MMA Scandal, Tyson On Mayweather, Paul Vs. Diaz And More

The MMA community has demanded that action be taken against Roman Avdal for sucker-punching Shamil Pakhan.

The altercation happened as part of the Hype Fighting Championship in Russia. During the course of that process, the first season of ‘Ultima Fighter,’ the equivalent of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ aired. 

In the clip below, Avdal and Pakhan can be seen having a heated altercation. Thereafter, Avdal decided to throw a right hand that landed on Pakhan which sent the latter to the floor.

As a result, the respective teams from both sides stepped in to separate them. 

The Russian Ultimate fighter hits HARD… Should he able to compete or straight BAN?

[🎥] @Matysek88 x HYPEFighting/IG pic.twitter.com/Ux8iP4yO8T

— Mikey Thomas (@MikeyThomas1991) July 13, 2023

Those actions did not sit very well with the MMA fan base. Large numbers of people demanded that Avdal be banned from the show, while others expressed that there should be a financial or disciplinary measure.

Reaction

ban… life ban

— Crozz (@CagedKing) July 13, 2023

Honestly, ban. But there was very little wind-up in that punch, I think the other guy should be concerned for his career lol

— Skoob (@_Skoob_) July 13, 2023

All these dudes do is sucker punch people. Definitely should be band.

— J DIRT (@JDoom8) July 13, 2023

Tyson On Mayweather

Moving from one story to another, Mike Tyson has praised Floyd Mayweather for being the best boxer in the ‘last 100 years’ and Conor McGregor for their respective roles after they faced each other all the way back in 2017. 

Mayweather is arguably one of the greatest of all time, having gone undefeated in his career with a record of 50-0. And in the process of doing so, Mayweather became a five-division champion.

That included beating a total number of 23 world champions. But it was not just in the ring that Mayweather dominated.

The same can be said when it comes to the business of boxing. TBE became the most lucrative fighter ever to grace the sport, with suggestions that Mayweather has now eclipsed the billion dollar mark. 

And that praise from Tyson has been seen through the early days of Mayweather’s career especially when he fought Canelo Alvarez.

"It’s gonna be tough, it’s gonna be tough. I gotta go towards Floyd a little bit. It’s gonna be tough, because we don’t know because Floyd is older.

"This guy is gonna hit him, but it’s just difficult to bet against Floyd if you’re really honest with yourself. It’s really difficult to bet against him because he’s been so superior over all of the fighters during the duration of his career," Tyson 

Tyson On McGregor

Equally, Tyson praised McGregor for managing to last ten rounds with arguably the greatest boxer of all-time. 

"[McGregor] never really had a boxing match in his life right? He went 10 rounds with the greatest fighter in the last 100 years of boxing.

"He went 10 rounds, scored punches on the greatest fighter in the last 20 years — 100 years. See, people ain’t looking at it. People just wanna say ‘The Black guy beat the White guy.’

"They just want to see it. But look at what he had to fight against. And look at what he did when he fought against it," Tyson

Paul On Diaz

One MMA star who has not fared well has been Nate Diaz. He is set to face Jake Paul on August 5th, 2023.

While that may be the case, the ‘Problem Child’ has not been too happy with Diaz’s role so far in the pre-fight build up.

He hit out at Diaz for not doing enough to promote the fight. And yet, it was only recently that Diaz’s sparring video went viral which did go some way to garner some eyes on the fight. 

"That’s what I wanted – that’s why I signed up for this – is to give the people a show and to squash this beef. He talked a lot more sh*t to me before we signed up to fight. So, he’s kind of being a b***h in that sense.

"I expected more out of him, and I expected him to carry that gangster attitude and to not take my insults. But he’s pretty much rolled over like a b*tch and has been quite boring, which pisses me off. But I’m used to carrying these promotions. It’s no different in this one," Paul

Nevertheless, this is the same grievance that Paul had when it came to Tommy Fury. The former slammed Fury for missing the pre-fight presser after the latter stated that he had personal issues, as the promotion was disrupted.

And yet, when it came to fight night, the pay-per-view numbers delivered. Reports indicated that the Paul-Fury fight sold over 500,000. However, that did not stop Paul from venting off some steam prior to that. 

"I’m used to his behaviour at this point, he’s unprofessional and he’s a flake. He’s not a serious businessman or a serious fighter and I’m going to prove that.

"It’s why this fight is called, ‘The Truth’, because the truth is going to come out. He’s going to have to pay for all of the times he’s pulled out," Paul said

MMA and boxing can be a divisive sport, but one way or another, it does generate a lot of talking points. And there is no getting away from that.