Tag: UFC 264

Khabib Nurmagomedov: ‘Something superior’ caused Conor McGregor’s leg break at UFC 264

Khabib Nurmagomedov points to divine intervention when breaking down Conor McGregor’s leg break at UFC 264.

[autotag]Khabib Nurmagomedov[/autotag] points to divine intervention when breaking down [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag]’s leg break at UFC 264.

McGregor’s (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) trilogy fight with Dustin Poirier on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas ended in gruesome fashion when the former two-division champion could not continue after suffering the injury in the closing seconds of Round 1. Poirier (28-6 MMA, 20-5 UFC) was declared the winner by TKO, and afterward, Nurmagomedov (29-0 MMA, 13-0 UFC) tweeted that “good” had prevailed over “evil.”

There’s no doubt Nurmagomedov’s negative history with McGregor led to his initial reaction, but he said he stands behind it. He saw the way in which McGregor acted before the fight with Poirier – as well as after the fight – and he pointed to the will of God not allowing the Irishman to thrive in that moment.

“(There’s) always (going to) be there something superior – more powerful – than we have,” Nurmagomedov told MMA Junkie on Monday. “Sometimes when people become, ‘I’m this, I can do this. I’m smart because I’m strong.’ God always going to make you humble. I saw yesterday or two days ago, I saw his coach’s interview like, ‘I don’t understand how this happened. He’s a strong young, strong man and he broke his foot, I don’t understand.’ Everything from God. You have to become humble. When you become rich, when you become strong, when you become famous and then you think this is because of myself? God going to make you humble.”

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Nurmagomedov clearly doesn’t feel bad that McGregor suffered an injury that required a three-hour surgery with a rod, plate, and screws being inserted into his leg. Oppositely, he’s thrilled with the outcome, because it saw Poirier shine inside the octagon.

The victory for Poirier set him up for a lightweight title showdown with Charles Oliveira, and Nurmagomedov said he hopes to see “The Diamond” capture gold.

“I really enjoy this fight,” Nurmagomedov said. “I’m really happy with Dustin Poirier. I think he deserve title shot, and I think he deserve to be UFC lightweight champion right now.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOB62VlOBPQ

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John Kavanagh ‘miffed’ Joe Rogan interviewed Conor McGregor after UFC 264 main event

Conor McGregor’s head coach John Kavanagh is unhappy the former champ was interviewed by Joe Rogan after the UFC 264 main event.

[autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag]’s head coach, John Kavanagh, is unhappy his fighter was interviewed in the octagon after the UFC 264 main event.

McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) suffered a broken leg toward the end of the first round of his trilogy bout with Dustin Poirier (28-6 MMA, 20-5 UFC) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, ending the bout prematurely by TKO. It was a gruesome injury that’s since required an extensive surgery, but “The Notorious” is already talking about his comeback plans.

Emotions were running high on the night. Just minutes after McGregor crumbled to the canvas, he was interviewed by UFC commentator Joe Rogan, who sat down next to him in a corner of the octagon as the Irishman was getting a splint put around his leg.

McGregor made waves with his comments. He immediately discredited the result while talking to Rogan, then made some disparaging remarks about Poirier’s wife, Jolie, that have been met with a lot of negative backlash.

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Kavanagh, who is McGregor’s longtime head coach at SBG Ireland, is frustrated McGregor was even put in position to have to speak, and expressed as much on Sunday during a Wimp 2 Warrior Instagram Live Q&A with Laura Sanko.

“His foot is literally hanging down,” Kavanagh said. “It’s a clean fracture on the fibula and tibia. It went straight through. It’s hanging down. You can only imagine the rush of hormones and what’s going to be going through your body at that moment. The pain – it was on fire. Then someone bends down and sticks a microphone in your face: ‘How are you feeling right now?’ It’s like, guys – come on.

“When has he never not been gracious at the end? Let’s get backstage, let’s get a proper assessment by a doctor and let’s get an X-ray. Let’s say I was pretty miffed at that idea of shoving a microphone in someone’s face at that stage. Let’s gather ourselves.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6ymIhvWQug

It doesn’t seem McGregor has any regrets over the way his post-fight unfolded. He’s largely doubled down in the aftermath of UFC 264, claiming post-surgery that Poirier was on the verge of being defeated before injury ended the fight.

Kavanagh agrees, and thinks McGregor was performing well before it came crashing down.

“It was going fantastic,” Kavanagh said. “I thought he looked really, really good in there. … I wasn’t concerned at all. I was actually really, really happy. … At the 4:30 mark or even the 4:45 mark (of Round 1), everything is gravy. I thought energy looked good, technique looked good. A few adjustments in between rounds, and I thought Round 2 we were well on track to getting a finish there, or keep the rhythm going for the rest of the fight.”

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MMA Junkie Radio #3174: UFC 264 recap, Conor McGregor’s future, more

Monday’s edition of MMA Junkie Radio with hosts “Gorgeous” George and “Goze” is here and will be live at noon ET.

Monday’s edition of MMA Junkie Radio with hosts “Gorgeous” George and “Goze” is here and will be live at noon ET.

On Episode 3,174, the boys will look back at this past Saturday’s big UFC 264 pay-per-view and discuss the trilogy rubber match between Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor, whether there should be a fourth fight, what’s next for McGregor after his broken leg and more. They’ll discuss other fights on the card and the latest MMA news.

Stream or download this and all episodes of MMA Junkie Radio over at OmnyStudio. You can also catch it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and more. A new episode of the podcast is released every Monday and Thursday.

New angle shows Conor McGregor’s trash talk to Dustin Poirier after broken leg: ‘In your sleep, you’re getting it’

There might be a much longer shelf life than normal in the UFC 264 aftermath of the Dustin Poirier vs. Conor McGregor trilogy fight.

It normally doesn’t take long to change the news cycle in the MMA world.

Soon after the latest water cooler topic, the next one comes up and before long, it’s all part of the white noise. But there might be a much longer shelf life for the aftermath of the [autotag]Dustin Poirier[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag] trilogy.

Poirier (28-6 MMA, 20-5 UFC) beat McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) with a first-round TKO this past Saturday in the UFC 264 main event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. McGregor broke his left tibia and fibula in gruesome fashion late in the first round, which led to a doctor’s stoppage.

In the buildup to the fight, McGregor’s trash talk ramped up from its normal levels and included words about taking Poirier’s life – and it appeared to be a little more harsh than the fairly standard hyperbole of “trying to kill each other” in the cage.

It also included suggestions that Poirier’s wife, Jolie, tried to reach out to McGregor through a direct message online.

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Poirier said after the fight that McGregor’s death threat-type words continued even while medical personnel were attending to his broken leg, and a new angle released online might just back that up.

While some of what McGregor is saying is hard to make out over the crowd noise and the start of Poirier’s interview with Joe Rogan in the cage, it sounds like McGregor is yelling to Poirier that “In your sleep, you’re getting it … in your sleep, you’re getting it … in your sleep, you’re getting it … it ain’t over.”

A Twitter post with the video claims McGregor also said “You’re dead … You and your Mrs.,” a reference to Jolie Poirier, though the noise in the arena makes that hard to tell with certainty.

One thing that is certain is Poirier talked about McGregor’s words in his post-fight news conference and suggested footage is out there that might not paint McGregor in a great light.

“Listen, Conor said some nasty stuff that didn’t make it on ‘(UFC) Embedded,'” Poirier told MMA Junkie after the fight. “Maybe when this behind-the-scenes for this fight airs, you’ll see him on the ground still saying some real bad stuff. But even that stuff being said, I don’t wish serious harm like that on nobody.

“The guy’s got kids. I want him to go home safe to his family. I pray before these fights. Every time before I walk through the octagon door, I’m praying that – not for me to win – I’m praying that we both get out of this safe, because I know what I’m going to try to do to him and I know what he’s going to try to do to me.”

Poirier also told UFC sideline reporter Megan Olivi on ESPN’s post-fight show that McGregor continued to make death threats in the cage.

“Earlier this week, he was saying he was going to murder me and I was going to not make it home and stuff like that,” Poirier said. “That’s what really upset me this week. Even when he was sitting there on the ground, with his busted leg, he was looking at me (making gun signs to the head) like, ‘I’m going to kill you.’ Like, what is wrong with you bro? This is a sport. This is a fight. We can dislike each other, but you don’t say sh*t like that. … I don’t play those kind of games.”

McGregor had surgery Sunday on his broken leg and said the prognosis includes six weeks on crutches, after which time he plans to return to training for a comeback. Poirier likely punched his ticket to a title shot against lightweight champion Charles Oliveira.

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Video: Israel Adesanya reacts to Conor McGregor’s leg break, ‘crazy fight’ at UFC 264

Conor McGregor’s leg break at UFC 264 left Israel Adesanya squeamish just like most of the rest of us.

[autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag]’s leg break at UFC 264 left [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag] squeamish just like most of the rest of us.

McGregor suffered a broken tibia and fibula in the closing seconds of the first round in his main event trilogy bout against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264, which naturally rendered him unable to continue. As a result, Poirier won the bout by TKO due to doctor’s stoppage.

UFC middleweight champion Adesanya was watching and said McGregor made a mistake by jumping for a guillotine choke. Adesanya gave his thoughts on the fight and even recognized something was wrong with McGregor’s leg before replays revealed the injury.

“Yeah, it was a good fight. I like the way Conor opened up. This is one of the reasons I don’t jump for guillotines because Eugene says if you fail a guillotine, you’re on bottom. That’s the problem. And it was tight. It was tight, but the cage was in the way, so Dustin was able to stop and defend by not letting him get his leg wrapped and put him in guard. Then Dustin, f*ck, the recovery. There’s a point when he was on top and he was just like throwing bombs. The pace was good. The pace he was throwing at was just bewildering Conor. Credit to Conor as well because from bottom he was throwing shots, throwing them elbows, getting crazy. That was just a freak accident. Dustin reckons it was a check, Conor reckons it wasn’t. Yeah, crazy fight. They’re definitely gonna do it again. They’re gonna run it back and then we’re all gonna watch.”

You can watch Adesanya’s reaction to the UFC 264 main event, as well as other fights on the main card, in the video below courtesy of Adesanya’s YouTube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDty2w–dEw

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.

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Conor McGregor frustrated with Dustin Poirier’s ‘illegitimate’ win: ‘That second round would have shown all’

Conor McGregor is confident he would have turned things around against Dustin Poirier had he not broken his leg.

[autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag] is confident he would have turned things around against [autotag]Dustin Poirier[/autotag] had he not broken his leg.

McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) broke his tibia and fibula in the final seconds of Round 1 of his trilogy bout against Poirier at UFC 264 on Saturday. The fight was waved off after the conclusion of the opening frame and Poirier was declared the winner by TKO due to doctor’s stoppage.

In a back-and-forth round, McGregor came out loose with an array of spinning attacks and low kicks. But after jumping for a guillotine choke while defending a takedown, McGregor found himself absorbing a barrage of punches, which changed the momentum of the fight. As soon as Poirier let him back up, McGregor threw a kick that was blocked by Poirier’s elbow, followed by a missed punch in which he snapped his leg on the landing.

If it wasn’t for the injury, McGregor thinks Poirier (28-6 MMA, 20-5 UFC) would have been in trouble in Round 2.

“What’s up fight fans – ‘The Notorious’ here. Just out of the surgery room. Everything went to plan. Everything went perfect. I’m feeling tremendous. We’ve got six weeks on a crutch now and then we begin to build back. I want to thank all the fans all around the world for your messages of support, I hope you all enjoyed the show. I want to thank all the fans in attendance at the T-Mobile Arena – 21,800 fans in attendance. The place was absolutely electric. It was a hell of a first round. It would have been nice to get into that second round and then to see what’s what. But it is what it is. That’s the nature of the business – a clean break of the tibia, and it was not to be. Dustin, you can celebrate that illegitimate win all you want, but you done nothing in there. That second round would have shown all, and onwards and upwards we go, team. We dust ourselves off, we build ourselves back and we come back better than ever. Let’s go team.”

McGregor underwent a successful three-hour surgery on his broken leg Sunday at Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles. The surgery was performed by Dr. El Attrache and Dr. Milton Little, according to McGregor’s agent. An intramedullary rod was inserted in his tibia, and a small plate was inserted to repair the fibula. McGregor is expecting a six-week timeline for his recovery and is set on running things back with Poirier for a fourth time – an idea that both Dana White and Poirier seem to be on board with.

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Conor McGregor undergoes surgery on broken leg after UFC 264 loss, details recovery timeline

Conor McGregor underwent a 3.5-hour surgery on his broken leg after UFC 264 that included a rod, plate and screws.

[autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag] completely a successful 3.5-hour surgery on his broken leg Sunday following a gruesome loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264.

McGregor’s (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) trilogy fight with Poirier (28-6 MMA, 20-5 UFC) was cut short when the former two-division champ broke his left lower tibia off a missed punch toward the end of the first round of the lightweight bout, which took place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

“The Notorious” was unable to continue into the second frame, and Poirier was declared the winner by TKO. McGregor was taken out of the octagon a stretcher in the aftermath of the fight, and was transported to Los Angeles for surgery at Cedars-Sinai hospital.

McGregor was under the knife for more than three hours, Dr. Ellatrache and Milton Little performed the operation, which saw a intramedullary rod inserted in his tibia, as well as a small plate and screws to repair the fibula, a first reported by TMZ.

After the surgery, McGregor posted a statement on social media with a six-week timeline for his recovery (via Twitter):

Just out of the surgery room guys! Surgery went excellent! Feeling tremendous! 6 weeks on crutch and we build back! Let’s go! God bless

McGregor is expected to remain in hospital until Tuesday or Wednesday. He comes out of UFC 264 on the first two-fight losing skid of his career, and is 1-3 in his past four bouts overall since he returned to MMA from a multi-year hiatus in October 2018.

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Ronda Rousey supports Conor McGregor after UFC 264, ‘amazed’ by post-fight interview

Ronda Rousey praised Conor McGregor’s ability to promote on the fly after suffering a leg injury in his UFC 264 defeat.

[autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag] has received a lot of heat for his post-fight interview following his loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264.

[autotag]Ronda Rousey[/autotag] wasn’t one of the people to pile on.

After losing to Poirier (28-6 MMA, 20-5 UFC) in their trilogy bout as the result of a broken leg that stopped the fight at the end of the first round, McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) got on the microphone during his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan and unleashed a vicious verbal tirade.

McGregor said “it’s not over” with Poirier after losing the rubber match, then had some personal words for Poirier’s wife, Jolie. He received much backlash for how he carried himself, and UFC president Dana White even said his comments were out of bounds.

Rousey (12-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC), a former UFC women’s bantamweight champion who’s rise to stardom ran largely parallel to McGregor, offered a different take on the controversial moment (via Twitter):

I’m amazed that as soon as you hit the ground you were already promoting the next fight
@TheNotoriousMMA – I def wouldn’t have had the mind to do that. The other fighters,
@ufc and media are lucky to have you.

McGregor suffered a broken tibia in the final seconds of the opening round of the UFC 264 main event, which took place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. He’ll undergo surgery, and a timeline for his possible return is unknown.

Rousey, meanwhile, hasn’t competed in MMA since her loss to Amanda Nunes at UFC 207 in December 2016. After leaving the promotion, she’s pursued a career in professional wrestling with WWE. More recently, Rousey announced she’s pregnant with the first child between her and husband Travis Browne, who is a former UFC heavyweight.

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Coach John Kavanagh: Pre-existing Conor McGregor injury may have led to UFC 264 leg break

Conor McGregor’s head coach John Kavanagh thinks an ankle injury sustained in training camp may have contributed to the UFC 264 leg break.

[autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag]’s head coach John Kavanagh thinks an ankle injury sustained in training camp may have contributed to the leg break that ended the UFC 264 headliner.

According to Kavanagh, the former two-division UFC champion McGregor came into the fight with some pre-existing issues in the same leg that was snapped in his first-round TKO loss to Dustin Poirier in Saturday’s trilogy bout at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Kavanagh said McGregor visited a doctor in California in the weeks prior to UFC 264, and although nothing serious was discovered, he theorized there could be connection during an Instagram Q&A with Laura Sanko for Wimp 2 Warrior.

“A little bit of that ankle injury has been aggravated during camp,” Kavanagh said. “We got a scan on it. Did that have a small part to play in weakening it? I don’t know. We were (with a doctor) a couple weeks ago to get a scan on the ankle. … There might’ve been something in there. It would seem unusual that a young, healthy, fit man could wrap his foot around an elbow and without there being something (wrong) there before. You can play those guessing games all day long.”

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Kavanagh said he’s pinpointed the moment where the fight-ending damage to McGregor’s leg occurred. He said McGregor landed a kick to Poirier’s elbow in the final minute of the round, and that set the stage for the moment he stepped back and collapsed to the canvas.

“He throws a leg kick, and then he threw a teep,” Kavanagh said. “That’s clearly where the fracture happened. He threw it aggressive kick, Dustin shelled with the lead hand and the foot wraps around the elbow in a similar fashion to (Anderson) Silva and (Chris) Weidman. They wrapped their foot around the shin, he wrapped his shin around the elbow.”

McGregor suffered a broken tibia in the loss to Poirier in what was an anticipated rubber match. UFC president Dana White said he’s scheduled to undergo surgery on Sunday, and Kavanagh verified as much.

“He’s in hospital right now,” Kavanagh said. “I’ll be heading over there after this to check in on this. It’s a bitter pill to swallow. This sport is the highest highs and the lowest lows. We’ve got to take some time to assess what the next move is. Obviously rehab and recovery is where it’s at.”

As far as how the fight was unfolding prior to McGregor’s injury, the SBG Ireland coach said he couldn’t have been more pleased with how the fight was unfolding.

Kavanagh felt McGregor was getting into his groove and was trending toward a finish, but then his fighter could no longer continue. It was disappointed, he said, but gave credit to Poirier for the win.

“It was going fantastic,” Kavanagh said. “I thought he looked really, really good in there. … I wasn’t concerned at all. I was actually really, really happy. … At the 4:30 mark or even the 4:45 mark, everything is gravy. I thought energy looked good, technique looked good. A few adjustments in between rounds and I thought Round 2 we were well on track to getting a finish there or keep the rhythm going for the rest of the fight.

“Credit to Dustin. He won. It’s an unfulfilling end to the night. … It doesn’t feel properly finished. (There was no) closure.”

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Sean O’Malley: Kris Moutinho should be happy with referee stoppage at UFC 264

Sean O’Malley weighs in on the controversial referee stoppage in his TKO win against Kris Moutinho at UFC 264.

LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Sean O’Malley[/autotag] disagrees with those who said the stoppage of his latest win came a bit early.

The rising UFC bantamweight contender picked up a third-round TKO win over UFC newcomer Kris Moutinho in the main card opener of Saturday’s UFC 264 pay-per-view event.

The stoppage by referee Herb Dean came with 27 seconds left in the fight. Many online thought it was premature and that Moutinho (9-5 MMA, 0-1 UFC) should’ve been given the chance to go the distance, despite catching a lopsided beating from O’Malley (14-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) for the entirety of the fight.

“I think 30 seconds left, and I wanted to put his lights out, people just want to see people get their face battered in,” O’Malley told reporters at the post-fight news conference. “With 30 seconds, I could’ve landed 15, 20 more head shots and add it to the record or catch up to whatever record there is.

“Herb is the man – he did what he needed to do. That kid is probably at the hospital right now f*cking seeing triple. Kris wasn’t happy with the stoppage, but he should be happy. He took this fight on short notice and he hurt my hands. It was a good fight.”

O’Malley landed often and hard on Moutinho, who showed plenty of heart and durability. “Suga” said he never felt in trouble, but did give credit to his opponent for the gutsy performance.

“He landed a couple little shots, but I never felt like I was in danger,” O’Malley said. “I was in control of the fight the entire fight. I’m just at a different level, but I think he has a spot in the UFC.”

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As far as what’s next, O’Malley is on a two-fight winning streak since his first professional defeat to Marlon Vera. The 26-year-old targets a matchup against top contender Rob Font, who recently defeated former champion Cody Garbrandt.

“I’m definitely not getting Petr (Yan) – he’s fighting (Aljamain Sterling),” O’Malley said. “I’m definitely not getting Cody (Garbrandt) – he’s going down to 125 (pounds). I don’t think Dominick (Cruz) is going to accept that fight. I think Rob will take it. I don’t see why not.

“He beats me, he gets a title shot. I’m the biggest draw at bantamweight right now. But if I don’t get it, I don’t care. I have 10 years of fighting. We’re going to fight everyone, so I’ll probably fight toward the end of the year.”

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