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What will cause the heavyweight title to stay vacant this time? This poll is closed. |
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| Jon Jones goes on a pre-fight bender in Vegas |
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3 | 8.11% |
| Jon Jones goes on a post-fight bender in Vegas |
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1 | 2.70% |
| Jon Jones goes on a mid-fight bender in Vegas |
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4 | 10.81% |
| Jon Jones tests positive for supercocaine, which USADA spends the next three months pretending is normal |
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18 | 48.65% |
| A well-fought majority draw |
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1 | 2.70% |
| No Contest on account of simultaneous dick kicks |
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10 | 27.03% |
| Total: | 37 votes | ||
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blue footed boobie posted:I resisted making a post about how it actually kind of made sense to have colby be the backup, or at least it being not that big of a deal, but lol at him getting the next title shot. Unpopular opinion but IMO Colby Covington had two long, competitive, and frankly pretty exciting to watch fights against Usman during the time when Usman seemed absolutely unbeatable. He was up there in terms of the best in the division. A total rear end in a top hat, yes, but also a very effective fighter that was marginally worse than the dominant champion at the time. His inactivity came right after the fight in which he manhandled and humiliated UFC Superstar™ Jorge Masvidal for five one-sided rounds, after which he was assaulted on the street by the guy he just demolished. Sitting out since then is probably some combination of actual injuries + legal advice (much better in court to say you lost x amount of earnings due to an inability to compete.) I don't think it's especially crazy at all that he was the back-up or that he's getting a title shot. It's somewhere just under O'Malley being catapulted into title contention for me. CommonShore posted:Leon Edwards has an all-time-great "caught red handed but refuses to admit wrongdoing staring right in the face of the authority figure unfinchingly maintaining innocence" face. p4p all time better than anyone. He looked as surprised as anyone else when the replay of him grabbing the fence came up. Honestly feel that if Edwards had immediately said "Sorry, instinct, won't happen again - my bad" maybe Herb Dean would have let it go with a final warning, but the actively saying "I didn't do anything!!! What?!" while the replay on the screen shows him trying to do a human flag off the cage was not really a great look and it doesn't leave a ref with many options. Do feel like the rules on cage grabs should be more strictly enforced though - most never get called or are just a quick warning. Don't mind the point being taken but it just feels so arbitrary when you watch it happen five times in a fight and nothing gets done about it, but then you see an immediate point deduction in a title fight.
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Mar 19, 2023 18:45
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TheKingslayer posted:It's WILD how much the UFC has wanted a Brit champion and they have one... but he's not the right one... for some reason... so let's hobble his run from jump with the most paper of paper contenders. It's like how in WWE they set up a guy they didn't want to be champion with a Kane feud. I don’t really understand this take. Colby is the biggest draw outside of Masvidal they could make, and there’s a good chance that Leon wins. That gives him more shine. They’re also 100% hoping that Masvidal wins against Burns. If they do that and Leon wins, that’ll be the next title fight, meaning that Leon will start his reign off fighting the two most popular draws, which is the opposite of hobbling IMO. And looking after that…if they can convince Nate to come back, that’s the obvious third fight. And then if Conor beats Chandler, that’s another fight. Leon’s in pretty good shape to fight 4 out of the top 6 or 7 draws at the company. All in matchups that he should be a sizable favorite for outside of Colby imo. He would be one of the biggest stars if he can pull it off and incredibly wealthy. Sucks to be Muhammad or Rakhmonov. I think they only get title fights if absolutely necessary.
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Mar 19, 2023 18:55
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Do we have any evidence that Colby is a significant draw? Since he’s been in the main events of ppvs I don’t think we have been getting buy rates because it’s all through espn or whatever. And of course anything dana says is to not be trusted
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Mar 19, 2023 20:17
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dana wants colby to be the champ because dana's a racist oval office and he wants to give his racist oval office mate title shots until he eventually wins one that's all there is to it
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Mar 19, 2023 20:23
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The only people who should be getting title shots off one bounce back win when there are any other options (much less an 8 fight winstreak including multiple top 5/10 fighters) are champs who just lost their belt or contenders who lost such a close fight against the champ that people are making the case for an immediate rematch. P.S. Immediate rematches should only be for draws. Ringo Roadagain posted:Do we have any evidence that Colby is a significant draw? Since he’s been in the main events of ppvs I don’t think we have been getting buy rates because it’s all through espn or whatever. And of course anything dana says is to not be trusted The only evidence we have says the opposite. I think there was an analysis on Bloody Elbow somewhere. Tom Clancy is Dead fucked around with this message at 20:33 on Mar 19, 2023 |
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Mar 19, 2023 20:31
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A Passing Feeling posted:Unpopular opinion but IMO Colby Covington had two long, competitive, and frankly pretty exciting to watch fights against Usman during the time when Usman seemed absolutely unbeatable. I think denying that Colby's fights with Usman were competitive is silly, and I think denying Colby's one of the best in the division is silly. I think Colby getting his third title shot in five fights when he has no wins against anyone ranked in the top 10 when there are multiple top contenders on winning streaks over other contenders is silly, and I think denying that is sillier.
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Mar 19, 2023 20:47
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K-1 posted all 24 fights from K’FESTA 6 today. I marked which ones were good, there were quite a few. https://bocot.substack.com/p/tape-delay-kickboxing-17-k-1-world If you only watch one: (C) Tetsuya Yamato (44-20-1, 32 KO, -149-BK #8) vs. Kenta Hayashi (22-9-2, 14 KO) (143 Title) In the main event of the night, 35-year-old Tetsuya Yamamoto looks to continue the feel-good story of winning the K-1 World MAX 2010 tournament and finally breaking through to win a K-1 title in 2022, the 17th year of his career. He attempts his second Super Light title defense against former K-1 Light champion Kenta Hayashi. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLDeUAiS3QM But there are a lot more good ones, I starred 10 fights out of the 24.
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Mar 19, 2023 20:55
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Is there a reason Gaethje was such a betting underdog going into the Fiziev fight?
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Mar 19, 2023 21:09
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Ringo Roadagain posted:Do we have any evidence that Colby is a significant draw? Since he’s been in the main events of ppvs I don’t think we have been getting buy rates because it’s all through espn or whatever. And of course anything dana says is to not be trusted i think it’s more that even if he’s not as big as Diaz/Masvidal, he’s way, way bigger than anyone else in the top 10. no chance Muhammad/Burns/Shavkat/Wonderboy/Neal/Brady/Luque are close. Khamzat is probably but he’s at MW now permanently supposedly. I think it’s also that Edwards is an exciting, charismatic, standup striker that would be a realistic sell against Jorge/Nate/Conor. i would imagine the UFC wouldn’t mind him winning at all.
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Mar 19, 2023 21:47
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DO YALL WANT A BOXC posted:I don’t really understand this take. Colby is the biggest draw outside of Masvidal they could make, and there’s a good chance that Leon wins. That gives him more shine. This is all true and simoultaneously describes exactly what is so wrong with UFC matchmaking these days, it loving sucks.
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Mar 19, 2023 21:50
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parthenocarpy posted:Is there a reason Gaethje was such a betting underdog going into the Fiziev fight? Going into that fight Gaethje didn't have any wins over currently ranked competition other than Chandler, who lots of people don't rate highly, and Oliveira and Chandler had both chinned him, and Fiziev is a better striker than any of them. If you agree with lots of commentators that Tony had slowed down in his 2-3 fights before the Gaethje fight, there's a case to make that Fiziev is actually Gaethje's best win ever. It's definitely the second-longest UFC winning streak that Gaethje has ever broken.
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Mar 19, 2023 21:56
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A Passing Feeling posted:Unpopular opinion but IMO Colby Covington had two long, competitive, and frankly pretty exciting to watch fights against Usman during the time when Usman seemed absolutely unbeatable. It was in the time when Usman was knocked down and nearly finished by the only non Masvidal or Covington person he defended his title against, Gilbert Burns "He did better than anyone else" even if it were true, which it isn't, is a self fulfilling prophecy, since Usman has fought almost no one else in his title reign. It's loving annoying since WW is as good as it ever was. We've seen tons of great win streaks come and go while Usman's fought the same two people and Gilbert Burns. We are rapidly approaching the 5 year anniversary of Colby's last win over someone coming off a win. That someone was Rafael Dos Anjos and Colby looked like absolute poo poo in it. He was outstruck and taken down repeatedly and got the decision based off enthusiasm. He's a less likeable Clay Guida DO YALL WANT A BOXC posted:i think it’s more that even if he’s not as big as Diaz/Masvidal, he’s way, way bigger than anyone else in the top 10. no chance Muhammad/Burns/Shavkat/Wonderboy/Neal/Brady/Luque are close. Khamzat is probably but he’s at MW now permanently supposedly. People just say this because Dana keeps saying it. There's absolutely no data to suggest this.
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Mar 19, 2023 22:00
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DO YALL WANT A BOXC posted:I think it’s also that Edwards is an exciting, charismatic, standup striker that would be a realistic sell against Jorge/Nate/Conor. i would imagine the UFC wouldn’t mind him winning at all. Look, I love Edwards, but calling him exciting is just wrong. He's a patient outside kickboxer that sometimes does some cool clinch stuff. He's boring but cool.
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Mar 19, 2023 22:11
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Nvm too slow
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Mar 19, 2023 22:59
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CarlCX posted:I think denying that Colby's fights with Usman were competitive is silly, and I think denying Colby's one of the best in the division is silly. This is right. Colby got all the shots at the title , and it’s time to see if someone else can do it. Even if Colby is a draw (which I don’t ever remember hearing about), it’s in the interests of the division to give one of Belal or Khamzat (preferably Belal) a shot and face the other against Colby so we can continue developing interesting matchups beyond Colby versus whoever.
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Mar 19, 2023 23:54
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Snowman_McK posted:People just say this because Dana keeps saying it. There's absolutely no data to suggest this. what are the odds that you think any of those guys is as popular as Colby? the few PPVs he's headlined have been reported to do well, but I get if you think those numbers aren't trustworthy. but he does have like 3x the social media followers of Belal, for example. and all of the video content (that seems to be a leading indicator of PPV success) with him feels like it does more views/more engagement/etc. And all of the stupid poo poo he's done has got him notoriety with the decrepit morons that buy into his gimmick. I doubt any of those people know what a Shavkat Rakhmonov is. I think the guy is a big time doofus, but I think he's pretty clearly by far the most popular "reasonable" draw they could make. It would have been nice for him to fight a top guy before getting the shot, but I think he'll open up as a favorite against Edwards, and he probably would against everyone in the division except for Shavkat. Which is probably why it's such a quick decision for the UFC. Flaskraven posted:Look, I love Edwards, but calling him exciting is just wrong. He's a patient outside kickboxer that sometimes does some cool clinch stuff. He's boring but cool. fair point. i'm probably biasing because I like watching him a lot. he seems to have good enough skills to finish high level guys and also bad enough defense to be finished. it gives his fights a nice exciting tension that's always there since it could end (both ways) at any moment.
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Mar 20, 2023 00:45
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If Colby fought Belal the crowd would be chanting USA despite Belal being born in Chicago, and that's probably all you need to know about Colby's popularity.
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Mar 20, 2023 01:10
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Someone did a documentary about Colby and it was mostly just sad. As a guy, he was fine (extremely middle of the character customizer bars), him and Masvidal were best buds, and as a fighter he was pretty good but not great, but he wasn't popular and no one gave a poo poo about him so someone told him to be a piece of poo poo and so he did and he was more popular than ever (more than 0 people were talking about him and Dana liked it). It ends with him standing in a line and a fan comes up to him and asks for an autograph and a selfie and he's really quiet and humble. The guy says "hey, this thing you're doing? I don't like it and you don't need it. You're better than this and you know it" and you can see Colby's heartbreak and he just says "that means a great deal, thank you, but that doesn't sell tickets" I think the fan responds with "yeah, that sucks, hope you figure it out" and Colby just sadly watches him go.
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Mar 20, 2023 03:10
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The problem with "Colby is the only draw" is it stops being a good argument when the UFC stops making draws. The UFC's welterweight top ten currently includes:
And you can't say Belal is a fan-unfriendly wrestler, because Colby Covington, and you can't say Burns already lost to the champion and doesn't deserve a fight, because Colby Covington, and you can't say Shavkat doesn't have a title-justifying victory, because Colby loving Covington. It's not enough for Colby to be the top draw when the reason Colby's the top draw is they're not putting an iota of effort behind anyone else. And if it IS enough reason that Colby's a draw then let's all stop being cowards and pay Royce Gracie to come out of retirement for a shot at the top welterweight on the planet again, because at that point we've already given up on any idea of matchmaking mattering anyway.
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Mar 20, 2023 03:12
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And they're gonna park Khamzat until loving October lol
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Mar 20, 2023 03:27
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CarlCX posted:The problem with "Colby is the only draw" is it stops being a good argument when the UFC stops making draws. The UFC's welterweight top ten currently includes: Hey, they've tried nothing and they're all out of ideas. But it's absolutely true -- the UFC could bother to market some fighters instead of pumping power slap on their social media. Where's Jingliang's cooking show dammit.
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Mar 20, 2023 03:32
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In the midst of this argument, let me also remind the thread what really matters: https://twitter.com/moicanoufc/status/1637615289532661761
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Mar 20, 2023 03:34
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It's a real shame about Gilbert Burns too. He's 36 so not a spring chicken but his only recent losses are khamzat (unanimous decision but a hell of a fight) and to Usman. Giving him some marketing and getting him one last run would be a good move for a killer Brazil card. I think he'd handily tko Colby too.
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Mar 20, 2023 03:58
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CarlCX posted:And you can't say Belal is a fan-unfriendly wrestler, because Colby Covington, and you can't say Burns already lost to the champion and doesn't deserve a fight, because Colby Covington, and you can't say Shavkat doesn't have a title-justifying victory, because Colby loving Covington. this is a pretty persuasive piece of writing my friend. CarlCX posted:In the midst of this argument, let me also remind the thread what really matters: lol
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Mar 20, 2023 04:05
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CarlCX posted:In the midst of this argument, let me also remind the thread what really matters: lol
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Mar 20, 2023 04:08
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I've kinda always been defending Colbys in cage ability and that he deserved both his first shot and his rematch but even id say he shouldn't be next in line. Belal 100% deserves the next shot.
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Mar 20, 2023 04:27
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Despite not caring about freestyle wrestling at all I ended up watching some stuff on Jordan Burroughs. I'm surprised he never made the transition. Absolutely crazy double leg.
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Mar 20, 2023 04:49
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I know nothing about him, so I dunno what his comfort with getting hit was -- I suspect that's a huge obstacle for a lot of wrestlers. This old article discusses the nuance of wrestling technique when considering how well a wrestler might do: https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2012/4/4/2922382/a-theory-on-successful-wrestling-translating-to-successful-mma The argument boils down to this: wrestlers who are comfortable using feints or starting from the outside (as you would in MMA) might transition more easily than those who have lots of their game built on wrestling-specific clinch scenarios. The author caveats that of course many elite wrestlers will be good at all 3 in large degree.
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Mar 20, 2023 05:02
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kimbo305 posted:I know nothing about him, so I dunno what his comfort with getting hit was -- I suspect that's a huge obstacle for a lot of wrestlers. appreciated cheers man
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Mar 20, 2023 05:21
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DO YALL WANT A BOXC posted:I don’t really understand this take. Colby is the biggest draw outside of Masvidal they could make, and there’s a good chance that Leon wins. That gives him more shine. Then there's no need to ever do rankings or use any semblance of rankings. Neither Masvidal nor Colby realistically can claim they sit highly in if you do decide to use them.
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Mar 20, 2023 05:26
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Speaking of rankings. Myself, CommonShore and CarlCX all got together and aggregated our rankings for MMA and wrote an article for it, as well as other articles by us, LobsterMobster, and Boco_T. https://twitter.com/RealFightIsland/status/1637652995860230144
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Mar 20, 2023 05:37
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Mekchu posted:Speaking of rankings. Myself, CommonShore and CarlCX all got together and aggregated our rankings for MMA and wrote an article for it, as well as other articles by us, LobsterMobster, and Boco_T. well done guys, hope it does well! i'll share it around with my mates.
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Mar 20, 2023 05:39
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for two popsicles from the fridge i'll pen my magnum opus 'the high watermark of mma was the overeem / lesnar weigh in' as an exclusive for fightis.land.
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Mar 20, 2023 05:44
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actually my keyboard doesn't have a shift key so never mind
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Mar 20, 2023 05:45
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sentence case is boomer core anyways
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Mar 20, 2023 05:51
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Mekchu posted:Then there's no need to ever do rankings or use any semblance of rankings. Neither Masvidal nor Colby realistically can claim they sit highly in if you do decide to use them. I don’t know that that’s true. they’re rankings and not standings. I think in the eyes of the public/oddsmakers, Colby’s razor thin performances against Usman and his domination over an what looked like an over-the-hill Masvidal probably counts more than a great win over Sean Brady and a good win over Luque. As I said before, I think he’d be the betting favorite against everyone except Shavkat, including Leon, so his ranking makes sense IMO. I think Belal would probably win vs Colby and not vs Leon. Would be nice to see those fights. But I’m also looking forward to Leon/Colby. I think Colby wins that, which will be unfortunate.
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Mar 20, 2023 05:52
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i was just thinking about the era where bisping and mayhem coached tuf and people loving hated bisping for being a bit of a penis, british, and annoyingly competent. am i imagining that? people hated bisping right? like people followed him around and tried to rickroll him with the hendo ko? it seems quaint that a time existeded where you could dislike someone from being annoying when now we've got people who are openly bigoted just being part of the atmosphere and one of the biggest draws in the best divisions is popular BECAUSE of saying and doing hateful things.
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Mar 20, 2023 06:02
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he was massively hated lol the hendo KO was catharsis for an entire fanbase. this was after stuff like somehow winning a robbery against matt hammil, or spitting at jorge rivera's corner for making parody interviews right after an illegal knee right to the forehead. how good we had it.
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Mar 20, 2023 06:07
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i remember people pretending michael bisping had a spitting chance against GSP and being very happy when those people were proved unbelievably wrong
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Mar 20, 2023 06:09
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i remember making GBS threads my loving pants because i had like a grand on gsp and to my eyes he was visibly slowing down when he finished bisping.
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Mar 20, 2023 06:11
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