The MMA thread

Raoul said:
Yep no excuses. Taking a fight on 2 weeks notice is completely the same as training several months.
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Mendes was fit. He wouldn't have taken the fight if he wasn't. He says himself he keeps himself close to fight shape. Faber said the exact same thing.

McGregor did serious damage with those body kicks. Mendes isn't making any excuses, he was class in defeat. I don't know why others are.
 
McGregor to coach in TUF next against Faber but they won't fight in the Octogon. Faber is too far down the rankings I suppose. Conor's next two fights will probably be Aldo and Edgar.

TUF starts filming next week. I hope McGregor has learned from his last camp that the media obligations take their toll on his preparation. He needs to delay the Aldo fight for a little while.
 
Americano said:
I can't agree with that at all. There's no way his plan was to spend the fight on his back, give up his back, and get his face cut up and bloodied. He barely stayed alive through two rounds, realized he was behind and would have to win by knockout.
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He was never in serious trouble. Barely stayed alive? That's a ridiculous comment. Conor did far more damage to Mendes over the two rounds that Mendes did to Conor. Those body shots visibly hurt Mendes on several occasions. Conor was cut, not hurt as Mendes was.
 
PhilipB said:
My mum is with my brother in Australia, she is visiting at the moment and even they had somehow heard about the hype of McGregor and wanted to watch the fights. So I texted my bro telling him how to set it all up to watch on a stream etc. Anyway, the thought of my poor mum watching Rory vs Robbie just tear into each other, not understanding any of this crazy shit she's seeing right now makes me kind of laugh. My brother told me she couldn't look at the screen after the 2nd round.
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:lol:

Rory's nose was obliterated but for some reason the huge split in Robbie's lip disturbed me the most.
 
Raoul said:
Yeah he'd have to diet down and Conor would have to move up.
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Conor would be fighting a huge opponent. He would most likely lose. It wouldn't make any sense for the UFC to make that fight.

I can see how it could be great though.
 
Raoul said:
As in, they had to pony up an opponent to protect their event. Alternatively, Dana and Lorenzo could've moved the fight to the next UFC when Aldo would be ready to fight, but they had already invested too much hype into this event and needed the PPV yield to be realized. If it was anyone other than Conor, they could've easily moved this to 191 in early Sep.
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No they couldn't really. The could not take a chance on Aldo again. He would have cost them millions by pulling out again. They can't rely on him. They can start again and make far more money with a unification bout. Plus they needed McGregor to fight or else the 10000 Irish or whatever it was who spend a fortune to go over would have burned down Vegas.

Pogue Mahone said:
Siver was a sacrificial lamb to keep the McGregor title challenge campaign on track. Mendes was a huge threat. No way was he picked as someone McGregor could walk through en route to the next big PPV. There was every chance he could have lost and he nearly did.
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Exactly. Mendes is the worst possible matchup for McGregor. It can't get any harder. Mendes is unbelievable.
 
Kaush949 said:
Can Conor make 145 again? IV are banned now.
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Good point actually. He looked really drained at the weigh ins so you can tell it's difficult for him to get down to the weight.

I guess he'd get an immediate title shot at Dos Anjos if he moved up although doesn't Edgar also fight at lightweight?
 
PhilipB said:
My mum is with my brother in Australia, she is visiting at the moment and even they had somehow heard about the hype of McGregor and wanted to watch the fights. So I texted my bro telling him how to set it all up to watch on a stream etc. Anyway, the thought of my poor mum watching Rory vs Robbie just tear into each other, not understanding any of this crazy shit she's seeing right now makes me kind of laugh. My brother told me she couldn't look at the screen after the 2nd round.
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There will be a lot of Irish people in the same boat as your mum, caught up in the McGregor hype and only just realising the UFC isn't all wheel-kicks and bloodless TKOs. The staredown in that fight was immense but the ending was absolutely brutal. As were other fights on the card. The sound when Picket ate that knee. Eesh. I think that was his jaw breaking. Nasty.

 
I don't think the sound on TV actually does justice to how brutal it is. I remember watching UFC 38 in the flesh and wincing at the beating Frank Mir took at the hands of Ian Freeman. The sound of elbows smashing down on his skull reverberated throughout the whole Albert Hall.

They kept that fight going way too long as well because Mir was the next big thing at that point and I don't think they expected/wanted him to lose.
 
Kaush949 said:
Can Conor make 145 again? IV are banned now.
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Whichever federation banned them released a statement saying medical research indicated that oral rehydration is more efficient in such a state than IVs and are banning them because they want to force fighters to pick the better option.

Hopefully they're right about it being better.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
There will be a lot of Irish people in the same boat as your mum, caught up in the McGregor hype and only just realising the UFC isn't all wheel-kicks and bloodless TKOs. The staredown in that fight was immense but the ending was absolutely brutal. As were other fights on the card. The sound when Picket ate that knee. Eesh. I think that was his jaw breaking. Nasty.

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That is £ucking crazy, personally I would miss my lost brain cells but what do I know. These guys are on another level as far as the pain they can handle both from training and fighting. It's brutal to watch sometimes, I wish Rory had circled a bit a tried to take less damage. He was very, very close to winning, imo, I had it two rounds each going into the fifth, I was very impressed with Rory.
 
gooDevil said:
That is £ucking crazy, personally I would miss my lost brain cells but what do I know. These guys are on another level as far as the pain they can handle both from training and fighting. It's brutal to watch sometimes, I wish Rory had circled a bit a tried to take less damage. He was very, very close to winning, imo, I had it two rounds each going into the fifth, I was very impressed with Rory.
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After watching it again he eased up on Lawler when he had him in serious trouble. I think he could've put him away at the start of the 4th if he'd have gone for it. His legs were still wobbly. What a comeback though.
 
CassiusClaymore said:
After watching it again he eased up on Lawler when he had him in serious trouble. I think he could've put him away at the start of the 4th if he'd have gone for it. His legs were still wobbly. What a comeback though.
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That's what made the card so amazing. It wasn't just the finishes. It was the fact that the winner of every single was in deep trouble at some point before coming back to KTFO their opponent. Each scrap was like a Van Damme movie.
 
Nice debut for Waterson. Weathered the early pressure and then dominated the rest of the fight. Higher ranked opponent next time please.

McGregor/Faber as coaches on TUF will be awesome.

Robbie Lawler is a fecking warrior. In a war last night and yet shows up in the crowd for this TUF show the night after in sunglasses with a mangled face :lol:

Great little main event, that finish!
 
I'm not arsed about TUF any more. That shih got boring about 5 years back. Certainly don't think McGregor should be wasting his time on it but can understand why the UFC want him on it.
 
cacs said:
With Aldo's history of pulling out of fights, you are honestly telling me Mendes wasn't preparing to fight McGregor (or Aldo) as a backup. McGregor flew around the world twice while trying to train.

Mendes took the fight and most said he would beat McGregor. Surely they knew he only had "two weeks" training before they made their predictions?
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I haven't a clue really. I think Mendes was just happy to be there and make a large sum of money, win/lose or draw. He was certainly not going to turn the fight down irrespective of whether or not he was in fighting shape.
 
Name Changed said:
Mendes was fit. He wouldn't have taken the fight if he wasn't. He says himself he keeps himself close to fight shape. Faber said the exact same thing.

McGregor did serious damage with those body kicks. Mendes isn't making any excuses, he was class in defeat. I don't know why others are.
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Agreed, he did nail him several times. I also think Chad was gassed from a combination of that and elbowing Conor for most of the 2nd round. Conor on the other hand managed to rest up on his back.
 
Mendes has fought with the flu before as well, against Nike Lentz and was pretty sluggish then too although he did manage to land takedowns repeatedly. Whatever was the reason for his such poor cardio that he was basically gassed after one round, whether it was the body shots or not enough time to prepare, I'd love to see a rematch at some point. I always enjoyed watching Mendes fight but now I'd be a fan of his against anyone except McGregor. He seems like a good guy and just loved even getting the opportunity.

Faber is still a dick though :lol:
 
CassiusClaymore said:
I'm not arsed about TUF any more. That shih got boring about 5 years back. Certainly don't think McGregor should be wasting his time on it but can understand why the UFC want him on it.
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Maybe it's also to give him time to get his knee healed up, if he really did have a tear on it.
 
PhilipB said:
Maybe it's also to give him time to get his knee healed up, if he really did have a tear on it.
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Imagine him being a coach...

"Next thing is to call your opponent a pussy at every opportunity...."

"We've been going over this stuff for months, what abut the fights themselves."

"Win, you thick cnut."
 
CassiusClaymore said:
Good point actually. He looked really drained at the weigh ins so you can tell it's difficult for him to get down to the weight.

I guess he'd get an immediate title shot at Dos Anjos if he moved up although doesn't Edgar also fight at lightweight?
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If he moves up at some point a fight against Anthony Pettis makes too much sense not to do.
 
justboy68 said:
If he moves up at some point a fight against Anthony Pettis makes too much sense not to do.
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True, there are so many fights available to him that people would love.

McGregor vs Cerrone
McGregor vs Pettis
McGregor vs Nate Diaz

Those would be my favourite at lightweight. All strikers but that would just be more fun I think.
 
Mcgregor would get smashed at lightweight. He's far too open, he gets tagged often and clearly his takedown defensive and ground game isn't good enough. He should stay where he is, his size and reach gives him a big advantage on all his opponents.
 
Jagga7 said:
Mcgregor would get smashed at lightweight. He's far too open, he gets tagged often and clearly his takedown defensive and ground game isn't good enough. He should stay where he is, his size and reach gives him a big advantage on all his opponents.
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He is the same height as Dos Anjos and has a bigger reach. I don't think he would get smashed but it would definitely be a harder division to comepete in as there it is a deeper division.
 
PhilipB said:
True, there are so many fights available to him that people would love.

McGregor vs Cerrone
McGregor vs Pettis
McGregor vs Nate Diaz

Those would be my favourite at lightweight. All strikers but that would just be more fun I think.
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No doubt they'd be entertaining fights. But I'd wager McGregor would get smashed by all three of them. UFC needs to be very careful about milking their cash cow. Bringing him on as a coach on TUF is smart as it'll definitely bring in eyeballs to a tired concept without the added risk of having him lose a fight at the end. From Fertitta's comments, it sounds like he won't fight until Jan or Dec, at the earliest.
 
Raoul said:
Agreed, he did nail him several times. I also think Chad was gassed from a combination of that and elbowing Conor for most of the 2nd round. Conor on the other hand managed to rest up on his back.
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Mendes was struggling in round one on numerous occasions to recover from the body kicks.
 
gooDevil said:
Definitely, he had his mouth open and was struggling around the halfway point in the first.
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Exactly. And it had nothing to do with him being unfit. He stays fit all the time. According to him and the rest of his team, they are always close to fighting shape.
 
I think it's fair to say he would need a dedicated camp and a long run-in to prepare for a 5 round fight. These guys are elite athletes who train to peak at specific times and short notice will have prevented this. However, his baseline fitness should have been plenty good enough to get him through two rounds, especially when he spent most of them lying on top of McGregor. The fact that he seemed so unsteady on his feet at the end of that second round had to be down to damage done in the exchanges rather than a lack of cardio conditioning.
 
Name Changed said:
Exactly. And it had nothing to do with him being unfit. He stays fit all the time. According to him and the rest of his team, they are always close to fighting shape.
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Even if he wasn't at his absolute peak, no way he's so out of shape he can't dance round for half a round.

I liked Connor saying he had worse injuries than Aldo coming into that fight. So many great fights in the UFC have gone down between fighters with injuries, and very few of them ever mention this. Not to say Aldo's wrong to try to keep a 7 year unbeaten streak alive, but that cage fighting isn't about being in perfect condition and shape.
 
Name Changed said:
Mendes was struggling in round one on numerous occasions to recover from the body kicks.
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Yes I saw that. Although I have a hard time attributing that to him being gassed at the end of the 2nd. It was probably more down to all the energy he expended on top of Conor in the 2nd. Conor on the other hand, despite taking a few elbows, was resting on his back.
 
Raoul said:
Yes I saw that. Although I have a hard time attributing that to him being gassed at the end of the 2nd. It was probably more down to all the energy he expended on top of Conor in the 2nd. Conor on the other hand, despite taking a few elbows, was resting on his back.
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It's far more tiring to be on your back in that scenario.
 
Raoul said:
Yes I saw that. Although I have a hard time attributing that to him being gassed at the end of the 2nd. It was probably more down to all the energy he expended on top of Conor in the 2nd. Conor on the other hand, despite taking a few elbows, was resting on his back.
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It possibly was a lot to do with it. He was breathing heavily after round one though big time. If he hadn't of taken Conor down early in the second round, then I think he may have been in big trouble had McGregor connected with another couple of kicks, which he undoubtedly would.

Mendes never really got on top of Conor in the second. He was in the guard the whole time. He tried putting his hands over Conor's mouth a few times to restrict his breathing, but it certainly appeared that it took as much out of him as it did McGregor.

I think the first round kicks though did the damage. I just can't see how Mendes could have gassed after two minutes, even without a full training camp. Those kicks definitely knocked the wind out of him.

Mendes didn't really defend them at all. He stood in front of Conor too much. The very first thing he should have done in the first was practically what he did at the start of the second, shoot for the takedown. He took a lot of damage in the first that he possibly could have avoided. I counted 7 takedown attempts, 4 of which were effective. He should have done nothing else. Standing against a beast strength wise in that division and with a huge reach advantage wasn't a great idea.

I think a rematch, which will happen some day, could be awesome. Both of them would learn from their mistakes and go in to it specifically training for each other. It would be a war.
 
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