UFC bouts return to Fight Island; McGregor again in octagon

UFC docked for a 3rd time at Fight Island, and this time a pair of outdated rivals are primed to make the journey — with a number of thousand followers set to attend fights for the primary time in 10 months.
They may cheer the loudest for Conor McGregor.
The first of three straight struggle nights at Etihad Arena on Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island kicks off Saturday when Max Holloway (21-6) fights Calvin Kattar (22-4) in a 145-pound bout in the principle occasion of the primary fight sports activities card aired on ABC since 2000. UFC welterweights Michael Chiesa and Neil Magny struggle in the principle occasion of Wednesday’s ESPN card.
That’s simply an appetizer for UFC 257 on Jan. 24 when McGregor returns from a year-long layoff for a rematch in opposition to Dustin Poirier within the promotion’s first pay-per-view of the yr.
By then, McGregor may know if one other rematch is doubtlessly on the desk, this one in opposition to the undefeated Khabib Nurmagomedov, who known as it quits in October with a 29-0 file after he retained his light-weight championship. McGregor’s final loss was in opposition to Nurmagomedov in October 2018 in a bout identified extra a post-fight melee that spilled outdoors the octagon. Saddened by the latest loss of life of his father and mentor, Nurmagomedov surprisingly retired in his prime after he beat Poirier in Abu Dhabi.
UFC President Dana White desires one among his high field workplace attracts to struggle once more, maybe get to 30-0 and take it from there. The two are scheduled to fulfill in some unspecified time in the future in Abu Dhabi.
“It’s yes or no,” White stated by telephone from Abu Dhabi. “I felt like going into that last fight, he obviously was very emotional, he was banged up, he was hurt. He was under a tremendous amount of pressure. Now he’s had plenty of time off. He’s healed up. He knows whether he wants to fight again or not. I think it will be a very quick conversation. If he says no, it’s no. I won’t even say another word.”
White’s intestine feeling? “I feel like he’s got one more in him and he’ll say yes.”
White may solely want his relationship was that easy with McGregor.
McGregor (22-4) fights for the primary time since his knockout win in opposition to Donald Cerrone final January and for under the third time since 2016. The 32-year-old McGregor, who turned the largest star in MMA together with his heavy fists and self-promotional acumen, stayed away from the cage largely due to his boxing match with Floyd Mayweather, his blossoming liquor enterprise, retirement claims and a number of arrests.
McGregor and White sparred in public final yr when the previous featherweight and light-weight champion launched a collection of Instagram direct messages in a “he said-he said” trade over potential struggle opponents.
“I honestly, at that point in time, didn’t think we were ever going to get over that,” White stated. “I was really unhappy about it. I was wrong. He and I ended up talking and we got it worked out.”
They’ve buried the hatchet — as businessmen are inclined to do with multi-millions of {dollars} at stake — and White stated McGregor appears as targeted and assured about preventing as he’s been in years.
“I don’t know if I’d say he wasted (prime years) because if you look at what he’s accomplished in the short amount of time that he was here, and, listen, the kid made, and still makes a ton of money a year,” he stated. “He leveraged his celebrity and what he’s done here in the UFC to make money outside the UFC, which is tough to do, for anybody. He didn’t just make some money. He made a life-changing substantial amount of money.”
McGregor has lengthy helped UFC set field workplace information — his 40-second KO of Cerrone earned about 1.4 million buys. But he was absent because the promotion pushed on in 2020 within the face of a pandemic and ran occasions practically each weekend. UFC — actually, White — was criticized for pushing ahead within the wake of a pandemic, and he fired again with an almost five-minute lengthy propaganda video through which particular retailers and writers have been condemned for talking out in opposition to the promotion. UFC used to go door-to-door with newspapers and different media retailers in search of protection of its occasions and fighters. White would beg ESPN for highlights on its programming and now UFC is tied to the sports activities community in a $1.5 billion deal.
He gained. But it hasn’t been sufficient for the person who as soon as dodged the cash collectors for infamous crime boss Whitey Bulger.
“Believe me, that was the first round,” White stated. “I’ve got another one coming.”
White stated a UFC-produced documentary on the way it navigated the early days of the pandemic is within the works and it takes purpose on the media he claims “tried to get us shut down.”
“I know all you media guys want to think you’re all good guys, but you’re not all good guys,” White stated.
It’s the media that additionally spreads the phrase of UFC headlines — together with an anti-doping coverage change through which it should now not punish fighters for utilizing marijuana normally; a $1 million contribution this week towards mind trauma analysis; the continued struggle in opposition to PPV piracy; and potential involvement with Johns Hopkins University about its psychedelics research as a way to enhance fighters’ mind well being.
White had been adamant about not eager to run large fights with no packed home, however when the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism stated it was time to allow them to in, he relented.
UFC determined to not pipe in synthetic crowd noise, use cardboard cutouts or some other sort of gimmicks different sports activities leagues used to reinforce the environment throughout its broadcasts. The struggle evening noise had been merely uncooked fist-on-face, although beginning Saturday, about 2,000 followers are anticipated to attend every occasion on Abu Dhabi.
“I’ll do whatever these guys want,” White stated. “If they want to put 2,000 or two people in here, I don’t care. But if we’re going into a venue back in the states or anywhere else, I’m not going to put anybody in there unless I can sell it out.”