White: Nick Diaz turned down every fight offered by UFC
During the UFC 207 Media Scrum, White says Nick Diaz has turned down every welterweight fight offered by UFC, including a fight against McGregor. Diaz reportedly turned down the McGregor fight to keep it for his brother, Nate.
Weight debates aside, Dana White told me he's offered Nick Diaz fights at welterweight. According to White, he's turned them all down.
— Luke Thomas (@lthomasnews) December 28, 2016
I have confirmed that Nick Diaz recently turned down a fight with UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor.
— Chris Taylor (@CTaylor_96) December 28, 2016
Apparently Nick said no to the offer because “That is Nate’s fight” and he wouldn’t take that away from his little brother.
— Chris Taylor (@CTaylor_96) December 28, 2016
White: McGregor not scheduled for any fights
Despite McGregor saying he could fight earlier than May 2017. White says he is not currently looking to book McGregor into any fights.
The last conversation that Conor and I had he was taking 10 months off. I’m not even thinking about Conor. Conor is not in my plans for the next 10 months. We run a business where we make fights. I know who’s available and I know who’s not available. Conor told me ‘I’m not available for 10 months, we’re having a baby, my girl stresses out when I fight and I don’t want to put that on her while she’s pregnant.’ I love it, I respect it, I get it. Do your thing, buddy…That’s it. He’s not in any of our plans for the next 10 months.
White: Rousey ‘as good as I’ve seen her’
White says he is fine with giving Rousey a pass on promotion this time.
If you look at the amount of press that has been done by any fighter in the UFC history, Ronda smokes everybody by a long shot. This is the way she wanted it. The only thing she cares about right now is focusing on winning, She has done a lot of things for us. This is what she wanted and we gave it to her.
And that, to him, she is in excellent shape:
She is great. She is ready to roll, she is ready to fight, and it is all good. Everybody knows that Ronda is psychotically competitive. She is as good as I have ever seen her. She is in amazing shape, she is in great spirits. She is fired up. She is like the old Ronda again. She just had to deal with this thing the way she wanted to deal with it…all the greats throughout history, they’ve all lost. Muhammad Ali lost, Mike Tyson lost, you go through the list of all the greatest fighters who have ever lived, everybody has a loss. It is always interesting and exciting to see if they can overcome and come back from a devastating loss, like her’s was.
Diaz reminds McGregor of trilogy fight promise
Diaz calls out McGregor’s statement before UFC 202 that he would “100%” fight Diaz in a trilogy fight. McGregor:
The way it all panned out I’ve got other business to look after after this but, make no mistake, it will be a trilogy down the line. It won’t be straight away but we will do it three times. 100%.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BOirc7AjaCP/
Abdelaziz: McGregor will fight Woodley next
Abdelaziz, Khabib Nurmagomedov’s manager, says that McGregor’s next fight will be against Woodley at welterweight (170 pounds). He also says Dana White’s comments about McGregor being “too small” to fight at that weight are part of a negotiating strategy.
Let me make a prediction: McGregor’s next fight is going to be Tyron Woodley for the welterweight title. This is the fight that’s going to happen. Every sign is this is going to happen.
May hold boxing bout in Russia next year
Rourke’s agent says he may hold a boxing match in Russia in 2017.
We are currently in work on organizing a bout for Mickey in the Urals,. This may happen in February or March next year. Mickey is now practicing every day, he is looking forward for the bout and keeps asking when he would be fighting in Russia.
Johnston: I should be ahead of McGregor in pound-for-pound rankings
Johnston says he should be ranked above McGregor in UFC pound-for-pound rankings.
You know what, I believe [I should be ahead of McGregor in pound-for-pound rankings], I think I am. I think going out there and showing everything in my last fight. I showed I had a good clinch. TKO’d Henry Cejudo. Joseph Benavidez just went three rounds with him even though it was an improved Henry Cejudo. But, those guys never really took the fight to different places. Those guys didn’t really fight in the clinch, or use the wrestling aspect, or the grappling…I’ve knocked people out from the clinch. I’ve submitted people from armbars, Kimura, last-second armbars. I’ve knocked people out with one-hand punch.
Taoiseach supports McGregor
Kenny, the Taoiseach (leader of) the Irish parliament, gives his backing to McGregor being awarded the title of Irish Sports Personality of the Year.
Conor McGregor is a fabulous athlete, he’s a no-nonsense man obviously and he’s a worthy winner of the Sports Personality of the Year. Sometimes when you see the fights in the cage, you might say it’s brought boxing, or fighting, to a new dimension here, but McGregor is a world superstar and he’s top of that particular category, or two categories, at the moment.
Coach: Aldo not lying about McGregor fight
Pederneiras, Aldo’s coach says the UFC should confirm that Aldo is going to fight McGregor.
I think it’s time for the UFC to say something and back up everything we’re saying. It sounds like we’re just saying stuff, but throughout all of this I’ve received messages, e-mails with proposals, everything. On our end, Aldo is in no way a liar. I think it’s time for people to know the truth, and that’s the truth. You can ask [UFC matchmaker] Sean Shelby if there’s a single lie in everything I’m saying. Our intention was always to defend the belt. Because a champion who doesn’t defend at least once doesn’t really stamp his championship belt. [Aldo] himself said it: I won my belt, I’ll defend it now – this in a conversation between us – and we’ll go after Conor. When Sean Shelby told me the fight wasn’t happening on Feb. 11, I said, ‘Sean, we’re now in a complicated situation. Our plans for this year would be this fight, challenging the No. 1 [lightweight] challenger, which would be Khabib – we want to get the toughest guy in the division, who everyone, say, runs from – and then, after that, Conor, who’s pregnant and will only fight after that. Both Sean Shelby and Dana White thought it was a brilliant idea, sensational. So that Aldo could be at a situation in which there was no way Conor could sit and say, ‘I won’t fight him’. The only request that I have is that, humbly, either Khabib or Ferguson take the fight.“In case both have injury issues that I don’t know of, which I understand, that the fight is directly with Conor
Ferguson: ‘We’re going to wreck McGregor’s ass’
Ferguson says McGregor is no match for him.
Honestly, people are going to do what they’re going to do. This is the fight game. I’m not worried or scared about absolutely anybody who’s not talking about me. That dude (McGregor) does not want any part of me. That dude got beat by a No. 5 in the world, Nate Diaz. Everybody’s talking about him being the best, the best, the best. I’m like, dude, you got beat by No. 5. I’m No. 2. I’m the only name that he hasn’t thrown out there in the wind. He doesn’t want any part of this. So it’s like I said, go ahead. You got a little pass from me. Go enjoy your family time. Do you thing and enjoy your life. You have some money, go ahead and go spend it. Do your thing, relax, enjoy your time, so I don’t fight you. And while you’re doing that, I’m going to keep over here wrecking this shit, me and my crew. And we’re going to go onto the next stage, which is when you come back, we’re going to wreck your ass.
White: Diaz trilogy fight could ‘ruin’ McGregor
White says he doesn’t want McGregor to fight a “trilogy” fight with Diaz.
The problem with the rubber match is Diaz is a 170-pounder. He’s a massive guy. Conor is a very talented guy, he’s very, very good. Every time he goes out there he looks better… [But] we should have never done it in the first place. That’s what weight classes are for. They wanted to do it, we did it. They wanted to do it again, we did it again. They’re 1-1. There’s only so many of those wars you can be in in your career. It takes a lot out of you. Some guys go into wars like that and they’re never the same after it. Look at Meldrick Taylor when he fought Julio Cesar Chavez. He was never the same after that fight. We’ve had those type of fights too. I believe that Rory MacDonald was never the same after the Robbie Lawler fight. That fight ruined him. I don’t want to do that to someone special like Conor McGregor. It’s just not right.
Will not take part in UFC 207 media activities
The UFC says neither Rousey nor current titleholder Nunes will take part in the week’s lone media session, Wednesday’s Ultimate Media Day, which is closed to the public. Ultimate Media Day will instead feature the remaining UFC 207 main-card fighters. Both fighters will, however, appear at the official weigh-in.
Balotelli: McGregor should fight Petrosyan
Balotelli tells McGregor to fight his friend, Petrosyan, who is rated eighth in the lightweight division of the Glory kickboxing championship.
GOOD LUCK FOR THIS ONE PLEASE DONT BE SCARED
https://www.instagram.com/p/BOYJlLSjaN7/
‘I am going to break his face’
McGregor posts a message to Mayweather.
https://www.facebook.com/thenotoriousmma/posts/1471404292927865:0
White: McGregor will ‘kick Mayweather’s ass’
White comments on Mayweather’s recent videos criticizing and calling out McGregor.
Floyd’s about this tall (points towards the ground), his hands are like peanut brittle, he has to wrap them a million times so he doesn’t break his hands. Floyd better hope he don’t run into Conor on the street. Let me tell you what, not only will Conor kick his ass, he’ll kick the (expletive) out of everyone of his security guards, too. I would love to be there when Floyd tries to slap Conor McGregor. I promise you, Floyd, you will never try to walk up and slap Conor McGregor and you know it, too…Let me tell you what, that fight will happen before Floyd walks up and tries to slap Conor, I promise you that, too. He’ll kick his head to another planet and then he’ll murder every one of his security guards…I don’t take away from what Floyd’s accomplished in boxing, but he’s stepping way over thinking he’s going to slap Conor. It’s hilarious.
White: McGregor-Nurmagomedov fight could be next
White says McGregor and Nurmagomedov could be the next lightweight fight. Currently, Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson are in discussions to fight for the interim lightweight title in McGregor’s absence, but nothing is official yet.
We’re focused very heavily on Russia right now. First of all, there’s tons of talent coming out of Russia, and a lot of fans. There’s a fighter named Khabib who’s from Russia, and he’s insanely popular. The next fight could be Conor vs. Khabib.
Khan ‘willing to set aside friendship’ to fight McGregor
As he announces the launch of a new MMA league in Britain, Khan says he is willing to fight McGregor in MMA.
MMA is big and getting bigger. Fighters like Conor McGregor are making a lot of noise. MMA is hitting some high numbers on pay per view. I am always going to be involved in boxing but to have my foot in the door with MMA is brilliant…McGregor is a massive name in MMA and I’m a big name in boxing, so, globally, I think it would be a massive fight.
Kavanagh: It’s bizarre the new UFC owners haven’t called McGregor
Kavanagh says it’s bizarre that the new owners of UFC haven’t contacted McGregor yet.
He made it clear after his last fight that he’s keen to talk business with the UFC’s new owners,” he said. “I find it utterly bizarre that they’ve yet to make contact. Maybe they’re spending their time trying to get a solid framework in place. I’m not sure. It was much simpler in the old days in dealing with just Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta. Now you’re almost wondering if you have to ring Mark Wahlberg or one of the other investors. Maybe Conan O’Brien is the new matchmaker. Who knows? These are strange, but interesting, times. We’ll have to see how this plays out. Certainly as the most valuable athlete on the UFC roster, you would think that he’d be heavily involved in these things but that hasn’t been the case yet.
White: McGregor should buy UFC equity
White says McGregor could receive equity from the UFC, but thinks the Irishman should simply buy his own.
I think anything is possible. A lot of people bought into equity. Conor’s got enough money to buy a piece. If Conor really wants to come in, come on in. A lot of people put their money up and bought in.
White: McGregor is the definition of ‘pound-for-pound’ fighter
White says McGregor is underrated as a pound-for-pound fighter.
Conor is a very talented fighter, he’s very, very good. Every time he goes out there, he looks better. And when you talk about the pound-for-pound, they don’t have Conor McGregor as the pound-for-pound. The media does the ratings. When you talk about what the pound-for-pound really means, how is it not Conor McGregor? The guy was the ’45-pound champion, ’55-pound champion, and beat a guy at 170. That’s what pound-for-pound really means.
