White: McGregor won’t be stripped of title
White says that McGregor will not be stripped of his 145-pound belt.
He’s not gonna get stripped. He’s gonna make a decision. He knows that the Nate Diaz fight isn’t the fight to make right now. He has to either defend his title or give it up and decide what he wants to do next.
He also says he is satisfied with McGregor-Diaz at UFC 202:
Think about this, Pacquiao-Mayweather, the build up for that fight, everything else. That fight didn’t live up to the hype and I think, more importantly, it left a really bad taste in people’s mouths. I don’t think that was the case for Diaz-McGregor [2]. With the amount of people that were pulled in to watch that fight, everybody left satisfied and those are the kind of fights that make you want to come back and watch again.
Dos Anjos: ‘I just saw two sloppy guys’
Dos Anjos says the UFC 202 fight with McGregor and Diaz was ‘sloppy’. He also rates the fight as a win for Diaz.
Most of the people [celebrating the fight] watched MMA for the first time that day. I just saw two sloppy guys after the second round. The fight got so sloppy. I didn’t see the best fight of all time at all. The first round was good. Conor dropped Nate a couple times, but I didn’t think ‘what an exciting fight.’ I’ve seen better fights. [I don’t agree with the majority decision,] I scored it for Nate.
Germany: Facebook should take initiative to remove racist, violent content
Germany’s interior minister visits Facebook’s offices in Berlin and said it should be more proactive in removing forbidden content from its social network platform. The German government has been critical of Facebook in the past. Political leaders and regulators have complained the world’s largest social network, with 1.6 billion monthly users, had been slow to respond to hate speech and anti-immigrant messages. De Maizier:
Facebook should take down racist content or calls for violence from its pages on its own initiative even if it hasn’t yet received a complaint.
Orders 8-10 custom suits each media tour
McGregor’s stylist says he orders 8 to 10 custom outfits every single time he goes out on a media tour, with each suit costing from $4,000 to $10,000.
From the suits down to the bow ties to the cuff links, he’s wearing David August. Every outfit I make for him takes 60 hours. He likes to wear his suits high and tight and really tailored, and his size changes all the time depending on his fights. So we’re always measuring him to make sure it fits exactly how he wants it. He’s such a style guy … he’s always been that way since the day I met him. He takes everything and makes it his own. It takes a guy with the right mind to pull off these extreme looks, and he does…We also have 2 or 3 extra outfits on hand in case anything happens to the outfits he’s supposed to wear for an event.
Bisping: ‘I inspire McGregor’
Bisping says McGregor would not be the star he is today without his influence.
No, why would Conor McGregor motivate me? I motivate Conor McGregor. When Conor McGregor was learning to stand to throw his first punch, I was kicking ass in the UFC. I’ve been at this a lot longer, so I motivate Conor McGregor. I inspire him…If it wasn’t for me, he wouldn’t exist. He would be working for minimum wage at the docks in Dublin…Put it like this, let’s have it right. Conor McGregor comes up to my waist and he weighs about the same as my little finger, so I’d snap his neck like a twig…But, he’s a cool guy. He’s a great fighter. He brings a lot of excitement. He’s been great for the sport. He brings a lot of eyes. Listen, he’s very watchable, he’s very sellable. He brings a lot of excitement and he delivers, I’m a fan.
Cowherd: UFC 202 was a ‘nail in the coffin’ of boxing
Cowheard says that UFC is killing boxing.
[UFC 202] was basically, metaphorically, a nail in the coffin of boxing. And all these boxing fans were lining up saying, ‘You don’t get it! You don’t get it!’…UFC is talked about all the time…There are certain people who are purists. Newspapers and boxing still can still make money, but they are dead industries walking. UFC is now the water cooler sport in America when it comes to mano-a-mano fighting. It is taking over boxing. Occasionally, every three years, you will have a pay-per-view with boxing, and it pops. Every three years. UFC is every other weekend.
White: Rousey will eclipse McGregor
White says Rousey’s return will topple all UFC pay-per-view records set by McGregor, including his UFC 196 fight with Nate Diaz that raked in 1.5 million PPV buys and an estimated million-plus buys estimated for UFC 202.
I think that Ronda Rousey’s return will be the biggest pay-per-view we’ve ever done…If you had told me 15 years ago that women would be fighting in the UFC – and if you told me that women would be as technically sound as the men and the fights would be loved by millions of people all over the world and it’d be the hottest thing going on in the UFC – I would have never believed it.
Kavanagh: McGregor should fight Alvarez next
Kavanagh says he would like to see McGregor challenge Alvarez for the lightweight title.
1 – dont know whats next. decision made over the next 2 weeks i'd imagine. personally i'd like 55 title….but we'll see what happens.
— Coach JK (@John_Kavanagh) August 24, 2016
2 – leg is fine. in theory could be ready for NY BUT nothing definite, see tweet no.1
— Coach JK (@John_Kavanagh) August 24, 2016
Diaz: ‘I’m coming for you’
Diaz says he wants to fight McGregor again.
By this time last fight I had already accepted (the) rematch. Rest up, I’m coming for you.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BJey-WWjSE2/
Wants to race new chassis, swingarm
Rossi says he wants to race with a new Yamaha chassis and swingarm following 60 test laps (equivalent to four race lengths) at Brno.
In the end it was a good day. This morning everybody was a little bit sad because the condition of the track look quite bad. And when I entered the track – we decided to go anyway because we had some important things to test – the lap time was quite high. But after, when 4-5-8 bikes were on track, it cleaned and for the last two hours it was a very good test. A very good level. Because we can push, go fast. Also the time attack at the end was not so bad. But especially I like the new stuff. We tried a lot of different things, especially a different chassis and different swingarm. And I like. The feeling with the bike improved and I can enter the corner faster. I also like the bike in braking.
Admits Marquez has 2016 title in sight
When asked if he had enough races left to catch Marquez, Rossi says:
No – because of too many mistakes, being a little bit unlucky and I’m too far [behind]. And also Marquez this year is not only fast in all of the conditions but he makes always the right choices. So it’s very difficult to close the 53 points. We can be strong and we won’t give up to the end, but I think it’s very difficult. [But] the fight with Lorenzo for second place is very open. It is very important to gain these points and stay in front, but at the same time Lorenzo is very strong, very fast.
White: No trilogy fight
White says he does not want McGregor to fight again Diaz again in a “trilogy” fight. Instead he wants McGregor to defend his title against interim champ Aldo. He says McGregor has two options — either fight Aldo or surrender his title to him — or cut weight to 155 and fight Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight title.
The war was fun and super successful but I’m movin’ on.
Kavanagh: No leg injury
Coach Kavanagh confirms to MMA Hour that McGregor did not injure his foot or leg during his fight with Diaz. McGregor landed 40 kicks to the leg of Diaz throughout the 25 minutes.
It’s a bad bruise and it’s very, very painful but there’s no damage. He never mentioned it [that he was injured] but I saw. If I remember correctly, in the third round there were one or two where Nate did turn his knee out and started checking them. And the range was a little bit wrong so he was kind of slapping with the foot and caught Nate’s knee. I just remember seeing that but I knew with adrenaline and with his mindset, it wasn’t going to make a difference. His shin could be clean snapped and he wasn’t going to stop for the five rounds. We discussed it as well. He knew he was going to bang up his left leg. That was going to be the sacrifice. It was going to be a bruised leg but victorious.
Khan: ‘We need to talk’
Khan says he wants to talk to McGregor, possibly about an upcoming bout.
Amazing fight @TheNotoriousMMA Showed true heart/balls and guts. Well done, have a good rest. See you soon. Call me, we need to talk 😉
— Amir Khan (@amirkingkhan) August 21, 2016
First stages of race ‘a nightmare’
Rossi says the first part of his Czech GP was a “nightmare”:
The conditions were very different compared to this morning, this morning there was a lot more water. On the grid there was a little bit of confusion, to understand the tyre choices, [and] if somebody changed. It was a risk, but at the end we tried. Unfortunately we didn’t also put on the hard front, I wasn’t brave enough like Cal. The first laps were a nightmare, I made a mistake a lot of times and everybody overtook me from the outside and the inside. It was difficult. But from one point I understood that maybe it wouldn’t dry enough for a flag-to-flag race, and from that moment I understood that maybe my choice was better [than the soft rear]. Then Cal overtook me and I saw that he was very fast, and I knew that he had the hard, so I just tried to ride well, not make any mistakes and it was great fun, the second half.
Alvarez taunts McGregor, Diaz
Alvarez taunts McGregor and Diaz on Twitter.
Better keep that weak shit away from the lightweight division , You both got work to do @TheNotoriousMMA @NateDiaz209 #ufc #thnq #comeCMe
— Eddie Alvarez (@Ealvarezfight) August 21, 2016
Aldo: ‘Come back down or drop the belt’
Aldo says McGregor should defend his title at 145 pounds, or drop the belt.
Where you at @TheNotoriousMMA? Come back down and I'll see you at UFC205 or drop the belt! #hitandrun
— Jose Aldo Junior (@josealdojunior) August 21, 2016
McGregor:
How long was I going back and forth with José? That must have been a two-year build-up. He pulled out, last-minute. I continued to fight someone else, then we rescheduled a two-year, ‘round the world deal with that boy. And then he stepped in and I beat him in 13 seconds. It’s hard for me to get excited about that, especially after his last performance. It was a decision. He didn’t go out and get it like I wanted him to get it. So, I don’t know.
White: Trilogy fight isn’t happening ‘right now’
White says a third meeting between McGregor and Diaz isn’t going to happen right away.
We’re definitely not doing this a third time right now. I don’t think there’s anybody that doesn’t want to see this fight again, but Conor’s either going to go defend his title or give his title up and then we’ll figure out where to go from there. Conor has to defend his title or make a decision to give it up or whatever he wants to do. I don’t know. I gotta sit down and see what’s next.
‘Absolutely inspired’ by $4 billion UFC sale
McGregor tells MMA Hour that he is inspired by the UFC sale.
I was simply over the moon for them. To see the work they’ve put in, to see what they’ve done with it, I was inspired by it. Absolutely inspired by it. What was it, the biggest sports sale in history? A little sport that they laughed at. They laughed at this sport. Everyone ridiculed this sport. This sport wasn’t even a sport. And now all of a sudden, with their guidance, it’s the biggest f*cking sports franchise in the world. So I took inspiration from that. That is motivation right there…If you’re talking the greatest of all-time in the fight business, it’s that. To be able to get a turnover like that, get in, get rich, get out like that, and build that up to what that was, man, I was blown away when I saw that, and I’m blown away that I’m even on a name-to-name basis with that. These are the people who have mentored me in this game and I’m very proud of that, and I’ll be proud of that until the day that I die. I have been surrounded by great people in this business and I continue to be surrounded by great people in this business.
You’re damn right I want a piece of that pie. Let’s not get it twisted, I like pie too. So I’m coming for some of my pie also. Like I said, I think I played a nice role in that number. What was it? It was estimated at two billion at one stage before I came along. I remember when I first started here, it was a two-billion dollar franchise. I remember hearing that much. And now, since I came on, it’s four billion. And the year before it was sold is my year, numbers-wise. I played a nice role in that too, so the number motivated me.
‘Respect’
Pacquiao sends a message to McGregor and Diaz on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/mannypacquiao/status/767217913342242816