Author: Anton Tabuena

Mike Brown says Conor McGregor seems to have lost his sharp wit and interesting trash talk.

Conor McGregor has had iconic moments promoting fights, and has been known to put out some witty comebacks during his time as champion. For his third bout with Dustin Poirier though, it devolved to just uninteresting taunts devoid of any creativity, with McGregor mostly spewing death threats and crass insults towards his opponent’s wife.

Poirier’s coach Mike Brown thinks that McGregor has really regressed, not just with his fighting ability, but also his wit and trash talk.

“I’m not exactly certain what it is, but yeah, he did seem much sharper with his tongue in the past,” Brown told MMA Fighting. “Maybe he’s in a tough spot? I don’t know what it is, but it also appears he has no lines anymore. He used to have some lines, some ethical and moral lines, but those seem to have gone away.

“Yeah he doesn’t seem to be quite the same fighter both in the ring, and with him promotion-wise too. Not sure what is is, but something seems different.”

As for all the talk about a possible fourth fight coming from both Dana White and McGregor, Brown says that he doesn’t think it’s necessary, but is confident his pupil takes it either way.

“On the scorecards, two judges had it 10-8,” the former WEC champion stated. “This was from Dustin being on top dropping those elbows and showing his dominance, imposing his will. That’s what that was all about.

“If you look at the history of both of these guys, one of them gets stronger as the fight goes and one of them doesn’t. Conor was going to be most dangerous in the first, and I felt like as the fight went, it was only going to get easier,” Brown said.

“(McGregor has) changed the game, done so much for the sport. He’s the biggest star the sport has ever seen. He brings a lot of eyeballs. He’s done a lot of great things but I think skill wise, we’ve got the superior fighter with Dustin.”

Chael Sonnen slams the idea of having Dustin Poirier vs Conor McGregor 4.

UFC 264 completed the trilogy between Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier. Even on the one round McGregor was supposed to be the strongest at, it was still a pretty one-sided affair where Poirier was handily winning both on the feet and on the ground.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, Conor McGregor and Dana White both immediately discussed a possibility of a fourth bout. Chael Sonnen slammed that idea, saying that just because it technically ended due to injury, it doesn’t mean we should see it again a fourth time.

“Let’s start with an amazing narrative that there should be a fourth fight. Do you understand the disrespect that you are showing to Dustin Poirier?” Sonnen said on his YouTube channel.

“For any of you that think that that fight warrants another fight, we can do it for money, we could do it for attention and cash. We can do it for a lot of things, but competitiveness and architecture of sport are none of them. That was a beating. That was a beating like few I have ever seen. And don’t forget … two of the three licensed judges that elevated themselves to a main event of a pay-per-view had it 10-8. Do you know what 10-8 means?”

McGregor also recently released photos claiming he had stress fractures before the fight as a reason for the break. It’s something two doctors are doubting, saying it’s an ankle MRI unrelated to his tibia break, but nonetheless, it’s being used as a reason to discredit Poirier’s win.

“It has already been rewritten, and that just fascinates me,” Sonnen said.

“If you get your ass whipped so bad that you’re broken, that doesn’t get you a rematch.”

Sonnen also had a similar sentiment when he discussed the bout on ESPN.

“There was nothing within that five minutes that we saw that was competitive,” Sonnen said (transcript via MMA Fighting). “You used to be able to really count on Conor McGregor, and by the way, I’m not kicking a guy when he’s down, I’m just discussing what I saw. You used to count on Conor to win the stand up portion and [he was a] really hard guy to take down and you could never hold him there if you got him there. These are things you could count on.

“He’s not winning any portion of these fights, and I don’t bring that up to put him down, I bring that up to tell you there is no need, at least from a competitive architecture, there is nothing here that warrants seeing these guys do it again.”

Dozens of letters attributed to Bruce Lee document international shipments and orders of cocaine and other drugs.

Dozens of letters attributed to Bruce Lee and his wife Linda have been recently uncovered, showing a different side to the martial arts legend and documenting what seems to be a little known affinity to various drugs.

As detailed in depth here on Bloody Elbow earlier, these mostly handwritten correspondence from the late 1960s to the early 1970s show letters signed by Lee and sent to his friend and “long rumored” dealer, Robert Baker. It discussed various topics from their early friendship trying the “holy stuff” and nights out with “little recollection of what had happened,” to the actor’s failed attempt at quitting, and to eventually planning international drug shipments to Hong Kong.

Over 50 letters were previously verified and authenticated by Heritage Auctions, and they all went up on sale on Friday night. This Bob Baker and Bruce Lee collection also included a journal, along with other memorabilia from their “Fist of Fury” movie roles.

After a large amount of bids, the entire collection ended up being sold for a total of $484,700, including the Buyer’s Premium for the auctioneer. The letters they confirmed to have been sent by the Lee family alone sold for a total of $462,500.

Final sale prices fluctuated from $625 for a random note from Linda asking Bob to call, to a $16,250 letter from Bruce asking to “air-mail me some Coca-Cola.”

Several of these letters were about cocaine as he — and Linda — wrote about “C,” “coke” and “Coca-Cola,” but there were also references to other substances and various terms such as “holy stuff,” “super duper,” “M pills”, “H oil” and “good tasting paper.”

A long handwritten letter from 1972 planning how to ship drugs to Hong Kong, and asking for “COKE (in large amount),” “ACID (in fair amount),” “HASH OR GRASS,” and magic mushrooms sold for $12,500.

Even candid and less legible letters that didn’t use Lee’s official Jeet Kune Do letterhead stationeries still fetched a decent price. Correspondence about a “stoned as hell” Lee needing “some coke” to “help” him write sold for $11,875, while a letter rushing his orders despite expressing “deep regret” for Baker’s “friend” getting “busted” sold for $9,375.

Some letters that weren’t really about drugs also got sizable bids, with one about writing “Enter the Dragon” selling for $15,875.

Letters attributed to Linda unsurprisingly got significantly smaller bids than those signed by her famous husband, even if they had similar content. An April 1973 letter, which sold for $1,125, assured that Bruce “is not going overboard” using “C.”

Three months after that letter, which followed up on a $500 order of “C” — over $3000 today due to inflation, Bruce Lee passed away at just 32-years-old.

The renowned MMA coach says he doesn’t know how anyone can be a fan of this ‘disgusting’ and ‘pathetic’ man.

Firas Zahabi says Dustin Poirier “deserves a medal” for remaining classy despite Conor McGregor’s “vile” and “disgusting” behavior. The renowned MMA coach says it takes a lot of character to not retaliate after everything that was said before and after the bout.

“I was really grossed out. I don’t know how you guys can be fans of this man,” Zahabi said on his YouTube channel as he discussed McGregor’s actions. “I respect him as a fighter. I respect his skills — I can’t deny that — but the way he behaved was just horrible.”

Zahabi also questioned the people surrounding the Irish superstar.

“If McGregor has one true friend in this world… maybe he’s just surrounded by people who just want his prestige and money, and want what they can get from him,” he said. “But if he has a single true friend in this world, that true friend is going to take him behind closed doors and say ‘The way you’re behaving, it’s stupid. You’re making yourself look bad. You’re embarrassing us, your family, your friends. It’s just a humiliating way for a warrior and martial artist to behave.’”

SBG head coach John Kavanagh decided to pass blame on “hormones” and even Joe Rogan for McGregor’s actions at UFC 264. That doesn’t really explain the similar behavior prior to the contest, and then again days after the fight, where he appeared to threaten Poirier’s entire family.

Zahabi then questioned why McGregor routinely gets a pass for “intolerable” and “disgusting” behavior.

“He’s going after kids now! Now if that was anybody else, if that was a guy on the prelim card, we would all be ‘kick this guy off the roster!’” he said. “No no no, but because it’s Conor McGregor, you can’t say that! He’s Conor McGregor, he’s the poster boy. He’s the one who sells all the tickets! No, there’s no pass on that.

“Intolerable behavior,” Zahabi described McGregor’s actions. “In the Khabib fight, he was talking about family members, religion. Things that you don’t touch.

“Whatever beef you have there, you can’t take it and start threatening to kill each other, and then start threatening to kill each other’s children, team members and what not. That’s just animal behavior. Then to say what he said about Poirier’s wife. It’s disgusting.”

Zahabi says the post-fight rant and death threats were a clear sign that the “heavily narcissistic” Irishman just can’t accept losses, and was “jealous” of Poirier’s big moment.

“The guy was so disrespectful, so disgusting, so pathetic,” he said.

“McGregor was so down. He was so jealous of Poirier, he would say anything to try and insult Poirier, try to take away this moment from Poirier. Listen, Poirier has beaten you. He’s a better fighter than you. He will be remembered as a better fighter than you,” he said. “Lose with some class!

“I think McGregor suffers from narcissism — heavily, heavily narcissistic. Unfortunately for him, he can’t see that he’s at fault,” Zahabi opined. “That’s why he needs a true friend or family member to step in, sober him up a little.

“Frankly, all he did was embarrass himself. You’ll never see a fighter behave like this. He’s the only guy, that even if he loses, he can’t take it. He can’t look in the mirror and say ‘you know what, that wasn’t my fight, it didn’t go my way. I lost. Here’s what I have to do to improve. This is how I better myself.’ No no no, in his mind ‘it was a freak accident. There was no check. You’re going to get a beating in the second round.’ It’s just nonsense! Pure nonsense,” Zahabi said.

“Not only has his skills as a fighter dipped, but also his character.”

The Tristar Gym head coach believes that Poirier has already surpassed McGregor, and beat him “in all areas of the fight,” so it would be a mistake to go for a fourth match. He also thinks McGregor isn’t in a “top five” level now, and his left straight “doesn’t have the touch of death” anymore.

McGregor, now 33, has lost three of his last four bouts, and only has one win since 2016.

Ronda Rousey says she’s “amazed” with how Conor McGregor reacted after UFC 264.

While most people were critical of Conor McGregor’s actions after losing to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264, Ronda Rousey was apparently “amazed” with how he handled things. The former face of women’s MMA praised McGregor and how he was supposedly “promoting” a fourth match up despite the gruesome leg injury.

“I’m amazed that as soon as you hit the ground you were already promoting the next fight @TheNotoriousMMA – I def wouldn’t have had the mind to do that,” Rousey wrote. “The other fighters, @ufc and media are lucky to have you.”

McGregor also responded to thank Rousey.

McGregor’s post-fight interview had him claiming he was winning the fight and outboxing Poirier, despite stats showing otherwise and two judges giving Poirier a 10-8 score. Perhaps more noteworthy, an irate McGregor again involved Poirier’s wife in his obscene and classless rant. This was a follow up to his various crass comments and posts about how Dustin’s wife “wants to see the hair around my d—k and balls.”

Poirier said “dirt bag” McGregor went too far with his statements, while Dana White also denounced this by telling him to leave people’s family and wives out of it.

Does Rousey think that’s all just an act to promote a future fourth fight? That wouldn’t exactly explain the new cageside footage showing McGregor repeatedly saying he’d kill Poirier “in your sleep” while the official microphones and cameras weren’t on him. Or perhaps Rousey just thinks this is all acceptable?

Conor McGregor says he would’ve won the second round.

After losing the fight to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264, Conor McGregor underwent surgery for his badly broken leg. TMZ reports that it was a “successful 3.5-hour surgery in Los Angeles, where doctors inserted a rod in his tibia and his fibula was fixed with plates and screws.”

The former two-division UFC champion released a video statement after the procedure.

“Just out of the surgery room. Everything went to plan. Everything went perfect. I’m feeling tremendous. We got six weeks on a crutch now, then we begin to build back,” McGregor said.

Immediately after the fight, McGregor claimed that he was winning the bout before the injury, saying he was “boxing the bleeding head off of him.” Despite the fact that he was out-landed statistically and two judges scored it a 10-8 for Poirier, McGregor still stuck to his guns. He called it an “illegitimate win” on his latest video, and claimed that he would’ve won the second round if it wasn’t for the injury.

“It was a hell of a first round. It would’ve been nice to get into that second round to see what’s what. But it is what it is, that’s the nature of the business. A clean break of the tibia and it was not to be,” he said. “Dustin, you can celebrate that illegitimate win all you want, but you’ve done nothing in there. That second round would’ve shown all.”

With the loss at UFC 264, McGregor has now lost three of his last four bouts, all ending by stoppage.