UFC thread

[Nath]

He won, and fair play (I did not think that he would), but this is an impressive amount of psychofanny to extrapolate from 13 seconds and one left hook.

I agree, just got a bit excited there.

I do believe it's the most tense I've seen Aldo though. McGregor definitely had an impact on him.

 

[Nath]

Pretty disappointing performance from Joe Duffy. Looked excellent on his feet, however his takedown defence was non-existent and looked pretty lost when Poirier took him down. Great fight though and Dustin looks superb at 155.

 

[Renegade]

Pretty disappointing performance from Joe Duffy. Looked excellent on his feet, however his takedown defence was non-existent and looked pretty lost when Poirier took him down. Great fight though and Dustin looks superb at 155.

It really highlights just how much Conor has progressed in a few years, Poirier is a dangerous out for anyone at 155. I wouldn't be surprised to see him in the top five come the end of 2016. It is a really tough division, anyone from Dos Anjos, Pettis, Khabib and my personal favourite Tony Ferguson could give McGregor a potential loss if he moves up. I think he should fight Frankie and keep riding the money-train before risking it at 155. I'm sure they have a unification bout in sight for UFC 200 mind.

 

[Renegade]

Condit vs Lawler was fucking amazing. Condit robbed, but still, wow.

 

[Nath]

McGregor winning already.

 

[RavenBish]

was in a hotel on Wednesday night full of UFC fighters and entourage people (Hilton Docklands). I saw Dan Hardy, Forrest Griffin and Luke Rockhold at breakfast on Thursday morning.

That is my contribution to this thread.

 

[Renegade]

McGregor winning already.

It's like listening to Muhammad Ali argue with Brendan Dassey. I have no idea why Nate Diaz has a reputation as a great shit talker, he can barely string two sentences together. UFC should have went with Cerrone, but Diaz poses less of a risk to their golden boy, he has little KO power and fighting at welterweight gives McGregor an excuse if he somehow loses. Frankie Edgar must be fuming, he was lined up for UFC 200, looks like he'll have to wait for ~ UFC 203 before he gets a pop at McGregor after being passed up for a title shot twice already.

Luke Rockhold is a boss ^

Silva should murder Bisping tonight. The first round of this Pickett vs Rivera fight just highlights how much more exciting mma is than boxing. Jesus Christ that was magical.

 

[Nath]

It's like listening to Muhammad Ali argue with Brendan Dassey. I have no idea why Nate Diaz has a reputation as a great shit talker, he can barely string two sentences together. UFC should have went with Cerrone, but Diaz poses less of a risk to their golden boy, he has little KO power and fighting at welterweight gives McGregor an excuse if he somehow loses. Frankie Edgar must be fuming, he was lined up for UFC 200, looks like he'll have to wait for ~ UFC 203 before he gets a pop at McGregor after being passed up for a title shot twice already.

Luke Rockhold is a boss ^

Silva should murder Bisping tonight. The first round of this Pickett vs Rivera fight just highlights how much more exciting mma is than boxing. Jesus Christ that was magical.

Yeah, it's completely fecked up McGregor's vision. I don't think a Nate Diaz with a full camp comes anywhere near McGregor, never mind only having two weeks. I'll be shocked if it's not over inside two rounds. Not sure there's any truth it, but apparently Edgar turned down stepping in for RDA. Edgar is saying different. Diaz is the money fight.

Silva was frustrating at the weekend. He could and should have finished the fight. He's too concerned with showcasing his skills rather than winning the fight.

 

[Stevencc]

I used to watch a lot of the old UFC and Pride fights and was pretty into it at the time - I don't follow it now but I check up on the results of the big fights etc. I'm happy to see McGregor come unstuck, the cocky so and so!

 

[RavenBish]

going up 35lbs was a baaaaad move, he was completely gassed after the first.

 

[Gilly?]

Kind of surprised at the end result but at the same time I'm not. Going up two weights is bad enough but when it's against someone who's got a ground game like Diaz has then you're asking for trouble. McGregor was absolutely gassed after winning the first round, it was all down hill from there. I'm not sure whether the move up in weight either completely made McGregor's power redundant or whether it was down to Diaz being a bit granite. Either way, McGregor showed some balls in moving up to welterweight when he should have either stayed at featherweight or moved up to lightweight at the highest.

 

[Nath]

McGregor is a legend. Simple as.

As he said, he stormed in and put it all on the line. He had the MMA world at his fight, but rather than disappoint fans, moved up weight classes to make a fight. For definite, the extra weight put on in such a short time did him no favours. He was gassed after the first round and his game plan was uncharacteristically poor. Tried to blast Diaz out, which wasn't going to happen. Should have taken a more calculated approach. Credit to Diaz though, he did what he had to do and proved his high level BJJ.

McGregor will undoubtedly fight Aldo now at UFC 200. If he wins that, he should then fight Rafael dos Anjos at 155lbs. Perhaps meet Diaz halfway at 155lbs in the future.

 

[Christian Slater]

I've been our of the UFC loop since a little after the time of St Pierre vs Hughes and Liddel vs Evans. I am starting to fall back into it a bit now it's coming up to 200.

I hear St Pierre is penciled in for 200 as well as CM Punk's first bout. Anything else big planned?

 

[janesill]

In the previous UFC matches, everything is going great. UFC keeps up the pace in giving MMA fans exciting fights. Not until UFC 200. Why the need of a Diaz-Mcgregor rematch? As far as I'm concerned, a fight worthy of a rematch is a fight not won convincingly. I would be very disappointed if UFC pushes through with the Diaz - Mcgregor rematch.

 

[JustinQPR]

In the previous UFC matches, everything is going great. UFC keeps up the pace in giving MMA fans exciting fights. Not until UFC 200. Why the need of a Diaz-Mcgregor rematch? As far as I'm concerned, a fight worthy of a rematch is a fight not won convincingly. I would be very disappointed if UFC pushes through with the Diaz - Mcgregor rematch.

You should be pretty happy at the moment...

http://www.f4wonline.com/ufc-news/d...ufc-200-search-new-main-event-underway-211351

 

[Christian Slater]

Having been out of the loop for a while, I can't understand how McGregor has become so popular. Has he become a big draw by running his mouth? Pretty shallow from the fans if true.

 

[Martino Knockavelli]

Good value with his yap and a string of flashy stoppages. Which has been the formula for a bankable combat athlete since Dioxippus, to be fair.

 

[Christian Slater]

But he's not proven himself at the top, not even in his own division. The favourites had reputations built on their record when I watched UFC.

As I remember it, trash talking was frowned upon by UFC fans.

 

[Martino Knockavelli]

His profile exceeded his palmares, but he did have palmares.

And I'm not really sure when trash talking was frowned upon (or when it wasn't bankable, even if some were frowning upon it). Certainly not when Tank Abbot, Frank Shamrock, Tito Ortiz, Nick Diaz, Michael Bisping or Chael Sonnen were appearing on posters, which is the entire history of the company...

 

[Stevencc]

This fella was pretty mouthy too.

 

[Christian Slater]

His profile exceeded his palmares, but he did have palmares.

And I'm not really sure when trash talking was frowned upon (or when it wasn't bankable, even if some were frowning upon it). Certainly not when Tank Abbot, Frank Shamrock, Tito Ortiz, Nick Diaz, Michael Bisping or Chael Sonnen were appearing on posters, which is the entire history of the company...

I watched around the era of Hughes, St Pierre, Couture, BJ Penn, Henderson, Griffin, Hammil and Franklin. There was an aura of respect around that period. There's always a bit if lip but I think it became a bit carny and mandatory when Lesnar arrived, which was received poorly by the fans. I guess as UFC has become more mainstream the more it's acclimatised to the parlour tricks of boxing and wrestling.

 

[Captain Scumbag]

Having been out of the loop for a while, I can't understand how McGregor has become so popular. Has he become a big draw by running his mouth? Pretty shallow from the fans if true.

It's not that he's popular in a universally beloved sense; it's more that it's very hard to be neutral about him. You either find his cocky gobshite shtick hugely entertaining, in which case you want him to win and keep doing it; or you find him insufferably obnoxious, in which case you long to see someone kick the absolute granny out of him. Either way, you're invested. People care about his fights. Consequently he's a huge box office draw.

There's obviously a bit more to it than that. The trash talking and other antics wouldn't mean much if he was an average fighter with a 5-4 record. He is extremely talented. His unusual and uber-aggressive fighting style almost invariably makes for an entertaining fight. And it's daft to say he's unproven in his division. He's undefeated. He won the title by knocking out the previous champ in 13 seconds. The only interesting fresh match-up for him at featherweight is Edgar. After that, the intriguing big-money fights (e.g. dos Anjos, Pettis, Nurmagomedov, Cerrone) would require him to move up a weight class.

 

[Gilly?]

Bisping knocks out Luke Rockhold to become the first British middleweight champion.

 

[Abertawe]

What a fucking year he's had. Must be buzzing.

 

[Stevencc]

Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson is dead - only 42.

 

[Christian Slater]

Mark Hunt will fight Lesnar at 200, ESPN have announced.

Looks like a great card, it'll be the first event I've watched in years

 

[mchilds]

Mark Hunt will fight Lesnar at 200, ESPN have announced.

Looks like a great card, it'll be the first event I've watched in years

I really don't understand why the UFC is still interested with Brock. Has he even been training for a fight?

 

[Martino Knockavelli]

Because he is their best (only) mainstream-y/crossover option with Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey unavailable, and will sell a fuck load of PPVs.

 

[mchilds]

You are correct. Business wise, he's a good choice. But he doesn't really have much skill to equal his business value.

 

[Anon]

Lesnars a one trick pony, but it's forgotten he beat a few legimately good and very good fighters in his initial burst.

Of course he was found out and barely could last a round before gassing, but he wasn't as bad as he's now made out to be. From what his reputation seems to be, you think he never won a fight let alone getting wins against a few good fighters.