Author: Chuck Mindenhall

Back at UFC 157, Liz Carmouche had one hell of a dilemma. She was going up against the Creator of Women’s MMA in the UFC, Ronda Rousey. Carmouche was fighting for the inaugural women’s bantamweight belt because Rousey existed. Should she defeat Rousey, Carmouche would effectively tear down the very eco system that sustained her and everyone else in her category.   

In other words, if Carmouche was successful that night in early 2013, she would ruin everything. That’s a lot to block out as you prepare for a fight.

And that’s sort of what Dennis Siver is going through as he gets set to face Conor McGregor at UFC Fight Night 59 Sunday in Boston. McGregor is not only the Gateway to Ireland, but the very fire and vitality of the featherweight division. As he said during a spot on SportsCenter this week, he’s not the Next Big Thing, he is the Big Thing. Siver is a one-man Washington Generals, a warm body to perpetuate the myth of Conor McGregor as McGregor rolls headlong towards a title shot against Jose Aldo.

If Siver were to win? Not to be overdramatic, but it would be like the potato famine of the 1840s all over again, at least for the MMA landscape. It would sort of ruin everything.

Rather than contemplate the paradoxes that can be found in his fists, though, the German fighter is simplifying his objectives as he heads into Sunday night’s encounter with McGregor.

“I am the monkey wrench,” Siver told MMA Fighting. “My goal is to take the title shot away from Conor. My goal is to beat Conor. Obviously there’s a lot in it for him.”

To take McGregor’s title shot away would be music to Frankie Edgar’s ears, but it would sound like dirge music to the UFC. McGregor is one of the biggest stars on the roster. He was the guy who they turned the lights down for the last time he fought in Boston, on the prelims, against Max Holloway. He’s the guy who singlehandedly turned Dublin into champagne oblivion when he headlined a card there in July against Diego Brandao.

Now he’s the rare non-champion who can pack a pro sports arena (in a major city like Boston) on the same night that the local NFL team is playing in the AFC Championship. “The Notorious” Conor McGregor is just that kind of needle mover.

Siver? He’s been almost incidental in the whole deal, from the promos leading up on down to the Vegas lines, which have installed him as a 9-to-1 underdog. That sort of thing tends to make a person grumpy. And Siver has been a little grumpy during fight week.

“It would have helped with a little more support from the UFC’s side, a little more promotion — but the flipside is I had more time to prepare for my fight because I wasn’t doing as much media,” he says. “But, when it comes to the media and media coverage it’s definitely my biggest fight in the UFC, and it’s my first main event in the UFC. So I’m really looking forward to proving my worth on Sunday.”

Believe it or not, this isn’t the first time Siver has been booked as an afterthought. Back in February 2011, at UFC 127, he was the warm body that the UFC booked for George Sotiropoulos in Sotiropoulos’ home country of Australia. At that time, Sots had won all seven of his UFC fights and was next in line for a title shot in the lightweight division…in fact, he’d lost only once in five years, and that was to Shinya Aoki in far-off Shooto.

What did the no-nonsense German do? He pulled the rug out from Sotiropoulos and won an industrial cold decision. He marched right over the party horns with his bare feet. As crazy as it is, Sotiropoulos hasn’t won a fight since.

Obviously McGregor is ten times bigger than Sotiropoulos ever was. There is a stentorian buzz coming off his name, which has drowned out the possibility that Siver might be up for a repeat.

“The parallels are definitely there for that fight, the only difference is Sotiropoulos went at it from a sporting direction,” Siver says. “He didn’t talk sh*t about me. But everything else is kind of similar. George was hyped highly. He was promised a title shot if he beat me. The fight took place on a Sunday as well, and it was just a while until my birthday that time, too. So I feel things will go the same way.”

Then there’s the partisan crowd. If you didn’t know, the city of Boston is proud of its Irish roots. Back when McGregor fought Holloway, McGregor came out to a deafening ovation.

“The support out there was unbelievable,” McGregor said in the post-fight press conference. “It was green walking out there. The place was green. Green flags, f*cking leprechauns jumping around. It was unbelievable.”

It will be that way again. The crowd will not be swinging steins and singing “Ein Prosit” during the introductions at the Garden for Siver, and he knows it.

“There will probably be some booing and some catcalls, but it’s not like I haven’t been there before,” he says, just as stoical as ever. “I’ve fought local heroes in England [Paul Kelly], and the local hero in Australia [Sotiropoulos]…I’ve been around the block, so it doesn’t really matter to me.”

Still, Siver is such an anonymous figure in this particular equation that McGregor predicted at one point that he’d finish him in two minutes.

“Conor has said so much in the build-up to this figh that honestly, I really don’t care what Conor says at this point,” Siver says. “All I want to do is take his predictions and shove them up his ass.”

Tell you what, from McGregor’s perspective on down to All The Big Plans, that’s a pretty…uncomfortable…thought.

Though a tentative welterweight bout between Hector Lombard and Rory MacDonald is slated to take place at UFC 186 in April, a headlining spot is still being discussed for the event.

And according to a report on UFC Tonight on Wednesday, that main event could be a bantamweight title rematch between current champion T.J. Dillashaw and Renan Barao.

Though the fight is being looked at for the April 25 date in Montreal, the report said it wasn’t yet a done deal.

Barao and Dillashaw fought at UFC 173 in May 2013, which went down as one of the most memorable fights of the year. The 135-pound champion Barao came in with a 32-fight unbeaten streak, and was a heavy favorite to beat the Team Alpha Male fighter Dillashaw. Instead, Dillashaw hurt Barao early, dominated him throughout, and finished the fight in the fifth round via TKO (head kick and follow-up punches).

The two were slated to have a rematch at UFC 177 in August, but Barao had to cancel only a day beforehand after an incident during his weight cut. Dillashaw ended up defending his title against Joe Soto, who was originally scheduled to fight on the undercard.

Also being looked at for UFC 186 is the return of Quinton Jackson. UFC Tonight reported that talks are underway for a fight between “Rampage” and Fabio Maldonado, who is coming off a TKO victory over Hans Stringer at UFC 179.

Jackson last fought for the UFC at UFC on FOX 6 in 2013 against Glover Teixeira, a bout he lost via unanimous decision. He won three straight while fighting for Bellator, including a victory over Muhammed Lawal at Bellator 120, the promotion’s one and only pay-per-view event.

Though the fight is being discussed, the report said it’s not a done deal. With Bellator contending that Jackson is still under contract, there are contractual hurdles to work through for him to appear inside the Octagon.

UFC 186 will take place on April 25 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Now that Johny Hendricks will be fighting Matt Brown at UFC 185 in March, just who gets the next crack at current champion Robbie Lawler’s title is back up in the air.

According to a report on UFC Tonight on Wednesday, the welterweight division’s next contender won’t be determined until both the Hendricks-Brown and Hector Lombard–Rory MacDonald fights play out. The former happens at UFC 185 on March 14 in Dallas, Texas, while the latter is tentatively slated for April 25 at UFC 186 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Should one of the winners shine brighter than the other, he will be awarded the next shot at the welterweight title.

For the last six weeks, it’s all been a little bit of a hot-potato proposition.

After Lawler won the 170-pound title at UFC 181 in his rematch with Hendricks in December, a trilogy fight between the two took precedence over MacDonald’s No. 1 contender status. Going in, MacDonald had been promised a fight against the winner. When the trilogy fight became evident, the UFC then booked MacDonald against Lombard to keep things flowing.

According to UFC Tonight, who spoke with UFC president Dana White, Lawler wanted to take some time off. The American Top Team fighter, who fought four times in 2014, expressed that idea during the UFC 181 post-fight press conference.

White said that Lawler’s request to take a break was the main reason why matchmaker Joe Silva booked Brown versus Hendricks. The other reason was that Brown needed a fight. His Feb. 14 bout against Tarec Saffiedine was cancelled when Saffediene got hurt, and with no appropriate fill-in available, the UFC opted to push him to the PPV card a month later.

White also told UFC Tonight that Hendricks, who had the title shot in the palm of his hand, didn’t want to wait out Lawler’s timetable. White said that he wanted to stay busy.

Looks like Conor McGregor is the latest fighter to become part of the Reebok family.

The UFC’s Irish featherweight sensation tweeted out the news on Wednesday night, complete with a photo of him in kick pose.

Congratulations to @Reebok on netting the biggest signature in the game. #StayReady pic.twitter.com/dAUWlgJ3e3

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) January 14, 2015

Heading into 2015, McGregor — who headlines Sunday night’s UFC Fight Night 59 card in Boston against Dennis Siver — is one of the UFC’s biggest, most marketable stars. Among the numerous sponsorships he has carried since debuting in the UFC back in 2013 was a deal with Dethrone Royalty Brand, in which he was provided a monthly stipend and royalties based on sales. McGregor’s Dethrone shirts were popular items, particularly for his fight against Diego Brandao in his native Dublin last July.

McGregor joins women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis, light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, and Johny Hendricks under the Reebok-sponsored umbrella.

“Conor’s hard work, determination and confidence have gotten him to where he is today,” Reebok Brand President Matt O’Toole said in a press release. “His passion and his commitment to continual self-improvement are a true reflection of the Reebok brand.”

“You smell that money, Kenny?” McGregor joked with analyst Kenny Florian during an appearance on UFC Tonight. “I partnered with Reebok, it’s a big step in my career, and I’m honored to be with this brand. This is a big deal for myself, and of course with the partnership Reebok and the UFC have, I am honored to be one of the athletes that Reebok has chosen to get behind. And Sunday night I will prove that by going out they to perform in phenomenal style.”

This past December it was announced that the UFC had entered into a six-year deal with Reebok to become the promotion’s official apparel partner, beginning in July. All fighters at that time will wear uniforms tailored by the Reebok brand.

Wait, wait, wait, now hold up.

Just so we’re straight…on a Saturday night, Jon Jones defended his title against Daniel Cormier. By Tuesday, he entered a rehabilitation facility to deal with a cocaine issue. By Wednesday, he was out like brook trout, free to roam the earth and once again try himself against its temptations. Triumph, scandal, voluntary exile, freedom, all in the course of four days.

Now that’s some fancy footwork. Forget about Muhammad Ali comparisons; Jones could hold that kind of work up to Napoleon.

It was Jones’ mom, Camille, who ultimately dished up this new intel. She told the CBS affiliate WBNG-TV in Binghamton, N.Y., that her son checked out of rehab, but was “continuing to get more educated on the subject.” Educated? As in snorting up the sidewalks on Albuquerque until he grasps its full effects? No, silly! As in how to better rally against that demon drug and all its mane-shaking power.

They call this “outpatient.”

And for all those who were ushering in prayers for Jones and his recovery, you may now offer up thanks to your deity for His expediency in the matter. Jones is on his way to Foxboro to watch his brothers Arthur (Indianapolis Colts) and Chandler (New England Patriots) square off in the AFC Championship game. After that, hey, he’s just a dropkick away from Boston, where Conor McGregor is being showcased against Dennis Siver that night. Might as well sneak some fights in there, too, because freedom affords just that sort of whimsy! Sunday could be a fun one for Jonny “Bones,” who is already well on his way to being fully rehabilitated.

All he needed was a single night of sober introspection. This is the most publicized one-night stand so far in 2015.

And that’s the thing that bothers me about it all. The PR slant. The damage control. The surface feed. The fixing of holes in the foundation with the use of duct tape and cardboard. Jones has a harder time selling us his problems than he does his greatness. That’s all backwards. Why the charades?

The real truth? I’d say Nate Diaz’s educated guess as to what was going behind the curtains feels closest. It was Diaz who tweeted out that the whole Jones-to-rehab idea was a publicity stunt. Jones heard he popped hot for cocaine metabolites — in a test that should never have been poking around in such dark corners so far out from his fight — and the tidiest route to take was “rehab.” People applauded that immediate action — including Dana White who, like many others, expressed health-first concerns and even went do far as to call it “great” — because it meant he was getting help for his problem.

Problem is problems don’t go away after a single night of direct acknowledgment. If Jones had a problem, he’d still be in rehab. If he didn’t, it’s an open door policy, they could have told him so. If they told him so, well, who knows how many sets of dupes we’re dealing in. Jones is either expert or clumsy at obfuscation, depends on the incident. It all goes into the adventure that has been made of his Wikipedia page.

Yet, all of this for what? To fish for TMZ’s attention? Jones still fought and won (dominantly) and the most anybody had on him was that he enjoyed an occasional bump from time to time. Not admirable, but not altogether damnable, either. Cocaine and sudden millionaires have a long history together. You can look it up.

But to check in and only muster a single night in a rehab facility falls short of even keeping up appearances; it doesn’t even allow the public enough time to achieve maximum gullibility. In fact, it comes off as a ruse — like a magic trick where Jon pulls a string of colorful handkerchiefs from his closed hand, but you can’t help but notice it’s actually coming from his sleeve.

At least, in this particular episode of Getting to Know Jon Jones, we can only hope that’s the case. That beats the alternative that he actually does have a drug issue, which is being addressed in whatever curious way that he thinks best. The UFC 182 in-competition drug tests could shed light on that one way or another when they come back. The drama isn’t done yet.

But you know things are a little jacked up when the best case scenario seems to be this: That it’s less a problem of Jones dealing with a substance issue than it is Jones’ on-going problem of handling negative publicity.

In the wake of Jon Jones’ long roller coaster weekend at UFC 182 — in which he defended his title gloriously against Daniel Cormier and entered a rehab center for cocaine use less than 72 hours later — many are still trying to digest the whole thing.

One of those is his striking coach Brandon Gibson, who has been with Jones for over three years at Jackson-Winkeljohn’s in Albuquerque. Jones referred to Gibson as his “secret weapon” heading into his Jan. 3 title defense, due to Gibson’s ability to deconstruct the opposition’s tendencies. The two have formed a tight-knit relationship through Jones’ last eight bouts (all of them successful title defenses). They plan on being together for years to come now that Jones has moved full-time to Albuquerque.

Gibson appeared on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour and said he’s spoken to Jones twice since the champion entered a New Mexico rehab facility. Asked how things were going, Gibson said as well as can be expected.

“Some of it’s going to be outpatient follow-up stuff,” he told Ariel Helwani. “So, I didn’t get too many details on that, but you know we just talked more about his process through this — and I’m going to support him through it. It’s not my job to diagnose or counsel Jon. All I can ultimately do is be there for him as a friend as he goes through this.”

Gibson, along with his fellow coaches Mike Winkeljohn and Greg Jackson, found out about the positive cocaine test on the Monday after the Cormier fight, on Jan. 5. Jones, who was “somber” in his delivery, informed the coaches of what was to come, and apologized if reflected poorly “on the team and all the work [they’d] done.”

“I was sad,” Gibson said. “Obviously I care first and foremost for Jon as a friend, as father, fiancé, son, brother. So I was sad to hear that. He called me a couple of hours before the news was released. He didn’t find out until right before himself, and he was very apologetic about the whole situation to the whole coaching staff.”

Gibson said the news cut short the celebration they had long been hoping to have.

“I kind of wanted to ride that high a little bit of beating DC,” he said. “That was a huge accomplishment for him. He put a lot of work in, and obviously this took away from that. But it definitely brought to light a more important issue that we have to face.”

Gibson also said that the last he had talked to Jones he was still at the rehab facility, but that he believed Jones would be “transitioning to more outpatient stuff and follow-up treatment for the considerable time being.”

“As of today, I really don’t know what the exact status of it is,” he said.

Much speculation has gone into the severity on Jones’ drug problem, whether it was recreational use or a full-blown dependency, but Gibson said he didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary during training.

“You know, I didn’t see any giant signs or signals through camp,” he said. “Jon was probably more disciplined than he’s ever been as far as the work leading up to the DC fight. He wasn’t late for a single workout. I’d see him multiple times a day. I was more focused on his performance objectives, and I didn’t really see these signs, but maybe this brings to light some other things he’s going to have to work out.”

Some of the criticism in the aftermath of the whole ordeal has fallen on the shoulders of the Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC), who admitted it made an “administrative oversight” in testing for cocaine in the first place. Jones’ positive test occurred out of competition, on Dec. 4, which shouldn’t have been an issue for the fight itself. Cocaine is a banned substance only for in-competition testing, which typically means 12 hours before/after a fight.

Asked if on this front he thought Jones had been wronged by the Nevada commission, Gibson was torn.

“Each athletic commission is different,” he said. “I don’t know. I think in my place it would never be up to me to disclose so much private medical history or background or progress of someone who was even in recovery. I know there’s a silver lining to this. I know that Jon is going to come out of this a better person. He’s going to come out of it more disciplined. So as far as NSAC releasing it, or not releasing it, or even doing it after the fight was over — I don’t know how much bearing that holds.

“I’m just happy that at least Jon is dealing with it.”

One thing Gibson was sure of was that Jones, who is tentatively being looked at to defend his title in July against the winner of Anthony Johnson versus Alexander Gustafsson, would return an even better fighter than he was before the whole mess.

“I’m confident he’ll come out of this stronger than ever,” he said. “I think he’s really going to make the most of Albuquerque being his home. We’re not going to have to call it a comeback. I think Jon’s next fight we’re going to see an even greater Jon Jones than what we saw with the DC fight. I think he’s going to continue to fight off these temptations and become a stronger man through all this.”