UFC 264: Poirier vs. McGregor 3

The official Tapology discussion thread for the event!

To be fair to Stephen A Smith, He was right about Cowboy in the McGregor fight even though everyone hated him for it, But he’s also was ****ting on WMMA a while back with quite sexist comments. But hey 1-1 ain’t bad, that 50%

I’m kinda joking, Stephen A Smith is like giving the dumbest person, the loudest voice, sure it entertaining to laugh at them, but it bring down the IQ of everything

* Edited at 07.06.2021, 3:47 PM ET *

@DamienHandel420

Neither Stephen A Smith nor Max Kellerman belong anywhere near an MMA event.

For transparency, I'm not a big ESPN or social media guy. I'm also an ice hockey fan and fully aware Stephen A has a history of commenting on things he knows nothing about.

This entire thing is actually great example of how social media has eroded public discourse. A big part of Smith's schtick is taking advantage of the fact that 95% of sports fans won't read his entire quotes or hear his full sound bites. He's a bit of a troll, and a really good one. 

Smith literally just said he's not a fan of women's MMA. He doesn't like seeing women being violent. I don't think that's even controversial. He didn't say women shouldn't fight and he wasn't telling any of them what to do. In fact, he was mostly talking about women fighting men. He only dropped the comment about not enjoying watching women after saying they should never be allowed to fight men. While not stating directly, he seemed to insinuate that he wouldn't be ok with this under any circumstance: whether it's Amanda Nunes trying to fight a man or a biologically male fighter who identifies as a women trying to fight Nunes for one of her belts. 

The entire rant actually begins with Stephen A applauding women and saying they're just as qualified if not better than men at running companies and sports teams.

I actually found his comments about Cowboy way more off-putting. However, I saw his point and I still see it now. The UFC threw McGregor a washed up fighter that he managed to stun with a shoulder thrust. The fact that this was McGregors last win is helping age Smith's comments a bit.

I'm actually kind of interested to see how these analyst desks work. I hope it's entertaining. 

Khabib doesn't think women should fight either and no one had a problem with that. 


Stephen A is a troll no if's, and's, or but's about it. He's a paid troll and it is his job to stir people up. 

* Edited at 07.06.2021, 4:55 PM ET *

Thanks universe I miss Goldy hell even Big John is better than the Smith guy.

So pumped for hardy v tuivasa 

We have the same locks, I have those 4 together and also in multiple different parlays 

Poirier vs. McGregor III
Dustin Poirier, TKO, R3
Forbes list Connor isn’t the guy we knew .

Stephen A Smith has yet to show any sort of respect to MMA as a sport or their athletes. If he's said anything I must have missed it then among the flurry of garbage and **** that comes out of his mouth. I get that some people are "good trolls" but holy **** they don't all have constantly bad takes about something they're supposed to be paid millions to "analyze". He's **** at his job for MMA, it's not at all a lie or an inaccurate statement - therefore he just doesn't belong anywhere near that space. You want a good troll? You already have Bisping, and he knows what the **** he's talking about. I just see this as ESPN having to justify paying these idiots so much money, so they're making them do actual work on their platform. It wouldn't be this way if UFC wasn't locked down to ESPN, oh well.

---


Also on that sparring video Colby leaked, it seems he's just using the McGregor fight week opportunity to drive up his social media interactions so he can come to the UFC and go "hey look, I'm marketable for the Usman rematch" etc. We're unfortunately living in a world now where social media metrics affect combat sports matchmaking decisions...

Hall vs. Topuria
Ilia Topuria, TKO, R2
yeh this is a dangerous one for Hall in his comeback fight. Considering he's 36 and has been inactive for 2 years, he's got a big disadvantage here. Topuria is only 24 and this kid has such a bright future and if he can get a name like Hall on his record that sends a message. Topuria will be looking to come forward and also counter of the kicks from Hall who throws a ton of them. However Hall is extremely tricky, when you look to back him up he drops down and attacks your legs which are super dangerous but I do think Topuria will be aware of this and really go for the body of Hall as he's trying to back him up

Stephen A was absolutely right about the Conor-Cowboy fight. Joe Rogan fans who've been tricked into this "Cowboy is a fighter's fighter" thing got mad, but that was a cartoon fight from the matchmaking and turned out to be a cartoon fight in the cage. Cowboy didn't have a single offensive attack, and Conor basically KO'd him with a shoulder strike. 

Stephen A Smith is an absolute goober, but he got that one right. That was a PPV main event...

@checkLeftHook. I figured he put the video out because its Dustins fight week. For the last couple weeks he has made it sound like the guy really was some amateur who shouldn't have been in there when in reality he's a 23 fight pro vet. In which case I don't see anything wrong if they were hard sparring and he got caught and dropped. 

He really hyped it up like it was something malicious. 

Yeah it was a tune up fight for conor coming back after so long

Hall vs. Topuria
Ilia Topuria, DEC
Ryan bout to get exposed

Stephen Smith is a Cancer to sports.

Has Wonderboy every really fought a good grappler or a good grappler who tried to grapple? The best grappler he fought are Woodly who took him down the few time he tried in their fights and  and Rory Mcdonald who only attepted 2 takedown and just want for imanari rolls in 25 minute. Gilbert will go for takedown in this fight and he be better takedown threat then Masvidal and Luque as he a jiu-jitsu world champion. People are saying Wonderboy takedown defence is unstoppable but I don't know because who tested it. I think it be more of a question if he fight an Usman or Colby

* Edited at 07.06.2021, 8:29 PM ET *

I can never tell how much hype Mcgregor fights have these days. The rivalry for this one seems even more forced than usual.

It's so weird to me that all Conor's hype for this fight is based on the idea that Dustin got lucky with the leg kicks or something? Dustin chopped him down in multiple different ways, and Conor was completely spent after one round. That was the least flukey outcome imaginable.

Du Plessis vs. Giles
Trevin Giles, TKO, R3
Both of these guys have a similar amout of professional experience, however, Giles has fought the better level of competition over his career. Both of these guys are diverse finishers, 30 of these guys 33 professional fights have ended inside the distance. FDGTD is one of my favorite bets on the card here. I think Giles is just a little bit better everywhere so I'm picking him to win inside the distance due to the fact that 100% of Dricus fights have finished ITD. Balls-Deep Breakdown of this fight in the video. Enjoy!

Hall vs. Topuria
Ilia Topuria, DEC
Within every Ryan Hall fight lies a very interesting stylistic matchup. Both of these guys are undefeated in the UFC officially (6-0 combined) so somebodys undefeated record is going to take a loss after this one is over. The most compelling stat in this fight is the fact that Topuria (24) is 12 years younger than Ryan Hall and still has 1 more professional MMA fight. I think Topuria will be better in the standup and as long as he pressures Hall and doesnt make any huge mistakes on the ground he should beat Hall handily here. Hall is only absorbing 0.96 SS per minute thus far in the UFC so its obvious that his opponents have been unwilling to engage with him thus far. That being said Topuria is the best grappler Hall has faced up against so far so I doubt Topuria will be terrified to engage on the ground with Hall. I'm picking Topuria by decision but I feel that the Topuria ML is to wide to bet. Detailed, Balls-Deep Breakdown of this fight in the attached video. Enjoy!