It looks like Conor McGregor won’t be satisfied with just two UFC world titles if he manages to defeat Rafael dos Anjos for the UFC Lightweight Championship at UFC 197 in March.
According to “The Notorious” Irishman’s coach, John Kavanagh, McGregor could potentially move all the way up to 170 pounds to challenge Robbie Lawler — or whoever else is champion at the time — for the UFC Welterweight Championship.
“Conor has been cutting down to 145 pounds since he was 16. He’s now 27 so it will be nice to take a break from that weight-cut. We’ve done it plenty of times before and we’ll do it again. Funnily enough, the last weight-cut — for the Aldo fight — was probably the best one yet thanks to the help of George Lockhart, who’s on board again for this fight. He’s part of the team now. You’ve seen Conor on salads… now watch what he’s like on steak. And maybe the pursuit of belts won’t stop there either. I’ve said from the beginning that welterweight may not be out of the question. One of Conor’s main sparring partners, Gunnar Nelson, is a welterweight, so Conor is very used to that feel. I would not be at all surprised if we’re preparing to go for a third belt a year from now.”
It looks like Conor McGregor won’t be satisfied with just two UFC world titles if he manages to defeat Rafael dos Anjos for the UFC Lightweight Championship at UFC 197 in March.
According to “The Notorious” Irishman’s coach, John Kavanagh, McGregor could potentially move all the way up to 170 pounds to challenge Robbie Lawler — or whoever else is champion at the time — for the UFC Welterweight Championship.
“Conor has been cutting down to 145 pounds since he was 16. He’s now 27 so it will be nice to take a break from that weight-cut. We’ve done it plenty of times before and we’ll do it again. Funnily enough, the last weight-cut â?? for the Aldo fight â?? was probably the best one yet thanks to the help of George Lockhart, who’s on board again for this fight. He’s part of the team now. You’ve seen Conor on salads… now watch what he’s like on steak. And maybe the pursuit of belts won’t stop there either. I’ve said from the beginning that welterweight may not be out of the question. One of Conor’s main sparring partners, Gunnar Nelson, is a welterweight, so Conor is very used to that feel. I would not be at all surprised if we’re preparing to go for a third belt a year from now.”
Kenny Florian was briefly suspended for the plagiarism documented in the below editorial published six years ago. Today, he works as a commentator for The Professional Fighters League and is also the co-host of the Anik and Florian podcast.
On This…
Kenny Florian was briefly suspended for the plagiarism documented in the below editorial published six years ago. Today, he works as a commentator for The Professional Fighters League and is also the co-host of the Anik and Florian podcast.
On This Day Six Years Ago…
[ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED JANUARY 16, 2016, 8:31 PM]
Headline:Kenny Florian & Why The Cover-Up Is Worse Than The Crime
Author: David Bixenspan
As noted earlier, former three-time UFC championship challenger turned UFC and Fox Sports analyst/color commentator has been suspended by the latter entity. His crime? He plagiarized large portions of his technical breakdown of T.J. Dillashaw vs. Dominick Cruz from boxing analyst Lee Wylie’s video breaking down 1040s boxer Willie Pep. Twitter personality The Naked Gambler deserves credit for pointing out exactly what Florian did:
Florian then decided to have a chat with Naked Gambler via direct message, where he explained that it was all a simple misunderstanding…or at least in his head it was:
This introduced us to Florian’s defense, which he later used in his public “apology;” That he keeps a running list of notes on martial arts technique, has for years, and it’s very jumbled with little effort to keep track of what he got where or which thoughts were his own. In and of itself, that would be fine, and it’s totally believable that he keeps those kinds of notes. But…then he went on to say that he must have forgotten that the notes on footwork taken from Wylie weren’t his own.
There are a few problems with this. The first is that even if he knew that even if he genuinely didn’t remember that the footwork notes weren’t his, since he did remember that not all of the notes were his, he’s still knowingly plagiarizing. Even if he didn’t know that those specific notes weren’t his, he knew there was a reasonable likelihood that it was the case.
However, in this specific instance, that doesn’t pass the smell test, either. Why? Wylie’s breakdown only went up on December 3rd, just last month. In addition, being a video (with Wylie’s notes contained in the video as on-screen graphics) as opposed to text in an article, Florian couldn’t have just absent-mindedly copied and pasted it without giving much thought to it. He would have devoted a good bit of time to transcribing the text by hand in the weeks leading up to the article, where he says that he “forgot” that the words weren’t his own.
Soon enough, the story hit Deadspin. At that point, it was probably just a matter of time that the story would really blow up (if it already happened), so Florian issued what he termed an apology:
Note the wording: Florian said that he was ““referenc[ing] perspectives on [something], which were originally articulated by [someone else],” when he was outright lifting Wylie’s analysis word for word. He was deliberately mischaracterizing what he did to obfuscate as well as minimize what he did. Worse, according to twotweets from Naked Gambler, he had attempted to defuse the situation by promising to try to get Wylie a job at Fox Sports.
Does this sound like someone who made a genuine mistake he was sorry for? Or does sound like someone who, for reasons known only to him, knowingly plagiarized large portions of an article and scrambled to cover it up when he got caught? He buried himself deeper every time he addressed the situation, and it’s a miracle that so far, he’s just suspended.
As for Lee Wylie? The poor guy who donates his time to creating cool analysis videos, who had his work stolen by a well-compensated television personality, has been made to feel like a jerk for no good reason:
Feeling pretty shitty right now. Kenny is a good guy.
UFC held the official weigh-ins for tomorrow night’s UFC Fight Night 81 event, which features TJ Dillashaw vs. Dominick Cruz for the UFC Bantamweight Championship and Anthony Pettis vs. Eddie Alvarez. Below are the offic…
https://youtu.be/RMaEqPOYM3M
UFC held the official weigh-ins for tomorrow night’s UFC Fight Night 81 event, which features TJ Dillashaw vs. Dominick Cruz for the UFC Bantamweight Championship and Anthony Pettis vs. Eddie Alvarez. Below are the official numbers from today’s weigh-ins in Boston, Mass.
MAIN CARD (FOX SPORTS 1- 10 PM ET/7 PM PT):
T.J. Dillashaw (135) vs. Dominick Cruz (135) – UFC Bantamweight Championship
Anthony Pettis (155.5) vs. Eddie Alvarez (155.5)
Travis Browne (238) vs. Matt Mitrione (249)
Ross Pearson (155) vs. Francisco Trinaldo (155.5)
PRELIMINARY CARD (FOX SPORTS 1- 8 PM ET/5 PM PT):
Patrick Cote (171) vs. Ben Saunders (170)
Tim Boetsch (206) vs. Ed Herman (204.5)
Chris Wade (155.5) vs. Mehdi Baghdad (156)
Maximo Blanco (146) vs. Luke Sanders (145.5)
Ticket prices for UFC 197 on March 5th have been released. Tickets for the event at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas range from $204, $304, $454, $654, and $954, up to $1,454 for cage side seats. These prices don’t include any applicable service fees.
The event will be headlined by Conor McGregor vs. Rafael dos Anjos for the lightweight title, and Holly Holm vs. Miesha Tate for the women’s bantamweight title.
Here’s the updated card for UFC 197:
– Conor McGregor vs. Rafael dos Anjos for the lightweight title
– Holly Holm vs. Miesha Tate for the women’s bantamweight title
Ticket prices for UFC 197 on March 5th have been released. Tickets for the event at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas range from $204, $304, $454, $654, and $954, up to $1,454 for cage side seats. These prices don’t include any applicable service fees.
The event will be headlined by Conor McGregor vs. Rafael dos Anjos for the lightweight title, and Holly Holm vs. Miesha Tate for the women’s bantamweight title.
Here’s the updated card for UFC 197:
– Conor McGregor vs. Rafael dos Anjos for the lightweight title
– Holly Holm vs. Miesha Tate for the women’s bantamweight title
FOX Sports announced on Saturday that former UFC title contender turned FOX analyst Kenny Florian has been suspended following controversy over a recent article he posted on the FOX Sports website this week.
Florian, who published an article on Sund…
FOX Sports announced on Saturday that former UFC title contender turned FOX analyst Kenny Florian has been suspended following controversy over a recent article he posted on the FOX Sports website this week.
Florian, who published an article on Sunday’s main event between TJ Dillashaw and Dominick Cruz for the UFC Bantamweight Championship, is being accused of stealing significant parts of the story from a piece Lee Wylie of TheFightCity.com wrote about the career of legendary boxer Willie Pep back in December.
After becoming aware of the issue, FOX Sports added the following “Editor’s Note” on the article on their website, which reads as follows:
“Language in this breakdown borrows from written material in a video of an in-depth look at the defensive boxing prowess of Willie Pep by TheFightCity.com boxing analyst Lee Wylie. The original version of the story did not contain this credit. We regret the oversight.”
Wylie has since spoken to Florian about the issue and didn’t seem the least bit bothered, as he later wrote the following:
“Show me someone who hasn’t made a mistake and I’ll show you a liar. It’s not the end of the world.”
FOX Sports issued the following statement regarding the suspension of Kenny Florian:
“It is vitally important that Fox Sports and FoxSports.com maintain credibility and trust with their readers, viewers and fans. UFC on-air personality Kenny Florian is being suspended beginning immediately for a critical oversight in a story posted earlier this week on FoxSports.com. Florian has admitted and regrets his mistake and apologized for the error.”
Former WWE Superstar CM Punk spoke with Dan Gelston of Associated Press this week to promote his MMA training and his eventual UFC debut, which is now expected to take place at UFC 199 in June.
“This is new to me. It’s not the same old boring (stuff) that I’ve been doing for God knows how long. People are talking about it. Some people are upset, some people love it, some people think it’s inspirational. I’m pretty sure everybody has an opinion on it.”
Punk made it no secret that he was burned out and fed up towards the end of his WWE run. Despite his own commitment to becoming an MMA fighter, he’s been met with doubters and critics who don’t think he’s in it for the long haul. Punk is embracing it all and plans to fight several times for the UFC, no matter how his debut goes.
“I didn’t move up to Milwaukee, I’m not training my ass off and getting hurt, going back into the gym just so I can one-and-done it,” Punk said. “This is what I do now.”
UFC President Dana White revealed this week that Punk will most likely be fighting at UFC 199 in June, not the company’s big UFC 200 show the following month. The reasoning for having Punk debut at 199 is that it would be much easier to determine Punk’s drawing power on a ‘secondary’ event. If Punk fights at UFC 200, there’s no way to know how much of an impact Punk’s debut had on the bottom line.
“There’s part of me that cares because UFC 200 is going to be a big deal,” Punk said. “I’ve spoken to Dana about it, trying to figure out what’s best for both parties. It’s just a smarter business decision.”
Former WWE Superstar CM Punk spoke with Dan Gelston of Associated Press this week to promote his MMA training and his eventual UFC debut, which is now expected to take place at UFC 199 in June.
“This is new to me. It’s not the same old boring (stuff) that I’ve been doing for God knows how long. People are talking about it. Some people are upset, some people love it, some people think it’s inspirational. I’m pretty sure everybody has an opinion on it.”
Punk made it no secret that he was burned out and fed up towards the end of his WWE run. Despite his own commitment to becoming an MMA fighter, he’s been met with doubters and critics who don’t think he’s in it for the long haul. Punk is embracing it all and plans to fight several times for the UFC, no matter how his debut goes.
“I didn’t move up to Milwaukee, I’m not training my ass off and getting hurt, going back into the gym just so I can one-and-done it,” Punk said. “This is what I do now.”
UFC President Dana White revealed this week that Punk will most likely be fighting at UFC 199 in June, not the company’s big UFC 200 show the following month. The reasoning for having Punk debut at 199 is that it would be much easier to determine Punk’s drawing power on a ‘secondary’ event. If Punk fights at UFC 200, there’s no way to know how much of an impact Punk’s debut had on the bottom line.
“There’s part of me that cares because UFC 200 is going to be a big deal,” Punk said. “I’ve spoken to Dana about it, trying to figure out what’s best for both parties. It’s just a smarter business decision.”
