UFC 205: Alvarez v McGregor (Event Discussion) - FAQ's in OP

CurryFlavoured

Conor's takedown defence looked super, shook Eddie off like nothing. This is a guy who took Melendez and Pettis down numerous times. I found it a bit hard to believe that Conor's injury was the reason Mendes took him down so often but now I do, his knee must have been ****ed altogether. Either that or his TDD has improved tenfold since.

Khabib is a scary beast though, never seen anyone so dominant in grappling. Not even GSP. It really is a case of once he grabs you, you're going down and he's going to ware you out. I've always said his striking was ugly though, MJ was throwing windmills and he was hurting Khabib. He didn't really know what to do for the first 2-3 mins. It would be a case of can Conor KO or hurt Khabib before Khabib can grab hold of him and take him down. Would be an interesting matchup for sure, but yeah I can see them sidestepping it.

sonofenoch

CurryFlavoured wrote: »

Conor's takedown defence looked super, shook Eddie off like nothing. This is a guy who took Melendez and Pettis down numerous times. I found it a bit hard to believe that Conor's injury was the reason Mendes took him down so often but now I do, his knee must have been ****ed altogether. Either that or his TDD has improved tenfold since.

Khabib is a scary beast though, never seen anyone so dominant in grappling. Not even GSP. It really is a case of once he grabs you, you're going down and he's going to ware you out. I've always said his striking was ugly though, MJ was throwing windmills and he was hurting Khabib. He didn't really know what to do for the first 2-3 mins. It would be a case of can Conor KO or hurt Khabib before Khabib can grab hold of him and take him down. Would be an interesting matchup for sure, but yeah I can see them sidestepping it.

That was what was said before the Alvarez fight, never happened ........the law of averages says one day it will happen and these people will feel vindicated, everything he's done up to that point will be forgotten and they'll have been right all along

CurryFlavoured

sonofenoch wrote: »

That was what was said before the Alvarez fight, never happened ........the law of averages says one day it will happen and these people will feel vindicated, everything he's done up to that point will be forgotten and they'll have been right all along

You're right, and I was actually of that opinion if I'm honest.

But Khabib is a different level of grappler, when he grabs you he gets you down and when you're down he drains you. The way he passes guard is effortless. Eddie is a very good wrestler and I was super impressed with Conor, but Khabib is one of the most dominant grapplers I've seen in MMA. But like I said, ugly ugly striking.

Useful.Idiot

McGregor via Decision

12gauge dave wrote: »

If it stays standing conor has advantage 65-35
If it goes to ground khabib has advantage 80-20

That a fair assumption?

Nah 80-20 to Conor's standing also. Khabibs standup is crap. Extremely aggressive and reckless with little technicality. It has worked in the past but won't against elite strikers.

Irishcrx

McGregor via Submission

A

Useful.Idiot wrote: »

12gauge dave wrote: »

If it stays standing conor has advantage 65-35
If it goes to ground khabib has advantage 80-20

That a fair assumption?

Nah 80-20 to Conor's standing also. Khabibs standup is crap. Extremely aggressive and reckless with little technicality. It has worked in the past but won't against elite strikers.

And Conor is the elite striker in that division IMO...If the fight was to happen in Russia I wonder would Conors following travel there...given the history of the Russians in football it could get a little 'Prickly' between the fans which nobody wants to see..

Gamebred

Alvarez via Submission

Anyone else disappointed in Wonderboy slightly? Really thought he would hurt Woodley more considering there was only 1 take down he had 4 rounds to get something off and nothing significant rung Woodleys bell.

Subcomandante Marcos

Gamebred wrote: »

Anyone else disappointed in Wonderboy slightly? Really thought he would hurt Woodley more considering there was only 1 take down he had 4 rounds to get something off and nothing significant rung Woodleys bell.

I was actually more impressed in Woodley shutting down his kicking game to be honest. Wonderboy was afraid to throw kicks after the first round for fear of taking a flying lesson and eating more GnP samiches.

Wonderboy seemed content to win on points like he was in some baggy pants karate match. I wish Woodley had have finished him in the 4th instead of going for the guillotine.

Gamebred

Alvarez via Submission

Subcomandante Marcos wrote: »

I was actually more impressed in Woodley shutting down his kicking game to be honest. Wonderboy was afraid to throw kicks after the first round for fear of taking a flying lesson and eating more GnP samiches.

Wonderboy seemed content to win on points like he was in some baggy pants karate match. I wish Woodley had have finished him in the 4th instead of going for the guillotine.

Yeah obviously Woodley has to be given some credit but with his back to the fence it was nearly playing into Wonderboys hands and he failed to capitalize on it, that first round takedown obviously put him off taking any sort of risks I think Woodley is probably the deserved winner had way more dominant positions too be,

Would love to see Maia shoot that single leg on Woodley logic says he doesnt get takedown but Maia got Rory down and mounted him (once tbf but usually its all he needs) and Condit down easily.

DeVore

Whats interesting is all his opponents saying "coulda woulda shoulda"... they all say they didn't perform or they didn't stick to a plan or they didn't get a chance. Truth is that you aren't in there alone. Game theory applies because you have an active opponent trying to thwart your plans while implementing their own. They are reactive to what you are doing and actively attempting to sabotage your strategy.

This can SEEM like "I just got unlucky" because it can be difficult to pin down as a cause-effect thing and so they just blame themselves rather than giving credit to their opponent.

Lets look at the Avarez fight in that light. Everyone knows Eddie wants this on the ground. Within 51 seconds, Eddie is damned sure of it. He said it himself, the first left jab was a shock to him how fast and how hard it was, so I think we can be pretty sure that Eddie would have liked to take Conor down, if not before, definitely then!

Conor used teeps (I PREDICTED DIS TING! ) to keep him at range until he wanted to engage him. This keeps Eddie from getting into shooting range. When he does engage him, its minimal. Couple of shots and he's gone. This stops Eddie from using a 1,2 combo disguising a level change and shot. Any time Eddie tries to initiate the engagement and Conor doesn't teep him, he maintains the range immediately. He backed off a few times in the first like a scalded cat in fact, which was clever.

Throughout the first, Conor is establishing range. Watch him pawing Eddies head, not striking, literally pawing it at times. He knows he has 5 inches where he can hit Eddie and cant get hit. He needs to be in that 5 inch goldilocks zone. That's why I predicted round 2 because he would take round 1 to find that range. This means Eddie isn't getting into shooting range without getting hit and as we saw three times in the first round, being hit kinda stopped any shot he was thinking about

So Eddie can say that he "forgot" about his gameplan but that's bull. The word he's looking for is "stymied". He was stopped from executing his one and only plan and then had nothing to fall back to. He's a bad boxer, with a wide open chin. His trick it to rush his opponent and swing for the fences like a rockem-sockem robot or to take them down. The latter was stuffed by McGregor and the former was exactly what Mcgregor wanted, a chinny guy to run at him like Aldo did. In fact it could have been over just like the Aldo fight and initially I thought it was!

Alvarez wasn't bad, he was made to look bad. If you put Portsmouth United up against me and my mates, they are going to look like Barcalona. Put them against Barcalona and mysteriously they are going to have a "bad game".

BOHtox

McGregor via Decision

Depp wrote: »

aye not something you always see but as far as I can remember it came out for the mendez fight!

What was the score for the Mendes fight?

Subcomandante Marcos

Gamebred wrote: »

Yeah obviously Woodley has to be given some credit but with his back to the fence it was nearly playing into Wonderboys hands and he failed to capitalize on it, that first round takedown obviously put him off taking any sort of risks I think Woodley is probably the deserved winner had way more dominant positions too be,

Would love to see Maia shoot that single leg on Woodley logic says he doesnt get takedown but Maia got Rory down and mounted him (once tbf but usually its all he needs) and Condit down easily.

Maia vs Woodley would be interesting.

Woodley is a weird one in that he prefers to blitz and smash on the feet rather than grinding on the ground, but in reality, it's himself, Romero and Khabib as the top 3 wrestlers in the UFC right now.

I think if Woodley fought Maia he'd just try to stuff the singles, which I'd imagine he's quite adapt at, and keep it standing hoping to finish him early with that straight right.


That's another weird one about Woodley. For a wrestler who was a late adaptor to MMA and very new to striking, he doesn't have the typical stand in the pocket and throw overhand rights and pray they land approach that a lot of NCAA wrestlers in MMA have, he's got decent striking, very good body kicks and leg kicks and a really nice straight right which he sets up with a jab-jab feint.

Effects

Eatmore wrote: »

Surprised no journalists asked Conor about Eddie's allegation...

I'm sure they check it out themselves and figure there's no truth to it.

Why bring it up with Conor and risk him blanking you for the rest of his career?

johnpatrick81

McGregor via Decision

Any time I see Wonderboy and his "Pop" together I think of these 2;

MartyMcFly84

what was the supposed allegation?

Richard Hillman

RE: Khabib and the Russians

I dont think Khabib would be overly popular as a Muslim from Dagestan. Not saying that they would cheer against him but probably wouldnt be enthusiastic as they would be for a Regular Russian. I couldnt see Russian football hooligans from the North cheering for this guy from the South.

Gamebred

Alvarez via Submission

UFC dont want him as a champion lets be real about it, a muslim dagestani native doesnt sell in America and this is the way big mma shows operate now its not what you deserve its what makes money.

wonderfullife

McGregor via Decision

CurryFlavoured wrote: »

Conor's takedown defence looked super, shook Eddie off like nothing. This is a guy who took Melendez and Pettis down numerous times.

The best takedown defence possible is control of range and distance. Goes without saying but to take someone down you need to get a hold of them. His control of range was so good, that Eddie just couldn't close it without eating elbows and punches.

People look at Khabib and think his wrestling is off the charts. It is. But what he showed against Johnson is his chin is not granite. Johnson had him properly wobbled and rocked early in the fight but wasn't precise enough with his follow up shots to put him away.

At this point in time we have some evidence to suggest Khabib might not even get his hands on Conor to take him down. We've also a lot of evidence to suggest if he gets his hands on him, he'll be going down.

Intriguing fight. Won't see it until 2018 at best (if ever). If i was Conor or the UFC I would wait and see how Khabib v Ferguson goes. I think Tony will bust Khabib up on the feet and when it hits the mat he has plenty of 10th Planet tricky stuff for Khabib to contend with.

MartyMcFly84 wrote: »

what was the supposed allegation?

That Conor is expecting 2 babies from 2 different women. I think it was just Eddie being overwhelmed by the occasion and throwing something in to try rattle Conor. I'd find it hard to believe it wouldn't be in the news already if even remotely true.

DeVore

4 Billion is a lot of ground to make up... expect them to start milking like crazy. You don't think they bought it because they are mad fans, right?!

The way these deals work, they will want 40Billion back (yep, 10 times return on investment). Now they can open other markets, they can broaden the appeal and the network deals etc but expect prices to go up and for things to get a lot more commercial.

Conor has his biggest fight yet ahead of him if he thinks they are just going to hand over shares in the UFC... they may do some kind of "employee share options deal" but they aren't going to just hand out equity to every champion who holds them to ransom.

Saipanne

McGregor via Decision

DeVore wrote: »

4 Billion is a lot of ground to make up... expect them to start milking like crazy. You don't think they bought it because they are mad fans, right?!

The way these deals work, they will want 40Billion back (yep, 10 times return on investment). Now they can open other markets, they can broaden the appeal and the network deals etc but expect prices to go up and for things to get a lot more commercial.

Conor has his biggest fight yet ahead of him if he thinks they are just going to hand over shares in the UFC... they may do some kind of "employee share options deal" but they aren't going to just hand out equity to every champion who holds them to ransom.

No other fighter could realistically demand this. Only McGregor.

everlast75

Gamebred wrote: »

UFC dont want him as a champion lets be real about it, a muslim dagestani native doesnt sell in America and this is the way big mma shows operate now its not what you deserve its what makes money.

he would as a good heel!

Gamebred

Alvarez via Submission

everlast75 wrote: »

he would as a good heel!

Trump will have him deported any day now anyways :pac:

maximoose

Eddie just posted a very humble congratulation message

Congrats to Connor and his camp on an amazing accomplishment , these guys continue to deliver ,hats off to you fellas . As for my performance , the only thing I can honestly say was I ****ing blew it ... I did nothing I trained , I did the complete opposite of what we planned on a daily basis for 10 weeks . To sum up our plan in a sentence it was "Go left and mostly wrestle " instead I circled into his left hand and mostly boxed .

Fighting the way I did was a for sure death sentence and the result was fitting . I say it all the time, there is really small margin for error at this level and I paid for my mistakes . I managed to make it to the biggest stage and audience in my long career and ****ed it all up when I arrived , my heart sincerely hurts and when I dwell on it I fill up with regret and anger . If there was a list of what not to do against an Opponent of this nature I did them all on Saturday . I am disappointed in myself and this is not a reflection of my coaches , training Partners , and the endless hours of training I commit to this sport . Every Time I get into the cage I negotiate being vulnerable and possibly embarrassed against the opportunity to do something great and Grow more . I always choose the latter regardless of the uncomfortability and anxiety it brings to me , I think this choice is the only reason I ever succeeded in the first place .

I thought in my head at least making a lot of money would make me happy but I am having a lot of trouble enjoying myself regardless of the check thats going to be written , I am very uneasy and discontent for the most part . I am lucky to have my wife and my child at a time like this to help me laugh and smile and let me know everything's gonna be all right , they are my saving Grace , without them I am a shell of a man . Besides the outcome I thoroughly enjoyed fight week and the lead up , it was a lot fun . I have never defined myself off one win and I'll never define myself off one loss ,I simply had a bad night .. I'll have the opportunity again to have a good one ,, and I'll make the Walk to see what I got Everytime . Thanx for listening -EA

Swashbuckler

McGregor via Decision

Classy from Eddie.

Always intrigues me to hear the a fighters self analysis after a loss. I know it was mentioned on here earlier but does he really think he just had poor execution of his game plan? Surely he must realise that he was forced into going against his gameplan. He tried and failed to wrestle. He boxed because he was forced to box. Every time he tried not to, he got cracked on the chin.

Also, he doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who's capable of making the necessary adjustments within a fight he is losing.

Either way, an interesting read.

Gamebred

Alvarez via Submission

Swashbuckler

car

Swashbuckler wrote: »

Classy from Eddie.

Always intrigues me to hear the a fighters self analysis after a loss. I know it was mentioned on here earlier but does he really think he just had poor execution of his game plan? Surely he must realise that he was forced into going against his gameplan. He tried and failed to wrestle. He boxed because he was forced to box. Every time he tried not to, he got cracked on the chin.

Also, he doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who's capable of making the necessary adjustments within a fight he is losing.

Either way, an interesting read.

yes I agree, I like Eddie and there were hints of both fighters breaking the act and actually liking each other during fight week. An example would be that describe your opponent in one word crack, that was funny. I do think though, the oul I deviated from the plan is a weak excuse. Shoe on the other foot from mecgregor, they;d be saying, you just got beat, exposed, shown up as a fraud, etc etc ad nauseum.

guess he didn't get to silence all the Irish fans after all. He's still a nice guy though, so is mendes and faber. I see them meeting at midnight wearing small trench coats in underground parks, paying officials, to smite this irish thorn in our sides.....

Swashbuckler

McGregor via Decision

rusty cole wrote:

guess he didn't get to silence all the Irish fans after all. He's still a nice guy though, so is mendes and faber. I see them meeting at midnight wearing small trench coats in underground parks, paying officials, to smite this irish thorn in our sides.....

I think the whole "silence the Irish fans" was him creating some buzz. Fair play to him. Nice to see someone having a bit of banter with Conor and the fans.

One thing I will say is most of these guys that Conor has fought seem to get a lot of respect from the Irish fans - Max, Diego, Mendes, Poirier all seem to be fairly well received. The exception being Aldo. Not sure about Diaz. Too soon to say.

EagererBeaver

McGregor via Decision

Swashbuckler wrote: »

I think the whole "silence the Irish fans" was him creating some buzz. Fair play to him. Nice to see someone having a bit of banter with Conor and the fans.

One thing I will say is most of these guys that Conor has fought seem to get a lot of respect from the Irish fans - Max, Diego, Mendes, Poirier all seem to be fairly well received. The exception being Aldo. Not sure about Diaz. Too soon to say.

Ah I'd say most Irish give Diaz the respect he deserves. Bit of panto is all it is really.

Outlaw Pete

McGregor via Decision

Depp wrote: »

all this talk of scorecards, have the 1st round scores from McGregor-Alves appeared anywhere? surely that many knockdowns is a 10-8?

Big John had this to say about it.


https://twitter.com/JohnMcCarthyMMA/status/798199801972019200

Depp

McGregor via Decision

SevereMMA wrote: »

Lads

I (Graeme) made my first appearance on the podcast today with Sean Sheehan to review UFC 205 and CW Unplugged, talk UFC Belfast, fan questions and more

http://severemma.com/2016/11/severe-mma-podcast-episode-93/

Constructive criticism is welcome, and I know this is boards so maybe try focus on the constructive part haha

the mystical graeme! I was almost starting to think the lads made ya up!

sonofenoch

Swashbuckler wrote: »

I think the whole "silence the Irish fans" was him creating some buzz. Fair play to him. Nice to see someone having a bit of banter with Conor and the fans.

One thing I will say is most of these guys that Conor has fought seem to get a lot of respect from the Irish fans - Max, Diego, Mendes, Poirier all seem to be fairly well received. The exception being Aldo. Not sure about Diaz. Too soon to say.

Why not he's half Irish......on the Eddie side

johnpatrick81

McGregor via Decision

McGregor should have knocked him out with three punches, three minutes and thirty three seconds into round three

wonderfullife

McGregor via Decision

DeVore wrote: »

Conor has his biggest fight yet ahead of him if he thinks they are just going to hand over shares in the UFC... they may do some kind of "employee share options deal" but they aren't going to just hand out equity to every champion who holds them to ransom.

Fundamentally it depends on what the UFC wants to be.

Do they want to be an elite sport with the long-term aim of competing with the NBA, MLB and NFL in North America? If yes, then they 100% can't give him a share in the company. It's a complete conflict of interest to have a fighter who is also a part owner. There's already the perception that Conor picks and chooses his fights and gets favourable treatment (more or less true) - but it's still just a perception. If they actually give him an ownership stake then it's no longer a perception, it becomes a fact.

Put it another way, if Andy Murray was somehow able to be a part owner of the All England Lawn, Tennis and Croquet Club (who decide the seedings for Wimbledon) then there's an appearance of unfairness. In theory, there'd be nothing to stop them seeding Andy at 2, despite a world ranking of 4. They can still do that right now and have in the past, but it's only a perception of favourable treatment.

If they want to be sports-entertainment (like WWE) then sure give him equity.

Swashbuckler wrote: »

Classy from Eddie.

Always intrigues me to hear the a fighters self analysis after a loss. I know it was mentioned on here earlier but does he really think he just had poor execution of his game plan? Surely he must realise that he was forced into going against his gameplan.

A fighter must blame themselves for a loss. To compete at the highest level requires enormous self-belief. If you blame yourself then you give yourself a lot of things to fix, to work on and improve on.

The truth is this - he's 100% right.

Circling towards Conors left hand is a mistake. Not trying to chain-wrestle was a mistake.

Would he have won if he executed his game plan? Probably not. The result would (likely) have been the same. Conor has showed time and again he can throw his left with deadly effect when people circle away from his power hand.

Eddie can learn a lot from this loss - just as Conor learned a lot from the Diaz loss. Fighting is so unpredictable. 11 months ago RDA was being talked of as a beast. People on here ridiculed the idea of Conor beating him. Now, he's 1 or 2 losses away from retirement.

It's all up to him what way his career goes now. Blaming himself gives him the opportunity to regain control. The minute he accepts Conor is simply far better than him is the minute he should retire. You must believe you're the best and defeats are down to things you did badly.

CurryFlavoured

Eddie is a class act, but I don't think it was just the game plan. Circling away from Conor's left isn't necessarily the key, a lot of Conor's left hand KO's are when he backs you up and you're moving away from his left (see Brandao and Mendes KO). That's not my good analysis fwiw, it's something Dan Hardy picked up. Also, he did try to wrestle but he was unsuccessful. I remember 3 attempts that were all stuffed easily. One thing he could have done more is leg kicks, he kicks hard! Nearly knocked Conor over early on. But that's easier said than done with Conor's elusive movement.

CurryFlavoured

Gamebred wrote: »

Anyone else disappointed in Wonderboy slightly? Really thought he would hurt Woodley more considering there was only 1 take down he had 4 rounds to get something off and nothing significant rung Woodleys bell.

I was, expected a bit more. But I can see why he was hesitant after the 1st round.

Why doesn't Woodley wrestle more though? He clearly has strong takedowns, he took down and dominated in the first round but didn't attempt any more in the fight. Didn't attempt any in his previous few fights either. Not the most intelligent fighter imo, he's very one dimensional with that right hand, he could at least vary it with some wrestling.

raze_them_all_

Well Hung Polyglot wrote: »

I think the equity demand is simply a powerplay for a better contract.

Pretty sure the champion clause adds a fight to your contract as long as you have a belt so he really cant demand anything. IT's why couture never fought fedor back in the day

ASOT

McGregor via Decision

raze_them_all_ wrote: »

Pretty sure the champion clause adds a fight to your contract as long as you have a belt so he really cant demand anything. IT's why couture never fought fedor back in the day

Realistically he can demand whatever he wants the ufc need him more than he needs them; he can make his money elsehere. The UFC have **** all draws left and have a massive 4 billon hole to get out of.

Lukker-

McGregor via Submission

raze_them_all_ wrote: »

Pretty sure the champion clause adds a fight to your contract as long as you have a belt so he really cant demand anything. IT's why couture never fought fedor back in the day

Of course he can. With all due respect Couture doesn't come close to Conor in what he brings the company in.

It's all well and good having fights on your contract, but they can't force you to fight. Conor is coming of a $40m year so he can afford to sit on the sidelines and not take fights if the UFC are offering the same terms.

After 3 or 4 consecutive PPV's that do less than 500k it will affect their bottom line.

I don't really think it will come to that. I think they'll offer him something, maybe less than he wants but enough to keep him sweet. I think it'll most likely be a bigger cut of PPV's. A bigger cut gives him more incentive to promote so it could help them long run.

.ak

maximoose wrote: »

Eddie just posted a very humble congratulation message

Classy for the first paragraph maybe, but to me that just reads as 'I lost the fight, Conor didn't win it'.

Seems a bit sore. Understandable - but maybe the reason such an experienced fighter didn't follow a simple game plan such as circling LEFT and not RIGHT is because you were shaken by a much superior fighter in the opening moment of the match Eddie?

CatFromHue

ASOT wrote: »

Realistically he can demand whatever he wants the ufc need him more than he needs them; he can make his money elsehere. The UFC have **** all draws left and have a massive 4 billon hole to get out of.

He could make money elsewhere but nowhere near as much as he could by staying in the UFC.

c0rk3r

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giraz1DNXOY

Wonderfullife on boards getting a shout out at 7-ish minute mark

Swashbuckler

McGregor via Decision

c0rk3r wrote:

Wonderfullife on boards getting a shout out at 7-ish minute mark

Just realised he gave a shout out to wonderlife....not wonderfullife. ...must've been some other Boardsie

DeVore

Aaaaand... there it is. The mysterious "I somehow didn't implement my game plan" head-scratch.

Eddie seems alright though, fair dues to him etc but I think its short-sighted of them all to think they just suddenly forgot their gameplan...

Swashbuckler

McGregor via Decision

DeVore wrote:

Eddie seems alright though, fair dues to him etc but I think its short-sighted of them all to think they just suddenly forgot their gameplan...

I think it's a form of self preservation. Easier to say I didn't implement my gameplan than admit the guy is just better.

Outlaw Pete

McGregor via Decision

Swashbuckler wrote: »

Just realised he gave a shout out to wonderlife....not wonderfullife. ...must've been some other Boardsie

Wonderlife does have a nice ring to it though.

I'll pledge €10 to the SSF if the name change is forthcoming

ASOT

McGregor via Decision

CatFromHue wrote: »

He could make money elsewhere but nowhere near as much as he could by staying in the UFC.

100% thats why he will demand more money and they will pay it; again without him there earning potential plummets.

Paully D

The reason Eddie didn't implement his gameplan is (IMO) mainly because Conor absolutely got into his head and Eddie went in wanting to KO him stiff.

Walking out of the press conference, barely able to string a sentence together at the ceremonial weigh-ins, certainly not things you'd associate with Eddie but he has never faced the type of tactics McGregor threw at him pre-fight.

Zymurgist

Wen is the card available on fightpass?

It's still showing a blacked out for me

SevereMMA

Zymurgist wrote: »

Wen is the card available on fightpass?

It's still showing a blacked out for me

https://www.ufc.tv/video/ufc-205-replay-uk-ireland

califano

Alvarez via Decision

DeVore wrote: »

Aaaaand... there it is. The mysterious "I somehow didn't implement my game plan" head-scratch.

Eddie seems alright though, fair dues to him etc but I think its short-sighted of them all to think they just suddenly forgot their gameplan...

Deep down I don't think they really think that. They really know what you are highlighting but when you're still a player in a macho individual sport you cant be conceding by admitting your game plan was stymied by the opponents superiority. Because what if there is a rematch down the line, all that sh!t will just be thrown back in your face. Actually even forgot a rematch, just to bow down with an admittal like that it makes yourself and others think why are you still in the division if you are admitting there are people better than you after as much as admitting you can never reach the top again(or in the first place for others).

I think once fighters retire they are way more forthright about their weaknesses and their past losing fights because it doesn't really matter any more. Nobody including yourself cares now you're out and your ego has nothing more to prove anymore.

You hear these type of reasoning/excuses in all individual sports tennis being an good example. However turn the tables and lets say a Federer type losing to a 145th ranked player in a minor tournament will occasionally admit he was outplayed, out served, out thought etc because they can afford to be magnanimous without losing face because they dont have anything to prove against such a minor player in a non entity event. But how can the 145th player keep justifying to himself to stay competing on the circuit and hoping to climb the rankings if hes openly admitting every time he loses to a superior player that he was stopped from imposing his game because the other guy was effectively too good.

A similar non sporting comparison to Alvarez public reasoning is the loaders reaction after being let go in the latest episode of Gold Rush!.

scudzilla

McGregor via Decision

Eddie's Gameplan went out of the window the second the first punch landed, his new gameplan was to avoid getting hit, same as most others fighters conor's faced