Ahead of ͏UFC 309, Jon Jones see͏ms to h͏ave made a͏nother ͏p͏roposition to th͏e ͏promotion, and to no one’s surprise, it doesn’t inv͏ol͏ve͏ Tom A͏sp͏inall. ͏Instead, it͏ conc͏erns Ale͏x ͏Pereir͏a. ͏What’s the pr͏oposal about? Stay tuned as we͏ bring you ͏another episode of MMA ͏Roundup, where we’ll cover the late͏st h͏appeni͏ngs fr͏om͏ the past 24͏ ho͏urs in͏ bite-sized pieces͏.

Followi͏ng ͏Jon Jones’͏s announcement, w͏e’l͏l move on to͏ Conor M͏cGregor, who se͏emingl͏y ͏praised͏ a soccer pl͏a͏yer ͏out of nowh͏ere. We’ll then concl͏ud͏e the͏ episode w͏i͏th an unexpected ͏callout ͏from ONE C͏hampio͏nship’s Rueg Rueg, ch͏allengi͏ng PFL’s hea͏vyweight champion Fran͏cis Ngannou. So, without further ado, let’s get started!͏

Jon Jones might compete once again before retirement

After calling for his ͏retiremen͏t fo͏r mont͏hs, it appears that the heavyweight ͏champi͏on, Jon J͏on͏es, ma͏y have planned another outing before hangng up his gloves. UFC 309 is rig͏ht aro͏und the ͏corner, and ͏many an͏ti͏c͏ipa͏te͏ that ͏both ͏Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic will retir͏e from the sport. However, J͏one͏s has ͏made a͏ st͏artling r͏eve͏lation that͏ has caught the ͏entire͏ MMA͏ commu͏ni͏ty off guard.

While having a conversation with the media, Jon Jones stated that the only thing that would divert his retirement plans would be a fight against the light-heavyweight champion Alex Pereira. He said, “It’ll be cool to fight over the heavyweight championship but I would also willingly give up the heavyweight championship. I walked away from the light heavyweight championship and I’d love to walk away from this one as well.”

He further added, “Fighting Pereira for the BMF belt, that would be cool. We both have two belts in two weight classes and the night we fought we would be both fighting for our third belt, which would be the BMF. How cool would that be?” Jon Jones emphasized that he would relinquish his title for a clash against Alex Periera only if the UFC makes another title for their fight. Well, now that we know about Jon Jones’s intentions, let us move on forward to Conor McGregor.

Conor McGregor’s unexpected appreciation of Le Tissier

Conor McGregor appeared to have made an unexpected appreciation about the former English footballer celebrated across the nation for his exceptional textbook soccer skills, which include precise passing, long-range goals, and free kicks. The former dual-weight champion of the world took to his Instagram handle to share a video of Le Tissier’s freekick on his story and captioned it as, “One of the best ballers all time.”

Born on October 14, 1968, Tissier spent his entire career at Southampton from 1986 to 2002, making 540 appearances and scoring 209 goals. The soccer player was renowned for his creative approach to using the ball in such a manner that his opponents would just get confused. Well, Despite his club’s success, his international career was limited to just eight caps, with many feeling his talent deserved more recognition on the global stage.

Le Tissier also holds numerous records at Southampton, including being their all-time top scorer in the Premier League with 161 goals. The soccer player was immensely popular in the Great Britain region due to this and Conor McGregor’s appreciation shouldn’t come as a surprise considering he is Irish. Regardless, let us move on forward to a random callout from Oumar ‘Reug Reug’ Kane to Francis Ngannou.

Oumar Kane wants to clash against Francis Ngannou

Omaur ‘Reug Reug’ Kane promised that he would be the first athlete to defeat the first three-division champions of ONE Championship, Anatoly Malykhin and that’s what he did when he went past the Russian to became the new heavyweight champion of the world. The 32-year-old fighter lived up to his words as he defeated Malykhin by way of a split decision. Well, now that he has achieved the heavyweight belt, ‘Reug Reug’ appears to be in the mood to go against the ‘Predator’ himself.

The new heavyweight champion of the world took to his Instagram to share an image featuring a fight banner between Francis Ngannou and himself, captioning it with, “@yodchatri The Boss, you were happy to make @francisngannou vs Anatoly happen I beat the guy, so let’s make the biggest fight in African history @francisngannou vs Reug Rueg / @pflmma vs @onechampionship I know @pflmma , @kogan_mike , @jamesfrewin_ @eduardocunhalima @danhardymma @jamesteers will say yes, and it’ll be the greatest honour of my fight career Everyone has told me I can’t beat who’s in front of me every fight, so let’s test it against the greatest African MMA star in history, Let’s show the world what we can do!!!”

This challenge by the new champion has garnered the attention of many prominent individuals within the combat sports community, but Francis Ngannou has yet to make any statement on it. Regardless, what’s your take on the hubbub? State your thoughts in the comments below.