The Octagon Report with Nicnas - April 6, 2018

Where do we start? Yesterday was absolutely crazy in the in world of UFC, actually in the MMA world in general. I’ll sum up the gossip real quick just in case you missed it. And if you did miss it, WTF DUDE??

In one of the most ridiculous shows of immaturity, Conor McGregor snuck into the Barlays Center where the UFC was promoting the 223 event at media day. He did this with around 20 or so of his entourage. As Khabib’s bus full of UFC fighters, execs and others, was on its way out of the arena, Conor and his crew rushed toward them. There are numerous videos that clearly show him pick up trash cans and dollies and throw them at the bus, breaking windows and shattering glass on the fighters. There are also videos from within the bus. The result was a few minor injuries.

Conor was claiming this bus was Khabib’s and his teams. He cleared this up this morning by stating that the bus was actually all of the fighters for UFC’s 223’s red corner. This is what he had to say to Conor:
“You broke window? Why? Come inside. You know UFC don’t let you come inside. If you real gangster why don’t you come inside?”

How does this play out two days before a huge event like UFC 223? Late Thursday evening the UFC made a statement which confirmed that three fights were being cancelled. Luckily the Khabib fight isn’t one of them. But two of the most exciting fights of the event are off. The first being that of Chiesa and Pettis. If you read the last few week’s Reports, you know I was looking forward to this one. And to make things even better, the Borg and Moreno is cancelled as well. :SAD FACE: The third fight being taken off the card is that of Lobov, since he was part of Conor’s crew that caused the chaos. He was scheduled to fight Caceres on the UFC Fight Pass.

We cannot fail to bring up last the big news before Conor got the headline. This being Ferguson out and Holloway is in. WAIT, that is huge too and should have been headline news. Tony Ferguson dropped out due to injury and Holloway accepted the 6-day notice to get a chance for the title. Some, everyone of Holloway’s crew and family, thought this was a April Fools joke as it all happened on April 1st. But no, it is happening and could have made this night one of the most epic ever. Thanks, Conor for ruining possibly one of the best events scheduled to have ever come from the UFC. No one wanted one of the most exciting UFC events ever, from 13 fights scheduled a few days ago to now 10.

Update: Max Holloway was deemed medically unfit to compete and was removed from the card against Khabib Nurmagomedov. They gave Anthony Pettis a chance to make weight to replace him, but as of this post going live this wasn’t clear whether he was able to drop the .2 pounds. It also rumored that Pettis won’t accept this fight at the amount they are offering, though this is unconfirmed.

Upcoming Fights

I have been talking about the large gap between the promotions events the last few weeks. Most of this lull was quiet and event free. So of course, it got real exciting at the last second. All that tension builds up and exploded on Thursday at the Barclays Center.

Also, within the last week the 223 card has changed Drastically. Three events cancelled and a main event with a last second change. Max Holloway is taking Ferguson’s place to fight Khabib. This is dramatic because Dana White announced that Conor is being stripped of his belt in order to make it available for this event. He hadn’t fought in the UFC in over a year. Not only that but Holloway and Conor have been beefing for some time now. No doubt this bruised his tiny ego even more. So Conor decides to take it out on Khabib and the other fighters at the Media Day event. There are no reports of any instigating at this time.

Now we ask the question, can Max take down the undefeated Khabib?

This is going to be exciting. As Holloway is the underdog coming into the fight with only 6 days of notice. And Nurmagomedov has proven his skills since his first fight in the UFC promotion. At 25-0 he is going to be one hard dude to beat. His skills rounding opponent’s bodies to take dominate position is breath taking. He doesn’t have much trouble finding the chin and utterly destroying other’s ability to stand up.

Upcoming

MMA News and Highlights

• Ferguson out due to injury. Max Holloway jumps into the fight to take on the undefeated Khabib Nurmagomedov. Updated: Holloway deemed unfit to fight and they are working on a replacement for tomorrow nights main fight.

• Conor McGregor is arrested after his entourage and himself attack a van full of UFC fights and execs. Chiesa, who was scheduled to fight Saturday, was injured and removed from the fight card. He has since filed charges.

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_{Photo credits: CC0 Pixabay}

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_{Author: @nicnas
Editor: @bacchist}

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