Boxer suffers horrific car crash, Alex Pereira talks boxing, Conor McGregor wins huge bet on Nate Diaz: MMA News Roundup
On a weekend with no UFC events, a boxing match between Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal proved to be the biggest combat sports event. Even Alex Pereira delved into the topic of boxing in a tweet exchange with Anthony Joshua.
Here are your today's top combat sports updates straight from Sportskeeda MMA's desk.
Vasiliy Lomachenko's old foe suffers horrific car crash
Orlando Salido, the former world champion who famously defeated Vasiliy Lomachenko in the second professional bout of his career, was involved in a car crash on Friday, July 5. The accident took place in Sonora, Mexico.
Salido was driving a silver Dodge RAM pickup truck that he owns at around 2:30 AM and veered off the road after losing control of the vehicle. He crashed through the wall of a house near the scene of the accident.
According to some reports, he went through the bedroom of an elderly couple. A 61-year-old man is reported to have died while receiving medical attention after the crash. His 53-year-old wife is seriously injured and hospitalized, and so is Salido himself, per talkSPORT. He remains in police custody while undergoing treatment.
Alex Pereira eyes boxing debut
Anthony Joshua believes Alex Pereira should try out boxing. In a tweet on Saturday, the heavyweight boxer wrote on X:
"Alex Pereira should make a boxing debut one day."
This comes after Pereira's successful title defense in a rematch against Jiri Prochazka at UFC 303.
'Poatan' responded:
"I'm honored you think so. It's always been my dream, I'm 37 I cannot make a career in it so who do you recommend I fight?"
Joshua wrote back with a hint that he is willing to test the Brazilian inside the ring:
"The options are endless champ. I am sure something can be done. Drop @258mgt a line."
Read our exclusive breakdown of how Alex Pereira would fare in boxing.
Conor McGregor makes a fortune on Nate Diaz fight
Conor McGregor bet $500,000 on Nate Diaz to win against Jorge Masvidal in their boxing contest. The two met for the second time in combat sports, the first time inside the ring, and fought it out for ten rounds on Saturday evening. Diaz emerged victorious and exacted revenge on the 2019 loss via doctor's stoppage at UFC 244.
Diaz's victory won McGregor a whopping $1,625,000 on Duelbits, according to a tweet by the UFC megastar himself. He said:
"I’ve decided to put $500,000 on Diaz to win tonight’s boxing match. Range, form, experience, solely hands being used, I can’t see Masvidal causing any problems to Nate in a boxing ring whatsoever. They are both little play around dipshits in a fight, play around bollox, but I feel Nate does him in EASY here for real. $500k gets me back $1,625,000 all in."
Catch up with the round-by-round updates of the Nate Diaz vs. Jorge Masvidal fight here.