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Former UFC Champ: Conor McGregor Needs To Defend His Title Now

In the weeks following UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor’s close majority decision win over Nate Diaz at welterweight in the main event of August 20’s UFC 202, “The Notorious” has been linked to a variety of high-profile bouts for his next attraction. Those include potentially lucrative fights against supposedly returning former welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre

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Those include potentially lucrative fights against supposedly returning former welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre and current lightweight champ Eddie Alvarez, but one MMA legend agrees with the many who think McGregor should finally defend his 145-pound title. Speaking during a recent interview with Submission Radio, former UFC heavyweight champion Bas Rutten revealed his stance that McGregor should finally give Jose Aldo, whom he knocked out in 13 seconds to win the belt, his long overdue rematch:

“No, they cannot do it – well they can do it if they want, but that’s not going to be well received. I would say what you said, give up the title, then step away from it and go for the title shot at 155. That I can see happening. But both? No. I think there’s going to be a backlash. I think people are gonna speak up.”

“He needs to defend his title now against Jose Aldo. That’s first. He should have done that before already, I believe. So now he’s going to have to go back to 145, defend his title, then decide.”

As for the rumored fight with GSP, Rutten was brutally honest in his assessment of how it would play out, which made the fight one he is not interesting in seeing. “El Guapo” would be more interested in seeing St-Pierre face top welterweight contender Stephen Thompson:

“Nah. I rather see GSP against somebody with better takedown defense, because we know what’s going to happen – and even if you have great takedown defense, it’s still going to be hard not to be taken down by GSP. We know what’s going to happen, he’s (Georges St-Pierre) going to take him down and then be on top of him. I don’t know if that’s going to be an exciting fight, you know, the whole time he’s on top. I don’t know if he can finish him once he has him on the ground, so I don’t know. Rather see him against Wonderboy or something like that. I think that would be a really good fight – GSP I’m talking about.”

It may be a bit blunt, yet it’s an honest assessment of the situation, as fans new to MMA may think McGregor owns a decided edge on the long-absent St-Pierre while in truth the all-time legend would have a huge edge on McGregor in the wrestling department – his main perceived area of weakness.

Many fans and media members are calling for McGregor to either give Aldo the second chance at redemption he earned by beating Frankie Edgar for the interim featherweight belt at UFC 200, or vacate that title to go on and contend for a second belt up a weight class.

The fight with St-Pierre will always be there, too, and it could truly contend for the title of the biggest fight in UFC history, at least in terms of pay-per-view sales and live gate. The outcome, however, may be a bit of a letdown if anything close to Rutten’s prediction were to come true.

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Former UFC Champ: Conor McGregor Needs To Defend His Title Now

The post Former UFC Champ: Conor McGregor Needs To Defend His Title Now appeared first on LowKick MMA.

Quote: Injuries To Blame For Diaz Loss To McGregor

Coming off of one of the most exciting back-and-forth fights in UFC history, UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor and Stockton Native Nate Diaz are basking in the fruits of their labor following their mega UFC 202 payday in August. The bout was a rematch of the two brash rivals’ original meeting from UFC 196, in

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The bout was a rematch of the two brash rivals’ original meeting from UFC 196, in which Diaz stepped in on short-notice for the injured then-lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos, where Diaz would go on to submit the Irish champ in the second round via rear-naked choke.

Just five months later, however, McGregor would get his vengeance after seeing his hand raised following their 25-minute war at UFC 202, as ‘The Notorious One’ would take home a majority decision win over his counterpart.

During the bout McGregor was able to knock Diaz down three times in the early rounds of the contest, and although Diaz had the Irishman in deep trouble on multiple occasions throughout the fight, mixed martial arts (MMA) fans got a glimpse of McGregor’s heart and determination as he fought for the will to stay in the contest.

Diaz’s coach Richard Perez recently joined Submission Radio, courtesy of MMA Fighting, to discuss the upset loss to McGregor this past month and revealed that had it not been for some nagging injuries leading up to the fight, he believes his pupil would have made quick work of ‘Mystic Mac’ once again:

“They were bad. The knee was bad and the ribs were bad because when he hurt his knee, he couldn’t run. So then when it got a little better, he wanted to start sparring.

And he’s not in shape because he wasn’t really doing much. You know, you work on a little bit of mitts and you work a little bit of sparring and he got better and better. And then when he got (Alan) Sanchez in there, he went a good four hard rounds and he was doing real good, but he was getting a little tired, and that’s when Sanchez caught him in the rib and that then put him out there for a while.

“So he can’t back out of the fight. And so I know that if he wouldn’t have been injured, McGregor would have gotten stopped again and Nathan wouldn’t have got hit as much as he did in that first round this last time.

Because he was really sharp. He was sparring with guys McGregor’s size, really good boxers and he was whooping on them.

So that’s why I knew it wouldn’t happen that way. But it did, and it came out as the best fight of the night. But he got cut, you know, and if there would have been another 30 seconds, he would have tapped him out, cause McGregor was ready to go anyway.”

Both men were rewarded with rather lucrative paydays for their spectacular contest, but money aside Perez believes that there is unfinished business between the two men and believes there is a dire need for a third and deciding scrap:

“[There’s] unfinished business. [There needs to be] No. 3. If I was the UFC, I would say, let’s let this happen. We’re going to make some money off of it, and then have [McGregor] go back to 145.”

You can check out Perez’s full interview with Submission Radio here:

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Alvarez Blasts McGregor For “Sloppy” UFC 202 Performance After A $300,000 Training Camp

Apparently UFC Lightweight Champion Eddie Alvarez wasn’t the least bit impressed by UFC Featherweight Champion Conor McGregor’s performance in his 170-pound rematch against Nate Diaz at last month’s UFC 202 pay-per-view.

As Alvarez explained during a recent interview with MMAFighting.com, McGregor spent $300,000 on a training camp that he claims he could have spent $5 on to produce the same level of results.

“In a sparring room, there’s always a guy, we call him the ‘rest round,'” said Alvarez of McGregor’s conditioning. “[McGregor is] the rest round. He’s the guy you grab when you’re super tired and you go, ‘Hey, c’mon man, let’s do a round.’ He comes to our gym and trains, he’s the rest round. For everyone, not just me. For Frankie [Edgar], for Edson [Barboza], for Marlon [Moraes]. For any one of us.”

Alvarez continued, stating that he was only impressed by “about seven minutes” of McGregor-Diaz at the mega-UFC 202 PPV event in Las Vegas.

“I was impressed by like about seven minutes of [UFC 202]. About the first seven minutes and then it all looked really sloppy and didn’t look of championship caliber to me. It didn’t look like a guy who spent $300,000 on a training camp. I could have did that sh*t for $5, what just went on there. I think he could have spent a lot less and got a lot more.”

As Alvarez explained during a recent interview with MMAFighting.com, McGregor spent $300,000 on a training camp that he claims he could have spent $5 on to produce the same level of results.

Alvarez continued, stating that he was only impressed by “about seven minutes” of McGregor-Diaz at the mega-UFC 202 PPV event in Las Vegas.

Eddie Alvarez Blasts Conor McGregor’s UFC 202 Performance

UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez put on the performance of a lifetime against Rafael dos Anjos. The Brazilian was blazing his own trail to greatness with wins over Donald Cerrone, Ben Henderson, Nate Diaz and Anthony Pettis. When he met ‘The Silent Assassin’ on July 7 though, the five-fight winning streak would come to an

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Before facing dos Anjos in Sin City, Alvarez had seen his first three UFC fights go to decision. Losing one of those fights, a burner against Donald Cerrone, the 32-year old from Philadelphia seemed to be having trouble finding his stride. Following his 2-1 start, the victory over ‘RDA’ to win the belt must have tasted that much better.

Decisions

Speaking during a great walk-and-talk with Ariel Helwani in his old Philly neighbourhood, Eddie Alvarez discussed a number of subjects in length. As well as the potential fight with Conor McGregor, the hard hitting lightweight boss talked about his performances before fighting Rafael dos Anjos.

“When I fought Rafael dos Anjos I was able to put on that kind of fight. People want to see the most vicious and crazy finishes. When you match up two of the best guys in the world, that doesn’t always happen. When you’re fighting these guys, with such a small margin for error, it’s not often you get that magic.”

The McGregor Fight

Since Alvarez took the lightweight title and Conor McGregor defeated Nate Diaz in their UFC 202 rematch, a lot of talk has surrounded a potential shot for ‘The Notorious’ at 155 pounds. Alvarez addressed these reports, stating nothing is official yet, and also saying he could have done better at UFC 202 with a ‘five dollar’ training camp.

“We’re not anywhere just yet, just rumours and talks. Nobody has given the call or anything like that. I think it would be a little bit foolish (for him). When I look at the history of his opponents that were picked, I’m not one of those guys. I want the fight, 100 percent. If it was up to me, I think it could happen. It’s up to the powers that be, I’ll leave it to them. I’ll get ready. I think (McGregor) is a guy that’s fortunate to have a little country on his back.”

“I’m more about whats real, and I think he’s more about perception. Te perception is becoming more important about what really is. That’s why I don’t think they’ll take the fight. If perception is the most important thing, they won’t go after me. They’ll go after the guy that looks like the best in the world, but really isn’t. In a sparring room, there’s always a guy we call ‘the rest round.’ That guy you grab when you’re tired and say ‘hey come on man let’s do a rest round.’ He’s the rest round not just for me, for anyone in my gym. I was impressed by the first seven minutes (of Diaz vs. McGregor 2). The rest of it looked sloppy. It didn’t look like he’d spent $300K training for it. I could have done that for $5. It’s comical, it’s laughable for a guy like him to say he’d finish me.”

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Coach: McGregor Won Because They Want Third Fight

Conor McGregor may have been awarded a majority decision win over rival Nate Diaz in the main event of UFC 202 on August 20, 2016, but the decision didn’t come without controversy, as some felt as if Diaz should’ve been the victor. In fact, Diaz’s longtime boxing coach, Richard Perez, feels as if the judges

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“I watched it when I came home. I came home and watched it four or five times already, and the judges were going for McGregor. I mean, you could tell. It’s obvious. And I figured, okay, they want a third fight. You know, a company just bought it out, they want to make more money. They just bought the UFC. If I bought the UFC, I would try to make it as best as I can to get a third fight, to make more money. That’s a money-maker right there. That’s a big money-maker – more than any other fight that’s happening now. So they would be smart to do a third fight.” Perez told Submission Radio.

Perez also claims that a trilogy bout is the only bout to make despite UFC President Dana White recently saying that he was moving away from the rivalry. Perez also said that pitting the two against each other would result in the biggest payday for everyone involved:

“You know and I know and the media knows that it was such an awesome fight, I mean, it was like a storm. Everybody’s telling me, I wanna see that again. They want to see that again. That’s gonna be the most big payday for both of them, and for the business, the new UFC people that own it. So if they’re smart enough, they would do it. They will set that up. There’s nobody else. If Nathan goes and fights B.J. Penn or Georges St-Pierre or anyone like that, or even if McGregor (fights them), that’s not gonna be a money-maker. Because those guys haven’t fought in a long time and they’re not action fighters like Nathan fighting McGregor. If anything, Georges St-Pierre will take him to the ground and just hold him and just wrestle him around. And then he’ll probably beat him up because McGregor’s not good on the ground, so he’ll probably tap him out.”

“If I was the UFC owner, I would say let’s do number three again. After that, he can go back to 145 if he wants, or 155. That’s where they’re fighting at, 155 – which is good if they fight at 155, because if Nathan wins he can go for the belt. But that’s not what he wants. Just like McGregor, they want the money. They want paydays.”

Aside from the payday, Perez also simply said that there’s ‘unfinished business’ between the two:

“Unfinished business. (There needs to be) Number three.”

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