the UFC thread

[fatpiranha]

I can't see McGregor beating Ferguson or Nurmagomedov. The idea of him having a boxing match with Mayweather is simply ludicrous and would be a mismatch of monumental proportions.

I'd like to see him fight Edson Barbosa. That could be a great fight.

 

[Shea]

 

[mil1lion]

Gastelum missed weight again so the fight with Cerrone is cancelled. That must suck for Cerrone. I wonder if anyone could step in this late.

 

[Shea]

Gastelum missed weight again so the fight with Cerrone is cancelled. That must suck for Cerrone. I wonder if anyone could step in this late.

Shame they can't just fine him a percentage of his purse and give a percentage of the fine to Cowboy to keep the fight on the card

 

[edson]

 

[Mullers]

yea but it's the casual fans buys that make the actual money in my opinion

That's why fighters like Connor and Floyd generate so much more than their peers - their appeal transcends the catchment area of their respective sports

People will buy in to the hype and think (especially if Connor knocks out Eddie) he will only need to land once on Floyd to end the fight and create history

The two of them could easily sell the fight well with their ability to hype a fight to a large audience and I think you'd be surprised by how much money it could generate (even the people who think it's a total farce would still buy it just to watch it play out - well a lot would imo)

The last two years I've been in Vegas and watched a fair amount of US sports TV and it's evident that the Floyd/Conor fight would be a big deal out there because it gets a lot more coverage than any other mma or boxing fight and it's not even an actual fight just a hypothetical (there was more talk about Connor fighting Floyd after he beat Nate on US tv than the Olympics, boxing, MMA or pretty much any sport other than NFL)

Connor made an excellent point re. the 145lb division - what happens to the weightclass if the man who was champ has to give his belt to the man he knocked senseless in 13 seconds? It makes a sham of the belt and it would as Connor said "bury the division in the prelims" - they probably need someone else to make a name for themselves down there, not Aldo and not someone Aldo has already beaten. Maybe if Stephens beats Edgar in sensational fashion or Holloway destroys Pettis one of those could become a name in the division?

I'm not even overlooking 205 at the moment - I think Connor has a tough task on his hands already

If he gets by that and fights Nate again - I think that's an equally tough task

He the path takes him that way and he's successful in both I think he really struggles if he has to fight someone like Khabib

I would question how many casual fight fans are really into Floyd Mayweather, his style isn't exciting, I think you have to be into boxing to appreciate his technical ability. But you're right about the hype that could certainly sell the fight, so what's holding it up?

You're right again about Connor's point, I think he'd like to have the featherweight divison option open but after seeing the 205 conference , the backstage stuff and twitter it seems he could be setting himself up for a fight with Woodley.

I think his coach needs to talk some sense into him, starting shit with Woodley, calling him a bitch on twitter is really stupid. Woodley really comes across as a nice, intelligent guy and he's always been respectful to Connor. If they ever fight, it will be a massacre and I dont see how Connor comes back from that.

 

[Shea]

I would question how many casual fight fans are really into Floyd Mayweather, his style isn't exciting, I think you have to be into boxing to appreciate his technical ability. But you're right about the hype that could certainly sell the fight, so what's holding it up?

You're right again about Connor's point, I think he'd like to have the featherweight divison option open but after seeing the 205 conference , the backstage stuff and twitter it seems he could be setting himself up for a fight with Woodley.

I think his coach needs to talk some sense into him, starting shit with Woodley, calling him a bitch on twitter is really stupid. Woodley really comes across as a nice, intelligent guy and he's always been respectful to Connor. If they ever fight, it will be a massacre and I dont see how Connor comes back from that.

How can you question mayweather's appeal to the wider boxing audience - his ppv numbers tell the story

The hype sells the fight - the hold up? I imagine there are lots, firstly the UFC own connor's rights so they event would have to at least in part go through them (any boxing match is difficult to put on when fighters are repented by different tv companies and promotions)

Division of money would be hold up - both fighters would probably consider themselves the draw and want that represented in their ppv purse (plus it's seen as money for old rope for mayweather and a hiding to nothing for Connor - I dont see any reason to take it unless he's earning money he can't turn down and money that would take him 5 fights in the ufc to make)

If anything I see the fight as an exit strategy for Connor - if he's ready to retire use the fight as a way to cash in his chips big like you

if he is stupid enough to try the same against Woodley he will not make as much money despite potentially having the hype of going for history as a 3 weight champ and he'd get put to sleep and probably have to retire anyway

I hope he wins tonight - I hope he then fights Nate again personally and goes in to the fight with both belts so they can hype it as him being a two weight champ, then if he loses the title he can keep is 145lb belt and go defend it and if he beats nate he can give up the 145lb and defend his 155 lb again

I don't want to see him fight Floyd and I certainly don't want to see him fight for the 170 title. If I was match maker and he wins tonight I'd be setting up the Diaz trilogy and then navigate 145 or 155 defence depending on the result of the trilogy

 

[Rocksuperstar]

That press conference looked so staged but McGregor is bloody hilarious, such a twat. Alvarez kept cracking up, everyone was chuckling, even when the chair got waved about no-one was bothered really.

Thought the whole "ALL the belts" was the highlight for me, but there's hype and there's farce and this started as a farce and didn't regain it's composure for more than about a minute at a time.

 

[Mullers]

How can you question mayweather's appeal to the wider boxing audience - his ppv numbers tell the story

The hype sells the fight - the hold up? I imagine there are lots, firstly the UFC own connor's rights so they event would have to at least in part go through them (any boxing match is difficult to put on when fighters are repented by different tv companies and promotions)

Division of money would be hold up - both fighters would probably consider themselves the draw and want that represented in their ppv purse (plus it's seen as money for old rope for mayweather and a hiding to nothing for Connor - I dont see any reason to take it unless he's earning money he can't turn down and money that would take him 5 fights in the ufc to make)

If anything I see the fight as an exit strategy for Connor - if he's ready to retire use the fight as a way to cash in his chips big like you

if he is stupid enough to try the same against Woodley he will not make as much money despite potentially having the hype of going for history as a 3 weight champ and he'd get put to sleep and probably have to retire anyway

I hope he wins tonight - I hope he then fights Nate again personally and goes in to the fight with both belts so they can hype it as him being a two weight champ, then if he loses the title he can keep is 145lb belt and go defend it and if he beats nate he can give up the 145lb and defend his 155 lb again

I don't want to see him fight Floyd and I certainly don't want to see him fight for the 170 title. If I was match maker and he wins tonight I'd be setting up the Diaz trilogy and then navigate 145 or 155 defence depending on the result of the trilogy

I think people pay to see him lose not to see him win. His style of fighting doesn't draw in the casual boxing fan, people especially Americans want to see an all action display. It was very telling that Floyd didn't think he could get away with the stuff Connor said no need to get into the reasoning about that, but I think it shows that he obviously thinks he is seen in a bad light by a lot of people. Whenever he goes to WWE he gets booed Tyson gets cheered.

I think if it was just due to division of money Floyd or Connor would say something about it.

Maybe Connor is looking to retire soon. A lot what Eddie says about Connor is actually spot on but I just don't think Eddie is as good as he thinks he is. I feel that if RDA had protected his chin better he would have won. A fight with Woolley means he goes out on his shield because he took a big risk but if he wins tonight he will fight Diaz then perhaps Woodly after otherwise what was the point of starting shit with him?

 

[Shea]

I think people pay to see him lose not to see him win. His style of fighting doesn't draw in the casual boxing fan, people especially Americans want to see an all action display. It was very telling that Floyd didn't think he could get away with the stuff Connor said no need to get into the reasoning about that, but I think it shows that he obviously thinks he is seen in a bad light by a lot of people. Whenever he goes to WWE he gets booed Tyson gets cheered.

I think if it was just due to division of money Floyd or Connor would say something about it.

Maybe Connor is looking to retire soon. A lot what Eddie says about Connor is actually spot on but I just don't think Eddie is as good as he thinks he is. I feel that if RDA had protected his chin better he would have won. A fight with Woolley means he goes out on his shield because he took a big risk but if he wins tonight he will fight Diaz then perhaps Woodly after otherwise what was the point of starting shit with him?

A lot pay to see him because they like his swag and unbeaten/unbeatable money mayweather persona and a lot more pay to see him lose - either way they pay to see him and he's the biggest box office star ever in boxing (by numbers and revenue)

Connor is by far the biggest box office star ever in MMA and one of the biggest names in all sports currently (his retirement tweet did more viral numbers than the retirement of Kobe) he's a huge deal on the world stage

I was in Vegas for UFC 202 - I saw the US media a lot in the days afterwards and other than some NFL talk on their sports channels mostly everything else way about Connor and most of that was about him vs Mayweather and whether it could happen and what would happen if it did - it's clearly got the potential to be a huge event out there (and world wide) and it would surely at this stage make both of them more money than anything else they could do (as they're the two biggest names currently in combat sport by some distance)

I think there's a lot that would get in the way of the fight happening though - Mayweather has said a lot about the division of money, search youtube for his comments, he basically says he's the man who should get the lion share (there are also many videos from Steven A Smith talking about the problems with divison of money etc). A bigger problem will be TV broadcasting rights - end of the day Connor is deeply tied in to his UFC contract and there is no way he can fight without them being involved and profiting

I don't want Mayweather McGregor to happen and I hope it doesn't happen as it's a stupid mismatch of a circus show event. It's the same type of shit as when K1 was trying to hype a fight between Bob Sap and Mike Tyson and I hope just like that stupid shit this never materialises

I don't see any point of Connor fighting Woodley - he wouldn't make anywhere near as much money and he would stand about the same chance of defeating Woodley as he does boxing Mayweather with a much bigger risk of serious injury due to Woodley's power

Maybe if Wonderboy wins this is a different prospect

I know Dana has said he's not interested in the Diaz triology but to me it makes the most sense - it's tied 1-1 and it already has the imagination of the people captured, with Connor having a strap on either shoulder and Nate still with his no fucks given persona it will do bigger pay per view numbers than any other fight Connor can have in the UFC I feel and at least he's shown he can win it and not just get wrestlehumped in to an easy loss

If he loses to Diaz he still has his 145lb belt and can just carry on as normal down there - he he beats Nate drop the 145lb and try your luck against the top challengers at 155 (or Cowboy perhaps)

 

[yankspurs]

Anyone know how the streaming is through ufc if you purchase the PPV? I dont wanna deal with a shitty stream for this one...

 

[WalkerboyUK]

Currently watching UFC 1
Bloody hilarious to watch compared to the current version.

 

[Mullers]

A lot pay to see him because they like his swag and unbeaten/unbeatable money mayweather persona and a lot more pay to see him lose - either way they pay to see him and he's the biggest box office star ever in boxing (by numbers and revenue)

Connor is by far the biggest box office star ever in MMA and one of the biggest names in all sports currently (his retirement tweet did more viral numbers than the retirement of Kobe) he's a huge deal on the world stage

I was in Vegas for UFC 202 - I saw the US media a lot in the days afterwards and other than some NFL talk on their sports channels mostly everything else way about Connor and most of that was about him vs Mayweather and whether it could happen and what would happen if it did - it's clearly got the potential to be a huge event out there (and world wide) and it would surely at this stage make both of them more money than anything else they could do (as they're the two biggest names currently in combat sport by some distance)

I think there's a lot that would get in the way of the fight happening though - Mayweather has said a lot about the division of money, search youtube for his comments, he basically says he's the man who should get the lion share (there are also many videos from Steven A Smith talking about the problems with divison of money etc). A bigger problem will be TV broadcasting rights - end of the day Connor is deeply tied in to his UFC contract and there is no way he can fight without them being involved and profiting

I don't want Mayweather McGregor to happen and I hope it doesn't happen as it's a stupid mismatch of a circus show event. It's the same type of shit as when K1 was trying to hype a fight between Bob Sap and Mike Tyson and I hope just like that stupid shit this never materialises

I don't see any point of Connor fighting Woodley - he wouldn't make anywhere near as much money and he would stand about the same chance of defeating Woodley as he does boxing Mayweather with a much bigger risk of serious injury due to Woodley's power

Maybe if Wonderboy wins this is a different prospect

I know Dana has said he's not interested in the Diaz triology but to me it makes the most sense - it's tied 1-1 and it already has the imagination of the people captured, with Connor having a strap on either shoulder and Nate still with his no fucks given persona it will do bigger pay per view numbers than any other fight Connor can have in the UFC I feel and at least he's shown he can win it and not just get wrestlehumped in to an easy loss

If he loses to Diaz he still has his 145lb belt and can just carry on as normal down there - he he beats Nate drop the 145lb and try your luck against the top challengers at 155 (or Cowboy perhaps)

I agree with you about Floyd, I was just making a point about his appeal and popularity . I have no desire to see a fight between him and Connor. This really all came about because Connor said he could knock him out in ten seconds or whatever it was.
Having watched the weigh in altercation and Woodley's interview a couple of times. I think it was a case of Connor being hot headed and trying to put on a performance. If he really intended to move up to welterweight and challenge Woodley's he would have said it. It makes no difference if Wonderboy wins, Connor simply can't hang in that division it's too much for him.

Connor v Nate would be a good fight of course. I thought Connor won comfortably last time and would just need to do the same really. But I believe a champion has to fight the best guys out there, someone who goes out of there way to avoid them is not a true champion.

 

[Mullers]

This is a tasty interview.

 

[Shea]

I agree with you about Floyd, I was just making a point about his appeal and popularity . I have no desire to see a fight between him and Connor. This really all came about because Connor said he could knock him out in ten seconds or whatever it was.
Having watched the weigh in altercation and Woodley's interview a couple of times. I think it was a case of Connor being hot headed and trying to put on a performance. If he really intended to move up to welterweight and challenge Woodley's he would have said it. It makes no difference if Wonderboy wins, Connor simply can't hang in that division it's too much for him.

Connor v Nate would be a good fight of course. I thought Connor won comfortably last time and would just need to do the same really. But I believe a champion has to fight the best guys out there, someone who goes out of there way to avoid them is not a true champion.

I'd disagree that Connor won comfortably and I think a third fight could easily go either way and would be the most exciting and biggest fight that the ufc can make

It's true that champions should fight the best competitiors but we all know that's not how things always work - business comes first and money talks

Boxing has shown that time and time again

The UFC with their central contracts and single belt per weight class have the power to put on whichever fights they want - because of this they've been able to make the champions fight the best out there time and time again

They do this because for the most part the champ fighting the best is the fight the fans want to see and the fight that will make them the most money

Connor is different - he's the ufc's biggest star. the ufc have always shown that they will do whatever is best for business

Bisping didn't fight Henderson because he was the number one challenger - he fought him because there was history and it would sell

Connor didn't get to the 145lb title by beating the best in the divison - he got fast tracked to the top because his style and personality made him a huge star

He didn't even have to fight a soul in the above weight class to be offered a title shot there - he got it because he's a huge star and would make so much money

Just like CM Punk didn't need to fight a single mma fight to get a fight in the UFC

If Connor wins tonight the ufc (and connor) won't give a fuck that Khabib is the worthy number one contender. Khabib is a relative unknown outside of the core a fan world and he represent a huge risk for a relatively small reward

Nate is a winnable fight and one that will generate huge interest and huge income

Ok some hard core fans could be miffed that Connor isn't fighting who they consider to be the worthy contender but more potential ppv buyers will be interested in the diaz trilogy

It's all my opinion of course - dana has said the diaz triolgy won't happen and that khabib gets the next shot so I could be talking complete bollocks but it's just my personal take on the situation

 

[Shea]

Amazing card - if only those fights didn't get called off, still the best ever card on paper but those two fights would have added to it none the less

Predictions?

 

[Shea]

How did michael johnson get through that round

Khabib seems like a bear when he grapples fighters

Edit- a win as dominant as that on such a big card will significantly strengthen his chances of getting the next shot

I'd like to see khabib vs Ferguson next though

Calling out connor hard in the post fight - he might just get his shot now

If connor ever fights khabib he has to hope he can catch him early like Johnson did but stretch him out and finish the fight - anything less than that and he would get taken down and mauled with ease. wouldn't make one round

 

[yankspurs]

How did michael johnson get through that round

Khabib seems like a bear when he grapples fighters

Edit- a win as dominant as that on such a big card will significantly strengthen his chances of getting the next shot

I'd like to see khabib vs Ferguson next though

Calling out connor hard in the post fight - he might just get his shot now

Khabib, IMO, would beat Conor. And I think White might agree with that. Which is why I dont see that fight ever happening.

 

[Shea]

Khabib, IMO, would beat Conor. And I think White might agree with that. Which is why I dont see that fight ever happening.

Beat him? he'd maul him

Connor would have nothing more than a hail Mary hope of finishing the fight before khabib could get it to the ground and destroy him

I also don't think Dana will match connor with him - that would derail the ufc/connor money train fast

Khabib will get Ferguson if conor wins I think - he will only get his title shot next if alavrez wins (who also only stands a punchers chance despite being a strong Wrestler himself)

 

[yankspurs]

Had to purchase this PPV. So pumped. IMO, this will definitely break records for UFC. Such a great card and its in NY.

It generated $1.4m in taxes for the state just on ticket sales!!!!!