UFC 244 ‘Thrill and the Agony:’ Jorge Masvidal & The Rock Embrace

UFC 244 was highly anticipated and Jorge Masvidal made the most of his opportunity. The event was held inside the Madison Square Garden in New York City this past Saturday night (Nov. 2). Headlining the card was a welterweight clash between Masvidal an…

UFC 244 was highly anticipated and Jorge Masvidal made the most of his opportunity. The event was held inside the Madison Square Garden in New York City this past Saturday night (Nov. 2). Headlining the card was a welterweight clash between Masvidal and Nate Diaz. The two did battle for the one-time-only BMF championship. Masvidal […]

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Jorge Masvidal Coach Believes Nate Diaz Rematch Would Be ‘Same Thing’

UFC 244 featured a fairly lopsided main event between Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz. The pair competed for the Baddest Mother F*cker Championship inside Madison Square Garden. It was all Masvidal from start to finish, with Diaz showing a bit more life as the third round came to a close. However, due to the nasty […]

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UFC 244 featured a fairly lopsided main event between Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz. The pair competed for the Baddest Mother F*cker Championship inside Madison Square Garden.

It was all Masvidal from start to finish, with Diaz showing a bit more life as the third round came to a close. However, due to the nasty cuts on Diaz’s eye, the doctor decided to step in and stop the fight in controversial fashion. Much talk of a rematch has emerged since the bout’s conclusion.

Whether or not that happens remains to be seen. Recently, Masvidal’s coach, Mike Brown of American Top Team (ATT), spoke to MMA Fighting regarding the Diaz bout. Brown broke down exactly what the gameplan for Diaz was heading into UFC 244.

“He had some tricks up his sleeve that he didn’t use that he was planning on executing. So there were one or two things that he didn’t do that he wanted to do,” Brown said. “We won’t give them away in case he still fights Diaz again.

“Basically, [the game plan] was beat him up with kicks and fight him in the clinch, then beat him in the clinch. If it goes to the ground, be on top. Get our head free, good posture, ground and pound and kind of exactly what you saw was the game plan.”

Brown noted that things went about as expected as the fight played out. The ATT coach went on to credit Diaz’s toughness and knew it would be nearly impossible to put the Stockton slugger away.

“That first minute was crazy. He hurt him bad with that elbow and he fell over and then [Jorge] hit him with that head kick. I can’t believe he took it,” Brown said. “Then Jorge was landing some heavy ground and pound. It was brutal stuff. A lot of heavy shots.

“Nate’s got an incredible chin and like Jorge said, he’s a dog. You have to kill him to get him out of there. Honestly, it went a lot like we expected. We were confident. We thought [Jorge] was better in those areas. We thought it would look like that. We thought Nate would be tough as hell.

“We thought it would be nearly impossible to put him away and everything kind of was as we expected.”

In regards to a rematch, if it were to happen, Brown doesn’t see things going much differently. On a bad day the rounds would be close, but he still sees “Gamebred” coming out on top.

“I think we’d see the same thing,” Brown said. “That was pretty damn one-sided. He won all three rounds, all three were pretty one-sided. I think that’s how it’s always going to be.

“I mean on a good day Jorge gets him out of there, and on a bad day, maybe the rounds are a little closer but [Jorge] still wins them. That’s what I see.”

As far as what’s next for Masvidal, it’s simple, the Floridian is going wherever the biggest payday is.

“I just know with Jorge, he only really cares about the biggest paycheck. At the end of the day, it’s whatever is going to bring the biggest money,” Brown said. “In a way, I think he told them he’ll do it again and Jorge is a man of his word. He’ll fight Diaz again.

“Whether it’s in a few months or in one year, they’ll fight again I’m sure. It’s just about the timing. Whatever is going to bring the next biggest payday. I mean Nate would be another payday or maybe Conor [McGregor] is the biggest payday.

“Whether it’s the [Kamaru] Usman-Colby [Covington] winner, whoever the winner might be, I think all Jorge really cares about is from the business side and what’s going to pay him the most money.”

Do you agree with Brown that a rematch between Masvidal and Diaz would be the “same thing?”

 

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Gregor Gillespie Issues Statement Following UFC 244 KO Loss

Over the weekend, Gregor Gillespie suffered the first defeat of his mixed martial arts (MMA) career. Gillespie took on Kevin Lee in a lightweight bout on the UFC 244 pay-per-view (PPV) main card. Lee wound up winning the bout via first-round knockout after landing a hellacious head kick. Speaking to MMA Fighting days later, Gillespie […]

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Over the weekend, Gregor Gillespie suffered the first defeat of his mixed martial arts (MMA) career. Gillespie took on Kevin Lee in a lightweight bout on the UFC 244 pay-per-view (PPV) main card.

Lee wound up winning the bout via first-round knockout after landing a hellacious head kick. Speaking to MMA Fighting days later, Gillespie has issued a statement commenting on the loss. He seems to be taking it well.

“You know how it goes. You get knocked out, I had a headache for a day or two, but I’m good now,” Gillespie said. “I’m in good spirits, you know my ego was hurt a little bit, obviously, someone who never loses and then they lose and you’ve gotta imagine that there’s gonna be some emotions about that, which there were. But my spirit is intact.”

As for his opponent in Lee, Gillespie had nothing but great things to say about “The Motown Phenom.”

“I asked for a step up in competition. Kevin Lee is a really good opponent,” Gillespie said. “A lot of people were saying, ‘He’s on a losing streak.’ Kevin Lee is not on a downward spiral and I knew that going in. Not for one second did I think I’m picking a guy going down, he’s not.

“You look at his last four or five fights, they’re all guys who have fought for a title or have a belt, he’s super f*cking good. I know that when you ask for better fights like that, your risk of losing goes up. That’s kind of how that goes. So that’s something I was definitely very, very aware of.

“That’s the risk when you’re fighting anyone, especially in the UFC, but when you take a fight against a guy who fought for a title at one point, your risk of getting beat—not just beat, but knocked out—goes up. That’s a risk I was willing to take.”

Before this fight, Gillespie took a 10-month layoff ahead of his return. While Gillespie will take some time off after his knockout defeat, it won’t be as long as his previous layoff.

“I’d like to get in there, I’d like to get back in, but we’re not gonna rush it,” Gillespie said. “I’m not gonna wait as long as I did this time.

“I didn’t purposely wait [10 months], it’s just that the opportunity to fight a guy I wanted to fight wasn’t there, then this came along and it was the right opponent, so that’s why the time took so long. It’s going to be sooner than it was this time.”

What do you make of Gillespie’s comments after his UFC 244 KO loss? Who would you like to see him face next?

 

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UFC 244 Sets ESPN 2 Viewing Record With Prelims

UFC 244 was a night to remember as Nate Diaz faced off against Jorge Masvidal in the main event, causing the preliminary bouts to skyrocket in views for ESPN 2, per MMA Fighting. The prelims ran from 8:00 to 10:000 pm ET and averaged 910,000 viewers in the first hour, and included the bout between […]

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UFC 244 was a night to remember as Nate Diaz faced off against Jorge Masvidal in the main event, causing the preliminary bouts to skyrocket in views for ESPN 2, per MMA Fighting.

The prelims ran from 8:00 to 10:000 pm ET and averaged 910,000 viewers in the first hour, and included the bout between Corey Anderson and Johnny Walker, where Anderson pulled off the upset in the first round by knockout. The second hour of the prelims averaged 1,121,000 viewers and included the Shane Burgos third-round TKO win over Makhwan Amirkhani.

The search count for UFC 244 on Google was only second to Daylight Savings Time. It also got more searches than the boxing bout between Canelo Alvarez vs. Sergey Kovalev, which was one of the biggest boxing events of the year. The match was specifically put after UFC 244 for this reason, due to it being on the same night.

It also beat the viewership numbers for the three college football games that played throughout the day on ESPN 2. The biggest competition throughout the day were other college football games on stations such as FOX, ESPN, ABC and FS1. The UFC 244 prelims on ESPN 2 were the second most viewed station in its time slot coming right behind ESPN’s Ole Miss vs. Auburn football game.

This continues to show that the world of MMA is growing exponentially and is starting to level the playing field with recognition among the biggest stations in the world.

What do you think about the record ESPN 2 numbers put on by the UFC 244 prelims?

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UFC 244 Prelims Average 910,000 Viewers On ESPN2

The UFC 244 prelims had a strong showing considering it was aired on ESPN2. This past Saturday night (Nov. 2), UFC 244 took place inside Madison Square Garden in New York City. Headlining the pay-per-view was a welterweight clash between Jorge Masvidal…

The UFC 244 prelims had a strong showing considering it was aired on ESPN2. This past Saturday night (Nov. 2), UFC 244 took place inside Madison Square Garden in New York City. Headlining the pay-per-view was a welterweight clash between Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz. The two were competing for the special BMF championship. Masvidal […]

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Quote: UFC 244 Doctor Stoppage Was ‘Best Case Scenario’ For Nate Diaz

Nate Diaz was done a favor by having his UFC 244 headliner with Jorge Masvidal called off by the doctor — at least, according to Brendan Schaub. Diaz was completely dominated by Masvidal this past Saturday as he was cut, bloodied and dropped multiple times in their welterweight BMF title fight. However, just before the […]

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Nate Diaz was done a favor by having his UFC 244 headliner with Jorge Masvidal called off by the doctor — at least, according to Brendan Schaub.

Diaz was completely dominated by Masvidal this past Saturday as he was cut, bloodied and dropped multiple times in their welterweight BMF title fight. However, just before the start of the fourth round, the doctor called an end to the bout due to a cut near Diaz’s eye.

As a result, Masvidal would win via TKO (doctor stoppage) as the crowd let their feelings be heard straight away. Many have since called for a rematch, especially as they believe given Diaz’s cardio and heart, he may have found a way to turn the tide in the fourth and fifth rounds.

However, Schaub doesn’t seem to think so as he believes that was the most dominated Diaz has ever been in a fight:

“I didn’t give a f*ck,” Schaub said on a recent podcast (via MMA Mania). “That’s the best-case scenario for Nate, he was getting f*cked up. His corner never would, I was like, ‘I wonder if they’ll throw in the towel, this keeps going this way? He’s having zero success, this is getting bad.’

“I was to the point where I was like, these 10-8 rounds, not that competitive … that doctor’s stoppage did him a favor. It wasn’t a competitive fight. It was the most dominated Nate Diaz has ever been.”

It’s hard to argue with that, especially as two judges even gave Masvidal a 10-8 round for his showing in the second frame. Had the fight continued, it would have likely ended up being a lopsided decision.

Then again, this is mixed martial arts so who knows for sure?

Do you agree with Schaub?

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