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‘All over the place' – Conor McGregor brutally blasted for snubbing shock fight amid UFC hiatus

‘All over the place' – Conor McGregor brutally blasted for snubbing shock fight amid UFC hiatus

The Sun23-05-2025

CONOR MCGREGOR has been blasted by KSI for snubbing a lucrative boxing match on Alcatraz.
The UFC icon was on course to throw down with the social media sensation in a crossover boxing match on the former American prison Island.
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The shock showdown was seemingly trending in the right direction before former two-weight world champion McGregor walked away from the deal.
And KSI - real name Olajide Olayinka Williams Olatunji - has appeared to have given up hope of ever sharing the ring with The Notorious.
During an appearance on Misfits Boxing's YouTube Channel, he said: 'We had a fight set up and Conor said no.
"I don't know, it could be money, it could be his mindset [or] it could be a lot of reasons.
"Honestly, I don't think he knows what he's going to be doing the next day. He's all over the place.
"One minute, he wants to be the prime minister of Ireland, the next he wants to do a random side quest.
"Who cares. It is what it is. But let him do his thing. It is what it is. I'm going to just move on and do me."
McGregor, 36, claimed he pulled the plug on a bout with the YouTuber as the offer on the table didn't reflect his "worth".
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The Irishman said: " There was an opportunity, or should we say a deal, to fight on Alcatraz recently in June.
"And they came to me, and it wasn't my worth. As a fighter, we have to know our worth.
Conor McGregor explains reason for major career changes amid UFC 'plateau' as MMA return remains a mystery
"I hold every pay-per-view record in the book. I hold every gate record in the book."
McGregor hasn't fought since breaking his left leg in his trilogy fight with Dustin Poirier nearly four years ago.
He was set to return to the cage last June in a long-overdue showdown with Michael Chandler but pulled out of the bout with a broken left pinky toe.
The Irishman recently pleaded with UFC supremo Dana White to get the ball rolling on his comeback.
But the veteran promoter has poured cold water on the prospect of Mystic Mac fighting in the near future.
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The 55-year-old said: "He's not fighting anytime soon. I haven't talked to him in a minute.
"But yeah, I don't know when [he'll fight again]."
If McGregor does ever fight again, his next outing will be his first since being found civilly liable for assaulting Nikita Hand at a Dublin Hotel in December 2018.
The former two-division champion appealed the verdict returned at Dublin's High Court last November.
He hopes the introduction of new evidence will overturn the result of the civil trial.

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Heavy security and Messi on show as Club World Cup begins
Heavy security and Messi on show as Club World Cup begins

BBC News

time35 minutes ago

  • BBC News

Heavy security and Messi on show as Club World Cup begins

Lionel Messi and a heavy security presence were on show as the revamped Club World Cup got under way in the United States on city side Inter Miami, led by Argentine legend Messi, played out an entertaining goalless again Egyptian giants Al Ahly to kick off the were thankful to goalkeeper and man of the match Oscar Ustari for making a string of saves, including one from the penalty spot, to preserve a clean came close to opening the scoring in the second period with a free-kick and almost won it late on with an incredible, long-range strike but saw his effort acrobatically tipped onto the crossbar by Mohamed el event, which has been much maligned in some parts, may have started without a goal but finally the talk can be about the football - or can it? Police presence felt in Miami Matchday was the first time since arriving in Miami earlier this week that it felt like a significant tournament was about to get under the South Beach area, travelling Al Ahly supporters were enjoying lunch and drinks before the big Egyptian side had qualified as winners of the African Champions League and have serious pedigree, winning more league championships (45) and more titles on the continent (12) than any other club, but they could not translate that on to the global the Route 95 highway towards the stadium, advertising boards were showcasing the fixture, declaring it's "showtime" in true American last major game to be played at the Hard Rock Stadium took place 11 months ago when "a party almost became a tragedy" as ticketless fans forced their way in to the ground for the Copa America final between Argentina and Colombia, delaying kick-off by 80 learned a tough lesson and were taking no chances, making sure there was no repeat this time as police cars with flashing sirens lined the boulevards outside the that match and recent unrest in Los Angeles in mind, police officers with 'counter terrorism' logos patrolled the exterior of the venue and numerous security checks and bag searches were made before entry was needed extra time to make their way inside as they were forced to have further checks at a second perimeter remains to be seen whether the same approach will be taken in Sunday's fixtures, which take place in LA, Cincinnati, New York/New Jersey and Seattle. Fireworks, razzmatazz and almost some Messi magic Once through the extensive screening process, it was the first time supporters bearing 'Messi 10' shirts were spotted in the city - and the glaring pink and black shirts were out in their numbers."Messi, Messi, Messi" was the chant of choice from his adoring fans, just like it had been at Argentina's glorious run to winning the World Cup in Qatar three years former Barcelona forward sent an effort narrowly over and had another bending strike saved by El Shenawy, before curling a delightful free-kick into the side netting which many of the crowd thought had gone week leading up to the opening game featured apparent ticketing issues but Fifa president Gianni Infantino said he expected "a full stadium" with an "incredible atmosphere".He positioned himself in the stands at the centre of a front three, flanked by footballing icons Ronaldo of Brazil and Italian legend Roberto Infantino wanted and what he got were two different a glance around, thousands of empty green seats were clearly evident in the 65,326-capacity stadium and a crowd of 60,927 was announced in the second the presence of Messi, the sizeable travelling Egyptian contingent - who chanted and waved flags throughout - and an action-packed game made for a watchable with all American sporting events, it began with a rendition of the national anthem, with the singer accompanied by a large stars-and-stripes from the local Miami Dade College then carried out large badges of the 32 competing clubs before place them on to each letter of a vast 'Fifa' sign atop a podium in the centre of the pitch, leaving no doubt about whom this competition belonged rapper French Montana produced a hit in the pre-match build-up, there were fireworks aplenty and, to add further razzmatazz, each player was announced on to the pitch individually before their illustrious opponents, Miami had supposedly qualified through the back door, achieving the place after claiming the Supporters' Shield - coming top of the MLS in the regular season - before being beaten in the feel MLS Cup winners LA Galaxy would have been a better choice on merit, but that would have meant a Club World Cup without Miami and their main man club's co-owner and newly knighted Sir David Beckham was given a rousing ovation from supporters as he entered the stadium and there were even louder cheers as Messi's smiling face flashed up on the big he came close, the little magician could not provide a moment of inspiration for the expectant crowd in failed to win potentially their easiest group game and come up against Portuguese side Porto on Thursday."Clearly, when we find Leo in positions and get the ball to him in the best way, that's where we have the most options," said Miama manager Javier Mascherano."We take it game by game. We know that the level will clearly rise in the next game because they're a European opponent, but we have to stay with the feeling that it's 11 against 11."Anything can happen in football." Veteran Ustari takes plaudits The lengthy pre-match activity meant the match began six minutes later than the scheduled 8pm local kick-off Ahly should have been 2-0 up in the opening eight minutes, but goalkeeper Oscar Ustari stood big to keep out efforts from Wessam Abou Ali and Emam Argentina international Ustari was being kept busy, tipping Abou Ali's free-kick over the bar and making a sharp instinctive save to deny Achraf Dari's towering best of the lot came two minutes before half-time as the inspired Ustari dived the right way to keep out Mahmoud Trezeguet's penalty after the ex-Aston Villa player was bundled over in the box by Maximiliano half-time some entertainment was added to proceedings for the crowd as YouTuber iShowSpeed, who seems to be everywhere, Sergio Aguero, Pepe, Kaka, Alessandro del Piero and Youri Djorkaeff took part in a crossbar team could find a breakthrough in the second period, with Messi coming inches away, but it was 38-year-old former Sunderland man Ustari who took the plaudits."It was a great performance," he told DAZN. "We knew it would be difficult, so many of us are enjoying this experience for the very first time, including me at my age."I think we did really well."

Empty seats, exhausted players, excess heat – the tournament that could embarrass Fifa
Empty seats, exhausted players, excess heat – the tournament that could embarrass Fifa

Telegraph

time37 minutes ago

  • Telegraph

Empty seats, exhausted players, excess heat – the tournament that could embarrass Fifa

Judging by the stadium availability maps that present themselves on Fifa's official ticketing website for its Club World Cup, there may be many stadiums over the next few weeks in the United States where the crowds are massed in the stand that faces the cameras. Glance at the ticketing arrangements for some of the more problematic games for ticket sales, a pattern emerges. For Tuesday's collision of South Korea's Ulsan HD and Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa, only tickets on two sides of the Inter&Co stadium in Orlando are available. Of the two greyed-out stands only the area immediately behind one of the goals is available for sale and the cheapest tickets are just $11 (£8). It may well be the same for Mexico's Liga-MX Pachuca against Red Bull Salzburg in Cincinnati on Wednesday, although the pattern is harder to read in that respect. There seem to be large parts of the vast MetLife Stadium in New Jersey that have also been retired for Thursday's game between Palmeiras of Brazil and the Egyptian club Al-Ahly, although time will tell. There were still tickets available for the opening game between Al-Ahly and Inter Miami at the latter's Hard Rock Stadium in the hours before kick-off. Just a few hours left until the FIFA Club World Cup kicks off, and less than half the tickets are sold for the opening match. FIFA partnered with Miami Dade College after poor ticket sales. Every student who buys 1 ticket for $1 gets 4 extra tickets to help pack the stadium. — Cricket Business HQ (@cric_businessHQ) June 14, 2025 Of course, closing parts of a stadium to save on stewarding and concessions – and then pointing the cameras away – is an old trick that many sports deploy when ticket sales fail to meet expectations. Fifa's dynamic pricing model – a euphemism for wringing the most out of the paying fan – means that the price in some cases is starting to shift. There have been suggestions that Fifa has been obliged to refund part of the cost paid by some supporters who bought their tickets early, only for the price to fall dramatically. As of Saturday one could watch Bayern Munich play the amateur side Auckland City, from New Zealand, on Sunday for as little as $52 (£38) in Cincinnati. But if Bayern reach the final at the MetLife on July 13, the cheapest available ticket is currently $657.71 (£484.86) as a resale on the official site. The size of the crowds has the potential to be an embarrassment for Fifa in the early rounds of the competition at least. There are many ways, when it comes to the television coverage, that a skilful match director can conceal the swathes of empty seats but nothing that anyone can do to stop those attending the game posting pictures of empty seats on social media. The Fifa president Gianni Infantino insisted that his Club World Cup project was played in the bigger stadiums rather than those smaller stadiums in the next tier, many of which were MLS only. Fifa is not saying much when it comes to ticketing other than that its biggest ticket sales have been in the US, followed by Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Canada. The sales of tickets in Britain is only 11th on the list behind France, Japan, Germany, Portugal and Saudi Arabia. At a Fifa event last week, Infantino said he expected 'a full stadium' for the opening game between Miami and Al-Ahly, and doubtless efforts were made with discounts and other offers. It is a reminder that this is a tournament that has not been driven in any way by match-going fan demand. Instead the match-going fans have been retro-fitted around it. The tournament itself, as has been well trailed, is a political play by Infantino to make an incursion into the lucrative broadcast rights for the elite club game – by which one means Uefa and the Champions League primarily. The location and the suitability or otherwise for a global, international tournament has been largely incidental. It ended up in the US because of the proximity of next summer's Fifa men's World Cup but it was originally intended in 2021 for China. There may well be big attendances at some of the games, and perhaps the latter stages might even attract the kind of sell-out crowds of big venues like the MetLife of which Infantino has dreamed. But that is not why the tournament was conceived. There was no groundswell of opinion that the fans wanted a 32-team summer tournament that would settle the argument once and for all as to whether Mamelodi Sundowns were a better side than Ulsan HD, or indeed that there must be a world champion. At least not a world champion that took four weeks and 63 games to decide. There was none of the fascination that existed, for example, in the post-war years with the relative merits of one style of European club football over another, which led to the establishment of the European Cup. This was entirely confected to demonstrate that Fifa and its president could create a tournament that might rival the Champions League. One so totally out of kilter with the rhythm of club football that it needed someone to tell Fifa that players' contracts could conceivably expire midway through it unless they changed the rules. It has been an extraordinary demonstration of the power of a Fifa president – who has pushed it through regardless of legal challenge and widespread opposition. Ideally for Infantino most of the big European teams stay in it to the end as well as a selection of the South Americans. It may suit the streamer DAZN and all its sub-licensees if the European teams dominate but, for Infantino, it will look like an unnecessary re-run of the Champions League. The best chance that challengers from South America and elsewhere might have is the indifference of some of those European-based players after a long, hard season and the punishing temperatures of the eastern US in summer. Bad for the players, but good for business. That said, the shortest-priced non-European with the bookmakers is Brazilian club Flamengo at around 33-1, placed behind nine European clubs in terms of the favourites. Either way, come July 13, one would get very long odds on Infantino declaring it anything other than a huge triumph. It does not matter how many seats are empty, how tired some of the players look or whether the wealthiest European clubs dominate the final stages – or whether some flop in the US heat. Infantino has got his tournament and all else will be secondary to that.

Jorge Polanco's RBI single in 9th lifts Mariners past Guardians
Jorge Polanco's RBI single in 9th lifts Mariners past Guardians

Reuters

time39 minutes ago

  • Reuters

Jorge Polanco's RBI single in 9th lifts Mariners past Guardians

June 15 - Jorge Polanco grounded a bases-loaded single into center field with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Seattle Mariners rallied to defeat the visiting Cleveland Guardians 4-3 Saturday night, Trailing 3-2 heading into the bottom of the ninth against Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase (4-1), Dominic Canzone lined a leadoff single to right. Pinch-runner Dylan Moore stole second and pinch-hitter Miles Mastrobuoni walked before rookie Cole Young advanced both runners with a sacrifice bunt. The Guardians intentionally walked J.P. Crawford to load the bases. But Moore raced home on a wild pitch to tie the score. Clase struck out Julio Rodriguez before an intentional walk to Cal Raleigh re-loaded the bases. Polanco grounded a 1-1 cutter up the middle as the Mariners won for just the third time in their past 11 games. Jose Ramirez homered for the Guardians, who lost for the seventh time in their past nine. Mariners reliever Jackson Kowar (1-0) got the victory. Trailing 2-0, the Guardians scored single runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings to take the lead. With one out in the fourth, Carlos Santana and Daniel Schneemann singled. Nolan Jones lined a two-out double to left-center field to score Santana. Ramirez tied it with two outs in the fifth, curling a shot around the right-field foul pole off Mariners starter George Kirby. The Guardians took the lead in the sixth off reliever Gabe Speier. Schneemann led off with an infield single and advanced to third on Jones' one-out single to right. A wild pitch by Speier allowed the go-ahead run to score. The Mariners got off to a strong start as Crawford led off the bottom of the first with a single to right, stole second and took third on Rodriguez's bloop single to center. Raleigh doubled off the right-field wall to open the scoring and Polanco hit a sacrifice fly to center to make it 2-0. Both starters went five innings. Cleveland right-hander Tanner Bibee allowed two runs on four hits with three walks and three strikeouts. Kirby gave up two runs on five hits. The right-hander walked three and struck out five. --Field Level Media

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