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Conor McGregor is beginning his mental warfare against Khabib Nurmagomedov and those around him as their UFC 229 headlining bout draws near.

On Friday night, the Irishman used an Instagram post to mock Nurmagomedov and his father/coach Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov.

“[Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov] I can see you. Cowering behind fake respect,” McGregor wrote. “Just like your middle child. A quivering coward.”

McGregor had been quiet since the announcement of the UFC 229 headliner, which takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Oct. 6. It’s possible that McGregor’s post was in response to a video featuring Abdulmanap where he said McGregor wasn't the true lightweight champion. McGregor captured the belt with a stoppage of Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 in November 2016 but was stripped of the crown earlier this year for inactivity.

“I think Conor understands that he wasn’t the real champion at 155,” Abdulmanap said previously. “He only fought against two ligh…

Holloway was pulled from his bout against Ortega a few days prior to UFC 226 due to what was called concussion-like symptoms. However, the 26-year-old Hawaiian dispelled a rumor that he was knocked out in sparring during his camp and denies he suffered a stroke, as was also reported.

“There’s rumors going around that I got knocked out in training and I wish it was that so we could just write it down and be like, ‘Look, this is what happened,'” Holloway told Ariel Helwani in July. “And we could move on from it. That didn’t happen. We had hard training days, but I didn’t suffer a concussion at all. I wish the answer was that simple. That’s why it’s so confusing. It would be easy to move forward if we knew w…

Official. #UFCLincoln pic.twitter.com/sOPNpHzA2o

The Ultimate Fighting Championship is back after a two-week break, and UFC Fight Night 135 is only a day away with a lightweight main event between Justin Gaethje and surging James Vick headlining the bill.

Team Alpha Male product Andre Fili gets another step up in competition as he takes on Michael Johnson in the co-main event, while familiar names like Eryk Anders and Jake Ellenberger make up the remaining main card bouts.

The preliminary fights, which start on UFC Fight Pass at 6:30 pm ET, usually reserved for lesser known talent, actually feature some important bouts for the welterweight and lightweight divisions. Mickey Gall takes on George Sullivan and Drew Dober fights Jon Tuck to open the show.

On to the next one! #ufc229 #teampettis #414 #702 pic.twitter.com/YNIljSseI5

Add Tony Ferguson vs. Anthony Pettis to the growing list of crucial lightweight matchups, as the two will fight on the same card as the 155-pound title fight between current champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and former title holder Conor McGregor. MMA Junkie was the first to report the matchup, with Pettis appearing to confirm it via Twitter shortly thereafter.

Ferguson (23-3) is riding an imposing ten-fight winning streak, and actually captured an interim lightweight title after submitting Kevin Lee at UFC 216. “Showtime” had an absolute return to form in his last outing at UFC 226 last month, dropping Michael Chiesa with strikes before submitting him with a slick triangle armbar.

However, the former lightweight champion has remained inconsistent since losing the belt back in 2015. Losses to Max Holloway and Dus…

An intriguing middleweight matchup has been added to UFC 230 in New York City, with Dana White's Tuesday Night Contender Series standout Karl Roberson taking on former Cage Warriors Fighting Championship champion Jack Marshman set to throw down on Nov. 3, the Ultimate Fighting Championship announced on Thursday.

Roberson (6-1) made a huge impression on UFC President Dana White with a stunning knockout on the Contender Series, using elbows to put away Ryan Spann only 15 seconds into Round 1.

The rangy middleweight took a massive step up in competition after the Spann knockout, losing by submission to seasoned promotional veteran Cesar Ferreira at UFC 224.

Marshman (22-7) has remained inconsistent throughout his UFC run, having not fought since a submission loss last year. Prior to that, Marshman fell victim to a body kick TKO against Thiago Santos, with a decision victory over Ryan Janes in between those two losses.

UFC 230 takes place at the famou…

“It warms my heart to see just how much respect we have built (in Japan) as martial artists,” One Championship fighter and MMA pioneer Renzo Gracie said about the announcement. “This is what true martial arts is all about. I have been to Tokyo many times and the city never fails to amaze and surprise me. To be able to come full circle and bring martial arts back to Japan, it’s an amazing sight to behold. I am incredibly proud to be a part of this momentous occasion. Japan has played a huge role in the history of martial arts on a global scale, and it’s just right that it returns to glory once again. One Championship and Japan are a perfect fit and I foresee a bright future ahead.”’

Gracie himself competed under the One Championship banner after an eight year retirement, submitting Yuki Kondo in July. That event was held in the Philippines, with t…

2-Nil #AndStill!!!!@TJDillashaw finishes Garbrandt in the FIRST ROUND!!! #UFC227| B2YB @ToyoTires | pic.twitter.com/o0iTnqWa4s

When the Ultimate Fighting Championship partnered with Reebok as its official provider of fighter apparel, many fighters expressed their disappointment as the deal meant a loss of sponsorship income since they would no longer be allowed to wear branded gear inside the Octagon. The deal forced fighters to search for alternate ways to make sponsorship money on the side.

UFC bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw recently spoke to the International Business Times about his partnership with Sanabul -– a producer of fight gear -– and why other fighters should align themselves with brands particularly when they are not fighting and earning money.

“I feel it’s important to align yourself with brands that have similar goals and ideologies,” Dillashaw said. “A uniform doesn’t allow for us to …

A long-rumored superfight between featherweight queen Cristiane Justino and bantamweight titlist Amanda Nunes at UFC 232 is now official.

According to ESPN, both fighters have signed contracts to lock horns on Dec. 29 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. “Cyborg’s” 145-pound title will be on the line in the bout. Justino initially wanted to face Nunes in September, but “Lioness” needed more time to recover from a foot injury.

Justino is unbeaten in five UFC appearances. The 33-year-old Chute Boxe representative claimed featherweight gold with a third-round stoppage of Tonya Evinger at UFC 214 before successfully defending the belt against Holly Holm and Yana Kunitskaya. “Cyborg” is 20-1 with one no contest as a pro, and has finished 17 of her wins by knockout or technical knockout.

Nunes, meanwhile, enters the matchup on a seven-bout winning streak in the Octagon. After capturing the 135-pound crown against Miesha Tate at UFC 200, the American Top Team repre…

Paulo Henrique Costa lost his dance partner for UFC 230, but he doesn’t sound interested in facing a replacement opponent.

Earlier this week, Yoel Romero revealed that he would need four to five months to recover from surgery he underwent for a broken orbital suffered against Robert Whittaker at UFC 225 in June. That would have “The Soldier of God” ready to compete by the end of this year at the earliest.

The UFC already announced that Romero and Costa would square off at UFC 230, which takes place at Madison Square Garden in New York on Nov. 3. “Borrachinha” plans on waiting for Romero to return to full health and is willing to face the Cuban early next year.

"I just heard about this news. It seems like he wants more time to train and get ready for our fight, but it will happen,” Costa told Combate. “I'm going to wait for him to return, give him the time he needs to train and what he thinks …

It might not come as a surprise to hear that Ultimate Fighting Championship President Dana White doesn’t intend to hold back his criticism of fighters if he feels it is warranted.

White is a unique character in that he is the public figurehead of the largest MMA promotion in the world but at times finds himself at loggerheads with fighters on a raft of issues including weight cutting, performance inside the Octagon or a fighter’s personal life.

In a recent interview with Fox News, White maintained that if his fighters put on bad performances, he will continue to call them out (via MMA Weekly):

“Well guess what? This isn’t the fun business,” White said. “You don’t get to go out and put on a terrible performance and act like you just did something incredible. The guys that I went after and the guys that I did that to, if you watched their performances and what happened that night, most of them deserved it.”

However controversial his methods may be, the…

“The Ultimate Fighter 27” cast member revealed on Tuesday that he suffered a horrific accident with a drill that “ripped my nutsack in half.” Mitchell offered a more detailed account of the incident on Twitter:

Imma be out for a little bit. pic.twitter.com/Lah1c47225

Mitchell also shared a picture of his bloody underwear from the accident. Apparently they will hold a special place in his heart.

pic.twitter.com/FYEy9sfWqB

Someone asked me to auction off the bloody boxers but yal got me fucked up. That’s a good pair Ima bleach em and keep wearin em.

Mitchell made it to the semifinals of “TUF 27,” where he suffered a third-round submission l…

Lombard, who had a long-time affiliation with American Top Team, has relocated to Sweden’s Allstars Training Center in preparation for his UFC Fight Night 137 showdown with Thales Leites. Lombard confirmed the move following a report from MMAjunkie.com.

At Allstars Training Center, Lombard will work alongside the likes of Alexander Gustafsson, Ilir Latifi and Jimi Manuwa. Gustafsson recently posted a photo on Instagram that included the newest addition to the team.

The 40-year-old former Bellator MMA champion hasn’t tasted victory since March 2014, when he outpointed Jake Shields at UFC 171. Lombard’s current slump includes three KO/TKO defeats and a disqualification loss to C.B. Dollaway in his most recent outing at UFC 222.

UFC Fight Night 137 takes place at Ibirapuera Gymnasium in Sao Paulo on Sept. 22 and is headlined by a light heavyweight clash between Manuwa an…

Kamaru Usman has been officially named by the Ultimate Fighting Championship as a back-up for the UFC 228’s welterweight title fight between the current champion Tyron Woodley and Liverpool, England’s Darren Till.

While fans have generally welcomed the idea of a backup fighter for the bout, some have also seen it as an indication the promotion has concerns with Till making the 170 pound limit. Till has missed weight twice in his last four fights, most recently by 3.5 pounds in May against Stephen Thompson by 3.5 pounds. The issue of Till’s size reared its head again when he and Woodley squared off against each other at the official fight announcement, as the size disparity between the two was glaring.

Usman was a recent guest on The MMA Hour and was asked about his status as a replacement for both fighters before stating his belief that Till would struggle again to make weight.

“Fo…

UFC Fight Night 139 takes place at the Pepsi Center in Denver on Nov. 10 and is headlined by a featherweight duel pitting Frankie Edgar against Chan Sung Jung. The card will likely air on Fox Sports 1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass.

After besting Thai Clark and John Gunther on the reality show, Trizano took a decision over Joe Giannetti at the “TUF 27” finale to earn a UFC contract. Giannetti was recently released by the promotion. Trizano is 7-0 during a prior career that includes appearances in Bellator MMA and Ring of Combat.

Pena was forced to withdraw from the “TUF 27” competition due to injury following a win over Jose Martinez Jr. in the quarterfinals. However, “Violent Bob Ross” returned at the “TUF 27” finale to submit Richie Smullen with a first-round guillotine choke.

The Shreveport Police Department has officially issued an arrest warrant for the husband of UFC flyweight Andrea Lee.

Donny Aaron is being charged with one count of domestic battery abuse and one count of false imprisonment after allegedly choking Lee and attempting to put out a cigarette on her arm in the couple’s Shreveport, La., home.

Authorities are asking anyone with information regarding Aaron to contact investigators. Police believe that Aaron might currently be in Georgia. His bond is set at $2,500. The full statement from the Shreveport Police Department, as provided to MMAFighting.com, is as follows:

Shreveport Police have procured a warrant for a man in connection with an early August domestic incident.

On Aug. 5, 2018, Shreveport Police received reports of a domestic abuse battery that occurred in the 4200 block of Wildwood Drive. Arriving officers learned that 43-year-old Donald Aaron, of the 4200 block of Wildwood Drive, allegedly batter…

The “TUF 27” finalist recently announced his UFC release via Instagram. Giannetti submitted Allan Zuniga and John Gunther on the reality show but dropped a lackluster split decision to Michael Trizano with a UFC contract on the line on the “TUF 27” finale on July 6. In many cases, multiple competitors from “TUF” get UFC contracts, but Giannetti’s debut performance wasn’t enough to earn him another shot within the Las Vegas-based promotion just yet.

“The UFC has decided to let me go,” Giannetti wrote. “I don’t blame them. I didn’t fight like I wanted to or carry myself as I should.”

Giannetti will return to the cage on Nov. 3 against Dan Dubuque for the Cage Titans FC lightweight title. The 23-year-old known as “Skeletor” began his MMA career with six consecutive victories under the Cage Titans FC banner, defea…

Yan confirmed the change on Instagram following an initial report from ESPN.com. UFC Fight Night 136 takes place at Olympic Stadium in Moscow, Russia and is headlined by a heavyweight tilt between Mark Hunt and Alexey Oleynik. The card will stream in its entirety on UFC Fight Pass.

Son, a 25-year-old native of South Korea, has won his last four bouts under the Deep banner. Most recently, he earned a second-round technical knockout triumph against Toshiaki Kitada on April 28. Son owns a 9-2 professional record, with six of those triumphs coming inside the distance.

Yan, meanwhile, had an impressive Octagon debut, as he stopped Teruto Ishihara with punches 3:28 into the opening stanza of their encounter at UFC Fight Night 132 on June 23. The 25-year-old Russian is 9-1 with four wins by KO/TKO and one via submission.

Amanda Nunes and Nina Ansaroff will be tying the knot in the near future.

Nunes, the reigning UFC bantamweight queen, and Ansaroff, a strawweight in the Las Vegas-based promotion, announced their engagement via social media on Saturday. The couple used the hastags “#Isaidyes" and “#shesaidyes” to caption their photos on Instagram.

Nunes is coming off her third successful title defense, a fifth-round stoppage of Raquel Pennington at UFC 224 on May 12. “Lioness” is currently unbeaten in her last seven Octagon appearances and will reportedly be booked in a superfight against Cristiane Justino at UFC 232 on Dec. 29. That fight has not been finalized, however.

Ansaroff is riding a three-fight winning streak at 115 pounds. Most recently, the American Top Team product garnered a decision triumph over Randa Markos at UFC on Fox 30 on July 28.

Now that Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor is official for the UFC 229 headliner, there figure to be plenty of suitors willing to face the winner of that blockbuster lightweight championship bout.

That includes former middleweight and welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre, who recently said he’d be interested in facing the winner of the Oct. 6 contest.

“I would be interested in that fight,” St. Pierre said a recent press conference filmed by Submission Radio. “That’s a win-win situation. That’s a win-win situation. It’s a legacy upgrade and it’s good money. It’s going to be a big fight.

“However, I fought at 170. I relinquished the title [in 2013]. Then I fought at 185. I relinquished the title [in 2017]. I don’t think the UFC will let me fight for the title at 155. They will be afraid that I’ll relinquish and leave the division in ruins again.”

St. Pierre’s intuition has proven to be correct. In an interview on "The BBC MMA Show," UFC Preside…

Another location and venue is set for the Professional Fighters League semifinals.

According to a report from the Washington Post, one PFL semifinal round will take place in Congress Heights at the Entertainment and Sports Arena in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 20. The promotion confirmed the news on its website Friday.

The PFL’s regular season concludes on Aug. 30 at Ocean Resort Casino in Atlantic City, N.J. The lineup for that card has yet to be revealed. PFL playoff rounds will be held on Oct. 5, Oct. 13 and Oct. 20, with the championship event set for Dec. 31.

The first playoff event will take place at Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans on Oct. 5. Locations and venues for the Oct. 13 and Dec. 31 cards have not yet been announced. The PFL’s postseason will be a single-elimination format.

The PFL began its regular season with 72 fighters in six weight classes. The…

Highly-touted SBG Ireland prospect James Gallagher was served a heaping helping of humble pie at Bellator 204 on Friday night.

As usual, the previously unbeaten Irishman talked a big game heading into his showdown with Ricky Bandejas at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D., but for the first time in his burgeoning career, he failed to deliver. A straight right to the jaw from Bandejas put Gallagher on his seat during an exchange about halfway through the first round, and from there the underdog didn’t let up, as he rocked “The Strabanimal” with a side kick to the face before clinching the win with a barrage of vicious ground-and-pound at the 2:49 mark of the frame.

More than a few observers were happy to see Gallagher humbled, especially considering his antics just prior to the opening bell.

.@StrabanimalMMA tryin' to get started early! #Bellator204 pic.twitter.com/OK4xcAeQJ0

Eve…

“The Wolf” trounced Noad Lahat and stopped him via punches in the second frame. Caldwell took the Israeli down repeatedly and dominated him on the canvas for as long as the bout lasted. “Neo” remained patient with Caldwell on top, looking for openings to sweep or escape, but the New Jersey native never allowed Lahat to get into rhythm.

Caldwell ignited the capacity crowd inside Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, when he hovered over Lahat and slammed punches from all angles. The champ never stopped throwing hands until Lahat (12-4) collapsed against the cage and referee Mike Beltran rushed in to save him. Lahat bowed out officially at 2:46, allowing Caldwell to win his fourth fight in a row. After the match, Caldwell (13-1) called out reigning Bellator 145 champ Patricio Freire.

Annnnnd another 1st round finish! #Bellator204 pic.twitter.com/zqz71vLRrq

Knockouts were plentiful on the Bellator 204 preliminary card inside Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Friday night.

Venezuela’s Omar Antonio Morales Ferrer improved to 7-0 by blowing away Troy Nawrocki (3-1) in the featured preliminary bout. The lightweight prospect slammed a series of unanswered punches that destroyed Nawrocki’s equilibrium, eventually knocking him out in just 58 seconds.

The undercard had five other knockouts: Jason Jackson (8-3) lived up to his “The Ass-Kicking Machine” moniker by pummeling fellow welterweight Jordon Larson (9-5) with punches and ending things 3:58 into the first; 170-pounder David Michaud rose to 12-4 by greasing Corey Davis (2-1) with punches at 1:42 of the opening frame; middleweight Romero Cotton rocketed to 3-0 by crushing Willie Whitehead (2-3) with knees and …

Three minutes was all it took... #UFC229 pic.twitter.com/iUdePPDZUa

UFC 229 sold out within three minutes after tickets went on sale this week, likely due to the return of Conor McGregor. “The Notorious” is set to take on Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov in an effort to reclaim the belt McGregor won at UFC 205 back in 2016.

McGregor hasn’t stepped foot in the Octagon since then, but did take a detour into boxing last summer in a losing effort to undefeated legend Floyd Mayweather. McGregor was eventually stripped of both the featherweight and lightweight titles during his extended hiatus from MMA.

The appetite for McGregor’s UFC return is palpable, and the numbers already show extreme interest, with tickets for the Las Vegas event selling out in three minutes flat.

“It’s pretty clear that fans have a huge appetite to see Conor McGregor’s retu…