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I wrote an article comparing the recent UFC power struggle with events in Westeros and across the Narrow Sea. I think fans of Game of Thrones will enjoy it. Here is part of the article:
The Notorious and The Unthinkable
I was all set to write a preview of Game of Thrones season six when the unthinkable happened: Conor McGregor, the biggest star in the history of MMA, the single biggest current fighter in the world in MMA or boxing, decided to “retire”. Conor was set to face Nate Diaz in a rematch of their epic and shocking battle at UFC 196, which Diaz won by choke in the second round after getting battered for almost the entire duration of the bout to that point. The rematch was to be held at UFC 200, which would have been a spectacle no matter what due to its nature as a centurial event, but was set to be the biggest pay per view in UFC history because of McGregor’s ascension, which seems to be unstoppable even in the face of crushing defeat. Conor’s three previous pay per views pulled in 825,000, 1,200,000, and 1,500,000 buys, ranking as the 17th, 3rd, and 2ndmost buys in UFC history, behind only UFC 100, when Brock Lesnar vs Frank Mir and GSP vs Thiago Alves drew 1.6 million buys. Conor’s 3 PPVs are the 3 highest live gates in UFC history. UFC 200 was set to crush them all. Two million pay per view buys seemed within the realm of possibility. Conor became the first fighter in UFC history to earn a disclosed paycheck of one million dollars, before any pay per view points were factored into his salary. He was getting adulation from Mike Tyson; Canelo Alvarez and Andre Ward talked about watching his most recent fight; Vin Diesel offered him a movie role. The world was Conor’s, and then all of a sudden, he decided that he wanted no more.
Fast forward two days, and we see that it was all a rouse. His retirement tweet literally broke the Internet. Kobe Bryant’s retirement tweet was the most retweeted athlete retirement tweet of 2015 with 130k retweets; Conor’s retirement tweet got 165k retweets within 48 hours. Today, as Conor wrote a lengthy Facebook post saying that he isn’t retired but rather wants to concentrate on training rather than doing another endless round of media, he restated his desire to fight on UFC 200 against Nate Diaz. So far we have no confirmation (minus an anonymous TMZ report) one way or another if the UFC will do the right thing for their bottom line (and to not alienate their fan base), or if they will be spiteful to make a point.
Las Vegas or Westeros
All this drama reminds me of Game of Thrones. Who would be the Westeros version of Dana White? Tywin Lannister? No, Dana is not that clever. Joffrey Baratheon? No, Dana is not evil. Perhaps the Mad King, Aerys Targaryen; both had a penchant for taking great pleasure in destroying their enemies, both were successful rulers for a time, both went crazy, and both eventually angered enough people to lead to a rebellion. That rebellion in GOT was led by Robert Baratheon, Eddard Stark, Jon Arryn, and eventually the slippery Tywin Lannister, who had convinced the Mad King he was there to help. When Jaime Lannister stabbed the Mad King in the back in the culminating moment of the rebellion, Aerys' last words before his death were "burn them all", telling Jaime to make sure everyone suffered for Robert's impudence toward the king. If Dana and the Fertittas keep Conor off UFC 200 despite the hundreds of millions of dollars he brings in via pay per view revenues, despite the massive live gates, excitement, and media attention he brings, it will be Dana's Mad King moment.
CONTINUED ON:
http://jews4ginobili.blogspot.com/2016/04/conors-rebellion.html
Thanks for reading.
The Notorious and The Unthinkable
I was all set to write a preview of Game of Thrones season six when the unthinkable happened: Conor McGregor, the biggest star in the history of MMA, the single biggest current fighter in the world in MMA or boxing, decided to “retire”. Conor was set to face Nate Diaz in a rematch of their epic and shocking battle at UFC 196, which Diaz won by choke in the second round after getting battered for almost the entire duration of the bout to that point. The rematch was to be held at UFC 200, which would have been a spectacle no matter what due to its nature as a centurial event, but was set to be the biggest pay per view in UFC history because of McGregor’s ascension, which seems to be unstoppable even in the face of crushing defeat. Conor’s three previous pay per views pulled in 825,000, 1,200,000, and 1,500,000 buys, ranking as the 17th, 3rd, and 2ndmost buys in UFC history, behind only UFC 100, when Brock Lesnar vs Frank Mir and GSP vs Thiago Alves drew 1.6 million buys. Conor’s 3 PPVs are the 3 highest live gates in UFC history. UFC 200 was set to crush them all. Two million pay per view buys seemed within the realm of possibility. Conor became the first fighter in UFC history to earn a disclosed paycheck of one million dollars, before any pay per view points were factored into his salary. He was getting adulation from Mike Tyson; Canelo Alvarez and Andre Ward talked about watching his most recent fight; Vin Diesel offered him a movie role. The world was Conor’s, and then all of a sudden, he decided that he wanted no more.
Fast forward two days, and we see that it was all a rouse. His retirement tweet literally broke the Internet. Kobe Bryant’s retirement tweet was the most retweeted athlete retirement tweet of 2015 with 130k retweets; Conor’s retirement tweet got 165k retweets within 48 hours. Today, as Conor wrote a lengthy Facebook post saying that he isn’t retired but rather wants to concentrate on training rather than doing another endless round of media, he restated his desire to fight on UFC 200 against Nate Diaz. So far we have no confirmation (minus an anonymous TMZ report) one way or another if the UFC will do the right thing for their bottom line (and to not alienate their fan base), or if they will be spiteful to make a point.
Las Vegas or Westeros
All this drama reminds me of Game of Thrones. Who would be the Westeros version of Dana White? Tywin Lannister? No, Dana is not that clever. Joffrey Baratheon? No, Dana is not evil. Perhaps the Mad King, Aerys Targaryen; both had a penchant for taking great pleasure in destroying their enemies, both were successful rulers for a time, both went crazy, and both eventually angered enough people to lead to a rebellion. That rebellion in GOT was led by Robert Baratheon, Eddard Stark, Jon Arryn, and eventually the slippery Tywin Lannister, who had convinced the Mad King he was there to help. When Jaime Lannister stabbed the Mad King in the back in the culminating moment of the rebellion, Aerys' last words before his death were "burn them all", telling Jaime to make sure everyone suffered for Robert's impudence toward the king. If Dana and the Fertittas keep Conor off UFC 200 despite the hundreds of millions of dollars he brings in via pay per view revenues, despite the massive live gates, excitement, and media attention he brings, it will be Dana's Mad King moment.
CONTINUED ON:
http://jews4ginobili.blogspot.com/2016/04/conors-rebellion.html
Thanks for reading.
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