COme on now, you are going for a lot of straws here.
1) he had nothing to lose against Mendes. He was not the champ, and he was fighting a guy without a training camp.(they even picked this guy over the other one who was in-shape) AND made it an interim title fight.
No, McGregor had a title shot to lose. Had Mendes won the fight, Mendes would have had the interim title and as such would have been next in line to fight Aldo. This is obvious. The same is true now. McGregor was scheduled to fight RDA for the lightweight title. If he loses the replacement fight, he loses that opportunity.
He was. But he was injured slightly enough that he was willing to fight clear up until it was clear that he would fight a replacement rather than Cain. It's not a perfect comparison to McGregor's situation, but it's not irrelevant either. I'm not calling Werdum a coward or any such nonsense. I think he's a very tough and very smart fighter. But if guys as good as Jones and Werdum are wary of last minute replacement fights, and they have shown that they are, then that tells us that McGregor is going above and beyond what can be reasonably expected of top fighters in this type of situation.
Another key difference between Werdum's situation is that his replacement was a top contender in the division, and McGregor's isn't. I think this is readily explained by the fact that Werdum is the champ, so he always ought to fight the top contender available in his division. At LW, McGregor is not the champ, so if his title shot is delayed because the champ pulls out, it doesn't necessarily follow that his title shot ought to be replaced by a fight with another top contender. Such a policy would have the effect of punishing contenders for the champ's injury, and give the champ incentive to feign injury to avoid contenders. (At least two contenders who earned title shots with Aldo never received them after Aldo pulled out of their fights with injuries. I am not suggesting Aldo purposely ducked them, but when it happens more than once, it raises the question.)
3) Jon got a lot of flak for not accepting that fight (including by the president of this organization), so using it as an example like it was accepted is asinine at best.
Jones did get a lot of flak for refusing a replacement. How does that justify McGregor getting flak from the likes of you for accepting a replacement
? If someone is being asinine here, it isn't me
.
4) Khabib is the #1 contender. Say what you want to discredit, this is obviously the fight to take if you claim you are the best of this division. But I find it refreshing you (at least) admit that he is the most dangerous opponent.
If Khabib is the number one contender, then why is he scheduled for a contender eliminator fight with Ferguson, in which it was understood that the winner would fight the winner of RDA/McGregor? Khabib was the number one contender two years ago, but the title landscape has changed radically in that time. He needs a good win to show where he is after being on the shelf for two years.
Now Khabib does require a bit of thought here, because in all likelihood he will fight for a LW title sooner rather than later, and in all likelihood he will be a terrible match up for McGregor. I think if McGregor were to somehow win the LW title and then avoid Khabib, he would be wide open to accusations of ducking. But that isn't yet where we are.
But it is a little odd that you claim Conor is game to fight and should be commended, but on the other hand allows him to pick and choose which fighter is the easiest fight for him... because if he does that (and he IS doing that), then how can you acclaim the bravery of not picking the hardest fight for you to show you can truly beat everyone?
Can you show that Mcgregor picked and chose an opponent. All reports I ave heard suggest he was willing to take all comers, and his track record of fighting Mendes as a late replacement, who on paper is a terrible match up for him, earns him the benefit of the doubt. Add in the additional fact that as a FW champ moving up to fight a heavier champ, he is now at the last minute moving up yet another weight division. His new opponent will have a substantial weight advantage over him. Most FWs don't pick and choose to fight at WW.
