With a win for Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier at UFC 257 on Saturday, UFC president Dana White’s dream was a rematch vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov. With a loss to Poirier, and “The Eagle” appearing to be retired, McGregor may instead get a rematch vs. Poirier for the vacant title.
However, there is widespread speculation about what else McGregor may do next. Possible opponents include a rematch with Floyd Mayweather, boxing Manny Pacquiao, and fighting Tony Ferguson, among others. Driving it all is the lure of PPV money.
These are the biggest PPVs of all time:
1. Mayweather vs. Pacquiao (4.6 million)
2. Mayweather vs. McGregor (4.3 million)
3. McGregor vs. Nurmagomedov (2.5 million)
4. Mayweather vs. de la Hoya (2.4 million)
5. Mayweather vs. Álvarez (2.2 million)
6. Tyson vs. Holyfield II (1.99 million)
7. Tyson vs. Lewis (1.97 million)
8. McGregor vs. Diaz II (1.65 million)
9. McGregor vs. Poirier II (1.6 million)
10. Lesnar vs. Mir II (1.6 million)
Missing from the list is the WWE, which doesn’t make an appearance until:
28. WrestleMania 23 (1.2 million), when Donald Trump showed up.
In a recent exclusive interview with Stephanie Chase for Digital Spy, Irish WWE superstar Sheamus (real name Peter Bobby Farrelly) says Irish UFC superstar Conor McGregor coming to the WWE is inevitable.
“He’s teased it a couple of times,” said Sheamus. “He’s still staying active, he’s a lad who’s won belts, he’s done a lot, so I think he’s that type of person who’s always trying to try his hand at something different. I think WWE would suit him down to the ground. You know, we’ve had a lot of people come in and out, Mayweather came in, a lot of celebrities have come in, a lot of sports people.
“So I don’t think anyone would raise eyebrows if he came in to WWE. I don’t think it’s if, I think it’s a matter of when to be honest.”
“If he wants to come in there with me, that’s grand. He might get the fight of his life there, he might get couple of slaps he’s not used to. But that’s what it’s all about, getting in there and seeing a different type of environment.”
“In UFC you fight once a year or twice a year, in WWE we’re fighting every week. We’re taking big bumps every week, the physicality we go through is crazy. It’s a different world we’re in, I think it’s definitely more competitive, it’s definitely more physical. It takes more edge being in WWE than it does doing the UFC stuff. I’ll probably get slated online for saying that but until you actually do our schedule you don’t really realise how tough it is.
“But as I said, if he wants to come in and give it hand I have no bother stepping in the ring with him.”
While MMA fans often dismiss professional wrestling as a farce, they should know their history.
While people from various fighting styles have been cross competing since time immemorial, modern mixed martial arts was born at UFC 1 on November 12, 1993 . It was a continuation of Vale Tudo contests that had been going on for generations, inspired by the desire of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioners to see what really works in a fight.
Thus BJJ is widely acknowledged as the origin of mixed martial arts. However, professional wrestling also played a massive and relatively unheralded role.
While the UFC was founded by Rorion Gracie, if you follow the lineage back, you hit pro wrestling. Rorion learned the art from his father Helio. Helio learned it from watching his older brother Carlos Sr, who in turn learned the basic techniques, from high ranking Judoka Mitsuyo Maeda. Maeda came to Brazil as a professional wrestler.
Further, prior to UFC 1, there were mixed rules bouts in Japan with submissions on the ground and KOs from strikes standing, the definition of MMA. Again, the lineage goes back to pro wrestling.
Karl Gotch learned Catch-As-Catch-Can wrestling at Billy Riley’s Snake Pit in Wigan, England. In the 1970s he taught those skills to Antonio Inoki, Tatsumi Fujinami, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Satoru Sayama, Masami Soranaka, and Akira Maeda, among many others. That group of Japanese athletes was in addition variously skilled in a variety of other martial arts, including sambo, karate, kickboxing, Muay Thai, and Judo.
In 1984, the Universal Wrestling Federation was formed; it showcased a new Strong Style form of professional wrestling, using real technique and real contact, but with a predetermined or worked ending. When the UWF closed, the wrestlers took things in a variety of directions, some of them real combat sports.
Yoshiaki Fujiwara’s proteges Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki founded Pancrase. Satoru Tiger Mask Sayama founded Shooto. Caesar Takeshi founded Shoot boxing. And Akira Maeda founded Fighting Network Rings. Shooto began holding amateur matches with what we would describe as MMA rules in 1986, and pro fights in 1989, several years before UFC 1.
This group produced some of the greatest fighters in the history of the sport. The greatest heavyweight fighter in MMA history for example, in Fedor Emelianenko, who got started in RINGS.
And this UWF-1 match from December 5, 1993, features a man who went on to become one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time, Kazushi Sakuraba. Saku’s opponent is Allen Coage, a former bouncer from Bayonne, New Jersey, who won a bronze medal in Judo in the 1976 Olympics.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=198775964572257
What do you think UG? Will Conor appear in the WWE, and if so when? And is the WWE tougher on the body than the UFC?
