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3 days ago | 
essentiallysports.com | Kanishk Thakur |Chintan Devgania
“When the window opens, we’ll obviously start talking to lots of different people and we’ll see what the options are out there. We’ve said this every time: There could be a time when we end up on several different networks like all other sports do,” UFC CEO Dana White told reporters at the post UFC 314 presser. The UFC’s exclusive US broadcast rights deal with ESPN will end this year.
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2 weeks ago | 
essentiallysports.com | Kanishk Thakur |SYED AHMED
“I have a feeling you don’t want the rematch after I agreed to August,” Magomed Ankalaev wrote to Alex Pereira on X last week. ‘Poatan’, of course, lost his lightweight title and some of his sheen in his UFC 313 clash against the Dagestani dynamo. All the parties—’Big Ank’, ‘Poatan’, and Dana White—were on board with an immediate rematch after the fight. But it seems that the Brazilian former kickboxing champion is dragging his feet on the rematch.
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2 weeks ago | 
essentiallysports.com | Kanishk Thakur |SYED AHMED
In the UFC, it matters less whether you win or you lose. What the fans and even Dana White really care about is how you fight, regardless of the result. And there is no better example of that in the UFC at the moment than Diego Lopes. The Brazilian #3 ranked featherweight power puncher, of course, is set to face Alexander Volkanovski atop UFC 314 next weekend for the vacant featherweight title after Ilia Topuria exodus from the division.
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2 weeks ago | 
essentiallysports.com | Kanishk Thakur |SYED AHMED
Conor McGregor has a knack for making money. From becoming the highest paid mixed martial artist in history, founding an alcohol empire, to becoming a fight promoter, the Irishman just has a head for business. However, surprisingly, his latest business venture—a memecoin cryptocurrency called $REAL, which was launched earlier this month, has failed. The coin was put on pre-sale by the developers with a target to raise $3.6 million.
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2 weeks ago | 
essentiallysports.com | Kanishk Thakur |SYED AHMED
“Ireland, the choice is yours and it is an easy one. Vote for me as your President and we will SAVE IRELAND TOGETHER,” Conor McGregor declared in a social media post last month, yet again reiterating his desire to run for President of Ireland in the 2025 elections. Why does ‘Mystic Mac’, who has found himself mired in one controversy after another, want to do that?
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2 weeks ago | 
essentiallysports.com | Kanishk Thakur |SYED AHMED
Weight cutting, in Sean O’Malley‘s words, “feels like you’re dying.”, which does seem true given what weight cutting involves. Fighters usually drain themselves by means of dehydration in the final week (since the human body is 60% water) and restrict any calorie intake to make weight. As you can imagine, that takes a toll on your organs, which themselves get dehydrated severely. As you can imagine, it is not a very pleasant experience.
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3 weeks ago | 
essentiallysports.com | Kanishk Thakur
The most important yet hardest thing in sports is to know when to walk away. While most fighters like Anderson Silva or Chris Weidman stick around way too long for their own good, milking every last paycheck they can, Tony Ferguson has taken sticking around too long to a whole new level. After losing eight fights in a row in the UFC, and with fans and even Dana White begging the former interim champ to retire, Ferguson refused. This made the promotion cut him from its roster this year.
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3 weeks ago | 
essentiallysports.com | Kanishk Thakur
“Last week something happened to me. I went to The White House and my country is…my heart bleeds for my country right now. So there’s a lot of stuff going on back home. Last week something happened to me. I went to The White House and my country is…my heart bleeds for my country right now. So there’s a lot of stuff going on back home.” Conor McGregor stated last week at the BKFC 70 presser. All indicators are pointing in one direction. The Irishman is done and he would never fight again in the UFC.
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3 weeks ago | 
essentiallysports.com | Kanishk Thakur
BJJ star Craig Jones dumped a million dollars of cold, hard cash on a table on Joe Rogan‘s podcast last May. And just like that, the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world was changed forever. This one million dollars was the prize money for the Craig Jones Invitational, a BJJ tournament that was supposed to rival the ADCC, the most prestigious event in the grappling world. But alas, the ADCC, which many call the Olympics of BJJ, pays competitors peanuts.
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3 weeks ago | 
essentiallysports.com | Kanishk Thakur
There are two things Belal Muhammad does well, perhaps the best in the welterweight division. One is taking guys down and mauling them there with his relentless grappling and the other is being an absolutely hilarious troll. The 170lbs kingpin, for instance, was relentlessly making fun of Leon Edwards online, while the hapless Englishman was being dominated by Sean Brady at UFC London two weeks ago.
