UFC

[bigg jay]

 

[The Unknown Poster]

8 hours ago, bigg jay said:

 

Pretty impressive getting the cops in on the work.  And cancelling three fights at the last minute is dedication.  lol (I know people were joking about this).

There have been speculation about works/shoots in wrestling and MMA before but a good clue is, once cops and courts are involved, it isnt a work.  Same thing happened with Hogan leaving WCW which people still swear was an elaborate work (it wasnt).

Im a very casual UFC fan and this certainly doesnt make me want to buy the show anymore than I did before (I didnt).

[JCon]

Just now, The Unknown Poster said:

Pretty impressive getting the cops in on the work.  And cancelling three fights at the last minute is dedication.  lol (I know people were joking about this).

There have been speculation about works/shoots in wrestling and MMA before but a good clue is, once cops and courts are involved, it isnt a work.  Same thing happened with Hogan leaving WCW which people still swear was an elaborate work (it wasnt).

Im a very casual UFC fan and this certainly doesnt make me want to buy the show anymore than I did before (I didnt).

So, I'm not a conspiracy theorist or anything but how does Connor get into Barclays? He obviously had a pass. Did Dana think that anything good would come from letting Connor into the building? Of course not. He was hoping for controversy and a splash. He was not expecting Connor to lose his mind. He went overboard and ruined a UFC card. 

[The Unknown Poster]

1 minute ago, JCon said:

So, I'm not a conspiracy theorist or anything but how does Connor get into Barclays? He obviously had a pass. Did Dana think that anything good would come from letting Connor into the building? Of course not. He was hoping for controversy and a splash. He was not expecting Connor to lose his mind. He went overboard and ruined a UFC card. 

Sounds about right.  Usually guys, especially name guys, can access venues/events.

One thing UFC sort of struggled with over the years was the line between "hype" and "work".  A few years ago there were people lobbying UFC to hire Paul Heyman to work with guys on promos/hype but they were very reluctant to do anything that seemed too much like a work (even though smart fighters always try to manufacture increased heat for the fights, especially if they get a cut of the PPV revenue).

[bigg jay]

Time to cancel the whole show... 

 

[bigg jay]

20 minutes ago, JCon said:

So, I'm not a conspiracy theorist or anything but how does Connor get into Barclays? He obviously had a pass. Did Dana think that anything good would come from letting Connor into the building? Of course not. He was hoping for controversy and a splash. He was not expecting Connor to lose his mind. He went overboard and ruined a UFC card. 

Dana's version of what happened:

"Conor and approximately 20 guys apparently were let in through the doors by The Mac Life guys (McGregor’s media company), who were credentialed here,” White said. “They opened the doors [at the venue] for him through an entrance, they stormed the building, got down to the loading docks where the fighters were getting on the buses"

https://www.sportsnet.ca/mma/ufcs-dana-white-rips-conor-mcgregor-disgusting-actions/

[JCon]

1 minute ago, bigg jay said:

Dana's version of what happened:

"Conor and approximately 20 guys apparently were let in through the doors by The Mac Life guys (McGregor’s media company), who were credentialed here,” White said. “They opened the doors [at the venue] for him through an entrance, they stormed the building, got down to the loading docks where the fighters were getting on the buses"

https://www.sportsnet.ca/mma/ufcs-dana-white-rips-conor-mcgregor-disgusting-actions/

It's shocking, shocking that McGregor was let in. 

Dana was hoping for a scuffle and for the attention but certainly not what ultimately happened. 

 

But you know, as well as anyone, how unpredictable these fighters can be. You can't reign them in once you let them go. 

[sweep the leg]

11 minutes ago, bigg jay said:

Time to cancel the whole show... 

 

Anthony Pettis now stepping up to fight Khabib. That will be an ugly one-sided beating, if it actually happens. Khabib still has to make weight...

[bigg jay]

19 minutes ago, sweep the leg said:

Anthony Pettis now stepping up to fight Khabib. That will be an ugly one-sided beating, if it actually happens. Khabib still has to make weight...

Looks like Khabib still has not agreed to Pettis so negotiations are on-going.  Pettis weighed in slightly heavy so he's got 2 hours to cut a bit more (only like 0.2lbs).  Khabib came in at 154.5 so he's good.

If that fight does happen, Pettis better hope for a quick KO, he's gonna get mauled otherwise.

[bigg jay]

This gong-show keeps rolling on...  no agreement for the Pettis/Khabib fight so that's out.

NYSAC blocks Felder based on blogger rankings.

And this could cost the UFC a good chunk of change.

 

[Brandon]

What a complete gong show...

Maybe it's me having selective memory... but It seemed like back in the day during the Liddell,  Anderson Silva,  GSP era that fight cards were announced and for the most part nobody dropped out and the shows went on.... 

 

[sweep the leg]

UFC looking like a joke trying to add random fighters to a main event title fight. Felder has no business being in a title fight. They should have paid Pettis more. Trying to save some money and now they might have to scrap a ppv.

Edited April 6, 2018 by sweep the leg

[bustamente]

Any chance they cancel this card, or are there enough quality fights left for a ppv?

[bigg jay]

The woman's title fight would be enough for them to still go on but they have a new opponent for Khabib in Al Iaquinta now.  

Even that comes with a catch though... because Iaquinta weighed in at 155.2lbs for his scheduled fight with Felder, he missed "championship weight" (no extra lb allowance), and can't win the belt. 

[wbbfan]

9 hours ago, bigg jay said:

Time to cancel the whole show... 

 

This is what i thought right away. i wish they had. Just wait for khabib to fight some one reasonable. 

2 hours ago, bigg jay said:

The woman's title fight would be enough for them to still go on but they have a new opponent for Khabib in Al Iaquinta now.  

Even that comes with a catch though... because Iaquinta weighed in at 155.2lbs for his scheduled fight with Felder, he missed "championship weight" (no extra lb allowance), and can't win the belt. 

it seems the UFC intend to honor iaquinta and treat him as the LW champ should he win. 

UFC 2manyshenanigans. 

The original card was one worth paying and going out to see or hosting a night in. the card now, is only worth stealing because of a khabib sighting and the JJ thug rose rematch. I anticipate PPV sales of -3 + about 300k russians. 

[bigg jay]

23 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

it seems the UFC intend to honor iaquinta and treat him as the LW champ should he win. 

Dana has gone back & forth on this.  One interview he says they consider it a title fight for both and in another he says they will figure it out later if Iaquinta wins.

[wbbfan]

6 hours ago, bigg jay said:

Dana has gone back & forth on this.  One interview he says they consider it a title fight for both and in another he says they will figure it out later if Iaquinta wins.

reeling after one of the biggest blunders of a week in ufc history. 

[wbbfan]

The bald one put it out there that brock might get the winner of DC miocic. Kinda makes me ill that he'd skip to that. On the other hand if miocic beats both he'd make a TON of money. I can see him jumping lewis, even though lewis should be more of a focus from the ufc. But if blaydes beats reem no way he should jump over blaydes. And shouldnt jump volkov too. Im fine with brock fighting the sea of washed up gate keeper types, and guys he fought in the past. But a title shot? gimmie a break. Even some one whose lost a bit of steam like lewis or ngannou  is fine. 

[The Unknown Poster]

UFC has a lot of issues. They could be boxing in five years with titles that mean nothing and fights no one cares aboi. 

The timing of this Connor meltdown is even worse as ufc is in the middle of tv negotiations that will effectively decide the future. They were purchased with massive debt servicing on the basis of increased tv rights fees. 

Networks will not be happy with the negative pr. And perhaps worse, it effectively eliminates UFC’s biggest star which hurts their value. 

Probably makes Brock almost a *need* for ufc to show networks they are still bringing in bankable stars. 

I wonder if it makes fox more likely to go with wwe over ufc. 

[FrostyWinnipeg]

 

[wbbfan]

Khabib makes the LW rankings and title even more murky. We have a linear champion, an interim champ who was stripped on very low notice /poor reasons, and another now who beat the 11th ranked guy in the division. 

Some how despite a boxing background from white he has recreated one of the biggest problems in boxing (and an easily avoided one at that) rankings and belts that mean nothing. We now have a WBA WBO and WBC LW champ now we just need another fake belt for the IBF. 

Thug rose only solidified her reign with a UD win over JJ. 

Ufc lost big time this weekend. This was supposed to be a huge event and ended up more of a whimper. They gotta get back to business as usual soon with the biggest draws fighting relevant fights rather then hyped up super fights that lead to nothing.   But with the current state of things now, I fear we will only see them go further down the rabbit hole. prepare for brock vs the winner of stipe/dc, gsp vs silva (or some other none WW champ) diaz vs mcg and all the cm punk you can handle. 

[Brandon]

What made the old PPV's great were that nearly each fight on the card had some meaning and were between well known established fighters.    The undercard would also have known fighters and at least 2 - 3 fights that could be bumped to the main card.    The UFC spreads everything so thin that at times Fox cards are light years more relevant then the PPV cards...   it is a complete mess.       

They do a terrible job these days of building up stars which then results in a bunch of meh interest from the fans.  

Not that this is the best for the sport,  but maybe they should look back at how Pride made people seem larger then life  and take a few lessons on how to get people hyped up. 

[wbbfan]

52 minutes ago, Brandon said:

What made the old PPV's great were that nearly each fight on the card had some meaning and were between well known established fighters.    The undercard would also have known fighters and at least 2 - 3 fights that could be bumped to the main card.    The UFC spreads everything so thin that at times Fox cards are light years more relevant then the PPV cards...   it is a complete mess.       

They do a terrible job these days of building up stars which then results in a bunch of meh interest from the fans.  

Not that this is the best for the sport,  but maybe they should look back at how Pride made people seem larger then life  and take a few lessons on how to get people hyped up. 

Bang on, known guys and or guys with big time potential. IIRC jon jones debuted on the ufc 100 under card. 

Taking any thing from pride (nearly) would be an instant injection of excitement and interest. Idk maybe its even good for mma to have a weaker ufc, stronger bellator One etc and drive up the value of mma not just the ufc. But it feels like crap right now being an mma fan. 

[The Unknown Poster]

Would be one hell of a deal for UFC

Variety reported Tuesday that ESPN and Fox have proposed a multi-network approach to televise the UFC once the organization's existing deal with Fox runs out.

According to the report, ESPN's contribution would be between $120-$180 million a year while Fox would increase its yearly commit to just over $200 million, coming somewhat closer to the reported $400 million a year owners Endeavor were looking for when they purchased the organization for more than $4 billion.

[The Unknown Poster]

So the idea is ESPN wants in on UFC to air upwards of 15 live events on ESPN+, their streaming service.  FOX would spend about $200 million for the regular TV package.

The combined nearly $400 million deal is enormous but could actually hurt UFC because ESPN+ isnt expected to do well so viewership would be low and it could hurt UFC's Fight Pass.

FOX has been interested in WWE as well so it will be interesting to see if they'd take both and use them as complimentary programming (WWE being UFC's lead in years ago is what turned UFC around).

Interestingly, WWE hired UFC's parent company as its negotiators in inking a new TV deal.