Sean O'Malley goes up in UFC P4P rankings, Dustin Poirier's mental health struggle, Cedric Doumbe talks PFL loss: MMA News Roundup
Sean O'Malley's UFC 299 win takes him up in the pound-for-pound rankings. Elsewhere, Dustin Poirier spoke about struggling with his mental health.
Catch up with the top MMA updates below.
Sean O'Malley goes up UFC P4P rankings, Michael 'Venom' Page enters at welterweight
In the latest ranking update after UFC 299, Sean O'Malley went up two spots on the UFC pound-for-pound list and is currently at No. 6. Charles Oliveira and Alexander Volkanovski both fell a spot each to make space for 'Sugar'.
His division saw a new entrant at No. 12 - Kyler Phillips - owing to his win over Pedro Munhoz.
At lightweight, Dustin Poirier stayed firm at No. 3, while the fighter he beat, Benoit Saint-Denis, went up a spot despite the loss to be ranked at No. 11.
The UFC welterweight division saw quite a bit of stir. Michael 'Venom' Page entered at No. 13, while Jack Della Maddalena went up 6 spots to be placed at No. 5. Gilbert Burns fell to No. 6, and Colby Covington, without having fought, went up to No. 4.
Maycee Barber entered UFC women's pound-for-pound rankings at No. 15. She also went up to No. on women's flyweight rankings.
Read the full report here.
Dustin Poirier details mental health struggle after loss to Justin Gaethje
Dustin Poirier is as battle-hardened as they come, but his recent comments prove that looks can be deceptive.
During his recent appearance on Ariel Helwani's The MMA Hour, 'The Diamond' revealed that he struggled with his mental health after his loss to Justin Gaethje at UFC 291 where he got knocked out in the second round.
He said:
"After the Gaethje fight ... I went through some real mental struggles, man. I was going through some stuff. [It got] really bad, really bad ... It is very scary."
He added that it got to the point where he got worried for his well-being. However, watching Alexander Volkanovski being open and vulnerable about his emotions helped him realize that he was not alone in this feeling.
"Whenever I saw Volk talking and kind of expressing himself and being honest ... we're going through the same thing. I actually started doing therapy after the fight. I think its important to open up and talk about how you feel."
Watch his comments below:
Cedric Doumbe blames Marc Goddard for the PFL loss
Cedric Doumbe opened up about his recent loss at PFL France on The MMA Hour.
On March 7, Doumbe returned to the smart cage after his debut win over Jordan Zebo to face undefeated prospect Baissangour Chamsoudinov. Doumbe suffered a loss for the first time, but not because he was outclassed by his opponent.
In the third round, a splinter that got stuck in his toe triggered confusion, which led to Marc Goddard stopping the fight resulting in a bizarre stoppage.
The Cameroonian-born French told Helwani how he was uncomfortable about the splinter but was unable to convey the same to the referee due to the language barrier.
He said:
"If you see the footage, I tried to remove it by myself with the other foot. Didn't work, so then I raised my hand and talked to the referee. I said I have something under my foot as I didn't know how to say splinter. He said 'Don't stop. Keep going. Fight.' I was like 'Okay, he doesn't want to understand.'"
He added that his opponent was fine with him taking it out, and he was the one who paused to talk to the referee the second time.
Check out Cedric Doumbe's full comments below (2:37):