MMA News Roundup: Khamzat Chimaev Dismissed Colby Covington’s Title Contendership; PFL Founder Reveals Details About the Deal With Francis Ngannou; Undefeated Welterweight Star Challenges Kelvin Gastelum

The world of MMA has a lot of news lined up for fans around the world. But fans might have missed some eye-catching headlines from the previous day because other noteworthy events occurred as well. Therefore, we are here with our daily MMA news roundup to provide you with a summary of a few noteworthy MMA world incidents from the last 24 hours.

Today, we will start with the news of Khamzat Chimaev dismissing Colby Covington‘s title credentials. Then we’ll have a look at what the PFL founder had to say about the inclusion of Francis Ngannou in their promotion. Lastly, we will talk about an undefeated fighter challenging Kelvin Gastelum for a fight in his welterweight return.

Khamzat Chimaev dismissed Colby Covington’s credentials as a credible title contender

UFC president Dana White confirmed Colby Covington as the next contender for the welterweight title after Leon Edwards‘s win over Kamaru Usman at UFC 286. However, Khamzat Chimaev doesn’t like that decision. ‘Borz’ recently uploaded a video on his YouTube channel and criticized ‘Chaos’ credentials as the next title contender. He said, “They [UFC] Colby that chance [title shot]. When he wins his last fight, I don’t remember his name. Who did he win against? Nobody.”

Chimaev had little to no regard for Covington’s achievement in the promotion. He claimed that he might have gotten the title shot because he’s from the USA. He added, “He’s sh*t, and they gave that chance for him because maybe he’s from USA. They want the belt for him because I am from Sweden, [and] I live in Dubai.” 

PFL founder comes clean about the deal regarding Francis Ngannou

The PFL faced a lot of criticism from Dana White when they recently signed Francis Ngannou. Founder Donn Davis disclosed the truth about the situation. He suggested that money was not the real motive for the French-Cameroonian fighter. He said, “Francis was offered more money to go elsewhere… this deal was really about everything OTHER than money.”

Davis also mentioned that the money they offered Francis Ngannou in his contract is the same amount the UFC wanted to pay him during the failed negotiations.

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Donn Davis added, “Being chairman of PFL Africa, guarantee opponent pay, min. $1 million..the money we offered him was the same money the UFC were offering him.” He cited the PFL Africa project as one of the main reasons behind Ngannou’s inclusion in the PFL.

Undefeated fighter challenges Kelvin Gastelum for his welterweight return fight

Shavkat Rakhmonov has been on a legendary 17-o run and is still undefeated in the UFC with a 5-fight winning streak. Following Kelvin Gastelum‘s announcement of returning to the welterweight division, the Kazakh fighter took to social media and issued a challenge to ‘The Ultimate Fighter 17’ winner. Rakhmonov tweeted, “Should I be the one to welcome Kelvin back to 170? [Dana White] [Sean Shelby]”

Kelvin Gastelum took a two-year break from fighting. However, he returned to UFC 287 and defeated Chris Curtis by putting on a ‘Fight of the Night’ performance with a unanimous decision to win. He may find himself back in the welterweight division if he decides to accept the offer to fight the undefeated 6th-ranked Rakhmonov.

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Some more MMA news:

• Khamzat Chimaev refuses to make weight despite warnings from Dana White
• Islam Makhachev picks his next opponent
• Jake Paul sends disrespectful DMs to UFC HOFer Michael Bisping