Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor - Who Wins?

Tonight is the night of one of the most anticipated fights in UFC history. For the casual fan, it might be the biggest fight ever as McGregor has become the biggest crossover star in UFC history. Bigger than Lesnar, bigger than Rousey, even bigger than Aaron Brink (this is obviously figuratively, not literally). Meanwhile, Khabib Nurmagomedov is his greatest challenger. Not only does this fight have a ton of hype, but it is also incredibly interesting as both fighters have a way to win.

Each fighter's goal is obvious. For McGregor, he needs to keep distance and stay on his feet as he is vastly superior as a striker. I have been a McGregor hater for a long time as I continue to underestimate the guy. This is me being very dumb and also being slow to recognize that his training methods, although sometimes silly as shit, have been incredibly effective. Conor has always had power, but his movement in the cage and his ability for lightning quick strikes have gotten leaps and bounds better, and that is why he has had continued success despite most people feeling he is fairly one dimensional. "All you have to do is take him down," they say. But that is far easier said than done.

Meanwhile, Khabib has the opposite goal. Close the distance. That's it. It's not even getting takedowns, because those will happen if he can close the distance, but even in the clinch, McGregor is going to be so preoccupied with staying on his feet that Khabib can dominate McGregor without ever getting him to the mat. But if Nurmagomedov does get him on the ground? Oh yeah, McGregor is fucked. That's not because McGregor is incompetent on the ground; it's that everybody gets dominated when Khabib puts them on the mat. His positioning and body control are a thing of beauty, and it allows him to rain down strikes no matter how his opponent tries to escape.

McGregor is unmatched on the feet, and Khabib is unmatched on the ground. It is as basic of a matchup as the first UFC cards, just that these guys are using such advanced weapons that it's almost unrecognizable that the fights from 25 years ago are even the same sport from the fights today. And that classic contrast just adds to the excitement, as even though this fight is close on paper, it's really tough to see one guy not dominating the other. Somebody is going to figure out their game plan, and once they do, that other guy is screwed.

Ultimately, I am going to risk underestimating McGregor again, and I'm going with Khabib. Khabib's defense is very suspect standing up, but nobody has been able to take real advantage of it. Khabib isn't just undefeated; he's never lost a round to any of his opponents. McGregor is the best striker he's ever faced, but that's because McGregor is on an Anderson Silva level of striking these days where he can flick jabs with such lightning precision that they can drop opponents. Still, Khabib is in a good camp, and I just see him finding a way to get inside and take McGregor down. Once he has a chance to beat on McGregor, it'll take some pep out of his step, and it's just going to get easier from there. McGregor is incredible, but he can be physically broken. He got broken by Diaz in their first fight; he got broken by Mayweather, and I see him getting broken by Khabib tonight. I'm not counting McGregor out, but I have to pick Khabib. The only outcome I'd be surprised with is that if this fight goes the distance as either McGregor knocks out Khabib or Khabib breaks McGregor.

It's as simple as that, and I can't wait.

The Quintessential Breakdown of Brawl For All - Part 6

Brawl For All was one of the most fascinating ideas in WWE history. It's when the WWE took the reality era to a logical place, having real fights, under extraordinarily stupid rules. You may think the WWE did this to capitalize on the popularity of the UFC, and I'm sure that was kind of the case, but there was just one problem. WWE is always like five years behind on things, so instead of the UFC being fresh and exciting, it was actually at its lowest point in popularity since starting in 1993. It was literally the worst time to have Brawl For All, but as it turned out, there was never going to be a good time to have Brawl For All.

It all started with Marc Mero getting beaten up by Steve Blackman. Blackman never lost, but that doesn't mean he made the finals. We continued with Dan Severn beating up The Godfather, but Severn also dropped out of the tournament. We then went on to the second round where Bradshaw also beat Marc Mero. Finally, we made it to the semifinals, where Bart Gunn gave The Godfather his second loss of the tournament. Finally, Bart Gunn completed his amazing tournament by knocking out Bradshaw. 

And even though last time we were able to crown a champion, that's not truly where Brawl For All ended. Because it was such a massive failure, why not extend it for one more match, six months later? Maybe in six months you can get nostalgia for something nobody enjoyed? Add a super fat guy, and you've got a recipe for success.

This was not Butterbean's first foray into a WWE ring, as about a year and a half earlier, he took on Marc Mero in a boxing match that was clearly a work, as Butterbean was taking cheap shots on Mero, and Mero was raking eyes with boxing gloves and choking Mr. Bean with tape. Outside of the WWE Network, the only place to watch it is an incredibly obscure website dedicated to Brock Lesnar and Sable. That's probably for the best.

But that leads us to our main event, the greatest fight of all time, Butterbean vs. Bart Gunn. Since Bart Gunn won Brawl For All in August, he used that to catapult his career to...uh...honestly, even more irrelevance than ever. Like, it's truly incredible how irrelevant he became. After winning Brawl For All, he had one wrestling match before his fight with Butterbean, a Hardcore Title match he lost to Bob Holly in February of 1999.

So, yeah, people were jacked for this Butterbean fight. Now of course a fight of this magnitude could only be settled at the Grand Daddy of Them All, WrestleMania XV. Bart Gunn now had a nickname, as he was now Bart "The Hammer" Gunn. How do you not make your name The Nail? Nailgun? Come on, it's too easy. When it comes to nicknames, I guess you could say I "Nailed" it.


You're probably not going to believe this, but the wrestler who has dabbled in punching did not fare too well against the World Champion Boxer. The fight started with Butterbean throwing a two-punch combo that LITERALLY spun Bart Gunn around. And things actually got worse from there. Butterbean started attacking the body just to set up a body-head combo that knocked Gunn loopy before Butterbean knocked him down. Bart Gunn got up, and Bart Gunn really shouldn't have gotten up.

Yeah, that body-head combo got him again.

Basically, Bart Gunn trained boxing casually where Butterbean was an actual boxer. It would be like Conor McGregor trying to fight Floyd Mayweather, and yes, trust me, when that match goes down, McGregor has less than a zero percent chance of winning. But even though McGregor has no chance of being a Boxing Champion, he actually currently holds a much MUCH more prestigious title.

Conor McGregor is your current WWE Brawl For All Lineal Champion. This is clearly why Floyd Mayweather wants this fight. The chance to retire with the greatest title in all of combat sports is too much for him to pass up. Yes, Floyd claims that he only cares about money, but the Brawl For All Title is truly priceless.

CM Punk Wasn't Brave for Fighting in the UFC

Since I love MMA and pro wrestling, this whole CM Punk fight has been right in my wheelhouse. I honestly don't think he embarrassed himself. There have been plenty of people who have gotten steamrolled in the UFC, and it does not only include crappy fighers. I mean, Cub Swanson is a top featherweight, and it took Jose Aldo seven seconds to take him out.

Oh yeah, and Jose Aldo, likely the greatest featherweight fighter in history, after months of shit talk from his opponent, got knocked out in 13 seconds against Conor McGregor. So, no, I don't think CM Punk embarrassed himself by getting destroyed in two minutes.

Still, CM Punk is not a UFC level fighter. Honestly, I'm not even sure if Mickey Gall is a UFC fighter. Still, that's no reason to shit on Punk.

But let's also slow down on the opposite end for people praising CM Punk for his guts and determination. Is it brave to get your ass kicked? Well, kind of, but in that sense, bravery is just another word for stupidity. But I'm not about to call CM Punk stupid, because he got a guaranteed half a million dollars for this, and I wouldn't be surprised if there was another million dollars coming his way. At that point, it'd be stupid not to fight.

I mean, can you think of a single guy you know that wouldn't take $500,000 to get their ass kicked? I mean, it would be one thing if you said they were getting in a street fight, but this is sanctioned. I wouldn't even need two years to train, as I'd be willing to walk in there this weekend. It's 500 grand, just to get my ass kicked. I'd be stupid not to do it. I was thinking about it, and I'd likely take a tenth of that money. 50 grand for an ass kicking is still a really great day.

And if I get to pick my opponent? $10,000, and I'd pick John Dodson who used to beat me up a bunch back in the day, so he'd take it easy on me. If I can't know the person, Demian Maia, because he would go for the takedown and gently put in a choke to make me tap or fall asleep. I could go out for drinks afterwards, and I bet Demian Maia would go out drinking with me. It'd be a pretty pleasant experience overall.

So, Dana White, I am looking for a fight, just bring that checkbook. Because at CM Punk prices, it's not brave to do it, it'd just be stupid not to do it.

How Good Is Conor McGregor?

I am a Conor McGregor hater. I think the term is relative, but it seems that if you don't love Conor McGregor, you are deemed to be one of his haters. I can admit I was more of a hater in the past, as I thought he was a well-protected fighter who found the right style matchups to help him keep moving up the ladder, but after his last few fights, I had to give the guy some credit, as he's incredibly compelling to watch. Still, I thought Jose Aldo would smash him when that fight was announced, and I thought Chad Mendes was an even worse matchup for McGregor when he was brought in as a replacement.

And McGregor proved me wrong.

Good for him. He's super good, and although he talks a lot of shit, people who are around him seem to think he's a good dude. Does he seem like a sociopath? Of course he does, but it takes a very special person to rise to greatness without being a little mentally off. Michael Jordan was a sociopath, and his career turned out just fine.

Coming into the fight I wondered how good Conor McGregor was. After the fight, I still find myself asking: How good is Conor McGregor?

After watching that fight, you could come to so many conclusions. If you're a fan, you could say that McGregor proved that he can handle good wrestlers. A hater could just as easily say that he has shit takedown defense, and had Mendes not gassed super early, it could have been a very painful night for McGregor. Even with his striking, I think we can all agree that it is elite, but he got hit by some heavy shots from Mendes, and can he really count on his chin to absorb that much punishment without his lights going out? I really don't know.

The one thing that nobody can take away is McGregor is so smooth on his feet. I honestly think he is as smooth of a striker as anyone outside of prime-Anderson Silva. Now, I won't say that he's the best striker, as I think there are other guys who are more effective, and one of those guys is Jose Aldo. What Aldo lacks in smoothness (which isn't much), he more than makes up for in pure violence. Also, as I mentioned earlier, the hands down striking works well against guys who are not on your level as strikers, but Aldo can turn somebody's lights out with one mistake, as he has proven on many occasions.

So how good is Conor McGregor? Unfortunately, I don't really know if I learned much of anything about McGregor in that fight. He solidified his spot in the top-5 featherweights, but is he the best? It's impossible to say until he fights Jose Aldo, and that is why that fight will be one of the biggest in UFC history.