The last 24 hours have given shape to some interesting stories in the MMA world, involving some of your favorite UFC fighters. So, let’s take a deep dive into the biggest headlines in our new edition of the daily Roundup. To kick off this list, we’ll be talking about TKO’s board of directors member and Hollywood A-lister Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, especially about some information about his movie, ‘The Smashing Machine’.

Thereafter, we’ll be moving on to former Bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley, who reflected on his first encounter against now-champion Merab Dvalishvili and shared his thoughts on the upcoming rematch. Finally, we will end this news compilation with Conor McGregor, who was on the receiving end of some stern words from an MMA legend.

Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s movie on MMA legend gets its release date

Besides being one of the greatest WWE superstars (or professional wrestlers) of all time and being one of the biggest earners in Hollywood, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson also has a knack for mixed martial arts. He was even the first person to hand the UFC BMF title to the first UFC fighter to win it, who, at the time, was Jorge Masvidal.

It was all the way back in 2023 when the announcement came that Johnson was going to play the legendary Mark Kerr in his upcoming movie ‘The Smashing Machine’, and the fans even got to see ‘The Rock’s preparations for the role via his social media handles. But now, reports have claimed that the wait will be over soon as the movie is set to hit the theatres in the fall.

According to ‘Deadline’, the distributor of ‘The Smashing Machine’, A24, has decided that they will be releasing the movie on October 3, 2025. Apparently, pop star Michael Jackson‘s biopic, ‘Michael’, was supposed to be released on that day, but it has changed, and instead, Dwayne Johnson’s flick got that date. Now, it is only a matter of time before we find out if it lives up to the MMA community’s expectations.

We’d like to hear your expectations on this upcoming movie, but before that, let’s take a look at the next big news.

Sean O’Malley claims beating Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 316 is going to be big

Sean O’Malley wasn’t having it after he lost the fight and dropped the bantamweight belt to Merab Dvalishvili. However, ‘Suga’ recently claimed that it was always destined for them to fight in a rematch, which is going down at UFC 316. “I wasn’t supposed to win,” Sean O’Malley told his coach, Tim Welch, during a conversation on his YouTube channel. “This rematch was supposed to happen. It’s gonna make this win that much more crazy.”

Merab Dvalishvili has been on an incredible unbeaten run since 2018. During that time, he defeated the cream of the crop in the bantamweight division, and the list also includes Khabib Nurmagomedov‘s cousin, Umar Nurmagomedov. In fact, Dvalishvili handed ‘Young Eagle’ his first MMA loss. Sean O’Malley claims that if he beats ‘The Machine’ now, after he’s recorded so many feats on his resume, the win will be way sweeter than if he had emerged victorious at UFC 306.

‘Suga’ has made sure that he doesn’t come up short this time because he just recently came back to the internet as he was trying to improve as a fighter, and he credits Merab Dvalishvili for it. “If I would’ve beat Merab the first time, Merab was still considered like a stud. But now, he’s like, ‘Damn!’ He just beat me, beat Umar [Nurmagomedov],” Sean O’Malley added. “I’ll forever be grateful for Merab in that sense that he beat me, made me become a better, not just fighter, better person, better human.”

Well, we’re not that far away from UFC 316, but before we get to that PPV, let’s take a look at the final noteworthy news of this roundup edition.

Chael Sonnen tears into Conor McGregor and discusses his UFC return

Even though Conor McGregor has been away from the fight game for almost four years and has kept busy with his multiple businesses and his aspirations of becoming the Irish President, fans are still hoping that he’ll return someday. However, the former 3-time UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen has had enough, as it seemed through his recent statements. In a brutally honest analysis of the possibility of McGregor competing at the UFC level anymore, ‘The American Gangster’ claims that at this stage of his career, ‘The Notorious’ has nothing to come back for. And if he does, he won’t even stand a chance against even “the least experienced fighters.”

“We can go 55, we can go 70, we can make up a weight class. There isn’t an athlete under contract with the UFC located in Southern Nevada that he can beat, and I don’t even mean that to be a jerk,” Chael Sonnen stated on the ‘Good Guy/Bad Guy’ show. “We got a guy that can’t breathe for a full round, this is just a reality. There’s nothing to come back for.“

Conor McGregor had previously claimed that he’s going to retire, and maybe his UFC journey has indeed come to an end. Let us know what you think in the comments down below.