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Shavkat Rakhmonov understands that Conor McGregor returning is big box office, but he still feels he’s the no-brainer option to get the next UFC welterweight title shot — even if the former two-division champion delivers in his comeback fight.

Rakhmonov appears to be the likely No. 1 contender for the 170-pound championship, which is currently around the waist of Belal Muhammad following the now-champ’s win over Leon Edwards at UFC 304. “Nomad” told MMA Fighting that he was offered a title shot against Muhammad at UFC 307 in October, and agreed to it, but claims Muhammad declined due to the timing of the fight.

Should McGregor return to fight Michael Chandler—which was initially scheduled as a welterweight bout to take place at UFC 303 in June—before Rakhmonov puts pen to paper on a contract to fight Muhammad, McGregor’s star power could potentially make things murky, as history suggests. Regardless, Rakhmonov believes the UFC will stick to their word.

“To be honest, I don’t even think about when’s Conor going to fight, [and] when he’s going to be ready,” Rakhmonov told MMA Fighting. “I don’t think about all that. He’s been getting ready to fight for a long time but wasn’t able to do that yet. So, in my head, I don’t really think about him [maybe] winning this one fight in three years. [Is that] going to do something?

“I understand he’s a big star but in my head, I don’t see it being possible, I believe UFC is the best and the most fair organization, so I believe they’re going to do everything right.”

The 29-year-old Rakhmonov has finishes all 18 of his opponents, including the six fighters he’s faced in the UFC. In his most recent outing, the No. 3-ranked welterweight in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings became the first fighter to submit Stephen Thompson at UFC 292 this past December.

While Rakhmonov doesn’t think McGregor has a case to jump the line over him should timing work out in the Irish superstar’s favor, he admits that a fight with McGregor would certainly interest him should it be offered — although, it’s not something he’s chasing.

“So yeah, who don’t wanna fight Conor right now?” Rakhmonov said. “But to be honest, I don’t even think about it for me. The most important thing is to win the belt, and that’s my focus.”

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The Irish presence
| BJPenn.com

The Saudi Arabian boxing power broker wants to slash PPV prices on Riyadh Season events down to $ 20 in order to combat piracy.

If combat sports fans have any concerns about Saudi Arabia taking over the boxing landscape in the past couple of years, they’re keeping mostly quiet because power broker Turki Alalshikh keeps delivering the goods.

Alalshikh is the Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority, a government department in Saudi Arabia that regulates and promotes entertainment events inside and outside the country. They’re the ones bankrolling all the recent major heavyweight showdowns, with long-awaited but never realized bouts finally becoming a reality.

Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk 1 and 2, Tyson Fury vs. Francis Ngannou, and Francis Ngannou vs. Anthony Joshua were all put together quickly and easily by Alalshikh, who uses his Saudi bankroll to bulldoze through any problems or disagreements he encounters.

Now, Alalshikh is about to make another move which will make combat sports fans happy: he’s going to slash the price of boxing pay-per-views.

“You mention the PPV, I think this is my next big fight,” he said in an interview with talkSPORT. “I dream of a PPV with a good price to make the fans happy and subscribe and get them to watch it legally. Usually when I see a high PPV [price], a lot of people go and watch the fight illegally, and this is not healthy for boxing and the platform.”

“What I will try to push is to have our Riyadh Season shows at less than £20 in England and less than $ 20 around the world. I would prefer to have one million fans subscribe and buy the PPV for $ 20 than less than 500,000.”

The price of pay-per-views has skyrocketed over the years. I remember a day long long ago in 2006 when UFC events cost $ 39.95. Nowadays UFC pay-per-views cost $ 79.99, and the upcoming Canelo Alvarez vs. Edgar Berlanga fight is $ 89.99.

“The people go around it illegally because the price is high,” Alalshikh said. “In the future, this will not build boxing. If I give the fans good fights at a good price, then I will increase the fanbase.”

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Caio Borralho scored the biggest win of his MMA career in the main event of UFC Vegas 96, coming close to a knockout over one-time title contender Jared Cannonier and then called for a shot at UFC middleweight king Dricus du Plessis.

Borralho realizes it’s highly unlikely that he’s next in line for the belt with Sean Strickland as the probable contender to rematch du Plessis in the near future, but feels that his callout served its purpose despite not guaranteeing him an opportunity.

“This is the third time I call him out,” Borralho said. “Last time I called him out he went on Twitter and said something like, ‘Win two more and we’ll talk.’ I think this is my third or fourth win since then. He has already beaten Strickland, [Israel] Adesanya and [Robert] Whittaker, and the other guys ranked ahead of me have fights booked now.

“I knew maybe I wouldn’t go straight for Dricus, but it would make more noise. And I’m sure that if Strickland gets hurt, my name will be in the conversation for a short notice after this callout. He has already beaten the others. If [Robert] Whittaker beats [Khamzat] Chimaev, [the UFC] will probably call me instead of him.”

Borralho has won seven in a row since joining the UFC, adding to his two victories on Dana White’s Contender Series, and said UFC chief business officer Hunter Campbell told him after UFC Vegas 96 that he “probably needs one more fight” before earning a shot at gold.

“[Campbell] was super happy [with my performance],” Borralho said. “He said, ‘In the top 5 of this sport, you can’t be a guy that quits, that throws caution to the wind and fights reckless, and you showed that today. You showed quality and heart, and we’ll see what we have for you. I don’t know if it’s going to be Dricus, but I’ll find a fun fight for you, and then you’ll go for the belt.’ I’m anxious to see which fun fight is that.”

“I hope it’s Adesanya — respectfully, I’m planting that seed little by little,” he continued. “There’s also Jiri Prochazka cutting down [to middleweight], but I don’t know if it interests me as much as a fight with Adesanya, for example. For now all I want is to rest and take some time off. I fought three months ago and again now, so my body needs a quick break, but I’m anxious to see what the UFC has in mind.”

Adesanya came up short in his attempt to regain the UFC middleweight title for the third time earlier this month, losing via submission to du Plessis at UFC 305 and dropping to 1-3 in his past four appearances. “The Last Stylebender” was 11-0 as a middleweight prior to this stretch, with his only recent loss coming in a 205-pound title match against Jan Blachowicz.

“I know it’s a good fight style-wise for me,” Borralho said. “Like it or not, I have wrestling and jiu-jitsu, and we know Adesanya’s weaknesses. He was dominant champion for so long and has a huge fanbase, he’s gigantic in the sport, one of the biggest stars in the UFC, so imagine fighting this guy. And I’m truly confident that I can win. I can take him to deep waters, especially now that he’s not performing the way he used to when he was in his prime. I think this fight makes total sense, and I’d be very confident going into it.”

Borralho has extra confidence after stopping Paul Craig with punches in May and following it up with a decision nod over Cannonier, and feels he would have gotten the knockout at UFC APEX if he had just stopped hitting Cannonier at the right time.

“The knockout was meant to come, but I think [the referee] didn’t want to risk it after his last fight was stopped too early,” Borralho said, referring to Cannonier’s controversial TKO defeat to Nassourdine Imavov. “If I had raised my hands after the knockdown and walked away, I think he would have stopped it. Truth is, I woke him up. I put him to sleep and then woke him up by hitting him [laughs]. But it was an incredible performance. Everybody saw the knockout and saw that I have cardio for five rounds. Even my biggest haters on Earth saw I have cardio and knockout power for five rounds.”

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Following his win over Cory Sandhagen at the start of August, Umar Nurmagomedov would appear to be the next in line to challenge for the bantamweight title.

Sean O’Malley will be defending the belt against Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 306 while Nurmagomedov watches on to see how it plays out.

The only thing that could potentially stop the undefeated contender from getting his shot is if there is the potential to put on a massive fight between UFC champions.

O’Malley has spoken in the past about wanting to challenge himself at featherweight and though Dvalishvili presents a very serious threat, “Suga” has big plans.

The current champion has spoken about wanting to face Nurmagomedov but a super fight against the winner of the featherweight title fight at UFC 308 could be a now-or-never opportunity for O’Malley and the promotion.

Tim Welch Says Super Fight Could Be Next For Sean O’Malley Under The Right Circumstances

In a recent interview with James Lynch for Bodog Canada, O’Malley’s head coach Tim Welch gave his thoughts on Nurmagomedov being the next contender.

Welch believes that taking on the cousin of the great Khabib Nurmagomedov will be their next challenge unless the main events of UFC 306 and UFC 308 end in emphatic fashion.

He thinks that the UFC could strike while the iron is hot if both O’Malley and either Ilia Topuria or Max Holloway is able to put in a statement performance before going on to face each other, leaving Nurmagomedov to wait a bit longer for his chance.

Welch referenced Dan Henderson’s iconic knockout of Michael Bisping at UFC 100 to make the case for this fight being put together if there is enough buzz.

“I think we’ll see how it goes and if Ilia, maybe if Max knocks out Ilia or Ilia knocks out Max cold and then ‘Suga’ just face plants Merab and drops a ‘Hendo’ bomb on him at the end and it’s just spectacular knock outs, I don’t think Dana and those guys would be opposed to make a super fight.”

Read also: Sean O’Malley’s Coach On Henry Cejudo: ‘Thinks He’s God’s Gift…’ 

Continue Reading Coach On Sean O’Malley Not Defending Title Against Umar Nurmagomedov: “If ‘Suga’ Just Faceplants Merab & Drops A ‘Hendo’ Bomb…” at MMA News.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

KO!
| BJPenn.com

Syndicate MMA head coach John Wood knows grappling got Merab to the dance, and they’re not going to try and re-invent him for his title fight against Sean O’Malley.

Merab Dvalishvili has the biggest fight of his career when he headlines Noche UFC at the Sphere on September 14th against bantamweight champ Sean O’Malley.

Dvalishvili is still tight with his longtime team at Serra-Longo in New York, but since moving to Las Vegas he’s been training out of Syndicate MMA under head coach John Wood. And while Wood is undoubtedly working hard on Merab’s ability to hang with a striker of O’Malley’s pedigree, he’s not looking to re-invent the Georgian into something he’s not.

“I always, as a coach, look at the things that make Sean Sean and what we need to do to get around it,” Wood told Red Corner MMA. “And I never wanna overlook what got Merab to the dance, what brought Merab into this fight.”

“We have to try and keep those things in check, and not lose ourselves,” he continued. ”’Oh, we have to go learn traditional boxing. We have to do these things to compete with O’Malley.’ Because that’s how we’re gonna get knocked out.”

So what is Wood’s goal when working on the evolution of Merab Dvalishvili?

“Merab is a crazy man, we’ve just started to make him a technical crazy man,” Wood said. “Sean, there’s always holes in everybody’s game. If you’re really good at this, it opens up this. If you’re really good at countering that, it opens up this. It might take us a few more times to get where we need to get, but we’re gonna get there.”

“We’ve never seen Sean get pressured enough to where he breaks. But when you start to pressure him, there is a level of he does get tired. He does start to get a little whatever, but he’s very composed. He’s a world champion for a reason, so it’s not like you can pressure Sean and he just goes to s—. But if Merab can do Merab?”

All Dvalishvili has to do is avoid getting knocked out like his friend and training partner Aljamain Sterling.

“We’ve got a guy in here right now that’s a world champion striker who is a sniper just like O’Malley,” Wood said. “He’s built like him, doing things like him. There’s a lot of really good strikers [at Syndicate]. I’m not saying he is O’Malley, but we’ve got a lot of guys that can emulate that. I don’t think anybody out there can emulate what Merab does, the chaos that he brings.”

“Every fight since he’s been here at the gym, he’s getting better,” Wood assessed. “And he’s learning how to control and use his weapons properly. So Sean’s very good. There’s very few holes. But there’s definitely things we can capitalize on that we will capitalize on.”

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