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Former UFC Champ: Conor McGregor ‘Set Fighters Back’ With Outburst

Always considered the biggest and best character in MMA, Conor McGregor continued the cross the line in his strange post-Mayweather era when he threw a dolly through the window of a bus containing Khabib Nurmagomedov at a UFC 223 media day. It’s understandably lead to a vast amount of debate of how much the UFC should […]

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It’s understandably lead to a vast amount of debate of how much the UFC should punish him, as he was arraigned on both felony and misdemeanor charges and will next appear in court on June 14. Most believe he won’t be punished by his bosses at the UFC because they need him to come back for a huge fight, however, and in truth, his court case will likely be only a small punishment for his first offense in the U.S.

But in the views of some, McGregor has already done enough to sully the reputation of MMA fighters overall, and one such fighter is former UFC champion Frank Mir. Speaking up on the all-out-chaos in a recent interview with FanSided, Mir said that as MMA’s biggest name, McGregor undid years of hard work put in by he and his fellow MMA pioneers with just one act:

“Seeing Conor do that, on a personal note, it bugs me,” said Mir. “The guys like me, Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell, Matt Hughes, we fought for years to not be considered a thug, and now you’re going to drag us back in. You are the most famous guy in our sport, the richest guy, the most notable character … People judge us [fighters] by our most notable face.”

That behavior won’t result in a positive outcome according to Mir, who said impressionable young people would be following his example and see he had gained fame and fortune by breaking the law. Because of his overall influence on others, Mir thinks it crucial that the UFC gives him a significant punishment:

“The problem is we have all these young guys and women watching him,” Mir said. “Like anything in life, you sit there and go ‘How did that guy get those shoes? Well, I’m doing this. But how did I get those shoes? Well, you have to follow this.’ We’re a pack mentality.

“So with Conor being the most famous face and you give him a slap on the wrist, how do you deter other guys going down this path?”

A good question to be certain, and it would seem McGregor is truly above the law if he is able to avoid any reprimanding from the UFC. He somehow avoided any for his arguably illegal outburst at a Bellator event in his native Dublin, Ireland, last year where he pushed referee Marc Goddard and slapped a security guard who told him to get off the cage.

But this time he’s actually in real legal trouble, and even though he can clearly afford an attorney to get his charges reduced to possibly next to nothing, there’s only so much more the UFC can do put up with before doing something.

As for Mir, he’ll face legendary Pride FC heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko at Bellator 198 as part of their heavyweight grand prix.

Does the former champion have a good point, and will the UFC ever draw a line in the sand with McGregor?

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Cormier: Conor McGregor Could ‘Go Off The Deep End’ At Any Time

Former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion Conor McGregor committed what was by far the most ‘Notorious’ act of his MMA career when he stormed into the Barclays Center on April 5 and threw a metal dolly through a bus containing current UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. The fallout of the all-out chaos saw McGregor booked […]

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The fallout of the all-out chaos saw McGregor booked and jailed on a felony charge and multiple misdemeanors, and also left two fighters riding that bus unable to compete at April 7’s UFC 223 from Brooklyn.

It’s left the future of the UFC’s biggest star in extreme uncertainty – if not outright jeopardy – and it’s also left him drawing comparisons to troubled all-time UFC great Jon Jones, who has seen his otherwise historic career go careening down a path of disappointing drug-related issues.

The man perhaps most connected to the sad saga of ‘Bones,’ his longtime rival and current UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier, recently weighed in on the parallels between McGregor and Jones during a recent media appearance (via Yahoo!) to promote tomorrow’s debut of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 27, which he’ll coach alongside heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic.

To Cormier, his unpredictable nature won’t prevent fans from accepting him because he’s seen the same scene unfold with Jones:

“His behavior has been a tad bit erratic, and the one thing people don’t like is erratic behavior where they really don’t know what you’re doing next,” Cormier said. “But as we saw with Jones, it did not lead to people completely turning their backs on him. I think because of his ability to fight, and he’s such a special talent, people will accept him when he comes back.”

Cormier stopped short of declaring that the public would accept McGregor back fully, however, because he thinks people will still be somewhat tentative considering that he’s now showed he could do anything at any time:

“But they’ll be a little more leery of him because of that erratic behavior, he could go off the deep end at any time, as we saw in Brooklyn.”

It’s a good point from Cormier, who will face Miocic for the heavyweight title in the main event of July 7’s UFC 226 in an attempt to become one of the more decorated champions in UFC history.

The fight just as easily could have gone to Jones if he had not been suspended for using the anabolic steroid Turinabol prior to his UFC 214 knockout win over his longtime rival, but he did, and now it’s “DC” who stands on the edge of making history. It’s far from Jones’ only outside-the-cage transgression while scheduled to fight Cormier, so he’s all too familiar with how going off the edge in public can derail an otherwise supremely talented fighter.

McGregor’s the biggest star in UFC history on the other hand, and he’s yet to receive any kind of punishment from the UFC and accounting for how much they need him to return, he may not.

But the legal system he’s now caught up in is another matter altogether, and even though he may get off easy the first time, another such outburst may not produce the same result.

Will McGregor eventually go off the deep end as Cormier suggests he could?

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Kevin Lee: Dustin Poirier Would Just Get Taken Down By Khabib

Heading into his main event bout with Edson Barboza this Saturday, UFC lightweight Kevin Lee pays close attention to his division, and like everyone else, he was thoroughly entertained by last Saturday’s UFC on FOX 29 main event between Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje. However, unlike most everyone else, Lee says he didn’t see anything ‘championship-level’ out […]

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However, unlike most everyone else, Lee says he didn’t see anything ‘championship-level’ out of either man, focusing on Poirier’s post-fight call out of newly-crowned champion Khabib Nurmagomedov (via MMA Fighting):

“I seen it. I know Poirier was calling for a title fight and all this but I don’t know, it just seems like those dudes are in a different category. Can you really look at it and say Poirier’s a championship-level fighter? I just don’t see it. He looked good. He did good versus Gaethje, it was an exciting fight, I think he should go out and look for more exciting fights, but it didn’t really seem like a championship-level fight to me to be honest.”

“Speaking as a fan, what are you really looking for? He’s just going to go out there and get taken down by Khabib, he’s going to fight just like anybody else will fight Khabib or fight some of these top guys. I just don’t see too much from his style except exciting fights. I think him and Eddie (Alvarez), him and Gaethje again, something like that.

“He makes exciting fights, he should go out there and keep doing that, but leave the real fighting and the real championship-level s**t to the other guys.”

Lee, who’s combat base is wrestling, says that Poirier’s striking-based game won’t be enough to keep Nurmagomedov’s take downs at bay.

”The Motown Phenom” will have a chance to get back on track towards the title as he prepares to take on Edson Barboza at this Saturday’s UFC Fight Night in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Lee had come up short against Tony Ferguson for the interim lightweight belt in October.

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Top Contender Vows To Expose Khabib Nurmagomedov

UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov is learning that once you become the title holder, then you have a target on your back. Top contender Kevin Lee stated in a recent interview with MMA Junkie that he was ready to fight Nurmagomedov on short-notice once it was revealed that Tony Ferguson was out of the fight. […]

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UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov is learning that once you become the title holder, then you have a target on your back.

Top contender Kevin Lee stated in a recent interview with MMA Junkie that he was ready to fight Nurmagomedov on short-notice once it was revealed that Tony Ferguson was out of the fight.

It’s been documented that the main event of the UFC 223 pay-per-view event went through three officially changes.

The UFC attempted to book Nurmagomedov against Max Holloway as well in the main event for the lightweight title.

However, the fights weren’t able to make the fight due to weight cutting issues or injury. Thus, they got Al Iaquinta to step in on short notice to take on the undefeated champ in the headliner.

As many believed would happen, it did, Khabib ended up winning the fight along with the undisputed UFC lightweight title.

“The only reason I think they didn’t offer me that fight is because they knew hands down, before they even said it, I would have said, ‘Yes, I’m on my way,’ Lee told reporters in a recent interview held at the UFC’s Performance Institute in Las Vegas. “I weighed lower than Max (Holloway) did when they offered Max the fight.

“I think that would have been the fight to make, but it’s all in good time.”

Lee is expected to face Edson Barboza at the upcoming UFC Fight Night 128 event, which takes place on April 21, 2018, at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Although he has his next fight lined up, he wants a crack at Khabib.

“I want that Khabib fight. I’ve been calling for it for a long time. I feel like I’m going to get a better version of Edson Barboza that fought Khabib a couple months ago. I’m going to whoop this boy even worse then Khabib did, and then from there we can make a fight happen.”

“He was trying the same takedown over and over again,” Lee said of Nurmagomedov. “The man don’t have a lot of variety in his game. He’s the same as who beat (Rafael) dos Anjos a few years ago. He’s that exact same fighter. I think once you stop evolving in this game then guys like me are going to catch up to you.

“Once I get my hands on him that’s really going to show. There was a little bit of frustration watching that fight because I wanted to be the one to expose those holes and I want to be the one to give him that one on his record. But as soon as that fight’s over I got back on what I got to do and that’s go out there and whooping on Edson.”

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Kevin Lee: I’m Going to Whoop Edson Barboza Worse Than Khabib Did

Kevin Lee is confident that he’ll emerge victorious against Edson Barboza. Lee will meet Barboza this Saturday night (April 21) inside the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The lightweight tilt will headline UFC Atlantic City. This wil…

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Dustin Poirier Details Why He Doesn’t Want Conor McGregor Rematch

No. 5 UFC lightweight Dustin Poirier scored his biggest UFC win when he stopped oncoming freight train Justin Gaethje (full highlights here) in the main event of last night’s (Sat., April 14, 2018) UFC on FOX 29 from the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona. The victory over the fan favorite slugger has Poirier on the outside […]

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No. 5 UFC lightweight Dustin Poirier scored his biggest UFC win when he stopped oncoming freight train Justin Gaethje (full highlights here) in the main event of last night’s (Sat., April 14, 2018) UFC on FOX 29 from the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona.

The victory over the fan favorite slugger has Poirier on the outside looking in on the very top of the confusing UFC lightweight title picture, but in his post-fight interview, ‘The Diamond’ proclaimed he was already at the top by calling out current champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.

It’s a fight that Dana White said would be a possibility, yet with a supremely lucrative grudge match against Conor McGregor looming for ‘The Eagle,’ it’d be more than a bit surprising to see Poirier get the next crack at the belt, especially with the damage he absorbed to his right leg last night.

So a rematch with former champion Eddie Alvarez, with whom Poirier shared a controversial no contest at last May’s UFC 211, has been pointed at as the next logical step for the surging ‘Diamond.’

He isn’t looking to settle old scores, however. During his post-fight scrum via MMA Fighting, Poirier said he has his mind on one thing – the championship gold – and doesn’t care about rematches with Alvarez or McGregor, who knocked him out after a heated build-up to their match at 2014’s UFC 178:

“I want to fight for gold, man,” Poirier said. “I’m not chasing rematches with Conor, rematches with Eddie, rematches with anybody. That’s not my goal. My goal is not to get even with these guys. My goal is to prosper and be a world champion and make money and retire and say I did it.”

His targeted path as a prizefighter an understandable one, it’s it’s a great idea to make as much money as possible in as short amount of time as he can in today’s cutthroat MMA business.

However, with a clearly damaged leg after his battle with “The Highlight,” Poirier could be facing some significant time away from the cage. That timing could potentially put him on a collision course with former interim champion Tony Ferguson, who had knee surgery last week after tearing his LCL fulfilling media obligations six days before his scheduled UFC 223 match-up with Nurmagomedov.

Khabib has discussed a November return himself, which could also work out for Poirier if the huge bout with McGregor doesn’t work. If it does for some reason, most feel Poirier would be ragdolled by the Dagestani’s mat skills, but “The Diamond” said many would be surprised by his skills in that area:

“I feel like my wrestling and jiu-jitsu is so underrated,” Poirier said. “People have no idea and I would love for a chance to show you.”

Underrated or not, they’d obviously have to be world-class if he wanted to have a legit shot at handing ‘The Eagle’ his first loss.

It seems like McGregor’s fight for now, and it probably should be. With his ‘Notorious’ fighting future still up in the air, just don’t be shocked to see ‘The Diamond’ slide into a title shot sometime soon.

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