Official Mixed Martial Arts Thread

[Stig]

I personally had that as Diaz, but only just though. Its easy to see why it went to Connor though, it was so close. Amazing fight though. The rest of the card great too, Rumble is a dangerous dangerous man.

[Corrogate]

Those knockdowns in the first. Mate, I was gonna make a Facebook post like "Rumble fight's gonna be over within 30 seconds" to look like a cocky twat but decided against it.

[Gotters]

Think we learnt a little bit about Connor's grappling in that he kept stood up the whole time in the clinch when Diaz tried a few times to get him down, think he only got tripped with 30s to go.

 

Connor's cardio is interesting, he looked amazing for almost 2, then seemed to totally hit a wall but managed to rally a bit (but not back to full power)

 

Not sure how anybody could score that for Diaz, just doesn't seem a controversial decision to me, the only controversy on the scoring was the guy who gave round 3 as 10-8 to Diaz.

[glb]

Watching the rest of the card, Cowboy looked fantastic again, such a clinical finish. Hope he stays at 170 and doesn't go after 155 again. Rumble absolutely terrifying KO, but what a pro afterwards. Good to see him call out the crowd for booing DC too.

 

Happy to be wrong about McGregor, he performed brilliantly, he and Diaz bring out the best in each other (in the Octagon, at least). Good show of respect afterwards, hopefully they won't bother with the trash talk to sell part III.

[Gotters]

I thought Rumble's interview was very classy - won't sell many PPV's or make him wealthy but a proper show of fighter respect.

[luckypierre]

33 minutes ago, Stigweard said:

I personally had that as Diaz, but only just though. Its easy to see why it went to Connor though, it was so close. Amazing fight though. The rest of the card great too, Rumble is a dangerous dangerous man.

The only round in question, though it isnt imo, is round 2. I rewatched it straight after just to make sure. Connor dominates, and I mean dominates for 4 mins of that round and gets 2 knockdowns. Diaz has a flurry in the last minute and certainly gets the better of the exchanges but McGregor still slips a lot of it and fires back with plenty of shots of his own. I dont think anyone disagrees with 1 and 4 McGregor, 3 and 5 for Diaz.

[Corrogate]

Can't wait to see what they got paid.

[Corrogate]

http://mmajunkie.com/2016/08/fc-202-salaries-conor-mcgregor-pulls-in-record-3-million-purse-nate-diaz-gets-2-million-1

[ckny]

I need to rewatch it. The fight I downloaded had Russian (I think) commentary and my daughter was climbing all over me, I scored it 49-46 Diaz.

[Gotters]

13 minutes ago, ckny said:

I need to rewatch it. The fight I downloaded had Russian (I think) commentary and my daughter was climbing all over me, I scored it 49-46 Diaz.

 

you really need to re-watch it !

[glb]

Scorecard (spoilered for size)

 

 

There's a 10-8 round in there (for Diaz) but all 3 judges awarded McGregor round 2.

[Sng]

24 minutes ago, ckny said:

I need to rewatch it. The fight I downloaded had Russian (I think) commentary and my daughter was climbing all over me, I scored it 49-46 Diaz.

Do you literally jot down your scores for each round?

[ckny]

What? No?

[glb]

1 hour ago, luckypierre said:

The only round in question, though it isnt imo, is round 2. I rewatched it straight after just to make sure. Connor dominates, and I mean dominates for 4 mins of that round and gets 2 knockdowns. Diaz has a flurry in the last minute and certainly gets the better of the exchanges but McGregor still slips a lot of it and fires back with plenty of shots of his own. I dont think anyone disagrees with 1 and 4 McGregor, 3 and 5 for Diaz.

 

Re-watched and, you're right, no question round 2 was Conor's. First time around it felt closer, but think that was because Nate's late flurry was fresher in the memory than the 2 knockdowns.

 

Had to have another look at Rumble's KO. Jesus, Glover was in all sorts.

 

UFC 205 and 206 should shape up to be incredible cards.

[Gotters]

really think the UFC nail the youtube media side of things showing you the fighters outside & in the build up to fights

 

this is the first in a series showing how CM Punk has prepared since initially signing for them, he seems a thoroughly decent chap in this but it highlights the task he's got making his MMA debut with them

 

 

 

[Doomguy]

Glad Conor got the win but as mentioned get back to 145 or 155 ASAP. He'd get truly eaten alive by other 170lbers. Imagine if he'd actual have fought GSP.

 

Rumbles KO... man, I just feel for Glover at this point. His story is he was going to fight in the UFC years ago but couldn't because of visa issues. Now he's older it's likely he'll never win the belt which is sad as he'd definitely have been a UFC champ years ago - Glover vs Griffin, Rashad, Shogun? come on he'd have had UFC gold at some point. 

 

 

[The Bag]

He really needs to get back down and defend his title at least once.  He's won three, but hasn't defended any of them and (for me anyway) it's the defences that make a champion's legacy.

[Gotters]

I think Connor is almost in a position to be 'post title'. He just banked the biggest ever upfront purse, for a catchweight non title bout. It probably did stellar PPV and rumours are his share of the gate will see him earn $10m for the night. In doing so he pulled Diaz to a level of pay most of the champs could only dream of.

 

He is a genuine breakout MMA star and of course needs to keep winning, but not sure being thought of well as a great champ is top of his list of priorities. His legacy will be in how to promote and sell, not a record number of title defences.

 

 

[angel]

I like what helwani said on his post show, certain fighters are now transcending the belts, its not just chasing that strap any more.

[Yobo Ahoy]

That's fine, as long as it doesn't hold up entire divisions at a time. If they want a belt, let them scrap for a Superfight title or some shit like the old days rather than creating log jams of promising contenders. 

 

Anyway, the main was an absolute belter of a fight. I'm glad Conor won - he's clearly poured everything into preparing for this fight so fair play to him. I'm not in any rush for the trilogy though.

 

As for Rumble, fantastic KO and I think the DC fight will be a different story to last time. I'm not sure why but he didn't seem at the races at all last time, proper lethargic. And, as mentioned, all class in the interview. He's the nicest baddest man on the planet.

[angel]

True i dislike interim belts when people arent even injured.

[Doomguy]

Me neither. The UFC need to stop handing them out all the time then putting 'champion vs champion' on posters. No. Champion vs champion happened once and it was when Hendo had the Pride belt and fought Rampage. 

[Don Rosco]

[Doomguy]

What a combo!

[Gotters]

4 hours ago, Hellcock said:

Are post fight press conferences done individually now?

 

Haven't seen it before - I thought they'd probably had enough of Diaz & McGregor slinging insults and bottles at each other and wanted to give the other fighters a chance to speak. 

 

Dana White said the the Nevada Athletic commission are looking at the pre fight weigh in and could bring sanctions against the fighters, so assume they didn't want to give the platform for it to kick off again.

[Yobo Ahoy]

6 hours ago, Hellcock said:

Are post fight press conferences done individually now?

 

Nah I read yesterday it was was because of the building's restrictions, the rooms available were too big or too small and some shit about security. Not a regular thing. 

[Doomguy]

Apparently Conor has only two options going forward according to Dana.

 

Defend the belt against Aldo at 145lbs. 

 

Relinquish the 145lb belt and fight for the lightweight belt against Eddie Alvarez.

 

Zero clue how this will play out. 

 

[Nomad]

Could this not just lead to McGregor relinquishing the 145 title, going to 155 to face Alvarez, winning and heading back down to unify the belts at 145 against Aldo for some mega mega bucks? 

 

Spoiler

 

And the Diaz trilogy then actually being for the 155 belt, in Croke Park Irland?

 

Spoiler

!!!

 

 

[Yobo Ahoy]

Either way a decision needs to be made sharpish. I'm sure it will devastate Aldo but it needs to happen. FW is one of the divisions with the most potential - a ready made challenger in Holloway, upcoming stars like Ortega and Rodriguez, and former champs in Barao, Edgar and Pettis. It deserves an active champion. 

 

As an aside, loving the brewing rivalry between Cruz and Garbrandt. They fucking hate each other. 

[Doomguy]

12 hours ago, Yobo Ahoy said:

Either way a decision needs to be made sharpish. I'm sure it will devastate Aldo but it needs to happen. FW is one of the divisions with the most potential - a ready made challenger in Holloway, upcoming stars like Ortega and Rodriguez, and former champs in Barao, Edgar and Pettis. It deserves an active champion.  

 

Thinking back, and as much as he's one of my favourite fighters, this has been good for Aldo. There was a push for him to fight at 155lbs but he was so so about it, despite the fact he'd cleared the division at the time - GSP anyone? The whole Mcgregor thing has lit a rocket underneath him again. I think he'll follow Conor to 155lbs.