GDT: UFC 242: Khabib vs. Poirier

[Avs_19]

Date: September 7, 2019
Venue: The Arena, Yas Island
City: Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Time: 2pm ET/ 11am PT
Viewing: PPV

MAIN CARD (PPV)

Lightweight Championship bout: Khabib Nurmagomedov (c) vs. Dustin Poirier (ic)
Lightweight bout: Edson Barboza vs. Paul Felder
Lightweight bout: Islam Makhachev vs. Davi Ramos
Heavyweight bout: Curtis Blaydes vs. Shamil Abdurakhimov
Lightweight bout: Mairbek Taisumov vs. Carlos Diego Ferreira

PRELIMINARY CARD (FX, TSN 2)

Women's Flyweight bout: Joanne Calderwood vs. Andrea Lee
Featherweight bout: Zubaira Tukhugov vs. Lerone Murphy
Women's Bantamweight bout: Liana Jojua vs. Sarah Moras
Lightweight bout: Ottman Azaitar vs. Teemu Packalén

PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass)

Welterweight bout: Belal Muhammad vs. Takashi Sato
Welterweight bout: Nordine Taleb vs. Muslim Salikhov
Middleweight bout: Omari Akhmedov vs. Zak Cummings
Lightweight bout: Don Madge vs. Fares Ziam​

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[member 51464]

Curtis Blaydes looks pretty good against everyone that isn't Ngannou, lol. So I guess he should be favored here.

My main concern is just forgetting this is on in the afternoon. I hope Dustin Poirier puts on a decent showing. I am definitely rooting for him.

 

[DaBadGuy316]

WOOOOO!
I like Poirier but I just cant see him winning. Khabib will do what he always does, take his opponent down and g n p the shit out of him.

 

[Deen]

Khabib is going to smother him. I don't think this will be very competitive.

 

[pistolpete11]

I think Khabib wins, but I think it will be his toughest test yet. I think Poirier is more well rounded than anyone Khabib has fought in the UFC except for arguably Raging Al, but I think Poirier has more power and is just flat out better than Al. Alvarez got Poirier in some tough spots on the ground, though, and Alvarez isn't the wrestler Khabib is. Poirier is a real fighter, so I expect him to turn it into a scrap, but in the end, I think Khabib will be just too much.

Looking forward to Barboza-Felder, too. I don't know that it is PPV co-main event worthy, but it's a good fight.

I'm still pretty intrigued by Blaydes as well. I think his striking is lacking and his wrestling isn't dominant enough to really compete with the top guys, but he's got some good good wins on his resume. I'm not sure I've ever actually seen Abdurakhimov, but he's got some good wins himself.

 

[m9]

I'm wondering if the UFC & Khabib really dropped the ball in terms of making him a star after that Conor win.

Khabib got suspended and then agreed to the longer suspension. He comes back and the UFC puts him on a morning PPV vs Poirier with an awful undercard.

The return of Khabib should have been one of the bigger stories this year, but I don't think it is.

 

[m9]

As for the actual card, I pick against Poirier every time and he proves me wrong fairly often so I'm just going to keep my mouth shut this time.

 

[pistolpete11]

I'm wondering if the UFC & Khabib really dropped the ball in terms of making him a star after that Conor win.

Khabib got suspended and then agreed to the longer suspension. He comes back and the UFC puts him on a morning PPV vs Poirier with an awful undercard.

The return of Khabib should have been one of the bigger stories this year, but I don't think it is.

I agree they could be doing a better job of promoting it and they could have given him a better under card, but having Khabib fight in a Muslim country makes a lot of sense. It's not maximizing his star power in the US, but it's a great promotion for MMA in that part of the world. That might be worth more than selling a few extra PPVs.

 

[tacogeoff]

I agree they could be doing a better job of promoting it and they could have given him a better under card, but having Khabib fight in a Muslim country makes a lot of sense. It's not maximizing his star power in the US, but it's a great promotion for MMA in that part of the world. That might be worth more than selling a few extra PPVs.

I agree with this as well. the UFC is trying to maximize their exposure to the international market/the Muslim population in general and there is no better place to do it than in Dubai.

 

[pistolpete11]

I agree with this as well. the UFC is trying to maximize their exposure to the international market/the Muslim population in general and there is no better place to do it than in Dubai.

And with a superstar, champion, and vocal Muslim like Khabib.

 

[I am not exposed]

Really rooting for Khabib.

But Poirier can definitely give him problems. See a potential upset, but then I thought the same for Conor as well!

 

[m9]

I agree they could be doing a better job of promoting it and they could have given him a better under card, but having Khabib fight in a Muslim country makes a lot of sense. It's not maximizing his star power in the US, but it's a great promotion for MMA in that part of the world. That might be worth more than selling a few extra PPVs.

That's true, I just really thought he would take a massive step as a PPV star in North America and clearly that's not happening unless I've really misread the amount of hype for this fight.

 

[pistolpete11]

That's true, I just really thought he would take a massive step as a PPV star in North America and clearly that's not happening unless I've really misread the amount of hype for this fight.

Yeah, I don't see the hype either. It being at 2pm on a Saturday afternoon during college football season against a name that casuals won't know and a less than stellar under card is not going to help. That's on top of needing a ESPN+ membership and the $60 for a PPV. I don't even know what would be good any more. What did UFC 241 do?

 

[m9]

Yeah, I don't see the hype either. It being at 2pm on a Saturday afternoon during college football season against a name that casuals won't know and a less than stellar under card is not going to help. That's on top of needing a ESPN+ membership and the $60 for a PPV. I don't even know what would be good any more. What did UFC 241 do?

I'm not sure if it's been released what UFC241 did - I haven't seen anything out there. I think UFC242 will be lucky to do 300/400k though.

 

[LSCII]

I'm wondering if the UFC & Khabib really dropped the ball in terms of making him a star after that Conor win.

Khabib got suspended and then agreed to the longer suspension. He comes back and the UFC puts him on a morning PPV vs Poirier with an awful undercard.

The return of Khabib should have been one of the bigger stories this year, but I don't think it is.

Is that the UFC's fault or the fact that Khabib is a boring guy with very little personality and charisma outside the ring? He also fights a very one dimensional boring style in most of his fights. Hard to get very excited to watch him lay on top of another dude and repeatedly tap him in the face while the dude is pinned in an iron cross. I get that it's very high level and technical, but it simply doesn't jump off the screen and grab the attention of the casual fan. And to be a true crossover super star that transcends the sport of MMA, you need to grab the casual fans attention. The most interesting thing about Khabib is that he's undefeated. But even then, aside from McGregor, how many of his opponents can the casual fans even name? Even when he "won" the title, he beat a last minute replacement in Al Iquinta. I love Al, but how many fans that weren't die hards could even pick him out of a line up?

 

[LSCII]

That's true, I just really thought he would take a massive step as a PPV star in North America and clearly that's not happening unless I've really misread the amount of hype for this fight.

Weirdly enough, UFC is floating this story that the event is going to be huge based on pre sales already...

Early numbers for UFC 242 suggest massive pay-per-view event

I mean, I personally don't see it and won't get it if it happens, but they seem confident...

 

[m9]

Is that the UFC's fault or the fact that Khabib is a boring guy with very little personality and charisma outside the ring? He also fights a very one dimensional boring style in most of his fights. Hard to get very excited to watch him lay on top of another dude and repeatedly tap him in the face while the dude is pinned in an iron cross. I get that it's very high level and technical, but it simply doesn't jump off the screen and grab the attention of the casual fan. And to be a true crossover super star that transcends the sport of MMA, you need to grab the casual fans attention. The most interesting thing about Khabib is that he's undefeated. But even then, aside from McGregor, how many of his opponents can the casual fans even name? Even when he "won" the title, he beat a last minute replacement in Al Iquinta. I love Al, but how many fans that weren't die hards could even pick him out of a line up?

It's both their fault. Khabib got suspended and then accepted the longer suspension. The UFC put him on a morning PPV with an awful undercard.

I agree that Khabib's style or personality isn't one that is going to win a ton of fans, but I do know that everyone was extremely excited to see him fight again after that Conor fight. If he had fought vs Ferguson 4 months later with a decent co-main then we might have a star despite his faults.

 

[m9]

Weirdly enough, UFC is floating this story that the event is going to be huge based on pre sales already...

Early numbers for UFC 242 suggest massive pay-per-view event

I mean, I personally don't see it and won't get it if it happens, but they seem confident...

Maybe on a worldwide scale it will be big, but I don't see it as a big PPV in North America at all. We'll see though, if I'm wrong and this thing is huge then fair enough.

 

[inthe6ix]

seeing khabib by submission (rear naked choke) in the 2nd rd

 

[Sheppy]

I see Khabib/Dustin going like Khabib/Connor, honestly.

 

[BGDDYKWL]

I can promise you this will not be a "massive" PPV event. You can't use ticket sales of past events and their correlation to PPV buys. Too many other variables with this one. Of course ticket sales are going to be good at this highly publicized event in an area with a lot of money. But in terms of PPV, an extremely weak card on a college football Saturday afternoon? It has no chance.

 

[c3z4r]

Khabib will smesh your boy


i'll still put something on Poirier since the odds are good

 

[MaxV]

Makhachev and Taisumov keep on getting opponents that are ranked way lower.

Both guys deserve a top 10 opponent.

 

[TerminatorBlue]

UFC ceremonial weigh ins are on...

 

[pistolpete11]

After everything that happened with Khabib-Conor, I'd think even casual fans would be interested in what happened with Khabib next