UFC 178: Johnson vs Cariaso

[wandshogun09]

I do like Luke Thomas, lamby. I think you're mixing Ebb's post up with me. I can see why others would find him grating though and I think he was needlessly clutching at straws on the Jon Jones/racism stuff, but on the whole I think he's really good.

 

Mike Chiappetta is seems a good egg to me. Seems like the most normal/soundest of the MMA media lot. As does that Shaun Al Shatti bloke Helwani had on his 178 post-fight show, and Dave Doyle.

 

Iole is someone I have no opinion on. Bernard Hopkins did not seem keen on him, I remember Hopkins dressing him down on camera before his fight with Calzaghe years ago (I sadly cannot find the video)

Sure you're not thinking of Steve Bunce, Jim? Even if you're not, here's that video anyway, why not? ...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&persist_app=1&v=lwzjtJu9wA4

 

They're also filming a six part documentary on Conor to be shown on RTE.

Never knew about that. Should be must-see.

 

EDIT: So UFC 179, do you think they allow Conor to get into the cage and face off with the Aldo/Mendes winner?

Ha, I'm typing up the 179 opening post in another tab, and I was just thinking about that. They've got to, right? To fly McGregor out to Brazil just to sit and wave at the camera like Captain Lou Albano at WrestleMania would be such a wasted opportunity. Let him in the cage in his pimp suit to face off with, let's say Aldo, in Brazil, fuck!

 

That Conor Meme is spot on. I'm amazed at how many people think he's still not up to it, and to prove so have decided Poirier is suddenly not that good after all. This is after reading that he'll struggle against a top fighter like Poirier. Daft.

I hate that revisionist bollocks as well. All I was reading from the McGregor detractors going in was how Poirier was the first 'real' fighter he'd have faced. How McGregor was about to be exposed and that Poirier was going to shut him up. 1:46 later or whatever it was and Poirier is now a can, apparently. And McGregor is still unproven. There'll always be something. It's at the point now where even if he goes in and knocks out Jose Aldo, I bet people will be going 'well Aldo's been declining for a while, he's struggling with the weight cut, McGregor just fought him at the right time', etc etc. Twats like that will never be pleased. But then the second he loses, even after it's after a 10 fight streak, they'll all be scuttling for their laptops to tell Sherdog how right they were and that McGregor was all hype.

[jimufctna24]

I remember the Bunce incident

 

But he did have a pop at Iole as well. It was on ITV. I remember because at the time I had only seen pictures of Iole online, so when he popped up on ITV evening news with Hopkins, it was quite a shock (I did not even know he covered Boxing at that stage). 

 

Floyd Snr had a run in with Iole in 2009

 

 

EDIT: I cannot find a trace of it, so it might have been with someone other than Hopkins.

[Supremo]

No-one should be surprised about the hardcores still refusing to admit Conor is for real. It's the Brock Lesnar thing all over again. Instead of just growing a set of balls and admitting they simply didn't like Brock Lesnar, these goons would constantly harp about how he wasn't any good and that his next opponent would expose him.

 

Heath Herring was a real fighter, he'd be the one to prove what a joke Lesnar was. Then Brock literally rode him like a horse in the final few seconds of beating him up, laughing his tits off. So the story was immediately changed to Heath always being a bit shit and Randy being the guy to embarrass Brock and send him back to pro-wrestling. Brock caved his temple in. Then it was Mir. Then it was Carwin. And then, when Brock finally did lose, as everyone in MMA is eventually going to do, these revisionist bell ends tried to argue that all those guys before Cain were tomato cans or whatever.

 

Again, it's just another case of warped perspective from hardcore MMA fans or journalists. Guys who you think would know the most somehow manage to understand the least.

[wandshogun09]

You know, thinking about it, if McGregor did that to Dustin Poirier just imagine how that Cole Miller fight would've gone? At the time I thought Conor would beat him but not walk through him. In light of just how easily he handled Poirier though, I think he'd have fucking slaughtered Cole and his balding 42 year old head.

 

Cole's shut right the fuck up about Conor recently as well, hasn't he? Even Diego Sanchez has converted;

 

Diego Sanchez UFC @DiegoSanchezUFC

Let's go @DustinPoirier

Two minutes later...

 

Diego Sanchez UFC @DiegoSanchezUFC

Conor really backed his mouth up #impresive

I bet Luke Barnatt threw his Pot Noodle in a fit of jealousy when the KO came though. That eight foot stick of shit is counting the days until McGregor loses. He doesn't hide it well at all.

[Egg Shen]

Haha is there history between those two other than the little digs in the press?

[ColinBollocks]

The Lesnar comparison is fair. Some people are desperate to be proven right, so when that doesn't happen they'll twist anything. Sort of similar to some of the nonsense you read if you type #the45 on twitter.

 

Still, I can sort of get why people are so eager to downplay the rise of Lesnar (he's a fake wrestler; probably guzzles etc.), but not sure why an MMA bloke like Conor gets it so tight. Is it purely because the UFC gave him a bit of justified hype? Bizarre.

 

I'm pleased Conor is about, though. I was sort of losing a bit of interest in MMA, as a lot of the current crop are bores, but he's managed to fill the void left by the likes of Sonnen and GSP. He's big time and there isn't enough of that in the sport.

[wandshogun09]

Haha is there history between those two other than the little digs in the press?

It's weird isn't it? All I can chalk it up to is jealousy on Barnatt's part. That's where it all started anyway. When Barnatt made some comments accusing McGregor of buying twitter followers or some shit. Then when he was doing the BT Sport bit for the Dublin show he seemed to want to cool any enthusiasm and dampen everyone's excitement about McGregor. Before the fight he was saying stuff like 'Brandao's ground game is absolutely better than Conor's is' and stuff. Then McGregor walked through him and came out on top in the only grappling attempts Brandao tried, including a beautiful sort of lateral drop. Barnatt tried to look happy afterwards but you could tell he was hoping Conor would get laid out on home soil.

 

The funny thing is, at this point it's too late. McGregor losing now isn't going to render him a nobody. He's gotten to big and he's got the type of style and character that will mean people will always care when he fights. So when Barnatt or whoever else are rooting for him to lose, I think they'll be disappointed when he does finally lose and his next fight still matters 50x more than theirs. Why they think a loss here or there is going to undo everything and make people suddenly lose interest in him, I don't know. A loss wouldn't be good obviously, but he's pretty much a made man now regardless.

 

McGregor and his coach John Kavanagh have been very respectful in victory as well. Kavanagh tweeted this to Poirier;

 

@DustinPoirier you're a martial artist and will continue on the journey. If you're ever in Ireland please drop by @SBG_Ireland take care

And this after some knob tweeted him on about giving Poirier shit on twitter post-fight;

 

When the contest is over, it's over. Don't be a dick and harass fighters. Unless you yourself fight at a high level you'll never understand.

McGregor had a good line at the presser as well;

 

"I'm cocky in prediction. I'm confident in preparation. And I'm humble in victory OR defeat."

Somehow I don't think Poirier would've been quite so gracious if he'd have knocked out McGregor. Maybe I'm wrong on that but he really seemed thin-skinned and like he'd taken McGregor's pre-fight antics way too much to heart.

[Supremo]

Yeah, McGregor proved himself to be a top bloke in how he handled himself after the fight. You can already see that he's going to be similar to Chael, a complete wind up leading into the fight, but a class act afterwards.

 

He said as much in the post-fight press conference. Dustin was crying about how much he hated Conor, and yet Conor just thought the whole thing was a proper good laugh. It's Sonnen all over again. He'll talk a bunch of nonsense to build the fight up, talking about how the social welfare can fuck off or how three men died making his solid gold pocket watch, and whilst the buys will invariably come flooding in you'll be left with a massively divided fan base; one half with a sense of fun that lap it up (luckily the majority on here) and then, well, the Sherdog goons. You know the type. The ones who'd genuinely get annoyed when Chael called himself the undefeated champion. So bereft of a sense of fun that they can't even recognise the joke that everyone but themselves are in on.

 

He's bad for the sport, he's a clown, blah blah blah. There was one man at that post-fight press conference that everyone wanted to talk to and it wasn't the straight-cut, I'll-fight-anyone-they-put-in-front-of-me Flyweight champion. In fact, nobody even noticed that Demetrius wasn't there. No. Everyone wanted to talk to one man and it was the bloke in gold shades goofing around and having the time of his life.

 

If this was 2008, they were still on Spike Tv and Conor came along? This would be the biggest thing in the whole world.

[Supremo]

Announced payouts for UFC 178. Obviously, I imagine a lot of people will have earned a lot more than is disclosed here.

 

Main Card (Pay-per-view)

Demetrious Johnson ($129,000 + $54,000 = $183,000) def. Chris Cariaso ($24,000)

Donald Cerrone ($63,000 + $63,000 = $126,000) def. Eddie Alvarez ($100,000)

Conor McGregor ($75,000 + $75,000 = $150,000) def. Dustin Poirier ($34,000)

Yoel Romero ($29,000 + $29,000 = $58,000) def Tim Kennedy ($70,000)

Cat Zingano ($9,000 + $9,000 = $18,000) def. Amanda Nunes ($15,000)

 

Preliminary Card (FOX Sports 1)

Dominick Cruz ($50,000 + $50,000 = $100,000) def. Takeya Mizugaki ($32,000)

Jorge Masvidal ($45,000 + $45,000 = $90,000) def. James Krause ($15,000)

Stephen Thompson ($16,000 + $16,000 = $32,000) def. Patrick Cote ($33,000)

Brian Ebersole ($21,000 + $21,000 = $42,000) def. John Howard ($21,000)

 

Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass)

Kevin Lee ($10,000 + $10,000 = $20,000) def. Jon Tuck ($10,000)

Manvel Gamburyan ($25,000 + $25,000 = $50,000) def. Cody Gibson ($10,000)

[wandshogun09]

Another thing I like about McGregor, I don't get the impression he's manufacturing trash talk for the fight. Before the fight I think he's genuinely got an attitude of 'fuck this guy in my way' and he's in that mode from the second the contract is signed until the fight is over. He says himself that the real fight starts when the contract is signed. Everything after that, the training camp, the food you eat, the press conference, the weigh in, it's all part of the battle. Then when it's over he can shake the guy's hand and be respectful. But not a second before the final bell.

 

I don't think he fakes it beforehand. He just speaks his mind. But he does obviously recognise that that generates interest as well, no doubt. But even before this Poirier fight he was saying he had nothing personal against him. He just saw him as a body and wasn't that impressed with him. And for all the shit he got for trash talking, how much of it was personal? It was all to do with his fighting style/deteriorating chin etc. The only personal thing he said was 'Pea Head', and if that was what sent Poirier into a rage I genuinely worry for his state of mind.

 

There was one man at that post-fight press conference that everyone wanted to talk to and it wasn't the straight-cut, I'll-fight-anyone-they-put-in-front-of-me Flyweight champion. In fact, nobody even noticed that Demetrius wasn't there. No. Everyone wanted to talk to one man and it was the bloke in gold shades goofing around and having the time of his life.

Haha. Mighty Mouse got asked one question at the end, and that was probably just a courtesy thing because they felt they should probably get ONE in, at least. Cariaso and his dad's suit got nothing. He just sat in the glow of McGregor's ivory elephant trunk suit. It was the McGregor show all night.

 

He's a top bloke I'm sure. No matter how many opponents say he's a cunt, he just seems like a fun character who's living the dream to me. Can't hate on that. Arnold Schwarzenegger is even a fan. When have you seen Arnie stop fucking the nanny long enough to comment on lowly MMA? If Conor's got Arnie's stamp of approval, that's good enough for me.

 

Another outsider fell under the McGregor spell this weekend as well. This time the boxer Andre Berto. Look at how happy he looks;

 

 

Andre Berto @AndreBerto

@ufc thank u guy so much for having me had a hell of a time. My boy @TheNotoriousMMA Had me feeling like a chocolate leprechaun 2night lol

Everyone who meets him seems to come away loving the bloke.

[GlennCullen]

$75k to show and another to win? Thats a damn good contract at this stage of the game, especially as he'll get more under the table aswell.

[jimufctna24]

If this was 2008, they were still on Spike Tv and Conor came along? This would be the biggest thing in the whole world.

Agreed

 

Although, I am sort of glad who has come along recently. MMA needs McGregor now much more than it did in 2008-2010. GSP leaving, Chael retiring, and Anderson being absent had left a hole. Pettis who was the most exciting star of 2013, has been injured for over a year as well.

 

McGregor might not be the "fighter of the year", but he is the best MMA personality of the year by quite a margin.

[wandshogun09]

I think I'll probably be voting him Fighter Of The Year in the UKFF Awards this year. Not so much in terms of who he's beat (although KOs over Brandao and Poirier in a combined four minutes or so isn't bad going). But to come back from ACL surgery to the position he's in now is really something. That's kind of been lost in all the talk and suits. To come back from that kind of injury and blast two guys in round one is super impressive. Add in the fact he "dragged the UFC back to Ireland by the scruff of the neck" and provided us with an unforgettable show, yeah I'll probably end up voting him. Unless Lawler wins the belt in December maybe. Seriously, who's had a better year than McGregor? And it mightn't be over yet. There's still time to possibly squeeze one more big fight in before the year's out.

 

KJ - McGregor will undoubtedly be getting more than $75K/$75K. He was asked about his money at the press conference and said that no-one in the media knows what he's really getting paid. He was also angling for the Fertittas to sort him out if the PPV numbers come in big as well. He knows what's up. If you don't ask you don't get.

[jimufctna24]

I think I'll probably be voting him Fighter Of The Year in the UKFF Awards this year. Not so much in terms of who he's beat (although KOs over Brandao and Poirier in a combined four minutes or so isn't bad going). But to come back from ACL surgery to the position he's in now is really something. That's kind of been lost in all the talk and suits. To come back from that kind of injury and blast two guys in round one is super impressive. Add in the fact he "dragged the UFC back to Ireland by the scruff of the neck" and provided us with an unforgettable show, yeah I'll probably end up voting him. Unless Lawler wins the belt in December maybe. Seriously, who's had a better year than McGregor? And it mightn't be over yet. There's still time to possibly squeeze one more big fight in before the year's out.

People were arguing elsewhere for Cerrone

 

- Barboza

 

- Miller

 

- Eddie

 

I will probably vote for McGregor, but Cerrone might end up with the better resume of victories in 2014. Depends on what your criteria is.

[wandshogun09]

Cerrone, of course! How did I forget. Plus he had that BRUTAL headkick KO on Martins as well. He's 4-0 this year and is after another fight in November.

 

If he goes 5-0, yeah it'll be hard to vote against him.