Official Conor McGregor thread (part 2). **Read warning in 1st post**

wonderfullife

Subcomandante Marcos wrote: »

Eddie has the belt, Conor wants the belt. Dana will say he'll make Conor fight Aldo but we all know at this stage Conor will get the title shot because Dana cares more about the show than he does about the sport, otherwise there wouldn't even be talk of Conor getting an instant title shot, he'd have a mandatory defence of his title is Dana wasn't playing Vince McMahon lite.

Dana cares about $$$$.

There's no sporting merit for Bisping v Hendo, just as there was no sporting merit to an immediate Conor v Nate 2.

Conor has sold 4.55 million PPV in his last 3 fights, 5.375 mil if you include UFC 189.

He could literally request to fight Mini Me from Austin Powers and Dana has a duty to give it strong consideration.

Is it fair or pure from a sporting perspective? Probably not.
Completely ridiculous to give biggest star a title shot at 1 division up? Nah.


Any argument for the UFC being a pure sport where bouts are made on sporting merit goes out the window when they have an arbitrary ranking system decided by journalists.

Larkin beats Magny, yet is below Magny.
Riveira beats Faber, yet is below Faber.

The UFC is moving slowly towards a sport, and by that i mean it's overall arc from the 1990's to today is moving towards a normal sport, but it's far from there and will never be a pure sport.

It's prize fighting. Conor deserves to call his shots because he's made the company more $ in the last 12 months than most of the roster combined.

Subcomandante Marcos

Depp wrote: »

yeah but im saying from eddies pov hes playing a dangerous game, they can just as easily put aldo-mcgregor on 205 and it'll be a massive fight still, reckon eddie does numbers on his own? belt or no belt he doesnt hit 200 on ppv unless the card is stacked

It doesn't matter what numbers Eddie does. He's in the same position Nate was after Conor noshowed at the press conference. He knows what Conor wants and he can hold out for what he feels he can get. Nate got his show money for UFC200 AND got $2million + PPV for 202. Eddie will get his Million if that's what the hold up is, Conor making history by winning a second belt while already champion is a bigger story to Joe Blogg than Conor fighting Aldo again, especially considering the fact that Eddie is practically a local in NY.

Anyone who fights Conor right now and doesn't ask for a million is playing themselves and they know it.

joshrogan

Copied from a Reddit thread during fight companion last night about McGregor Alvarez-

"It's an interesting fight.. if it happens.. allegedly at Maddison Square Garden, allegedly in a couple of months. Maybe it's going to happen, I don't know" - Rogan. His tone pretty much confirms it.

EDIT: heres where they talk about it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d3fmShgl4I&feature=youtu.be&t=3213

Paully D

Surprised Eddie Alvarez is a best priced 6/4 for the McGregor fight. I'd have him priced near 3/1.

wonderfullife

Paully D wrote: »

Surprised Eddie Alvarez is a best priced 6/4 for the McGregor fight. I'd have him priced near 3/1.

Agree, i think Conor will absolutely destroy him with superior footwork, movement and striking.

But you'll get a lot of McGregor detractors saying the complete opposite and betting big on Eddie due to his wrestling ability and boxing.

The one thing i will say is that Nate Diaz showed that Conor doesn't like facing 'dirty boxing'. Those high-volume bursts at clinch range aren't hurtful, as such, they're not going to drop an opponent but they do help to tire an opponent out.

And until i see more evidence, i have to give the cardio advantage to Eddie.

So it might be a much harder fight than i envisage ....but at the back of my mind i just keep thinking how bad Eddie's chin is. He gets dropped or rocked almost every other fight. Conor hits much harder than Chandler and a lot of the guys who dropped Eddie. It'll be a short night if he gets hit clean with that left hand.

StringerBell

I think you will have a hard time finding too many people that will be betting big on Alvarez if and when this is made official, he simply ships too many punches, doesn't have Nate Diaz chin and is not all that impressive anyway in fairness.

I would think he will drift in price a lot before the fight.

Depp

StringerBell wrote: »

I think you will have a hard time finding too many people that will be betting big on Alvarez if and when this is made official, he simply ships too many punches, doesn't have Nate Diaz chin and is not all that impressive anyway in fairness.

I would think he will drift in price a lot before the fight.

100%, no way he walks through what nate took in the first two rounds of both fights, if he makes it into the third ill be surprised

.ak

So if this rumour is doing the rounds, then I take it McGregor's foot is all clear?

Also I hear the delay in any announcement is they haven't sorted out the belt thing?

I'd say McGregor is very reluctant to give up his belt, especially considering he was promised a fight with RDA for a chance to hold two belts, and then took on Diaz as a replacement... He probably feels he got that out of the way and should be given the chance first promised.

UFC probably feel very different, he should've gone back to defend the belt after losing to Diaz really.

Interesting to see how it plays out. I'd imagine he'll have to give up the FW belt, I wonder if he'll be given a chance to hold two belts if he beats Eddie though?

Depp

just all seems a bit redundant to me if they strip him now and his next fight after eddie is a title fight v aldo/holloway

newbbieb

Depp wrote: »

100%, no way he walks through what nate took in the first two rounds of both fights, if he makes it into the third ill be surprised

Think too many people are overlooking what Eddie brings to the table,yeah he hasn't looked spectacular in the UFC so far and he definitely is one of the better match ups for Conor in the top 5 of the LW division.

But the difference in experience between him and Conor is vast,he is one very legit LW who has been fighting at a high level since fight number one whereas Conor and the majority of UFC fighters feast on cans for their first few fights and build a record.

He has 30 odd fights under his belt he was knocking out guys at LW and maybe has some at WW before Conor almost began training MMA so to discount him as an easy fight is naive,i would favour Conor because of his stand up but its a tough outing against a vet like Alvarez,and it would be no surprise to see him win.

Useful.Idiot

Well according to the Twitter rumours the UFC caved and are letting him keep the FW belt. Don't think money issues had any effect in the delay. Hopefully the announcement will be this week.

Saipanne

This is superb, thought I'd share.


https://youtu.be/5Yp_-G2--RI

Outlaw Pete

Was just looking at this article from early 2014 where they are talking about UFC fighters that could possibly win in two different weight divisions, and I know Conor had only beaten Brimage and Holloway at that stage, but he doesn't even make the long shot list, despite the fact that he had already done it at Cage Warriors.

http://mmajunkie.com/2014/02/title-talk-who-will-be-the-ufcs-next-two-division-champion

He looked elated enough at the Helix doing it, so can't imagine what the thought of doing it at this level in MSG would mean to him. It genuinely does seem like a place he has set his heart on fighting in if the comments in interviews from JK are aren't to go by at least. A huge Ali fan too and if he does fight at 205 it will be the first time he has fought in the same place as Ali fought in and that I'm sure would be something special in and of itself.

Paully D

.ak wrote: »

Interesting to see how it plays out. I'd imagine he'll have to give up the FW belt, I wonder if he'll be given a chance to hold two belts if he beats Eddie though?

Personally I think that he'll officially be in the 145 champion going into this fight.

If he wins, he'll be allowed to hold the 2 belts and subsequently go down in the record books as the first active multi-weight world champion in UFC history. That night or the very next day, he'll vacate the 145 belt.

If he loses, he'll drop back down to 145 to defend.

Paully D

wonderfullife wrote: »

Agree, i think Conor will absolutely destroy him with superior footwork, movement and striking.

I agree.

The only nagging doubt in the back of my mind is the short amount of time between this and the Diaz fight.

I know it's because it's New York and I'm sure he feels Alvarez is a good matchup for him too. Also, waiting longer to fight for the lightweight title piles more pressure on the UFC to make him vacate the 145 belt, so that has to play into the decision to get straight back into action too, but racing straight back into a camp and fight less than 3 months later after a tough camp and fight against Nate. He'll have fought 4 times in less than a year, it's not easy.

There's a tiny little voice in the back of my head that asks me is it too much. But yeah, if this fight happens 10 times I think Conor wins 9. I just hope this isn't that 1 in 10.

DrPhilG

Dunno if it's the gathering McGregor rumours, but the price if Dublin to NYC flights has gone up over €50 since I booked them.

Outlaw Pete

Floating about on Twitter. Be nice if they all (or even most) came about.

markc91

Outlaw Pete wrote: »

Floating about on Twitter. Be nice if they all (or even most) came about.

Would tickets really start at $200? Would there be any chance of getting them?

Outlaw Pete

Actually all those bouts are confirmed now, apart for McGregor v Alvarez, hand't realized.

markc91 wrote: »

Would tickets really start at $200? Would there be any chance of getting them?

I'd say they just did those prices to make it look vintage.

Article on that fan poster here.

CurryFlavoured

StringerBell wrote: »

I think you will have a hard time finding too many people that will be betting big on Alvarez if and when this is made official, he simply ships too many punches, doesn't have Nate Diaz chin and is not all that impressive anyway in fairness.

I would think he will drift in price a lot before the fight.

He can box and wrestle, and he can clearly implement an ugly gameplan.
He ragdolled Pettis in an ugly fight, and considering that's a potential weakness for Conor you've got a clear path to victory for Eddie. I'd take Eddie at 6/4

CurryFlavoured

I think Conor can beat Eddie, Eddie is scrappy and hittable, and it's very plausible that Conor clips him and puts him out. But Eddie is a beast, has beaten 3 elite lightweights in his last 3 fights. He can box, wrestle and has gone 5 rounds before. Conor lost and then narrowly beat Diaz, who let's be honest isn't a top 5 lightweight.

newbbieb

CurryFlavoured wrote: »

He can box and wrestle, and he can clearly implement an ugly gameplan.
He ragdolled Pettis in an ugly fight, and considering that's a potential weakness for Conor you've got a clear path to victory for Eddie. I'd take Eddie at 6/4

I agree,Conor obviously has ways to win has the reach and superior stand up and people are looking at how Cowboy dismantled Eddie and thinking a Conor fight might look something like that fight,but Conor doesn't have the size the Cowboy has.

Styles make fights so it may well be true that Eddie is tailor made for Conor but there is no doubt for overall calibre of fighter Eddie is a big step up from Nate and is a serious test.

It will be the biggest test of Conors career,Eddie will be bigger stronger better cardio and there is no comparison when it comes to experience.

Depp

Love how a few weeks ago diaz was the best thing since sliced bread now hes only ''average''

ASOT

Depp wrote: »

Love how a few weeks ago diaz was the best thing since sliced bread now hes only ''average''

Sure his victory over Johnson was a fluke.

newbbieb

Depp wrote: »

Love how a few weeks ago diaz was the best thing since sliced bread now hes only ''average''

Personally i would still have Nate as a legit top 5 LW but i don't know how anyone could make an argument that Eddie is not a step up from Nate.

Depp

newbbieb wrote: »

Personally i would still have Nate as a legit top 5 LW but i don't know how anyone could make an argument that Eddie is not a step up from Nate.

agree completely there, just funny how certain people on here ''word'' things when mcgregor is involved.

id rank eddie as a better fighter than diaz but diaz' main advantages over mcgregor were reach and his chin, neither of which alvarez has

newbbieb

Depp wrote: »

agree completely there, just funny how certain people on here ''word'' things when mcgregor is involved.

id rank eddie as a better fighter than diaz but diaz' main advantages over mcgregor were reach and his chin, neither of which alvarez has

Yeah agree stylistically Eddie is a far better match up for Conor than Diaz,just i would be a little concerned about Conors weight/size for LW.

Its well documented that the cuts he makes to 45 are tough,it seems a 150 pound division would be ideal for him.

Its justs a bit concerning that in his last fight with Diaz he said he weighed 167 in the cage and he still gassed at that weight,nearly all the LWs,definitely the top ones will weigh considerably more than 167 in the cage and they won't gas.

Eddie will definitely be over 170 when he steps in the cage and he won't tire after 2 rounds.I think that could be a bit of an issue if Eddie drags him into the later rounds and you can be sure he will be gameplaning for that,plus hes extremely tough and durable too.

Depp

newbbieb wrote: »

Yeah agree stylistically Eddie is a far better match up for Conor than Diaz,just i would be a little concerned about Conors weight/size for LW.

Its well documented that the cuts he makes to 45 are tough,it seems a 150 pound division would be ideal for him.

Its justs a bit concerning that in his last fight with Diaz he said he weighed 167 in the cage and he still gassed at that weight,nearly all the LWs,definitely the top ones will weigh considerably more than 167 in the cage and they won't gas.

Eddie will definitely be over 170 when he steps in the cage and he won't tire after 2 rounds.I think that could be a bit of an issue if Eddie drags him into the later rounds and you can be sure he will be gameplaning for that,plus hes extremely tough and durable too.

eddies best strategy is to rely on wrestling definitely, conor catches him once or twice maybe with his left and its lights out, and from what ive seen of eddie I believe conor connects easily enough

sonofenoch

Depp wrote: »

Love how a few weeks ago diaz was the best thing since sliced bread now hes only ''average''

They've found a new love in Alvarez...


it's basically anyone who McGregor fights next 'basically'

finglashoop

sonofenoch wrote: »

They've found a new love in Alvarez...


it's basically anyone who McGregor fights next 'basically'

Have you considered they are judging his opponents on their merits? Nate taking mcgregors best shots is different, with his chin hes the outlier, the rest wont take too many but they will be bigger and most likely all will gameplan around wrestling and avoid his power at all costs. Standing up he could beat them all