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Our only unanimous category across the staff this year at LowKick MMA comes in the form of the ‘Upset of the Year’ award — with each member of staff nomination, in the form of newly-minted undisputed middleweight champion, Sean Strickland’s stunning unanimous decision shutout win over Israel Adesanya at UFC 293 back in September.

Landing his second award from LowKick MMA this year, outspoken middleweight kingpin, Strickland also netted our ‘Fighter of the Year’ accolade — beating out fellow champions, Leon Edwards, and Islam Makhachev, as well as incoming foe, Dricus du Plessis to the award.

And following his spectacular decision win over City Kickboxing star and monumental betting favorite, Adesanya back in September in Oceania, Strickland has been unanimously voted as having landed the ‘Upset of the Year’ in the LowKick MMA 2023 awards.

Upset of the Year – Israel Adesanya (c) vs. Sean Strickland – UFC 293 – (9 votes)

Judged to have nothing more than a puncher’s chance against a far more seasoned and dynamic striking veteran as two-time middleweight pacesetter, Adesanya in there UFC 293 title collision — following Julianna Peña’s stunning upset over Amanda Nunes two years ago, Strickland turned in a victory to rival such an upset success.

Riding a streak of two straight wins over European talents, Nassourdine Imavov, and then Abusupiyan Magomedov into an impromptu title fight with Nigerian-Kiwi striker, Adesanya, it proved right-place-right-time for Strickland — who replaced an injury-stricken du Plessis in the middleweight title frame.

And travelling to Sydney, Australia to take on Adesanya — Strickland’s involvement in the UFC 293 headliner was briefly thrown into jeopardy, after engaging in a physical altercation with an Australian fan during fight week whilst travelling the country with his girlfriend.

Come fight night, a lazar-focused Strickland allowed Adesanya zero space and time to setup any real significant offense, showing early of things to come throughout their five round headliner ‘Down Under’ — finding the former’s chin with a massive straight right, and dropping him to his knees, almost resulting in what would’ve come as a shocking upset finish.

Pushing the pace against an all-out-of-ideas Adesanya for the remainder of the bout, Strickland landed the undisputed middleweight crown — in what will go down as one of the most shocking upset victories in the antiquity of the Octagon.

And fast booking his return to action in a bid to launch his first successful middleweight title defense, Strickland travels to Canada next month to headline UFC 297 — taking on the previously mentioned South African contender, du Plessis in a heated grudge match between the two.

Full List Of The LowKick MMA 2023 Upset Of The Year Votes:

• Ross Markey: Sean Strickland
• Ian Shutts: Sean Strickland
• Murdo Todd: Sean Strickland
• Craig Pekios: Sean Strickland
• Makoa Goble: Sean Strickland
• Tony King: Sean Strickland
• Red Pill MMA: Sean Strickland
• Michael Owens: Sean Strickland
• Danny Podolsky: Sean Strickland

LowKickMMA.com

Travis Kelce has divided opinion of late after signing a huge deal with Pfizer to promote the vaccine. 

Many have voiced their disgust with what the NFL tight end is promoting, with Colby Covington being one of many to let his feelings be known on the matter. ‘Chaos’ isn’t the only UFC figure to have his say, with Dana White recently criticizing the sportsman for his involvement in the vaccine campaign.

During an episode of the Full Send podcast, Dana White was asked about his feelings toward the recent surge in vaccination advertisements. The UFC CEO has always been against the vaccine and didn’t hold back when talking about it.

“It’s insane,” White said in response to the recent surge of COVID-19 commercials. “I don’t know him. I don’t know anything about him other than he’s a good football player. He’s getting a lot of attention right now.”

“I don’t know why—unless he’s a believer—why would you promote that garbage? I don’t know why you would do it. It’s pretty f***ing obvious we don’t need it. But like I say, to each his own, man.”

White continued with his rant, this time going at those who still opt to wear masks in public.

“It’s like people that are still wearing masks. You’re basically just telling everybody, ‘Hey, I’m nuts. Hey, check me out I’m f***ing crazy.”

Related: Colby Covington weighs in on ‘piece of sh*t’ Travis Kelce following $ 20 million Pfizer deal

Dana White played a huge part in the return of normalcy to people’s lives during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

White laid the groundwork for fighters to be safe and healthy while competing at a place that’s become familiar to MMA fans, the UFC Apex. This was put into place just months after the global crisis emerged and was welcomed by many amid the uncertainty of those times.

Though the Apex is now looked at in a different light, it will always be remembered for the part it served in keeping a spotlight on the octagon.

🔥 Dana White on Travis Kelce’s Pfizer Deal

“Why would you promote that garbage?” pic.twitter.com/eePvhKV9wu

— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) December 22, 2023

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Michael Chandler seems like he’s getting tired of waiting on Conor McGregor to cement their showdown that’s rumored for the historic UFC 300 card in April.

After squaring off against each other as coaches on The Ultimate Fighter, which filmed in early 2022, Chandler and McGregor have been awaiting an actual date to get announced for their fight. First things first, McGregor had to re-enter the UFC’s anti-doping program but he’ll be eligible to compete again in April.

That said, Chandler still hasn’t received official word that the fight with McGregor is happening so he fired off a couple of shots at the Irish superstar on social media.

“I heard there was a meeting in Abu Dhabi or Dubai tonight — hopefully Dana can convince Conor McGregor to be a man of his word,” Chandler wrote on Twitter. “But we all make claims we can’t back up at times…it’s human nature…I don’t fault him for it.

“Imagine saying it, ‘the greatest comeback in combat sports history’ and then doing a whole sham of a documentary about it, and then never coming back. McGregor FORGOTTEN.”

The documentary that Chandler referenced was a film called McGregor Forever released in early 2023 on Netflix that detailed McGregor’s recovery from a devastating broken leg he suffered in his last outing against Dustin Poirier in 2021. McGregor hasn’t fought since then but Chandler was supposed to be the opponent he would face in his eventual return.

After seeing Chandler’s message, McGregor sniped back in a now deleted message on Twitter that mocked the former Bellator champion’s drawing power without him.

“Chandler-[Renato] Moicano — now there is a [UFC] 300 main event!” McGregor wrote.

For his part, Moicano didn’t seem all that interested while he’s preparing for his own fight against Drew Dober in February.

“Nah, I’m good,” Moicano wrote in response to McGregor. “Too easy.”

Despite the back-and-forth between the fighters, all signs are still pointing towards McGregor and Chandler meeting in 2024 but obviously there’s still no contract in place for the fight. UFC CEO Dana White did say that he planned to meet with McGregor to hash out details about his return to the octagon but the promotion hasn’t made any formal announcements about his fight or Chandler’s involvement.

It appears this will remain a wait-and-see situation until McGregor’s next fight is finally confirmed.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Kevin Holland has given Ian Machado Garry a taste of his own medicine.

Holland recently wore a “Wagged” T-shirt with Garry’s face during a recent training session he posted on Instagram.

Holland’s T-shirt obviously references the current controversy surrounding Garry and his wife, who wrote a book How to be a WAG almost a decade ago.

Holland and Garry both have big fights early next year. Holland is welcoming Michael ‘Venom’ Page to the UFC 299, while Garry is competing against Geoff Neal at UFC 298. Garry upset Neal recently by creating a T-shirt with Neal’s mugshot from a recent arrest.

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Could it be?
| BJPenn.com

UFC

USADA collectors go through all sorts of difficulty getting samples from fighters. PVZ knows all about it.

USADA is on its way out at the end of 2023, to be replaced by a mysterious new organization called Combat Sports Anti-Doping. It’s not a glamorous job as you’re about to learn from Paige VanZant.

VanZant is currently signed with Bare Knuckle FC, but she made her name as a UFC fighter from 2014 to 2020. During that time she also appeared on Dancing with the Stars and Chopped, amongst other reality shows. That doesn’t mean she wasn’t subject to all the awful and awkward moments fighters are, especially when it comes to anti-doping.

“I was about to fight Alex Chambers in Las Vegas, Nevada,” VanZant recalled on her YouTube channel. “And this was right when USADA got implemented in the UFC. So my drug testers show up right after weigh-ins. So I’m in my hotel room re-hydrating. Every single time I would weigh-in, I would try to re-hydrate, instantly sick.”

“So, part of USADA is once they see you, you cannot leave their sight, because, you know, it’s the whole anti-doping,” she continued. “Maybe you’re gonna go do something to mask the drugs or take something. I don’t even know. So, I had my drug tester in the bathroom with me for two hours, while I s— my brains out.”

This is par for the course with USADA. They need to make sure the samples a fighter is giving actually comes from the fighter, which involves a lot of careful scrutiny in the bathroom. The testers that collected the 100+ samples from Paulo Costa and Jiri Prochazka probably know those guys intimately by now.

We’ll see in 2024 how closely the new UFC anti-doping program is watching. In some ways it would be good for them to be a bit more chill.

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