it is almost as if...

[Khaosan]

What if...

Sean was pouty over the promotion and wanted to F Danar over with a terrible performance

He makes more money off social media stuff anyway

No.

 

[KungFuCow]

What if...

Sean was pouty over the promotion and wanted to F Danar over with a terrible performance

He makes more money off social media stuff anyway

You dont know how ego works, do you?

 

[Dionysian]

Which wrestlers should he have faced?

1	Merab Dvalishvili
2	Umar Nurmagomedov - Is new to the division
3	Petr Yan
4	Cory Sandhagen
5	Deiveson Figueiredo - New to the division
6	Henry Cejudo - Was retired
7	Marlon Vera
8	Song Yadong
9	Rob Font
10	José Aldo
11	Mario Bautista
12	Kyler Phillips
13	Jonathan Martinez
14	Dominick Cruz
15	Montel Jackson

I don't remember the makeup of the BW division when Sean entered as much to give a detailed enough reply like I did in the post above relative to HW and how utterly artificial Gane's engineered title shot was.

Putting that aside though, I can say either of the two super obvious answers: Aljo and Merab. I'm sure there were multiple grappling-based contenders besides them though (BW isn't that shallow) that he was protected from. I made multiple threads about it when Sean was in contention and mentioned him alongside Alex and Gane. Funny part is UFC used footage of Merab in his debut calling out Sean... Merab knew a billion years ago and they both were on the periphery but of course that fight never happened.

Funny that they don't fight until the superstar has been awarded the belt and Merab has managed to get a 10 fight win streak where they put the GREATEST anti-wrestlers in his path OVER and OVER and OVER again in attempts to have him lose:
Yan, Aldo, and Cejudo back to back.

Fucking lol at how obvious that career-engineering was. They REALLLLLLLY didn't want him to fight Sean. Only when he literally beat the entire roster of elite anti-wrestlers were they forced to give him a title shot.

 

[Dionysian]

Adesanya also has never fought a wrestler, Romero doesn’t count as his fighting style incorporates little of it.

To Izzy's/UFC's credit, he did fight grapplers Vettori and Brunson on his way up. But I'd argue that was before they realized he really had great marketing potential so his career wasn't being preemptively fixed the same way Sean/Gane/Poatan were. However, I will point out that after they realized his marketing potential (I'd argue after he beat Anderson was when they started calling him the future) he somehow skipped a title eliminator vs Weidman/Jacare/Romero/Rockhold on his way to a title shot despite all of them being at the top of the division at the time.

 

[Kenny Powerth]

You dont know how ego works, do you?

You don't know how threads that start with "What if......." work, do you?

 

[Dionysian]

I was starting to think herb was going to the deduct a point from merab for "not working". Id damn near bet a kidney he was going back and forth in his mind thinking "can I really sell this?". Thankfully the answer was no

Great point, as he was clearly testing the waters.

Bold prediction... if there was NOT fan pushback to the most obvious fight fixing in the history of the sport (Herb trying to make Conor win at 229) Herb WOULD have felt empowered enough to deduct points from Merab and the corrupt judges WOULD have felt empowered enough to award Sean a decision so PR accounts could come online today and defend that decision.

This is why fan pushback is so fucking important. If we DON'T do it, that sends the message loud and clear... "yes please TKO, rig more fights, give me my WWE." Only holding them accountable prevents this from becoming worse.

This. My jaw dropped when I heard the scorecards. Along with Herbs terrible job tonight it was bland ant obvious the UFC was doing everything possible to help Sean get the win. That might have been the worst Herb has ever looked, telling Merab to be active and threatening to stand them up while Merab is constantly throwing strikes and changing positions? lol

Just thinking that he got 48-47 for clearly losing all rounds... that means that if Sean literally won a SINGLE round they would have thought they had the leeway to award him a split decision.

 

[Mask Of Winters]

Yeah they didn't care enough about Grasso to try to fix her fight. There was a reason why favored "superstars" like Conor/Ronda/Jon/O'Malley all collectively had a single ref whereas normal fighters got refs rotated regularly. Funny side-note... I predicted the second that they announced Merab-Sean that Herb would ref the fight. It isn't even a clever form of corruption where it is more subtle, it is a very basic form of corruption... brass want the fight to be fixed? No problem, make sure it is "best in the biz" Herb specifically and you're half-way there. Other half is judges who alter a BEYOND CLEAR 50-45 somehow to a 48-47 for Sean. Sean needed literally just to win ONE round vs Merab and they would have orchestrated a "split decision" win in his favor. And if they did so, PR accounts on here would have died on a hill defending it (see the Yan fight).

Also predicted before the fight that if Sean even REMOTELY damaged Merab the fight would be insta-stopped and the result fixed a la the Moutinho fight--which was also Herb and still has yet to be defended by anyone here on Sherdog due to how blatant of a fixed stoppage it was in the form of "oh shit time is running out and we want this fixed for a KO result... looks like I just have to call a KO victory with a few seconds left because Sean just landed a punch" despite that punch not doing any more damage than the previous 50 punches and there being no droppage, no wobble, NOTHING to justify the stoppage.

This guy...I like this guy

 

[TRUS8888]

I find relentless pressure and unlimited cardio pretty exciting. I don't need to see two idiots swinging for the fences all the time. Maybe you should try BKFC.

it's always funny to see people try to convince themselves of something.
it's like you don't want to admit you wasted your time watching this fight or feel let down about the outcome so you tell everyone else that they 'just don't get it..'
if merab had finished sean or even hurt him I wouldn't complain, I realize this is MMA and cardio and wrestling are major major tools to be used. all he did was tire sean out, there was no damage at all and they are probably both feeling fine today and could fight again next week.
i don't expect to change your mind just like i won't ever change my own mind about this type of fight being excited.. so we'll just have to agree to disagree

 

[acannxr]

They didn't "give" McGregor anything. Mendes was a short notice replacement and came to the fight absolutely shredded and in great shape. Conor had to fight through adversity in that fight.

You realize McGregor accepted a short notice fight against a monster grappler when he fought Mendes right? He could've declined but he didn't. Give Conor credit where it's due, or you just end up looking weak.

This thread is about how the UFC books stylistic matchups that favor fighters they're trying to push, and they absolutely did this for McGregor leading up to his title fight against Aldo, with the UFC only making an exception with Mendes because they needed to save a PPV that they heavily invested in.

McGregor accepting the fight and fighting "through adversity" has nothing to do with the subject of this thread or my post; McGregor getting his due "credit" also has nothing to do with how the UFC books fights.

 

[GrantB13]

They didn't "give" McGregor anything. Mendes was a short notice replacement and came to the fight absolutely shredded and in great shape. Conor had to fight through adversity in that fight.

You realize McGregor accepted a short notice fight against a monster grappler when he fought Mendes right? He could've declined but he didn't. Give Conor credit where it's due, or you just end up looking weak.

McGregor was fight ready though. I've seen the argument in the past that he always fought late notice opponents but that's kinda the opposite because he got a full camp and his opponents were the ones truly filling in late. Doing a full camp and being sharp and ready before an opponent switch is a bigger advantage than a fighter filling in on two weeks notice who wasn't preparing for anybody in the first place.

Plus, wasn't Conor supposed to get a title shot even before beating Siver? I think I've read that. They definitely helped him along.

 

[JustBleed69]

Merab cardio is unnatural I'm sorry

None of them are natural.
Sean popped for Ostarine not long ago.

 

[flowoftruth]

None of them are natural.
Sean popped for Ostatine not long ago.

I'm sure that one was a big misunderstanding

 

[Steve Fox]

It also shows that the UFC knows that elite grapplers with animal cardio are bad for the business. Elite grapplers are a glitch that can f* up the whole business when it comes to it being attractive to casuals and those are the ones that give MMA orgs the money, not the hardcores.

Hardcores helped build MMA by being a consistent base but their relevancy nowadays is a small % in the pond.

 

[Copper Burner]

McGregor was fight ready though. I've seen the argument in the past that he always fought late notice opponents but that's kinda the opposite because he got a full camp and his opponents were the ones truly filling in late. Doing a full camp and being sharp and ready before an opponent switch is a bigger advantage than a fighter filling in on two weeks notice who wasn't preparing for anybody in the first place.

Plus, wasn't Conor supposed to get a title shot even before beating Siver? I think I've read that. They definitely helped him along.

If the UFC wanted to protect Conor, they wouldn't have offered him Mendes on short notice. Mendes is literally the most difficult matchup for Conor stylistically speaking.

 

[Dionysian]

If the UFC wanted to protect Conor, they wouldn't have offered him Mendes on short notice. Mendes is literally the most difficult matchup for Conor stylistically speaking.

I believe his point was that if they wanted to protect Conor they would have ONLY offered him Mendes on short notice, exactly like they did. Don't forget the context of the time... Chad had a FOTY with undisputed Aldo that set him as the unquestioned #2 of the division, then had a POTN vs a top ranked guy he finished. Conor (who just beat Siver) was going to have to face Chad soon, so they gave him the best possible version: when Conor was prepped and Chad was coming off a couch.

Furthermore, a win over a diminished Chad also justified UFC rationalizing that Conor faced a grappler and passed, thereby giving them an excuse to then deny Frankie (also a difficult matchup for Conor), who ended up being not permitted to face Conor despite a 5 fight win streak over guys like Oliviera, BJ, Cub, Urijah, and Chad himself.

 

[krelianx]

Munhoz is a grappler, Paiva is predominantly a BJJ guy, Ware is a wrestler, Quinones is both a wrestler and BJJ guy with mostly submission wins...

What?

 

[JustBleed69]

I'm sure that one was a big misunderstanding

That's what they all say lol

 

[Copper Burner]

I believe his point was that if they wanted to protect Conor they would have ONLY offered him Mendes on short notice, exactly like they did. Don't forget the context of the time... Chad had a FOTY with undisputed Aldo that set him as the unquestioned #2 of the division, then had a POTN vs a top ranked guy he finished. Conor (who just beat Siver) was going to have to face Chad soon, so they gave him the best possible version: when Conor was prepped and Chad was coming off a couch.

Furthermore, a win over a diminished Chad also justified UFC rationalizing that Conor faced a grappler and passed, thereby giving them an excuse to then deny Frankie (also a difficult matchup for Conor), who ended up being not permitted to face Conor despite a 5 fight win streak over guys like Oliviera, BJ, Cub, Urijah, and Chad himself.

Chad coming off the couch is a myth. He was training full time and said short notice was perfect for him because be was fight ready and avoided all of Conors mind games in a normal lead up to a fight. I remember this interview like it were yesterday. Do you really think a jacked dude like Mendes could make feather weight as easily as he did on short notice if he weren't in phenomenal shape?

Conor defeated Mendes and knocked Aldo out in 13 seconds. He's the best featherweight to ever do it whether you like it or not.

 

[orca]

Alex is the only likeable UFC fighter right now. Jones vs Stipe is another example of UFC protecting Jones

you mean protecting against 2 generations of murderous fighter
can you please post alexs resume and jones?
lets talk

so btw being likeable now makes you better?

how about mark munoz
hes the most likeable mma fighter all time
hes your goat right? hehe

 

[Dionysian]

Conor defeated Mendes and knocked Aldo out in 13 seconds. He's the best featherweight to ever do it whether you like it or not.

Literally no one besides Conor newbie fans that don't like the sport outside of him / don't have any understanding of its history say that.

Nothing personal man, but saying Conor is the GOAT FW pretty much invalidates anything else that you say because it is just that ridiculous.