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Conor McGregor’s highly-anticipated announcement of his eventual combat return went off without the explosion most expected. That’s because “Notorious” revealed that not only would he not be fighting at UFC 300 in April, but that his next fight would be taking place in the Middleweight division against Michael Chandler in June 2024.

That left a lot of people in the combat community perplexed, with many wondering if the “Notorious” troll master was doing just that. While it doesn’t seem as if this is a legit troll job, one person does believe McGregor is playing games.

According to Daniel Cormier, all his fellow former “champ-champ” club member is doing is manipulating Chandler into doing whatever he pleases since he is obviously the “A-side.” In “D.C.’s” assessment, he would have liked to see Chandler put his foot down every now and again instead of bending to McGregor’s every demand just for the sake of locking down the fight.

“It’s happening at 185,” Cormier said on “DC & RC,” via MMA Junkie. “It shouldn’t happen there. I agree that it doesn’t have the meaning that it should have (at lightweight). But I still believe it does because I believe that Conor McGregor is just going to make Michael Chandler do whatever he wants.

“And if that means fighting at a weight class he’s never fought at, that he doesn’t feel comfortable at, that’s what he’s going to do because he feels like it’s going to be in his favor,” he added before saying the McGregor is great at pulling the strings.

“I think this is a game. I think Conor McGregor is the puppetmaster, and I think Michael Chandler is being far too easy to play with,” Cormier said. “At this point, Michael Chandler is Pinocchio. Conor McGregor’s doing stuff like (pulling puppet strings) with Michael Chandler and I don’t like it because I like Michael Chandler. But I think he’s doing too much.”

Chandler has indeed stated that he’d be willing to take on McGregor at any weight class, proving that he does have confidence to face and defeat the former featherweight and lightweight champion regardless of division. That said, Chandler would be going up two weight classes, and he isn’t the biggest 155-pounder around.

Whether or not this fight actually takes place at 185 pounds remains to be seen in the coming months. But one thing that does seem certain, if there is a change it will come at the request of “Notorious.”

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson never got emotional after one of his own losses but he broke down in tears the night he saw a friend and teammate suffer a brutal defeat.

The former UFC light heavyweight champion recounted the emotional moment that led to the only time he remembered crying in the locker room and it’s all Dan Henderson’s fault. It was back at UFC 100 when Henderson went scorched earth on Michael Bisping with a devastating right hand that knocked out the future UFC middleweight king in one of the most jaw-dropping finishes of all time.

“I never cried, but me and Bisping, we was like brothers, especially back then,” Jackson revealed on his podcast. “We’re not as close as now because some bulls*** happened between our managers. Me, [Cheick] Kongo, and Bisping we was all like brothers.

“I never cried when I got knocked out, but when Bisping got knocked out the one time — it was [Dan Henderson] — I cried in the locker room! He got knocked out that bad, I felt really bad. I’m almost ashamed to say it.”

According to Jackson, he felt that perhaps he deserved some of the blame for the knockout because he was one of Bisping’s main teammates and training partners at the time.

Unfortunately, none of that mattered after Henderson uncorked his infamous “H-bomb” that detonated on Bisping’s chin.

“I felt like, at the time, maybe I didn’t help him good enough in training or something,” Jackson said. “It was something like that, and I just felt bad for him. I remember crying in the locker room like what the f*** is wrong with me. Why am I crying? I never cry, it’s weird.”

Henderson, who was serving as a guest on the podcast, couldn’t relate to Jackson’s pain after he simply responded “No” when asked if he ever cried watching one of his teammates suffer a loss.

While that knockout will always be remembered, Bisping eventually got his revenge while becoming UFC middleweight champion and then beating Henderson in their rematch in 2016.

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Former lightweight contender, Paul Felder has claimed it’s doubtful that recent winner, Paddy Pimblett can land a triumph over any top-15 lightweight contender in the promotion, off the back of his UFC 296 win over former interim champion, Tony Ferguson last month.

Pimblett, who turned in his fourth consecutive victory at UFC 296 last month, landing a one-sided unanimous decision win over Ferguson, handing the Oxnard veteran his seventh straight loss. 

Prior to that, Paddy Pimblett battled to a dubious unanimous decision win over Jared Gordon two years ago, following a pair of stoppage wins over both Jordan Leavitt, and Luigi Vendramini.

Paddy Pimblett’s ability called into question

Receiving criticizm from former interim welterweight champion, Colby Covington – who poked fun at the Liverpool native’s ability, Pimblett’s ability to also defeat any lightweight within the top-15 rankings has been highly doubted by Philadelphia favorite, Felder.

“Can Paddy (Pimblett) beat anyone in the top-15?” Paul Felder asked on the UFC ‘Round-Up’ show, “I will start with this: Of course he can. We know that it’s MMA – anything can happen. But if we were going to sit here and make bets, and if I had to predict: No, I really don’t think so. He struggled to ever get Tony (Ferguson) out of there who looked the worst he’s ever looked in his career.”

“He was able to hurt Tony a little bit, but he really should have been able to put him away,” Felder explained. “Not taking anything away from him – he knew he was going to be in for a hard one, even if he won this fight. He said it in the media days leading up that we were going to criticize him even if he wins, if he didn’t go out there and maybe get him out of there. So, here we are criticizing him.” 

What’s next for Paddy Pimblett after his UFC 296 win?

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Derek Brunson spent 21 fights and nearly 11 years in the UFC, but he didn’t earn his biggest paycheck until debuting in the PFL in November.

The veteran middleweight didn’t reveal exactly how much money he was paid by his new promotion, but Brunson raved about the treatment he received after signing with the PFL. Brunson joined the organization after asking for his release from the UFC, which was granted, and he went on to defeat Ray Cooper III at the PFL Finals card to close out 2023.

“For sure, my biggest payday ever,” Brunson told MMA Fighting. “It’s pretty good. It’s a lot more than the UFC, I would say that.”

By all accounts, Brunson was likely paid a flat fee for his fight rather than the common “show-win” system employed for most fights, which is where an athlete is paid a show purse and then an additional bonus for a win, oftentimes equal to the show purse.

Many fighters have argued against the show-win pay model, especially in a sport riddled with controversial judging where a bad decision can cost an athlete half their paycheck. Others have argued that a guaranteed payday might somehow make some athletes less competitive because they’re no longer fighting for a win bonus, but Brunson says that’s just simply illogical.

“If you get the right athletes, any athlete fighting at a high level wants to win,” Brunson said. “They’re not going to go out there and just say, ‘Oh, I got paid a lot of money, I’m going to lose.’

“But just being comfortable with how they’re taking care of you makes a big difference. They took care of me and I wanted to go out there and get the win, and still incentivize the win, but definitely an upgrade from my previous payday.”

Brunson holds no ill will toward the UFC and he appreciates that the promotion allowed him to get out of his contract so he could ultimately sign with the PFL.

That being said, he still marvels at the fact that he fought there for over a decade and spent nearly the entire time as a top-10 ranked middleweight, yet it wasn’t until he left the UFC that he earned his biggest payday to date.

“It’s crazy,” Brunson said. “It’s kind of disheartening when you hear guys like Kevin Holland say, ‘The fight with [Khamzat] Chimaev, I got paid crazy money.’ Like I would imagine he got $ 600,000 or something like that, short notice. Who else, I think Sean Strickland fought somebody on short notice, it was [Nassourdine] Imavov or somebody, but he fought him on short notice and got paid a lot of money. I’ve never been able to say that.

“I fought everybody. Even like [Israel Adesanya] — I didn’t have to fight Izzy. I did it because it’s a big fight and I wanted to put on for the fans and put on a big fight. These are fights that I didn’t have to takem but I took those risks and I really wanted to put on a good fight and give the fans something good.”

Brunson was also shocked that he never received a post-fight bonus during his entire UFC tenure, despite delivering a number of blistering finishes over the years.

“Funny enough, I’ve been in the UFC, I think I have the most finishes in middleweight history. I’m tied with Don Frye for the most in UFC history with six. I’ve never got a finish or performance bonus,” Brunson said. “That’s crazy. I’ve got a lot of finishes in the UFC and I never got a performance bonus. It’s just kind of rough with those details.

“I enjoy fighting, but we definitely want to be able to be comfortable, take care of our families with it, be able to buy what we want to buy. We put our lives, our livelihoods on the line, our brains. We can’t get that stuff back. If you’re out here putting on big fights and fighting these high-level fights, you want to be taken care of.”

In the end, Brunson believes leaving the UFC when he did was the best possible move for his career, but that goes beyond his financial compensation in the PFL.

For him, it all comes down to going somewhere he was wanted, and that wasn’t necessarily a feeling he had any longer in the UFC.

“There was nothing left for me in the UFC,” Brunson said. “I feel like I squeezed all of the juice out of the lemon or whatever. Just being able to have a fresh start, a new start, not going where I’m tolerated but somewhere I’m wanted and appreciated.

“Everybody wants to feel appreciated. Everybody that works wants to feel valued about their work. That’s every job in America or every job in the world. Once someone shows you appreciation, it’s reciprocated.”

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

With 2023 being such a crazy year in the world of mixed martial arts, we felt it was important to look back at the predictions that were made heading into a memorable year for the sport.

In part one of our two-part predictions extravaganza, MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee look back on some of the responses they had to listener questions in regards to what 2023 was going to bring. Topics include Conor McGregor’s activity for the year, whether or not Jon Jones would retire at some point, if Dana White would be punished for what happened at the start of the year, what the year could bring for the likes of Colby Covington, Jorge Masvidal, Shavkat Rakhmonov, and Khamzat Chimaev, UFC champions in each division, bold predictions for the year, and more.

In addition, we will need you help for part two: our 2024 predictions extravaganza episode. Submit your “buy or sell” questions the same way you send your matchmaking suggestions to Mike or AK on Twitter, Instagram, or email by Thursday, Jan. 4 — and, please, be as creative as you’d like.

Audio-only versions of the podcast can be found below, on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher and wherever you find your favorite podcasts.

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