A
AronaBeatsJones
Guest
(Disclaimer: This card was booked before Uncle Dana's announcements yesterday.)
PART ONE (Main and Co-Main Events): http://mma-manifesto.com/2016-articles/lets-book-205-new-york-city-part-1.html
EXCERPT
PART TWO (Main Card and Prelims): http://mma-manifesto.com/2016-articles/lets-book-ufc-205-new-york-city-part-2.html
EXCERPT
PART ONE (Main and Co-Main Events): http://mma-manifesto.com/2016-articles/lets-book-205-new-york-city-part-1.html
EXCERPT
Obviously, a lot of MMA purists will not like this booking. The featherweight division, which Conor McGregor is the champion of, has been held up due to McGregor’s (so far fruitless) ambitions in heavier weight classes. With a second fight against Nate Diaz on the horizon, the expectation is that whatever happens at UFC 202, McGregor absolutely has to go back down to featherweight to defend his title against interim featherweight champion José Aldo in a rematch of their thirteen-second clash at UFC 194.
(But the) UFC needs a reliable main event between two of the biggest superstars they can get to headline the most significant show in their promotion’s history. Georges St-Pierre versus Conor McGregor is it. If McGregor goes back down and loses to Aldo, it’s entirely possible the ship will sail on ever making this megafight possible. The UFC cannot let this happen. To sound as cliché as possible, the time is now for St-Pierre-McGregor.
---(But the) UFC needs a reliable main event between two of the biggest superstars they can get to headline the most significant show in their promotion’s history. Georges St-Pierre versus Conor McGregor is it. If McGregor goes back down and loses to Aldo, it’s entirely possible the ship will sail on ever making this megafight possible. The UFC cannot let this happen. To sound as cliché as possible, the time is now for St-Pierre-McGregor.
PART TWO (Main Card and Prelims): http://mma-manifesto.com/2016-articles/lets-book-ufc-205-new-york-city-part-2.html
EXCERPT
A teacher-versus-student relationship gone downhill with bad blood still in turmoil: tempers in training, claims of backstabbing, bans, exoduses, training partner stealing, PED accusations – it’s such a dramatic story to tell.
For these two elite bantamweights who were once as close as brothers and claimed they would never fight each other, the subsequent hostilities after T.J. Dillashaw left Team Alpha Male have opened up a major opportunity for the UFC to cash in on what could be the biggest grudge match in bantamweight history (or, at least, the biggest one after Dominick Cruz-Urijah Faber).
If Dillashaw defeats Faber, he solidifies his title shot to rematch Cruz, or to fight whoever the bantamweight champion is at the time (Cruz recently stated a preference to fight Faber protégé Cody Garbrandt if he should get past Takeya Mizugaki – which if Garbrandt eventually upsets Cruz, he sets up another compelling fight against his former Team Alpha Male compatriot, Dillashaw, to avenge Faber). If Faber wins and retires afterward (as he hinted after the Cruz fight), it allows an opportunity for Cruz to take a superfight at featherweight if the Garbrandt fight happens in late-2016 and Cruz is successful.
For these two elite bantamweights who were once as close as brothers and claimed they would never fight each other, the subsequent hostilities after T.J. Dillashaw left Team Alpha Male have opened up a major opportunity for the UFC to cash in on what could be the biggest grudge match in bantamweight history (or, at least, the biggest one after Dominick Cruz-Urijah Faber).
If Dillashaw defeats Faber, he solidifies his title shot to rematch Cruz, or to fight whoever the bantamweight champion is at the time (Cruz recently stated a preference to fight Faber protégé Cody Garbrandt if he should get past Takeya Mizugaki – which if Garbrandt eventually upsets Cruz, he sets up another compelling fight against his former Team Alpha Male compatriot, Dillashaw, to avenge Faber). If Faber wins and retires afterward (as he hinted after the Cruz fight), it allows an opportunity for Cruz to take a superfight at featherweight if the Garbrandt fight happens in late-2016 and Cruz is successful.
