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Welcome to the ninth of twelve installments of the 2018 MMA year in review. In the series, we will look at the biggest stories and fights from each month and reflect on how things played out as the year went on. Be sure to check out the previous installments and stay tuned as we go through each month of 2018 over the coming days.
- January 2018 Year in Review
- February 2018 Year in Review
- March 2018 Year in Review
- April 2018 Year in Review
- May 2018 Year in Review
- June 2018 Year in Review
- July 2018 Year in Review
- August 2018 Year in Review
Top September Stories
9/10/2018 – Michael Chiesa filed a lawsuit against Conor McGregor following the dolly throwing incident in April. Also named in the suit were McGregor Sports and Entertainment, Barclay’s Center, and the company that owns Barclay’s Center. Chiesa was cut from the dolly breaking a bus window and did not fight as planned. Chiesa’s suit argued that Chiesa likely would have gotten the lightweight title shot that eventually went to Al Iaquinta because Chiesa was the highest ranked lightweight on that show.
9/20/2018 – Conor McGregor and UFC came to terms on a new 8-fight deal.
9/20/2018 – Jon Jones’ USADA suspension was reduced from potentially four years to 15 months. USADA had determined that Jones was not at fault for having turinabol in his system that caused the July 2017 test failure. USADA CEO Travis T. Tygart stated, “The independent arbitrator found that Jon Jones was not intentionally cheating in this case, and while we thought 18-months was the appropriate sanction given the other circumstances of the case, we respect the arbitrator’s decision and believe that justice was served.” Jones was eligible to compete as of Oct. 28.
How did things turn out?
-The Chiesa lawsuit is still outstanding.
-Jones was booked to fight Alexander Gustafsson on Dec. 29 at UFC 232. He won the fight via third round TKO and regained his light heavyweight championship.
Key Fight Results
9/8/2018 – Tyron Woodley beat Darren Till by submission in the second round to retain his welterweight championship in the main event of UFC 228.
9/15/2018 – Aleksei Oleinik defeated Mark Hunt by submission in the main event of UFC’s debut from Moscow.
9/29/2018 – Bellator made their debut on the DAZN streaming service. Gegard Mousasi retained his middleweight championship over welterweight champion Gegard Mousasi in the main event with a second-round TKO. Also on the card Rampage Jackson won a second-round TKO over Wanderlei Silva in a fun fight and Douglas Lima won the first round welterweight grand prix fight over Andrey Koreshkov.
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