More Notorious

At UFC 205 last month Conor McGregor became the first fighter to hold two belts simultaneously. I ordered the Topps Now card as soon as Topps made it available on their website.

Before I even got the card there was news out of the UFC stating that Dana White has asked McGregor to relinquish the featherweight title since he has not defended it in over a year. White went on to say that Max Holloway will fight Anthony Pettis for the interim title at UFC 206 with the winner then fighting Jose Aldo to solidify the title sometime next year.

The problem is that McGregor does not subscribe to that storyline. At an interview in Belfast Friday night he clearly said he has neither relinquished the belt nor was he stripped. He still has both belts in his home and if anyone wants the belts from him they have to come take them from him physically, all while drinking a beer.

And Now Back To Conor...

As expected Conor McGregor has rebounded from his retirement talk and is now saying he is not retired and still plans on fighting Diaz at UFC 200 in July. His explanation, posted on both his Facebook account and Twitter account, states that his issue was regarding the rigorous promotional appearances connected to the upcoming pay-per-view. He feels that the requirements for promotional events cuts in to his training time and that is frustrating him, he is asking that the UFC decrease the push for the fight, which they denied.

The UFC has not responded but Dana White is scheduled for a press conference today in Las Vegas and is expected to clear things up.

Say It Isn't So Joe...err Conor

In a completely unexpected announcement, my second favorite UFC fighter Conor McGregor announced his retirement from MMA through Twitter early this morning. Some people believe this is just Conor being Conor and trying to make headlines, pulling everyone’s leg before coming back and saying he decided to un-retire and I hope this is the case.

It is odd because McGregor was to be the main event in a rematch against Nate Diaz at UFC 200 in July and he had made no hint of considering even to retire. McGregor has officially been removed from UFC 200 due to failing to take part of promotional events tied to UFC 200, and some have brought up that his retirement may be connected to his disagreement with Dana White over the promotional events.

If the retirement is the end of his fighting career McGregor walks away as the UFC Featherweight Champion with a 19-3 professional record.

The New Champ Conor McGregor

Last month Holly Holm upset the seemingly unbeatable Rhonda Rousey and this month Conor McGregor took down the equally unbeatable Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo. Not only did McGregor beat Aldo but he knocked his ass out in only 13 seconds, the fastest win ever in the UFC.

After McGregor beat Chad Mendes in July his cards jumped in price but now that he took out Jose Aldo in style every MMA collector seems to have jumped on the Notorious train and his card’s prices began their steady climb before Aldo even hit the mat.

I have a couple of cards that I have been watching, specifically from the 2013 and 2014 Bloodline sets and his 2014 Knockout Irish Pride triple relic cards, but I will just wait a little longer. There are some eBay toads that seem to be huffing model plane glue setting opening prices for his base cards at $10-20 each with one seller posting raw copies of the Bio card and the base version of the 2013 Bloodlines for $50 OBO.

These are the cards that I am hunting for so if anyone has any of these and they would like to work out a reasonable deal I would greatly appreciate it.

 

2013 Topps UFC Bloodlines #139 Flag Parallel

 

2013 Topps UFC Bloodlines Bio #BL-CM

 

2014 Topps UFC Bloodlines New Guard #NG-CM

 

2014 Topps UFC Knockout Fighter Relic “Irish Pride”

 

The Rise Of Conor McGregor

This past Saturday at UFC 189 at the MGM Grand something amazing happened, an Irishmen became interim Featherweight Champion when Conor McGregor TKO’d Chad Mendes at the end of the second round. Being of Irish decent I am excited to see McGregor taking the UFC by storm.

McGregor was actually set to fight the Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo at UFC 189 for the title but Aldo broke his ribs at the end of June and was forced to withdraw so Mendes was slotted in to fight for the interim title and the fight against Aldo is attentively set for January 2016.

 

Currently McGregor is 18-2 overall (6-0 in UFC) and if he beats Aldo in January he will unite the belt but I am admittedly quite concerned about that fight, Aldo is one of the best fighters in the UFC at 25-1 overall and he has not lost a fight in 10 years, not to mention he is ranked #2 by ESPN as the “Best pound-for-pound fighter” behind Jon Jones so McGregor is definitely in for a tough fight.

McGregor has been appearing in UFC sets since 2013 and he does have a couple of official autograph cards but about 6-8 months ago I stopped chasing his stuff because prices were beginning to jump quickly. With his win over Mendes the prices jumped in to the “insane” range and as long as he keeps winning those prices will just keep moving up.