Dana White hints at Conor McGregor's return, Israel Adesanya fires shots at Sean Strickland, New UFC gloves set to be launched: MMA News Roundup
Dana White hints at Conor McGregor potentially returning at UFC 303, Israel Adesanya fires shots at Sean Strickland for his title reign and details about the new UFC gloves have been revealed.
Find out more details in today's (April 13) Sportskeeda daily news roundup.
#3 Dana White hints at Conor McGregor returning to action at UFC 303
Dana White has provided a massive update in regards to Conor McGregor's highly anticipated return to the octagon.
The Irishman has been out of action since he suffered a devastating leg break injury during his trilogy bout with Dustin Poirier in 2021. After surgery and months of rehab, McGregor was expected to return to face Michael Chandler last year.
Their bout was never confirmed and both men have recently stated that they are planning on fighting this summer during International Fight Week.
McGregor also recently took to Instagram to 'announce' the June 29 fight. He wrote:
"THE FIGHT IS ON! MCGREGOR VS CHANDLER! See you on the date I said."
While the talk of the fight has typically come from McGregor and Chandler, Dana White has finally dropped some details about their clash during the latest Power Slap 7 post-event press conference. He said:
"I saw the post. I don't know what the Teletubby means, but it could be. Hopefully. That's what we want to do."
Catch White's comments here:
#2 Israel Adesanya sarcastically applauds Sean Strickland's middleweight title reign
Israel Adesanya recently fired shots at Sean Strickland's run as the middleweight champion.
'Tarzan' won the title from Adesanya at UFC 293 last year in one of the MMA's biggest upsets. Few gave the American a chance, but he rose to the occasion and dominated 'The Last Stylebender' across all five rounds, even knocking to the canvas early in the fight.
Strickland was unable to continue that momentum, however, and four months later dropped his title to Dricus du Plessis at UFC 297 via a close split-decision.
Ahead of the historic pay-per-view this weekend where he will be in attendance, Adesanya appeared on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani and mocked Strickland's short reign as the champ. He said:
"It was just his week, his moment to shine, and what a reign! Amazing, amazing what he has done. Great, I love it... I'm being serious; he beat Israel Adesanya, and he beat me, it was bigger than anything."
Check out Israel Adesanya's comments here (1:52:45):
#1 UFC Gloves: What's new?
The iconic UFC gloves will have a new look going forward after the promotion officially unveiled a new design that fighters will be wearing during different stages of their career in the organization.
The decision to re-design the gloves came after months of criticism by a group of fighters and fans who had called for improvements to be made.
The new gloves have been designed by VICIS and feature a multitude of changes such as weight, color, shape and their material. They also feature an ergonomic curve to better fit a fighter's hands and will help to prevent eye pokes.
The colors have also been specifically chosen in order to differentiate the brands and the significance of fights. Red gloves will be worn on 'Road to the UFC', black on 'The Ultimate Fighter', blue gloves for those on 'Dana White's Contender Series', metal for regular bouts in the promotion and gold gloves will be worn in title fights.
The new gloves are also expected to debut at UFC 302 on June 1.