Ugh, mind quoting me where I complained about the fight? Go back and read the thread, I wanted the Nate fight more than just about anyone.

Yea... complaining...

I gave my opinion on why I think Nate was chosen over Pettis, I didn't complain.

You made a giant strawman out of nothing. Conor nut hugging is badly effecting reading comprehension ITT.

You objectively state an opinion that Conor is smart and factors the amount of risk per opponent into his decision on who he decides to fight, and all the sudden you're complaining and Conor is the GOAT. Sigh...

Not sure why many of you think Conor chose Diaz. The UFC chose Diaz. The UFC chose Mendes. The UFC chose Siver. Diaz over Cerrone is pretty outrageous:

i) Diaz has fought twice in the past two years. Cerrone has fought 10 times in the same period.

ii) Diaz has won three rounds in five fights. Cerrone is on a 9-1 run.

iii) Cerrone has on multiple occasions stepped up to take a fight on short notice/change of opponent. He's really helped out the UFC. Diaz whinges, fights once a year and refused Conor at UFC 189.

iv) Cerrone is in shape. This is the biggest one. Diaz was making excuses at the press conference 'Yeah we're fighting at 170 but I haven't sparred.' There's a huge difference between a fighter who has taken eight weeks off and one who fought a couple of days ago. Diaz will tire like Mendes tired, and he won't have the same timing on his movement and strikes.

IMO iv) is why the UFC chose Diaz. He brings a similar buyrate but at much lesser risk. Cerrone couldnt be more of a company man, Dana should have rewarded him with the seven figure payday.

Because the UFC asked several fighters simultaneously. Pettis, Cerrone, Diaz, Faber, Aldo, and Frankie are the ones we know about, and the first three said yes. Nobody really knows how the matchup finalized with Diaz, but the next step is asking the fighter if they're cool with said replacement. If not, they try for another match-up. He could have simply been presented with the matchup and said ok, but given the unique power dynamics between Conor and the UFC, it's not unreasonable to think he exercised preference. Hell, maybe he was told about all the options and asked to pick one. The main reason everybody thinks Conor chose him is because Diaz demanded more money, and is notoriously difficult to work with. The UFC going out of it's way to make the fight could be simply them desperately protecting Conor, but I think it's more likely a combination of many factors, including a preference from Conor and his team for Diaz.

Also, Cerrone is a perfect example of exactly why you shouldn't be a company man. He's killing himself by fighting way more often than he should, always dependable to be a late replacement, always exciting, has 19 fights in the UFC and is still on a 70/70 contract with no PPV buys (none reported at least), and is being fined 5 figures for violating the uniform policy. On top of all this, he's losing out on millions of dollars in endorsement money and still stood by the UFC on the idiotic Reebok deal. Tough world in the UFC.

Conor said he chose Diaz. Diaz confirmed he was chosen. Ufc has a part in it but it is Conor's fight to accept or decline. Your post is the only place I have seen this disputed.

Cowboy just got destroyed by RDA. Dias beat coyboy. Even if many (myself included) think that coyboy is a bigger challenge, he has no added benifit with more risk as an opponent.

Diaz was training for a triathlon. He won't likely gas, but he has not been training to fight. Him stating this is not an excuse, it is a fact--especially in response to the 170lb being an advantage for him. It's not. It's not like he was in training for a welterweight bout and Conor moved up to fight a welterweight. He's is a lightweight who is not prepared to cut to 55. Conor is still a boss for taking this fight, and many wouldn't, but these facts are still facts.

Cerone being a company man is not as relevant as many other factors in the matchmaking. You rate it as high, the ufc has shown repeatedly they don't. Edgar "deserves" a shot according to lots of people (myself included). He won't get it based on what those people think, and Conor/ufc chose Mendez when he was healthy and available.

Oh man Dana says the guy he spoke the most to about stepping in to fight Conor was Uriah! So glad they didn't line that **** up. That would have been terrible.

He also confirmed the UFC chose Diaz and Conor had no preference or involvement in the decision. He said when they spoke Conor's words were "I'll fight anybody, you pick it and call me tomorrow and let me know".

Another fantastic post.

Conor didn't paint it that way. Diaz said they told him he was the only one Conor wanted to fight and Conor agreed. Conor broke down why he thought Diaz was the right choice and the first thing he said was he had a hand in it. Maybe that was all talk, but that's what he said.

Edit: just saw a promo clip where Dana makes those same claims. It may be true, or partially true but it was a hype piece and certainly omitted a **** ton. The narrative of Edgar and Aldo "turning it down" is garbage. I don't take much that comes out of his mouth at face value.

Immediately after the Aldo KO, in the post-fight scrums, Conor sure acted and talked like a guy who was picking his moves. It wasn't bravado either, he was calm and rubbing his chin talking about the pluses of potentially fighting Edgar, may have mentioned Holloway, and how Aldo had to work his way back up but he'd think about things and then segued into talking about a 155 foray. Just a dude mulling his options.

Then a fight w/ RDA comes to fruition, which runs counter to the type of thing the UFC has always propagated. Maybe a fun fight here and there but champs stay in their lane until it's a permanent move.

Conor is making the decisions here. UFC could say no to things but they're not making Conor say yes. Seems like some people love the illusion of an authority figure tho.

btw Johnny I admire the way you've changed your outlook on some of these topics after discussion. Most people don't evolve.

Thanks man. I enjoy these discussions a lot and learn a lot from the people in here, maybe the most when I disagree.

The illusion of an authority figure, or more so the illusion of "the way things should be" is where my paradigm shifted on this topic. It all makes more sense when you release the idea that it should be fair.

I actually believe what connor says more than I do dana. Which is weird when you think about that fact that mcgregor claims to be a god.

whomever ends up beating Conor should change their nickname to Nietzsche

Why would he lie though? Like Conor or the fight needs any more hyping up, the impromptu press conference got around 220,000 viewers. Anderson Silva is fighting this week and all anybody talks about is Conor. There is no need to make anything up, in fact it creates just as much if not more hype if he had said "Conor said straight away he wanted Diaz".

That's pretty funny.

Pic of Nate today. Looks way softer than he did against Michael Johnson

He essentially lied about Aldo and Edgar. Aldo was only cleared to train as of February 11th. No way he could take a fight at 55. Even Conor agreed. Frankie has a torn groin and has been out of the gym for 4 weeks. Dana says they turned it down. He's disingenuous. I believe that Conor said something tot the effect of "you line it up and let me know" at some point in the conversation, but I don't believe for one second he didn't state a preference at some point before or after those words.

And why would Conor lie about choosing Diaz?

Really, it would make no sense to pick cowboy, in shape for 170, over Diaz, out of shape for 55. As stated by others, coyboy would not say no and likely would have taken less money. What's the explaination aside from no upside and serious downside for Conor?

To keep the rest of the inmates from running the asylum

Same reason they don't let everyone know how much the top end guys make

Lots of speculating itt about a 11 day replacement. At the end of the day it was supposed to be Aldo-RDA-Lawler.

I'm happy anytime Conor fights a topish fighter right now. I mean despite all the hype he's only fought two fights against elite opponents.

Holloway is #4 FW too (wasn't at the time ldo)

You're right tho, everything felt fast-tracked until he had to suddenly go thru Mendes first

A couple of thoughts:

Conor's the man. I've been on the anti-Conor bandwagon since pretty much the Porier fight, but he didn't have to take a fight vs a new opponent. Sure, this is probably the best matchup for him of the possible choices, but why should he risk potentially 8 figures down the road when he is doing a huge favor for the UFC?

It is in the UFC and Conor's best interest that he retain his aura of invincibility and only potentially lose it in a title fight. Conor is a prize bull, you don't sacrifice him to Golden Corral for a buffet special. Conor has done well when facing tough opponents so far, but why risk him vs game opponents if its not for the belt and months of promotion? Diaz still has more than a fair chance to beat him, but I think I'm fairly convinced any of the other potential stand ins I'd favor. With how game and experienced Cerrone is, I suspect he'd be able to time an apt takedown vs Conor similar to how he did vs Brazilian Cowboy last week. That fight was vvvv similar to Conor's fight that he lose to Duffy. Pettis would be a spectacular fight, and likely will happen imo if Conor does lose to RDA, but its a fight that deserves much more promo.

I'm honestly surprised they didn't just throw Faber at him. He might be the least risk to the Conor brand, and they already have a season of TUF build up to market on.

Diaz is more of a $ making opponent in the short term too tho

Too bad there's only two of them and it's not like the Gracie name to just keep cashing those checks with

I don't think Conor is doing the UFC a favor fwiw, he wants the money. He's living check to check pretty much methinks. All due to the outflow ldo

I'm surprised how many of you are surprised that he took a fight, this is the exact same thing that happened w/ Mendes and you can argue that was putting himself in a much more potentially perilous position financially than this would be with a L

pissy,

The hierarchy in beating Conor goes Diaz-->Cerrone-->Aldo-->Frankie-->Pettis-->RDA-->Khabib. The reason to lie would be to avoid people saying Conor is picking and easy replacement. These people are morons, and should be avoided like aggressive hobos, but the face of the UFC has to say something to them, unfortunately. So Dana says the UFC brought Conor the Diaz replacement, and he said "Whatever" before rolling back to bed as Ido whispers "floooooowy" in his ear.

Holloway wasn't nearly as good as he is now. He was coming off a close loss to Dennis Bermudez back then.

that hierarchy is pretty debatable. lets see if khabib can beat ferguson or if he even shows up before you start considering him the goat and gatekeeper. in fact, lets wait until he actually fights for a title. meanwhile cmgoat and dos nachos have the belts and have more impressive wins and accomplished more in their careers (despite both having losses/blemishes on their record) but I do not think khabib is going to be a favorite anymore in a rematch against rda assuming that ever happens. do not get me wrong the dudes a beast, but people are acting like hes the gatekeeper of 155lb division meanwhile he cant stay healthy to save his life and has not even fought for the strap.

I feel Nate was picked because he ticks both boxes that were needed. The Ufc needed to replace Rda with a big name that could sell the fight and also someone that is likely to make it an entertaining spectacle.

Cowboy I feel would not be much of a fight for Conor, there's too high a possibility of it being like the Rda fight and him getting hit with a strong body shot then being stopped early.

Nate suits Conors style but he is tough and hard to finish. He virtually guarantees that it will be a decent fight for at least 3 rounds when maybe the short notice and lack of training will take its toll. Pettis would make it a good fight too but he is not such a big draw.