Midnight Mania! Dana White on McGregor: ‘How has he never defended the title?’

Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight Welcome to Midnight Mania!
I know we live in an era where the President’s hallmark is lying on a continuous basis, and that we are talking about his good friend D…

Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

I know we live in an era where the President’s hallmark is lying on a continuous basis, and that we are talking about his good friend Dana White, but this was impressive reality-denial, even by White’s standards. In an interview with ESPN.com’s Brett Okamoto, he really genuinely asked how McGregor has never defended a title.

“For people to suggest that, you’re just a Conor hater,” White told ESPN. “Because if you look at how everything played out, Conor has fought everybody. When he won the 155-pound belt, he dropped the 145-pound belt, which we made him do. He tried not to do it, but he contractually had to let go of the 145-pound belt.

“He became the 155-pound champion, and his next fight was against Floyd Mayweather. He has to defend the title now. So, how has he never defended the title?”

He hasn’t defended the title because… he hasn’t? I’m not a McGregor-hater. I like watching him fight, I want to see him back in the Octagon (although that won’t happen any sooner than this summer, also according to White) but it is a fact he has never once defended a title. Yet, White doubles down on this stance.

“There’s some f—ing exaggeration in saying the guy’s never defended a title,” White said. “He fought everybody on his way up 145 pounds. He fought [Chad] Mendes, [Dustin] Poirier. He beat Max Holloway, the only guy to beat Max Holloway in four years.

“It wasn’t Conor’s fault [dos Anjos] got hurt. It is Conor’s fault he did Mayweather, but we decided to do the Mayweather fight and everybody gave a f—. And after the fight, every fighter in the UFC gave him props for representing the sport.”

It’s true that McGregor does polarize opinions. There are plenty of people accurately described as haters, who would have you believe he has never fought anyone of note, that he has only beaten cans. That is obviously not true. Max Holloway, Dustin Poirier, Chad Mendes, Eddie Alvarez- these guys aren’t slouches. Jose Aldo is, by accomplishment, still the greatest featherweight of all time, and McGregor ended him in that now-famous length of time, 13 seconds. The Nate Diaz loss was a fantastic moment of schadenfreude for McGregor detractors, but McGregor did (narrowly) win the rematch with some impressive adjustments; he remains the only fighter to accept a pure striking battle in the pocket with the younger Diaz and come out on top.

None of that changes the fact that he has never defended a title once in his life.

Insomnia

I missed the fact that Michael B. Jordan got knocked out while filming Creed.

I also missed this gem by Mike Perry

I’m always here for comic book style fight art.

This drill looks like something I want to try

I’ve spent most of my vacation time happily watching nature documentaries and avoiding all work on the academic paper I’m supposed to be writing.

At least Joe Rogan is as enthralled with nature documentaries as I am.

This was already criminal, but missing weight by 28 pounds seemed to be what sent people over the edge about Gabi Garcia beating up a woman 75 pounds smaller than her, who happens to be in her fifties.

Max Holloway is always paying attention.

Good matchup between Andrei Arlovski and Stefan Struve– heavyweight seems to have no bottom, so I’ll just continue to enjoy fights between guys who would be long gone in any other division. (Plus, Arlovski looked good in his last fight)

Japanese MMA remains weird as ever.

This was a solid slap from Ian McCall.

Great portrait of Holly Holm.

What exactly is USADA doing?

What to expect from Nurmagomedov/Barboza:

Slips, Rips, and KO Clips

Israel Adesanya was signed by the UFC at middleweight, triggering a flood of GIFs and highlights. He’s an undefeated fighter who happens to be an extraordinarily gifted kickboxer:

You may have seen his handiwork in this section before:

His inclusion on UFC: Perth will be fun because the current king of middleweight, Robert Whittaker, will defend his title against Luke Rockhold. You will get a glimpse of the future while witnessing the best of the present.

The Stylebender is a great nickname, too.

I’ve never seen a takedown quite like this one

2017 was the Year of the Knee

Good Reads

Podcasts and Video:

Cyborg vs. Holm preview and prediction:

Cris Cyborg’s Clinch Tricks. Follow MMA Mania on Youtube

Heavy Hands

The Size Up

Stay woke, Maniacs! Follow me on Twitter and Facebook @Vorpality

Midnight Mania! Dana White on McGregor: ‘How has he never defended the title?’

Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight Welcome to Midnight Mania!
I know we live in an era where the President’s hallmark is lying on a continuous basis, and that we are talking about his good friend D…

Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

I know we live in an era where the President’s hallmark is lying on a continuous basis, and that we are talking about his good friend Dana White, but this was impressive reality-denial, even by White’s standards. In an interview with ESPN.com’s Brett Okamoto, he really genuinely asked how McGregor has never defended a title.

“For people to suggest that, you’re just a Conor hater,” White told ESPN. “Because if you look at how everything played out, Conor has fought everybody. When he won the 155-pound belt, he dropped the 145-pound belt, which we made him do. He tried not to do it, but he contractually had to let go of the 145-pound belt.

“He became the 155-pound champion, and his next fight was against Floyd Mayweather. He has to defend the title now. So, how has he never defended the title?”

He hasn’t defended the title because… he hasn’t? I’m not a McGregor-hater. I like watching him fight, I want to see him back in the Octagon (although that won’t happen any sooner than this summer, also according to White) but it is a fact he has never once defended a title. Yet, White doubles down on this stance.

“There’s some f—ing exaggeration in saying the guy’s never defended a title,” White said. “He fought everybody on his way up 145 pounds. He fought [Chad] Mendes, [Dustin] Poirier. He beat Max Holloway, the only guy to beat Max Holloway in four years.

“It wasn’t Conor’s fault [dos Anjos] got hurt. It is Conor’s fault he did Mayweather, but we decided to do the Mayweather fight and everybody gave a f—. And after the fight, every fighter in the UFC gave him props for representing the sport.”

It’s true that McGregor does polarize opinions. There are plenty of people accurately described as haters, who would have you believe he has never fought anyone of note, that he has only beaten cans. That is obviously not true. Max Holloway, Dustin Poirier, Chad Mendes, Eddie Alvarez- these guys aren’t slouches. Jose Aldo is, by accomplishment, still the greatest featherweight of all time, and McGregor ended him in that now-famous length of time, 13 seconds. The Nate Diaz loss was a fantastic moment of schadenfreude for McGregor detractors, but McGregor did (narrowly) win the rematch with some impressive adjustments; he remains the only fighter to accept a pure striking battle in the pocket with the younger Diaz and come out on top.

None of that changes the fact that he has never defended a title once in his life.

Insomnia

I missed the fact that Michael B. Jordan got knocked out while filming Creed.

I also missed this gem by Mike Perry

I’m always here for comic book style fight art.

This drill looks like something I want to try

I’ve spent most of my vacation time happily watching nature documentaries and avoiding all work on the academic paper I’m supposed to be writing.

At least Joe Rogan is as enthralled with nature documentaries as I am.

This was already criminal, but missing weight by 28 pounds seemed to be what sent people over the edge about Gabi Garcia beating up a woman 75 pounds smaller than her, who happens to be in her fifties.

Max Holloway is always paying attention.

Good matchup between Andrei Arlovski and Stefan Struve– heavyweight seems to have no bottom, so I’ll just continue to enjoy fights between guys who would be long gone in any other division. (Plus, Arlovski looked good in his last fight)

Japanese MMA remains weird as ever.

This was a solid slap from Ian McCall.

Great portrait of Holly Holm.

What exactly is USADA doing?

What to expect from Nurmagomedov/Barboza:

Slips, Rips, and KO Clips

Israel Adesanya was signed by the UFC at middleweight, triggering a flood of GIFs and highlights. He’s an undefeated fighter who happens to be an extraordinarily gifted kickboxer:

You may have seen his handiwork in this section before:

His inclusion on UFC: Perth will be fun because the current king of middleweight, Robert Whittaker, will defend his title against Luke Rockhold. You will get a glimpse of the future while witnessing the best of the present.

The Stylebender is a great nickname, too.

I’ve never seen a takedown quite like this one

2017 was the Year of the Knee

Good Reads

Podcasts and Video:

Cyborg vs. Holm preview and prediction:

Cris Cyborg’s Clinch Tricks. Follow MMA Mania on Youtube

Heavy Hands

The Size Up

Stay woke, Maniacs! Follow me on Twitter and Facebook @Vorpality