Mega Thread 'The Notorious' Conor McGregor

[FlowersByIrene]

How would McGregor go against Khabib...
Because if McGregor stays at 155 it's a big chance of happening in the next couple of years.

Yeah that's why I want the Alvarez fight to happen because McGregor would obviously struggle against any strong wrestlers/jui-jitsu legends. Always needs to knock those types out early and I don't see Khabib falling that easy as he is a brute of a man.

Whereas Alvarez will be a first round KO, as will Aldo.

 

[Guy Threepwood]

How would McGregor go against Khabib...
Because if McGregor stays at 155 it's a big chance of happening in the next couple of years.

Khabib is a bit wild on the feet, so as long as it was there Conor would have a very good chance of catching him. His grappling is next level though and if he can get to the clinch with Conor, the fight is hitting the mat and staying there.

 

[BradWCE]

So the UFC is saying McGregor's injured and can't fight at UFC 205. Then there are others' reporting that McGregor will be fine for UFC 205.

Sounds a lot like the whole UFC 200 situation to me. The UFC wants to keep control firmly in their hands and not concede more to McGregor.

Something that I hadn't really thought about until now is how Lesnar was put on the UFC 200 card way after McGregor was taken off it. The reason that McGregor was taken off the card was because he wouldn't show up to a press conference, or the way the UFC put it was that McGregor wouldn't take part in his promotional responsibilities. Lesnar managed to skip those and end up on the card. He even got a pass on the 4 month USADA stipulation. So I guess the UFC realised that the UFC 200 card wasn't big enough without McGregor, and frantically got Lesnar on the card.

It seems like McGregor wants to fight on the UFC 205 card, but the UFC won't have it. I recall the view that the UFC wasn't losing money taking McGregor off of the UFC 200 card because he'd fight on a card not long after. Now they might not be letting him fight at UFC 205 and pushing his next fight back. Clearly they're losing money now. You keep pushing fights back by a month or two and it'll add up. You'll only get 2 fights in a certain period of time, instead of 3. With McGregor 1 fight makes a huge difference for the UFC financially.

I can't stand McGregor. I think I've made that pretty clear. However, when it's him vs the UFC I'm going to be firmly on his side unless something very clearly puts him in the wrong. I just don't get the fans who side with the UFC. A fighter gets this huge and you're siding with the one's who want to keep all the power on their side and continue to keep most of the money for themselves. It happens in all sports, which I'll never understand. "**** those millionaires making all that money playing sport". Meanwhile, there are billionaires making money off of the sacrifices those millionaires have made. And fighters being on the UFC's side is bizarrely short-sighted.

 

[BradWCE]

How would McGregor go against Khabib...
Because if McGregor stays at 155 it's a big chance of happening in the next couple of years.

It's a very interesting fight to think about.

Khabib's not a technical marvel on the feet. Whenever the fight's standing, there's a real chance that McGregor lands heavy strikes. I think I've said before that McGregor has a chance at the beginning of every round, but Khabib would quickly grab hold of him and dominate the round if he doesn't get KO'd at the start of the round.

Now I'm rethinking that. Khabib isn't someone who takes you down, holds you down and beats you up on the mat for 3/4 minutes. He takes you down multiple times in a round. Maybe against McGregor he would realise on the feet is where he's in danger and he'd make sure he keeps McGregor grounded to avoid it. Maybe not. Maybe McGregor can get back up and Khabib would need to take him down multiple times per round. That would give McGregor more opportunities to land big strikes on Khabib.

In Khabib's last fight he got takedowns and kept his opponent down for long periods at a time. That fight was a big mismatch though. In other fights he's taken his opponent down over and over again. The best example of this is his fight with Trujillo. He took him down a staggering 21 times. The 2nd round was the round that he got the least takedowns in, with only 5 that round lol.

 

[Nickos66]

How's he do it? Keeps it standing and knocks him out? Maybe.

Pretty much.

Khabib's historically rushed in with his arms out wide too when he strikes so I could see him getting caught right on the button pretty easily against a good, powerful striker.

 

[Guy Threepwood]

Now I'm rethinking that. Khabib isn't someone who takes you down, holds you down and beats you up on the mat for 3/4 minutes. He takes you down multiple times in a round. Maybe against McGregor he would realise on the feet is where he's in danger and he'd make sure he keeps McGregor grounded to avoid it. Maybe not. Maybe McGregor can get back up and Khabib would need to take him down multiple times per round. That would give McGregor more opportunities to land big strikes on Khabib.

That fight was a bit of an anomaly and came against a guy who is a good wrestler in his own right. From memory, Khabib spent a lot of time hanging off Trujillo's back like a leech and would trip/slam him down only to have Abel pop right back up. His more recent fights against vey good grapplers (Healy and dos Anjos) he combined for 11 take downs in 6 rounds. I don't have confidence that McGregor would have the same ability to create scrambles or spring back to his feet as those three do, so one or two takedowns per round would likely suffice.

Completely agree on the stand up side of things though as I said in my post. Conor hits like a truck, even at lightweight and I can't really recall Khabib having his chin tested too much so it would make for a very interesting first couple of rounds.

 

[YippeeYiYeo]

Mcgregor is the latest Ronda Rousey/Brock Lesnar - a one trick pony that has claimed the title with a bit of luck. Its obvious the dude has no stamina. Just like Ronda having shit standup, like Brock having shit stand up, there is a massive hole in Mcgregors game and every opponent from here on will exploit the shit out of it.

Will be gone from the sport in less than 3 years. Bookmark it.

 

[FlowersByIrene]

One trick pony? 95% of the fighters in the UFC are one trick ponys then.

 

[Barry Roundhouse]

Mcgregor is the latest Ronda Rousey/Brock Lesnar - a one trick pony that has claimed the title with a bit of luck. Its obvious the dude has no stamina. Just like Ronda having shit standup, like Brock having shit stand up, there is a massive hole in Mcgregors game and every opponent from here on will exploit the shit out of it.

Will be gone from the sport in less than 3 years. Bookmark it.

Mcgregors defensive wrestling is light years ahead of Brock and Rondas striking and he doesnt have bad BJJ at all, its not elite but it isnt horrible.

Also his stamina really isnt that bad. Diaz tagged him hard and rocked him in the first fight and he was very comparable in terms of fatigue to diaz in the 2nd. Afterall, he outworked diaz in the 4th round after being peppered for 5 minutes in the 3rd.

Could he be out of the UFC in 3 years? Possibly, im pretty sure his even said he wants to get rich and get out. Will he lose some fights in the next few years, almost certainly.

One trick pony? Strongly disagree.

 

[Dan]

Mcgregor is the latest Ronda Rousey/Brock Lesnar - a one trick pony that has claimed the title with a bit of luck. Its obvious the dude has no stamina. Just like Ronda having shit standup, like Brock having shit stand up, there is a massive hole in Mcgregors game and every opponent from here on will exploit the shit out of it.

Will be gone from the sport in less than 3 years. Bookmark it.

Those names you mentioned have all been belt wearing champions in their weight division. People/fighters like to point out others flaws but have zero answers for what makes them great and successful.

 

[DazalenkoUBewty]

Funny as...

 

[bkozican]

Just defend the ******* 145 strap or vacate it...geez

 

[BradWCE]

Like I've said, I can't stand McGregor. But come on. Some people can't be objective about him at all. I wasn't giving him enough credit a while back, but everyone should realise how good he is now.

No stamina is ridiculous to say. That's based on him fighting Nate Diaz twice. It was a bad stylistic match-up for McGregor. That led to him having to fight Diaz in a fight that Diaz excels in for large chunks of both fights. In the 2nd fight it went 5 rounds and he won a close decision. And in the 2nd fight both men slowed down considerably. McGregor's stamina isn't his best asset, but it's so far from 'no stamina'.

Comparing him to Lesnar and Rousey is weird. What Rousey and Lesnar achieved was amazing, but they did it in very weak divisions. Imagine someone with Lesnar's or Rousey's skillsets at Men's 145 pounds. There's no way they rise the division like he did and they would have basically no hope against Jose Aldo. McGregor's a great MMA striker, decent at defending takedowns and a decent mat grappler. Not really comparable to Lesnar and Rousey at all imo.

 

[BradWCE]

This is hilarious. Mayweather would embarrass McGregor in a boxing fight and Mayweather knows it.

I've heard about Skip Bayless, but haven't paid much attention to him. From what I've seen others say, he says all sorts of stupid nonsense and people tune in to listen to it so they can tell him he's full of shit. So people basically do what I'm doing, but on a larger scale. Sounds like Bayless has a nice gig.

 

[FlowersByIrene]

Alvarez V McGregor confirmed for 205, lol Dana plz.. first round KO of Alvarez likely

Sent from my SM-N910G using Tapatalk

 

[Dignan]

Well, 205 is absolutely ******* stacked. What a card.

Alvarez V McGregor confirmed for 205, lol Dana plz.. first round KO of Alvarez likely

Sent from my SM-N910G using Tapatalk

Alvarez is a tough, tough dude. McGregor could very well TKO him, but I highly doubt it finishes that early.

 

[BradWCE]

UFC decided they'd rather make money than show McGregor who's boss this time.

 

[FlowersByIrene]

UFC decided they'd rather make money than show McGregor who's boss this time.

Yep, McGregor is boss, as it should be.

 

[Nickos66]

Yep, McGregor is boss, as it should be.

Does your mouth ever get tired from tongue-punching Connor's fart box so much?

 

[BradWCE]

Haha

I'm a big fan of a lot of fighters. I really don't get the way some people worship certain ones though. Half expecting McGregor to become a god of some official religion in the near future.

It's the worst with McGregor because he's become the biggest star in the sport. There are Diaz fans who are just as bad but there's not nearly as many of them. Same goes with a lot of fighter's fans, but they're just completely dwarfed by the amount of McGregor fans.

 

[Dan]

Still prefer the Aldo fight but this will do.

 

[BradWCE]

I think it's time to give up any hope of McGregor/Aldo 2. At 145 anyway. Aldo wants that fight and he'll have to move up to get it.

McGregor's not going back to 145. He beats Alvarez and there's just no way he does. Maybe if he loses there's a very slim chance he cuts down to 145.

Ater losing to Diaz the UFC said he has to go down to 145 and defend his title. He didn't. After he beats Diaz they said he has to give up the title or return to 145. He keeps his title and gets to fight at 155 for that title.

McGregor loses to Alvarez and he'll get another big fight at any weight. Why would he go back to 145? I just don't see it happening. He loses to Alvarez and he'll probably get an immediate rematch lol.

 

[BradWCE]

Now that I've thought about it some more. Who cares that they didn't strip McGregor of the FW title just yet? There is the UFC coming out and saying publicly a number of times that he has to defend his belt in his next fight. Someone should pull the UFC up on that.

Nate Diaz said it best - the belts are fairy tales. Whether they strip him or not, we all know that at this very moment he's the best 145 pound fighter (if he ever goes back there). Aldo being the interim champion or undisputed champion would make no real difference right now.

McGregor's fighting outside the weight division where he's the champion, but his last fight at 145 wasn't really that long ago. Eventually he can't be the champion at 145 any longer. You have to strip him at some stage. If he hasn't fought at 145 for over a year while being very active outside the division, then you have to think it's time he either gives up the belt or defends it in his next fight.

The only thing is that I'm confident McGregor has no interest in ever going back to 145. He's going to want to keep the title for as long as he possibly can. Eventually it'll be clear that he's not going back to 145 and then it'll be obvious that he can't remain the champion.

Him and some of his fans seem to think that he's cleaned out the division. He did something that is really difficult. He climbed the division and won the title by defeating one of MMA's best fighters of all time. What he hasn't done is cleaned out the division. Winning the title is tough, but defending it multiple times is even tougher. There's a rematch with Aldo, a rematch with Holloway and a fight with Edgar that would tell us a lot about him. Defending your title 3 times in impressive fashion against the top guys in the division would essentially clean out the division.

 

[Dan]

I'll be interested to hear what Dana has to say at the 205 press conference. He's been steadfast since 202 that McGregor had to defend or drop his belt. Maybe McGregor signed a contract for the Alvarez fight with a stipulation cause regarding his 145 belt?

 

[Joker91]

As far as which title McGregor would give up, White wouldn’t speculate although most believe the Irishman would struggle to get back down to 145 pounds after two fights at welterweight against Nate Diaz and now a matchup with Alvarez in the lightweight division.

“That’s a good question. That’s what we’ll figure out,” White said when speaking to ESPN about which title McGregor would give up. “He’s got some stuff going on right now, some personal stuff that he’ll announce when he’s ready. This fight made sense.”

What is that suppose to mean?