CAGE CONTENDER: DUBLIN : 12 MARCH 2011

pablohoney87

Kal_El wrote:

There are loads of fights in Ireland for him and i dont understand why he isnt gettin matched with them.

Clive wrote: »

and would be willing to fight him)

Maybe theres our answer?

Kal_El

Off the top of my head

Lightweights -70kgs

Norman Parke, Darren Hughes, Decky Larkin, Ali MacClean, Peter Duncan, Martin Begley, Greg Loughran, Alan Hannon, Chris Stringer, Mark Uprichard, Owen Dempsy, John Walsh.


Featherweights -66kgs

Steve McCombe, Joe Clarke, Kevin Carney, Ben Davis, Seb Torres, Kev McAlonon, Paddy Docherty, Paul Cowzer,

All of these guys would give Conor a hard fight.
By the way i dont buy into the idea that people are ducking him.

Barry.Oglesby

Conor started as a featherweight. Think he fought Morris at 66kg. Thing about Conor is we're talking about him as though he's gone 10 fights but he's only 5-2 now. There's still a few fights for him at 70kg domestically. Norman Parke is the one that springs to mind.

Yes 2 mismatches for Coady and McGregor on Saturday, BUT;

McGregor's opponent(s?) pulled so that guy took it at 1 day's notice. Coady only had 1 fight which he lost. Hardly a pedigree.

They were poor matches though I agree, I just don't think they were anyone's fault.

pablohoney87

Kal_El wrote: »

Off the top of my head

Lightweights -70kgs

Norman Parke, Darren Hughes, Decky Larkin, Ali MacClean, Peter Duncan, Martin Begley, Greg Loughran, Alan Hannon, Chris Stringer, Mark Uprichard, Owen Dempsy, John Walsh.


Featherweights -66kgs

Steve McCombe, Joe Clarke, Kevin Carney, Ben Davis, Seb Torres, Kev McAlonon, Paddy Docherty, Paul Cowzer,

All of these guys would give Conor a hard fight.
By the way i dont buy into the idea that people are ducking him.

The only legitiment challenges there IMO Are Parke Duncan maybe Uprichard Davis and Clarke when he's on his very tip top game.
No offence to the rest but I dont see them escaping 3 minutes. Conor really is just in another league. Especially at 66 his size would make a huge difference.

mark.leonard

fightie wrote: »

McGregors next fight is at feather Mark!!

I wasn't aware of that, thanks for steering me toward the correct.

Ben will fight anyone, so if it came up I am sure he would jump at it. However, as the fight on Saturday was my last outing as his manager, anyone looking for a match for Ben will have to go through Tim.

pablohoney87

Barry.Oglesby wrote: »

Thing about Conor is we're talking about him as though he's gone 10 fights but he's only 5-2 now.

The manor of his 5 wins has though is whats impressive. Especially his last 3 since his return. He's also the only guy to land a mark on Duffy even though the fight didnt last long.

Kal_El

pablohoney87 wrote: »

The only legitiment challenges there IMO Are Parke Duncan maybe Uprichard Davis and Clarke when he's on his very tip top game.
No offence to the rest but I dont see them escaping 3 minutes. Conor really is just in another league. Especially at 66 his size would make a huge difference.

No my friend he is not. Good yes. In another league compared to the other Lightweights in Ireland? No really no. Lots of hype about Conor. Id like to see it proven.

Kal_El

Barry.Oglesby wrote: »

Conor started as a featherweight. Think he fought Morris at 66kg. Thing about Conor is we're talking about him as though he's gone 10 fights but he's only 5-2 now. There's still a few fights for him at 70kg domestically. Norman Parke is the one that springs to mind.

Yes 2 mismatches for Coady and McGregor on Saturday, BUT;

McGregor's opponent(s?) pulled so that guy took it at 1 day's notice. Coady only had 1 fight which he lost. Hardly a pedigree.

They were poor matches though I agree, I just don't think they were anyone's fault.

Agree with all of this.

pablohoney87

Kal_El wrote: »

No my friend he is not. Good yes. In another league compared to the other Lightweights in Ireland? No really no. Lots of hype about Conor. Id like to see it proven.

I meant in another league to most of the guys you listed off. And I think we can stop mentioning Greg Loughran on the Irish scene. I dont think he has any intrest in returning.

Kal_El

pablohoney87 wrote: »

I meant in another league to most of the guys you listed off. And I think we can stop mentioning Greg Loughran on the Irish scene. I dont think he has any intrest in returning.

Ah! My bad. Isnt it great we can have an adult discussion without the temper tantrums that come with this forum.:rolleyes:

I think your right about greg too. Such a pity ive enjoed watching him over the years. But you never know hes only a young man still maybe we will see him over here again perhaps on a Cage Warriors show.

Clive

Kal_El wrote: »

Off the top of ... are ducking him.

I think you're just naming "names". People on your list have already backed out, are no longer active on the Irish scene, or have been inactive for years until last weekend. I'd say half of those people wouldn't be allowed take the fight by their management.

I don't know how involved you are with matchmaking. but it's not as simple as X should fight Y.

cowzerp

Kal_El wrote: »

Off the top of my head

Lightweights -70kgs

Norman Parke, Darren Hughes, Decky Larkin, Ali MacClean, Peter Duncan, Martin Begley, Greg Loughran, Alan Hannon, Chris Stringer, Mark Uprichard, Owen Dempsy, John Walsh.


Featherweights -66kgs

Steve McCombe, Joe Clarke, Kevin Carney, Ben Davis, Seb Torres, Kev McAlonon, Paddy Docherty, Paul Cowzer,

All of these guys would give Conor a hard fight.
By the way i dont buy into the idea that people are ducking him.

Me and steve have both fought at featherweight but are bantam weights in reality-some good matches at both weights for Conor, parke, Dempsey at light weight would be the 2 i'd like to see and at feather Clarke, Davis and Mcalonan would be great and Carney v Conor could be an exciting match.

ps, Conor is not proven yet but he will be as i think he's the real deal and a fans favourite.

Will Heffernan

cowzerp wrote: »

Me and steve have both fought at featherweight but are bantam weights in reality

That's strange...when I saw you the other night I would of sworn you were a middleweight.

cowzerp

Will Heffernan wrote: »

That's strange...when I saw you the other night I would of sworn you were a middleweight.

welter but close!!

Will Heffernan

cowzerp wrote: »

welter but close!!

You're just lucky you've your good looks to fall back on.

Kal_El

Clive wrote: »

I think you're just naming "names". People on your list have already backed out, are no longer active on the Irish scene, or have been inactive for years until last weekend. I'd say half of those people wouldn't be allowed take the fight by their management.

Like i said it was just off the top of my head i havnt really thought hard about it to be honest. And do you really think fighters managment would avoid a fight with Conor? Why?

Clive wrote: »

I don't know how involved you are with matchmaking. but it's not as simple as X should fight Y.

Im not involved with matchmaking at all. You asked for matches i put down plenty. I could be wrong here Conor could go on and steam roller everyone i put down on the two lists. The point is he hasnt and until he does we will never know if hes as good as his friends on here think he is.

pablohoney87

Kal_El wrote: »

Like i said it was just off the top of my head i havnt really thought hard about it to be honest. And do you really think fighters managment would avoid a fight with Conor? Why?

I hate seeing it but it goes on. Connor is a very dangerous with a fairly small record. Its a big risk for top ranked fighters to take him on. How they got the fight against Duffy I dont know but fair balls to both teams on that one.
Saw the same thing with a fighter from my own gym in the past few weeks. And the exact reason given was his record isnt big enough.

Kal_El

pablohoney87 wrote: »

I hate seeing it but it goes on. Connor is a very dangerous with a fairly small record. Its a big risk for top ranked fighters to take him on. How they got the fight against Duffy I dont know but fair balls to both teams on that one.
Saw the same thing with a fighter from my own gym in the past few weeks. And the exact reason given was his record isnt big enough.

I agree with you that Conor is a very dangerous opponent.
I just cant see why any of the top fighters would duck him. Hes not by any means invincible. Im gonna refer to Mervin Mulholland KO`ing Ronan mcKay at Chaos here. No-one predicted that happening but it did. Anyone can beat anyone.

It looks like we are gonna have to just agree to disagree here. I dont think any of the guys i listed would avoid fighting Conor i just think it hasnt happened yet. Maybe its the Promoters, maybe its Conors managment wanting different fights for him, or maybe its just been pure bad luck.

pablohoney87

Kal_El wrote: »

I agree with you that Conor is a very dangerous opponent.
I just cant see why any of the top fighters would duck him. Hes not by any means invincible. Im gonna refer to Mervin Mulholland KO`ing Ronan mcKay at Chaos here. No-one predicted that happening but it did. Anyone can beat anyone.

It looks like we are gonna have to just agree to disagree here. I dont think any of the guys i listed would avoid fighting Conor i just think it hasnt happened yet. Maybe its the Promoters, maybe its Conors managment wanting different fights for him, or maybe its just been pure bad luck.

Fair enough. But on your last point I really doubt the reason is Connors management.

Clive

Kal_El wrote: »

And do you really think fighters managment would avoid a fight with Conor?

Of course! It happens all the time. Fighters at different levels, style conflicts etc. Barry Oglesby had a fight confirmed for his next show and within two minutes the guy had changed his mind.

Let's take the example of Greg - it's a fight I'd love to see, but put your manager''s hat on. Would you let Greg who fights in big UK shows and Bellator fight a dangerous, but largely unknown in the UK, fighter on a local show. How would that advance his career?

Kal_El

Clive wrote: »

Let's take the example of Greg - it's a fight I'd love to see, but put your manager''s hat on. Would you let Greg who fights in big UK shows and Bellator fight a dangerous, but largely unknown in the UK, fighter on a local show. How would that advance his career?

Ok i see what you mean.
If the fighter and manager truly belive that they have the potential to make a life out of there career then yes maybe they will "pick" easier fights. This does happen and has for quite some time.
But i still dont think (with the exeption of Greg and Norman because i think they fall into the criteria stated by you) these guys would avoid him. Id sy if John Ferguson got on the phone today with the right deal he could match Conor with any if not all of the above names.

jitz

If Conor does indeed drop to 66kg then there are a few good fights there for him, Decky Dalton from the north is a match I would like to see, very similar styles. A fight with Ben Davis would make a lot of sense as well.:)

crosdad

Kal_El wrote: »

No my friend he is not. Good yes. In another league compared to the other Lightweights in Ireland? No really no. Lots of hype about Conor. Id like to see it proven.

You seem to have some sort of agenda against conor from what i have read. The man is still early into his career so you can't expect him to have a whos who list of fighters he's beating.... yet. and you say the hype hasn't been proving, well thats what hype is, a belief that someone will be successfull, if it was proven then it wouldnt be hype.

Its perfectly reasonalbe for people to be hyping mcgregor so much, the man is a beast in training, he just devastated his last two opponents, and nobody wants to fight him. if ten people pull out against you then that says something i think.

Kal_El

crosdad wrote: »

You seem to have some sort of agenda against conor from what i have read. The man is still early into his career so you can't expect him to have a whos who list of fighters he's beating.... yet. and you say the hype hasn't been proving, well thats what hype is, a belief that someone will be successfull, if it was proven then it wouldnt be hype.

Not at all youve read wrong. I dont buy that people are avoiding him.
Is he good? YES!
Good enough for some of the seasoned Lightweights in Ireland to be afraid to fight him? NO!
If you look at the caliber of fighters these guys have already fought to suggest they would avoid Conor is just silly.

crosdad wrote: »

Its perfectly reasonalbe for people to be hyping mcgregor so much, the man is a beast in training, he just devastated his last two opponents, and nobody wants to fight him. if ten people pull out against you then that says something i think.

Yes it is especially on this message forum. Lots of his friends and team mates use it. They are biased. Thats how it is, i get that i simply dont agree. Again you say nobody wants to fight him. Really? Come on.

Richy06

To be fair, Superman always was hard to impress.

Kal_El

Richy06 wrote: »

To be fair, Superman always was hard to impress.

I dont know what your talking about my names Clark and my dad was Marlon Brando;);)

SDTimeout

Mc Gregor vs Parke is a fight i would love to see. Somewhere down the line if it can't happen soon .

crosdad

yeah, would love to see that fight happen

Richy06

Kal_El wrote: »

I dont know what your talking about my names Clark and my dad was Marlon Brando;);)

You mean Jor-El, but that's ok.

I think whoever Conor fights is going to have a hell of a battle. He is an absolute beast who has tons of potential and is already incredibly well rounded and young enough to get even better.
But it's a bit of a moot point to start throwing comments around like "Oh X would thrash Y". You can only fight who your given. Sure you have the right to say yes or no if a fight doesn't make sense, but that's a part of the game right up to the highest level. He couldn't help that there were a multitude of pull outs for varying reasons. I never was one to get caught up in maybes and speculating though, but that's just me.

Clive

Kal_El wrote: »

Ok i see what you mean.
If the fighter and manager truly belive that they have the potential to make a life out of there career then yes maybe they will "pick" easier fights. This does happen and has for quite some time.

It's not a question of picking easier fights, it's a cost-benefit analysis that any decent manager would do. Greg has nothing to gain by fighting Conor - if he wins, he doesn't advance his career, and he risks a loss. He'd be better off fighting a higher profile opponent on a big show.

Kal_El wrote: »

But i still dont think (with the exeption of Greg and Norman because i think they fall into the criteria stated by you) these guys would avoid him. Id sy if John Ferguson got on the phone today with the right deal he could match Conor with any if not all of the above names.

I think you holding fighters in far too high a regard, thinking that they'll all fight anyone. Taking this away from Conor and into the general case, anyone who has ever run a show will tell you that there are many cases of X won't fight Y, A won't fight B, F won't fight a good grappler, G won't fight a good striker.
Many times the fighter won't even hear about the offer since their manager/coach/instructor/whatever will just refuse point blank.

Kal_El

Clive wrote: »

It's not a question of picking easier fights, it's a cost-benefit analysis that any decent manager would do. Greg has nothing to gain by fighting Conor - if he wins, he doesn't advance his career, and he risks a loss. He'd be better off fighting a higher profile opponent on a big show.



I think you holding fighters in far too high a regard, thinking that they'll all fight anyone. Taking this away from Conor and into the general case, anyone who has ever run a show will tell you that there are many cases of X won't fight Y, A won't fight B, F won't fight a good grappler, G won't fight a good striker.
Many times the fighter won't even hear about the offer since their manager/coach/instructor/whatever will just refuse point blank.

Maybe i do you know. Call me old fashioned but i liked it when fighters fought for the love of the sport rather than there unrealistic dreams of gettin to the UFC. But thats the way the game is now and i suppose im just gonna have to get used to it.

kid chaos

Kal_El wrote: »

Maybe i do you know. Call me old fashioned but i liked it when fighters fought for the love of the sport rather than there unrealistic dreams of gettin to the UFC. But thats the way the game is now and i suppose im just gonna have to get used to it.

I know fighters would fight anybody, thats why they have coaches/managers looking after them.

Greg Loughran is a perfect example...would fight anybody anyday and it proved at the start of his carear. Now he is thinking smart and at one stage went 10-1 which got him into the Bellator tournament against the number 2 or 3 lightweight in the world (at the time).
He was picked the right fights (with wins over Andre Winner, Rob Sinclair and more so they were no easy pickings)

stevemc01

Sorry to interupt to pissing and moaning about the matchups...........

Does anyone know when this is being shown on Setanta?

John Ferguson

stevemc01 wrote: »

Sorry to interupt to pissing and moaning about the matchups...........

Does anyone know when this is being shown on Setanta?

1st airing in Ireland is 6th April

da-bres

Kal_El wrote: »

Maybe i do you know. Call me old fashioned but i liked it when fighters fought for the love of the sport rather than there unrealistic dreams of gettin to the UFC. But thats the way the game is now and i suppose im just gonna have to get used to it.

From training with Conor for the last year and a half I can say this:

IMO he will be the first Irish Lightweight in the UFC, why?

He has the best boxing in Irish MMA,

The best wrestling on the lightweight IRISH MMA circuit,

Purple belt level no gi JiuJitsu

Fights as a complete fighter, mixes it up, he can do it all.

SBG is the best fight team in the country and from training at SBG Conor an Owen IMO are the most skilled fighters.

Never met a more focused individual in the gym, and hes only 21 or 22...

believe the hype

Kal_El

da-bres wrote: »

From training with Conor for the last year and a half I can say this:

IMO he will be the first Irish Lightweight in the UFC, why?

He has the best boxing in Irish MMA,

The best wrestling on the lightweight IRISH MMA circuit,

Purple belt level no gi JiuJitsu

Fights as a complete fighter, mixes it up, he can do it all.

SBG is the best fight team in the country and from training at SBG Conor an Owen IMO are the most skilled fighters.

Never met a more focused individual in the gym, and hes only 21 or 22...

believe the hype

So hes your mate then eh? Not biased at all:rolleyes:

da-bres

Your after facts,

Those are facts.

And I shouldn’t be replying to this thread, anyone who knows conor understands what level he is at.

Barry.Oglesby

da-bres wrote: »

From training with Conor for the last year and a half I can say this:

IMO he will be the first Irish Lightweight in the UFC, why?

He has the best boxing in Irish MMA,

The best wrestling on the lightweight IRISH MMA circuit,

Purple belt level no gi JiuJitsu

Fights as a complete fighter, mixes it up, he can do it all.

SBG is the best fight team in the country and from training at SBG Conor an Owen IMO are the most skilled fighters.

Never met a more focused individual in the gym, and hes only 21 or 22...

believe the hype

Well he is in your gym Joey! That being said, a lot of people I respect as "fighter watchers" have been telling me about Conor's progress. I'd be very interested in a match up between him and Norman Parke. If a promoter could make that happen I think that would be a great domestic test for them both.

John Ferguson

Barry.Oglesby wrote: »

Well he is in your gym Joey! That being said, a lot of people I respect as "fighter watchers" have been telling me about Conor's progress. I'd be very interested in a match up between him and Norman Parke. If a promoter could make that happen I think that would be a great domestic test for them both.

I offered the fight in the run up to CC8, Norman and his management turned it down, they were of the opinion that the fight didn't really offer them anything.

Mrs Lynch

See Norman droppin to fw after his nx fight :cool:

I see this category gettin very exciting wif Davis there and Roddy too and there is our rising stars in Joe and Yannick

Urs
x

John Ferguson

Mrs Lynch wrote: »

See Norman droppin to fw after his nx fight :cool:

I see this category gettin very exciting wif Davis there and Roddy too

Urs
x

I'm looking forward to Roddy v Davis on CC 23rd July in Dublin!! Should be a cracker

Mrs Lynch

fightie wrote: »

I offered the fight in the run up to CC8, Norman and his management turned it down, they were of the opinion that the fight didn't really offer them anything.

Persist

Urs
x

gatecrasher69er

I offered the fight in the run up to CC8, Norman and his management turned it down, they were of the opinion that the fight didn't really offer them anything.



as for this when u rang me john..i had another offer aganist anton kuivanen..then matt veach...so what 1 would you have gone for??i was wanting the fight that was gonna push my career right up there..ya feel me:):)

John Ferguson

gatecrasher69er wrote: »

I offered the fight in the run up to CC8, Norman and his management turned it down, they were of the opinion that the fight didn't really offer them anything.



as for this when u rang me john..i had another offer aganist anton kuivanen..then matt veach...so what 1 would you have gone for??i was wanting the fight that was gonna push my career right up there..ya feel me:):)

Yep I know mate, I wasn't getting at ya.

How did ya get on with the training?

KneesStopFight

any1 think mcgregors fight at last show was a bit unfair the dude he fought was nearly taken out of a box blew up and set in the middle of a caged area with a very good fighter... he had little hope in there... not taking away frm his ability abvously hard puncher but who was that guy

SDTimeout

KneesStopFight wrote: »

any1 think mcgregors fight at last show was a bit unfair the dude he fought was nearly taken out of a box blew up and set in the middle of a caged area with a very good fighter... he had little hope in there... not taking away frm his ability abvously hard puncher but who was that guy

His name was Mike Wood and he took the fight on one days notice. He trains under Roger Gracie in the U.K

Shazbot

fightie wrote: »

1st airing in Ireland is 6th April

Great news. Do you know which fights are going to be aired? I'd assume the pro fights but there were some good amateur fights that I wouldn't mind seeing again.

John Ferguson

Cage Contender VIII TV Schedule

Setanta Ireland - 6th April @ 01:00

Africa - 29th April @ 20:45

Setanta Canada - 9th @ 22:00

Premier Sports UK - 1st April @ 2:00am

Asia - 12th April @ 23:00

Australia - 11th April @ 22:00

Singapore - 11th April @ 23:00

Hong Kong - 14th April @ 01:00

Sri Lanka - 13th April @ 22:30

Malaysia - 7th April @ 22:00

USA/Caribbean - 9th April @ 01:00

Also we are also pleased to confirm that the Fight Network will be showing Cage Contender 5,6,7 and 8 back to back on Sat 23rd April

John Ferguson

Well worth a read!!


Bleacher Report

TKD SC

fightie wrote: »

Cage Contender VIII TV Schedule

Setanta Ireland - 6th April @ 01:00

Why does it have to be on so late

Do you know are they showing all fights or just a select few?

Thanks
Simon