Rafael Cordeiro, the coach of UFC ranked American lightweight Beneil Dariush, told why his ward put his career on pause.
Dariush suffered two first-round knockout losses in 2023 - in May to Charles Oliveira and in December to Arman Tsarukian.
"Last year turned out to be very difficult for Beneil. He was knocked out twice and knocked down three times. Plus, he was knocked out once in the gym. All in all, he's suffered head trauma five times in one year. He's still relatively young, so I've asked him to take a break and rest.
My concern for him is not as a trainer, but as a father. He's won eight of his last 10 fights, but there are people advising him to end his career. That's absurd, very disrespectful to Beneil. Let's see what will be the right fights when he fully recovers," MMA Fighting quotes the specialist as saying.
Ali Abdel-Aziz, manager of UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, described how the organization's CEO Dana White helped him during his illness.
"Honestly, if we talk about Dana White's personality - he is a noble, wonderful person. For example, if he knew you had a sick child, he would definitely call, find you a doctor, send you medicine. When I had covid, I was literally dying. I was transferred to another hospital. That's when Dana called. And for three weeks, he made sure I was taken care of. They gave me a deluxe room. I was treated like I was the president of the United States. Dana is a cool man," Abdel-Aziz told Show Me The Money.
Chael Sonnen, former UFC fighter and current analyst and commentator, explained why a bout between Cyril Gagne and Tom Aspinall, the interim UFC heavyweight champion, is dangerous for the promotion.
"I think if they bring Cyril back to the UFC and he wins and puts the belt on, it's going to be a problem for the promotion. If Jon Jones accepts, the UFC will have to make a rematch between Jon and Cyril. And my guess is that it will be very difficult to do so, given Gan's performance in their previous fight. I don't think there's any scenario for a re-match of this fight. Ghana's belt is a risk for the UFC," Sonnen said on ESPN MMA's YouTube channel.
The manager of UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev revealed who the fighter will face in the octagon after his fight against Dustin Puryear.
"Islam will defend in the fight against Porier, and then we will have a fight with Arman (Tsarukyan). We have to admit, he deserves this fight, he got out to the top of the rankings and beat all the opponents. For now we have these two fights on the horizon, and then we'll see. A fight with Tsarukyan this year? Yes, it could be in Abu Dhabi or New York," said the functionary.
Recall that the fight between Islam Makhachev and Dustin Porier will be held on June 1 in the framework of UFC 302.
Two top UFC lightweight fighters, Peter Yan and Marlon Vera, continued their verbal altercation on social media.
Vera: "Shut up and just come out for the fight!".
Yang: "Keep lying and deluding yourself into thinking someone might turn down a fight with a walking punching bag. Easy money."
Vera: "Since the little man can't speak English and reach the keyboard...," Vera responded by posting a photo of Yan's manager, Sayat Abdrakhmanov.
Recall, earlier Vera stated that he would like to fight with Yan in November this year. In response, Peter stated that "the time for flogging" Vera will come.
The verbal altercation between Michael Chandler and Arman Tsarukian has been continued
"Anyone in mixed martial arts, whether they're lying to you or not, would do the same thing I did. Trust me - they're all overwhelmed with envy because of the position I'm in. They can all act like tough guys and say they would have had four fights in the time I sat idle. Maybe I missed one or two fights, but none of them will compare to what's going to happen on June 29," Chandler said.
Recall, earlier Chandler criticized Tsarukyan for refusing to go out for a title fight against Islam Makhachev seven weeks after winning a challenger fight against Charles Oliveira.
Top UFC lightweight Justin Gaethje still wants to get to a title fight. He revealed this in an interview published on his YouTube channel today.
"My potential to fight for the title has definitely diminished, but it's not impossible. I knocked out Dustin Puryear and now he's fighting for the title," the fighter stated.
That being said, Justin reiterated the information that he will not be rushing back into the gym after his early loss to Max Holloway.
"Figuratively speaking, I'm ready to come back even tomorrow, but I have to take care of myself physically. Because of the multiple concussions, especially being put to bed like that, it would be foolish of me to return to contact workouts any sooner than 180 days from now. I'll be doing cardio and staying in shape. It's a crazy game. We'll see how the Puryear and Makhachev fight goes."
Shavkat Rakhmonov, a top fighter in the UFC's welterweight division, has spoken out about who could be his next opponent.
"I think the next opponent will probably be Maddalena. There's also Michael Page. I don't know - I don't care who I fight. The most important thing is to get a title fight sooner. We'll see how things work out. Right now we're waiting. Everything is unpredictable. There are times when someone goes down, gets injured. The main thing is to be ready for the fall, September-October, and who it will be makes no difference," Nomad said.
At the moment, Rakhmonov is on a streak of 6 consecutive early wins in the UFC. In his last fight, which took place in December last year, the representative of Kazakhstan won by choke from Stephen Thompson.
Former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping says he's ready to restart his career for a third fight with Luke Rockhold.
"I was commentating on the Luke Rockhold fight and everyone is telling me - you have to complete the trilogy. And I'm going to fight Luke Rockhold in the Karate Combat league. I'm going to do it. We're going to complete the trilogy, and I'd really like to do that. One hundred percent. Hey, Karate Combat, I'm waiting for an offer!", - said 45-year-old Bisping in his podcast Believe You Me.
Recall that in 2014, Bisping lost to Rockhold with a choke hold in the second round. In 2016, the Briton managed to take revenge, winning by knockout in the opening five minutes and became the new champion.
The coach of the top American UFC welterweight Belal Muhammad Tuis Taylor said that his ward was not satisfied with the joint work with the team of Khabib Nurmagomedov.
"The thing is that these guys are very simple. We were extremely disappointed because Belal is a creative guy. It's not that they're unoriginal. No, they are all different. For example, Makhachev trains in his own way. But they all have simple concepts of fighting.
They grab your leg, give you a takedown and keep you on the ground for five minutes without trying to improve your position. And it's frustrating because you're wasting five minutes of training. They don't train creativity on the ground," the specialist told Money Loyalty Legacy.
Muhammad is expected to have a title fight against Leon Edwards in July.
