re: UFC Fight Night 70-something - Louis Smolka vs. Paddy Hooligan - Dublin, Ireland

I'm looking at the situation through the eyes of being a promoter. Having been a part of countless concerts, wrestling, boxing/tough man, and even a couple music festivals when you have a talent that is increasingly difficult to work with and completely unreliable, you just move on.

One fighter is not greater than the UFC. I don't know how many fights Aldo has on his contract, but if he can't get w/ the program and it sure seems that he refuses to. I'd drag those fights out as long as possible, let him rot and age on the sidelines, the world goes on and forgets about him and by the time he can sign w/ Bellator or anyone else he'll be old and even less of a draw and it'll be a glossed over news bit that no one will care about since more interesting fighters will have put on great fights in the division while Aldo is on the beach wondering why the UFC doesn't return phone calls.

Would be hard choice to make, we'll just have to see how hard he makes life for the UFC.

Damn, Melendez just got suspended for a year.

Conor was at 172 recently and has to get to 145 by Saturday. Not going to be a fun week

Preview: UFC 189 ‘Mendes vs. McGregor’

THE PICK: Against the injured Aldo, or potentially even the uninjured version, I probably would have picked McGregor to bring the belt back to Ireland. Even on short notice, however, Mendes presents a much different stylistic puzzle. His crisp lateral movement will make it difficult for the pressure fighter to back him into the cage, and he remains the strongest and most technical wrestler in the division, with the takedown acumen to seriously trouble McGregor and disrupt his rhythm. That last point is essential. In a pure striking matchup, the Irishman will eventually force Mendes to the fence and overwhelm him with volume and pressure. Mendes’ takedowns, however, should prevent McGregor from settling into his preferred rhythm and offensive output. In a slower-paced fight, the brick-fisted Mendes can get his own counter game going, crack McGregor in the pocket and eat up large chunks of time. The pick is Mendes by close decision in a fun, back-and-forth fight.

THE PICK: This is a fascinating matchup. If Lawler can keep it on the feet and in the pocket for the majority of the fight, he should be able to take it, but there is no reason to think that MacDonald will oblige him. The Canadian’s great strength is his ability to dictate the pace and range of the engagement with his jab, front kick and footwork, which he was generally able to do in their first meeting. The X-factor in that kind of fight, however, is Lawler’s crushing power, and even a slow pace still gives the American the opportunity to land the big shot. Lawler has made a habit of coming out of the gate on fire, but I expect MacDonald to slow things down, work behind the jab and complete takedowns in the middle of the cage once he has eventually sucked Lawler into his pace and rhythm. The combination of top control, judicious work at range and avoiding exchanges should give the Canadian the edge, so the pick is MacDonald by close decision.

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I'm looking at the situation through the eyes of being a promoter. Having been a part of countless concerts, wrestling, boxing/tough man, and even a couple music festivals when you have a talent that is increasingly difficult to work with and completely unreliable, you just move on.

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One fighter is not greater than the UFC. I don't know how many fights Aldo has on his contract, but if he can't get w/ the program and it sure seems that he refuses to. I'd drag those fights out as long as possible, let him rot and age on the sidelines, the world goes on and forgets about him and by the time he can sign w/ Bellator or anyone else he'll be old and even less of a draw and it'll be a glossed over news bit that no one will care about since more interesting fighters will have put on great fights in the division while Aldo is on the beach wondering why the UFC doesn't return phone calls.

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So is this a normal cut for him or what?

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For the most part, yes. It's on the upper end of normal but not outside of what is typically expected. He's always looks pretty gaunt on the scales, more so than others. Could be part of his shtick, who knows. I would expect him to be in the 165 lb range on Saturday.

Thread title change?

Ya he is slacking. No thread title changes, no embeddeds etc. Hashtag getittogether

My fault bro. Been real busy lately and just kinda bummed that this fight got scrapped last minute. Losing my interest with the UFC when half the fights I'm looking forward to the most get cancelled.