UFC veteran wants "one last dance", Dana White wants AI intervention, Conor McGregor reacts to Michael Chandler's loss: MMA News Roundup
A longtime UFC veteran wants to have one last fight before riding off into the sunset. Meanwhile, Dana White wants Artificial Intelligence to help with the promotion's rankings.
Here are today's top combat sports updates, presented by Sportskeeda MMA.
Dominick Cruz wants "one last dance"
Dominick Cruz wants to have one last fight before bidding farewell to the sport. Debuting in 2011 as the promotion's bantamweight champion, Cruz's career was interrupted by multiple injuries and lengthy layoffs.
Speaking with TMZ, the former 135 pounds titleholder shared that he wants to test himself to the "bitter death" one last time inside the octagon:
"I’ll tell you, I think I got a last dance, I want one last dance in me. Just go out there and have fun, and when I say fun, I mean fight to the bitter death and see what I have in me."
Cruz added that he wanted to fight in 2024 but matchups did not get negotiated in time.
"I wanted to get after it this year but it’s not looking like a matchup is getting negotiated exactly right the way that it is... But probably early next year is what’s going to work and line up."
Jon Anik suggested a rematch with Henry Cejudo on X. Under Anik's tweet, Cruz and Cejudo's manager Ali Abdelaziz got into a trade of barbs over a potential fight. 'Triple C' reacted to the exchange with a three-word tweet - "I like it."
Dana White seeks Mark Zuckerberg's help to fix UFC rankings
Dana White is once again furious that Jon Jones is not the UFC pound-for-pound No. 1 fighter and wants Mark Zuckerberg's help to correct it with Artificial Intelligence (AI). The latest rankings update after UFC 309 saw Jones climb one spot up the P4P list to be placed at No. 2 behind Islam Makhachev.
Reacting to the change, White wrote on Instagram Story:
"I have to get rid of these CLOWNS!!. @Zuck, let's get this AI deal done ASAP!!!!"
White had previously spoken about using AI to "fix the rankings."
The UFC has recently entered into a partnership with IBM, who will be the promotion's new Official Global AI Partner. The deal will help the promotion to get better insights into live fights, fighter tendencies, projection of fight outcomes, and more.
Conor McGregor reacts to Michael Chandler's loss to Charles Oliveira
Conor McGregor offered a rare praise to Michael Chandler after the latter's loss to Charles Oliveira at UFC 309.
The Irishman started the since-deleted tweet in his trademark dismissive manner, calling for Chandler to be cut from the promotion. But soon he changed his tone and said that he liked the man after all.
"Cut Michael Chandler! Just kidding, good fight. Mad little fellow is Michael. I like em'!"