UFC 264 and Conor McGregor’s Little Shop of Horrors

 

Conor McGregor’ Little Shop of Horrors, The Reality Behind the Conjured Facade May be Depressingly Simple. Behind the unmitigated fuckery, aided and abetted by Dana White and Joseph James Rogan, Conor McGregor’s “Little Shop of Horrors” was on full display at UFC 264 for those who had not seen it before. Pencils Sketch Copyright, iLikeWallPaper.Com Artist, iPhone Wallpapers 1125×2436 PIX.

UFC 264 revealed nothing that people with sight and insight didn’t already know about a pretender named Conor Anthony McGregor. Truth of the matter is that he was a genuine fake from day one, from the nickname “The Notorious” which belonged to Biggie Smalls through the tattoo (which appears to have been a blatant rip-off of John Mario John, a Canadian model’s tattoo design) to the Ali-esque penchant for predicting knock-out rounds. The bravado was false and the rhodomontade pure high school juvenilia.  McGregor’s antics never appealed to men with a more steely reserve or classic form of machismo; never! What the off-kilter McGregor persona fed on from day one were minds hatched in a social media/WWE hothouse. 

 

The “Feed Me” composite that simplifies what may be at the heart of the Conor McGregor Roscharch. Graphic Composite: 900×900 PIX

But beyond the unmitigated fuckery, what UFC 264 proved (once again) was that a string of dubious early wins were a set up for a monetized con – and arguably the worst thing to ever happen to fans who unfortunately flit between MMA and WWE. It was also the worst thing to happen to Conor McGregor. (Read stories of why this was so below and why McGregor’s early wins were all sus.)

And if you wanna save yourself a little time and energy,  look at what happened to Ronda Rousey and you’d “Cliff Note” the entire story because the twain are peas in a pod, …… or salt-encrusted nuts in a shell.

POINT: Both were brittle one trick ponies who crackED spectacularly under middling pressure. (Did we say crack!)

Middling you say? Yes, middling because the likes of Holly Holm, Chad Mendes, Nate Diaz and even the recently resurgent Dustin Poirier were not certified killers in the mould of say a Chuck Liddell, Anderson Silva, Cris Cyborg or even Amanda Nunes.

Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey were WWE-style action figurines collusively promoted by Dana White and Joseph James Rogan. Nothing more. The lack of substance applied as much to their fighting skills as to their personas and, by extension, their storied public relations faux pas. Ronda’s mean-mugging schtick for a walk in was pure  WWE from day one and so was Conor’s octagonal strut – another thing he stole from WWE Honcho, Vince McMahon. Can’t make this stuff up. (Google Conor McGregor and “the Billi strut” and see what comes up.)

Think high risk and high reward on a 50/50 split, which basically defaults to gambling odds – and ya know what they say about the house and betting against it, right?

In Conor McGregor’s case, his marketing antics, camouflaged a relatively talentless blowhard who was just as unbalanced as Ronda Rousey in stressful situations. Both were fine as long as they were winning and absolute train-wrecks as soon as the facade began to crack. (Oooh, there’s that “CRACK” thingie again!) Their final days mirror each other to a “T” for this very reason. The twain were as incapable of confronting adversity as they were of facing real challengers in non-scripted or insulated situations . 

Challenges and defeats (no matter how momentary) were oft cues to start unravelling and UFC 264 was an emphatic case in point in Conor McGregor’s case, replete with Trump-like denial of reality.  The stream of garbled invective coming out McGregor’s mouth from the mat (after the leg break) was revelatory only to people who had not been paying attention – former opponent Khabib Normadomedov notably excepted. For McGregor, the desperate hour returned with neck-snapping whiplash and along with it, the collapse of any pretense of decency.  

Khabib Numagomedov (God bless his heart) gets a bit stumped when it comes to trying to describe Conor McGregor. Consequently he often defaults to Gothic/religio descriptors which are as odious as Papakhas on an Irish thug’s head.

The redacted truth may be that, like Donald Trump, Conor McGregor is not really evil in the Mephistophelian sense of the word but just a vacuous homunculus who engages in awfully hellish things. Yes, like Donald Trump, Mcgregor engages in acts devoid of recognizable humanity.

Both do horrible things because of the homunculus proportions of their manhood, hence the trademark bellicosity and constant need for reassurance and d*ck noodle strokin’. Both get really riled up when their inner midget is in danger of being exposed. These are grown men with temperaments of a chihuahua – certified ankle biters who unfortunately have the capability of inflicting real pain on people at the receiving end of their fuckery. But that said, their other threat is the demands they place on people around them. The Mephistophelian evil in their case is the effect rather than the cause, if that makes sense.

Case in point, the little monster born inside McGregor with his first “win” (or a semblance of it) had to be fed and fed, and fed often.  The problem was that the wins, ever since Jose Aldo, had been few and far in between when not fighting relative midgets or dudes he knew he could physically bully and beat. For the longest time McGregor fought relative nobodies or smaller dudes he knew he could physically bully after cutting weight to Skeletor proportions – but that said, McGregor nearly miscalculated with Chad Mendes.

What may be ailing McGregor lately is that  the one hundred mill he made sham-boxing Mayweather may perhaps be running low due to documented Ibiza habits, scandals and lawsuits that seem to be snapping at his heels like (yes) a vengeful chihuahua. Karma never loses.

The “evil” that Khabib Nomagomedov  sees in Conor may not be the cause of what he decries, but the effect of McGregor’s patented lack of real manhood multiplied by the aforementioned little-shop-of-horrors aspect.

My name is BNSG and this has been a free MMA tip.

Related Stories:

The Unbearable Lightness of Conor McGregor (Incrucible.Net)

The Conor McGregor Hype Train Exposed at UFC 189 (Incrucible.Net)

The Rise and Fall of Conor McGregor and How The Mouthy Irishman Stumbled (Incrucible.Net)

Conor McGregor Pulls a “Ronda Rousey” at UFC 202 (Incrucible.Net)

Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather, A Non-event of Epic Proportions (Incrucible.Net)

Conor McGregor and the Sycophantic Press In An Echo Chamber That Is the UFC (Incrucible.Net)

Countdown to UFC 229 and the End of the McGregor Con (Incrucible.Net)

Conor McGregor Appears to Swing at Machine Gun Kelly with His Cane During Red Carpet Ruckus at VMA Awards (People Magazine) Can’t make this “ish” up.

 

Filed under: Uncategorized, BNSG on the MMA tip, Conor McGregor, Dana White, Joe Rogan, John Mario John, John Mario John -Canadian Model Tatoo, Little Shop of Horrors, MMA, Ronda Rousey, UFC

Jon Jones vs Francis Ngannou: The Pesky Return of Jones’ Nightmare Post UFC 260

Jon Jones vs Francis Nganou Post UFC 260: The Pesky Return of Jones’ Nightmare

Francis Nganou’s crushing win over Stipe Miocic last night brought Jon Jones to the precarious place he was back in 2015 with a freight train named Rumble Johnson coming straight at him.  For the youngest UFC Light Heavyweight Champion who had (with the exception of Gustaffson) handily beat every challenger in his path some seven times over, this was not a familiar or particularly comfy place to be in. Reason?

Just when Jon Jones thought it was safe to come out from under his safe blanket, out pops Francis Ngannou to set up Jon Jones vs Francis Ngannou: The Pesky Return of Jones’ Nightmare Post UFC 260. Francis Ngannou is is Rumble Johnson on Yohimbe boost. No picograms here; no picograms. Pic – Getty Images

Jones understands the language of violence and dominance at an elemental level. And with Rumble Johnson, he knew that he was no longer the alpha dog in the yard given Rumble’s instinctual grasp of the language of dominance and proven predilection for crushing crania and turning guys’ lights out. (EXHIBIT 10: The slugger had cracked Gustaffson’s cranium in front of  horrified Swedish blondes). Given that instinctive reckoning, Jones had been deferential to Rumble when he was not and hiding his dis-ease behind the clowning and awkward on-camera punking of Dana.

Jones may not be as instinctively unsettled by Nganou as he was by Rumble due to personal and sub-cultural code idiosyncracies, but he is a realist. Francis is indubitably the more physically dominant of the two, and there is a distinct pheromonal odor that goes with that ish. Given unforced choices, Jones would have nothing to do with Rumble or Nganou in this lifetime. And my sense is that he will find a convenient financial pretext for NOT fighting Francis Nganou and sit out out as long as he can while hoping that a Derrick Lewis, Stipe Miocic or some other heavyweight dude not named Jones scrapes by the new champion to afford him safer place from which contend. That is how Floyd Mayweather curated his “undefeated” record into fake “undefeated” territory. Besides,  Jon Jones grew up with two NFL Ngannous, so he intimately knows what the deal of being mounted and dominated is.

“Out of mouths of babes, out of the mouths of babes indeed …..” Youtube Truth, Uncut and Unmoderated.

Peralez2383, 17 Hours Ago: “Time to triple the picograms” (Youtube Commenter, Jon Jones Responds on Being Afraid Afraid of Fighting Francis Ngannou)

If the teasing gets to him and he decides to risk it all and fight the African nightmare named Francis, it may very well be the end of his undefeated but asterisked record. In the interim, he will have to put up with Israel Adesanya who will probably troll him to death with the opening salvo coming from non other than the Shaven Head of the UFC himself:

“If I’m Jon Jones and I’m home watching this fight, I start moving to 185,” (Dana White at UFC 260 Post Fight Press Conference, Las Vegas, NV)

To which Jon Jones replied with a weak: “Go to 185? I didn’t gain all this weight for no reason” (Jon Jones Twitter). 

But equally weak and telling was Jones initial response to Francis Ngannou’s victory and intimations of a match-up between the two. “Show me the money,” Jones tellingly responded which translates into, “I really don’t wanna fight this dude, but if I really had to I need a good pretext to back out.” A dude who was really dying (pun fully intended) to prove “his self” would have said, “It’s on! – pending the working out of financial details!” That is the sound of a guy who wants to fight, not the hedgey, “Show me the money!” which sounds like a guy who wants to live a “loooong life ….. (coz) longevity has its place.”(MLK) This ain’t the sound of a man who “has been to the mountain and seeeen the promised land.” (Again MLK)

Another reason which points to Jon’s fear is that, “Show me the money” would have sounded strange had he said it of fighting Stipe, Derrick Lewis, Israel Adesanya or any man not named Francis “The Predator” Ngannou. But come to think of it, ducking Ngannou makes a lot of survival sense; fuck all that legacy B.S. which is for true believers without an ounce of Mayweather street sense. In this sense, Jon Jones and Israel Adesanya have something very much in common: they take on opponents they think they can beat. The only time Adesanya diverged from this tried and true stratagem to fight Yoel Romero, he nearly paid for it with one of his nine lives. He gamely survived by choosing not to engage the Cuban nightmare after his orbital got crushed in front of UFC ring girls. For both  Jones and Adesanya respectively, Gustafsson and Reyes for Jones and Kevin Gastellum for Adesanya,  were gross miscalculations which nearly cost them their then undefeated records, which is one of the reasons Jon Jones will come in as a dog should he decide (against street sense) to fight Francis Ngannou. And early moneyline is already showing Jones as a dog at +160 versus Ngannou’s -180.

My bet is that this fight does not happen ….. at least not anytime soon. Inspite of his instagram protestations, Jones doesn’t want it and he is gonna push the money pretext as hard as he can and Dana will push back even harder. Perfect partners in this bizarre dance.The likelihood of Jones relenting (in the name of legacy) is infinitely zero. So there you have it.

This is BNSG on the MMA tip ……….. gratis.

Related Links:

• Fightin’ Scared on the Meal Maintenance Plan: The Final Word on Israel Adesanya vs Yoel Romero (Incrucible.Net)
• Monstah’s Ball (Incrucible.Net)
• Yoel Romero vs Anthony Rumble Johnson (Bellator 258, May 7, 2021 at Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, CT, USA) 

© Incrucible.Net

Filed under: Uncategorized, Cameroon - Africa, Dana White, France, Francis Ngannou, Jon Jones, Jones vs Ngannou, Mixed Martial Arts, MMA, Superfight, UFC, UFC 260

The Rise & Fall of Conor McGregor: UFC 200 and the Cautionary Tale of How the Mouthy Irishman Stumbled

If you had been paying attention, Conor McGregor’s  pre-UFC 200 stumble shouldn’t have surprised you. The man, with the enabling cahoots of the UFC, had been running a self-promotional con inside a scam all wrapped up inside a sham since day one; the sham of a two-bit slugger who one day woke up thinking he was Mohammad Ali and then faked his way (tin-can fight after tin-can fight) till he started believin’ his own hype to the point of challenging muggers & sluggers divisions above his own; the same muggers and sluggers who finally proved his undoing. (Junior journos, don’t try this at home).

Max Holloway showed McGregor up and Chad Mendez set him up for what turned out to be ground version of the Stockton Slap.

Could this be the proverbial case of a moonshiner getting sozzled on ‘im own moonshine ?…. or the sequela of all that tatoo ink findin’ its way to Conor’s brain? Hold the thought, hold the thought ….. along with the one about that ballyhooed  “McGregor Belt”. ‘Member that one? “Shore” you do, shore you do.

Conor McGregor out of UFC 200 – The monumental fumble before the tumble. Is all that ink getting to his head?

I am loathe to waste “ink” on undeserving posers like Conor McGregor. The pithy take on why the Irish blowhard has been grossly over-rated from day one, and why his brand of hoopla is unsustainable, can be found here:

1. “The Conor McGregor Hype Train Exposed at UFC 198” and here
2. “The Unbearable Lightness of Conor McGregor (Or His Act, If That Sounds More Charitable)“

The wrestler who, until the Diaz drubbing, called Conor McGregor the luckiest fighter in the world wasn’t far from the truth. Some of us had already hazarded predictions which are resonating  with eerie prescience.

“And I’ll show you fear in a handful of dust.” T.S. Eliot, The Wasteland

LYSIS: At the heart of Conor’s resignation drama was a persona which had just been knocked off kilter by hard times that were not supposed to be part of the script …. the self-written script. Losing to a stoner who flies in from a Cabo  will do that to ya. And realizing that the illusion one had scrupulously cultivated was about to come crumbling down, can unhinge a fella, especially one who was already looking unhinged.

Filed under: MMA, Uncategorized, Ariel Helwani, BNSG, Conor McGregor, Dana White, incrucible.net, McGregor out of UFC 200, MMA, Nate Diaz, The rise and fall of Conor McGregor, UFC

The Conor McGregor Hype Train Exposed at UFC 189

And McGregor, like Jesus, cried. Revealing snapshot of Conor McGregor at UFC 189.  Credit – AP, John Locher 07-11-15

The significant moments of UFC 189 have now slipped into relative oblivion, buried by the eruption of Irish fans as Herb dean waved off the assault of a mounted slugger pounding on a cowering opponent, a scant 3 seconds before the end of round 2. Yes, three seconds. The rest is now the stuff of new-fangled legend born of recycled bombast and the roar of Irish fans who had just had a “Near Death Experience” in the moments preceding.

The slugger was Conor Anthony McGregor, a 145lb carpetbagger who has conned a bunch of Irish fans into believing that he is the realest thing since corned beef – which would be fine & dandy if he really was. Gratis Tip; he is not; and to that end a few unscripted moments slipped through the facade of McGregor as the  “Celtic Warrior” who also happens to be the second coming of Kung Fu. Here they are, not in any particular order:

Filed under: Uncategorized, Bellator Fighting Championships, BNSG, Chad Mendes, Conor McGregor, Dana White, extreme fighting, Joe Rogan, MMA, Rise & Fall of Conor McGregor, The Irish Independent, The Notorious Conor McGregor, UFC

The Inexplicable Showing (Or Non-Showing) Of Tyron Woodley at UFC 174

If Tyron Woodley thinks he doesn’t owe fans an explanation as to why he mailed in a dismal  performance at UFC 174, then he really has no idea which side of his bread is buttered;  and for a guy who is nudging 33, this is no trivial matter, assuming of course that Tyron exists in the same time zone as most of his more serious fans.

“Many are called, but few are frozen” Unknown Bard

Perhaps he needs more time to clear his head, OK that’s fair;  folks need time sometimes. So we won’t be too hard on him, but the fact that he has not let on a little about what really happened to him at the Rogers Arena on June 14th, is a tad troubling. And no, the pat “I lost to a better man” is not even close to enough in this case. It is not enough because people who had seen Tyron Woodley in his buzz-saw performance against Carlos Condit could not, in any way, shape or form, connect him to the Tyron Woodley who showed up at UFC 174.  The Tyron Woodley of UFC 171 was a buzz-saw; and the Tyron Woodley of UFC 174 was a bleepin’ zombie. Put another way, UFC 174 looked like a movie in which Tyron was playing the part of a can. Why?

The Chosen One …. as in “Many are called, but few are frozen.” Tyron Woodley has some serious, serious splainin’ to fans and the like  after his dismal performance at UFC 174.

Filed under: Consumer Watch, MMA, Uncategorized, Dana White, Joe Rogan, Mixed Martial Arts, MMA, Rory MacDonald, The Chosen One, The Frozen One, Tyron Woodley, UFC 174, Woodley vs Burns

Jones vs Gustafsson II & The Jones Train Wreck That Led Up To It

Jones may be Light Heavyweight Champion, but you wouldn’t know it looking at his PR machine, or what passes for it …. And he is not alone in the UFC when it comes to this. And no boys & girls, I’m not suggesting he run for choirboy or aspire towards the silent machismo of Cain Velasquez.  Jones could play Darth Vader for all I care as long as he exhibits a measure of self-awareness and control of the cumulative message he is putting out there. Again, Jones is not alone in this matter when it comes to UFC sluggers & muggers. The only reason I am singling him out this time is because he is the most visible and recent example of piss-poor public relations of  UFC fighters who could do so much better. (Read about Rowdy, Rowdy Ms. Ronda Rousey here.)

Jonathan Dwight “Jon” Jones: The young man who could have had an unbesmirched run at “GOAT”, now saddled with all kinds of image problems he could have done  without. Truism: The accidental heel makes the worst kind of heel in any sport.

Regardless of whether Jones wins the Gustafsson vs Jones rematch at UFC178, here is what a sizeable portion of MMA-hood has learnt about Mr. Jones since September 2013:

1.  Jones’ petulance and impulsiveness gets the better of him at times, especially when it comes to social media. Remember the petulant “It’s my career, not yours”? If you missed it here it is. And the problem for Jones goes beyond the petulance, to his use of social media and apparent lack of judgment when it comes to that. Big, big problems for Jones, and the people in his inner circle should have the cajones to tell him.

2.  Jones has credibility problems of his own making. And so does his PR/Management coterie. Jones’ attempt at ‘splaining away the delays in signing Jones vs Gustafsson II have about as much credibility as the UFC’s when it came communicating whether the delays were the result of new contract negotiations or Jones’ preference for fighting Daniel Cormier first.

Quoth Jones: “There was never an issue with a contract.  I was traveling and finally got to Vegas and got to talk with Dana and Lorenzo.  We talked and September 27th, I’ll be fighting Gustafsson.” (Jon Jones). If you believe that, stay away from Brooklyn-like Bridges, just in case folks start hanging “for sale” signs on them.

And this week, Jones Manager, Malki Kawa, tried to explain away the whole fiasco in terms of  failed communication:

“I think Dana [White] and Lorenzo were trying to get a hold of us while we were in Brazil and because of the communications and stuff like that we never received their calls, or Jon’s phone wasn’t working, whatever it was, we just never got on the phone with them,” Kawa said. “When we got back into town, we had this meeting and it was just basically, everybody just said their piece and came to agreement on everything and it was done. It wasn’t that hard at all.” (Malki Kawa, MMA Hour)

Again, if you believe this, stay away from New York landmark bridges. Fat Fact: Jones is a certifiable troll when he is isn’t  throwing superman suplexes or cracking orbitals in the octagon. And it is exactly for this reason that he needs better management than he is paying for right now. Beyond reining in his worst instincts, such management would have to tell plausible stories. Remember the phone? Specifically how Jones’ phone keeps popping up in his screw-ups? I’ll tell you what, after the latest PR gaffe,  I’d never buy a used car from Mr. Kawa.

3.  Jones PR problem is a combination of his own immaturity, terminal self-absorption and just mediocre-to-bad management.  Don’t believe Greg Jackson when he says he’s  just “a bucket man’, a menial trainer. No, no, no. That, he ain’t. ‘Member that first Chael Sonnen fiasco that parted the UFC waters the firs’ time? Well, that piece a’ work had Jackson’s greasy li’l fingers all over it. THAT, if you care to know, was the beginning of Jon Jones “troubles” with UFC and Dana White.  ‘Member the “sport killer” moniker Dana hung around Greg Jackson like a scarlet letter? Well, we do.

4.  There  was a fairly well coordinated blogsphere campaign to storm the UFC Bastille when Dana White & UFC stood their ground on Jones vs Gustafsson II instead of Jones vs Cormier proffered by “Duck City Jones.”  Yahoo’s Elias Cepeda and some Bleacher Report hacks, not to mention thousands of blog commenters, were a big part of it. Cepeda’s attempt to sound thoughtful and (gasp) analytic, was laughable in the extreme. Please peruse the article. “Jone’s new found power”? Which nut of Jon Jones was Mr. Cepeda swinging from, the left or the right one?

And just yesterday Mr. Tomas Rios joined the fray with a straining screed that will give him hemorrhoids before it sheds any light on what is clearly a knotty subject. Racism ain’t over in America, but trying to shoehorn it into an argument that can hardly contain it does more harm than good for the cause. Commending Jon Jones’ now-deleted  Instagram video as  “15 seconds of pure personal manifesto” and describing it as awesome” discredits Mr. Rios even before his own 15 minutes of fame have begun.

5.  But on the upside, if one can really call it that, this chaotic overture to UFC 178 is gonna create the most palpable electricity ever since Carwin vs Lesnar, but never ever believe that this was all planned as some nut-munchers would have you believe. The interweb was teeming with malevolent Jones muppets, most of them masquerading as fans. And little of what they posted was worth reading.

Taking this fight under UFC duress is not gonna serve Jon  Jones well, especially for a man who would have you believe otherwise. PR at its highest level is about controlling narratives and Jon Jones is anything but controlling his stories at this point. Winning Gustaffson vs Jones II will do little to erase the epic PR battle Jones is losing in his own backyard.

My name is BNSG, and this has been a free MMA tip.

Key Links:

If you are pressed for time, here is the Jack Bratcher article that lays out, in almost excruciating detail, Jon Jones’ evolution from octagonal hero to heel. Worth every second:

UFC: Ten Reasons Jon Jones Went from Good Guy to Bad Guy (Jack Bratcher, What Culture)

 

 

 

 

 

Filed under: MMA, Alexander Gustafsson, BNSG, Brian Cepeda, Dana White, incrucible.net, Jack Bratcher, Jon Jones, Jones vs Gustafsson II, MMA, Sport killer, Tomas Rios, UFC, UFC 178

UFC needs more sophisticated judges to prevent the lunacy of UFC 171 and what has gone before it

The latest casualty being Robbie Lawler. We will start with the absolute theater of the absurd. Judge  David Crosby who scored the last round 10/10 for an effective draw should have been given a breathalyzer before the fight because that is just as nutsy as the  C.  J. Ross position  in the Mayweather fight. But on reconsideration it could very well be that Judge Crosby placed the right score in the wrong round, namely  5th instead of 1st round. Go back and watch the fight.  Round one is conceivably a draw between Lawler and Hendricks and judges who gave it to Hendricks with 9/10 across the board may have been suffering from cortical blindness, i.e. seeing what was behind their eyes instead of that was in front of them. (Hint: Hendricks came into this fight heavily favored to win it and judges may not have been immune from that expectation in that first round.)

Now given an arguable draw in the 1st round, it ain’t much a stretch to give Lawler rounds 3 & 4 and Hendricks rounds 2 and 5 for a possible draw. (Please don’t ask me about that 8/10 score from the same judge Crosby  for Johnny Hendricks in round 2  because it belongs in nut ‘n honey column ……. right up there with his 10/10 draw in round 5. Did someone say breathalyzer?

Robbie Lawler: The latest casualty of curious judge scoring in the UFC @ UFC 171. When will it stop?

 

Filed under: MMA, Uncategorized, BNSG, C. J. Ross, Dana White, extreme fighting, incrucible.net, Johny Hendricks, MMA, Robbie Lawler was robbed, UFC, UFC 171

Brock Lesnar vs Shane Carwin II in 2011: The fight that will never happen now

Before Cain Velasquez  mauled Brock Lesnar, the biggest fight of 2011 was gonna be  Brock Lesnar vs Shane Carwin II – the rematch. And some of us had rashly predicted that this fight would take place by UFC 136 before Christmas of  2011.  Then came Cain Velasquez and changed all of that.  So we have to re-draw possible scenarios going forth with a mind to whether Brock Lesnar even wants to fight anymore.  Our money is on him not wanting to fight anymore inspite of the  interview in which he says he is ready to fight at the Ultimate Fighter reality TV show in which he is slated to be an instructor opposite Junior Dos Santos.

It is highly improbable that Brock Lesnar wants to face the straight bust-’em-up firepower of Junior Dos Santos so soon after Cain Velasquez. It is doubtful that Brock wants to fight in real, unscripted fights because a lot has changed since UFC 116 when Carwin showed the world how vulnerable  Brock Lesnar was. Cain cemented that impression.  Junior Dos Santos would simply confirm it.

The Descent of Brock Lesnar: Brock Lesnar, the athletic phenom who came into  MMA and the UFC saying that he wanted a piece of the  real action is no longer the man he was when he blasted Min Soo Kim into submission for his MMA debut. His appetite for eating real leather is flagging faster than his cardio at UFC 121. My guess is that  Brock Lesnar is looking for a dignified exit right now.  It will probably come from his doctors.  So people who are expecting him to fight Junior Dos Santos at the end of the next Ultimate Fighter are most probably wishing upon a star. The same applies to the Lesnar vs Carwin scenario. Methinks Lesnar is actually more afraid of Carwin than Velasquez.  Just a mental thing  that has little to do with reality. Velasquez did way more damage to Lesnar’s face and ego than Carwin ever did.

So where do we go from here. Well, flip a coin basically – but don’t expect Brock’s head to come up because he is a-leavin’ – unless something very dramatic happens with his physical and fighting condition. My reasoning is based on the surmise that it  just wasn’t just Velasquez who put the hurt on Brock at UFC 121. Brock’s body, mind and spirit were implicated in that order.  They  failed to respond when he called upon them to and it wasn’t for lack of trying. (Everybody remembers how Lesnar shot out of his corner like a cannon and attacked Velasquez with a ferocity that was stunning.  However seconds into the attack  it was clear that that the athleticism that had made up for shoddy skills was no longer there. At that point Lesnar’s spirit breaks. You can see it as Cain mounts him from the back and pounds the side of his face as Lesnar, on all fours,  covers with one hand. Everything starts to unravel in slow motion. The stumble across the octagon becomes a farcical echo of what happened seconds into the fight.)

Brock Lesnar’s breakdown built upon the montage of a decline that started at  UFC 116: the near merciless beating at the hands of the man some writer described as the  “Behemoth from Boulder.”  Brock never forgot that.  Cain Velasquez brought it all back in mind numbing waves.

Who would have thunk this. Not me.  I didn’t think Cain had a fighting chance. What a difference a few months makes.

Shane Carwin is still a strong contender for the UFC heavyweight division inspite of the double threat of Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos. Brock is really out of the picture at this point, unless his physical and fighting condition improves drastically.

Brock Lesnar: Is this the end for the self-proclaimed "meanest SOB"? I think so.

BNSG on MMA tip.

© 2010 incrucible.net @ bnsg.wordpress.com

Key Links:

UPDATE, UPDATE! Brock Lesnar out of UFC 131 (against JDS) replaced by Carwin vs JDS   (The Underground 05/13/11)

“My guess is that  Brock Lesnar is looking for a dignified exit right now.  It will probably come from his doctors.”  (BNSG, incrucible.net Oct. 9, 2010)

What is Brock Lesnar actually saying here: The perplex of a man who would be champ (BNSG, incrucible.net)

Did Shane Carwin and Cain Velasquez exposed Brock Lesnar as a shadow of his former self? (BNSG, incrucible.net)

Cain Velasquez upsets Brock Lesnar at UFC 121 and how some of us got it all wrong (BNSG, incrucible.net)

Gracie breakdown of Lesnar vs Carwin I (Gracie Jiu-jitsu, Youtube)

Filed under: MMA, Uncategorized, Brock Lesnar, Carwin beats Lesnar, Dana White, Lesnar vs Carwin II, Lesnar vs Carwin rematch, Mixed Martial Arts, MMA, Shane Carwin, UFC, UFC 116, UFC 125

In UFC 121: Cain Velasquez will be in the fight of his life against Brock Lesnar – Preview Videos

Like UFC 116 before it, Brock Lesnar vs Cain Velasquez (UFC 121) will be watched by millions standing on the balls of people’s feet. No ifs,  ands or buts about this. But for Cain Velasquez this will be the the fight of a lifetime with the baddest schoolyard bully since high school.  And the emotions coming out of Velasquez will be as real as jets squirting out of a sulphur spring. We will describe none as fear and loathing – but rest assured they would be of equitable magnitude.

The Naked Truth: Cain Velasquez - gladiatorial, proud and determined. But will this be enough to help him beat Brock Lesnar at UFC 121? Watch Cain's pre-fight interviews. He does not sound very convincing when he says he is gonna beat Brock.

The outcome of this fight is predetermined: A Lesnar win by submission or TKO via ground-and-pound before the end of round two.  Brock Lesnar is the figurative  freight train that came around just too fast for this nascent fighter. Cain will just not  be able to handle the force,  mass and momentum of a re-galvanized Brock Lesnar? (Remember that in his head, Lesnar is really fighting Carwin.) In this sense it IS kind of unfortunate that Cain’s number came up so fast.  And talking about time sneakin’ up on ya, who would have thunk that Lesnar vs Velasquez would be rolling around in just over 3 weeks? Well, its here folks. And unfortunately time just isn’t on Cain’s side – but fortunately for him he is young enough to recover from the impending loss and mount a credible comeback within about two years.

Firmer, trimmer and ready to rock: The new and improved Brock Lesnar holding court ahead of UFC 121 and his fight against Cain Velasquez. By the looks and sounds of things there is gonna be a mauling that night.

The Lopsided Facts & Factors of UFC 122 (Is Cain being overhyped by his corner?)

1. In order to even have a chance in this fight, Cain Velasquez will have to go to the max and then some. This means that on top of his ballyhooed cardio, he has to bring out more in terms of striking or wrestling (defensive or offensive) than he has brought in any one of his previous fights. Brock is a different kind of animal. Cain’s wins over Big Nog and Cheick Kongo ain’t gonna count for sh*t because none of them are within spitting distance of where Brock is right now. The beast would murder both within a single night. Welcome to the big leagues.

The challenge for Cain is gonna be upping his game to the said max then maintaining mental and strategic discipline …. you know the old, stick with the game-plan thingy? In this case n UFC 121 is gonna afford an intriguing peek into Velasquez’s mental process while under stress. Nothing is more of a measure of a man than this. Is he gonna display balls of steel or is he gonna hit the panic button and resultantly make a bunch of mistakes?

2. Velasquez is a better all round MMA fighter than Brock Lesnar will ever be in this and perhaps the next lifetime – but that ain’t gonna matter because Brock is a different kind of animal in this caged menagerie. He, Brock knows it and so do many other fighters, Couture included. Cain just doesn’t have the critical mass, size and technique-wise to get out of the belly of this beast.

This, coincidentally, is indicative of the Faustian bargain Dana White struck with the Entertainment devil when he brought Brock Lesnar into the UFC. He got a publicity card and a freakshow along with that – and one that insidiously undermines what  the UFC stands  for …. ostensibly of course. But I digress.

3. Cain who is evolving beautifully in the kicks department will not be able to make Brock Lesnar eat kicks and knees without paying dearly via instant takedowns by Lesnar.  Mir’s knees, among other things,  cost him plenty in his rematch with Lesnar. Cain’s best shot is to stand up and deliver, but does he have the base or power of Shane Carwin? BNSG thinks not. So Cain’s best counter strategy is to have the strength and artistry to  survive Lesnar’s take-downs and ground-and-pound. Does Cain have enough in this department?

Out of the Mouth of Obscene Babes: If Velasquez thinks he can put it up to Lesnar he is fucking high.I’d like to see this @@##!! step into the octagon with Shane Carwin first. Shane carwin would put him to sleep in less than 2 minutes. Velasquez doesn’t stand a chance. And if he thinks having quick hands will beat Lesnar then he must have the same kind of power as Carwin to trouble Lesnar. He dosen’t. Lesnar will take him down and ground and pound him till the ref has to pull Lesnar off of him. LESNAR WINS THIS IN ROUND ONE. Lesnar is number 1. Carwin is number 2. F@@##!!-quez is no.3  (Reader comment by Brock Lesnar Fan – October 9, 2010 @ 2:46 pm  UFC Primetime – Lesnar vs Velasquez Off To Slow Start, 5th Round)

The bottomline of is that hype ain’t gonna cut it when it comes Brock Lesnar and UFC 121.  Lesnar is just too squarely ensconced on his perch for Velasquez or his unrelenting style to make a difference. Couture was good in UFC 91, so was Carwin in UFC 116. It didn’t matter because none of them had the critical mass to defeat  Brock.

Is Cain being overhyped by his corner? There is obligatory rah rah for your man and there is straight talk about how things are gonna go down come Saturday night two weeks hence.  Check out the pre-fight scoop here and decide for yourself. BNSG thinks Velasquez’s corner is gaming the psyche here.

Stay tuned for more on the breakdown as UFC 121 approaches. It might save you mucho dinero, if nothing else.

Meanwhile the gambling line odds are suggesting “nyet” on a Velasquez win:

Martin Kampmann (+210) vs. Jake Shields (-280)
Tito Ortiz (+140) vs. Matt Hamill (-170)
Cain Velasquez (+140) vs. Brock Lesnar (-170)

You can convert the odds here FYI.

The Predictive Lowdown on UFC 121

BNSG thinks the odds are are not even close to where there should be. Cain has very little chance of beating Brock. In this respect the headline “Cain Velasquez beats Brock Lesnar” would be news in the same way that “Postman Bites Dog” would be news. It will not happen in this case. Velasquez is a great guy – and BNSG is totally behind him in this fight. But one has to make a calibrated distinction between one’s wishes and the reality of this situation. A lot of people are placing rash bets on their wishes which is a surefire way of losing the family farm if you ask “The G”. Emotionally and mentally, Cain was not even on Brock’s radar until this week. Carwin was. And when the signal for the fight is given Brock will be fighting his doubters more than the men in front of him. In this sense he will not want to just win, but win with an exclamation mark – and thus stick it to his doubters.

“Death”  by Smothering or Clubbing?

And here is how way Lesnar is gonna do it. Well timed explosions. Well timed explosions like take downs for example. Brock Lesnar will not waste time asserting himself, so expect this in the first round. And because Cain is an irrepressible customer – Brock will waste time going for total control Mir style. Too much trouble. Lesnar will try to contain Velasquez long enough to club him – either on the ground or against the cage Carwin’s style, because that is how one subdues  wiggly or unruly prey. Club it to “death” as it were. Total domination in the clinch or on the ground may not happen with an irrepressible customer like Velasquez. So go for the stun in dirty boxing or club and mug scenarios as the best way to take the piss out an unruly pug. And there is a good chance that in trying to tough this fight out l’outrance, Cain will get hurt Heath Herring stlye. Mark “The G’s” words.

Brock Lesnar in round one or two!

BNSG on the MMA tip.

Key Links:

UFC 121 Previews in English and Spanish (Yahoo Sports)

Countdown to UFC 121 (UFC Website)

Champ Brock Lesnar keeps revolving door policy for UFC 121 fight camp (Steve Marocco, MMA Junkie)

Filed under: MMA, Uncategorized, BNSG, Brock Lesnar, Cain Velasquez, Cain Velasquez vs Brock Lesnar, Dana White, gambling lines, Mixed Martial Arts, MMA, odds, Shane Carwin, UFC, UFC 121, UFC 121 prediction, UFC 121 Preview