessis and Strickland had an intense build-up to the fight, with nasty words exchanged at press conferences and a cageside brawl at UFC 296. However, on fight week the two appeared to bury the hatchet. Despite the controversy surrounding the decision, that still seems to be true as du Plessis claims Strickland also gave him props behind the scenes, before his social media callouts happened.

“Afterwards, when we were in the doctor’s rooms, he came to me and said, ‘You’re a warrior. I wouldn’t have wanted to lose to anybody else, because you deserve this,’” du Plessis revealed. “But then he goes on Twitter and says, ‘You will never be a champion,’ or something along those lines. Just the way he said it. To ask for a rematch is one thing. But I have to say, I have nothing against the guy. From what I’ve experienced, I think he’s an emotional guy, but I don’t think he’s a bad dude.”

Despite the controversy, an immediate rematch appears unlikely. Instead, du Plessis hopes to defend his newly won title against Israel Adesanya at UFC 300, which takes place on April 13 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Nate Diaz is once again teasing a long-awaited trilogy bout with Irish megastar Conor McGregor.

It’s been more than seven years since Diaz and McGregor lit up the Octagon with the second in a pair of entertaining clashes that produced two of the highest-grossing pay-per-views in the UFC’s 30+ year history. Since then, fight fans have been clamoring for a rubber match between the two, but thus far, the promotion has failed to pull the trigger.

All hope appeared to be lost when the ‘Stockton Samurai’ walked away from the company he called home for 15 years to test out his skills in the squared circle. However, that has not stopped Diaz from calling out the former two-division titleholder on occasion in hopes of producing a lucrative third meeting between the two.

Taking to social media, Diaz is once again shooting his shot by sharing an image from one of the duo’s encounters in the Octagon. “Real war,” he wrote in the caption on X.

Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz first met in a welterweight bout at UFC 196 in March 2016. The TUF alumnus scored a second-round submission, handing the Irishman his first loss inside the Octagon. The pair were originally scheduled to run it back at UFC 200, but the bout was pulled after McGregor failed to fulfill media obligations related to the fight.

The sequel was pushed back to UFC 202 where McGregor evened the series with a victory via majority decision (48-47, 47-47, and 48-47).

Conor McGregor has One win in last seven years

Three months later, McGregor went on to capture the lightweight title with a second-round KO of Eddie Alvarez to become a simultaneous two-division champion. It’s been pretty much all downhill for McGregor as far as wins and losses go ever since. He cashed in on a co-promoted boxing match with Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather in 2017, losing in the 10th round via TKO. He has earned just one victory in the UFC over the last seven years, that coming against a past-his-prime ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone in 2020.

His last Octagon appearance came nearly four years ago when he suffered a broken leg during the opening round of a trilogy fight with Dustin Poirier and UFC 264.

On New Year’s Day, McGregor announced that he would make his return on June 29 for a middleweight clash with former Bellator MMA champion ‘Iron’ Michael Chandler, though the UFC has not made the announcement official.

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