I was thinking this too. Most fans are like casino hosts; they mostly only remember your last fight/visit. After that last performance, I dont see many people getting pumped up for this being the main event.
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I assume the UFC is expecting the 'trash talk' and 'friction' between those two to carry this main event but lets be real for a second; they gave up on this card the second Conor shot his own tits off on twitter. At this point, they know they have enough blindly devoted fans with (apparently) disposable income to sell a "UFC 200" event if the main AND co-main event were Mir vs Bigfoot.
Solid points.
I think it's more about the feud that sells the Jones/Cormier fight more then anything and Cormier stands more of a chance (even though he will lose) of beating Jones then OSP did imo.
Some people might hate Jones enough as a person to want to see him lose so that hype could create some interest when you promote it hard for a few months.
I agree the numbers would be much bigger for UFC 200 if Connor fought but if their was ever a spot for Dana and Lorenzo to try to put his ego in check it's here since this card should still sell. If the card was full of complete bums then they would need a huge name for sure.
Their is still the chance that one of these bigger fights scheduled don't take place and Dana swallows his pride saying "Well, we have no choice now but to make the Diaz/McGreggor fight happen at 200". He needs a legitimate reason to change his mind since Dana's ego is so huge too.
So when Cormier suffers an injury during camp or Jones is pulled over....who will be in the main event?
Are Connor and Nate secretly training so they can be called in last minute?
Fan bases attached to fighters make gates and record PPV buys.
Conor does so well because he brings in the UK/IRE combat sports dollar...they've always ardently supported their boxers/MMA guys; look at how well known and promoted that bum Ricky Hatton was. AND add the fact Conor is a quotable media whore with a fun (flawed) fight style (he sucks on the ground). I actually think he could lose the next Diaz fight, then the title at 145.....and people would STILL want to see him fight Cowboy/RDA/GSP and pay out the ass to do so because of his polarizing personality. That's why those who closely follow the sport (like on here) can't stand his ass: most consider him must see TV despite his obvious flaws.
Ditto with Ronda; she was the cute Judo girl kicking the shit out of (mostly unqualified) girls, playing up the heel card, and bringing in the "TMZ" casuals. Then her getting that face kicked by Holly created so much buzz on twitter all people could talk about was her next move.
Ditto with Brock and the WWE cult; its why UFC was interested in CM Punk. They really don't care if he can fight or not, they just know him on a main card will bring more-than-unusual eyes to a UFC event because wrestling fans are loyal to their guys in anything they do. They'll get an extra 100k buys when (if) Punk fights (and gets the shit kicked out of him by a guy with only 3 fights in his pro career).
Jones/DC 2 is OK, but not enough to move the needle for casuals. DC is cathartic personality that no one likes. Jones is great fighter who is immature and boring outside the cage, which turns people off. Jones probably wins in a 5 round decision again, and then we can see the fight we all want (Rumble) because that guy actually has a chance to beat Jones, unlike DC (it's just a bad matchup for him, even if Jones is at 80%).
UFC 200 as it is, will do OK. I think it may even be a top 7 all-time money maker for them with the quality of the card (although the one in Brazil coming up is better, IMO) and the gate with the new T-Mobile arena will do OK. No Nate hurts them...people love those motherfuckers from Stockton.
But without Conor, it won't break records.
#MotivatedBJPenn knows no weight class!
anyway, lets not undersell Jones Cormier, as far as fight quality goes. Jones is one of the, and arguably the single, best mma fighter we've ever seen. But Cormier is pretty high on that list, too! Decent chance he's the heavyweight champion right now if he didn't defer to Cain, and if Jones didn't exist, he'd have a bunch of defenses already and people would be talking about him in the pound for pound rankings. Same deal as when he was in college & he had the eternal bad luck of having to face cael sanderson a bunch of times, in the UFC he has Jones in his bracket.
Rousey might not be back this year. She signed a three movie deal with....
wait for it...
she could probably film a lifetime movie in like, what, a week? not too worrisome, IMO. Probably took longer to film the fight scenes in her fast furious movie than to film one of these in its entirety.
Yeah I know just sort of joking. I believe they did say Ronda's schedule is booked at least through the summer tho.
I read somewhere that Paige VanZant wanted to fight on the UFC 200 card and if that is possible the UFC should book her considering she is bit in the spotlight right now to an alternative audience in Dancing With The Stars. It wouldn't be a bad idea for that fight to kick off the ppv card. That show runs until late May so it might not be possible.
Prince vs Dada 5000
"Ryback_feed_me_more: Did you forget who the fuck Cormier beat for the Title?? Yes Rumble the guy who you think can beat Jones."
All... Should we just move this conversation to a private, moderated forum?
Because really this is untenable.
Not sure but I can see the point. Everybody says Rumble has a chance to beat Jones but Rumble is the one who got stopped by Cormier.. Logic dictates then why wouldn't Cormier have a chance to do the same to Jones?
Yes Jones beat Cormier last time they met but it went to the Judges. If Cormier gets Jones to the ground he could very well do to Jones what he did to Rumble..
Cormier made a good point during the press conference. Regardless of how the first fight went, if Jones fights DC like he did OSP he loses. I know he had a long layoff so he needs to get his shit straight before 200.
Interesting tidbit; a hot mic in Jones' corner caught Greg Jackson saying that deadlifting had basically destroyed Jones' mma game.