I'm not really that concerned about Man City getting Grealish. I don't think he justifies that 100 million price tag. I mean, Sancho who I would say is arguably better than Grealish by quite some margin went for less. The issue is if they get Harry Kane, I know that Kane is trying to force a move at the moment, and I think everyone, but Man City fans are hoping it doesn't happen. It would be the biggest example of buying the league that I've seen, and it begs the question what's happened to financial fair play? I know that Manchester City has previously battled the financial fair play, and actually won in court, but surely they couldn't get away with it if they were to acquire Kane for 150-200 million?
He's good but he's not done anything to justify that tag, but it's getting out of hand with these transfer fees when even average players are fetching silly money. I suppose it depends on their finances and who they've sold, but they surely can't afford both Grealish and Kane. Is the Grealish signing a done deal? If it is I'm betting they're regretting that now Messi is a free agent and City would have been on of the likely teams he was interested in. I hope Manchester City don't force their will to buy Kane this season after they managed to buy Grealish for €100m. Actually I don't know why this midfielder is priced so high and why Manchester City are so eager to get him when many other midfielders are much cheaper than Grealish. Everyone knows that Manchester City have the financial capacity to buy expensive players, but if they spend a lot of money to buy players in one season then they have to face financial fair play.
He's definitely good, and has manged to shine in a Aston Villa side which I would describe as overwhelmingly average, however they did over perform last season, which is probably because of the impact that Grealish had, but I don't think hes a huge improvement over Manchester City's existing players. If Manchester City get Kane or actually any prolific striker, we'll be one step closer to having a one team league, similar to that of the French league. I don't want that, and that's exactly the reason financial fair play was introduced, to prevent this from happening. It's was a little too late though. Teams like Man City have already bought themselves titles by throwing ludicrous sums of money at players before the fair play rules were introduced and enriched themselves so much they might never be dethroned. |
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He probably gets paid to be McGregor's little bum boy/get punched in the face by him. I don't think he's fought in the UFC has he? Just Bellator.
He is "a bit" more experienced than just a punching bag. Like I said - he is (or was) counted as a bjj trainer of Conor McGregor (and according to his instagram, party boy of Conor McGregor  ). His best achievement is "1st Place UAEJJF Abu Dhabi World Pro (2014 brown)". Which a "younger brother" of ADWPJJC (that is a top level of bjj imho). I'm not doubting his credentials but he hasn't done much in MMA. There's plenty of fighters that might be elite in their respective sports but that doesn't always translate to the UFC. Ben Askren was a champion wrestler but can't box for shit and was always a bit of a one trick pony with his grappling. Dillon Danis is not even a high level grappler nor a high light BJJ and yet he is coaching Conor McGregor and that shows the petty state of his gym . I see that one of his and conor buddies Artem Lobov just retired from MMA and same thing is soon going to happen to both dillon danis and conor mcgregor, so that we can all finally rest from all their bullshit. I'm kinda hoping Khabib actually does fight him again and maul him.
This will never happen in any official fight, but Khabib is training all the time and this can be some unofficial street fight if they continue to post shit on twitter and social media. Fighting him in the street doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's only going to get them in trouble. If they were going to fight again might as well get paid millions for it. Apparently there was a close call between them recently: https://www.rt.com/sport/513006-khabib-mcgregor-fight-island-near-miss/I'm kinda hoping Khabib actually does fight him again and maul him. Maybe not let go until Herb Dean prises him off. I doubt he'll rise to Connor's silliness though as much as I want to see him back in the UFC.
This is the first thing I thought when I saw it. Conor seems to be taking every opportunity given to him, to create a divide between him, and the fans. I actually used to like Conor, and support him. Okay, I never really enjoyed him as a person, but his fighting style was immense, and exciting, and you always had it in the back of your mind that he's doing it for show. However, when it came to fighting Khabib, I think there was many lines crossed. Now, he seems to just be throwing shots just to stay relevant, and the fans are sick of it. I really want Khabib to come back, and absolutely humble the man, and I think Khabib is the only one that could do it, and it would be a nice rounded off 30-0. The annoying part about this business is if he comes back, and knocks out Poirier, and becomes quite dominate again, all of this will be forgotten. He is - or more accurately was - one of those once in a lifetime fighters that just has something that transcends the sport. He was a great showman and could hype up a fight like no other. He had the mouth and skills to back it up and even seemed unbeatable until his first loss to Diaz. Back when he was in his prime his trash talk was perfect; he never seemed to cross the line and always managed to get into his opponents head. Now he just seems to be saying the most provocative shit and it's got personal which it never seemed to be before. Apparently Dana has offered Jon Jones a fight with Stipe: https://www.mmamania.com/2021/8/5/22611803/dana-white-offers-jon-jones-ufc-heavyweight-title-shot-bones-responds-mmaI think that would be a good fight for him, then onto Ngannou if he wins, though maybe he's holding out for that megabucks fight, which I'm not sure he will get, or not for the money he's asking. I'd really like to them fight though as I don't think Francis has much competition in the UFC. Hoping he goes into boxing at some point because I'd love to see how he fares against someone like Tyson Fury. Fury is obviously a far better boxer but Ngannou looks like on of the hardest hitters on the planet to me. |
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I dislike Superbru as well but I like the competition and the banter so I'll be playing regardless. In the Prem pool it doesn't bother me as much because you can go with draws, whereas in the knockout competitions their points system really ruins the fun in the later stages.
I also like that they don't overreward correct outcomes, these are mostly luck anyway.
My only criticism of superbru is that I think you should get more than 3 points for a correct score. 4 or maybe 5. Correct scores are very difficult to get and that should be rewarded with points. Getting 2 or 3 correct scores is much better than a handful of correct outcomes but someone who did would usually be better off than the correct scores. Thanks for the memo OP. I literally made a consolidate/spend moments before I saw the msg but I'll be sure to make payments before deadline. Thank you, Steve and Sportsbet, for taking us another round again. Much, much appreciated.
50 x 2 = 0.2 btc total prize pot. Where else do you find little over €6700 in total cash money except here on this blessed forum with friends, eh? Best of all, seems like our money is always worth a hell lot more end of season.
Well, assuming we get 50. I'm not sure there will be as many as last year, though I think technically the pot is already much bigger as I think Sportsbet put in £1000 in bitcoin last time around but it rose significantly over the year. Hopefully that will happen again this year. Since Sportsbet offers free withdraws ( minimum .002) how about we use that entry fee so we can easily send from our Sportsbet accounts?
I took this advice and sent 2 mbtc to the tournament direct from Sportsbet account. Processed in minutes and free to send, highly recommended;) I haven't won anything except regrets and this is the highest fee I've ever paid but this is only because it's Bitcoin 40000! Good luck to everyone, this time I will pick less draws. Or maybe not:) Yep, this is the highest fee that we ever had on our pools. Around 80$ could be quite steep for some people. I hope I am wrong but I am expecting less people then previous season. That also has its advantages since it is much easier to get yellow cap free bet and the value you get for entry fee is higher if there is less people participating. $80 really isn't much especially for a whole season. I'm sure most will make that money back from their signature campaign by just posting in this thread throughout the season. All you need to do is win the weekly round once and you're almost in profit anyway. Sent money already  . Personally, I'm fine with using Superbru. Yes, it's not perfect with downtime after games and not everyoe likes scoring system. But I think it would impossible to find website that everyone will like. And I doubt that we have better alternative. Offcourse, we can go with spreasheets, but it's lot of extra work for someone to count everything. And personally, I prefer not to wait until someone will count points manually, I like to see it soon after end of match. There's no way in hell I'm doing a spreadsheet. Would be far too easy to screw it up or make mistakes and everyone would need to verify others results anyway. |
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So shall I keep the entry fee at 0.002? Bitcoin has gone up a little since last week and is at about £55. I'm ok with it as long as most others are. Would be nice if we could get 50 players for another 0.1 but I don't think we'll get as many as last year, but at least it'll make it a bit more competitive. How to claim Sportsbet sponsored jersey from the last year pool?
I participated with the username of Igniter.
I was kind of busy with work, so couldn't keep track.
Also, I wanted to know about the raffle as well which was decided.
Contact jeremypwr about the shirts. No updates on the raffle thing yet. I'll enquire about it. |
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Yeah, I'm fine with either fee. I'm perhaps more in favour of a lower fee to get more people interested, but we've been seeing more participants every season, and I'm fine with a crowded group, doesn't affect my ability to not win;)
0.002 BTC sounds a right price too, if you can't afford that much of a fee for an entire season's worth of prizes and entertainment, then no disrespect, but you probably shouldn't be betting!
That said, if someone's really keen and can't afford it for whatever reason, happy to consider paying for one or two spots if the user's a decently active user here.
Yeah, I might make it 0.002 which is pretty much bang on £50 as of today. If we can get 50 people again that's another 0.1 for the pot. If so I might make 0.1 the first place prize then split the rest between 5-10 spots depending on how many we get. If we get 50 players I'll probably do top ten again, but 20-30 will probably just be top 5. £50 for an entire season really isn't much. Win the weekly yellow cap and you've pretty much got your money back and there should be some options to win shirts as well which usually also cost £50. If you're on a signature campaign you can easily make that back by posting in this thread throughout the season. I don't want to price people out but I also don't want it to be dirt cheap and like you said if £50 is too much is probably best you don't play. I'll probably announce it and start taking money in tomorrow or at latest during the week so keep an eye out for that. |
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Islam Makhachev looks like he's going to dominate the division and will probably take Khabib's crown. I could see him fighting McGregor in the future as he's expressed interest in finishing what Khabib started and the UFC can bill that as a big grudge match but I don't think Connor will be any match for him unless he drastically improves.
I've never even considered this as a possibility. That would be an interesting bout, especially since you know that Dana, and the UFC will be pushing that Khabib will want revenge if Conor manages to beat Makhachev. I'm not sure Conor would still be as relevant as he is now by the time Makhachev gets that title shot, though. Who wouldn't want to fight Connor. Red panty night for anyone who does and fighting Islam Makhachev is the next best thing to a Khabib rematch and Khabib will probably be in Islam's corner which will add an extra bit of spice to the fight. It's probably an easy fight to make and I'm sure it will be a contender for number 1 in PPV numbers, or at least come close to the Connor/Khabib fight maybe taking second. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/mma/article-9802823/Khabib-Nurmagomedovs-protege-Islam-Makhachev-tipped-Conor-McGregor.htmlKhabib Nurmagomedov's protege Islam Makhachev is tipped to take on Conor McGregor in a 'dream fight' to settle 'leftover business' between both camps - with tensions still high after a huge melee broke out in the crowd in 2018 UFC ranking has been updated and Islam Makhachev is now top5. Finally ! Finally Tony Ferguson has been moved a bit down (no offence Tony fans, but he has 3 straight losses and was in top5...) and Rafael Dos Anjos. I think that this is going to be like this: Oliveira will fight Poirier and Poirier will win, Makhachev will fight Chandler (I think he is the weakest in top1-4) and wait (probably for a year) when Poirier will have another fight with McGregor and win. Then Poirier will either win Makhachev and defend title several times, or Makhachev will win and there will another boring-blanket champ, who will submit most of his opponent like Khabib. Poirer will likely have another fight before Conor. I think Conor will be out for nigh-on a year now and Poirier fighting Oliveria is looking like it'll be done before the end of the year. The winner should fight Islam, and then maybe Conor can fight Poirier again and then maybe the grudge match with Islam for Connor, but maybe Islam will be champ by then so I dunno. Some of the Joe Rogan memes recently have been hilarious: https://www.instagram.com/p/CRtxaalMJJG/https://www.instagram.com/p/CRuSWbzsiCH/ |
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I feel like the Paul brothers might have peaked with the Mayweather fight. Logan gave it his best shot but just couldn’t entertain with a KO like we all wanted to see. His brother has done a good job of giving us knockout clips but we can only watch so many Nate Robinson type fights. If they can’t get Logan a big ticket next opponent I think these guys will only see their numbers decline from here.
Depends how you define peaked but I think we'll be seeing a lot more of them in the boxing world within the next few years. I suppose it depends on how well they do. If Jake beats Woodly then his stock will rise massively and opponents will be clamouring to fight him, but I'm not sure he will win. With that being said, I didn't think he'd KO Askren either but Woodly is ten times a better striker than Askren is. If Jake keeps bringing in the money and views then I could totally see him fighting someone like McGregor down the line especially now he might have to avoid taking kicks to his legs so boxing seems the better choice and there'll be much more money in it for him without the UFC taking their huge cut. Jake has been doing a great job creating beef/bad blood between them so we know this would be a huge fight and Connor will probably want to give him a beating and get paid for it. As for Logan, he's apparently going to fight Anderson Silva who was a great fighter but is way past his prime and only won once in his last nine fights. There's no date yet? I think those influencers have their own innovative way to gather some audiences looks like they made a huge amount of cash while doing it. Now if you look at the tale of the tape, this is really nonsense since both fighters have nothing and don't have anything to show. I mean they don't have any skills to give their audiences a good exploding fight in the ring. All they have is just some kind of publicity which is so strange that the people wanted to see this kind of fight.
It's Aug. 29 at 8 p.m ET/5 p.m. PT.  |
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Protect him from what? He's on a three fight losing streak and drops out of half his fights . It's probably more that he doesn't want to fight him. I think Connor would be a good match up for both of them given they're both past their prime. I think it would be pretty evenly matched and a fair fight for both of them. I have watched recently Dana White's post fight interview and he said that Poirier probably will face Oliveira somewhere about in December, and the war between Conor and Poirier has not finished yet. Because none of the fighters got KO'ed and the fight ended with first round injury. I think that Poirier is able to beat Oliveira. And later there will be Poirier vs Conor 4 fight for the title. Imagine how much PPV will bring this time! How's that for a long term/big profit plan from Data ? And such thing would most likely happen, as UFC is more about money, than sport. Connor shouldn't get a title shot on his first fight back. I'm not sure Poirier will beat Oliveria but if he does or doesn't they could probably get in a rematch before Connor is ready to come back, if he even comes back. According to Dana he has chronic arthritis in his ankles (which I'm not sure why they're only telling everyone about this now - seems a bit suss): In a recent interview with Fox News, White said that McGregor’s issues were indeed known before his loss at UFC 264 and said that McGregor requested permission from Nevada officials to tape up his ankles for the Poirier fight, but ultimately decided against it.
“He’s had ankle issues for the last couple of years, and he had asked if he could tape his ankles coming into this fight and he got clearance to do it from the Nevada state athletic commission,” White told Fox News, “and then he opted not to tape them. I don’t know why.
“But yeah, he has chronic arthritis in his ankles.” https://www.mmafighting.com/2021/7/19/22584405/dana-white-says-conor-mcgregor-has-chronic-arthritis-requested-permission-to-tape-ankles-at-ufc-264The rematch with Poirier does make sense to everyone involved as it's huge paydays all around and they'll hype it up as unresolved business/bad blood. IF Connor does indeed have arthritis then I'm not sure how he can continue fighting. Those ankles are going to be a target for anyone he fights now. Might be best he sticks to boxing to be honest. |
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And here are the full results. I think Tate surprised everyone a bit with the stoppage.
I'm not sure why Miesha retired when she did and especially so young. She was on a five win winning stream culminating with a win over Holly Holm but then lost to Amanda Nunes but nobody is beating her these days. I'm glad to see her back and hopefully she sticks around this time. Islam Makhachev looks like he's going to dominate the division and will probably take Khabib's crown. I could see him fighting McGregor in the future as he's expressed interest in finishing what Khabib started and the UFC can bill that as a big grudge match but I don't think Connor will be any match for him unless he drastically improves. I bet Dana wont give him Ferguson. Makhachev called also Dos Anjos, but he wont get him either. I just don't understand why Dana don't give him someone from the real top. Another fight by Makhachev and he stays on the same top9 place. Last did not gave him anything actually (except record and money). May be Dana White is protecting Tony Ferguson from Islam Makhachev and there is another problem that many top fighters are avoiding Islam Makhachev as everyone knows his strength on the ground. Protect him from what? He's on a three fight losing streak and drops out of half his fights . It's probably more that he doesn't want to fight him. I think Connor would be a good match up for both of them given they're both past their prime. I think it would be pretty evenly matched and a fair fight for both of them. |
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Self isolation is only around 10 days so why they touted the month of October in the media is a mystery. I am not sure what Fury will gain from delaying the fight. Wilder seems to want it much more than Fury but I do not see it as an excuse on part of Fury for further delays. Maybe they hyped this in the media to gather more publicity and never planned for a long delay.
Eddie Hearn seems to think they've delayed it due to poor tickets sales and lack of interest in the fight, which could seem plausible but you have to take Hearn's word with a pinch of salt as he's obviously still annoyed the AJ fight didn't happen. Pushing it back as far as they have seems suspicious though. What are the chances the Fury-Wilder trilogy will not go ahead this year? Let us say for example a week before the re-scheduled fight Wilder tests positive for COVID-19 or say Fury tests positive again, it would mean more uncertainty on the merry-go-round of misfortune of the fighters.
It depends upon how Tyson Fury is going to recover, there are some that struggle for months to regain their physical condition after getting infected and i could not find any updates regarding the condition of Tyson Fury, may be we might see the trilogy as the year end fight but it all depends upon how Tyson Fury is recovering and how soon he can attain top physical condition. I thought it was someone in his camp not Fury himself that had it. I think he had the vaccine a while back. |
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I'm not a fan of Jake Paul, but its a brilliant move on his part. Plus, with him losing to Poirer yet again, and looks to be going off the relevancy chart, a fight with Jake Paul might actually redeem some of his wrong doings in the eyes of many. Although, I'm not even sure Conor is playing that bad character anymore, and he seems to have morphed into the bad character. There's currently a bit of drama on some tweets he posted up, and deleted shortly after. I don't really understand the Irish lingo used on the tweets, but it really doesn't sit well with me the angle he seemed to be coming from.
What a way to ruin a legacy. As for the purse split, I doubt Poirer who prioritized a fight over Conor than the title fight, would only get 1 million from it. It has to be higher or at least more equally shared.
He knows how to promote himself and he's doing a good job of getting McGregor's attention. Connor hasn't shot the fight down either and said something along the lines of never say never when asked about fighting the Pauls. He'd be a fool to straight up shoot it down as he knows how much money there will be in it and it might be his best option if he keeps losing in the UFC. Conor will likely always bring in the crowds, regardless of whether he wins, loses or draws. However, is legacy certainly is being tarnished now. At the end of the day, if he took that with a bit of humility, then the injury would have been just that. The fight started well, and it would have been interesting to see what would have happened in the second round. I thought Conor was doing okay on the ground, and was landing some nice elbows. Poirier actually didn't get too much damage in while on top, it was probably about equal in terms of damage. So, Conor by no means was out of that fight prior to the injury, he just lost the round, but he did a few times clip Poirier, and as Poirier said himself; he was a little buzzed.
I wouldn't say always. It's hard to imagine him not bringing in a crowd but lets say he has 5 fights and loses them all badly the PPV numbers will likely dwindle fight after fight. For now though he's still bringing them in as it was the second biggest PPV buys only behind his Khabib fight.  If he keeps fighting I'm sure he will eventually have all ten places but I think fighters like Nganou will start to draw the big numbers too. If McGregor is only making around 3 million a fight then I'm sure he will just start fighting people like the Paul's or maybe do another boxing match with Floyd or Manny P where he will get 5 times as much. I just wish Conor just let the fighting do the talking or at the very least keep the smack talk to more on the light hearted side, with the intention of getting in their heads. He seems to be really stepping over that line recently. Yeah, there's an art to it, but he's crossed the line recently and it seems more malicious and from a place of hate and desperation rather than just trying to hype up a fight. It would benefit the UFC to organize a rematch with Poirier VS Conor with the belt on the line, however surely that would be hard to justify if Conor hasn't moved his way up the rankings. Isn't he something like 7th right now? Someone in 7th place shouldn't be challenging the world champion. Although, money talks so it could potentially happen.
Poirier isn't beating Oliveria in my book, though. Although, I'd love to see Poirier get that belt, I think we would see Oliveria using his wrestling skills to effectively dominate Poirer with control time.
There would be outrage if Connor was given a title shot. Poirier should fight for it and then do the McGregor rematch when Connor is ready whether the belt is on the line or not. Connor should probably have a tune up fight before that as well maybe. |
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What are the chances the Fury-Wilder trilogy will not go ahead this year? Let us say for example a week before the re-scheduled fight Wilder tests positive for COVID-19 or say Fury tests positive again, it would mean more uncertainty on the merry-go-round of misfortune of the fighters.
I'm sure it will happen this year. I think it technically has to happen before September 15th due to the arbitration: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/boxing/0/tyson-fury-vs-deontay-wilder-3-fight-when-postponed-covid-2021/The fight was set to take place on Saturday, July 24. It is now expected to be postponed until October 9, although that may require an amended ruling from the arbitration judge Daniel Weinstein who had deemed that the third fight between the two heavyweights must take place before September 15. But of course you can't do anything about illness. Covid shouldn't take more than a month to self-isolate especially when I don't think Fury has it but just people within his camp, but something tells me they might just be using it as an excuse to postpone it for whatever reasons. |
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These MMA fighters should have a shin conditioning regiment similar to Thai boxers. We cannot expect these type of injuries to stop in the octagon if the fighters have not done the proper conditioning. Conor’s shin was not hard enough for execution of that type of technique.
You can strengthen your muscles but nobody can stop their bones snapping regardless of how much conditioning they do. Sometimes people are just unlucky. Who's watching Dustin Poirier VS Conor McGregor ? a little disappointed, fight had to stop when McGregor injured his leg and Poirier as the winner
I think this fight will be repeated next year or in the near future because it's unsatisfactory can't watch the actual fight.
I don't think anyone can recover from that kind of injury so quickly because they both damaged their physical and mental health due to the pain they suffered and also it will take a long therapy to be able to get back to his normal self. so for now, I guess we can count McGregor out in the league. Damn! it would have been a nice fight and unfortunately, the ending wasn't expected by everyone but that's just how it goes where sometimes we cannot expect what will gonna happen. It depends on the injury but I doubt he'll be out for more than a year. Plenty of fighters and footballers have had much more severe leg breaks and come back within the year. I'm not sure how long McGregor's heart will be in fighting when he probably has enough money to retire his eventual grandkids but he seemed to be saying there's unfinished business and Poirier will be only too happy to take another fight for another huge payday so I'm sure the fourth fight will happen. I very much doubt Connor got anywhere near 20 million and Poirier probably got way more than 1 million. https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/general/mma/mcgregor-poirier-prize-money-fight-purse-b1881941.htmlNo official purses have been disclosed for the UFC 264 main event, but Poirier has said he could make “five, six, seven, ten times” more money by fighting McGregor than he would have made from a lightweight title fight.
McGregor’s payout from his second clash with Poirier was reported to be around $3million. He is likely to receive a similar base pay here. According to that for the last fight Connor got $3million but I'm sure he will get a percentage of the gate and PPV as well not to mention he will get millions from sponsorships.
Tired today though, man its always annoying staying up all night, getting all excited, and feeling those pre fight nerves, and it ends like that.
Just go to sleep and set an alarm or just watch it in the morning like I did. I'll usually only watch these fights live if I wake up early naturally. I wish they'd start doing them in more friendly UK times though. I don't understand why they don't do them at a more reasonable hour. Thought this was hilarious:   I wonder if we'll ever see them fight. I think Conor would easily win against JP but Paul won't care given the life changing amount of money he'll get for it. Connor might end up fighting bums or social media stars the way things are going. |
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We have some breaking news. Yet another fight gets postponed. Tyson Fury has tested positive for Covid. He had been vaccinated but apparently he only had the first dose.
FFS. According to Bob Arum there might still be some hope though: https://www.skysports.com/boxing/news/12183/12352066/tyson-fury-vs-deontay-wilder-set-to-be-postponed-until-october-due-to-a-covid-19-outbreakESPN first reported on Thursday that the fight would be delayed due to a Covid-19 outbreak but Top Rank, Fury's US-based promoter, said in a statement: "We continue to monitor the health status of Tyson and his team and the status of the event has not changed to date. Hopefully they manage to get it sorted some how rather than pushing back the date. You only have to self isolate for ten days or something so it shouldn't have to be pushed back so far. I hope there's no shenanigans going on to try push the fight back for whatever reason. We have some breaking news. Yet another fight gets postponed. Tyson Fury has tested positive for Covid. He had been vaccinated but apparently he only had the first dose.
Oh so he is positive, last time I read, it was one of his staff that was positive and Bob Arum said that Fury is fully vaccinated. However, it seems that he still got the virus despite the vaccination. So yeah, this is another delay, we don't know how long will it take for Fury to recover. We all know the mandatory 14 days quarantine, so hopefully he stays healthy after two weeks and maybe a month or two delay only. You can still get or spread the virus even though you're vaccinated apparently which seems to defeat the purpose of it. I don't trust the tests they do either as they seem to be giving a lot of false positives especially amongst those with no symptoms. |
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^^ I would say it was a proper penalty. I understand that we are expecting major stuff in order to call it penalty because that has been what it is like in the past but these days in the past few years, maybe even in the last decade if you want to call it, there are more penalties called because we now realize that it doesn't have to be very dangerous tackle in order to get penalty, the meaning of penalty is basically giving someone punishment for doing something dangerous, by all means we all would rather have a game without any fouls neither, everyone tackling very professionally without doing anything dangerous but we all know that is impossible.
So, these years we see more penalty because defenders do act a bit more reckless and we can't just have injury risk things as penalty, we need to have dangerous moves as well so that when you give penalty players would know not to do it again. I feel like it was justified in that sense, it wasn't an easy call, but it was still a move that shouldn't have been.
It was very light but those sort of penalties are given all the time in the Premier League and they seem to have been a bit more strict in this tournament with not giving them with the exception of that one so I can see why it's controversial. I was expecting VAR to overrule it to be honest. England only problem is their goalkeeper. That should be your frank point. And that's why I agree if they go to penalties they are more likely to lose.
England's goalkeeper Jordan Pickford is clearly going to win the Golden Gloves award at Euro 2020 after achieving the most clean sheets at the tournament with five matches in a row. I can't see how he could be a problem. I'm not a big fan of him but he's played well this tournament and surprised me. Shame he conceded as it would have been great to go all the way without letting in a goal, but I think that's more to do with England's defence rather than Pickford but he's done well when called upon. Can't really pick a clear winner for the final. I could see it going all the way to penalties. I think Italy are the better team but the bookies seem to be favouring England. Maybe they have the advantage of playing at home and in front of lots of fans which may spur them on. I'm wondering if Southgate will mix the team up a bit. I'm not sure if he has the balls to but I think Grealish has earned a starting position and I think Foden should be starting as well. |
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Guys, we have missed some important news. There is an interesting topic - UFC inks $175-million sponsorship deal with Crypto.com. At first I did not believe my eyes, but then tippytoes posted news article. Crypto.com will appear as a sponsor during this weekend even (Conor vs Poirier 3). That is an amazing promotion of cryptocurrency. Great timing by crypto.com. I wonder if Adesanya, Ngannou will wear crypto.com badges on their shorts, while being stake.com ambassadors That's pretty cool. First I've heard of it. Always nice to see crypto companies going mainstream and it's always good promo for the industry when they do. ^^ Probably Conor talking about the supposedly Pacquaio fight. In an interview Thursday with ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, McGregor admitted that he wasn’t fully focused on the task at hand. He wound end losing via second round knockout to Poirier.
“I pitied the man. I was looking past him. I had a Manny Pacquiao camp in place,” McGregor stated.
This time around he insists that he is fully locked in on his rival and doesn’t expect the fight to go the distance.
“I’m coming to kill the man. I’m coming in with vicious intent here. Mortar shots. What else can I say? That’s the way it is. I’m looking to take this man out cold,” McGregor said. https://www.boxingscene.com/mcgregor-admits-he-too-focused-on-pacquiao-overlooked-poirier--158996So he is motivated here, as others have said, it seems that he is different and fully focus and wanted to get Dustin heads off in this match. These are just excuses as to why he lost. Last time it was his foot was like a balloon and saying I didn't prepare enough or my mind was elsewhere is any easy cop out. Connor isn't going to go into any fight without preparing but like most fighters they have an arsenal of excuses to wield to explain why they lost when in reality they were just beaten by a better fighter on the night. Connor lost because of the vicious leg kicks. I'm sure he'll be looking out for them this time. I can't really predict a winner this time round as I think it is pretty evenly matched. I could see it going the distance and maybe Connor winning it on points. Connor needs a win though or at least to stop losing. Connor said his next opponent will be Charles Oliveira but that's assuming he wins which is pretty presumptuous of him. |
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The game last night was not that enjoyable to be honest. Until we saw the first goal in the game, I got so much bored. Italy scored and things started getting more exciting after. Spain increased their attacks and finally equalized the score. After seeing no goal in the extra time, penalty shoot-outs were the most exciting part of the game. Italy were the better side there and they managed to eliminate Spain 4-2. But I should admit that Spain were the better side in general in this game.
Were we watching the same game? I thought it was great. Lots of front to back action and going all the way to penalties. Couldn't ask more from a semi final to be honest. Many will be betting on England for today's game. It is a great achievement for Denmark to have reached the halffinal. I don't think many people expected Denmark to get this far. I hope it will be an exciting game.
Denmark will have the underdog spirit and England have a reputation of bottling it, especially in the semis. I think my money is on England to just edge it, maybe 2 or 3-1 but I think it will be close and I could even see it going all the way to penalties. Either way I hope it will be a lively game. I can see a few goals and a few cards as it might get feisty, especially if one team is losing by a goal with the clock ticking. If Denmark do win I hope they go all the way as I'd prefer an underdog to win it rather than Italy. It will be sure bittersweet for Christian Eriksen if they do go all the way and win but at least he was part of it for 30 mins. |
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The fight is on for Saturday, 25 September 2021 according to Hearn. https://www.dazn.com/en-GB/news/boxing/eddie-hearn-confirms-date-for-anthony-joshua-vs-oleksandr-usyk/1hppvktx4cezv16fjkkup43a6r"Joshua v Usyk announcement, don't want to say two weeks as you guys are bored of me saying that. September 25 is the date." Said Hearn. With Fury scheduled to defend his WBC title against Wilder on July 24th, a victory against the American will pave the way for an encounter with the winner of Joshua vs. Usyk" I think it will be a closer fight than people are expecting. Could go the distance and I think AJ snatches it on points but it would be a bit of a road block towards the AJ Fury fight it AJ loses. If AJ makes it through I wonder if they could squeeze the first fight in before the end of the year, late December. Three months should be more than enough to prepare for that and they'll both be in tip top condition from their current respective fights so it would make sense to go straight into camp for the next one rather than dilly dally and get out of shape again. As long as there's no injuries for either party then it's certainly doable but otherwise next year it will have to be. |
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Fantastic game between France and Switzerland yesterday. The best match of the tournament so far. I really thought Switz were going to get hammered when they conceded two goals within minutes but they didn't give up and clawed their way back into the game to get a dramatic equaliser in injury time. Germany - England - what a classic. Like Gary Lineker said ''Football is a simple game. Twenty-two men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans always win.'' Though, I see that England a bit favoured by bookmakers, but I don't know why. In group stage England haven't showed anything special and I don't see reasons to hype them. Yes, Germany were unstable, but game with Portugal showed wha they can.
Sweden - Ukraine. It something incredible that Ukraine who qualified from 3rd place got their own level opponents, while Austria from 2nd place had to play against Italy. I'm backing Ukraine in this game.
England have been to highly favoured from the start and don't deserve their 4th placed world ranking. Germany are 12th for example. Both teams were inconsistent though. Germany demolished Portugal but drew with Hungary and lost to France. England have been mediocre despite not losing. I think I'd still slightly favour Germany but I could see this game being a draw and maybe even going to penalties. I'm hoping for a high scoring game either way. If England can make it past them then it shouldn't be too difficult to get into the final from there. |
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