CombatSports.org

submitted by /u/RhysPawn [link] [comments]

MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Jon Jones had some choice words in response to a Tom Aspinall interview, to say the least.

Aspinall recorded a cheeky interview with SPORTbible, in which he couldn’t help but take a jab at Jones when the question of who is “the champion of fight dodging?” was lobbed up for him. The two have been involved in a heated public rivalry for the better part of the last year, with Aspinall (the UFC’s interim heavyweight champion) accusing Jones of avoiding a fight with him and instead choosing to defend his heavyweight title against the comparatively inactive Stipe Miocic.

“Fight dodging?” Aspinall said. “That would have to be Jon Jones, wouldn’t it? We know he’s trying to fight ‘Old Man Stipe.’ Well, he’s going to fight Stipe. He’s the fight dodger around here.”

The slight did not go unnoticed by Jones, who left a vulgar comment in the replies that was later deleted.

“This dude literally has my large black c*ck in his mouth every week,” Jones wrote. “I’m flattered. I absolutely guarantee he will not win more world championships than me. That’s truly all that matters at the end of the day.

“There’s been many champions, no one like me. I sleep good at night.”

Jones won a vacant UFC heavyweight title with a dominant submission win over Ciryl Gane at UFC 285 in March 2023. Prior to his move to heavyweight, Jones reigned over the 205-pound division for over a decade, going undefeated with the exception of a disqualification loss to Matt Hamill. He won light heavyweight gold three times, having lost an undisputed belt for his involvement in a hit-and-run and an interim belt after failing a drug test. His final run as light heavyweight champion ended in 2020 amid a pay dispute with the UFC and a subsequent change of divisions.

It is not yet known when Jones’ bout with Miocic will be rescheduled (the two were previously booked to fight at UFC 295), but all signs point to the fighters finally crossing paths in November.

In the time since Jones’ win over Gane, Aspinall has won an interim heavyweight title and successfully defended it. He defeated Sergei Pavlovich to win the vacant belt at UFC 295 and then defeated Curtis Blaydes via 60-second knockout at UFC 304 this past July.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Will it happen?
| BJPenn.com

O’Malley is the big star headlining the UFC’s massive Sphere show, but Sterling believes his record is as suspect as Jake Paul’s.

Aljamain Sterling is throwing shade at Sean O’Malley weeks out from “Suga’s” toughest fight ever as he defends his bantamweight belt against Merab Dvalishvili at Riyadh Season Noche UFC on September 14th.

“Funkmaster” has had a chip on his shoulder over O’Malley since the young YouTube star knocked him out in their UFC 292 showdown back in August 2023. According to the former UFC 135 pound champ, it has to do with the route O’Malley took to get to the belt, which he likened to influencer boxer and notorious sandbagger Jake Paul. Aljo explained the gripe with Xtreme Couture head coach Eric Nicksick on his Verse Us podcast.

“I want to see the best of the best compete, no excuses,” Sterling said. “Now, enter O’Malley. He fights one ranked guy and gets a title shot — a split decision albeit. This is not me hating. This is just calling a spade a spade.”

Sterling brought up how the UFC pressured him to defend his title against Sean O’Malley just three months after he defended against Henry Cejudo. He suggested the whole thing was a plot by the promotion to give “Suga” the best chance of winning the belt against a stylistically difficult champion.

“For me, as a competitor, I can never respect that as a man,” he said. “As a man, as a competitor. It’s like the Jake Paul route. Stacking the deck so that you get these highlights or you get these favorable match-ups and these wins to look as good as you do.”

He also flamed “Suga” for having his first title defense against Marlon “Chito” Vera, who is the only man to defeat O’Malley in MMA — a dubiously controversial win earned off injuring Sean’s leg early in their fight.

“You get an easier title defense against a guy you’re clearly worlds better than. Stylistically, the guy’s not going to try and take you down. He can’t take you down because he has no wrestling ability, and he’s ranked six. He didn’t even deserve to be in there.”

Sterling went on to criticize O’Malley’s record further on X (formerly Twitter).

“I’ve always liked Sean’s style since his DWCS fight where I first saw him,” Aljo wrote. “Even complimented him on the JRE podcast. He’s very good. But facts are facts … O’Malley resume in order (all unranked): Ware, Soukhamthath, Quinonez, Wineland, Chito (weird tko), Almeida, Moutinho, Paiva. Ranked: Munhoz (NC eye poke), Yan by split also, then me, then skips #2 Merab for Chito.”

He responded to the haters who suggested his own run was nothing to write home about.

“Try looking at my resume before you come at me bro lol,” he wrote. “I’ve fought all the killers at 135 when they were ALL red hot! 3 unranked opponents my UFC career. Watch ya tone and add respect when you talk about my run.”

Whatever you think of O’Malley’s past record, there’ll be no more easy fights for him so long as he holds the bantamweight belt. Merab Dvalishvili is the best 135er in the world without a title, and then if “Suga” wins on September 14th at UFC 306 he has to fight Umar Nurmagomedov next.

It’s killers in the division all the way down to No. 10 ranked Jose Aldo, so time will tell if O’Malley has what it takes to cement his position as a worthy champion in the UFC.

MMAmania.com – All Posts

submitted by /u/RhysPawn [link] [comments]

MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Conor McGregor’s future could become clearer soon, according to Dana White.

The UFC CEO hosted an Instagram Live chat on Wednesday evening, in which he teased an update on the status of “The Notorious.” McGregor has been out of action since breaking his leg in a July 2021 loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264, and after a tumultuous summer that saw a scheduled bout with Michael Chandler fall through, there has been no news on when McGregor’s long-awaited comeback will be rescheduled.

White has had to repeatedly shoot down the possibility of McGregor fighting before the end of 2024, so it remains to be seen what White plans to announce for the former two-division champion.

“Conor news coming up, we’ve got Oliveira news coming up,” White said. “We’ve got Chandler news coming up. We’ve got Max Holloway news coming up. All that good shit. Coming soon.”

Shortly after White completed his IG chat, McGregor appeared to respond to the comment with a sly emoji.

Former lightweight champion Charles Oliveira has been awaiting his next booking since a loss to Arman Tsarukyan this past April at UFC 300. “Do Bronx” was expected to earn a UFC title shot and a rematch with Islam Makhachev with a win over Tsarukyan, but now seeks to knock off another top name at 155 pounds to remain in the championship discussion.

Chandler’s pursuit of the McGregor fight has sidelined him for close to two years now, but the lightweight contender continues to insist that his matchup with the Irish superstar will take place at some point.

As for Holloway, White’s mention of the “BMF” champion was odd given that Holloway is already booked to fight undefeated featherweight titleholder Ilia Topuria at UFC 308 on Oct. 26. However, given that Holloway is currently a contender at both 145 and 155 pounds, perhaps there are already plans for Holloway at lightweight regardless of the UFC 308 main event result.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Israel Adesanya suffered a defeat on his return at UFC 305 but as always, he was incredibly respectful and humble in defeat.

Fight fans have seen “The Last Stylebender” come up short on four occasions during his time in the promotion.

Which each loss, he has always continued to represent himself and his team incredibly well and this is something that his coach takes a lot of pride in.

The only slight exception to this was his loss to Sean Strickland at UFC 293, where Adesanya decided to not speak to the media but this was understandable after the amount of time he had spent doing his media duties throughout his UFC career.

In fact, the former middleweight champion’s character after a defeat is so strong that his coach prefers this side of him to the celebratory one after a win.

Eugene Bareman Says Israel Adesanya Is Better At Handling Losses Than Anyone Else In MMA

Though City Kickboxing head coach Eugene Bareman would obviously rather that Adesanya wins each and every one of his fights, he does like seeing the man that his fighter is in the difficult moments where he lets his opponent have their moment without stepping in the way.

There was a lot of tension between Adesanya and Dricus Du Plessis heading into this fight but any beef was squashed after the two men faced off in Perth.

During a recent appearance on the ‘Who The Fook Are These Guys?’ podcast, Bareman spoke about how great “The Last Stylebender” is after a defeat.

He also referenced how the shock upset loss to Strickland is an exception because they weren’t able to take positives or lessons from that particular setback.

“Yeah he keeps handling it well and you’re right, I love the way he loses. I actually prefer the way he loses than the way he wins. I’m not a big fan of some of the ways he win but I’m definitely a big fan of the way he loses. I think he does it better than anyone in the sport. In a sport that’s proliferated with a bunch of idiots that make up all sorts of the most ridiculous things I’ve seen over the years, especially at that level it’s just crazy, and I think he does it the best but I mean the Strickland loss, he’ll never get over. You just fought badly and it was unexplainable.”

Read also: Dan Hooker’s Coach Feels Unlucky Mateusz Gamrot Let Down By ‘The Machine’: ‘That Should Have Been His Opportunity…’

Continue Reading Israel Adesanya’s Coach Honest About UFC 305 Loss: ‘I Prefer The Way He Loses Than The Way He Wins…’ at MMA News.

MMA News

submitted by /u/RhysPawn [link] [comments]

MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

submitted by /u/RhysPawn [link] [comments]

MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Striking Display
| BJPenn.com