Claims too many UFC bouts don’t match top fighters
■ Friday: Bellator 175 (Spike), Rosemont, Illinois
■ April 8: UFC 210 (FS1/PPV), Buffalo, New York
■ April 8: Bellator 176 (Spike), Turin, Italy
■ April 14: Bellator 177 (Spike), Budapest, Hungary
■ April 15: UFC on Fox 24 (FS1/ Fox), Kansas City, Missouri
■ April 22: UFC Fight Night 108 (FS2/FS1), Nashville, Tennessee in a fight that still doesn’t have an official date. He just hopes the next title fight will be against a top middleweight, and Rockhold isn’t just speaking out for himself.
Rockhold believes top contender Yoel Romero already should have received a title shot, and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza is also in line to challenge for the title.
The UFC still hopes to book the fight between Bisping and St. Pierre for the UFC 213 card on July 8 at T-Mobile Arena. MAYWEATHER RESPONDS
Conor McGregor’s outburst at a boxing match in New York last week followed up UFC president Dana White’s comments on “Conan” declaring his belief the long-rumored superfight between McGregor and Floyd Mayweather Jr. was inevitable as the most recent headline-grabbers in the saga between the superstars.
So it obviously was time for the undefeated and retired pro boxer to respond.
“It’s about what I say,” Mayweather said on a FightHype.com video of where the negotiations stand after McGregor and White’s comments. “It’s whatever I say. Like I said before, it is what it is. If it happens, it happens. We’ll just see.”
Mayweather was surprisingly reserved about McGregor’s statements indicating a belief he can knock out the boxer despite never before competing in a boxing match.
“I feel he’s entitled to feel the way he wants to feel, the only thing you can do is respect that,” Mayweather said. EVINGER RETAINS INVICTA BELT
Tonya Evinger submitted Yana Kunitskaya in the second round of the main event of Invicta FC 22 in Kansas City, Missouri, to retain the all-female organization’s bantamweight title.
The victory helped erase the memory of a controversial fight between the two in November when Kunitskaya’s submission win was overturned to a no contest because of a referee’s instruction to Evinger to give up a legal position, which helped lead to the decisive sequence.
Also on the card, Livia Renata Souza knocked out Ayaka Hamasaki in the first round and Jodie Esquibel and Ashley Cummins picked up decision victories. Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal. com or 702-277-8028. Follow @adamhilllvrj on Twitter.