Tag: UFC 291

Sean O’Malley won’t count Tony Ferguson out after sixth straight loss: ‘He’s not losing to f*cking turds’

UFC star Sean O’Malley would like to see Tony Ferguson get one more opportunity after UFC 291 and brings up strength of schedule.

[autotag]Sean O’Malley[/autotag] wants to see [autotag]Tony Ferguson[/autotag] get another opportunity after UFC 291.

Ferguson (25-9 MMA, 15-7 UFC) lost his sixth fight in a row when he was submitted by Bobby Green on Saturday at Delta Center in Salt Lake City. Despite his rough patch, Ferguson didn’t indicate retirement and plans on meeting with the UFC brass to assess what’s next.

Ferguson, a former interim lightweight champion, once rode the longest winning streak in the division’s history, but looks far from his prime as of late.

“Tony Ferguson (is) on a six-fight losing streak,” O’Malley said on the “Timbo Sugar Show” podcast. “‘Entering his prime’ though so that’s f*cking encouraging if you’re a Tony Ferguson fan. Bobby Green looked slick on the feet, throwing his one-twos, his two-ones, from his hip, fast as f*ck. Tony was eating them until he was sleeping on them.”

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Ferguson’s setbacks have come against elite-level competition. Although Green was considered a step down in competition, O’Malley says Ferguson’s strength of schedule has been challenging.

“I say give him one more,” O’Malley said. “I don’t (want to count him out)… Listen to who he lost to: (Justin) Gaethje, Charles Oliveira, Beneil Dariush, Michael Chandler, Nate Diaz, Bobby Green. He’s not losing to f*cking turds.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 291.

Ali Abdelaziz: Conor McGregor ‘using Justin Gaethje for hype,’ won’t ever fight him

Ali Abdelaziz won’t entertain Conor McGregor’s callout of Justin Gaethje.

Ali Abdelaziz won’t entertain [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag]’s callout of [autotag]Justin Gaethje[/autotag].

After Gaethje (25-4 MMA, 8-4 UFC) claimed the “BMF” title with a head kick knockout of Dustin Poirier this past Saturday at UFC 291, McGregor expressed interest in fighting him.

McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) is expected to face Michael Chandler after recently wrapping up Season 31 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” which continues to air Tuesdays on ESPN until Aug. 15. But McGregor appears to be open to other options, and Abdelaziz thinks fighting Gaethje would not bode well for him at all.

“I don’t believe Conor McGregor will ever fight again, but if he fights again, he’s probably going to fight somebody coming off a loss,” Abdelaziz told MMA Underground. “First of all, for him to fight Justin Gaethje, he has to make 155 pounds. He has to pass multiple – multiple – USADA drug tests because we know what he’s been doing. (I’m not going to go ahead and accuse him because I never saw him.)

“Plus, if this is what he wants to be a part of his legacy, leaving out on a stretcher, fighting Justin Gaethje and getting stretchered out of the arena, let it be. But I feel he’s not man enough. He doesn’t have enough balls to fight someone like Justin Gaethje because I think Justin Gaethje will ruin him in front of his whole family and friends.”

Abdelaziz chalks off McGregor’s antics to simply a publicity stunt, echoing Gaethje’s words of McGregor allegedly turning him down on multiple occasions in the past.

“I believe he’s using Justin Gaethje for hype,” Abdelaziz said. “I believe he was offered Justin Gaethje six or seven times. He turned it down, and now he wants to talk about Justin Gaethje. ‘Let’s talk now. Let’s talk.'”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 291.

MMA Junkie’s Submission of the Month for July: Former champ falls to standing finish

With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best submission from July 2023.

With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best submissions from July 2023: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie’s Submission of the Month award for July.

At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting for your choice.

Nominees

Daniel Cormier: Jan Blachowicz didn’t do enough damage to warrant him winning vs. Alex Pereira

Daniel Cormier agrees with the judges’ decision to award Alex Pereira the win over Jan Blachowicz at UFC 291.

[autotag]Daniel Cormier[/autotag] agrees with the judges’ decision to award [autotag]Alex Pereira[/autotag] the win over [autotag]Jan Blachowicz[/autotag] at UFC 291.

In his light heavyweight debut Saturday, Pereira (8-2 MMA, 5-1 UFC) defeated former champion Blachowicz (29-10-1 MMA, 12-7-1 UFC) by split decision at Delta Center in Salt Lake City. It’s a decision Blachowicz disagreed with.

Blachowicz took Pereira down and control him in Round 1, but slowed down significantly in Round 2 where Pereira capitalized with pressure. Round 3 was close, but Blachowicz’s late takedown wasn’t enough to get him the win. Cormier thinks Blachowicz didn’t inflict enough damage to get the nod.

“I thought it went well,” Cormier said on “DC & RC.” “I think we underestimated the grappling skills of Pereira because he is a striker. But we’ve got to remember, he’s training with Glover Teixeira every single day. So, for him to be able to survive with Blachowicz on his back, (it) should not be surprising because Glover submitted Jan Blachowicz when he got him down and dominated him on the ground. So, for him to be able to survive Glover would tell me he would be OK.

“But, I think that Jan Blachowicz might have been the only fighter that the altitude really took an effect on because he got tired as the fight went on. And sure, he got a takedown in the third round, but it wasn’t done early enough and he didn’t do enough damage to warrant him getting a victory. He was very upset. He tweeted that he got robbed, but I do not agree with him. I thought Alex Pereira won the fight. He showed that he’s a very capable fighter at 205 pounds.”

Pereira’s win likely set him up for a vacant light heavyweight title fight against former champion Jiri Prochazka – a fight Cormier sees as a stern test for “Poatan.”

“It’s a difficult fight for Alex Pereira because of Prochazka’s power,” Cormier said. “He will really feel the power of Prochazka, but the reality is, this guy has seen power before. He was 225 pounds on fight day. He weighed in at 205 on Friday. This is a massive fighter.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 291.

Jake Matthews breaks down that Kevin Holland run-in at UFC 291 weigh-ins, hopes for fight

Jake Matthews beat short-notice replacement Darrius Flowers at UFC 291, but a run-in with Kevin Holland could lead to a fight.

SALT LAKE CITY – [autotag]Jake Matthews[/autotag] beat Darrius Flowers with a second-round submission Saturday on the preliminary card at UFC 291 at Delta Center in Salt Lake City.

Take a look inside the fight with Matthews, whose most recent two wins are by stoppage after a stretch of three straight by decision.

Daniel Cormier: It’s time Tony Ferguson fights lesser competition in UFC or go elsewhere

Daniel Cormier thinks Tony Ferguson needs a major step down in competition if he wants to remain in the UFC.

[autotag]Daniel Cormier[/autotag] thinks [autotag]Tony Ferguson[/autotag] needs a major step down in competition if the goal is to remain in the UFC.

Ferguson (25-9 MMA, 15-7 UFC) dropped his sixth straight fight when he was submitted by Bobby Green in the third round this past Saturday at UFC 291. The setback also marked his third stoppage loss in a row.

Prior to the fight, Ferguson still had aspirations of chasing UFC gold. Cormier wasn’t as harsh on Ferguson as he was in his past assessments, but he thinks “El Cucuy” can no longer hang with the best.

“Five fights to the title, that was his catchline all week, but now he’s lost six in a row,” Cormier said on his ESPN show “DC & RC.” “Look man, this guy is not losing to terrible fighters. He’s lost to (Nate) Diaz, (Michael) Chandler, (Beneil) Dariush, (Charles) Oliveira, and Bobby Green now. But the reality is, he’s 39 years old, and while he still has a ton of heart to fight, it just does not seem like his body is allowing him to do everything that his mind is telling him to do.

“Because of that, and only that, I think it might be time for him to either say to the UFC, ‘I want to keep fighting but the competition needs to go down,’ or go fight somewhere else. He’s going to be mad at me about it, but yes, the fight’s still there. It just does not seem the body is able to respond in the way his mind is telling it to. So, I tap in (on Ferguson walking away).”

Ferguson did not mention intention to hang up his gloves after the loss vs. Green, but said he intends to meet with the UFC brass to discuss his future.

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 291.

Michael Chandler not worried about Conor McGregor angling for Justin Gaethje: ‘We all succumb to recency bias’

Michael Chandler doesn’t see his Conor McGregor fight in jeopardy.

[autotag]Michael Chandler[/autotag] doesn’t see his [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag] fight in jeopardy.

Chandler and McGregor recently wrapped up Season 31 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” which continues to air Tuesdays on ESPN until Aug. 15. The pair are expected to fight at some point after the airing of the show.

After [autotag]Justin Gaethje[/autotag] (25-4 MMA, 8-4 UFC) knocked out Dustin Poirier to claim the “BMF” title at UFC 291, McGregor turned his attention to “The Highlight.” But an unfazed Chandler says it’s just another one of McGregor’s social media rants.

“The beautiful thing about mixed martial arts is it’s the what have you done for me lately business,” Chandler said on ESPN’s “After TUF.” “Everyone has a short-term memory and we all succumb to recency bias. So everyone’s like, ‘Man we just saw Justin Gaethje compete. He went out there and beat Dustin Poirier. Man, we want to see him fight this guy.’ Next week, there’s going to be another guy that has a great showing at any weight class and they’re going to want to see Conor fight him.

“Conor’s going to get his little Twitter fingers going on the weekends every single time there’s a fight and insert himself into the conversation, but I’m not really that worried about it. I believe the fight is happening. The fight makes too much sense for it not to happen. I’m still the most entertaining guy on the dadgum roster. Everybody wants to see (Conor have the) greatest comeback in combat sports history. So I think it’s going to be me and Conor. That’s it.”

With an official date and venue yet to be announced, there is doubt surrounding the matchup even happening. But despite all the uncertainty, Chandler is confident they eventually fight.

Additionally, McGregor has not gone back into the pool for the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, the UFC’s drug testing partner. The regulations are for a fighter to be back in the test pool for six months after leaving it before being allowed to fight.

“There’s the build-up, the lead-up, ‘Ultimate Fighter,’ obviously me and him have already agreed to fight,” Chandler said. “He’s already done numerous interviews saying he is fighting me. Everybody wants answers and they want them quickly. Everybody wants to know who he’s fighting, when he’s fighting, when is he entering the USADA testing pool, what’s he doing with his personal life, what’s he doing with his business life.

“There’s so much surrounding all of this and everyone just wants answers. If we don’t get answers, we start to speculate. It’s going to be McGregor and Chandler. I’m not sure when that fight is going to be. I don’t even know what weight class it’s going to be. But either way, it’s going to happen and I’ll knock him out in the first two rounds.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 291.

Video: Should Alex Pereira be one half of vacant UFC light heavyweight title fight?

It may not be long before Alex Pereira is fighting for UFC gold once again.

After [autotag]Alex Pereira[/autotag] lost the middleweight title back to Israel Adesanya, he moved up to light heavyweight for the first time this past Saturday at UFC 291 and had a victorious divisional debut with a split decision against former 205-pound champion Jan Blachowicz.

It may not have been the splash performance Pereira was hoping for, but he beat a recent former champion nonetheless.

The UFC title is vacant – again – at light heavyweight, so the question is simple: Should Pereira be one of the two who eventually fights for the belt?

Our “Spinning Back Clique” panel of Danny Segura, Farah Hannoun and Brian “Goze” Garcia tried to lay out a roadmap for Poirier’s future with “Gorgeous” George Garcia.

You can watch their segment in the video above and check out the full episode below.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 291.

MMA Junkie’s Knockout of the Month for July: Justin Gaethje floors Dustin Poirier for ‘BMF’ belt

With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best knockouts from July 2023.

With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best knockouts from July 2023: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie’s Knockout of the Month award for July.

At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting for your choice.

Nominees

Michael Chandler: Justin Gaethje will become UFC champion, beats Islam Makhachev and Charles Oliveira

UFC star Michael Chandler makes a bold claim about Justin Gaethje’s title hopes vs. Islam Makhachev.

[autotag]Michael Chandler[/autotag] has made a bold claim about [autotag]Justin Gaethje[/autotag]’s title hopes.

Gaethje (25-4 MMA, 8-4 UFC) captured the “BMF” title with a second-round head kick knockout of Dustin Poirier in this past Saturday’s UFC 291 headliner at Delta Center in Salt Lake City, avenging his 2018 loss to “The Diamond.”

With the win, Gaethje has positioned himself for a title fight against the winner of lightweight champion [autotag]Islam Makhachev[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Charles Oliveira[/autotag], which headlines UFC 294 on Oct. 21 in Abu Dhabi. Regardless of the outcome of that fight, Chandler, who correctly predicted a Gaethje win over Poirier, sees this new and refined version of “The Highlight” beating both Makhachev and Oliveira.

“Justin Gaethje is no longer just a pugilist who goes out there and swings for the fences and wants to brawl,” Chandler said on his YouTube channel. “Justin Gaethje is on a quest to win a world title, and I think Justin Gaethje will go out there and win a world title. Whether it’s Makhachev or Oliveira, Gaethje’s going to get that title fight next.

“I think Justin Gaethje is the UFC lightweight champion by the first quarter of next year. I think he beats Islam. I think he beats Oliveira. Justin Gaethje has cleaned up. He already had all the attributes, he already had the cardio, the speed, the power, he’s got great wrestling defense. He already had all the attributes. But now, him honing in those skills, it’s gonna be tough for one of those dudes to beat him, I think.”

Former interim champion Gaethje has fallen short twice in his quest for undisputed gold – once against Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 242, and once against Oliveira at UFC 274. Since losing to Oliveira, Gaethje has rebounded with back-to-back wins over Rafael Fiziev and Poirier.

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 291.