Official Mixed Martial Arts Thread

[Doomguy]

True but we're not going to see the best of either. Some people are good at swapping sleep patterns and some people become a total mess. It's the same hindrance for both but it's outside the cage, not in, which is a bit shit as I'd rather see the best of both fighters; not the 4am slightly shattered version. 

[Orion]

Both have a ton of experience of traveling and fighting in different time zones. Bisping has fought in China, Brazil, 3 times in Australia and spent years traveling to the States from the UK. Dan has been fighting since 1997 and has fought everywhere, tons of fights in Japan, Europe, Brazil.

 

If theres two fighters who know how to get their sleep patterns in place and don't care what time they fight its these two. I don't see it to be a big deal for either.

[angel]

1 hour ago, Stevedave said:

True but we're not going to see the best of either. Some people are good at swapping sleep patterns and some people become a total mess. It's the same hindrance for both but it's outside the cage, not in, which is a bit shit as I'd rather see the best of both fighters; not the 4am slightly shattered version. 

 

Yeah it seems daft, do it in Manchester sure..thats a great idea, but Mike lives in California now, I think Dan isn't far away, and it won't be a barrel of laughs for all the fans in the arena waiting til 5am for the main event.

[Doomguy]

Tyron Woodley:  'I didn't see the financial incentive to promote 201'. 

 

Has there ever been a title win that's gone to someones head quicker than this? 4 fights ago he lost to Rory, and he's been beat by Shields and highlight reel KO'd by Marquardt. 

[Yobo Ahoy]

He is such a massive twat. I'm hoping this is some kind of hardball schtick he's playing during his contract negotiations, if he's like this for his entire reign he'll be insufferable. Let's hope it's a short one.

[angel]

Yeah he's not winning me over, apparantly the UFC want the Thompson fight so hopefully a quick turnaround. Saying that, Thompsons's Fox appearance was a bit cringey  he's almost Chael Sonnen-esque in his delivery, it all looked very coached.

[Doomguy]

I think we're in need of the humble Randy Couture attitude again for the most part. All these copy cat Sonnen / Connor types look desperate. Just be yourself as they say. 

[Guest]

Like Punk!

 

 

[angel]

5 hours ago, Stevedave said:

I think we're in need of the humble Randy Couture attitude again for the most part. All these copy cat Sonnen / Connor types look desperate. Just be yourself as they say. 

 

Dana has called him an absolute arsehole outside of his public persona, which I'm inclined to think rings true. Also he was massively abusing PEDs, hilarious when you consider him "the natural", yet he was TRT'd to the gills.

 

Macregor fight soon, I'm oddly passive about it. Cannot decide on the outcome I would prefer. 2 losses would really hurt Conor, but I don't half like Nate. I find it tough to see a different outcome though, Nate is huge these days, Conor looks at least 1 weight class under him, has no comparable ground game, you don't knock out a Diaz..I just can't see it. 5 rounder too I presume as main event. Going to be interesting.

[Rocafella]

I think it depends how Nate approaches this fight. He'd cut through Conor on the floor, just like the first fight. Will he want to stand up and try and show Conor he can outbox him again? Diaz brothers don't go down, but you just never know. If anyone can land a clean shot to drop him, Conor can.

[angel]

I think Conor might just sneak it, god knows he's poured his life and soul into it since the first fight, but it's gona be tough. It makes a mockery of his idea of even daring to challenge someone like Lawler though. Robbie would use him as a toothpick.

[glb]

Think the fight plays out as it did before. Conor will come out like a train looking to dominate but he can't have found any more power than he already has, and he certainly can't have improved his ground game to the level of Diaz in five months. His hope is that he won the first round of the first fight, but can he keep his foot on the throttle long enough that he grinds Diaz down?

 

Happy to be wrong as I do like McGregor, but think his ego is getting in the way here, and a fight at Lightweight would have been a smoother transition (or even a far better career path) than jumping up to 170. Agree with Angel, other Welters would happily take on McGregor because they know they can run through him, especially someone like Lawler who was previously a Middleweight.

[Yobo Ahoy]

Obviously I'll watch it but I'm weirdly apathetic about the whole thing, it's one of the most irrelevant fights ever. It's happening purely for Conor's ego and because it's easy money for the UFC. I'd much rather have seen him vs Aldo again, or even Edgar or Holloway.

 

Given the choice I'd prefer Conor to win, as if Nate wins he'll likely get a barely deserved title shot at one weight or another and further muddy the waters. 

[schmojo]

I have no idea what Conor's route to win is here. Again. So many questions though!

 

If he loses again, then what happens to him? Surely he won't get a big money 155 title shot again?

Will there be much interest in him if he's a 2-time loser to someone who's a top 5 gatekeeper?

Will people still call out Conor when he's lost two on the bounce?

Is Aldo his only shot at redemption in that case?

Can you give someone a title shot coming off 2 losses?

 

If I was Scott Coker (especially if he signs Rory too), I'd be flaunting my stable of Nate-killers.

 

This whole experiment could turn out badly for the UFC. Nate isn't cutting it as a superstar - he doesn't have the charisma. But he has dampened the lustre of their only legit superstar.

 

[Doomguy]

I can't see his road to victory either. Nates bigger, has an amazing chin, better jiu jitsu, better cardio. 

 

Maybe Conor wins in a 3 rounder where he takes the Bisping approach? I'd be amazed if he knocks him out. You'd hope conor would realise this too and go onwards to 155lbs if it happens.

[Gotters]

win lose or draw you have to wonder what the training for this fight in terms of bulking up is going to do for Conor in terms of ever going back to the weight he holds the belt at, he used to look near to death making weight and has possible now spent months bulking up.

[angel]

42 minutes ago, Gotters said:

win lose or draw you have to wonder what the training for this fight in terms of bulking up is going to do for Conor in terms of ever going back to the weight he holds the belt at, he used to look near to death making weight and has possible now spent months bulking up.

 

Exactly. For someone who plays the game intelligently, this thing seems like a whole massive ego trip to me. He's a 155er who can just about squeeze into 145 if he really kills himself doing it. He got so cocky that he thought he could just not bother with a weight cut at all hence the first bout at 170lbs. Mistake 1.  Now he's so egotistical and full of pride that he insists they do it again at 170, instead of both their natural weight class of 155lbs? It's absurd.

 

More so than that, when they both fight at this upper weight it accentuates all of Nate's advantages. He's bigger, longer, even harder to knock out, and even stronger on the ground at 170...all so Conor can give it all this bullshit of 'I lost at 170 therefore I must correct that at 170'. Pride comes before a fall, it's a stupid venture, even if he somehow beats Nate this way, its at what cost..probably never making it back to 145lbs without damaging his body. Ross Pearson finally stopped killing himself with his cut, he was giving himself liver damage. The whole thing is a massive marketing and ego trip, and a big part of me doesn't want to see it rewarded. What he should have done is defended his belt once and then gone after RDA or Alvarez now. I think he might have a chance agains Alvarez, certainly more than Diaz at 170.

 

 

[angel]

8 minutes ago, Hellcock said:

What he should have done was insist the next fight be at 155. A sort of, OK, meet me in the middle.

 

Then when / if he wins, it's 1-1 at their respective weight categories. 

 

The first fight was at 170, neither one's weight. Nate's fought at it but its not his category.

 

That's why it's such a joke, Nate's fought Cerrone, Ben Henderson, people who've competed at 170. Conor would need a year off to even attempt that and he could never go back. He'd lose, too, 170lbers go into the cage around 190lb+ on the night of the fight. The whole thing is turning into manufactured drama.

 

I love personalities, god knows I'm sick of the "i'll fight whoever the UFC puts in front of me" interviews, but at this point Conor has dead eyes when he talks, he doesn't even engage the interviewer like he used to, he's just a glazed over propaganda bullshit machine. Oh and the less said about all this #TheMaclife stuff the better. He doesn't own these cars, he rents his house, it's all fakery.

 

He used to be a fun fighter, a cocky kid, he was great on the MMA hour, but he's just a cocky gauche idiot now. I think I've just worked out that I want him to lose by typing this.

[schmojo]

2 hours ago, angel said:

 

Exactly. For someone who plays the game intelligently, this thing seems like a whole massive ego trip to me.

 

 

A big part of me agrees with this.

 

But then another part of me realises that he's scheduled to make about $10m for a non-title fight with a gatekeeper.

 

Still smart. Though the question marks are about what happens next.

[Rocafella]

I actually think having the fight at 170 makes sense. From Conor's POV, some might call it stupid, but I understand where he's coming from. If they fought at 155 and Conor won, then people would constantly be needling and making excuses, even though they'd be ridiculous to do so. 

You guys are right about Conor and 145 as well. That's over for him. He has no interest in an Aldo rematch/Edgar fight, and killing himself in the process. It's a must-win fight for Conor basically. If he wins by KO, I think he can get back that 'untouchable' aura and go on to fight at 155, but if he loses, he'll never be able to recover the same level of hype.

[Guest]

Good posts angel, especially in Ireland I'm sick of the Conor hype train. I think he's basically been far too over-saturated personality wise and there's basically nowhere left for him to go, except for the celeb wrestlemania appearance he will definitely do next time he loses.

[Doomguy]

I forgot how bad he looked at 145lbs. I don't think anyone wants to see this Conor again. 

 

 

He's pretty much half conscious in the interview. 

[Yobo Ahoy]

Jesus, he looks like a 90 year old Liam Neeson.

 

Anyway, Woodley's quest to be everyone's least favourite champion continues; he's turned down Wonderboy and has released a cringy text message exchange with GSP. The guy is an absolute joke.

 

 

Also read a banging new nickname for him... The Choosing One. 

[Doomguy]

Dear god he's not had a single title defence, does shit numbers and isn't marketable - or maybe this is it like @Yobo Ahoy said, he's trying to become hated?

 

Either way, he's fighting Wonder boy next according to Dana. Sure he'll kick off about that. 

[angel]

I guess Woodley's just going straight for the heel angle, at least it beats the wallflower angle.

[glb]

Hope Wonderboy gets the fight and takes Woodley apart. So in that regard the new champ's 'heel persona' is on point.

[Orion]

If he was a boxer this would work. He could just fight the likes of Nick Diaz (0 for 3 in his last 3, has not won a fight in 5 years) forever.

 

Its not though. Brenden Schaub made a good point that if you try to tell the UFC what to do when you are a champion but not a draw, they can make you defend that belt on a Wednesday night Fight Pass card and not give a shit.

 

I think Tyron is just trying to make some noise. He will have to fight Wonderboy and he knows it.

[Doomguy]

... 

 

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2016/8/12/12461756/tweet-of-the-day-woodley-wonderboy-not-so-fast-says-tyron

 

[Doomguy]

Nick Diaz told USADA to fuck off because he needed to get some sleep at the hotel. Love the fact his room number is 7209. 

 

 

[angel]

Well this is the week, let the Embeddeds begin.