Sandi’s MMA Brief:

Sandi’s MMA Brief:

By Sandi Martin 

UFC Calgary Ratings:

The preliminary ratings for UFC on Fox 30 in Calgary are in and they are not good. In fact, according to Dave Meltzer, the event only posted 1,461,000 viewers in fast nationals, the Nielsen ratings overnight numbers. This broke the previous low set by January’s Jacare vs. Brunson, which only had 1,593,000 viewers in fast nationals.

The final number will rise slightly for the card headlined by Dustin Poirier and former champion Eddie Alvarez because the main event didn’t start until just past the 10 p.m. cut-off time. Nielsen ratings only measures from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., which is the scheduled time slot for the show, when returning the fast nationals overnight.

UFC 227 Correia vs. Aldana bout cancelled:

Women’s bantamweights, Irene Aldana and Bethe Correia will not fight at UFC 227. It was reported that the California State Athletic Commission didn’t approve Correia due to her eye surgery that took place in October that first prevented this matchup from first happening in January.

Aldana later confirmed the fight cancellation herself on Instagram.

DWTNCS:

The seventh week of the 2018 season of Dana White Tuesday Night Contender Series began with heavyweight Juan Adams’ first round TKO of opponent Shawn Teed with some impressive ground and pound.

Fight fans were treated to 4 more exciting finishes including a second round TKO of Mitchell Sipe by Don’tale Mayes, who survived some big shots in the first round before claiming victory in the second round.

Ian Heinisch scored a violent first round KO when he blasted Justin Sumter with a series of violent elbows on the ground. Jordan Griffin bested Maurice Mitchell in the first round via rear naked choke after first stunning him with a strike that knocked his mouthpiece out.

Finally the show concluded with Roosevelt Roberts dominating Garret Gross on the ground to ultimately achieve a second round rear naked choke.

Dana White awarded 4 UFC contracts to Juan Adams, Ian Heinisch, and Roosevelt Roberts, and Jordan Griffin.

UFC Lightweight Title Fight: McGregor vs. Khabib:

The internet was buzzing on Tuesday with rumours that a date had been set for unbeaten Russian, Khabib Nurmagomedov to defend his UFC Lightweight Title against the returning Conor McGregor, a matchup that has even the most casual fans salivating with anticipation. It seems the UFC is hoping to schedule the fight in Las Vegas on October 6th at UFC 229, but UFC 232 on December 29th is also a possibility if contract negotiations drag on.

McGregor held the belt right up until Khabib stepped into the Octagon against Al Iaquinta at UFC 223 back in April, when the UFC officially stripped him. Khabib was supposed to fight Max Holloway in April after Tony Ferguson pulled out with a knee injury, but Holloway was declared unfit to compete by the NYSAC when his weight cut caused medical complications.

McGregor said in a video interview published by TMZ on Tuesday that his next UFC fight probably won’t be in New York — it’ll be in Las Vegas. “We’ll see what happens,” McGregor said. “I’d love to fight in the Garden again. But I believe this one is Las Vegas.”

Khabib’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, made somewhat conflicting comments at the UFC 227 media luncheon about his client’s desire for a pay-out of 10 million, but insisted that the fight would not happen without a guaranteed pay-out that exceeds the reported 2 million that Nate Diaz received to fight the former champion. Only Dana White and the UFC know if that’s a real possibility or not and they’re of course, staying mum on the issue.