Conor McGregor is going to have some options when he’s ready to return to action.
During his time healing from a broken leg sustained in his trilogy bout with Dustin Poirier last year, McGregor has continued to interject himself into several conversations regarding future matchups. Whether it be with titleholders at lightweight or welterweight, or top contenders like Michael Chandler, anything is always possible for MMA’s all-time biggest star.
Most recently, “The Notorious” has gotten into back-and-forths with a fellow former two-division champion, Henry Cejudo, after having his techniques criticized when sharing some training footage on social media.
Spending some time away himself, Cejudo is likely to return to action this year as he’s re-entered the USADA testing pool. With his sights set on an eventual challenge of Alexander Volkanovski’s featherweight crown, “Triple C” has also said he’ll fight McGregor, too. That would be quite a shock to see happen next — or ever — for each, however, and Cejudo notes that he’d like to see McGregor get a win against someone more on his level at this stage.
“I like the Tony Ferguson fight for him. I think that fight is winnable for Conor,” Cejudo said on The Triple C & Schmo Show. “He cannot be taking these high-level competitions. He’s gonna get hurt. He’s gonna continue to keep getting hurt. I think, he goes up with Tony, and then maybe — of course, he’s a cash cow — give him whoever he wants at ‘55 or ‘70, but I think he needs to get his feet wet. At least f****** win, man. Win a damn fight.”
Both McGregor and Cejudo’s last victories inside the octagon came in 2020. For the Irishman, he quickly dispatched of Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone in a welterweight contest while a few months later Cejudo retired off the heels of a second-round TKO of Dominick Cruz. McGregor has since lost twice in a row against the aforementioned Poirier. His last lightweight win came in Nov. 2016 when he defeated Eddie Alvarez to claim the title.
“It’s crazy because there’s a lot of flaws that he has,” Cejudo said. “As good as he was in the past, there’s still a lot of flaws that he has that he’s still not fixing. So I’m still not sold on that chump.
“Show some damn wrestling, show takedown defense. If I was Conor McGregor with all that money that you have, have somebody to live with you full time where they’re with you, they’re dissecting you, and they’re making wrestling fun. He needs to find a teacher that could really teach him. Not a coach, a teacher. And then once you find that teacher that can really teach him, and then you put it into practice where you’re actually going live and things of that nature. But what happens with a lot of these guys is they go too hard too early and yeah, wrestling is the toughest sport. It will break you, man.”
TOP STORIES
Return. Valentina Shevchenko says it’s ‘very possible’ she fights for bantamweight title by end of 2022.
Scoring. Robbery Review: Ketlen Vieira vs. Holly Holm at UFC Vegas 55.
Plans. Glover Teixeira walks back retirement talk ahead of UFC 275 title defense.
Nonsense. Jorge Masvidal responds to callout over DMs with Michel Pereira’s wife, calls it ‘a fake narrative.’
Wild. Matt Brown tells crazy story about the only time he’s missed weight in UFC career — and how a fake doctor fooled everyone.
VIDEO STEW
The MMA Hour.
Icons: Anderson Silva | UFC Connected.
Undefeated Islam Makhachev Secures Submission Win in His UFC Debut | UFC 187, 2015 | On This Day.
Israel Adesanya Goes Jewelry Shopping in Beverly Hills.
Aljamain Sterling’s Teammate’s Crazy Knockout.
SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE
Solid.
Road to the UFC!
Spotlight is on Asia’s top prospects!
Here are the tournament brackets for the ! Who will emerge victoriously and realize their Octagon dreams?
Opening round of #RoadToUFC kicks off this June 9-10 during #UFC275 fight week!
— UFC_Asia (@UFC_Asia) May 23, 2022
Insight.
Nah, winner starts significantly above UFC minimums, UFC also has the option to sign the runner up, also above a minimum value contract for UFC. TBH, I’m quite happy with the deals for the 5 guys we have on.
— Daniel Rubenstein (@dannyrube) May 23, 2022
Can you?
Tell me you’re in London without telling me you’re in London:
— Kayla Harrison (@KaylaH) May 23, 2022
Quick trilogy at the P.I.
マネルケイプVS朝倉海3@ManelKape pic.twitter.com/pTTSnBkisS
— 朝倉 海 Kai Asakura (@kai_1031_) May 23, 2022
The setup.
https://t.co/6m9WO2UqyX pic.twitter.com/sFlKSy2hVY
— Michael Chandler (@MikeChandlerMMA) May 23, 2022
Perspective.
When I was first shown this reversal, I thought to myself “this won’t work on me”… then someone did it to me. Now I do it to other people.
Interesting how catchin a little whoopin here and there can be good for your perspective
Get the shirt https://t.co/onuZCarVmp pic.twitter.com/1cDFDGJzUI
— Alpha Cat Zingano (@CatZingano) May 23, 2022
Squad.
The two toughest women on the planet pic.twitter.com/7abjiXVp8A
— Brendan Loughnane (@BrendanMMA) May 23, 2022
Solid cornerman.
With @DustinPoirier in his corner, AJ Fletcher is ready to make his mark in the MMA world
[ #DWCS Next Level LIVE NOW: https://t.co/9bi2vZxdDO ] pic.twitter.com/7EtaTZZkzi
— UFC (@ufc) May 23, 2022
Advice.
Tenshin Nasukawa and Floyd Mayweather connected for the first time since their exhibition bout in 2018. The boxing all-time great gave Tenshin some words of advice for his upcoming fight against K-1 Champion Takeru on July, 19th.#THEMATCH2022 pic.twitter.com/JJqJw0ruX6
— Beyond Kickboxing (@Beyond_Kick) May 23, 2022
Now that’s a shirt.
That happened.. https://t.co/QOJPhiNZAO
— Chael Sonnen (@ChaelSonnen) May 23, 2022
Fancy Outlaw.
In depth convo with the great @danhardymma regarding his upcoming fight and much more! https://t.co/GM9ppDo2Qz pic.twitter.com/tmdduYmaIe
— Laura Sanko (@laura_sanko) May 23, 2022
I can only wonder how many driving altercations Sean has been a part of.
The guy followed me lol!!! I think my ear defused the situation pic.twitter.com/ClQrmXFFAv
— Sean Strickland (@SStricklandMMA) May 23, 2022
Graduation day!
Congratulations to atomweight phenom Victoria Lee for graduating from high school #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship pic.twitter.com/ctrbKo5Obi
— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) May 24, 2022
It’s an idea.
Julian Lane should start a series called The Real Bang bus. Picking up random dudes who fist fight in the back of a bus while he drives. The Winner gets a free let me bang bro shirt and a contract to Bare knuckle boxing.
— Sergio Pettis (@sergiopettis) May 23, 2022
Gancho izquierdo Larry.
FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Aiemann Zahabi (8-2) vs. Ricky Turcios (11-2); UFC Fight Night, July 9
Makwan Amirkhani (17-7) vs. Jonathan Pearce (12-4); UFC London, July 23
FINAL THOUGHTS
McGregor vs. Ferguson is actually a relatively logical matchup when looking at the current landscape of lightweight. The only problem is that considering their recent results, I just can’t justify that as a main event which you absolutely know it would be.
Thanks for reading and special thanks to M.R. follower “Sofisticuffs” for the new weekly poll suggestion!
POLL POSITION
Last Week’s Results
Friday: 80% of 400 total votes answered “No” to “Do you think PFL doing pay-per-view events is a good idea?”
Thursday: Poll for “Who wins this weekend?” was split right down the middle at 50% for each Santiago Ponzinibbio and Michel Pereira out of 517 votes. Pereira won the fight via split decision (28–29, 30–27, 29–28) in UFC Vegas 55’s Fight of the Night.
Wednesday: 70% of 552 total votes answered “Holly Holm” to “Who wins on Saturday?” Ketlen Vieira defeated Holm via split decision (47-48, 48-47, 48-47) in the UFC Vegas 55 main event.
Tuesday: 64% of 855 votes answered “Charles Oliveira” when asked “Who would win?” a hypothetical matchup against Islam Makhachev.
Monday: 57% of 626 votes answered “Logan Storley” when asked “Who did you think should have won?” Storley defeated Michael Page via split decision (48–47, 47–48, 49–46) in the Bellator 281 main event.
Today’s exit poll:
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