Healy-Rae: McGregor deserves SOTY award
Healy-Rae, the Independent TD (MP) for Kerry South, says McGregor “truly deserves” the award of Sportsperson of the Year.
Looking at Conor’s background, a young man who was on the dole that worked every day and night putting in endless hours to reach where he is today. He is one of the best athletes that we have in Ireland and he should be acknowledged by us here in Ireland for that. He has overcome all the doubters that said he couldn’t do it, some people in Ireland thought he was a flash in the pan but again proved everyone wrong. He truly does deserve Sportsperson of the year. I have seen over the weekend a lot of negative comments on Social Media about Conor winning this award but instead of people trying to put down Conor McGregor we should be extremely proud of what he has achieved on the world stage, he has done more than any other Irish fighter ever has on the world stage and I am glad to see that acknowledge by RTÉ. I have no doubt that Conor McGregor will go on to break further records in 2017 and I hope that we get to see him fight in Croke Park in the coming year.
Holloway responds to McGregor ‘destroyed’ comment
In response to McGregor’s comment, at RTE’s Sportsperson of the Year awards, that he destroyed his opponents
I’m still the two-weight world champion. Make no mistake about that. They can say what they want. They can try to get phoney belts and hand them out to people that I’ve already destroyed.
Holloway says:
Well looks like someone is finally speaking up. Forget pass tense ask yourself how we match up now.
— Max Holloway (@BlessedMMA) December 18, 2016
McGregor: ‘I don’t know what the UFC’s plan is’
McGregor says he is weighing up his options regarding his dealings with UFC. His only contact with the organization has been through the news he’s received through the media saying he’s been stripped of his featherweight title.
I’m weighing up my options. Again, I expect that conversation, I expect them to fly that jet to me. Ari (Emanuel), Patrick (Whitesell), the new owners from WME-IMG, the guys that bought the UFC for $4 billion, I want to speak to them…I want to see what their plan is cause right now I don’t know what anybody’s plan is. All I know is they’re trying to type onto a keyboard and say we’re taking this belt and we’re taking that belt, we’re doing this, we’re doing that — you ain’t doing nothing without contacting me first. I’m ready for anything. I did say I was going to take a break but a Christmas break, the holidays. At least give me the holidays off. We’ll see what happens in the future.
May fight before baby is born
McGregor says he may fight before his baby is born.
As far as I break, I don’t know. I know Dana has been on record, he’s saying ‘10 months, he’s taking 10 months’, I don’t know. Originally I thought the baby was being born in March and then it was May so maybe I could get in another [contest]. I just don’t know. I’m weighing up my options.
Conor McGregor talks to Clare McNamara after a year which he call the 'culmination of his life's work'. https://t.co/0AY8QPqGyu
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) December 17, 2016
Mayweather to Diaz: I’ll ‘put the finishing touches’ on McGregor
In a telephone call, Mayweather tells Diaz that he has the support of “The Money Team” and offer to “put something on his trunks” before talking about McGregor. Diaz:
I thought I won that second fight too. He’s trying to hide from me now.
Mayweather:
Hey, Nate, tell me what I gotta do. Do I gotta? That boy is … aw, man. I see what you did to him, now. I’m gonna put the finishing touches on him.
Diesel: McGregor left xXx to ‘get his manhood back’
Diesel says that he wanted McGregor for xXx: The return of Xander Cage, based on his “English” accent. McGregor left the project to concentrate on his rematch with Nate Diaz.
I wanted to have an English accent in the movie. I had created a role for Conor McGregor and after he lost to Nate Diaz, he had to go to a dark place, he had to go get his manhood back to fight the second time, so he wasn’t able to do this film at the time…I wanted this English accent to be speckled in the movie. But I also wanted someone that could do fight sequences. A lot of the UFC guys do great fight sequences in movies. You saw when I put Gina Carano in 6, and Ronda Rousey in 7. I had great experiences when putting UFC fighters in the movie, so I wanted someone that had that English accent, they talk like this, and I got Michael Bisping to come and do that.
Sends Christmas message to sick fan
Johnson sends a Christmas message to Tommy Hanley, an Irish boy who has Stage 4 cancer.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BODN0hPDVAD/
Talks about Drake’s streaming success
Carter comments on Drake’s One Dance feat. WizKid and Kyla passing one billion streams on Spotify, during the eight months since it was released.
It’s a phenomenal record, that’s where it starts. It’s just one of those rare records that translates throughout the world. Drake’s always been great at really capturing hip-hop and pop sensibilities, but to be able to do that globally with a record like this is just amazing…Hit records make us look really smart. [Laughs] I think Drake made a monster of a record and people responded, and I think our guys within Spotify are just getting better and better at how to put music out in front of more and more people and when it all comes together it works.
Triple H open to talks with Rousey, McGregor
Speaking as the WWE launches their United Kingdom Championship Tournament, Triple H, in his role as WWE executive vice president of talent, live events and creative, says Rousey could appear in the company in the future.
Never say never with us. Ronda’s done things with us in the past. She’s a huge fan. She had a blast when she did it. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if, as she begins to wrap up her UFC career, as she’s looking to do other things, if we’re a part of that conversation for her.
On a possible McGregor role in WWE:
[McGregor’s] very calculated in the things he says and does. He doesn’t mention us because it just came out. He has made his point. I have made my point when I have been asked about it. He is a business man. I am a businessman. If the time is right for us to sit at the table, if there is an opportunity that we have or he wants to have, then we’ll discuss it. For them and for us, then who knows, you know? We’ll see. We’re wide open
Mayweather: McGregor ‘Quit like a bitch’
Mayweather talks with McGregor fans on live video.
I got Conor McGregor fans on here. That’s all cool, that they like a guy who tapped out. Let me see the highlights where the kid tapped out, where he quite like a bitch.
Rousey: McGregor took the weight off my shoulders
Rousey says that White originally wanted her to headline at UFC 205, but that McGregor headlining that fight allowed her to have a break and to focus on the upcoming fight with Amanda Nunes.
Conor gave me the chance to rest, he took the weight off my shoulders, and for that I’m grateful. I will never put my body at risk for money and views ever again. What makes me happy is winning and being the best in the world and that’s it. Fuck all the promotion and energy spent on anything that’s not me winning. And anyone who tries to tell me I owe them energy on frivolous shit during camp out of ‘loyalty’ or ‘friendship’ deserves no loyalty from me and is no friend of mine. This is not a time for f-cking favors. This is a time for redemption and revenge.
Mayweather offers $10,000 for McGregor caption
Mayweather offers fans $10,000 for the best caption on a video of McGregor tapping out at UFC 196. The winner is to be announced on Monday 19 december.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BOBmdb3ga-f/
Harrison: ‘Ronda loves to walk around naked’
Harrison says Rousey, her former roommate, likes to walk around the house naked.
There’s a lot of things the world doesn’t know about Ronda. She won’t care if I say this and it’s a very Ronda thing to say, but Ronda loves to walk around the house in the nude. There would be times I would come home from school or work or whatever and she would just be sitting at the counter eating butt naked, and I’m like ‘Ronda!’ and she’d be like ‘I feel most comfortable like this’. And I’m like ‘OK Ron, whatever’. The first time I was 16 and I walked in the door and she was butt naked and I was like, ‘Oh! ok, cool’. We train together, we work out together, when you weigh in for judo you weigh in usually naked, so we’re pretty comfortable.
Mayweather: I’ll f-ck McGregor up
During a break in Miami, Mayweather calls out McGregor.
I’ll f-ck McGregor up too. I’m gonna punk ass McGregor. I’m gonna slap the shit out of McGregor when I see him.
Aldo wants McGregor rematch, says interim belts are ‘bullshit’
Also calls out McGregor:
I want to get a fight with Conor, but as he is running from the fight, I want to see how things are going to be in the division. But we will fight at lightweight. I don’t want to fight him at featherweight. I’m the champion, and I’ve been beating everyone. I want to fight in another division, too, since this is possible now. It is not possible just for one guy. I will ask for a fight and I will also deny fights if I want to. Since [Dana White] said that he doesn’t force anybody to fight… This is me right now…This interim belt is bullshit. Even when I won it [in July at UFC 200] I said that. It is just a fu–ing excuse that someone created to save events.
Wallace: With training, McGregor will get boxing success
Wallace, McGregor’s boxing trainer, says McGregor can do well in boxing.
You could tell he watches professional boxing very closely and he was always showing you stuff on his phone. I really can’t see why not, because it’s not just a thing that happened over night. With him having the amateur background from when he was younger, when he boxed in the Crumlin Boxing Club, which is a gym that has a lot of professionals in it, he must have just kept that hunger for it. Plus, he could make millions from it, and money talks. It would be really interesting and great to see. Whether it happens or not is another thing. Personally, I’d love to see it…A lot of people have criticised him, but he’s just been doing boxing around twice a week, because he’s got to think about the jiu-jitsu and the wrestling. If he’s doing rounds five days a week, the only thing he can do is get better. A lot people have been very quick to run him down, but once he puts his mind to something he does it, and he does get the results…[Conor’s] tricky, hard to hit, and a good mover, but it would be about learning to slip more punches. Also, with the bigger glove, it gives you a bigger target. If he got a good camp behind him, concentrated solely on boxing five or six times a week, who knows where he could go to.
VanZant would go to 125 to fight Rousey
Van Zant talks about Rousey:
I think it could be her last fight. It’s a big deal for her. But she’s so successful outside of fighting she doesn’t need to fight any more….I don’t belive in ring rust, I belive it’s 100% mental, so if she’s 100% mentally focused then she’s gonna win it. I’s say she’ll [beat Nunes] by armbar…I would consider going up to 125 [to fight her].
McGregor talks chicken and Mayweather
McGregor clarifies that he didn’t fly in a private jet to Texas to get a chicken dinner.
There’s a place in my hometown, Crumlin, Dublin, Ireland. It’s called Texas Fried Chicken. The place that we were on holiday looks like that place. So we stood in front of that place and took a picture. It wasn’t actually in Texas. Very good place though. They play football with the chicken. It’s still delicious.
He also talks about Mayweather.
Fuck Floyd. What’s Floyd gonna do? We’re looking for anyone. I’m the one with the numbers.
Gates compares Trump to JFK
Gates says he recently talked with Trump on the phone about innovation and green energy, He says it was the first time they have spoken although they have mutual friends.
A lot of his message has been about … where he sees things not as good as he’d like. But in the same way President Kennedy talked about the space mission and got the country behind that. I think whether it’s education or stopping epidemics … [or] in this energy space, there can be a very upbeat message that [Trump’s] administration [is] going to organize things, get rid of regulatory barriers, and have American leadership through innovation. Of course, my whole career has been along those lines. And he was interested in listening to that. And I’m sure there will be further conversation.
Aldo up for UFC 208 fight; Holloway disagrees
Accepted accepts Holloway’s challenge from the ring, where he called him ‘Waldo’:
He’s saying ‘where’s Aldo?’, you have to talk to the UFC. About the fight in February, I already knew that, I only didn’t know who I would fight. It was between him and Pettis, whoever won the fight. It’s not something new. This fight will happen on February. 11.
But now Holloway now appears not to be so sure:
It’s news to me. I guess we found where Waldo is so I’m glad. It’s time to see what happens. We’re going to talk to the UFC, see what UFC says or see if he’s just trying to [expletive] start some shit. Like I said, I’m not planning on giving up Christmas and my son’s birthday for something that’s going to be booked and Feb. 11 comes up and we’re going to be [expletive] looking at where’s Jose Waldo. That guy is crazy. I just looked and it’s eight weeks out already. That’s why that motherf-cker wants to fight. He wants me to be all drained out from two training camps in a row but that shit ain’t going to happen.