Skip to main content

Ray Longo ponders UFC's 'favoritism' toward Islam Makhachev, other champs in Aljamain Sterling's quick turnaround

Ray Longo takes exception with the way he thinks the UFC has treated Aljamain Sterling.

Bantamweight champion Sterling (23-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) will be making a three-month turnaround to face Sean O’Malley (16-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC) in the UFC 292 main event Aug. 19 at TD Garden in Boston.

Sterling is fresh off a five-round headlining win against Henry Cejudo at UFC 288. He initially wanted more time to recover before booking his next fight, and Longo doesn’t think it’s fair for the UFC to offer Sterling a fight so quickly.

“To me, in business and even down here, you know what people like: consistency,” Longo said in a recent episode of the Anik & Florian Podcast. “If I come in here, everybody pays $200 a month, and then they’re walking around the gym, and someone says, ‘No, he only charges me $75,’ that’s not good, you know what I mean? It’s got to be consistent. That’s why I said we’re giving examples where it seems like it’s favoritism almost.”

Longo pointed to lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, who retained his belt against Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 284 in February. His next title defense is expected to take place at UFC 294 on Oct. 22 in Abu Dhabi.

“I think it’s the inconsistency of, well, ‘Makhachev hasn’t fought in a year. Why are you rushing me to fight in two months?’ That’s where I have a problem,” Longo said. “I like fairness, and I like the transparency of knowing everybody’s doing the same thing.

“If Dana (White) wanted to turn everybody around every two months, then that’s it. That’s what you signed up for. This is their rules. It’s their company. He built it up. He gets to call the shots. But to do one thing one time and not another time, I think that’s where it gets a little sticky for me.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 292.



from MMA Junkie https://ift.tt/dRonrXY
via IFTTT
Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Henry Cejudo on what makes Jiri Prochazka dangerous: 'He's a rhythm fighter'

Henry Cejudo sees Jiri Prochazka ’s go-with-the-flow fighting style as a big threat. Former champion Prochazka (29-3-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) meets Alex Pereira (8-2 MMA, 5-1 UFC) for the vacant light heavyweight title in the UFC 295 co-headliner Nov. 11 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Cejudo helped train Prochazka prior to his title fight against Glover Teixeira at UFC 275. Prochazka ended up submitting Teixeira late in Round 5 , in what was a back-and-forth barnburner. Cejudo recalls advising Prochazka to be tactical, but Prochazka ended up engaging in a wild brawl. “I’ve trained Jiri – Jiri’s come out here for a few weeks to train with me,” Cejudo said on his YouTube channel . “Jiri Prochazka, he’s a different style of fighting. There’s a belief in him that makes him dangerous, you know? The fact that he’s a fighter that literally goes off of rhythm – he’s a rhythm fighter. He’s a guy that’s going to go out there and use all the rhythm that he has in order to start getting his stri...
Read more

Video: Oli Thompson lands devastating first-round knockout punch on Aleksei Oleinik in Russia

Aleksei Oleinik returned to action for the first time since his UFC exit, but things did not go in his favor. In the main event of REN TV Fight Club at Dynamo Volleyball Arena in Moscow, Russia, Oleinik (60-17-1 MMA) faced fellow UFC veteran Oli Thompson in a heavyweight bout. The result was a violent finish that left Oleinik staring up at the lights. Thompson (21-16 MMA) unleashed a crushing right hand that sent Oleinik crashing to the canvas with 35 seconds remaining in the opening round. Check out video of the finish below (via Twitter ): Oli Thompson destroys Alexey Oleynik with a massive right hand in the first round pic.twitter.com/AdWy25dQxR — caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) May 26, 2023 Thompson, 43, returned to the win column for the first time since 2020, snapping a four-fight losing skid. His last victory was also a first-round stoppage; a 23-second knockout of Szymon Bajor at Fight Exclusive Night 28 on June 13, 2020. Oleinik, 45, competed in his final UFC bout in Octo...
Read more

UFC's Ilia Topuria no longer interested in Paddy Pimblett: 'As a fighter we all know he's not worth anything'

MIAMI – Ilia Topuria has lost interest in a potential fight against Paddy Pimblett . After several shots at each other in interviews and on social media, a scuffle in a hotel lobby , and a post-fight callout in the octagon, Topuria said he is done trying to get a fight against Pimblett. Now highly ranked and with his sights on the UFC featherweight title, Topuria believes he’s past Pimblett and fighting him would be taking a step back. “Paddy, you know what happens with Paddy?” Topuria said in Spanish at a media day this past Saturday . “He’s a person that media attention wise, he’s big. But as a fighter we all know he’s not worth anything. He’s not even ranked. He hasn’t done anything. “So giving merit to a person that’s only where he is because he knows how to sell himself well, I don’t think that’s the right thing to do. We’re athletes. In the UFC, the difference between them and other organizations is that here what’s valued is the sport and Paddy, sporting wise, hasn’t achiev...
Read more