Housekeeping is not something I do well, nor for that matter is consistently using a platform to post blogs that nearly no one reads. Nonetheless, here we are again. In short, I’m moving back to substack because I did some math. I’ve been paying something in the neighborhood of 20 bucks a month over the past four years for the tavern (in various forms) on squarespace, over that time I’ve posted maybe 40 blogs, which means I’ve been paying roughly 24 dollars per post, with no real end goal or rhyme or reason. I’m a clown.
Now that the business talk is out of the way let’s get to the err… not business talk I guess? (One hilarious bit first, I can’t figure out how to delete old post so I guess they’re just going to remain as remnants of a long failed newsletter, probably like this one will next year.)
UFC 264
Not really a great card for starters. A couple of interesting inflection points for some fighters and Sean O’Malley gets to fight a can to open the PPV.
Tuivasa vs. Hardy
This should be pretty easy work for Tai Tuivasa, at least if he’s ever going to be a serious threat in the heavyweight division. Hardy has been putting people (the fans) to sleep with his recent performance and really hasn’t showed any sort of exciting or interesting moments in the octagon, aside from the occasional cheating scandal. He’s beaten a few cans and gotten beaten soundly by the two good fighters he’s faced. Tuivasa started his career with 10 wins before dropping the next three fights, he’s rebounded recently with two wins. Hardy gets very sloppy with his hands so this should be an easy win with Tuivasa catching him with low hands and sending him for a nap in the shadow realm.
Thompson vs. Burns
Thompson has looked good his last two times out after a weird couple of years in his career. Realistically, he could be on a 5 fight win streak but dropped a questionable decision to Darren Till and suffered a once-in-a-Anthony-Pettis-fight knockout to the aforementioned Anthony Pettis. Burns got dominated by the Welterweight Champion Kamaru Usman in his last fight, after going on a six-fight win streak against okay competition. The problem with the Welterweight division right now is that none of the top contenders will actually fight each other and half of those contenders are over-inflated PR stunts to begin with. I’m glad these two guys are fighting and whoever wins should be in the long line for a title shot. I think Thompson wins, but it’s important to note that he’s getting long in the tooth and might be fading, if Burns puts him out there’s no real reason for him to keep fighting, and if he wins there’s no real reason for him to fight anyone but Usman regardless of the wait.
Poirier vs. McGregor
McGregor has made hundreds of millions of dollars because he has a natural charisma that is rare in life and even more rare in prizefighting. The thing with McGregor that now seems obvious is that he doesn’t have once in a lifetime talent, he just doesn’t. Combing through his record you’ll find the great highs that made him a star, but that was nearly five years ago. He’s won one fight in the UFC in five years, and that was against Donald Cerrone, which isn’t exactly unheard of. He’s won one fight at lightweight in the UFC, ever. He’s also done a litany of bad things, very bad things, that the UFC and ESPN never talk about of course because he’s their cash cow. No one should ever expect the UFC to be a force of moral good in the world, because they’ve proven time and again that if anything they’re opposite. But it’s shameful for ESPN to run a months’ worth of ads, all the interview and hype surrounding this fight and to not once mention the rape allegation, the assault allegation, or the other rape allegation. Shameful.
On the other hand Dustin Poirier is a model citizen and an excellent fighter. It will be interesting to see what strategy each fighter comes into the cage with to end this trilogy. Certainly, McGregor will look to counter the leg strikes that were his doom in the last fight, most likely by stepping away from them. McGregor’s striking was good, not great in the second fight and that’s something that should be better in this one. A lot of people are thinking that one guy is going to try and take the other down, which I think is laughable. The most realistic course for this fight to take is the same as the second fight, both guys standing and trading until something happens. I, once again like Poirier in this fight and think if anything he’ll look better. It seems pretty apparent that the hunger is far gone for McGregor and he really doesn’t have to win fights anymore, without that motivation he’s looked pedestrian in everything he’s done.
No cut for you!
A last parting thought, the UFC recently announced a deal with crypto.com or something along those lines, to be the official on kit sponsor. The deal is worth $175 million dollars with the fighters earning a very reasonable 0% of that. That’s right, nothing, zero dollars. For a company that spent the better part of the last decade trying to outrun their past, they sure as fuck to forgot to modernize the way they treat their talent.
In just the last three weeks some of the top UFC headlines have been, this sponsorship deal that the fighters don’t get a cut of, a fighter having to start a gofundme to pay for her fight camp, and the UFC staging an interim Heavyweight Championship fight, just three months after the last one, with an uninjured champion, due to a contract dispute.
Some hoped that when WME acquired the UFC that it would help reinvent the way that fighters are treated. Instead it appears they’ve actually done worse. The new fight kit contract with Venum is an excellent example, the fighters do receive slightly more money from the deal, yet it falls well below the rate of inflation to the last deal. If you ever wondered what professional sports leagues would look like without unionized labor this is the perfect example.
We might be back with more writing at a later date, who knows.