MMA/UFC Discussion Thread MMA • Page 92

I certainly don't care anymore. If he's done he's done and i'm ready to move on. Happy to see Dana stated he was willing to strip Connor of his title if he doesn't defend. It's exactly how it should be. If the company is offering him fights and he's just sitting back saying "F U, pay me more" then by all means strip him and lets get on with it. Tony v Khabib is just as interesting of a fight to me, and the more deserving one anyways.

 

I understand everyone's frustrations with Conor but tbf, Conor's storyline isn't that crazy when you look at it as a whole. The original Aldo fight was delayed due to injury and Conor had to fight Mendez instead. After he finally beat Aldo he decided to move up to 155. Then RDA broke his foot and delayed their title bout. In comes Nate who pulled off the upset. It's only natural for Conor to want a rematch there. It was a great fight on short notice and he lost. I think, given his position/status, any other fighter would want that rematch with Nate if they were in Conor's position. After he got his revenge, he wanted the title shot he was originally promised. He got it and he won. None of that is really special treatment in my opinion. He was well-deserving of the Aldo fight and he won it. After it was clear he was moving to 155, and staying there, they stripped the 145 belt from him. He didn't fight for a year so they crowned an interim champ. Now that he still hasn't scheduled anything they've threatened to take his 155 belt.

The only thing out of the norm that he's done is the Mayweather fight. But when he knows he has an opportunity to make over 100m why would he not pursue that? Even though he lost he raised his status, as well as UFC's, tremendously. His next UFC fight is going to be massive because of his exposure with Mayweather.

And regarding the year layoff, I don't blame him. Like I said, he knew there was a potential 100m payday in his future. Why risk ruining that with another fight? He held out for the Mayweather fight and it's easy to understand why. Now is the time he needs to take a fight and we have rumors of one happening. It sucks for Tony if it does indeed end up being Conor v Khabib. No argument from me there. But both guys are deserving and the guy with the belt wants Khabib.

 

Eh, I don't know. I don't think you can deny he has had special treatment. I totally get that he is a draw and is just capitalizing on the opportunities they give him, but a lot of the fights he's had have been weighted so that he would still stay in a position to gain something, if that makes any sense. You can spin it multiple ways.

• Only time he fought a wrestler in his title run was when Mendes took it on short notice - Conor had a full camp and Chad didn't
• Jumped a weight class to an immediate title shot with 0 title defenses at FW. They did this knowing he would have a backup belt if he lost even though they had told Aldo, Edgar, GSP, Anderson, etc. that they would have to vacate to challenge for another belt
• He then had not one but TWO fights against Nate at 170 so that if he lost, they could still say "He never technically lost at 155, so it still makes sense to give him the shot" - The first fight wasn't even a huge risk even on short notice because they were inevitably going to give him a chance at redemption even if he got finished - something virtually never granted to anyone who doesn't have to win a handful of fights to work back up first.
• He was still given a title shot after going 1-1 with Nate for some reason. He was allowed three fights outside of FW while still holding on to the belt. They didn't strip him until he safely captured another belt. Then interim champions were crowned in both weight classes.
• Then he was allowed to take the boxing match (when a dozen fighters had been turned down in the past because the UFC NEVER co-promotes) If he lost that, he would still be able to come back to the UFC and be marketed as a champion.

Don't get me wrong, the dude has incredible wins and I give him all the credit in the world for that. Plus, the UFC was just doing what they knew was best for them in putting all of their marketing efforts towards him. But it is 100% special treatment. haha. Can't hate him for capitalizing though.

 

Yeah, I don't disagree with you on most of what you said. Compared to other fighters, it is hard to argue he doesn't get special treatment. I guess my point is that it's hard for UFC not to give it to him. He kinda deserves it imo. They wouldn't be able to pull it off with another fighter. No one else has the entertainment/skill combination like him. Jon Jones is the only other guy but he fucked that him for himself.

 

He definitely is deserving of the pay grade and exposure. But he’s got it now, so either he comes back and continues as a champ or he lets the UFC move on while he buys more cars and fur coats. I’m not knocking him for that, I’d be doing the the same with that kind of money. But this limbo of “is he ever gonna fight again or not” has grown tiring and people want to see that division making moves, not headlines of Connor’s antics. I am more than willing to bet that if he came out and said he’s not fighting anymore or won’t until he’s a co-owner, people will all be in the same boat ready to move on. There’s an allure to him and his persona that revolves around what’s next for him, take that away and he’s just filthy rich, retired, and irrelevant to the future of UFC.

 

Yeah and to piggyback on that, maybe that's part of his game? He comes in hot, fights super often, grabs a couple of belts and then disappears for a while to make people miss him. It's a good tactic, but the only thing about that (for me at least) that doesn't work is that his trash talk/schtick is now irritating when he's not actually fighting. I can't take him seriously and his jokes are just annoying when he's sitting on the sidelines getting into bar fights and assaulting officials.

Tony's on a 10-fight win streak. Khabib is on 25. Max is on 12. He's won 2 in the last couple years. Get back in there.

 

100%. Hes one of the best ever, easily. But there’s always room for more. The way he’s acted at other MMA matches is pretty immature, and embarrassing for the sport when their biggest star is acting like such a toolbag. Calling people the f word cause your friend loses, thinking you’re allowed to hop into a cage and shove officials, street fights when you’re a trained fighter, speeding, etc.

Nobody is perfect, but he’s really turned into an asshole. It got tiring and it was all within a year and a half.

 

Anyone listen to Tyron on the Joe Rogan podcast? I've been behind the guy through his whole career (wrestled in my hometown and is also from Missouri), but man I wish he would give up this whole "poor me" narrative. At one point, he was complaining that people don't respect him as much as Condit and Lawler and Joe goes "Who doesn't respect you?" and he started his answer with "Well, in my mind..."

I feel like that says it all. He's so stuck on this idea that he's never going to get everything that he deserves that he won't even consider anything otherwise. It's hard to be a fan of his sometimes. haha.

 

The UFC undeniably treats Woodley pretty poorly but Woodley has made it pretty easy for them to do so. He's also pretty hypocritical about not wanting to "bring guys up" but wanting to get brought up himself.

He just needs to get back to knocking people out. It's crazy that he won't fight Covington because that (hypothetically) is an easy win for him. One highlight KO would be enough for people to slowly start forgetting about his last 2 snoozefests.

 

Yeah, I don't get it. I think he's just kind of bitter that he's not at a Conor McGregor level of fame despite being so talented. The thing that bothers me is that he obviously wasn't some highly-marketed fighter, but they still gave him a title shot after a two-fight win streak and also let him have the shot after 18 months off. Then, he doesn't think there's a single in the division that "deserves" a shot at him and only wants those big fights. He almost acts like taking the rematch against Thompson and fighting Maia was a disservice to him because they didn't make Conor or GSP fight him. I don't get it.

 

Listened to Woodley on JRE. I like Woodley, but there were a few times where he induced eye rolling, you can tell Rogan felt that way to an extent. Funny thing is, I agree with him. I don't think UFC has pushed him very much and in that, I can see his point. At the same turn though, people just don't seem to enjoy him all that much. That's not on the UFC. UFC can't create stars out of thin air, especially if you don't want to work for it (Stipe) or people don't want you to be a star (Woodley). Like Woodley said, there's a lot of politics and whatnot that goes into it, but it's just not happening for you right now. Might as well beat all these dudes and shout from every rooftop that people are scared of you. To his credit, he's beat everyone they've put in front of him, hard to fault him there, he's just not on the same level as Conor or GSP and he wants to be. If anything, he seems to be aware of the new normal, and we'll see how he adjusts to it.

Circling back to Conor, if they don't strip him it'll be extremely disappointing. Tony/Khabib fighting for anything less than the real belt would be insulting to them and the fans.

 

Yeah it's a lot of circling around. He's not popular so the UFC doesn't push him, but he claims he's not popular because the UFC doesn't push him, etc. But there are a ton of other champs that the UFC hasn't pushed like crazy regardless if they have a good record and good finishes just like him.

 

Honestly, take Conor out because he's an anomaly, but all of the stars UFC has produced have had consistent, long running, winning streaks. Chuck, Tito, Randy, GSP, Silva, Rousey (to a lesser extent) all kept swinging that axe against any and all comers, even if they did lose. Woodley just doesn't have that yet. 2-0-1 as champ is great, but it's not a huge sustained run.

 

Exactly - add in the fact that two out of his three title defenses have basically been stalemates... Not surprising. Although I will give him total credit that he has had the roughest go at it. Lawler, Wonderboy X2, Maia. Yikes.

 

Also on a more positive note - I scored floor seats to Sunday's UFC for $125 a piece. Not bad at all. Can't wait to meet some fighters.

 

......uhhhmmmmmmm.

 

Damn it.

 

Rockhold will have a tougher time against Romero. I’m rooting for him though.

 

So....Uriah Hall didn’t show up to the weigh in against Vitor Belfort. Fight is off and Vitor will have a different retirement fight?

 

Mother. Fucker. Now I know the pain of people who actually go to these fights regularly. We lost Vitor/Uriah and Cummings/Alves the weekend if the event.

 

I guess his camp has been really awful. Dealt with two close deaths and some other stuff. It’s tough to judge somebody I guess, hard to imagine wanting to fight when your head is in another place. At the same time though there’s gotta be a level of professionalism when you only have “work” 2-3 times a year. Not showing up to weigh in and backing out a day before is unprofessional to me.

 

I only halfway blame him. I feel terrible about his medical situation and I know he tried to make the weight, but at the same time, he said in a recent interview that a few weeks ago his body "failed" him. That was irresponsible on his part to not only keep going on that path but to also keep the UFC in the dark so that they didn't have the time to get a replacement. I'm honestly bummed I will never get to see Vitor fight in person even though Hall's health is obviously the main priority. I just feel like he could have done something to avoid this weeks ago.

 

Yeah totally agree. It’s a shit situation all around. So is the fact that I can’t edit that awful your you’re autocorrected typo in your quote of me. Damn you iPhone.

 

I got you covered. Hahaha.

But yeah I'm still pumped for tomorrow. Hopefully I'll get some good photo opportunities.

 

I have yet to attend one since every NY event so far has had astronomical pricing.