I don't get why Pettis was scrapped? Because of the price? He's saving a card, pay him a million. Not like they can't afford it. Respectfully I disagree. If you've been in an mma gym 7 odd years ago compared to now, its an entirely different type of people, and an entirely different atmosphere. At least in the good ones. The street thugs, generally speaking, don't last in the sport being as competitive and professionally demanding as it is now, whereas a lot of modern fighters are people who could happily have gone, or were doing, something else and made a happy living.
Ruuuumour has it, its the price in regards to Pettis. But obviously take with a huge bag of salt. But I'll be asking the same too.
Supposedly he had time and .2lbs to lose? This is the stuff that also makes people question UFC. If there are rules, just stick to them. If there aren't rules, write them and make them watertight, because otherwise what you're running is a circus for entertainment. Frankly my daughter's footie league has more transparency and credibility.
That was my point though. Things have changed, but and people always stand out in contrast to the norm in terms of behaviour. If everyone is acting civilized, the ones who don't will stand out in contrast. If the norm is now that professional demeanor then the ones who stand out are the ones who act exaggeratedly stupid. It's novel, just like it was novel for GSP to act like a class act when a lot of other people weren't. That's why I think the comment that other people will be doing the same as Connor, is right on the money. The pendulum swings.
It's really weird how many conspiracy theories are popping up about this being a big UFC publicity stunt. Conor was charged with 10 misdemeanors and 2 felonies and faces 7 years in prison...he beat the junk out of some poor security guard. There are easier ways to market the UFC...comon. Dana White is not a Sith Master. I think the Tapout generation has eaten too many Tide Pods...
Well, everyone's really familiar with how the UFC makes money by buying into drama between fighters. Everyone's really familiar with Connor being a drama queen. Everyone knows the UFC won't drop a cash cow just because of bad behaviour (see Jon Jones). And given the very little amount of damage done, his fame, and it being his first offence Connor is unlikely to see the inside of a jail cell. So it might not be Dana's idea, it could be Connor's, or it could be spontaneous, but I and many others just wouldn't be surprised if it was orchestrated by someone.
If it was viewed as a legitimate sport, then why did the UFC campaign so hard to get MMA recognised by various state athletic commissions? There is a sad streak of irony staining this whole affair with McGregor, in the sense that New York only recently agreed to permit sanctioned MMA events. Incidents like this only serve to strengthen anti-MMA sentiment. Your views regarding combat sports are myopic, in my opinion. Let's be clear - violence and combat sports are not the same thing. (The clue is in the name.) Real violence is an ugly, illegal affair that usually leaves one or more person(s) broken (physically, mentally) or worse. The closest definition we can give combat sports is controlled aggression. To say violent attitudes are acceptable within combat sports is one step closer to saying they are acceptable within society. Don't forget that young, impressionable people (or even older, impressionable people) will watch and admire these athletes. Many will try to imitate them, as can be seen in the rise of blokes sporting McGregor-style haircuts, beards, faux swagger and bad attitude. Condoning the athletes' thuggish behaviour, by extension, condones the same behaviour by their fans.
He probably did have time, pending on how "dry" he already is etc. otherwise that .2lbs might as well be another 20lbs. But if a negotiation agreement can't be reached then no point in drying yourself out further. Technically they are sticking with the rules, otherwise they would just pay him and tell him that the .2lb can be looked over. Felder was another person of interest but he was considered too low ranked by the Commission. Hence now we have Al Aquinta who weighed in at 155.00 Anyhoo, here's the updated card - no Fightpass fights. Main Card (10 PM ET, PPV) Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Al Iaquinta Rose Namajunas vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk Calvin Kattar vs. Renato Moicano Zabit Magomedsharipov vs. Kyle Bochniak Joe Lauzon vs. Chris Gruetzemacher Preliminary Card (8 PM ET, FS1) Karolina Kowalkiewicz vs. Felice Herrig Bec Rawlings vs. Ashlee Evans-Smith Evan Dunham vs. Olivier Aubin-Mercier Devin Clark vs. Mike Rodriguez Cancelled fights this week Al Iaquinta vs. Paul Felder Michael Chiesa vs. Anthony Pettis Artem Lobov vs. Alex Caceres Ray Borg vs. Brandon Moreno Tony Ferguson vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov Max Holloway vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov
Didn't get into New York because opposing casinos were lobbying against MMA to put pressure on Zuffa to unionize their staff. Also, if we hold one person to represent all of a sport then it's a bit silly no? The entire MMA media and the UFC, what more do you want? We don't look at every pedo TKD instructor and think they represent the sport. McGregor is being shunned and ousted for this as he should.
To the general public, Connor McGregor does represent the sport. As someone who doesn't follow combat sports, I can tell you that since he fought Mayweather he appears on general, mainstream newsfeeds. The only other UFC fighter I can remember doing that that was Ronda Rousey. That's quite a contrast between the two in marketing for the UFC, and public opinion (or, more dangerously, the opinions of law-makers) can turn on a penny once media narratives become entrenched.
Oh I agree, it is 100% bad for the sport, but I'll tell anyone listens that McGregor was totally out of line and should never be allowed to fight again.
I don't know if it necessarily bad for the sport. It all depends on the image the UFC wants to project. This story is huge, so ultimately it will bring more money to the UFC, even with the complications to the next few upcoming fights. People who don't know about fighting, which is the vast majority of the audience, respond to the soap opera stuff. If the UFC wants to project an image of professional athletes in a respectable sport, they are already fighting an uphill battle and need to become truly ruthless and unbiased with handing out bans.
Bad apples happen in all sports. Mike Tyson for example...In the end, the act of the individual won't affect the UFC or MMA in general.
Tyson was the most popular and lucrative boxer ever, so I'm not sure that is an argument against bad apples. More than anything else, I think it is being more lenient on athletes who commit crimes than the general public that leaves a bad taste. Like Mayweather having his domestic violence sentence postponed so that he could fight, which is an extreme example but there are a lot of cases where athletes appear to get off more lightly than any else would for serious crimes such as drink-driving, drug possession or rape.
Aye. That's why I said various state athletic commissions. Let's be honest, it has taken years for MMA to be taken seriously by the public and move beyond its earlier image of human cockfighting. Stunts like this - which, let's face it, McGregor did because he thinks he's untouchable - only serve to reinforce negative stereotypes. McGregor claims he is "the face of the fight game" with 23 million followers on Instagram alone (and with a huge engagement rate too). He's definitely the UFC's poster boy, and the UFC is the biggest MMA promotion in the world. McGregor is well known outside the octagon too, thanks to his fight against Mayweather and sponsorships with brands like Burger King. It would be very foolish to assume this incident will not have ramifications for the image of the sport. And if McGregor is not appropriately punished, other folks who admire him are going to think such behaviour is acceptable and are more likely to follow suit. As for your "every pedo TKD instructor" comment, to think that: a) that MMA doesn't have its fair share of child molesting coaches, b) MMA coaches are better regulated than TKD coaches, or c) TKD has the same coverage as MMA, would again be very foolish.
MMA Imports published an article saying "Michael Chiesa pulls victim card." (I'm not posting the link because it's trash, you can find it yourself if you want to read it.) Of course he should press charges against McGregor, the man committed a criminal act! This is part of the McGregor nut hugger mentality I was referring to; his fans think his crimes were not as bad as they were. The UFC needs to set an example here and should permanently ban him from their roster.
MMA was taken seriously way before Connor came into the picture, the ultimate fighter series launched the UFC into the mainstream not McGregor, the deal with fox further made it mainstream, again years before McGregor, then Rhonda brought it into the spotlight, all before McGregor to argue anything else is re writing history. Unfortunately all the above also brought in out of the cage drama into the UFC, all of which both helped ratings and hurt the sport
Isn't that a contradictory statement? If the UFC wants to be seen as a respectable sports organisation, I think they need to get rid of Dana White. Here's an article from a few years ago about Dana White lying to protect domestic abusers in the UFC, it is not family friendly though, and includes ugly misogynistic and homophobic quotes from Dana White: https://deadspin.com/dana-white-cant-stop-lying-about-ufc-fighters-being-dom-1706040605
What's contradictory? Improved ratings helped the UFC Dana and it's owners to the point they went from making a loss to selling a multi billion pound business. It hurt the legitimacy of MMA but the UFC was never about making MMA legitimate it was about about making the brothers and Dana money. People need to separate the UFC from MMA one is a sport, the other an organisation making money from that sport and it's fans there is a difference