Good morning, MMA fans! Welcome to the MMA News Tracker! Here are some of the latest happenings across the world of MMA.
The UFC 282 commentary team is set. Jon Anik, Joe Rogan, and Daniel Cormier will be on duty for the final PPV of 2022. The desk analysts will include Anthony Smith and former UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz, with Ashley Brewer serving as the host for the post-fight show.
Last month, Israel Adesanya was briefly detained for possessing brass knuckles at JFK Airport. Adesanya was charged with criminal possession of a weapon and was ordered to appear in court on Tuesday, where he was issued an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal.
If Adesanya stays out of trouble over the next six months, all charges will be dropped.
There were a couple notable changes this week in the official UFC rankings. Arguably the most significant change took place in the heavyweight division, with the streaking Sergei Pavlovich moving up three spots to #3 after knocking out Tai Tuivasa in the first round at UFC Orlando. Tuivasa dropped one spot down to #5, and Curtis Blaydes dropped one spot to #4.
There are also some new faces in the rankings. At bantamweight, T.J. Dillashaw’s retirement opened the door for Said Nurmagomedov to appear in the rankings at #15 and Cory Sandhagen has now cracked the top 5 at #5. Fighters #14-5 all moved up one spot due to Dillashaw’s exit from the rankings.
Another new face has emerged in the featherweight division, with Jonathan Pearce debuting at #15 after dominating Darren Elkins at UFC Orlando.
But the biggest jump of all took place at middleweight, with Roman Dolidze going from unranked to #8 after his TKO victory over Jack Hermansson at UFC Orlando. Hermansson is now ranked #9, and fighters ranked #10-15 each dropped one spot.
You can check out all the changes and the complete UFC rankings right here.
UFC 282 has had its fair share of changes and cancellations, and you can add one more to the list. Antonio Trocoli is out of his fight against Ovince Saint Preux due to visa issues.
This marks the third opponent who has fallen through for Saint Preux for this event, with Alexander Gustafsson and Philipe Lins pulling out prior to Trocoli, who has now been released from his UFC contract. The promotion is actively seeking a short-notice replacement.
Finally, in what has been a very active Twitter week for Conor McGregor, he issued the following reaction to a photograph of Dustin Poirier‘s infected foot. This comes after McGregor had already made fun of Poirier’s hospital stay this week.
“karma the left paw an all hahaha chop that thing off keep it for Halloween pal hahahaha,” McGregor wrote in a since-deleted tweet.
Fortunately, Dustin Poirier provided a positive update on his status Tuesday, revealing that he was set to be released from the hospital after antibiotics helped treat the infection.
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