UFC CEO, Dana White has revealed that while he has yet to nail down a date for a rescheduled fight between Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler, himself, fans and broadcast partners, ESPN would “love” to see the clash take place before the end of this annum.
McGregor, a former two-weight champion, marked three years away from the Octagon earlier this month, seeing his most recent fight coming in the form of a first round doctor’s stoppage TKO loss to common-foe, Dustin Poirier back at UFC 264.
And booked to headline UFC 303 at the end of last month during International Fight Week, Conor McGregor confirmed his withdrawal from a fight with Missouri veteran, Chandler, citing a fractured toe on his left foot in the process.
However, remaining hopeful of rebooking a fight with the former three-time Bellator MMA champion before the close of the annum, over the course of the weekend, McGregor confirmed he had held positive talks with White, and assured Chandler he would be fighting him before the curtain closes on 2024.
Mandatory Credit: Jose Penuela
Dana White confident of booking Conor McGregor x Michael Chandler this year
And amid links to a potential showdown on December 14. in the main event of UFC 310 in Las Vegas, McGregor’s comeback fight is yet to be nailed down as of yet, according to promotional leader, White, who remains optimistic of securing a date this annum for the Dubliner’s return.
“Yeah, that’s the fight that needs to happen,” Dana White said during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show. “Every – we’ve been waiting for it, it’s an awesome fight, it’s a fun fight. And yeah, as I’m sitting here right here right now, no, I don’t have a date for it or a plan or anything like that.”
“Obviously, me, the fans, and ESPN would love it [the fight] to happen in ‘24,” White continued. “We’ll see what happens.”
Do you want to see Conor McGregor take on Michael Chandler before the end of 2024?
It’s rare that a week goes by where Sean Strickland isn’t starting up a new beef with someone via social media.
Whether he’s trading words with someone online or causing controversy by sparring someone that is not skilled enough to be in there with him, the former UFC middleweight champion is always producing talking points.
His latest public feud has been with public speaker and athlete David Goggins, due to comments that Strickland made about Goggins’ military career.
Goggins went as far as to challenge the 185-pound contender to three days of spending a training camp with him in exchange for three sparring rounds in boxing.
One fellow member of the roster is tired of Strickland’s antics and believes that he is only doing this to make himself heard – since he isn’t the champion anymore.
Belal Muhammad Says Sean Strickland Is Chasing Clout After Losing UFC Title
Belal Muhammad spoke in a recent interview with The Schmo about his thoughts on Strickland’s recent beef with Goggins.
The number one welterweight contender has never seen eye-to-eye with the often unfiltered former champion and this is no different.
Muhammad, who is set to challenge Leon Edwards for the title at UFC 304 later this month, is very much over what he sees as Strickland’s attempts to grab more attention.
He also dared Strickland to take Goggins up on his offer in order to really put his money where his mouth is.
“I wouldn’t call it a [real] beef. That’s what Sean is right? He’s a troll. Nobody cares what he says anymore because he doesn’t have the belt anymore. so now he’s just starting to attack these other guys with bigger followings and things like that, just to get attention.
“I knew what he was from the beginning, he’s fake. He’s not this tough guy that he says he is or this crazy guy that he says he is. He’s just doing stuff for clout and if he’s a man, challenge David Goggins dude… David Goggins’ workout, let’s see if you push through. Let’s see how big your heart is.”
Read also: Kamaru Usman Calls For Leon Edwards’ ‘Killer’ To Come Out At UFC 304: ‘If You Know You’re The Top Dog…’
Continue Reading UFC Welterweight Slams Sean Strickland For Inciting Social Media Beef To Get Attention: ‘If He’s A Man, Challenge David Goggins…’ at MMA News.
Diego Lopes | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Diego Lopes wants to re-book his fight with Brian Ortega.
The rising featherweight sensation agreed to a short-notice bout with the two-time title challenger for UFC 303 in late June after the card lost Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler, but saw the matchup move up a weight class and then change altogether when Dan Ige stepped in on hours’ notice as his new opponent.
Lopes won a decision that night and he’s adamant that Ortega should be his next UFC foe. For that reason, Lopes has decided to dismiss callouts from former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling and his former opponent Movsar Evloev.
“It doesn’t make sense now,” Lopes told Canal Encarada when asked about possibly facing Sterling next. “We were going to fight the No. 3 in the world, then we fought the No. 13 and went up two positions. The UFC has basically guaranteed me a fight with a top-five [opponent] now so Aljamain Sterling makes no sense, and neither does a rematch with Movsar.”
Lopes had a close fight with Evloev on short notice in his UFC debut, and has since gone on a tear with four UFC wins and three post-fight bonuses. Evloev has only fought once since his win over Lopes, capturing a decision over Arnold Allen, while Sterling is 1-0 in his return to 145 pounds with a three-round win opposite Calvin Kattar earlier this year.
“They know I’m in a good spot right now,” Lopes said. “They know I was going to fight the No. 3 in the world and I’m kicking down the door for a title fight, so they want the buzz for themselves. It makes no sense for them to call me out since they’re ranked higher than me. It makes no sense, but they know I’m generating a lot [of buzz] with fans and the UFC.”
Lopes said he was informed by UFC that he will be part of the UFC 306 pay-per-view at the Sphere on Sept. 14, but still needs to nail down his dance partner. However, Lopes added that facing Ortega is more important to him than being on the Sphere card. Ortega has mentioned his desire to move to lightweight full-time going forward, and Lopes would be down to face Ortega at 155 pounds “if his [featherweight ranking position] is on the line.”
“Since it appears that [Max] Holloway and [Ilia] Topuria will fight, I would like to fight Ortega because he has fought for the title twice and he has a ton of experience against the best of the division,” Lopes said. “A good fight and a good win over him would definitely put me next to a title fight.”
Earlier this year, Jon Jones was accused of threatening a Drug Free Sport International officer. Despite his plea of innocence, Jones has now been charged with 2 misdemeanors for his actions toward the worker.
‘Bones’ has his sights set on a return to action in the near future. There has been a lot of talk about UFC heavyweight champion facing Stipe Miocic in a legacy fight in his returning bout, but the 36-year-old just can’t seem to stay out of trouble outside of the octagon.
As reported today, Jon Jones has been charged with 2 misdemeanors in his case with the DFSI officer. The incident unfolded at Jones’ home in New Mexico on March 30.
As discussed in the incident report, two officers came to collect a urine sample from Jones at 4 p.m. that day, before things turned sour. When the MMA ace encountered some trouble providing a urine sample, one of the workers (Crystal Martinez) suggested he give a blood sample instead.
The UFC Hall-of-Famer didn’t respond well to this and allegedly began threatening to sue the woman before taking her phone and recording her.
MMA Fighting’s Damon Martin has now confirmed that Jon Jones was hit with two charges — assault and interference with communications. Jail time and a heavy fine could await Jones should he be found guilty of both charges.
July 17 has been scheduled as the day for Jones’ virtual bond hearing.
Related: Jon Jones releases video response to assault allegations
Doubt surrounds Jon Jones’ UFC future
News recently surrounding Jon Jones is going from bad to worse.
Alongside the aforementioned misdemeanor charges, Jones’ UFC future could be in doubt following some recent social media posts.
While some of the messages had to be deciphered, Jones worried his fans when he seemingly revealed he had lost half a finger.
He would later go on to delete the shocking post but no further information has since surfaced about the troubling turn of events.
Rose Namajunas has scored more than a few knockouts during her career, but knocking some fake eyelashes off her opponent’s face was definitely a new one.
This past Saturday, Namajunas cruised to a unanimous decision win over Tracy Cortez in the UFC Denver main event, but perhaps the most memorable moment came early in the fight, when the former strawweight champion connected with a stiff punch to the face. The shot landed with such impact that Cortez’s fake eyelashes went flying into the air, which was captured in a series of viral photos and videos at the event.
“That’s crazy,” Namajunas said about the moment on Monday’s The MMA Hour. “I noticed something was up with her eye. The camera literally captured it [flying off her face]. You can’t make that stuff up. God’s got a sense of humor. That is classic stuff. Bless her heart.”
Rose Namajunas done knocked down & punched the eyelash off Tracy Cortez damn face #UFCDenver pic.twitter.com/5WOPqcprpj
— JrRanks (@RealJrRanks) July 14, 2024
From a safety standpoint, wearing fake eyelashes into the octagon could be a concern, especially if it gets knocked back into a fighter’s eye.
In this case, the fake eyelashes just got knocked off Cortez’s face, but Namajunas admits she would never even contemplate wearing something like that into the cage.
“That’s the one thing that I’ve always been [cognizant about],” Namajunas said. “I’ve had eye injuries sort of, so that’s something that I’m always routinely checking my eyes. That’s the one thing with the fight game, teeth and eyes and the nose too.”
During her own career, Namajunas said she’s never had much interest in wearing something like fake eyelashes, even for photoshoots set up by UFC.
Namajunas pointed specifically to past conversations she had with Suzy Friton, a wardrobe and makeup artist for the UFC who sadly passed away in 2021, about that very subject.
“I don’t even wear fake eyelashes, period,” Namajunas said. “So rest in peace Suzy, she always did my makeup great, but she was always trying to make me wear [eyelashes]. She’d always be like, ‘You’ve got to wear these eyelashes,’ and I’m like, ‘Girl, I can’t do that. I know it looks good or whatever but it makes me so tired.’ My eyelids close when I wear those things. Nah, I’m not doing it.
“That was the battle between me and her for a long time. Rest in peace. I would never do that.”
When it comes to Cortez’s decision to wear fake eyelashes, Namajunas joked that she may have to continue with the tradition now that this moment in their fight happened.
“It’s a thing now,” Namajunas said. “I’m curious to see. It’s dangerous, I would not recommend her wearing it, but it’s almost like don’t you gotta wear them [now]?”
As far as her actual performance at UFC Denver, Namajunas was largely satisfied but still recognized a couple of areas where she could have improved.
All in all, there were really no complaints from her, however, as Namajunas dominated the majority of the fight before winning a comfortable decision on the judges’ scorecards.
“There’s certain things obviously I know I could do better and I know I’m going to keep improving, but I was really happy,” Namajunas said. “Because I was a little bummed my last fight, even though I won, I just didn’t have the speed, I was dealing with some injuries, so I was little bit frustrated because I felt like I had really worked on a bunch of things I wasn’t able to show. I felt like I was able to do that this time. Obviously, I wanted the finish. I felt like I jumped on top of her and helped her recover. I feel like I could have finished in the first and I sort of blew that opportunity. Then I would say, after re-watching it, I could have been a little bit more active toward the end.
“There’s stuff to improve. That’s why, going into the fight, my plan wasn’t to wrestle that much. Only if she was trying to wrestle me, to like reverse the position or just show her a quick flash of wrestling, but it was so successful that I was like, ‘OK.’ It was very useful. I think I’m really going to focus on being able to do that while still maintaining that same pop and speed that I had in the first round but in those later rounds.”
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