Conor McGregor apparently wants to be a different type of double champ with the UFC’s parent company close to buying WWE.
The former featherweight and lightweight Champion hinted in a tweet on Sunday at possibly trying to win both the WWE and UFC championships at the same time, being the first to do so if he’s successful.
“#Itsinevitable,” said McGregor, who is 22-6 in MMA, and has lost three of his last four fights dating back to 2018.
However, because of injury, he hasn’t been in a UFC octagon since July 2021 and he hasn’t won in one since January 2020.
In the UFC, McGregor hasn’t fought in nearly two years and hasn’t fought for a title in nearly five — the infamous loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov in October 2018.
Additionally, he’s only fought four times in the last six years, but has been working his way back for a return after breaking his legs against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264.
Because of inactivity — and the overall lack of recent wins — McGregor is, for now, unranked.
Maybe he turns it around and is active enough to become a UFC champion again in his mid-30s.
Because anything is possible in the other company, he might actually have a better chance at winning the WWE championship before becoming UFC champion should he make the jump.
McGregor certainly has the charisms and former MMA stars Brock Lesnar, Ken Shamrock and Ronda Rousey have all had success in WWE.
LAS VEGAS — Jon Jones has spent the past three years at his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico, focusing on being with family, hunting and getting ready for his big comeback.
He made that case as a light heavyweight by winning a record 14 title fights and is on a UFC-best 18-match unbeaten streak, giving him a 26-1 record with one no-contest.
Next up is France’s Ciryl Gane, who at 11-1 is the top-ranked heavyweight.
A victory also could put Jones, 35, back in the conversation for top pound-for-pound fighter, a spot currently held by featherweight Alexander Volkanovski.
“I’m fighting to be the greatest fighter ever, not to be the best pound-for-pound right now,” Jones said.
His fight against Gane for the vacant heavyweight title is the headline event of UFC 285. In the top undercard match, women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko (23-3) of Kyrgyzstan faces sixth-ranked Alexa Grasso (15-3) of Mexico.
Just about all eyes will be on Jones, who not only must prove that he can be just as successful is the heavyweight division as he was one level down, but also that the long layoff won’t negatively affect him.
Jones said he hasn’t been idle even if he hasn’t fought in the UFC since defeating Dominick Reyes by unanimous decision on Feb. 8, 2020.
He said he has become stronger than ever, even if his body isn’t as toned, but Jones said that’s because of the added weight to fight in the highest class.
Middleweight Dricus Du Plessis, who will face Derek Brunson in a preliminary bout, said he believes Jones will win and that he has the mental and physical ability to overcome such a long time away from competition.
But Du Plessis also offered a word of caution.
“Three years is a very long time,” Du Plessis said. “I don’t think he’s a guy that’s going to struggle with ring rust. I just think the game changes and it changes fast, especially these past two years. The game waits for no man.”
Jones, for his part, is confident this fight will end like so many others.
He questioned Gane’s willingness to fight, saying it didn’t show up when he lost to Francis Ngannou by unanimous decision on Jan. 22, 2022.
“I just don’t see myself losing to a guy like Ciryl Gane,” Jones said.
Should Gane, a plus-138 underdog according to FanDuel Sportsbook, pull off the victory, it would set him up for a potentially big year. Not only would he claim the heavyweight belt, a win would put him in line for a meeting with second-ranked Stipe Miocic. ESPN reported Friday night that UFC president Dana White told reporters Miocic “absolutely” would face the winner of the Jones-Gane bout.
“This is going to put my resume at the high level for sure,” said Gane, 32.
Even a victory, however, wouldn’t put his resume on the same level as Jones.
But it’s not all about what happens in the octagon with Jones. He was suspended for a year in 2016 for a failed drug test and had his 2017 victory over Daniel Cormier turned into a no-contest after another drug test came up positive.
The United States Anti-Doping Agency changed the criteria for what constitutes a positive test in 2019, and Jones let it be known he would have passed under the revised standards.
“People considered me a cheater,” Jones said. ”Now if that same rule would have applied back then, it would have never even made the media. It would have never been a deal at all. My win over Daniel Cormier would not be a no-contest. It would be a knockout. So I’m hoping that with these rule changes, maybe we can go back and make that no-contest a win. That would mean a lot to me.
“I took the bullet for this sport … and I’m glad that fighters in the future get to avoid what I went through. It was hell to be considered a steroid cheat. And I’m glad that that people will see clearly now that I never was and feel set free.”
Conor McGregor is facing accusations that he punched, kicked and threatened to drown a woman on his yacht in Spain last summer.
Through spokesperson Karen Kessler, McGregor denied the allegations.
“Over six months ago an incident was alleged and after a police review, the matter was not pursued. Mr. McGregor is steadfast in his denial of all the accusations made by a guest on his boat,” Kessler said in a statement.
The unidentified woman told police in Ireland that she “feared for her life,” according to the Majorca Daily Bulletin. She alleged that McGregor was verbally hostile to her and he became physically aggressive when she asked for the support of a friend.
The Periodico de Ibiza reported she told police that he kicked her in the stomach, punched her in the face and threatened to drown her. She jumped off the boat to get to safety.
“It was as if he was possessed. I knew I had to leave the boat because I thought he was going to kill me,” the woman reportedly told Irish police. “He’s a criminal. I think he would have killed me if I hadn’t left the yacht.”
According to The Sun, Spanish police initially put the case on the backburner because the alleged victim did not make a statement to them, but have reopened it at the request of her lawyers.
The alleged incident happened the morning after McGregor celebrated his 34th birthday on the yacht.
McGregor has been in trouble with the law several times, but has not ever suffered major consequences. In 2018, he was charged with criminal mischief after he threw a guardrail at a bus of fellow UFC fighters at Barclays Center while promoting a fight. In 2019, he got charged with strong-armed robbery in Miami after smashing a man’s phone. That year, he also allegedly punched an elderly man for refusing to serve him whiskey.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg can change his status to MMA sparring partner.
The Meta CEO posted a video of himself sparring with mixed martial artist Khai “The Shadow” Wu before the latter made his UFC debut with a loss by unanimous decision Saturday night against Joshua Dillon.
Zuckerberg’s video on Instagram — which had more than four million views as of Sunday afternoon — showed him exchanging punches and kicks and wrestling on the floor with the 27-year-old Wu.
“Yo!!! F****** awesome Mark!” former UFC champ Conor McGregor commented on the post.
“I really like watching UFC … but I also like doing the sport,” Zuckerberg said. “It’s because I have a connection to it. Since COVID, I got super into surfing and foiling, and then really into MMA. I know a lot of people who do it.
“MMA is like the perfect thing. Because it’s like, if you stop paying attention for one second, you’re gonna end up on the bottom.”
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