There have been rumors flying around that Conor McGregor has brought in Olympic gold medalist Jordan Burroughs for his UFC 229 camp.
McGregor will have his hands full in the grappling department on October 6th with Khabib Nurmagomedov. The Irishman is going to need as much preparation as he can get to avoid getting taken down by “The Eagle.”
As for Burroughs’ rumored involvement, he’s an extremely talented 30-year-old 2012 Olympic gold medalist in freestyle wrestling. It’s been rumored that the pair has worked together in the past, but that has never been confirmed.
Recently, Burroughs took to Twitter to deny his rumored involvement in McGregor’s UFC 229 camp. Burroughs said he’s not helping McGregor for his fight with Nurmagomedov and is instead focused on his own World Championship pursuits in October:
“I’m not working with Conor. I’m attempting to win a World Championship of my own in October. I wish him the best of luck in his upcoming title fight with Khabib.”
I’m not working with Conor. I’m attempting to win a World Championship of my own in October. I wish him the best of luck in his upcoming title fight with Khabib.
McGregor and Nurmagomedov will main event UFC 229 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on October 6, 2018. “The Notorious” will challenge for the Russian’s UFC lightweight title.
Its been nearly two years since McGregor has fought inside the Octagon. He defeated Eddie Alvarez in the main event of the UFC’s first ever show from Madison Square Garden. McGregor knocked out Alvarez in the second round for the 155-pound title.
In his absence, McGregor has been stripped of two world titles (featherweight and lightweight). He partook in a money fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. inside the boxing ring in a losing effort.
After some shenanigans in Brooklyn that led to his subsequent arrest, McGregor’s legal issues seem to be behind him. Now he can focus his full attention on making it to fight night and settling his personal vendetta with “The Eagle” once and for all.
On this day four years ago, Jordan Burroughs shut down rumors that he helped prepare Conor McGregor for his UFC 229 bout against Khabib Nurmagomedov. Looking back, perhaps had McGregor been able to enlist the services of Burroughs, perhaps the outcome …
On this day four years ago, Jordan Burroughs shut down rumors that he helped prepare Conor McGregor for his UFC 229 bout against Khabib Nurmagomedov. Looking back, perhaps had McGregor been able to enlist the services of Burroughs, perhaps the outcome would have been different. But at UFC 229, Khabib was able to submit McGregor…
(Unfortunately, scribed just below this sculpture were a series of hateful, anonymous comments telling these “pussies” to, among other things, “Quit lay-n-praying and knock a motherfucker out.”)
Following the sport’s shocking removal from the 2020 Olympic games, the wrestling community has called upon every conceivable resource in an attempt to restore the sport’s reputation amongst casual fans and potentially introduce it to even more. Sadly, us history buffs have thus far failed to sway the group of geniuses who declared handball and all that horse-related bullshit as sports more worthy of our viewership from reverting on their monumental mistake. But now, it appears that the International Federation for Wrestling has decided to follow our beloved sport into the fire in a last ditch attempt to save their own. USA Today has the scoop (via MMAJunkie):
“We have to think about how to make a show because without that today, it’s difficult,” FILA acting president Nenad Lalovic told USA TODAY Sports.
Former world champion Bill Scherr, chairman of the Committee for the Preservation of Olympic Wrestling, has met with UFC chief executive Dana White and Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney. MMA stars and officials have been very supportive of wrestling’s efforts. Scherr said his sport can learn about presentation from the MMA world.“We need to think about ways to change how the stage is presented,” Scherr said. “They compete in an octagon and we compete on a mat. We don’t have to compete on a mat. We can compete in sand, we can compete in grass and we can compete on a mat or an octagon. I don’t know. We can get survey groups together and see what looks best.”
There you have it, Potato Nation: Goodbye USA Wrestling. Hello SandFC!
(Unfortunately, scribed just below this sculpture were a series of hateful, anonymous comments telling these “pussies” to, among other things, “Quit lay-n-praying and knock a motherfucker out.”)
Following the sport’s shocking removal from the 2020 Olympic games, the wrestling community has called upon every conceivable resource in an attempt to restore the sport’s reputation amongst casual fans and potentially introduce it to even more. Sadly, us history buffs have thus far failed to sway the group of geniuses who declared handball and all that horse-related bullshit as sports more worthy of our viewership from reverting on their monumental mistake. But now, it appears that the International Federation for Wrestling has decided to follow our beloved sport into the fire in a last ditch attempt to save their own. USA Today has the scoop (via MMAJunkie):
“We have to think about how to make a show because without that today, it’s difficult,” FILA acting president Nenad Lalovic told USA TODAY Sports.
Former world champion Bill Scherr, chairman of the Committee for the Preservation of Olympic Wrestling, has met with UFC chief executive Dana White and Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney. MMA stars and officials have been very supportive of wrestling’s efforts. Scherr said his sport can learn about presentation from the MMA world.“We need to think about ways to change how the stage is presented,” Scherr said. “They compete in an octagon and we compete on a mat. We don’t have to compete on a mat. We can compete in sand, we can compete in grass and we can compete on a mat or an octagon. I don’t know. We can get survey groups together and see what looks best.”
There you have it, Potato Nation: Goodbye USA Wrestling. Hello SandFC!
Olympic champion Jordan Burroughs has also rallied behind the cause, declaring that “face-offs” could also add to the “showmanship” aspect of the sport, and it is here that we run into the fundamental flaw with this cause. While showmanship has surely been at least partially responsible for the UFC’s rise to greatness, the sport itself is what has kept fans tuning in.
Let’s play the role of “casual fan” for a minute (*chugs three Red Bull & Vodkas, paints “Just Bleed” on chest*). Wrestling is without a doubt the most despised and ridiculed aspect in all of mixed martial arts, often reduced to such phrases as “lay-n-pray,” “wall-n-stall,” and “guys rolling around like homosexuals on the ground.” The bar for what constitutes violence worthy of our attention has simply been raised too high, dammit (*directs you to the Mexican cartel decapitation video*) and MMA is partially to blame. Does anyone think splitting wrestler’s singlets into three-pieces, holding staged weigh-ins, or changing the surface upon which they battle will do anything to alter the public’s perception of the sport in general? Believe us, there is nothing more disheartening than watching two guys put on a subpar grappling display in someone’s lawn.
To switch back to the role of us “learned fans,” it’s hard to deny that the sport is in need of some vamping up if it hopes to bring back the audience it once had, and turning to the UFC/Bellator for advice is better than simply doing nothing in this regard (although Bjorn’s advice that all future wrestling events be held on Indian reservations seemed a little outlandish). Like Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, if you are not familiar with the intricacies of wrestling, it can often make for a pretty tepid viewing experience. The UFC, however, has been able to both successfully enlighten fans to this discipline and educate them on said intricacies while simultaneously entertaining them. Hell, it was *the* reason the promotion was created in the first place, so who better to help the sport of wrestling rise from its own ashes?
The question now becomes: What else can wrestling do to stir up a similar interest level?
All of these issues will hopefully be addressed on May 29th in St. Petersburg, Russia, when the sport’s possible inclusion in the 2020 games is reviewed by the IOC. After wrestling (and seven other sports also recently cut from the Olympics) makes its case, the board is expected to recommend three sports for inclusion, with the final decision being handed down in September.
Additionally, FILA is planning to move forward with several proposed changes to the sport that go beyond the surface level:
“We have to make the sport more watchable and understandable for fans, otherwise we cannot acquire more fans,” Lalovic said.
Lalovic also said the sport will add two weight classes in women’s wrestling and eliminate one each in men’s freestyle and Greco-Roman. Each discipline will have six weight classes.
“And if that doesn’t work out,” Lalovic later added in a fake interview, “We’re booking Canseco vs. O’Neal in a levitation chamber, because society is f*cking disintegrating.”
