**Official UFC thread**

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Originally Posted by Hockey Guy

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Originally Posted by jsearles22

If Khabib tried to fight Conor, or any of the other top 5 guys,like he fought tonight, he will get destroyed. This guy is the weakest 26-0 undefeated champion in combat sports history. He hasnt beaten anyone. Hell I'd love to see him fight someone like Diaz at 155. He'd get destroyed. His biggest win was against Dos Anjos 4 years ago. Since that fight hes fought a total of 4 times including tonight, against guys most of us havent even heard of. Dos Anjos has fought 10 times since then. Hell even Conor has fought 8 times in the last 4 years

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If Connor or Tony & others can keep it standing they will piece him up & I think we can all agree on that. The problem is keeping it standing, especially the first round, something Connor has shown he has a problem with & Tony may be stupid enough to think he has an advantage there.

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Do you think the Khabib we saw tonight could beat Jose Aldo? Aldo has tremendous take down defense. He would frustrate Khabib and end up knocking him out. And this is Aldo who recently lost to Holloway twice. I honestly think Aldo KO's Khabib in the 3rd

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Originally Posted by jsearles22

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Originally Posted by Hockey Guy

If Connor or Tony & others can keep it standing they will piece him up & I think we can all agree on that. The problem is keeping it standing, especially the first round, something Connor has shown he has a problem with & Tony may be stupid enough to think he has an advantage there.

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Do you think the Khabib we saw tonight could beat Jose Aldo? Aldo has tremendous take down defense. He would frustrate Khabib and end up knocking him out. And this is Aldo who recently lost to Holloway twice. I honestly think Aldo KO's Khabib in the 3rd

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Yes, I think if Khabib gets anyone against the fence early, before they work up a sweat, he'll take them down. If they can get back up & avoid damage they all have a chance because his stand-up is that poor IMO. If they can't, & all his opponents that I remember couldn't, they are fucked, plain & simple.

He'll zap so much energy from you if he can keep you down that it lessens the likelihood of getting KO'd later in the fight but you never know. That's what makes these other matchups so intriguing.

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Originally Posted by jsearles22

If Khabib tried to fight Conor, or any of the other top 5 guys,like he fought tonight, he will get destroyed. This guy is the weakest 26-0 undefeated champion in combat sports history. He hasnt beaten anyone. Hell I'd love to see him fight someone like Diaz at 155. He'd get destroyed. His biggest win was against Dos Anjos 4 years ago. Since that fight hes fought a total of 4 times including tonight, against guys most of us havent even heard of. Dos Anjos has fought 10 times since then. Hell even Conor has fought 8 times in the last 4 years

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Where in this fight did you think Khabib looked bad? He won every second of every round vs a guy who is damn good. Khabib has also won every second of every round vs everyone he's ever fought and he's been in the ring with some of the best. I'm not trying to blast your MMA knowledge but Diaz has never had anything better than a lower top 10 type career at 155. He gets taken down easily, doesn't have a lot of pop and anytime he's been in the ring with an elite fighter he's gotten his ass kicked. Diaz exposed McGregor.

Khabib showed some holes tonight but nobody is perfect. You seem to be using a lot of hyperbole describing tonight's fight. Don't ignore how good Iaquinta is, he has beaten guys like Lee & Masvidal who have both been in the top 5 and Iaquinta had a full camp. Why exactly do you think Khabibs standup is so bad? He destroyed Iaquinta on the feet, he got the best of Michael Johnson standing, same with Dos Anjos. I think you may not understand just how difficult it is to settle into a rythmic standup when you are so worried about a guys takedowns. Iaquinta is a very good wrestler and Khabib still took him down a ton in this fight. Great performance for Khabib, I see this fight the exact opposite of you.

Conor could get wrecked over this. The UFC can totally blame him for ruining their PPV. Regardless of what it makes.

Shitty main event, stand-ins suck for the main bout. All Conors fault. :)

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White said it’s almost certain that McGregor would face legal action.

“As you can imagine he’s going to be sued beyond belief,” White said. “This was a real bad career move for him.”

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Originally Posted by Hockey Guy

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Originally Posted by jsearles22

If Khabib tried to fight Conor, or any of the other top 5 guys,like he fought tonight, he will get destroyed. This guy is the weakest 26-0 undefeated champion in combat sports history. He hasnt beaten anyone. Hell I'd love to see him fight someone like Diaz at 155. He'd get destroyed. His biggest win was against Dos Anjos 4 years ago. Since that fight hes fought a total of 4 times including tonight, against guys most of us havent even heard of. Dos Anjos has fought 10 times since then. Hell even Conor has fought 8 times in the last 4 years

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If Connor or Tony & others can keep it standing they will piece him up & I think we can all agree on that. The problem is keeping it standing, especially the first round, something Connor has shown he has a problem with & Tony may be stupid enough to think he has an advantage there.

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I don't agree with this assessment. If it were a kickboxing fight I would. When Khabibs already established his takedown and pressing forward at all times it's nearly impossible to find any rythem standing. Despite what Searles says (I think he's a very casual fan) Khabib has been in the ring with some of the best strikers at 155. Dos Anjos, Barboza, Iaquinta etc.. and nobody has even been effective for more than a single pot shot at a time. If you dig in and throw your power strikes you risk getting taken down, Khabib has shown in his career he times his takedowns very well. If you kick vs Khabib you get taken down. How does someone establish a good striking game vs this? There's a reason nobody has been able to.

I actually really felt Iaquinta had some matchup advantages here. His standup has looked so smooth and accurate against everyone else and he's a solid wrestler. Khabib destroyed him standing tonight, the distance striking stats are absurd.

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Originally Posted by Salty_Aus

Conor could get wrecked over this. The UFC can totally blame him for ruining their PPV. Regardless of what it makes.

Shitty main event, stand-ins suck for the main bout. All Conors fault. :)

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White said it’s almost certain that McGregor would face legal action.

“As you can imagine he’s going to be sued beyond belief,” White said. “This was a real bad career move for him.”

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Conor is still the UFC's guy. It also appears that last night's event is trending to be a success. smashed the previous Barclay center live gate record and Dana said the initial numbers coming in on the ppv buys are better than expected.

Kyle Bochniak should have won just based on the last 20 seconds were he was laughing at that hodgy while getting punched.....imo......

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Originally Posted by peter mcneil

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Originally Posted by Salty_Aus

Conor could get wrecked over this. The UFC can totally blame him for ruining their PPV. Regardless of what it makes.

Shitty main event, stand-ins suck for the main bout. All Conors fault. :)

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White said it’s almost certain that McGregor would face legal action.

“As you can imagine he’s going to be sued beyond belief,” White said. “This was a real bad career move for him.”

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Conor is still the UFC's guy. It also appears that last night's event is trending to be a success. smashed the previous Barclay center live gate record and Dana said the initial numbers coming in on the ppv buys are better than expected.

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I still get a feeling no matter how unlikely that we're being stooged, that this was a publicity stunt... and Conor went overboard.
Shouldn't he be saying numbers were down and go after some of the Irishman's millions?

Khabib fight is BIG $

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Originally Posted by Salty_Aus

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Originally Posted by peter mcneil

Conor is still the UFC's guy. It also appears that last night's event is trending to be a success. smashed the previous Barclay center live gate record and Dana said the initial numbers coming in on the ppv buys are better than expected.

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I still get a feeling no matter how unlikely that we're being stooged, that this was a publicity stunt... and Conor went overboard.
Shouldn't he be saying numbers were down and go after some of the Irishman's millions?

Khabib fight is BIG $

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I think it was 100% planned and staged on Conor's end, I don't think the UFC was involved. I don't believe the UFC should go after Conor's money, they need a good relationship with him. He's still there guy and by far their biggest money maker.

I agree, the Khabib fight breaks all MMA PPV records. Lots of angles to promote.

Conor likely wont be back.

Nurm carried Al.

Rose rode out on the mother of all bad decisions.


With all respect, if youre making any sort of "Nurm cant hang with the top five guys" type commentary you dont understand what you saw last night.

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Originally Posted by sonatine

Conor likely wont be back.

Nurm carried Al.

Rose rode out on the mother of all bad decisions.

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I thought she won rounds 1,2 and 5 very clearly and arguably 4. How did you score it? The stats were skewed by a huge volume of shitty leg kicks.

Most professional fighters commenting on twitter had it 3-2 or 4-1 for Rose. Also interestingly I'm in a group chat with one of JJ's friends and coaches at ATT in Florida and he scored it 3-2 for Rose.

http://mmajunkie.com/2018/04/twitter...fc-223-rematch

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Originally Posted by peter mcneil

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Originally Posted by sonatine

Conor likely wont be back.

Nurm carried Al.

Rose rode out on the mother of all bad decisions.

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I thought she won rounds 1,2 and 5 very clearly and arguably 4. How did you score it? The stats were skewed by a huge volume of shitty leg kicks.

Most professional fighters commenting on twitter had it 3-2 or 4-1 for Rose. Also interestingly I'm in a group chat with one of JJ's friends and coaches at ATT in Florida and he scored it 3-2 for Rose.

http://mmajunkie.com/2018/04/twitter...fc-223-rematch

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Round 2 was the hardest to call, I gave it to the champ by a whisker.
Champ won 1,2,5 the take-down was decisive.
Could have easily been scored a split decision though, round two was a tough one to call.

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Originally Posted by Salty_Aus

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Originally Posted by peter mcneil

I thought she won rounds 1,2 and 5 very clearly and arguably 4. How did you score it? The stats were skewed by a huge volume of shitty leg kicks.

Most professional fighters commenting on twitter had it 3-2 or 4-1 for Rose. Also interestingly I'm in a group chat with one of JJ's friends and coaches at ATT in Florida and he scored it 3-2 for Rose.

http://mmajunkie.com/2018/04/twitter...fc-223-rematch

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Round 2 was the hardest to call, I gave it to the champ by a whisker.
Champ won 1,2,5 the take-down was decisive.
Could have easily been scored a split decision though, round two was a tough one to call.

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I found 4 the closest but 2 probably was tight as well. I thought Rose was just so smooth rounds 1 and 2, in and out beautifully and landing that counter left hook after every exchange. Round 5 Rose just dug in and sat down on her shots busted JJ up and landed her best strikes of the fight.

Please understand that I literally fell asleep before this event so there is no rebuttal being offered but this is hard for me to reconcile:




Like if someone says that both the round scoring and what I just posted do not necessarily tell different stories, I'm good with that. But a _lot_ of people arent comfortable with this.

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Originally Posted by sonatine

Please understand that I literally fell asleep before this event so there is no rebuttal being offered but this is hard for me to reconcile:




Like if someone says that both the round scoring and what I just posted do not necessarily tell different stories, I'm good with that. But a _lot_ of people arent comfortable with this.

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My argument would be that JJ landed a lot of leg kicks and teeps while Rose busted her up with big power shots. I always just try to view these fights as a real fight, who is hurting the other more in each round. JJ would land a few leg kicks then rose with flow in and land a great 1 or 2 punch combo that had a real impact. I see where you're coming from based on the stats but as a fight I think rose really got the best of this one, more than that I also think rose simply looked like the better fighter.

You saw it, I didnt, so expect no argument from me.

Its worth noting that I dont even really know what the specific rules they fight under now are.

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Originally Posted by sonatine

You saw it, I didnt, so expect no argument from me.

Its worth noting that I dont even really know what the specific rules they fight under now are.

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Fuck, nobody seems to and that includes the fighters. Last night a new rule was introduced that a fighter who is downed can be knees in the head under certain circumstances. I didn't get the rule and it wasn't an issue but it's been hard to follow.

Check out the Rose vs JJ fight on mma-core. It was a beauty and worth seeing. The women's fights are generally awful but these two are so fucking technical and awesome. Some of the best footwork in the entire roster.

i think almost everyone who watched the fight settled on 48-47 Rose, with a handful going 49-46 and a handful going 47-48. All 3 judges gave JJ a different round. One gave her 2, one 3, and a 4.

I always enjoy listening to khabib, and this is a pretty fun press talk. Talking to Matt Serra, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEVEYzMSoos

Event was much much better than expected.

I got to Barclays about 6pm and started going down the line and found a guy with 2 extra tickets and was able to get them for almost 50% off face value, $100 per ticket.

Went in and sat in a random row that I liked. Later I would find out that there were a lot of family members in that area as well, including Rose's grandma and family members I think. Hence why Dan came up and starting talking to them.

When Kyle had a little of the upperhand against Zait, someone a few rows back was like "Cmon, you're losing to a twink". I giggled.

Later on, an Irish dude started talking to shit to everyone and anyone and found a willing participant and it got heated to the point where one individual of a group of Brits got security.

When security came they asked us and I was like "Nothing here, just some free entertainment" you know, cause I aint no snitch. However dude next to me pointed them out, and the following ensued


Sorry for the display but its well worth the watch lol



https://vimeo.com/263735103




Your wife sucks my dick....hahaha



Out of the past 6-7 UFC PPV's I have been to, this has to be one of the most entertaining ones.

Again, havent watched the Rose JJ fight but a lot of people in my other circles who are actual fighters are saying that Rose won and it shouldnt be debated.

Like yeah scorecoards, yeah fight metrics, whatever, apparently Rose looked ready to go to her Vogue shoot after the fight and JJ looked like she had been cracking walnuts with her mouth and cheekbones, and legkicks are awesome and everything but Rose just plain out-heated her for 3 of 5 rounds, end of story.

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Originally Posted by peter mcneil

Last night a new rule was introduced that a fighter who is downed can be knees in the head under certain circumstances.

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And just to be clear I want to address this but I seriously dont even know where to begin.

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Originally Posted by peter mcneil

Last night a new rule was introduced that a fighter who is downed can be knees in the head under certain circumstances. I didn't get the rule and it wasn't an issue but it's been hard to follow.

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all NY did was implement the new unified rules on downed opponents. nothing weird there.

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Originally Posted by Crowe Diddly

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Originally Posted by peter mcneil

Last night a new rule was introduced that a fighter who is downed can be knees in the head under certain circumstances. I didn't get the rule and it wasn't an issue but it's been hard to follow.

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all NY did was implement the new unified rules on downed opponents. nothing weird there.

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I think it was Smith explaining in a certain position where knees were allowed and I didn't think he worded it clearly. Makes sense that it was just the unified rules being implemented.

Someone back in this thread said they felt Khabib carried Iaquinta to go 5 rounds for the experience. Good call, Khabib said that's exactly what he did. He almost had him out in the second and said he needed to feel all five rounds so he decided to stand with Iaquinta.

Ariel Helwani ha predicted Khabib vs McGregor to do over 2m ppv buys. I guessed 1.7 or 1.8. I think Ariel is right. Khabib has asked for McGregor at the year end event to be held at Madison Square Garden. How good would that be.

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Originally Posted by peter mcneil

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Originally Posted by Crowe Diddly

all NY did was implement the new unified rules on downed opponents. nothing weird there.

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I think it was Smith explaining in a certain position where knees were allowed and I didn't think he worded it clearly. Makes sense that it was just the unified rules being implemented.

Someone back in this thread said they felt Khabib carried Iaquinta to go 5 rounds for the experience. Good call, Khabib said that's exactly what he did. He almost had him out in the second and said he needed to feel all five rounds so he decided to stand with Iaquinta.

Ariel Helwani ha predicted Khabib vs McGregor to do over 2m ppv buys. I guessed 1.7 or 1.8. I think Ariel is right. Khabib has asked for McGregor at the year end event to be held at Madison Square Garden. How good would that be.

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In the ring after the fight he asked for GSP at MSG

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Originally Posted by jsearles22

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Originally Posted by peter mcneil

I think it was Smith explaining in a certain position where knees were allowed and I didn't think he worded it clearly. Makes sense that it was just the unified rules being implemented.

Someone back in this thread said they felt Khabib carried Iaquinta to go 5 rounds for the experience. Good call, Khabib said that's exactly what he did. He almost had him out in the second and said he needed to feel all five rounds so he decided to stand with Iaquinta.

Ariel Helwani ha predicted Khabib vs McGregor to do over 2m ppv buys. I guessed 1.7 or 1.8. I think Ariel is right. Khabib has asked for McGregor at the year end event to be held at Madison Square Garden. How good would that be.

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In the ring after the fight he asked for GSP at MSG

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Yeah, he also mentioned Connor @ MSG @ the post fight presser.

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Originally Posted by Hockey Guy

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Originally Posted by jsearles22

In the ring after the fight he asked for GSP at MSG

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Yeah, he also mentioned Connor @ MSG @ the post fight presser.

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What hockey guy said. He said him and his dad dream of the GSP fight for his legacy but he doesn't think it'll happen and talked a lot about a world tour for the McGregor fight, asked for MSG at year end card. He said this fight must happen to end the beef chicken. Khabibs words, not mine, beef chicken.

its amazing how many educated cases are being made for either rose or jj being the winner of that fight.

at the end of the day, the only thing that really seems obvious is that this sport is a mother fucking mess.

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Originally Posted by jsearles22

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Originally Posted by Salty_Aus

UFC could sue him for this, and it could be a pretty big payout too.

The way Dana is talking, it sounds like him and Conor are finished.

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Dana White is a whiny bitch. Conor vs Khabib will happen in 2018 and the UFC will unapologetically promote it.

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How is WME paying their bond payments on the $$ they borrowed to buy this dying horse? The previous UFC PPV had a co-main event and neither fight went a round. How much more abuse will their paying fans take? Maybe they like the pain.

The 2 fighters responsible for the largest UFC PPV event ever haven't fought in the UFC in years (Diaz/Conor).

They just had the same main event fight canceled for the 4th time and their new phenom "Khalib" looks like he is drawing 100% completely dead against anyone that knows how to strike.

I think when the fighters saw the money the league was sold for everything changed.

They can't make a single big fight anyone wants to see happen. - Woodley/Diaz - Diaz/Conor - Nunez/Cyborg - Khalib and anyone that doesn't suck...

Obviously their fan base is queer for their product but their remarkable inability to make any fight anyone wants to see happen is, well, remarkable.

Seriously, WTF?

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Originally Posted by jsearles22

If Khabib tried to fight Conor, or any of the other top 5 guys,like he fought tonight, he will get destroyed. This guy is the weakest 26-0 undefeated champion in combat sports history. He hasnt beaten anyone. Hell I'd love to see him fight someone like Diaz at 155. He'd get destroyed. His biggest win was against Dos Anjos 4 years ago. Since that fight hes fought a total of 4 times including tonight, against guys most of us havent even heard of. Dos Anjos has fought 10 times since then. Hell even Conor has fought 8 times in the last 4 years

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I agree but once you understand how fucked the sport is you understand why they have to resort to propaganda. The guy is good for the sport and the UFC are great hype-men but you really have to be drinking the kool-aide to buy all this nonsense.

Lesnar retained his WWE title last night @ Wrestlemania.

That would seem like his return to UFC is likely delayed/may not happen?

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Originally Posted by Sidewinder

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Originally Posted by jsearles22

Dana White is a whiny bitch. Conor vs Khabib will happen in 2018 and the UFC will unapologetically promote it.

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How is WME paying their bond payments on the $$ they borrowed to buy this dying horse? The previous UFC PPV had a co-main event and neither fight went a round. How much more abuse will their paying fans take? Maybe they like the pain.

The 2 fighters responsible for the largest UFC PPV event ever haven't fought in the UFC in years (Diaz/Conor).

They just had the same main event fight canceled for the 4th time and their new phenom "Khalib" looks like he is drawing 100% completely dead against anyone that knows how to strike.

I think when the fighters saw the money the league was sold for everything changed.

They can't make a single big fight anyone wants to see happen. - Woodley/Diaz - Diaz/Conor - Nunez/Cyborg - Khalib and anyone that doesn't suck...

Obviously their fan base is queer for their product but their remarkable inability to make any fight anyone wants to see happen is, well, remarkable.

Seriously, WTF?

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the answer to your question, is that marketing has created a hybrid pro wrestling / mma fan.

- ronda rousey
- brock lesnar
- that guy who got choked out by that random, john cena was it?

basically there arent a lot of mma superfans left. the rebok deal created some very unhappy fighters, the USADA roids ban means that no one can really get healthy and stay healthy, because bare minimum 80% of the steroids "abuse" was fighters treating injuries or accelerating their recoveries.

we are politely edging towards 'super events' where there is a mix of kickboxing, pro wrestling, and mma. its not going to happen soon but we are 100% definitely being groomed for it, because, as you pointed out, the current paradigm is unsustainable.

also and im mentioning this again just in case you havent read far enough back,

khabib looked human mostly because he was in absolutely no danger standing. al had absolutely nothing khabib had to worry about. if khabib wanted to end it in the first he would have ended it in the first via takedown -> gnp.

youre right, his big problem is that he can get hit standing. but against fighters where thats a real concern hes just going to shoot, pin against the fence, takedown, and brutalize. some fighters, like conor, have the potential to mitigate that attack or even exploit it but exactly no one in the division is going to be out of real danger once he puts them on their backs, and hes capable of putting anyone at all on their backs.

you also should be aware, and again im just rehashing previous points, fighters will carry weaker fighters.

sometimes they do because they need other fighters to agree to fight them (cyborg).

sometimes they do it because an event just fell apart and if they end the fight in two minutes there will be a fucking riot (khabib).

other times its a professional courtesy, because they dont want a weaker opponent to look bad. seriously it happens all the time. these guys are martial artists and despite all the bluster and posturing, over the course of that journey a lot of them develop a lot of empathy and respect for their fellow fighters. making them look like shit is something a lot of fighters will avoid, unless there is some personal issue or they absolutely need a highlight reel.

watch cyborg's last fight if you dont believe me.

there are at least two moments where she hits her opponent so clean that the woman actually stops fighting to make sure her face is still there, and cyborg is standing there like 'please put your hands up please put your hands up' because she doesnt want to end the fight.

this isnt some weird conspiracy theory, and it happens in literally every fight-sport, its not even an open secret its just something that happens.

^^^ Khabib knows fighting GSP means he may have to grind out a five round fight and he looked at this as a chance to get some practice even tho GSP is a way different opponent. We really don't know what to expect from GSP these days and can't use that fight vs Bisping as a guide but better to be safe then sorry.

With that said I think Khabib should have tried to finish him off Iaquinta in the fourth round like people were expecting. He don't need to sell weaknesses to anyone in a fight versus a guy who is stepping in on one days notice.

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Originally Posted by BeerAndPoker

With that said I think Khabib should have tried to finish him off Iaquinta in the fourth round like people were expecting. He don't need to sell weaknesses to anyone in a fight versus a guy who is stepping in on one days notice.

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I 100% wasnt implying that was his motive, sorry if I wasnt clear. Honestly I dont know why he carried Al for 5 rounds, but clearly he had his reasons.

and just to be perfectly clear i think gsp v khabib is one of the dumbest, least relevant matches ive ever heard proposed.

the only thing it says to me is that khabib himself wonders if hes ready for a contemporary a-level bout.

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Originally Posted by sonatine

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Originally Posted by BeerAndPoker

With that said I think Khabib should have tried to finish him off Iaquinta in the fourth round like people were expecting. He don't need to sell weaknesses to anyone in a fight versus a guy who is stepping in on one days notice.

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I 100% wasnt implying that was his motive, sorry if I wasnt clear. Honestly I dont know why he carried Al for 5 rounds, but clearly he had his reasons.

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No problem I wasn't sure cause with Cyborg she tries to do that since their aren't any worthy opponents to step up to the plate.

Max Holloway was just on MMA Hour and Ariel kept trying to get out of him what he weighed when he found out. He said he was heavy and refused to give the number but it sounded like around 190 was possible. Max said he got within a couple of pounds of making 155.

they should have just given khabib the belt for showing up and let him fight max at a catch weight for lulz.

https://www.mmafighting.com/2018/4/9...-one-ufc-fight

Brock Lesnar signs new deal with WWE, but still has option for one UFC fight
By Dave Meltzer Apr 9, 2018, 10:00pm EDT

World Wrestling Entertainment’s announcement of Brock Lesnar signing a new contract doesn’t mean that he won’t be fighting in the UFC in 2018.
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The length of Lesnar’s new deal was not announced, although sources close to the situation described it as a short-term deal. The deal, according to sources, does allow him to do at least one UFC fight. It is unclear if the deal allows for multiple UFC fights.

It then becomes a risk for the UFC to put Lesnar in a championship match if his existing contract would not allow him to defend the title. While he would not be favored against either Miocic or Cormier, stranger things have happened. A Lesnar win could put the UFC in a unique position that their champion was under contract to another organization and they may have to negotiate through WWE owner Vince McMahon to get a title defense.

A key aspect is that Lesnar, who pulled himself out of the USADA drug testing pool, had still not reentered, meaning he would need six months of clean tests before fighting. One would think he’d want to get the ball rolling if he was planning on fighting again since he turns 41 this summer.
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