Sunday MMA Quick Hits: Rogan vs. Canada, McGregor vs. A Hat

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Joe Rogan UFC
Joe Rogan Credit: Jeff Sherwood/Sherdog.com

Nate Diaz gets a fight, Conor McGregor smashes a hat, and Joe Rogan slams Canada’s Prime Minister. It’s your Sunday MMA Quick Hits!

Nate Diaz Has a Sunset Clause in Contract

The entire situation between Nate Diaz and the UFC has been messy, but that’s indicative of UFC contracts, which are also notoriously messy.

While Dana White has repeatedly stated that he owes fighters three fights a year, all sorts of loopholes exist: a fighter might be injured, meaning they cannot fight, or the bouts offered may be downright unreasonable — which would lead to anyone under contract needing to prove the offer was in bad faith.

However, more recently, the issue of sunset clauses has arisen, first with Francis Ngannou, whose contract is believed to expire late this year or early next year, and now Nate Diaz. According to a report by ESPN, under his current deal, Diaz is likely a free man sometime around November.

“Diaz’s contract does have an expiration date, though it’s unclear when that is precisely. Sources said it is sometime in the fall, potentially before November,” ESPN’s Marc Raimondi offered in a recent piece on Diaz’s stalemate with the promotion.

Diaz wound up booked into a fight with Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 279 this past week. No doubt a move made by the UFC knowing they’d lose him anyway. As a result, a potential Jake Paul boxing match could still be in the cards for late 2022 or early 2023.

Conor McGregor Smashes a Hat

Someone with the hat-throwing ability of Oddjob targeted Conor McGregor in Ibiza recently, and his reaction was absolutely priceless.

Coach Nicksick Lays Down the Law to Punahele Soriano

Punahele Soriano’s post-fight celebration at UFC Long Island was instant meme material and will no doubt still be floating around the internet for years to come. Luckily, Eric Nicksick, Soriano’s coach, has said what we’ve all been thinking.

Joe Rogan Slams Canada’s PM Trudeau

While numerous media reports ran headlines earlier this month claiming Joe Rogan had slammed Canada in a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, the UFC analyst’s comments were actually directed at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and a national broadcaster attempting to censor a decade’s old family classic.

The Canadian PM has been under fire in recent years, for everything from blackface scandals to his bungled handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, and more recently, for enacting the Emergencies Act, a Canadian statute designed to give the government extraordinary temporary measures including curtailing movement of citizens during emergencies, and freezing their bank accounts.

Trudeau opted to implement the act during peaceful but disruptive prolonged protests in Ottawa earlier this year. The act had never before been used.

The family classic in question, meanwhile, was Home Alone (actually Home Alone 2: Lost in New York). The CBC, a government-funded national broadcaster in Canada, deleted Donald Trump’s cameo in the movie in recent years, while denying the cut was political.

“They’re f*cked. They gotta get rid of that guy,” said Rogan, who suggested Canada had become communist under Trudeau. Rogan added that prior to the pandemic, he had a positive view of Justin Trudeau.

“I was like, he’s a handsome guy, seems sweet,” Rogan stated. “Good-looking guy, confident, good talker and then during the pandemic I’m like, ‘Oh, you’re a f—king dictator.'”

The February protest against Canadian restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic — far stricter than the neighbouring U.S. — resulted in several charges against the organizers, many of whom were denied bail under the secrecy of publication bans. One key figure, Pat King, was granted bail on Monday, days after Rogan’s podcast aired the remarks, and 150 days after being taken into custody. Among King’s bail conditions was the stipulation that he delete all social media accounts and deactivate his website, where he had been posting transcripts of court proceedings.

““He’s gross. He’s a sketchy guy,” Rogan would state on the same JRE show in regards to the Canadian PM.

How tired was Gadzhi Rabadanov following Bellator 283?

The answer is very, very tired. Too tired to do media even. In a very brief post-fight press scrum, Rabadanov revealed he’d almost pulled out of the event. Instead, he picked up a win over Bobby King.

UFC London Headliners Share a Beer

The UFC London main event ended in catastrophe just 15 seconds into the fight when Tom Aspinall’s knee appeared to give out. That was it. Fight over. Technically a TKO win for Blaydes, but not really a win for anyone.

Showing their good nature, while the pair didn’t get to fight, they did share a pint. A little bit of a positive takeaway from an otherwise unfortunate situation.

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