MMA/UFC Discussion Thread MMA • Page 8

Just do the damn promotion. The fight isn't for another 2 and a half months. They aren't exactly asking the world of you.

 

So he puts out a cryptic tweet for no other reason than to cause a shit storm?

Would be hilarious if Dana just says "I already pulled you out, stay where you are and we'll contact you".

 

I feel bad for him because he obviously does way more promotion than everyone else, but I mean, he's not the first person to be overwhelmed and to hate doing media. He shouldn't sell himself as this promotional genius if he doesn't want to be in the spotlight.

 

He's contractually obligated to go, so I understand Dana being upset. But at the same time, it's not like this fight needs much promotion. 200 has been built up for months already. It was labeled as the biggest card ever before they even announced the fights. Conor missing a couple promotions isn't going to effect anything.

 

Exactly. Definitely understand both of the sides. Just tough.

The card doesn't need all that promotion, but man, if you let him slide out of this and not fulfill his contractual obligations, what does that mean for the future? They already favor him, but letting him go that far would set a bad precedent. He, and all of the other fighters, would most definitely feel like he is running the show even more than he already does.

 

There are so many fighters who have been in his position before. That's something that I have learned to appreciate about this sport, no one stays on top forever and it's always been unpredictable. Some fighters beat the best at that time and then lose to others who were already brushed off. If Conor really leaves, somebody else can and will take his place.

 

This whole mess seems like a balance of power issue.

 

What if it's a coordinated publicity between all three people? Dana, Conor, Nate. Nate hasn't clarified his retirement, has he?

 

I mean, I guess in prize fighting you can never really rule that sort of thing out...

 

TMZ are saying the fight has been officially pulled from UFC 200.

Then again, TMZ...

 

No reason they can't add it back on. But I'm hoping Dana sticks to his guns and keep Conor off the card. Conor did this to himself by posting that stupid ass tweet, then trying to flip flop once Dana pulled him.

 

Still no word on Nate either; seems fishy

 

He did tweet that he was done too, but it comes off very much as sarcasm to me.

 

Well, there we have it.

Conor McGregor Releases Statement To Clarify His 'Retirement'

 

Conor's statement was earlier today, but TMZ's report that fight was officially pulled was after that.

 

Conor's statement is absolutely 100% correct and Dana White is stupid

 

In a perfect world, yeah Conor's statement makes sense. But like I said before, you can't give him special treatment and let him do whatever he wants (including getting out of things that are in his contract). Shouldn't have signed the contract if he has these moral objections to them. Totally unfair to all of the other fighters who hate doing media equally as much but have held up their end of the bargain if you just let him make his own rules.

 

The argument that other fighters don't have to do what Conor does so why should he have to do it is kinda silly. Conor is also the guy who has more money than he knows what to do with when many of these UFC fighters are scraping to get by.

I'm sure many, if not all of them would love to sit in on a morning zoo radio show or Good Morning Louisville! or whatever and be able to never worry about money again in their life.

 

No. You allow a guy to do this and it sets a bad precedent going forward.

This also wouldn't be Dana's decision. Dana doesn't negotiate with Conor, Lorenzo does. Dana is the mouthpiece.

 

I'm glad Dana is sticking with the decision to keep him out of 200.

Not to mention the fact that Conor is the only one wanting this fight. I don't care about his revenge against Diaz. I'd rather him put his belt on the line.

 

AND Benson Henderson's Bellator debut was a disappointment.

Guy wanted a tough fighter and he got it. That was a whooping. I think he should move back down.

 

But in their heart of hearts, they know they need McGregor more than he needs them. The tweet heard ‘round the world just drove that point home. This weekend, the UFC is putting on one of its biggest shows of the year. Disgraced ex-light heavyweight champion Jon Jones is making his big return on a card that’s stacked with quality matches, including the most intriguing flyweight title fight in eons. Jones is, in all likelihood, the UFC’s third most popular fighter after McGregor and Rousey. But hardly anybody’s talking about that, especially in the mainstream sports world. It’s kinda hilarious, actually: A lot of outlets have posted videos and interviews in which they mostly asked people like Jon Jones and flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson about... McGregor. We’re on the verge of a marquee UFC event, but one tweet from McGregor is eclipsing it.

So we have McGregor, this guy who’s been dominating airwaves, radiowaves, Internet waves, sine waves, and hell, probably even ocean waves (the UFC’s expansion into dolphin markets is doing better than expected), and suddenly, for a little while, he’s gonna disappear. Just as people were starting to get sick of hearing him talk and talk and talk, he... stops talking. To train for the biggest fight of his life. THAT IS ONE HELL OF AN ANGLE. COME ON UFC, HOW ARE YOU NOT GETTING THIS? You’ve got a built-in storyline, plus a rare quality you don’t find in modern marketing hype cycles: mystique. What will McGregor be like when he returns from his self-imposed exile? What will he say? How will he fight? As a fight fan, I would be out-of-my-mind excited by all of this! Thrilled! Curious! Unable to look away! It’s a perfect fucking storm.

But instead of promoting that, fight promotion company/lapse of judgement factory the UFC plans to pull the plug on McGregor’s UFC 200 fight entirely. It’s unbelievable. You’d think the UFC would’ve learned a lesson by now, but I guess their strategy of frequently stomping on fighters hasn’t led to a landmine yet. Maybe this will be it. Here’s hoping.

http://tmi.kotaku.com/the-ufc-is-totally-blowing-it-with-conor-mcgregor-1772375370

 

Wouldn't say Bendo's fight was a disappointment. That was just a terrible match up for him. Dude had some awesome striking, was much bigger and was super hard to take down. Bendo showed he was as durable as ever.

I like that they made his debut at Welterweight, though. Now that he lost, it's still easy to make a Lightweight title shot seem exciting for Benson because he was able to at least hang with a much bigger fighter, and in this process they also probably just turned Koreshkov into a star (what they needed). Probably would have been ideal for Bellator if Benson won, but I think they played it right.

 

Never liked the idea of Bendo at welterweight to begin with. His size and strength gave him an advantage at lightweight, not so at welterweight, particularly against someone with the length of Koreshkov. Too small for the top of that division.