The MMA Thread
Since there's a SE Boxing Thread that evolved out of the PBF/Pac abortion, I thought we should have a SE MMA Thread as w
Probably the right move by Islam to try to champ champ it considering the next guy he would have to fight at 170 is someone nobody knows or cares about and would be a tough fight
My first thought is Leon would own him though.....He had trouble taking down Dustin and Volk, he's gonna take down Edwards who stayed upright vs Usman and Colby?
And he isn't winning standup....Glad he came through for the sub tho
Yup, better striker than Khabib but the grappling isn't close.
Probably the right move by Islam to try to champ champ it considering the next guy he would have to fight at 170 is someone nobody knows or cares about and would be a tough fight
My first thought is Leon would own him though.....He had trouble taking down Dustin and Volk, he's gonna take down Edwards who stayed upright vs Usman and Colby?
And he isn't winning standup....Glad he came through for the sub tho
Yup, better striker than Khabib but the grappling isn't close, Leon would win.
Strickland out there sparring and taking it light made the fight so boring and Rogan and Dc so bias as if Strickland was dominating the fight by landing tee kicks all fight and nothing else, ehh.
Strickland was dominating the fight though. Thought it was a clear 50-45 and Costa didn't land anything of the slightest impact.
(Had to rewatch the last 3 rounds just now after falling asleep at the end of round 2. Boring as expected)
If Islam wants the 170 title shot he has to root hard for Chandler in a couple of weeks.
I think Islam is better at subs/advancing position than Khabib too
But he doesn't have those horsepower explosive takedowns like Khabib does, more of a grind for him. And fight starts on the feet.
Seems like Poirier may really retire unless maybe he just fights the winner of McGregor/Chandler on the way out.
anyone else think Whittaker is too long of a dog vs Chimaev?
Khamzat did not look that good in either of his last 2 fights against guys who were fed to him for him to dominate in Burns and Usman off the couch at a new weight class. Holland is just such a level lower, tough to take anything from that.
Seems like he starts fast and once he can't dominate his opponent, he just begins to fade and the fight becomes a toss up. He's also gotten pretty favorable judging I'd say.
anyone else think Whittaker is too long of a dog vs Chimaev?
Khamzat did not look that good in either of his last 2 fights against guys who were fed to him for him to dominate in Burns and Usman off the couch at a new weight class. Holland is just such a level lower, tough to take anything from that.
Seems like he starts fast and once he can't dominate his opponent, he just begins to fade and the fight becomes a toss up. He's also gotten pretty favorable judging I'd say.
Favorable judging isn't going to end now, the fight is in Saudi-Arabia. Under 2.5 rounds is at -140 right now so people don't expect the fight to go to the judges.
Khamzat -245 surprises me too. I think it opened at Khamzat -205 and got bet down to Khamzat -155 pretty fast. No idea why it went the other way now but maybe people know stuff that we don't know.
Speaking of O/U rounds, Cannonier vs. Imavov this weekend is -160 for over 4.5. That's pretty crazy. I also have no idea why Imavov is a -125 favorite here other than that Cannonier is coming back from injury and Imavov dominated Dolize. Cannonier's only to middleweight losses are against Whittaker and Izzy. Fun fact: Cannonier started his UFC career at heavyweight.
Not sure why they wouldn't expect it go to the judges when Burns/Usman did vs Chimaev and Whittaker pretty much always goes to the judges
Granted this is 5 rounds but under 2.5 seems wrong
Khamzat is just always a hype train big fav, he was vs Usman/Burns as well. He was like -600 vs Holland or something
I dunno, maybe MW is weak enough that this is a nice opening for him. But I feel like it should've happened for him by now.
Khamzat is just always a hype train big fav, he was vs Usman/Burns as well. He was like -600 vs Holland or something
I guess we'll see closer to fight time.
Line vs Holland was reasonable because of the last minute switcheroo and Holland expecting to fight D-rod who isn't really a grabbling threat. Burns was just a way smaller guy and Usman came off his couch for the fight. I didn't think Khamzat was that impressive in those two fights.
I guess people think that cardio has to show up at some point because he claims to train all the time?
Starting to worry 303 isn't happening
According to Helwani . The UFC has sent out feelers to replace either Conor or Chandler or possibly both for their fight . So seems the fight is in trouble .
According to Helwani . The UFC has sent out feelers to replace either Conor or Chandler or possibly both for their fight . So seems the fight is in trouble .
It's obviously in deep trouble. They spent a bunch of money on that press conference and Dana White (and everybody else minus Chandler) was already there by the time it was canceled.
I don't even know how they would try to save that card without Conor. As always a Conor card is basically your average Fight Night card with him on it. Which is enough to be the highest selling PPV of the year.
They could try to book a different main event so they don't have to refund people because all cards are "subject to change" but I don't see how they could not offer refunds when people paid up to twice as much as for a regular PPV. If I had bought a ticket for 2k+ and the UFC told me Conor was off and they won't refund me because a random title fight is headlining instead, I would never buy UFC tickets again.
If the price is right, I'll fight Conor.
It's obviously in deep trouble. They spent a bunch of money on that press conference and Dana White (and everybody else minus Chandler) was already there by the time it was canceled.
I don't even know how they would try to save that card without Conor. As always a Conor card is basically your average Fight Night card with him on it. Which is enough to be the highest selling PPV of the year.
They could try to book a different main event so they don't have to refund people because all cards are "su
Idk if there’s even a title fight they can book that fast .
Did they both get popped on a piss test or something? What is the likeliest scenario here?
It's price fighting. For the right price almost anyone is willing to fight. Easiest option would be to move up Aspinall vs. Blaydes which is supposed to be the co-headliner in Manchester 4 weeks later. Also would involve an American which always helps in the US. Other than that they could have Kayla Harrison fight for the 135 belt. If Pennington isn't ready to defend they could just strip her or make it an interim title fight. Probably even easier would be Grasso vs. Shevchenko 3 but they lack the name recognition to headline a PPV.
The only fight that would even remotely work as a Conor replacement would be Jones vs. Miocic, but the UFC won't be willing to pay for that one.
Did they both get popped on a piss test or something? What is the likeliest scenario here?
Most speculation is about Conor being injured.
If they could find a title fight and put Chandler vs. someone like St. Denis or Holloway as the co-main event that card would actually not suck. Still have to refund fans though. Would kinda suck for Chandler that he has to cut to 155 but there's no real 170 option for him unless something crazy happens like Diaz vs. Masvidal falling apart and one of them jumps in.
Kayla said she would fight Nunes on 3 weeks notice but doubt Nunes does that .
yeah I think Conor probably got hurt, doesn't seem like a money issue
although I will say with the new TV deal coming and him fighting not really being apart of that, UFC needs him less than ever...Doubt they even care if he wins or loses vs Chandler much. Maybe rather him L so they can continue to separate from him. Not like he has much left to offer them anyway. I'm not even sure how much his PPVs sell compared to what they have to pay him, a point that OMalley brought up a few months ago.
yeah I think Conor probably got hurt, doesn't seem like a money issue
although I will say with the new TV deal coming and him fighting not really being apart of that, UFC needs him less than ever...Doubt they even care if he wins or loses vs Chandler much. Maybe rather him L so they can continue to separate from him. Not like he has much left to offer them anyway. I'm not even sure how much his PPVs sell compared to what they have to pay him, a point that OMalley brought up a few months ago.
I’ve always been curious how it can be profitable to pay him say 50 million for a fight or whatever crazy number he gets .
I’ve always been curious how it can be profitable to pay him say 50 million for a fight or whatever crazy number he gets .
I'd think less so now than in 2016....ESPN doesn't release PPV buys but given how easy it is to get a stream nowadays, I'd imagine that business is down significantly. And obviously Conor probably demands a lot more than he did back then.
But whoever is paying for the new TV deal basically knows he isn't really apart of that equation and that is the lions share of UFC revenue/profit going forward.
Conor might not be super important for the long term future of the UFC but in today's world he's so far ahead of everyone else that Dana White has jumping through hoops for years to get him to fight or at least promote the UFC in some other form.
They just did UFC 300 which was stacked from the first prelim with fan friendly fights. That event was small compared to Conor fighting whoever on a card where barely anyone cares about any of the other fights.
UFC 300 gate was $16.5mil, smaller than Conor vs Alvarez 8 years ago and also Conor vs Khabib 6 years ago. UFC 303 was already significantly over $20mil a couple weeks ago according to Dana White.
If the fight falls through that's a huge blow for the UFC, Chandler and everyone else involved except for Conor who probably wouldn't care too much.
No idea what Conor was supposed to make from the fight (obviously also depends on PPV sales) but I would be shocked if it was anywhere near $50mil. That would be roughly what he made from both Poirier fights combined.
Conor might not be super important for the long term future of the UFC but in today's world he's so far ahead of everyone else that Dana White has jumping through hoops for years to get him to fight or at least promote the UFC in some other form.
They just did UFC 300 which was stacked from the first prelim with fan friendly fights. That event was small compared to Conor fighting whoever on a card where barely anyone cares about any of the other fights.
UFC 300 gate was $16.5mil, smaller than Cono
Do we have numbers from what he made his last fights ? And is that before ppv points or after ?
He's definitely still a huge 1 off draw but he's 36 with multiple injuries and not much desire to fight. After Chandler (who he's probably like 45% to beat imo) where can they really go with him? He probably has 2 fights left max.
I was gonna bring up that I tend to like Chandler in that fight. Conor hasn't fought in 3 years and looked awful in his last fight. Chandler is competitive vs top guys in the division in that time.
Prime Conor would KO him inside of 2 rounds but think he's pretty far off that at this point
Do we have numbers from what he made his last fights ? And is that before ppv points or after ?
Older numbers, up to the Alvarez fight, have been made public in the big lawsuit. Back then the only fighter making close to him was Ronda who made 4.5mil for her last two fights (Holm, Nunes). Conor made 6.x mil vs. Alvarez.
Since then nothing is public but estimates from publications like Forbes are often relatively accurate. IIRC they said he made $22mil for the second fight against DP and $31mil for the third.
If the Chandler fight happens and he wins I'd expect for him to get a title shot at 170 if he wants that or a fight for an inaugural 165 title.
If he loses and wants to fight again it might be a third Diaz fight.
Not sure about his contract. Everyone knows (or assumes?) he signed a 5 fight contract before the Khabib fight which would mean there are two fights left. But some people claim the contract expired after 5 years which would have been last year, unless his removal from the USADA testing pool halted that. There's obviously huge money opportunities for him in the middle east for which he would prefer to not be under contract with the UFC.
This has just come out from O'Malley's friend/trainer. Not watched, but might answer some money questions
