- 2 days ago
Conor McGregor's MMA return lasted all of a minute and change...listen as The Junkies break down his freak knee injury in his return fight against Max Holloway.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00On Saturday night, my son and I are fired up.
00:03We're watching all the UFC.
00:04And the preliminary fights were entertaining.
00:08Patty Pimblitt in particular.
00:10Patty the baddie.
00:11He's got the crowd yelling.
00:13His walkout is awesome.
00:15And then he puts somebody in a Darce choke.
00:18And it's over in like 20 seconds.
00:20But you're fired up.
00:21And you're getting ready for the main event.
00:25Which is Conor McGregor.
00:26And that couldn't have been more disappointing.
00:30What a dud.
00:31What an absolute dud.
00:32And it happens.
00:33I mean, we all tuned in to watch.
00:35And it was a joke fight.
00:37Mike Tyson against Jake Paul.
00:39Oh, gross.
00:40Remember that one?
00:40There were pros.
00:41And then there were duds.
00:43That was such a farce that I'll never watch one of those hyped for like,
00:48Oh, watch it on Netflix.
00:49Mike Tyson coming out of retirement.
00:51Or whatever the next iteration of that is.
00:53Whether it's Mayweather fighting again.
00:56Well, you know when those guys are so old.
00:59That it's, you know, very likely to be stupid.
01:02Now with Conor, I think.
01:03I mean, I certainly thought he was going to lose.
01:05But I didn't think it would be like that.
01:06I mean, that was terrible.
01:07The way that all went down.
01:08Yeah, it was so unsatisfying.
01:12And for me, look, I watched all of his fights during the rise in like 2015, 2016.
01:19All the way to the Mayweather fight.
01:20I watched it all when he fights Habib.
01:24It was reminiscent to me of the Mike Tyson phenomenon when he came back.
01:30You never really recapture that magic, right?
01:33Mike Tyson walked away from, well, walked away.
01:37He went to prison, okay?
01:39And was gone for a similar amount of time.
01:41Five years.
01:41Now, he was still in his 20s.
01:44Conor returns after five years.
01:47So that's why I said on Thursday and Friday when we were doing the show that emotionally,
01:52I want this guy to win.
01:53But logically, you take a five-year layoff, you're probably not going to win.
01:57But then we didn't even get to see him get his ass beat.
01:59Like, it would have been much more satisfying to watch him get his ass beaten.
02:03Of course.
02:04To watch him do one kick.
02:05To see somebody fight.
02:07You didn't get to see a fight.
02:08Probably tear his ACL.
02:09They haven't come out with the exact diagnosis.
02:12I know there are all these doctors online who are speculating whether he had an injury before,
02:16whether it happened after the kick.
02:18Either way, there was no fight.
02:20There was no fight.
02:21You didn't get to see a fight.
02:23Well, I'm sure you guys saw the clips of Mel Gibson before the fight telling those guys,
02:27he was like, yeah, Conor's injured.
02:29I don't know if that was doctored or not.
02:30I never know if that was like, I think that was a fake.
02:36Yeah, I think that was a fake.
02:37And like people just, everything's fake.
02:40I think that was a fake.
02:42When it's over, I'll talk.
02:43Right.
02:43But there were, you know, there's a video of him going into like a pain clinic a few days
02:48before.
02:49Now, I don't know if that's because he had torn ACL.
02:51Like he had all those marks of cupping, like I, you know, which is, I don't know the science
02:57behind it, but people do that for like pain management.
02:59I think it draws the blood in.
03:01Either way, it was just so unsatisfying.
03:04It made me think of Tyson because you went to his very last fight, EB.
03:07You can talk about that experience that even at the end when Tyson was losing to guys.
03:12I mean, like his last so-called regular fight.
03:14Not Jake Paul.
03:15Yeah.
03:15When he fought, Kevin McBride was his name.
03:19He fought at the MCI Center.
03:21Oh, that was a long time ago.
03:23June 11, 2005.
03:24You're still thinking because it's Mike Tyson that maybe he can capture that magic.
03:29And what happened in that fight, EB?
03:31I can't remember.
03:31Oh, you can't remember.
03:32He quit.
03:33He quit.
03:33Mike Tyson quit on his stool against a bum named Kevin McBride.
03:38That's a tough way to go out.
03:39It's tough optics.
03:41Yeah.
03:41I don't know.
03:42I didn't see the, I didn't see really any of it live because I was in a hotel.
03:47They didn't have Paramount Plus.
03:48I was trying to pull it up on my computer.
03:50I couldn't pull it up.
03:51Mike Mars texting me like crazy.
03:53Yeah, I was texting with Mike.
03:55The one thing that I told Mike, and I think Drabby was watching it too, and you guys can chime
03:59in.
04:01There's the fight part, right?
04:02But there's also the excitement of the walkout, and we played the music.
04:07To me, he looked different.
04:08And I think I texted you, Mike.
04:10I was like, he looks off.
04:11Like, I was nervous.
04:13A lot of people are commenting.
04:14Now, I guess it's in hindsight now with it being reported, but they're like, yeah, he
04:17didn't look right.
04:17They felt like he lost even in the walk-in.
04:21He knew what was coming.
04:22His aura was different.
04:24I know that's cheesy to say, but when he used to come in, he came in like gangbusters.
04:29And here, now, you can make an argument, because I think in his post-match tweet, he said that
04:36he came in calm, which is fine.
04:38You can come in a different persona, but what was your perception just of the walk-in?
04:42He was looking around too much.
04:44Normally, he's very locked in.
04:45He's energetic.
04:46He was looking at the crowd too much.
04:47He wasn't making eye contact with Max Holloway.
04:51Him taking his shoe off at the little check-in point where they put Vaseline on you, and
04:54he slipped.
04:55That's what a lot of people are referencing in terms of was he injured before, because
04:59he kind of stumbled out the gate there.
05:01But I've never gone from 1,000 to zero faster.
05:05It was such a bummer.
05:06I couldn't sleep.
05:07I couldn't sleep either.
05:08I was so pumped.
05:09I haven't been that excited for a UFC fight in years, basically since his last fight.
05:13And you love the UFC.
05:14You watch every, now they're not pay-per-views, but you watch every fight night and every
05:20big match, you're at the White House.
05:22Every single fight.
05:23And just for it to end like that, like you said a couple minutes ago, there's just no
05:27closure.
05:27Like, you kind of wish he got his ass kicked or he at least got to fight, because then
05:32you could put it to bed and be like, you know what, he doesn't have it anymore.
05:35Because now you wonder.
05:36It's like, if he was injured or if he got injured at the start of the fight, is his body
05:40failing him?
05:40Do you really think that there's greatness left in there at this point?
05:43Come on.
05:43It's hard to imagine.
05:45Well, right now, it's very apparent that his body's letting him down, because he broke
05:48his leg in his last fight.
05:49He broke his toe leading up to the Chandler fight and had to pull out.
05:52Now he ripped his, you know, MCL, ACL, meniscus, whatever it's going to be when the MRI comes
05:56out.
05:57And it's just, you don't know.
05:58You know his body's failing him, but the talent, you don't know if it's still there.
06:02So that's why, you know, I'm going to hold on to just a little more hope.
06:04You're going to keep grasping.
06:05I'm going to grasp one more time.
06:06I see what you're doing over there.
06:07I'm going to grasp one more time.
06:08But it is, it's devastating.
06:10It's never the same, though.
06:12So, you know, we got to see some great performances from Michael Jordan when he came back, right,
06:19after a couple years off, and he played with the Wizards.
06:21But it wasn't the Chicago Bulls, Michael Jordan.
06:24No, it was different.
06:25You could dub it a successful return, and it was moderately successful.
06:29He couldn't even lead the Wizards to the playoffs.
06:31Michael Jordan.
06:32I'm not sure they had a winning record.
06:34They didn't.
06:35Yeah.
06:36And he had some individual games.
06:38They were the worst team in the NBA by far when he joined them.
06:41But he wasn't the same player, like, watching him.
06:44No, no, of course not.
06:45No, he was missing.
06:46What did you think, Drab, watching the walkout?
06:48I mean, I was heartbroken.
06:50As soon as the fight started during the walkout, I was just too sized.
06:54I wasn't analyzing Conor's eyeballs or kissing to the fans, like, whatever.
06:59Oh, I didn't think that was a big debate.
07:00He just looked different.
07:02I mean, he was older, and he's been five years.
07:05He's probably a little nervous, I'm sure.
07:07Yeah, he did look nervous.
07:09I mean, look, it's two freak accidents, his last two fights.
07:13It's not like he's got his ass beat.
07:15It's just, what do you want him to do?
07:18If I had to bet, I would bet he came in there injured.
07:21Well, I don't know.
07:22You can see how devastated he is.
07:23As soon as it happens, as soon as, like, the fight is over, he's distraught.
07:28Yeah.
07:29And I'll be honest, everyone's doing the Zapruder film of everything.
07:33Right.
07:33Frame by frame.
07:34I've stumbled a hundred times trying to take my shoes off with my toes.
07:38Right.
07:38Like, yeah.
07:40I mean, I think if he had a torn ACL or beforehand, he's not doing a flying roundhouse kick the
07:47first two seconds of the fight.
07:48His knee may have been weak and compromised, but probably wasn't shredded when he walked
07:53into the ring.
07:53That would be my guess.
07:54Yeah.
07:54But he's a psycho because in Dustin Poirier, the fight that he broke his leg, he had fractures
07:59on his shin and he came out throwing missiles with that leg right off the rip.
08:03He was like, I wanted to get a feel for it.
08:05He's just a psycho with that.
08:06So even if he did have a knee injury, he claims he doesn't.
08:09His coaches claim he doesn't.
08:10So I'm going to take them at their word and say it was a freak accident.
08:12But in the past, when he's injured, he will just throw caution to the wind and throw that
08:16limb.
08:16Of course, I think for, you know, trying to hang on to all that money, he's got to say
08:20he wasn't injured.
08:21Yes.
08:22So I would take what he says as a kind of a grain of salt.
08:25Couldn't you say he threw that kick basically so no one will try to take the money from him?
08:31To question him?
08:31Yeah, yeah.
08:32Maybe.
08:32You say, well, if I had a torn ACL, I wouldn't be able to do this roundhouse kick.
08:36Mm-hmm.
08:37I don't.
08:37Yeah.
08:38I don't know.
08:39You may never know the answer.
08:42I don't think it's getting talked about enough in terms of like online social media.
08:46And I texted JP about it Saturday morning when I woke up.
08:49Friday night, he was plus 185.
08:51Saturday, let's say around like noon, plus 275.
08:55So all the smart money was moving to Holloway.
08:57Yeah, but you could also claim like, do people know what's happening?
09:01I mean, it's possible, but I got to tell you, I was gobbling up all the content.
09:05And our buddy, Luke Thomas, listening to his podcast, everybody, everybody picked Max Holloway
09:11to win.
09:12Well, didn't I read somewhere?
09:14So if you were just paying attention that people were, you know, people, not because
09:20of necessarily an injury, just the logic that nobody comes back after five years and gets
09:23a win.
09:24The disappointing thing here is I wouldn't have minded that if it was similar to like one
09:29of his Nate Diaz fights.
09:30You didn't even see a fight.
09:31There was no fight.
09:31I mean, I couldn't imagine because I've been to four or five UFC shows now in the last
09:37couple of years.
09:38I couldn't imagine if I shelled out and I've shelled out as much as $1,300 for a ticket.
09:44All right.
09:44But imagine some of these people are shelling out 5,000, 10,000, 20,000, right?
09:50Yeah.
09:50And they're there to watch.
09:52I know that Patty the baddie, that was a good fight.
09:55And, you know, Patty the bad, like all that stuff.
09:58That's cool.
09:58But people really are there for the main event, not the co-main event.
10:03They're there for the main event.
10:04Do you imagine if you shell out 25 grand, 50 grand, and then you don't even get to see
10:10a fight?
10:11But you know, you know, there's the risk of that going in to any sort of like fighting,
10:16boxing event.
10:17Like that it could be over in five seconds or 10 seconds.
10:20Over in five seconds is cool.
10:22Or it could be a complete knockout.
10:23Like, right.
10:24I mean, Conor McGregor's most famous knockout happened in 13 seconds, I believe, when he
10:29beats Jose Aldo.
10:31You're satisfied there.
10:32The fight before the main event cakes, I don't have the exact seconds in front of me, but
10:38the Patty the baddie fight was, it was over in a minute.
10:41Mm-hmm.
10:42Right.
10:43Well, the guy came in for a kick, all right?
10:46The French guy comes in for a kick.
10:49Like, Patty Pimblett puts him in some sort of headlock and chokes him out.
10:54It was that quick.
10:55Again, I don't feel bad.
10:56Everybody was satisfied.
10:58I don't feel bad for UFC marks that are bitching and moaning about losing money.
11:03They know that these fights can be over in a minute or 30 seconds.
11:08That's the risk that you take when you spend five or 10K on a ticket.
11:12If you want to chime in, 1-800-636-1067.
11:15As for, like, the conspiracy theory, I'm mostly with Drab that I don't think, here's a guy
11:21who's worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
11:23I don't think just to save his $30 million, I think it was reported that he was going to
11:29make for this fight, that he hit an injury so he could cash the check.
11:34What was his check, by the way?
11:36I saw a reported $30 million, but I don't know.
11:39$30 million?
11:40Here's the thing, though.
11:41Which is him being underpaid, by the way.
11:43Do you know how many views, like, one of Dana White's defense after the fight was,
11:48he said, look, you can say that he had some pre-existing injury.
11:54He said, we had 80 million people watch the face-off.
11:59He's like, you think if he was limping or he had some sort of problem, 80 million people,
12:03somebody would have spotted that?
12:05You would think.
12:06But think of that, 80 million people watching the face-off.
12:09According to Grok, 85% to 92% of the betting money was on Conor.
12:15Yeah.
12:17So Vegas cleaned up.
12:18Oh, Vegas took care of the business.
12:20Cleamed up.
12:21It took my money.
12:22I was the big dummy who saw the line move to Conor to plus 260.
12:27And I was like, sized.
12:28Great deal.
12:29This is a deal of the line.
12:30He's on sale.
12:3110 minutes before the fight?
12:33Hey, let me grab this real quick.
12:35Mar, didn't you put Conor in every one of your parlays, too,
12:38and you hit the first two legs of the parlays?
12:40Yeah, there's a lot of World Cup bets that finished off with Conor McGregor money line.
12:43But I did clean up pretty big with Patty Pimblitt.
12:46So broke even.
12:47Broke even, so you're fine.
12:48Yeah.
12:49That's crazy.
12:52I can't believe that.
12:53How could the betting public do that?
12:56I guess they thought they were getting value.
12:57What's up?
12:58I know.
12:58Conor's.
12:59Well, you bet on stuff like you like.
13:01So people like Conor.
13:03So they put money on it.
13:04I wouldn't bet on something like, unless I thought I could win.
13:08No, I only bet on teams I root for.
13:11Yeah.
13:11Things I want to happen.
13:12Okay.
13:12Yeah, it's more fun that way.
13:14It's more fun, yeah.
13:16What's, this is just asking off the top of your head,
13:18because this was one of the most unsatisfying outcomes I've ever seen.
13:24Yeah.
13:24That's happened before.
13:25Can you think of an event that was more unsatisfying or maybe unsatisfying to you?
13:32That, a bigger dud than that.
13:33Just a complete dud.
13:34I mean, back in the day, we would have so many Super Bowls that were blowouts that sucked.
13:38Recency effect?
13:39U.S. men's soccer team against Belgium was a big giant dud.
13:42That was another one.
13:44That was a disaster.
13:44It was a huge dud.
13:45I mean, it was a huge anticipation for the game.
13:48In the United States, you felt like the U.S. had a good chance of advancing,
13:53and they kind of threw up all over themselves.
13:55You were watching that in Outer Banks?
13:57No, I actually watched that before I left, because the game was Monday.
13:59I left on Tuesday.
14:00I'd say.
14:01I just couldn't believe how bad the team looked.
14:04I'd say a good 10 to 15 Redskins slash Commander games.
14:08Like, prime sign.
14:10So many.
14:1010 to 15.
14:11It's hard to keep count.
14:12You're just pumped, and it's over after the first possession.
14:15What about the NFC Championship?
14:17Like, against the Eagles?
14:18Commander's Eagles?
14:19That game was...
14:20That was disappointing, but you...
14:21The Eagles were a big favorite.
14:23You kind of figured that that was the way that was going to go.
14:27And you had a tiny little sweat at halftime.
14:29The Lions win.
14:30You had a tiny little sweat because Jaden was still throwing some touchdown passes.
14:36And you could grasp, like, at halftime.
14:38Like, this didn't happen.
14:40There was no fight.
14:41Yeah.
14:43The guy went...
14:44I mean, and before you knew it was the knee, like, you're like, what's going on?
14:48He's slipping on the floor?
14:49Did they not wipe the blood off the mat?
14:52Tiger Woods comebacks.
14:54Like, what he won in 2019, but since post-2019, these, like, you know, off for a year and a
15:01half
15:01come to car accident or pain pill thing, and then he withdraws after, you know, nine holes
15:06or the first round's a disaster.
15:08You know, there'll be plenty of those.
15:10That's actually probably the most analogous to what's happened with Conor McGregor.
15:13Because the last five years, he's had legal problems, his injury problems, he's partying
15:18all the time.
15:20The money changed him.
15:22Big letdown.
15:22Big letdown.
15:23The money changed him.
15:24Then, you know, supposedly he's living at the gym.
15:26So you buy into the hype.
15:28He's living at the gym.
15:29He got...
15:30I don't follow him closely.
15:31Is he claiming to be a God guy now?
15:33Yes.
15:34That seems like the most hollow thing ever.
15:37And then he had a picture.
15:38He went to church with the family.
15:40Yeah.
15:40There were crows, and then there were ducks.
15:42It's called photo op a lot of times.
15:45People do change.
15:46They do try to be better humans.
15:48I did think...
15:50Who else?
15:50After the fight, Dominic Cruz had kind of a philosophical, psychological take on it.
15:57Who's Dominic Cruz?
15:58He's a former champion.
15:59He was like an excellent MMA fighter.
16:01And he said that fighting, in essence, saves people like Conor McGregor.
16:09That when Conor McGregor doesn't have fighting, he starts doing drugs and starts wilding out,
16:14going crazy.
16:14He's got legal issues.
16:15He said that the fighting did put him in the gym and a commitment.
16:19And he's like, when that goes away, you just never know.
16:21So, who the hell knows?
16:22It was just...
16:23Yeah, it was a total disappointment.
16:28And it's not a surprise.
16:31I'm not going to be sucked into it to the extent that I was for this.
16:35Like, it would have been great.
16:37Because...
16:37Why?
16:39What do you mean you're not going to be sucked into it?
16:41If he tries to come back again?
16:42If he comes back...
16:43You tweeted it.
16:43He said, you shall return.
16:44Yeah.
16:45Okay.
16:47But are you going to get sucked into the next Mike Tyson fight?
16:50Everybody watch him against Jake Paul?
16:52No.
16:53I will certainly not.
16:55Mike actually fought.
16:57Like, Conor didn't really fight.
16:59That's why I think some people still have hope to see him again.
17:03Because if he fought and just looked winded, got his face rocked, and didn't look anything
17:11like the former Conor, then you'd probably say, okay, I'm not going to watch him again.
17:16But he didn't really do anything.
17:18Mm-hmm.
17:18So, I think that's why people will...
17:20People will still have hope, I guess.
17:21Yeah, people will still have hope and still watch.
17:23I guess.
17:23I just think he's shot.
17:26Happens.
17:26I don't know.
17:27I guess you...
17:28He's almost 40 in a young man's game.
17:31Yeah.
17:31It's tough.
17:32It's just different.
17:33It's a brutal game.
17:34I know George Foreman came back, but even then, it was a weird old man fighting.
17:39It was weird.
17:40Dude, Mike Tyson was 38, basically same age.
17:45His last two fights as a pro, okay, he got knocked out by a guy named Danny Williams,
17:52and EB saw him sit on his chair and not come out after six rounds or seven rounds against
18:00Kevin McBride.
18:02Mm-hmm.
18:02Like, it's over.
18:04It's over.
18:05Yeah.
18:05I think it's over.
18:06I'd love to see the guy to defy the odds.
18:08That's what everybody was tuning in for on Saturday night.
18:12But if it's on free television or something, I mean, I would pop in and watch.
18:17If Conor, if Conor in a year from now, it's going to be a rematch with Max Hollywood.
18:21Third time.
18:22Third time's the charm.
18:23We're going to do it again, right?
18:24Didn't they fight before once?
18:24Yes.
18:25So third time's the charm.
18:26I mean, if it was on, you know, at a decent hour, I think this one was at a decent
18:29hour,
18:30right?
18:30It's still like 1130 or something.
18:32I would watch.
18:34Yeah, just expectations are different.
18:36Expectations are different.
18:37Yeah.
18:38Though the insiders weren't buying into it, obviously a lot of the public was buying into
18:44that he was going to be able to recapture the magic.
18:47Like, he said, the Mac is back.
18:49It was back for one kick.
18:52It was terrible, man.
18:54It was terrible.
18:55I kind of feel bad for him.
18:58I kind of feel bad for him.
18:59Especially if he knew he was injured going in and he just had to go through it to get
19:06his money.
19:06But he knew it was not that the public, he was going to disappoint the world.
19:11Can you imagine?
19:12Going in knowing you can't win.
19:14And he was known for back in the day, not pulling out of fights because of injuries and
19:18taking opponents on last second.
19:20Yeah.
19:21So that would have been against his reputation, but I don't know how much of a reputation he
19:25has left.
19:26All right.
19:26If you want to chime in throughout the show, you can always hit us up at 1-800-636-1067.
19:32Coming up next, a tough weekend for the Washington Nationals, but things are looking on the up
19:38for the Washington Wizards.
Comments