WAR ROOM LOUNGE V19: Gamblers Anonymous

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Smoking Mahi Mahi now for dip. Half the other half is tonight's dinner.
  • Fish rubbed with Penzey's Cajun seasoning and pan fried in butter.
  • Tomato salsa (jalapeno, red onion, cilantro, salt, olive oil, lime).
  • Sliced avocado.
  • Squeeze of lime on the fish.
 
Kafir-kun said:
Agree on Diaz vs Ferguson. I also think Conor could take Ferguson's head off, in fact I think I might favor Conor against him. As crazy as it sounds I'd give Tony a better shot against Khabib than against Conor who I think could exploit Tony's weakness more easily.

Ferguson is easily Khabib's toughest match up in the division, if he can get past Tony then I don't see who could beat Khabib. I'm with @Fawlty on the Chiesa match up, I think Khabib would maul him and not to mention he's moved to WW. Lee is a great fighter but I think Khabib would tap him. He hasn't had to use it much but Khabib has a good guard and I could also see him taking Lee down. Over five rounds I really think Khabib would show us that his grappling is on another level.

Don't want to get ahead of myself here as a Khabib fan. Last guy to defend the LW belt more than once was Benson Henderson and honestly two of his defenses were split decisions that could've went the other way. Haven't really had a dominant champ since BJ really and even he only had three defenses.
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It's been a crazy division, but Khabib is clearly the best guy to wear the strap in a while. I see him as likely to be GSP level dominant.

You sons-a-bitches are forcing me to defend Chiesa here, though. Despite the Lee loss, I still think he's the kind of player that would be able to defend the bad positions Khabib works for, and he doesn't get tired, which is a key against Khabib. He's also big and lanky. I'm not saying he'd win, just that it's an interesting fight to me. I didn't know he moved to WW.

As far as Tony and Conor, in a 3 round fight I'd probably favor Conor, but in 5 rounds I'd take Tony.
 
sickc0d3r said:
It's been a crazy division, but Khabib is clearly the best guy to wear the strap in a while. I see him as likely to be GSP level dominant.

You sons-a-bitches are forcing me to defend Chiesa here, though. Despite the Lee loss, I still think he's the kind of player that would be able to defend the bad positions Khabib works for, and he doesn't get tired, which is a key against Khabib. He's also big and lanky. I'm not saying he'd win, just that it's an interesting fight to me. I didn't know he moved to WW.

As far as Tony and Conor, in a 3 round fight I'd probably favor Conor, but in 5 rounds I'd take Tony.
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I do think you have a point and after Conor defended himself so well against Khabib I wouldn't be surprised if he could do well against Khabib. I would just think that Khabib is too experienced and refined for Chieasa who is good but sometimes more scrappy than he is technical.

He moved to WW after missing weight against Pettis. Agreed to an extent on your distinction with Tony vs Conor. I would still favor Conor in a five round fight but Tony's chances go way up. Btw I just assumed it would be a five rounder, can't see Conor taking too many three round fights nowadays. Gotta figure if he's not in title fights he's at least the main event.
 
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Quipling said:
Going by weight range, sure. But I think that 205-265 is the tail end of the diminishing utility curve. There's a reason a lots of hw champs have been on the smaller end. 235 ib men can still crack hard enough to ko anyone, and they won't tire as quickly as the behemoths.
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Not to mention most guys towards the end of the HW spectrum are better served trying to get into different sports. If you're 6'4 or above, 265 pounds lean, chances are you were already drafted towards college football. You'd be an idiot if you decided to get punched in the face for a living with those kinds of athletic credentials.
 
MiniCraque said:
Not to mention most guys towards the end of the HW spectrum are better served trying to get into different sports. If you're 6'4 or above, 265 pounds lean, chances are you were already drafted towards college football. You'd be an idiot if you decided to get punched in the face for a living with those kinds of athletic credentials.
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I don't expect this to always be the case, though. Right now, you're probably right that the weakness of the heavyweight division is probably a result of bleeding from the talent pool into other sports. But I'm not sure that will always be the case. Relatively few people play in the NFL, their contracts are not guaranteed, the average career is every bit as short as a UFC career. Right now it probably just pays more to be on the practice squad than be in the UFC.
 
Prokofievian said:
I don't expect this to always be the case, though. Right now, you're probably right that the weakness of the heavyweight division is probably a result of bleeding from the talent pool into other sports. But I'm not sure that will always be the case. Relatively few people play in the NFL, their contracts are not guaranteed, the average career is every bit as short as a UFC career. Right now it probably just pays more to be on the practice squad than be in the UFC.
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Precisely, but do you see that ever changing? MMA will never have the cultural significance and mainstream impact of football. It's human cockfighting. There's still room for growth, but the pay gap is so absurd right now.

There's like 1,700 players in the NFL making an average of 7 figures. The bare minimum is mid 6 figures. How many HWs are there in the UFC roster and how many of them are making under 100k a fight? If you had a modest chance of becoming a professional football player, you'd have to be insane to pursue MMA.

All that leaves us is collegiate wrestlers, NFL rejects and guys who started training when they were too old. Not the best talent pool to draw from. Of course I'm strictly talking about the US, seeing as how most of the top HWs in the UFC are foreigners.
 
MiniCraque said:
Precisely, but do you see that ever changing? MMA will never have the cultural significance and mainstream impact of football. It's human cockfighting. There's still room for growth, but the pay gap is so absurd right now.

There's like 1,700 players in the NFL making an average of 7 figures. The bare minimum is mid 6 figures. How many HWs are there in the UFC roster and how many of them are making under 100k a fight? If you had a modest chance of becoming a professional football player, you'd have to be insane to pursue MMA.

All that leaves us is collegiate wrestlers, NFL rejects and guys who started training when they were too old. Not the best talent pool to draw from. Of course I'm strictly talking about the US, seeing as how most of the top HWs in the UFC are foreigners.
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Yeah that's a good point. MMA is a global sport, albeit heavily based in the states, so it may be the case that the Heavyweight division is still playing catchup because of American Football.

It's a bit hard to say what will happen regarding fighter pay. Superstars tend to pave the way and Conor, for example, has really expanded the horizons for what an MMA fighter can ask, provided the interest is there. The average journeyman mma fighter will never make that, but it tends to be a rising tide that lifts the other ships. It was a big deal for Gretzky to get 1 million per season back in the day, now the ELC is about that much.
 
Sara said:
All nudes I've been sent are unsolicited.



Petes were the least disappointing though.
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Edit: rephrased.
I don't do unsolicited.
 
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sickc0d3r said:
It's been a crazy division, but Khabib is clearly the best guy to wear the strap in a while. I see him as likely to be GSP level dominant.
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I think *more*, though he is already 30 so he won't have as long a reign. He should change his nickname to Khabib "10-8" Nurmagomedov.
 
Jack V Savage said:
I think *more*, though he is already 30 so he won't have as long a reign. He should change his nickname to Khabib "10-8" Nurmagomedov.
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No way will he be more dominant than GSP. There was a five year period where there wasn't any point in even watching GSP's fights because he just completely outclassed his opponents and wouldn't give up a single round. Pretty much no opponent was better than him at more than one thing, and most weren't better than him at any one thing.

With that said, as I think I've mentioned to @Gandhi, I will never forgive GSP for being such a chicken shit on moving up to fight Anderson. That would have been the fight in the history of the sport, and GSP taking on Anderson is imo a less daunting challenge than BJ moving up to fight him. GSP whimpering about how he was "a small welterweight," which was complete bullshit, just killed me.
 
Trotsky said:
No way will he be more dominant than GSP. There was a five year period where there wasn't any point in even watching GSP's fights because he just completely outclassed his opponents and wouldn't give up a single round. Pretty much no opponent was better than him at more than one thing, and most weren't better than him at any one thing.
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I'm talking about within fights against top contenders. Khabib is already more dominant than GSP was, though he's only had one defense.

Trotsky said:
With that said, as I think I've mentioned to @Gandhi, I will never forgive GSP for being such a chicken shit on moving up to fight Anderson. That would have been the fight in the history of the sport, and GSP taking on Anderson is imo a less daunting challenge than BJ moving up to fight him. GSP whimpering about how he was "a small welterweight," which was complete bullshit, just killed me.
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I would have liked to see the fight, and I think that GSP was a big WW. I don't feel upset at GSP for not making it happen, though. Also, BJ was already a former WW champ when he moved back up to fight GSP. BJ moving up to fight Hughes was amazingly impressive.
 
I cant believe that nazi pulled us out of the Paris accord!

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Trotsky said:
No way will he be more dominant than GSP. There was a five year period where there wasn't any point in even watching GSP's fights because he just completely outclassed his opponents and wouldn't give up a single round. Pretty much no opponent was better than him at more than one thing, and most weren't better than him at any one thing.

With that said, as I think I've mentioned to @Gandhi, I will never forgive GSP for being such a chicken shit on moving up to fight Anderson. That would have been the fight in the history of the sport, and GSP taking on Anderson is imo a less daunting challenge than BJ moving up to fight him. GSP whimpering about how he was "a small welterweight," which was complete bullshit, just killed me.
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I don't think he ever whimpered, and I don't think it was fully under his control whether this fight happened or not. But I agree it would have been a historic moment and his apparent reluctance was disappointing. I think he would have won.
 
Jack V Savage said:
I'm talking about within fights against top contenders. Khabib is already more dominant than GSP was, though he's only had one defense.
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I wouldn't agree with that, unless you're just meaning "top contenders" as a way to distinguish Conor as being a higher quality opponent than GSP's defense (a statement I'd agree with). Khabib is more aggressive and offensive-minded, but GSP completely rendered his opponents harmless - at no point during the matches did they look anything but hopeless. From his win over Hughes (II) and through the next nine fights, I believe he only lost one round, the fifth against Shields, which seemed like a pity score to me anyways. That's three stoppages and 39 won rounds to only 1 lost round.

As someone who always rooted against him, it's almost weird looking back at how futile it was hoping for any of his opponents to win.

I would have liked to see the fight, and I think that GSP was a big WW. I don't feel upset at GSP for not making it happen, though. Also, BJ was already a former WW champ when he moved back up to fight GSP. BJ moving up to fight Hughes was amazingly impressive.
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IDK, obviously it's his prerogative. It's just kind of annoying because it would have solidified him as (imo) the undisputed GOAT. Also, the fact that he did move up to challenge the title when Bisping, a far inferior fighter, assumed the throne just made him look like an opportunist to me.
 
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