JFrazer
1841
When I said “I don’t disagree with him”, I meant that I don’t disagree that he’s going to lose again if he doesn’t get his ass in training. Mainly because the guy needs to spend every minute he can working on his ground game. Diaz was going to beat him no matter what, I agree with that. But now that people know the formula for beating him, he needs to work on closing that gap enough that he can at least get to his feet and back to where he shines (slugging it out).
For sure, but he’s the one who insisted upon the fight - a fight neither the UFC nor fans really wanted, as he should be instead fighting Edgar for the featherweight belt at UFC200. But the UFC felt they owed him, so they gave him what he wanted, on exactly the terms he wanted (170 instead of 155)…and then he didn’t bother promoting the fight that he wanted? All around not cool, and the UFC has to look at the bigger picture, despite Conor’s popularity and the fact that fans would probably now prefer the fight to occur on the card - but I bet nobody ever tries to skip the promotional responsibilities ever again, after this precedent.
The situation gets even more bizarre, as Conor is clearly frazzled and surprised that his terms weren’t met - he tweeted today that he was back on the card and thanked Dana and the Fortittis and fans…only problem is there hadn’t even been any conversations with the UFC since Friday’s press conference: http://www.torontosun.com/2016/04/25/conor-mcgregor-says-hes-back-on-ufc-200
Jones/Cormier confirmed for UFC 200 main. Yawn.
Way more interesting than seeing Diaz vs Conner again. No idea why people were whining about that not happening.
I disagree, as I don’t think Cormier is competitive and it’ll be as one-sided a fight as it was in their match last year, but at least it’s a title fight that needs to happen. But I was only slightly more interested in Diaz/Conor, largely because I thought Conor would do even worse this time, so I was surprised he fought so hard for that fight and was somewhat intrigued to see if he could overcome his disadvantages vs. Diaz. I think the UFC was quick to cancel the fight because another decisive Conor loss would hurt his marketability.
But was definitely hoping for something more interesting for UFC 200 prior to any fights being announced - like the Dos Anjos/Conor fight, or Conor/Edgar, or Cruz/Edgar, McDonald/Lawlor 3, or Werdun/Fedor or GSP/Lawlor. Diaz/Conor was definitely a big disappointment when announced in the main, but I’m even less interested in another sloppy fight because Cormier/Jones that seems very likely to end in a dull decision.
What a great card tonight. UFC200 has something to live up to now.
Wow
[spoiler]At the face off when the Ref’s talking to them:
Rockhold : “No touching (gloves).”
Bisping : “I’ll touch you in a second motherfucker.”
The Holloway-Lamas fight was good up until the last ten seconds, when it became amazing… 85 year old Dan Henderson went straight up Mortal Kombat on Lombard… Cruz-Faber was a clinic… Some of the undercard was fantastic too. The Lesnar 200 announcement… Crazy night.
Also, because tonight needs to get weirder… Nate Diaz wouldn’t sign a rematch with Conor McGregor unless he got to slap Dana White. So, that happened.[/spoiler]
Great to see Bisping get the spotlight after so many years of being the “bridesmaid” of the UFC. Although Rockhold looked like he didn’t take the match very seriously.
I guess Bisping had been holding down the Q button for 15 years, charging his punch power, because I don’t think anyone saw a first round out-cold KO coming.
Rockhold was super double salty in the post-fight presser too. Then Bisping walked in in the middle of some Rockhold trashtalk and started firing back. When Bisping thanked Luke for the $50,000 bonus cheque Rockhold did the best “grounded teenager being sent to their room” face I’ve ever seen.
Kimbo Slice dead at 42 from apparent heart issues. No surprise given the steroid cocktails he’s likely abused his body with for a long time.
The Bisping/Rockhold trash talk is both amusing and kinda gross - one thing I like about MMA is that it still has the Asian, respectful and honorable martial artist sensibility and I’d hate to see it become more like boxing. I actually wasn’t that surprised that Bisping won - I think he matches up really well against Rockhold, despite Luke being very well rounded, because Luke is so damned slow and Bisping has great speed and is a good counterstriker. I was very surprised that Henderson pulled off a fantastic KO after almost losing the fight in the 1st round.
Great card, which could definitely end up being more entertaining than UFC 200. It’ll be fun to see Lesner back, but I don’t have a lot of interest in seeing him fight Mark Hunt, although it’s difficult to find him a fight that he might possibly win without going pretty deep in the depth charts. Was hoping for Fedor, or since he’ll never go to the UFC, Junior Dos Santos.
This is shocking to me. How can someone go from a fight he did well in (I don’t watch this but I think I read he won and then it was taken away) to that state so quick? Can you explain more about his long term abuse? I only found that he failed one test. It is very sad he leaves behind 6 children and died so young.
He only fought a handful of times as a pro MMA fighter when he was in his mid 30’s already. Hence he probably had many years of shooting up PED’s to screw his body over before he ever started stepping into a cage.
It’s safe to say there was never a Kimbo Slice MMA fight in which “he did well in”, although he got a few wins (often in really pathetic fashion) against elderly or otherwise pathetic opponents. He looked like he was actually going to die from exhaustion in his last fight - I was seriously concerned for his health during it - and his opponent was even more tired and ultimately just lay down to sleep - a truly bizarre experience. Everything about Kimbo was kind of sad. RIP.
This Saturday’s UFC card has one of my most anticipated fight of the year - Thompson vs. MacDonald – two amazing technical strikers and exciting fighters. Plus cowboy Cerrone vs. Cote, at 170, which has me a bit concerned for Cerrone. But I’m more interested in Thompson vs MacDonald than any fight on the UFC 200 card.
Also a Bellator card this week.
jpinard
1853
Wow, that is awful. Is UFC really vigilant about steroids and other PED’s?
Not for most of their history, but in the last year or so they’ve finally given in and started doing the full WADA routine of out-of-competition testing. Several guys have been caught. Several other formerly-dominant fighters have suddenly looked very low-energy in their recent fights.
Actually, the UFC contracts with the USDA for drug testing, so all the testing (and timing of it) is conducted by an unaffiliated third party. Other jurisdictions have third party testing too with some exceptions, notably Brazil, are a little less rigorous.
UFC had a lot of steroid freaks in its early years (guys like Mark Coleman, Vitor Belfort, Phil Baroni, Wanderlei Silva etc. were far bigger than they’d later be when testing became more standard), but even by the mid-2000s the sport had changed a lot.
A lot of the recent changes that Kyle notes are more due to changes in the weight-cutting rules, and the prohibition on using IVs to rehydrate - all part of an effort to try to get fighters to fight at their more natural weight class for health reasons, to avoid dangerously stressing bodies – as well as more frequent issues with making weight.
Those rules are hotly debated currently, and have led to some weird results - just yesterday, New Jersey’s athletic commission went the opposite way of most other commissions by requiring weight-ins on the same day as the fight - that is likely to have the opposite effect on health as intended (all the other commissions have gone the other way and allowed weigh ins earlier than previously to allow more time to naturally rehydrate) and result in fighters fighting when they are dangerously underhydrated.
Desslock - when you say those rules are hotly debated, why would anyone NOT want there to be the best, most strictest rules? Weight cutting has always been a terrible thing. When I was in high school my bandmates were also the core wrestling team. It was appalling to see what they would do to their bodies. Guys passing out in halls around in cut time, a few had seizures.
Do you think the most popular fighters from the last generation used some form of PED’s since it was more lightly regulated? Like Tito Ortiz, Randy Couture, or Chuck Liddell?
I rarely watch MMA any more because its just not as fun as the early days in Japan and early UFC where at times there wasn’t even any weight class, let alone testing. Isn’t Yuki Kondos record a thing of wonder, its like a guide to the pioneers and first big names of MMA, and still going.
The intent isn’t debated, just how to best implement it. i.e. whether testing for IVs is 1100% accurate, whether weigh-in timing should be earlier, or later, etc.
Do you think the most popular fighters from the last generation used some form of PED’s since it was more lightly regulated? Like Tito Ortiz, Randy Couture, or Chuck Liddell?
Don’t know, but certainly wouldn’t be surprised.
Well, Jon Jones is out of UFC 200, which means we’re down to 2 main cards now. Disappointing. Jones vs Cormier was going to be epic.
Amazingly, they got Anderson Silva to fill in for Jones, which is a much, much more interesting fight for me, although it’s quite possible that Silva won’t be competitive. I was never excited about Jones/Cormier 2, as the first fight was predictable and boring, and the rematch was extremely likely to be another boring 5 round grindfest. While Cormier/Silva is a crazy dream matchup that likely would never have otherwise happened.
Every fight on UFC 200 could be the main event of any other card - just an amazing lineup. They did the right thing making the Tate defence the main event, instead of Lesnar as initially announced, although that’s probably the least interesting fight.
