Official Conor McGregor thread (part 3) *Updated Warning in 1st Post Re:Boxing match

mdwexford

wonderfullife wrote: »

To clarify:

Horse racing and MMA are both sports entertainment at the highest levels, completely reliant on sponsorship and tv revenues; whereas a 9 year-old sitting on a pony learning to trot or sitting on a mat in a gym learning jiujitsu is the true essence of sport to my mind.

There's very few sights less thrilling in the world of sport than an exciting finish up the Cheltenham Hill and the horsemanship and skill of the likes of Ruby Walsh and Dickie Johnson is exceptional. They make it look easy but it takes some balance, some reflexes and some feel. They're properly skilled athletes.

But both MMA and horse racing are extremely high risk activities at the professional level and you only need to take one look at Kieran Kelly, who didn't live all that far from me, and Joao Carvahlo to know that it's dangerous. It's been years since I've seen the incident that cost Kieran his life but it didn't look a particularly heavy fall. You've got Freddy Tylicki recently paralysed after his horse clipped heels with another and obviously JT McNamara (RIP) and I've known stable lads and work riders to be seriously injured from falls and kicks.

It's a dangerous, violent business. Both of them.

What is and isn't a sport is subjective but if someone from racing wants to argue the reason MMA is not a sport is because it's "barbaric" then they'd want to be ready with a decent reply when it's pointed out their own sport is rife with serious injuries and deaths - to horse and human alike.

I guarantee both Ruby Walsh and Conor McGregor will tell you what they do for a living is dangerous and you need to be slightly mad to do it at a professional level.

Sports entertainment to me is WWE or something that is not competitive and the result is premeditated.

Professional sport at the highest levels are what I consider the purest form of sport.

Horse racing is a very dangerous sport. Every jockey falls numerous times a season and has had countless injuries during their career. Violent is not an adjective I would use to describe horse racing. Mma or boxing, where the goal is to incapacitate your opponent, are what I would consider violent.

I consider most things sport, Mma, horse racing, snooker, darts, golf etc

Chess I consider a game, esports/computer games are also games.

Tinie

Tinie wrote: »

Remember when this thread was actually about Conor McGregor?

I MEMBER

Swashbuckler

Tinie wrote:

Remember when this thread was actually about Conor McGregor?

Yeah and it was just as bad

Billy86

slavetothegrind wrote: »

To be fair who gives a flying feck about the RTE sports awards in the grand scheme of things?

In the grand scheme of things, it's probably not a big deal - but it's still got to be nice to be seen as the #1 sports person from your country for the year, one of those things you would have seen as a kid and dreamed of (before the bigger picture came into play). Delighted for him and credit to the voters, I didn't think they'd give it to him for the sport he is in - but he fully deserves it!

kippy

cloudatlas wrote: »

Ye can promote your sport without putting down other sports or sporting achievements.

McGregor does not promote a sport - he promotes himself and/or the UFC as this is his primary method of ensuring income levels continue to rise for himself and the UFC - its the same in almost any professional game. Boxers are forever putting each other down and as for professional soccer and it's proponents....



McGregor knows what the game is and how to increase his exposure and revenues via the media but he is also able to back it up by being a darn fine MMA fighter.

cloudatlas

kippy wrote: »

McGregor does not promote a sport - he promotes himself and/or the UFC as this is his primary method of ensuring income levels continue to rise for himself and the UFC - its the same in almost any professional game. Boxers are forever putting each other down and as for professional soccer and it's proponents....



McGregor knows what the game is and how to increase his exposure and revenues via the media but he is also able to back it up by being a darn fine MMA fighter.

What? I wasn't talking about Mcgregor I was talking about the conversation on this thread. Mcgregor admires other Irish sportsmen and women he doesn't put down other sports in order to try and elevate his sport.

monty_python

http://www.punditarena.com/mmaufc/jmurphy/jose-aldo-makes-phenomenal-claim-interim-lightweight-title-fight/

could we see aldo v mcgregor 2 at 155???

EagererBeaver

monty_python wrote: »

http://www.punditarena.com/mmaufc/jmurphy/jose-aldo-makes-phenomenal-claim-interim-lightweight-title-fight/

could we see aldo v mcgregor 2 at 155???

A long, long way off just yet. If any truth to his story, more bizarre antics from the UFC.

If (and it's a very big if) he did move up, would give him a lot of credit. A few years ago I thought he'd be great at 155 but something, just something that I can't quite put my finger on has happened that seems to be troubling quite a few Brazilian fighters in the recent past that makes me doubt his effectiveness at the higher weight

Subcomandante Marcos

It seems that Aldo will fight Ferguson and Khabib turned down the fight with Aldo. Also seems this is only happening because Max isn't available to fight until late March because of his ankle injury. Whatever about him taking a fight at LW, making it for an interim title is indicative of just how stupid the UFC is getting in it's quest to become the WWE.

dashoonage

its easy to see how this is going to go.

Aldo vs Khabib for the LW interim strap...meanwhile Conor decides he wants to fight again and makes FW to fight max for the interim strap

IFW 2017 will be Conor vs Aldo for the interim LW belt so Conor can become the first ever UFC interim champ champ.

Depp

they should have max fight khabib for the 155 interim belt just to make sh!te of it completely

dashoonage

Depp wrote: »

they should have max fight khabib for the 155 interim belt just to make sh!te of it completely

But then you'd have aldo vs tony for the interim and khabib vs max for the interim so you'd have two interim champs at 155...

Actually there is a good tourny right there..

UFC210
Aldo vs Tony for the 155 interim belt
Khabib vs Max for the 155 interim belt

then on the same night the winner of each interim belt fight in an unification fight to become the undisputed interim interim champ champ.

The would be the first person in history to win two belts in the same division on the same night under the same promotion..

**** this im sending this to WME.

J Mysterio

The 'interim belt' stuff really is a nonsense. Devalues the belt really.

Depp

J Mysterio wrote: »

The 'interim belt' stuff really is a nonsense. Devalues the belt really.

theyve made some mess of it aaite...155 doesnt need an interim belt by any stretch of the imagination. the whole thing is getting silly

rob316

monty_python wrote: »

http://www.punditarena.com/mmaufc/jmurphy/jose-aldo-makes-phenomenal-claim-interim-lightweight-title-fight/

could we see aldo v mcgregor 2 at 155???

Absolutely bizarre.

And of course Khabib turned down a fight with Aldo, that wouldn't draw a dime and if he loses kills any chance of fighting for the LW belt soon.
It really is simple to make the right fights in this promotion its just UFC seem intent on ****ing them up.

Khabib Vs Ferguson, Conor fights winner.

Aldo vs Holloway, if Aldo wins Conor fights Aldo at 155. That is where I see the next 12 months going.

Boom_Bap

Depp wrote: »

theyve made some mess of it aaite...155 doesnt need an interim belt by any stretch of the imagination. the whole thing is getting silly

Very true, it's just the #1 contender.

In McGregors recent interview he hasn't even put a date on his return, he said it could be sooner than what Dana is saying.
If McGregor was to be off for a year or more, then I would agree with the interim belt.

sonofenoch

Why the fuk is Aldo talking about lightweight? he's never ever fought there.....and why an interim belt for that weight when it only changed hands less than a month ago


Is Aldo gonna be stripped of the featherweigtht belt for holding up the 145 division while he goes to 155? confusing

Saipanne

McGregor broke Aldo's brain. Both mentally and physically. Pay no mind to him.

PhilipsR

Aldo couldn't give two ****s about either belt. He just wants a payday with McGregor.

BOHtox

My interest in UFC will switch off big time if this is for the interim belt. That would be absolute nonsense. It will be like boxing soon where one organisation has 3 champions, the super, regular and interim champion, at one weight division

Easy Rod

BOHtox wrote: »

My interest in UFC will switch off big time if this is for the interim belt. That would be absolute nonsense. It will be like boxing soon where one organisation has 3 champions, the super, regular and interim champion, at one weight division

I'm normally a defender of the majority of things the UFC do but I agree with you here... some of their decisions lately have been baffling.

qwabercd

If they repackaged them as number one challenger fights and dropped the pointless belts it'd be far better.

Brussels Sprout

I just want to see Khabib and Ferguson go to war. As a long-standing former champion, Aldo has earned a lot of equity at feather-weight but at Lightweight he can gtf to the back of the queue.

dashoonage

Brussels Sprout wrote: »

I just want to see Khabib and Ferguson go to war. As a long-standing former champion, Aldo has earned a lot of equity at feather-weight but at Lightweight he can gtf to the back of the queue.

Yup...anyone moving up from FW should go to the back of the queue......:rolleyes:

Saipanne

dashoonage wrote: »

Yup...anyone moving up from FW should go to the back of the queue......:rolleyes:

We all know Mac was in a position to call the shots because of the money and interest he generates.

Unfortunately, the same can't be said for Aldo.

wonderfullife

All this messing with belts in the men's 145/155 divisions with Aldo, Khabib, Ferguson etc yet the most important person in this whole situation, and by a long way, is Amanda Nunes.

If Nunes gets in there and obliterates Ronda, then all of these gimmicks with interim belts will go away fast. The UFC will fly their private jet to Dublin, be given an escort to Conor's gaf and proceed to kneel before him while begging negotiating for a Feb/March return to defend his title OR challenge for the 170lb title.

So, if Nunes wins, we're likely to have either Conor v Ferguson (ahead of Khabib, partially due to Tony having same manager as Conor, partially a better style match-up) or Conor v Woodley.

There is no way on Gods green earth the UFC can afford Conor to only fight twice in 2017. Just no way. Fighting once would be a calamity from a business standpoint.

The 3 McGregor headline PPV's in 2016 did 4.85 million PPV buys. The released dated on the EBITDA financing, stated that the UFC cleared $31 in net profit from each PPV unit sold. So, Conor made them a net profit of $146.3 million from those 3 events.

They really need 3 x McGregor events or, ideally, 4 - that's if they want to stay ahead of the curve on the financing of their $2.31 billion loan underwritten by Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank, the latter facing their own difficulties soon.

The reason there's no activity on Conor's end or the UFC end (yet), is that if Ronda can hip-throw Nunes and arm-bar her, then they can afford Conor to sit out a little bit because they'll line up Rousey v Holm which, in all likelihood, would beat Rouseys current best PPV-performance (1.1 million buys).

It really all revolves around Amanda Nunes and HOW that fight goes down. If Nunes destroys her it's terrible for the UFC. If it's a snooze-fest decision win (for Nunes) then it's fairly terrible too. The only decent outcomes for the UFC are a Rousey win by arm-bar or all-out-war.

Conor's leverage and negotiating position (already strong) gets infinitely stronger if Nunes wins. A Rousey-win and the UFC can play hardball with Conor, knowing the Rousey v Holm card is up their sleeve. A Nunes-win and they've no choice but to go cap-in-hand to him, asking for a quick comeback.

Django99

There could be a few big PPVs in 2017 if things fall the right way. As you say a lot of them depend on Nunes v Rousey.

Let's say Rousey and Holm win. Rousey v Holm 2 for Rousey to be two weight champ would be very big. Then if she won, a fight with Cyborg couldn't be easier to promote.

Jones will be back in July to challenge for the LHW, and while it wouldn't do the same numbers as Rousey or McGregor, it could come close to 1 million depending on the opponent and promoting.

If Cain wins against Werdum a fight with Miocic could do big numbers, again nowhere near top figures but maybe 500k.

If Punk fights again he will add numbers to whatever PPV he's on. GSP could come back. If Cody wins at 207 he could become a draw.

Remember, Mcgregors first PPV was July 2015. Less than a year later he's breaking 1.5 million. You never know when or where the next star is going to come from. And with the exposure McGregor and Rousey have given the UFC already they will find it easier to create one.

Looking back on it, what they did with McGregor was unprecedented. Yes he was popular among MMA fans and he had the documentarys on RTE and he promoted himself well, but the UFC had a worldwide tour with Aldo. And it couldn't have been better for drawing viewers.

Gamebred

wonderfullife wrote: »

All this messing with belts in the men's 145/155 divisions with Aldo, Khabib, Ferguson etc yet the most important person in this whole situation, and by a long way, is Amanda Nunes.

If Nunes gets in there and obliterates Ronda, then all of these gimmicks with interim belts will go away fast. The UFC will fly their private jet to Dublin, be given an escort to Conor's gaf and proceed to kneel before him while begging negotiating for a Feb/March return to defend his title OR challenge for the 170lb title.

So, if Nunes wins, we're likely to have either Conor v Ferguson (ahead of Khabib, partially due to Tony having same manager as Conor, partially a better style match-up) or Conor v Woodley.

There is no way on Gods green earth the UFC can afford Conor to only fight twice in 2017. Just no way. Fighting once would be a calamity from a business standpoint.

The 3 McGregor headline PPV's in 2016 did 4.85 million PPV buys. The released dated on the EBITDA financing, stated that the UFC cleared $31 in net profit from each PPV unit sold. So, Conor made them a net profit of $146.3 million from those 3 events.

They really need 3 x McGregor events or, ideally, 4 - that's if they want to stay ahead of the curve on the financing of their $2.31 billion loan underwritten by Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank, the latter facing their own difficulties soon.

The reason there's no activity on Conor's end or the UFC end (yet), is that if Ronda can hip-throw Nunes and arm-bar her, then they can afford Conor to sit out a little bit because they'll line up Rousey v Holm which, in all likelihood, would beat Rouseys current best PPV-performance (1.1 million buys).

It really all revolves around Amanda Nunes and HOW that fight goes down. If Nunes destroys her it's terrible for the UFC. If it's a snooze-fest decision win (for Nunes) then it's fairly terrible too. The only decent outcomes for the UFC are a Rousey win by arm-bar or all-out-war.

Conor's leverage and negotiating position (already strong) gets infinitely stronger if Nunes wins. A Rousey-win and the UFC can play hardball with Conor, knowing the Rousey v Holm card is up their sleeve. A Nunes-win and they've no choice but to go cap-in-hand to him, asking for a quick comeback.

The only problem with the Ronda angle, Holly isnt assured to beat that beast at 208 Holly rematch will do numbers no matter what but 3 losses on the bounce will harm it if they try make it should Ronda win and Holly lose, the 2 belts are essential in this master plan they want Ronda holding the pair.

AlmightyCushion

wonderfullife wrote: »

All this messing with belts in the men's 145/155 divisions with Aldo, Khabib, Ferguson etc yet the most important person in this whole situation, and by a long way, is Amanda Nunes.

If Nunes gets in there and obliterates Ronda, then all of these gimmicks with interim belts will go away fast. The UFC will fly their private jet to Dublin, be given an escort to Conor's gaf and proceed to kneel before him while begging negotiating for a Feb/March return to defend his title OR challenge for the 170lb title.

So, if Nunes wins, we're likely to have either Conor v Ferguson (ahead of Khabib, partially due to Tony having same manager as Conor, partially a better style match-up) or Conor v Woodley.

There is no way on Gods green earth the UFC can afford Conor to only fight twice in 2017. Just no way. Fighting once would be a calamity from a business standpoint.

The 3 McGregor headline PPV's in 2016 did 4.85 million PPV buys. The released dated on the EBITDA financing, stated that the UFC cleared $31 in net profit from each PPV unit sold. So, Conor made them a net profit of $146.3 million from those 3 events.

They really need 3 x McGregor events or, ideally, 4 - that's if they want to stay ahead of the curve on the financing of their $2.31 billion loan underwritten by Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank, the latter facing their own difficulties soon.

The reason there's no activity on Conor's end or the UFC end (yet), is that if Ronda can hip-throw Nunes and arm-bar her, then they can afford Conor to sit out a little bit because they'll line up Rousey v Holm which, in all likelihood, would beat Rouseys current best PPV-performance (1.1 million buys).

It really all revolves around Amanda Nunes and HOW that fight goes down. If Nunes destroys her it's terrible for the UFC. If it's a snooze-fest decision win (for Nunes) then it's fairly terrible too. The only decent outcomes for the UFC are a Rousey win by arm-bar or all-out-war.

Conor's leverage and negotiating position (already strong) gets infinitely stronger if Nunes wins. A Rousey-win and the UFC can play hardball with Conor, knowing the Rousey v Holm card is up their sleeve. A Nunes-win and they've no choice but to go cap-in-hand to him, asking for a quick comeback.

Holm is moving up to 145 and even Dana has said Rousey doesn't have too many fights left in her (insert don't believe his lies pic here) so even if Rousey wins it doesn't exactly mean bags of money for the UFC. Not to mention people may not flock back to her even if she wins. When McGregor lost to Diaz he came back stronger then ever. When Rousey lost to Holm she crumbled.

rob316

Bottom line the UFC need Conor to fight 3 times next year or find a new star who can reach his level of draw.

No way he sits out 10 months, its just too costly for them, or else they try to cross promote this nonsense super fight with Mayweather for a payday.

I do think you are going to see more stars of other combat sports or wrestling dipping into the MMA scene. The punk fight was a farce but it drew a decent amount on an otherwise rubbish card.