MMA/UFC Discussion Thread MMA • Page 488

Dana said he doesn’t like the backflips and it looked like Mike was gonna blow out both ankles, knees and spine lmfao

 

Holy fuckin shit. Stunned. Dustin fucking Poirier.

 

I want to see Conor v Tony so bad now. Great fight to get Tony off his skid.

 

I was talking about how Conor is such a smart fighter and then he lets a guy kick him in the leg over and over without making a single adjustment lol

Round 1 was so awesome though. A lot of fights go against the cage and nothing happens. But here both guys stayed so active and neither could really take control. I thought it was a very high level round of fighting.

Round 2 I felt like Conor knew his leg was going out and he was going for the finish too much. He actually did tag Dustin pretty good but he didn’t follow up with much after that shot. As the round went you could see Dustin gaining confidence and then he eventually finished him.

I wish that for the title because Dustin deserves it. I have no clue how this will play out.

 

I have like a million thoughts/takeaways from that fight but here are two for now:

1) I’m tearing up just thinking about Dustin Poirier. That guy earned every single ounce of what he has accomplished. The entertaining wars. The heartbreaking losses he’s picked himself back up from. I had a rock in my stomach thinking about him losing this fight, and man am I happy to be wrong. An all-time legend and an incredible human being.

2) There’s a lot I wanna say about Conor as a fighter and some of it I still don’t know that we have a big enough sample size to know exactly......but hearing him say he has never experienced the feeling of those calf kicks, when they’ve been a major trend in the game recently, is a scathing indictment about the quality of his team and his training partners. I’ve always had doubts about the SBG guys and thought they just struck gold with Conor, and I feel even more strongly about that now. That’s really bad, at this level. Really bad.

 

Huge congrats to Poirier, so well-deserved. It’s amazing to see what he’s been able to accomplish.

I actually thought Conor looked pretty great in the first round, but he got torched by those calf kicks. His inability to adjust was shocking.

 

I don’t know how I feel about this quote.

 

Fighting Conor again is hard to turn down because of the money and promotion

 

Yeah that quote is basically in response to the question “would you like to rematch Conor”

 

For sure. I would just hate for them to run it back immediately. It just can’t happen.

 

Yeah, I agree. I think you give Dustin the title or let him fight someone for it. If Conor wants the rematch, he needs to beat a couple of the other top guys first. If he does that, then the trilogy fight would be more epic than just doing an immediate rematch.

 

Yep, exactly. There’s just no way in the world Dustin’s next fight isn’t for the title and Conor just cannot be apart of that. I’d much rather see Dustin v Conor 3 than Nate v Conor 3, but in due time.

 

Chandler looked like a beast. Absolutely no fear in that guy. I still haven’t seen him fight too much but I am so glad he came to UFC so I can watch him more often.

 

I can definitely see Dana making that rematch to try to put Conor back into the title picture again

 

This was strange to me too and it’s part of the reason I didn’t think Conor looked quite as slick as he usually does. The bulk of the credit goes to Dustin there because his team clearly had studied Conor up and down. They nailed him with the calf kicks for one, but also, they seemed to know exactly how to hit him with that right hook as he dipped over that way. He was trying to slip punches and land his left hand, but Dustin knew right where he would be and nailed him with that counter a bunch of times.

Conor, on the other hand, did not adjust to any of that. For as smart as a fighter as he is, he had no answer or gameplan other than to just land that left hand. He looked to be in great shape, but it made me wonder what type that of prep he had.

 

different fighters of course, but makes you wonder what Gaethje would’ve done to him haha

 

I don’t think it would’ve gone the same. I don’t think Justin can counter the way Dustin did in that second round. Much more of a walk forward and brawl style. Exactly what made him lose against Dustin and Eddie. Given, I know Justin likes his leg kicks, but I think throughout the two rounds we got, Conor was happy to eat them in order to set up that counter left. He left the leg out there plenty, tried checking a few, but really that seemed to be something he was willing to do until his leg was done and then he couldn’t stand on it. Once he couldn’t put the weight on that leg Dustin recognized it, took full advantage of the moment and laid into him.

This was a great fight. I’m happy for Dustin. I wanna see them both back and fighting again.

 

Mike Brown, best coach in the game, by far. Dustin/Chandler should be next, so Dustin talking down on that is strange.

 

I don’t agree with Chandler being next, no matter how impressive his performance was. He’s had one fight in the organization, a win over a guy who’s now 3-3 in his last six. He needs one more.

Charles Oliveira is far more deserving of the shot.

 

Yeah I don’t think Chandler deserves a title shot already. I think he should fight Gaethje next while Olivera gets the shot.

 

This is what I'm leaning towards as well. That said, I wouldn't necessarily be surprised if they give it to Chandler. He was extremely hyped, immediately put in a co-main event on a McGregor card, and then he took full advantage of it with a quick KO. My gut tells me they're going to try to ride that wave by throwing him at the title ASAP. Meanwhile Oliveira is over here putting together a sneaky good run of seven finishes + a dominant win over Tony.

Of course, all of this talk is useless if Dana won't just fucking give up on Khabib. If the guy claims he's not coming back, please do not make a third interim belt under him...

 

Robert Whittaker, Paulo Costa Targeted to Headline UFC Event on April 17

 

The way I see it playing out

Dustin v Oliveira
Chandler v Gaethje
Conor v Tony

 

If Khabib was sticking around and Dustin’s next fight wasn’t for the title (he should honestly have it right now), I’d say him and Chandler makes plenty of sense. But Chandler 100% hasn’t earned a shot on Hooker’s name.

If he were to finish another top 5 guy in the same fashion, sure give him the next shot. Khabib has announced his retirement, and stated he’s not interested in any fights. How is he still champ? They bounced Cejudo out of his title before the day was over it felt like.

 

Also, BJ Penn was arrested for DUI this past weekend. Probably the saddest story of any UFC legend to date. Sad that he hasn’t or wasn’t able to seek professional help yet. He’s more and more dangerous to the public as time goes.