Essential The Official MMA Thread

[storyteller]

So the most logical opponent for Woodley right now is pretty obviously Rory MacDonald. With Whitaker out, Bisping vs Gegard is the obvious choice although the GSP superfight probably woulda got made anyway. Demetrius meanwhile had a full beef with the promotion over his next opponent when Kyoji Horiguchi would make a ton of sense. That's three guys the UFC let walk for not being draws, all whom would make better opponents for champions in the UFC right now. Meanwhile Jon Jones is campaiging for Brock Lesnar; Conor is boxing; and the 135 lbs. champ almost lost his rivalry fight because the UFC wanted to rush his rival into a different weightclass title shot just for extra views short term.

 

[LinusCaldwell]

Masvidal vs Woodley would be dope after Jorge wins against Thompson. If Woodley beats Lawler again and Maia... without facing GSP and beats Jorge he would have a case. Thing is he usually sustains little physical wear and tear in his fights it looks like. He can easily fight 3x times a year 6 title fights in 2 years? He would be a goat welterweight contender easily. If he can squeeze in 3 fights this year and another next.

 

[morris]

Tomorrow or Tuesday preferably tomorrow 5pm pst is ideal for me

8pm EST tonight then

@storyteller

 

[curz]

So the most logical opponent for Woodley right now is pretty obviously Rory MacDonald. With Whitaker out, Bisping vs Gegard is the obvious choice although the GSP superfight probably woulda got made anyway. Demetrius meanwhile had a full beef with the promotion over his next opponent when Kyoji Horiguchi would make a ton of sense. That's three guys the UFC let walk for not being draws, all whom would make better opponents for champions in the UFC right now. Meanwhile Jon Jones is campaiging for Brock Lesnar; Conor is boxing; and the 135 lbs. champ almost lost his rivalry fight because the UFC wanted to rush his rival into a different weightclass title shot just for extra views short term.

How does Horiguchi makes a ton of sense because that division is trash. DJ smoked him and Horiguchi hasnt done anything since then to make people wanna see that again. He looked like a legit threat before that first fight coming in with 1 loss and a bunch of KO victories. But now?

Dana wants to give Lawler a rematch, no way Rory would get the shot over Lawler, but he probably would have got the title shot fight against Maia instead of Masvidal.

 

[storyteller]

How does Horiguchi makes a ton of sense because that division is trash. DJ smoked him and Horiguchi hasnt done anything since then to make people wanna see that again. He looked like a legit threat before that first fight coming in with 1 loss and a bunch of KO victories. But now?

Dana wants to give Lawler a rematch, no way Rory would get the shot over Lawler, but he probably would have got the title shot fight against Maia instead of Masvidal.

Not being spiteful here, so don't take this wrong i'm legitimately curious but go look at the 125 lbs rankings and tell me who would make more sense than Horiguchi right now...it's a thin division and the kid's run off five straight dominant wins between the UFC and Rizin. After Pettis and Moreno, maybe one of them shines enough to be interesting, but there's no one in the division who has looked better than Kyoji Horiguchi since that loss. He was coming off beating Gaudinot when they rushed the shot and after that L he wound up going to ATT to focus on his grappling and it started to show in the Bagautinov fight. Bare in mind dude was 24 during the Johnson fight and hasn't turned 27 yet, he wasn't close to a finished product at that point.

Rory's the last guy to beat Woodley and it was convincing. Considering Woodley's KO win in the first bout, I doubt they'd pick Lawler over Rory assuming both were coming off wins. The marketability thing makes it tough to call, but Woodley's got wins over the 1 (Maia),2 (Thompson),3 (Lawler) and 5 (Condit) ranked fighters while number 4 (Masvidal) is coming off a loss. We're a Masvidal injury away from Colby Covington or Neil Magny being in the conversation for next up unfortunately.

 

[curz]

Not being spiteful here, so don't take this wrong i'm legitimately curious but go look at the 125 lbs rankings and tell me who would make more sense than Horiguchi right now...it's a thin division and the kid's run off five straight dominant wins between the UFC and Rizin. After Pettis and Moreno, maybe one of them shines enough to be interesting, but there's no one in the division who has looked better than Kyoji Horiguchi since that loss. He was coming off beating Gaudinot when they rushed the shot and after that L he wound up going to ATT to focus on his grappling and it started to show in the Bagautinov fight. Bare in mind dude was 24 during the Johnson fight and hasn't turned 27 yet, he wasn't close to a finished product at that point.

Rory's the last guy to beat Woodley and it was convincing. Considering Woodley's KO win in the first bout, I doubt they'd pick Lawler over Rory assuming both were coming off wins. The marketability thing makes it tough to call, but Woodley's got wins over the 1 (Maia),2 (Thompson),3 (Lawler) and 5 (Condit) ranked fighters while number 4 (Masvidal) is coming off a loss. We're a Masvidal injury away from Colby Covington or Neil Magny being in the conversation for next up unfortunately.

I'm not saying that somebody else in the division has performed better than Horiguchi, im saying it doesnt really mean shyt because nobody wants to see that rematch. I mean sure hes more deserving then Ray Borg but he wouldn't have stopped UFC from trying to get TJ down there.

Lawler is Dana's boy and was a well respected champ. Dana already said post fight saturday he wants Lawler vs Woodley next, Rory would never get the nod over Lawler when Lawler has beat Rory twice.

 

[storyteller]

I'm not saying that somebody else in the division has performed better than Horiguchi, im saying it doesnt really mean shyt because nobody wants to see that rematch. I mean sure hes more deserving then Ray Borg but he wouldn't have stopped UFC from trying to get TJ down there.

Lawler is Dana's boy and was a well respected champ. Dana already said post fight saturday he wants Lawler vs Woodley next, Rory would never get the nod over Lawler when Lawler has beat Rory twice.

I see your point on Kyoji, UFC ain't marketing any 125'ers well enough for them to put over TJ. Rory over Lawler I stand by though. Lawler got KO'ed by Woodley just last year and has one split-decision win over a guy that's not even in the top five since that KO loss. If they had someone available with top five talent, a recent win over Woodley and a recent winning record; they wouldn't be forcing in Lawler. Lawler's getting this shot by process of elimination.

 

[storyteller]

8pm EST tonight then

@storyteller

Prolly won't be outta work in time to chop it up with yall, but I'ma try to get back so I can sing Oezdemir's and Jones' praises.

 

[The G.O.D II]

I'm not saying that somebody else in the division has performed better than Horiguchi, im saying it doesnt really mean shyt because nobody wants to see that rematch. I mean sure hes more deserving then Ray Borg but he wouldn't have stopped UFC from trying to get TJ down there.

Lawler is Dana's boy and was a well respected champ. Dana already said post fight saturday he wants Lawler vs Woodley next, Rory would never get the nod over Lawler when Lawler has beat Rory twice.

Where did he say Lawler got next? Cause Lawler was talking about taking time off again in his post fight interview

 

[storyteller]

Where did he say Lawler got next? Cause Lawler was talking about taking time off again in his post fight interview

There's kinda no choice. The next ranked fighter that's coming off a win is Neil Magny

 

[aceboon]

UFC was stupid for making the Maia vs Masvidal fight, you could have just given Maia the fight without having to fight another challenger, and now you can't give Masvidal the fight coming off a loss so you eliminated 2 contenders. The welterweight division looks like garbage as far as contenders at the moment.

 

[curz]

Where did he say Lawler got next? Cause Lawler was talking about taking time off again in his post fight interview

It was in one of the post fight scrums where Dana was trashing Woodley. Got asked about the GSP fight and basically said " He aint getting GSP after that, he can get Lawler though, I think that makes sense"

 

[Vilify]

How did Melvin Guillard fall off so bad

Dude was a beast.. he would lose a fight here and there by submission but never used to get manhandled and whooped like this.

 

[LinusCaldwell]

8pm EST tonight then

@storyteller

@storyteller wont be able to make it.

Do you have a mic for tonight? Last time it sounded like you were talking through your comp speakers. Which kinda made it hard for me to hear you

 

[Roman Brady]

It was in one of the post fight scrums where Dana was trashing Woodley. Got asked about the GSP fight and basically said " He aint getting GSP after that, he can get Lawler though, I think that makes sense"

It's funny how dana's reaction for this fight is eerily similar to his reaction to Abu dhabi, both situations an opponent had to beat Maia to have the "privilege" to face GSP. And due to not performing to standard the option was quickly taken from them..I wonder if he has done this "fighter x doesn't deserve to fight fighter y" shyt with cac fighters

"Take no risks you get no rewards" then why did gsp get Diaz over hendricks?