MMA News Roundup: UFC Vegas 60 card sees two gnarly cuts, DWCS alum admits to getting "cash on the side" from Dana White, Francis Ngannou's former coach fears for his life
Welcome to today's edition of Sportskeeda's daily MMA News Roundup, where we present the biggest UFC updates and other stories from the world of mixed martial arts.
In this issue, we talk about a popular DWCS contender thanking Dana White for his support, Francis Ngannou's former coach sharing screenshots of possibly-threatening DMs from Ali Abdelaziz and more.
#3. Octagon doctor lets two UFC Vegas 60 fights see a bloodier end
Despite not having any marquee fights on the card, UFC Vegas 60 turned out to be quite the bloodbath. The two headliners in particular proved to be quite violent, with one fighter from each leaving the octagon with a gruesome cut on their face.
In the co-main event, Gregory Rodrigues suffered a nasty cut to his forehead in his fight against Chidi Njokuani. However, 'Robocop' bounced back spectacularly and secured a second-round TKO to take his current winning streak to two.
"I'm born for this! I'm Robocop!" - Gregory Rodrigues
#UFCVegas60 https://t.co/pw9SZF0JiB
The doctors did an excellent job of stitching Rodrigues up minutes after the fight. Dana White shared before and after photos of the injury, which were reposted by MMA journalist Chamatkar Sandhu. In the 'before' picture, the Supratrochlear artery is visible inside the cut.
You can see the pictures here [VIEWER'S DISCRETION IS ADVISED]
In the main event, bantamweight contenders Song Yadong and Cory Sandhagen battled it out for four rounds before the doctor had to intervene and stop the fight. Sandhagen sliced Yadong just above his eye early on in the fight that only kept getting worse as the fight progressed and eventually earned 'Sandman' a stoppage victory.
The elbow that would end up winning Cory Sandhagen the fight.
#UFCVegas60
https://t.co/upelUihLt1
In both cases, the ringside doctor was repeatedly called inside the octagon to check on the injuries and decide whether the fight should go on or not. Some fans thought that the doctor delayed the stoppage, further harming the fighters. Others highly praised the doctor for letting the fight continue.
#2. Dana White helped out Joe Pyfer with cash and a place to live
It is no secret that Joe Pyfer is one of Dana White's new favorite fighters. The UFC president's "Be Joe Pyfer" speech went quite viral a few weeks ago.
Pyfer impressed in his UFC debut against Alen Amedovski with a first-round TKO. In the post-fight octagon interview with Daniel Cormier, the DWCS alum expressed gratitude towards White, revealing that the UFC head honcho helped him out with money and a residence.
"I just wanna give a quick shout-out too, Daniel, if you don't mind. Thank you to Dana White. That man gave me cash on the side and gave me a place to live for the next year..."
Check out Joe Pyfer's interview below:
Fans jumped on the opportunity to make jokes about Pyfer's statement.
The IRS' ears just perked up after hearing Joe Pyfer got cash on the side from Dana White @ufc
Dana White just suspended Joe Pyfer for letting other fighters know he gave him cash on the side. #UFC
Read more tweets here.
During the post-event press conference, Pyfer defended his boss against the recent rise of criticism surrounding fighter pay.
"I think the guy gets sh*t on a lot for not being a good dude or whatever bull***t that people say sometimes. And I don't know any of the other stories but as far as he's treated me, he's treated me gracefully."
Watch Pyfer's comments on White below:
Joe Pyfer defends UFC president Dana White from critics.
"The guy gets sh*t on a lot for not being a good dude."
#UFCVegas60 | Full video: bit.ly/3qKFiH5 https://t.co/QnqKnxzWrS
#1. Fernand Lopez fears for his life from Ali Abdelaziz
Ali Abdelaziz accused Francis Ngannou's former coach Fernand Lopez of blackmailing a rising MMA fighter in a tweet a few days ago.
A promoter is asking one of my fighters for €90,000 to release a guy from his contract so he can go fight for the UFC.
In Total hé paid him €4000.”
@DamonMartin @marcraimondi @bokamotoESPN @MMAJunkie @JohnMorgan_MMA @TSN_Sports @francis_ngannou @TeamKhabib @dc_mma
The fighter in question is Slim Trabelsi, the heavyweight champion of ARES FC, a French MMA promotion whose Sports Director is Fernand Lopez. According to Abdelaziz, Lopez is asking for a whopping €90,000 to let Trabelsi go and join the UFC.
Addressing the matter, Lopez shared a few screenshots of his DMs with Abedalaziz. The Dominance MMA CEO's choice of words in some of the text messages had Lopez fearing for his life. In the tweet, Lopez wrote:
"I am still alive… I don’t know for how long, Ali has been treating me to use every to destroy me over my client that he thought he can just him even though we have a management contract."
Check out the DMs below:
@lthomasnews @Belt_News I am still alive… I don’t know for how long, Ali has been treating me to use every to destroy me over my client that he thought he can just him even though we have a management contract https://t.co/w06W6dSSR0
In one of the alleged DMs, Abdelaziz vowed to "deal very differently with this problem" and do what he has to do, which could have come across as intimidating to Lopez.
Read more about the controversy here.