CombatSports.org

Former two-division champion, Conor McGregor has defended Jon Jones amid recent criticism over his apparent reluctance to face-off with current interim heavyweight champion, Tom Aspinall – with the Dubliner claiming the latter still has “a way to go” in order to land a fight with the former pound-for-pound kingpin. 

Jones, himself a current heavyweight gold holder to boot, has been sidelined since March of last year, headlining UFC 285 in a first round guillotine win over Ciryl Gane to land the vacant heavyweight crown.

And ruled from a November return last year against Stipe Miocic after suffering a pectoral tendon tear, Jones leaked last week how he is all but set to return at UFC 309 later this annum in Madison Square Garden, in a rescheduled title defense against the Ohio veteran.

Conor McGregor defends Jon Jones from criticizm

As for the above-mentioned interim gold holder, Aspinall, the Manchester native returns in July in the co-main event of UFC 304, taking on Curtis Blaydes in defense of his interim heavyweight championship, with the pair rematching. 

Receiving mass flak on social media for apparently delaying a title unification bout with Aspinall, Jones has seen a former champion come to his defense in the form of McGregor, who claims the Atherton native has a lot to do before earning a fight with the former.

“Thoughts on (Jon) Jones avoiding (Tom) Aspinall? I disagree with that, I think the Jones [versus] Stipe (Miocic) fight is huge,” Conor McGregor said during a live stream. “I’m excited to see it. There’s a way to go for the English lad to come up and get that [title]. I think the matchmaking has been stellar, I think Curtis (Blaydes) and Tom is a good fight and you know, we’ll see after that.” 

Do you agree with Conor McGregor’s thoughts on Jon Jones?

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Khalil Rountree only has to sit out for two months after self-reporting a violation of UFC’s anti-doping policy, but that’s still enough time to prevent him from competing at UFC 303.

On Wednesday, UFC issued a statement via Combat Sports Anti-Doping (CSAD, the promotion’s in house anti-doping program) announcing that Rountree has accepted a two-month sanction retroactive to May 4 after revealing that he took a supplement that contained a banned substance.

Rountree previously released his own statement confessing to accidentally ingesting DHEA (Dehydroepiandrosterone), an anabolic agent banned at all times for athletes, through a supplement he was taking. After informing UFC that he used a supplement with DHEA, he was temporarily suspended and removed from his fight against Jamahal Hill on June 29.

After Rountree reported his use of the supplement, he was tested and the sample collected came back positive for “the exogenous origin of 5a-androstanediol, 5b-androstanediol and androsterone, all metabolites of DHEA.”

“Rountree provided CSAD with shipping records, detailing that he received the supplement containing DHEA on May 2, 2024, just two days before he provided the May 4th sample,” UFC officials said in the statement. “Rountree also provided documentation from the owner of the clinic that sent him the supplement, reflecting that the company’s Brand Marketing Director sent Rountree some of the company’s ‘therapeutic blends’ supplements ‘without prior approval.’ The owner described the mistake as ‘a massive oversight on our part.’ The evidence reflects that as soon as Rountree realized the mistake, he immediately notified UFC personnel, who immediately passed the information along to CSAD.

“CSAD consulted with SMRTL (Sports Medicine Research Testing Laboratory), who informed that Rountree’s May 4th sample result was consistent with the above facts and that Rountree’s short-term use of DHEA in the doses present in the dietary supplement did not provide any significant performance benefits.”

Under UFC’s updated anti-doping policy, CSAD maintains “sole discretion” to hand down punishment for any violations, and Rountree’s suspension was ultimately reduced to just two months. His period of ineligibility was made retroactive to the day of his May 4 sample collection, which means he’ll be eligible to compete again after July 4.

Unfortunately, that’s a few days after UFC 303, so Rountree won’t be allowed to compete.

In addition to the punishment handed down by UFC, Rountree could face additional sanctions from the Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) because his fight with Hill was scheduled to take place in Las Vegas.

Rountree has to wait until a future NAC meeting to find out if he’ll possibly deal with a longer suspension or potential fines as a result of his doping violation.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Gegard Mousasi is not happy with the PFL.

At the end of 2023, PFL acquired Bellator MMA in a landmark deal, which PFL executives promised would lead to a new era of MMA. Unfortunately, that new era has not extended to Mousasi, who has gotten off to a rough start with PFL, primarily over the lack of fights and even communication coming from the promotion. And after recently attending a PFL event in Paris where Mousasi still made no headway in booking a fight, the former Bellator middleweight champion has reached his limit.

“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 Wednesday on The MMA Hour.

“At this moment, I’m like, listen, if someone doesn’t want me, I’m like, ‘F*** it. Let’s go.’ But my team around me is like, ‘F*** 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 continued. “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.”

Mousasi has not competed since dropping a decision to Fabian Edwards at Bellator 296 in May 2023. The former champion signed a new contract with Bellator prior to the company getting acquired, and Mousasi said he’s been told by PFL officials that they were not aware of his new contract when acquiring Bellator and that’s why he hasn’t been offered a fight.

“I think they bought Bellator but they don’t have the financial means to pay the fighters,” Mousasi said. “Whoever is not necessary, they will just not let them fight. Especially fighters that make a lot of money. Because Bellator fighters make more.

“My contract is a couple million. … 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*** 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.”

At 38 years old, Mousasi is closer to the end of his career than the beginning, and while he says he would rather the remaining years of his career not be spent fighting as many legal battles as physical ones, if PFL continues to refuse him, he’ll be left with no choice.

“I’ve talked to legal council, I’ve talked to managers, lawyers, other people who worked for Bellator, I know I have a contract,” Mousasi said. “They owe me at least one fight, and then they can let the clock run out. At least. So it doesn’t start until I fight. Something like that. The problem is, you never know who is going to win in a lawsuit. So I hope it doesn’t get there.”

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Legal action
| BJPenn.com

UFC light heavyweight slugger Khalil Rountree Jr. was recently removed from the upcoming UFC 303 pay-per-view (PPV) lineup after “War Horse” announced a positive drug test for DHEA, stemming from a tainted supplement he ingested during training camp.

Combat Sports Anti-Doping (CSAD) handed down a two-month suspension earlier today, retroactive to May 4, 2024, marking a reduced sanction that reflects “a massive oversight” from the supplement distributor providing Rountree with “therapeutic blends.”

From UFC.com:

Rountree provided CSAD with shipping records, detailing that he received the supplement containing DHEA on May 2, 2024, just two days before he provided the May 4th sample. Rountree also provided documentation from the owner of the clinic that sent him the supplement, reflecting that the company’s Brand Marketing Director sent Rountree some of the company’s “therapeutic blends” supplements “without prior approval.” The owner described the mistake as “a massive oversight on our part.” The evidence reflects that as soon as Rountree realized the mistake, he immediately notified UFC personnel, who immediately passed the information along to CSAD.

CSAD consulted with SMRTL who informed that Rountree’s May 4th sample result was consistent with the above facts and that Rountree’s short-term use of DHEA in the doses present in the dietary supplement did not provide any significant performance benefits.

The former TUF finalist could still face additional sanctions from Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) because the 34 year-old “War Horse” was considered “in competition” ahead of his Jamahal Hill fight at UFC 303 on June 29 inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Roundtree (13-5, 1 NC) is the winner of five straight with four knockouts.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

UFC CEO Dana White got emotional recounting the time he helped a family in need.

While appearing on the In Search of Excellence Podcast, White was asked about the importance of philanthropy in regards to people in White’s financial position. The longtime face of the UFC went in-depth about one particular instance where he saved the life of a “girl in Thailand” many years ago.

“I literally would stay off the internet — however many years ago this was — on the weekends, and for some reason, I ended up on the f*cking internet on a Saturday,” White said. “There was this guy that had posted something that he had just got back from Thailand, and he was training Muai Thai over there with this legendary coach, and his daughter was dying because she needed some type of heart surgery, and she was going to die in the next several days if she didn’t get the money. And it was going to be $ 50,000.

“And the guy was like, ‘Dana White, you need to f*cking put this money up right now and donate it to her. You f*cking bet this much playing blackjack,’ … basically coming at me like that. The people on the thing were going, ‘Whoa, he can do whatever he wants with his money, why do you expect it [to happen]?’ But this is the way I talk. This guy was talking to me the way that I talk. And he isn’t wrong. I was like, ‘This dude is f*cking absolutely right. He’s not wrong, he’s f*cking right. I’m supposed to do this. It was f*cking weird.

“So I end up reaching out [to] find out if it’s real. It’s real. And I send the $ 50,000 over, and her and I … when you go into their gym, there’s this massive picture of me in there, and there’s big picture of me over her bed like I’m her guardian angel.”

The donation was given in 2010 when the girl was just a baby, UFC said in a release in 2018 when White went to visit her.

The UFC CEO says he isn’t doing it for the pats on the back.

“I pay for her schooling, I pay for all of her medical stuff,” White said. “Anyway, I don’t like talking about a lot of this stuff, but I’m in a position that I’m very lucky that I can help other people, and I’m not one of these guys who likes walking out with a f*cking big check, and doing all that bullsh*t.

“I do stuff because I should do it, and I do stuff because I want to do it. I don’t do it because I want to be recognized doing it. But I don’t like talking about it.”

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