The way UFC welterweight veteran Colby Covington talks about Donald Trump and his “dragon energy” is borderline creepy, which is probably why his fellow welterweights want “Chaos” to “grow up and go get a girlfriend.”
Despite the constant outpouring of love, and even a few convenient photo ops, the 36 year-old Covington was edged out by former lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, 35, who was Trump’s first pick for favorite UFC fighter.
“I think Khabib, I mean how good was he?” Trump told Adin Ross. “I don’t think he ever lost a round.”
Covington, however, is 0-3 in welterweight title fights.
Nurmagomedov (29-0) retired from competition after submitting Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 back in late 2020 but frequently returns to corner his friends and family, like undefeated bantamweight sensation Umar Nurmagomedov.
Covington (17-4) has not competed since losing to Leon Edwards last December.
NEW YORK CITY — Canelo Alvarez and Edgar Berlanga faced off for the first time on Monday following their kickoff press conference ahead of Canelo vs. Berlanga on Sept. 14 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. That staredown can be seen above.
The full Canelo vs. Berlanga press conference can be watched below.
With Belal Muhammad now sitting atop the welterweight division, ex-titleholder Kamaru Usman may have found his way back in.
Having lost back-to-back bouts against Leon Edwards, the ‘Nigerian Nightmare’ has been stuck sitting on the outside looking in. That’s no longer the case after Muhammad delivered a dominant five-round showing against ‘Rocky’ to claim the 170-pound crown at UFC 304 in Manchester. Now, ‘Remember The Name’ has an assortment of potential contenders lining up.
Of them, the two most intriguing appear to be Usman and undefeated finisher Shavkat Rakhmonov.
Speaking with ESPN’s Heidi Androl while attending Saturday’s UFC event in Abu Dhabi, Muhammad was asked to choose who he’d rather face between them.
“Any one of them,” Muhammad replied. “Usman, obviously, I think, for legacy. He was one of the biggest names in the division. He’s under GSP, and I think he’s still got treading on the tires even though he lost a close fight to Leon and then a really close fight to to Khamzat. And like I said, I think name value, he has a bigger name.”
“But also, I wanna fight the boogeyman. The boogeyman that everybody says could beat anybody. He’s gonna walk through anybody. And the way my career has been, they’ve always been putting me as underdog.”
“I knew even after beating Leon, they would say, ‘Well, Shavkat will walk through him. He can’t do that to Shavkat.’ I’m just gonna keep doing it,” he added. “I’m gonna do it to every single one of the fighters in the division. Dana White’s just gotta give me a a time and a date, and I’m ready to go” (h/t MMA Mania).
Belal Muhammad plans to defend his title in 2024
Muhammad plans to be an active champion, targeting a return in either November or December. But first, he’ll have to heal up after eating a nasty elbow from Edwards in the closing seconds of their title tilt.
“The stupid nose thing in the last 10 seconds, I gotta get this healed up,” he said. “Once it’s healed up, I’ll get back in the gym, get back to work.”
Muhammad’s win over Edwards extended his unbeaten streak to 10, a run that dates back to his win over Curtis Millender at UFC 236 in April 2019. It was the first loss for ‘Rocky’ in more than eight years.
The biggest fight of Umar Nurmagomedov’s career led to his most impressive performance to date in the main event this past weekend.
There’s been hype surrounding him for a long time now but in an opponent like Cory Sandhagen, he was facing his most skilled, dangerous, and experienced opponent.
Nurmagomedov got his hand raised at the end of five rounds in Abu Dhabi and could have leapfrogged the rest of the division with this win.
He may have been holding the #11-ranking in the division but the writing has been on the wall for some time now in terms of his ranking not reflecting his ability.
UFC commentator Jon Anik believes that even with Sandhagen being his first big win, he would expect Nurmagomedov to be a betting favorite over the two men that are set to fight over the bantamweight title next month.
Jon Anik Believes That Umar Nurmagomedov Will Be A Betting Favorite When He Fights For The Title
In a recent interview with Submission Radio, Anik was asked about Nurmagomedov’s win and who he thinks he will end up fighting for the bantamweight title which is set to be contested between Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 306, in September.
The UFC commentator didn’t pick a winner in that fight for obvious reasons, but he did say that Nurmagomedov could be the oddsmakers pick in either match-up.
He started by complimenting the undefeated contender both for his skills inside the Octagon and his conduct outside of it.
“Umar is like one of the most impressive human beings, fighters, that I’ve met in any walk of life. His ability to connect with people in English already is insane relative to what it was like 24 months ago and he’s always banging on himself in terms of his ability to speak English. He’s fantastic. He’ll be favored against Sean or Merab, I feel pretty convicted in saying that. I just don’t think a lot of guys would be able to dominate Cory Sandhagen in that way. With respect to Cory, and my kids distracting me, I gave Umar all five rounds so impressed doesn’t even begin to describe it.”
Judge Mike Bell agreed with Anik’s viewpoint, awarding all five rounds to Nurmagomedov on the scorecards whilst Ben Cartlidge and David Lethaby both gave Sandhagen one of the five.
#UFCAbuDhabi Official Scorecard: Cory Sandhagen vs Umar Nurmagomedov (@UNmgdv)
The two Canelo Álvarez vs. Edgar Berlanga press conferences set to take place today and tomorrow will stream live on the PBC YouTube Pageas Canelo Promotions presents a Mexican Independence Day weekend extravaganza taking place Saturday, Sept. 14 from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas headlining a PBC Pay-Per-View event available on Prime Video.
Pound-for-pound great and Mexican superstar Canelo Álvarez and undefeated Puerto Rican knockout artist Edgar Berlanga will preview their upcoming showdown for Canelo’s unified WBC, WBA and WBO Super Middleweight World Titles at these press conferences.
The press conferences will also feature Cuban star and reigning WBA Middleweight World Champion Erislandy “The American Dream” Lara and hard-hitting two-division world champion and Puerto Rican star Danny “Swift” García ahead of their 12-round co-main event between two of this era’s most accomplished fighters.
TODAY! Monday, August 5 in New York beginning at
1:00 p.m. ET/10:00 a.m. PT
TOMORROW! Tuesday, August 6 in Los Angeles beginning at
There’s a lot riding on the heavyweight title fight between Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic when they finally meet in November.
While an official announcement about the matchup hasn’t been made, Jones and Miocic are expected to headline UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. For Jones, the fight serves as a bout he’s chased since dispatching Ciryl Gane in rapid-fire fashion back in March 2023 to capture the vacant UFC heavyweight title.
Meanwhile, Miocic wants to cement his legacy as the best heavyweight in history by taking out arguably the greatest fighter of all-time in Jones.
The stakes get even higher with the expectations that one — or both — fighters could potentially retire afterward, although UFC CEO Dana White believes that’s only a certainty as far as one heavyweight is concerned.
“Stipe 100 percent is going to retire after this fight,” White told Kevin Iole. “Listen, Jon Jones, you know how I talk about Jon Jones and what I think of Jon Jones as a fighter — Jon Jones always loves to challenge himself, moved up to heavyweight.
“I don’t know what Jon Jones will do after this fight, but I would be shocked if he didn’t want to test himself against [Tom] Aspinall.”
Tom Aspinall currently reigns as UFC’s interim heavyweight champion. The English powerhouse owns an almost spotless record in the promotion aside from a freak injury that prematurely halted his fight against Curtis Blaydes in 2022. Aspinall recently avenged that setback with a one-minute knockout of Blaydes to defend his interim title at UFC 304.
Overall, Aspinall boasts an 8-1 UFC record with eight finishes. No opponent has even made it past the second round against him. Many within the MMA community believe he’s already established himself as the best heavyweight in UFC no matter what title Jones currently holds, but that makes a potential fight between them that much more intriguing.
White believes Aspinall having so much hype around him now may actually serve as the perfect bait to get Jones interested in the fight, assuming he gets through Miocic.
“Everything I’m saying, these are f*cking facts,” White said. “It’s not like me and Jon Jones have this unbelievable relationship like I have with Ronda [Rousey] and Chuck Liddell and Conor [McGregor] and some of these guys that have fought in the past. You know this is not the case. What I am saying about Jon Jones is undebatable.
“[It’s] undebatable what this guy has accomplished in his career, and if he beats Stipe and he comes out and fights Tom Aspinall and beats him, it’s already undeniable — nobody, I don’t care how much you dislike Jon Jones for what he’s done, this isn’t about personally who Jon Jones is and do you like him, we’re talking about the baddest dude to ever walk the face of the Earth in combat sports already — if he goes out and beats Tom Aspinall, he cements his legacy as the greatest fighter of all-time.”
While Aspinall may have momentum right now, White still wants to let Jones and Miocic settle their business in November after promising both of them he would make that fight.
Despite Miocic sitting out for the past three years and his most recent outing ending in a brutal knockout loss to Francis Ngannou, White believes Miocic has earned the opportunity to come back and face Jones for his likely last chance at reclaiming the UFC title.
“This title fight was supposed to happen a long time ago,” White said. “All the things that happened from injuries, whatever that got in the way — you’ve got two sides of the coin. You’ve got everybody talking about, ‘Dana doesn’t respect this guy and he doesn’t do this and he doesn’t do that.’ I’m showing both of these guys the respect. They want to fight each other. It’s a fight that they both want to happen. Total respect fight. I think they both deserve it.
“At the end of the day, I get it. Everybody wants to see Tom Aspinall, but let me tell you what, after Stipe and Jon fight, whoever wins, the Aspinall fight is even bigger.”
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