Fighter of the year

[jimufctna24]

He looked great at 200. Seemed sober.

Aye, but he's had some health issues since then - http://www.mixedmartialarts.com/forums/UnderGround/Don-Frye-in-LA-Hospital:2602791

 

Although according to this from a few weeks ago,  he's doing "okay" now - http://www.dukewhebert.com/mma-news/update-hospitalized-ufc-legend-don-frye-doing-o-k/

[ColinBollocks]

I was picking Bisping or Stipe as my fighter of the year, but after seeing McGregor put on that sort of performance against Alvarez in that setting, I think McGregor is the correct choice. Aside from the fighting, he's managed to generate so much buzz for the UFC.

[wandshogun09]

I still think it's Bisping.

 

McGregor or possibly Cruz in second place (depending on the result against Garbrandt). As awesome as McGregor was against Alvarez and as much as he's created buzz, he still got throttled and tapped out in March. I can't overlook that when Bisping's had an absolute blinder of a year, gone 3-0, won two fights I was convinced he'd lose and won a UFC title I thought he'd never win.

[lambyUK]

It's a tricky one but it's Mcgregor for me.

 

He's done something no man has ever done before in the history of the sport with holding 2 titles at once. That cannot be ignored.

 

Furthermore he put on perhaps the performance of the year against Alvarez whilst proving the doubters all wrong again during the biggest MMA event in history.

 

You say he was tapped out Wand but the guy faced that like a champion and came back, broke the ppv record and defeated the same guy.

 

Bisping, whilst having an incredible year, in 2 out of his 3 fights faced fading greats and came out of each fight looking like a bulldog chewing a wasp. The Rockhold fight was magnificent though but felt like a fluke. Not that should be taken away from Bisping though when considering his credentials.

 

I just can't see how you can't give it to the fighter who made history, broke records and transcended the sport whilst doing it.

[wandshogun09]

I'm not against someone picking McGregor. I just think it was Bisping's year.

 

I don't care who agrees or disagrees but for me, PPV records and shit like that doesn't really hold a lot of weight in the Fighter Of The Year discussion. I think Fighter Of The Year is about what you do in the cage. That's the way I look at it myself; not saying everyone else has to and people will have their own criteria. But for me Fighter Of The Year is all about your fighting. And on that basis, you can still make a very strong case for McGregor so I'm not discounting him by any stretch. He still has that loss to Diaz though.

 

The double champion thing is big. It's fucking huge. Any time someone does something first it's special. But I don't think it's cut and dry that McGregor walks this or anything. It's easy to look back now and downplay Bisping's wins, especially the ones over a fading Anderson and Hendo. But there weren't many at all picking Bisping to beat Anderson at the time. And nobody gave him a shot at beating Rockhold. The Anderson and Hendo fights were really entertaining as well. So he not only got the results, he had great fights as well. The Rockhold and Anderson wins were upsets and the Hendo win was him avenging his most devastating defeat. He's had a ridiculous year.

 

As a sidenote - I've seen people going on like McGregor's done something no-one else could do with the 2 titles thing but let's be honest, no-one else has been given the same opportunity, have they? I mean, when Jon Jones was king at 205, if he wanted to challenge Cain they'd have made him give up his 205 belt. Same with Aldo and Pettis. It's not like other champions couldn't have done it skills wise. They either weren't given the chance or they didn't have the leverage to make the UFC allow them the opportunity.

 

I'm not playing down McGregor's achievement with this. He's done something great. But he hasn't walked on water. He's beat Nate Diaz and Eddie Alvarez. If RDA or Cerrone did the same thing next year I doubt people would be bestowing them Fighter Of The Year.

[lambyUK]

Nobody ever expressed an interest though Wand in holding two titles at once. Not one.

 

You make the assumption they would have been stripped but we don't actually know if that would have been the case.

 

You say Mcgregor has done this because of his leverage but he was banging on about being a dual champ from the first minute he walked in the door in the ufc and he didn't have a pot to piss in back then.

 

Mcgregor dared to dream big and got what he envisioned from the first minute he signed. No one else dreamed like he did.

 

In relation to your last comment regarding who Mcgregor has beaten. Perhaps you are right, if RDA beat those two guys maybe he wouldn't be considered fighter of the year, but RDA isn't also the featherweight champion jumping between 3 different weight classes either. It's all about context.

 

That said I don't think you will actually find any other fighter who has beaten both Nate Diaz AND Eddie Alvarez, let alone beaten them both in the same year.

[Egg Shen]

Nobody ever expressed an interest though Wand in holding two titles at once. Not one.

 

errr, BJ Penn.

 

[lambyUK]

Ah. Of course.

 

But that actually works in Mcgregor's favour then. The ufc have therefore been open to dual weight champions going back to that fight.

 

Therefore if any of the fighters Wand brought up (Jones, Aldo, Pettis) made similar requests what's to say they would have been denied?

 

The point still stands in that Mcgregor visualised this from day one, before he even had the leverage.

[Egg Shen]

Im sure plenty of other fighters envisioned it, but most are just happy to stay and defend in their divisions. Conor was a dual-weight Champion before he came to the UFC remember so he's always been able to fight between weights.

 

Make no bones about it though, he's been allowed to do it because of the money he's generating. For example, if Cody Garbrandt wins the Bantamweight title at 207 then asks to challenge Conor at 145lb the UFC are going to tell him to piss off.

[lambyUK]

Im sure plenty of other fighters envisioned it, most are just happy to stay and defend in their divisions. Conor was a dual-weight Champion before he came to the UFC remember so he's always been able to fight between weights.

 

Make no bones about it though, he's been allowed to do it because of the money he's generating. For example, if Cody Garbrandt wins the Bantamweight title at 207 then asks to challenge Conor at 145lb the UFC are going to tell him to piss off.

Of course it has to be financially viable. That's a no brainer.

 

But Wand was talking about the other guys like Jones, Pettis or Aldo who could have potentially achieved the same feat but weren't given the opportunity. Yet as you've pointed out, an opportunity that was given to BJ Penn years before.

 

If those guys talked about wanting that achievement perhaps they may have been given the chance like Penn was.

 

Money of course is essential but Mcgregor openly dreamed big coming in from Cage Warriors as a dual champ and achieved what he set out to do.

[Egg Shen]

Jon Jones openly talked about wanting to eventually move to heavyweight, the talk we always heard when something like that was mentioned though was that it wouldn't happen until a fighter had cleaned out a division. The UFC at one point were going to do Aldo vs. Pettis (Champion vs. Champion), where Aldo would move up to 155lb, it just never happened. McGregor just got fast tracked into these situations because of money end of, he's not the only fighter who dared to dream big, far from it.

[lambyUK]

I'm not even certain the point you are arguing Egg? This thread is about fighter of the year in the end.

 

At no point have I said that the money generated isnt ultimately why Mcgregor was given the opportunity.

 

Again, going back to why this was originally brought up, Wand's comment regarding others not getting the opportunity to achieve the feat of dual champ. Your post showed that it's a precedent that's happened before and that if the opportunity was there I'm sure those guys would have been given the chance. Yet none of them showed real intention outside of small talk.

 

I also agree Mcgregor won't be the first person to dream big, but he's certainly been more vocal about it than others and it contributed into creating the opportunity.

 

Jon Jones has also talked about facing only certain sized fighters at heavyweight and would only move for the right sized opponent.

[ColinBollocks]

I must say going by wands "only what happens inside the cage counts" rule for this, Stipe quite clearly takes a very healthy Cleveland Steamer on everyone.

 

He started the year knocking out Arlovski in under a minute. Follows it up with knocking the champion out in a round, a champion that many were starting to argue was the best ever. He then finished his year battering the rejuvenated and incredible Overeem in, yep, one round.

 

Bisping's Rockhold win is as impressive as any win this year, but close decision wins over the past it Silva and even more past it Hendo don't come close to what Stipe achieved (OK, Arlovski is also past it), if you're judging it purely on fights and how impressive the performances were. Not that Bisping is a shitty choice, of course.

[Egg Shen]

I'm not even certain the point you are arguing Egg? This thread is about fighter of the year in the end.

 

 

I just carried on the discussion you were already having.

[lambyUK]

I think Miocic is an excellent call Bollocks and I agree you could hold his performances above Bisping's.

 

That said I don't paryicularly agree that fighter of the year should simply be about performances either.

 

I think performing in main events, large crowds, historic events should emphasise a good performance too. It's added pressure for these guys and why I hold Mcgregor's performance against Alvarez in such high regard.