Fight Club

[Hugh]

Well I was totally wrong. Lol. Good for Dustin.
Also Michael Chandler made a real statement.

[Hugh]

It’s just more the Rocky 3 story I think. He’s totally comfortable and filthy rich. I could see Conor getting hungry again for a third fight and coming back stronger than ever. The thing about him is he’s not afraid to lose. At all. He’s never ducked anyone, and he begs for fights with guys like Khabib and Floyd Mayweather who have never been beaten. Of course he gets paid a lot but all superstars do.
I think the rubber match between these guys will be epic. Conor is already talking about it.

[The Butcher]

I knew that Poirier was going to be a problem for McGregor, the guy can fight. I spent all of last week watching any of his fights I could find and the dude hits extremely hard and has an iron chin. I didn't get to watch this PPV but i saw the highlights.. IMO McGregor was always at his peak fighting at 145, i dont' like him at these higher weights.

So in my opinion... it now needs to be Dustin vs Chandler for either the Interim belt, or to see who fights Khabib for the real belt. I know Chandler has only had 1 UFC fight but come on, that dude is the real deal. He moves like Uriah Faber and hits 3x as hard.. and it should be McGregor vs Gaithie which is a fight i really really wanna see.

Next PPV is stacked as well. 3 title fights

[Hugh]

Yeah I’d love to see Poirier vs Chandler. Can’t really have a better intro fight than Chandler had. I’ve seen Hooker fight a lot, including his recent war with Diamond, and he’s an animal. Chandler finishing him that fast was a shock.
And you’re right, Dustin is so good now. To think how far he has come from that small town documentary film years ago is unreal.

[The Butcher]

Yeah I’d love to see Poirier vs Chandler. Can’t really have a better intro fight than Chandler had. I’ve seen Hooker fight a lot, including his recent war with Diamond, and he’s an animal. Chandler finishing him that fast was a shock.
And you’re right, Dustin is so good now. To think how far he has come from that small town documentary film years ago is unreal.

Yeah Hooker is a very very good fighter, but he looked overwhelmed by the star power that chandler brought.

similar to how dustin was with the first mcgregor fight

I really respect Conor for how he handled this fight, the pressers, the fight itself and the loss. Very classy, very humble.

@wizzy - just imagine if McGregor fought(or fights) Gaithie. He won't survive round 1.. i've seen justin TKO at least 2 people from LEG KICKS alone.

[Hugh]

But what’s weird is Conor has had people leg kicking him since he got to the UFC. Like Chael said on his podcast, he checks them and throws a straight left and the guy usually wishes he hadn’t thrown the kick in the first place.
The fact that he was so unprepared for leg kicks, so unprepared for the takedown ( which was pretty much an accident anyway ) and looked so confused and puzzled about what to do once he was down, just shows how truly rusty Conor was.
Way too Rusty for a guy like Poirier or like you said Justin. But I still totally believe he can come back and return to form. I’m telling ya it’s Rocky III!

[Hugh]

The Jake Paul vs Ben Askren boxing match is actually kind of interesting to me. Clearly Jake Paul looks like he’s picked up boxing very well for an amateur who started late and he had a big KO against a retired basketball player and he can work a speed bag and look cool in training. Awesome. He’s making this thing happen. American Dream.
And clearly Ben Askren isn’t a great striker when compared to most successful martial artists. He’s an outstanding grappler and that’s his game. But he did put together a 20-0 mma record before his last 2 losses, and he did knock some guys out along the way.
But the thing people who think Paul will KO Askren aren’t considering is that Askren is a mutant. Everyone in the UFC is a mutant. There are thousands and thousands of cage fighters all over the world, but in my opinion the one thing the people who make it to the UFC have in common is their ability to take punishment. I don’t know how many undercard fights I’ve watched with 2 sloppy, unimpressive fighters who I’ve never heard of who beat the living shit out of each other for fifteen minutes straight and both are smiling at the end and hardly tired. It’s scary.
Ben Askren might have been overmatched by the UFC elite and exposed and that’s fine, but he has a cement block for a head and the gas tank of a world class and lifelong wrestler. He’s not a retired basketball player.
I think he’ll press and pressure Jake Paul, tie him up and maul him. Work his body. I think Paul will hit Askren a lot and it won’t do shit. I think Paul will get tired and Askren won’t and eventually Askren will knock him out.
And that should be the beginning of the end to people giving an actual shit about who Jake Paul boxes, including me.

[Hugh]

Yeah me too. Like I said, American Dream. It’s actually amazing what he’s doing and now he has a big name cage fighter agreeing to a boxing match. He knows what he’s doing.
But as far as people saying Askren can’t box and these YouTube videos showing Paul’s boxing skill and all that, it doesn’t even matter. A boxing match between Jake Paul and Ben Askren is only a boxing match until Jake Paul gets tired, and he will. Then it’s just going to be Jake Paul in the ring with a gorilla and too tired to fight him off.

[Hugh]

Kamara Usman is a terminator. Welterweight is absolutely stacked and he just keeps crushing everyone.

[Achilles]

Mirko Cro Cop was the ultimate Terminator in terms of fighting IMO. I taught fighting for years, and that dude, in his prime, pulled off shit that I intentionally taught people NOT to do. He would just walk directly at you, with no tactical stance, and kick you in the fucking face as if he had no fear because he was made of metal. I think that's why he had so much success. It'd be like if someone started a 1v1 soccer game, and then some dude got into a tank against a five year old and while the kid was trying to kick the ball, the tank had a loud speaker that was like "WHEN I WAS BOY IN SOVIET UNION." He only didn't have success in the UFC because he got there too late in life. That guy, other than Anderson Silva, is the scariest fighter I've ever seen.

Edit: Wait fuck, they actually used the Terminator 2 theme for the promo before him and Fedor fought.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNS8gzwvoZo

[Achilles]

I got into a private training program with Mark Dellagrotte. I'm like beside myself, I can't believe he accepted me. I have my chops with fighting but I can't believe someone of that caliber took me on as a student. I sparred him this morning for the first time.

[Hugh]

Oh Islam is a killer. Khabib said he’s more certain of Islam becoming champ than he is of his own retirement.
About to watch this main event. I think Adasanya is going to straight Matrix Jan’s ass.

[Hugh]

My string of calling fights wrong remains firmly intact.

[Hugh]

Really disappointed with UFC 259. One of these days I’ll learn that the ones hyped and built up the most are usually a let down.
All the main event fights were either boring or disappointing, with the exception of Amanda Nunes who crushed Megan Anderson in 1 round.

[Hugh]

I don’t remember them saying anything about it on tv.
And yes the DQ in the Yan/Sterling title fight was very disappointing. Hate seeing a championship fight end that way.
I was getting irritated that they took so long to call it. Sterling was clearly concussed. That guy fought his ass off at a crazy pace for 4 rounds and after that knee to the forehead he could not stand. They asked him way too many times if he was ok or wanted to continue. Of course he wanted to fucking continue. HE COULDN’T! He couldn’t even sit up. It was bullshit. I could see that from my Lazy Boy.
I know Yan asked his corner and they said to kick him and all that crap, but Petr Yan is the world champ and should know the basic fucking rules.

[Hugh]

Francis absolutely destroyed Stipe. It wasn’t even competitive.
Francis is so physically gifted all he had to was work on fundamentals and stay calm and he took out arguably the greatest heavyweight champ of all time with no trouble at all. Incredible.
Imagine being such a badass you could get locked in a cage with the UFC heavyweight champ and think “as long as I focus on my breathing and don’t get too excited, this guy has no chance.” Lol.
I swear there are some superhuman people in Cameroon. I watched this YouTube clip of sone pro arm wrestlers who went to Cameroon to train and they found this auto mechanic who is so massive and strong that they started making videos with him. The mechanic does these feats of strength with zero training that pros can’t do. They ask him to lift stuff and he just does and they all crack up. His hands are twice the size of a regular man’s hand.

[Hugh]

Yeah, that was a total fix. The one and only angle they show of the KO looks like a punch from Walker Texas Ranger. Askren got punched in the face for a living with MMA gloves. No way Jake Paul knocks him out with 1 punch wearing boxing gloves. Lol. So stupid.
Ben Askren is 36 and made $500k for 1 minute of work. That’s more than he ever made in any fight. Plus nobody else was paying him to do anything, so why not?
I guess I did assume Askren was going to try to win, but now I have no idea why I did. Of course Paul was going to control everything that happened.
At least I didn’t pay for it.

Edit- Okay so the punch definitely looks real but I still think it was set up. Or maybe Ben Askren just didn’t give a shit.
Either way I have to eat some crow because I gave Jake Paul no chance.

[Hugh]

So UFC 261 was insane.
First, I LOVE Thug Rose and when she knocked out Weill I jumped out of my chair. But when they put the belt on her...that whole thing almost brought me to tears. One of my favorite UFC moments ever.
Bullet made a point of beating Andrade in a way that nobody saw coming. It was a statement, and left zero questions.
Jorge Masvidal has never been KO’d in 50 pro fights, until tonight. Kamara Usman threw a straight right and it looked like Masvidal got shot in the head. One of the greatest highlight reel KOs ever. I think Usman set the record for most consecutive UFC wins, and somehow he’s still improving.
And finally...
So 7 years ago Chris Weidman fought Anderson Silva for the light heavyweight belt. Silva threw a leg kick, Weidman checked it, and Silva’s leg wrapped around Weidman’s shin like it was made of rubber. One of the most gruesome and unusual injuries in UFC history.
So Weidman fought Uriah Hall tonight. I’ve seen Weidman fight lots of times since the Silva fight, but for some reason my brothers and I started talking about that fight 7 years ago. My brother said “Can you imagine if Weidman came out threw a leg and broke his leg?”
Weidman comes out, throws one leg kick, Hall checks it, and Weidman’s leg shatters around Hall’s shin exactly like it happened to Silva. No shit. I could not believe it. I’ve seen that injury twice and Weidman was both the cause and victim. One of the weirdest things I’ve ever seen in sports.
Crazy night.

[Hulky]

Floyd Mayweather is going to kill Logan Paul right?

[Hugh]

Floyd Mayweather is going to kill Logan Paul right?

Probably not. I mean of course Mayweather will “win” the “boxing match” but he’ll probably take it easy on Paul and drag it out a while.
If Mayweather wanted to end it in 30 second of course he could, but if people are going to keep buying these bullshit “fights” he needs to put on a show so they kind of get their money’s worth.

[Hulky]

Probably not. I mean of course Mayweather will “win” the “boxing match” but he’ll probably take it easy on Paul and drag it out a while.
If Mayweather wanted to end it in 30 second of course he could, but if people are going to keep buying these bullshit “fights” he needs to put on a show so they kind of get their money’s worth.

I don't pay to see those sort of things live, but tbh I'd rather watch the pro instantly destroy the amateur. I remember watching Manny P v. Floyd live and thinking it was too drawn out where Mayfield knew he had point advantage and just maintained it and ran out the clock. A youtuber should get KO'd though to show a difference between professional boxer and amateur.

[Achilles]

Well that was disappointing. The co-main event fucking sucked, then McGregor broke is ankle. He's gotta be done, that looked career ending to me. I'll be shocked if he fights again, and if he does he's a fool. He's a great fighter but such a double bag. Poirer was destroying him anyways.

[Achilles]

McGregor gets in his own way. And I honestly believe that it's mostly on purpose but he has absolutely no measure of consequence. Once he did the Mayweather boxing match it was abundantly clear he knew he could make a pay check, and that's all he wanted. He's a brilliant businessman, he knows that controversy makes money.

I've been fighting since 1992. I actually had the opportunity to go pro, but due to my age, there wasn't a huge stage for Flyweights (125) in MMA. I walk around at about 119ish (I'm 5'9 for context, I'm build like a horse jockey. I'm not all skin and bones, I'm all lean muscle but I'm a tiny dude). So I actually have to gain weight before a fight. My last one was a few years back, I'm thirty two now and I'm about to step back into a ring in regard to Muay Thai, but I sort of no fault of my own missed the boat on MMA chronologicially. Just barely too.

McGregor is only a few months older than me, and heavier. Not by much, he's a featherweight naturally, but he likely walks around at about 165 to 170ish. I know for a fact I've been fighting way longer than him, and while I'm this quiet, laid back dude, he's an insufferable piece of shit.

He's the dude in your gym nobody likes. Even if he gets invited out for a beer, nobody is happy he's there. The one huge thing about fighting is you want to train with good dudes, people who you trust won't hurt you and who aren't going to be a dick. Some bumps and bruises? Sure, that comes with the territory. Some fucking dick bad who's simply grade A garbage in terms of personality? Get the fuck out of here. Go play diddle each other with Mayweather in a who can't touch each other contest, and walk like you shit your pants into the ring every time you enter.

He's a talented guy, I'd be dumb as fuck to say otherwise. But he's in it for the money, nothing more, nothing less.

I can't see him being able to come back safely, he's likely going to get some permanent hardware in his foot/ankle. If he broke one of his long bones (Tibia or Fibula) then he could maybe fight again. If he broke his mechanical capacity of his ankle joint? He's done.

I'd never wish injury on any fighter, I sincerely hope he lives out his life with his wife and kids. But I wouldn't care if he never came back. It'd be better for MMA.

[Achilles]

Well last night was lame as fuck all.

[The Butcher]

Tyson vs Paul