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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Slated to return next weekend at UFC 302, former interim lightweight champion, Dustin Poirier has shut the door on a fourth fight with three-time foe, Conor McGregor – claiming the “ship” has sailed proverbially on their heated rivalry.

Poirier, the current number four ranked lightweight challenger, is set to return next month in the main event of UFC 302, headlining in New Jersey in his third pursuit of an undisputed crown as he takes on pound-for-pound number one, Islam Makhachev.

As for McGregor, the former two-division champion has been out of action for almost three-years, having remained sidelined since he headlined UFC 264, fracturing his left tibia and fibula in a first round doctor’s stoppage TKO loss to Poirier.

Himself slated to return next month at UFC 303 during International Fight Week, McGregor is set to take on soon-to-be common-foe, Michael Chandler in a welterweight clash, snapping his long-standing hiatus from active competition.

Dustin Poirier shuts door on fourth Conor McGregor clash

And sharing his desire to round out his heated three-fight rivalry with Poirier in the form of a fourth clash despite losing two of three matches so far, McGregor’s hopes have been dashed by the Lafayette native, who claims he wants no part of that “energy” in his life anymore.

“I think that ship has sailed,” Dustin Poirier told ESPN of a fourth fight with Conor McGregor. “All I want is the UFC lightweight championship. I don’t feel the need to fight him again at all. I don’t need that energy in my life.”

Earning his title fight with Makhachev in Newark back in March, Louisiana fan-favorite, Poirier turned in a rallying win over the surging, Benoit Saint Denis – defeating the Frenchman with a spectacular second round knockout win in Miami.

Would you have liked to see Dustin Poirier fight Conor McGregor again?

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Kalyl Silva will box on the same card of his father Anderson Silva on June 15 in Sao Paulo. According to his coach Luiz Dorea, the 25-year-old talent is set to face Bahia native Paulo Roberto.

2020 Olympic gold medalist Herbert Conceição, who trains with both Silvas at Dorea’s Champion gym in Salvador, Bahia, will also be part of the Spaten Fight Night lineup against a yet-to-be-announced opponent.

“The Spider” headlines the card in a five-round boxing exhibition with Chael Sonnen.

Kalyl Silva holds a record of 2-0 in pro boxing, have defeated Paulo Roberto via fourth-round knockout in his debut back in December 2022 in Bahia. Silva won a four-round decision over Peter Emmanuel Gonzalez seven months later in California.

“Kalyl has in his father his biggest inspiration, his greatest idol, and he’s very skilled,” Dorea told MMA Fighting. “It’s in his DNA. He’s very technical and disciplined. It’s his second training camp with us here and we noticed how fast he’s evolving. It’s so cool to see Kalyl fighting on the same card of Anderson. This kid has a bright future ahead.”

Conceição won the 2020 Olympics by avenging two previous defeats to Oleksandr Khyzhniak, knocking out the Ukrainian in the 75kg final in Tokyo. Conceição has won all five of his pro bouts since then, with a trio of knockouts to his credit.

“Herbert is ready to fight, just waiting for the confirmation of the opponent,” Dorea said. “He’s training really hard to fight on this event. The entire team is motivated. The energy is up high in the team with Anderson here. He’s motivated, he’s hungry. We’re less than a month away from the event and the whole team has fights booked, so training here is on fire.”

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Elle Brooke can’t help but wonder if Paige VanZant knew what she was signing up for by agreeing to fight her in the Misfits Boxing main event on Saturday in Houston.

When it comes to the fight itself, VanZant has far more experience and should be heavily favored to win. But Brooke’s issues with VanZant really stem from her opponent’s refusal to engage with her on social media, through interviews or anywhere else in hopes of drumming up interest in their fight.

Even after Brooke photoshopped VanZant dog-walking her husband, one-time Bellator title challenger Austin Vanderford, with the caption, “the only thing I am envious of Paige VanZant is her relationship with Austin … every woman’s dream,” she didn’t get a response. In fact, until Wednesday, VanZant didn’t even see the post.

“I’m here to make this fight as big as possible and to get as much views as possible,” Brooke said in a face-to-face with VanZant on The MMA Hour. “Paige didn’t come to the Twitter space. She couldn’t be bothered to do that, she couldn’t even turn up for that. She went home on the second day in Houston. I flew out 10 hours on a flight each way and she wasn’t even there the second day. It’s what you have to do to get people interested.”

Of course, promotion is part of the job, even in the UFC.

Fighters are required to participate in media interviews, press conferences and other activations in the lead-up to an event. But VanZant bristled against Brooke’s accusations that she wasn’t doing enough to build up the hype for their fight.

“I am not promoting the fight as an influencer, I guess, as much as the influencers do it,” VanZant said. “I am used to a different type of organization. You just show up to the UFC and fight. I’m new to the influencer world. I’m not really sure what else anyone expects me to do. I’m here to fight, that’s it. I have one goal, one job. Every single hour of my day is dedicated and time blocked preparing for this fight, preparing to win.

“I think Misfits knows what they did when the signed me, and they signed me for a reason. They didn’t sign me based on my shit talking, because obviously the majority of my career, I’m just not that person. I’m respectful. I respect the people I’m fighting.”

Brooke vehemently disagreed, especially because she understands influencer events like Misfits Boxing draw a different crowd than the shows put on by UFC or BKFC, where VanZant fought previously.

“I think to me, No. 1, it was rude because if you want to be in this space, this is what you have to do,” Brooke said. “When you took this fight, you probably thought what’s it about? Everyone knows what it’s about. Whether it’s Jake Paul, Logan Paul, KSI, people know, so to be like, ‘This is new to me, I don’t know how to promote this,’ I think that’s a bit of a cop out.

“You don’t always have to bash your opponent, but post about it. That’s the bare minimum. To say, ‘All I’ve been doing is training’ — well, me too, but this is what you have to do in this field and if you want to stay in this field, personally, you’re going to get used to that and that’s something you’re going to have to do.”

As much as she took issue with VanZant refusing to engage with her to promote the fight, Brooke actually took a not-so-underhanded swipe at her 30-year-old opponent for even jumping at this opportunity.

Brooke obviously hopes to win, but she knows she’s facing long odds against a UFC and BKFC veteran in her professional boxing debut after several exhibition bouts against reality show stars and fellow influencers. Meanwhile, VanZant decided not to return to UFC or book another bare-knuckle fight in BKFC, but instead came to Misfits to fight an influencer.

“How do you go from being in the UFC, arguably one of the biggest stages in fighting, in combat sports, to then going on to fight an influencer?” Brooke said. “There’s a reason that [Floyd] Mayweather does it, it’s for money. I don’t think it’s necessarily for the passion anymore. You’re doing it for the money and who am I to judge? But I just don’t think that you can necessarily say it’s for the love of the sport. Because you are fighting an influencer. What do you gain from that?”

“She’s gone from UFC, BKFC, to now fighting an influencer. I don’t know, in my head it’s not because she’s on a losing streak and she’s just like, ‘I want an easy fight.’ Is she underestimating me?”

VanZant disagreed and actually praised Brooke as a worthy opponent — even if she won’t say it.

“I’m sad to [hear] you call yourself an influencer,” VanZant said. “I think obviously I see you in a higher light than you do. I think you’re a professional fighter, a professional boxer, and that’s what I’ve prepared to do.”

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Shot down
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Gegard Mousasi is ready for a fight outside the cage if that’s what it comes down to.

Professional Fighters League’s (PFL) new era has gotten off to a terrible start for one of the most unheralded legends in mixed martial arts (MMA) history. The former Strikeforce and Bellator champion, Mousasi, is officially a part of PFL after Bellator’s acquisition late last year. However, he’s been stuck in limbo without communication ever since.

Mousasi, 38, recently claimed he’s been iced out by PFL without any responses to requests to fight and a belief that he’s too expensive for the promotion to want to oblige the new contract he signed amid the merger. After no progress since speaking out, Mousasi might have to get lawyers involved, which he’s willing to do.

“They said that the amount [of money I get paid], we don’t want to cut you, it’s so much, that it’s better for you, I don’t know, look somewhere else or do something else,” Mousasi said on The MMA Hour.

“At this moment, I’m like, listen, if someone doesn’t want me, I’m like, ‘F—k it. Let’s go,’” he continued. “But my team around me is like, ‘F—k it, we’ll sue them.’ If it was up to me, I would just go, but I don’t know. We’ll see. The team around me is not that happy. So I think there is going to be legal action against them.

“Yeah, [I feel disrespected] because they don’t even want to pick up the phone and talk to us,” Mousasi concluded. “It’s not even funny anymore. It’s the worst organization so far. I’ve fought in a lot of organizations, this is the worst one.”

The MMA Hour’s Ariel Helwani reported on the episode with Mousasi before their conversation that he’d heard from PFL and was told they were unaware of the contractual change that happened during the Bellator process. Ultimately, the seasoned 60-fight veteran (49-9-2) isn’t buying it.

“My contract is a couple million,” Mousasi said. “Whatever deal you make, it’s not possible that someone slipped a letter between the other letters, and no one found out. Everything has to be signed by lawyers. So whatever they did, they knew about it. They said they’d take everyone from [Bellator]. So they took me, they knew the contract, and now they’re like, ‘Well, they slipped it in.’ You’re not buying McDonald’s, you’re buying a million-dollar company. It’s not believable that they didn’t know and someone wanted to f—k with them, so they did a very fast contract and no one knew about it. It’s just not true. Everything has to go through lawyers.

“I don’t know why you even took Bellator if you don’t have the money to let the fighters fight,” he concluded.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Paddy Pimblett doesn’t think much of Bobby Green.

On July 27, Pimblett faces Green in the featured fight of UFC 304 in Manchester, England. It’s a fight Green called for after beating Jim Miller at UFC 300, and in advance of the matchup, “King” has already dialed up the trash talk, calling Pimblett a “spoiled brat” and telling him he needs to “shut the f*** up.”

Well, Pimblett isn’t listening.

“I’ll be honest, I wanted to fight [Renato] Moicano,” Pimblett told The Mac Life. “I wanted to fight [the guy] ranked No. 10. Moicano is funny. We’d have a good little build-up. Bobby Green is just a bellend. … He’s a proper tool. He’s a proper weapon. He is. The funniest one is, he says, ‘He mentioned me.’ I didn’t mention you! You mentioned me first. So then I mentioned you, you little sausage.

“He’s just a proper tool. I think he’s a proper shit human being. He’s a proper wanker. Saying that I mentioned him first, he’s just lying. Why would I mention you? Why would I mention Bobby Green?”

Just because Pimblett doesn’t like him, doesn’t mean the Liverpool native thinks Green is a walkover. “The Baddy” recognizes Green’s skills, but believes the 37-year-old fighter is a little long in the tooth for their matchup.

“He’s got very good striking,” Pimblett admitted. “He’s got good hands. But his chin is gone after what happened with Jalin Turner. Jim Miller is no knockout artist and he wobbled him once or twice in that fight at UFC 300. I think that is off Jalin Turner absolutely obliterating Bobby Green’s skull into the canvas. So as I said, his striking is very good, his takedown defense is good, and that’s what he’s going to try and do, use his takedown defense and keep it on the feet, because he thinks he’ll out-strike me. But as I said, his chin’s gone. So strike with me, you’ll see what happens.

“I can see meself knocking him out, I can see meself submitting him. I’m sure someone said he’s never been submitted, so that would be nice, to be fair. The first person to submit Bobby Green.”

Green actually has been submitted twice in his career, but not since a welterweight contest in 2009. Now the No. 15 ranked UFC lightweight, Green is Pimblett’s toughest test to date and represents his chance to move to the ranks of legitimate contenders. And should he do what he says come UFC 304, Pimblett believes he will continue moving up the rankings with the matchup he wanted originally, against No. 10-ranked Renato Moicano.

“If I beat Bobby and take rank 15, or whatever happens with the rankings by then, Moicano is still a couple of ranks above me,” Pimblett said. “I just think the build-up to that fight will be great as well. Moicano is funny. He’s a great grappler, I’m a great grappler, I think we’d end up just having a brawl on the feet.”

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