In the fast-paced world of mixed martial arts at Fighters Only we know it’s hard to stay on top of all the latest news so here are five stories that may have flown under your radar.
Khabib in it for the gold
While most are in the sport of MMA as pure prizefighters where the prize is the biggest purse they can negotiate with the promoter, for Khabib Nurmagomedov it’s all about the glory. Ahead of his fight with Michael Johnson at UFC 205, he spoke to Champions.co and said: “I care about the belt. I want to finish this fight and fight for the title.
“I don’t care who has the title, who wins (between Alvarez and McGregor). I don’t care about money. I know a lot of fighters fight for the money, but money is not everything for me. I know money is very important for life, but I have money. I never use MMA to make money. MMA for me is about my life, about my blood and about everything I do all my life. Money, I can make money with other stuff. I have money. I have everything. I need the belt.”
Aldo talks went well but no return in sight
After declaring he was leaving the UFC, interim featherweight champion José Aldo held talks with UFC president Dana White and told MMAjunkie that while the talks went well, a return to the Octagon was not in the plans.
“It was a great conversation,” Aldo said. “I can only thank the UFC for all they’ve done for me and Dana for the patience. I always had my mind made up. When I said something, it was never a bluff. I have an idea in my head and it’s what I always wanted. So it’s what we talked about. There was no offer, nothing to think. I just gave my point of view. The esteem that I have for them and that they have for me is cool, but I think we need to go our own ways.”
Zombie vs. BJ Penn?
With his mandatory service in the Korean military now complete, the ‘Korean Zombie’ Chan Sung Jung plans on making a return to the Octagon and has a legend on his radar. In a post on his Facebook page, he said: “For the past six months, there’s a fighter that I’ve been wanting to fight: B.J. Penn,” Jung said. “When the B.J. Penn-(Ricardo) Lamas fight was announced, I thought I missed my chance. But, then I heard that B.J. Penn had a rib injury, so I kind of felt like maybe it was an opportunity for me. It would be great timing if B.J. Penn and I were ready to come back at the same time.
“Since he was at lightweight before, I never really thought about fighting him that much. But when he came down to featherweight, I would think that all of the fighters in the division would have liked to fight him. I’m one of them. Since I’m making my comeback, and B.J. is going to be coming back as well, I’d really like a chance to fight him.”
McGregor will drop one if he gets two
In an interview with Sports Illustrated this week, current UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor says that should he beat Eddie Alvarez for the UFC lightweight championship, he will let one belt go, just after he relishes in the moment of becoming the first ever simultaneous two-weight champion.
“Let me see the pictures on publications with a belt on each shoulder first,” McGregor said. “Let me go onto the side of that Octagon and raise two world titles, what’s never been done before, before talking about stripping me. Let me get the f*cking things, let me do it. I’ll always listen to the correct business move and I’ll always do what is the correct move but let me do it and let me go back and look at some pictures of me with two belts and let me embrace it for half-a-day.”
Mousasi vs. Diaz?
With a logjam at middleweight, options for #5-ranked middleweight contender Gegard Mousasi are pretty slim. Rockhold, Romero, Weidman and Jacare ahead of him booked and Whitaker and Brunson just behind him also booked the only option is the Uriah Hall rematch but Mousasi wants a big name and he took to Twitter to call out one of the biggest in the sport, Nick Diaz. “Who wants to see this fight?,” Mousasi’s post read.
