UFC 329 this past Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas set a record gate with the return of Conor McGregor. White indicated that the event was a sellout and drew a gate of $26.4 million.

The previous record for the UFC was a $22 million gate for UFC 306 which was the event at the Sphere.

Obviously the gate was influenced by the former two-division champ’s return to the Octagon. However, the return was short-lived as McGregor’s first attempted strike resulted in a knee injury which ended the night before it began. The gate reflects the drawing power of McGregor but his injury certainly depreciates any drawing power that remains.

UFC 329 took place Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The promotion handed out 12 additional paychecks for the event.

The easiest of bonuses came when Max Holloway received $25K for a very early stoppage of his main event bout with Conor McGregor. Just seconds into the long-awaited return of McGregor, he hurt his right knee attempting to throw a kick. The bout was called off and Holloway was victorious.

In the co-main event, Paddy Pimblett earned a first round submission victory over Benoit Saint Denis. Pimblett used a d’arce choke (and then turned it into a peruvian neck-tie of sorts) to put out BSD. He received one of the $100K Performance Bonuses.

At the top of the main card, King Green earned a TKO for his stoppage of Terrance McKinney. Green, who was a feature on the Embedded episodes leading up to the event, overcame a game McKinney for the first round victory and $100K

The Fight of the Night went to Brandon Royval and Lone’er Kavanagh. Like most FOTN’s it was a extremely competitive back and forth fight. Eventually Royval was able to get a RNC on Kavanagh for the victory. Both did receive $100K for their effots.

The other $25K stoppage award winners were Gable Stevenson, Adrian Yanez, Robert Whittaker, Luke Riley, Damian Pinas, Ryan Gandra and Alessandro Costa.

ESPN and The Ring Magazine confirm that former Olympian Shakur Stevenson has signed with Zuffa Boxing.

Stevenson is the WBO and The Ring Magazine junior welterweight champion. The 29-year-old is coming off of a dominant performance against Teofimo Lopez this past January.

BREAKING: Shakur Stevenson has signed a promotional deal with Zuffa Boxing. pic.twitter.com/9SNqdDl5hh

— Ring Magazine (@ringmagazine) July 9, 2026

The signing could set up a showdown with Devin Haney who is expected to sign with Dana White’s upstart promotion. Stevenson landing with Zuffa Boxing provides further credibility to a league that is preparing to hold its first U.S. event outside of the United States.

UFC 239 marks the return (we think) of Conor McGregor to the Octagon. It’s been almost 5 years since McGregor stepped into the Octagon. His last fight, he broke his leg against Dustin Poirier followed by one of the worst post-Octagon interview ever.

The recovery was documented in a Netflix series looking at his recovery. Recently, it was revealed that he used banned substances (if he was in the UFC drug testing protocol) to recover. While that investigation is ongoing, the recovery took time. And, the lengthy wait was supposed to end last June with a fight against Michael Chandler. But, a broken toe ended that dream and the former two-time champ was sidelined yet again.

Photos via Wikipedia

Since his last Octagon visit, McGregor has had a spate of legal troubles including being found civilly liable for sexual misconduct in an Irish court. There is also an investigation of accusations of misconduct at a Miami Heat game that remains open.

He’s also had a failed run as President of Ireland and aligning himself with the current president of the United States running on an anti-immigrant campaign.

Conor has kept his toes in the combat sports world with an investment in Bare Knuckle Fighting and even stepped in to square off with Mike Perry (see below) to hype the upstart organization. Although it may be some years before it comes to fruition, Bare Knuckle Fighting seems like something he will fall back on after his UFC days are over.

At 37, its unclear if McGregor can rekindle his athletic prowess, punching power and intimidation of 10 years ago. When McGregor burst on the scene in the UFC he was a braggart that proved himself. Perhaps the full circle will be closed on Saturday as his first fight against Max Holloway was one of his first big wins in the UFC. You may recall that McGregor tore his ACL in that encounter in Boston. Despite that time off, fans clamored to see his return

For me, the UFC Fight Night 26 in Boston was a success despite McGregor’s injury. The behind the scenes vlogs featuring McGregor introduced the UFC to the former plumber’s apprentice that lived on government assistance. You got a glimpse of his thinking as he was signing autographs for fans he knew that would turn around and sell it. It was an endearing look into McGregor (at the time) and you could understand why people gravitated toward him.

It was just his second fight in the UFC and the powers that be were pushing him since he had the gift of gab and could back it up.

McGregor’s fame also came with a multitude of problems ranging from throwing Monster Energy drinks cans at Nate Diaz or a hand truck at a bus. There was the subsequent melee in the Octagon at UFC 229 which left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth as McGregor was outmatched by Khabib Nurmogomedov and he lashed out at him and his corner.

At his peak, McGregor brought the best out of the UFC and its fans. But after his foray into boxing against Floyd Mayweather, his aura seemed to be on the decline. No longer was he the vaunted fighter. The money and the fame got to McGregor and he could not recover.from it. The hunger to be the best was achieved and it became clear that his desire to train and work in the gym was hampered by outside interests and the fame that came with his success.

One thing is for certain, while his mental feel for combat sports is still there, his physical acuity is not. He has the proverbial “ring rust” and there’s no real video evidence that he’s turned the clock back.

The only thing that fans are hoping is that McGregor will actually return and not pull out of Saturday’s fight. McGregor has been silent the beginning of fight week and he has not been featured in the first two episodes of UFC Embedded which caused internet sleuthing to raise concern thet McGregor would back out in the last minute.

The UFC believes he’s still a draw. Fans still think he’s a draw. Regardless of the out of Octagon issues, McGregor still maintains a core group of fans that remember 2013 and his strut. On Friday, CBS will have a the ceremonial weigh-ins on network television with McGregor as the featured centerpiece. Even, the much-heralded UFC White House event did not have a network presence.

It will not be surprising to see a spike in Paramount viewership on Saturday night to seen McGregor’s return. Like most combat sports fans, people are interested in comebacks. Despite his advanced aged, 38 million concurrent viewers tuned in to watch Mike Tyson face Jake Paul.

No one will know what to expect out of McGregor, but most hope his aura returns.

Originally posted on Patreon.

Last week, the Court in the CSI Entertainment-Floyd Mayweather, Jr. case denied CSI Entertainment’s request for a temporary restraining order/injunction to prevent Mayweather from entering into another contract prior to fulfilling its alleged contract with the former champion. While it has yet to give a final determination on the substantive claims by Plaintiffs, the request for TRO has been denied.

The Court stated that from the outset, CSI Entertainment’s application would fail because it did not show irreparable harm.

CSI Entertainment indicated that it has a venue for a Mayweather-Mike Tyson exhibition fight set for September 26, 2026. The fight would be at a venue in the Democratic Republic of Congo provided that it is cleared of health issues related to the ebola virus. They claim via a supplemental declaration in its briefing that they had a hold on the American Airlines Arena in Dallas if they could not hold the event in the Congo.

But, the Court was not persuaded by CSI Entertainment’s readiness for an event in September. It seemed much more interested in Mayweather’s claim that he is in a legal battle with his business partners. These were the same partners that he claims signed off on the CSI Entertainment agreements to fight Tyson and Manny Pacquiao. As a result, the Court believed that it was necessary for there to be discovery in the case.

The biggest takeaway here is that the Court does not think there are exigent circumstances which would require that they need to do something to prevent Mayweather from doing something specifically. Essentially, if CSI believed they were wronged or if there was a breach of contract, they could sue for monetary damages based on the liability.

In its conclusion, the Court indicated it did not believe “expedited hearing in the upcoming two months is necessary to adjudicate the merits of Plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction given my findings regarding irreparable harm.” The Court indicated that briefing would be allowed for the preliminary injunction hearing and whether an evidentiary hearing is necessary.

Late last week, the UFC announced it was selling the music to the Freedom 250 event at the White House on the president’s birthday.

The live band that performed the fighters’ walkout songs throughout the night will be encapsulated…and sold to the public by the UFC. It is available on all major music platforms as of this past Friday.

“The President’s Own” United States Marine Band provides most of the music which should bring up some questions.

First, its not the “President’s Own.” I believe the US Marine Band belongs to the nation and the president has access to them while he’s in office. The ownership of a band infers that its his personal band. Moreover, did the band know that they would be exploited commercially. It sounds nice and honorable to put out a soundtrack for the nation. But this isn’t charity, its going to the company that cried poverty because they claimed that they were losing money on the extravagance of the event.

TKO filed its opposition to the Plaintiffs claim that there is missing information in discovery in the Kajan Johnson antitrust lawsuit.

Attached to its brief were declarations (see below) from several “prominent” MMA managers supporting the argument that they had no dealings with Dana White with respect to contract negotiations. They all confirmed that they did not utilize any apps such as Signal which deletes messages.

Declaration From Jason House by MMA Payout

Declartion From Malki Kawa by MMA Payout

Declaration From Dan Lambert by MMA Payout

Zuffa first argued that it had complied with its “preservation obligations.” This is in regard to Plaintiffs argument that there were gaps in production of documents. It notes the enormity of its production which includes reviewing “more than 11 million” documents, “including over 10.6 million individual text messages, and produced over 1.65 million documents amounting to approximately 6.5 million pages. Zuffa notes that “[p]arties who are trying to intentionally hide relevant evidence simply do not preserve and produce ESI of this magnitude.” It then posed the question: “Were Defendants trying to hide text messages involving Dana White, it would make no sense for them to preserve over 1.4 million texts involving Mr. White.”

Zuffa notes that its job was not to “preserve and produce every single communication that occurred over a ten-plus year period.” Zuffa contends its preservation, collection and production “more than satisfies” the federal rules of discovery.

Zuffa also dismisses Plaintiffs argument that there is a lack of “written contract negotiations.” They claim that Plaintiffs are just now making it an issue.

Zuffa then states that the absence of written negotiation does not show evidence of spoilation. It then argues that “many negotiations do not involve written “negotiations” as Plaintiffs appear to have defined that term.”

One thing that Zuffa infers from the response is that not every document is discoverable. Zuffa brings up the enormity of the production including the amount of preserved texts versus those that were produced. Obviously, the texts must be relevant. Some texts may not fit the requests and are just plain irrelevant.

“The figures above underscore that the vast majority of the text messages collected are not relevant,” wrote Zuffa attorneys.

The theme of the response is to show the Court that it has complied with Plaintiffs request as well as the rules of discovery. In addition, Zuffa wants to show that Plaintiffs request for documents are invalid and unfounded. Moreover, there’s nothing that they are hiding. MPO will continue to follow.

On Wednesday, the Judge in the CSI Entertainment-Floyd Mayweather, Jr. case denied a temporary restraining order which would have stopped the 50-0 former champion to pursue a fight against Greek kickboxer Mike Zamidis.

The legal drama came earlier in the week when CSI Entertainment’s attorney sent a letter to the Judge requesting a hearing based on “perjurious” information he received. Mayweather’s attorneys were not privy to the information prior to the letter being sent to the Judge. It thus requested an opportunity to respond and/or refute the evidence. The actual evidence was never revealed although based on the correspondence one might infer that it was from Mayweather’s estranged business partner Jona Rechnitz. Mayweather’s attorneys point out that he has sued him for alleged fraud.

Although CSI Entertainment received its expedited hearing, it did not receive the temporary restraining order it wanted. We will see how CSI Entertainment attempts to persuade Mayweather into an exhibition bout with Mike Tyson this September prior to him setting up a fight in Greece. One has to think it will be based on timing, and of course, money.

The Court in the Floyd Mayweather, Jr.-CSI Entertainment case is heating up as a flurry of letters to the Court ensures that the legal fight will be contentious. For details of the lawsuit, you can read here and here.

From what I can gather the parties were told to meet and confer on a discovery schedule. According to Mayweather’s attorneys that did not happen. On Wednesday, CSI Entertainment’s attorney sent a letter to the Court proclaiming it had evidence of fraud. The attorney, Judd Burstein, demanded that in light of the information, he demanded a brief to the Court

Burstein has been pushing for an expedited schedule in the matter and has pressed the Court into making a decision on the injunction as well as speeding through to discovery so that the Court can determine the issue on behalf of his clients.

Mayweather’s attorneys have responded arguing Burstein refused a “meet and confer” (process in which attorney attempt to plan a schedule on their own without court intervention) and instead unilaterally filed his letter with the Court.

In my opinion, its clear gamesmanship by CSI’s attorney considering Mayweather’s counsel is in Los Angeles and Burstein is in New York. David Jonelis, one of Mayweather’s attorneys, sent an email to Burstein noting that it was filed earlier in the morning. Since Burstein is 3 hours ahead he had a jump on filing the information. Also, he knows that the lawyers aren’t licensed in New York (they have to be waived in) which means they aren’t currently privy to the filings. Claiming that something is “perjurious” but not providing the document might not be in the best practices of litigation book. MPO will continue to follow.

Despite calling off the boxing exhibition in Greece this past Saturday, CSI Entertainment is still seeking a Court order for its Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) (Injunction) preventing the fight from happening. A hearing is happening Tuesday afternoon to discuss the outstanding issues.

A letter from CSI’s attorney, Judd Burstein, on Tuesday highlights its dogged request for the Court to issue an Order for its TRO and an expedited discovery trial for the lawsuit.

Notably, the attorneys for CSI Entertainment took issue with a recent press conference involving Mayweather where he indicated that the money paid by CSI Entertainment went to his estranged business partner. Thus, it would have been defrauded and Mayweather never agreed to a fight with Tyson or Pacquiao. Mayweather also stated that CSI Entertainment could not put together the Tyson fight. Burstein took issue with these statements and has been pressing for the case to move forward in an expeditious fashion.