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Fightweets: Was Conor McGregor on TUF the right call?
Conor McGregor’s entered superstar territory. Robbie Lawler and Rory MacDonald put on a classic which belongs in the UFC Hall of Fame’s fight wing. Fedor Emelianenko is coming out of retirement; Frank Mir is resurgent; and a fight between the two is nowhere near as far-fetched as it was seven days ago. Oh, and there was Bellator 140 on Friday night and chances are pretty good if you’re reading this on Saturday, you’ve got one eye on this page and the other on the live card on FOX Sports 1.
Normally I’d say “just another week in MMA,” but no. This was a whole lot more than “just another week.” So with that in mind, let’s get into it.
All things Conor
@MorganWaltzUFC: Why have Faber coach against McGregor & not Aldo? Brazil vs Ireland!! It would bring a lot of viewers back to TUF right?
I don’t know that I’ve heard one single positive response to the news of Conor McGregor coaching against Urjiah Faber in the 22nd installment of The Ultimate Fighter. The closest you’ll get to a positivity is a sense of relief there’s no coaches fight, and thus, it’s not going to interfere with McGregor vs. Aldo. Even Dana White couldn’t muster the usual “This is going to be the greatest TUF ever!!!!” speech when he announced it at the TUF 21 Finale. Everyone just seems sort of resigned to it.
Complaining about TUF’s declining ratings is beyond the point at this stage of the game. It is inexpensive programming for FOX, especially compared to rights fees for other sports, and the UFC is making money off it. As long as both ends of that equation remain true, TUF is sticking around.
As for Conor and Aldo, I’m glad they didn’t put the two together. McGregor and Aldo have a legit beef. The fight’s already going to be mammoth no matter what. If you turn it into reality show fodder, you run the risk of burning it out before the fight ever gets here.
@Christopher_kit: Looking ahead, does McGregor need to change his high-risk, high-reward game plan
I mean, McGregor’s style has gotten him this far, hasn’t it? The fact he can be pushed far out of his comfort zone and still find a way to win only adds to his lore. After beating Chad Mendes, the best wrestler in the division, exactly the sort of fighter everyone thought he was being protected from, McGregor is pretty much bulletproof as a drawing card.
Obviously, it wouldn’t hurt for McGregor to work on his wrestling (though it’s just as valid to point out McGregor only had two weeks to game plan for Mendes’ style as it is to point out Mendes was working on a two-week camp), especially with Frankie Edgar still looming out there. But McGregor has stayed true to himself and true to his style in getting this far, so if it ain’t broke, why fix it?
@ScreaminDemonLP: What does @FrankieEdgar do now? What are his options?
1. See what happens between T.J. Dillashaw and Renan Barao next week. If Dillashaw beats Barao again, 135 is badly going to need a marquee contender. 2. If he’s unable/unwilling to go down to bantamweight, it could be in his interest to take another fight just to stay active, then stay in shape in case either McGregor or Aldo get hurt in the buildup to their fight.
Return of Fedor
@BigJuice19: Where does Fedor land? And which matchup would be the biggest/best??
It took a few years, but the sport’s business conditions are finally right for the sort of bidding war that M-1 and Fedor have so adeptly played over the years. Viacom’s throwing around money for big names from the past, with the added bonus of not having any pressure of proving yourself the best in the world.
UFC has never quite been able to land Emelianenko, but they’ll be interested in talking to sniff the opportunity to make a buck or two million. In the UFC, a match with Frank Mir or a rematch with Andrei Arlovski would both be potential big draws.
Those aren’t the only options, though. Fedor could also make for a big draw on New Year’s Eve in Japan and command a large one-night paycheck. Likewise, if he wants to stay home, he’ll draw a big audience in Russia.
While the dynamics have shifted somewhat — this isn’t 2008, where money marks like Affliction were making it rain as they tried to become one of the cool kids — there’s suddenly a big market for a select few, and no one in this sport plays this game better than Fedor and Finky.
Two straight for Mir
@destroykillburn: Is Frank Mir actually having a resurgence or is Todd Duffee just actually not that good?
I think “somewhere in the middle” is a reasonable response, here. Todd Duffee,to paraphrase Dennis Green is who we thought he was, a brawler who is either going to knock someone out or go out on his shield. We’re probably not going to see him in any more main events, but he’ll likely settle into an “entertaining undercard slugger” role.
As for Mir, I mean, it’s not like he just knocked out Fabricio Werdum and Junior dos Santos back to back. But who thought they’d see Mir defeat anyone at all after that horrible four-fight losing streak? Sure, part of Mir’s resurgence is favorable matchmaking, but part of it is also the willingness of an old dog to learn new tricks. It’s a feather in Mir’s cap that he’s dropped the surly attitude and regained his fire. He’s not likely to challenge for a title, but there are a bunch of interesting matchups that can be made, For that, in and of itself, he deserves credit, considering where he was a year ago.
Best from TUF 1
@chjobin: With only Diego Sanchez still fighting from TUF1, who would you say has had the best UFC run? My vote goes to the Nightmare!
Interesting question. Of course, by calling Sanchez “the only one still fighting,” you mean the “only one left on the UFC roster now that Mike Swick has retired,” but I get what you mean.
If you have to pick one, you pretty much have to go with Forrest Griffin don’t you? He was the only one in the inaugural season to win a UFC championship. Griffin was the fighter who got the most out of every bit of talent he had, using hard work and plenty of heart to work around his limitations and go further than anyone could have imagined.
But there were plenty of other notables on the cast. If you’re simply using exciting fights as your barometer, Sanchez probably gets the nod. He had Fight of the Year contenders against Karo Parisyan and Clay Guida, and his brawl with Gilbert Melendez was memorable as well. Kenny Florian had an underrated run, working his way into title contention in two weight classes. He also doesn’t get enough credit for being one of the few to know when his time was done, walk away, and never come back. That would make him the opposite of Josh Koscheck, who we seem to remember now for his current string of one-sided losses. That’s a shame, because he went on a nice run to earn a UFC welterweight title shot, smoking Frank Trigg, submitting Anthony “Rumble” Johnson (for newer fans, yes, that actually happened) and his infamous win over Paul Daley.
Those would be my top four. If I had to round out a top five, I think it’s a tossup between Swick and Chris Leben. Stephan Bonnar gets DQ’d for his multiple steroid busts. But if I’m going with just one, well, only one guy won the belt.
Flyweight contenders fight
@philmcmasters: Cejudo vs. Benavidez seems risky. If Benavidez wins do you think he gets another crack at DJ (or…uh…dodson)?
This fight, which has not yet been formally announced but is expected for UFC 191, is a risk. But, with the flyweight pack underneath Mighty Mouse one big muddle, it can’t hurt to shake things up, can it? I’m not sure what the point of having either of these guys continue to spin their wheels against middle of the pack opponents would prove. Cejudo hasn’t really been tested against top-tier guys. If he can beat Joseph Benavidez, Cejudo shows he’s closer to being ready than we thought. If he loses, well, the only people who don’t lose to Benavidez are Johnson and Dominick Cruz. With Benavidez, giving him a third flyweight title shot is plainly not Sean Shelby’s preferred plan, so he’s really going to have to keep knocking people off until there’s no other choice. They need to build someone, so they may as well go ahead and make this and give someone some traction.
Best role for The Immortal?
@LeeHarrisonUK: What’s Matt Brown’s best role for the company? Getting the crowd fired up for the main card or a title run?
I think Brown’s window for a title shot might have closed when he lost back-to-back to Robbie Lawler and Johny Hendricks. But who knows? With MacDonald on the shelf awhile, Georges St-Pierre still retired, the public not exactly rising up and demanding a Lawler-Hendricks trilogy fight, and a bunch of guys who seem to be a couple fights away from earning a shot, that window’s probably still open a crack. If nothing else, given Brown’s exciting style and willingness to face anyone, it will be fun to see him try. If not, there’s something to be said to be said for being the go-to guy when the UFC needs the right fighter in the right spot on the card, as Brown certainly was at UFC 189.
Conor McGregor’s entered superstar territory. Robbie Lawler and Rory MacDonald put on a classic which belongs in the UFC Hall of Fame’s fight wing. Fedor Emelianenko is coming out of retirement; Frank Mir is resurgent; and a fight between the two is nowhere near as far-fetched as it was seven days ago. Oh, and there was Bellator 140 on Friday night and chances are pretty good if you’re reading this on Saturday, you’ve got one eye on this page and the other on the live card on FOX Sports 1.
Normally I’d say “just another week in MMA,” but no. This was a whole lot more than “just another week.” So with that in mind, let’s get into it.
All things Conor
@MorganWaltzUFC: Why have Faber coach against McGregor & not Aldo? Brazil vs Ireland!! It would bring a lot of viewers back to TUF right?
I don’t know that I’ve heard one single positive response to the news of Conor McGregor coaching against Urjiah Faber in the 22nd installment of The Ultimate Fighter. The closest you’ll get to a positivity is a sense of relief there’s no coaches fight, and thus, it’s not going to interfere with McGregor vs. Aldo. Even Dana White couldn’t muster the usual “This is going to be the greatest TUF ever!!!!” speech when he announced it at the TUF 21 Finale. Everyone just seems sort of resigned to it.
Complaining about TUF’s declining ratings is beyond the point at this stage of the game. It is inexpensive programming for FOX, especially compared to rights fees for other sports, and the UFC is making money off it. As long as both ends of that equation remain true, TUF is sticking around.
As for Conor and Aldo, I’m glad they didn’t put the two together. McGregor and Aldo have a legit beef. The fight’s already going to be mammoth no matter what. If you turn it into reality show fodder, you run the risk of burning it out before the fight ever gets here.
@Christopher_kit: Looking ahead, does McGregor need to change his high-risk, high-reward game plan
I mean, McGregor’s style has gotten him this far, hasn’t it? The fact he can be pushed far out of his comfort zone and still find a way to win only adds to his lore. After beating Chad Mendes, the best wrestler in the division, exactly the sort of fighter everyone thought he was being protected from, McGregor is pretty much bulletproof as a drawing card.
Obviously, it wouldn’t hurt for McGregor to work on his wrestling (though it’s just as valid to point out McGregor only had two weeks to game plan for Mendes’ style as it is to point out Mendes was working on a two-week camp), especially with Frankie Edgar still looming out there. But McGregor has stayed true to himself and true to his style in getting this far, so if it ain’t broke, why fix it?
@ScreaminDemonLP: What does @FrankieEdgar do now? What are his options?
1. See what happens between T.J. Dillashaw and Renan Barao next week. If Dillashaw beats Barao again, 135 is badly going to need a marquee contender. 2. If he’s unable/unwilling to go down to bantamweight, it could be in his interest to take another fight just to stay active, then stay in shape in case either McGregor or Aldo get hurt in the buildup to their fight.
Return of Fedor
@BigJuice19: Where does Fedor land? And which matchup would be the biggest/best??
It took a few years, but the sport’s business conditions are finally right for the sort of bidding war that M-1 and Fedor have so adeptly played over the years. Viacom’s throwing around money for big names from the past, with the added bonus of not having any pressure of proving yourself the best in the world.
UFC has never quite been able to land Emelianenko, but they’ll be interested in talking to sniff the opportunity to make a buck or two million. In the UFC, a match with Frank Mir or a rematch with Andrei Arlovski would both be potential big draws.
Those aren’t the only options, though. Fedor could also make for a big draw on New Year’s Eve in Japan and command a large one-night paycheck. Likewise, if he wants to stay home, he’ll draw a big audience in Russia.
While the dynamics have shifted somewhat — this isn’t 2008, where money marks like Affliction were making it rain as they tried to become one of the cool kids — there’s suddenly a big market for a select few, and no one in this sport plays this game better than Fedor and Finky.
Two straight for Mir
@destroykillburn: Is Frank Mir actually having a resurgence or is Todd Duffee just actually not that good?
I think “somewhere in the middle” is a reasonable response, here. Todd Duffee,to paraphrase Dennis Green is who we thought he was, a brawler who is either going to knock someone out or go out on his shield. We’re probably not going to see him in any more main events, but he’ll likely settle into an “entertaining undercard slugger” role.
As for Mir, I mean, it’s not like he just knocked out Fabricio Werdum and Junior dos Santos back to back. But who thought they’d see Mir defeat anyone at all after that horrible four-fight losing streak? Sure, part of Mir’s resurgence is favorable matchmaking, but part of it is also the willingness of an old dog to learn new tricks. It’s a feather in Mir’s cap that he’s dropped the surly attitude and regained his fire. He’s not likely to challenge for a title, but there are a bunch of interesting matchups that can be made, For that, in and of itself, he deserves credit, considering where he was a year ago.
Best from TUF 1
@chjobin: With only Diego Sanchez still fighting from TUF1, who would you say has had the best UFC run? My vote goes to the Nightmare!
Interesting question. Of course, by calling Sanchez “the only one still fighting,” you mean the “only one left on the UFC roster now that Mike Swick has retired,” but I get what you mean.
If you have to pick one, you pretty much have to go with Forrest Griffin don’t you? He was the only one in the inaugural season to win a UFC championship. Griffin was the fighter who got the most out of every bit of talent he had, using hard work and plenty of heart to work around his limitations and go further than anyone could have imagined.
But there were plenty of other notables on the cast. If you’re simply using exciting fights as your barometer, Sanchez probably gets the nod. He had Fight of the Year contenders against Karo Parisyan and Clay Guida, and his brawl with Gilbert Melendez was memorable as well. Kenny Florian had an underrated run, working his way into title contention in two weight classes. He also doesn’t get enough credit for being one of the few to know when his time was done, walk away, and never come back. That would make him the opposite of Josh Koscheck, who we seem to remember now for his current string of one-sided losses. That’s a shame, because he went on a nice run to earn a UFC welterweight title shot, smoking Frank Trigg, submitting Anthony “Rumble” Johnson (for newer fans, yes, that actually happened) and his infamous win over Paul Daley.
Those would be my top four. If I had to round out a top five, I think it’s a tossup between Swick and Chris Leben. Stephan Bonnar gets DQ’d for his multiple steroid busts. But if I’m going with just one, well, only one guy won the belt.
Flyweight contenders fight
@philmcmasters: Cejudo vs. Benavidez seems risky. If Benavidez wins do you think he gets another crack at DJ (or…uh…dodson)?
This fight, which has not yet been formally announced but is expected for UFC 191, is a risk. But, with the flyweight pack underneath Mighty Mouse one big muddle, it can’t hurt to shake things up, can it? I’m not sure what the point of having either of these guys continue to spin their wheels against middle of the pack opponents would prove. Cejudo hasn’t really been tested against top-tier guys. If he can beat Joseph Benavidez, Cejudo shows he’s closer to being ready than we thought. If he loses, well, the only people who don’t lose to Benavidez are Johnson and Dominick Cruz. With Benavidez, giving him a third flyweight title shot is plainly not Sean Shelby’s preferred plan, so he’s really going to have to keep knocking people off until there’s no other choice. They need to build someone, so they may as well go ahead and make this and give someone some traction.
Best role for The Immortal?
@LeeHarrisonUK: What’s Matt Brown’s best role for the company? Getting the crowd fired up for the main card or a title run?
I think Brown’s window for a title shot might have closed when he lost back-to-back to Robbie Lawler and Johny Hendricks. But who knows? With MacDonald on the shelf awhile, Georges St-Pierre still retired, the public not exactly rising up and demanding a Lawler-Hendricks trilogy fight, and a bunch of guys who seem to be a couple fights away from earning a shot, that window’s probably still open a crack. If nothing else, given Brown’s exciting style and willingness to face anyone, it will be fun to see him try. If not, there’s something to be said to be said for being the go-to guy when the UFC needs the right fighter in the right spot on the card, as Brown certainly was at UFC 189.
