Settlements
Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov have reportedly reached settlements with the Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) ahead of today’s scheduled disciplinary hearing. This comes from a Monday report from the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Details of the settlements have not been disclosed but the commission will vote on whether to accept the terms of the settlements at today’s hearing. Both men were set to face the commission regarding their roles in the brawl that ensued immediately following their UFC 229 fight that Nurmagomedov won by fourth-round submission.
Fines and suspensions are possible for both fighters and McGregor and Nurmagomedov could be facing different punishments. The report also says that Nurmagomedov’s cornermen Abubakar Nurmagomedov and Zubaira Tukhugov, who were also involved in the brawl, have reached settlements as well. UFC president Dana White originally said Tukhugov was fired but backed off when Nurmagomedov threatened to walk out on the company if Tukhugov was released.
Jon Jones will also be present at today’s hearing as he will be looking to get licensed for his upcoming fight with Anthony Smith at UFC 235 on March 2.
Tito Ortiz lookin’ for a fight
It turns out Tito Ortiz isn’t done with fighting after knocking out Chuck Liddell on pay-per-view last November. Ortiz has been tweeting that he wants a rematch with Chael Sonnen, who he dispatched rather easily in 2017, before taking on Bellator light heavyweight and new heavyweight champ Ryan Bader, who Ortiz upset with a quick submission back in 2011. Bader is open to the idea of running things back with Ortiz, but it also isn’t something he’s overly concerned with.
“After I won the title, I was bugging him,” Bader said at Saturday’s post Bellator 214 press conference (transcribed by MMAJunkie). “He was at the bar, we were both there, and I was like, ‘Hey, you coming back, you coming back?’ He’s like ‘I’m done, man. I’m done.’ So, yeah, that’d be fun. He has to come back and definitely prove himself. Obviously, that’s a fight I don’t dwell on. But a fight I want to get back, all my losses. It’d be a fun a fight.”
Ortiz was lobbying recently for a fight with Sonnen in Bellator at Madison Square Garden, but it appears that Bellator president Scott Coker isn’t too keen on that pitch.
“We have not had those conversations,” Coker said. “George, his manager, has reached out and we said, ‘Yeah, let’s talk after this fight is over.’ But we’ll see – fighting Chael, he’s already done that. And to me, like, why would you want to rehash that?”
Rehashing the Sonnen fight might not be something Coker is interested in, but perhaps Bader-Ortiz II isn’t as crazy as it sounds.
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