DanDanShaw

Not really, Bellew realises he isn't a heavyweight and could legitimately get hurt by any real non-crippled heavyweight. This is the perfect out of boxing - he isn't expected to win, he won't get massively hurt losing the fight, everybody is applauding him for even taking the fight and he's banking millions for it. He obviously believes he can win but it's literally a no lose situation as he was going to retire anyway. Him and Hearn have done well to spin it to be honest and fair play to both of them, it's a good fight.

No mate I'm swerving it, I was in two minds but the early kick off decided it for me haha.

I'll be in from about 2ish too, then we're heading out for a few hours after the fight. We usually head to Dive after and see where we end up.

I still think Stripe beats DC 9 times out of 10. DC will avoid the rematch and fight Brock then retire.

Ye it sold out pretty quick though, about 2/3 minutes I think. Usually it's very good, he's been making about £50k on ticket sales alone for every fight since he got his head caved in (Perez 1 & 2, Barosso, Linares 1 & 2 and Ricky Burns) but for this fight and the Joshua/Parker undercard he basically gets fuck all in terms of commission, except being able to sort out his regulars/mates who would have lost out otherwise. The tickets would have sold out anyway with or without him on the card, so it wouldn't make sense for Hearn to give him or any fighter decent commission really.

To be honest I think he's become more of a "celebrity" boxer now, so people book his fights from all over the UK as opposed to having a die hard group of fans who follow him. I imagine his fights will attract the 'LAD Bible' and the 'night out' firm more now. There will still be a decent Scouse contingent I think though and Hearn let Crolla have 1500 tickets which will have gone to 90% Manc/United fans.

We're having a big boxing chat straightener at this mate, I've been shadow boxing ever since the fight was announced. I ended up grabbing my tickets off Ant, he's been given block 109 and block 209, I imagine it'll go off multiple times between Bellew and Crolla fans throughout the night.

The Khabib/McGregor rematch would be absolutely massive if McGregor can get a win or two under his belt and look motivated/good in doing so. I can only ever see Khabib winning but the difference in performance between Diaz 1 and Diaz 2 shows McGregor can go away and learn.

I think Conor could beat Ferguson and Nate again. He'd never beat Khabib and the old GSP would maul him, he didn't look that good against Bisping though and lets be fair Bisping is shite. Obviously the lay-off and weight had a massive influence on this. I'd love to see McGregor vs Ferguson/Nate/GSP. He may have been battered by Khabib but we'll still all tune in to watch him fight and as long as he stays away from Khabib he'll be in interesting fights.

I think te best way to milk the last couple years of McGregor would be to arrange a tournament to announce the 165 division, with the winner being awarded the belt. Do it similar to the WBSS where the top four seeds pick who they fight, that way if you stick McGregor on the 'easy' side of the draw, you're pretty much guaranteed three McGregor PPV's. Quarter final, semi final and the final. Then after the tournament if he wins (or Nate won) he can defend/fight for the title Vs Nate III or if neither wins just do Nate III. Maybe do the Khabib rematch for the 165 title should McGregor still hold it after all this. The GSP fight is definitely more sellable at 165 as well, it'd still be massive at 155 but who's to say GSP can even make 155 healthily. I love the thought of the tournament, who would you have in it? McGregor, GSP, Nate Diaz, Poirier, RDA, Cowboy Cerrone, Kevin Lee and maybe Michael Chiesa or Eddie Alvarez. Keep Ferguson and Khabib out of it because that fight needs to happen for the 155 belt, regardless of how many times they've tried.

Daniel Cormier Vs Derrick Lewis for the HW title at UFC 230/MSG card. I'm not sure how but the UFC have managed to salvage that card.

Watch a few Justin Gaethje fights haha

It's pretty shit to be honest. Quite smooth but it doesn't have any bite or snap to it.

The Groves injury really fucked everything up, they wanted it in a stadium in June/July but obviously his injury meant they couldn't do that. No stadiums will let them have a weekend during the footy season and Wembley was fully booked (and far too ambitious). I think the Sauerland's just accepted the guaranteed site fee instead of the risk of having to sell a lot of PPV over here. ITV did really well out of Groves/Eubank Jr and the cruiserweight final so I don't think they're even arsed about promoting this. Plus it's following two back to back weekends of major PPVs. They could have promoted it to death but who really wants to buy it? It's a small, terrible card and imagine how shit it's going to be to watch it when it's contested in front of about 2000 Arabs who couldn't give a toss about boxing. The atmosphere will be shite and it'll ruin the viewing experience. It's a proper shame because had this been in the UK the whole build up would have been great.

I'll be there, I'm getting my tickets of Ant next week so I'll be in the loud Manc section unfortunately. It'd be good to meet up for a bevy though.