GDT: UFC 223: Khabib vs. Iaquinta

[1specter]

This card is a black mark in UFC's history. Unbelievable the shit show this has turned into.

 

[Peter Griffin]

Although I have to say if you typically fight at 145 a 6 day weight cut to 155 shouldn't really be that big of a task; I've always thought some of these guys would be even better fighting at a more natural weight (absolutely love Edgar).

You'd think, but Max is a big FW and his nutritionist said this is the biggest weight cut he's ever been involved in. 6 days out and flying from Hawaii to New York I'm too surprised this happened.

As for this event, very disappointing the outcome as I was really looking forward to this card. I think at this point the only option left for Khabib to stay on the card is if Al Iaquinta gets bumped up but even then I don't think it's possible as he weighed in at 155.2. Felder was deemed out by NYSAC as he's unranked by the UFC, Pettis was an option until he apparently "asked for too much money".

 

[Avs_19]

I'm all for health and safety of fighters, especially when it comes to weight cutting, but what is this commission doing? It's ridiculous if that's really what happened.

 

[MaxV]

Plan Z.987

 

[Peter Griffin]

No Pettis, no Felder, so UFC targeting Al Iaquinta vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 223

Look's like Al has the UFC by the balls if they want to keep Khabib on this card.

 

[Neutrinos]

No Pettis, no Felder, so UFC targeting Al Iaquinta vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 223

Look's like Al has the UFC by the balls if they want to keep Khabib on this card.

I didn't realize he was undefeated. 13 - 0 with 1 draw

114 - 0 as an amateur (according to his Wikipedia)


How much would you ask for if you were in his spot? A million? 2 million?

 

[Peter Griffin]

How much would you ask for if you were in his spot? A million? 2 million?

According to Karyn Bryant, Anthony Pettis already asked for too much so I'm not sure. Iaquinta has had well publicized contract problems with the UFC in the past and he'd be inelligible to win the belt in this fight as he weight a whopping .2lbs over the weight limit so the UFC would likely have to make it worthwhile for him. I'd say probably $500K would be reasonable considering I think Al's show and win money is in the $80K range.

 

[Avs_19]

No Pettis, no Felder, so UFC targeting Al Iaquinta vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 223

Look's like Al has the UFC by the balls if they want to keep Khabib on this card.

So that means we're going to lose what might be the best remaining fight on the card. They need to keep Khabib on there though and I think Al might be the best option because I don't have a lot of interest in seeing Pettis get mauled by Khabib. The same will likely happen to Al but at least he's a bigger guy and has a wrestling background. It sucks for Felder if he gets left without an opponent now.

 

[La Masse]

As evidenced by all the times he's been dropped? He's been hit clean by some heavy shots before, and Conor would have no chance of keeping Khabib from dropping him on his head. I mean, Conor has a puncher's chance like anyone does in MMA but it'd be an extremely small one.

Let’s be real here getting punched by Micheal Johnson is not the same as getting punched by Conor. If we flip Conor and Johnson in that fight and he would have landed the same shots as MJ did it would have been good night for Khabib.

 

[Peter Griffin]

It sucks for Felder if he gets left without an opponent now.

I think what might happen is Iaquinta fights Khabib and Felder fights Pettis.

 

[Avs_19]

I think what might happen is Iaquinta fights Khabib and Felder fights Pettis.

Nothing official but it doesn't seem like it.....

 

[Peter Griffin]

Nothing official but it doesn't seem like it.....

Interesting. Both are company men though and might just say screw it and fight in order to remain on the card. Guess we'll probably find out.

 

[zombie kopitar]

Mcgregor live in court. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa5eXqjEewE
So ridiculous ahha.

 

[Peasy]

I honestly have a lot of respect for Holloway trying to step up in the first place. Fighting Khabib is a massive task in and of itself, but stepping up with 6 days to prepare and moving up a weight class? Too bad he couldn't make it. Although I have to say if you typically fight at 145 a 6 day weight cut to 155 shouldn't really be that big of a task; I've always thought some of these guys would be even better fighting at a more natural weight (absolutely love Edgar).

It wasn't a 6 day weight cut. It was 4 at the most. Got called on Sunday, then had Monday-Thursday to cut most likely around 20lbs. Good luck with that.

There couldnt be a catch weight because it needed to be a title fight. This is why when Diaz stepped in the first time against Conor they fought at 170 because Diaz wouldn't have been able to cut to 155 in time.

 

[Peter Griffin]

Al Iaquinta meets Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 223 – but only Nurmagomedov can win title

Khabib vs Iaquinta is official, but only Khabib can win belt. Felder/Pettis will not happen.

 

[Avs_19]

It's unfortunate that Al being .2 lbs over the limit means he can't win the belt but it's not bad all things considered. He's going to get paid for stepping up and if he pulls off this miracle, he'll fight for the belt in his next fight.

Raging Al goes from beefing with Dana and the UFC to headlining a PPV card. Haha.

 

[YNWA14]

Props to Khabib for accepting the fight also. Even though yes he could win the belt he could also lose a lot in this fight -- it's not like Iaquinta is a pushover.

 

[MaxV]

Jeez, couldn’t Al just shave some hair or trim some nails? 0.2?

 

[LSCII]

The driver wouldn't open the doors. There's video on TMZ taken from inside the bus of everyone, including Khabib, yelling at the driver to let them off. Besides, why should he have gotten off and risk missing his fight with Max?

I love how you're putting as much blame for this on Khabib as you are Conor.



So it's Khabib's fault that Caceres doesn't get to fight?

I'm not putting blame on Khabib for what McGregor did. I'm putting him to blame for his shit talking on twitter and the incident where he acted like a tough guy and cornered Lobov. So far the only person to have it right is Nate Diaz. When you're dealing with idiots whose only skills are punching other people in the face, you're going to see random acts of violence. The interwebs and crapholes like Twitter make everyone of these guys keyboard warriors, and that ends up causing shit like this to be worse. Just like when Cyborg punched that other chick at an event for shit she said on twitter. You cannot expect there to be no consequences for what you say on social media. There are. And when you're dealing with violent people, sometimes those end up being way over the line, like yesterday.

So sure, McGregor was wrong and a complete shithead for doing it, but let's not act like Khabib should be absolved in his part of the made up drama that this event turned out to be.

 

[LSCII]

Jeez, couldn’t Al just shave some hair or trim some nails? 0.2?

Why didn't they give him extra time, like DC and other fighters have been given in the past?

 

[LSCII]

It would really funny if Al were to stun everyone and actually win. I think Dana would shit a brick right in the cage if that ever happened...

 

[Peter Griffin]

Why didn't they give him extra time, like DC and other fighters have been given in the past?

Because at the time of the weighins Iaquinta wasn’t weighing in for a championship bout, and 155.2 was good enough for a non-title bout. NYSAC is also one of the most inept commissions.

 

[LSCII]

Because at the time of the weighins Iaquinta wasn’t weighing in for a championship bout, and 155.2 was good enough for a non-title bout. NYSAC is also one of the most inept commissions.

Yeah, I supposed that screwed things up. Sucks that they couldn't give him an exception or something though, given the circumstances.

 

[Peter Griffin]

Yeah, I supposed that screwed things up. Sucks that they couldn't give him an exception or something though, given the circumstances.

At the time they were discussing a potential Pettis/Khabib fight but it fell through and then the scales were removed. In hindsight the UFC and NYSAC should’ve told all potential LW that they could try to make the weight given a second attempt but every happened so quickly and I imagine they didn’t want to risk fighter safety unnecessarily.

 

[MaxV]

Sounds like there was a lot confusion and inaccurate information going back and forth. Is it a title fight, non-title fight? This happens often when last minute stuff like this occurs.