UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley says he could ruin Marlon Vera’s life if he releases information to the public that not many people know.
O’Malley scored a one-sided decision win over Vera at UFC 299 to defend his bantamweight title for the first time. After the fight, Vera accused ‘Suga’ of greasing and cheating in the fight.
Mandatory Credit: Chris Unger – Zuffa LLC
“Every time I was grabbing Sean, he was like grabbing a fish out of the water,” Vera told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour. “Maybe he didn’t attempt to [cheat], but he was extremely greasy on his hair. And that’s why when I hurt him at the end of the round, I grabbed his head, the knee [slipped], all my knees [that slipped by] were really close. Maybe if it would’ve been dry, I could’ve hurt him. Maybe not. I’m still where I am for a reason — I lost the fight, and I’m not going to find [an] excuse, but matter of fact, his head was extremely greasy.”
Sean O’Malley fires back at Marlon Vera
Following Vera’s comments, Sean O’Malley spoke on his podcast, and ‘Suga’ says knows something about ‘Chito’ that would ruin his life as he calls Vera a fake person.
MIAMI, FLORIDA – MARCH 09: Sean O’Malley prepares to face Marlon Vera of Ecuador in the UFC bantamweight championship fight during the UFC 299 event at Kaseya Center on March 09, 2024 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
“Everybody seems to love this dude,” Vera said on his YouTube channel. “Motherf***er’s a fakeass b****. Chito sucks. F*** him. I know s*** that people don’t know that would change their minds on him, but I’m not gonna go out there and post it. People are like, ‘Oh, he’s just a family man.’ F*** that guy, bro.
” Then he comes out saying I’m greasing my hair. Bro didn’t even get close enough to smell my hair let alone think [I was greasing]. What was greasing my hair gonna do? I want to [leak this information]. I’m just like, be the bigger man, you don’t need to ruin his f***ing life, you already ruined his career. Just be the bigger man.”
Vera has yet to respond to O’Malley’s comment and whether or not he will is uncertain.
Former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland is probably the most outspoken fighter on the fight promotion’s roster. He’s definitely the most controversial.
Strickland regularly shares his political opinions and worldview during interviews, at press conferences, and on social media. He openly talks about violent urges, and some of the things he’s said have been cringeworthy. According to Strickland, the UFC wants him to ‘shut up.’
“I don’t really talk to UFC much. All the UFC tells me to do is shut up,” Strickland told The Schmo.
Strickland lost the 185-pound title at UFC 297 in January to current titleholder Dricus Du Plessis via split decision. Strickland firmly believes he won the fight and wants an immediate rematch.
“Let me tell you something about the UFC. I deserve that rematch, and if they don’t give me that rematch, they’re just not one of us. If they don’t give me that rematch, understand it’s for one reason and one reason alone: they want me to shut the f**k up. We all know what will happen. We’ll find out,” Strickland said. “I never cared about the belt. I still don’t. You didn’t f**king win. Dana thought I (won). The world thought I won.”
“I won. Dana said I won, Rogan said I won, we all know I won,” he continued. “I went to Canada and I fought in front of the commies and they shafted me. Dricus wants it, I want it. Win your title like a man, my friend. You know you got a gift from God. Let’s run this sh*t back. Settle it like men. That’s all I’m trying to say. Settle it like a man.”
Strickland is convinced that big money sponsors are keeping the rematch from taking place.
“The thing about the UFC is Dana is the definition of free speech. He supports it to such a degree. But UFC is financed by, you got Bud Light, all these massive corporations that even though Dana might be like, ‘Hey, I let Sean say what he wants,’ there’s a lot of very wealthy people telling him to shut me up. And not just shut me up, shut you guys up. Because you have to understand everything I say is things you say. Everything I say is what UFC fans say. So when they reprimand me, understand they reprimand you guys,” Strickland said.
Former Chute Boxe head coach and Kings MMA founder Rafael Cordeiro has held pads for Mike Tyson for four years now. He doesn’t need to be told the foam and leather standing between him and oblivion is not enough.
“After first seeing him, it messed with my shoulder,” Cordeiro said Monday on The MMA Hour. “I couldn’t hold mitts for at least six, seven months with my boys in the gym. My right shoulder was a big, big mess, and I stopped for a while to take care of my shoulder and do physical therapy.”
Cordeiro expects he’ll be back to the doctor after July 20, when Tyson faces Jake Paul at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. That’s just the price of a training camp that started as soon as talks of a comeback fight picked up, leading to a booking against one of the most polarizing figures in combat sports.
You can almost see Cordeiro’s life flash before his eyes as Tyson closes distance, darting his head from side to side before unleashing a series of fearsome punches. On June 30, Tyson will turn 58.
All numbers are not created equal, according to Cordeiro.
“Holding mitts for Mike is different,” he said. “It’s different. The way he reacts…it’s one second from long distance to short distance. Sometimes, I say 1-2-3, and he’s already inside. If I don’t move back, oh lord. It’s impossible. I have to move back.”
‼️ Here’s some footage of Mike Tyson on the Pads at 57 years old pic.twitter.com/eFvzv5gMlt
— IFN (@IfnBoxing) March 7, 2024
The latest videos of Tyson’s pad sessions, which have racked up millions of views on social media, were produced just this past week. Cordeiro said the ex-heavyweight champ’s team is aligned to help him get in peak condition for the July 20 fight, and he expects an even better performance than Tyson’s exhibition clash with Roy Jones Jr. four years earlier.
There’s been plenty of concern about the wisdom of pairing a 58-year-old with a fighter 31 years his junior, YouTuber or not. Cordeiro brushes off that talk as surface-level anxiety that discredits the experience of Tyson.
“I believe people don’t have to be concerned,” he said. “We’re talking about a guy who was a two-time champ. The guy didn’t have 20 fights in two years. He knows how to fight. He fought against the best guys in the world. When he steps inside the ring, he knows what to do. It’s not something new for Mike, and this fight is no different.
“He works hard every single day to go there and try his best to knock Jake out. This is simply his style. Nobody has to teach Mike Tyson how to fight, and he’s going to prove in July, he’s still the same. … Mike is going to step in the ring as the old Mike Tyson, and he’s going to try to knock Jake out from the beginning to the end.”
Cordeiro still isn’t sure whether Tyson’s second fight in 19 years will go on his permanent boxing record, how long the rounds will be and other details that could make a huge difference for both fighters. All he knows is that Tyson is taking Paul very seriously.
“He’s already in shape,” Cordeiro said of Tyson. “We already started doing rounds in training, so it’s amazing to see the way he hits mitts. He’s a monster. … The only thing I can guarantee: Mike is going to touch Jake. It’s going to be impossible that Mike doesn’t touch Jake. Let’s see how Jake reacts after that.”
Cordeiro said he and Tyson respect Paul and don’t use his YouTube past to discredit his current work in boxing. That being said, the longtime coach said he’s worked with a lot of fighters, and what he sees from Tyson brings him back to the days where the ex-champ was feared by the world.
Fans can see that on video – Cordeiro can feel it in person when Tyson’s glove meets his pad.
“First-round KO,” Cordeiro said of his prediction for the fight. “This is Mike Tyson. This is the way he fights.”
Conor McGregor wants to fight, but he claims he still hasn’t had any meaningful conversations with the UFC about his potential return to action.
As McGregor continues promoting his upcoming acting debut in the Road House reboot, the former two-division champion rarely escapes an interview without addressing his fight career.
Sadly, he just doesn’t have many answers to give. Rumors swirled for months that perhaps his long-awaited return would come against Michael Chandler at UFC 300, but that date didn’t materialize
McGregor then announced plans to fight at UFC 303 on June 29, but that was also knocked down after UFC CEO Dana White said he hoped the Irish superstar would return in the fall. For all the talk about a return date and location, McGregor said he’s waiting on the UFC.
“I would love [to fight on June 29],” McGregor told talkSport. “If they give me that, then we can go ahead and straight away for sure. I did call for that also [at The Sphere in September], that would be great for me. June 29, and then The Sphere, and then what? What happens then, I don’t know.
“I wonder do they know. There’s been no talk about anything. So I wonder what next.”
McGregor addressed potential opponents and named a couple of rematches he would love to explore once he’s back. One of those was a previously mentioned trilogy with Nate Diaz at The Sphere in Las Vegas that White quickly knocked down.
That didn’t sit too well with McGregor.
“It’s good to see [Dustin] Poirier get that win [at UFC 299],” he said. “That makes this the quadrilogy, we’ll say the real trilogy, the finish of it, to put an end to it, to put a finish to it. That is a huge bout right now. I anticipate the result will go that way, and I was happy to see it. That’s a big one for sure.
“Obviously, I’ve got the Diaz trilogy. That’s what I had said for The Sphere. There was cold water put on that publicly off the bat, and I wasn’t happy with that. I need discussion, a conversation, because if I lose interest, I’m not getting anything back, and I just drift off. I hope I can get something in and get dialed in.”
McGregor also named Chandler as the person he’ll most likely face in his return to the UFC, but it sounds like even that matchup hasn’t been discussed recently. That’s why he doesn’t really care who he faces in his return, so long as something gets booked sooner rather than later.
“Chandler, of course, I assume that will be the first one,” McGregor said. “I would assume that would be the first one.
“The opponent doesn’t matter. I just wish for a nice run-up, a bit of transparency and let me go for it again.”
Former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland struggles with mental health. In a social media post on Monday, Strickland gave a glimpse into his daily struggles.
“Sometimes I win, sometimes I lose,” he posted on social media accompanied with a video. “All week I’ve been f**ked up, dude.”
““I’ve been on the Twitter saying crazy sh*t, just f**king spiraling. I woke up and I told my girl, I was like, ‘Babe, I feel like I’m a danger to people. Like I don’t feel like I should be out in the world.’ And I think that – I have everything. I’m rich, I’m famous, I have everything I ever f**king wanted and I am still mentally unwell. I get in these mindsets to where like I want to burn everything down in the world. Like, I want to have nothing, so I can just f**king lose it and just take out everything on people.
“I think that you guys, in a weird way, are like my family. Like I’ve shared some sh*t with you guys, and you guys have shared some sh*t with me. I feel more connected with my fans than I think most people feel just because we’ve gone through a lot together. I have everything I want, and I still struggle with mental health. My memory is so short that, like, when I go out into this week, I think to myself, like once I get past it, I think to myself, like, ‘Oh, man. That was a really rough time in my life.’ But then when I really think about it, this happens multiple times a month, every month.”
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In a followup post, Strickland explained his thought processes and how he ‘locks away’ the negative voice.
“There is always this little voice in me that says ‘Burn it all down, everything.’ Then I remind myself ‘You have a girlfriend, a mortgage. Just stop, it’s gonna be fine just relax move forward, lock it away’ Lmao I swear the daily struggle,” he wrote.
84% of U.S. states are calling the Tyson vs. Paul fight for ‘Iron Mike,’ while a big chunk of the remaining 16% think Jake wins only because the match is ‘rigged.’
Jake Paul has done it again: he’s found another legendary opponent that’s old enough to beat but fierce enough to convince people it might be different this time.
According to a X (formerly Twitter) data dive conducted by BetOnline, the majority of people in 42 U.S. states believe Mike Tyson is going to wreck Jake Paul when the two fight on July 20th in Texas. Only eight states — New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming — had more people saying Paul would win. And four of those states are convinced Jake’s victory will be “fixed” or “rigged.”
BetOnline went through over 150,000 tweets discussing the fight, which will stream for free to all Netflix subscribers around the world. Any mention of a conclusive fight outcome like “Mike Tyson will kill Jake Paul” or “betting on Mike Tyson” was counted, and the results are clear: most people think the 57-year-old Tyson still has what it takes to beat the 27-year-old Jake Paul.
Fire’s in the house#PaulTyson pic.twitter.com/zAXIUNyxEU
— Mike Tyson (@MikeTyson) March 16, 2024
The sportsbooks see things differently. They have Paul as a -360 betting favorite, while Tyson is a +300 dog. Those are pretty wide odds, and about right considering the cardiovascular advantage Jake has being 30 years younger. Don’t be fooled if the line tightens up as July 20 approaches. The more money that comes in on one side (we’d expect a mountain of bets on Tyson given his popularity), the closer the odds will become to encourage bettors to put money on Paul.
Could Mike Tyson uncork something that will knock Jake Paul out cold, like people across America are clearly hoping? Anything is possible in combat sports, especially in a freakshow fight like this. And Jake Paul has done his best work against elderly MMA fighters, not a boxing legend. The guy couldn’t even beat Tommy Fury. So we can see why some are convinced he’s gonna get pulverized by Tyson.
Paul has once again picked the perfect foil to build his reputation on. Millions of people are going to tune in expecting to see Mike Tyson knock “The Problem Child” out. Speaking as an MMA fan who’s been watching Paul for the last three years, they could be in for a disappointment.
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