McGregor vs. Mayweather, August 26

[Jimbo]

First off, anything could happen, but IMO Mayweather is going to smoke McGregor. This will be a pure boxing match under strictly enforced boxing rules. There is nothing McGregor can do in this match that Mayweather hasn't already seen. I predict that Mayweather will win easily. I hope that McGregor surprises, but I highly doubt it. The potential is for a very boring, one-sided match in Mayweather's favor. And I say this as someone who likes Conor McGregor and strongly dislikes Floyd Mayweather.

This match is the equivalent of Mayweather going into a fight under strictly MMA rules. In such a case, McGregor would make short work of Mayweather. But under strict boxing rules, Mayweather is king of the match. McGregor has some boxing background, but has never had a pro boxing match in his life. Yes, he's bigger, stronger and a harder puncher than Mayweather. So were many of Mayweather's other opponents, who WERE world class pro boxers.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q2BJIWP0WY&sns=em

[GeneChing]

I'm just excited to see Boxing pull together a megamatch like this.


FLOYD MAYWEATHER VS CONOR MCGREGOR: COULD AUGUST 26 LAS VEGAS SUPERFIGHT MAKE $600 MILLION? (http://www.newsweek.com/floyd-mayweather-vs-conor-mcgregor-t-mobile-arena-las-vegas-ppv-sport-626044)
BY TEDDY CUTLER ON 6/15/17 AT 9:26 AM
Floyd Mayweather v Conor McGregor Fight Confirmed For August 26

It’s a contest between boxing’s pay-per-view king and the highest-grossing UFC star in history.

If ever a fight were a certainty to draw money, it would be Floyd Mayweather’s super-bout against Conor McGregor scheduled for August 26 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The contest, which will be fought under boxing rules over 12 three-minute rounds, brings together two of combat sports’ brashest talkers and slickest practitioners with the added lure of the “Sport of Kings” against its brash young cousin.

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Forbes has predicted that the bout, which will take place at the T-Mobile Arena, could draw between 5.3 and 5.5 million pay-per-view buys.

That would comfortably shatter the previous record for a boxing pay-per-view bout held by Mayweather against Manny Pacquiao on May 2, 2015.

That fight ended up generating more than $400 million in ppv revenue, in addition to a live gate of $72,198,500.

Mayweather features in the top three highest-grossing cards of all time. His fight against Saul Alvarez generated 2.2 million ppv buys and $150 million in revenue, according to ESPN. Mayweather’s victory over Oscar De La Hoya from May 2007 held the previous all-time record with 2.4 million buys and around $136 million in revenue.

The T-Mobile Arena seats 20,000 for boxing and MMA events. With high demand and low availability, it’s not hard to see prices for individual seats climbing into the thousands of dollars. Combine that with the fact that Mayweather vs Pacquiao cost $99 to watch on ppv in the U.S.—this will likely not be set any lower—and it’s possible that the event could gross more than $600 million at the top end of expectations.

All of which is good news for the two men and their entourages. It remains to be seen whether the action can match the hype, and the money.

[GeneChing]

...now I'm getting mildly disgusted. :o


FLOYD MAYWEATHER AND CONOR MCGREGOR’S MONEY FIGHT TOUR IS AN UNNECESSARY DISPLAY OF TOXIC MASCULINITY (http://www.newsweek.com/floyd-mayweather-conor-mcgregor-money-fight-world-tour-toxic-masculinity-638494)
BY CHRIS RIOTTA ON 7/18/17 AT 8:10 PM

Irish mixed martial artist Conor McGregor will take on eleven-time undefeated boxing champion Floyd Mayweather this summer in one of the most mismatched—albeit predictable—fights in history.

Unless the world is turned on its head, the showdown between both stars will play out like a typical rollercoaster ride: hours and hours of standing in line, anxiously waiting for the big moment to arrive, followed by 20 to 30 seconds of adrenaline-pumping action before a hard and fast stop completes the entire experience.

The fight, scheduled for August 26, could be one of the most viewed (and expensive) boxing matches in recent years, trailing behind Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao’s underwhelming "fight of the century" in 2015. But, in essence, it’s a total nothing burger. Save for the fact that Mayweather came out of retirement to bring his total victories to 50-0, and that McGregor is an MMA fighter entering the boxing ring instead of his normal octagon, the outcome will likely be no more thrilling than it is expected.

http://s.newsweek.com/sites/www.newsweek.com/files/styles/full/public/2017/07/18/rtx3bisw_0.jpg
Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor holding a televised press conference in London, Britain, July 14, 2017.
REUTERS

So, in an attempt to hype up fans who will fork over $89.95 or more for Showtime’s pay per view experience, the two fighters have turned to hurling insults at each other riddled with racial undertones and offensive language during a four-day world tour. The unnecessary charade and name-calling does a disservice to the sport and industry behind boxing, and continues promoting the toxic masculinity that has spurred a continued rise in hate crimes against virtually all marginalized communities.

Whether McGregor knows it or not, his statements about Mayweather and black bodies in general fanned the flames of racism that have plagued professional sporting events since their inceptions. He’s railed on Mayweather for being illiterate during their nightly onstage shouting matches, suggested his appearance lacks that of a "real man" and yelled at him to "dance for me, boy"—a belittling phrase white men have used to demean black men for centuries.

In a now-viral interview along the red carpet for the world tour, McGregor described black boxers as “dancing monkeys” in a scene from the third film in the Rocky series. His father has since had to come out in defense of the Irish fighter, promising he isn’t racist and that the upcoming match has nothing to do with skin color.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDV5D6HG3rs

"Race is a factor in all aspects of our lives," ESPN analyst Domonique Foxworth said Thursday. "It’s a factor particularly apparent in boxing because they always traffic in that. In this particular case, I think Floyd has made a lot of money by playing up or playing into the historic black trope of 'the black brute.' He’s played that up, and people hate that and get angry, and they want to see him put in his place.

"There is no one more perfect to combat that in this day in age than Conor McGregor," Foxworth continued. "A lot of poor white citizens in America have been angry for many years for what they feel to be is this society turning against them. Conor has embodied that and become that, and is an awful lot like our president in that he is moving from one arena that he’s been very successful to an arena that he has not had very much success, and he’s talking very brass and offending people, hoping to have success."

Mayweather is also guilty of pushing the lines for what could be considered appropriate to say during a televised event, calling McGregor a "***got" during one of their heated exchanges. That term has been used by countless attackers as they beat and kill LGBTQI citizens. It’s a loaded phrase that has become even more problematic as the rate of trans folks’ murders have surged in 2016, with figures on their way to breaking records in 2017.

It doesn’t matter if McGregor isn’t actually a racist, or whether Mayweather truly has respect for the queer community or not. What does, however, is that both men are wholly aware of the attention their words will receive. In fact, that’s exactly why they’ve said what they have: By calling each other derogatory nicknames and in creating such controversies, the fighters are playing into universal themes of racism, oppression and hatred. The two celebrities are knowingly exploiting the current polarization amongst intercultural communities in an effort to maximize the profits both will receive the night of their match.

If McGregor and Mayweather’s antics are the new normal in promotional boxing tours, what will young fighters of all creeds have to look up to? As long as this type of rhetoric continues in boxing and professional sports, high-profile events like the one arriving in late-August will only continue to become more divisive, damaging and dirty.

[Jimbo]

Floyd is the real racist.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDcI0WUuMXg&sns=em

[Brule]

I know it goes against the norm but my gut says McGregor will take this... you heard it here first.

[GeneChing]

I don't really agree with this but it's postable on the Birth of the Dragon (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?67701-Birth-of-the-Dragon) and McGregor vs. Mayweather, August 26 (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?70318-McGregor-vs-Mayweather-August-26) threads.


https://images.moviepilot.com/image/upload/c_fill,h_470,q_auto:good,w_620/q8eejotecvct01hin5j2.jpg
#BirthOfTheDragon
Birth Of The Dragon: How Bruce Lee And Wong Jack Man Were The Original Mayweather Vs. McGregor (https://moviepilot.com/p/bruce-lee-and-wong-jack-man-were-the-original-mayweather-vs-mcgregor/4343834)
August 16, 2017 at 10:11AM
By Carlos Rosario Gonzalez, writer at CREATORS.CO
This Earth's Sorcerer Supreme and collector of all six Infinity Stones. I'm currently stuck in the Matrix and can't get out. I also write.

The biggest sporting event of the year will come to fruition on August 26 when two of the world's greatest fighters face each other for the first time. Mayweather vs. McGregor not only pits the respective undefeated boxing phenom against the current UFC Lightweight champion, it clashes the venerated world of professional boxing with the rising global sport of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA).

Today, MMA has merited the designation of sport that is growing in popularity and respect. Martial arts as a whole has revitalized itself in entertainment, from movies and television shows to video games. More and more old-school fighting video games are making a comeback—Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite is arguably one of the most anticipated fighting games of the year, for example. In Hollywood, plenty of young actors and stunt people are making a name for themselves with a repertoire of martial arts skills on their resume, and as a result, the stunt choreography and fight sequences in movies and TV shows are getting better and better. Just look at the praise garnered for martial arts-heavy shows like Netflix's Daredevil and AMC's Into the Badlands.

But MMA's story of evolving from a combination of boxing and other fighting disciplines and becoming a worldwide sensation isn't new. In 1964 Bruce Lee and his new take on Wing Chun transfixed the West Coast of the United States. It was also in that year that Lee’s new approach on Chinese martial arts clashed with the Kung Fu of the past, when Wushu master Wong Jack Man faced Lee in a duel. When two of the world’s greatest Kung Fu masters faced each other for the first time in that fight over 50 years ago, it revolutionized Kung Fu for the masses.

No one really knows how the fight went down, but we’ll finally see a glimpse of the legend in the movie Birth of the Dragon. If we look at that legendary fight, we can draw some parallels to the upcoming one, and how the history of fighting has influenced both.

Bruce Lee And Conor McGregor

Bruce Lee gave rise to what we know today as Mixed Martial Arts. His take on Kung Fu was unique and vastly different from what early masters of the art were teaching their students. Eventually, Lee’s fighting style evolved into his own discipline, Jeet Kune Do; it's when it made its way into movies that the discipline became famous.

But before Lee became the Hollywood legend that he is today, he was teaching his Kung Fu ways to San Francisco residents. When he participated in his first competition at the Long Beach International Karate Championships, Lee became a local sensation and won the crowd over with his one-inch punch. Much like Lee, we can see the same fire in Conor McGregor.

McGregor channels Bruce Lee entirely; that is why he calls Lee his inspiration.


The current champ has been the talk of the MMA universe ever since he made his UFC debut, winning by way of knockout. His cocky, fiery personality inside and outside of the octagon has inspired many rising UFC fighters, and like Lee, McGregor has brought his own spin to an ancient fighting style. In addition to being a mixed martial artist, McGregor also sees himself as a boxer. Like Lee, however, his boxing is a culmination of different disciplines put into one. That's what's so intriguing about the UFC champ; he's a modern-day version of Bruce Lee, and fans seem to agree. From his fighting style to his philosophies, McGregor channels Bruce Lee entirely; that is why he calls Lee his inspiration.

What’s more, the similarities between Lee and McGregor don’t end in their mutual abilities. Their greatest fights may just be their greatest equivalence. McGregor will meet his match when he faces Floyd Mayweather Jr. on August 26, just like Lee fought his greatest adversary Wong Jack Man in an abandoned warehouse in 1964.

Wong Jack Man And Floyd Mayweather Jr.

While much is debated about the epic fight between Bruce Lee and Wong Jack Man, what's fact is that Wong was one of the best fighters of his time. His skills in the various branches of Chinese martial arts made him an expert in the sport and a respected, popular name both in China and the United States. The parallels between Wong and Mayweather are clear.

Like Mayweather, Wong was fearless and full of spirit, sticking to the ancient ways of Kung Fu. Wong's bout with Bruce Lee saw the old style of Chinese martial arts clash with Lee's new system, just like how Mayweather's traditional boxing background will run up against McGregor's modified hybrid style.

But of course, it was more than just kicking and punching. The fight between Wong and Lee was as much a battle between opposite philosophies as it was a physical fight.

When Fighting Philosophies Clash

When Lee opened his martial arts school, the Jun Fan Gung Institute, in 1964, he wasn’t yet the Bruce Lee that we all know and love. The "be like water" way of mind hadn't yet entered into Lee's philosophical paradigm. The younger Lee was a constant rush of adrenaline and more than a little arrogant in his ways. Lee's optimism was a great virtue, but it was partnered with a healthy dose of conceit. His calm, relaxed demeanor of later years was far from present, and his urge to win and prove himself was high.

Enter Wong Jack Man, a Chinese martial arts master whose philosophy was everything Bruce Lee's was not. Lee's aggressive, kicking whirlwind faced off against Wong's serene, controlled dance of motion. And it prevailed.

Lee's aggressive, kicking whirlwind faced off against Wong's serene, controlled dance of motion.


While the outcome of the fight is up to interpretation, there was another outcome that is more important. From that day forward Lee had a new mentality. He went forth to create his own discipline in Jeet Kune Do and became as great a philosopher as he was an actor and martial arts expert. The sport changed for the better, continually evolving and leading to its resurgence in the modern world of entertainment; today there's a full roster of MMA names to thank for the martial arts resurgence that's currently influencing sports and entertainment. But while these personalities are the catalyst of the modern martial arts renaissance, they are all still the offspring that sprouted from the legend of Bruce Lee and Wong Jack Man.

While none of us got to witness the mythical fight between Lee and Wong, we'll get the chance to watch its equivalent on August 26. Another physical and philosophical clash of masters in their respective disciplines is in the very fabric of Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor. Regardless of the victor, the boxing world will learn from the MMA world and vice versa. Two philosophies will clash and, like Lee vs. Wong, a new spirit will blossom.

The greatest fight of our time is right upon us, mirroring the greatest fight that came about over 50 years ago.

Watch the legendary fight between Bruce Lee and Wong Jack Man when Birth of the Dragon releases in the U.S. on August 25.

[GeneChing]

This made me chuckle for all the wrong reasons.


Mini McGregor Falls To Mini Mayweather In Likely Preview Of Actual Fight (http://deadspin.com/mini-mcgregor-falls-to-mini-mayweather-in-likely-previe-1798151617)
Dan McQuade
Yesterday 12:02pm

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--yzRFG4wJ--/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/cgexxplvgrb5g4w0ruvm.jpg
Photo: Dan McQuade/Deadspin/GMG

They’ve held almost every kind of wrestling at the building formerly known as the ECW Arena. But according to the guy who sold me my ticket, Friday night was the first time the 2300 Arena was hosting Micro Championship Wrestling.

I guess I was glad to be one of the hundred or so who attended MCW’s first-ever appearance in the storied South Philly warehouse/venue. It started 45 minutes late. Before any matches, the wrestlers were all introduced by Johnny G (the former Johnny Attitude, whom you may remember for his mockery of Goldberg in WCW).

Each of the wrestlers had a standard American wrestling gimmick (cowboy, Samoan, pimp, U.S. soldier, Mexican, Sting). There were three faces and three heels. The stars of the evening were the champ, Philly native Huggy Cub, and the heel Blixx, the Sting knockoff. Blixx, who was my favorite of the wrestlers, insulted us for buying tickets to this farce. He also said he was going to make Huggy Cub “look like Mitch Williams in the 1993 World Series.” Ouch.

Huggy Cub had about 20 members of his family in attendance for his victory over Blixx and his win in an impromptu battle royal afterward. But it was Huggy Cub’s performance as Mini Mayweather (“Micro Money” on the poster) in the main event that was his best role.

In a match with an outcome that was considerably more in doubt than that of the actual fight this Saturday, Mini Mayweather defeated Mini McGregor. Mini McGregor (“Mini McConnor”) was played by Lt. Dan. (Yes, they gave the guy with the soldier gimmick a Forrest Gump joke name.)

It was by far the best part of the night. Blixx announced. Mini McGregor and Mini Mayweather proceeded to have a wrestling match that ended in a double 10-count after a double clothesline. Somehow, this led to Mini Mayweather wrapping a gold chain around his glove and landing a KO punch. Yes, they did the WrestleMania 24 ending.

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--0DzAZdHK--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/fx9lcye3tk3yojdqkpnr.gif

I can only hope the actual fight is as good as this one was.

There's a vid of the match if you follow the link. srsly.

[David Jamieson]

This made me chuckle for all the wrong reasons.



There's a vid of the match if you follow the link. srsly.

Pretty sure that's a good approximation of what will happen with Conor and Floyd.

Mayweather is going to lay McGregor out in the short run for the simple reason the game is Mayweathers and not McGregors.

Oh sure, McGregor is training in boxing etc, but Floyd lives and breaths that and only that.
Not to mention his record. Guy is gonna knock the irishman out. McGregor is totally stoppable. Mayweather has not shown to be thus far.

[Jimbo]

Pretty sure that's a good approximation of what will happen with Conor and Floyd.

Mayweather is going to lay McGregor out in the short run for the simple reason the game is Mayweathers and not McGregors.

Oh sure, McGregor is training in boxing etc, but Floyd lives and breaths that and only that.
Not to mention his record. Guy is gonna knock the irishman out. McGregor is totally stoppable. Mayweather has not shown to be thus far.

I also believe that Mayweather's going to win, but I have doubts he'll get a stoppage. He'd have to hit McGregor with a TON of punches, as he was never a big power puncher. The only chance for McGregor to win is by KO, and that's a very big long shot. I predict it will be a very one-sided win for Mayweather (probably by an easy unanimous decision).

Boxer Paul Malignaggi, who had been brought in to help McGregor for the fight, has said that McGregor's boxing is a joke. I don't know the veracity of his claims vs. the McGregor camp's. BUT we have to remember: this is NOT a boxing vs. MMA fight; it's an MMA fighter (albeit a top-notch one) going up against perhaps the best P4P boxer of his generation, in the boxer's own game. Ironically, McGregor will become the richest MMA fighter ever, by losing to Mayweather.

But we'll all know what'll happen soon enough.

[GeneChing]

MAYWEATHER TO BIEBER
YOU'RE DEAD TO ME!!! (http://www.tmz.com/2017/08/21/justin-bieber-floyd-mayweather-unfollow-instagram-feud/)
8/21/2017 1:00 AM PDT
Floyd Mayweather Angrily Breaks With Justin Bieber after Instagram Diss
EXCLUSIVE

https://media.tmz.com/2017/08/20/0820-justin-bieber-floyd-tmz-5.jpg

Justin Bieber is not only off Floyd Mayweather's Money Team, he's now one of Floyd's mortal enemies ... TMZ has learned.
Sources connected to both Justin and Floyd tell us, the folks at the Hillsong Church have been counseling Justin for months on taking a hard look at his friends and pulling back from those who are bad influences.
We're told church pastors did not single out Floyd as a bad influence, but Justin decided on his own he needed some distance. Our sources say Justin didn't want a clean break from Floyd, he just wanted to "reset boundaries" ... walling himself off from things like Floyd's obsession with strip clubs.
Justin unfollowed Floyd on Instagram as part of the resetting of boundaries, and our sources say Floyd went "insane, nuclear." He lashed out at Justin, called him a "traitor" because Floyd had stuck with Justin during his meltdown when everyone was attacking Bieber.
Sources connected with Floyd say the boxer continues to be incensed at Justin ... screaming incensed.
Now it makes sense why Justin curiously told our photog last week he didn't think Floyd would knock Conor McGregor out at next Saturday's fight.
We're told Justin will likely be a no-show at the fight.

There's a vid of Bieber's prediction behind the link.

I don't know what it is about this fight, but it has become hysterical on many oblique levels.

[GeneChing]

Racial conflict sells boxing matches. Mayweather and McGregor are its latest pitchmen. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/boxing/racial-conflict-sells-boxing-matches-mayweather-and-mcgregor-are-its-latest-pitchmen/2017/08/23/780e9bb6-876b-11e7-a94f-3139abce39f5_story.html?utm_term=.ec34679a7835)
By Adam Kilgore August 23 at 12:27 PM

https://img.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_1484w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2017/08/23/Sports/Images/2017-07-14T014803Z_705377072_NOCID_RTRMADP_3_BOXING-MAYWEATHER-VS-MCGREGOR-WORLD-TOUR-2733.jpg?uuid=6VH7dIgVEeelD-DU5uwHCg
Floyd Mayweather, at left in striped sweatshirt, and Conor McGregor, seated, traded racially tinged taunts at promotional tour stops last month in Brooklyn and other cities. (Noah K. Murray/USA Today Sports)

For all the novelty of their fight, Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather Jr. have relied on boxing’s most durable means of promotion. Through words and behavior, they have concocted a racial rivalry in a climate ripe for exploiting it.

In promotional stops in Los Angeles and Toronto, McGregor said to Mayweather, “Dance for me, boy.” In a subsequent tour stop in Brooklyn, following criticism of those remarks, McGregor explained he couldn’t be racist because he was “half-black from the belly button down.” He then thrust his pelvis as a gesture “for my beautiful black female fans.” Mayweather has since stated many people believe McGregor is racist and dedicated the fight to “all the blacks around the world.”

In a country still wracked by the recent horror of Charlottesville, Mayweather and McGregor will fight Saturday night in Las Vegas in perhaps the richest and most outlandish boxing match in recent history. Mayweather, a 40-year-old with a 49-0 career record and regarded as one of the greatest tacticians in the sport’s history, expects to earn more than $200 million. McGregor, 29, an incendiary mixed martial arts champion who hasn’t strictly boxed since he trained as a youth at the Crumlin Boxing Club in his native Dublin, expects to clear $100 million.

The racial undertones emanating from the promotion of Mayweather-McGregor echo the sport’s history of using racial conflict — genuine or otherwise — as a selling point. McGregor may not be cast as a traditional Great White Hope, an oft-used trope for more than 100 years of fights. But playing up a black-white divide has been a hallmark of boxing promotion since the early 20th century, and Mayweather and McGregor have proved the durability of the tactic.

“We have a very polarized and very conflicted racial environment right now,” said Jeffrey T. Sammons, a history professor at New York University and the author of “Beyond The Ring: The Role of Boxing in American Society.” “And I’m sure McGregor probably has a lot of white supremacists that are rooting for him.”

From Jack Johnson to Muhammad Ali, fighters have used boxing as a vehicle for social change, but more often, race has been used as a marketing ploy, an appeal to one set of base urges in a sport built on them. Critics see McGregor and Mayweather contriving racial animosity to help sell a fight as opposed to pursuing a greater cause.

“The thing about Jack Johnson and Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali is they transcended their sport in numerous ways,” Sammons said. “But this comes out of nowhere. I’ve never heard Floyd Mayweather commenting on race before, taking any kind of social position. He’s just been a boxer. He’s never transcended his sport. So this rings hollow as something that has any kind of basis in real feeling.”

“It’s distasteful what’s going on,” said former heavyweight Gerry Cooney, now a host on Sirius XM radio. “They’re misusing words, and they’re using it to promote it.”

Cooney took part in one of the most racially charged promotions in recent memory. When Cooney fought Larry Holmes for the heavyweight title in 1982, 22 years had passed since the last white heavyweight champion. Don King labeled Cooney as the latest Great White Hope, and Holmes stated he got the title shot only because he was white. Cooney appeared on the cover of Time magazine. Each fighter’s purse cleared $8 million, and Holmes questioned whether Cooney’s pay would have matched him had he been black.

White supremacist groups threatened to shoot Holmes the night of the fight. Black rights groups countered with vows to retaliate if anything happened to Holmes. On the night they walked into an outdoor ring in Las Vegas, police snipers stood on roofs to protect the fighters.

“It’s a selling point,” Cooney said. “There’s a lot of ignorant people in the world. So they want to hear it. They want something to put on their back and stand up for. It’s just a small group of those people. But it sells tickets.”

The setup for Saturday night’s fight — a black boxing champion, seeking a massive purse, finding a white challenger with no experience at the higher rungs of the sport — echoes the plot screenwriter Ron Shelton imagined for the 1996 film “The Great White Hype.” Shelton, an ardent student and an avid connoisseur of boxing who leaned on history to create his art, can see repetition of his art in life.

“If this was a black UFC champion and Mayweather,” Shelton said, “I don’t think they’d sell a ticket.”

Shelton did not draw on Cooney-Holmes specifically for his script — he viewed Cooney’s performance as worthier than many white challengers — and his film differs in detail from Mayweather-McGregor. McGregor is a world famous mixed martial arts fighter who has never boxed. The fictional white challenger, played by Peter Berg, was the unknown frontman for a heavy metal band and had defeated the champion (Damon Wayans) as an amateur. Wayans’s character loafs through training, and Berg’s undergoes a stirring transformation — and then the champion knocks out the white challenger in 27 seconds.

Shelton doesn’t see Saturday’s fight being much more competitive.

“This makes no sense that they’re selling this many tickets,” Shelton said. “Mayweather is one of the greatest fighters of all time. The other guy is 0 for 0 … There’s a long tradition of being your people’s champion and putting down the other. It’s all about money.”

The boxing cognoscenti has a similarly bleak competitive outlook. And yet, promotion along racial lines works only if fans buy in, subconsciously or otherwise. The public clearly believes McGregor can win despite his inexperience: The odds for him to win have fallen from 11 to 1 to 3¾ to 1.

The roots of race playing a role in boxing promotion are far darker. After Jack Johnson won the heavyweight title in 1908, in the middle of the Jim Crow era, white America revolted. Riots filled city streets. Laws were passed that prevented transport of film of Johnson’s victory across state lines. The novelist Jack London called on a “Great White Hope” to beat Johnson and restore natural order.

“I feel obligated to the sporting public at least to make an effort to reclaim the heavyweight championship for the white race,” said James J. Jeffries, a leading white contender. “I should step into the ring to demonstrate that a white man is king of them all.”

https://img.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_742w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2017/08/23/Sports/Images/AP_110217079828-2728.jpg?uuid=1Ka0rogUEeelD-DU5uwHCg
White America erupted after Jack Johnson, shown in an undated photo, won the heavyweight title in 1908. (Associated Press)

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Promoters gave black fighters nicknames meant to stoke exotic otherness, such as Joe Louis, above, known as “The Brown Bomber.” (UPI/Bettmann)

Johnson rebelled against retrograde social norms, making no attempt to act humbly or hide his carousing with white women. He was arrested under the Mann Act, which made it a crime to take women across state lines for “prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose.”

Promoters gave black fighters nicknames meant to stoke exotic otherness. Before Joe Louis was called “The Brown Bomber,” posters referred to Sam Langford as “The Boston Tar Baby” and Harry Willis as “The Black Panther.” Willis and Langford, the best black fighters of their time, were not allowed title shots against white champions.

Boxing always has been an immigrant sport, and in big cities, fans would clamor for fighters who came from neighborhoods constructed along ethic lines. In radio ads before some fights, promoters would spell Billy Conn’s last name to ensure fans knew “he’s the Irish guy, not the Jewish guy,” Shelton said.

In the 1960s and ’70s, a period with a dearth of white heavyweight contenders, fighters and promoters still managed to use race to market matches. Ali mastered the tactic of turning black opponents into symbols of whiteness. He pummeled Floyd Patterson and Ernie Terrell for calling him Cassius Clay after he changed his name. He also called Joe Frazier “Uncle Tom” and “Gorilla,” which was deeply hurtful for Frazier.

“Those blacks became stand-ins for the authority or the establishment or the so-called ‘man,’ ” Sammons said. “When there weren’t real White Hopes, black people became white folks based on what was perceived to be their political positions.”

Race still works to arouse interest in boxing, and recently, Cooney learned how dubious it can be. About three years ago, Cooney’s wife sent away to learn his ancestry. The results stunned him: It turned out Cooney’s grandfather’s mother was African American. The Great White Hope, all along, had black ancestry.

“So,” Cooney said, “it was a lie.” I remember Cooney vs. Holmes. I hadn't heard his black ancestry part. That's so ironic now.

[Jimbo]

It was really stupid of Conor to say those things.

It's also hypocritical for Floyd to cry racism, considering the racist anti-Asian remarks he made about Jeremy Lin and Manny Pacquiao. I suppose in Floyd's mind (and apparently a LOT of people's minds all around), the remarks are only racist if they have to do with black people.

This whole race vs. race thing is a load of BS, and should NOT be used to promote a fight, and is especially low nowadays, when racism is such a hot button issue. Anybody who feels they have to resort to racist taunts to promote a fight, any fight, then regardless of any talent they may have, they're idiots.

I still prefer Conor over Floyd, not because of their respective races, but because Floyd has been an @$$ ever since the beginning of his career (and probably has been his entire life), has never grown out of it, and most likely never will. And all the millions (billions?) of dollars he has will never make him a better person.

[Robert Sterling]

Waiting for tomorrow fight

[GeneChing]

Scores of private jets descend on Vegas ahead of the Mayweather vs McGregor fight as punters bet up to $1MILLION each (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4822198/Bets-1m-ahead-Mayweather-v-McGregor-fight.html)
Unbeaten boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr faces Irish MMA star Conor McGregor
Airports are expecting massive traffic from hundreds of private jets
Some rich boxing fans are already in town, with hotels taking six-figure bets
The big money is going towards Mayweather, 40, rather than McGregor, 29
Mayweather is so confident he's spending his nights at his gentlemen's club

The fight is scheduled for 9pm PST, on Saturday
By James Wilkinson For Dailymail.com
PUBLISHED: 02:29 EDT, 25 August 2017 | UPDATED: 05:52 EDT, 25 August 2017


The historic fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr - considered by many to be the best boxer of his generation - and UFC champion Conor McGregor is less than 24 hours away, and Sin City is heating up.

Private jets are ferrying celebrities to the glittering Nevada city and bets worth more than a million dollars are being placed as the most talked-about fight of the year gears up.

And for the fighters, the preparations are underway - although for Mayweather that means ducking and weaving not in the ring, but on the dancefloor of his gentleman's club Yahoo reported.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/08/25/07/43807EFC00000578-0-image-a-54_1503641737128.jpg
Floyd Mayweather Jr (left), 40, and Conor McGregor (right), 29, will go head-to-head in the mostly hotly ancitipated fight of the last two years in Las Vegas on Saturday

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/08/25/07/438AFFDE00000578-0-image-a-53_1503641727696.jpg
Mayweather, who is undefeated in 49 matches, has come out of retirement to fight MMA star McGregor. The fight is so hyped up that airports are expecting overcrowding by private jets

Partying hard

Mayweather, who has racked up an incredible 49-0 card and 23 KOs in his 40 years on the planet, has come out of retirement for the match.

McGregor, 29, is a fearsome fighter, having racked up 21 wins to three losses - including knocking out Jose Aldo - arguably the greatest MMA featherweight ever - in one punch in 2015.

But while McGregor is young and swift, he's also fighting a different sport entirely, and will be robbed of the kicks, grapples and ground tackles that UFC allows.

Which might be why Mayweather - nicknamed 'Money' - feels confident enough to spend every night at Girl Collection, his Las Vegas gentleman's club.

'Nobody can beat me,' Mayweather told Yahoo, adding that he would be in the club on Friday night, too.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/08/25/07/438B04D900000578-0-image-a-63_1503641874499.jpghttp://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/08/25/07/438B04F600000578-0-image-m-62_1503641869960.jpg
Mayweather (left in 2015) is so confident he's spending every night at his gentlemen's club, while Irishman Conor (right, at a pre-match workout, August 11) has dismissed that as 'b*****ks'

'I sleep nine or 10 hours,' Mayweather said. 'I sleep as long as I want to and then I get up and start my day. I let my body rest. I'm going to be in bed at five. So I'll wake up at 1.30.'

It's better than staying up all night watching TV - which is his only alternative - he argues. He'd rather be on TV, promoting the club on All Access.

McGregor was less than impressed when asked on Wednesday, saying: 'He's so cool, isn't he, at the strip club a couple days before the fight?

'Who gives a b*****ks, mate? I'd say the place stinks. Looking at it on All Access, it stinks.'
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/08/25/07/438AF15A00000578-0-image-a-65_1503642282323.jpg
Mayweather is spending his time at his club, Girl Collection (pictured). He says he'll be there at 5am the morning of the fight - then he'll sleep until 1.30pm and get ready for the 9pm bout

Big money for big Money

That confidence is certainly contagious for everyone except McGregor, with Vegas bookmakers taking bets in the seven figures for the fight.

A VIP casino guest at the MGM Grand hotel put a $1 million bet down on Mayweather at -550 odds, ESPN reported.

If Money comes out on top - as most expect he will - then the guest will see a $180,000 return on their bet.

Even more impresssive betting followed soon after, with William Hill's Nevada sportsbook reporting a cash bet of $1.2 million on -500 odds, which would pull in $240,000 in the event of a Mayweather win.

The flurry of bets - some of it made in cash - has upset McGregor's odds.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/08/25/07/4388FB7200000578-0-image-a-29_1503640971207.jpg
Bets in excess of a million dollars have been made on Mayweather; McGregor has had a larger quantity of bets, but they are of much lower figures

That's had the effect of bringing Mayweather's odds up from below -500 last weekend to around -600 on Thursday.

Mayweather has also received a series of bets in the hundreds of thousands.

But McGregor has brought in some money himself, with the South Point sportsbook fielding a $50,000 bet at +450 on the Irishman that will bring in $225,000 if McGregor beats the odds.

Generally, bookmakers said, McGregor has pulled in more individual bets, but Mayweather gamblers go harder.

That suggests that the MMA fighter has the support of less wealthy folks who are hoping for the luck of the Irish to boost their funds.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/08/25/07/438AEA6D00000578-0-image-a-64_1503642005447.jpg
The MGM Grand hotel (pictured) had $1 million put on Mayweather by a VIP guest. The odds were -550, so if Mayweather wins, the punter will get $182,000 in return

Regardless, the match is now on track to become the most heavily bet-upon event in boxing history - even beating the $60 million bet on Mayweather's bout with Manny Pacquiao in 2015.

This despite ticket sales being sluggish - with 7,000 seats still to be sold as of Friday afternoon.

And Mayweather, win or lose, will continue living comfortably - with an estimated net worth of $340 million in 2016, according to Forbes.

Plane crazy

As those bets show, Las Vegas has become a hub for the extremely wealthy this weekend - and the airports have been steeling themselves for it.

Officials at McCarran International Airport told the Las Vegas Review Journal that they had been preparing for an influx of very wealthy visitors.

They're especially wary after the Mayweather/Pacquiao fight led to more metal in the air than the city is used to.

But it was the metal on the ground that was the real problem: The airport's capacity was completely maxed out by more than 1,000 private jets.

The excess spilled over to Henderson Executive Airport, which had 282 planes, and North Las Vegas Airport, which had 80.

'We're trying to be better prepared and improve the guest experience,' McCarran spokeswoman Christine Crews told the paper.

'While this action appears to be favoring our wealthiest customers, this is really to the benefit of everyone using the airport.'

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/08/25/07/438AEA7D00000578-0-image-a-56_1503641761712.jpg
McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas (pictured) is expecting a massive influx of private jets - it was at capacity in 2015 when Mayweather faced Manny Pacquiao




Whatever goes down, I hope it's an entertaining fight at least. I hope it goes several rounds and not one of those less-than-a-minute KOs. Remember when Ronda (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?63565-Ronda-Rousey) was hot that way? Such a premature climax. Fights aren't fun if you don't even have enough time to finish your drink.

[sanjuro_ronin]

Not bad at all, not great mind you but it could have been worse.
Mayweather showed the expected ring-rust and McGregor showed the typical amateur fighting that I expected.

[Frost]

Not bad at all, not great mind you but it could have been worse.
Mayweather showed the expected ring-rust and McGregor showed the typical amateur fighting that I expected.

Both fighters made a fortune from a fight that could only eery end up one way, great marketing you have to say

[Jimbo]

Much better than expected. As far as the 'early' stoppage, it was pretty clear that if it wasn't stopped at that point, Conor was going to go down anyway, and most likely would have gone down again had he been allowed to continue again after that. Conor may not have agreed with the stoppage as it was, but I think his brain will be thankful later on.

Be interesting to see, if or when Conor returns to the UFC, how mentally 'up' he can get for a fight, after the mega-payday he received from this fight; a payday the UFC can never come close to approximating.

It's quite amazing that only about 4 or 5 years ago, Conor was on welfare. And look at him now. Great story.

[GeneChing]

McGregor vs. Mayweather (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?70318-McGregor-vs-Mayweather-August-26) vs. Birth of the Dragon (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?67701-Birth-of-the-Dragon) - I'll have a BotD review up later today.


Mayweather vs. McGregor Box Office: Fight Is a Knockout Victory in Theaters (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/mayweather-mcgregor-box-office-fight-is-a-knockout-victory-theaters-1032939)
10:41 AM PDT 8/27/2017 by Pamela McClintock

http://cdn5.thr.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/landscape_928x523/2017/08/gettyimages-839692716.jpg
Christian Petersen/gettyimages
Conor McGregor (left) and Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Saturday night's live broadcast of the boxing bout grossed almost as much as new martial arts pic 'Birth of the Dragon.'

Saturday night's super-fight between world boxing champ Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Irish MMA star Conor McGregor was a knockout victory in theaters, earning $2.6 million from 532 locations in North America locations to come in No. 8.

Earlier on Sunday, comScore showed the special event earned $2.4 million from 481 theaters, but the grosses were later revised upwards for the U.S. and Canada.

The result is one of the biggest victories ever for Fathom Events, which partnered with Mayweather Productions in beaming the boxing match into cinemas. In many theaters, the price of entry was north of $20.

The card began at 6 p.m. PT. Mayweather emerged the victor in the 10th round, bringing his record to a perfect 50-0.

The Mayweather-McGregor bout at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas was also a huge draw on pay-per-view at $99.99 a pop, although Showtime has yet to announce viewership numbers. Following the match, Periscope began trending on social media after many began bragging that they had watched the event for free using the streaming app.

At the box office, the live broadcast of the fight in theaters scored the third-best showing of the day behind The Hitman's Bodyguard ($3.9 million) and Annabelle: Creation ($2.8 million), according to comScore.

The Mayweather-McGregor offering saw its biggest grosses in New York City, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Nashville, San Diego and Miami. Top-grossing theaters included the AMC Empire and Regal Union Square in New York City, and Regal LA Live and AMC Burbank in Los Angeles.

Despite showing in far fewer theaters, the match appears to have beat another fight-centric offering on the marquee over the weeked: martial arts pic Birth of the Dragon, from microbudget genre label BH Tilt and WWE Studios.

Birth of the Dragon grossed $2.6 million from 1,618 locations, according to comScore (final weekend numbers will be tallied on Monday). The film, directed by George Nolfi, is a fictionalized account of when Bruce Lee challenged kung fu master Wong Jack Man to a fight in the mid-1960s in San Francisco.

The Mayweather-McGregor showdown was the highlight of an overall dismal weekend at the domestic box office, with revenue tumbling 45 percent over the same frame last year. Summer revenue is now down more than 14 percent over 2016, while the year to date is down more than 5 percent.


Much better than expected.

I agree with ya, Jimbo, although I didn't watch the fight in its entirety, only highlights. I was very amused by the netizen comments - so vitriolic and shallow - but I guess that's somewhat par for the course for any boxing match. I'm just happy to see boxing stage a reasonably successful event again. I've always enjoyed boxing as a spectator sport.

[sanjuro_ronin]

Both fighters made a fortune from a fight that could only eery end up one way, great marketing you have to say

Yeah, Mcgregor sold this fight, bigtime.

[diego]

Both fighters made a fortune from a fight that could only eery end up one way, great marketing you have to say

I liked this fight for bringing striking back into the spot light endurance against people heavier than you is the most important skill.

Taking all the styles out of it what would you say is the solution to mixed martial artists mixing training time between kickboxing and ground fighting if you face someone better than you that only wants to knock you out with stand up?.

Conor gassed 7th round so your fighting a champ 100 pounds heavier than you lol round 6 you get tired go for takedown hoping to hold on and roll around for 30 seconds to get a break for the next round but the heavyweight champ simply pushes you aside stands up and starts kicking you in the back of the head.

you stand up 15 seconds left, he drops you with jab cross hook hook flying knee bell rings. lol and so on until you drop not being able to punch with power gassed. should you have done less grappling or more steroids.

[sanjuro_ronin]

I liked this fight for bringing striking back into the spot light endurance against people heavier than you is the most important skill.

Taking all the styles out of it what would you say is the solution to mixed martial artists mixing training time between kickboxing and ground fighting if you face someone better than you that only wants to knock you out with stand up?.

Conor gassed 7th round so your fighting a champ 100 pounds heavier than you lol round 6 you get tired go for takedown hoping to hold on and roll around for 30 seconds to get a break for the next round but the heavyweight champ simply pushes you aside stands up and starts kicking you in the back of the head.

you stand up 15 seconds left, he drops you with jab cross hook hook flying knee bell rings. lol and so on until you drop not being able to punch with power gassed. should you have done less grappling or more steroids.

McGregor was done after the 5th round, he was already mouth breathing at that time.
It wasn't so much his cardio I suspect, but his strategy.
He did the typical "amateur" strategy when fighting a pro:
Try for the early KO ( He knew he couldn't beat him going the distance).
When he got gassed he did the typical rookie mistake: Go out strong in the beginning of the round.

Mayweather, even though rusty from his almost 2 year layoff, fought HIS fight.

And that, there, is the secret to beating an opponent:
Fight YOUR fight and make the opponent NOT fight his fight.

[diego]

McGregor was done after the 5th round, he was already mouth breathing at that time.
It wasn't so much his cardio I suspect, but his strategy.
He did the typical "amateur" strategy when fighting a pro:
Try for the early KO ( He knew he couldn't beat him going the distance).
When he got gassed he did the typical rookie mistake: Go out strong in the beginning of the round.

Mayweather, even though rusty from his almost 2 year layoff, fought HIS fight.

And that, there, is the secret to beating an opponent:
Fight YOUR fight and make the opponent NOT fight his fight.


going into the fight I thought it would be interesting, Floyd is at the age when Tyson was fat looked like crap when he started losing at 40. Conor was bigger younger and I was curious how MMA combos would transfer over to strictly boxing..Conor takes head kicks to the face and Floyd is smaller so I knew Conor wouldn`t get punched out in the first two rounds like all the pro boxer fans thought.

I guess taking head kicks and punches in MMA gives you good defense to take heavy shots from a pro boxer but at what point does a pro MMA fighters pro kickboxing skills move past amateur into pro boxer level. Like I think if they went best out of 5 Conor could take the third fight, it probably wouldn`t take that long to adapt MMA to pro boxing.

Tyson was Champ age 20 it doesn`t take 20 years to go pro, Conor been fighting 10 years.

[Firehawk4]

Is Maywhethor going to fight Mcgregor in the Mixed martial arts arena next by mixed martial arts rules ?

[Jimbo]

Is Maywhethor going to fight Mcgregor in the Mixed martial arts arena next by mixed martial arts rules ?

Never gonna happen. Floyd Mayweather has already made it clear that was his last fight, and he has absolutely nothing to gain and everything to lose (ego and reputation-wise) by participating in a boxing vs. MMA match.

Note:
The Mayweather/McGregor fight was put on by Mayweather Promotions.

[mickey]

Greetings,

I saw bits of this. It was all I could stand. The referee was the oddest that I have ever seen. His shouting "Stop" instead of "Break" made me wonder about his qualifications. McGregor should have been disqualified for using the hammerfist and for rabbi punching. I did not watch enough to see if points were deducted from McGregor's scorecard.

The use of an uppercut by Mayweather would have ended the fight much earlier; in other words, it was all entertainment folks. The taunting dwarfs were so desperately needed and were so missed.

mickey

[Jimbo]

TBH, I think Floyd allowed Conor to hang in there with him long enough to keep his promise of an exciting fight, then decided the 10th was a good round to cap it off. I may dislike Floyd, but I think he was savvy enough to do that.

If Conor had been in there with a top boxer with a style like Canelo Alvarez or Gennady Golovkin, IMO Conor would have been broken down and KO'd long before the 10th round. Conor's punching power did not seem to translate well into the boxing ring.

[GeneChing]

The UFC ruined itself for $4 billion
By Michael Blaustein September 14, 2017 | 10:35am

https://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/090117-ufc-mcgregor-1.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=664&h=441&crop=1
Getty Images

The great circus sideshow that was Conor McGregor’s detour into boxing is over, and UFC president Dana White could not be happier about it.

“I’m ready to get back to the UFC and do what I do,” White said with a huge smile at the post-fight press conference in the early hours of the Sunday morning after the fight. “I’m not looking to do this again.”

The truth of the matter is White has absolutely no say in the matter. And he knows it.

“It takes two very special people in the right place at the right time to do the freakish kind of numbers and the water-cooler talk, all the things that this fight had. … This s–t doesn’t happen all the time,” White said.

“I want to get back to business doing what I do, which is the UFC.”

But nobody knows what the UFC even is anymore — including White.

It used to be so simple. The UFC was where the best fighters in the world duked it out to see which martial art was best. Once that was figured out — it turns out that mixing striking, wrestling and jiu jitsu together is the way to go — the game evolved into a straight-up battle for supremacy. Men, and eventually women, were sorted into weight classes and fought to see who was the best at their size.

https://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/090117-ufc-mcgregor-2.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=300
White at the Mayweather-McGregor post-fight press conference.Getty Images

Meritocracy was the bedrock principle from which the UFC built its hardcore fan base. Making the best fight the best was also how the UFC became a star-making machine because, unlike in boxing, the kings and queens of the organization were constantly under siege by up and comers. Therefore, anyone who could hold onto a belt for a long time was unquestionably great, and greatness is one path to stardom.

The old UFC hit its pinnacle with Ronda Rousey, whose reign of unprecedented dominance came to an end just as uber talent agency WME-IMG stepped in and purchased the UFC for $4 billion.

The May 2016 sale rocked the UFC to its core. On the management side, the man working in the shadows behind White, the company’s longtime match maker Joe Silva, announced his retirement. Worse still for the company as a whole, its stable of more than 500 contracted fighters all of a sudden knew exactly how much they were worth.

For years, the UFC paid its fighters next to nothing because there was nowhere else for fighters to go and because there was no way for the fighters to know if they were getting a good deal or not. Unlike the NFL or NBA, nobody knew what franchises were worth or even if the sport had a viable future.

As a result, the standard contracts for low-level fighters became what is called “5 & 5,” “10 & 10” or “20 & 20,” which means that the fighter is paid $20,000 to show up on weight on fight day and another $20,000 if he or she wins. Even champions coming in from other organizations, like Eddie Alvarez, were paid next to nothing. His first contract with the UFC paid him a measly “70 & 70,” according to MMA Junkie, a fact only revealed because his 2013 contract was part of a court case and thus became a public document. It is still the only full UFC contract to be made public.

https://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/090117-ufc-mcgregor-3.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=300
Eddie Alvarez gets punched by McGregor at UFC 205.Getty Images

The UFC’s $4 billion price tag has opened the eyes of its best fighters, who are starting to demand bigger pay days. McGregor is the prime example of this new trend, but others are learning from his example. Flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson, the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, has been fighting with White about money and marketing opportunities for months, and the UFC boss has retaliated by threatening to dissolve the entire division. Welterweight champion Tyron Woodley, meanwhile, said after his most recent fight, against Demian Maia, that he purposely fought conservatively because he was promised a super fight with Georges St-Pierre. That fight may never happen because Michael Bisping, the middleweight champion, hasn’t fought for nearly a year as he’s waited for the announced, then canceled, then re-announced gigantic GSP payday, which is finally set to go down at Madison Square Garden in November.

While those three divisions are in monetary chaos, more belts are in purgatory for entirely random reasons. The 35-year-old heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic is tied for the most title defenses in the division’s history, with two, but got his last three wins over a 40-year-old, a 37-year-old and a 33-year-old, Junior Dos Santos, who recently failed an anti-doping test. Meanwhile, over in the light heavyweight division, Jon Jones’ own anti-doping problems mean that the promotion’s one-time glamour division is now headless. The women’s featherweight division can only look on in envy seeing as it lacks bodies. Period. The UFC’s own website only lists three female featherweights: champion Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino, the woman she defeated for the belt, Tonya Evinger, and Megan Anderson, who has never stepped inside the UFC cage.

https://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/090117-ufc-mcgregor-4.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=300
Jon Jones Getty Images

In total, six of the UFC’s 11 divisions are in complete flux because of either money issues or unpredictable twists of fate. That leaves just five divisions in relatively good shape, and even some of those have question marks hanging over them. Nobody knows when McGregor will return to the lightweight division, the bantamweights have been on hold for nearly a year as champion Cody Garbrandt deals with a mysterious back injury, and dominant female champions Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Amanda Nunes have had trouble turning their awe-inspiring skills into pay-per-view buys.

The UFC used to solve all these problems by turning the meritocracy knob to 11. That’s how the torch was passed from generational stars like Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture to the likes of St-Pierre and Anderson Silva.

However, since the WME-IMG takeover, a new model has been adopted. Ridiculous mega fights are now the name of the game. WWE star CM Punk made his MMA debut at age 37 and was promptly bulldozed by a relative nobody at UFC 203. Bisping sidelined himself for a year in order to fight at Madison Square Garden against St-Pierre, who last fought in 2013 as a welterweight. Even Jon Jones, before he failed his USADA test and was stripped of the light heavyweight title, got in on the action by calling out Brock Lesnar, who is currently suspended for failing his own PED test.

The Jones-Lesnar fight that will now, in all likelihood, never happen is the ultimate expression of the new UFC. It would have been an economic boon for both fighters. Already highly paid by MMA standards, Jones and Lesnar could have marketed the fight as “MMA vs. pro wrestling” just like McGregor and Mayweather played up “MMA vs. Boxing.” For good measure, Jones and Lesnar also could have thrown in cliche fighting storylines like “big (Lesnar) vs. small (Jones),” and “white farmer vs. cocky black athlete.”

https://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/170913-ufc-problems-1.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=300
Brock Lesnar (left) fights Mark Hunt at UFC 200.Getty Images

There is no doubt that Jones-Lesnar would have been a gigantic payday. It also would have been completely and utterly empty. Lesnar has been popped for steroids multiples times and has fought only once in the past five years. Jones, meanwhile, has his own PED problems and would have been ducking a fight with Alexander Gustafsson, the current #1 contender who battled Jones in 2013 in what many consider to be the greatest title fight of all time.

Despite the extremely problematic Jones-Lesnar fight and the variously broken weight classes, White swears that things are just like what they were in the good old days.

“The way that I look at fights, and the way that I look at fighting is that we’re going to have fights that we put on that are for the UFC hardcore fans, we’re going to have some fights that will do better than others. Then we’ll have some fights that are big where we do the Diaz-Conor 1.5 million [pay-per-view buys],” White said shortly after Mayweather TKO’d McGregor.

Looking into the future, there is nothing to suggest that White can put on either type of fight.


Dana White (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?47174-Dana-White) on McGregor V Mayweather (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?70318-McGregor-vs-Mayweather-August-26)

[GeneChing]

YOB SHOCK Boozed-up louts used police tape as Karate Kid-style bandanas and pulled kung fu moves to mock Chinese tourists in Blairgowrie (https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/2392070/yobs-mock-chinese-tourists-floyd-mayweather-conor-mcgregor-karate-kid/)
John Harrison and Robert Willemars shouted and swore at the coach party after drinking all night while watching the Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor fight. The visitors were so shocked they called police
By Gordon Currie
21st March 2018, 8:41 am Updated: 21st March 2018, 8:48 am

BOOZED-UP yobs used a police cordon as Karate Kid-style bandanas then did kung fu moves in front of Chinese tourists.

John Harrison, 23, and Robert Willemars, 22, shouted and swore at the coach trip party after drinking all night while watching the Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor fight on TV.

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/03/nintchdbpict000359772559.jpg?strip=all&w=960&quality=100
HANDOUT - GETTY
Pat Morita and Ralph Macchio in a scene from the film The Karate Kid

The visitors were so shocked by the boxing fans that they called police.

Perth Sheriff Court heard the pair had gone out to buy cigarettes in the early hours and found a sinkhole in the town which had been cordoned off by police with blue tape.

Conor McGregor’s coach reveals just what makes the UFC icon so deadly
They took the ribbon and tied it round their foreheads before high kicking and karate chopping in front of bemused passers-by.

When the Chinese tourists, who were staying at a nearby hotel, spotted them they alerted cops.

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/03/nintchdbpict000348274713.jpg?strip=all&quality=100&w=960
REUTERS
John Harrison and Robert Willemars had been drinking all night while watching the Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor fight on TV

Classy. Real classy. :rolleyes: