The Hall at Live Casino

Photos by Phil Lambert When Conor McGregor finishes his battle with Michael Chandler at UFC 303, he’ll leave the octagon as a fighter with only one bout left on his contract. The Irish superstar documented prior to signing his latest bout agreement that his current deal with the UFC only had two fights remaining, and one comes against Chandler on June 29. As the biggest draw in UFC history, it seems highly unlikely the promotion will let McGregor slip away, but the former two-division champion has long aspired to test himself in other areas, including a potential return to boxing — and he’s even shown interest in testing the waters in bare-knuckle competition. After attending a BKFC show last year, McGregor touted that he wanted to throw hands without gloves at least once in his career. That was exactly what Mike Perry wanted to hear after inviting McGregor into the ring for an impromptu faceoff following his destructive win over ex-UFC champion Luke Rockhold. Now, almost exactly one year later, Perry isn’t banking on that fight materializing, but he’s also smart enough to know that anything is possible, especially with the kind of leverage McGregor maintains over his own career. “I think it could be a possibility,” Perry told MMA Fighting of fighting McGregor. “When my manager shared it and [he was like], ‘This will happen,’ I was like, whoa, that’s cool. “Look, Conor likes to throw hands. He’s a great boxer. Fought Floyd Mayweather. He got a front row seat to watch my show with Luke [Rockhold] and he gave me respect by coming into the ring and giving me some of his time there. I think it would be fun and incredible.” Of course, Perry understands that signing up for a fight with McGregor can be an invitation to some of the most vicious trash talk in the sport. McGregor rose to fame in part because he never had a problem speaking his mind, and there’s no line he won’t cross to engage in mental warfare with his opposition. He famously engaged in a verbal attack on Dustin Poirier’s wife, and did much of the same to Khabib Nurmagomedov before they met in 2018. Perry concedes that he’ll never match McGregor word for word, but he’s not sure the always outspoken Irishman could keep up with him punch for punch in the ring. “Maybe he would rip me apart with the words. I’d be there for it!” Perry said. “Let’s go! I’d learn a thing or two for sure, and I’d try to teach him a thing or two in the ring when it came to fighting. I wouldn’t want any excuses and I’m sure he’s so good at talking, he wouldn’t have any excuses if we did fight and it goes the way I think it would go. “It could possibly be that big dream fight that people are waiting on. I’ll just keep winning in the meantime and keep scaring these guys from wanting to come over here and see me.” Since largely becoming the face of BKFC, Perry has called out a number of high-profile opponents with hopes he could get even bigger fights for his bare-knuckle career. A couple have answered the challenge, but Perry believes he may have accidentally scared a few away with his brutal performances. That list might include one-time UFC title challenger Darren Till, who Perry claimed turned down a $2 million offer to fight him at the upcoming BKFC KnuckleMania IV card in Los Angeles on Saturday. Instead, Perry faces UFC veteran Thiago Alves in the main event. Unlike the Till matchup, Perry has little doubt that if the financials are in place, McGregor would absolutely go to war with him, which is why he won’t discount the chance that the fight could happen down the road. “Darren Till’s going to keep being scared,” Perry said. “If Thiago shows up, what I do to him might scare some others and it might bring up some real ones. Conor’s a real one. He might see the challenge there and really be interested.”

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images Aljamain Sterling got the job done in his new weight class at UFC 300. The last UFC event was a pretty darn good one, wasn’t it? UFC CEO Dana White stacked the deck and promised us an all-timer, and undeniably, it delivered with one of the most absurd lineups ever seen in MMA history. Unfortunately, that didn’t mean that every fight provided the same level of fireworks as the unforgettable BMF title tilt between Justin Gaethje and Max Holloway. That bar was always going to be impossibly high to reach. However, with all the overall greatness that the event delivered, the slightest of stinkers would get called out and criticized. That’s where the former UFC bantamweight champion Sterling’s unanimous decision over Calvin Kattar at featherweight comes in. It was a dominant effort from Sterling, and former UFC light heavyweight and heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier believes it made a worthy argument for “Funk Master” to challenge the new BMF champion, Holloway. “Put ‘Aljo’ in the BMF title fight, yes,” Cormier said on Good Guy / Bad Guy. “If anybody is a BMF, they can do what ‘Aljo’ did at UFC 300. You go up a weight class, you dominate somebody in the grappling like that, that’s a BMF, Ryan. Put ‘Aljo’ in the next title fight.” The latest episode of Good Guy / Bad Guy was a special one, as it saw Cormier reunite with his previous ESPN co-host on DC & RC, former Pittsburgh Steelers free safety and Super Bowl XLIII champion, Ryan Clark. In typical fashion, they weren’t afraid to disagree with each other. Sterling’s Kattar victory was his first after his tough second-round TKO title loss to Sean O’Malley at UFC 292 this past August. Had the 34-year-old 28-fight veteran (24-4) come up short, he’s since admitted that probably would have been a wrap on his career. Thankfully for Sterling, he went out and looked just fine at 145 pounds. It just wasn’t the most exciting of performances, and Clark wasn’t afraid to call a spade a spade. “It is, D.C. It’s a ‘boring motherf*****. That’s what that is,” Clark responded. “That’s what the BMF would stand for if Aljamain Sterling was the new BMF champion (laughs). “I love him. He has to win. You gotta go out and win, that’s why it’s called mixed martial arts. Chael [Sonnen] landed strikes against Anderson Silva and rocked him then Chael took it to the ground and dominated him on the ground. I have no problem with that. Chael is absolutely a BMF. If it is two names that are that big, I am okay with the fight going that way. Just don’t put the belt up. Put the real belt up for that fight. Do not put the BMF up for it.” TOP STORIES Crossover. Sean O’Malley confident he’s 2 wins away from Ryan Garcia boxing match, Garcia responds Hype. Coach: Conor McGregor technique ‘as sharp as ever’ ahead of Michael Chandler fight Expensive. Conor McGregor’s UFC 303 return features ticket packages exceeding $12,000 Next. Deiveson Figueiredo calls for ‘dream fight’ with Dominick Cruz for UFC 303 Unique. Jiri Prochazka explains what being samurai means to him, pre-fight UFC 300 visualization at T-Mobile Arena Onward. Aspinall? Ankalaev? Alex Pereira discusses options for next move after UFC 300 Idea. Daniel Cormier calls for Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler to be 165-pound ‘super lightweight’ title fight VIDEO STEW BROADENED HORIZIN. UFC Vegas 91 Promo. Free fight. MORNING MUSIC Go to Twitter, use the #MorningReport hashtag, or find one of my tweets with it, and drop me a jam you’re currently really into. I’ll pick the best one alongside my daily choice and give you a shoutout! You can also share in the comments below — those are just harder to sift through sometimes! SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE Poatan things. What can’t he do? #poatan pic.twitter.com/ni5NfGAqM2— Cody Merrow (@cody_merrow) April 22, 2024 Champ. Soon the world will know how dominant & dangerous I am. https://t.co/zFAnv13cTi— Patchy Mix (@TeamMixMMA) April 22, 2024 Nothing odd to see here. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jiří “BJP” Procházka (@jirkaprochazka) What the. NEW: Iranian MMA fighter gets jumped after his fight after kicking a ring girl and allegedly sucker punching his opponent. Bare-knuckle fighter Ali Heibati "found out" after a Moscow fight on Friday. After taking a cheap shot against the ring girl, his opponent and a… pic.twitter.com/T3R98bWZPM— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) April 22, 2024 Good for them calling this out. Daniel James and Jena Bishop weren’t a fan of the PFL’s matchmaking today pic.twitter.com/0RBYrPTGCo— Alex Behunin (@AlexBehunin) April 23, 2024 Road to UFC. The search is ON once again! Presenting the tournament brackets for Season 3! Who will earn their spot in the Octagon? #RTU3 starts May 18-19 at the UFC Performance Institute in Shanghai! pic.twitter.com/xlVGhCyidi— UFC_Asia (@UFC_Asia) April 23, 2024 FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS James Llontop (14-2) vs. Chris Padilla (13-6); UFC Vegas 91, April 27 Ben Tynan (6-0) vs. Mauro Cerilli (15-5); ONE 167, June 8 Dakota Ditcheva (11-0) vs. Chelsea Hackett (4-2-1); PFL Uncasville, June 13 Valentin Moldavsky (13-3) vs. Linton Vassell (24-9); PFL Uncasville, June 13 FINAL THOUGHTS R.C. comes back for one appearance and is as cold-blooded as ever. Sheesh. Thanks for reading! EXIT POLL If you find something you’d like to see in the Morning Report, hit up @DrakeRiggs_ on Twitter and let him know about it. 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Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images Daniel Cormier wants to raise the stakes for Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler. After more than a year of false starts, McGregor’s octagon return against Chandler is finally on the books for June 29 at UFC 303. The fight will be McGregor’s first in more than two years — the former two-division UFC champion has not competed since breaking his leg in a July 2021 loss to Dustin Poirier — and Cormier believes such a long-awaited moment warrants the introduction of a long-debated new UFC title. “Here’s my thought process, right? When it comes down to championship opportunities, I have said this time and time again — a lot of times it comes down to being at the right place, at the right time,” Cormier said Monday on Good Guy / Bad Guy. “Even going back to me, they had no intent of giving me my first championship opportunity [in 2015]. But then Alexander Gustafsson got hurt, they called me in, I stepped in. I never left the title picture after because I was reliable. They could always call me and say, ‘Hey, do you want to fight this guy for the belt?’ It was also the same way with Dustin Poirier right now, we see it happening [at UFC 302], where, if you’re in the right place at the right time under the right circumstances, sometimes it happens faster. “I believe that if they’re going to do a 165-pound division, it should have a name attached to the weight class that is so big that it draws people’s attention,” Cormier continued. “Conor McGregor being that name. Michael Chandler, on the other hand, will benefit from being in the right place at the right time, where these guys would then fight for the super lightweight championship of the world, because that’s what I believe it is. Because it’s only 10 pounds heavier than 155, so let’s call it the super lightweight division. Move 170 to 175, move 185 to 195, keep 205, [keep] heavyweight.” McGregor and Chandler coached opposite one another on The Ultimate Fighter 31 in early 2023. Both fighters have lost three of their past four UFC appearances. Cormier’s proposal is nothing new. Many UFC athletes have long pushed for the promotion to introduce a 165-pound weight class, arguing that the 15-pound jump between lightweight and welterweight leaves too many fighters stuck in the middle without an ideal division. Proponents of the move have also pointed to the abundance of talent between the 155-pound and 170-pound divisions as reason for the UFC to open up a ninth men’s weight class — and along with it, a ninth belt that could potentially headline pay-per-views. The biggest hurdle in the debate has always been one name: Dana White. The UFC CEO has long stood in ardent opposition to introducing a 165-pound division. And in that respect, White has a supporter in Cormier’s co-host Chael Sonnen. “There is no need for a 165-pound title, for one,” Sonnen said. “Part two, the commission does not sanction 165-pound fights. Part three, the UFC does not contest a 165-pound division. Part four, these guys [McGregor and Chandler] combined are coming off of more losses than I have had in my entire career. “So if anybody’s coming back to fight for a mythical belt, it will be yours truly.”

Phil Lambert/BKFC Triller, the social media platform that owns BKFC, has been acquired in a merger with AGBA, a Hong Kong based finance company. The two combined companies will trade publicly under AGBA Group Holding, with the stock listed on the NASDAQ. Stock prices jumped dramatically since the merger with Triller, with shares trading at $2.35, which is up over 88 percent from prior pricing. AGBA is a “financial service company serving over 400,000 customers” that first went public in November 2022. The board of directors at Triller and AGBA agreed to value the combined company at $4 billion. Under the new agreement, Triller shareholders will own 80 percent of the company, with existing AGBA stockholders owning the other 20 percent. The deal is expected to close in late May, with both companies already approving the merger. The new combined company allows Triller to finally go public, which the organization has been exploring for quite some time. Filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission dated back as far as 2022 show that Triller has been seeking to go public, but this merger makes an immediate impact since AGBA was already a publicly traded company on the NASDAQ. The new company has a Delaware address listed for headquarters, although Triller will still be based out of Los Angeles, with AGBA in Hong Kong. “We believe this is the most efficient route for Triller to access public capital markets and secure the liquidity needed for rapid growth,” Triller’s chief executive officer Bobby Sarnevesht said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times. Originally launched a social media platform to rival TikTok, Triller moved into the sports world by promoting several boxing events, including the card headlined by Jake Paul knocking out retired UFC fighter Ben Askren. In 2022, Triller acquired a majority share in BKFC, the bare-knuckle fighting promotion that is set to stage another event on Saturday with KnuckleMania IV, which is headlined by Mike Perry taking on Thiago Alves in the main event. Triller also acquired FITE TV, the live streaming platform that serves as home for numerous fight and professional wrestling promotions. The company was eventually rebranded as Triller TV, with a wide range of events airing on the platform.

Deiveson Figueiredo | Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images Deiveson Figueiredo wants to add another former UFC champion to his résumé next. “Deus da Guerra” beat Cody Garbrandt in impressive fashion at UFC 300, scoring a second-round rear-naked choke finish to improve to 2-0 as a bantamweight. Now, he’s calling for a match with Dominick Cruz. “People are throwing some names at me, but what I really want is to fulfill a dream of mine, which is to face Dominick Cruz,” Figueiredo told Canal Encarada. “Dominick has a big name and everybody knows the history he has in the UFC. He works for the UFC and is always on the spotlight, and I hope to one day get to fight him.” Cruz, a former UFC and WEC bantamweight titleholder, earned back-to-back decision wins over Casey Kenney and Pedro Munhoz before losing by knockout to Marlon Vera in his most recent appearance in August 2022. Figueiredo went 11-3-1 as a UFC flyweight, with victories over the likes of Brandon Moreno, Alexandre Pantoja, Joseph Benavidez (twice), and Alex Perez. “I think [Cruz] is an opponent that could take me to a title fight,” Figueiredo said. Figueiredo, who trained for his UFC 300 bout alongside Bellator legends Patricio Pitbull and Patricky Pitbull in Brazil, stayed in Las Vegas a few extra days after the win to “do some recovery work” at the UFC Performance Institute and stay in shape in case UFC calls soon. If he had the option, Figueiredo would book his next fight for UFC 303, which goes down June 29 in Las Vegas. “I’m staying ready,” Figueiredo said. “For me, it would be sensational to fight on the [Conor] McGregor card in June. That depends on [Cruz] signing the contract, and I’ll be ready. I want to fight him. I want to make this fight happen.”