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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Sean O’Malley believes he’ll steal the headlines from Canelo Alvarez after their respective Sept. 14 battles.

O’Malley defends his bantamweight title against Merab Dvalishvili in the main event of UFC 306 at Sphere in Las Vegas, while Alvarez faces Edgar Berlanga on his own Mexican Independence Day card just down the road at T-Mobile Arena.

Although there’s a lot of emphasis on the head-to-head between UFC and one of boxing’s big stars, O’Malley sees it as a fun challenge — and plans to let his performance make the waves throughout the following week.

“I say this every fight, and I’ll probably continue to say it, but I’m so f*cking excited for this fight,” O’Malley said on his YouTube channel. “I wasn’t actually excited for the [Aljamain Sterling] fight, I was f*cking stressed about that fight — just because of my rib, my training camp wasn’t the best, it was good for what we had.

“This fight, I feel good as f*ck. I feel like I love this matchup, he’s got a 10-fight win streak, it’s a big fight, at the Sphere, in competition with boxing.

“I don’t know, it adds a little layer of … when it comes to Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, who are they talking about? Are they talking about Canelo? Are they talking about the boxing fight? Or are they talking about the absolute dominating, beautiful, masterful, masterclass performance I put on Merab — and the viral knockout that came with it? Or are they talking about a 36-minute Canelo boxing fight that was kind of fire?”

O’Malley stopped Sterling in the second round at UFC 292 in August 2023 to win the belt, and put on a clinic in his first title defense against the extremely durable Marlon Vera at UFC 299 in March.

After beating former champ Henry Cejudo at UFC 298 in February, Dvalishvili finally gets his shot at UFC gold for the first time in one of UFC’s most heavily promoted event at Sphere — a location UFC CEO Dana White says he’ll only go to just one time.

O’Malley is ready for the opponent and the spotlight.

“That’s what excites me, like the competition of who are they talking about Sunday, Monday, Tuesday,” O’Malley said. “Who stole the headlines? [It’ll be] me.

“Five weeks out, it’s crazy.”

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During the Dana White’s Contender Series Season 8: Week 1 post-fight press conference on Tuesday, UFC CEO Dana White dropped a bombshell announcement about Conor McGregor’s octagon return.  White stated that McGregor ‘won’t fight this year.’  

McGregor was scheduled to face Michael Chandler in the UFC 303 main event on June 29 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, but was forced out of the bout due to a toe injury.  The bout was expected to be rebooked for December, but according to White, that’s not going to happen.  

Shortly after White’s comments, McGregor responded to the UFC CEO on social media and pushed for a December return date.  

“Ah Dana, December is the date! Bring the calendar year home with a winning event! Come on now, what’s this? I am off to altitude next month to prepare,” McGregor wrote on X.  “DECEMBER! Tell Dana and UFC WE WANT DECEMBER! WE DESERVE DECEMBER!”

Ah Dana, December is the date! Bring the calendar year home with a winning event! Come on now, what’s this? I am off to altitude next month to prepare. DECEMBER! Tell Dana and UFC WE WANT DECEMBER! WE DESERVE DECEMBER! https://t.co/ZTVO4wDBuQ

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) August 14, 2024

McGregor has been out of action since breaking his leg in the final seconds of the opening round in a trilogy bout against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in July 2021. McGregor last tasted victory in January 2020, defeating Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone via technical knockout in just 40 seconds.   

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

UFC CEO Dana White says Conor McGregor will not be back this year.

After suffering a catastrophic leg injury at UFC 264, McGregor was supposed to make his long-awaited return to the octagon earlier this year at UFC 303 against Michael Chandler. The two served opposite each other as coaches on The Ultimate Fighter and the matchup figured to be the one of the biggest events of the year. But a few weeks out of the event, McGregor suffered a toe injury that led him to withdraw from the bout, and now, it looks like “The Notorious” won’t be returning to the octagon until 2025.

At his Contender Series media scrum on Tuesday, Dana White told reporters that he’s been in contact with McGregor, and that while the former two-division champion is still set on returning, it won’t happen this year.

“We talked. We talked,” White said. “We didn’t meet up but we talked, and yeah, he wants to fight. So we’ll figure it out.

“[But] not this year. He won’t fight this year.”

White’s announcement runs counter to McGregor’s previous statements on his return, where “The Notorious” repeatedly suggested the injury would not keep him out long. This has been a recurring theme, as in 2023 and at the beginning of 2024, McGregor announced multiple different return dates, only for White to dismiss them later on.

White’s announcement once again puts Chandler in a difficult situation as the former Bellator lightweight champion has not competed since 2022 while he’s been waiting on McGregor’s return.

UPDATE: It didn’t take long for McGregor to respond.

Ah Dana, December is the date! Bring the calendar year home with a winning event! Come on now, what’s this? I am off to altitude next month to prepare. DECEMBER! Tell Dana and UFC WE WANT DECEMBER! WE DESERVE DECEMBER!

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko both have a finalist.

Team Bullet’s Robert Valentin (10-3) scored his second quick finish of the season, forcing Team Grasso’s Paddy McCorry (4-1) to tap out to a leg trap Americana in the first round. The finish came after Valentin caught McCorry with a head-and-arm throw out of nowhere before smoothly transitioning to the fight-ending submission.

The Ultimate Fighter 32 middleweight finals are now set, with Valentin moving on to fight Team Bullet’s Ryan Loder for a UFC contract and a TUF tournament crown.

Switzerland’s Valentin was one of the most experienced fighters coming into the season and he was the first middleweight fighter drafted by Grasso to join her team. The pick slightly irked Shevchenko, with whom Valentin had previously trained.

When it came time to fight, Valentin lived up to the hype. He needed less than 30 seconds to knock out Giannis Bachar with a monster elbow, and then he made short work of teammate and friend McCorry in the semifinals.

Loder, representing U.S.A., also impressed on his side of the bracket, having submitted Tom Theocharis in the quarterfinals before cementing his TUF 32 finale spot with a gutsy decision win over Omran Chaaban.

Next week, we find out who Team Grasso’s Kaan Ofli meets in the featherweight finals. His teammate Mairon Santos is supposed to fight Team Bullet’s Zygimantas Ramaska, but lingering injuries threaten to cost him the opportunity.

Should Ramaska be unable to compete, the opportunity will go to either Team Grasso’s Guillermo Torres or Team Shevchenko’s Edwin Cooper Jr.

Another Shevchenko fighter, Nathan Fletcher, learned on this week’s episode that he is unable to step in as a replacement after suffering a fractured fibula in his quarterfinal loss to Ofli.

The Ultimate Fighter 32 airs live every Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+.

Following the season finale, Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko are set to face off in a flyweight championship trilogy bout at UFC 306 on Sept. 14 at Sphere in Las Vegas.

The finalists of the TUF 32 middleweight and featherweight tournaments will also compete for a six-figure UFC contract at the show’s live finale. A date for that event is yet to be announced.

Here are the TUF 32 rosters divided by team:

Team Grasso

Featherweights

1. Guillermo Torres (Mexico) (7-1)
2. Kaan Ofli (Australia) (10-2-1)
3. Bekhzod Usmonov (Tajikistan) (11-4)
4. Mairon Santos (Brazil) (13-1)

Featherweights

1. Robert Valentin (Switzerland) (10-3)
2. Paddy McCorry (Ireland) (4-1)
3. Omran Chaaban (Finland) (6-1)
4. Tom Theocharis (Canada) (9-5)

Team Shevchenko

Featherweights

1. Roedie Roets (South Africa) (7-1)
2. Zygimantas Ramaska (Lithuania) (9-2)
3. Nathan Fletcher (England) (8-1)
4. Edwin Cooper Jr. (USA) (6-1)

Middleweights

1. Shamidkhan Magomedov (Russia) (7-1)
2. Mark Hulme (South Africa) (12-3)
3. Ryan Loder (USA) (6-1)
4. Giannis Bachar (Greece) (9-2)

See the semifinal results below:

Middleweight

Ryan Loder def. Omran Chaaban via decision

Paddy McCorry def. Robert Valentin via submission (leg trap Americana) (R1)

Featherweight

Kaan Ofli def. Roedie Roets via submission (guillotine choke) (R1)

Zygimantas Ramaska vs. Mairon Santos

See quarterfinal results below:

Roedie Roets def. Guillermo Torres via decision

Robert Valentin def. Giannis Bachar via KO (strikes) (R1)

Kaan Ofli def. Nathan Fletcher via decision

Omran Chaaban def. Shamidkhan Magomedov via technical submission (anaconda choke) (R2)

Zygimantas Ramaska def. Bekhzod Usmonov

Ryan Loder def. Tom Theocharis via submission (arm-triangle choke)

Mairon Santos def. Edwin Cooper Jr. via split decision

Paddy McCorry def. Mark Hulme via submission (guillotine choke) (R1)

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