Donald Cerrone rejects the idea of retiring off a disappointing loss, Conor McGregor calls out Gregor Gillespie, Marina Rodriguez wants a top-three fight and more — this is your UFC Vegas 26 fallout roundup.
Donald Cerrone quiets retirement talk: "I'll never go out like this"
Donald Cerrone has no plans on retiring off a defeat.
Cerrone suffered a tough, first-round TKO loss to Alex Morono at UFC Vegas 26. "Cowboy" reflected on the poor performance and what his future holds in store.
“It’s just a rough day in the office,” Cerrone told ESPN after the fight (h/t MMA Fighting). “This game can get changed, all it takes is one big shot. He hit me with a good one, set me back. Hit me with another one. I could hear my coaches say grab a hold of him and it’s like I don’t know if I can take three of them."
“The kid came hungry, ready, no excuses on my end. I was ready. We warmed up great, came out started early, who knows.”
Cerrone confessed the defeat was tough to swallow.
“Heartbroken for sure,” Cerrone said. “I don’t know. Don’t know what to answer you on is it that time. I don’t know. I don’t feel like it but how I feel and how I perform are two different things. It sucks. Who knows. I wanted to go back to 55, those boys at 70 hit hard, they’re big boys, but like I said, no excuses. That kid came in, he was ready."
“It’s definitely hard to break a streak, isn’t it? I need to break the damn streak cause it’s brutal. I wish I had the answers but I don’t."
Some fans are calling for Cerrone to retire, but that is the last thing on his mind.
“Absolutely not [my last fight]. No way. I’ll never go out like this,” Cerrone said. “I will, 100 percent I’ll know [it’s the last fight] and I’ll come in and sh*t hopefully I go in whipping ass right off. There’s no way I’d end like this. I couldn’t let my legacy end like this."
“But I’ll call the boss man and say ‘hey man, I know it’s been a rough couple years but when it’s time, let me bow out right.’”
Alex Morono says Donald Cerrone can "still succeed" in UFC
Morono agrees with Cerrone's assessment.
Despite finishing Cerrone quickly and decisively on Saturday night, Moreno believes "Cowboy' still has something to give to the sport.
“I just don’t think this was an ideal matchup for his style and where he’s at in his career,” Moreno told media at the UFC Vegas 26 post-fight press conference (h/t MMA Fighting). “I think he could have a fight if he wanted to and still succeed... When I throw that right hook, I throw every bit of power I can, and I think I landed two or three of them, and I put guys down with one, and he ate three of them pretty handily and stayed on his feet. He was still game. He had it in his eye."
“I do [think he can still compete],” Morono assured. “At least one more. I hope he is given the opportunity to call his final shots.”
Geoff Neal will "take some time away" to focus on his health
Geoff Neal is going to take some time to work on his health following a unanimous decision loss to Neil Magny at UFC Vegas 26.
Neal made his return vs. Stephen Thompson in December following a near-death experience last year. He was hospitalized and put on dialysis after his body went septic from an illness that stumped doctors.
“Well there goes another one,” Neal wrote in a post-fight statement on Instagram following the Magny fight. “Felt really good in the first round and the second one was close. Even in defeat, I’m still proud of this one as well. It was another honor to step in there with another crafty veteran in Neil Magny."
“I’m probably gonna take some time away and take care of my health a little bit. My body hasn’t been right since I got sepsis last year. I’ve been dealing with off and on sickness and severe lack of energy since then.”
Read his full statement below.
Derrick Lewis horrified by Phil Hawes' hair
Phil Hawes may have won his fight vs. Kyle Daukus at UFC Vegas 26, but he was losing clumps of hair left-and-right on Saturday night.
It appears, perhaps, that Hawes bleached his hair a little too much. Bald patches were visible as he entered the Octagon, and more chunks appeared to fall off mid-fight. Heavyweight Derrick Lewis, a bald man, was horrified that Hawes would disrespect his hair like that.
Look how Hawes is so disrespectful with his hair. God should have let me kept mine lol @ufc
— Derrick Lewis (@Thebeast_ufc) May 9, 2021
This man hair is falling out. My prayers are working @ufc
— Derrick Lewis (@Thebeast_ufc) May 9, 2021
Marina Rodriguez wants Xiaonan Yan, Joanna Jedrzejczyk next
Marina Rodriguez has her eyes on the UFC strawweight top three following a win over Michelle Waterson at flyweight at UFC Vegas 26.
Speaking to the media post-fight, Rodriguez suggested fighting either Jedrzejczyk (no. 2) or Yan (no. 3). Rodriguez rejected the idea of rematching Carla Esparza, who she recently defeated, suggesting they could perhaps fight for the UFC women's strawweight title sometime down the line.
Gregor Gillespie's fishing credentials challenged
Gregor Gillespie is being challenged for his fisherman's throne.
For the uninitiated, Gillespie's required post-fight activity is a long, peaceful fishing session. Following his second-round TKO win over Diego Ferreira at UFC Vegas 26, various fighters challenge Gillespie's fishing skills.
No disrespect to Gregor but I’m the best fisherman in the ufc . It ain’t close my brotha --
— Bryce Mitchell (@ThugnastyMMA) May 9, 2021
This Gregor Gillespie cat is no way in hell the best fisherman in MMA.
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) May 9, 2021
Not even fuckin close!
Yall keep fishing. Im throwing real hooks over here
— The Diamond (@DustinPoirier) May 9, 2021
Gregor Gillespie says Diego Ferreira "quit"
Speaking of Gillespie, "The Gift" examined his whirlwind two-round fight with Ferreira that earned both participants Fight of the Night honors.
“I was exhausted,” Gillespie said at the post-fight presser. “People are going to watch that and say, ‘Gillespie is out of shape.’ There is a huge difference between being tired and being out of shape. I was tired, not out of shape."
“That guy stuck with that pace and added to that pace in the first round. I don’t know if you want to call it – I baited him into that, or I forced him into that pace, but that’s how I do it. I go that hard. Sometimes I don’t have to keep going that hard. Sometimes the guy is not as good on the bottom. He can’t escape, he can’t force me off of him or reverse me, so that’s less tiring," he continued. “Diego was able to do that a few times and he put me in danger at the end of the first round. It was exhausting and I was tired. But the difference is, I will still operate when I’m that tired and I’m OK being that tired. It was really unconformable, and I said to my coaches, but I had conceded to the fact that if it was going to have to be three rounds of that, then that’s cool. I accepted that going into the second round. If that’s what we’re going to do, that’s what we’re going to do. But he quit before we got there.”
UFC Vegas 26 Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay: $143,000
UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay for UFC Vegas 26 totalled $143,000.
"The program, a comprehensive plan that includes outfitting requirements, media obligations and other items under the fighter code of conduct, replaces the previous payments made under the UFC Athlete Outfitting Policy," MMA Junkie explains.
Marina Rodriguez: $6,000
def. Michelle Waterson: $11,000Alex Morono: $11,000
def. Donald Cerrone: $21,000Neil Magny: $21,000
def. Geoff Neal: $6,000Marcos Rogerio de Lima: $11,000
def. Maurice Greene: $6,000Gregor Gillespie: $6,000
def. Diego Ferreira: $11,000Phil Hawes: $4,000
def. Kyle Daukaus: $4,000Mike Trizano: $4,500
def. Ludovit Klein: $4,000Jun Yong Park: $4,500
def. Tafon Nchukwi: $4,000Carlston Harris: $4,000
def. Christian Aguilera: $4,000
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