Tag: Conor McGregor

Years in the making: How we got to Conor McGregor vs. Donald Cerrone at UFC 246

A timeline of all the key moments that led to Conor McGregor vs. Donald Cerrone in the UFC 246 headliner.

How did we get to [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Donald Cerrone[/autotag] at UFC 246? Check out this timeline of all the key moments that led to McGregor and “Cowboy” sharing the octagon in the welterweight pay-per-view headliner on Jan. 18 in Las Vegas.

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Jan. 16, 2015: Cerrone’s first words on McGregor

After McGregor defeated Dustin Poirier at UFC 178 and Cerrone beat Eddie Alvarez on the same card in September 2014, both men once again landed on the same show at UFC Fight Night 59 in January 2015, with McGregor taking on Dennis Siver in the main event while Cerrone faced Benson Henderson in the co-headliner.

Cerrone is asked about a potential fight between the two by MMA Junkie’s Matt Erickson at media day.

“Sure, (I’ll fight him),” Cerrone said. “Conor won’t be able to talk (expletive) to me, though. He won’t be able to do that (Dustin) Poirier stuff because I’ll (expletive) him up whenever I see him. Because that don’t fly with me. I don’t play that game. He’s a good dude. I get along with him just fine.”

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March 13, 2015: Cerrone praises McGregor at fan Q&A

McGregor’s win over Siver at UFC Fight Night 59 set him up for a featherweight title shot. He was already talking about moving up to lightweight, though, and Cerrone is asked about a potential fight with McGregor during a fan Q&A prior to UFC 185 weigh-ins in Dallas.

“I’d fight anybody if they paid me – free – I’d do it,” Cerrone said. “Conor’s doing it. Great job. Talked himself right into a title shot. Hell yeah. Good job, buddy. Son of a (expletive) fights. He fights. Everyone is like, ‘Wait until he gets a test.’ Then he wins. Now he’s got a real test. What if he wins? Then you’ve got to shut the (expletive) up, huh? Who am I to say he can’t win? I don’t know.”

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Sept. 2, 2015: McGregor rips Cerrone’s pay ahead of his title fight

During a media luncheon with reporters in Los Angeles, McGregor, who had just beaten Chad Mendes for the interim UFC featherweight belt two months prior at UFC 189, ripped the scheduled UFC on FOX 17 lightweight title fight between Cerrone and then-champ Rafael dos Anjos

“Rafael has nothing; Donald has nothing,” McGregor said. “Rafael will be lucky to make six figures this fight – and rightfully so. He shouldn’t even make six figures because he doesn’t even bring in six figures. Donald will probably scrape six figures because he shows up and fights every couple weeks, and he earns that six figures. But he don’t earn much more than that.

“Make no mistake: They want it as well,” he said. “They don’t give a (expletive) about each other. If either of them had the opportunity to scrap that fight and come fight me, I can change their life. I can make them rich. I have the numbers.”

It didn’t take long for McGregor’s comments to reach Cerrone, who sent a stern warning over Twitter, reminding the Irishman that the two would share the same building later that week for the UFC’s “Go Big” press conference in Las Vegas.

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Sept. 4, 2015: McGregor, Cerrone trade shots at ‘Go Big’ press conference

The true genesis of McGregor vs. Cerrone starts here. McGregor, who was at the press conference to promote his UFC 194 featherweight title unification bout with Jose Aldo, turns his attention to the lightweight division and has words for Cerrone, planting the seed for a future fight.

“I see stiffness when I look at that 155-pound division,” McGregor said. “Slow, stiff. I feel like they’re stuck in the mud almost. The featherweights, they hit like flyweights. So it’s nice down there just destroying them and killing that division. But I have my eye on that 155 division and I see them all stuck in the mud in there. We’ll see over time. But have I been wrong yet? No.”

Cerrone offers his response: “You have a monster here at 145, Aldo, about to beat your ass. You’ve beat nobody and you think you’re going to come up to 155 and make a statement? Sit down.”

Of course, though, McGregor gets the last word: “You’re fighting a guy (dos Anjos) that whooped your ass next. So you’ve got to come through that. Then I’ll consider. I’ll check the numbers with Frank (Fertitta), then I’ll decide if I want to change your bum life, as well.”

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Dec. 2, 2015: McGregor says UFC wants lightweight title fight vs. Cerrone

As McGregor gears up for his UFC 194 title unification bout with Aldo, he continues to discuss his plans to move up to the lightweight division in the near future. He reveals he spoke to the UFC brass about the move, but claims the promotion was only interested if Cerrone beat dos Anjos at UFC on FOX 17.

“I think the brass want that; they said to me that if Cerrone wins, they would do the lightweight fight,” McGregor said. “They would do a lightweight title fight because dos Anjos wouldn’t bring the numbers. It wouldn’t be as big with dos Anjos. But really, the fight will decide what happens. If it’s a war, if it’s a great fight, then all of a sudden dos Anjos’ stock rises and I’m sure he’s going to call me out. Then it’s there.

“I feel it’s almost set in stone. KO Jose and then KO whoever holds that lightweight belt. Within the next two fights I will be a two-weight world champion once again, but this time in the UFC.”

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No trash talk? Conor McGregor wishes Donald Cerrone well ahead of UFC 246

Could Conor McGregor be turning over a new leaf entering 2020?

[autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag] is known for his signature trash talk. It’s one of his most famous attributes and has been a major factor in his popularity.

The brash Irishman has engaged in wars of words with seemingly every opponent he’s faced – at least since his UFC debut against Marcus Brimage in April 2013. His press conferences have become infamous. Whether bickering with Jose Aldo, Nate Diaz, Khabib Nurmagomedov, or Dustin Poirier, McGregor seems to love verbally besting his opponents.

In 2015, McGregor took on all comers at the UFC’s quarterly “Go Big” press conference. The event featured numerous headliners from the final quarter of the calendar year. Simply put, McGregor had a field day.

One of his targets? Donald Cerrone.

Now four years later, things may have changed. Despite the two fighters’ war of words in the past, McGregor’s tone was total respect on Friday.

In a reflective Instagram post, Cerrone listed off numerous accomplishments he’s achieved over the span of his soon-to-be 51-fight MMA career. In atypical fashion, McGregor commented by wishing Cerrone and his family well.

“Good man Donald, enjoy the Christmas dinner,” McGregor wrote. “Happy holidays to you and the family, from the McGregor’s here in Ireland. See you in 20/20 with bullseye vision.”

McGregor has shown respect towards opponents in the past – but almost always after he fights them. Could McGregor be turning over a new leaf entering 2020? Only time will tell.

Both former lightweights, McGregor (21-4 MMA, 9-2 UFC) and Cerrone (35-13 MMA, 22-10 UFC) will elevate to welterweight when they headline UFC 246.

The event is scheduled to take place Jan. 18 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card will stream on pay-per-view after prelims on ESPN/ESPN+.

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Triple Take: Was Conor McGregor vs. Donald Cerrone the fight to make at UFC 246?

Did the UFC make the right move booking Conor McGregor vs. Donald Cerrone? MMA Junkie’s Matt Erickson, Farah Hannoun and Nolan King discuss.

The fight had been rumored for a while, and Thursday it was made official. Conor McGregor will return from what will be about a 15-month layoff to headline UFC 246 in Las Vegas against Donald Cerrone. But was this the right fight for the UFC to make right now? MMA Junkie’s Matt Erickson, Farah Hannoun and Nolan King break it down in the latest edition of Triple Take.

Matt Erickson: This is smart matchmaking for everyone involved

The oft-rumored [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Donald Cerrone[/autotag] fight became a reality Thursday – the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S., of all days.

It’s a fight pitting arguably the most bankable star in UFC history – McGregor – against the promotion’s all-time leader in fight-night bonus awards, which makes the matchup seem like a slam-dunk no-brainer where the hype-o-meter is concerned.

But like nearly everything in this sport, we can’t just have nice things without the naysayers getting their $0.02 in. You know the types. They’re the ones who can’t just cruise past a tweet or Facebook post or Instagram photo without chiming in, just so everyone knows they’re here. Gotta put that thumbprint on everything.

We can’t just be happy with a perfectly good fist fight between two fighters who essentially are legends and future UFC Hall of Famers. We have to put it under a microscope and pick it apart and find some kind of fault with it, right? That’s just how we do it in the Twitter Era!

It almost didn’t matter who McGregor was matched up against. The talk was going to be just that he was coming back, period. He’s been out since his UFC 229 submission loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov and the subsequent post-fight brawl between their camps. And not coincidentally, that was the matchup (and the UFC 223 bus incident that preceded it) that seemed to kick off McGregor’s spate of outside-the-cage troubles. Add them all together – the bus arrest, the Miami Beach arrest, the Dublin pub incident – and it presents a troubling pattern.

Throw in a couple of reports of sexual assault allegations that have been vehemently denied – and that McGregor hasn’t been charged with – and a case could be made that until the Irish superstar gets his proverbial ish together in the real world, the UFC should just not book him at all.

But c’mon … we all know that’s not gonna happen. When McGregor fights, he makes money for everyone. And with his slate clean from the things he has been charged with, there’s really no reason to keep him on the sidelines if he wants to finally get back to work.

So why is this a good matchup? I’ve got two reasons for you. The first is, while Cerrone might not be a Conor McGregor fan, he almost certainly respects not only his fighting ability, but the way he’s able to get people to pay attention to him. Cerrone goes about it in a much different way – he just puts his head down, does his work, and when he’s off the clock, he goes full-on “Cowboy” doing what he wants to do.

But I’ll predict Cerrone is not going to be the type of opponent for McGregor who will engage in a whole bunch of social media trash talk. More likely, he’s the type who might not be a fan of the guy, but after they fight he’ll smile at him and raise a glass to him for going to battle. And that’s just the type of opponent the UFC needs to give McGregor right now – one who is not a major risk of baiting McGregor into Twitter wars of words, or who might turn things ugly come fight week. McGregor has had enough trouble of late – so put him in there with someone who has the potential to just show up to fight and not turn the whole thing into a sideshow leading up to it.

And secondly, this is the perfect matchup to make not for McGregor, but for Cerrone. The UFC shouldn’t book this fight as any kind of favor to McGregor. They’ve done him enough solids already, and he should just be happy to get a fight. But Cerrone? He’s been just about a perfect company man through the years. He takes fights on short notice, he takes hard fights, he fights up-and-comers – and all he does time after time is deliver. You don’t wind up with 18 fight-night bonuses if you’re not bringing it every time out.

We’ve all heard McGregor talk about the kinds of pay days he brings to the fighters he steps in against. They can be life-altering. And while Cerrone doesn’t seem to have any issues with the checks he gets from fighting, if anyone deserves a pay-per-view main event and the type of check that can come with a fight against McGregor, it’s “Cowboy.”

Everyone wins with this booking. The UFC gets McGregor back in the cage and a likely blockbuster pay-per-view event out of the gate in 2020. McGregor gets back to work against an opponent who is likely to be willing to just fight him in the cage, and not on social media. And Cerrone gets his “Red Panty Night.” It’s a trifecta, and it’s perfect.

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Point/Counterpoint – Conor McGregor vs. ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone: Who has the edge at UFC 246?

Who has the edge in the newly announced UFC 246 main event between Conor McGregor and Donald Cerrone? Dam Tom breaks it down.

As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, former UFC champion [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag] will be making his return at UFC 246 opposite fellow fan favorite [autotag]Donald Cerrone[/autotag].

The event will take place on Jan. 18 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, and the headlining matchup at hand will be contested at welterweight.

McGregor (21-4 MMA, 9-2 UFC) is coming off of a failed attempt to regain his lightweight crown against current champ Khabib Nurmagomedov back at UFC 229, and has spent the bulk of 2019 with battles outside of the cage that range from formal assault charges to sexual assault allegations.

Whereas Cerrone (36-13 MMA, 23-10 UFC), who – despite starting the year off strong with wins over Alexander Hernandez and Al Iaquinta – is currently coming off of a pair of stoppage losses to two of the toughest hombres at 155 pounds in Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje.

Both men will have ample opportunity to take steps in the right direction come January, but I thought it wouldn’t hurt to lay out some of the things that I’ll be looking for from an analytical/technical perspective, using a fun point/counterpoint format to help primer the McGregor-Cerrone collision ahead.

Point: Lengthy layoff for McGregor

With most metrics traditionally indicating long layoffs as a negative, it’s hard to ignore the fact that it will be a solid 15 months since we’ve last seen McGregor compete in a cage come January.

If you count his special attraction with Floyd Mayweather inside of the boxing ring, then McGregor’s second-longest layoff comes out to 14 months; but if we’re just sticking to MMA, then his longest layoff technically jumps to a grand total of 23 months – – both of which roads resulted in a loss upon return.

Counterpoint: Prior comebacks and adjustments

Although McGregor’s most recent comeback bore little fruit, he has shown the ability to adapt and overcome adversity at earlier points of his UFC tenure.

After tearing his ACL mid-fight against Max Holloway back in 2013, McGregor took recovery and reinvigoration to a new level, making a successful return the next year (after an 11-month grand total). And in 2016, McGregor, despite suffering a crushing defeat to Nate Diaz at UFC 196 and nearly severing ties with both his head coach and the UFC that same summer, managed to turn things around in just 5 months time – showing off an improved arsenal and ability to manage pace.

Next page: “Cowboy” vs. southpaws, McGregor vs. kickers

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Conor McGregor opens as nearly 3-1 favorite over ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone at UFC 246

The odds are out for the UFC 246 main event between Conor McGregor and Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone – and they favor the Irishman in a big way.

[autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag]’s long-awaited return to the cage was something many MMA fans no doubt gave thanks for on the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S.

McGregor (21-4 MMA, 9-2 UFC) is set to headline UFC 246 in January against [autotag]Donald Cerrone[/autotag] (36-13 MMA, 23-10 UFC), the promotion announced Thursday. The welterweight fight is one that has been talked about for several months, but as with all things McGregor-related seemed to be up in the air pending his decision to put pen to paper.

Now that the fight is official, the opening betting odds have been released – and former dual champion McGregor is a sizable favorite out of the gate. McGregor is a -278 favorite at BetMGM.com. The comeback on “Cowboy” is +200.

In other words, a $100 bet on Cerrone would pay out $300 (including the original $100 wager) if he pulls the upset in Las Vegas. A $100 bet on McGregor would pay out about $136 (including the original $100 wager) if he wins.

UFC 246 takes place Jan. 18 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims likely for ESPN and early prelims on UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+.

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It probably should come as no surprise that McGregor is favored. He’s only been an underdog twice in his career. In his featherweight title fight against then-champ Jose Aldo at UFC 194, Aldo was just a slight favorite at -135 to -110 for McGregor. McGregor knocked out Aldo in 13 seconds to win his first UFC belt. And in his lightweight title fight against champ Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 in October 2018, he was as much as a 2-1 underdog in a fight he lost by fourth-round submission.

Cerrone is on just the second losing skid of his career. After starting 2019 with back-to-back wins over Alexander Hernandez and Al Iaquinta, he has dropped consecutive bouts to Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje, both by TKO.

Before those setbacks, he was on a three-fight run that saw him pick up a bonus for his submission of Mike Perry, two bonuses for his TKO of Hernandez, and a “Fight of the Night” for his decision win over Iaquinta. He has the most post-fight bonus awards in UFC history with 18.

McGregor hasn’t won a fight in more than three years. In November 2016, he stopped Eddie Alvarez with a second-round TKO at UFC 205 to win the lightweight title. That made him the first fighter in UFC history to hold belts in two divisions at the same time. He was forced to vacate his featherweight belt soon after, having never defended it.

He never defended the lightweight title, either. He chose instead to take a highly lucrative boxing match with Floyd Mayweather in August 2017 in a turn that made him truly a global superstar. He eventually was stripped of the 155-pound belt, and Nurmagomedov claimed it to set up the pair’s vicious rivalry that culminated in a brawl after their fight and suspensions for both.

McGregor has become almost as well known for his issues outside the cage as his fighting. Several months before his fight with Nurmagomedov, he had a now-infamous incident in which he attacked a fighter bus at UFC 223 and was arrested. The brawl at UFC 229, though not started by him, didn’t help matters.

Earlier this year in Miami Beach, he was arrested for taking a man’s phone, smashing it on the ground, then walking away with it. Ultimately, the strong-arm robbery and criminal mischief charges were dismissed. But in August, video surfaced of McGregor punching a man in a Dublin pub. Earlier this month, he pleaded guilty to assault and was fined. Reports of sexual assault accusations also have surfaced, though he has not been charged.

Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services. Newsrooms are independent of this relationship, and there is no influence on news coverage.

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Boxing champ Carl Frampton on meeting Francis Ngannou at the UFC PI: ‘I’ve never felt less of a man in my life!’

Former two-division boxing champion Carl Frampton’s recent stint at the UFC Performance Institute left him impressed with both the facilities and the punching power of one of its regular attendees.

Northern Ireland’s boxing superstar Carl Frampton has been training at the UFC Performance Institute ahead of his upcoming fight in Las Vegas, and “The Jackal” admitted he was blown away – both by the facilities and by one of the PI’s regular attendees.

Frampton headed out to Vegas to finalize his fight camp ahead of his bout with Tyler McCready at The Cosmopolitan on Nov. 30 and got a hook-up to train at the UFC PI via the UFC’s vice president of performance, Duncan French, who shares an association with one of Frampton’s regular gyms back in Manchester, England.

And after French gave Frampton the green light to finish off his fight camp at the PI, the former two-weight world champion was suitably impressed with the facilities he was given access to.

“The facility is amazing,” he enthused. “The people are really friendly and nice, and I couldn’t have asked for anything more, really.

“I didn’t really know what to expect coming here, being a boxer and not coming from an MMA background, wondering potentially how the other athletes will look at this boxer coming into their gym to train, but everything’s been really nice.

“You train hard. You’ve got everything you need. We bring our coaches in, we do our punching sessions, but we can also do cardio here, we can also do weights. And then after we can go and chill out in the recovery suite, in ice baths, plunge pools, saunas, jacuzzis. It’s state-of-the-art, top of the range. I’ve never been in a facility like it.”

Frampton admits he’s a fan of the UFC, but is still getting to grips with his understanding of the grappling aspect of the sport. But when it comes to throwing hands, he knows exactly what he’s looking at, and he said he was very impressed with a certain UFC heavyweight’s ability to throw a punch.

“I’ve seen big Francis (Ngannou) training in here. He’s got good hands,” he said. “He’s talking about potentially … I’m hearing some stuff about a (Tyson) Fury fight. One thing for sure is I would not like to be hit by Francis!” he said, before admitting that the hulking heavyweight left him feeling a little intimidated in the locker room.

“I was standing beside him in the changing room recently, (and) I’ve never felt less of a man in my life!” he laughed. “He’s a big unit, and a real nice guy, too.”

Frampton said the explosion in the popularity in the sport in his part of the world is down in no small part to [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag], saying the Dubliner has “transcended the sport” and “made it huge.”

“Over the last decade, I think the McGregor effect has shot it up through the roof and there’s a lot of gyms opening up all over Ireland, all over the U.K.” he said. “So I think McGregor is the man.”

And while he admits he is still building his knowledge about the sport, Frampton said he has picked up even more respect for the athletes who compete in MMA during his time at the UFC PI.

“Since I’ve been here I’ve actually been researching a little bit more into it. And although I was already a fan of the UFC coming out here, I think I’ll be going away a much bigger fan.”

The Blue Corner is MMA Junkie’s blog space. We don’t take it overly serious, and neither should you. If you come complaining to us that something you read here is not hard-hitting news, expect to have the previous sentence repeated in ALL CAPS.

Conor McGregor vs. ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone headlines UFC 246 on Jan. 18

The long-rumored matchup between Conor McGregor and Donald Cerrone is finally a reality.

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The long-rumored matchup between [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag] and [autotag]Donald Cerrone[/autotag] is finally a reality.

UFC president Dana White today told ESPN.com that McGregor and “Cowboy” will meet in the welterweight main event of UFC 246, which takes place Jan. 18 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. MMA Junkie subsequently confirmed the plans with White, as well.

According to White, McGregor has already signed his bout agreement for the matchup, with Cerrone expected to follow suit in short order.

More on this in just a moment.

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UFC Fight Pass 500 Moments video: Conor McGregor snatches Jose Aldo’s belt is No. 182

The UFC recently held its 500th live event, and the organization is marking the occasion with a list of 500 Unforgettable Moments.

UFC 244 marked the promotion’s 500th live event, and the organization is marking the occasion with “an internally curated list of 500 Unforgettable Moments from UFC history.”

Scheduled to be released in seven installments, UFC Fight Pass 500 Moments shines a spotlight on some of the most memorable highlights – and lowlights – from the UFC’s 26-year run, both in and out of the cage.

UFC Fight Pass officials have committed to sharing video of a few of those key moments with MMA Junkie, as well. This time, we bring you a wild moment from the [autotag]Jose Aldo[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag] world tour, when McGregor boldly leaned across the podium to snatch Aldo’s featherweight title belt.

UFC.com’s Walker Van Wey sets the table:

Conor McGregor’s celebrity was almost at an all-time high in preparation for his featherweight title fight with Jose Aldo. The building was shaking with applause for McGregor and the building nearly collapsed when Conor declared himself the king of Dublin, reached over and snatched Aldo’s lightweight belt and held it over his head.

You can watch the footage in the video above. And check out a few more memorable moments below:

The Blue Corner is MMA Junkie’s blog space. We don’t take it overly serious, and neither should you. If you come complaining to us that something you read here is not hard-hitting news, expect to have the previous sentence repeated in ALL CAPS.

Canelo Alvarez: Jorge Masvidal matchup ‘attractive, but not a challenge’

Canelo Alvarez said a fight with MMA’s Jorge Masvidal makes sense from a business standpoint but wouldn’t be competitive.

Canelo Alvarez doesn’t seem all that interested in a potential crossover fight with the UFC star Jorge Masvidal.

The multiple-weight boxing champion recently responded to Masvidal’s comments showing interest in a boxing bout between the two. Alvarez believes Masvidal (35–13 MMA, 12-6 UFC), a top contender in the UFC’s welterweight division, has no business competing in the sport of boxing.

“I say this with all respect: If I go into his sport, I have nothing to do there. And I think the same about boxing: If (MMA fighters) come into boxing, they have nothing to do here,” Alvarez told Little Giant Boxing. “But looking at it from a business standpoint, it is attractive, but it’s not a challenge for me, so it’s not my priority.”

The biggest crossover bout between boxing and MMA fighters, and one of the biggest fights in combat sports history was in 2017, when the undefeated Floyd Mayweather beat former UFC featherweight and lightweight champ Conor McGregor in a boxing match.

Since then, the number of call outs involving MMA and boxing fighters has grown. Alvarez believes there is a simple answer to that: money.

“Because of money – because of the business and nothing else,” Alvarez said. “That’s the reality, because what else? They would’ve started boxing from the beginning if they really liked boxing. And I say this will all due respect, each to their own: I respect what they do and their sport, and they’re great fighters in what they do. But in boxing, well, it’s just something else.”