Conor McGregor

After the fight, Dana White told media that Poirier will get the next crack at the title and McGregor is having surgery lined up. White also said that a fourth fight between Poirier and McGregor will happen, and is likely to be McGregor’s next fight. Agree or not, that makes the matchmaking process pretty darn easy.

McGregor’s next fight: Dustin Poirier 

Stephen Thompson

This loss makes Thompson 3-3 since losing his second title shot against Tyron Woodley. Losing decisions to Darren Till and Gilbert Burns and being knocked out by Anthony Pettis in that time. Thompson is getting older but will remain a name in the UFC for a while yet.  Demian Maia would be the perfect next opponent for Stephen Thompson. Maia is in a similar spot as Thompson as Maia has lost his last two fights. Maia is currently ranked 11th in the welterweight division. Meaning a win over Maia could save face for Thompson and keep him fighting guys inside the top ten. Maia’s looking for a retirement fight, this could suffice.

Thompson’s next fight: Demian Maia 

Greg Hardy

Greg Hardy was finished in the first round of his bout at UFC 264 against Tai Tuivasa. He’d later blame inexperience. Hardy landed some good shots but Tuivasa got the last laugh late in the first round. Hardy needs to be lined up with up-and-coming newer fighters in the UFC. For example, maybe a guy like Chris Barnett. Chris Barnett is an exciting heavyweight with very unorthodox striking. Hardy is also predominantly a striker and has a lot of power in his hands. This would make for an extremely exciting striking match-up.

Hardy’s next fight: Chris Barnett 

Yana Kunitskaya

Yana Kunitskaya lost via TKO in the first round against Irene Aldana at UFC 264. Kunitskaya will have to look to bounce back in her next fight and the best way for her to do that is to take on Sara McMann. McMann is a great wrestler and Kunitskaya has shown drastic improvements in her ability to fight off her back. It will be good to see if Kunitskaya can do damage off her back and get back up. If she is able to defeat someone like McMann she should be immediately back in the mix of her division.

Kunitskaya’s next fight: Sara McMann

The post What’s Next: UFC 264 Losers appeared first on Cageside Press.

Hall, a jiu-jitsu ace and more of a single-discipline fighter, executed roll after roll, looking to lock up one of Topuria’s legs. But Georgia’s Topuria was never in any real danger. And when he did go to the ground, it was on his terms, to put Hall away with punches.

The win saw Topuria become the first to defeat Ryan Hall. He kept his own perfect record intact in the process, improving to 11-0.

“I mentioned this in the past, where I grew up, where I trained, we have 30 black belts,” Topuria told media outlets including Cageside Press following the fight, explaining why he was undaunted by going up against such a dangerous submission fighter. “So when we do sparring, I’m prepared for this. I have the openings, because I’ve seen it.”

“I accepted this fight because I knew I could beat him,” added the 24-year old. With so many training partners at his disposal, “I’ve seen this look before, it’s nothing new.”

When it comes to what, or more accurately who, might come next for Topuria, “there’s no one special, there’s no one worth mentioning,” he said. “It could be number fifteen, number eight, whatever. I’m here to be number one, and that’s my goal, to be the number one guy.”

Topuria’s addition to the Conor McGregor-Dustin Poriier 3 card is something the featherweight was happy with. “I’m very happy to be on this big card, but I know deep down, one day I’m going to be headlining big cards like this,” Topuria predicted. “I’m going to be the main event.”

With three wins inside the octagon now, “as far as a title run, getting to the belt, we’ll say in a about two to three fights. Like I said before, I’m not looking behind me, I’m looking at the numbers above me in order to go up towards the title.”

Watch the full UFC 264 post-fight press scrum above.

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Her opponent Saturday night, Jessica Eye, was opened up with a nasty gash following an accidental head butt, but the bout was allowed to go the distance. In the end, it was Maia getting her hand raised, in her first fight since losing to Valentina Shevchenko last year.

Here’s what the Brazilian contender had to say following her decision win at UFC 264.

Her reaction to the victory:

I’m very happy, I’m very happy to beat Jessica Eye, because she has a lot of fights in the UFC. It was a really good opportunity for me.

Her thoughts on the toughness Jessica Eye showed:

It was not a surprise at all. I know her very well, so I knew Jessica Eye would keep coming, and I knew the cut wouldn’t bother her at all. But the blood was a good opportunity for me, to kind of help.

Whether she was surprised that the fight was allowed to continue despite Eye’s cut:

I thought that maybe the fight would be over, but it’s a doctor’s decision. And they didn’t stop [it]. It was a good decision, because she could fight very well in the third round, and the cut was bleeding just at the end of the last round.

Was she confident when the scores were being read?

I was very confident, because I hear my corners every single round, and I know if I lost, they would have told me I lost the fight. That was not the case, they told me I won all the rounds, so I was very confident that I got the victory.

What comes next for Jennifer Maia?

I didn’t hurt myself at all, so when ever the UFC wants, I’m going to be able to fight. I have no names in mind, but I want to fight someone at the top of the rankings, because I want to be able to fight for the belt again as soon as possible.

On being able to learn from her title shot against Valentina Shevchenko:

100%. After the Valentina fight, I was a new athlete. I was more confident, and I know where I can go after this fight.

The post UFC 264: Jennifer Maia “A New Athlete” Following Shevchenko Fight appeared first on Cageside Press.

That’s not surprising. If you’ve watched fighting at any point in the past, say, fifteen years, it’s hard not to be a fan of “The Natural Born Killer.” A former UFC interim welterweight champ, Condit has been known for exciting fights. That was the case Saturday, but it was Griffin with his hand raised in the end.

“Man. To be in there, and he’s looking across the cage, making his face. Experience. What a good weigh-in,” Griffin said following the decision victory. Of course, fight fans should well know the face Griffin is referring to. Condit mean mugs with the best of them. “I hurt him a couple of times, dropped him a couple of times. Man. It was surreal, being in there. I got the job done.”

How much of a fan is Griffin? “I’m trying to find him, I’m trying to get a picture with him,” he told the media backstage at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. “They said he left, but I’m trying to get a picture with him. I’m such a fan. I’m such a fan of his. It was amazing. I had to turn it all off though. I had to turn every bit of it off. But now I beat him, hey, I’m trying to take a picture with that man.”

What’s next for Griffin might just be some R&R. “I want a vacation. I’ve been training so hard, for so long, and I’m on a three-fight win streak, great wins,” he stated. “T-Mobile Arena, UFC 264, I want to go relax. I’ve been pedal to the metal for some time now. I’m not saying I want to take a break, I just want to take a vacation, fight at the end of the year.”

To some, Griffin’s approach to the fight was reminiscent of Tyron Woodley vs. Carlos Condit. That’s a question Max “Pain” didn’t have an answer for.

“To be honest I did not watch one second of tape on him.” Instead, Griffin’s coaches did the strategizing for him. “They told me what he was going to do, and I did it.”

Griffin’s coach quickly confirmed that the Woodley fight at least played a role in their prep.

Watch the full UFC 264 post-fight press scrum with Max Griffin above.

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In a video posted to social media from his hospital bed, “The Notorious” also had a message for rival Dustin Poirier.

“Dustin, you can celebrate that illegitimate win all you want, but you’d done nothing in there. That second round would have shown all,” he exclaimed, in the hours following a multi-hour surgery to repair the leg that snapped at the end of the opening round Saturday.

As far as the surgery is concerned, “Everything went to plan, everything went perfect. I’m feeling tremendous. I’ve got six weeks on a crutch now, and then we build back,” stated McGregor, thanking fans around the world for their support, as well as the fans at the T-Mobile Arena on Saturday. “The place was absolutely electric. It was a hell of a first round, it would have been nice to get into that second round and to see what’s what. But it is what it is, that’s the nature of the business. A clean break of the tibia, and it was not to be.”

McGregor and Poirier’s rubber match had been billed as one of the biggest attractions of the year for the UFC. But on a card that provided electrifying fights in the form of Michel Pereira vs. Niko Price and Sean O’Malley vs. Kris Moutinho, the main event fizzled. McGregor jumped guard for an ill-advised guillotine attempt halfway through the opening round, then ate a tremendous amount of ground n’ pound from Poirier. When McGregor made it back to his feet in the dying seconds of the round, his leg proceeded to buckle.

What initially looked like a glancing blow from Poirier turned out not to be a punch, but the leg simply giving way. SBG Ireland coach John Kavanaugh later suggested it may have been the result of an injury suffered during training camp. Dustin Poirier, however, claimed to have broken the limb checking a kick earlier in the round.

Either way, the end result was the same: unsatisfied fans, and a long road back to recovery for the UFC’s biggest star. “Onward and upward,” McGregor stated Sunday on social media.

The post Conor McGregor Provides Surgery Update, Has Message for Dustin Poirier appeared first on Cageside Press.

He got just that. Pereira and Price battled in what would have been Fight of the Night had Sean O’Malley and Kris Moutinho not come along shortly after. Pereira took home the unanimous decision win.

“Niko Price is a very tough guy. He took so many punches and knees, and he kept moving,” Pereira said following the bout, speaking back stage at the T-Mobile Arena. “That was a surprise for me, because I punched him very hard, and he was still moving.”

While Pereira could bee seen wiping the blood from his brow, “I feel good right now,” he stated. “The doctors, they checked me right now, I’m okay. I just need two weeks, take a rest, then I can start getting ready for the next fight.”

The question now turns to what comes next, as Pereira has put together three consecutive wins in the UFC’s deep welterweight division. Both before the fight, speaking to Cageside Press, and following the event in his interview with Joe Rogan, he called for a fight with Nate Diaz.

He reiterated that desire with the media Saturday. “The guy I want to fight is Nate Diaz. But to fight the top guys, I’ve got to be one of the top 15 in the rankings,” said Pereira. “And after tonight, after beating Niko Price, I think I’m going to get one of the 15 positions.”

Watch the full UFC 264 post-fight press scrum with Michel Pereira above.

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UFC president Dana White (by way of Hunter Campbell) confirmed that McGregor broke his lower tibia and was expected to have surgery Sunday morning. Keep in mind that McGregor turns 33-years-old this week. By the time McGregor has surgery, fully recovers and returns to the octagon, it is very likely that McGregor will be 34-years-old or very close to turning 34.

For the first time in McGregor’s career, he has suffered consecutive losses. More importantly, McGregor is 3-4 in his last seven UFC fights. Although many of the MMA media and fans, and even McGregor himself, pondered the idea of a trilogy with Nate Diaz, McGregor will be sidelined for quite some time. Although McGregor said the rivalry with Poirier is not over, the reality is is that Poirier and likely Diaz will move forward rather than wait for McGregor to return.

There is a lot of uncertainty regarding McGregor’s future. His performances have not been good lately. Add a gruesome ankle injury on top of that, and McGregor has an uphill battle if he wants to reign supreme in the lightweight division. That will require a full recovery, in addition to stringing together a few wins.

Since returning to the UFC after his boxing match with Floyd Mayweather, McGregor has gone 1-3 since 2018. McGregor’s two biggest weaknesses are his ground game and his stamina. Those two factors have been used against McGregor, hence his recent struggles.

But given the extent of McGregor’s ankle injury, which has drawn comparisons and references to the leg injuries sustained by Anderson Silva and Chris Weidman, whether McGregor can come back stronger at 33-years-old is another key talking point.

McGregor rakes in a wide audience every time he fights. But will that same McGregor show up after recovering from surgery?

Only time will tell. However, the odds are heavily stacked against McGregor. Until then, Poirier will pursue a lightweight title match with Charles Oliveira, while Daiz will need to look for a new opponent.

For the first time in a good long while, the MMA world is poised to move on without Conor McGregor.

The post UFC 264 Aftermath: Conor McGregor’s Best Years Are Behind Him appeared first on Cageside Press.

Even Dana White, who had suggested giving Aldana a bit of extra cash for her hard work, was taken aback by the news that the bantamweight contender had missed the mark.

“It was important for me to have a good performance, because I know I screwed up, and I needed to make it better in the fight,” she told Cageside Press during her post-fight press scrum, not long after she had scored a clean knockout of fellow contender Yana Kunitskaya. “I just needed to stay focused, do my job, don’t let that get into my head. It just was an honest mistake, it happened, move on and that’s it.”

Fan’s critical of her weight miss simply don’t understand what a fighter, especially a female fighter, goes through when it comes to cutting weight, Aldana explained. “They don’t know. I’m not a dirty fighter, I’m not someone who would have done that to take advantage of my opponent in the fight,” she insisted. “I’d never do that. Actually I was on the other side two times before, two fights before, with Bethe [Correia], and in Mexico [against Vanessa Melo]. I understand that, it happens, that’s it.”

The way Aldana sees it, “you make a pact, you take the fight, and that’s it. And in this time, as a professional athlete in this kind of sport, sometimes your menstrual cycle changes a lot, and you don’t know when it’s going to happen.”

That was the case ahead of UFC 264. Aldana was surprised by its onset. “I couldn’t prepare for that. I tried, I tried to the last minute to cut weight. Just my body stopped sweating.”

Aldana, who improved to 13-6 with the victory, doesn’t have a name in mind for what’s next. “No specific name. I’m always open to whatever the UFC wants me to do. We’ll see.”

Watch the full UFC 264 post-fight press scrum with Irene Aldana above.

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The South African fighter, who landed a stunning knockout of Trevin Giles on Saturday night, even gave a little lesson on pronouncing his name following the fight. But more than anything, Du Plessis was simply blown away by the whole experience.

“My thought coming in was ‘wow.’ So grateful to get the opportunity from the UFC, trusting me. Every fight I believe is trusted by the UFC to put on a performance, because people from all over the world are flying in to watch this fight,” Du Plessis told media outlets including Cageside Press post-fight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. “This is one of those events where, it’s a Superbowl event that happens every once in a while, that you get a gem like this. So if you are on this card, you have to consider yourself lucky. And I made sure that I made it count. I went out there and I had fun.”

Giles had been high on his jab heading into the fight. In the end, it didn’t really matter. “Trevin Giles said he had the best jab, he didn’t catch me that often, but he does have fast hands,” noted Du Plessis. “When I saw him fall, immediately, it was almost like a flashback to my debut. Every fight has a different feel, it felt absolutely amazing.”

With Du Plessis vs. Giles coming early in the night, the former KSW champ was campaigning for a bonus. “I haven’t watched the fight, I don’t know how good the fight was. It felt pretty good, it felt high intensity, it felt great, that’s why I wanted to face Trevin,” said Du Plessis. “He’s a game opponent. I walked out and I finished a guy who’s never been finished before the third round, he’s only been finished by submission. I came up here, I’m predominantly a submission finisher, and I knocked this guy out. If there’s any props to be given, that’s it.”

Things worked out in his favor in the end, with the promotion awarding Dricus Du Plessis one of two $75,000 Performance of the Night bonuses. The plan moving forward, said Dricus, is to work towards to top 15 in 2022. In the meantime, he’s thrilled by the reaction he saw from fans at home.

“South Africa is going absolutely mad right now. Right now, it’s a quarter past three in the morning. It’s 3AM in South Africa. I fought at 2AM. But the whole country’s up, everybody’s watching.” Du Plessis likened the response to South Africa’s national rugby team, playing in the world cup final.

“The whole country, the support was amazing. Especially being on a Conor card. That’s a big thing for me and for my country, especially being from South Africa,” continued Du Plessis, who noted that the nation is not very well known in fighting, and lacks fighters both historically, and right here and now. “Getting that second victory is absolutely massive for me and for my country, making my country proud. South Africa is going through a lot at the moment,” he added.

“To see a country unite that has been divided by so many things, to unite a country like that, it’s actually greater for me,” said Du Plessis. “The whole country comes together when I fight. This fight, I can’t believe the amount of support from all over. There were no people divided in this fight, people were just rooting for me to win.”

Watch the full UFC 264 post-fight press scrum with Dricus Du Plessis above.

The post UFC 264: Dricus Du Plessis Thrilled to See South Africa Unite in Support of Him appeared first on Cageside Press.

“I was rocked. He touched me, and yeah. I felt it, and I knew, maybe take a couple steps back,” Tuivasa told media outlets including Cageside Press following the fight. But against Hardy, there was one key difference. “I think the old me would have put the head down and threw some more bombs. Now I feel like I’m maturing in this game, and I had to step back. And I caught him on the way in.”

Caught him he did, knocking Hardy out cold in the opening round to claim his third straight win.

To start the affair, Hardy had actually pointed to the middle of the octagon, the age-old signal for “let’s stand and bang until someone falls down.”

“He won’t point in the middle again,” suggested Tuivasa, who became something of an instant star with the win. His celebratory shoey (drinking beer out of a shoe), along with the general dislike of Hardy, had the fans firmly behind him. Walking out to the Spice Girls didn’t hurt either, especially given Tuivasa was clearly having a blast.

“As long as everyone feels it, that’s my thing,” Tuivasa said of the song selection. “Just to feel the crowd back, f*ck, what a buzz.”

As for Hardy, “everyone hates him. But he’s got a bit of a head on him, and he was talking a bit of whack. Trying to point in the middle of the cage, Bruh. Not me. I’m not the one.”

Tuivasa does hope the win pushes him to the next level. “I hope so. I hope so. You’ve seen me, I’ve been on a three fight winning streak, three fight losing streak, and now I’m back on a three fight winning streak,” he said. “I feel like I’m maturing, I feel like I’m getting better. I’m actually loving what I’m doing, to be honest. And I think it’s showing in the cage.”

Asked who he wants to fight next, Tuivasa claimed to not even know anyone in the top ten, or top fifteen. “It sounds good. One of them. Any of them. I fight. You tell me who I’m fighting, I rock up. Simple.”

Watch the full UFC 264 post-fight press scrum with Tai Tuivasa above.

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