UFC 223 is McFucked

[Keith Houchen]

I thought Rogan was changing his "Oooohhhhh" in the women's fights. Kind of started the same but then went a few notes higher. Thought it was a bit patronising. Overall though, I do think he's good, especially when explaining grappling. 

[David]

Just now, Keith Houchen said:

I thought Rogan was changing his "Oooohhhhh" in the women's fights. Kind of started the same but then went a few notes higher. Thought it was a bit patronising. Overall though, I do think he's good, especially when explaining grappling. 

Probably the most worrying thing for Joe is that Jimmy Smith does everything he does, except better. Even his haircut.

[Dead Mike]

 

Tony's leg!! Reckon that's him out for a while.

Given Conor will likely get some kind of suspension I'm warming to the idea of making Tony/Conor for the #1 contenders spot. It means Conor is seen to be being punished for his nonsense (not just being rewarded with a massive fight against Khabib). If Tony wins then they make that fight again & Conor can fight Mayweather in a cage or Nate again. If Conor wins we get him vs Khabib. In the meantime Khabib can either sit it out & wait for them or face Alvarez if he wins his next fight?

 

 

 

 

[David]

Khabib will be out for a bit due to Ramadan anyway I think, so we'll not see him for a while.

Tony's leg looks bad, and when I heard the nature of his injury it had me questioning if he'll return the same guy. That kind of injury can have long-term affects on athletes.

[ColinBollocks]

Exactly what a fella needs at lunch time.

Seeing as Tony and Conor are probably tied up for a while (maybe). I wonder if they just go ahead and give us the Holloway match? Max clearly wants it.

Of course, Khabib called out GSP, but in the post-fight presser he was realistic in that he knows it probably won't happen.

[wandshogun09]

One thing we all seem to be taking for granted is that McGregor even wants to come back soon. I mean, you'd think he'd want to be getting back in there but it wasn't like he was making much noise about coming back going into 223. There was the thing about him stepping in against Edgar at 222 but I don't think that was ever realistic. Before his tantrum in Brooklyn there was no concrete timetable for his next fight. He didn't seem to be itching to get back in there. So why now? Yeah, the Khabib fight is bigger now and that's the move (or Dead Mike's McGregor vs Ferguson idea) that makes sense but McGregor's been such a fucking div the last 6 months or so I don't know why we're expecting him not to do the wrong thing again now. There's no reason to have any kind of confidence in McGregor. All logic seems to have disappeared ever since he got that Mayweather pay cheque. Whatever suspension he gets might not make a difference to his comeback time because he seemed quite content to sit around tweeting, spending, probably sniffing, booking ill-advised flights to Brooklyn and just generally being what he's turned into - a miserable as fuck multi-millionaire. And who's got time for them? 

He'll fight again at some point. I've got no doubts about that. But I'm not sure he'll be straight back in as soon as his inevitable suspension is up. I guess it might depend on how much money he loses over all this idiocy between fines and being sued. That might kick him into gear. Maybe. 

Tell you what, Jon Jones must be loving this. McGregor's certainly taken the attention of him being a serial fuckup lately. 

[David]

The only thing that makes me think he wanted to come back is the chat we've heard about him supposedly being announced at the 25th Anniversary show as facing RDA for the interim Welterweight title.

A three-weight Champion? Sounds like something he'd be interested in.

I still think that he's not fighting Khabib unless there's a lot of money to be made. There's no upside to that fight, and he's a guy that no one enjoys facing. If McGregor wins, he gets a belt that he already had. If he loses, his stock dips.

[OzExile]

Conor is fighting whoever he wants, whenever he wants.  Question is, does he want Khabib or Diaz? I think Khabib.  Even if he got smoked by Khabib, his redemption fight vs Diaz (III) would sell like fuck to see if he was finished. 

Unless Floyd comes into the mix. If you think Conor is fighting Ferguson, you need to get out from under that rock.  I'd be shocked if they gave him anything more than a fine. 

[David]

39 minutes ago, OzExile said:

Conor is fighting whoever he wants, whenever he wants.  Question is, does he want Khabib or Diaz? I think Khabib.  Even if he got smoked by Khabib, his redemption fight vs Diaz (III) would sell like fuck to see if he was finished. 

Unless Floyd comes into the mix. If you think Conor is fighting Ferguson, you need to get out from under that rock.  I'd be shocked if they gave him anything more than a fine. 

I'm not entirely sure that's true to be honest. The UFC yanked him from UFC 200 when he started playing funny buggers with his media commitments, didn't they? Does he get more leeway than most fighters? Of course, but don't be stupid enough to buy into his "I run this show" soundbites. He doesn't.

There's this great misconception that the UFC need Conor, while Conor doesn't need the UFC. If we're honest, both sides need each other, but I actually think McGregor needs the UFC more if he's interested in maintaining some sort of fighting career.

If Conor got his release tomorrow, where does he go? What does he do? 

As far as MMA is concerned, the UFC is the show. If he set up his own promotion, featuring him at the top of the card, who does he face? All of the top guys are in the UFC. So, he could run his own thing fighting bums, which may sell to a degree, but there's no way he's hitting the kind of numbers he does under the UFC banner. Same with Bellator. I don't think he makes the same waves, money or numbers with them. 

The reason both he and the UFC make so much money and draw what they do is because of what both bring to the mix. It's McGregor fighting in the UFC that sells.

Split them up and the UFC won't make as much money from any single fighter, but they'll be able to move on and keep rolling as they always do. McGregor on the other hand? Without the UFC he's not really got a stage in MMA that he can use to make the same money and draw the same interest.

Boxing? The Mayweather numbers and money was a one-off. He's not getting anywhere near that to face Malignaggi or anyone else. He's an 0-1 low-level boxer, who, if we're honest, would get made to look very silly if he was matched with someone who wasn't interested in carrying the fight and making sure it was entertaining.

Any boxer at the level where they're considered a "name" would smoke McGregor if they went in there looking to smash him and finish the night early. 

So, he's basically left with a few options. 

He could retire and call it a day. But, I don't think that's what he wants to do. He loves the spotlight too much, which is why he's always involved and making sure he's not fading from anyone's mind.

Go to boxing. As mentioned above, his shelf life in that sport is limited to another fight or two at best, and he's not making Mayweather money for those fights.

Fight for the UFC. Which is the most likely option. He's made a roaring tit of himself of late, which doesn't help any bargaining power he may have had after the Floyd fight, but they obviously want him back in the cage.

Of course he'll have a say in who he fights, but recent antics have given the UFC more bargaining power. Anyone who thinks differently is deluded in my opinion. The memory of the two-weight Champion who beat Eddie Alvarez has kind of been replaced in most minds by the image of a guy who lost to Mayweather via stoppage, and who made an arse of himself in New York.

His public persona and his perception with fans and the media have taken a hit because of all of this, despite a vocal minority online who'd defend him to the death. We've even seen some reaction on this forum, which for me is a good yardstick of where an intelligent fan who follows the sport closely is at.

So, basically he can save his reputation here if he smartens up, it's certainly not too late. But how he plays it over the next year or so will dictate that, and how he behaves during any potential ban or legal issues.

I don't like him personally, my thoughts on him are well documented, but I like watching him fight, so I hope he can recover from this and learns something from it.