So far, Jones is in conflict with Fury: Nurmagomedov's brother has found an opponent, and Ngannou has signed a contract with PFL

Ngannou's move to PFL

One of the main events of the past week in mixed martial arts was the long-awaited conclusion of the saga with the participation of Francis Ngannou. Over the past months, fans have been wondering where the former UFC champion will continue his career, failing to agree with the largest MMA promotion on the extension of the contract. And the choice of the Cameroonian turned out to be quite predictable. As many believed, he signed an agreement with the PFL and this week was officially introduced as a fighter of the organization.

From a business point of view, Ngannou made an almost perfect decision. The promotion not only offered him "more than others," as he himself said, but also satisfied a number of his other demands. In particular, Francis received not only the right to perform in parallel in boxing, but also a position in the leadership of the league. So, in the near future, a branch of PFL Africa will be created, which he will head. But that's not all. As some athletes later noted, the Cameroonian's opponents will earn at least $ 2 million for the battle with him.

However, in the world of MMA, this event was perceived ambiguously. The current UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya supported Ngannou, and the legendary Daniel Cormier called him a game-changer, and also admired his desire to improve the financial situation of future counterparts. But there were also those who were not enthusiastic about the transition of the Cameroonian. One of them was his failed opponent Jon Jones, who currently owns the trophy in the UFC heavyweight division. According to him, now he cannot call himself the strongest in the category up to 120 kg, because he is deprived of the opportunity to fight with the best.

Almost the same opinion was expressed by Conor McGregor. As the former UFC lightweight champion admitted, he is happy for Ngannou, but believes that he should have agreed with Dana White and stayed in the main league of the world. After all, there is not a single rival in PFL, a duel of Francis with whom could attract the attention of a large audience. And it's hard to disagree with this. There are no full-fledged superstars in the heavy category, and the leading positions are occupied by not the most promoted Ante Delia, Bruno Cappelozza and Renan Ferreira, as well as Yorgan De Castro, who is not entrenched in the championship.

Jones' skirmish with Fury

At the same time, the strongest heavyweight of the UFC managed to quarrel with the star boxer. Moreover, the conflict was provoked by commentator Joe Rogan. In his podcast, he expressed the opinion that Jones would not have left a chance for Tyson Fury if they had been locked in the same room. And this deeply outraged the current WBC title holder.

The Briton not only called Rogan a bald dwarf, but did not agree with his opinion about the victory of the American in their possible confrontation. According to him, no one on the planet, including Jones, would have been able to cope with him alone.

The reaction was immediate. Jones agreed that in the boxing ring so far no one can compete with Fury, but in the cage everything would be different. He also expressed his readiness to confirm this and invited Tyson to turn to White, thereby hinting at the desire to fight him according to the rules of mixed martial arts. True, the Briton immediately stopped discussing his potential transition to MMA.

But the possibility of performing in another kind of martial arts was not ruled out by the same McGregor. In 2017, he already tried his hand at boxing and suffered a crushing defeat by knockout from Floyd Mayweather, but after that he repeatedly spoke about his intention to re-enter the ring. At various times, there were rumors in the media about organizing a rematch with the American and holding a battle with Manny Pacquiao, but things did not go further.

This time, McGregor announced his readiness to face off with Saul Alvarez. According to him, he studied Canelo's fighting style and watched other left-handers fight him - John Ryder and Billy John Saunders, who had previously suffered defeats from him. Therefore, he already knows what tactics he would choose for a fight with a Mexican.

However, McGregor is currently focused on returning to mixed martial arts, as evidenced by his presence in the UFC anti-doping program. The only question is when it will take place and whether his opponent will be Michael Chandler, with whom they participated in the filming of the next season of The Ultimate Fighter as trainers. And although, according to tradition, the mentors of the teams subsequently meet in the cage, even White could not answer anything about the status of this fight.

Sterling's injury

At the same time, another expected fight is in jeopardy. The other day, the UFC announced a number of major fights with the participation of its stars. So, Dustin Poirier will fight with Justin Gaethje for the title of "toughest bastard" (BMF), which remained vacant after the departure of Jorge Masvidal from the sport, Alex Pereira will make his debut in the light heavyweight division with a battle with Jan Blachowicz, and Ikram Aliskerov will try to create a sensation and deal with the former contender for the belt in the category up to 84 kg Paulo Costa. In addition, the long-awaited fight between Aljamain Sterling and Sean O'Malley was announced.

It is noted that she will headline the UFC 20 tournament scheduled for August 292, but everything can change if the current bantamweight champion does not have time to recover from numerous injuries. As Sterling admitted on his own YouTube channel, at the moment he is worried about injuries to his legs and biceps, but he does not give up hope of fighting at the show in Boston.

At the same time, the intention of the management to arrange a duel for Aljamain in the last month of summer initially caused skepticism. In early May, he had an extremely tense 25-minute duel with Henry Cejudo and, although he won by split decision, he spent a lot of energy. And it was extremely optimistic to assume that only three months would be enough for him to recover and prepare for the next battle. After all, his last three fights took place with a break of seven and six months, respectively.

However, O'Malley himself assured that he would perform at UFC 292 and fight for the belt, regardless of whether Sterling enters the octagon. And this seems quite likely. In his case, the leadership may well pull off the same scheme as in 2015. Then Conor McGregor was supposed to fight for the belt in the category up to 65.8 kg, but Jose Aldo was injured, as a result of which Chad Mendes became the opponent of the Irishman, and the interim title was at stake. Thus, the Irishman not only strengthened his status as the main contender for the trophy, but also deprived the Brazilian of the field for maneuver. After all, in case of repeated refusal, he could simply give up his title.

It is noteworthy that Sterling found himself in a similar situation. In October 2021, he was supposed to defend the belt in a rematch with Petr Yan, but withdrew due to injury. As a result, the Russian fought for the interim title with Cory Sandhagen and won a convincing victory by unanimous decision. However, later failed to take revenge on Aljamain and suffered a second defeat in a row.

A new opponent for Nurmagomedov

Apparently, there is certainty about the next opponent of another UFC bantamweight star. The other day, well-known journalist Ariel Helwani said that the promotion plans to arrange a fight between Umar Nurmagomedov and Cory Sandhagen. Subsequently, this was indirectly confirmed by his teammate Islam Makhachev. He posted a photo of the announcement of this fight on social networks and stressed that he would be the main one on the show.

And although these rumors have not yet been officially confirmed, their appearance already speaks of how highly the organization appreciates Nurmagomedov's cousin. Now he occupies only the 11th place in the ranking of his division, but is already considered as a potential participant in the main fight of the evening and an opponent of the fourth number of the category. Although in experience they are not comparable. Although Umar can boast of a perfect record (16-0), he has not met serious competition. Sergey Morozov, Brian Kelleher, Nate Maness and Raoni Barcelos are not elite and have never even been in the top 15.

Therefore, the duel with Sandhagen promises to be the hardest test for Nurmagomedov. After all, he will be forced not only to jump to a new level and clash with a fighter of a different caliber, but also to do it as part of the main fight of the evening. And this is an additional responsibility that can only increase the pressure on a young athlete.

As for fighting qualities, Sandhagen can be called a rather convenient opponent for Nurmagomedov. He prefers to fight in the stance, and in the stalls is not so good, which the Russian can take advantage of. If he manages to get close to the lanky American and lay him on the flooring, the chances of success will increase significantly. At one time, Corey quite easily translated TJ Dillashaw, and the same Sterling easily caught a choke.