CombatSports.org

UFC

submitted by /u/fresdres
[link] [comments]
MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Personal
| BJPenn.com

UFC

Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight!

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

UFC 300 is starting to fill out, but the high-profile event is still in need of a main event.

There are a few rumors as to potential options. A Conor McGregor return is, of course, always on the table. As the UFC 297 main event and Middleweight title fight between Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis comes to fruition this weekend (Sat. Jan. 20, 2024), many believe the winner will face off versus Israel Adesanya as the signature fight at UFC 300. Finally, there are several options involving Light Heavyweight champion Alex Pereira potentially facing Magomed Ankalaev or jumping up to Heavyweight against interim champion Tom Aspinall.

The latter feels unlikely, but it’s also exactly the type of spectacle that UFC 300 is seeking. After all, Justin Gaethje defending his BMF belt opposite Max Holloway also sounded pretty unlikely just a month ago! Perhaps there’s a chance Pereira gets an opportunity to pick up a third (interim) belt?

Aspinall isn’t against it. He doesn’t seem particularly in love with the idea, but if “Poatan” wants to dance, the English talent is willing to throw down.

“If he wants to, I will,” Aspinall explained on his YouTube channel. “But I’m going on record and saying: I’m not a bully. I don’t bully smaller guys. But, if the smaller guy wants a scrap, count me in.”

Fortunately for Aspinall, I’ve yet to see a picture of Alex Pereira looking anything other than gigantic! If the two-division champion chases a third belt, I somehow expect him to evolve like a Pokemon and miraculously match his foe’s stature.

We’ll just have to wait and see.

Insomnia

Sean Strickland has been in this game for a long time.

An unfortunate update to UFC Vegas 86. I was looking forward to seeing Lerone Murphy get his step up in competition!

Apologies to any POWs but I laughed out loud at this tweet regarding the new Pimblett and McCann tv show …

Boy oh boy, this is terrible trash talk.

Former title challenger Lauren Murphy hasn’t been released, but she has been inactive for too long for the UFC rankings. Do Stipe Miocic and Brian Ortega next!

Real question for the comments section: how much would you pay for front row tickets to a Power Slap show?

Cool insight from Rafael dos Anjos, a man who has fought just about everybody.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

48 knockdowns in 20 professional boxing matches is a wild stat line.

I could’ve sworn this is the bad guy from Daredevil.

Nick Denis retired shortly after this win, but it’s an all-time great UFC elbow KO.

Random Land

10-8 ghost.

Midnight Music: Hip-hop, 2023

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

MMAmania.com – All Posts

submitted by /u/rmma
[link] [comments]
MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Dricus du Plessis doesn’t seem too concerned about a possible stabbing ahead of his fight at UFC 297.

Ahead of their showdown on Saturday, reigning UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland issued a warning to du Plessis to avoid any further trash talk related to the trauma he suffered as a child. In fact, Strickland went as far as threatening “I will f****** stab you” if that actually happens.

In response, du Plessis could only crack a smile and laugh at the comment, but it’s clear he’s not losing any sleep over a possible attack prior to their fight.

“I don’t know, that’s pretty intense,” du Plessis said during UFC 297 media day. “I don’t know the legislation around here but that seems like Team Strickland needs to check their boy.

“When this whole thing occurred where he said ‘if you do that again’ he said he will kill me. He didn’t say stab me. When he said kill, I said OK, you’re probably going to shoot me then. When I saw a knife, I’m like no, that’s not going to work. You won’t touch me with that knife. I’ll knock you out way before you get to stab me.”

Strickland also stated that he was willing to sacrifice the fight if that’s what it took to go after du Plessis if he crossed the line. As much as he doubts Strickland will actually attempt to stab him, du Plessis admits there was some concern that his opponent might actually torpedo the fight just so they don’t actually have to meet in the octagon at UFC 297.

“Am I scared that he self-sabotages this fight? Sure. That is something I’ve thought about,” du Plessis said. “Maybe trying everything to get out of it but no, for me right now, the last press conference was winning on the mic. That was winning with Sean Strickland at his own game. Right now, this week where we’re at, I’m not here to do that. I’m here to be the middleweight champion of the world. My focus is on fighting, not making jokes.

“Getting the crowd to laugh, that’s not why I’m here. I’ve already won that battle. That battle is won. Right now, the battle that needs to be won is the one coming Saturday night and that’s where my mind’s at.”

After the initial encounter at a press conference to promote their fight, Strickland actually did attack du Plessis in the crowd with both in attendance at UFC 296 in Las Vegas.

Strickland later revealed that he sent du Plessis a direct message on Twitter to address the altercation as well as the nasty trash talk between them.

For his part, du Plessis confirmed the exchange on social media, although he never planned to address it publicly until Strickland suddenly started talking about it.

“[The message] said something along the lines of ‘listen, this is what happened, I’m sorry what I said about your coach and you but if there’s anything that’s crossing the line and listen, we sell a fight and all that but if there’s anything out of line that I said that you want me to pull back, I’ll apologize, I’ll even take back what I said. I’ll remove posts,’” du Plessis revealed.

“I feel this is not a great move, but he brought it up. I would have never told the media about this. This happened five weeks ago. I don’t want to expose a man in that way. It’s not my style. I was actually surprised that he made it public that he did message me because I didn’t want to out him on that.”

As far as continued low blows, du Plessis confirms he responded to Strickland and promised that he wouldn’t bring up his childhood trauma again.

That said, du Plessis still doesn’t really care much at all about what Strickland says to him — privately or publicly.

“He said if there’s anything he shouldn’t say, he’ll lay back but if I bring up anything with his childhood again, he said ‘I’ll kill you and ruin your life and mine way before we step into the cage’ something like that,” du Plessis said. “That’s exactly his words. So I’m like OK, this poor guy. This seems serious. I feel bad for him. I just replied and said ‘listen, there’s nothing you can say that has any affect on me. Go crazy.’

“There’s nothing he can say that can get under my skin. I’m the mentally strongest fighter in the world, and I told him, you can literally say whatever you want, all is fair in love and war. But I won’t say anything about your childhood again, cool. That’s how it came down.”

MMA Fighting – All Posts

With him failing to secure a title unification clash against Jon Jones anytime soon, interim heavyweight titleholder Tom Aspinall is in the market for another prospective opponent.

UFC 300 is quickly filling up with a plethora of fantastic matchups with many more still to come. In recent weeks, Alex Pereira has teased an impending announcement leading fans to believe that he will be part of the promotion’s massive milestone event. While in all likelihood, ‘Poatan’ will defend his light heavyweight title against one of the division’s deserving contenders, rumors are flying that Pereira could go for a third UFC title on April 13.

In a quick clip shared by Bloody Elbow on X, Aspinall welcomed a title fight with Pereira, noting that he’s not usually one for bullying smaller fighters, but if ‘Poatan’ wants it, he can get it.

“If he wants to, I will, but I’m going on record saying, I’m not a bully,” Aspinall said. “I don’t bully smaller guys, but if the smaller guy wants to scrap, I’m in.”

After snatching the middleweight title from Israel Adesanya in late 2022, Pereira moved onto the 205-pound division and scored his second bit of UFC gold, knocking out former champion Jiri Prochazka at UFC 295 in November.

Russian powerhouse Magomed Ankalaev made a strong case for himself as Pereira’s first challenger after delivering a nose-shattering shot against Johnny Walker at last weekend’s event inside The APEX. Ankalaev moved to 10-1 under the UFC banner and 19-1-1 overall and is currently holding things down as the No. 3 ranked light heavyweight in the world.

LowKickMMA.com

In December, middleweight champion Sean Strickland posted videos and made comments about rising welterweight star Ian Machado Garry and his wife.  Garry responded but Strickland continues to launch insults Garry’s way.  He did just that at Wednesday’s UFC 297 Media Day.

Garry revealed in an interview that he plans on eventually going up to the 185-pound division to fight Strickland.  

“Does he really want to fight me?  What a f**king c*nt.  Ian Garry is such a f**king c*nt.  When you guys interview him do you ever ask him, do you ever ask him what are you going to do when she’s 60 and you’re 40?  Are you allowed to f**k other women?  God I hate that f**king guy.  I hate that f**king guy so much,” said Strickland.   

“If Ian Garry was right in front of me I’d f**king fight him.  Ian Garry is a f**king piece of sh*t.  I think we can all agree that Ian Garry is a piece of sh*t,” said the middleweight champion.  “He’s a piece of sh*t.”

“Ian Garry, he’s a weak man.  He’s a f**king weak man.  This is what I try to tell people, man, you meet these f**king c*nts all day long and they f**king smile and they shake your f**king hand, but really their core is f**king rotten.  Like, you look at me and I’m an a**hole… You look at me and I say hard sh*t.  I make fun of my co-main event.  I’m not an a**hole.  I’m just saying what you’re thinking.  Ian Garry is a f**king c*nt and he hides who he is.”   

Strickland put his title on the line for the first time on Saturday in the UFC 297 main event against second-ranked Dricus Du Plessis.  

MMAWeekly.com | UFC and MMA News, Results, Rumors, and Videos

UFC