Dai

Hes talking as if Pereira is the second coming of Conor McGregor. "Considered a legend to millions around the world" sounds like hes trolling. Is Pereira even talking about going to the heavyweight division? Just all seems odd. It does sound like hes angling to fight a 230lb Pereira rather than Aspinal.

Looking foward to that! Should be a belter. I can see the build up being awful, but theres no denying its a huge fight. UFC have posted a great Conor fight comp. That initial run from the prelims to mega star within five or six fights was insane, looking back at it. He really caught lightning in a bottle.

Funny that the 200 thread was started on March 17th, FOUR months before the show. It was just a different time back then. Full of big characters (good and bad), matches and fighters you REALLY wanted to see, and a knowledge that the UFC really did give a shit about putting on a big, memorable show (their income depended on it). All of that is now gone, for me at least. There was also 199 on June 4th, then a two week gap to a fight night, then another three week gap until the 200 fight weekend. Plenty of time for people to get hyped for the show. This is a fantastic show, from bottom to top, but with the exception of one or two (ie, Max, Gaethje, etc), its just a bunch of really good fighters that I have no investment in at all. Theyre just there. The UFC plan of making the brand the selling point, not the fighter, is complete, and this show is a big indicator of that for me.

Surely its just a case of 20% just not being that much of a deterent? Just like the guy in the co main; hes essentially spending probably $10k to have a weight advantage and not have to cut the really hard last couple of pounds. By doing so he drastically increases his chance of winning and getting his win bonus. You know for a fact that these lower level fighters are terrified of pulling out of a fight and pissing off Dana. Seems like a very good risk/reward.