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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Conor McGregor is never going to let the beef die.

The former two-division UFC champion exploded on social media Monday after U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump named Khabib Nurmagomedov as his favorite fighter during an interview with gaming streamer Adin Ross. In a barrage of angry posts, McGregor called the former Republican nominee’s answer a “shocking” and “campaign ending decision” that “won’t go unnoticed on the [UFC] roster,” arguing that Trump should’ve picked an American fighter rather than the Dagestan-born former lightweight champion.

McGregor’s entire meltdown can be seen below.

McGregor, 36, and Nurmagomedov, 35, of course have plenty of history with one another.

The two former champs collided in an October 2018 grudge match at UFC 229 that remains the biggest pay-per-view event in MMA history, drawing more than 2 million buys. After an ugly lead-up that included McGregor infamously smashing a bus window with a dolly, Nurmagomedov dominated the Irishman en route to a fourth-round submission stoppage.

Afterward, with the bad blood still simmering, Nurmagomedov leapt over the cage and ignited a wild brawl with McGregor’s cornermen and team.

While Nurmagomedov retired in 2020 as an undefeated UFC champion, McGregor ostensibly continues to fight on. The controversial Irishman has dropped two of his three bouts in the years since the Nurmagomedov loss, and recently withdrew from a scheduled contest against Michael Chandler at UFC 303 after suffering a broken pinky toe.

Chandler continues to wait on the sidelines for the McGregor bout, which is expected to be re-booked in late 2024. So unsurprisingly, the American couldn’t help but chime in Monday.

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Islam Makhachev may have picked up where the great Khabib Nurmagomedov left off with dominating the lightweight division, but his legacy has also been continued by his own family.

There are a lot of parallels in the careers of Khabib and his younger cousin Umar Nurmagomedov.

Both have been incredibly dominant inside the Octagon but during their climbs, were held back by injuries and issues with finding opponents.

Eventually, “The Eagle” was undeniable and proved himself to be a top-tier lightweight and that’s what happened in the bantamweight division with Umar this past weekend.

His win over Cory Sandhagen means that just like Islam and his cousin before him, he’s arrived at the top at long last.

Javier Mendez Says Khabib Was A Better Grappler But Umar Nurmagomedov Is Already A Better Striker

In a recent interview with The Schmo, AKA head coach Javier Mendez was asked to compare Umar and Khabib as fighters, given where the undefeated 135-pound contender is at right now.

Mendez is very high on Umar’s potential and went on to say that with Islam being four years older than him, Khabib’s cousin could go on to claim the position of being the number 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world at some stage.

He spoke about what separates the two cousins, by running down which one has the edge in terms of their skill set and toughness.

“Well as far as skills at this juncture of their careers, that’s a tough one you hit me with. I would say that Khabib’s ground is still top notch. Umar’s ground is great but Khabib was just another level but again, Khabib’s stand up wasn’t up to where Umar’s is on par. But, as far as their mental, their mental is fairly comparable. Khabib’s chin’s granite, I’ve never seen anybody have a chin like Khabib. Umar has got a great chin as he proved from the last fight when he got dropped and he was able to go for the takedown as he was being dropped but I guess the chin level would have to go with Khabib but the mental toughness, I think they’re pretty equal, mental toughness. I mean Umar is a tough customer man.”

Read also: Umar Nurmagomedov ‘Not Happy’ With Performance Against Cory Sandhagen At UFC Fight Night Abu Dhabi: ‘I Thought I Would Maul Him’

Continue Reading Javier Mendez Chooses Between Khabib & Umar Nurmagomedov In Striking, Grappling, Mental Toughness, & Chin at MMA News.

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UFC

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Terence Crawford pocketed a disclosed purse more than three times larger than now-former WBA champion Israil Madrimov for their boxing showdown this past Saturday.

Crawford, who became a four-division champion with a unanimous decision over Madrimov to capture the WBA junior middleweight title, earned a disclosed purse of $ 2,500,000 for his handiwork. Madrimov, competing in his 10th professional bout following an extensive and decorated amateur career, earned a $ 750,000 disclosed purse in the losing effort.

The California State Athletic Commission released the event’s salary report on Monday in the aftermath of Crawford vs. Madrimov, which took place at Los Angeles’ BMO Stadium.

In addition to Crawford, one other fighter on the card crossed the seven-figure threshold with their disclosed purse — now-former WBA super lightweight champion Isaac Cruz earned a $ 1,500,000 disclosed payday for his stunning upset loss to Jose Valenzuela ($ 500,000) in the event’s co-headliner.

A complete list of the Crawford vs. Madrimov salaries can be seen below. As always, these figures do not represent a fighter’s total earnings, as certain sponsorship incomes, pay-per-view earnings, and other streams of income are not publicly disclosed.

• Terence Crawford ($ 2,500,000) def. Israil Madrimov ($ 750,000)
• Jose Valenzuela ($ 500,000) def. Isaac Cruz ($ 1,500,000)
• Andy Ruiz ($ 900,000) vs. Jarrell Miller ($ 450,000) ruled a majority draw
• Martin Bakole ($ 375,000) def. Jared Anderson ($ 660,000)
• David Morrell ($ 750,000) def. Radivoje Kalajdzic ($ 350,000)
• Andy Cruz ($ 200,000) def. Antonio Moran ($ 37,500)
• Steve Nelson ($ 50,000) def. Marcos Ramon Vazquez ($ 12,500)
• Ziyad Almaayouf ($ 40,000) vs. Michal Bulik ($ 10,000) ruled a majority draw

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All signs are pointing toward Jon Jones defending his strap against Stipe Miocic next time out, but he may have a new contender.

Since capturing the heavyweight throne, Jones has had a target on his back. The Hall-of-Famer is being eyed by a number of elite fighters, and one man who is passionate about getting that fight remains Tom Aspinall.

While Aspinall has been pushing for the mega fight, it seems Dana White may go in a different direction. According to the UFC CEO, Alex Pereira could steal the Jon Jones fight, under one condition. 

“This guy [Alex Pereira] is a killer, everybody loves him,” White said during a recent interview. “To think about him moving up to heavyweight when you talk about guys like Ciryl Gane, Aspinall, Volkov. I mean, these guys are monsters.”

“Ciryl Gane is huge, man. He’s huge, he’s athletic, he’s powerful. I like Alex. Alex is a savage. Let Alex do what he’s doing in his division.”

“You know what, if he wipes out the entire division, and we’re sitting here going, ‘Who’s next?’ Then maybe you let him move up to heavyweight and do some type of super fight there.”

Listen to Dana White’s opinion on Alex Pereira, Jon Jones, and more below.

This isn’t the first time Jon Jones and Alex Pereira have been rumored to fight.

Related: Jon Jones eyeing ‘massive’ fight with Alex Pereira

At the height of his feud with Tom Aspinall, Jones took interest in a matchup against the seemingly unstoppable ‘Poatan’.

Pereira hinted at the possibility of moving up to heavyweight in search of a historic third UFC title. This captured the attention of Jon Jones who, in turn, called out the Brazilian.

‘Bones’ believes beating a killer like Alex Pereira would be huge for his legacy. Though, he is first looking to get past the threat posed by the vastly experienced Stipe Miocic.

MMAWeekly.com | UFC and MMA News, Results, Rumors, and Videos

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Sean O’Malley’s coach Tim Welch refuses to back down from Merab Dvalishvili and Aljamain Sterling.

On Sept. 14, O’Malley defends his bantamweight title against Dvalishvili in the main event of UFC 306. The fight is a continuation of O’Malley’s rivalry with the Serra-Longo fight camp, as “Suga” won the belt by stopping Sterling, Dvalishvili’s friend and teammate. And given their history, things have gotten tumultuous between the two camps, starting with a series of messages back in May, and most recently resulting in a heated exchange of words at a media event this past week where Dvalishvili threatened to fight Welch in the street.

Speaking with Submission Radio recently, Welch weighed in on the situation.

“Initially, I thought it was because I said we’re going to target his nose in an interview, which isn’t a lie,” Welch said. “I mean, it’s not a lie. I’ve never really said fighting words to those guys. But then Merab tweeted out and said, ‘Next time I see you, I’m going to take care of it,’ or something. And it’s like, come on, brother. I haven’t trained martial arts my whole life for a little 5-foot-4 guy to try to punk me out. I’ve trained my whole life and I’m only 34 years old. I’m six foot, 195 pounds. It’s like, alright, alright, well, we’ll see what happens.

“But that’s that’s besides the point. This is a huge fight. We got the No. 1 contender versus the champion of the world. That fight is going to happen 100 percent. ‘Sugar Show’ versus Merab, and we’re preparing and we’re more dialed in than we’ve ever been because Merab does pose a serious, serious threat.”

Dvalishvili is not the only one to take umbrage with Welch’s words. In a recent appearance on The MMA Hour, Sterling gave his thoughts on the situation, saying Welch should not be talking trash to a fighter, and if he keeps doing so, suggesting that “there are consequences for things that are being said.”

For Welch, all of this comes down Sterling and his team still being upset that O’Malley beat them.

“I think they’re still bitter,” Welch said. “They let the little curly-haired, funny guy who makes all these videos, who has tattoos on his face — Sean flat-lined [Sterling]. Sean punched him and dropped bombs on him, forced him to turtle up. You’ve got this world championship on the line and you’re fighting the ‘Sugar Show,’ I’m glad you were thinking about fighting me and not the fight you are in.”

Ultimately for Welch, he wants to stay focused on the thing that matters — UFC 306 — and he suggests Dvalishvili does the same. But much like Sterling said, if the other team wants to make something of this as the fight draws near, Welch does not intend to back down.

“It’s probably not smart for Merab to do that [on] fight week. Maybe after the fight,” Welch said. “You got the biggest fight of your life and you’ve got the opportunity to get a world championship. So, fight week, stepping into my face is probably not smart. You’ve got a fight ahead of you that you’re going to get paid for, so taking on me is not very smart. But we’ll see what happens. If they think our team is going to cower down to their team like [Henry] Cejudo’s team did, then they’re going to be wrong. They’re wrong about that.”

UFC 306 takes place at the Sphere in Las Vegas.

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Back Injury?
| BJPenn.com