UFC Hidalgo went into the books on Saturday night and it saw the triumphant return of Micheal Johnson. The Lightweight stepped into the octagon for the first time after his loss to Nate Diaz back in 2015 and went away with an impressive win against Dustin Poirier. Derek Brunson meanwhile, had a controversial win over Uriah Hall.
Bellator also had an eventful week due to Bellator 161 but the MMA rumor mill had many other things to talk about. The next fight of Conor McGregor was what topped the list but there were some other interesting stories as well that came out and here is a look at them.
1- UFC 203 pay-per-view buys
The early estimates of UFC 203 numbers are out and it is showing good signs for CM Punk fans. The show, which was heavily pushed due to the debut of CM Punk apparently, had 425,000-475,000 buys. This is the best numbers for a non-Conor McGregor headlined show for UFC if true, and makes the $500,000 that the promotion paid CM Punk a bargain.
Punk is thought to have added around 125,000-225,000 extra buys, translating into a revenue of between 4 Million to 6 Million. Although Punk’s fight was not impressive, Dana White wouldn’t hesitate to give Punk another rub with such drawing power.
2- Possible opponents for Chael Sonnen at Bellator
Chael Sonnen’s move to Bellator was one of the biggest talking points this past week. Sonnen seems to be staying at the promotion for quite some time and there are some interesting fights that Bellator could come up with. Tito Ortiz is first in line to get the rub and Sonnen himself wanted the fight to happen in November.
However, Rory MacDonald, who recently completed his move to Bellator, is also coming in as a solid contender. Chael was open to take on MacDonald at 185 but from the looks of it, Bellator might be going first for the Tito fight now that Tito has also started trash talking.
3- Donald Cerrone gets new opponent
The potential fight between Donald Cerrone and Robbie Lawler had excited the fans sometime back but Lawler decided to pull out, leaving Cerrone without an opponent for UFC 205. The name of Nick Diaz was being linked with the fight for some time but from the looks of it, Cerrone will be facing Kelvin Gastelum at the event.
According to Gastelum, the talks are still going on and the fight has not been confirmed yet. Gastelum is coming off an impressive win over Johny Hendricks at UFC 200 and would be looking to make a similar impact on UFC 205.
4- Fedor Emelianenko to get $2 Million for his next fight
Legendary heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko could be making a huge return to the octagon soon. The 39-year-old recently fought at the EFN 50 event where he got a controversial win over Fabio Maldonado. After this, Fedor is now linked with Rizin fighting federation. The promotion is reportedly offering Fedor a huge sum of $2 Million to fight for them on the New Year’s Eve.
While there is no confirmation on the fight itself, Wanderlei Silva is being speculated as the opponent for Fedor. Silva’s last fight came in UFC back in 2013 where he secured a win over Brian Stann.
5- Conor McGregor vs. Eddie Alvarez for UFC 205
The biggest rumor of the week that went by was indeed the Conor McGregor vs. Eddie Alvarez one. McGregor, after his triumphant win against Nate Diaz, was expected to return to the Featherweight division to fight Jose Aldo, but from the looks of it, he might be headed to the Lightweight division to fight the champion, Eddie Alvarez.
Eddie meanwhile is sitting on a huge TKO win over Rafael Dos Anjos that lead to him winning the Lightweight championship. If McGregor is indeed fighting Alvarez, it is expected to be for the title, giving McGregor the title at two different weight classes if he does end up winning. The fight is expected to take place at UFC 205 with the only question being: will McGregor be forced to drop his Featherweight title.
