Following his arrest Monday evening, Conor McGregor was released later that night on $12,500 bail from the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Florida. McGregor was arrested over an incident where it was claimed that the fighter took the phone of a fan attempting to take a picture and proceeded to slap it out of their hands, stomp it, and then left with the phone. McGregor is facing felony charges of strong-armed robbery and criminal mischief. On Tuesday morning, McGregor posted a brief statement on Instagram, stating: “Patience in this world is a virtue I continue to work on. I love my fans dearly. Thank you all.” Marc Raimondi at MMA Fighting reports that McGregor’s arraignment hearing is scheduled for April 10th.
A UFC women’s flyweight title fight is official for UFC 238 on Saturday, June 8th at the United Center in Chicago. Valentina Shevchenko will defend the title for the first time against Jessica Eye. Since joining the UFC, Shevchenko’s only losses have come to Amanda Nunes when competing at bantamweight. She returned to the flyweight ranks last year and won the vacant title at UFC 231 in Toronto with a decision victory over Joanna Jedrzejczyk. After initially fighting at bantamweight, Eye moved to the flyweight division and won her last three fights with decision victories over Kalindra Faria, Jessica Rose-Clark and Katlyn Chookagian.
Paulo Costa and his team have come out to decline accusations that the fighter was removed from his rumored fight with Yoel Romero on April 27th due to a USADA violation. Romero stated on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show that the reason his opponent was switched from Costa to Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza was that he’s being investigated for a positive drug test. Romero contacted Helwani after the show to clarify he had only heard he failed a test but wasn’t sure if it was accurate. Costa’s manager, Wallid Ismail, told MMA Fighting that “there was no failed doping test” and added that it was a big lie by Romero. It is not known why Costa was removed from the April fight.
On Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show on Monday, Anthony Smith spoke for the first time since his loss to Jon Jones at UFC 235. Smith was immediately booked for a fight with Alexander Gustafsson on June 1st in Sweden with the recent title contender hesitant to return so soon. Smith said he was hopeful of taking the rest of 2019 off and returning around January. He added he wanted to spend more time with his family as he travels to Denver for his training camps and returns home every weekend, which is a major grind. He added that he believes he’ll be over the loss to Jones soon enough and then will be ready to fight Gustafsson and his wife encouraged him to take this fight so that he has the rest of the year off, including the summer.
The UFC has signed 4-0 fighter Norma Dumont with the 28-year old announcing the news on Instagram. Dumont had her pro debut in June 2016 and last fought in August 2018. Guilherme Cruz of MMA Fighting reports that she will compete in the women’s featherweight division.