Ex-UFC fighter in a scary accident, Dana White apologizes about Francis Ngannou, and more: MMA News Roundup
A former UFC fighter met with a violent accident on Thursday. Elsewhere, Dana White took full responsibility for the UFC's treatment of Francis Ngannou's legacy.
Catch up with today's top combat sports updates with Sportskeeda MMA.
Muhammad Mokaev crashes car in Dagestan
According to Mash and several other Russian media outlets, Muhammad Mokaev was involved in a car accident on the Khasavyurt-Kizlyar highway in Dagestan on Thursday, Aug. 22. He was driving a Mercedes-AMG A35 and had a friend in the car with him.
Mokaev reportedly lost control of the car and fell into a ditch, damaging the vehicle's left wing, wheel, and windshield. Locals helped the former UFC fighter out of the car, who asked the onlookers to not take any photos. Regardless, some footage and pictures of the incident surfaced on social media shortly afterward.
Take a look at them below:
Dana White apologizes about UFC's erasure of Francis Ngannou
Dana White said he apologized to Israel Adesanya for Francis Ngannou's omission from the UFC 305 Countdown episode. Ngannou was part of the '3 Kings' of African-origin fighters holding belts at the same time, and the French-Cameroonian's erasure rubbed Adesanya the wrong way.
In a recent chat with Kevin Iole, White said that he wasn't aware of the creative decision that led to it.
"When you asked me about that, I didn't know anything about it. But someone was editing that and made a conscious decision, thinking that was the right thing to do... I didn't know about it and that was nothing that ever came across my desk. I'm in charge of everything production-related, so at the end of the day, the fact that it happened falls on me 100%. It's my responsibility and I accept it. Blame me for that."
He added:
"I already called Israel Adesanya and apologized for it."
While some thought this was a sporting gesture, others berated White for not apologizing to Ngannou instead.
Dan Hooker shoots his shot at Conor McGregor
After calling Conor McGregor out at UFC 305, Dan Hooker explained on Submission Radio why he's a better matchup for the Irishman than Michael Chandler. He said:
"You’re going to fight a guy in the top five on a three-fight win streak or are you going to fight a guy who’s not in the top 5 and coming off a loss?... He has more to gain from fighting me than he does from [Michael] Chandler."
'Hangman' continued:
"My next fight is gonna be a title eliminator... If he genuinely wants to get back in the mix and genuinely wants to earn his way back to a world title, it makes a lot of sense."
Merab Dvalishvili clears up the injury situation
Dana White was vocally disapproving of Merab Dvalishvili sharing his facial laceration on social media 25 days before his upcoming 306 title fight with Sean O'Malley. He went off at the bantamweight during Dana White's Contender Series 68 post-fight press conference and called it a "next-level stupid" move.
However, Dvalishvili assured that the cut will have no impact on his participation or performance against 'Sugar' in a series of social media posts. In the latest one, he stated that he was on the third training session of the day and "everything is good."
Dvalishvili's teammate Aljamain Sterling also criticized the UFC CEO for overreacting to the injury leak.