Some of you guys are missing the point.  The UFC is a business.  This isn't the Olympics.  Conor gets special treatment just like Ronda Rousey.

Guess what, Conor has earned special treatment.  He plays ball with the UFC and works WITH the UFC each and everytime it came to promoting fights.

Take a look at this list of PPV buys.  Since is every PPV since Conor first signed with the UFC.  Look at what the most dominant champs (Aldo, Johnson) did compared to McGregor.  The numbers don't lie.

04/27/2013  UFC 159  Jones vs Sonnen  530,000
05/25/2013  UFC 160  Velasquez vs Bigfoot II  380,000
06/15/2013  UFC 161  Henderson vs Evans  140,000
07/06/2013  UFC 162  Silva vs Weidman  550,000
08/03/2013  UFC 163  Aldo vs Jung  180,000
08/31/2013  UFC 164  Henderson vs Pettis  270,000
09/21/2013  UFC 165  Jones vs Gustafsson  310,000
10/19/2013  UFC 166  Velasquez vs JDS III  330,000
11/16/2013  UFC 167  GSP vs Hendricks  630,000
12/28/2013  UFC 168  Weidman vs Silva II  1,025,000
02/01/2014  UFC 169  Barao vs Faber II  230,000
02/22/2014  UFC 170  Rousey vs McMann  350,000
03/15/2014  UFC 171  Hendricks vs Lawle  r300,000
04/26/2014  UFC 172  Jones vs Teixeira  350,000
05/24/2014  UFC 173  Barao vs Dillashaw  215,000
06/14/2014  UFC 174  Johnson vs Bagautinov  115,000
07/05/2014  UFC 175  Weidman vs Machida  545,000
08/02/2014  UFC 176  Aldo vs Mendes II  Canceled
08/30/2014  UFC 177  Dillashaw vs Soto  125,000
09/27/2014  UFC 178  Johnson vs Cariaso  205,000
10/25/2014  UFC 179  Aldo vs Mendes II  180,000
11/15/2014  UFC 180  Werdum vs Hun  t185,000
12/06/2014  UFC 181  Hendricks vs Lawler II  400,000
01/03/2015  UFC 182  Jones vs Cormier  800,000
01/31/2015  UFC 183  Silva vs Diaz  650,000
02/28/2015  UFC 184  Rousey vs Zingano  600,000
03/14/2015  UFC 185  Pettis vs Dos Anjos  310,000
04/25/2015  UFC 186  Johnson vs Horiguch  i125,000
05/23/2015  UFC 187  Johnson vs Cormier  375,000
06/13/2015  UFC 188  Velasquez vs Werdum  300,000
07/11/2015  UFC 189  McGregor vs Mendes  825,000
08/01/2015  UFC 190  Rousey vs Correia  900,000
09/05/2015  UFC 191  Johnson vs Dodson II  115,000
10/03/2015  UFC 192  Cormier vs Gustafsson  250,000
11/15/2015  UFC 193  Rousey vs Holm  1,100,000
12/12/2015  UFC 194  Aldo vs McGregor  1,200,000
01/02/2016  UFC 195  Lawler vs Condit  300,000
03/05/2016  UFC 196  McGregor vs Diaz  1,600,000
04/23/2016  UFC 197  Jones vs St. Preux  425,000
05/14/2016  UFC 198  Werdum vs Miocic  350,000
06/04/2016  UFC 199  Rockhold v Bisping 2  320,000
07/09/2016  UFC 200  Tate v Nunes1,  200,000
07/30/2016  UFC 201  Lawler v Woodley  240,000
08/20/2016  UFC 20  2McGregor v Diaz 2  1,650,000

 
Tyron Woodley would skullfuck McGregor. Just like Tyron Woodley would skullfuck Nate Diaz. McGregor is talented as fuck, and I love watching him fight. But let's not get ridiculous here.

Well, yeah.

Bisping, Cormier and Miocic would have a chance too.

Phantom24: Who exactly is the UFC hiding him from?

Beat Brimage, Holloway, Brandau, Poirier on the way up.

Trained for Aldo who bitched out... fuck it he'll fight Mendez... whooped his ass.

Jose finally showed up, whooped his ass.

Trained for Dos Anjos who bitched out... fuck it he's fighting Nate... got his ass whooped.

"Humble in victory and defeat..." He wants to fight Nate again, get's his way and eeks out a win @ 170.

Back to 155... trains to fight Alvarez who actually shows up and whoops his ass.

Oh and BTW he made the UFC record stacks of cash along the way.

This is fucking GD. Getting ridiculous is what we do.

Eta: Answered in red.

He should stay at 155. Looked good.

 
You have left me with only one response... Fucking teeners.

dafuq

Yeah....that was original.

Join date has a lot to do with the discussion at hand.

 
No, you're stupid bullshit on the discussion at hand has led us to the end result of the only explanation for said bullshit has to be because you're a teener.

 
Well first off let's properly frame this discussion.






Ronda Rousey hype train was a combo of feminism and salesmanship, coupled with a division that's 15 years behind the male side. Rousey is pretty (not beautiful and I'm not saying that but I wouldn't be embarrassed to fuck her either), she's nasty AF when she gets ahold of you, she sells herself like a boss, and the UFC wanted their women's division to be economically viable. She wasn't spoon fed opponents any more than early world class grapplers on the men's side were, she was just THAT much better than everyone else. And anyone who cares and studies the sport saw, sprinting across the cage to grapple your opponent isn't sustainable but The hyperbole from the UFC worked in so far as their goal was to sell tickets. Whether we want to admit it or not this isn't the NFL, people aren't going to tune in every week regardless. The fight has to be sold, just like boxing Ali made some incredibly wild and outlandish claims as well.






Having covered that let's move onto McGregor, yes he was spoon fed some opponents to garner hype Dennis Siever being the most egregious example and Aldo is known more for his anti-wrestling than his wrestling. Which is the model McGregor is emulating, and there is no reason to believe based on past history and obvious adaptability that Mac can't emulate the same level of success. He's constantly improving his game, he passed on 200 because A) he wanted to be more of THE star and B) he was shoring up the issues you're complaining he cant overcome. This was obvious in his fight with Diaz and Alvarez.






Furthermore, you can't fault him for beating Champions of divisions, and trying to make the false comparison that he's coddled using Anderson Silva as an example is just silly. The UFC was trying to expand their market share at the time, they were not covered on ESPN at the time it was still banned in a bunch of states, Pride had died like 1 year ago, and Forrest Griffin of Ultimate Fighter fame was the light heavyweight champion. Who you'll remember had one of the most entertaining and widely watched MMA fight EVER in the USA. They weren't going to start pitting stars against each other at that point in time.




ETA fixed lightweight to light heavyweight stupid autocorrect


 

ETA 2: you can't blame him for beating champions of divisions, because he's not the first and certainly won't be the last coddled entertaining  professional fighter. The proof comes when they beat champions, top 5 opponents, and move up in weight and win. See Aldo, Alvarez, Diaz, and Mendes.

Damn, the hate really flows through you.

Let me see if I got this straight...

Connor is only where he is because he's been the benefactor of a bunch of lucky/big shots and being spoon few champions (and their alternatives) along the way?

C'mon man.

Saturday's FOTN:



Lovin those illegal elbows

Article I read this morning says CM doesn't want to fight Khabib because he fails to show(true), and that he has only fought once in eight years(?). Sherdog shows he has fought numerous times since joining UFC.

I don't know much about the guy, but his record is impressive as was his performance at 205.

 
Cyborg is basically a man after all the roids she took, refused to come down to Rousey's weight class, and wasn't in the UFC until AFTER Rousey lost the title. She wasn't "protected" from her stop saying stupid things if you want people to take you seriously. Yes she was 'exposed' by Holmes, that doesn't mean she is now incapable of beating anybody. Utter stupidity like that is the reason I stopped posting at Bloody Elbow.


I don't think you understand how the fight game works, I'm not being critical here I legitimately don't think you've ever had someone explain how this works before. If you think McGregor is the only champion/top5 fighter/ champion challenger etc who's been served up good matchup to add to their highlight real, or that that is even a rare occurrence you're not paying attention.


I was able to tell you who the Lightheavyweight champion was when Silva fought James Irvin and your conclusion is I don't know what I'm talking about. And you wonder why people in this thread have resorted to calling you a teener instead of arguing anymore. For the record, he and Silva fought over a year later when Griffin's opponent pulled out and Lyoto Machida was LHC, which would be a terrible fight to watch. This was well after it was obvious Griffin would never be LHC again, so do you get my point, it wasn't champion star vs champion star. It was building up a champion star using a past his prime star, spoonfeeding him an opponent to build hype if you will


You touched my feelings certainly, my feelings of incredulity, derision, and utter WTF is this dude babbling about.


Excuses, Excuses, Excuses.

Conor is a great fighter and a smart businessman


Hard to not like the dude, he backs up his talk

 
When I first read that I thought you were referrring to CM Punk Khabib might actually kill him so any excuse he could come up with!


No he has fought much more frequently than that he fought 7 times in 2011, he got hurt in  2014 and wasn't able to fight again until April 16

No , I'm just not drinking the kool-aid.

What I hate is a guy(Khabib) can go undefeated his whole career.  Won every fight in the ufc since signing in 2011, and gets passed up on a title shot for a guy who has never had a fight in that division. How about Tony Ferguson? Won 12 of his 13 fights since coming to the ufc in 2011.....no title shot.  And Connor has a kid on the way now. Probably take some time off. Set those two up next so they kill each other and McGregor gets another pass.

What I hate is a guy who taps out in the second round, to a guy who took the fight on 10 days notice, after he was chillin on the beach in Mexico. Then gets an immediate rematch. Holding up the 45 title.

What I hate is a guy getting a title shot when he hasn't competed in the division. Why didn't Anderson get this treatment after beating up on several light heavyweights? How bout Jones?  Here I am advocating for jones and Silva, neither I've ever routed for.

What I hate is Aldo gets injured backs out...oh what a bitch ass pussy!
Dos Anjos gets injured backs out...oh what a bitch ass pussy!
McGregor throws tantrum backs out...oh smart move what a business man.

I could go on...bottom line is he is given special treatment and has had a selected path to the titles.

Woodly would be a better fight for connor than khabib in my opinion

Well fuck no he don't wanna fight him...he'd get his ass kicked!!!

Eta: Response to clause. My statements in red.

Cyborg is basically a man after all the roids she took, refused to come down to Rousey's weight class, and wasn't in the UFC until AFTER Rousey lost the title. She wasn't "protected" from her stop saying stupid things if you want people to take you seriously. Yes she was 'exposed' by Holmes, that doesn't mean she is now incapable of beating anybody. Utter stupidity like that is the reason I stopped posting at Bloody Elbow.

Wont argue the man thing. Her being a man is exactly why they didn't fight and she was never brought over.
At that time Ronda was the cash cow.  So she was protected.  She will not beat anybody that utilizes the same strategy as holmes.  She has no stand up and doesn't like to get hit.  Add the fact that now she's been ktfo...she's done.

I don't think you understand how the fight game works, I'm not being critical here I legitimately don't think you've ever had someone explain how this works before. If you think McGregor is the only champion/top5 fighter/ champion challenger etc who's been served up good matchup to add to their highlight real, or that that is even a rare occurrence you're not paying attention.

Oh I understand exactly how the fight game works.  I've been in it since 08.  The same shit goes on at the local levels.  It's why I don't respect Connor.  He's not a real fighter.  He's had a sheltered path.


I was able to tell you who the Lightheavyweight champion was when Silva fought James Irvin and your conclusion is I don't know what I'm talking about. And you wonder why people in this thread have resorted to calling you a teener instead of arguing anymore. For the record, he and Silva fought over a year later when Griffin's opponent pulled out and Lyoto Machida was LHC, which would be a terrible fight to watch. This was well after it was obvious Griffin would never be LHC again, so do you get my point, it wasn't champion star vs champion star. It was building up a champion star using a past his prime star, spoonfeeding him an opponent to build hype if you will

So then why didn't Anderson ever get the gsp fight? How about the jones fight?

You touched my feelings certainly, my feelings of incredulity, derision, and utter WTF is this dude babbling about.

I said Connor has had a selected path and was spoon fed.  You in your own post agreed.  Yet you wonder what I'm babbling about?

Neither is a good fight for Connor.  People don't realize how much size is a factor.

Connor is BIG for a 145er and that's where he belongs.  Sure he can beat a few selected guys at 155 but any real competitor will ruin him.  Don't even think about 170.  

I hate when people say he came to 170 to fight diaz.  Because diaz is not a true 170 lb fighter. Roy Mcdonald tossed him like a rag doll when he stepped up to welterweight. To think that division wouldn't do the same to Connor is ludacaris.

His reign at 155 will be short if he ever has to defend  his title.

Lots of disagreement in here.

I think we can all agree that we hate Michael Bisping, amirite?

Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile

Yep !

 
Yeah.  Rousey was definitely legit.  She wasn't "protected" she was just the first in the next evolution of the women's game.  As the sport gets more popular you have better and better quality athletes joining.  Same thing happened to the men's game.  People like Matt Hughes and Rich Franklin came in and dominated for a while, and then a better class of athletes like Anderson Silva came through.  Rousey was legit dominant for the time she was champ.  It's just that better fighters are joining every day.  Now she is one of several top tier fighters who could each win on any given Saturday.  

 
Again so we agree she wasn't protected from anybody, Cyborg wasn't in her weight class, a serial cheater, and wasn't even in the freaking promotion!


This is part of why I don't know what you're babbling about, you said something obviously false to sound edgy.




I was never on the Rousey hype train, I actually watched her fight and knew anybody who followed Holmes strategy could beat her. But get one thing through your apparently very thick skull SHE FOUGHT EVERYBODY WORTH FIGHTING AND NONE OF THEM TRIED WHAT HOLMES TRIED! She wasn't sheltered her opponents were idiots, there's a difference.


Again this is very obvious to anybody who follows the sport, so I don't know what you're babbling about because you said something provably false to sound edgy




THE LOCAL LEVEL?? Are you serious right now? It happens at all levels in all fighting sports. I challenge you right now to check the W-L-D record of all the current UFC champions and tell me there isn't a softball on there, in the run up to them taking the title or a title defense.


Stipe - Mark Hunt


Jones - Brandon Vera, Vladamir Matyushenko, Chael Sonnen, OVP


Bisping - I don't have the time to list them all


Woodley - Josh Koschek, Dong Hyng Kim,


Cruz - Takeya Mizugak, Urijah Faber


Johnson - too many to count the division is weak AF




The above are simply the most obvious examples I could see at a quick perusal, plenty of names on all of their records that look impressive on first glance are in reality easy stylistic matchups for them. So if you're going to apply this same level of nitpicking to Connor do it to all of them. Was Anderson Silva exposed as a fraud when Weidman beat him? Absolutely not, but lets be honest all Anderson was a counter fighter with incredible reflexes. When they weren't feeding him guys that would charge him his fights were boring AF. Remember the Diaz fight?




Again this is very obvious to anybody who follows the sport, so I don't know what you're babbling about because you said something provably false to sound edgy




Uhh because GSP turned it down, what's the question Again, I don't understand your logic. How does Silva vs JBJ make sense? JBJ was the one on top / almost on top again. It's not impressive for a Champ to take out a past his prime star in a LOWER WEIGHT DIVISION. That's not how this works, if he wins it doesn't matter. If he loses there will always be an unexplainable black mark on his record.




Again this is very obvious to anybody who follows the sport, so I don't know what you're babbling about because you said something provably false to sound edgy


 

 
Ahh now I see the problem, you're pissy that the Ruskie Mr. I-literally-don't-understand-what-kickboxing-even-means-and-I'm-always-injured Nurmagomedov hasn't gotten a title shot.

Did you not see my post at the very top of the page?  This can't be that hard to comprehend.  McGregor has now set 2 if not 3 PPV records.  The UFC isn't a 501c3.  IT'S A BUSINESS.  He makes them piles of money and they give him latitude.  He didn't pull out of UFC 200.  He wanted time to train and didn't want to leave Iceland and fly back and forth to Vegas for a presser.  He just did the gigantic world tour for Aldo that was meaningless because Aldo pulled out.

 
Nobody's logic, business savvy, or accomplishments mean anything to Phantom24 if they stand in the way of him proving his point

Congrats to Connor and his camp on an amazing accomplishment , these guys continue to deliver ,hats off to you fellas . As for my performance , the only thing I can honestly say was I fucking blew it ... I did nothing I trained , I did the complete opposite of what we planned on a daily basis for 10 weeks . To sum up our plan in a sentence it was "Go left and mostly wrestle " instead I circled into his left hand and mostly boxed . Fighting the way I did was a for sure death sentence and the result was fitting . I say it all the time, there is really small margin for error at this level and I paid for my mistakes . I managed to make it to the biggest stage and audience in my long career and fucked it all up when I arrived , my heart sincerely hurts and when I dwell on it I fill up with regret and anger . If there was a list of what not to do against an Opponent of this nature I did them all on Saturday . I am disappointed in myself and this is not a reflection of my coaches , training Partners , and the endless hours of training I commit to this sport . Every Time I get into the cage I negotiate being vulnerable and possibly embarrassed against the opportunity to do something great and Grow more . I always choose the latter regardless of the uncomfortability and anxiety it brings to me , I think this choice is the only reason I ever succeeded in the first place . I thought in my head at least making a lot of money would make me happy but I am having a lot of trouble enjoying myself regardless of the check thats going to be written , I am very uneasy and discontent for the most part . I am lucky to have my wife and my child at a time like this to help me laugh and smile and let me know everything's gonna be all right , they are my saving Grace , without them I am a shell of a man . Besides the outcome I thoroughly enjoyed fight week and the lead up , it was a lot fun . I have never defined myself off one win and I'll never define myself off one loss ,I simply had a bad night .. I'll have the opportunity again to have a good one ,, and I'll make the Walk to see what I got Everytime . Thanx for listeninh - Eddie Alvarez

That's a hell of a way to say 'Thanks for kicking my ass, maybe now I can put some gas in my truck.'

Conor GOAT

The only other person to simultaneously hold major belts in two different divisions was Hendo in pride just before it was bought by the UFC

Nobody has crushed champions in two different weight divisions the way he has.

"Never compare Conor McGregor to me, it's disrespect. I'm an elephant, elephant don't beef with ants. Elephant is so large, he don't even see ants."

Not me.

Bisping is a banger!

Dude, you agreed that Connor has bed fed selected opponents.
Thus proving the argument I was making.
It's cool if your a McGregor fan. Even cool if you believe he is the goat.
Prolly believe in Santa Clause too...I'm just not buying into the hype.
Once again I'm the one babbling.

 
You can't be reasoned with using words, so you get memes

No I saw it.  The money is the reason he's given the easy road.  Yes hes bringin in tons of supporters l.  What else do the Irish have to root for?  Dudes got a whole fuckin country backing him.

Edit: spellings hard n stuff

THIS WAS MY WHOLE ARGUMENT.

Yes. I realize it happens, and I don't agree with it.  Its what ruins the sport. The whole buildup of Connor has led people to believe he is better than he is.  Diaz proved this in the first fight. I just want to see the bade st dudes fighting the baddest dudes.

Cherry picking sums up Connors whole ufc carreer.

 
Yet you snipped out MY whole argument, I wonder why


I was referring to Siever & Brandao (a last minute replacement).

He's a bloody wanker.

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So was he spoon fed or no? You already said he was. Are you taking back your statement?  I mean it's a pretty black and white issue.  Not sure what you're not comprehending?

I just want to see real fighters fight real fighters.

Hes already duckin Khabib.  When your the champ you don't get to pick who you fight. You fight the number 1 fucking contender!

Yes he is.  
I use to hate him just as much as the next guy...but he grew on me.

I'd rather see Conor fight Tony than Khabib.

Khabib showed Saturday nights that he's prone to straight lefts to the face.

Neither will happen though because neither are a draw and that, at the end of the day is what the UFC is all about.

Khabib vs Ferguson is the next big 155 lb. fight.... big as in they might get to headline a FOX card one day.

I don't see Conor fighting at 145 again so it'll be interesting when they come to pick up that belt.

I just watched post fight interview with Khabib....and Jesus Christ you would have thought I stole everything he said!!  So it aint just me...

https://youtu.be/97DtL8evIH0

I don't think it matters much either will wreck his night.

Khabib said in the post fight interview I just posted that's the first time he's been rocked in his career.

I agree with pretty much everything else you said.

 
Lol the fact that you think it's a binary black or white issue is the problem here. Getting an easy fight to build hype doesn't negate everything that happened next. Did you read the fucking list I posted? According to your criteria there are ZERO legitimate UFC champs. NONE. You sound like a fucking retard.


You like Bisping right? HIS TITLE DEFENSE WAS AGAINST FUCKING HENDO. HENDO is 46 and has no skills other than wrestle decently and throw over hand rights. That's so much more egregious than Dennis Seiver it's not even the same game.


But hey you do you. Continue to wallow in your ignorance and tell everybody else that they're wrong.

And just for the record I have never and will never believe Connor McGregor is the greatest or even top 10 all time fighters.

Stupid shitposts that are spoken with the conviction of a prophet of God annoy me.

I would love it.