Midnight Roundup! UFC star Kamaru Usman responds to Conor McGregor's verbal attacks, Dustin Poirier predicts Islam Makhachev title fight, and more

UFC superstar Conor McGregor recently fired shots at former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman during a live stream, and 'The Nigerian Nightmare' wasn't happy about it. Usman responded to McGregor and slammed him for consistently disrespecting fellow MMA fighters. Elsewhere, Dustin Poirier opened up about his upcoming title fight against Islam Makhachev at UFC 302.

Catch up on all the latest developments in the world of combat sports with Sportskeeda MMA's Midnight Roundup.

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#1 Ex-UFC champ Kamaru Usman sounds off on Conor McGregor for latest rant

Kamaru Usman isn't a fan of Conor McGregor's habit of going off on fellow MMA stars and recently fired back at the Irishman for his latest rant. During a DuelBits livestream earlier this week, McGregor was asked for his opinion on Usman. The former two-division UFC champion replied:

''Kamaru Usman? F**k him. F**k Kamaru Usman, he's a bum. I don't give a f**k about Usman, yeah.''

McGregor's words didn't go down well with Usman. 'The Nigerian Nightmare' recently responded to McGregor's comments and pointed out that he never insulted the Irishman when he was down. During an episode of the Pound 4 Pound podcast, Usman said:

''You can't say [I'm a bum], Conor. I didn't kick him while he was down. He's had run-ins with the law, he's had back-to-back incidents and situations but you never heard me sit there and kick the man while he was down. There needs to be some level of respect here, because, at the end of the day, that’s what this sport is all about.''

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#2 Dustin Poirier predicts upcoming Islam Makhachev title fight at UFC 302

Dustin Poirier is set to challenge Islam Makhachev for the UFC lightweight title at UFC 302 next month. Ahead of his highly anticipated bout, the Louisiana native shared his thoughts on the fight and outlined how he saw the contest playing out.

During an interview with MMA reporter Ben Fowlkes, Poirier was asked about his prediction for the fight. 'The Diamond' stated that he planned to secure a statement knockout against the Dagestani grappling savant and said:

"I’m going to knock him unconscious and the ref is going to be pulling me off of him."

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#3 Belal Muhammad explains why he dislikes "piece of trash" Sean Strickland

Belal Muhammad has made it clear that he has no love former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland. The welterweight star has been feuding with 'Tarzan' for quite some time, and their rivalry seemingly fueled by their opposing opinions on the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict.

During a recent podcast appearance, Muhammad was asked why he hated Strickland. 'Remember The Name' slammed the former champion for getting involved in a situation where he wasn't needed and said:

“Honestly, I had no care about him at all until I posted something about Palestine… He commented on there, saying they [Palestinians] should just give up. It was the stupidest statement ever, just to get attention."

Muhammad continued:

“Recently where he was crying on Theo Von about his dad and, ‘You can’t talk about my dad. Don’t bring up family. That’s dirty when you do it.’ You’re literally talking about kids that just got bombed, kids that are dying, and you’re making a joke of it, but when it comes back to you, it shows he has a fake, tough-guy mentality.” [H/T MMAJunkie.usatoday.com]

Catch Belal Muhammad's comments below:

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#4 Dana White recalls saving girl's life with generous $50,000 donation

Dana White recently recalled saving a girl's life by making a generous $50,000 donation for her heart surgery expenses. The UFC CEO revisited how her father, a Thailand-based martial artist, begged for his help. White was shaken by the man's words and decided to save his daughter's life.

During a conversation with Randall Kaplan, White opened up about his charitable activity and emotionally recalled making the donation. He said:

''There was this guy that had posted something that he had just come back from Thailand and he was training Muay-Thai over there with this legendary coach and his daughter was dying because she needed some type of heart surgery and she was going to die in the next several days if she didn't get the money and it was going to be $50,000 and the guy was like Dana White you need to put this money up right now and donate it to her.''

White continued:

''This guy was talking to me the way that I talk and he isn't wrong. I was like, no this dude's f***king absolutely right he's not wrong he's f***king right. I'm supposed to do this. It was f***ing weird whatever the reason was so I end up reaching out. We find out if it's real, it's real and I send the $50,000 over.''

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#5 Ben Askren explains why he believes Conor McGregor is envious of Khabib Nurmagomedov

Ben Askren recently weighed in on Conor McGregor's latest livestream outburst and claimed the Irishman was jealous of Khabib Nurmagomedov. For context, McGregor lashed out at Nurmagomedov for allegedly committing tax fraud in Russia and called the Dagestani grappling legend a "rat" for retiring from MMA.

During an episode of Funky and the Champ, Askren addressed McGregor's insults aimed at Nurmagomedov and speculated that the Irishman was "jealous" of 'The Eagle' and his achievements in the sport. He said:

"He'll never not do [trash-talk Nurmagomedov] that, ever. He's going to be 80 years old attacking Khabib. Because he's jealous, of course."

Askren continued:

"He's got all the money in the world, [but] deep down in his heart, what he wanted to be was the most respected fighting champion on planet Earth. No money can make up for that. That's what Khabib is. Khabib is a fighting champion that everyone has a deep amount of respect for because of the way he lived his life and Conor wishes he had that much respect for himself."