It’s Friday and that means it’s time to answer all the questions you fine folks put in our mailbag. This is the third week of this experiment, but I’m digging it so I think it might become a thing going forwards.
Just like the last two times, you’ve given us lots of great questions to ponder over. You’ve given us way more than we can answer in one post. But don’t worry, I’ve logged everything and we are going to try and get around to answering them all.
Scroll down to see what we got to this week!
Looking for Lightweight Contenders
Question: The 155 division got even more murky with the crowning of the new champ,(which I didn’t think was really possible)but with the Baku main event not really making much of a difference, where do we go now in your opinion with Gaethje not gonna give Ilia an immediate rematch? (JudgefnMueller13)
Andrew Richardson: Gaethje will give Topuria an immediate rematch if that’s what the UFC wants. That said, I would guess Topuria might not return until like March or April, so it’s reasonable to think Arman vs. Oliveira 2 goes down before then, and the winner faces Gaethje in Q1 2027.
Thomas Myers: Give Arman the winner of BSD vs. Pimblett. That’s a true #1 contender match. Gives UFC time to see how Ilia heals. Worst case just pull the trigger and do Gaethje vs. Arman next, then Ilia vs. Paddy (if Paddy wins), rip off the Band-Aids.
Jesse Holland: Topuria didn’t even register a single title defense and got absolutely smashed by Gaethje, so I’m not in favor of an immediate rematch. Even if Pimblett beats Saint Denis, he shouldn’t be anywhere near a title shot after his drubbing against Gaethje. I think UFC waits to see what happens between Conor and Max before deciding on how to proceed. Right now I can live with Arman vs. Gaethje and Saint Denis vs. Oliveira.
Tim Edwards: I think you either do Gaethje vs. Tsarukyan or Gaethje vs. Oliveira as soon as possible. I’d prefer Tsarukyan in that scenario. You’ve got the whole truck-gate thing to build on and Tsarukyan seems fine to wait for fights (he doesn’t need the money, after all). If you do Gaethje vs. Oliveira right away you get to unify the lightweight and BMF titles (I’m being half serious about that).
Time Travelling
Q: Let’s say we were to send two of today’s UFC fighters through some sort of Time Machine to UFC 1 in 1993. One active fighter that is most likely to dominate that tournament and an active fighter that is most likely to struggle. Which two fighters should we send? (AceSpadez37)
Andrew Richardson: I think the most hilarious option would be to send the smallest guy possible to obliterate the early competition, like Manel Kape or something. As for somebody who would struggle, any of the sloppy bar brawler-types. I doubt either Tafa brother makes serious waves in the early tournament. Or how about Trevor Peek? He might get ankle locked by Ken Shamrock.
Alex Behunin: I want to see chaos. I would send Carlos Prates back in time to knock everyone out and then send back Leon Shahbazyan to lose to whoever he faces.
Jesse Holland: I’d like to send Jiří Procházka back to UFC 1 just to see how crazy things get. Tai Tuivasa gets my other vote because he fights like he just stepped out of the 1993 time machine.
Tim Edwards: Can you imagine the legend that would have been born out of Francis Ngannou if he had run through that tournament? His size and power is unlike anything we had in that tournament and I think that might have trumped the surprise that was Gracie jiu-jitsu. I don’t know if he would struggle, but Kevin Holland feels like the kind of character you would have wanted in that kind of set-up.
Is Pereira vs. Magomedov the People’s Main Event?
Q: Shara vs Michel. Is this the silly-fun fight of the year? I have a feeling I’m gonna be laughing my ass off at the chaos (Saku’sMissingEar)
Andrew Richardson: Two years ago, it’d be funny, but Pereira has lost his swagger and probably just gets taken apart here.
Thomas Myers: Michel is compromised and I feel like he knows it – he fights way more conservatively lately. Shara works great at-range. Hard to predict declining UFC fighter IQ, but I see Shara just piling up the points unless Michel wants to impose his size and take this fight to the mat. I don’t see chaos here with this version of Michel.
Alex Behunin: If this were Michel Pereira pre-Fluffy, I’d say this would be a competitive, fun fight, but Fluffy took that man’s soul and his confidence.
Pereira literally might not win another fight, unfortunately.
Jesse Holland: Pereira at welterweight was fun. At middleweight he’s unremarkable and his fights are forgettable. Expecting a Wac-A-Mole fight from Shara.
Tim Edwards: I actually think there is a high letdown potential for this fight. Pereira has not been the same since that beating he took from Anthony Hernandez. And Shara-Bullet can sometimes cruise and not get too hesitant to pull the trigger. I’m hoping there will be cartwheels and spinning shiz, but I don’t know… it might end up being a slow dance.
Tears of a Poatan
Q: Is Poatan whining? I count 3 illegal blows in the slow motion video; is that enough to warrant all this? (Adam Wagner)
Andrew Richardson: Pereira definitely got fouled quite a bit, it’s just that fouls are legal in MMA, so complaining about them doesn’t gain you any favor with the fans (see Aspinall, Tom).
Thomas Myers: Use fucking replay, like every other major sport. Fouling in UFC is rewarded. I’d kick my opponent in the nuts, poke his eyes and use 12-6’s to the back of the head in every fight. No one, especially Herb Dean, is going to do anything about it. Bring back red / yellow cards. Reffing in UFC / MMA is a clown show. Complaining is useless, just a bad look because nothing will change.
Alex Behunin: Yes, he was fouled, but also, so many other fighters have been fouled and haven’t whined as much as he currently is. I do understand it was a gigantic fight but come on bro, he was dropped by a jab.
Jesse Holland: He’s definitely whining – and has every right to whine. I don’t understand this argument that it was “only” three illegal blows. How many have to land before you earn the right to complain? They’re either legal or they’re not and when they’re not, they need to be addressed. You will never hear, “He only got tagged in the nuts three times, he should STFU already.” A foul is a foul.
Tim Edwards: Pereira has reasons to be aggrieved here. It certainly looked like he took some illegal blows. The degree of which he is showing his grievances does feel like a little much, though. I think this feels out of character for him and that’s part of why people are reacting poorly to it. Also, I don’t think the illegal blows were a big reason why he lost the fight. I think he was getting pieced up and hurt with plenty of legal shots and it was pretty clear that he had both the speed and power disadvantage in the fight. There’s no rematch coming here, so I don’t quite understand why he’s trying to make his case for being able to beat Gane if those shots to the back of the head didn’t happen.
Let’s get dirty
Q: What’s your favourite dirty but legal move? For me it’s the foot stomp. (gadgetsCA)
Andrew Richardson: Covering the mouth from back mount.
Thomas Myers: Oil checks, borderline illegal, but no referee ever takes a point.
Alex Behunin: Side oblique kick – it is so fucking brutal, but man, it is effective and could be a career ender
Jesse Holland: The hand over the mouth feels wrong. But it’s a great way to fuck with your opponent.
Tim Edwards: It’s not my favorite, but Jones’ shoulder wrench move on Teixeira is one of the more brutal, cheap and effective moves I can remember seeing.
Manel ‘The Sprinkler’ Kape
Q: In the Kape-Gooch fight during walkouts, Kape kept putting water on his feet and then was sprinkling it around the cage until the cage guy made him stop. I”ve seen this a lot when guys sprinkle a little on the ground and then rub their feet in it, but not to this extent. Why do fighters do this? Doesn’t that make their feet more slippery? (LoneCowboy)
Andrew Richardson: I’ve never done that, but the UFC canvas is famously rough and abrasive. A lot of guys walk away with serious road rash, so maybe the water helps find more of a middle ground?
Jesse Holland: Having damp feet improves your traction and can help with takedowns and body locks.
Tim Edwards: I notice that, too. I defer to Andrew’s take, since he’s likely heard fighters chatting about this in person.
Cutelaba Conundrum
Q: What happened to Ion Cutelaba? That was so weird, just like “I quit” in a fight he was winning. (LoneCowboy)
Andrew Richardson: He gassed out and opted to take his ball and go home following a knee to the belly.
Thomas Myers: He was having a conversation with the referee, while eating punches to the face … while he was in a seated position. He’s just not that bright? Seemed like a typical Ion performance in hindsight.
Jesse Holland: Looked like a vintage Ion fight to me. Tough dude, but a head full of marbles.
Tim Edwards: Cutelaba is a weird guy and that’s a big reason why he’s fun to watch. He was play acting getting hurt throughout the fight, trying to sucker Stirling into charging at him. It’s ironic that when the end came it looked like he wasn’t actually hurt (though clearly didn’t want to fight any longer). Cutelaba has done the playing possum thing before and it’s never worked for him. Judges and referees are always going to assume you’re hurt if you act like you are.
Quick hits
Q: There are no more PPV events, no more PPV buy numbers. How would you determine a UFC star in the Paramount+ era, based on what metric? (VeeDrawStuff)
Andrew Richardson: At this point, Google Search trends are the most reliable indicator of a fighter’s stardom and drawing potential. It is much, much murkier!
Thomas Myers: I might disagree – Google AI has killed SERPs. Hard to really gauge traffic / popularity these days via analytics when Google is circumventing website traffic and serving users AI-generated answers to their queries (Google is fighting countless lawsuits related to this). So, I’m pretty sure UFC relies on social media stats at this point. Power Slap is king, remember? I’d also imagine they use Paramount+ downloads. Having said all of that, Dana White can no longer build / promote stars the way he did/could just a decade ago. It’s a problem.
Jesse Holland: UFC is the star in the Paramount+ era. This was not accidental.
Q: Why does WMMA at the UFC level still exist???????? We’re off woke devil mouse (ESPN), the woke stuff is over, no one cares and no one watches? Why isn’t this experiment over? (LoneCowboy)
Andrew Richardson: The UFC likes to have title fights atop numbered events. It’s less important now that the days of PPV are over, but pairing a mediocre men’s title fight with a women’s title fight is a way to act like a main card has depth.
Jesse Holland: I’m a big fan of Weili Zhang. Double-digit knockouts, multiple post-fight performance bonuses, etc. – just wish she was more active.
Tim Edwards: Come on, there’s lots of value in the women divisions right now. For every boring womens fight, I reckon there are two or more terrible heavyweight fights. In the last few card we had Bia Mesqutia vs. Melissa Mullins. That was a fun watch and Mesquita is a great prospect. There was also Luana Santos vs. Karol Rosa. That wasn’t terribly exciting, but not noticeably worse than any other wrestler-dominated match in the men’s divisions. Before that we had Ketlen Souza KOing Ariane Carnelossi. Souza always brings it. We had Jeisla Chaves vs. Yuneisy Duben going to split decision. Again, not sensational, but also not noticeably worse than other low card decision fights. And then we had Chelsea Chandler submitting Priscila Cachoeira in another fun fight.
Q: If you could force one fighter to go up a weight class and one to go down, who would they be? (FKA Pudge)
Andrew Richardson: Rafael Fiziev feels too small for 155 pounds right now, while Alex Perez is killing himself to make Flyweight.
Thomas Myers: Kelvin Gastelum to Heavyweight. Fuck it. I feel like C-Rod could be good at Bantamweight, but he is a 145-pound gatekeeper. He always looks small at Featherweight. Shara to Welterweight might be fun, too.
Alex Behunin: I want to see Jalin Turner go up to Welterweight already and I want to see Merab go down to Flyweight if he loses to Petr Yan again (he teased it when Aljo was still champion)
Q: If you had to remove a weight class (everyone in it would fight up or down), which one are you picking? I’m assuming heavyweight would be the easy choice (cavemanoncomputer)
Andrew Richardson: Overall answer is women’s Bantamweight for obvious reasons. For the men’s divisions, drop 205-pound and let Heavyweight bulk up from their ranks.
Thomas Myers: It’s beyond silly UFC doesn’t have 205, 195, 185, 165, 155, 145, 135 and 125. Anything over 205 is Heavyweight (no limit). I believe they removed 195 because of Frank Shamrock and they wanted him to lose to Tito? Just get rid of 170, it doesn’t fit.
Tim Edwards: Make all the Light Heavyweights go to Heavyweight. Then we’ll have a fun Heavyweight division full of guys who can move.
Q: Which current fighter do you think would be most successful fighting at a ridiculous size disadvantage (Makhachev at MW, Holloway at WW, etc.)? Doesn’t have to be a realistic move for them to make. (YoelsChairGuy)
Andrew Richardson: There’s gotta be a Middleweight who could beat some ranked Heavyweights. DDP and Strickland would be fun to watch up there.
Alex Behunin: I think Manel Kape would do pretty well at Featherweight, mainly because I’ve watched him spar some high-level UFC Featherweights and do … extremely well.
Tim Edwards: Can you imagine how exhausted Sean Strickland would make these Heavyweights?
