UFC 257 Embedded follows Dustin Poirier as he flies to Abu Dhabi alongside Bruce Buffer, Dana White, and a PAW Patrol good luck charm. Michael Chandler, Matt Frevola, Arman Tsarukyan and Marlon Vera exercise in Vegas. Conor McGregor arrives in style with his family.

UFC 257 takes place on Saturday, Jan. 23, in Abu Dhabi, where Conor McGregor rematches Dustin Poirier in the main event. Former Bellator champion Michael Chandler makes his promotional debut in the UFC 257 co-main event opposite Dan Hooker.

Take a look behind the scenes in UFC 257 Embedded, a deeper look into what the athletes are facing during fight week.

(Video courtesy of UFC)

TRENDING Rankings Review: Does Conor McGregor deserve his UFC ranking?

Flashback: The first Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier face-off from UFC 178

(Subscribe to MMAWeekly.com on YouTube)

Article source: https://www.mmaweekly.com/ufc-257-embedded-conor-mcgregor-arrives-im-gonna-show-the-world-something-special

ABU DHABI – Coach Mike Brown thinks that at this point in her career, Joanna Jedrzejczyk should only be competing in big fights.

Former strawweight queen Jedrzejczyk may be enduring the roughest stretch of her career, but remains the most accomplished 115-pounder in UFC history. After five successful title defenses, Jedrzejczyk lost her title to Rose Namajunas in 2017 and has lost four of her past six overall.

But despite her losing skid, Jedrzejczyk (16-4 MMA, 10-4 UFC) proved that she’s still in top form. In her past outing at UFC 248 in March, Jedrzejczyk was narrowly edged by current strawweight champion Zhang Weili in a grueling and entertaining battle, which earned MMA Junkie’s 2020 “Fight of the Year” honor.

It’s been almost a year since Jedrzejczyk has last competed, but Brown thinks it’s going to have to be a worthy fight to get the former champion back in the octagon.

“She’s been there, done that, done it all,” Brown told MMA Junkie. “She was a UFC champion for many years and is maybe tied for most title fights – she’s up there for one of the most decorated female fighters of all time, and it’s gotta be something big to draw her in. She’s not gonna fight some small rinky-dink fight that doesn’t mean anything.

“I think it’s going to take something to excite her, something significant to get her off the couch and get her into the cage. But she’s definitely willing and ready and eager and wanting that, but I don’t think at this point in her career she’s going to fight for peanuts or to prove herself. She has nothing to prove. She was a world champion for years, and it has to be something to excite her.”

Jedrzejczyk expressed interest in running things back with Weili, but it appears the UFC has other plans for the champion. Weili’s name has been linked to the likes of Namajunas and Carla Esparza, but Brown is confident that Jedrzejczyk is still in the title picture – even if she’s not next in line.

“I think she’s got a good shot at getting another title shot to be honest just because that fight was so close, she’s a draw, she’s charismatic, people want to see her fight, and I think that’s what she wants,” Brown said. “But I think for that to happen, we need things moving. I think she’s not next, I’m not sure who will be next, whether it’s Rose or whoever it is, but that needs to happen. We need the champion to be fighting, and then I think she’ll get her turn, but I think they want to give some other fights to Weili.”

Article source: https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2021/01/mike-brown-joanna-jedrzejczyk-has-nothing-to-prove-wont-take-rinky-dink-fight

ABU DHABI – MMA Junkie is on scene and reporting live from Monday’s official UFC on ESPN 20 fighter weigh-ins, which kick off at midnight ET (9 p.m. PT).

The weigh-ins take place at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. The same venue hosts Wednesday’s card, which airs on ESPN and streams on ESPN+.

Among those weighing in are Michael Chiesa (16-4 MMA, 10-4 UFC) and Neil Magny (24-7 MMA, 17-6 UFC), who meet in the welterweight main event, and Warlley Alves (13-4 MMA, 7-4 UFC) and Mounir Lazzez (10-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC), who fight in the co-feature at 170 pounds.

The full UFC on ESPN 20 weigh-in results include:

MAIN CARD (ESPN, ESPN+, 12 p.m. ET)

• Michael Chiesa (170.5) vs. Neil Magny (171)
• Warlley Alves (171) vs. Mounir Lazzez (171)
• Vinicius Moreira () vs. Ike Villanueva (206)
• Viviane Araujo (126) vs. Roxanne Modafferi (126)
• Tyson Nam (126) vs. Matt Schnell (126)
• Lerone Murphy (146) vs. Douglas Silva de Andrade (145)

PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN, ESPN+, 9 a.m. ET)

• Omari Akhmedov (186) vs. Tom Breese (186)
• Gaetano Pirrello (136) vs. Ricky Simon (136)
• Zarrukh Adashev (126) vs. Su Mudaerji (126)
• Dalcha Lungiambula (186) vs. Markus Perez (186)
• Francisco Figueredo (126) vs. Jerome Rivera (126)
• Mike Davis (154.5) vs. Mason Jones (156)
• Sergey Morozov (135) vs. Umar Nurmagomedov (136)
• Manon Fiorot (126) vs. Victoria Leonardo (125.5)

Article source: https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2021/01/ufc-espn-20-michael-chiesa-neil-magny-weigh-in-results

ABU DHABI – The UFC’s second main event of the year between Michael Chiesa and Neil Magny is locked in.

At Tuesday’s official UFC on ESPN 20 weigh-ins, Chiesa (17-4 MMA, 10-4 UFC) and Magny (24-7 MMA, 17-6 UFC) had no issues on the scale as they successfully hit the welterweight limit for their headlining matchup.

Chiesa tipped the scale at 170.5 pounds, while Magny used the full one-pound allowance at 171.

OFFICIAL: @MikeMav22 and @NeilMagny have successfully made weight for Wednesday’s welterweight main event. ⚖️#UFCFightIsland8 | Full story: https://t.co/jZnMhQIJii pic.twitter.com/0D5RU1UfJQ

— MMA Junkie (@MMAjunkie) January 19, 2021

UFC on ESPN 20 takes place Wednesday at Etihad Arena on Yas Island. The entire card airs on ESPN.

Watch the above video to see Chiesa and Magny make weight.

Article source: https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2021/01/ufc-on-espn-20-video-michael-chiesa-neil-magny-make-weight-official-main-event

Conor McGregor is slated to return to the Octagon for the first time in just over a year on Saturday at UFC 257. He will rematch Dustin Poirier, a man he defeated more than six years ago.

Before McGregor and Poirier square off again, take a look back at highlights from two of McGregor’s outstanding performances, both of which took place on January 18: knockouts of Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone and Dennis Siver.

January 18, 2020: Conor McGregor blasts Cowboy Cerrone