Donald Trump. Conor McGregor. Britney Spears. James Haskell, Hilary Clinton. Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Fake news has got them all.
2016 has been an unforgettable year and that is not necessarily a good thing. While sport has been kind to us over the past 12 months, a litany of websites and social media sounding boards have stretched the truth way past breaking point.
Only today, following the unfortunate passing of George Michael, were representatives for Britney Spears forced to deny the singer had died.
Britney Spears is 'alive and well' despite Sony hack and claims she had died https://t.co/8TK5NvnUoF
— JOE.ie (@JOEdotie) December 26, 2016
Fake news stories sprouted around the time of the Colombian plane crash that cost so many of the Chapecoense football squad their lives. There were erroneous reports that Ronaldinho and Juan Riquelme had agreed to go on loan to the Brazilian side. They were not true at all.
There were also reports of Cristiano Ronaldo donating a large amount of money to the tragic club and Chapecoense being docked points for failing to play scheduled games. All complete bullsh**.
Even Conor McGregor was not immune.
Earlier this year, there were reports that McGregor had been knocked out by a sparring partner while training for UFC 205 in Dublin. Dillon Danis, a training partner of McGregor, told The MMA Hour that McGregor was not even at the gym that day. He said:
“I don’t even know where that came from. It’s crazy; that was completely fake.”
While we have often heard of reports of UFC fights happening or being cancelled but, on many occasions, it is just fighters, agents or the promotion itself hoping to stir interest or get a deal over the line.
There were reports from Russia on Christmas Day that Khabib Nurmagomedov would fight Tony Ferguson for the interim UFC lightweight title while McGregor was on hiatus. The fight was said to be signed and sealed to headline UFC 209 in March.
However, MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani scratched the surface and found fake news was not far away.
Spoke to @TeamKhabib’s mgr @AliAbdelaziz00 about reports that Khabib vs. Ferguson is done for 209. “100% not true,” he said. “Fraud report.”
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) December 26, 2016
That being said, the only 2 fights Khabib is interested in at this point are Ferguson & Conor. Still have time before 3/4 needs to get done.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) December 26, 2016
While Nurmagomedov versus Ferguson at UFC 209 is still very much a possibility, some outlets appear to be jumping the gun.
With talk of Nurmagomedov vs. McGregor being looked upon as a Russian headline event later in 2017, there is a chance that ‘The Eagle’ may yet hold out for that deal.
The longer this situation drags, and McGregor remains in the fringes, the increased likelihood of the UFC getting linked to more fake news.
