Michael Chandler facing stiff competition for the Conor McGregor fight, things going from bad to worse for Muhammad Moakev, and a seemingly distasteful comment about Francis Ngannou’s late son. A lot of smoke and fire in the MMA reals over the last 24 hours. Wait, you’re not up to speed on all of this? Well, we have you covered with the latest edition of the daily roundup.

We’ll start with lightweight star Dan Hooker. Apparently, the New Zealand fighter believes Conor McGregor should consider fighting him instead of Michael Chandler, who’s been waiting for a long time, perhaps too long. Thereafter, we’ll shift our attention to Muhammad Mokaev, who opened up after going through a horrific accident in Dagestan. Finally, we will end this compilation with PFL’s Renan Ferreira, who seems to have turned the MMA world against him after he made a distasteful comment about Francis Ngannou, but he’s opened up about it.

Dan Hooker wants Conor McGregor to fight him

Dan Hooker was in for a challenge at UFC 305, but he comprehensively defeated Mateusz Gamrot, who many thought would have been the winner last weekend. ‘The Hangman’, thereafter, took the opportunity to make that dream callout to Conor McGregor, who’s slated to fight Michael Chandler in his comeback clash inside the Octagon. Recently, Hooker claimed that ‘The Notorious’ should opt to fight him than ‘Iron’, who’s been on the sidelines waiting for that ‘red panty’ night for about two years. But why? Well, the Kiwi claims “it’s a smart option.”

“You’re going to fight a guy in the top five on a three-fight win streak? Or are you going to fight a guy who’s not in the top five and coming off a loss?” That’s what Dan Hooker told ‘Submission Radio’, indicating that a win over him would prove to be a lot more beneficial for Conor McGregor than fighting Michael Chandler, whose record is somewhat similar to the Irishman. What do you think about this matchup? Before you opine on it, take a look at the next story.

Muhammad Mokaev provides an update after crashing his Mercedes-Benz

Things have gone from bad to worse for former UFC fighter Muhammad Mokaev after his departure from Dana White‘s promotion. Even though he denied accusations that he had been negotiating deals with rival promotions while in contract with the Las Vegas-based company, the UFC CEO was not willing to bring him back. Even PFL doesn’t seem to want him either, and if these professional problems weren’t enough, Mokaev saw himself involved in a serious car crash in Dagestan, in a car he apparently bought a few hours before the incident.

After hours of silence on that incident, Muhammad Mokaev finally shared an update, claiming that there’s nothing to worry about. “Alhamdulillah I’m well, out from hospital. Thank u for the support,” wrote the 23-year-old on X. It was surprising to see that he’s well out of hospital after such a serious crash because the snaps from the incident made many fans concerned. However, Mokaev has promised to return better than ever, and said, “I have been tested on high level at this stage of my career and I will be back stronger InshaAllah!” Now, let’s have a look at our final story, involving Francis Ngannou.

Renan Ferreira faces backlash for unintentional ill-fated comment on Francis Ngannou

The boxing venture is on hold for Francis Ngannou as he prepares for his PFL debut against the big Brazilian, Renan Ferriera. As we all know, ‘The Predator’ went through one of the toughest phases of his life when he lost his 15-month-old son, Kobe, a few months ago. He was even contemplating whether he would continue his fighting career or not. However, Ferreira doesn’t seem to care too much about what happened with Ngannou, as he claims that he will give Francis Ngannou “the toughest challenge in his life.”

These comments inadvertently backfired as many fans took offense with Renan Ferreira. Empathizing with Francis Ngannou, one fan said, “Francis is gonna hurt this man,” while some fans also took a shot at the Brazilian, claiming that he’s nowhere on ‘The Predator’s level. One of those fans stated, “Disrespectful B league moron.” However, Ferreira claims that he did not mean the comments in the way that people interpreted them.

“I saw a few things came out in the press that were completely distorted when speaking about Francis, saying that I was the biggest problem for him this year, but I was referring to the fight,” said Renan Ferreira on Instagram. Do you think Francis Ngannou’s fired up after these comments? Drop your comments below.