MMA News wrap-up: UFC Kansas City fallout, Dricus du Plessis silences the trolls, more
UFC Kansas City had no shortage of storylines, with Ian Machado Garry triumphant, Anthony Smith retired, and several names taking advantage of the chance to impress outside of the comfy confines of the APEX.
Garry bounced back from a competitive loss to the undefeated Shavkat Rakhmonov, but not everyone was impressed with how he pulled off the win. After coming out strong in the first three rounds and controlling the action against a struggling Carlos Prates, “The Future” ran into trouble at the end of Round 4. Prates’ highly vaunted knockout power finally emerged and he put a scare in Garry, which led to him pouring it on in the fifth round and seemingly being moments away from a finish.
With 30 seconds remaining, Garry hung on for the win—or Prates let him off the hook—to keep his championship hopes alive. According to UFC CEO Dana White, the promotion has officially designated Garry as the backup for the upcoming UFC 315 welterweight title main event between champion Belal Muhammad and Jack Della Maddalena. But if our reader reaction is any indication, fans aren’t sold on Garry reaching for gold just yet.
Check out the best responses to UFC Kansas City and the rest of the week’s biggest stories below.
Dricus du Plessis releases statement on injury rumors, fight announcement
We never reported it, but there were a lot of folks spreading the news that Dricus du Plessis was not only unavailable to defend his middleweight title against Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 317, he might not fight until 2026.
DDP wrote a post telling everyone to cut it with the fake news and it was well-received.
Chael Sonnen: Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall ‘is agreed, all the way down to the date’
But then...
Chael Sonnen shoots down own Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall report, claims Aspinall opponent booked
In the span of 24 hours, professional truth-twister Chael Sonnen said he knew for sure Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall had a date for their heavyweight championship unification bout and then fact-checked himself saying Aspinall is actually fighting someone else.
As always, Sonnen’s comments need to be taken with more than a grain of salt.
Belal Muhammad scoffs at Ilia Topuria getting immediate title shot, Islam Makhachev has ‘nothing to gain’ from that fight
Belal Muhammad unsurprisingly backs up his boy Islam Makhachev not anointing Ilia Topuria as the No. 1 contender. And honestly, fans are also divided on “La Leyenda” receiving an immediate lightweight title shot.
Poll of the Week
We did a promotional draft and asked you to vote on the winner and I can’t believe you people.
In other news...
- The best fights of the week didn’t even happen in the octagon! Eddie Hall and Mariusz Pudzianowski delivered in the World’s Strongest Fight (all 30 seconds of it, anyway) and Chris Eubank Jr. and Conor Benn threw down in an instant 12-round classic.
- Dustin Poirier’s final fight is set as he takes on “BMF” champ Max Holloway at UFC 318 and Kamaru Usman is back as he headlines UFC Atlanta opposite Joaquin Buckley.
- Anthony Smith had to flip off an unruly fan after losing his retirement bout.
- Paddy Pimblett is a big boy once again as he waits for his next fight.
- Some kooky grapplers decided to dress up in suits and fight like John Wick and you have to see it.
- Former Manchester United star Patrice Evra is going to fight for PFL. Wait, what???
- Conor McGregor laid out conditions for a return and the crowd goes mild.