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Sherdog, it's a weird time to be alive. Donald Trump is being taken kind of seriously in an election cycle, gravitational waves are a thing, and not only do the Irish appear to be taking part in the mainstream mma, they appear to be taking over. Or at least this guy is:
Lourdes Celtic Football Club's own Conor McGregor
Or as sherdoggers with a '14 or newer join date like to say, God himself.
I'll tell you something about Just Bleed God. He doesn't just sit back and chill and be worshipped like other gods. At any given point in history, he has vessels. He leaps into somebody's body and spends a few years smashing shit. Seconds before Chris Weidman separated Anderson Silva from consciousness at UFC 162, JBG whispered to himself, "Fuck this." And he leaped out of The Spider, soared across the Atlantic ocean and landed straight in a shit-talking 145-pound Irishman from Dublin.
Just Bleed God, 2003
Unpredictability is the only predictable thing in mixed martial arts. We follow this sport because time and time again, crazy shit happens. In a bit of a violent irony, crazy shit happens reliably. Take a look at this image:
At the time, from left to right: motivated BJ, Ryoto Machida - the least-hit fighter in UFC history who had just butterflied into a KO artist, pre-"disease viking" -era vanilla gorilla Brock Lesnar, Just Bleed God, and Georges St. Pierre, the guy whose main argument against him in GOAT talks is that the ass whoopings he doled out took too long. Each of them had his own annoying respective fan base of idiots that thought he was the best thing since porn, and, as it goes, each with his own chorus of haters who said he was a fluke that would soon be exposed.
The truth as usual lies somewhere in the middle. Fast forward to today, with the UFC's champion list involving ancient brawler Robbie Lawler, Ring Magazine's female Fighter of the Year (2005 and 2006 for boxing), and perhaps the largest draw of them all, Conor McGregor. A guy that was 2-1 when the above picture was taken. It's a little surreal.
After the Machida-era came and went like a fart in the wind, as a collective fan base we spent awhile hesitant to crown people as eternal unparalleled badasses. Then Jon Jones elbowed the fuck out of people until we stopped doing that, and Ronda took home enough arms that we went full, full retard. I'm just some dumbass on sherdog so waxing philosophical isn't my thing, but there's something in human nature that makes us want to believe in heroes. We buy into the hype not because we're idiots, but because we want to believe it. Fans live vicariously through the victories of their favorite fighters in every sport. When our favorite athletes win, especially when we know their story or their struggle, we feel good. We eat that shit up. We like seeing people dominate because it makes us feel like maybe we can in the obstacles we face in our own lives.
Or, I dunno, maybe we just like seeing heads clean off. McGregor is the pinnacle of the sin of the MMA fan. Let's get the obvious out of the way. In terms of significant existential events in human history, first there was the Big Bang, eventually a comet killed the dinosaurs and finally there was Red Panty Night. He KO'ed the FW GOAT in 13 seconds. Aldo earned $400,000 per second in that fight. With one strike and a couple of hammerfists, he set his sights on history itself took its head. clean. off.
The moment gravitational waves were discovered.
McGregor finds himself in a fantastic position today, sleeping Aldo in seconds and challenging history again by moving up weight and attempt to hold two belts simultaneously in the UFC, something BJ Penn failed to do in 2009. There are some pros and cons to this.
Firstly, if you're thinking in terms of money - and Mystic Mac certainly is - it's a genius run. Circumstances have aligned in such a way that Conor has a very, very real chance of securing a greater place in history and making an absurd amount of cash along the way. His shit talk sells tickets and short-notice Chad Mendes gave haters juuuuuust the amount of daylight needed to hold on hope that someone would utilize some offensive wrestling and end the show here, so the mma world - casual and hardcore fan alike, are watching this one closely.
Of course, Mendes failed. He caught a left, like (almost) everybody else, and he went down.
Max "I survived McGregor" Holloway
McGregor has done everything he's said he would do and blew away all expectations in the Aldo fight. His upcoming historic lightweight title fight is against Rafael Dos Anjos, a guy who poses numerous legitimate threats yet still has enough holes in his stand-up for Conor to do what he always does. If he wins, everything about our current status quo will multiply. Conor fans will continue to make the GOAT argument, now with a nice chunk of history and yet another drubbing of "the next guy who was supposed to end the hype train." Conor haters will maintain that it proves little, RDA's stand-up was tailored-made for Conor, and that he's still ducking _______ (insert anyone with a modicum of stand-up defense and offensive wrestling).
I'd say the most important piece of context about this two-title situation, and one that could serve to undermine the whole thing in the long run, is this guy:
Appropriately, "The Answer"
Importantly, Conor is challenging for the belt in the weight class above without a single title defense at featherweight, nor a single victory in the promotion at lightweight. A rapid KO over RDA would be a bizarre (albeit joyous) outcome for McGregor, because criticisms for being untested would continue, almost like he were being punished for his efficiency. This is, of course, stupid. There was an argument made for GSP's dominant decisions being more impressive than Anderson's finishes because they left no room for debate. GSP would be favored in any rematch, whereas one of Anderson's victims of a quick finish - say, Vitor Belfort after being front-kicked into oblivion, could still have decent odds in Vegas.
And yeah, there's some truth in that. I don't think anyone outside of Conor's most delusional fans would predict a rematch with Aldo to end in 13 seconds. Maybe more people think he'd catch him at some point, but few would say it would happen exactly as it did before.
But how many times does someone have to eat a left before it stops being called a fluke?
Anyways, let's look at a potential Conor victory. He would hold two belts, and Frankie Edgar would be seen by many as a guy who could easily take both from him. Following a victory over RDA, any fight other than one with Edgar (to include a rematch with Aldo or the comical notion of a fight with Robbie Lawler) would be a joke. As the money maker, champion and shot-caller, people will say McGregor doesn't "need" any fight, that all challengers are peasants to be blessed with red panty nights at McGreGOAT's will, but the truth for any real fight fan is this: Frankie Edgar holds the key to McGregor's legacy and legitimacy. He has the style and the credibility for Conor to end all doubts. That fight needs to happen.
A Conor loss, as usual, would cause the widespread abandonment of the Conor Warwagon and noisy onslaught of sherdoggers saying they knew he wasn't that good all along. That the Aldo KO was a fluke because Jose was emotional, that Frankie would have beaten him at any point, that they'd still pick full camp Mendes over him, so forth and so on.
TLDR,
Love him or hate him, McGregor is a fucking phenomenon and a GOAT-contender for shit talk alone. JBG has blessed this era with a legendary left hand in- of all places - the lower weight divisons. That's fucking glorious. Let's enjoy it while it lasts, because it may not last much longer.
Lourdes Celtic Football Club's own Conor McGregor
Or as sherdoggers with a '14 or newer join date like to say, God himself.
I'll tell you something about Just Bleed God. He doesn't just sit back and chill and be worshipped like other gods. At any given point in history, he has vessels. He leaps into somebody's body and spends a few years smashing shit. Seconds before Chris Weidman separated Anderson Silva from consciousness at UFC 162, JBG whispered to himself, "Fuck this." And he leaped out of The Spider, soared across the Atlantic ocean and landed straight in a shit-talking 145-pound Irishman from Dublin.
Just Bleed God, 2003
Unpredictability is the only predictable thing in mixed martial arts. We follow this sport because time and time again, crazy shit happens. In a bit of a violent irony, crazy shit happens reliably. Take a look at this image:
At the time, from left to right: motivated BJ, Ryoto Machida - the least-hit fighter in UFC history who had just butterflied into a KO artist, pre-"disease viking" -era vanilla gorilla Brock Lesnar, Just Bleed God, and Georges St. Pierre, the guy whose main argument against him in GOAT talks is that the ass whoopings he doled out took too long. Each of them had his own annoying respective fan base of idiots that thought he was the best thing since porn, and, as it goes, each with his own chorus of haters who said he was a fluke that would soon be exposed.
The truth as usual lies somewhere in the middle. Fast forward to today, with the UFC's champion list involving ancient brawler Robbie Lawler, Ring Magazine's female Fighter of the Year (2005 and 2006 for boxing), and perhaps the largest draw of them all, Conor McGregor. A guy that was 2-1 when the above picture was taken. It's a little surreal.
After the Machida-era came and went like a fart in the wind, as a collective fan base we spent awhile hesitant to crown people as eternal unparalleled badasses. Then Jon Jones elbowed the fuck out of people until we stopped doing that, and Ronda took home enough arms that we went full, full retard. I'm just some dumbass on sherdog so waxing philosophical isn't my thing, but there's something in human nature that makes us want to believe in heroes. We buy into the hype not because we're idiots, but because we want to believe it. Fans live vicariously through the victories of their favorite fighters in every sport. When our favorite athletes win, especially when we know their story or their struggle, we feel good. We eat that shit up. We like seeing people dominate because it makes us feel like maybe we can in the obstacles we face in our own lives.
Or, I dunno, maybe we just like seeing heads clean off. McGregor is the pinnacle of the sin of the MMA fan. Let's get the obvious out of the way. In terms of significant existential events in human history, first there was the Big Bang, eventually a comet killed the dinosaurs and finally there was Red Panty Night. He KO'ed the FW GOAT in 13 seconds. Aldo earned $400,000 per second in that fight. With one strike and a couple of hammerfists, he set his sights on history itself took its head. clean. off.
The moment gravitational waves were discovered.
McGregor finds himself in a fantastic position today, sleeping Aldo in seconds and challenging history again by moving up weight and attempt to hold two belts simultaneously in the UFC, something BJ Penn failed to do in 2009. There are some pros and cons to this.
Firstly, if you're thinking in terms of money - and Mystic Mac certainly is - it's a genius run. Circumstances have aligned in such a way that Conor has a very, very real chance of securing a greater place in history and making an absurd amount of cash along the way. His shit talk sells tickets and short-notice Chad Mendes gave haters juuuuuust the amount of daylight needed to hold on hope that someone would utilize some offensive wrestling and end the show here, so the mma world - casual and hardcore fan alike, are watching this one closely.
Of course, Mendes failed. He caught a left, like (almost) everybody else, and he went down.
Max "I survived McGregor" Holloway
McGregor has done everything he's said he would do and blew away all expectations in the Aldo fight. His upcoming historic lightweight title fight is against Rafael Dos Anjos, a guy who poses numerous legitimate threats yet still has enough holes in his stand-up for Conor to do what he always does. If he wins, everything about our current status quo will multiply. Conor fans will continue to make the GOAT argument, now with a nice chunk of history and yet another drubbing of "the next guy who was supposed to end the hype train." Conor haters will maintain that it proves little, RDA's stand-up was tailored-made for Conor, and that he's still ducking _______ (insert anyone with a modicum of stand-up defense and offensive wrestling).
I'd say the most important piece of context about this two-title situation, and one that could serve to undermine the whole thing in the long run, is this guy:
Appropriately, "The Answer"
Importantly, Conor is challenging for the belt in the weight class above without a single title defense at featherweight, nor a single victory in the promotion at lightweight. A rapid KO over RDA would be a bizarre (albeit joyous) outcome for McGregor, because criticisms for being untested would continue, almost like he were being punished for his efficiency. This is, of course, stupid. There was an argument made for GSP's dominant decisions being more impressive than Anderson's finishes because they left no room for debate. GSP would be favored in any rematch, whereas one of Anderson's victims of a quick finish - say, Vitor Belfort after being front-kicked into oblivion, could still have decent odds in Vegas.
And yeah, there's some truth in that. I don't think anyone outside of Conor's most delusional fans would predict a rematch with Aldo to end in 13 seconds. Maybe more people think he'd catch him at some point, but few would say it would happen exactly as it did before.
But how many times does someone have to eat a left before it stops being called a fluke?
Anyways, let's look at a potential Conor victory. He would hold two belts, and Frankie Edgar would be seen by many as a guy who could easily take both from him. Following a victory over RDA, any fight other than one with Edgar (to include a rematch with Aldo or the comical notion of a fight with Robbie Lawler) would be a joke. As the money maker, champion and shot-caller, people will say McGregor doesn't "need" any fight, that all challengers are peasants to be blessed with red panty nights at McGreGOAT's will, but the truth for any real fight fan is this: Frankie Edgar holds the key to McGregor's legacy and legitimacy. He has the style and the credibility for Conor to end all doubts. That fight needs to happen.
A Conor loss, as usual, would cause the widespread abandonment of the Conor Warwagon and noisy onslaught of sherdoggers saying they knew he wasn't that good all along. That the Aldo KO was a fluke because Jose was emotional, that Frankie would have beaten him at any point, that they'd still pick full camp Mendes over him, so forth and so on.
TLDR,
Love him or hate him, McGregor is a fucking phenomenon and a GOAT-contender for shit talk alone. JBG has blessed this era with a legendary left hand in- of all places - the lower weight divisons. That's fucking glorious. Let's enjoy it while it lasts, because it may not last much longer.
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