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Rose Namajunas shoots down idea she doesn’t want to fight for UFC belt

A bout between UFC strawweight champion Weili Zhang and former titleholder Rose Namajunas has long been in the planning, but UFC president Dana White recently said Namajunas doesn’t want to fight for a UFC title.

Namajunas would beg to differ.

“What I’m hearing is Rose does not want a title shot. Rose does not want to fight for a title,” White said in a recent interview with BT Sport.

“I don’t think she (liked the pressure of being a champion). She doesn’t want to fight for the title. So we’ll see how that all plays out.”

Namajunas’s fiancé and coach Pat Barry quickly shot down that idea. Namajunas has also chimed in, particularly taking aim at White’s comment that she doesn’t like the pressure of being a UFC champion.

“Maybe there’s a misconception out there that I’m weak-minded or whatever or, ‘I can’t handle the pressures of being champion,’ or whatever the f— people say,” Namajunas said in a video on her YouTube channel.

“That’s not true. That’s what I live for. I am the pressure cooker.”

She also seemed to be unaware of why White would say that she doesn’t want to fight. Namajunas relayed that she has been training with various people and was about to start working with longtime coach Trevor Wittman again in preparation for her next fight.

“I don’t know if you follow stuff that’s out there in the MMA news, but apparently there’s some confusion going on about my next fight and whatever,” she said.

“I’m not worried about any of that. I’m just ready to fight. So I don’t know what’s going on, but I know that you guys are ready for me to fight, too.”

Rose Namajunas says she is ready to fight

(Video courtesy of Rose Namajunas)

Article source: https://www.mmaweekly.com/rose-namajunas-shoots-down-idea-she-doesnt-want-to-fight-for-ufc-belt

UFC Fight Night 183 reactions: Winning and losing fighters on social media

Since the early days when the sport was anything but a mainstream endeavor, the MMA industry has thrived and survived through various websites, forums, and – perhaps most importantly – social-media platforms.

Fighters interact with fans, each other and many more through the likes of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, which helps outsiders get a deeper look into the minds of the athletes.

Following Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 183 in Las Vegas, several of the winning and losing fighters, along with their coaches, training partners or family members, took to social media to react to the event or share a message with supporters.

Check out some of those reactions.

The defeated

The defeated: Antonio Arroyo

A post shared by Antonio Arroyo (@arroyo_ufc)

The defeated: Gillian Robertson

A post shared by Gillian Robertson (@savage_ufc)

The defeated: Sijara Eubanks

A post shared by Sijara “SarJ” Eubanks (@sarjncharge)

The defeated: Alex Morono

A post shared by Alex Morono (@alexmoronomma)

The defeated: Greg Hardy

A post shared by Greg “The Prince Of War” Hardy (@greghardyjr)

The defeated: Khaos Williams

A post shared by Khaos williams (@khaoswilliams)

The defeated: Marlon Vera

A post shared by Marlon chito Vera (@chitoveraufc)

The defeated: Geoff Neal

A post shared by Geoff Neal (@handzofsteelmma)

The victorious

The victorious: Christos Giagos

A post shared by Christos Giagos (@cgiagos_ufc)

The victorious: Jimmy Flick

A post shared by Jimmy Steven Flick (@thebrickmma)

The victorious: Tafon Nchukwi

A post shared by Tafon Nchukwi (@tafon_da_don)

The victorious: Deron Winn

A post shared by DERON WINN (@deron_winn)

The victorious: Taila Santos

A post shared by Taila Santos (@tailasantos.ufc)

The victorious: Pannie Kianzad

A post shared by Pannie “Banzai” Kianzad🇸🇪🇩🇰🌍 (@panniekianzad)

The victorious: Anthony Pettis

A post shared by Anthony Pettis (@showtimepettis)

The victorious: Marcin Tybura

A post shared by Marcin Tybura UFC fighter (@tyburamarcin)

The victorious: Rob Font

A post shared by Rob Font (@rob_font)

The victorious: Michel Pereira

A post shared by Michel “Demolidor” Pereira (@michelpereiraufc)

The victorious: Jose Aldo

A post shared by José Aldo Junior (@josealdojunioroficial)

The victorious: Stephen Thompson

A post shared by Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson (@wonderboymma)

Article source: https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/lists/ufc-fight-night-183-reactions-winning-losing-fighters-social-media

Pannie Kianzad aims for top 10 after victory over ‘really strong’ Sijara Eubanks

“Definitely in 2021 I really want to come into the top 10. I’m aiming for the top 10, that’s it right now. Last time, after I fought Bethe (Correia), I called out ‘Rocky’ (Raquel) Pennington. I would love that fight. I know that Yana (Kunitskaya) and (Ketlen) Vieira are fighting right now. But there’s a lot of names between there too, that would love to fight. I’ve had two losses, two previous fighters that beat me. Macy (Chiasson) beat me and Julia Avila beat me, so any of those, as well. I just want to get up there. It doesn’t matter who’s there – nothing personal to anybody – I just want to fight. And I would love to fight before April.”

Article source: https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/lists/ufc-fight-night-183-pannie-kianzad-aims-for-top-10-after-victory-over-sijara-eubanks

‘KSW 58: Kolecki vs. Zawada’ set for Jan. 30 in Poland

Poland’s leading promotion returns to action on Jan. 30 with “KSW 58: Kolecki vs. Zawada.”

Promotion officials today announced the new event, which streams live globally on KSWTV.com from an undisclosed studio in Lodz due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

In the night’s main event, Polish Olympic gold medalist weightlifter Szymon Kolecki (8-1) seeks his third consecutive win for the promotion when he takes on 17-year German veteran Martin Zawada (29-15-1).

The 39-year-old Kolecki earned a gold medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and later turned his attention to MMA, making his pro debut in 2017. He fought twice under the KSW banner in 2019, scoring victories over Olympic wrestling medalist Damian Janikowksi and famed strongman Mariusz Pudzianowski. He now takes on Zawada, the brother of current UFC welterweight David Zawada.

Meanwhile, 23-year-old Frenchman Salahdine Parnasse (14-0-1) puts his KSW featherweight tile on the line against Brazilian challenger Daniel Torres (11-4).

Considered one of the top prospects in the sport, Parnasse sat out in 2020 but earned a pair of title wins in 2019 with a decision over Ivan Buchinger and a TKO of Roman Szymanski. He now takes on Torres, a 26-year-old based in Austria who carries a three-fight winning streak into the contest.

Additional bouts will be announced shortly.

Article source: https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2020/12/ksw-58-szymon-kolecki-vs-martin-zawada

Conor McGregor posts specific UFC 246 PPV buys; Jorge Masvidal, team dispute top 2020 numbers

Conor McGregor has the receipts to show he’s still one of MMA’s top draws – but is he at the very top?

McGregor (22-4 MMA, 10-2 UFC), a former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion, made the unprecedented move of sharing purported official UFC documents showing the pay-per-view buy rate for his January fight with Donald Cerrone at UFC 246.

Although it was reported through the media that the event, which took place Jan. 19 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and saw McGregor win by knockout in 40 seconds, had topped 1 million buys, the numbers shared by McGregor shows it cleared that benchmark by a good margin.

According to the document McGregor posted to his social media Monday, UFC 246 pulled in 1,353,429 buys (via Twitter):

Congrats to the @ufc on a well fought 2020! The only sporting company on the planet to come through the entire year! Incredible!
I am honoured to secure their highest PPV of the year with McGregor Vs Cerrone.
Congrats Donald, and also on his double submission win last night. #No1 pic.twitter.com/Xvh76Gki3U

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) December 21, 2020

Congrats to the @ufc on a well fought 2020! The only sporting company on the planet to come through the entire year! Incredible!
I am honoured to secure their highest PPV of the year with McGregor Vs Cerrone.
Congrats Donald, and also on his double submission win last night. #No1

In his comment, McGregor claimed UFC 246 was the promotion’s highest selling pay-per-view of the year. The other massive pay-per-view for the promotion in 2020 was UFC 251 in July, headlined by Kamaru Usman vs. Jorge Masvidal for the welterweight title, along with two other championship contests.

Masvidal’s (35-14 MMA, 12-7 UFC) manager, Abraham Kawa of First Round Management, disputed McGregor’s claim and said UFC 251 surpassed those numbers – but wouldn’t reveal proof (via Twitter):

More

— Ibrahim Kawa (@Abraham_kawa) December 21, 2020

I don’t think Jorge would like that. We don’t dim another man’s light to make ourselves shine brighter. He knows as we do

— Ibrahim Kawa (@Abraham_kawa) December 21, 2020

Masvidal chimed in, as well (via Twitter):

I’m not even trying #supernecessary

— Jorge Masvidal UFC (@GamebredFighter) December 21, 2020

I’m not even trying #supernecessary

Whether or not McGregor achieved the top pay-per-view of 2020 or was slightly behind, it’s clear many still have a vested interest in watching him fight, and he gave the promotion a strong start to what turned out to be a year filled with unprecedented challenges caused by the global coronavirus pandemic.

McGregor will have a chance to do the same in 2021, as he headlines the first card of the year again in a lightweight rematch with Dustin Poirier on Jan. 23 at UFC 257.

Article source: https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2020/12/conor-mcgregor-posts-specific-ufc-246-ppv-buys-jorge-masvidal-disputes

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