***spoilers*** UFC News and Discussion Thread

[Vince Russo]

 

The biggest is that Conor is much better at the mental side of things. If things don’t go his way or he has to change things up, Conor remains calm and changes things up. He doesn’t get frustrated, he just goes with it and adapts as and when necessary. Nate Diaz, and Nick as well, don’t handle it well when things don’t go their way. They get visibly frustrated and worse, they show an inability or unwillingness to change things up and try something different, and stick with what is obviously the wrong approach.

 

An example;

 

In the Max Holloway fight, Conor tore his ACL early on, but you wouldn’t have known that by watching how Conor reacted; he kept calm and simply took the fight to the ground, where his injury would have a minimal effect on the fight. Conversely, in the RDA fight, Nate Diaz was getting his leg destroyed in the first round, and it was clear that whatever his gameplan was, it wasn’t working. But did Nate change things up in the second or third rounds? Did he try and take the fight to the ground? Did he try to pull guard and work for submissions? No. He kept fighting the same fight, which included barely checking leg kicks, and got dominated in rounds two and three.

 

If the fight isn’t going well for Conor at the end of the first round, he won’t show it, and he’ll also come out in the second round with a different approach. But if things aren’t going Nate’s way, you’ll see it, and you’ll also see him come out in the second round and fight exactly the same fight he did in the first.

 

When it comes to punching, Conor is the bigger puncher, by far. Diaz can hit hard, but he, like his brother, is more of a volume puncher; he doesn’t beat you with one punch, he beats you with several. Unless he catches Conor with the right punch, Diaz is going to need to land more than one punch to have Conor in trouble, and Conor’s footwork and head movement are going to make that very difficult. Whereas Conor has enough power that he only needs to land one good shot to have Diaz in trouble. Not necessarily because of Diaz’s chin, but because Conor hits that hard. And whilst Nate usually shows good footwork, his head movement has, at times, been lacking, and that, for me, gives Conor another big edge in this fight.

 

And footwork another department I give Conor the edge in. Not a big edge, because Nate’s footwork is usually very good, but Conor is faster and quicker than Nate, as he is in most areas, and that gives Conor another advantage over his opponent.

 

I’m not saying that Nate Diaz isn’t a very good fighter, because he is. But in so many areas, Conor is better. Sometimes a lot better. And with Nate already coming in it a serious disadvantage because of how late in the day he got the call, Conor really shouldn’t have a lot of problems. Would things be different with both men getting a full camp? Absolutely, and I think it would be a much closer fight as a result. I’d still pick Conor to win but I think Nate would give him more trouble than he will this time around.

Edited February 26, 2016 by Vince Russo

[Liam]

I hope McGregor smashes Diaz. Can't stand him.

[Cymbols]

I hope Herb Dean smashes both of them

[Draevyn]

1 hour ago, Cymbols said:

I hope Herb Dean smashes both of them

Cranky Herb might. It was either the last show or the one right before where he was in a horrible mood. The fighters nearly tripped over him and he gave them the evil eye like they were the ones in his way not the other way around. It was kind of great.

[Chris2K]

The Bisping/Silva show from London is/was tonight, but if you're thinking you'll get to watch the UK show on UK TV then THINK AGAIN! It wasn't on live, and I can't see an airing of it anywhere. Guess they're being even more stingy with Fight Pass shows.

[Cymbols]

I mean, it was advertised as a Fight Pass exclusive, which is fair enough, especially considering how much free stuff we get over here.

Enjoyable card in any case, fun prelims, and mad main event.

[Chris2K]

True, but the deal before was that European shows would still be shown on BT Sport either live (for UK shows) or the night after for everything else. This just isn't being shown at all so obviously that has changed.

I can see what you're saying but to have the UK's biggest star fighting an all time MMA legend in London not on any form of UK television is just madness to me, maybe even another sign that they're not that interested in the UK market compared to other places. Put it this way, if Anderson Silva was fighting Bisping in Brazil I bet it would be on Brazilian TV in some form.

[Draevyn]

Well that did not go at all how I expected it to go. I believe the fight should have ended at the end of the third but I'm not Herb Dean. What is the rule on a mouthpiece being knocked out? Is a fight supposed to be stopped right then and there to allow the fighter to put it back in?

[Quom]

Quote

If the mouthpiece is involuntarily dislodged during competition, the referee shall call time, clean the mouthpiece, and reinsert the mouthpiece at the first opportune moment without interfering with the immediate action.

That's the rule taken from their website.

[Benjamin]

1 hour ago, Forky said:

Well that did not go at all how I expected it to go. I believe the fight should have ended at the end of the third but I'm not Herb Dean. What is the rule on a mouthpiece being knocked out? Is a fight supposed to be stopped right then and there to allow the fighter to put it back in?

From the 5 or 6 times I've seen that final exchange at the end of the third, the knee landed a second or so before the buzzer. However, does that mean the fight should have been stopped? What if Bisping had been able to intelligently defend himself? I just wonder if a last mili-second knockdown should instantly equal KO, I guess.

[Rich]

HAHA FUCK YOU ALL!

 

MICHAEL BISPING IS KING!!!

 

BISPING FOR PRIME MINISTER

 

GOD AMONGST MENNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Draevyn]

10 hours ago, Benkid Nada said:

From the 5 or 6 times I've seen that final exchange at the end of the third, the knee landed a second or so before the buzzer. However, does that mean the fight should have been stopped? What if Bisping had been able to intelligently defend himself? I just wonder if a last mili-second knockdown should instantly equal KO, I guess.

Could he? Possibly but we've seen that so many times and it always seems like the person on attack swarms and almost every time it's called. Not to mention Bisping looked out when the knee hit. He crumpled to the mat. I'm not a huge fan of either guy but I think Silva got screwed in this one. Bisping did what he always did and payed more attention to everything around him rather than his opponent and he got caught. 

[Rich]

AND HE STILL WON!!!!  

[SlicedBread]

He won because it took place in London.

Just like when your friends let you win "Pin The Tail on The Donkey" at your 6th Birthday Party, we all know it's a work.

[Rich]

@SlicedBread THATS NOT WHAT THE RECORD BOOKS WILL SAY!!!

[Benjamin]

UFC 198 officially has Miocic versus Werdum as the main event, according to Ariel Helwani. Jacare / Belfort is the co-main.

[Surkin]

30 minutes ago, Benkid Nada said:

UFC 198 officially has Miocic versus Werdum as the main event, according to Ariel Helwani. Jacare / Belfort is the co-main.

In Arena da Baixada, Curitiba, Brasil.

[Cymbols]

Cruz vs Faber 3 at 199, I love it! Granted, there's probably people who deserve a shot more than Faber, but sets up a potential fight with TJ down the line. 

 

[Rich]

Plus we can finally put Faber and Cruz to bed

 

Also I like the Weidman vs Rockhold rematch in the main

 

[EddieG]

If Cruz can stay healthy this time.  

I'd rather have seen Romero get the title shot, but the rematch isn't bad.