UFC 223 is McFucked

[wandshogun09]

Khabib's awesome and it's hard to see anyone of the current crop beating him. Which is scary considering how talent rich and deep that 'crop' is at 155. But nobody is perfect and somebody will beat Khabib one day.

When you look at a fighter like Khabib, there isn't an easy route to tackle him. People can say he looks poor and primitive in the striking but if he can keep taking people down whenever he wants then it's not going to matter unless they can detonate some perfect shot on him at the perfect time. Or catch him slipping in a submission. 

But...

There are still a couple of questions he's yet to answer. It's a fact that we haven't seen how he'll hold up in the championship rounds. You can't just assume he'll be fine. He sets a ridiculous pace and he doesn't stop. Now he's clearly really well conditioned but nobody has a never ending supply of cardio. We won't know until we see it put to the test. Also, to just discount Ferguson's attacks from the bottom doesn't work for me, brother. Yeah, Khabib might just smash through all his sub attempts, and Khabib is such a good grappler that it's going to be hard as fuck to catch him in anything. But we really haven't seen him tested by someone who's as threatening from the bottom as Ferguson. I suspect Khabib's positioning and control will nullify most of Fergie's attacks but Barboza, Johnson, even RDA don't have the kind of dangerous guard like Ferguson does so judging how easy Khabib made those fights like and just assuming this will be the same kind of thing might be off. 

Khabib is a killer and if I had to put my money down, there's not a lightweight in the world right now who I could honestly say I'd favour to actually beat him. I'm picking Khabib in this fight too myself. But these 'unbeatable' fighters never stay unbeaten forever. I get why people rate him so highly, but some are talking like there's no way Ferguson can win. Anderson Silva was never going to lose. GSP was never going to lose. Cain was never going to lose. Fuck, there was a time when it looked like Machida wasn't going to ever be hit in his fights, much less lose. They all lose. Khabib's different to a Machida because there's no 'puzzle' to solve. You know what he's going to do and good luck stopping it. But I genuinely think there is a chance (albeit I'm not expecting it) that this plays out like Werdum vs Cain. Of course, I highly doubt Khabib slugs it out like Cain did but you know what I mean. If Ferguson can get the better of the striking and put Khabib in some danger whenever they're on the ground, it doesn't leave any 'safe' routes for Khabib to take and one slip up could be the end. Can't see it but it's a lot more interesting a fight than anyone else at 155 vs Khabib IMO. Ferguson brings enough danger in enough areas to make it very interesting. 

Yeah, easier said than done but that's why they fight. 

[Chunk]

On 3/26/2018 at 12:05 PM, ColinBollocks said:

Askren needs to get his arse to the UFC and fight the best in his division before he gets that sort of buzz, David. Very good fighter, but Khabib has been smashing some of the world's best for years in the UFC.

Wasn't he recently on the Joe Rogan Experience talking about retiring?

[ColinBollocks]

Yeah. He's been trying to talk up a GSP fight, though, so he clearly wants a UFC pay day before calling it a day.

[d-d-d-dAz]

He said that he's effectively retired unless the UFC offer him the chance to show he's the best in the world.

[David]

The main reason why Ben Askren has never been able to prove himself in the UFC is because Dana White is a thin-skinned arsehole. If ever anyone needed evidence of how much of a knob the guy is, this is it. He's more than happy to shut someone out who's more than deserving of the chance to fight on the biggest stage and make money to support his family, and also lose a potential star for his company all because of some stuff the guy said about him.

He's a petty, vindictive little man, and the sooner he fucks off from the sport the better.

[jimufctna24]

Not a fan then David? 

[d-d-d-dAz]

19 minutes ago, David said:

The main reason why Ben Askren has never been able to prove himself in the UFC is because Dana White is a thin-skinned arsehole. If ever anyone needed evidence of how much of a knob the guy is, this is it. He's more than happy to shut someone out who's more than deserving of the chance to fight on the biggest stage and make money to support his family, and also lose a potential star for his company all because of some stuff the guy said about him.

He's a petty, vindictive little man, and the sooner he fucks off from the sport the better.

But, on the flip side, it’s not clever to talk shit to the man with the power in an organisation that, at the end of the day, you clearly want to work for.

I can’t think of a single field where you could chat serious shit about the boss and then get a job. You wouldn’t play for United if you’d called Jose a prick, you wouldn’t work for Apple if you’d called Steve Jobs an adulterous weirdo and you probably wouldn’t even get a gig at Tesco if you called Simon Whoever-the-fuck a tosser.

I don’t think whats happening to Askren is unique to Dana. Sometimes, if you aren’t the one in the position of power, you have to watch your mouth.

[David]

13 minutes ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

But, on the flip side, it’s not clever to talk shit to the man with the power in an organisation that, at the end of the day, you clearly want to work for.

I can’t think of a single field where you could chat serious shit about the boss and then get a job. You wouldn’t play for United if you’d called Jose a prick, you wouldn’t work for Apple if you’d called Steve Jobs an adulterous weirdo and you probably wouldn’t even get a gig at Tesco if you called Simon Whoever-the-fuck a tosser.

I don’t think whats happening to Askren is unique to Dana. Sometimes, if you aren’t the one in the position of power, you have to watch your mouth.

The thing is, it wasn't Askren who started the war of words, it was Dana.

Askren got his release from Bellator and Tweeted that he was a free agent and was now able to beat up whoever he wanted to in the UFC, which should have set the table perfectly for the UFC to sign him and say "okay man, go and show what you can do".

Instead, Dana conducted an interview where he badmouthed Bjorn Rebney and Bellator, before saying; 

"I have no interest. I'm sure [WSOF] will pick him up. He's [Bellator's] champion and they don't want him. What does that say? And the fact you would just give away a guy who has gone undefeated for you just shows the kind of people you are. It just shows what kind of business you do.... As far as the kid and what kind of level he's on, he barely beat Jay Hieron. He's got some work to do and he can fight in another organization and work his way up."

Up until that point, from what I recall, Askren had said nothing derogatory about White at all. All he'd done is claim he'd lay waste to the UFC welterweight division and so on.

Can you blame Askren for going off at the deep end when some fat, failed boxer tough guy said that about him? The dude has competed at the fucking Olympics and is a former Div 1 gold medalist at the Pan-Am's and World Championships. He's not some Johnny no-cunt from the back beyond of nowhere who's done fuck all, is he?

The fact that White claimed Askren wasn't UFC level (even in 2013) is laughable. The dude is a joke.

[d-d-d-dAz]

Just now, David said:

The thing is, it wasn't Askren who started the war of words, it was Dana.

Askren got his release from Bellator and Tweeted that he was a free agent and was now able to beat up whoever he wanted to in the UFC, which should have set the table perfectly for the UFC to sign him and say "okay man, go and show what you can do".

Instead, Dana conducted an interview where he badmouthed Bjorn Rebney and Bellator, before saying; 

"I have no interest. I'm sure [WSOF] will pick him up. He's [Bellator's] champion and they don't want him. What does that say? And the fact you would just give away a guy who has gone undefeated for you just shows the kind of people you are. It just shows what kind of business you do.... As far as the kid and what kind of level he's on, he barely beat Jay Hieron. He's got some work to do and he can fight in another organization and work his way up."

Up until that point, from what I recall, Askren had said nothing derogatory about White at all. All he'd done is claim he'd lay waste to the UFC welterweight division and so on.

Can you blame Askren for going off at the deep end when some fat, failed boxer tough guy said that about him? The dude has competed at the fucking Olympics and is a former Div 1 gold medalist at the Pan-Am's and World Championships. He's not some Johnny no-cunt from the back beyond of nowhere who's done fuck all, is he?

The fact that White claimed Askren wasn't UFC level (even in 2013) is laughable. The dude is a joke.

Don't blame him at all, nor do i disagree that Dana is a bit of a prick. 

But I think once you respond, baited or not, you have to accept the likelihood is you're closing that door for good.

For the longest time it seemed Askren didn't care, which I really admired, but now saying he wants in... I don't know... sometimes being right isn't enough. Sometimes you have to be smart.

It's a shame for everyone as I believe Ben Askren sits amongst the very elite at his weight, but we'll never know.

[David]

5 minutes ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

Don't blame him at all, nor do i disagree that Dana is a bit of a prick. 

But I think once you respond, baited or not, you have to accept the likelihood is you're closing that door for good.

For the longest time it seemed Askren didn't care, which I really admired, but now saying he wants in... I don't know... sometimes being right isn't enough. Sometimes you have to be smart.

It's a shame for everyone as I believe Ben Askren sits amongst the very elite at his weight, but we'll never know.

To be honest, I don't think he actually wants in, he just wants a fight with GSP. He's basically saying that GSP is the one fight he comes out of "retirement" for, and he probably thinks that GSP's weird situation with the UFC could leave a door open for that fight to happen.

It's a real shame for Askren in general, because if the various odds & ends that have surfaced about the whole carry-on are to be believed, Dana essentially used him to fuck with Rebney and Bellator. Askren has said that he was told that if could get out of his Bellator contract there was a UFC deal on the table for him, only for him to get his release and be told the deal wasn't available now, allowing Dana to say "Ha! Bellator have lost their best champion and he's not even good enough for the UFC! What does that tell you?"

[Carbomb]

I didn't know that Dana said that. My opinion of him is already pretty low, so this just brings it down further to just above boxing promoters and Tory MPs, and just below paedos. What a fucking roaster. I don't particularly like Askren, but as David said, he's done pretty much there is to do in his career to prove he should be fighting the elites of sport, so what right does some jumped-up Nero, who fought a second of a pro MMA fight in his life, have to cast aspersions on that?

[wandshogun09]

1 hour ago, Carbomb said:

 I didn't know that Dana said that. My opinion of him is already pretty low, so this just brings it down further to just above boxing promoters and Tory MPs, and just below paedos. What a fucking roaster. 

Whoa, whoa. BELOW paedos?! Dana's a cunt but he's not in that league  

This is why I'd love to see Dana do the media scrums again. While most of the media often walked on eggshells around him and just threw softball questions at him, there were times when a Ariel Helwani or Kevin Iole or whoever would grill him a bit on something if it seemed wrong. It was the only time really that you'd see Dana be held accountable and have to explain things, even if all it ever resulted in was a shouty, pink faced, sweary outburst. His argument for not signing Askren at the time, as I recall, was basically that Askren hadn't beaten anyone to warrant a place in the UFC. I'd love to see him try to argue that now with the likes of CM Punk and a bunch of fighters with terrible and/or losing records on the roster. 

I definitely think Askren being so outspoken hasn't helped matters but Dana's clearly been more of the reason it hasn't happened. 

And sadly, if it's just the GSP fight he wants then that's not happening. No way the UFC let him come in for one fight, possibly beat GSP and then fuck off again. They don't do that. They would for a superstar like Floyd Mayweather or Anthony Joshua or something, obviously. But Ben Askren's not going to get that treatment. 

Askren vs Khabib is the one I want to see. The weight difference cocks it up but I just want to see it. Even in grappling only or something. I'm not interested in seeing them kickbox anyway. 

[the_mole]

GSP has already said he would fight Askren but he's not fighting him on his debut, he can talk about how great he is but nobody knows who he is, he's been fighting nobodies in Asia for years and before that he barely did 500,000 viewers on Spike, so they won't have his Bellator fights and probably not his One fights.

Dana was right he should have went to WSOF, if he really wanted in at a high level, they had Palhares, Fitch & Shields, all people who were top fighters, UFC fans didn't know Lima or Koreshkov. Lombard was a major bust, Will Brooks petered out and Eddie Alvarez has been decent, looked great sometimes, was boring others and lost a couple. The WSOF fighters came in and both Gaetje & Morales have been decent but they had their WSOF footage, so fans could see who the guy was.

Even Fedor they had the Pride stuff, Affliction as well depending on when they could have signed him.

The Askren-Luis Santos fight is basically Askren trying several times for the take down and missing/being stuffer and even threw on his back, then being easily out struck. Askren goes for the takedown what looks like a deliberate eye Polk with his thumb, Santos holds his eye and the fight is stopped and ruled a no contest, he never got a rematch, so to say Askren has just been crushing everyone In

 Asia is wrong, the fights easy to find on YouTube (Santos is a journeyman fighter with like 60 fights and over 20 loses and no big victories)

That video is from when I copy and pasted it a page or so back and can't seem to delete the fuckin thing through my phone, sorry for that.

Askren wanted to come in at a high level on big money, like the guys from Bellator (besides Will Brooks) & now WSOF have but none of them had a reputation for being boring and Bellator tried to keep Lombard & had Alvarez in court, they basically just said we don't even want him and he was deemed a castaway. Brooks was let go but he wasn't coming in under a bidding war but Will Brooks took the chance and started at the middle and it didn't work for him, he wasn't on $400,000 guaranteed like Lombard, so it didn't matter if he fell away. Millions of people know who CM Punk is and even though he's on a PPV main card he faced a young guy with 2 fights but noone ranked were near him and several fights later I don't think Mickey Gall has faced anyone ranked. 

[Carbomb]

1 hour ago, wandshogun09 said:

Whoa, whoa. BELOW paedos?! Dana's a cunt but he's not in that league  

I know, I just wanted to say something bloody-minded, and get a shot in at the Tories while I was at it.

[David]

42 minutes ago, the_mole said:

Dana was right he should have went to WSOF, if he really wanted in at a high level, they had Palhares, Fitch & Shields, all people who were top fighters, UFC fans didn't know Lima or Koreshkov. Lombard was a major bust, Will Brooks petered out and Eddie Alvarez has been decent, looked great sometimes, was boring others and lost a couple. The WSOF fighters came in and both Gaetje & Morales have been decent but they had their WSOF footage, so fans could see who the guy was.

Even Fedor they had the Pride stuff, Affliction as well depending on when they could have signed him.oung guy with 2 fights but noone ranked were near him and several fights later I don't think Mickey Gall has faced anyone ranked. 

Sorry Mole, but that's absolute bollocks. 

Dana didn't tell Askren to head to WSOF because they didn't have any footage of him, he told him to go there "to work his way up" to UFC level, which was a load of rubbish.

As mentioned, the dude was undefeated, a Bellator champion, a 2008 Olympian, 2-time NCAA Division 1 champion, and Pan-American & World Championships gold medalist. He was 12-0 when he left Bellator. 

Also, he wasn't wanting "in at a high level", he said at the time that he was happy to come in and start from the bottom, taking all of welterweight contenders out.

Then again, you can see Dana's point about Askren having to "work his way up" when the division featured such legends of the sport as Brian Ebersole, Jason High, John Hathaway and Anthony Lapsley! 

It was a bullshit move in the petty nonsense between Dana and that berk who ran Bellator at the time. Two egomaniacs with skin as thin as cigarette papers trying to outdo each other.