Jordan Griffit
Student Sports Media
On Saturday, Aug. 26, we witnessed perhaps the biggest combat sports event of all time. Floyd “Money” Mayweather faced off against the “Notorious” Conor McGregor. The fight was much better than I had expected because Mayweather for once gave the fans what they wanted to see. That was two men toe-to-toe in the middle of the ring and throwing haymakers that would make Mike Tyson blush.
Mayweather had a surprising amount of power in his hands that night as he totally dismantled McGregor after the first three rounds. McGregor was making Mayweather look bad in the first three rounds. There is no room for debate on that one, but then Mayweather turned on the jets and scored a 10th round technical knockout. The most important part of this was that this fight transcended sports.
This was a water cooler talk kind of fight where even the most casual of fans could be drawn into the spectacle this one was. McGregor fought amazing for a boxer that had a 0-0 record on paper. This is a rare event–one that we might see never again–but no matter what, these two men put it all on the line and both walked out winners.
Now in the MMA world, things have changed drastically. After Jon “Bones” Jones knockout victory over Daniel Cormier in late July, Jones tested positive for steroids. The strange part is, he has yet to be stripped of his Light Heavyweight title. He has already been stripped in the past for testing positive for cocaine after beating the same opponent in Cormier. The test is currently being investigated by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), and they have not taken back the initial results of the positive test. This would be Jones’ third positive test, in the past year and a half.
UFC President Dana White has publicly said that with this positive test his career is most likely over.
Look out for a potential fight of the year candidate Saturday, Nov. 4. Cody Garbrandt vs. T.J Dillashaw is going to be a barn burner. There is certainly bad blood between the two after Diallasha left the camp that Garbrandt still trains at in Team Alpha Male.
The trash talking will be excessive, and their chances of the fight ending in a KO are high. I will take Garbrandt with a second round KO, but it is a guaranteed win, for the fans.
