UFC

[Acornvilla]

I did this for Danny and Crosby.

It's nearly 4am and this damn fight is still a ways off. Pendred winning was a disgrace. Never a unanimous decision, but sure it wouldn't be showbiz without a little bit of fixing here and there.

Some smaller gingerer looking Paddy something, Connor McGregor look alike won earlier, and some other lad lost because he was crap.

That's my round up of the nights action lads.

[DannyInvincible]

Haha, I can't really say I'm a UFC fan or anything. I've followed McGregor's rise fairly passively up until now and find him entertaining. I don't know a huge deal about UFC overall though. I've decided to stay up for this one to see what it's all about. I guess I've fallen for the hype!

I thought McGregor was to be on at 3AM or so, but it's just past 4:30AM now. Ah well, I might as well see it through now I'm already up so late.

Pendred's victory was indeed a robbery.

[Acornvilla]

Well, that was.. easy..

[DannyInvincible]

That was exceptionally one-sided. Siver couldn't really offer anything in response. McGregor barely broke a sweat throughout.

[Acornvilla]

All this post fight madness was much more entertaining. Some carry on :D

[Spudulika]

I'm surprised it went on so late, I thought it was to be finished by then.

Have no time for UFC, I respect the qualities of the athletes as in any sport, but find it quite a disgusting sport. I had never heard of it before living in Croatia and went to a Mirko Filipovic fight with one of his sponsors (in Manchester) and was absolutely sickened by what I saw. Again, the fighters are skilled, tough and entertain, and the sport is better tested (doping) than most - even this weekend another lad was banned. So it's a step ahead of most in that respect.

Good luck to the Irish lads, McGregor does need to lay off on the Dickensian Dublin (he sounded like a Monty Python parody the one time I heard him on Newstalk). And our guys are continuing to break through in WWE also! Shamus has rivals for best of the Irish!!!

[passinginterest]

I took the slightly more sensible option of getting an early night and recording the fights. Got up at 4am and watched it through before heading into work. Holohan was very comfortable but will be disappointed he didn't manage to finish the fight, he has the potential to move right up the rankings if he keeps his focus, the loss in his last fight probably helped him in the long run.

Pendred fight was closer than people are making out. I thought two rounds might have gone to Pendred, takedowns always score highly with the judges, it was a shock that it was unanimous and that there was a 30-27 in there but not that massively surprising that he got the win.

Norman Parke was outclassed. He's very good but he's about two levels below the elite going by that performance against a fighter who has been on the fringes of the elite for a long time.

McGregor just made it look ridiculously easy against a potentially very dangerous opponent. Siver just had no response for his movement and even when he did connect with a rare few shots McGregor just walked through them. The critics will still jump on the fact he still hasn't fought a wrestler and if he wins the title he'll probably have to defend it against someone like Frankie Edgar, who's as tough as old boots as well as a wrestler. Aldo will be a different beast to anything McGregor has ever faced, he's defended his title 7 times already, he won't be phased at all by the hype and he has kicking power and speed that could neutralise McGregor in a way that nobody else has managed.

I'll definitely be looking into travelling to Vegas for the title fight. It took me a while to really develop an understanding of MMA as a sport, sometimes it's hard to see the skill in a grappling contest against the cage or on the ground, or to believe it's anything more than savagery in a bloody stand up battle. Once you start to become more familiar with the fighting styles and can see the moves that are being attempted it's much easier to appreciate the skill levels and while the light gloves tend to result in quite a lot of cuts, there seems to be evidence at this stage that the knockouts are much cleaner than boxing and added to the shorter fight times, there doesn't seem to be the same prospect of long term brain injury.

[Crosby87]

They were thinking of putting the Championship fight in Eire but it would have to start at a time they couldnt get permits for to accomidate the US....
Anyway Conor is one hell of an athlete! All that skill he added and at the end of the day its all about bout the left.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

http://www.the42.ie/ufc-fighter-colby-covington-trolls-cathal-pendred-1901884-Jan2015/

The continued vitriol and - at times - viciousness of the racism towards Irish UFC fighters from both (mainly) American UFC fighters and fans continues to amaze me.

No other nationality - be they Welsh, Scottish, English - is subjected to abuse like this because of where they are from.

You used to see this sentiment in England 30 or 40 years ago.

[Crosby87]

Its not real. They just try to drum up attention for the fight. Ali understood that. Frazier didn't.

[DannyInvincible]

Its not real. They just try to drum up attention for the fight.

Exactly, it's designed to wind up people like TOWK and it's clearly working a treat.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Has Michael Bisping ever been subject to such racist bile from opponents in the build up to his fights?

Or a UFC fighter from any other country?

I can't imagine a black UFC fighter being called the n word or a Mexican UFC fighter being called the b word for some reason yet it is acceptable to be openly and blatantly racist against someone from Ireland without fear of retaliation or punishment.

[Dodge]

Get a grip you loon and stopped looking to be annoyed by idiots.

McGregor is a HUGE success story in the US.
http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2015/1/21/7867901/ufc-fight-night-mcgregor-vs-siver-ratings-hit-fox-sports-1-mma-news

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2015/1/22/7868367/ufc-why-its-ok-to-compare-conor-mcgregor-to-muhammad-ali-mma-editorial

[Spudulika]

TOWK and Dodge, I know I speak from a level of ignorance in this that ranges between complete and dreadful, but isn't the ufc just a branch of mma and trying to grow itself? There is no chance (nowadays) to slag off coloured or Mexicans, so Russian, Irish, Polish are fair game - just look at WWE, the model on which ufc appears to be aping itself, along with the drugs, ott boasts and outlandish story lines. Maybe I am completely wrong, but the day is gone when you would have The Sheikh or Sergeant Slaughter etc being the heels, now it's down to ultra violence so that teens boys and underdeveloped males can circle berk. The abiding memory I have form the movie Bruno is his mma appearance, and the lack of self-reflection in the baying meatheads.

[Dodge]

If you're looking to Bruno for MMA guidance, then I'd suggest you shouldn't really be commenting on their marketing strategies at all

[Crosby87]

CM Punk is in mma training. I like that guy. Hope he isn't afraid to get hit like Lesner!

[Spudulika]

If you're looking to Bruno for MMA guidance, then I'd suggest you shouldn't really be commenting on their marketing strategies at all

Did you catch the sarcasm or it passed you by? :-)

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

In all my years watching UFC, not once have I ever seen someone racially abuse another fighter. Nearly every single fighter that calls out Conor McGregor (and Cathal Pendred) have made several derogatory references to where they come from. It's unbelievable lads.

If you pass it off as banter then it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I have black friends, Eastern European friends and I have known Jewish guys and never once has it crossed my mind to call them some of the things McGregor has been called.

If I (or anyone else I know) did, I would get my head kicked in.

Imagine if Anderson Silva was called an "ap*" or the n word or imagine if Tito Ortiz was called a "b*aner". Wouldn't happen.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

And CM Punk will be 37 years old by the time he will have his first fight and he's talking about working his way up gradually.

He's talking about taking this seriously yet he's constantly whining about his former wrestling employers, getting into petty arguments with pundits on TV, doing q and a's and writing forewords to comic books.

You want to be taken seriously? Go into hiding and train in beast mode for 6 months. Put up and shut up.

Looks like Lesnar could be coming back too. He would be 38 years old by his next fight. He first left UFC because of a life-threatening bout of diverticulitis.

[Crosby87]

This is ridiculous.
http://deadspin.com/mma-fighter-suffers-seizure-after-getting-viciously-kno-1685888402

[Spudulika]

This is ridiculous.
http://deadspin.com/mma-fighter-suffers-seizure-after-getting-viciously-kno-1685888402

The "article" or the fight? The ref didn't drag him around, he reacted quite quickly and well, the towel in mouth was not fully advised but a quick reaction. The organisation is a bit dodgy (oplot), but most are in eastern europe. Usually meat heads with size issues (Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia are overrun by them).

[Crosby87]

Do you think there are any roid users on foot.ie spuds?

[Spudulika]

Do you think there are any roid users on foot.ie spuds?

I'd say there are a few using Prep-H :-)

[Spudulika]

http://beapartof-it.co.uk/news_details.php?news_id=45953

[Crosby87]

"I have not taken any performance enhancing drugs."
He lies so much he could work for the Obama administration.

[Crosby87]

This woman Ronda is fighting sat night is scary looking. Supposedly she is going to give Rousey a run for her money. Cat Zingano. She looks kind of old. Husband killed himself last year.

[DannyInvincible]

I'd like to think most of it is staged bravado as I used to find him charming and witty, but McGregor's grown beyond insufferable since the fame went to his head. I can't find the exact point at which he said it in the press conference in Brazil, but I'm pretty sure I recall him talking about doing to Aldo something akin to what the European man did to South America during the era of conquest and colonisation. It definitely carried those connotations anyway. I cringed. How crass, insulting and, for a supposedly-proud Irishman, seriously lacking in any sense of self-awareness. It was little more than overt racism. Is that how UFC wishes to promote itself?

The press conference at the Convention Centre was similarly embarrassing for both McGregor's bandwagon and the sport.

[Real ale Madrid]

But don't you see McGregor fights for "truckloads of money" and we should be proud of him.

Might buy some class on the next truckload.

[nigel-harps1954]

I hope to fcuk he gets hammered into the floor in the first round. He's a bloody embarrassment.

[passinginterest]

The press conference was very cringeworthy alright. I think McGregor is straining to keep this character going but it's really not working on Aldo. Brandao, Poirier and Siver all got taken in by the bravado but Aldo isn't showing a glimmer of worry or fear, despite McGregor's declarations to the contrary and I think it's really getting to McGregor. He's realising that Aldo won't freeze up and mentally buckle so it's going to be a true test of his actual fighting skills, which he almost seems to have forgotten about recently. The lack of respect for Aldo from the Dublin crowd was ridiculous, people who were given the chance to ask questions from the audience were just throwing around crass, childish insults and singing ole looked like complete morons. I hope that's not a reflection of the Irish crowd travelling to Vegas for the fight. Despite all the crap though it should still be a super fight and with Robbie Lawler and Rory McDonald on the card too and all of the other international fight week events the Vegas trip should be worth it.

[DannyInvincible]

The press conference was very cringeworthy alright. I think McGregor is straining to keep this character going but it's really not working on Aldo. Brandao, Poirier and Siver all got taken in by the bravado but Aldo isn't showing a glimmer of worry or fear, despite McGregor's declarations to the contrary and I think it's really getting to McGregor. He's realising that Aldo won't freeze up and mentally buckle so it's going to be a true test of his actual fighting skills, which he almost seems to have forgotten about recently. The lack of respect for Aldo from the Dublin crowd was ridiculous, people who were given the chance to ask questions from the audience were just throwing around crass, childish insults and singing ole looked like complete morons. I hope that's not a reflection of the Irish crowd travelling to Vegas for the fight. Despite all the crap though it should still be a super fight and with Robbie Lawler and Rory McDonald on the card too and all of the other international fight week events the Vegas trip should be worth it.

McGregor looks the more agitated of the two and very needy to prove a point.

Video of the Dublin press conference here:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zxoT34adJ_4

[Crosby87]

Guys Its UFC. There is no class. That's the point. To get prisoners to cooperate in this country they let them watch UFC. Seriously.

[Charlie Darwin]

I'd like to think most of it is staged bravado as I used to find him charming and witty, but McGregor's grown beyond insufferable since the fame went to his head. I can't find the exact point at which he said it in the press conference in Brazil, but I'm pretty sure I recall him talking about doing to Aldo something akin to what the European man did to South America during the era of conquest and colonisation. It definitely carried those connotations anyway. I cringed. How crass, insulting and, for a supposedly-proud Irishman, seriously lacking in any sense of self-awareness. It was little more than overt racism. Is that how UFC wishes to promote itself?

The press conference at the Convention Centre was similarly embarrassing for both McGregor's bandwagon and the sport.
I don't think he's grown beyond insufferable. If anything, he's toned it down a bit, but his fanbase is growing. He's the latest bandwagon, Irish people love bandwagons, and he's doing well for himself and making a lot of money for a pretty obscure sport.

[Crosby87]

So Walmart won't stock Ronda's book bc she is "too violent." LMFAO. This from the world's leading seller of guns and ammo. Morons.

[Crosby87]

Profile of CM in Esquire as he continues his climb Up the pseudo celebrity ladder.
http://www.esquire.com/sports/interviews/a34377/conor-mcgregor-interview-0515/

[nigel-harps1954]

http://www.craziestsportsfights.com/the-worst-mma-injuries-in-the-sports-history/

Dare anyone to watch this and not feel physically sick.

[Crosby87]

Prop bets and trash talk ahead of the match

http://www.ibtimes.com/conor-mcgregor-vs-chad-mendes-updated-betting-odds-props-ufc-189-featherweight-bout-2003387

[Jofspring]

Amazing attendance at the weigh ins. I know it's free in but it just shows the hype McGregor has built up.

[Spudulika]

Embarrassing interview with some young one on RTE radio who has something to do with CM. I admire that someone can become famous competing in something that really is inconsequential, no matter how much they try to big it up. I don't see it as a sport and if my son or daughter had a choice between punching someone in the head when they're lying on the ground, or lining out for Meath, I'd be shouting Up The Royals.

This is the perfect pastime for the playstation generation, it matches up with the meaningless franchise movies that need blood, gore and "action" without much thinking behind it. McGregor is no Barry McGuigan, but he wouldn't want to be. And fair play.

At a time when there are protests on the streets against water charges and constant reminders of our corrupt government, now Joan Burton's comments on iphones seems less crass. How many of those in Las Vegas on the bandwagon or sitting up late tonight paying for the privilege of watching WWE with blood were protesting water charges.

[Hitman]

... punching someone in the head when they're lying on the ground, or lining out for Meath...

Isn't that much the same thing?

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

These people didn't know what UFC was two years ago and now they are obsessed with it. It amuses me. The same kind of people that protest water charges, play the social welfare/benefits system and queue up all night to buy the latest Grand Theft Auto video game on release day.

They don't have enough money to pay for water but they have enough money to buy a Playstation 4 and Xbox One. They do realize that if - touch wood - they got a life threatening injury their treatment at the hospital isn't free either? Nothing is "free".

It's embarrassing really. We don't have enough people to fill a ground for a crucial football match and we don't have enough people to outsing Scottish supporters in our own ground but we apparently have enough people to traipse to Las Vegas and follow Conor McGregor around like a puppy.

Don't get me started on what I think about people who have been watching UFC for less than two years going to the events center in Dublin to roar abuse at Jose Aldo, when they couldn't fight their way out of a paper bag!

It must be the only sport where athletes are seemingly encouraged to mock their opponents because of what country they come from and make videos of themselves dressing up as leprechauns.

You wouldn't even get that in wrestling FFS!

[Charlie Darwin]

now Joan Burton's comments on iphones seems less crass.
Would you actually listen to yourself.

[Crosby87]

Its funny....i feel like a lot of the irish I know who are interested at least midly in CM would never openly root against him but kind of wouldn't mind seeing him getting his ass kicked and put in his place....he really doesn't get under my skin but he is wearing on some. Guess that's obvious.

[Crosby87]

dana already looking at the next match! Makes you wonder what kind of chance this dude will have tonight....

http://www.mmafighting.com/2015/7/11/8932045/dana-white-ufc-will-spend-even-more-money-on-aldo-mcgregor-if-conor

[bennocelt]

A guy called Dana, well there you go, nuff said!:):confused:

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Its funny....i feel like a lot of the irish I know who are interested at least midly in CM would never openly root against him but kind of wouldn't mind seeing him getting his ass kicked and put in his place....he really doesn't get under my skin but he is wearing on some. Guess that's obvious.

If the vast majority of comments on YouTube and all the mainstream UFC sites are any indication, most American fans do not like McGregor.

Which is kind of odd considering his natural charisma and genuine talent.

I'll leave it to people's interpretation why that is.

[Crosby87]

OTE=bennocelt;1828417]A guy called Dana, well there you go, nuff said!:):confused:[/QUOTE]

He Is actually a pretty big guy!

[bennocelt]

With a head full of mush, much like all it seems in the UFC (I had to check it was the UFC and not the WWF for a sec, ha!)

[Spudulika]

Would you actually listen to yourself.

CD, I know, I hate agreeing with a person I vote against! But I know 2 lads from Blanch who are out in Las Vegas, both protested water charges and one of them is on UI (I don't know what it is called now). The same person called me a muppet for answering that my favourite team wasn't EPL!

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

I find it odd that the football team is at its lowest ebb, yet there are two born and bred Irishmen holding championships in the WWE and Conor is now the UFC Interim Featherweight Champion.

You have to admit though. Mayweather v Pacquiao induced sleep. These UFC matches raise the heart rate.