Wait, wait. Before we get into that, here’s the thing: You hang around the fight game long enough and you grow accustomed to getting lied to. In fact, you develop a taste for it — you begin to categorize lies based on efficiency and clarity of purpose, like a connoisseur. There are more agendas, more self-serving narratives, more scales of exaggeration in play than can ever be meaningful. There’s a reason people say, “and here we are, at the moment of truth!” when fighters touch gloves, you know what I mean?
It’s because we’ve finally arrived at that moment from a place of total B.S.
And so here’s the thing about Conor McGregor, and fighters like him…it’s our gullibility that is always at stake. That’s what’s fun. We know we’re either being fools to believe in him (like he believes in him), or we think we’re too smart to fall that. In any case, that’s a good dynamic, having your powers of perception played with so freely. That’s why people seek to monetize their hunches through gambling.
And these are the things that make a fight like the main event on Saturday night seem personal.
Still, even the most ridiculous romantic fool couldn’t have scripted McGregor’s moment at UFC 189. Even if he was dismissing accomplished real life human beings as mere obstacles, it only made the interrogation lights beaming down on him hotter when he stepped in with The Wrestler, Chad Mendes. Mendes was either just a random anyman standing in for Jose Aldo on short notice, as McGregor insisted, or he was in fact the McGregor antidote. Mendes, a terror for everyone except Aldo (and even for Aldo), had never been cast like that before. He’s never been positioned strictly as a weathervane for another man’s fortune.
Yet he was a wrestler, an insistent wrestler, exactly the kind of wrestler people assumed McGregor was being protected against hitherto. The set-up alone felt like…a set-up. Three thousand Irish flew in not to see their man ground into meal, but to see “Mystic Mac” rise to the occasion.
Really, the thing couldn’t have played out more perfectly for McGregor or his countrymen (or the UFC, who should be handing out champagne splits this morning). He came back to win a fight he was losing, in a way that — for all intents and purposes — communicated his power of belief. That’s one hell of a trick. Especially in the spot he was in.
McGregor spent large portions of two rounds on his back, trying to dislodge Mendes’ driving head from his chest cavity. As the Irish chanted “Ole, Ole, Ole!” McGregor was just about to be down two rounds to none when he popped out of a guillotine attempt and stood. From there it’s all an old wives’ tale that just happens to be true.
As McGregor got to his feet, he advanced towards Mendes with a look that said, “now what?” It was in that sequence where everything that goes into McGregor as a hype product became something actual. Just like that, there was the old ghost materializing in the chamber, spooking a disbelieving man into a paler pigment. Yet McGregor materialized in front of millions. McGregor took the faded Mendes apart with his fists on the fence and with three seconds left in a fight of extraordinary value, stuffed his mythos full of substance.
Now we have the UFC’s biggest star. His fight with Aldo, which was already going to be of massive interest, just became potentially the biggest fight in UFC history. Perfect, too, because all the naysayers will stay intact. Naysayers are as vital to the sport as its blind proponents.
Mendes had two weeks of camp to prepare for the fight, half of which he spent as a contingency plan. He gassed early as a result. He game-planned on the fly. Still, the question remains for McGregor with dogged wrestlers, because look what a non-peak Mendes was doing while he was doing it. Mendes made a mistake.
It’s all legitimate. Just as it’s all moot on Sunday morning, as McGregor wakes up with a belt.
For him it’s a quick stop at the bank on his way to the next moment of truth.
The thing about Conor McGregor is…
Wait, wait. Before we get into that, here’s the thing: You hang around the fight game long enough and you grow accustomed to getting lied to. In fact, you develop a taste for it — you begin to categorize lies based on efficiency and clarity of purpose, like a connoisseur. There are more agendas, more self-serving narratives, more scales of exaggeration in play than can ever be meaningful. There’s a reason people say, “and here we are, at the moment of truth!” when fighters touch gloves, you know what I mean?
It’s because we’ve finally arrived at that moment from a place of total B.S.
And so here’s the thing about Conor McGregor, and fighters like him…it’s our gullibility that is always at stake. That’s what’s fun. We know we’re either being fools to believe in him (like he believes in him), or we think we’re too smart to fall that. In any case, that’s a good dynamic, having your powers of perception played with so freely. That’s why people seek to monetize their hunches through gambling.
And these are the things that make a fight like the main event on Saturday night seem personal.
Still, even the most ridiculous romantic fool couldn’t have scripted McGregor’s moment at UFC 189. Even if he was dismissing accomplished real life human beings as mere obstacles, it only made the interrogation lights beaming down on him hotter when he stepped in with The Wrestler, Chad Mendes. Mendes was either just a random anyman standing in for Jose Aldo on short notice, as McGregor insisted, or he was in fact the McGregor antidote. Mendes, a terror for everyone except Aldo (and even for Aldo), had never been cast like that before. He’s never been positioned strictly as a weathervane for another man’s fortune.
Yet he was a wrestler, an insistent wrestler, exactly the kind of wrestler people assumed McGregor was being protected against hitherto. The set-up alone felt like…a set-up. Three thousand Irish flew in not to see their man ground into meal, but to see “Mystic Mac” rise to the occasion.
Really, the thing couldn’t have played out more perfectly for McGregor or his countrymen (or the UFC, who should be handing out champagne splits this morning). He came back to win a fight he was losing, in a way that — for all intents and purposes — communicated his power of belief. That’s one hell of a trick. Especially in the spot he was in.
McGregor spent large portions of two rounds on his back, trying to dislodge Mendes’ driving head from his chest cavity. As the Irish chanted “Ole, Ole, Ole!” McGregor was just about to be down two rounds to none when he popped out of a guillotine attempt and stood. From there it’s all an old wives’ tale that just happens to be true.
As McGregor got to his feet, he advanced towards Mendes with a look that said, “now what?” It was in that sequence where everything that goes into McGregor as a hype product became something actual. Just like that, there was the old ghost materializing in the chamber, spooking a disbelieving man into a paler pigment. Yet McGregor materialized in front of millions. McGregor took the faded Mendes apart with his fists on the fence and with three seconds left in a fight of extraordinary value, stuffed his mythos full of substance.
Now we have the UFC’s biggest star. His fight with Aldo, which was already going to be of massive interest, just became potentially the biggest fight in UFC history. Perfect, too, because all the naysayers will stay intact. Naysayers are as vital to the sport as its blind proponents.
Mendes had two weeks of camp to prepare for the fight, half of which he spent as a contingency plan. He gassed early as a result. He game-planned on the fly. Still, the question remains for McGregor with dogged wrestlers, because look what a non-peak Mendes was doing while he was doing it. Mendes made a mistake.
It’s all legitimate. Just as it’s all moot on Sunday morning, as McGregor wakes up with a belt.
For him it’s a quick stop at the bank on his way to the next moment of truth.
On a night when every fight on the main card stood out as something memorable, the process of divvying up UFC 189’s end of the night bonuses became a difficult process.
In the end, it was the co-main event between welterweight champion Robbi…
On a night when every fight on the main card stood out as something memorable, the process of divvying up UFC 189’s end of the night bonuses became a difficult process.
In the end, it was the co-main event between welterweight champion Robbie Lawler and Rory MacDonald that stood out the most. After a back-and-forth war that ended with both guys in the hospital, it was Lawler who persevered and retained his belt. After being rocked time and again, Lawler finally stopped MacDonald in the fifth round with a punch that shattered MacDonald’s already broken nose.
The fight was good enough to earn both MacDonald and Lawler $50,00 of bonus money.
The performance bonuses were split between Irish superstar Conor McGregor, who overcame Chad Mendes‘ wrestling to score a second-round TKO, and 23-year old Thomas Almeida, who kicked off the pay-per-view with a flying knee knockout of Brad Pickett.
Almeida’s knockout will stand among the most memorable of 2015.
For McGregor, who won the featherweight interim title on Saturday night, it was his fifth end of the night bonus in six UFC fights.
This is the UFC 189 live blog for Chad Mendes vs. Conor McGregor, a featherweight bout at Saturday night’s UFC event at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.Mendes, who has won four of his past five fights, will face McGregor, who has won…
This is the UFC 189 live blog for Chad Mendes vs. Conor McGregor, a featherweight bout at Saturday night’s UFC event at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Mendes, who has won four of his past five fights, will face McGregor, who has won 13 straight fights, on the main card.
Waiting for the walkouts here. All the descriptors of what gives McGregor the “it” factor are now on display. His toughest test to date is about to happen. The stakes couldn’t be bigger. Should he win, a potential mega-fight with Aldo at Croke Park in Ireland, an event that could threaten PPV records. Should he lose, the mystique takes a hit.
Now Sinead O’Connor is rising up through a green-lit fog singing in Ireland’s greatest fighting icon. The crowd is rapt. What a moment. O’Connor looks very much the same. And the screen flashes to McGregor making his way down the tunnel. He has the wild eyes. He has the flag draped on him. He is shadow-boxing his way towards the opening in the arena. McGregor comes through, and the crowd is alive! He is at a trot to the cage. McGregor now hugging his coaches and trainers as a chant of “Ole” breaks out. McGregor lifts his arms up and acknowledges his reception as he enters the cage and does a lap.
Now Mendes making his way out with Aaron Lewis performing on an acoustic. Irish fans chanting through it. Mendes draped in American flag and scowling. Pretty intense moment here. Two live performances to bring in the fighters. All has such a big feel to it. Mendes enters the cage. McGregor stalks through the cage as he does. McGregor is jawing at him.
This is the UFC 189 live blog for Dennis Bermudez vs. Jeremy Stephens, a catchweight bout at Saturday night’s UFC event at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.Bermudez, who has won four of his past five fights, will face Stephens, who ha…
Round 1: Marc Goddard is the third man. There are NINE Octagon girls. It’s impressive. Bermudez immediately shoots low for a takedown, but Stephens deflects him to the fence. And they break. They exchange in the middle, and Bermudez takes a hard right hand! Blood is already flowing here, can’t tell from who. Stephens is bleeding. Now Bermudez lands a big shot on Stephens, and they go to the fence. Bermudez working knees into Stephens’ thighs, and now he stoops low and grabs his legs and drops him softly to the canvas. Now Bermudez gets his back, he is landing punches to the left side of Stephens’ face. Blood continues to pour out of Stephens’ head. I guess it was a headbutt that got him bloodied up, they are leaving a smear of it down the length of the links. Bermudez is fishing for Stephens’ neck, and with the slickness of all the blood slips off. They stand. Leg kick from Bermudez. They both wing overhands and each of them land! Wow. That was a great exchange right in the middle. Bermudez, the wrestler, drops in for a takedown and Stephens sprawls. To the fence they go. Again, Bermudez doing the work, knees and elbows. He has Stephens posted there, and he is trying to drop him on the fence. They break, and exchange kicks as the round ends. MMA Fighting scores R1 for Bermudez, 10-9.
Round 2: Stephens has been squeegeed off. They comes out slinging leg kicks, and he hits bone on the knee. Bermudez sort of buckled there. Nice right hand from Bermudez, and as he comes in to deliver more Stephens drops him with a big right hand! Now Stephens is pouring it on. Bermudez is able to recover. Bermudez is limping. Stephens seizing control of this round so far. Another leg kick from Stephens, and Bermudez is favoring his left leg. Another counter left cross from Stephens as Bermudez came in. That leg is hurt, clearly. Uppercut from Stephens there, and now drops him with a left. Bermudez is in trouble. This is an action fight! Damn. Bermudez bulldozes Stephens into the fence and he goes back to work. Might be a smart play. But they break, and Stephens lands a knee on the parting, right to the head. Superman punch from Bermudez lands! Wow. What a fight. Bermudez ducks under a big overhand and lands a counter, and now ducks down again and tries for a takedown. Again, Stephens sprawls. They go to the fence. Bermudez very busy with small punches on the fence, trying to trip the stout Stephens down. They break. Leg kick from Bermudez. Both swing, and Bermudez gets the better of that exchange. Takedown from Stephens there, and they tumble momentarily, but back up — and they roll to the fence at round’s end. MMA Fighting scores R2 for Stephens, 10-9 (19-19 overall) Round 3:
For two of his three UFC fights so far, Paddy Holohan has fought alongside his Irish countryman Conor McGregor. As McGregor gets set to fight in the biggest bout of his career at UFC 189 this Saturday – an interim title fight against Chad Mendes — Holohan is finishing up his training. He has a bout scheduled against Vaughan Lee at UFC Fight Night 72 in Glasgow, Scotland, the following week, on July 18.
Not that “The Hooligan” is suffering any kind of separation anxiety. Holohan was a guest on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, and he said that it might be a sign of the times that Irish fighters are spreading and appearing all over the globe.
“I didn’t really mind,” Holohan told Ariel Helwani about not being in Las Vegas with his teammate, McGregor. “This is Conor’s time as well. The next level is all fighting in different countries at different times, and getting wins on different shows. It will increase.”
Holohan said it might be beneficial to him to focus on Lee elsewhere.
“And same with him. This is Conor’s time,” he said. “I wanted to split to a different part of the woods, and separate just maybe for this time. And then the next time I’ll be back being the berserker. This time it’s going to be nice there, to go over there. Every one [of my teammates] gets to see how the UFC machine works.”
The 27-year old Holohan (11-1-1) is coming off a decision victory against Shane Howell at UFC Fight Night 59 in Boston. That was the same night that McGregor defeated Dennis Siver and jumped the Octagon wall to confront a cageside Jose Aldo. Holohan choked out Josh Sampo in his promotional debut when the UFC visited Dublin last July.
That was the time that McGregor made quick work of Diego Brandao in one of the most raucous atmosphere’s in UFC history.
Come Saturday night, the city of Irish is expected to be green for McGregor’s interim title bout, with thousands of his countrymen making the trek to Vegas to attend.
Asked where he’ll be on fight night – which, on Dublin time, is at 5 o’clock in the morning – Holohan said he’d be at Harry’s on the Green on King Street in Dublin. He said the whole country will be glued to the action, no matter what time it is.
“Of course. And you know, everyone gave up their jobs,” he said. “Everyone has put their kids up for adoption, gave up their jobs, and a lot of them are getting ready for the Conor McGregor fight. It doesn’t matter who he’s fighting, the whole country is here, and trust me, when he gets his hand raised, be quiet and listen. The whole country’s going to jump at once. You’re going to feel it. You’ll here, Eire! It’s going to work out. And then a week later we go to war ourselves.”
Holohan said it would double as his sending off party for Scotland, as well.
“I’ll be eating some lettuce, because we’ll be deep in the trenches there,” he said. “So yeah, looking forward to it. I’m going in with a few friends, the last bit of fun before I fly out to Scotland down there. It’s going to be great.
“As a fighter and a friend, I’m a Conor McGregor enthusiast as well. I can’t wait to see it for [coach] John [Kavanagh], to see it for Conor, and see it for the whole team and Conor’s family. This is ten years in the making coming to fruition. This is serious. This could be like looking into the future for myself.”
Just as McGregor stated on his UFC 189 press call last week, Holohan said he also hopes to end up on the next Dublin card, which the UFC scheduled for Oct. 24.
For two of his three UFC fights so far, Paddy Holohan has fought alongside his Irish countryman Conor McGregor. As McGregor gets set to fight in the biggest bout of his career at UFC 189 this Saturday – an interim title fight against Chad Mendes — Holohan is finishing up his training. He has a bout scheduled against Vaughan Lee at UFC Fight Night 72 in Glasgow, Scotland, the following week, on July 18.
Not that “The Hooligan” is suffering any kind of separation anxiety. Holohan was a guest on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, and he said that it might be a sign of the times that Irish fighters are spreading and appearing all over the globe.
“I didn’t really mind,” Holohan told Ariel Helwani about not being in Las Vegas with his teammate, McGregor. “This is Conor’s time as well. The next level is all fighting in different countries at different times, and getting wins on different shows. It will increase.”
Holohan said it might be beneficial to him to focus on Lee elsewhere.
“And same with him. This is Conor’s time,” he said. “I wanted to split to a different part of the woods, and separate just maybe for this time. And then the next time I’ll be back being the berserker. This time it’s going to be nice there, to go over there. Every one [of my teammates] gets to see how the UFC machine works.”
The 27-year old Holohan (11-1-1) is coming off a decision victory against Shane Howell at UFC Fight Night 59 in Boston. That was the same night that McGregor defeated Dennis Siver and jumped the Octagon wall to confront a cageside Jose Aldo. Holohan choked out Josh Sampo in his promotional debut when the UFC visited Dublin last July.
That was the time that McGregor made quick work of Diego Brandao in one of the most raucous atmosphere’s in UFC history.
Come Saturday night, the city of Irish is expected to be green for McGregor’s interim title bout, with thousands of his countrymen making the trek to Vegas to attend.
Asked where he’ll be on fight night – which, on Dublin time, is at 5 o’clock in the morning – Holohan said he’d be at Harry’s on the Green on King Street in Dublin. He said the whole country will be glued to the action, no matter what time it is.
“Of course. And you know, everyone gave up their jobs,” he said. “Everyone has put their kids up for adoption, gave up their jobs, and a lot of them are getting ready for the Conor McGregor fight. It doesn’t matter who he’s fighting, the whole country is here, and trust me, when he gets his hand raised, be quiet and listen. The whole country’s going to jump at once. You’re going to feel it. You’ll here, Eire! It’s going to work out. And then a week later we go to war ourselves.”
Holohan said it would double as his sending off party for Scotland, as well.
“I’ll be eating some lettuce, because we’ll be deep in the trenches there,” he said. “So yeah, looking forward to it. I’m going in with a few friends, the last bit of fun before I fly out to Scotland down there. It’s going to be great.
“As a fighter and a friend, I’m a Conor McGregor enthusiast as well. I can’t wait to see it for [coach] John [Kavanagh], to see it for Conor, and see it for the whole team and Conor’s family. This is ten years in the making coming to fruition. This is serious. This could be like looking into the future for myself.”
Just as McGregor stated on his UFC 189 press call last week, Holohan said he also hopes to end up on the next Dublin card, which the UFC scheduled for Oct. 24.
The UFC events that will happen this weekend will be very different from the UFCs that stood before them. Beginning with UFC 189, the fighters will be attired differently (and by differently, I mean exactly the same), as the Reebok deal kicks in. Those same fighters will carry a look of stone-faced petrification, a residual effect of the new out-of-competition drug testing courtesy of those five scary letters (USADA). The broadcast will look different, though we won’t know exactly in what ways until Saturday.
And the UFC logo itself has undergone what you can only refer to as “a complete overhaul.” As a Washington Post blurb pointed out, the “C” in UFC was made cleaner, less full of itself, and particularly less wrench-like. The F and the U will of course remain the same.
Any naked eye can perceive these things.
So what’s going on here? Why all the polish? Why the tweakage? Does this mean that Stemm’s mighty opus “Face The Pain” will as of this weekend belong to a bygone day, just like the old Gladiator that used to being the telecasts?
Say it ain’t so.
Not that the new “C” isn’t aerodynamic and easier to comprehend aesthetically, but an identity rebrand of this magnitude says that either Zuffa sees the existing 18-34 male demo (“the diehards”) as connoisseurs of refinement and subtlety, or that the trolling lines are out in hopes of attracting new people to the sport (“the casuals”).
Or that, you know, some things just needed fixing, so why not do it now? Why not all at once?
The Conor McGregor Era is all about blowing up the outdated affiliations to whatever basement the sport crawled out of and making this thang lahzhit. It’s about doing away with the Stone Ages and ushering in a more modernized modern day warrior. It’s just ironic that Matt Brown, the game’s most prehistoric figure — a figure cut from the darkest depths of Hell, known for his shark-like emotion and merciless brutality — is fighting on this Saturday’s card.
It’s also about more than that, though. It has to be.
Ultimately everything going on at International Fight Week is part of the same organized movement. The UFC is embracing its past in ways it never has by electing Bas Rutten and Jeff Blatnick into the Hall of Fame, along with B.J. Penn. Preceding this year’s induction class was a structure to the Hall of Fame, which features a Pioneers wing (Rutten), a Contributors wing (Blatnick), a Modern wing (Penn) and a Fight wing (Matt Hughes vs. Frank Trigg II).
Structure. That’s the new thing. This is what the UFC is rolling out this weekend. Did you see the Hall of Fame trophies? They look gala ready…like something designed for MoMA. In other words, classy.
This is a big weekend in the UFC, the first time where the past and the future belong to the same movement. It’s unique in that so much will be novel. Even if you hate certain aspects of all the things going on — like the Reebok deal effectively doing away with individuality and entrepreneurship — it’s a benchmark in the maturation process. So many loose ends being tied up at once. This is the weekend it all changes, for better or for worse.
No more rogue banners. No more human billboards. No more IVs. No more cheaters. No more forgotten history.
As of July 11, the new UFC gets underway. The revamped “C” in the logo — so modern and riveting, full of élan and dash — is just part of the makeover. Read into it as you want. The Irish might say the new “C” is for Conor, or the UFC that it’s for “Championship,” but one way or another, that new “C” is all about change.
The UFC events that will happen this weekend will be very different from the UFCs that stood before them. Beginning with UFC 189, the fighters will be attired differently (and by differently, I mean exactly the same), as the Reebok deal kicks in. Those same fighters will carry a look of stone-faced petrification, a residual effect of the new out-of-competition drug testing courtesy of those five scary letters (USADA). The broadcast will look different, though we won’t know exactly in what ways until Saturday.
And the UFC logo itself has undergone what you can only refer to as “a complete overhaul.” As a Washington Post blurb pointed out, the “C” in UFC was made cleaner, less full of itself, and particularly less wrench-like. The F and the U will of course remain the same.
Any naked eye can perceive these things.
So what’s going on here? Why all the polish? Why the tweakage? Does this mean that Stemm’s mighty opus “Face The Pain” will as of this weekend belong to a bygone day, just like the old Gladiator that used to being the telecasts?
Say it ain’t so.
Not that the new “C” isn’t aerodynamic and easier to comprehend aesthetically, but an identity rebrand of this magnitude says that either Zuffa sees the existing 18-34 male demo (“the diehards”) as connoisseurs of refinement and subtlety, or that the trolling lines are out in hopes of attracting new people to the sport (“the casuals”).
Or that, you know, some things just needed fixing, so why not do it now? Why not all at once?
The Conor McGregor Era is all about blowing up the outdated affiliations to whatever basement the sport crawled out of and making this thang lahzhit. It’s about doing away with the Stone Ages and ushering in a more modernized modern day warrior. It’s just ironic that Matt Brown, the game’s most prehistoric figure — a figure cut from the darkest depths of Hell, known for his shark-like emotion and merciless brutality — is fighting on this Saturday’s card.
It’s also about more than that, though. It has to be.
Ultimately everything going on at International Fight Week is part of the same organized movement. The UFC is embracing its past in ways it never has by electing Bas Rutten and Jeff Blatnick into the Hall of Fame, along with B.J. Penn. Preceding this year’s induction class was a structure to the Hall of Fame, which features a Pioneers wing (Rutten), a Contributors wing (Blatnick), a Modern wing (Penn) and a Fight wing (Matt Hughes vs. Frank Trigg II).
Structure. That’s the new thing. This is what the UFC is rolling out this weekend. Did you see the Hall of Fame trophies? They look gala ready…like something designed for MoMA. In other words, classy.
This is a big weekend in the UFC, the first time where the past and the future belong to the same movement. It’s unique in that so much will be novel. Even if you hate certain aspects of all the things going on — like the Reebok deal effectively doing away with individuality and entrepreneurship — it’s a benchmark in the maturation process. So many loose ends being tied up at once. This is the weekend it all changes, for better or for worse.
No more rogue banners. No more human billboards. No more IVs. No more cheaters. No more forgotten history.
As of July 11, the new UFC gets underway. The revamped “C” in the logo — so modern and riveting, full of élan and dash — is just part of the makeover. Read into it as you want. The Irish might say the new “C” is for Conor, or the UFC that it’s for “Championship,” but one way or another, that new “C” is all about change.
