Official Mixed Martial Arts Thread

[Tofu]

Apparently Connor has retired?.

[schmojo]

I think he's just keeping his name in the news at this point. Unless he has a good reason to turn down his biggest payday to date. 

 

In other news, Fedor is signed to fight... Fabio bloody Maldonado in Russia in June. 

 

Rumours suggest that UFC offered to top Rizin's offer. So the Fedor as relevant dream is further buried. Bring on the cans. Sigh. 

 

In better news, Rizin are holding an openweight gp. First entrant: Wanderlei!

[Doomguy]

3 minutes ago, schmojo said:

In other news, Fedor is signed to fight... Fabio bloody Maldonado in Russia in June. 

 

Rumours suggest that UFC offered to top Rizin's offer. So the Fedor as relevant dream is further buried. Bring on the cans. Sigh. 

 

In better news, Rizin are holding an openweight gp. First entrant: Wanderlei!

 

Woah, at least they gave brawldonado the fight.  He's entertaining as hell. 

[Orion]

9 minutes ago, schmojo said:

 

 

In better news, Rizin are holding an openweight gp. First entrant: Wanderlei!

 

Please don't have him fight/fuck up Sakuraba again Japan. 

 

The Conor stuff is odd. I think its BS but Helwani is saying its legit and John Kavangh is tweeting "it was fun whilst it lasted".

[schmojo]

You have to imagine his ppv points on ufc 200 would be nuts. He's either lying, fucked, or had a better offer. 

[glb]

Maybe it's a novel twist on having a comeback fight, as in his comeback will be at UFC200. Against Diaz. He's trolling.

[angel]

This makes no sense, conor lost me after the aldo win anyway, he just turned up the bullshit too far. He was great on the after show with the fox panel, he sat with them all and seemed genuinely happy, ever since then though he's just full of hell and bravado.   Weird bloke, but I cut my affection for him in January so I can do without his circus.

[Guest]

I'd quite like him to retire before I go back to living in Ireland in August. 

 

It's worse than U2.

[Stig]

It's official, he's out of UFC200. Apparently he wanted something like $10m for the fight and refused to travel to Vegas to do press stuff. He's made himself look like an absolute twat. Been giving it smack talk ever since he got to the UFC and now it looks more like he's running scared and worried he'll lose again. The rematch never should haven't happened in the first place, he's a champ and should be defending his belt.

 

No one is bigger than the sport. UFC will survive just fine without him.

[Gotters]

How strange, hard to think its anything but a toys out the pram negotiating ploy.

 

Wonder what they do with 200 - Diaz in a non title fight isn't a headliner. I know its only a number but they wanted it to mean something.

 

199 looks stacked with name fights, 200 looks more like a good fight night.

[glb]

Wow, bet the call between him and Dana was... interesting. UFC are going to have to scramble to get fights in place in order to have full camps. Mind you, if the organisation can pull its finger out it might actually be beneficial in the long run because 200 was looking underwhelming at best. At least now there's a reason to give it a much-needed shot in the arm.

[Yobo Ahoy]

RDA vs Alvarez on a fight pass card the Thursday before 200 is a mental decision. Move that onto the main card to start, at least that gives it a bit of extra prestige.

[schmojo]

2 hours ago, Stigweard said:

No one is bigger than the sport. UFC will survive just fine without him.

 

Dana and the Fertittas have been bigger than the sport for way too long. I was somewhat hoping that Conor would be the one to break their power structure and put some power back in the fighters' hands.

 

Clearly he's found his ceiling, but he certainly had the ambition to do it, and hopefully we'll see it done in the next few years.

 

If he has retired, it also creates a career path that didn't previously exist in the UFC, and I wouldn't be surprised to see more fighters attempt to replicate it, which is probably good for all parties.

[Tofu]

Holy Shit!

 

CM Punk has retired too from the UFC too

 

 

[schmojo]

That one is less of a surprise.

 

This really seems like a good chance to try and elevate RDA and Robbie Lawler, but they'd need to go big on promoting 'real champions'.

 

If they really want some big 200 numbers now, they'll need to actually put together a 'night of champions' quality card.

 

(Unless it's all a ruse and they drag Mac back in)

[Tofu]

3 minutes ago, schmojo said:

That one is less of a surprise.

 

 

 

CM Punk being in the UFC was a complete joke from the get go.

 

Regarding Dana's excuse about media obligations is complete BS. He cited GSP vs Nick Diaz as a precedent for pulling Conor from UFC 200. He pulled Diaz after he missed 3 flights and 2 press conferences and went completely AWOL. I highly doubt he would pull his biggest star from the biggest card in history after he gave him nearly a weeks notice he wouldn't attend 1 press conference.

 

I think the retirement has to be a power play from Conor and Dana is calling his bluff. I think there's 2 probable scenarios: Conor demanded an absurd amount of money/PPV points for UFC 200 and was denied. Dana suggested a Lawlor - GSP, Werdum - Jones, or another high profile main event and Conor refused to fight as co main. They're in a standoff now until one of them backs down.

[schmojo]

It's got to be the former. There's simply no bigger fight than Conor vs X from the mainstream point of view at the moment. He did 1.5m buys for an out-of-division non-title fight.

 

They're trying to find a replacement for Diaz to fight but, unless it's GSP, it shouldn't be the main event. As much as Diaz got some exposure, he's been beaten by too many to have the mystique of a real star. For once, I agree with Dana on him not moving the needle all that much..

[angel]

Punk hasnt retired, its a joke.

[schmojo]

Whichever way it pans out, it's a joke.

[Yobo Ahoy]

Be interesting to see if they call Conor's bluff fully and make Aldo/Edgar for the real FW title. 

 

Personally I reckon he had second thoughts about the Diaz rematch and realised he'd bitten off more than he can chew. He'll be back by the end of the year.

 

 

[angel]

6 minutes ago, schmojo said:

Whichever way it pans out, it's a joke.

 

I watched the guy hes facing and hes no chump, he's gona get murdered.

[Doomguy]

Man, UFC  200 does look fairly shit in comparison to the UFC 100 card. 

 

I thought the idea was to stack the card with championship fights? 

[schmojo]

37 minutes ago, Yobo Ahoy said:

Be interesting to see if they call Conor's bluff fully and make Aldo/Edgar for the real FW title. 

 

Personally I reckon he had second thoughts about the Diaz rematch and realised he'd bitten off more than he can chew. He'll be back by the end of the year.

 

 

 

Diaz 2 was never the biggest money fight on the table, so all of this is making an odd kind of sense.

 

If they hype his eventual return, you'll get the people who want to see him win, the ones who want to see him lose, and the ones who tune in just to find out more about the conditions/money involved in getting him there.

 

He was writing his own paycheques before, now he's writing his own schedule too.

[Corrogate]

I'd put money on Diaz Vs. McGregor still going ahead.

[Tofu]

 

26 minutes ago, Corrogate said:

I'd put money on Diaz Vs. McGregor still going ahead.

 

I really didn't care to see that rematch at all. I would have rather seen the Aldo rematch which he thoroughly deserves after being the undisputed for so long.

 

 

[Yobo Ahoy]

45 minutes ago, Stevedave said:

Man, UFC  200 does look fairly shit in comparison to the UFC 100 card. 

 

I thought the idea was to stack the card with championship fights? 

 

It looks shit compared to UFC198 and 199 too. I know it's a few months off but there are so many fights announced for it already and none of them bar Aldo/Edgar really get the pulse racing.

 

198 though... Jeez. When was the last time you saw a poster with all 5 fights highlighted on it? And that was before Cyborg signed up. Can't wait.

[Corrogate]

I wanna see McGregor get smacked in by Diaz again.

[Tofu]

 

Quote

I am just trying to do my job and fight here. 
I am paid to fight. I am not yet paid to promote.
I have become lost in the game of promotion and forgot about the art of fighting. 
There comes a time when you need to stop handing out flyers and get back to the damn shop.
50 world tours, 200 press conferences, 1 million interviews, 2 million photo shoots, and at the end of it all I'm left looking down the barrel of a lens, staring defeat in the face, thinking of nothing but my incorrect fight preparation. And the many distractions that led to this. 
Nothing else was going through my mind. 
It is time to go back and live the life that got me this life.
Sitting in a car on the way to some dump in Conneticut or somewhere, to speak to Tim and Suzie on the nobody gives a fuck morning show did not get me this life. 
Talking to some lady that deep down doesn't give a fuck about what I'm doing, but just wants some sound bites so she can maybe get her little tight ass a nice raise, and I'm cool with that too, I've been giving you all raises. But I need to focus on me now.
I'm coming for my revenge here. 
I flew an entire team to Portugal and to Iceland to make my adjustments in preparation and fix my errors I made with the weight and the cardio prep. 
With the right adjustments and the right focus, I will finish what I started in that last fight. 
I will not do this if I am back on the road handing out flyers again.
I will always play the game and play it better than anybody, but just for this one, where I am coming off a loss, I asked for some leeway where I can just train and focus. I did not shut down all media requests. I simply wanted a slight adjustment.
But it was denied. 
There had been 10 million dollars allocated for the promotion of this event is what they told me. 
So as a gesture of good will, I went and not only saved that 10 million dollars in promotion money, I then went and tripled it for them. 
And all with one tweet.
Keep that 10 mill to promote the other bums that need it. My shows are good. 
I must isolate myself now.
I am facing a taller, longer and heavier man. I need to prepare correctly this time. 
I can not dance for you this time.
It is time for the other monkeys to dance. I've danced us all the way here. 
Nate's little mush head looks good up on that stage these days. Stuff him in front of the camera for it. 
He came in with no shit to do that last one. I'd already done press conferences, interviews and shot the ads before RDA pulled out.
Maybe I'll hit Cabo this time and skull some shots pre-fight with no obligation.
I'm doing what I need for me now. 
It is time to be selfish with my training again. It is the only way. 
I feel the $400million I have generated for the company in my last three events, all inside 8 months, is enough to get me this slight leeway. 
I am still ready to go for UFC 200. 
I will offer, like I already did, to fly to New York for the big press conference that was scheduled, and then I will go back into training. With no distractions.
If this is not enough or they feel I have not deserved to sit this promotion run out this one time, well then I don't know what to say. 
For the record also - 
For USADA and for the UFC and my contract stipulations - 
I AM NOT RETIRED.

 

Mcgregor's official response, can't blame him really.

[glb]

That's a great response, but also would chuckle if Diaz hands him his arse again.

[Gotters]

The response is great, if not s little disingenuous. He created the media frenzy and stoked it brilliantly.

 

Its very mature though and shows he has taken the loss thoughtfully, and doesn't believe all his own hype