Paid Members Dead Mike Posted April 3, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted April 3, 2018 Isn't Max vs Khabib for the proper title (not the interim)? I thought Dana confirmed this when it was Tony vs Khabib? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted April 3, 2018 Share Posted April 3, 2018 16 minutes ago, ColinBollocks said: Huh? Is there any real evidence of this? One thing I give McGregor respect for is he's got a set of balls on him. He's never really been one to run away from a challenge - whether that be moving up a division, fighting Nate twice at Welterweight, or taking on the greatest boxer of his generation in a boxing match. Conor is a mad bastard and I suspect he thinks he's got the tools to take down Khabib. Realistically, what bigger challenge is there in the division than fighting an undefeated Khabib? The only thing I've heard Conor say against it is he's fed up of people pulling out with injury. Mind, this is a man that fought with a staph infection and a torn ACL. I'm not saying that as a slight on McGregor, as Khabib isn't a fight that anyone wants, is he? Unless you actually believe that McG is thinking "yeah, bring on the guy who's likely gonna toss me to the floor and ragdoll me like an empty jacket for five rounds!" Nope, when the original fight was scheduled you can bet that if McG was forced to pick one of them to fight, it wouldn't have been Khabib. There's literally no one who, if given the choice, would want to face him. Especially when you're in a position where you've made all the money and won the belts. If Khabib wins this fight against Holloway, I'll be very surprised if McG makes positive noises about facing khabib next. He'll be posting furiously on Twitter about how he isn't interested in guys who get injured and so on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted April 3, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted April 3, 2018 24 minutes ago, Dead Mike said: Isn't Max vs Khabib for the proper title (not the interim)? I thought Dana confirmed this when it was Tony vs Khabib? yeh it is, Tony has also been stripped of his Interim Title. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members ColinBollocks Posted April 3, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted April 3, 2018 Oh right. As discussed, I think Conor is mad enough and driven enough to think he can be the one to get it done. He's never been one to back down. He was on about fighting Frankie Edgar down a weight with only a few weeks notice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted April 3, 2018 Share Posted April 3, 2018 Whilst McG should be stripped of his title for inactivity, he surely holds some form of "Champion Emeritus" status in both divisions, so there'll be no issues if and when he finally decides to step into the cage again. He hasn't defended his titles, but he did win them in pretty emphatic fashion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted April 3, 2018 Author Paid Members Share Posted April 3, 2018 44 minutes ago, Dead Mike said: Isn't Max vs Khabib for the proper title (not the interim)? I thought Dana confirmed this when it was Tony vs Khabib? It's for the proper title according to Dana. But they haven't officially stripped Conor of his proper title either. Or have they? I just remember Dana insisting Khabib vs Ferguson was for the real title but then dancing around the questions when media were asking if that meant Conor was stripped of his title. It's so confusing at this point. How do you have two 'undisputed' champions? If there's two, there's a dispute. 12 minutes ago, David said: He hasn't defended his titles, but he did win them in pretty emphatic fashion. I get that but how far do you go with that? If we're still in this position in 8 years time do we go 'well he hasn't defended his title in 10 years but that straight left on Alvarez was sweet. Ahh let him keep it. Crack on with this interim interim interim interim title fight we've got coming up at UFC 427'. There has to be a cutoff point. And 16/17 months already feels like a pisstake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Chunk Posted April 3, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted April 3, 2018 12 hours ago, wandshogun09 said: Yeah, that schtick is getting tiresome now. It was all well and good being the smart arse when he was actually fighting. But taking the piss from the sidelines while sitting there with belts he won 2-3 years ago and has still never defended, while still having not committed to even a rough return date...it got old ages ago for me. Agreed. The Conor character died after he beat Alvarez, for me. Things have to change to stay fresh, so fair enough, but the character since that point onward isn't for me. It was a great period of MMA history whilst it lasted though - nothing else quite like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted April 3, 2018 Share Posted April 3, 2018 Just now, wandshogun09 said: I get that but how far do you go with that? If we're still in this position in 8 years time do we go 'well he hasn't defended his title in 10 years but that straight left on Alvarez was sweet. Ahh let him keep it. Crack on with this interim interim interim interim title fight we've got coming up at UFC 427'. There has to be a cutoff point. And 16/17 months already feels like a pisstake. Like I said, he should be stripped and quietly given a Champion Emeritus status of some sort, where he's pretty much guaranteed a crack at either of his titles in his first match back (so long as it happens within a reasonable timeframe, obviously). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted April 3, 2018 Author Paid Members Share Posted April 3, 2018 13 minutes ago, Chunk said: Agreed. The Conor character died after he beat Alvarez, for me. Things have to change to stay fresh, so fair enough, but the character since that point onward isn't for me. It was a great period of MMA history whilst it lasted though - nothing else quite like it. I think he can still get back to that point but he has to, you know, get in there and fight. He's at that point now where people miss him and just want him back in the cage. A return say over the summer would be huge. But he seems content to just sit around and troll fighters on twitter. Which is up to him, fair enough. But he shouldn't get to sit out and still dictate the lay of the division when he hasn't been active himself since 2016. I'm just over it now. Until his comeback and a return date and opponent is confirmed, he's actually pretty irrelevant. 13 minutes ago, David said: Like I said, he should be stripped and quietly given a Champion Emeritus status of some sort, where he's pretty much guaranteed a crack at either of his titles in his first match back (so long as it happens within a reasonable timeframe, obviously). Yeah, that goes for any champ who never lost the title, to me. No problem with that. Like when GSP came back he pretty much had the pick of what title shot he wanted. Difference was when GSP took his break he relinquished the title and let the 170 division move on. He didn't sit in Montreal with it, refusing to give the title up while also never defending it and taking to just chatting shit on twitter instead. And really, if anyone had a claim to do that it was GSP because he had actually defended his title for years on end previously, against all challengers. But yeah, McGregor getting first crack at the title on his return would be fair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted April 3, 2018 Share Posted April 3, 2018 The thing you need to bear in mind Wand, is that McGregor isn't GSP. For all his fighting ability and his entertaining persona he's a bit of a dick. And, that's how dicks act. At the moment McG really is of no relevance in the sport, and that will be the case until he announces his return. Posting on Twitter and trying to stay relevant while flaunting to his fans that he has so much more money than they do is all he really has at the moment. Let's hope that changes soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted April 3, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted April 3, 2018 2 hours ago, Egg Shen said: the pot of gold a McGregor fight will provide Racist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted April 3, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted April 3, 2018 1 hour ago, Carbomb said: Racist. đ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted April 3, 2018 Share Posted April 3, 2018 Further to the chat earlier about Holloway wanting the fight at welterweight, his nutrition and weight-cut coach George Lockhart has said that this cut with Max will be "tied for biggest Iâve ever done" Quote  George Lockhart was one of the last lines of defense when it came to Max Holloway accepting the short-notice fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 223. On Sunday, before news of Tony Fergusonâs injury hit social media, Hollowayâs manager Brian Butler-Au and Holloway reached out to Lockhart, Hollowayâs nutrition and weight-cut coach. Holloway had the chance to fight Nurmagomedov for the lightweight title in Brooklyn and it was up to Lockhart to determine whether Holloway could make 155 pounds by Friday. âIt was a lot of math, a lot of calculations and a lot of f*cking stress in a short amount of time,â Lockhart told MMA Fighting. âI was like, âf*ck.ââ Lockhart would not say how far Holloway, the UFC featherweight champion, was above 155 pounds Sunday. But he does have a admittedly brutal cut to make 145 and has not been active in training recently due to an ankle injury. In the end, though, Lockhart gave the thumbs up and Holloway accepted the fight. Heâll take on Nurmagomedov in the main event of UFC 223 on Saturday at Barclays Center. âThis is huge for Max and honestly this would be so easy to say, âNo, man, he canât do itâ and it would be no stress on me,â Lockhart said. âBut the kid, I know he wants it. I know Max wants it. Heâs actually excited about this shit. He has so much weight to cut, but he was excited. It was like he had a challenge. Heâs just like, âLetâs do thisâ and Iâm like, âall right.ââ Lockhart said anyone other than Holloway attempting this kind of cut in this accelerated environment would have given him pause. But âBlessedâ is a different beast, he said. Heâs not worried about him not following exact directions. âMax I know is gonna do it to a tee,â Lockhart said. âI know heâs gonna be able to push himself to where most people arenât willing to go. So, Iâm excited. But still. When I was in the Marine Corps and we had to run three miles, itâs not like you couldnât run three miles, itâs like because you have to do it in a specific amount of time, itâs not that you canât do it, itâs just that you know what you gotta go through to get there and itâs like, âshit.ââ Normally, Lockhart and his team will work with a fighter throughout training camp to get their weight down. Itâs a six-week process, Lockhart said. With Holloway now, they have six days. And itâs not going to be easy. âAnybody that follows us and knows what I do, this is tied for the largest weight that Iâve ever done,â Lockhart said. The big difference now is throwing certain things out the window. Speed is important, Lockhart said, so there are some things he and his team cannot worry about. One of those things is performance. Holloway needs to make the weight to fight for the 155-pound belt first and thatâs priority. âWe always look at performance,â Lockhart said. âWe want to keep performance high. During the entire camp, weâre trying to make sure heâs getting better, getting better, getting better. Where, at this point, itâs not about performance, itâs all about weight. The only time performance is gonna come into play is Saturday night. So, thereâs gonna be things that weâre gonna do that are not gonna be great for his performance. Theyâre gonna accelerate the fat-burning process.â To do that, Lockhart said theyâll have to put Holloway in a âketoâ state while having him do aerobic exercise. Basically, Holloway will be deprived of any carbohydrates, so the body will begin burning fat for energy. âHeâs gonna have to push his body,â Lockhart said. âBut itâs gonna be low impact. Itâs not like heâs gonna be sparring and grappling and stuff. His body doesnât have the ability. That would be dangerous. So weâre doing low impact, but high volume.â To compound matters for the âLockhart & Leithâ nutritionist team, Joanna Jedrzejczyk, who challenges Rose Namajunas for the UFC womenâs strawweight title in the UFC 223 co-main event, is also a client. In total, seven fighters on the UFC 223 card will have Lockhart & Leith working on their weight cuts. Lockhart does not plan on sleeping much â if at all â this week in Brooklyn. âItâs f*cking crazy, but itâs quick,â Lockhart said. âItâs like a sprint.â When itâs all over, Lockhart said he believes Holloway will hit the 155-pound mark Friday morning at weigh-ins and do so without endangering his well being. âI am,â Lockhart said. âIâm confident in the team, Iâm confident in Max. Weâll do it in a healthy way and weâll make sure heâs on point.â  After reading this, any slim chance I gave Holloway of winning has evaporated. I doubt if he even comes in at 155lbs, which opens up a whole other can of worms. The more I read, the more I think this is a bad idea. Why they didn't just go with Brian Ortega is a bit of a mystery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted April 3, 2018 Author Paid Members Share Posted April 3, 2018 Yeah that's what I was saying when I was questioning why he even took the fight in the first place. I get that they must've offered him a significant financial incentive but it just seems like a disaster and a terrible idea. I'm sure he'd have got a shot at the lightweight title at some point if he kept winning. But he's taking it now when his chances of winning are pretty much non-existent. It's baffling. How much money could they have offered him realistically? It can't be an amount worth going through a hellish weight cut, to fight on 6 days notice, up a weight division, with an ankle that hasn't had the ideal time to heal...against fucking Khabib Nurmagomedov. Imagine that? You go through the torture of cutting down to 155, starving and dehydrating yourself to dangerous levels, you somehow make weight. Only to have Khabib waiting for you. That's your reward for hitting the weight. Fuck that shit for a game of soldiers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted April 3, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted April 3, 2018 I'd like to know the details of it, id imagine PPV points is something to do with it, does Holloway get them? Ultimately though there has to be the Conor fight involved because that's the biggest PPV fight in the sport by a huge distance, only thing is if the idea is to beat Khabib to earn that shot it's about as tough a short cut as you could ever wish to have. Only other thing to consider is that Holloway may genuinely just be out of his mind and think he wins this, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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