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MMA News Roundup: Ronda Rousey Slamming Joe Rogan and MMA Media Stuns UFC Legend; Dana White Faces Setback on Islam Makhachev’s UFC 302; Conor McGregor Comes Out as Most Tested Athlete

Published 04/26/2024, 6:42 AM EDT

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There have been some several interesting developments in the world of MMA over the last 24 hours. To help you keep up with other most noteworthy moments from our favorite sport, we present to you yet another daily roundup edition. We will start with UFC legend Chael Sonnen expressing his thoughts on Ronda Rousey slamming Joe Rogan. Then we will turn our attention to Dana White, who suffered the first blow with UFC 302. Finally, we will end today’s new compilation with Conor McGregor, who has emerged as the most-tested UFC athlete of 2024.

Chael Sonnen weighs in on Ronda Rousey taking aim at Joe Rogan

Ronda Rousey has been busy promoting her new autobiography, ‘Our Fight‘. As such, she recently appeared in an interview and fired shots at people in the media sphere who she thinks turned their backs on her. One of those people is longtime UFC commentator Joe Rogan. When UFC legend Chael Sonnen weighed in on the situation, he claimed that Rousey doesn’t understand the fight business.

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“I watched an interview with Ronda Rousey and it was just, it was so awesome,” Chael Sonnen stated on his YouTube channel. “It was awesome to see a person, who they, themselves, was a benefactor and then left the competitive sports world to go into the entertainment sports world, came out the other side and still doesn’t understand [the fight business].”

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Chael Sonnen did not mean to insult Ronda Rousey with his assessment, but he claimed to be fascinated by the concept of people turning their backs on her. He believes that the media will always report things the way they are, and media personnel can still remain friends with the fighters they talk about in their reports.

“If you were to comment on either her offense or her defense or a lack thereof, I don’t think that would stop you from maintaining your friendship,” Sonnen added. We will have to wait and see how Ronda Rousey reacts to this response and also what Joe Rogan would say about the claims the former UFC women’s bantamweight champion made.

Dana White suffers first UFC 302 blow

With the wrap-up of a successful UFC 300 pay-per-view, Dana White is now looking forward to his promotion’s next event, UFC 301, while also working to set up fights for the UFC 302 Islam Makhachev headliner. While the main event of 302 will feature the lightweight championship up for grabs between the Dagestan native and Dustin Poirier, a flyweight fight on the card has been canceled.

Su Mudaerji, who was scheduled to take on Joshua Van, has pulled out of the fight because of an undisclosed reason. As such, Iridium Sports Agency has reported that Japanese star Tatsuro Taira has now stepped in as the replacement for ‘The Tibetan Eagle’ on June 1. We will have to wait for further developments on this front to find out what was the reason for Mudaerji’s pullout.

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Conor McGregor tops the most-tested fighters list

When Conor McGregor’s return was not announced, many fans and MMA personalities believed that the Irishman may have been on certain substances. This was because the former double champion looked significantly bigger than he’d ever been, with some visible changes in his physical appearance. But in the wake of the announcement of McGregor’s return, he has become the most tested UFC fighter in 2024.

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According to reports, with the introduction of the new drug testing program with Drug Free Sport International, the least number of tests administered on a particular fighter was three. Meanwhile, Conor McGregor topped the list with seven tests so far, followed by his former rival Jose Aldo, who’s rooting for him to win against Michael Chandler, with five tests in 2024. It remains to be seen how many more times ‘The Notorious’ will be tested as we’re yet to complete even the first half of this year.

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Written by:

Himanga Mahanta

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One take at a time

Himanga Mahanta is a senior UFC writer at EssentiallySports. An all-rounder in his coverage of the sport, Himanga is a reliable voice with a knack for providing analytical coverage of breaking stories from the world of MMA. His 1700+ articles include perspective pieces on trending UFC stories, and both live and post-event coverage of weekly events.
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Edited by:

Sakshi Jain