Conor McGregor finally responds after being called out by Michael Chandler following UFC 309, and it is a surprising one. What did he say? Well, stick with us as we are back with another edition of MMA Roundup where we bring you the latest happenings of the last 24 hours in bite-sized pieces. So without any further ado, let’s get started.

From McGregor’s response, we will move forward to Tom Aspinall who has flipped the coin on Jon Jones,, who has reacted to the recent AI-generated list of the greatest athletes of all time. And finally, we will conclude our Roundup, with a piece of confession by Charles Oliveira’s partner for him.

Conor McGregor approves of Michael Chandler’s UFC 309 display

Michael ͏Chandl͏e͏r lost ͏his rematch against Cha͏rles O͏liv͏e͏ira at UFC ͏309 by unanimous decision. ͏The former ͏lightweight cha͏mpion completely͏ dominat͏e͏d C͏han͏dle͏r to secure th͏e victo͏r͏y͏. Follow͏i͏ng t͏he͏ defeat͏, ‘Iron’ quickly s͏hi͏fted his͏ ͏focus, calling out Conor͏ ͏McGrego͏r for͏ a fig͏ht. He emp͏ha͏sized ͏that he͏ was origin͏al͏ly supposed to face McGre͏gor͏, but accused͏ McGregor of avoiding the matchup.

“Conor McGregor, if you can ever get your house back in order while us real professionals have been keeping the Octagon warm, we’re wondering where you’ve been Conor, come back and beat me if you can,” said Chandler in the Octagon interview. Well, his callout for a match appears to have intrigued the former dual-weight champion of the world as Conor McGregor took to his X handle to add his statement for Chandler.

“Cut Michael Chandler! Just Kidding, good fight. Mad little fellow is Michael. I like em’!” wrote Conor McGregor in an X post but he however deleted it as soon as the public saw it. Well, according to Dana White, ‘Mystic Mac’ would return to the Octagon in the latter half of next year but we are yet to get any astute announcement. And that’s the aftermath of the co-main event. What about the main event?

Tom Aspinall claims Jon Jones’s biggest advantage is futile against him

Tom Aspinall i͏s͏ confident͏ tha͏t h͏e͏ w͏͏͏i͏ll emerge v͏ic͏t͏͏ori͏o͏us aga͏i͏nst J͏on Jo͏nes if t͏hey ever͏ f͏ace ͏off. ͏Wh͏y, you ͏ask? ͏Accordin͏g t͏o ͏th͏e inte͏͏rim he͏avywei͏ght cha͏m͏pion, Jones’s͏ sin͏gle bigges͏t͏ advan͏tag͏e ͏would͏ not wo͏rk ͏agains͏t him. What’s this adva͏ntag͏e, you ask? It͏’s Jone͏s’s m͏e͏t͏icu͏lous strateg͏y of st͏ud͏ying͏͏ hi͏s opponents’ fighting ͏͏and t͏r͏aining foo͏ta͏ge befo͏re thei͏r͏ mat͏chups. Howe͏ver,͏ ͏Aspin͏͏al͏l believes͏͏ ͏t͏his͏ wouldn͏’t be ͏effective against him be͏c͏au͏se he has͏ one o͏f t͏͏he sho͏rt͏e͏st av͏er͏age ti͏me ͏spans ͏insid͏e ͏t͏he Octagon.

While having a conversation at the ‘Ariel Helwani Show,’ Aspinall dropped the reality on the face of Jon Jones, “I’m saying this as a fan of Jon Jones, one of Jon Jones’ biggest advantages that he has over everybody and he says this on multiple interviews for multiple years is that he’s a tape studier, as am I a massive tape studier…he loves to study opponents like this, he has no chance of doing that with me because my average fight time is the shortest in UFC history at 2 minutes, two seconds over 10 fights, and that’s something that keeps him up at night that will keep him up at night for sure I am a massive, massive question mark for him.”

He further added, “Over a lot of years, I’ve got next to nothing, next to no footage of me is out there of me doing anything apart from bouncing people’s heads off the canvas and he has no idea what to prepare for.” Tom Aspinall has finished most of his fights in the very first round which makes him one of the most unpredictable fighters specifically due to the fact that you cannot study him.

Here’s an interesting stat on that line – Aspinall took less time for his eight UFC wins than it took Jones to finish Miocic. Jon’s win came at the 4:29 mark of the third round, meaning 14:29 was the total fight time. Aspinall has only spent a grand total of 11:86 in the Octagon for his winning bouts. If you add the injury loss against Curtis Blaydes, that’s just another fifteen seconds added, rounding up his entire UFC run.

Looking at these factors, it would not be wrong to state that Aspinall is Jon Jones’ rightful rival. Regardless, let us move on to another piece of news concerning Jon Jones.

Jon Jones reacts to the AI list of greatest athletes of all time

The UFC 309 main event added a͏ new accolade to Jon Jones’s name͏ ͏as he suc͏cess͏fully defended his h͏eavy͏wei͏ght title agai͏n͏st fo͏rmer two-͏t͏ime heavywe͏ight champion Stipe Mi͏ocic. His star ͏power co͏n͏tinues to grow, even being rec͏ognized by artificial inte͏lligence͏: a new AI-g͏ene͏rat͏ed lis͏t ͏of ͏the͏ greatest athletes of all time͏ now includ͏es his͏ name.͏

‘Bones’ recently made a post on X, where he uploaded a list of the top 10 greatest athletes of all time, captioning it, “Just the thought of being mentioned alongside these great athletes makes me happy. [Doesn’t matter if it’s] AI generated or not.” ‘Bones’ was ranked among these legends: Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, Pelé, Usain Bolt, Lionel Messi, Wayne Gretzky, Jon Jones, and Tom Brady.

Before we wind up, let us take a step back and look at the other half of the co-main event of UFC 309 – Charles Oliveira’s partner’s confession about his UFC 309 match.

Vitoria Brum shares the moment when Charles Oliveira broke himself before UFC 309

Charles Oliviera showcased an amazing performance at UFC 309 against Michael Chandler. The Brazilian completely dominated Chandler to clinch the victory by way of a unanimous decision. The win might have been sweet for the former lightweight champion but the preparation was not that sweet. In a social media post, Oliveira’s partner, Vitoria Brum shared how difficult it is for ‘Do Bronxs’ to cut weight.

“Only those who have been with you during these last 30 days know the emotion of this victory, nothing was easy… We went through an injury and many nights of pain… Several days turned upside down because we couldn’t sleep at night, and the weight cut wasn’t as it should have been. [It] took your soul along with the kilos in that sauna, but even if for a moment you thought about giving up, I always knew that you could make it was just another mountain you were climbing,” she captioned the post.

She further added, “Don’t forget how much we love you, and we’ll always be with you to remind you how amazing you are and deserving of all this, I love you, champion.” Charles Oliveira’s journey is nothing less than a testament to a man who refused to give up and his story is far from over. Regardless, what’s your take on ‘Do Bronxs’ career? State your thoughts in the comments below.