MMA Odds and Ends for Friday: Report: McGregor vs. Dos Anjos, Holm vs. Tate set for UFC 197

Report: UFC 197 adds Dos Anjos vs McGregor headliner, Holm vs Tate co-main event Champion vs. Champion at UFC 197? Apparently so. Bleacher Report’s Jeremy Botter is reporting the news that UFC featherweight champ Conor McGregor will fight lightweight champ Rafael Dos Anjos. Botter also mentions we could hear an official announcement from the UFC this weekend.

 

  McGregor (19-2) unified the UFC featherweight title in December, knocking out former champ Jose Aldo in 13 seconds at UFC 194. His goal of simultaneously holding multiple UFC titles (like he did in Cage Warriors) appears to be closer to reality then we all thought. Dos Anjos (25-7) is coming off an equally impressive a 66 second TKO victory over Donald Cerrone at UFC on FOX 17 last December. Holm (10-0) looks to defend her UFC bantamweight title for the first time since taking the bantamweight crown from Ronda Rousey at UFC 193. Tate (17-5) was initially set to battle former champ Rousey a third time after defeating Jessica Eye, but Holm ended up getting the next title shot instead. Stay tuned to MMAOddsBreaker once this story becomes official. Luke Rockhold suggests Chris Weidman rematch may be his next fight  UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold spoke to FOX Sports and revealed that his next matchup could be a rematch against former champion Chris Weidman We’ve talked and from what I see there’s a couple of fights on the table — there’s Yoel Romero and there’s Chris Weidman,” Rockhold said. “I think Chris Weidman, he’s been the longtime reigning champion, I know he’s begging for a shot. He’s been harassing Dana (White) from what I understand since the day after the fight and I’m not opposed to giving him what he wants if he really likes it. Yoel Romero, he had his opportunity to go show up and earn a title shot and I think he underperformed. I want a guy the fans are going to demand and want. Unfortunately he couldn’t fight the second and the third round. This is about selling a fight and making money and it’s business. As much as I want to go out and fight whoever, this is a long training camp, it’s a championship training camp and I want to do it for the right fight, the right pay cheque and the right time.” Joanne Calderwood to train at the famed Tristar Gym in Montreal UFC strawweight Joanne Calderwood is heading to Canada. Per Ariel Helwani on Wednesday’s edition of UFC Tonight, the former TUF 20 alumni  will head to Montreal’s esteemed Tristar Gym Saturday to see if the team is the right fit for her career moving forward. “I want to be around a world-level professional MMA team that will help take me to the next level and be a better fighter,” Calderwood told Helwani. “I knew I had to change unless I wanted to stay the same fighter, and that is not my case. I want to be the best and I’ve realized I need to go out there and be selfish and put my best interests first for my career. My dedication and my want for learning would be a waste. As for a fight, I’m going to give it four weeks to get settled and then see if Tristar would be happy [with] me fighting…April onward would be perfect,” Calderwood said. “I’m not one for calling anyone out as you know, but Rose got my fight and we both got fight of the season [on TUF 20] and I think it’d be an even better fight outside the house with her being with her team and me being a whole lot better fighter all around. But apart from that, [I’ll take] anyone.” Calderwood (10-1) was scheduled to face Paige VanZant at UFC Fight Night 80 on Dec. 10 before pulling out of the fight due to injury. Calderwood has gone 2-1 in the octagon with wins over Seohee Ham and most recently Cortney Casey at UFC Fight Night 72. Cerrone and two others fined by UFC after Reebok outfit policy violations The UFC has warned 12 fighters and fined three for violating their Athlete Outfitting Policy with Reebok per to Tracey Bleczinski, the UFC Senior VP of Global Consumer Products.  As a result UFC welterweight Donald Cerrone (and two other fighters who were not named) will see deductions in their sponsorship payouts after violating the policy. The UFC has kept the names private, but Cerrone already outed himself on social media. I sure did https://t.co/X3XkUJtMVX — Cowboy Cerrone (@Cowboycerrone) January 7, 2016   Lookin’ for a Fight: Episode 1 is now on Youtube Watch Dana White, Nick the Tooth and Matt Serra travel to Philadelphia and Atlantic City in the hope of adding a fighter to the UFC roster

Written by James Lynch

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Weekend Boxing Odds and Preview for Jan 9th

Matchmaker Pat Sullivan previews Tonight’s (Friday, January 8) CES 32 event