McGregor fed his rivals beer stew and poached fighter Chandler. New TUF 31 series
July 26, 2023
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And the opponent of the defector in the quarterfinals will be the Russian Valiev.
From the first frames of the new episode, we are shown quarterfinal couples: Austin Hubbard – Roosevelt Roberts, Kurt Holobo – Jason Knight, Brad Katona – Timur Valiev and Cody Gibson – Rico DiShullo.
Dana White has expressed his desire for three fighters from Chandler’s team to go to Conor McGregor. At the same time, the boss said that he respects the participants and leaves the decision to them.
In the end, the only one who agreed to go was Brad Katona. But this is not surprising. Brad trains in Ireland with Conor and has long expressed a desire to join the ex-UFC champion’s team.
At this time, Michael Chandler decides what he will do in this situation, since he needs to second both fighters at the same time. The team believes that they have become hostages of success. As a result, Chandler says that he will withdraw himself and will not second either Roberts or Hubbard, but the fighters will have people in the corners who will prompt them and answer questions that arise.
What was in the previous TUF series:
McGregor avoided the infamous anti-record in TUF. Saved from ridicule by a 36-year-old fighter
While preparations are underway for the fight, Conor McGregor came to visit the fighters and even prepares Irish beer stew for them according to a family recipe. Conor treats everyone, including the fighters from the Chandler team, and peacefully spends time with the participants of the show until the evening, after which he leaves.
At the weigh-in, Roberts missed the weight by literally 100 grams. Chandler recommends that Roosevelt cut his dreadlocks, and he agrees without hesitation and fits into the limit. The semi-finals will already have three rounds instead of two, and the stamina of the fighters becomes more important.
Since the fighters know each other very well, the duel starts with careful sighting. Roosevelt jabs and retreats, keeps his distance and, as Chandler expected, outperforms his opponent in pure boxing. Hubbard is more interesting, using different floors and trying to slow down the opponent. McGregor, by the way, also does not stand aside and shouts out tips to Roberts. Since the arena is completely silent, only Conor and the movement of the fighters around the octagon can be heard.
Hubbard started the second round more actively, pressing Roberts and went into the fight, where most of the round takes place. McGregor again gives hints to Roberts, and he, albeit not on the first try, managed to get out from under Austin and transfer the fight to the stand. Roberts confidently took the third five-minute due to control, who knitted in clinches and even showed some skills in wrestling.
What’s next for Conor’s career?
To the octagon or behind bars? McGregor’s career is falling apart
The fight turned out to be very close, no one knew who would win in the end. McGregor is confident that the judges will give a draw. Dana White, on the other hand, was completely unimpressed that the fighters acted too carefully, and made it clear that this was not necessary in the UFC. The head of the promotion didn’t even try to hide his annoyance.
As a result, Austin Hubbard won the fight by split decision and became the first finalist of the 31st season of TUF in the lightweight division.
In the next series, they announced the fight between the Russian Valiev and the “defector” Katona, who finally moved to McGregor’s team. We are also shown that Timur was visited by his star compatriot Islam Makhachev before the fight. We will find out next week if this helped Valiev.
