HeartBreakKid wrote:You said in an earlier post that you do not know that much about the sport, yet you know enough to know when a a fight is fixed?
No, that's not what i said. I said i don't consider myself an EXPERT, which is far from meaning the same as 'i dont know much'. Are you an expert? You could be, for all i know. What are your credentials?
The UFC is filled with their stars getting upset or rising stars having their momentum stopped. They would not need to fix a tune up fight...it is a TUNE up fight. Do you think that billion dollar prize fighting promotions do not know how tune up fights work? There is no point in booking a tune up fight if you're going to just pay the guy to lay down.
UFC wasn't selling this as a tune up fight. Everyone, including Dana White were preaching how this is a legit and evenly matched contest. Of course, he's not going to go public saying "yeah guys, Cowboy is just showing up for a payday, he has no intention of winning, Conor obviously needs to win for his comeback, so that's why we've booked this fight..."
Dana was never going to book a top opponent for Conor's first fight back. Why? Because Conor needed to put a W in his record after going without one for 4 years and coming off an embarrassing defeat against Khabib. Which would be fine, if they actually booked someone who was willing to at least fight and be competitive. Cowboy wasn't, and both camps including Dana were aware of this. Not only that, but that's exactly what they wanted. A free win where Conor goes unscathed and can fight again in a couple of months. You can call this a 'tune up' fight, and you wouldn't be wrong in a sense, but where this crosses a line into being rigged is when the outcome is already predetermined and the other fighter doesn't show up with the intention of putting up ANY fight. A tune up fight means a weaker opponent who still tries. This wasn't what happened here. Cowboy signed up to give Conor a free win where he wasn't allowed to fight back. This is the definiton of rigged.
You just said a fighter who is looking to KO a guy early is the worst possible stylistic nightmare for a grinder who is looking to take you into deep water? An early starters worse possible match up is a grinder?? The worst possible match up for Khabib would be a striker who doesn't have knockout power or a ground game and looks to take you into deep water....not a striker with major ko power, who has takedown defense and early. Khabib is a much bigger nightmare for someone like Edson Barboza, who is not a similar fighter to Conor McGregor.
Lol, you literally said the worst possible matchup for someone like Khabib is a guy that can't KO and has no ground game... So a sorry ass amateur that can't even fight? Duh. We are talking about elite fighters here. I'm not trying to say Conor can't win vs. Khabib. Conor has KO potential against ANYONE... that's why he is one of the greatest fighters in UFC history. Why i said Khabib is a matchup nightmare is because Khabib is THE BEST at forcing the fight to the ground. He's by far the best at takedowns and the best at keeping you on the ground... And this means less opportunity to KO, since most of your time and energy is spent getting Khabib off you so you can stand up... which is where Conor wants to be.
I am going to just go back to what I said before. You see that Conor is a striker with no grappling or wrestling background, therefore, you probably think that a wrestler is going to be his heel. Which isn't true in highlevel MMA.
No, i don't think Conor has no takedown defense or can't grapple. I said he doesn't want to do that, which should be evident if you watched him fight enough recently. And he especially doesn't want to be doing that vs. Khabib, since Khabib has proven capable of taking down and/or submitting pretty much anyone he's faced. Also, you completely ignored another very important aspect i mentioned, which was the stamina difference between Khabib and Conor. Khabib can maul you 5 rounds straight no problem. Conor has had stamina issues in the past, and while he can survive the full distance he becomes less dangerous by the round. And we haven't seen him survive 5 rounds of mauling. Because nobody does that at that high of a level aside from Khabib. And we seen how that fight played out.
Khabib is the worst possible stylistic nightmare for Conor, when Conor is probably the only guy to get a round off of Khabib in how long?
Idk, but that was a pure 'technical' round where Khabib was feeling himself and decided to engage in some boxing to prove a point. And even then i thought that round was basically a standstill. Not in any second in that round did Khabib look in trouble, rattled or in anyway not under complete control. Next round Khabib decided to go back to the plan and Conor couldn't do anything to prevent it. Conor has adequate wrestling and takedown defense vs. most of the fighters, enough so that he can dictate the terms of the fight for long enough to KO or seriously hurt his opponent. But Khabib is in a league of his own when it comes to takedown ability and keeping you locked on the ground. There's a reason he's undefeated doing just that, and Conor proved no more capable than anyone else. And despite 'technically' taking a round off him, Khabib was winning from start to finish.
