Official Conor McGregor thread (part 4) *Updated Warning in 1st Post Re:Boxing match

Autochange wrote: »

Can we talk about McGregors MMA career or is this just a gossip column?

I think its safe to say that we'll be happy to talk about his MMA Career if he ever resumes it. The dude's acting the ass to keep his name in the press. You can't be surprised that we're talking about it.

Autochange wrote: »

Can we talk about McGregors MMA career or is this just a gossip column?

Is it gossip to have a problem with the face of mixed martial arts in Ireland flaunting his friendship to known drug dealers on social media?

It wasn't all that long ago that Conor vowed to show the world what a "true martial artist looks like". This might be a long post because I've had it.

"The victim fell to the ground and Maloney repeatedly kicked him in the head as he lay semi-conscious. Murray then kicked the victim once before the group fled. Mr O’Brien woke up the next morning in hospital with a broken jaw, smashed teeth and a broken eye socket. He was badly concussed and could not remember much about the attack."

Publicizing and glorifying his friendship's to the type of coward who gets 18 months for stomping on an unconscious man's head...

That isn't what a true martial artist is about.

The Murray's have 73 convictions between them, mostly for drug dealing. The victim in that incident was no saint himself. I'm all for people changing and learning from mistakes but how many chances do they want?

Google the words "Irish MMA". 81 of the top 100 images are Conor McGregor.
Google the words "SBG Ireland". 37 of the top 50 images are Conor McGregor.
Google the word "MMA" (the entire sport). 33 out of 100 images are Conor McGregor.

He's the face of SBG.
He's the face of Irish MMA.
He's the face of MMA.

I don't think it's gossip to want the sport better represented than for the main star to be out flaunting his friendships to the type of people who ruin lives in Dublin. He can be friends with whoever he likes but when he starts promoting and normalizing these drug dealers on social media that's a different story.

On the same day Conor posted that on instagram, this was posted and RT'd by JK:

https://twitter.com/sbg_tullamore/status/938470607733383168

Respect - Conor has none for anybody right now. None for Marc Goddard, none for Andre Fili, none for the Bellator employee, none for the courts, none for his girlfriend, definitely none for his coaches otherwise he wouldn't be doing it all.

Confidence - He has tons of that but I'm more interested in how the confidence levels are of the victims of some of the Murray's crimes. Has their self-belief improved after having their eye socket smashed to bits? Maybe the anxiety levels of family and friends have dropped after being threatened to be shot over a drug debt?

Leadership skills - Freudian slip? Maybe we're talking about dealers and not leaders. Cowardice must be contagious because there hasn't been one iota of ownership from anybody associated with that gym lately. It's all shrugs of shoulders, "apologies" and couldn't give a sh1t.

It would not have been difficult to denounce the use of the word "fag*ot" by the highest profile man in Ireland. It would have been easy and a good message to send to kids. It would not have been hard to come out against assaulting people and putting hands on a ref. It would not have been hard to come out against Charlie Ward saying "Redmond is lucky to be alive", which is crass beyond belief. I'm sure Joao Carvahlo's brother has feelings but maybe he's a "snowflake" if the comments upset him.

These were easy situations to take ownership of a problem and try deal with it.

Why is it SBG's problem?

Well, there have been over 200 times in the past 2 years that the founder of SBG, Matt Thornton, has used Conor as a selling point for "the SBG way" in tweets, mentions, RT's and facebook. Another 100 if you count JK's postings. I will post every single one of them if it makes the point.

They are the ones holding Conor up as the example of what SBG and martial arts is all about.

You don't get to use him as a selling-point to try entice kids everywhere to join the SBG tribe and then ignore the fact he's out there assaulting people, hanging around with drug dealers, and acting like one himself.

Can you imagine the reaction in Canada if GSP was posting pictures tagging known scumbag drug dealers? I'm 99% certain Firas Zahabi would have a major problem with it given he has many times banned people from his gym if they get caught doing drugs, it would reflect terribly on Tristar and the Canadian media & public would have problems with it too.

The death of Carvahlo did plenty to deter participation in this country. It had to have had a negative impact. Most sane parents after that death would have been vehemently opposed to their child going into the sport. I felt like we turned a corner with the improvements in safety and with Conor capturing the lightweight title. There was a feel-good factor returning.

Now, 12 months on, the front page headlines about MMA are Conor allegedly going around with the Murray's slapping the head off other drug dealers, doing copious amounts of white stuff himself and if that wasn't bad enough he wants to flaunt it all.

Yet again, if you're a parent of a young child and interested in getting them into a sport, it's not that hard a choice right now to swerve MMA where the main star is on the front pages every other day in some new shady controversy and stick them into a more 'normal' sport.

If Conor, John or Matt Thornton are confused on what a true martial artist looks like I can definitely help with that one.

His name is Diego Sanchez.

"Most down syndrome adults don't live past 45," Sanchez told local TV station KRQE before the bout. "Isaac is 32, and I just wanted to see this young man be healthy. Exercise and martial arts are one of the most healthy things you can do.

"He came to just come and check out the gym and I told him, 'You like MMA?' and he said, 'I love fighting', and then I said, 'Alright. Well are you here to just watch or do you want to train?' and he said, 'I want to train'.

"So, I said 'alright let's do this'. He believes it with all of his heart, so I am going to make it happen."