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

wonderfullife wrote: »

I hope i'm not betraying anyone here but i really wanted to share this story.

When i walked into SBG i saw Richy Condon and asked for a selfie. I'm not sure if he was honoured or freaked out! I suspect 50% of Column A, 50% Column B

Anyway, i had a brief chat with him and he told me to go sit on the couch in reception, that John was "expecting me". Ominous!

There was a class on and i could see Sinead Kavanagh, Dylan Tuke and Luka Jelcic in the distance on the mats. I went and sat down. You can't see the mats from the couch, so i saw John strolling towards me at the very last second. He smiled and very graciously signed my book and had a chat with me. When i looked towards the mat i saw everyone was still working.

So, he had made some time mid-class for me. That'll stick with me.

I asked him would he mind if i waited around discretely to try get a photo with Sinead and Dylan. I kept a low-profile, i didn't want to distract from the important stuff going on. I'm very aware the last thing John needs is Conor super-fans mobbing the gym. So, i kept a low-profile and never moved out of the reception area.

On the couch beside me was a disabled, mute guy in a zip-up Liverpool tracksuit top. I'm not good at guessing age and even less so with people of disability but i'd say he was mid-30's. He was clutching a copy of the EA Sports UFC game. He kept tapping me on the shoulder and pointing to Conor McGregors face on the game and smiling at me and making joystick movements with his hands.

I've never really tried to communicate with a mute person before but i tried to keep it to single words like "playstation?!!". He'd poke me again on the shoulder, just to point to the game and Conor again and smile. I pointed to Ronda on the game and said "Ronda Rousey (yeah)?" and he shook his head.

This repeated for half an hour.

It then moved to hugging. He'd poke my shoulder, point to his game and throw his arms wide for a hug. All i could do was smile and give him a hug and a thumbs-up.

I spotted Sinead leaving and asked her for a quick selfie and she very kindly chatted to me for a few mins about Invicta, Cris Cyborg, a 145 UFC division, the Belfast card etc. A little fella was with her (Her son maybe?), he looked about 9 or 10 to me and he absolutely blew me away. I had come to meet John for a signature but this little fella was amazing!! He was able to accurately tell me Gegard Mousasi's last few opponents, debate the merits of the Belfast card and give an overview of the womens 135lb division!!

I was happy with my lot at that stage. I had my book signed, a selfie with Sinead, a quick chat with Richie Smullen about the upcoming Bamma card. I was raging i missed Dylan Tuke and Aisling Daly (they actually drove past me while i went wandering down the street checking bus times the old school way).

Just as i was about to leave Conor arrived and the mute guy ran over to me jumping up and down waving trying to get Conors attention. He then pushed me on the shoulder and did a beard sign with his hands and pointed to the game and pointed towards Conor. His smile was unreal. He didn't need words.

Conor ducked in to the changing rooms. A short while later he came back out and the fella jumped up and down again waving his arms in the air. And poking me again with the "it's him, it's him" look on his face. And another hug.

Conor is 2 weeks from the biggest fight of his life. He walked over with Colin Byrne and gave this man a proper, genuine hug, a huge smile and patiently waited while the man handed us his IPad and made photo signals with his hands. Conor took the iPad from him, launched the camera and we took photos of the 3 of them together. The mute guy stood beside Conor, kept pointing to his UFC game, poking Conor in the arm and pointing to Conors face on the game, in a "you're on the cover of this game!!!" way. Conor was like "haha yeah i am".

I'm telling ye lads, words could not describe the look on this guys face and how happy he was.

Say whatever you want about Conor McGregor but that was a touch of pure class.

SBG - a great tribe.

(For any begrudgers, i'm not looking to give McGregor a Sainthood or the keys to the city, so relax).

Fantastic stuff. I can feel your excitement too.

A credit to Ireland - John, Conor and all the SBG team. I've met both Dylan and James randomly on the streets in Dublin and they are both very friendly and approachable, chatting away. Also met John on Church Lane and he was as friendly as could be. Posed for a photo and even commented on my humblebrag IG post

Hope John continues to post here sporadically when he has the time. Gives the forum a great buzz and is very appreciated.

Subcomandante Marcos wrote: »

I won't lie John, there are some people who poopoo headed ninnies and every time Conor does something they don't like or an SBG fighter loses or wins in a fashion that they don't like or farts in an elevator, they say it's your fault.

And I think that's not fair, because while you do have the power to control the intestinal wind of your athletes, you don't control them like you're playing a game while they are in the cage.

For reals though, stop making Richie fart when he has north south control, it's just cruel and he feels weird about it every time.

I read this in the narrative of

Adding to wonderfullife post there was an interesting article on Junkie about the sale and how they're gonna cut costs. Cutting almost 55 million in payroll. Wouldn't surprise me to see a division or two cut. Couldn't post the link so just pasted the text.

The money that changed hands when the UFC sold in July to a group led by entertainment powerhouse WME-IMG was slightly lower than the reported $4 billion, according to an investor document obtained by MMAjunkie that details the transaction.

But money that will change hands if the new promotion hits earnings goals will kick it over that mark.

WME-IMG, backed by Silver Lake Partners and KKR, paid the former owners $3.775 billion up front for the industry-leading MMA promotion, while about $200 million went to banker fees and other expenses.

The money could get bigger for the UFC’s new management group, including president Dana White, which has attached big bonuses to huge gains in earnings.

According to the document, the new group stands to make an additional $250 million in “earn-outs†if two performance goals are met over the next two years. The $250 million represents 6.2 percent of the UFC’s reported total value of $4.025 billion.

The UFC claimed its EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax and depreciation) was $170 million from June 2015 to June 2016. But to get those bonuses, the new owners need to bump that figure to $275 million – an increase of approximately 61 percent – through June 2017 to earn a $175 million payout.

By the end of 2018, that figure needs to increase to $350 million to earn an additional $75 million.

While the earnings numbers reported in the document are “pro forma,†meaning they haven’t been audited by an outside firm, they are generally expected to be accurate for financiers and others looking at the business.

However, the document also clarifies that the figures represent “various estimates and assumptions†about “anticipated results,†meaning they’re not meant to be 100 percent accurate.

So how does the new company plan to take the UFC to profit levels it hasn’t previously seen?

In part, according to the document, the team is counting on a full schedule of 13 pay-per-view events, including the promotion’s long-awaited debut in New York, which is expected to bring in as much as $15 million in revenue just at the gate.

Increased rights fees from the UFC TV partnership with FOX and other sponsors are expected to bring in another $48 million in “contracted growth.â€

One of the biggest drivers for growth, however, is cutting costs.

When the UFC laid off “under 15 percent†of its workforce earlier this month, it was just one phase of cost-cutting measures that WME-IMG expects will save the company $71 million.

An analysis of the business, conducted in part by corporate turnaround specialist Alvarez and Marsal, identified employee compensation as the biggest area of cost savings. The new group expects to slash $55.4 million in payroll costs, estimating a 44 percent to 53 percent reduction. Offsetting the cuts is a onetime $5 million severance payout.

The UFC’s long-running reality show “The Ultimate Fighter†also appears headed for major cutbacks. According to the document, the show’s production budget will be cut from $27.6 million to $10 million.

In a slide identified in the document as “synergy and cost saving opportunity,†the new owners tout savings opportunities “through increased standardization and more rigorous corporate discipline, namely in “compensation practices, (travel and expense) policies, long-lived consultants, political contributions, overhead, etc.â€

It’s currently unclear where that leaves retired fighters such as Chuck Liddell, Matt Hughes and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, who hold largely ceremonial positions with the company.

WME-IMG reaps $25 million per year as a “management fee†for the UFC. But one big line item is most certainly gone – the cost of corporate jet used to fly the previous owners around the world.

The document clarifies that, “The corporate airplane is not part of the acquisition and we do not expect such expenses on an ongoing basis.â€

Don't think it will be wound up, they'll use it for Fight Night night events that are exclusive to Fight Pass before they wind it up

MichaelScarn wrote: »

Wouldn't be surprised to see the flyweight division wound up. It is not a draw and they are shelling out how much on a champions contract for Johnson?

No fighters take the division seriously either. Both Alvarez and Diaz regard the featherweight division as a small man's division (albeit it was said in trash talk) so god only knows what they think of the flyweights.

On a different note, who is the buff guy (doesn't look natty) that McGregor has started to hang around with? He was in the second to last McBedded video explaining the purpose of the scan. He also featured in the UFC 202 embedded's and took Conor cycling.

Are you actually for real? All the fighters take the division serious. They were saying that to wind up McGregor. Many many fighters consider DJ the P4P #1 and many fighters have stated in the past the flyweight division is their favourite to watch.

To say that fighters don't take the flyweight division serious is just complete nonsense.