MMA Plus brings you a round-up of the best quotes of the week from the world of MMA, keeping an eye on who said what so you don’t have to.

Starting with all things Conor McGregor; to fighter callouts and the retirement of an Irish MMA pioneer, this week’s feature should have everything you want to read and more.

McGregor talks Mayweather and Diaz during Q&A

“Once we come to a set number that I’m happy with, (Mayweather’s) happy with — then we go to the customers. Then we go to the promoters, the buyers. Then we get it done. That’s next. I’ll go to Vegas… we’ll figure that situation out, and then we’ll come to the dotted line, and then we’ll go. But this is happening. I believe it will happen by the end of this year or early next year,” he said, before proclaiming it would be the first ever billion-dollar fight.

These are the words of Conor McGregor during a Q&A session in Manchester, The Irishman spoke of his potential super-showdown with Floyd Mayweather, Nate Diaz and much more.

“It was the biggest (expletive) move I ever saw. So whatever it is what it is. Now you’re at the back of the queue and I’ll get to Nate. Don’t get me wrong. Me and Nate will throw down again, 100-percent. Me and Nate will throw down and finish it. It’s one a piece. We’ll finish it off. I’d imagine it will be for the lightweight world title. 155, he’ll come in like a skeleton wrapped in cling film and I’ll end the whole thing for him. If his team is wise, they’ll talk him out of it and say ‘you’ve made some money, your face is drooping to the left, your speech is slurred, chill now, enjoy the money’ but they’re not the most intelligent people so I’m sure me and Nate will go again.”

Dana White warns McGregor of epic fall

“I’ve always shown Conor nothing but respect, and if he wants to go down that road with us, let me tell you, it will be an epic fall.”

UFC President Dana White warned Conor McGregor he would face an epic fall if he continued to counter the UFC and negotiate a fight with Floyd Mayweather without them.

Aldo to follow McGregor, starting a career in Boxing

“I respect every boxer, but I want to start from the bottom. I want a career in boxing. That was my biggest dream, to one day become champion in MMA and boxing. That is my biggest dream.”

Jose Aldo spoke of his ambition to begin a career in Boxing and one day become a champion of the sport. The Brazilian also mentioned rival McGregor when asked about “The Notorious” one’s desire to fight Mayweather in a boxing ring.

“I hope Conor gets f—ed, that’s what matters to me,” Aldo said. “I don’t give a damn about him. I’ve already said he’s sh-t, so what he does or doesn’t do, I don’t care. I worry about myself. I’m training to defend my belt. I want to fly higher.”

Amana Nunes apologises to Ronda Rousey

 

Let me take a moment to explain myself. I was overwhelmed with adrenaline, emotion and hurt at the time. I held so much in during the weeks prior to my fight with Ronda. I might have said or posted some things at the time that I now realize was not the right thing to do. I want to apologize to Ronda. Her fans and mine and the UFC as well. Ronda is an amazing athlete and has done so much for this sport, especially for the women. #respect

A photo posted by AmandaNunes (@amanda_leoa) on Jan 31, 2017 at 12:52pm PST

UFC bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes took to Instagram to issue an apology for some of the comments and posts made towards the former champion Rousey.

Dana White on the reality that Ronda Rousey could be done

“I’m happy for her, man,” he said. “She came in, she changed the world. She put female fighting on the map. She’s been part of the biggest fights in the history of women’s fighting and I hope those records can be broken. I don’t know if they can, but I hope they can.”

During an appearance on UFC Unfiltered White said following his recent talk with Rousey his gut feeling was that the former 135lb champion had fought for the last time inside the Octagon.

Cormier believes Ronda’s days as the dominant bantamweight are over

“Can she be the person that she was a couple of years ago? I don’t believe so,” Cormier said. “This game has evolved to a point that it would be very difficult, especially if your game is limited. Again, I love Ronda, but her boxing doesn’t seem to have improved. She doesn’t kick – I don’t think she’s really kicked – so to have to go out there and really throw somebody down and grapple with them, I don’t know if that works anymore. I think that Amanda Nunes and Julianna Pena and Valentina Shevchenko… they’ve showed how much this level has gone up in female fighting in a very short period of time

During an interview with TMZ UFC Light-heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier gave his input on Ronda Rousey and the level of female fighting.

Rumble Johnson: Somebody is getting f-cked up

“There’s no point in being disrespectful to each other and making ourselves look dumb, look stupid. So we definitely have to have respect, and we do what we have to do to get everybody tuned in, but come April 8th, somebody is getting f-cked up. He can yap all he wants he knows what’s coming.”

Light-heavyweight Anthony Johnson spoke to Ariel Helwani on The MMA hour about his title fight with Cormier at UFC 210.

Aisling Daly announces retirement from MMA

 

I will be officially retiring from the sport of MMA. This past year a routine brain scan showed up evidence of an abnormality, the remnant of a small haemorrhage that had taken place at some point in the months previous. It would be unlikely I would be medically cleared to compete again, even in the event I could find a doctor who would clear me it would be very unwise for me to continue to compete with the risks involved. My career has ended prematurely but I’m very grateful for my long list of achievements, I am and will always be ‘Ais the first’ for so many things, my legacy set in stone in the history of Irish mixed martial arts. I am the countries first ever world champion, the first and only female to ever do it. I have and always will give back to the sport which has given me so much. I would like to thank from the bottom of my heart the fans who have supported me tirelessly through various parts of the journey. Without this support there is no sport of MMA as we know it. I would like to thank my good friends and close team mates, there is no substitute for the genuine loyalty built between people over years of blood, sweat and tears. I am truly most grateful for my wonderful family, who were there to pick up the pieces throughout my entire career and especially now when my dream fell apart. This would have been intolerable without their help, emotionally and financially. They say you can’t choose family but I would want no other. Now starts the next chapter of my life. I’m very fortunate to have grown up within such an outstanding organisation as SBG. I am equipped with the skills to be an exceptional coach and member of the martial arts community and I look forward to seeing what challenges lie ahead for me. “New Beginnings are often disguised as painful endings.”― Lao Tzu #TheQueenofIrishMMA #AisTheFirst #SBG #happy #proud #grateful #MMA #UFC #retirement #worldchampion #blackbelt #legend

A photo posted by Aisling Daly (@aisydaly) on Jan 30, 2017 at 10:57am PST

On Monday Aisling Daly announced on her Instagram page that she was retiring from the sport of MMA; Daly said a routine scan showed the remnants of a small hemorrhage that had taken place in prior months.

Shevchenko proclaims herself as the complete fighter

“Pena is a good fighter, she’s wild, but I’m a master. Like I said before, I’m martial artist, I’m not only a striker like people said. I’m a complete fighter, an MMA fighter.”

Speaking in her post-fight interview Valentina Shevchenko labelled herself as the complete fighter following her second round submission victory over Julianna Pena at UFC Denver.

No love lost between Garbrandt and Dillishaw 

https://twitter.com/Cody_Nolove/status/825566539499712512

UFC Bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt replied to an interaction on twitter when asked how hyped he is to fight TJ Dillashaw.

Jacare Souza shares his opinion on Michael Bisping

“Bisping is a chicken. He’s running, the truth is that Bisping doesn’t fight for his honour, or for his family. He doesn’t even fight for himself. He’s a guy who only thinks about money. He only thinks about doing his thing and fighting for money. That’s his first choice. He doesn’t care about his fans. He doesn’t care what the fans want. The fans are the ones who pay for this scoundrel’s salary, so he better respect them.”

During an interview with  Fernanda Prates of MMA Junkie the Brazilian accused Middleweight champion Michael Bisping of only caring about money and not caring what the fans want.

Michael Bisping continues to blast Yoel Romero 

Staying on the topic of Michael Bisping, the UFC middleweight champion recently uploaded a video to Instagram to publicly label title challenger Romero a cheat.

Romero offers Bisping the chance to retire after title fight is confirmed

@bisping I am a nice guy. I will give you until Friday 12pm est to announce your retirement. Like this you can stay doing movies #ynuevo

— Yoel Romero (@YoelRomeroMMA) January 31, 2017

Yoel Romero and Michael Bisping have been gunning for one another for some time now and the intensity levels have only risen. Twitter has been the main vocal point for both men to grill one another and here is just another example.

Jorge Masvidal bets Dana White $200k to find a welterweight to beat him

“If they give me some pretender or another actor, I don’t know, I might not take it. That’s why I told Dana, if you want me to fight, take me up on this bet: $200,000. You can’t find nobody in the welterweight division that can beat me. Nobody.”

Speaking after his TKO victory over Donald Cerrone, Jorge Masvidal said he is willing to bet UFC President Dana White $200,000 that he cannot find anyone in the welterweight division who can beat him.

Ian McCall and new opponent Jarred Brooks’ beef begins

You play checkers … people like me play chess. Welcome to the big leagues son. https://t.co/CR0FdbneRC

— Ian McCall (@Unclecreepymma) February 1, 2017

Flyweights Ian McCall and Jarred Brooks have clashed on twitter only days after UFC debutant Brooks was slated to replace Neil Seery as McCall’s opponent.

Demian Maia calls for his title shot

Cerrone deserves nothing but respect.Winning 4 in a row at WW @ufc is super hard. I'm proud of winning 6 & want my deserved title shot next!

— Demian Maia (@demianmaia) January 29, 2017

Following Donald Cerrone’s loss to Jorge Masdival, Demian Maia took to twitter to praise Cowboy for winning four in a row at welterweight before stating he wants his shot at the title.

Ben Rothwell calls out Fabricio Werdum

Mr. @FabricioWerdum I don't think your getting the next title shot,and you may know I'm right. You and I fighting now makes the most sense

— Big Ben Rothwell (@RothwellFighter) January 28, 2017

Heavyweight fighter Ben Rothwell called out Brazilian Fabricio Werdum on twitter stating a fight between the two made the most sense.

Francis Ngannou sets his sights with Velasquez as his next opponent

“It’s still illegal, but one day, I think things will change and I will bring the belt to France”

After bulldozing through Andre Arlovski at UFC Denver Francis Ngannou spoke of the ilegality of MMA in France and the aspirations for either Cain Velasaquez, Alistair Overeem or Junior dos Santos as his next opponent.