The MMA thread

I wasn’t a big fan of Masvidal before this and wasn’t enjoying his “persona”, but no matter how much money he is making, he has stepped up and saved the day here. Really looking forward to this now.

I think there would be something inspirational about this. A guy from another generation, who started out fighting in backyards. Milleage on the clock, nearly 50 professional fights, taking on a new gen fighter. An elite wrestler who destroyed the last champion.

Just from the story and record of both guys, it shouldn’t be close, and I don’t think it will be. But if Masvidal pulls this off, it’s the Rocky win, it will propel him to new heights and be one of the most romanticized stories of modern MMA.

It’s Rocky, even a gritty, hard fought decision loss after no camp will raise his stock. He has very little to lose here.
 
Mate, his legs about to get impregnated.

That is the worst case scenario though for him. He still gets the benefit of the doubt from having no formal camp. I’m not saying it’s right, but he has so much to win and so little to lose.

But I agree, I can’t really see anything else either.
 
Adesanya did himself no favours with his last fight being arguably one of the worst ever fights in the UFC. Fans, especially people who aren't massively into the sport, do remember stuff like that.

Yeah that Romero fight was horrible admittedly - though not much his fault imo - and that being his most recent appearance will sting his perception.

Masvidal only really has that hot 2019 streak behind him, but it is a 'what have you done for me recently' kinda world isn't it. Also, just having had a look at it, none of those he beat are even in the current top 10 at WW (Nate at 11th)
 
I like Masvidal. Sure he can come across a tad cringey with his shtick but he's been in the fight game a long time and only recently gained enough traction to be able to leverage it for more monies - and he's savvy enough (3 piece with the soda, super necessary etc) so fair play. There is an air of WWE about it at times in the sense that you can have all the talent but lacking on the personality side can leave you lost amongst all the other fighters trying to stand out. It's not entirely ideal, but entertainment and being entertaining is just part and parcel of combat sports nowadays if you want the eyes and £€$ prize. Not even gonna lie I didn't used to pay attention to UFC much until the BMF fight *hangs head* so I feel Dana is doing some things right in terms of attracting fans to the sport; though now that I'm here I also don't want him pulling too much by the way of gimmicks and have stuff like Rankings actually mean something - otherwise, what's the point of it? I found it somewhat annoying when some where mentioning McGregor in title shot conversations after he came back to beat an over-the-hill Cowboy with a couple shoulders and a toe kick, so wouldn't really be elated by the idea if UFC went that direction in a universe where Masvidal beats Usman. Would I watch it?...yeah but ffs.

Masvidal is nowhere near as big a star as Khabib btw, he shouldn't even be close to Adesanya but I guess it's the casuals who end up dictating these sort of conversations.

Well said. It's what I trying to say. Most of the time I manage to suppress it, but I guess sometimes I flip a little. Masvidal is no push over and is a threat but Usman will likely shut him down in a big way. I couldn't bear it if the unkikely happens - just the shit we'll have to endure doesn't bear thinking about.

Can't wait for Sunday am.
 
Adesanya did himself no favours with his last fight being arguably one of the worst ever fights in the UFC. Fans, especially people who aren't massively into the sport, do remember stuff like that.

Feck the causals though. Anyone who points the finger at Izzy for being cautious agaisnt Romero is a fool. You want him to take the kind of damage Whittaker or Costa did agaisnt him? You know yourself having seen the incredible Gastelum and Whittaker fights (and pretty much his entire UFC and Kickboxing career) what kind of fighter Adesanya is.
 
Feck the causals though. Anyone who points the finger at Izzy for being cautious agaisnt Romero is a fool. You want him to take the kind of damage Whittaker or Costa did agaisnt him? You know yourself having seen the incredible Gastelum and Whittaker fights (and pretty much his entire UFC and Kickboxing career) what kind of fighter Adesanya is.

This 100%

I remember being disappointed at first but having thought about the morning after it was the right thing to do. Not to mention the onus was on Romero to take the fight to him seeing as he shouldn't have even been getting a title shot in the first place.
 
Feck the causals though. Anyone who points the finger at Izzy for being cautious agaisnt Romero is a fool. You want him to take the kind of damage Whittaker or Costa did agaisnt him? You know yourself having seen the incredible Gastelum and Whittaker fights (and pretty much his entire UFC and Kickboxing career) what kind of fighter Adesanya is.

It’s a smart move from a career standpoint, but you can’t talk as much s——— as he did before that fight and then go for an evasive performance and not engage.

Talk up your ability and how much more talented and quicker you are by all means. But you can’t talk up destroying the monster and then put in a performance like that.

Trash talk and swagger only works when you put on a show. He put himself in that position talking so much before the fight.
 
That is the worst case scenario though for him. He still gets the benefit of the doubt from having no formal camp. I’m not saying it’s right, but he has so much to win and so little to lose.

But I agree, I can’t really see anything else either.
Have you given birth through your leg? I bet it hurts.
 
It’s a smart move from a career standpoint, but you can’t talk as much s——— as he did before that fight and then go for an evasive performance and not engage.

Talk up your ability and how much more talented and quicker you are by all means. But you can’t talk up destroying the monster and then put in a performance like that.

Trash talk and swagger only works when you put on a show. He put himself in that position talking so much before the fight.

Izzy did give all the talk tbf,

but Romero literally stood there with his fists up almost cartoonishly for 2-3 minutes of the first round.

It was just a strange, strange fight.
 
Izzy did give all the talk tbf,

but Romero literally stood there with his fists up almost cartoonishly for 2-3 minutes of the first round.

It was just a strange, strange fight.

Yeah, it was by no means his fault, and as said above, you don’t want to be shortening your career by engaging with Romero. I just think he talked way too much in the build up and hyped up what he was going to do and how brave he was, then looked to be actively running away at times.

Would not have mattered one bit if he had closer his mouth a bit more in the buildup. But he raised expectations.
 
It’s a smart move from a career standpoint, but you can’t talk as much s——— as he did before that fight and then go for an evasive performance and not engage.

Talk up your ability and how much more talented and quicker you are by all means. But you can’t talk up destroying the monster and then put in a performance like that.

Trash talk and swagger only works when you put on a show. He put himself in that position talking so much before the fight.

Cannot ignore his body of work. He got tagged,and adjusted. Where Izzy is going, th eRomero fight is nothing but a stepping stone. It's insignificant now. On we go to the destination.
 
Cannot ignore his body of work. He got tagged,and adjusted. Where Izzy is going, th eRomero fight is nothing but a stepping stone. It's insignificant now. On we go to the destination.

Yeah, I don’t think it will be more than a blip on the road, but it maybe serves as a good lesson for him
 
Mike Perry laying out old men and shouting ni**a all over the place. Dude is trash. :wenger:
 
Mike Perry laying out old men and shouting ni**a all over the place. Dude is trash. :wenger:

He is a law onto himself. UFC should cut him. He obviously has issues and has shown worrying behavior for a while now. Almost crying at Till’s jibes, the whole girlfriend thing, and that video is deplorable.

He is only going to get worse with time and damage in fights.

Problem is, they have set precedent in not punishing Jones/McGregor for worse.
 
Mike Perry laying out old men and shouting ni**a all over the place. Dude is trash. :wenger:

The guys a scumbag, always has been. People like Helwani love him cos I think he's lived such a sheltered life and thinks it's hilarious where as he's just a dick, obviously Twitter etc giving him a pass cos he does seem to have developed a weird cult following. I've seen him say n****** before and people just brushed it off cos he said something about how he has black mates or something and that he's black as well so everyone just went a long with it and pretends he's black now.
 
He is a law onto himself. UFC should cut him. He obviously has issues and has shown worrying behavior for a while now. Almost crying at Till’s jibes, the whole girlfriend thing, and that video is deplorable.

He is only going to get worse with time and damage in fights.

Problem is, they have set precedent in not punishing Jones/McGregor for worse.
The guys a scumbag, always has been. People like Helwani love him cos I think he's lived such a sheltered life and thinks it's hilarious where as he's just a dick, obviously Twitter etc giving him a pass cos he does seem to have developed a weird cult following. I've seen him say n****** before and people just brushed it off cos he said something about how he has black mates or something and that he's black as well so everyone just went a long with it and pretends he's black now.

I’m afraid that if UFC cut him he won’t be able to handle it and do something really, really stupid. Though, obviously he at least has to be evaluated and most probably receive some professional help. Or at least UFC stipulate that it should be mandatory for all fighters going forward if they exhibit erratic, violent behaviour outside the cage and training. Anyway, I’m not a specialist but surely UFC being such a huge organisation, could put something together for fighters? Maybe they already have and fighters just choose not to use them.

I wonder if Helwani will condemn his actions and racist comments as strongly as he condemned DeSean Jackson’s anti-Semitic posts on social media. About defending him, yeah, apparently it’s okay cause he’s ‘real and he’s been on the streets’ or something. It’s a bizarre defence. The guy is just an absolute moron who gets emboldened by like you say a cult following that he managed to build for himself.
 
I’m afraid that if UFC cut him he won’t be able to handle it and do something really, really stupid. Though, obviously he at least has to be evaluated and most probably receive some professional help. Or at least UFC stipulate that it should be mandatory for all fighters going forward if they exhibit erratic, violent behaviour outside the cage and training. Anyway, I’m not a specialist but surely UFC being such a huge organisation, could put something together for fighters? Maybe they already have and fighters just choose not to use them.

I wonder if Helwani will condemn his actions and racist comments as strongly as he condemned DeSean Jackson’s anti-Semitic posts on social media. About defending him, yeah, apparently it’s okay cause he’s ‘real and he’s been on the streets’ or something. It’s a bizarre defence. The guy is just an absolute moron who gets emboldened by like you say a cult following that he managed to build for himself.

I think the idiots will always be idiots, obviously some you could help but the same with any work there's plenty of people doing shit like this. The guy has always been a dick I'm honestly baffled why people always treat it like he's joking or it's funny, he's just a weird guy.

I imagine he will either brush over it or get him on his show, when McGregor did it he went on Helwani's show and Helwani basically gave him an easy ride and excused it all for him. I sometimes watch him (not much now cos he's really annoying) and he honestly does seem to live life vicariously through these people at times, he's almost in awe of them.
 
I think the idiots will always be idiots, obviously some you could help but the same with any work there's plenty of people doing shit like this. The guy has always been a dick I'm honestly baffled why people always treat it like he's joking or it's funny, he's just a weird guy.

I imagine he will either brush over it or get him on his show, when McGregor did it he went on Helwani's show and Helwani basically gave him an easy ride and excused it all for him. I sometimes watch him (not much now cos he's really annoying) and he honestly does seem to live life vicariously through these people at times, he's almost in awe of them.
Yeah I’d agree with that assessment of Helwani and pretty much everything else to be fair.
 
He is a law onto himself. UFC should cut him. He obviously has issues and has shown worrying behavior for a while now. Almost crying at Till’s jibes, the whole girlfriend thing, and that video is deplorable.

He is only going to get worse with time and damage in fights.

Problem is, they have set precedent in not punishing Jones/McGregor for worse.
The only person allowed to punch old people and get fights is McGregor.
 
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