Paid Members Egg Shen Posted September 10, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted September 10, 2015 Conor fanboy here dropping in to start a thread to prevent World War 3 breaking out in the MMA discussion thread: Proceed... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d-d-d-dAz Posted September 10, 2015 Share Posted September 10, 2015 I can't think of a worst way to start this show off than the way they did. By giving Conor the nod, they're acknowledging that they want his character and personality to maybe save the show. Instead, they launch it with 2 hours of fucking fights between people you don't know, or couldn't give a shit about. Up until his mate lost, Conor seemed in fine fettle and the 'banter' between him and Urijah was just about saving the episode. Then he got the hump and it went south, The producer got bored, too, and started cutting out fights, perving on family members and showing everyone looking really bored. The best things about the show were the videos at the start, and end, where they previewed the coming season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted September 10, 2015 Share Posted September 10, 2015 As I said in the other thread... I also liked the bit at the end where both Faber and McGregor are just standing against a wall, looking as though they're waiting to go into the principals office. The exchange was classic; Faber- You not wearing your high heels today man? McGregor - No, I got these shoes made from "Pyton" on today. I hunted it down myself, you know? Faber - Oh. I don't think we have "Pytons" in America. I've completely about-turned! I think this season could be fantastic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Supremo Posted September 10, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted September 10, 2015 Genuinely blown away that they're still clinging onto the fight-to-get-into-the-house concept. I thought they'd realised that was a mistake years ago. I can't fathom how anyone can give a flying fuck about two hours worth of fights between people they don't know. It's always been a chore to sit through and it always starts the season off on such a terrible note. I'll probably end up watching the first and last ten minutes, and fast forwarding through everything else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted September 10, 2015 Share Posted September 10, 2015 I can't fathom how anyone can give a flying fuck about two hours worth of fights between people they don't know. It's always been a chore to sit through and it always starts the season off on such a terrible note. I'll probably end up watching the first and last ten minutes, and fast forwarding through everything else. Some of us just like fights I guess. It's the reason why I'll sit through FightPass prelims as well as FOX prelims on most shows. You sound like me with WWE now, as I watch the PPV's, but aside from some of the promos I fast forward through most of the matches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Supremo Posted September 10, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted September 10, 2015 It's not like that at all. I watch almost all of the prelims. This is something entirely different. These are faceless blokes having sixteen fights in the space of two hours, one after another, with no commentary, thrown out there and then rushed away from so fucking quickly that it's practically impossible to process or remember anything that happens. As daz mentioned, even the producers seemed bored senseless by the monotony of it. I like fights. I also like sandwiches. I wouldn't enjoy two fucking hours of people shoving endless, forgettable sandwiches in my face though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 It's not like that at all. I watch almost all of the prelims. This is something entirely different. These are faceless blokes having sixteen fights in the space of two hours, one after another, with no commentary, thrown out there and then rushed away from so fucking quickly that it's practically impossible to process or remember anything that happens. As daz mentioned, even the producers seemed bored senseless by the monotony of it. I like fights. I also like sandwiches. I wouldn't enjoy two fucking hours of people shoving endless, forgettable sandwiches in my face though. Maybe I didn't watch the same show as all of you did, but didn't the producers do what they usually do? They have always shown some fights in their entirety (the ones with finishes, and exciting ones), and just showed highlights of the ones that weren't so great. On top of that you got a little bit of back story about each guy, some interviews with them and even with their families in some cases. Isn't that better than just seeing a whole load of dudes you don't know heading right into the house? After seeing the initial fights you have seen a few guys who got decent KO's, and you wonder if a guy who won with decent wrestling can be the one to beat him and so on. Saying that, you don't have to watch it. Tune in next week when the new episode is shown. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Supremo Posted September 11, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted September 11, 2015 I can't remember the last season I watched in full, it may have been the Ronda vs. Tate season or the one with the strawweight women, but whichever one it was they completely abandoned the fights to get into the house and the first episode was a hundred times better because of it. Everything started at a normal pace and you were able to get to know the fighters and coaches naturally. The show they put on the other night was almost hilarious in how much they tried to squeeze in. It's white noise. Fight after fight after fight. Even when they do have back story profiles and little interviews they're all so rushed and drowned out by the endless fights that you may as well not even bother doing them. Worse still, doing these pointless fights often times gets rid of the most interesting stories and characters. Just look at Conor's mate losing. That could've made for some interesting TV in the upcoming weeks, either with Conor's team being unhappy that he's getting preferential treatment or Faber's team targeting him to annoy Conor. Well that's out of the window now, isn't it? Unless that "bring someone back" twist they alluded to in the preview for next week's show is going to result in them bringing Artem back, in which case that'll prove my point entirely. It's dumb. Conor's involvement looks to have been somewhat of ratings success though, with this season opener doing 27% higher than last season. Just a shame those new viewers were put through such torture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted September 11, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted September 11, 2015 I can't remember the last season I watched in full, it may have been the Ronda vs. Tate season or the one with the strawweight women, but whichever one it was they completely abandoned the fights to get into the house and the first episode was a hundred times better because of it. Yeah that was the strawweight TUF. The Ronda vs Miesha season did have the elimination fights but the sniping between he coaches kept the first episode alive...barely, as did the twist with bringing in Miesha when Ronda was expecting Cat Zingano. But yeah, the strawweight season was helped immensely by getting right down to business IMO, and not pissing about with the elimination fights. The Smashes never had the elimination fights either and that was also a tremendous season. Of all the TUFs since 10, we've only had three really good TUFs, IMO - The Smashes, Rousey vs Tate and Strawweights - two out of the three had a coach rivalry (Rousey vs Tate/Pearson vs Sotiropoulos) and two out of the three didn't have the elimination fights. Out of the first ten seasons of TUF, only three had elimination fights. And TUFs 1-10 was the golden age of TUF. The fights to get into the house just hamstrings an already tired format for me. I like to watch fights as much as anyone. In fact, between MMA, Boxing, Kickboxing - I've spent an unhealthy, probably abnormal chunk of my life watching fights. But there's never been more fighting to watch than there is now. I get more than my fill with the absolutely jam-packed schedule the UFC puts out now, plus all the Boxing on telly as well. If I want to watch fights there's plenty of that. We're spoilt for choice. On almost any weekend of the year, I can watch live MMA or Boxing. I want something else from TUF. It's a reality show. I don't want to tune in to watch wall to wall fights between guys I've never heard of, with no commentary other than Dana moaning about grappling and a gym full of people screaming and going 'LEG KICK, LEG KICK. NIIIIIIICE! WOOOH, WOOH, YEAH BABY, THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKIN' 'BOUT! I want to see ridiculousness and characters. Guys like Luke Cummo, Freakshow Fletcher, Chris Leben. The elimination fights can, and probably has, filter some really entertaining characters out. Imagine of The Smashes had the 'fight your way into the house' shite to it and Freakshow never made it into the house? Freakshow made that show. Him and the Pearson-Twataloppolos feud made that show must-see every week. Without Freakshow, the 'meanwhile, back at the TUF house' bits of the show would've been shit. Fuck the elimination fights. Fuck them all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Supremo Posted September 17, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted September 17, 2015 This week's show, as expected, was a billion times better. Bringing Artem back to keep Conor happy was hilariously transparent. Just goes to show how stupid those elimination fights are. The bickering between Conor and Urijah was so good that I think they're at risk of this dynamic overshadowing McGregor and Aldo. Already Faber would be my pick to replace Aldo if he pulls out. God bless Edgar, but he can fuck right off. This is the fight I want to see now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Bifkin Posted September 17, 2015 Share Posted September 17, 2015 It was good fun. I enjoyed McGregor's speech to his team and his general philosophy on training. It's an interesting contrast in styles between the two, and of course the banter is fun. I'm glad Ryan Hall won. A philosopher ju-jitsu savant with mild tourettes - what's not to love? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted September 19, 2015 Share Posted September 19, 2015 It was good fun. I enjoyed McGregor's speech to his team and his general philosophy on training. It's an interesting contrast in styles between the two, and of course the banter is fun. I'm glad Ryan Hall won. A philosopher ju-jitsu savant with mild tourettes - what's not to love? To be honest, when you look at Hall's credentials you have to mark him as a favourite for the entire thing. His grappling credentials are second to none, with many considering him the best lightweight grappler on the planet. Unless any of the europeans can stop him from getting them to the floor, it's game over most likely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted September 19, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted September 19, 2015 Yeah, I like Hall. I love that everyone's good at everything now but I've always been a sucker for the specialists. The fighters who have that one trick that everybody knows they're going to do and they still can't stop it. Cro Cop with the headkick, Rousey with the armbar, Palhares with the leg locks (shame he's a twat with it) etc. Even Roy Nelson with the big overhand right to a degree. I enjoyed the episode a lot. I like the contrast in their styles of coaching and I'm liking the needle between them. It's nothing much at the minute and they're having little digs through smiles and stuff but you can see it escalating quickly. Liked the little '50 year old retired skateboarder/Py-tons' exchange in the hallway. I want to see McGregor vs Faber at some point, for sure. It's still not a fucking patch for me on Aldo vs McGregor though. That's the one. I get a kick out of watching McGregor and Faber try to wind each other up but I get fucking goosebumps every time Aldo and McGregor are in the same place. Very few other fights have had me so excited as Aldo vs McGregor. We're probably talking Chuck vs Wanderlei, Lesnar vs Mir 2 and Silva vs Sonnen 2. Even Jones vs Cormier couldn't touch Aldo vs McGregor for me. McGregor vs Faber is a great backup plan though if Aldo gets hurt again. And Faber's already on the UFC 194 card so it'd be piss easy to just slot him in there. Would suck for Frankie Edgar but I can see Faber swooping in there if Aldo gets hurt. By the time this season of TUF ends, McGregor vs Faber is going to be bigger than McGregor vs Edgar to the UFC. It's not fair to Frankie (especially as he's just beat Faber) and there's no doubt Edgar is the more deserving and more interesting opponent style-wise, but Faber's the fight they'll have invested their time and money in through TUF. You know that's the one they'd end up going with. I read a quote from Edgar the other day saying that the UFC, and Dana himself, have told Frankie that if either Aldo or McGregor get hurt, he's definitely getting the call. But I think he's sadly deluding himself if he believes that. Frankie should call up Miesha Tate and ask her about what Dana's word is worth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted September 19, 2015 Share Posted September 19, 2015 Thing is, in the much-maligned first episode you hear Faber saying during a verbal altercation that he''s "36 now, dude", which kind of tells me that he's already looking at retirement and probably isn't the guy for a top level title fight these days. He'd take it without doubt if offered it though, but I think he's verging on done as a fighter at that level, and he knows it. What would a win over Faber at this point in McGregor's career prove? It would be up there with his win over Siver. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted September 19, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted September 19, 2015 Yeah Faber said himself in the last week or so that he's winding down as a fighter. “I’m not going to be doing this sport a lot longer, to be honest.” “I’m ready and poised to step in and fight for a title at any point in my career. I always have been. (The UFC official rankings) have me ranked fourth at 135, but that’s because Assuncao has a win over T.J. (Dillashaw) who is the current champion and my teammate. So it’s an interesting dynamic there. My last fight against Barao was not – in my opinion the fight should not have been over. I took that on two weeks notice, also, just to fill a spot. I’m right there for the 135-pound title.” “Honestly, the best matchup for me would be Conor because he’s a bigger, slower guy. And he’s susceptible to submissions and grappling. Like I said, that’s my bread and butter on top of being a guy who can strike and be durable and be fast and creative. That’s a fight also that I’d like. At 145 that’s the only fight I would do. At 135, I’m just poised and ready.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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