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Conor McGregor and Jake and Logan Paul Conor McGregor is still interested in fighting both Jake and Logan Paul. Earlier this week, McGregor and the Paul brothers made unlikely allies as the trio found themselves together while heading to the Presidential Inauguration of Donald Trump. McGregor has a bit of a history with both brothers and was even rumored to be targeting a boxing match with the elder Paul earlier this month (though UFC CEO Dana White shot that down). Given that history, things could have taken an unfortunate turn between them, however, in a video Logan Paul put out on his YouTube channel, everybody got along quite well. “It’s all sweet here. It’s all sweet here,” McGregor says when first meeting the Paul brothers, before addressing Logan directly. “You kept your mouth shut, you did. I thought we were going to get the fight going? You’re very quiet.” “What did you think the best course of action was for that?” Logan Paul replied. “You’re giving it all this, ‘Dana this, Dana that!’” McGregor interjected. “You’re f*cking controlled by the WWE as well. Don’t be giving all this mega stip. That was in the air for us, brother! Yes, bring it home for me!” That was just the start of the fun between McGregor and the Paul brothers. The trio rode a bus to the inauguration and after a bit of jawing back and forth, McGregor issued a warning and a promise to the Pauls. “Listen, here’s the deal: I’m going to slap the head off the two of you and KSI,” McGregor said. “All three of you. You are nixers to me, you understand that? Side jobs. A little side job.” “You can’t even do your main job, how are you going to do a side job?” Logan replied, which cause McGregor to smile and dismiss it, telling Logan to “Stay tuned.” McGregor still has two fights left on his UFC contract so a boxing match of any sort is highly unlikely. The former two-division UFC champion was supposed to make his long-awaited return to the cage this past summer at UFC 303, but withdrew from the bout with a toe injury. Dana White suggested McGregor will not make his return to the cage in late 2025, however, it’s unclear if McGregor’s ongoing legal troubles will influence that decision.

Aline Pereira | Photo via Karate Combat Aline Pereira’s American dream is to build a fighting career solid enough that her family can have a comfortable life in the United States, and she no longer needs a side job to make ends meet. The younger sister of UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira is slated to return to the Karate Combat pit Friday in Miami, battling Gisele Luna. Ahead of that contest, she celebrates being around legends of the sport in the gym, such as her brother “Poatan” and ex-UFC champion Glover Teixeira, and dreams of one day being able to “live only for the sport.” Like her brother, Pereira built a career in kickboxing before attempting a transition to MMA between 2022 and 2023, going 1-2 under the LFA banner. She’s now under contract with Karate Combat, and scored a highlight-reel knockout over Dee Begley in her debut this past October. Despite the good bump in pay in Karate Combat compared to kickboxing and MMA, Pereira said she still needs to hustle for hours to earn extra money in between fights. “I do deliveries for Amazon, and we do what we have to do,” Pereira told MMA Fighting. “This routine is very tiresome because we still have to accommodate the training hours and the job, but it all works out in the end.” When not in camp for a fight, Pereira wakes up at 2:30 a.m. and drives 10 minutes to an Amazon warehouse to pick up boxes to deliver. She explained the decision to wake up that early is to avoid traffic and make sure she’s free to train later in the day. “It’s not easy,” Pereira said. “We do deliveries for four and a half hours. But it’s great to be here. The United States is very good for me and my son, too.” Pereira hopes to score another victory Friday to earn bigger opportunities in the combat sports world. She’s still working on her wrestling and jiu-jitsu at Glover Teixeira’s gym for a potential return to MMA down the line, but the focus today is to build a career at Karate Combat. “I’m really excited, I really loved my debut,” Pereira said. “[Karate Combat] is quite different, isn’t it? I came well-prepared last time, and it won’t be different this time. I’ll put on another show. The promotion is growing, and it’s great to be part of it. They value the athlete a lot. … We train for [a knockout], right? My brother and I are very technical, and we always work for the knockout, but I can’t come here and promise a knockout. Funny that last time I said I would knock her out. I never said it before a fight, but she was talking so much crap.”

Islam Makhachev | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC UFC 311 is in the books and the champions remain the same. On Saturday, Islam Makhachev and Merab Dvalishvili retained their titles, defeating Renato Moicano and Umar Nurmagomedov, respectively. For Makhachev it was another sensational performance against a late replacement, while for Dvalishvili it was a display of just what makes him great, and an opportunity to prove the doubters wrong. So after such great performances, let’s talk about both men and their legacies in the sport. Islam Makhachev With Islam & 155 are we at the point of semantics with his all time placing? Khabib is better (we think) as a fighter, but Islam is now greater by virtue of accomplishment. Islam's 1 loss outweighed by the extra title defence sort of thing. Also, if not Arman, who next?— Dee J (@Daniel_J81) January 19, 2025 “With Islam and 155, are we at the point of semantics with his all time placing? Khabib is better (we think) as a fighter, but Islam is now greater by virtue of accomplishment. Islam’s 1 loss outweighed by the extra title defense sort of thing. Also, if not Arman, who next?” There’s a lot to unpack with Islam following his win on Saturday, but let’s start with the assertion that Khabib Nurmagomedov is better than Islam, because I don’t think that’s true. Yes, as training partners it was clearly established Khabib was the superior fighter, but that was pre-prime Islam versus peak Khabib. I believe there is a very serious question as to who is the “better” fighter if you’re matching peak for peak. Khabib is the more explosive and powerful athlete, but Islam is more technically refined and certainly has a more diverse set of skills. If I had to guess, I’d actually venture that Islam is the better of the two. On the other hand, it’s pretty clear to me that Khabib is the more accomplished of the two, at least at the moment. Going undefeated is obviously an incredible feather in his cap, but more than that it’s the quality of his title reign. Khabib beat three champions while holding the belt, and did so dominantly. In contrast, Makhachev’s defenses are two against a featherweight (yes, a pound-for-pound great but still) with one of those being on short notice, a past-his-prime great who Khabib beat better, and now a top-10 lightweight who was also on short notice. It’s not Makhachev’s fault things broke like this, but it’s not the same quality by a long stretch. On top of that, “greatness” is also about narrative. The one loss matters, the fact that he was secondary to Khabib when they were at the same gym matters, and Khabib serving as the vanguard and figurehead of the Dagestan takeover matters. All of that tilts the lightweight GOAT argument in favor of Khabib. But that doesn’t mean he’ll always have it. Setting the record for lightweight title defenses, in my mind, officially moves Islam past B.J. Penn into the No. 2 spot and opens the floor for discussion. If he picks up one or two more, Islam will take the belt. As far as who is next, my guess is Charles Oliveira? I don’t love it, but Oliveira is the No. 2 guy and coming off a win. Plus, he was supposed to get a rematch but then Tsarukyan’d himself out of it, so now they can do that. It’s a good fight and honestly, it doesn’t really matter. I just want to see the best fighter on the planet continue to fight top opposition. Picking Nits “When Makhachev gets nuked by a relevant lightweight, how angry will people be looking back on his title reign?” Sir, we can always critique a title reign (and I think we should!) but let’s be a little sensible about things. It’s not like Makhachev has been smashing cans. Makhachev has wins over five of the lightweight top-10 right now, plus a pair of wins over the No. 11 pound-for-pound fighter in Alexander Volkanovski. The circumstances may not be optimal but these are relevant lightweights. Islam just happens to have his career coincide with a period where the top of his division is populated with a lot of old names. Jon Jones had the same thing happen. Sometimes it’s just how the cookie crumbles. Furthermore, what lightweight is going to nuke him? Renato Moicano is a damn good fighter and he lasted only slightly longer than you or I would have. Arman Tsarukyan is the best hope, obviously, but he was also a massive underdog heading into that rematch and I see no reason to think Makhachev is falling off. Yes, it’s a little wonky, but we are currently watching one of the greatest fighters of all time compete and we should all sit back and enjoy it because you never know how long that will last. Merab Dvalishvili What did experts get wrong about Umar vs. Merab wrong?— Nicholas Bennett (@Nichola86732970) January 19, 2025 “What did experts get wrong about Umar vs. Merab wrong?” It’s me. I’m the “experts.” I picked Umar to beat Merab on Saturday and boy was I wrong. I can’t speak for all the experts who picked Umar but for myself, I think I got two things wrong about this fight, one that I at least knew I could be wrong about and one I was not at all prepared for. The one thing I didn’t factor in at all was Merab’s ability to compete on the feet. To put it plainly, Merab is not a good striker and Umar is a pretty good one, and that’s how things played out on Saturday — until they didn’t. I was under the impression that Umar would make things much more difficult on Merab in the striking portion of things, working the body and the jab, and hitting him a lot, and early on there was some of that, but as the rounds drew on that fell off steeply. Merab’s willingness to take one to give one and his constant work rate stymied Umar more than I thought. I’m sure Umar would like to blame that on the broken hand, but that’s the game. Shit happens, adapt and overcome. He didn’t. The thing that I thought could happen but I wasn’t anticipating was that Merab could simply do his style through Umar opposition. Sure, Umar stuffed takedowns and hit Merab frequently on the feet, but the champion simply just kept coming. He forced Umar to work constantly and while he could win a few rounds by being able to keep up and being technically superior, eventually he faltered. Merab did not falter. Make no mistake, this is a pretty bad matchup for Merab on paper, but he simply pushed through it with effort. I won’t pretend to enjoy Merab’s style because I don’t, but it is undeniably incredibly impressive. Merab’s legacy Not talking GOAT, but is Merab the best bantamweight ever? TJ’s best performances were more flawless, but i feel like Merab h2h beats every other all time bw— Dylan Barth (@dylaneb11) January 19, 2025 “Not talking GOAT, but is Merab the best bantamweight ever? T.J.’s best performances were more flawless, but I feel like Merab head to head beats every other all time bantamweight.” This is a really hard question for me to answer as someone who doesn’t care for Merab’s style. It’s undeniably effective but just not for me. I don’t watch crossfit despite that being incredibly impressive, and that’s kind of what Merab’s game is: turning everything into a test of cardio and will. So with that preface, accept that I may be a bit biased when I say I think T.J. Dillashaw is still the best bantamweight I’ve ever seen. At the peak of his powers, Dillashaw was one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport, and I think would give Merab a very hard fight. That being said, I thought Umar would also and that was not the case. (Also, there’s the whole PED stuff that comes with Dillashaw but I don’t personally care about that.) It’s entirely possible Merab would Merab him the same as everyone else. However, I do think the topic of bantamweight GOAT is quickly coming into frame for Merab. He’s current run is the best run in divisional history and the only real knock on his case is tenure. Merab only has one title defense, which makes it hard to put him even above someone like Aljamain Sterling in the conversation, much less Dominick Cruz, but those defenses are coming. It seems like Merab’s next to opponents will be rematches with Sean O’Malley and Petr Yan. Considering how he dominated both the first time around, there’s a strong chance Merab has three title defenses under his belt before 2026, and if that’s the case, that’s probably GOAT done and dusted. Dominick Cruz officially has four bantamweight title defenses (including WEC defenses, which obviously should count) and really five since he didn’t lose his belt in the cage, and beat T.J. Dillashaw to reclaim the title. Merab’s three plus the strength of the rest of his resume puts him at No. 1 all time if he can have a strong year. Champ champ How would a fight between Pantoja and Merab play out?— Augusteam (@CsardeA8) January 20, 2025 “How would a fight between Alexandre Pantoja and Merab play out?” Same as every Merab fight: Dvalishvili by unanimous decision. At this point it should be pretty clear that the only way to beat Merab is to finish him and for as good as Pants is, that seems unlikely. He would get Merab’d super hard. Fight of the Night Was Umar vs Merab really the FOTN? Wasn't Jiri vs Hill better?— John Miller (@JohnMil63393828) January 19, 2025 “Was Umar vs Merab really the FOTN? Wasn’t Jiri vs Hill better?” Obviously it wasn’t Fight of the Night. Merab vs. Umar was a high-level, interesting fight that was made to be better by the fact that Merab pulled off the upset. On a weak card, that would be a fine Fight of the Night choice. But nobody is going to go back and watch that one repeatedly for fun. Jiri Prochazka vs. Jamahal Hill was total anarchy from the opening bell, with big momentum swings culminating in a finish. Numbers don’t always tell the story, Jiri vs. Jamahal had only marginally fewer significant strikes in roughly half the time of the main event, had two knockdowns, and a finish. That fight was fun to watch if you knew nothing about fighting. Merab vs. Umar was impressive to watch, but fun wasn’t exactly on the menu. Jamahal Hill got robbed of $50,000. Thanks for reading and thanks to everyone who sent in tweets (Xs?)! Do you have any burning questions about things at least somewhat related to combat sports? Then you’re in luck because you can send your tweets to me, @JedKMeshew, and I will answer my favorite ones! It doesn’t matter if they’re topical or insane, just so long as they are good. Thanks again, and see y’all next week.

Mike Tyson and Jake Paul | Jake Paul Instagram Conor McGregor, Jon Jones, Jake and Logan Paul, Dana White, and a host of others had a memorable time at Donald Trump’s inauguration, and the parties afterward, in Washington, D.C., on Monday. Theo Von kicked things off with a McGregor joke on the bus. Is this the most insane video on the Internet?Theo Von telling Conor McGregor to keep his hands off of Jake Paul/Logan Paul’s mom while they are all on the same bus…heading to Donald Trump‘s presidential inauguration…We live in a simulation. pic.twitter.com/T51ZQ4Yy3s— I AM SATURDAY (@I_AM_SATURDAY) January 20, 2025 View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jake Paul (@jakepaul) UFC CEO Dana White had great seats at the inauguration. Dana White being seated behind all the former US presidents is the funniest part of the inaguration. pic.twitter.com/rRFy09cwb1— Las Vegas Locally (@LasVegasLocally) January 20, 2025 Georges St-Pierre went to the party with a few friends. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Georges St-Pierre (@georgesstpierre) Great lineup we have here. pic.twitter.com/glvVcJfvm1— Georges St-Pierre (@GeorgesStPierre) January 21, 2025 At the inauguration party later, UFC stars then mingled with celebs and power players. Here’s Jones’ take on the night: It was truly an honor to welcome and celebrate the 47th President of the United States. The evening was nothing short of extraordinary—a night filled with pride, unity, and gratitude for the opportunity to witness such a historic moment. I’m deeply thankful to have been part of this special occasion, surrounded by individuals who share a love for this great nation. This experience will forever be a reminder of the resilience, hope, and strength that defines the American spirit. What a night to remember! View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jonny Meat (@jonnybones) He also showed off his Rolex with McGregor. ⌚️ Jon Jones and Conor Mcgregor recreated their famous video with No.1 and No.2 Rolex around from 2014. pic.twitter.com/ne75Djt12z— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) January 21, 2025 Bryce Mitchell also had a “vip experience” at the event. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Bryce Mitchell (@thugnasty_ufc) Colby Covington enjoyed the events as well. View this post on Instagram A post shared by colbycovington (@colbycovington) White took a photo with Joe Rogan and Trump during one of the events. @danawhite ❤️ pic.twitter.com/g0sfz1aRGo— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) January 21, 2025 Jake Paul also gave Mike Tyson a lift. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jake Paul (@jakepaul)

Patricky Pitbull | Lucas Noonan, Bellator Patricky Pitbull has a new place to call home. The former Bellator lightweight champion, who parted ways from the PFL recently, has inked a deal with Global Fight League, MMA Fighting has confirmed. The GFL will hold the draft for the 2025 season Friday night. Pitbull (25-14) built a long and victorious career under the Bellator banner, setting the record for most knockouts in company history (11) during his 16-10 run in the promotion. Pitbull scored key wins over the likes of Ben Henderson, Josh Thomson, Ryan Couture and Peter Queally, and lost the Bellator title to Usman Nurmagomedov. The 39-year-old Brazilian was part of the Bellator group that flew to Japan to compete inside the RIZIN ring in multiple occasions, knocking out Luiz Gustavo, Tatsuya Kawajiri and RIZIN champion Roberto Satoshi in Japan. Pitbull’s final appearance in the Bellator cage was a decision defeat to Alexander Shabliy. He then joined the PFL lightweight roster for the 2024 season, but came up short in both bouts, losing to Clay Collard and Bruno Miranda. “Former Bellator lightweight champion, most wins in the lightweight division and most KOs in company history,” Pitbull wrote on social media, “I’ll never forget all the amazing moments I had with the organization. And a couple of fun fights on PFL. I’m excited for what will be coming next.”