he was up there in the p4p talks, guy had not lost for 9 years

Yeah he only had three defenses against not so great opponents though, two of which were for the interim title.

Yea 7 of those years he was crushing cans down in Brazil. Always been a quality > quantity guy.

Most important fact though is Cain vs Werdum probably didn't sell well, and neither did TJ vs Barao.

If those fights had done 500k+ ppv's like this one will, they probably would of got instant rematches. And the rematch might be even bigger, like Silva vs Weidman was.

I agree with this to an extent. I think there is a range of injury that exists where Aldo could get cleared by NSAC (varies depending on how much influence the UFC has over them threatening to haul the fight maybe?) but would rather postpone the fight til Sept/Oct to heal fully and not lose training days and would do so if given free reign, but not if he's pressured into it by threatening the Mendes fight.

I agree that there isn't much difference between the two in terms of Conor's odds to beat them. I'm not sure how much the added little extra beef between Mendes and McGregor would play into it. It probably wouldn't affect sales much. It would **** over Frankie and that pisses people off. And it does put McGregor 3rd in line if he loses which makes it a lot more unlikely he ever gets the shot against Aldo at 145 again. And all that promo money is sunk.


I accept it's part of the UFC model. But it only serves the purpose to build the hype machine. An interim belt vs Aldo is a bit ineffectual since Aldo won't be out long, Mendes and Edgar have recently fought him, and it won't hype the McGregor fight more. I don't know, it seems like if they were going the interim belt, Frankie was the way to go given the outcry over McGregor stealing his contender spot and it keeps McGregor in contention if he loses. If they didn't go that route they could have easily preserved McGregor by giving him a 155 fight or throwing him an easy win. The Mendes fight makes little sense for the UFC given the info we have. It makes a bit more sense if they want to pressure Aldo to fight.

X post from NVG.

Cliffs: Terrence Chan and Huck Seed wrestle at the Rio and a security guard breaks it up 30 secs in. Apparently Huck had to last 2 mins to win the prop.

I assume the conclusion of the bet will show up soon. Huck is a notoriously freakish athlete so Terrence despite his training will have his hands full.

Pretty shocked Terrence would be so irresponsible to hold this in public place when there are gyms all over Vegas.

I don't think there's much overlap in the venn diagram "NSAC clears Aldo" and "Aldo doesn't want to fight" though. Would he fight with bruised ribs? I think he would. And I don't think he gets cleared with a fractured rib. Either way, if he's cleared he takes the fight, blames the injury if he loses, gets the immediate rematch and makes a ton of money.

I think you're overestimating the difference between a Mendes and Edgar fight, with a loss McGregor would be 3rd in line either way. The most important question is what alternatives the UFC has and I think the fight they're making and the introduction of an interim title is the least bad alternative (both for the promotion of the July 11th fight and the aftermath). I think giving him Nate Diaz would be the 2nd best alternative for the UFC (even though I hate that fight myself). Canceling the fight is far and away worse than both of those options imo.

This injury really seems inexcusable if it happened sparring. Considering the difference in payday between this and any other fight Aldo will ever have. Should always undertrain and prioritize staying healthy, cashing the 3Million or w/e and even when losing there's a guaranteed big money rematch.
If he's all about competition and wanted to full on train, then should've pulled out of the fight with this rib injury right away. Don't read much mma news so not even sure if this was confirmed a sparring injury but seems most likely if bruised ribs anyway.

Nice interview with Conor. His attitude to this mess is admirable. He also mentions he's not interested in targeting the rib. One thing that stood out what Conor mentioned Aldo sparring this close to the fight was wreckless. I assumed fighters sparred and rolled up until a week before.

Mejis,

Sparring partner slipped on the mat when throwing a kick.

From what I've read, I think sparring 3 weeks out is super typical, it also seems that it's typically the hardest camp week and after that it's phased down to just hitting mitts and light rolling type stuff.

I still have trouble visualizing how slipping and losing your planting leg while throwing a spinning back kick would be worse than landing it without slipping.

I dont know if he cant train with a bruised rib he probably wants to delay the payday a couple months if he can especially since the injury leaked.

I might be misjudging the contender order. Maybe conor vs frankie if he loses to mendes?

Yeah I was thinking that match-up would be possible.

Unless McGregor gets badly wrestle-****ed against Mendes, in which case they need to figure out an easier way for him to get to Aldo.

You are right in that if McGregor loses vs Mendes, there's no way for him to get to Aldo without either fighting Edgar or waiting 3rd in line.

New USADA policy may ban IV rehydration.

Seems like it's gonna cause more problems than it will supposedly prevent, on top of being nearly unenforceable. Weight-cutting is a part of the sport, so the best way to get them back to 100% should be allowed, I'd think.

Yeah i put that in the same category as "same day weighins". What good will it actually do? Fighters will still cut like crazy and just be way less safe about it.

Yeah that's a weird one. Fighters will either fight in a more dehydrated state or break the rules. Seems like a lose-lose.

More fun with Aldo.

I can't help but read that as "Jose's doctors say it's fractured, UFC's doctors say it's bruised".

That's how I read it as well. Rollercoaster week. This song helps level things out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZcscwP31qQ

IRISH HERO: CONOR MCGREGOR SAVES YOUNG AFRISH BOY FROM A BRAZILIAN JAGUAR

I think there's 2 ways to read it

"Brazilian doctors say he's not fit to fight, UFC doctors say the fight should go ahead"

And

"Brazilian doctors say his injury is serious and his performance is so heavily compromised it shouldn't go ahead, (impartial) American doctors say it's trivial and can easily fight on the night"

Honestly it's tough to know where the truth lies, this last week has been a fiasco...

Santos

Walkoff head kick KO.

Doesn't get much better than that.

WTF is Romero doing standing at range against Machida and attempting 0 takedowns or clinches?

Romero did a better job at cutting off the cage in 2nd round , the smaller cage might be bothering Machida

RIP Machida

such a freak athlete. If only he was 5-10 years younger.

Enjoy retirement machida. Was a fun ride.

Let's make jacare Romero happen! Great #1 contender fight, think jacare takes it though.

DO NOYT FORGETJ ABOUT DJEESUSH

HE ISHG DA BESHT OF DA WORLD