Chael Sonnen has given his thoughts on professional boxing following a questionable decision in the Fury vs. Ngannou fight in Saudi Arabia, and Khamzat Chimaev’s manager gives an injury update following UFC 294. All that and more in your Sunday MMA Quick Hits for October 29, 2023. Happy Halloween!
Chael Sonnen says boxing “not a real sport”
Chael Sonnen is nothing if not outspoken at the best of times, and he certainly had something to say following Saturday’s Tyson Fury-Francis Ngannou boxing match.
Billed as the “Battle of the Baddest,” the bout was the rare MMA-boxing crossover that did not disappoint. Mainly because Ngannou showed up extremely competitive, knocking down Fury in the third round to score the only knockdown in the fight. Many felt Ngannou had done enough to win it on the scorecards, but two judges sided with Fury, leading to the lineal heavyweight champ winning a split decision.
That has set Sonnen off.
“It’s a heartbreaking thing for me because my entire life, I have respected boxing,” Sonnen said on his official Youtube channel in the wake of the bout. “And to find out that boxing is fake, I don’t mean the decision was corrupted, you cannot be a real sport. You cannot be by any means be a real sport.
“This is the second time I’ve seen the best in the world in boxing – the absolute best, in their prime, in boxing – get beaten up by a guy with zero experience. One of them was a drunk cokehead and still beat the hell out of the greatest boxer that never lost before or after. And then you get a gentleman who’s at least 37 years old, who has never done the sport and trains full time in an MMA gym.”
Ngannou winning a decision on the scorecards always felt like a feint hope, given the state of judging in boxing — which might actually be worse than it is in MMA. Still, simply by knocking down Fury and fighting to a close and questionable decision, “The Predator” has come out of this one a winner regardless.
Check out Sonnen’s full thoughts below.
Khamzat Chimaev’s hand not broken after all
While Khamzat Chimaev had suggested his hand was broken following UFC 294, it appears that isn’t the case after all.
Instead, per a report by ESPN, “Borz” has torn a ligament in his hand, and expected to be out for roughly a month. That shouldn’t impact a potential title fight with Sean Strickland, should the timeframe stick.
The report quote’s Chimaev’s manager Majdi Shammas, who says the fighter will be in a brace roughly four weeks, at which time the injury will be reassessed. It does not appear surgery is in the cards at this time.
Conor McGregor says he’s been “kept from my living”
With the UFC-USADA partnership coming to an end — falling apart would be a better way of putting things — Conor McGregor has spoken up about being “kept from my living.”
“I’ve been kept from my living for almost three years now,” McGregor told reporters in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia ahead of the Fury-Ngannou boxing match (h/t MMA Junkie). “Understand that. I came through what I came through. I’m sitting on an injury and a loss. You hear what Alexander Volkanovski said? I relate. I must return to my way of living. This is my job. It’s beyond frustrating. … I just want the date. Give me the date, please. That’s it.”
While McGregor didn’t address USADA, the anti-doping org stuck to its guns in regards to the Irish star undergoing six months of drug testing before returning to the cage. The UFC had veto power, and McGregor appeared to think he would be granted one early on — though the promotion never publicly said anything of the sort.
McGregor also confirmed that Michael Chandler will likely be his return opponent, which now seems lined up for April. That would have the pair fighting at UFC 300 — making a lot of sense given McGregor is the biggest star in the history of mixed martial arts.
Fury says timing was “off” against Ngannou
Chael Sonnen may have been critical of the judging, but Tyson Fury was critical of himself in the Ngannou bout.
Just about anyone could see that Tyson Fury struggled against former UFC heavyweight champ Francis Ngannou on Saturday. “The Predator” scored the only knockdown on the fight, and had an argument for winning the bout, which ended in a split decision favoring Fury.
Following the bout, Tyson Fury himself admitted his timing was off.
“I felt my timing was quite off,” Fury told Boxing King Media. “I’ve been out of the ring for nearly a year— a little bit of ring rust, but it was what it was. It was far from one of my best performances. It wasn’t a vintage Tyson Fury, but listen, you do what you have to do to get through and on to the next one.”
The “next one” in this case is an expected match-up with Oleksandr Usyk.
Did UFC censor Sean Strickland?
Of all the things the UFC might censor Sean Strickland for… fighter pay? Well, maybe it’s not that surprising.
In an appearance on Extra Rounds with T.J. DeSantis and UFC legend Don Frye, Strickland went off on fighter pay, suggesting he’d tell kids not to get involved in the sport. It appears part of the clip was chopped by the UFC Fight Pass Youtube channel, but Strickland managed to post it on his own Instagram.
In the appearance, Strickland asked Frye what fighters in his era made if they lost. The answer? $500.
“Hey, you want to be a UFC fighter, $500 bucks,” Strickland replied (h/t MMA Fighting). “But you know, it’s not that much different now, man. It’s funny, this guy came up to me, and he said, ‘Hey, you know, my son’s 17, he trains, he wants to be a fighter. Do you have any advice?’
“I said, ‘Don’t do it.’ He goes, ‘What do you mean?’ And I’m like, ‘Well, let me explain to you, sir.’ Let me explain if you guys have kids at home who want to be a fighter. Let me explain to you the joy of being an MMA fighter.
“I was like, ‘You see the Contender [Series fighters], what do you think they make?’ And he goes, ‘I don’t know.’ I go, ‘They make five and five. If they lose, they make five.’ And he goes, ‘Damn.’ I go, ‘If you lose, guess what, you’re not going to UFC.’ So this entire life you could have spent building a life, doing any other aspect in life, you chose to train fighting.
“So let’s just say you make it now you make it to the UFC. Well, hey, guess what, what do you think they sign the average guy on? … What does the average guy get signed on? … Ten and 10 for this man. So you make it to UFC, you get signed, 10 and 10, and now you fight for 10 and 10, and you’ve spent your entire life working for this one goal. You get the blue check mark, you get the UFC in your logo, you get all the people, you get all of it now. So you go 2-2 and maybe they’re boring fights, and the UFC cuts you, and now guess what? You have made a total of … $60,000 your entire career, and you have no other option, because you can’t be a part-time fighter. You’ve got to be full time.
“So now you’re a 24-year-old man looking yourself in the mirror saying, ‘I spent my entire life doing this one thing and I’ve made $24,000, or $60,000. What do I do now? You go teach cardio kickboxing.”
Later in the clip, Strickland would question how many UFC fighters made it big — admitting he himself is one of them. “How many people in this sport end up not being poor after they’re done? And this isn’t NFL poor,” Strickland exclaimed. “They’re not gonna hear this sh*t. They’re not going to air this sh*t, but I’m just telling you how this f*cking goes.”
In a text post accompanying the video, the middleweight champ questioned whether “technical difficulties” were really to blame for the video being cut off.
