MMA News Roundup – Dana White’s Snatches Money From Kelvin Gastelum, ‘Mini Khabib’ Hasbulla Gets Free Tickets by UFC CEO, Michael Chandler Trashes Conor McGregor With Ugly Shots

Are you getting tired of scrolling through the internet to find the biggest stories in MMA? Well, we have just the right thing for you as we present to you another edition of the daily roundup. Today’s compilation will start with Dana White. Apparently, the UFC CEO took some money out of Kelvin Gastelum‘s purse for the fight against Daniel Rodriguez.

Then, we will shift our attention to Dagestan’s social media sensation and ‘Mini Khabib’, Hasbulla, and find out what gift the 21-year-old has received from Dana White. Finally, we will sum up the news compilation with a distraught Michael Chandler, who fired some serious shots at Conor McGregor.

Dana White gives a portion of Kelvin Gastelum’s purse to Daniel Rodriguez

It was a great outing for Kelvin Gastelum at UFC Saudi Arabia as the 32-year-old registered his first 2024 win. He edged past Daniel Rodriguez with a unanimous decision win, but there was a catch! Gastelum’s opponent recently revealed that he’s signed a new deal with the UFC, that includes a total of six fights after accepting a risky fight at 185 pounds. That could have been one part of his reward from Dana White. But it was bad news for the former middleweight title contender.

Having struggled with trying to get down to 170 pounds, Kelvin Gastelum lost a staggering 30 percent of his fight purse for the Saudi Arabia fight. That 30 percent was given to Daniel Rodriguez, who revealed the news in an upbeat approach on social media. But what does this mean for Gastelum? Is he going to stay in middleweight or is he going down to welterweight? Only time will tell.

Free tickets for Hasbulla at UFC Abu Dhabi

The UFC will return to the Middle East again in August, but not in Saudi Arabia. The promotion will make their return to the UAE with a Fight Night card in August in Abu Dhabi. Khabib Nurmagomedov‘s cousin Umar will compete in the main event against the surging bantamweight contender, Cory Sandhagen. Ahead of the fight, Dana White went live on Instagram and had a conversation with Hasbulla, who was with Umar Nurmagomedov, enjoying a view from a Dagestani mountain. There, the social media influencer made a special request to the UFC CEO, and without any hesitation, White approved it.

Talking about the UFC’s Abu Dhabi event, Hasbulla, through Umar Nurmagomedov, who acted as a translator, stated, “He asks about tickets to my fight. Cory and me.” Dana White swiftly responded with another perk to the 21-year-old, “Done. Yes, you can come and sit with me.” When Nurmagomodev relayed the message to Hasbulla he seemed pretty excited. Now, it remains to be seen if Khabib’s cousin can make getting the free tickets worth it by defeating Cory Sandhagen.

Michael Chandler unpacks his frustration on Conor McGregor

After two years in the queue for a fight against Conor McGregor, everything fell off at the last second for Michael Chandler. It certainly crushed him to see the big-money fight getting scrapped as ‘Iron’ took to social media and sounded off on ‘The Notorious’ after he paid a visit to the 3A Arena for Bellator Dublin. That arena was the venue for the canceled presser and Chandler was triggered by the fact that an injured McGregor could show up for a Bellator event but not for his own fight.

“Speaking of showing up to events…glad you finally made it to the 3Arena where the press conference was supposed to be June 3rd. Sweet slippers. Who’s the Bellator Tick now? [Conor McGregor],” tweeted Michael Chandler. Interestingly, the “Bellator tick” comment was a reference to their verbal spat on TUF 31, when Conor McGregor looked down on ‘Iron’ for spending most of his MMA career in Bellator. Now, it remains to be seen how the Irishman reacts to these comments as he nurses his injury.