MMA News Roundup: UFC veteran doesn't find Paddy Pimblett "scary", Jon Jones "hearing whispers" about Francis Ngannou, Mike Tyson shows gratitude to Dana White
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 the latest issue, we talk about Jon Jones' heavyweight debut, Mike Tyson thanking Dana White, and more.
#3 Khamzat Chimaev is scary, Paddy Pimblett is not: Chael Sonnen
Both Khamzat Chimaev and Paddy Pimblett have had a meteoric rise in popularity in the past few months. However, their personalities are vastly different and so is the nature of their stardom.
Discussing their soaring fame in the UFC, Chael Sonnen pointed out on his You're Welcome podcast that Chimaev was "flat scary," while Pimblett commands fear and respect from his fellow fighters with control and energy.
"...The guy that was getting the attention, filling up arenas, taking headlines, and that people saw as 'Whoa! This is a diamond in the rough’ – was Chimaev. But Chimaev was flat scary... That’s not what Paddy’s doing. Paddy’s doing it with control. Paddy is doing it with effort. He’s doing it with energy. He’s not a guy that you would put in the scary category. But make no mistake, when guys aren’t calling out Paddy, that is a sign of respect. They respect him. And that respect is through fear. But it's a different kind of fear, because it’s the different skills that he’s bringing."
Listen to Chael Sonnen in the audio below:
#2 Francis Ngannou "back on the table" for Jon Jones' UFC heavyweight debut
Jon Jones has been taunting fans with a heavyweight move for the better part of the last two-and-a-half years now. Given his PED history and skirmishes with the law, a large section of his fans have almost given up on their hopes of seeing 'Bones' return to the octagon.
Others, however, still poke the former light heavyweight champion once in a while on Twitter.
Answering one such fan, Jones said that he had been "hearing whispers" about a possible fight in November against Francis Ngannou, although nothing was concrete yet.
I’ve been hearing whispers about November but honestly I have no clue. Been hearing that Francis could possibly be back on the table though twitter.com/legenddaddybea…
A couple of days back, Jones let his fans into his training for heavyweight debut in a short video that showed his incredible speed and swift padwork.
#1 "I'll never forget what he did for me" - Mike Tyson on Dana White
The Hulu project on Mike Tyson's life story did not have the boxer's blessings from the beginning. Turns out, they tried reaching out to his friend and well-wisher Dana White to promote their mini-series, but were rejected by the UFC head.
In his latest social media post, Tyson thanked White for turning down offers of "millions" from Hulu and honoring their friendship.
Dana White acknowledged Tyson's post by commenting with a folded hand emoji.