MMA NEWS
**TMZ reports that Conor McGregor is no longer being investigated over a sexual assault allegation that led to a complaint being filed last September. While in Corsica, McGregor was detained by police after he was accused of “attempted sexual assault and sexual exhibition”, which McGregor denied and was never formally arrested or charged. TMZ obtained a document from the prosecutors stating that there was not sufficient evidence to move forward with the case. McGregor’s representative Karen Kessler issued the following statement to TMZ over the matter:
They [French authorities] did a criminal investigation. They collected DNA and the DNA evidence confirmed McGregor’s account.
**The UFC announced an immediate sell-out for UFC 264 on Saturday, July 10th featuring the rematch between Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor. The promotion posted a graphic stating 20,800 tickets were sold for the card at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The pre-sale listed ticket prices beginning at $300 and going as high as $10,000.
**The big combat sports event of the weekend isn’t from UFC or Bellator but the second attempt by Triller to promote a novelty card featuring a Boxing vs. MMA theme. Saturday night’s event features Jake Paul in a boxing exhibition with Ben Askren, the latter of whom has never had a pro boxing fight and was not regarded for his striking skills in MMA. The pay-per-view has a price tag of $39.99 U.S. and has received significant coverage that a Paul brother warrants for this type of promotion. It comes down to the public’s intrigue of seeing what this spectacle will provide and whether Paul’s limited fight experience can handle a limited striker but a professional fighter, nonetheless. Paul fought on the undercard of last November’s successful card headlined by Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. and it’s hard to credit Paul for that number. Another point that was made to me was the curiosity if the Paul audience will buy a pay-per-view when it’s a predominantly younger audience that streams. In 2018, Logan Paul and KSI did a very successful fight that was streamed on YouTube for $10 U.S. and did great business but was also heavily pirated. Their rematch in 2019 was broadcast on DAZN, FITE TV, and Sky Sports Box Office in the U.K. Triller appears to have a game plan of spending incredible amounts of money that reminds you of many companies that overspent to “establish the brand” and that strategy burns out fast.
**The fight will be contested at 190 pounds over eight rounds with MMA Fighting reporting that the purses are listed at $690,000 for Paul and $500,000 for Askren.
**Triller has released a documentary for Saturday’s fight called Prblm Child profiling Jake Paul.
**The group has also announced its next major fight card will be on June 5th and Evander Holyfield is set to box Kevin McBride in a six-round bout on the same card as Teofimo Lopez vs. George Kambosos. Holyfield is 58 years old and last fought in May 2011 while McBride is 47 years old and last competed in July 2011. McBride famously stopped Mike Tyson in June 2005 in what turned out to be Tyson’s last professional fight.
**ESPN’s Brett Okamoto is reporting that a women’s bantamweight title fight between Amanda Nunes and Julianna Pena is targeted for the UFC’s August pay-per-view event. UFC president Dana White informed the outlet that the fight will take place this summer, with the targeted date of August 7th although is not official. Nunes’ last two fights took place at featherweight where she is also the division’s champion and successfully defended her title against Felicia Spencer and Megan Anderson. Nunes last fought at bantamweight in December 2019 defeating Germaine de Randamie by unanimous decision at UFC 245. Pena has been campaigning for a title fight following her recent TKO victory over Sara McMann this past January at UFC 257.
**Bellator 257 airs on Showtime tonight with the main card airing at 9 pm ET. The card is highlighted by two fights in the Light Heavyweight World Grand Prix with 205-pound champion Vadim Nemkov defending the title in his opening round fight tonight. Below are the main card fights:
*Light Heavyweight Championship, Grand Prix Quarterfinal: Vadim Nemkov (champion) vs. Phil Davis
*Grand Prix Quarterfinal: Corey Anderson vs. Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov
*Paul Daley vs. Sabah Homasi
*Veta Arteaga vs. Desiree Yanez
**The UFC Fight Night card on Saturday is headlined by a middleweight fight between former champion Robert Whittaker and Kelvin Gastelum with the latter replacing Paulo Costa on this card. For Whittaker, it would be extremely hard to deny him a rematch with Israel Adesanya if he is victorious against Gastelum. If Whittaker lost, it would be beneficial for Marvin Vettori, who beat Kevin Holland last week and has improved greatly since his first fight with Adesanya. Andrei Arlovski will compete in his 34th fight with the UFC when he takes on Chase Sherman and just passed his 22nd anniversary as a pro fighter after debuting in April 1999 when Sherman was nine years old. Below is the full card and results from Friday’s weigh-ins:
MAIN CARD (10 pm ET on ESPN & ESPN+)
*Robert Whittaker (185.5) vs. Kelvin Gastelum (185)
*Jeremy Stephens (156) vs. Drakkar Klose (156)
*Andrei Arlovski (250.5) vs. Chase Sherman (251)
*Abdul Razak Alhassan (185.5) vs. Jacob Malkoun (185.5)
*Alexander Munoz (155.5) vs. Luis Pena (155)
PRELIMINARY CARD (7 pm ET on ESPN & ESPN+)
*Tracy Cortez (126.5*) vs. Justine Kish (125.5) – Cortez was fined 20 percent of her purse
*Alexandr Romanov (264) vs. Juan Espino (257)
*Lupita Godinez (116) vs. Jessica Penne (116)
*Gerald Meerschaert (185.5) vs. Bartosz Fabinski (184.5)
*Austin Hubbard (156) vs. Dakota Bush (155.5)
*Anthony Birchak (135.5) vs. Tony Gravely (135.5)
**The women’s bantamweight fight between Zarah Fairn and Josiane Nunes was canceled after Fairn missed weight by a large amount. MMA Junkie reports that the fight was moved to a 139-pound catchweight fight prior to the weigh-ins, but Fairn still came in way past the limit at 147 pounds and the fight was canceled. Nunes did make weight at 136 pounds prior to the cancelation.
**ESPN’s Ariel Helwani reports that Eddie Alvarez is coming back to fight for ONE Championship three weeks after his DQ loss that aired on TNT last week. Helwani reports that the 37-year old Alvarez will fight the winner of Marat Gafurov and Rae Yoon Ok, which has already been taped but won’t air on TNT until next Wednesday. Alvarez fought Iuri Lapicus on the first TNT card on April 7th that ended in a disqualification after it was ruled that Alvarez struck Lapicus several times in the back of the head.
**Bellator matchmaker Rich Chou is leaving his full-time position for a role as vice president of the Wimp 2 Warrior organization. Chou will remain a consultant for Bellator while matchmaking duties will be handled by company president Scott Coker and Mike Kogan. Chou has a long history in MMA working at Rumble on the Rock, Elite XC, and Strikeforce prior to joining Bellator in 2014.
**LFA has a card airing on UFC Fight Pass tonight at 9 pm ET headlined by a lightweight fight between Aaron McKenzie and Brandon Phillips.
FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Michael “Venom” Page vs. Derek Anderson at Bellator 258 on May 7 (ESPN)
Damir Hadzovic vs. Yancy Medeiros at UFC Fight Night on May 8 (MMA Junkie)
Santiago Ponzinibbio vs. Miguel Baeza at UFC Fight Night on June 5 (Combate)
Douglas Lima vs. Yaroslav Amosov for the Bellator Welterweight Championship on June 11 (Yahoo! Sports)
ON THIS DATE
#OnThisDay in 2005 the Ice Age began! ❄️
Chuck Liddell knocked out Randy Couture at UFC 52 to become the new light-heavyweight champion!
Keep your eyes peeled for a young Andrei Arlovski 😅 pic.twitter.com/V6t8tIwYBb
— UFC on BT Sport (@btsportufc) April 16, 2021
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