Midnight Roundup! UFC 300 struggle, Israel Adesanya wins Super Bowl money, Megan Olivi on Taylor Swift, and more
Amid fans expecting Dana White to announce the UFC 300 main event at the Super Bowl LVIII, the CEO dropped a disappointing update on the marquee event. Israel Adesanya, who is one of the rumored fighters to headline the card, bagged nearly half a million on a Super Bowl bet.
Sportskeeda's Midnight Roundup is back with the biggest and quirkiest MMA news updates.
Dana White struggling with UFC 300 main event
While the fans have been growing impatient with the anticipation surrounding the UFC 300 main event, Dana White is having a hard time zeroing in on the matchup.
This past weekend, White shared with the media at the Power Slap 6 post-fight press conference that he wasn't yet sure which fight would headline the marquee event:
"Who knows who’s going to be the UFC 300 headliner? It’s been interesting, I can tell you that… I’d announce it now if we had it. We’ve gone through a lot of crazy sh*t trying to put this fight together."
A trilogy fight between Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz is among the frontrunners for the top spot, according to fan rumors. Israel Adesanya, Alex Pereira, Leon Edwards, and Tom Aspinall are also among the names being thrown around.
Israel Adesanya doubles money on Patrick Mahomes
Israel Adesanya posted his Stake betting slip ahead of the Super Bowl LVIII. He wagered on Patrick Mahomes being awarded the MVP with an estimated payout of $44,000.
It seems like Mahomes has helped Adesanya win more than double the money with an excellent display at the Kansas City Chiefs vs. San Francisco 49ers game.
Megan Olivi shares take on Taylor Swift-NFL saga
Ever since Taylor Swift started showing up at the NFL games to support her partner Travis Kelce, a certain section of the football fandom has been extremely vocal about the amount of attention being given to her. On the other side of the coin, some fans are glad that the Grammy-winning music artist is possibly bringing new fans to the sport.
Megan Olivi falls in the second category. Speaking with FanSided MMA, the UFC and NFL presenter recently said:
"I'm not surprised, unfortunately. But I don't really get it. First of all, even when they do pander to her, which she's not asking for... it's not interrupting a play... If that gets a young girl interested in a game of football, and she can bond with her dad or her brother or her uncle or her mom who likes football... if that brings new fans to the sport and they can find a passion for it, then what is the problem?"
Swift was present at Sunday's Super Bowl, where Kelce and the rest of the Kansas City Chiefs won against the San Francisco 49ers.
Henry Cejudo fires coach on camera
It seems like Henry Cejudo wants to change things up for his UFC 298 clash against Merab Dvalishvili. In one segment of the latest UFC Countdown video, 'Triple C' was seen firing his longtime coach Eric Albarracin on camera.
Watch the video shared by Oscar Willis on X:
Fans criticized Cejudo for filming the exchange instead of having the conversation in private.
Sean Strickland: "You all wanna see a dead body???"
Sean Strickland, for the umpteenth time in his career, forgot to pull any verbal punches in his response to Bryce Hall. The TikToker-turned-fighter recently called the ex-middleweight champion out for a sparring session after the latter's beatdown of Sneako went viral.
In response, Strickland shared a screenshot of a DM he seemed to have sent to Hall, accepting his challenge and asking him for a location to see it through. He captioned it:
"You all wanna see a dead body??? God this is the only thing I've ever wanted.... Please please I never ask you for anything..... please!!!"
Anthony Smith meets his doppelganger
MMA internet collectively lost it after UFC Vegas 86 fighter Bogdan Guskov and veteran Anthony Smith, who look incredibly similar, caught up after Saturday's Fight Night.
Watch their interaction below:
Read the fan reactions here.
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Joe Pyfer sends NSFW message to "haters" after loss
Justin Gaethje's verbal attack on Nikki Haley
Conor McGregor refutes Dana White's comeback claim
Midnight Throwback!
Watch an incredible moment between Khabib Nurmagomedov's father Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev: