UFC

[nigel-harps1954]

Oh well.

[passinginterest]

Was a good fight. Duffy maybe a little bit of stage fright in Vegas for the first time. He looked similar in his first fight back in Cage Warriors (although he did manage to win that). Think he'll go on a good run now and will probably be top 10 in the rankings next year.

[Crosby87]

There's been a lot of press about how he is the anti McGregor....

[Crosby87]

March 5 Las Vegas 197
McGregor moves up to 155 Lbs to fight Rafael dos Anjos for the lightweight belt.
Holly Holm takes on the boring Meisha Tate.

MGM Grand or Mandalay Bay. Book your rooms now. ill be staying at Paris of course.

[Crosby87]

Not happy with Mayweather race talk.
http://espn.go.com/mma/story/_/id/14532598/conor-mcgregor-tells-floyd-mayweather-ever-bring-race-my-success-again

[BonnieShels]

So who else watched?

Surprised the lack of talk in here.

Anyway This photo from the night is just wonderful.

http://a.fssta.com/content/dam/fsdigital/fscom/WWE/2016/08/20/21/mcgregor%2019.vadapt.767.high.12.jpg

Gallery here: (http://www.foxsports.com/ufc/gallery/conor-mcgregor-nate-diaz-fight-photos-082116)

This chat on the Herd is great too:

[passinginterest]

Smashing fight. Was well worth staying up for. Interesting to see where he goes next, reckon most likely gives up the 145 belt and fights for 155.

[BonnieShels]

The Herd video I linkedto above is well worth a watch:

"What we witnessed on Saturday evening folks, was the death of boxing"

---

Diaz has zoomed up in my estimation after this. Just a class act in the ring all-round the pair of them.

[nigel-harps1954]

Woke up at 5am and tuned in from the end of the first round. Superb fight and both of those lads ooze class.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Anyone see this? I am pretty sure I have given and taken better punches than this.

http://www.the42.ie/charlie-ward-v-abdul-razak-alhassan-3090978-Nov2016/

McGregor is the only reason Pendred and Ward ever got a shot in the UFC, right?

[BonnieShels]

Anyone see this? I am pretty sure I have given and taken better punches than this.

http://www.the42.ie/charlie-ward-v-abdul-razak-alhassan-3090978-Nov2016/

McGregor is the only reason Pendred and Ward ever got a shot in the UFC, right?


Would you give over. Straight to the temple that one. Cracking punch. No shame in getting beaten by it.

---

I barely recovered from 205 on Wednesday. Great card and a cracking ending to it.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

I'm not on about the Ghanaian lad. I'm on about the Ward fella. His punches - and general technique - is like something you would see in a scuffle in Supermacs at 3 in the morning.

I'd question how he got this far TBH. Probably the association with McGregor.

[BonnieShels]

Hard to know what you're on about really.

I'm sure the SBG association helps. But you don't just get into UFC because of association. Kinda dangerous.


But you're Irish perhaps you could use that association to get into the UFC. Wouldn't mind seeing you in there with Pendred or Ward.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Hard to know what you're on about really.

I'm sure the SBG association helps. But you don't just get into UFC because of association. Kinda dangerous.


But you're Irish perhaps you could use that association to get into the UFC. Wouldn't mind seeing you in there with Pendred or Ward.

You didn't think he looked cumbersome in there?

I've seen better technique in the bare knuckle boxing fights Travellers post to YouTube.

I wouldn't mind seeing you in there with the Ghanaian lad.

[nigel-harps1954]

In fairness, Ward looked really unfit and did really look like he was way out of his depth. Does make you wonder how he managed to get onto that card, but at the end of the day, I'm far from an expert on the subject so I could be way off the mark.

[passinginterest]

It was a decent night of fights. Pretty good atmosphere, nice mix of knockouts, subs and decisions. Ward was outclassed by a striker who's had 7 knockout wins and never had a fight last more than 86 seconds. I wouldn't say he looked unfit but he was probably a bit naive to get into a slugfest with a guy like that. If he gets another shot in the UFC he'll be hoping for a better match up. Rumoured the UFC don't want "McGregor management" getting too much power so wanted to give him a bad fight.

[KrisLetang]

Well...Amanda Nunes has won. Ronda Rousey is no more. (UFC Wise).

[The Fly]

Looks like the McGregor v Mayweather fight is officially on. Both just tweeted about it.

It's set for the 26th of August.

[osarusan]

I can only see McGregor being systematically dismantled by Mayweather.

[KrisLetang]

He might string him along for a few rounds. Will it be $150 bucks? I was listening to the Showtime guy on the radio this morning. It doesn't seem like anything else will be on the card. They considered doing another UFC vs Boxer but its doesn't look like they can. I'm really skeptical if this is going to be real or arranged WWE style.

[passinginterest]

As much as I'd like to think McGregor had a chance I'll be shocked if it's not a Mayweather TKO. McGregor has gassed quite badly when he throws a lot of big power shots and with the heavier gloves I think he'll be done for after 5 rounds. Mayweather is too smart and skilled to get caught with a big sucker punch before then. Both counter punchers so it will probably be pretty dull up to the finish too.

[KrisLetang]

Well nothing can be worse than the Pacquiao fight. But won't McG's reflexes be to kick him and S-T? And how old is Floyd FFS. Boxing is so horrible. That sport is on life support. Along with a boxer on one of the cards last Sat night actually.

The official poster is out:
https://twitter.com/ShowtimeBoxing?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxsports.com%2Fufc%2Fsto ry%2Fcheck-out-the-official-fight-post-for-floyd-mayweather-vs-conor-mcgregor-061417

[The Fly]

It'll be hard for it to beat Rocky v Thunderlips.

That was class start to finish.

[Charlie Darwin]

He might string him along for a few rounds. Will it be $150 bucks?
I think he'll get paid more than that.

[DannyInvincible]

An amusing (and probably pretty accurate) article here on what is set to be a total circus: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/jun/15/conor-mcgregor-floyd-mayweather-fight-ufc-boxing


Over the next 10 weeks, the combined promotional heft of Mayweather Promotions and the Ultimate Fighting Championship will attempt to seduce you into believing the outcome is anything but the foregone conclusion it is. Hell, some are already biting. You’ll hear plenty about Floyd’s age. You’ll hear about his struggles with left-handed opponents and the strides McGregor has made with his boxing. Later there will be race-baiting on both sides, the same cynical tactics that lifted Jack Johnson v James J Jeffries and Larry Holmes v Gerry Cooney and Mike Tyson v Peter McNeeley to record-breaking profits.

That’s the thing with one-offs: everyone involved knows they only need to fool the customer once. It’s not bad for boxing. It’s not bad for MMA. It’s not anything except a quick-strike money grab with no enduring significance. It’s an exciting fight until it actually starts and it will be forgotten the minute it’s over, unworthy of a chapter in either man’s memoirs.

In spite of McGregor having zero chance of getting anywhere near Mayweather - Andy Lee compared (https://www.rte.ie/sport/boxing/2017/0515/875332-andy-lee-mayweather-mcgregor-would-not-be-a-contest/) it to asking a triathlete to swim against Michael Phelps, which I thought was a good analogy - I still can't help but be intrigued by the hype and spectacle of it all.

Funnily, the author of the Guardian piece happens to mention "Muhammad Ali's risible fight with the Japanese pro wrestler Antonio Inoki in 1976, widely regarded as the most embarrassing moment of the Greatest’s career"... How had I never heard of that before?!

Just checking it out on YouTube now, and it was indeed an absolute farce:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS79C1XEqBc

[DannyInvincible]

Here's some footage of a clumsy McGregor sparring with Chris van Heerden (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_van_Heerden) (a former welterweight boxer from South Africa) last year:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8kTW1ofejM

As Bryan Armen Graham wrote (https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/jun/15/conor-mcgregor-floyd-mayweather-fight-ufc-boxing):


McGregor? There are 20-year-olds in boxing gyms right now that would light him up like a Christmas tree. That’s at least what’s suggested by the infamous footage of the Irishman’s sparring session last year with Chris van Heerden, a former welterweight belt-holder from South Africa. Sure, there’s reason to believe his clumsy, plodding approach could improve with a training camp devoted completely to boxing. But there’s simply no way he can catch up to the fistic aptitude of Mayweather, who’s been drilled in the mysteries of the sport since childhood. There’s no such thing as a crash course for a lifelong craft.

Remind yourself what Mayweather did to some of the greatest boxers of his era. We’re not even talking about the destruction of Diego Corrales, a fight where Mayweather entered an arguable underdog, before he surrendered his power by climbing in weight to chase the bigger money. Even late-period Floyd’s brittle hands didn’t keep him from making the likes of Juan Manuel Marquez and Canelo Alvarez appear as if they were stumbling around in the dark trying to find the light switch. If that lot couldn’t even find let alone hurt Mayweather, what hope does our Conor have?

Even Van Heerden himself has ridiculed (https://www.joe.ie/sport/boxer-mcgregor-chances-591741) McGregor's suspect boxing abilities:


But Van Heerden took to Twitter last night to voice his thoughts on how the now official fight between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor will go.

He laughed at suggestions of McGregor's movement making it difficult for Mayweather to land punches on him: "People telling me Mayweather will have his hands full trying to land on McGregor -STOP IT! I respect McGregor BUT I ain't Floyd and I landed."

He also said (http://www.worldboxingnews.net/2016/12/02/news/exclusive-i-made-conor-mcgregor-look-bad-in-sparring-i-ll-do-it-for-real-chris-van-heerden) the following:


Conor is a great MMA fighter but boxing is the sweet science and in that particular class, I’m the professor to him. I tagged him effortlessly during sparring, he knows it and I know it. There’s no way he takes a fight against me because he knows it’s lose-lose for him. Conor can’t stand with me that long, he knows it and you best believe I do too.

It simply won't be a contest.

[bennocelt]

Wonder could it be a draw as its all a pantomime anyway, so why not string it out for another pay day?

[KrisLetang]

Max Kellerman from ESPN says CM won't land one punch.

http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=19643279

[passinginterest]

As much as I'd like to think McGregor had a chance I'll be shocked if it's not a Mayweather TKO. McGregor has gassed quite badly when he throws a lot of big power shots and with the heavier gloves I think he'll be done for after 5 rounds. Mayweather is too smart and skilled to get caught with a big sucker punch before then. Both counter punchers so it will probably be pretty dull up to the finish too.
Wasn't too far wrong. McGregor gassed quick and Floyd was never in trouble. More entertaining than expected at least. McGregor needs a bit of a reset and back to hard work and defending his 155 UFC title.

[The Fly]

UFC 217 was amazing.

The UFC should have a policy of less PPVs per year and then just stack the cards. Less is more!

[KrisLetang]

Is the mob after Conor?

https://nesn.com/2017/11/crime-expert-conor-mcgregor-in-very-serious-danger-after-rumored-bar-fight/