lambyUK

Is this general mma thread actually needed now there's a dedicated forum? Is it time wave bye bye to this mega thread?

 

Or perhaps it becomes just used for stories that no one's that arsed about..like Tim Kennedy's fights.

Fair enough, how does top ten but not top five sound then?

 

Quite possibly that's a fair comment. Looking at the rankings right now he's at 6, with Cerrone above him. On current fights that ranking is probably warranted.

 

I still stand by the opinion that only RDA and Nurmagomedov are the only 2 fighters that Diaz couldn't beat, and i hold him at the same level of Pettis, Ferguson, Alvarez and Cerrone who are currently above him in the rankings. But to put it as you say, that's just my own opinion.  

Fair points on the above. However, I take exception to the below.

 

That can be said about a lot of fighters though, can't it? A lot of guys "stand a chance" against anyone. The thing for me is that Diaz has had those chances against the top guys and failed. Again, before he was brought in as a replacement for RDA no one was talking about him as a 155lbs title contender.

 

Of course, but no one was talking about him as a title contender as he hadn't recently fought a title eliminator. However, you don't have to be talked about as being a title contender in order to be classed as being better as "mid level" as you put it. It's obvious he's above mid level based on his ranking and previously beating the no 1/2 in the lightweight division. 

Both are mid-level 155lbs fighters, and not even top 15 170lbs fighters. At best.

 

It was going to be an interesting bout, but it was purely an exhibition fight, with next to fuck all ramifications for the 170lbs division. or even the 155lbs division.

 

It's not what Jim said though David. He clearly said world class fighters. Mcgregor is a world class fighter, irrespective of what division he fights in.

 

You also can't say he's a mid level 155llb fighter either, since, the main problem with that comment is, he's never fought at 155llbs in the UFC. He could be better, he could be worse, but until he's fought there I will reserve judgement.

 

In relation to Diaz, outside of the RDA and Nurmagomedov, he stands a chance against anyone in the lightweight division. The fact he's beaten Cerrone, who was ranked as high as number 2 (or 1 if the champion doesn't count) to me suggests he's certainly to be held in higher esteem than just "mid level".

 

He may not be world class, but he has world class tools in his game. He's arguably the best boxer in the lightweight division, and his jujitsu is certainly world class.

 

If the fight were to go ahead, despite being at 170llbs, it certainly would have held ramifications in either the 155llb or 170llb division. Considering at 1 point the promotion were thinking about throwing Nate at Robbie Lawler after his win at 196, certainly suggests that they felt there were ramifications last time around. The same would have stood if the fight was scheduled again.   

 

As Kevin Iole put in his article, I just don't think Mcgregor could be arsed with hoping on a flight from Iceland to New York, then New York to Vegas, then repeat the same trip on the way back. He would lose at least 2 full days from his training camp whilst his opponent would be back in his gym within a few hours. 

 

 

That can't be the real reason. Gomi & Aldo are on the card, they'd be flying across too. Plus, the event is 3 months away! It's not like he's taken the fight on two weeks notice & these 2 gym days are crucial?

 

 

I think there's a very good possibility of it being true Mike, simply because it may have come down to a power thing. Mcgregor didn't want the agro, gave them the ultimatum, and the UFC didn't buckle. 

 

I also doubt Gomi would be flying across ( I maybe wrong?). They don't normally have the prelim fights turn up for pressers. Aldo, yes, but i'm guessing he would be on a direct flight which is a lot easier than the than the tedious requirement of a change of flights.

I don't get this accusation that he doesn't want to face the press with questions about his loss etc. He was everywhere after his loss, he didn't do a Rousey and go into hiding.

 

I don't think it's necessarily not wanting to face the press, more so what can he actually say now?  

 

As Kevin Iole put in his article, I just don't think Mcgregor could be arsed with hoping on a flight from Iceland to New York, then New York to Vegas, then repeat the same trip on the way back. He would lose at least 2 full days from his training camp whilst his opponent would be back in his gym within a few hours. 

 

He's played his card, and now he has to stand by it. 

Pretty crazy new to get up to. I reckon McGregor's bottled it. Knowing he'll have to do a load of press ahead of 200 where the focus won't purely be people kissing his arse, his ego couldn't face answering questions about what he'll do differently to avoid a 2nd loss on the bounce & having Nate sat opposite saying he's going to school him again, make him his bitch again etc.

 

Doubt he's retired though, just throwing a bit of a paddy.

 

That's an interesting point as well Mike. Mcgregor wouldn't be able to use any of his old spiel given what happened in the first fight. He would try his best, but there would be an easy out for Diaz everytime and would just result in Mcgregor not being able to say fuck all.

 

It really depends on what the real story is. If it's Mcgregor is not in the right frame of mind to do promotion due to the death of a fighter then I sympathise. I would also sympathise if he feels exhausted as a result of the 2 years he's had. Genuinely, has their ever been a fighter who's been on a constant 2 year promotional campaign, on top TV shows, reality shows like he has been? If he's got to the point where he feels that to excel in this next fight he must put training first for the first time since he's been competing in the UFC. 

 

However, if it ends up being Mcgregor has just come and said he just can't be arsed and is refusing to do any promotion whatsoever, then UFC really had to stick to their guns. 

 

The irony is, this fight doesn't need much promotion at all. It sells itself. 

 

 

I can't see that anywhere..

 

Except on his twitter account?

 

https://twitter.com/TheNotoriusMMA

 

Fuck knows what the hell is going on.

 

 

That looks like a fake account to me. Check the spelling of Notorious, and check the link to his official twitter.

 

 

Jesus David, you're right. I didn't even check the spelling, just clicked on the link above. Well spotted. Sorry Daz.

I can't see that anywhere..

 

Except on his twitter account?

 

https://twitter.com/TheNotoriusMMA

 

Fuck knows what the hell is going on.

I highly doubt he's lost that desire to train. Just 2 days ago he posted something that went along the lines of his training being like his first day. Now it could be him just making shit up, but i doubt it.

 

McGregor is saying to the ufc they need him a hell of a lot more than he needs them now.

Personally I think McGregor is absolutely exhausted from the previous promotional obligations. Last year alone he did that draining ufc world tour, then that opponent pulled out, he then had to do another PR blitz to save that event.

 

It was that world tour, that seems to have brought this on.

 

Come the Mendes fight you could see how exhausted he was. Then he agreed to not go home and agreed to film 6 weeks of TUF. Then along came the actual Aldo fight and the promo for that ramped up again, followed by more crazy promo for the RDA fight to then more promo to save that event too. He just looked frazzled from it all.

 

He maybe looking at his previous fight and believes its one of the reasons why he performed the way did and as MOM says has just flown out to Iceland and the last thing he needs is to jet off to Vegas, a ridiculous amount of time in advance to start promoting the fight.

 

Helwani believes that its directly linked to the death of the Portuguese fighter where he was cageside, in that he's not mentally in the right place at this moment. Again, you have to sympathise with McGregor if true.

 

However, from the UFC's perspective, if they've agreed these promo commitments with McGregor during the signing of this contract then they will obviously be pissed.

 

BUT, with everything the guy has done the past 2 years from a promotional stand point, they should really give the guy a break.

 

This is ufc making a stand against McGregor saying no one is bigger than the company.

 

The problem is, by the reaction I'm reading online, he very well maybe is, and the ufc and Dana can't handle it

 

Absolute shambles of a situation. I agree with MOM too, this isn't about money.

Kavanagh has just tweeted "well was fun while it lasted".

 

I think this could be legit. Shit.

Love the Bill Murray cameo in Zombieland.

It's 3D that made that film the biggest of all time. Credit where it's due as it was truly an amazing 3D experience on the big screen.

 

However, when I watched it back at home and watched it on a normal TV it was scary how shit the actual film really is.

That last bit about Whedon struggling is a really good point actually. I enjoyed Age of Ultron, but you could tell Whedon was bogged down trying to please the studio in the direction they wanted to go in. 

I guess despite where the characters came from, it's just as much of a challenge to successfully create the platform to where the studio want all the these characters to go in the future. 

 

Shouldn't that last sentence be put in spoiler tags too?

Why, I just mean he seems like a twat of the movie and Cap seems cool.

 

 

Fair enough. To me it read that you were saying that come the end of Civil War Iron Man puts himself into an unsympathetic position, which could be spoilers?

Shouldn't that last sentence be put in spoiler tags too?

There's a big difference of it doing well, and being a brilliant movie. I would argue that the pressure on the Russo's to deliver a great movie considering what was at stake is far greater than say for Scott Derrickson or Peyton Reed. 

I agree perhaps from a vision perspective as you have create something new and unique to that character, but I just don't necessarily agree that the Russo's should be given less credit due to characters in their movie having existing story arcs. I think successfully bringing a movie of this scale together is a stunning feat, and a different challenge than other directors who work for Marvel films will have to face.

 

You could also argue that those arcs can shackle a director's vision as they are bound by the stories that preceded them? 

Lamby. I will say that even though Whedon did a fantastic job he was helped by each character having already had a solo film and a bit of character behind them, think that's more what David was meaning. It's far easier to make a film like that when the audience are already invested in the characters.

 

I know what you're saying, but by that logic that means any film that's a sequal is should be easy to make as we have characters we are invested in?

 

I just don't agree, especially with the complexities of making this size of a cast work. On top of that, we also have new characters such as Black Panther, Spider-man etc added to the pot. 

I need to expand my friends connections by the sounds of it. 

 

I think the goon is available on the US Netflix, maybe your Netflix is the US one using a proxy?

I’m off to see it on Sunday evening lads, so I’ll give yiz me worthless opinion then.

 

Oh..fuck off. First you tell me The Goon is on netflix (and it's not you bastard!) and now you're telling me you are seeing this nearly two weeks in advance!?!??!

 

Feck!

Civil War isn't a very challenging movie to make for Marvel. They've already done the ground work - something DC lacked with BvsS - so it doesn't surprise me that the reviews are good. You'd have to be pretty shit at your job to fuck that movie up.

 

Strange onwards is where the real challenges come. Much like Guardians and Ant Man, Marvel do have enough credibility with audiences now to delve into something different, so hopefully they can keep the high quality up. Though the GOTG sequel has a lot to live up to.

Couldn't disagree with you more regarding civil war. Large cast ensembles are notoriously difficult to make and involves an awful lot of skill as a film maker to not make it into a big clusterfuck of a mess.

 

Just look at spider-man 3. Its why Joss Whedon was lauded after the first avengers as he was able to write and direct a script that gave each character a fleshed out story arc whilst avoiding it becoming an incoherent mess.

God bless the Russo brothers. I'm not reading the actual reviews but the response I'm reading here from little snippets is incredible.

Don't think they have. Normally 4 stars and down. Last 5 stars were the Nolan's Dark Knight movies.

Marvel have allowed reviews to be published for Captain America Civil War as of half an hour ago.

 

I can't remember the last time a review of a major comic book movie to be released that far in advance of release?

 

When I read that I thought the studio must be thrilled with the movie, and I've just seen empire's score and they've given it 5 stars.

 

Its been a while since they've given a comic book movie a 5 star review.

 

Problem now is we've still got another 2 weeks to wait.