MMA News Roundup: Former UFC champion done with chasing title, Israel Adesanya describes lowest point of his career, Mark Zuckerberg shocks fans with JRE revelations

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 one former champion giving up on title aspirations, the Facebook CEO revealing concerning details on Joe Rogan's podcast, and more.

---

#3. "I had my last title run" - Rafael dos Anjos on UFC lightweight championship goals

Rafael dos Anjos done with title runs

Rafael dos Anjos is done and dusted with chasing the UFC lightweight title.

One of the mainstays in the UFC 155lbs division, dos Anjos has been eyeing to get his hands back on the belt ever since he lost it the first time to Eddie Alvarez. After an unsuccessful stint at welterweight, he tried to make his way back into lightweight contention with back-to-back wins over Paul Felder and Renato Moicano.

However, a loss to Rafael Fiziev pushed back his claim in arguably the most stacked division in the company.

Tired of the chase, the veteran now seems to have moved his attention towards building a lasting legacy (and making some money) by fighting other UFC legends in the division. 'RDA' has the likes of Jim Miller, Jorge Masvidal, and Tony Ferguson in mind.

"I had my last title run… and now it is time to fight people that motivates [sic] me to wake up and train. I have almost eight hours of octagon time…get me a veteran for a change! I would love to fight guys like Jim Miller, Jorge Masvidal or get my rematch with Tony Ferguson or [Clay] Guida."

Rafael dos Anjos previously lost a decision to 'El Cucuy' in his next fight after losing his lightweight title.

---

#2. Israel Adesanya revisits when fans badly turned on him

Israel Adesanya revisits lowest career moment

Israel Adesanya has been getting a lot of flak for his seemingly lackluster performances of late. Although his latest clash with Jared Cannonier is what fueled the recent criticisms, it all started with the Yoel Romero bout, which proved to be a show far from what was promised.

Fans rightfully expected a firecracker when the UFC matched up Adesanya and Romero, two of the most explosive fighters in the middleweight division. However, with Romero coming into the fight with a counterattacking game plan and Adesanya refusing to give in to the strategy and throwing kicks from the outside, the fight ended in an uneventful manner with the entire UFC 253 arena booing. Even Dana White admitted that it was a "terrible" fight later on.

The hatred that followed was the worst time of his career, Israel Adesanya admitted in a new video on his YouTube channel:

"After that fight I was like 'But I was fighting, he was just standing there! Why are you blaming me?'... That was the first time I was kind of like 'Ugh,' the fans turned on me in a way. I was like wait, what, now they say I'm s***? Like, did you not watch the fight before that? The one before that?... The Romero thing, that was the worst. It wasn't that worse, just the narrative and the voices that were loud. Probably the minority but they're the loudest voices, the eat a** c**s."

The UFC middleweight champion admitted that it was the fan criticism following the Romero fight that pushed him to go all in for the Paulo Costa fight, where he delivered a masterpiece in a dominant defense of his title and a thorough beating of the then-undefeated 'Borrachinha'.

Watch the video below:

---

#1. "It stinks of election interference" - Fans shocked with Mark Zuckerberg's story on Joe Rogan's podcast

Joe Rogan's recent guest on his podcast was Mark Zuckerberg

When the New York Post first published their "smoking-gun email" story and kickstarted the infamous Hunter Biden laptop controversy, Facebook played a role in initially suppressing the spread of the news, Mark Zuckerberg said on Joe Rogan's podcast.

The Meta CEO, who recently appeared on the JRE show, spoke extensively to the UFC commentator about how Facebook controlled how many people got to see the news on their platform while they fact-checked the news with a third-party agency. The action was taken at the behest of the FBI, warning them about the propagation of false news.

Twitter account @minds shared a clip of Zuckerberg talking to Rogan, which prompted a slew of responses from fans. Some were quick to point out how this was a violation of the First Amendment.

Read more tweets from fans here.

Zuckerberg testified regarding the same before the Senate two years ago in the lead up to the 2020 elections.