The MMA Thread: DON'T ASK 4 STREAMS & NO GIFS- Cannonier, Imavov, Reyes, Rosas on NOW

[spiderjericho]

Ngannu. I applaud the UFC for promoting a new star. But not at the expense of your Champ, especially if said star isn’t ready for prime time. They on some Kimbo ish. They should’ve protected more and let him knock out Travis Brown, Derrick Brunson and tell him behind the scenes to work on his grappling and conditioning.

HW and LHW are extremely shallow. Remember the days of the Strike Force Grand Prix and a semi decent UFC HW division (Junior, Cain, Big Nog, Mir, Struve, Brendan Schaub, Mirko, Gonzaga).

LHW once had Rampage, Rashad, Declining Liddel, Randy Couture, Machida, Hendo, JBJ, etc.

Not sure if it’s a matter of the expansion of divisions but the two divisions that would get the most attention are lacking.

Just so we’re clear WW, MW, LW, and BW are all healthy. They just need to infuse some talent in women’s and heavier divisions.

 

[Vincent Van Goat]

Breh you want ngannu to fight Brunson? That's a crime lol, he's a mw

Destroying overeem, who gave stipe a lot of trouble was reason enough to grant a title shot

The division is trash so giving him the title shot now made a lot of sense. He can still come back quickly too

 

[HEATHEN]

I just wanna see Cain back healthy. If not a potential Cormier v Stipe bout def intrigues me.

I think Cormier can pull it off.

 

[HEATHEN]

Damn is MMA falling off this bad?

Conor with his BS
Can’t find champions to promote
Bad matches

Dana recently did an interview and said he likes the odds of Conor fighting twice this year, Jon Jones fighting, Brock fighting, GSP fighting and a Diaz brother fighting. So take that how you will.

He also thinks they’ll break a million buys twice this year and felt that ‘17 was their best year ever.

 

[blackcease]

Dana recently did an interview and said he likes the odds of Conor fighting twice this year, Jon Jones fighting, Brock fighting, GSP fighting and a Diaz brother fighting. So take that how you will.

He also thinks they’ll break a million buys twice this year and felt that ‘17 was their best year ever.

So they're depending on a guy who's dumb rich and semi-retired right now and seems to have zero interest in defending a belt, a guy who popped for steroids twice among other things, another guy who doesn't like getting hit and is essentially a freakshow who also popped and gave zero ****s about it that we all knew was clearly and probably still is on steroids, a dude that came out of 4 year retirement and to be fair looked good doing it but he's still old, and then two old fighters, one of whom is essentially retired and hasn't won a meaningful fight in years, and the other one who is basically retired too unless he gets a high 7 figure payday which will probably only happen against one guy.

Yeah....they're struggling for star power , no two ways about it. They got some real work to do as far as building new fighters.

Acquiring Strikeforce and Pride and the WEC might have been terrible for them because they can't poach top talent from other known fight organizations anymore. Now they have to build all their fighters in house which it seems like they're not that great at doing.

 

[Vincent Van Goat]

Acquiring strike force, wec and pride is what kept them going and in part played into stealing those new owners blind of money

Of course conor plays into that too but the names from those other orgs propelled them to new heights

 

[blackcease]

Kept them going for the short term, and now it’s causing problems because there aren’t any stars being developed elsewhere, outside of maybe MVP (who they’re handling horribly) and Pico, and maybe Chandler (but he’s probably closer the downside now)

Overall it was bad for the sport

 

[Vincent Van Goat]

For the sport of course it was bad in the sense that it was a monopoly

Good for the sport that all the best were fighting each other, we can legit see who was the best

Good for the UFC because if they didn't poach that top talent they wouldn't be close to the level they've reached now. They had no choice but to absorb other orgs because of the nature of the sport

If they kept their same talent without growing it the company would look horrible and might not have had a future to begin with

 

[shogun]

Never gonna happen as long as Cain is still attempting to get in the octagon

Weird for DC to have that stance since cain would never be around for them to potentially fight each other anyway. Very easy for them to avoid each other in the division.

 

[QU!K]

 

[blackcease]

Good for the sport that all the best were fighting each other, we can legit see who was the best

I think having these fighters all in one org like the UFC cannibalizes the talent.

Nick Diaz doesn't have that crazy run that made him a star if he's in the UFC that whole time. He was basically getting fed mid-tier level strikers and no grapplers, and he would have never had that opportunity if it wasn't for Strikeforce. Yeah he might not have been fighting the best, but it was more fun than whatever is going on in the welterweight division right now. I think alot of guys in those orgs got a good boost from not having to fight the toughest opposition back to back to back. So on one level you'd think having the best of the best all going back and forth in one org would be ideal but I don't know if it's really that ideal in practice. Guys fall by the wayside after getting beat a couple times and get disregarded in the UFC, whereas they could've been the man in other orgs and provided dope, meaningful fights.

Not to mention the fact that we're not always seeing the "best" in the UFC. Top guys get cut or leave, or never get an offer at all (Ben Askren) depending on what Dana thinks about them and their fight styles

Good for the UFC because if they didn't poach that top talent they wouldn't be close to the level they've reached now. They had no choice but to absorb other orgs because of the nature of the sport

If they kept their same talent without growing it the company would look horrible and might not have had a future to begin with

I can agree to that somewhat, but their approach after they acquired all the talent was a step backwards. Part of the problem with the UFC now is all these water down cards that nobody gives a **** about because I guess they figured (incorrectly) that they had a deep enough roster to increase the show schedule. They took something that was special and started to play it out. I know tons of people (myself included honestly) that just aren't into MMA like they used to be. We've been oversaturated with a water down product basically.

Of course a couple key pickups like Conor and Ronda made a huge difference for their bottom line, but I still don't think breaking down those other orgs was great for them in the long run, much less the sport as a whole. They coulda got the top guys/girls regardless just by offering the right money like they've always done before, those other fight leagues helped to build stars I think. And not to say the UFC can't, but they're currently not doing a great job

 

[illphillip]

Breh you want ngannu to fight Brunson? That's a crime lol, he's a mw

Prob meant Lewis.

 

[QU!K]

Weren't most of the UFC Champions former Strikeforce or WEC Fighters at one point?

Rockhold
Cormier
Hendo
Woodley
Alvarez
Aldo
Cruz

 

[P A Z]

also:
Mighty Mouse
Cyborg

 

[blackcease]

Yup. Which is I guess means the UFC was smart to bring them over because they had some strong fighters at the top of the divisions in other orgs, but it doesn’t speak highly to the UFC’s ability to scout and raise talent in their own organization.

 

[bware113]

Weird for DC to have that stance since cain would never be around for them to potentially fight each other anyway. Very easy for them to avoid each other in the division.

I've thought the same, especially with Cain being perpetually injured. I personally don't think he'll clear for a fight later in the year.

Yup. Which is I guess means the UFC was smart to bring them over because they had some strong fighters at the top of the divisions in other orgs, but it doesn’t speak highly to the UFC’s ability to scout and raise talent in their own organization.

Quite frankly they suck at it. Forrest has to be their last true success story. Can we even call Conor a win for the UFC right now?

 

[Cashflow]

 

[jayt1202]

Will be interesting to see who they matchup Chad with considering he's coming off a two year layoff. I could see potential rematches of Swanson or Lamas.

 

[blackcease]

Quite frankly they suck at it. Forrest has to be their last true success story. Can we even call Conor a win for the UFC right now?

I guess the last one would be Jones technically, or maybe Max or Tony Ferguson on a lower level. But yeah, not the greatest track record

Will be interesting to see who they matchup Chad with considering he's coming off a two year layoff. I could see potential rematches of Swanson or Lamas.

Still can't get over this guy getting KO'ed by Frankie. Wondering if the layoff helped him recover or if those fights with Conor and Aldo left him a little chinny

 

[P A Z]

I listened to Tony Ferguson on MMA Hour and my God he's so hard to listen to.

I love watching his fights, but his interviews are a promoter's nightmare.

He says nonsense every 30 seconds, and curses every 5 seconds.

Try listening to this dude for 1 minute:

 

[boxer15]

Cyborg and her crew are all human trash.

And a more thorough article.

 

[Barbados Slim]

Cyborg and her crew are all human trash.

And a more thorough article.

WoW !
Thats foul!

 

[shogun]

Scumbag stuff and so damn stupid. She only has 2 potential opponents in the future and is trying to get one deported? What a moron and someone else’s marriage isn’t her business. Last fight she was accusing holm of steroid use.

 

[Cashflow]

 

[Vincent Van Goat]

God dammit Eddie you should be fighting Poirier

Would have loved to have seen nate vs gaethje

Nate seeing Dana is in need and trying to cash in. Smart