Midnight Mania! “Irish” Joe Duffy downplays McGregor’s chances and power against Mayweather

Welcome to Midnight Mania! Tonight we’ve got MMA fighter and undefeated pro boxer Joe Duffy giving his opinion on McGregor’s chances vs. Mayweather, Cody Garbrandt hitting back at TJ Dillashaw’s “daddy” comments on his relationship with Faber, Brian Stann raising money to put a smile Chito Vera’s daughter’s face, knockouts, sumo, podcasts, and much more.

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“Irish” Joe Duffy gave his thoughts on McGregor’s chances against Floyd Mayweather. Duffy is uniquely positioned to give an opinion, having not only beaten Conor McGregor on the regional circuit, but also going 7-0 as a pro boxer himself. He wasn’t as optimistic as Dana White. Via BloodyElbow.com:

“I think in combat sports, there’s always a puncher’s chance,” Duffy said during an appearance at the MMA Hour. “In MMA, boxing, there’s always that puncher’s chance.”

However, he didn’t rate that chance very highly. McGregor’s vaunted power? In Duffy’s estimation, that power isn’t as extraordinary compared to professional boxers.

“I feel that Floyd is probably used to getting in there with bigger hitters than Conor. Boxers, them boxers really do hit (hard),” he said.

“On the scorecards, I really feel it’s a landslide towards Floyd. He’s one of the best of all time. How he made Pacquiao look — and Pacquiao is one of the best boxers we’ve seen in a long time — I think that just proves the level he’s at. Canelo’s probably a bigger hitter than Conor, (look) how he boxed him.

He does give Conor credit for his natural talents, but as Mark Twain once said, “talent is useless without training, thank God.” Duffy thinks McGregor hasn’t had the fine tuning Mayweather has had since his youth.

“It’s different. It takes a while to get into that sport, and to get up to par. I think if he pursued boxing for a long time, he could’ve done very well, definitely, but Floyd has been doing this since he was a child. I really just can’t see it going any other way.”

McGregor, of course, is still insistent that he will shock the world.

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Bobs and Weaves

Cody Garbrandt has a retort for TJ Dillashaw’s latest comments.

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A Worthy Cause

Brian Stann is the man. Marlon “Chito” Vera, the guy who just managed to knock out Brad Pickett in a comeback win, needs surgery for his daughter, who suffers from a chronic condition where she can’t change her facial expression. The surgery alone costs $90,000. Stann and several other fighters are planning on hosting a charity dinner July 5th, on International Fight Week, to raise money for it. It will literally put a smile on this girl’s face. There is a GoFundMe page for it, “Give Chito Vera’s daughter a smile”

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Ross Baines makes some dope artwork.

Cody Garbrandt is a fan.

If you ever thought Tyron Woodley was making up stories about racism on the Internet...

The waxing and waning of Mackenzie Dern’s accent

Phil Davis is eager for another fight with Ryan Bader, this time for the Bellator Light Heavyweight title.

Speaking of Bellator fighters, I knew Ben Henderson was a weird dude. But what’s up with this GIF of a mermaid?

Stephen Thompson isn’t the only welterweight recovering. Tim Means is going to be just fine.

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Slips, Rips and KO Clips

Gennady Golovkin may have just scraped by a decision win, neglecting his usual body punching and lacking his typical volume, but his footwork was still on point.

Y’all already know if there are Sumo highlights, I will be featuring them. You are welcome.

Some old and pretty knockouts:

Cung Le was a legend in Sanshou.

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Quick Hits

• Gary Tonon and Shinya Aoki are set to grapple and that’s the super fight I never knew I needed
• Christy Mack is happy War Machine was found guilty. Frankly, so am I.
• Fabricio Werdum is on standby for UFC 211. That’s a good idea, to avoid this kind of scenario

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Podcasts and Video

The Fight Society Podcast with Damon Martin, TJ Dillashaw, Duane Ludwig and Matt Brown

The Co-Main Event podcast

The Severe MMA podcast

The Monday Morning Analyst, if you haven’t seen it yet

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Random Land

This sport always amazed me.

Read about Aaron Hernandez’s bone-chilling encounter with a gangster that he shot in the head.

Stay woke, Maniacs!