Former UFC champion apologizes to Dricus du Plessis for underestimating him going into UFC 290 – “Shame on me”
Henry Cejudo recently heaped praise on Dricus du Plessis for his masterful performance against Robert Whittaker at UFC 290. The former two-division champion also apologized to the South African star for underestimating his skills and shared some advice for his next fight. ‘The Reaper’ has long been considered the second-best middleweight in the UFC after Israel Adesanya. When the promotion announced du Plessis vs. Whittaker in a title eliminator last weekend, many dismissed the South African’s chances against the Australian. However, Dricus du Plessis put on an incredible performance against Robert Whittaker and secured a sensational second-round TKO victory. In a recent video uploaded to Twitter, Henry Cejudo apologized to ‘Stillknocks’ for being one of the doubters. ‘Triple C’ stated: “First of all, I want to apologize to you, du Plessis. I did not believe that you could beat Robert Whittaker… Shame on me… The fact that you were able to stop this dude in a round and a half. Kudos to you.” Cejudo then shared some advice with du Plessis for his inevitable title fight against Israel Adesanya: “I think you need to have a good game plan. I think the biggest thing with du Plessis is, he cannot stay in kicking range with Israel Adesanya. If I was in your position du Plessis, I would create positions to get ‘Stylebender’ to throw hands… I do believe Israel’s greatest weapon is his kicks.” Bo Nickal opens up about a potential fight against Dricus du Plessis Bo Nickal recently weighed in on a potential fight against Dricus du Plessis and the fast-rising middleweight contender is confident of beating the South African. Nickal and du Plessis are undoubtedly two of the most exciting fighters to watch in the UFC’s middleweight division. While ‘The Allen Assassin’ is an exceptional grappling phenom with thunderous striking at his disposal, ‘Stillknocks’ recently silenced his haters with a statement second-round TKO victory against former champion Robert Whittaker. While a Bo Nickal vs. Dricus du Plessis matchup promises to get combat sports fans excited, the three-time NCAA D1 wrestling champion doesn’t think it’s a major challenge for him. In a recent interview with Full Send MMA, Nickal opined that he’d breeze past du Plessis and stated: “Hats off to him. I feel like I respect Whittaker a lot. He’s such a tough dude. But, yeah, he [du Plessis] got it done. That’s a fight that I’ll have eventually, I’m sure. I don’t know that he beats the champion, but, you know, I’m sure we’ll fight, and I think that’s easy money for me.”
Sean O’Malley praises Bo Nickal for his UFC 290 performance – “He’s at that level”
Sean O’Malley has nothing but nice things to say about Bo Nickal. The three-time NCAA Division I wrestling champion and the 2019 Dan Hodge trophy recipient is undeniably the fastest-rising star in the UFC’s middleweight division. ‘The Allen Assassin’ recently faced Val Woodburn at UFC 290. He dispatched ‘The Animal’ via TKO just 38 seconds into the first round. His incredible performance was lauded by fans and fighters alike, with many touting him to be the next big thing in MMA. In a recent episode of the BROMalley Show, Sean O’Malley heaped praise on the 27-year-old grappling phenom. ‘Suga’ reflected upon Nickal’s impressive performance against Woodburn last weekend and stated: “We didn’t even talk about Nickal. Came out and knocked that dude out. That dude looked short. But for Bo to go out there and knock him out in that fashion, he reminds me of a young me… The dude is at that level. He can compete with these guys at the highest level. He’s got hands, he can wrestle like a motherf**ker, and lives a championship lifestyle at an early age.” Meanwhile, Sean O’Malley is slated to face Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292 for the UFC bantamweight championship on August 19 at the TD Garden in Boston. ‘Suga’ last beat Petr Yan at UFC 280 via a controversial split decision. Sean O’Malley predicts a knockout win over Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292 Sean O’Malley is confident of taking the UFC bantamweight belt away from Aljamain Sterling after their fight at UFC 292 in August. O’Malley is currently on an impressive five-fight undefeated run, and last tasted defeat against Marlon Vera at UFC 252 in August 2020. After three consecutive knockout wins, O’Malley secured a razor-sharp split decision against former bantamweight champion Petr Yan at UFC 280 to secure a title shot. Meanwhile, Sterling is on a nine-fight win streak, last beating former two-division champion Henry Cejudo via split decision at UFC 288. Despite ‘The Funk Master’s incredible run as the 135-pound champion, Sean O’Malley is sure about securing a knockout victory. At the UFC 290 media day last weekend, ‘Suga’ outlined his strategy for the upcoming title fight. He said: “I’m going to do what I do. It’s no secret, this is a striker vs. grappler matchup… I’m going to go out there and try to put his lights out. I do that every time I fight… I built a career off knocking people out in the first round… It can take one shot right on the chin to put him down and I know I’m capable of that, so that’s how I see it going down.”
“Man that was crazy!” – Jalin Turner on training with Khamzat Chimaev ahead of UFC 290
Jalin Turner recently opened up about his experience training with Khamzat Chimaev earlier this year and described what sparring with the grappling phenom was like. ‘The Tarantula’ is set to face Dan Hooker in an exciting lightweight contest at UFC 290 this weekend. The 28-year-old was initially booked to fight Hooker at UFC 285, but an injury forced ‘The Hangman’ out and their bout was rescheduled. Given that Turner came up short in his last outing against Mateusz Gamrot, ‘The Tarantula’ has left no stone unturned to sharpen his fangs against Dan Hooker. This includes training with ‘Borz’. At a recent UFC 290 media presser, Jalin Turner was asked about the time he spent training with the undefeated welterweight phenom Khamzat Chimaev in Dubai. While stories about the Chechen-born Swede’s cardio and intensity giving heavyweights trouble are quite widespread, Turner verified many of those tales and said: “Man, that was crazy… Khamzat is legit… He’s a strong fighter, great grappling, good striking too. Man, he’s dope… It was intense. I wish I was up a weight class so I could have endured a lot more… I haven’t been pushed or tested like that in the gym for years. I didn’t even think anybody could do that to me at the point I’m at. But he did.” Jalin Turner opens up about his recent altercation with internet prankster Jalin Turner recently made headlines after a video of him reacting violently to an internet prankster who tried to joke around with the UFC lightweight fighter. While their altercation turned physical, the attention-seeking influencer was ultimately spared a severe beat down at the hands of a professional MMA fighter. Popular MMA-based Twitter handle @BenTheBaneDavis posted a video of the scuffle, which clearly showed the prankster creeping up behind Turner on an escalator. He then tried to intimidate the 28-year-old pretending to speak into a phone and ended with Turner’s hand wrapped around his throat. After the UFC lightweight’s crew dealt with the matter, the prankster can be seen running away after one last rile-up attempt. In the same UFC 290 media day presser, Jalin Turner was asked to comment on the viral incident and explain what went down during the altercation. He stated: “It went exactly how it was supposed to go. He said something, and I grabbed him. He was lucky it was fight week, or I probably would have thrown some hands. But it’s okay.” Jalin Turner will make his next walk down to the octagon against Dan Hooker this weekend. ‘The Tarantula’ is coming off a split decision loss against Mateusz Gamrot at UFC 285, whereas Dan Hooker last beat Claudio Puelles via second-round TKO to break a two-fight losing skid.
“I’m in some sort of dream” – Video of Israel Adesanya and Jon Jones receives mixed reactions from fans
It’s no secret that Israel Adesanya and Jon Jones shared a contentious relationship and lost no opportunity to hurl insults at each other on social media. However, Adesanya and Jones unexpectedly showed each other respect during their interviews over the past few months. To top it off, ‘The Last Stylebender’ recently sent shockwaves through the MMA community after posting a video of himself and ‘Bones’ having a jolly time together at a restaurant. The video was uploaded on Meta’s latest social media platform, ‘Threads.’ When popular MMA-based handle @TheArtOfWar6 shared the video on Twitter, fans couldn’t help but take to the comments section to express their shock and surprise. The original poster shared a screenshot of Israel Adesanya and Jon Jones embracing and wrote: “I’m in some sort of dream.” One shocked fan couldn’t believe what they saw and wrote: “Literally just woke up, had to rub my eyes to make sure I wasn’t tripping.” Another fan wrote: “I’m watching it and I still don’t believe it. it’s good seeing them being cool with each other.” One user speculated about living in the meta-verse and wrote: “We’re definitely in a different timeline for real.” Another user joked about Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov making up and wrote: “Now we’ll wait for Conor and Khabib.” Check out some more reactions below: Israel Adesanya warns Alex Pereira to be careful of Jan Blachowicz ahead of Brazilian’s UFC 291 fight Israel Adesanya ran into his longtime combat sports rival Alex Pereira at an airport in Australia, and the two shared some light-hearted moments before boarding their airplanes. With Pereira set to make his light heavyweight debut against Jan Blachowicz at UFC 291, Adesanya revealed that he gave the Brazilian some tips about fighting the former light heavyweight champion. Given that Blachowicz is one of two fighters ever to beat Adesanya, the Nigerian-born Kiwi has some experience sharing the octagon with the Polish fighter. Interestingly, Alex Pereira is the only other fighter to beat ‘The Last Stylebender’ in MMA. With both of his white whales set to fight each other, Israel Adesanya finally revealed what advice he gave to ‘Poatan’ during their airport run-in. In an interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Adesanya stated: “I think [Pereira] might knock him out… We talked for about a good two minutes or so and I gave him some advice on how to handle Jan… I warned him, “Look, just be careful because he knows your striking is really good so he’s going to be patient with you like he was with me”… He had the same idea, but I feel like if Jan doesn’t take him out, [Pereira] is going to knock him out.”
When is UFC 290? Check out all the details here
The highly anticipated UFC 290 pay-per-view event is set to go down at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on July 8. The fight card will be part of the 11th edition of the promotion’s annual International Fight Week, which will take place from July 3 to July 9 in Las Vegas. This weekend’s enthralling fight card will cap the week-long MMA bonanza. The event’s main card includes two huge title fights and several pivotal matchups between fighters who always guarantee fireworks. Featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski will look to defend his title against interim featherweight champion Yair Rodriguez in a title unification bout in the headliner of the UFC 290 event. In the co-main event, flyweight king Brandon Moreno will face Alexandre Pantoja in the second title fight of the card. The main card also features a middleweight barnburner between former champion Robert Whittaker and surging contender Dricus du Plessis. Elsewhere on the card, lightweights Dan Hooker and Jalin Turner will go head-to-head with middleweight prospect Bo Nickal facing Val Woodburn. American fans can catch the fights live on ESPN+ pay-per-view, while Indian fans can tune into Sony TEN 1/TEN 2/TEN 3 or Sony Live at 7.30 am IST. Alexander Volkanovski downplays Dricus du Plessis’s chances against Robert Whittaker at UFC 290 Alexander Volkanovski recently weighed in on the highly anticipated Robert Whittaker vs. Dricus du Plessis middleweight fight at UFC 290. The UFC featherweight champion doesn’t think that the South African sensation stands a chance against the former middleweight champion. Whittaker and du Plessis will fight at UFC 290 this weekend in a pivotal title eliminator. The winner of this bout is highly expected to challenge Israel Adesanya for the middleweight title next. While the Nigerian-born Kiwi has publicly stated that he’s pushing for ‘Stillknocks’ to win due to his personal grudge against the South African, many fans have lobbied for an Adesanya vs. Whittaker trilogy fight. In a recent video uploaded to his YouTube channel, Alexander Volkanovski explained why the middleweight champion probably won’t get his wish of facing Dricus du Plessis granted. He stated: “Look man, obviously Izzy wants new blood. He definitely would like to see Dricus go out there (and win) so that he could fight him… But beating Robert Whittaker is not going to be easy for him… Robert Whittaker is just too well rounded, he’s too good everywhere, and his skill set is gonna be too much. I think you’d be mad to think that Dricus can get it done.“
Dan Hooker on UFC 290 bout against Jalin Turner – “I can’t see the judges getting involved in this one”
Dan Hooker recently donned his soothsaying hat and claimed that he doesn’t see the result of his next fight against Jalin Turner being decided by the judges. ‘The Hangman’ is set to go up against ‘The Tarantula’ in a lightweight contest at UFC 290 this weekend. Considering their explosive fighting styles and propensity to aim for knockouts, Dan Hooker recently claimed that he believes the fight will end with a finish. In a recent interview with ‘The Schmo,’ Hooker was asked for his thoughts on Jalin Turner and his upcoming fight, to which he replied: “Yeah, he’s a good fighter. Very dangerous. Lot of knockouts on his record, and a lot of knockouts on my record. I can’t see the judges getting involved in this one over the fifteen minutes. I’m ready for both, we go out there and get in a gunslinging match, or it’s a technical fight for the full fifteen minutes. I’m prepared for both.” While Hooker was initially booked to fight Turner at UFC 285 in March, the New Zealander suffered an unfortunate hand injury and was forced to withdraw from the bout. The 33-year-old is coming off an impressive TKO win over Claudio Puelles at UFC 281, whereas Turner will be looking to redeem a loss against Mateusz Gamrot at UFC 285. Dan Hooker on Dustin Poirier vs. Justin Gaethje for the ‘BMF’ title Dan Hooker recently weighed in on the highly anticipated Dustin Poirier vs. Justin Gaethje fight for the ‘BMF’ (Baddest Motherf**ker) title at UFC 291, and it’s safe to say that ‘The Hangman’ is not a fan of this matchup having the symbolic title on the line. The BMF title was originally meant to be a unique one-off belt awarded to the winner of Jorge Masvidal vs. Nate Diaz at UFC 244. After Masvidal won the belt, he held on to it for the remainder of his career and vacated the title after announcing his retirement at UFC 287 in April. With the BMF title now vacant, the promotion decided to find it a new home and matched up two of the lightweight division’s hardest-hitting strikers. However, Dan Hooker believes that while a fight between Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje is undoubtedly exciting, the bout being called a BMF title fight dampens its significance. In a recent video uploaded to Israel Adesanya’s YouTube channel, the 33-year-old Kiwi weighed in on the headliner of UFC 291 and said: “It’s a little bit of a silly fight, you know what I mean? We’re prizefighters at the end of the day… What does it actually mean though?… Of course, I’d take it because there’s money that comes with it, which is the main objective of doing it. But having a BMF title and hanging that on my wall and being proud of that is not the same as a world title.”
Bo Nickal reportedly searching for new opponent for UFC 290 as Tresean Gore suffers injury
The main card for this weekend’s UFC 290 pay-per-view event has suffered a significant setback. While the event was set to feature a highly anticipated welterweight bout between grappling phenom Bo Nickal and Tresean Gore, the UFC is now desperate to find ‘The Allen Assassin’ another opponent after Gore was forced to pull out of the bout due to injury. MMA journalist Ariel Helwani recently took to Twitter to announce the news and stated that the UFC is actively working to keep Nickal on the blockbuster International Fight Week card by searching for a new opponent for him. Helwani wrote: “Bo Nickal is in need of a new opponent for this weekend’s UFC 290 card, sources say. His opponent Tresean Gore is out due to injury. UFC is working on keeping Nickal on the card, I’m told. Hoping to finalize a new bout today.” Bo Nickal is currently undefeated as a professional mixed martial artist and has a perfect record of 4-0. The three-time NCAA Division 1 champion last faced Jamie Pickett at UFC 285 and secured an incredible first-round submission via an arm triangle choke. Meanwhile, Gore currently has a less-than-impressive promotional record of 1-2 but the 28-year-old last beat Josh Fremd via an impressive second-round submission at UFC Fight Night 213. What other changes has UFC 290 undergone? Bo Nickal vs. Tresean Gore isn’t the only matchup that has been scrapped from the UFC 290 lineup. Last week, another highly anticipated welterweight bout between top-ranked fighters Jack Della Maddalena and Sean Brady was canceled after Brady was forced to pull out due to a Staph infection. While UFC veteran Kevin Holland initially offered to take the fight against Della Maddalena at UFC 290 on short notice, the promotion decided to give the opportunity to newcomer Josiah Harrell instead. The 24-year-old debutant is an undefeated prospect with a professional record of 7-0, all of his wins coming by way of a finish. Harrell recently went viral after clips of him slamming his last opponent Mike Roberts through the octagon door spread on social media. With his incredible power, ‘Muscle Hamster’ shot a well-time double-legged takedown that sent Roberts crashing out of the octagon. UFC 290 is set to go down on July 8, during the UFC’s International Fight Week, and is set to be headlined by a featherweight title bout between Alexander Volkanovski and Yair Rodriguez, while the co-main event will feature Brandon Moreno defending his flyweight title against Alexandre Pantoja.
