MMA News wrap-up: UFC Kansas City fallout, Dricus du Plessis silences the trolls, more

UFC Kansas City had no shortage of storylines, with Ian Machado Garry triumphant, Anthony Smith retired, and several names taking advantage of the chance to impress outside of the comfy confines of the APEX.

Garry bounced back from a competitive loss to the undefeated Shavkat Rakhmonov, but not everyone was impressed with how he pulled off the win. After coming out strong in the first three rounds and controlling the action against a struggling Carlos Prates, “The Future” ran into trouble at the end of Round 4. Prates’ highly vaunted knockout power finally emerged and he put a scare in Garry, which led to him pouring it on in the fifth round and seemingly being moments away from a finish.

With 30 seconds remaining, Garry hung on for the win—or Prates let him off the hook—to keep his championship hopes alive. According to UFC CEO Dana White, the promotion has officially designated Garry as the backup for the upcoming UFC 315 welterweight title main event between champion Belal Muhammad and Jack Della Maddalena. But if our reader reaction is any indication, fans aren’t sold on Garry reaching for gold just yet.

Check out the best responses to UFC Kansas City and the rest of the week’s biggest stories below.

Dricus du Plessis releases statement on injury rumors, fight announcement

We never reported it, but there were a lot of folks spreading the news that Dricus du Plessis was not only unavailable to defend his middleweight title against Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 317, he might not fight until 2026.

DDP wrote a post telling everyone to cut it with the fake news and it was well-received.

Chael Sonnen: Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall ‘is agreed, all the way down to the date’

But then…

Chael Sonnen shoots down own Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall report, claims Aspinall opponent booked

In the span of 24 hours, professional truth-twister Chael Sonnen said he knew for sure Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall had a date for their heavyweight championship unification bout and then fact-checked himself saying Aspinall is actually fighting someone else.

As always, Sonnen’s comments need to be taken with more than a grain of salt.

Belal Muhammad scoffs at Ilia Topuria getting immediate title shot, Islam Makhachev has ‘nothing to gain’ from that fight

Belal Muhammad unsurprisingly backs up his boy Islam Makhachev not anointing Ilia Topuria as the No. 1 contender. And honestly, fans are also divided on “La Leyenda” receiving an immediate lightweight title shot.