WEDNESDAY NEWS DIGEST 1/9: Conor McGregor offended after Firas Zahabi says Holloway would beat him, Brock Lesnar still owes the Nevada Commission, Luke Rockhold thinks Jon Jones is playing games with Cormier

By Michael Hiscoe, Managing Editor

Zahabi picks Holloway, Conor fires back

During a recent Ask Me Anything session on YouTube, Tristar head coach Firas Zahabi said that he thinks Max Holloway would win if he and Conor McGregor were ever to rematch. Well, McGregor got wind of this and he wasn’t happy to hear it. In a tweet that went out Tuesday night, McGregor called Zahabi a “twerp” and questioned his toughness as a coach instead of a fighter.

Zahabi doesn’t coach Holloway, he just felt that Holloway’s grappling has improved since they first fought in 2013. Holloway has won 13 straight fights since then, while McGregor has gone 7-2. A Holloway-McGregor fight doesn’t seem to be on the table right now, but it would certainly be welcome.

Brock Lesnar owes $250k

If Brock Lesnar wants to fight in the UFC again this year, he’ll have to pay up first. According to MMAWeekly, Lesnar still owes the $250,000 fine to the Nevada Athletic Commission following his UFC 200 drug test failure in July 2016. Lesnar has not fought since but has teased a fight with Daniel Cormier sometime this year. Lesnar is wrestling with WWE through this April’s Wrestlemania, so he should be able to come up with the money when it’s time.

Rockhold thinks Jon Jones is ‘manipulating’

Daniel Cormier’s teammate Luke Rockhold is buying Jon Jones’ story that he thinks Cormier should be the one to change weight classes for a third fight. Rockhold told “The MMA Hour” this week that he thinks Jones is trying to manipulate Cormier to come down from heavyweight because he doesn’t want to risk moving up for the fight.

“Jones doesn’t want that fight,” Rockhold told Luke Thomas on The MMA Hour. “Jones does not want to fight with DC at heavyweight. He doesn’t want to give him any advantage. He’s obviously doing what he can to build his confidence to fight at light heavyweight. We all know he’s tested dirty twice in a row now. Three times? I don’t know what it is, picograms, or whatever the hell they are. He’s obviously compensating trying to do something to build himself up.”

Rockhold then added that both men walk around at about 240 pounds so they should just meet at their natural weight. If that’s the case, that may be the best way for these two to settle the score once and for all.

Wednesday Notebook

-Charles Oliveira vs. David Teymur has been added to UFC Fortaleza on Feb. 2. Also booked for the card is Junior Albini vs. Jair Rozenstruik.

-Ricky Simon vs. Rani Yahya is set for UFC 234 on Feb. 9 from Melbourne, Australia.

-Tim Boetsch vs. Omari Akhmedov has been added to UFC Wichita on March 9.

-Alessio Di Chirico has dropped out of his fight with Tom Breese at UFC London on March 16 and will be replaced by Cezar Ferreira.

-Karolina Kowalkiewicz and Michelle Waterson will fight at UFC Philadelphia on March 30.

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