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<\/a><\/p>\nCan Ilia recover from this loss? I know he can recover physically, but I\u2019m wondering if he can recover mentally. His entire game and trash talk revolves around him as being this unbeatable force and now that he has been beaten like this…..I wonder if that can be recaptured? I feel confident it won\u2019t be easily accepted by fans if he decides to continue with the overly cocky approach as before, but I wonder if HE needs that cockiness to succeed?<\/p>\n
Immediately after Gaethje pulled off the upset against Topuria, this was one of my biggest questions, for some of the reasons listed here. Topuria is incredibly talented, but especially in his past few fights, his game has sort of distilled down into a singular focus on KOing people and a massive amount of arrogance. And sometimes when a confidence fighter loses, it rattles them irrevocably \u2014 just as Mike Tyson.<\/p>\n
But, in the days since UFC White House, Topuria has carried himself exactly how you would want a fighter to after suffering such a loss. Unlike other fighters who lost at UFC White House, Topuria owned up to everything, congratulating Gaethje for backing up his talk and admitting he got whooped. It\u2019s a level of humility that suggests this will be a setback for Topuria and not a total disaster.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, this feels like a loss that was inevitable for Topuria. As he rose up the ranks, he was almost too successful and started fighting a little more recklessly than he did earlier in his career, because it kept working out. Like Gaethje\u2019s first losses in the UFC, Topuria finally met someone who could withstand his offense, and now he\u2019ll go back to the lab and approach his future fights a little more responsibly and a little more tactically. It\u2019s gonna make him a serious problem for all his future opponents.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s the path for Poatan from here?<\/p>\n Apparently, the answer is \u201ccrash out publicly about losing.\u201d<\/p>\n In contrast to Topuria\u2019s respectful, humble acceptance of losing a fight, Poatan has gone ham in public about losing to Gane. And if it were just Poatan complaining about illegal blows to the back of the head, that might be more tolerable, but Pereira is just straight up being a sore loser.<\/p>\n Earlier this week, Pereira put out his response video where he called the punch that dropped him a lucky jab, which is laughable. He then complained about the illegal strikes from Gane \u2014 which is fair, he was fouled \u2014 but he followed that up by alleging that he was on his way to winning the fight and Gane was gassing. That is stone delusional. No one watching that fight thought Pereira was winning, and while he could have turned things around, when you refuse to acknowledge basic things like \u201cthat was a good punch that dropped me\u201d and \u201cI was losing before I got dropped, it was a hard fight,\u201d it makes it seem like your complaints about the illegal shots aren\u2019t entirely earnest.<\/p>\n I think Pereira is entitled to feel a little hard-done-by, but this is also something that happens to a ton of fighters during flurries in this sport, and most other fighters don\u2019t get this up in arms about it. Many in the comments will not agree, but this is a very bad look to me.<\/p>\n Personally, I\u2019d like to see Poatan just take the loss on the chin and move on. No one thinks less of him for it, and he\u2019s still in the mix for a title shot because he\u2019s famous, and heavyweight is trash. A fight with Josh Hokit seems perfect to position him back near the top of the division and get some good mojo back.<\/p>\n Is it fair to say one take-away from Freedom 250 is that going up a weight-class remains freaking difficult? re: Alex & Ilia.<\/p>\n Topuria had already moved up to lightweight and had a KO win over a top contender. He was the champion of the weight class, and looking at him, he did not appear to be a man who could return to 145 pounds easily. He simply lost to a guy who was extremely well-prepared and presented a set of skills Topuria had never faced before.<\/p>\n Pereira, meanwhile, was bigger than Gane and did not lose that fight because of any size disparity anyway. He lost because he fought an elite striker who has never lost a striking match in the UFC, and who fought him in a way that Pereira has historically struggled with.<\/p>\n The takeaway is that styles make fights, and high-level fighters who are well-prepared for specific opponents are hard as hell to defeat. It\u2019s why defending a title is the hardest thing to do in this sport. You\u2019re always getting the best effort from an opponent, and that opponent has planned specifically to take you one. It\u2019s a really hard thing to do.<\/p>\n Daniel Cormier\u2019s Twitter controversy<\/p>\n Can you please do a deep dive on the whole DC DM stuff. Journalists need to hammer this nail until it\u2019s bent out of shape and the truth comes out.<\/p>\n So, I can\u2019t do a \u201cdeep dive\u201d because there\u2019s just not much to dive into. We have very few facts, and no reliable way to get any more. Also, I don\u2019t consider myself a journalist, for the record.<\/p>\n Here is the one thing I know to be true: Daniel Cormier\u2019s Twitter account sent out a message alleging DMs from Eric Trump asking about fixed fights<\/a>. That\u2019s the only hard fact we have. We don\u2019t know whether the alleged DMs in that Tweet are real or not, whether Cormier sent the Tweet, or anything else. Anything beyond the first bit is speculation.<\/p>\n But, if I were inclined to speculate, I believe that Cormier\u2019s version of events<\/a> \u2014 wherein he alleges he was hacked and none of this is real \u2014 is the truth. For one, subsequent Tweets out of Cormier\u2019s account that night seemed suspicious. But the biggest reason \u2014 and perhaps this is rude, but it\u2019s my personal feelings on the matter \u2014 is why would Cormier do it?<\/p>\n IF Cormier was really DM\u2019d by Eric Trump asking for inside information or fight fixing, why would he then post about it? It\u2019s not like Cormier has ever shown any animosity towards the Trump family, so unlikely he\u2019d be doing it as a political maneuver. And at the bare minimum, that would draw the ire of the President of the United States, who is close friends with his boss, and also THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. More likely, it creates a firestorm that he\u2019s in the center of, and I\u2019m sorry, but that doesn\u2019t seem like something DC would be interested in. If that did happen, I\u2019m more likely to think he\u2019d either just brush it off and ignore it, or maybe go to Dana White about it.<\/p>\n Also, why would Eric Trump be reaching out to DC for this information? He\u2019s Dad, and to some extent he, is friends with Dana White. He could simply ask Dana in person.<\/p>\n So, yeah, it\u2019s not the salacious answer that some want, but, to me, the simplest answer is that Cormier got hacked and the DMs aren\u2019t real. And if you were someone looking to stir up some online shit, the UFC White House event with one of the Trump children involved is probably the perfect combination of factors to do the most you can.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n