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A former UFC fighter claimed to have inside information on Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall and how Alex Pereira played into it. Elsewhere, Conor McGregor took to social media to criticize his country's government yet again.
Here are today's top combat sports updates, presented by Sportskeeda MMA.
Chael Sonnen shares UFC's alleged plan for Jon Jones
Chael Sonnen claims to have "inside information" on Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall. Speaking on Submission Radio, the former UFC title challenger said that the fight was verbally agreed upon before Alex Pereira fought Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 313.
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Sonnen said that had UFC failed to get the fighters to agree to the fight, Pereira would've been requested to move up to heavyweight as a Plan B:
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"They got a deal done with Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall, at least verbally... the night before [Alex] Pereira vs. [Magomed] Ankalaev. I'm only telling you that because if they had not got that deal done, then Pereira would've, in fact, been a pawn on the board. He would, in fact, right now, even off a loss, be a heavyweight. They would've got him out of the division completely. The only reason that was no longer needed, opening the idea of a rematch with Ankalaev... is because they ended up getting that piece of business done."
Sonnen added that 'Poatan' getting called out by Oleksandr Usyk also hinted at the same. He also predicted that Jones vs. Aspinall would take place in November in New York City, which is a widely-rumored idea.
Take a look at Chael Sonnen's comments below (15:08):
Conor McGregor accuses Ireland of "GENOCIDE"
Conor McGregor went off on social media at his home country's government again. This time, the former UFC double champion accused Ireland of breaching an Article of the United Nations Declaration.
He posted a picture of Article 8 of the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which serves as a global policy to preserve the rights of any country or region's indigenous inhabitants. McGregor captioned the post, alleging that the Irish government was in breach of the policy:
"Ireland's government is in breach of the U.N. Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples!!!! We are being put through a GENOCIDE BEFORE THE WORLD! Save Ireland NOW."
The UFC mega star has time and again claimed that Ireland's people and culture are being undermined by illegal immigration. He raised the same during his media scrum at the White House on St. Patrick's Day. He has also expressed interest in running for Ireland's president in the 2026 elections - a bid that has gained a considerable amount of support among the local citizens.
Jake Paul offers $4 million to a former opponent, but he has a condition
Jake Paul has dangled a $4 million offer to Tommy Fury, but only if the Brit can "legally get into the US." This comes after Fury made fun of Paul for trying to reportedly trying to negotiate a fight with Anthony Joshua.
Paul initially told Fury that the "ship has sailed" for a potential rematch. The pair first fought on Feb. 26, 2023, in Saudi Arabia, where Fury walked away with a split decision.
However, after Fury provoked Paul about avenging the loss, the latter said:
"You still drunk? You turned down $6M plus upside to headline Netflix against me. Your dadager and you may be the two dumbest dingbats the UK has ever created. Oh and you can’t travel to the US you wanker… Ship has sailed unless you take $3M and we run it in 2025."
Paul followed up with an altered offer shortly afterward, this time offering Fury a million more for fighting on US soil.
"I’m offering Tommy Fury $3M to fight me in 2025. The number is $4M if he can legally get into the US. Let’s see who is ducking who."
Fury was previously prevented from traveling to the US in August 2022 for the originally scheduled fight with Paul. He confirmed with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour afterward that he was banned from entering the country, and so is his elder brother, Tyson Fury.
While a visa issue was cited, it was widely rumored that the Fury family's close ties with Irish crime boss Daniel Kinahan were the real reason behind the ban. The mobster has a $5 million bounty on his head, as per The Mirror, and co-founded the boxing management company MTK Global, which represents the Furys.
When Helwani asked if the travel issues were related to Tommy posting a picture with Kinahan in early 2022, the boxer said: "I don't know."
