Conor McGregor

UFC: Could Justin Gaethje replace Dustin Poirier against Conor McGregor?

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Dana White said last week that the UFC fight between Conor McGregor (22-4) and Dustin Poirier (26-6, 1 NC) was done. However, shortly after that statement we learned that the contracts hadn’t been signed yet for the matchup in January.

In fact, Dustin Poirier tweeted out at the UFC to stop playing games. It appears that the holdup in the fight getting finalized is once again with The Diamond. If you recall, Dustin Poirier was originally supposed to fight Tony Ferguson at UFC 254.

However, the fight was called off after the UFC and Poirier failed to agree on financial terms. The promotion also tried to make a fight with Poirier against Michael Chandler, however, Poirier said that the offer was a slap in the face to him. 

McGregor and Poirier originally agreed to fight for charity on Twitter. However, the UFC turned around and worked on getting an actual fight between the two men finalized. It appeared that the official announcement was imminent.

However, we have hit another speedbump. Ariel Helwani reported yesterday that Poirier and the UFC remain apart in their financial negotiations. However, the promotion has a card to play in their back pocket which could force Poirier’s hand. That card is former interim champion, Justin Gaethje (22-3).

Will the UFC make the switch?

Justin Gaethje is just itching to get back into the octagon after his last performance. Gaethje was choked out by Khabib Nurmagomedov in their undisputed title match last month. However, Gaethje said he wanted to immediately get back into the cage.

A fight with McGregor in January would sure fit his timeline. In my opinion this will all come down to what Conor McGregor wants. If McGregor is adamant about fighting Dustin Poirier, I think the UFC will ultimately cave a little to make the fight happen.

However, if McGregor takes the stand that he doesn’t care who it is, I think it becomes 50/50. Gaethje and McGregor have some heat between them which could make for a very fun matchup. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out. Time will tell on who The Notorious one will face in January.

Michael Chandler turns RDA down; Says UFC has other plans for him

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Michael Chandler

Last night news broke that the UFC Vegas 14 headliner was in jeopardy after Islam Makhachev had to pull out. Makhachev was scheduled to headline the event next Saturday opposite of former UFC lightweight champion, Rafael Dos Anjos.

The UFC is currently working on a replacement opponent to headline against RDA. However, the former champion came out last night and called out Michael Chandler on Twitter. That’s who RDA wanted in the main event.

A lot of fans seemed intrigued by the matchup. Fighting a former UFC champion would be a good way for Chandler to kickoff his career inside the octagon. However, Chandler has come out today and said that he will not be headlining next week’s card.

Fans were commenting on Chandler’s Instagram page about the potential fight. Chandler responded saying, “We have other plans.” So for now, it will appear that RDA is not going to get his wish of fighting Michael Chandler next Saturday.

What could those UFC plans be?

Since Chandler was signed by the UFC, the promotion has made him a very big deal. He was the backup for the UFC 254 main event, and they’ve tried to book him against Tony Ferguson. However, Ferguson didn’t seem interested in the fight.

Conor McGregor is supposed to fight Dustin Poirier in January. With that in mind, there are a few options for the UFC and Michael Chandler. Justin Gaethje, Dan Hooker, and Tony Ferguson are all out there as potential opponents for the former Bellator lightweight champion.

There have also been rumors around Chandler potentially being one of the TUF coaches this year. Either way, I’m expecting the UFC to book Chandler against one of the best guys in the world for his debut. It will truly be a sink or swim test for the former Bellator champion.

UFC: Conor McGregor – Dustin Poirier 2 a ‘Done deal’ per Dana White

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Conor McGregor, UFC

The biggest star in the MMA is officially back. Tonight, Dana White announced at the UFC Vegas 12 post-fight press conference that Conor McGregor (22-4) and Dustin Poirier (26-6, 1 NC) will officially be fighting in January.

White said that the fight is a, “Done deal.” The UFC‘s biggest star will be returning after another 12 month layoff. McGregor returned last January and defeated Donald Cerrone in under a minute at UFC 246. McGregor said in the post-fight interview he was back and wanted to be active.

However, the pandemic really threw off everything. McGregor was desperate to get back into the cage, however, the UFC wanted to wait for fans to be back in the stands. A frustrated McGregor decided to retire from the sport due to the lack of fights.

However, nobody really believed that he was retired. Dustin Poirier has had his own interesting year with the UFC. Poirier fought and defeated Dan Hooker back in June. After that, the UFC looked like they were going to book Poirier against Tony Ferguson.

However, that fight never came together due to financial disagreements between Poirier and the UFC. With Poirier set to take on McGregor, we can expect the payday to be much higher for the diamond in this one.

Analyzing the UFC lightweight contest

The two men will be fighting for the second time. The first fight came back at UFC 176 when both were still competing in the featherweight division. The two had a very heated buildup to their first contest inside the octagon.

McGregor was able to win that fight by first round knockout. Since then, McGregor blew up into the biggest star the UFC has ever seen. He became a two-division world champion and even got the chance to make close to nine figures in a boxing match with Floyd Mayweather.

Poirier moved up to lightweight and became one of the best in the world. He even became the UFC‘s interim lightweight champion last year. This fight is going to be so interesting because they have both grown so much since their first contest. It’ll be another smash PPV for the UFC with their cash king back.

UFC: Dana White thinks Khabib Nurmagomedov will try to go for 30-0

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This past Saturday at UFC 254, Khabib Nurmagomedov defeated Justin Gaethje to retain his lightweight championship of the world. It was an emotional ending for Nurmagomedov who fought for the first time since his father had passed away.

Following the fight, Nurmagomedov laid his gloves in the middle of the octagon and announced his retirement. Many in the UFC community were not expecting this to happen. Nurmagomedov’s father’s dream had been for him to go 30-0 then retire.

However, Khabib said that he promised his mother that UFC 254 would be his last fight. Just a few days later, and we are hearing that he might not be done. Since the announcement, UFC President Dana White has had a chance to talk with Nurmagomedov.

White seems to think Khabib might have been in the moment. He told CBS Sports Zach Gelb, “Khabib and I have been talking. He was completely emotional that night when he got through that fight. I have a feeling that he might go for 30-0.”

The UFC’s options for Khabib

There are a few options for the UFC when it comes to Khabib Nurmagomedov and his 30th fight. However, I think that there is one clear fight for him to cap off his career and his legacy. That would be a fight with Georges St. Pierre.

GSP is known as arguably the greatest of all time. He was a dominant champion in the welterweight division, then he moved up to capture the UFC middleweight title. He’s always been interested in coming out of retirement for the Nurmagomedov fight.

GSP recently told ESPN’s Ariel Helwani that he was happy for Khabib after the retirement. However, he said that his door would be open if Khabib was interested in coming back and facing him. That could very well be the case if what White’s saying comes true.

Of course, the UFC could always try to book the Conor McGregor rematch. However, Khabib has already won that war in his eyes. A fight with GSP would be a legacy fight for both men and a very rare opportunity for fight fans around the globe to see arguably the two greatest of all time go head to head.

UFC 254 drastically underperforms PPV expectations

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Last Saturday at UFC 254, Khabib Nurmagomedov (29-0) defeated Justin Gaethje (22-3) to retain his lightweight championship. The fight was one of the more anticipated matchups of the year, and was being built as arguably the biggest fight of the year.

The week prior to the fight, Dana White talked about how the fight was trending. He pointed to the star power of the lightweight champion, Nurmagomedov. The expectation was that this card would do massively well for the promotion on PPV.

In fact, White mentioned that the fight was trending higher than Nurmagomedov – McGregor. The grudge match between those two that came back at UFC 229 was the highest PPV buy rate the UFC has ever seen hitting 2.4 million buys.

However, the numbers have come in, and they are significantly lower than UFC 229. In fact, they are significantly lower than even the highest PPV buy rate from 2020. Per the Sports Business-Journal, UFC 254 only hit 675,000 PPV buys worldwide.

Was UFC 254 a disappointment?

At 675,000 buys, UFC 254 ranks as the fifth most watched UFC PPV this year. This card was behind UFC 251, UFC 249, UFC 253, and UFC 246. Those cards all had star power like Conor McGregor, Jorge Masvidal, and Israel Adesanya.

The only card that didn’t have massive star power was 249, but that was the first event that the promotion held after the shutdown. That number was expected to be massively high. Nevertheless, last Saturday night was a disappointing result for the promotion.

Now there were a couple of things that could have hurt the PPV. For one, the card started at 2 PM ET which is eight hours earlier than normal. They did this to put Nurmagomedov in primetime for the fans in the middle east.

However, Nurmagomedov’s last fight in Abu Dhabi was estimated to have done about one million buys. I have to say, I’m pretty shocked myself. Given the magnitude of the fight, I was expecting it to be close to one million when it came to PPV buys.

I knew it wasn’t going to touch McGregor – Nurmagomedov. That was a pipedream for the promotion. However, the result might tell you that Nurmagomedov is not as big of a star as the promotion would have you believe. Either way, definitely a disappointment for the promotion on Saturday.

Could the UFC do a lightweight tournament?

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UFC, Dana White

This past weekend at UFC 254, Khabib Nurmagomedov defeated Justin Gaethje to retain his lightweight championship. After the fight was over, Khabib laid his gloves in the center of the octagon and said that he had fought his final fight in the UFC.

With that, the UFC‘s lightweight division has just been blown open. Nobody really knows what the promotion is going to do with the lightweight title now that Khabib Nurmagomedov is walking away from the sport.

Michael Chandler was in attendance because he was the backup fighter. Chandler had a suggestion for the UFC and that was to put on a lightweight tournament for the vacant title. The UFC hasn’t put on tournaments since the early days.

Well, I guess there was the flyweight tournament back in 2012. However, that was to crown a new champion in a new division. Chandler’s idea is definitely interesting for the promotion. I could also see the promotion making the Conor McGregor – Dustin Poirier fight for the title.

McGregor is the last undisputed lightweight champion not named Khabib Nurmagomedov. Meanwhile Poirier is the former UFC interim lightweight champion and he knocked out Justin Gaethje who was the interim champion entering UFC 254.

What will the UFC do?

There are a lot of people who want to see Justin Gaethje right back in a title fight. However, I don’t think the UFC is going to do that. The McGregor – Poirier fight just makes too much sense for the vacant lightweight championship.

I think you’ll see the UFC look to book Michael Chandler against Tony Ferguson. I think they really want to make that fight, and it would be a fun matchup for fans. They could then make a fight between Justin Gaethje and Dan Hooker.

The winners of those two fights could then face off for a chance to fight the winner of the McGregor – Poirier fight. The UFC is planning on McGregor – Poirier in January, and I bet the winner likely wouldn’t defend the title until the July PPV.

That would give the promotion time in the middle to have the winners face each other. So in a sense, it would be like a tournament. However, it would be a tournament to face the champion which will be decided in January.

I don’t know what the UFC will do and frankly they probably won’t do that. However, I think this would be a good way to get everyone matched up. The McGregor – Poirier fight is already almost done, why not up the stakes and make it even bigger by throwing the title on the line?

What’s next for Justin Gaethje after UFC 254?

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Yesterday, Justin Gaethje got the opportunity he’s worked his whole career for. He got the chance to headline against arguably the greatest of all time at UFC 254. Gaethje entered the cage yesterday as the interim champion.

Standing across from him was the undisputed king, Khabib Nurmagomedov. Nurmagomedov entered a perfect 28-0, and nobody had really ever come close to defeating the UFC‘s lightweight champion.

However, Gaethje was looked at as the most dangerous opponent. He brought power striking and wrestling credentials to the table. Khabib’s star factor and Gaethje’s style made yesterday must see TV for any fan of the UFC.

There were a couple of times during the fight that Gaethje looked good. He hit Khabib with some good leg kicks, and he landed some solid shots. However, he really struggled with the pressure that Khabib put on him in the UFC 254 main event.

Nurmagomedov showed no respect for the power of Gaethje. He just walked through everything and you could tell he was tiring Gaethje. In the second round, Nurmagomedov secured a takedown and transitioned to a triangle choke where he put Gaethje to sleep.

What’s next for Gaethje after UFC 254?

No matter how you slice it, UFC 254 was a disappointment for Justin Gaethje. However, there’s no shame in it considering all the best at lightweight have suffered the same fate at the hands of Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Nurmagomedov retired after the main event concluded yesterday which opens the lightweight division up. Gaethje should be right back in the conversation for a crack at the vacant UFC lightweight champion.

In his post-fight interview, Gaethje had mentioned that he didn’t take a ton of damage so he wanted to get right back in there. I think the UFC is probably going to make McGregor – Poirier the fight for the vacant UFC championship.

Gaethje deserves a spot in the conversation, but I think the promotion ultimately goes that way. That being said, I would love to see Gaethje paired up with Michael Chandler. Chandler was the backup fighter for yesterday’s UFC 254 main event.

The promotion holds him in high regards so I think it would be fitting to pair the two up. Either make them a main event or put them on the same card as McGregor-Poirier. The two winners face off in the summer for the UFC lightweight championship.

Could McGregor – Poirier be for the vacant UFC lightweight title?

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Conor McGregor, UFC

Yesterday at UFC 254, Khabib Nurmagomedov (29-0) completely dominated Justin Gaethje (22-3) and retained his lightweight champion. Nurmagomedov was overcome with emotions after he was able to win by triangle choke.

The UFC lightweight champion lost his father earlier this year due to COVID-19. Khabib’s father, Abdulmanap, had been Khabib’s lead trainer for his entire career. There were questions surrounding his fighting future after his father passed.

However, the UFC lightweight champion wanted to keep going to honor his father. At UFC 254, he might have put on the best performance of his career in stopping Justin Gaethje. After the fight was over Khabib laid his gloves in the middle of the cage and retired from the sport.

With some fighters, there are questions and doubts when they first announce retirement. However, I think the majority of the MMA community believes Nurmagomedov will not be back in the UFC. That leaves a vacancy at the top of the lightweight division.

The division is absolutely littered with killers, and I guarantee, none of them are sad to see Nurmagomedov leave the division. So the question now becomes, who will get the first crack at the vacant UFC lightweight championship?

McGregor – Poirier for the vacant UFC title?

Before I get into McGregor – Poirier, I will say that Justin Gaethje deserves to be in the conversation for the first shot. He was the interim champion yesterday and just knocked off Tony Ferguson earlier this year to win that title.

However, I think there’s a clear front-runner for the vacant UFC title. The promotion is planning on having Conor McGregor (22-4) and Dustin Poirier (26-6, 1 NC) fight in January. Both men have agreed to the fight.

Poirier was the interim champion last year before losing to Nurmagomedov. He bounced back in June to defeat Dan Hooker. McGregor also last lost in a title fight to Nurmagomedov, but he bounced back and knocked out Donald Cerrone back in January.

The UFC wanted McGregor to face Nurmagomedov again if Khabib won yesterday. Now that Khabib has retired, it makes perfect business sense to book McGregor in the next title fight. Also, Poirier has just as much of a case as Gaethje considering he was also the interim champion.

There are several guys in the mix at the top of the division. You have McGregor, Gaethje, Poirier, Michael Chandler, Tony Ferguson, and Dan Hooker. You could pair all those guys up, but I think McGregor – Poirier is likely going to determine the next UFC lightweight champion.

Tony Ferguson is becoming fed up with the UFC

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Tony Ferguson, UFC

One of the best lightweights in the world is not very happy with the UFC. That lightweight would be former interim champion Tony Ferguson. El Cucuy hasn’t fought since May when he lost an interim title fight to Justin Gaethje.

Ferguson was originally supposed to face UFC lightweight champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov, that night, but due to travel restrictions, the fight was cancelled. Ferguson took the fight against Gaethje and was stopped in the fifth round.

Since then, we have not seen Ferguson in action. However, the UFC has tried to make fights for Ferguson. The promotion was trying to book Ferguson opposite Dustin Poirier as the co-main event for this weekend’s UFC 254 card.

However, due to financial negotiations, the fight never came to fruition. Following that, the UFC offered Ferguson a fight against Michael Chandler, however, Ferguson was not interested in fighting Chandler because he viewed it as a step back.

Now, Ferguson appears to be the odd man out at lightweight. The UFC seems to be closing in on booking the rematch between Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier. Ferguson’s logical opponent is Michael Chandler, but again, Ferguson doesn’t want that fight. He’s becoming increasingly frustrated with the promotion.

El Cucuy vs the UFC

“Chandler? Think about this: How many times are you going to put another f–king person in the f–king shuffle of cards? Dana keeps shuffling me down the list. What? Because I’m f–king Mexican? What’d I do to you? Why do you treat me like s–t,” Ferguson told MMA Junkie.

Ferguson went onto talk about how he feels that the UFC should pay him more given his history with the promotion. Ferguson has been with the UFC since 2011 when he won the Ultimate Fighter. He’s been one of the best lightweights in the world since that time.

Despite losing in his last fight at UFC 249, Ferguson wants his money to be raised for his next fight. If he doesn’t see the numbers climb, it appears that he’s willing to sit out. We’ve seen this several times this year with Jon Jones and Jorge Masvidal. 

However, it’s very rare that these kind of situations ever favor the fighter. The UFC is booming right now and if Ferguson doesn’t want to fight, White and the UFC won’t cave. They could find another fight for Michael Chandler like Dan Hooker. 

At the end of the day, I think it’s best for all parties for this situation to be resolved. There has to be a middle ground somewhere that will make both sides happy. I think all fans would be happy to see Ferguson fighting again sooner rather than later.

UFC: Khabib Nurmagomedov has stipulations for McGregor – Poirier

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This weekend at UFC 254, Khabib Nurmagomedov (28-0) will be taking on Justin Gaethje (22-2) for the undisputed lightweight championship. The Eagle is looking to continue his dominance at lightweight. Gaethje is looking to pull of the biggest year of his career.

Even with his full focus on this weekend, the UFC champion couldn’t get away from questions regarding his rival Conor McGregor. McGregor has agreed to fight Dustin Poirier on January 23rd. The fight is done with just contracts needing to be signed per Dana White. 

There is the general feel that the winner of the McGregor – Poirier fight would get the next crack at the UFC lightweight championship. However, there hasn’t been a weight that has been agreed to for the potential January fight.

McGregor’s head coach hinted that the fight would take place at welterweight. That didn’t sit well with the current UFC champion. Nurmagomedov came out this week and said that the fight between the two needs to happen at lightweight.

“You have to fight at 155. If they fight at 170 or 185, this is not lightweight contender fight. If you want to fight at lightweight contender for the belt you have to fight at lightweight,” Nurmagomedov told TSN on Monday.

On the UFC champions terms

It’s worth noting that outside of the fight against Nurmagomedov, all three of McGregor’s last three UFC contest have taken place at welterweight. Even though the fighters he’s fought were both natural lightweights.

I can see where Nurmagomedov is coming. If they want a UFC title shot, they should have to fight at the weight class that they will have to fight in to win the title. However, I can also see the point from the other camps.

If McGregor pushes for 170, it goes back to the point that both fighters wouldn’t have to cut weight. Neither would deplete themselves so the UFC would get both guys at their very best. The weight cut isn’t easy for McGregor or Poirier.

Considering the trend, my guess is that the UFC does try to book McGregor – Poirier at lightweight. I know McGregor’s last few fights have been at 170, but I think the promotion will try to push to get him back at his natural weight which is at lightweight.