Michael McDonald appears to approach what could be one of the more exciting fights of UFC 145—his own against Miguel Torres—with a shrug.In an interview with MMAjunkie.com, McDonald explained himself. This is the highest-profile fight that …
Michael McDonald appears to approach what could be one of the more exciting fights of UFC 145—his own against Miguel Torres—with a shrug.
This is the highest-profile fight that I’ve had. It’s the most publicity; my opponent has the biggest record and the most experience. But I don’t know if it’s the biggest step up in competition from where I was previously.
McDonald continued, explaining his approach lies somewhere between confident consistency and laissez-faire.
I think he’s good, and I think I’m better. I’ve never looked at him and said if I customize myself to him and his style (that) I think I could beat him. I’ve always said me being me, I think I can beat him as him. I haven’t watched a minute of footage because I’ve studied him, and I already know that I can beat him, and that’s all I need.
There is little to suggest that McDonald isn’t deserving of this confidence. He is coming up in the bantamweight division as one of its most impressive fighters, not only because he enters the ring with a seven-win streak, but because of the absolute versatility he’s shown as a professional fighter, especially in the UFC.
Moreover, the match-up between McDonald and Torres is frighteningly even. According to Yahoo! Sports, even odds makers have neither fighter at advantage. Both are considered wild cards at some level—fans watch to see if Torres will return to his once-renowned high level of energy and aggression or have finally refined his new style, all the while waiting to see how McDonald will handle the Torres that shows up.
What most have agreed on is that it’s going to be Torres’ experience against McDonald’s ability, and that both of these are equally capable of landing their respective fighter the victory. It’s exactly this that makes McDonald’s cavalier approach to this fight so disconcerting.
Where McDonald says Torres isn’t his next competitive step, I’d argue the contrary. At the same time, I’d argue that McDonald will see much more success from this point than will Torres.
Nevertheless, if McDonald is to realize the full potential of the promise he’s already shown, it may help to also fully realize the competition he faces—it may be the thing that saves him tomorrow night.
During the post-fight conference for Saturday’s UFC on FUEL TV 2, UFC president Dana White expressed his frustration with the public’s calls for more drug testing.
The battle that I have to get these guys to get their f—— bout agreemen…
During the post-fight conference for Saturday’s UFC on FUEL TV 2, UFC president Dana White expressed his frustration with the public’s calls for more drug testing.
The battle that I have to get these guys to get their f—— bout agreements back and show up for press is un f—— believable. The fact that I have to make personal phone calls to tell guys to talk to the f—— press. Now I’m going to start making personal phone calls to go show up for random drug tests?
The general public and the media need to grasp some f—— concept of reality, okay? The reality of us doing all the f—— things that we’re doing, when we already have the gold standard in drug testing, and then trying to chase 375 guys all over the world to randomly test them too? It’s impossible.
White is right about one thing—drug testing all of his fighters in the way much of the public is asking for could prove overwhelming, especially when the UFC does work hard to maintain this “gold standard in drug testing.”
However, he can hardly call it impossible.
The problem lies with the UFC as a self-regulating promotion company. With the UFC’s push for global expansion, the organization must deal with numerous national regulations. Moreover, these regulations in the U.S. vary from state to state, forcing even more complications upon an already complicated matter.
UFC Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Marc Ratner explained the honest problem with a promoter working as regulator in an interview with Sports Illustrated’s Ben Fowlkes.
You don’t want a promoter self-regulating. For us, what we’ve been doing is trying to grow the sport. But when I’m in charge, I still work for the promoter, so there’s an inherent conflict and we’re the first to admit that. But you can’t grow the sport unless you do that to start with.
For the UFC to begin their promotion with a strong consideration of drug use and its protocol, as Ratner speaks to here, was a sensible move for the organization. But this year alone has seen a huge growth in popularity and excitement from countries who have or will receive a UFC event soon and from some of the biggest planned events in UFC history.
This self-regulation has reached a breaking point.
The most recent PED debacle—the discovery of Alistair Overeem’s elevated testosterone level after random testing by the NSAC that destroyed UFC 146—has outraged the public and brought criticism about the use of PEDs. It has unveiled the overwhelming fear from fans and fighters about the presence of PEDs in the sport. More importantly, this also reveals the weaknesses in the UFC’s infrastructure as a growing organization.
Even if the UFC follows state regulations when hosting fights in the U.S., the states themselves are victim to the same broken system.
While Overeem fell to the NSAC’s random testing for levels of testosterone to epitestosterone higher than 6:1, that’s still more lenient than the World Anti-Doping Administration’s 4:1 limit. And on a separate but related note, the California State Athletic Commission approved an amendment allowing the use of many banned substances by fighters, including testosterone and marijuana, so long as they are prescribed for medical use (via SI.com).
Each of these as separate cases are not necessarily harmful. What is unsettling, however, is that so many regulatory boards are moving in so many different directions in response to so many different questions regarding drug use.
It’s enough to have any independent board of regulation throw their hands in the air. The end result is already confusing and is likely headed toward a bureaucratic mess.
With White, fighters and fans frustrated with the system in place (though all for very different reasons), it may be time to welcome a new board of international regulation. I recently argued that the newly-formed International Mixed Martial Arts Federation—a Swedish organization who aims to enforce the safety of MMA on a worldwide scale—could make the sport stronger in its support for the development of fighters.
Given this latest cry of distress over PED regulation, it may have more to offer as a governing body as well.
While the UFC doesn’t appear to be letting go of its job as regulator and the IMMAF hasn’t spoken to any future policies about the issue of PED use, reaction to these latest events will measure how the sport will own up to regulation. If the IMMAF wants to develop MMA on a global scale through a focus on regulation and safety, it cannot miss this chance to address the regulation of PEDs. And if the UFC really does want to hand over such regulation, it has the chance—not to mention expected political pressure—to work with the IMMAF on a solution.
Without taking advantage of this moment, the UFC may miss a great opportunity to move on as a promoter while further committing to a responsible global existence of MMA.
Since Jon Jones’s main clothing sponsor Form Athletics recently folded, opportunities for sponsors were likely countless. But of them, Jones has selected a new sponsor for his fight against Rashad Evans at UFC 145—the UFC. Yes, the UFC has …
Since Jon Jones’s main clothing sponsor Form Athletics recently folded, opportunities for sponsors were likely countless. But of them, Jones has selected a new sponsor for his fight against Rashad Evans at UFC 145—the UFC.
Yes, the UFC has decided to sponsor Jones, branding the fighter as their own in some oddly superfluous way. And while the challenger Evans will enter the ring as a man hungry for the belt and to end the bitter rivalry with a win, Jones will enter the ring likely dressed like a default character from a UFC video game.
Jones has responded openly to the new deal. According to MMAWeekly.com, Jones explains this opportunity as one that will allow him to keep his branding clean for the fight.
“We came up with a strategy to keep it clean and be sponsored by the UFC itself. I’m glad the UFC wanted to work with me as well, and I think that they trust that I’ll never make them look bad. You never have to worry about me with a DWI or doing something crazy.”
Jones also implied, perhaps without meaning to, that the UFC added its weight to the decision.
“I think I’m a good company guy. The UFC asks me to do anything and I always do it, and I never tell them no for anything. I’ve had to do more marketing than any other fighter because I say no to absolutely nothing. I don’t think most champs are like that.”
Of course, the UFC has every right to brand any of their fighters. Not only do they cut the checks, but they have numerous other marketing lines, including licensed gyms and, of course, merchandise.
Looking solely at the elements of such a decision, this doesn’t appear negative. The UFC sponsoring one of its fighters for one fight doesn’t mean a whole lot (even the UFC needs its marketing, even if this is hanging a picture of itself in its own office). It also helps Jones avoid worrying about searching for a solid contract in the midst of preparing for this event, leaving him more time for training, Twitter wars and side-by-side interviews with Evans.
Taken all together, however, this sponsorship is slightly disconcerting. Given Jones’s status, it’s likely he’d have the power to quickly and painlessly get whatever one-time contract he needed. Such a sponsorship is especially telling in a relationship between these fighters. It stilts the current rivalry, making it a bit harder to consider an organic war of history and personality. By now, the feud seems to include equal parts Jones, Evans and the UFC.
Nevertheless, it does make Evans that much more of an underdog by pitting him, if only symbolically, against a powerful and more visible opponent. When the event was already this exciting, such an excessive move simply raises the stakes for everyone involved, which is always welcome.
This Thursday, the UFC declared its support for the new International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF). The organization, founded in Sweden by its president August Wallén, aims to develop “MMA as an international sport, from the recre…
This Thursday, the UFC declared its support for the new International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF).
The organization, founded in Sweden by its president August Wallén, aims to develop “MMA as an international sport, from the recreational level to the elite level, driving the development of common sets of rules, safety regulations, structure, mutual exchanges and so forth,” according to its website.
There is no doubt that as of right now, the UFC’s backing is much more beneficial for the IMMAF than for the UFC.
To begin with, its probable that few MMA fans were even aware of the IMMAF until this announcement, and the UFC doesn’t gain any immediate strength as an organization with the growth of a governing body for amateur sport.
And while the development of regulated amateur competition for MMA is likely to bolster the UFC in many ways, the end result could redefine the sport of MMA while smartly retaining its traditions—provided that the IMMAF continues to grow in concord with the UFC.
History, however, reveals the complications of such a relationship.
“I think MMA developed kind of backwards. All other sports, more or less, start on the amateur level with people playing soccer, for instance, in their backyards. Then you get many teams in one city, and they complete, and then a city against a city and a country against a country. Then, when you get worldwide, you start a professional league. In MMA, the professional league has been the first thing, and now we’re looking at the amateur.”
While Wallén has a point, he forgets an important similarity to another sport that developed in much the same way: boxing.
In the late 19th century, boxing struggled for legitimacy much like MMA does now and reacted similarly. Its first movement toward gaining wider legal acceptance was rulemaking that carried the sport from its old bare-knuckle ways.
In 1867, John Graham Chambers created what became known as the Queensberry Rules, a set of rules that introduced many elements of boxing we know today, including the gloves, the 10-count, and the structure of rounds.
These rules aimed to draw attention to the finesse and skill of boxing beyond its barbaric appearance. While many boxers dismissed the rules as unnecessarily diluted, they did allow fights to take place where prize-fighting had been outlawed. These rule changes didn’t create immediate widespread acceptance of boxing, but they marked the progress of the sport.
1867 also saw the beginning of amateur boxing, and by 1880, the Amateur Boxing Association had emerged as its first governing body. Unlike its close relative, prize-fighting, amateur boxing spread quickly in areas where boxing was previously forbidden. A new international tournament system grew, which eventually led to the Olympic addition of boxing in 1904.
Many professional boxing legends, including Muhammad Ali, Shane Mosley, Oscar de la Hoya and Roy Jones Jr., gained extensive experience as amateur fighters before becoming professionals.
Though there are likely thousands who left the amateur system without even a distantly comparable measure of success as these fighters, and though there are fighters who have become successful professionals without entering the amateur ranks, the significance of such development cannot be ignored.
If amateur MMA develops, it will likely follow a similar path. Of course, this will be good for the UFC in that the potential for new MMA gyms, programs and awareness will breed a larger audience and more fighters. But a priority of the amateur boxing system that has remained since the Queensberry Rules might haunt the sport of MMA: the focus on technique that negates its complete physical identity.
Not only did focusing on technique improve boxing’s image as a competitive sport rather than a blood sport, it also allowed fighters to become acquainted with the fundamentals of boxing before entering the professional sphere.
Likewise, a greater amateur presence of MMA will create a more accessible space in which fighters can understand the competitive technique of mixed martial arts.
This in itself, however, guarantees the change in what we know as the mixed martial arts. At one time a fusion of both unified and competing disciplines of fighting, MMA is currently being redefined as a complete fighting style that takes traditional styles and situates them according to an individual fighter’s strengths.
In other words, there is less need for fighters to train in many separated disciplines and more benefit in understanding the greater system of mixed martial arts. The result is a more holistic fighter and more refined competition between such fighters.
Regardless, one thing that boxing could move away from that MMA cannot is the inherent violence of the sport. Boxing can be reduced to its own technique to abate violence and still resemble boxing; on the other hand, MMA cannot be distilled in the same way without simply reverting back to the individual sports on which its based. Consequently, any attempt to do this will only seem excessively reductive.
The demand for MMA technique is driven by the physical danger of the competition, which keeps it from simply regressing to any of the disciplines it once sought to test. For this reason, an amateur system in MMA will not be any more fruitful than the current professional system without substantial rule changes.
Given the IMMAF’s immediate preoccupation with the sport’s safety, popularity, and eventual placement in the Olympics, it can be inferred that changing the rules considerably must be part of the plan somewhere.
Fortunately, the IMMAF argues that it will become an international presence for MMA not by “creating mandatory regulations for all members but rather investigating best practice and assisting countries and organizations that need help in creating their own regulations.”
Furthermore, its safety ladder system appears to mimic the framework that governs most modern MMA gyms. Not only will these likely expand the acceptance of MMA as a safe sport in certain arenas, but the simple label of “amateur” connotes a focus on pure and safe sport that “professional” doesn’t in most societies.
Moreover, this safety ladder recognizes at its highest rung the Unified Rules of MMA—the rule set that the UFC already follows. In this fact alone, the IMMAF exhibits its dedication to the sport’s professionalism while allowing a larger arena for various levels of international competition and development.
It also promotes the level of violence in professional MMA as an unrestrained opportunity for qualified fighters to showcase skills, thus positioning individual restraint as one of the many learned skills that marks the highest level of MMA.
If the IMMAF is able to keep its laddered structure and remain flexible with various regional and national concerns, it may be the best thing MMA has seen in its move toward an international presence.
Right now, it’s a pro bono organization with good intentions, but those intentions are important for the expansion of MMA. In an interview with MMAJunkie.com, Wallén used France as an example of the possibility for expansion.
“If you take France, for example, to get a permit in France, you need to have a national federation. To have a national federation that is recognized by the states to have a permit, you need to have it be recognized by an international federation. If there is no international federation, then it is impossible to get a permit. So you have that side.
“If you want to arrange a professional event in France, you need to have an international federation. Then we have to be recognized as a sport by SportAccord to be a true sport. To do that, we have to have an international federation. We need to have international competitions, like a world championship.”
With the UFC’s verbal backing and its probable financial backing, the IMMAF simultaneously becomes a major proponent for international amateur MMA and a lobbying organization for professional MMA.
Such a complex relationship is the one thing that separates a governing body for amateur MMA from that of amateur boxing, and the identity of the IMMAF that comes from that separation is paramount to the global success of such a unique sport.
While such changes won’t necessarily make professional MMA as a separate entity any different than it is now, it may conceivably redefine the sport by the boundaries between technique and violence in the mind of the greater public.
As the UFC makes moves to improve its global presence, there’s a certain sense that the organization will usher in a new era as it finds existing markets and establishes itself beside them. This is, of course, good for the Fertittas, Dana White a…
As the UFC makes moves to improve its global presence, there’s a certain sense that the organization will usher in a new era as it finds existing markets and establishes itself beside them. This is, of course, good for the Fertittas, Dana White and the UFC, but it may be good for the sport of MMA as well.
With the recent television deal signed between UFC and Sony Pictures Television’s Multi Screen Media that will bring UFC programming to India, Dana White’s promise to take the UFC global is further developing at a rapid pace.
This year alone, we have seen expansion of the organization in big ways. A recent press conference in Calgary revealed three dates on which UFC events will take place in Canada this year, confirming and revitalizing the UFC’s relationship with its Canadian devotees and fighters. The UFC’s popular reality show The Ultimate Fighter premiered in Brazil featuring coaches American fans are all too familiar with: Wanderlei Silva and Vitor Belfort. And recently, White has guaranteed that he is similarly making headway in China, where the UFC opened offices in 2010 and rumors are spreading of a fight there in 2012.
All of this expansion brings to mind White’s philosophy about fighting as a potential global sport. In a 2010 interview with SportsBusiness Journal, White explained the barriers of various sports and their national boundaries—for example, the NFL in America and cricket in India—and how these sports’ small international presence remains historically limited, despite any financial stimulus they’ve received to encourage their global reception. Fighting, he says, can transcend these barriers.
“Fighting crosses all these barriers. I don’t care what country you come from or what language you speak, fighting is in our DNA. We get it and we like it.”
Unlike aspirations of complete global dominance and the promise of a fight in Macau by the end of this year, we don’t need to take White’s word on the natural presence of fighting in human culture. Its presence is just as natural in White’s plan for expansion.
In America, sports like MMA continually fight against residua of religious reformation and the politics of tradition. One of MMA’s greatest political opponents, New York assemblyman Bob Reilly, explains his particular views that reflect such tradition.
“The greatest problem I find with mixed martial arts or Ultimate Fighting is that it’s violent, and I believe that violence begets violence. Now in New York State, the legislature and the governor constantly are trying to do away with violence: violence in schools, violence in our urban cities, domestic violence. And I think this just helps perpetuate and encourage violence.”
Reilly continues his criticism of the sport by explaining that his acceptance of it would only come with undermining the foundations of what has made MMA popular in the first place.
“What attracts people to Ultimate Fighting, unfortunately, is violence, and violence is not good for our society. Safeguards could come. Some people say, is there any way that you could accept mixed martial arts, and I say yes, if you drastically change your rules and took the violence out of it. But you take the violence out of it, as I think demonstrated before, and its attractiveness to a large fanbase is gone. I think that what we want to do is control the violence in every sport.”
Reilly’s case against MMA is arguable at the least. What should be noticed here, however, is that the sport in this case battles an American ideology of means against purpose instead of any specific offense. The assemblyman illustrates this later in the interview when he explains that the NFL has done a good job of controlling violence in sport because “the purpose is to put the football through the goal or to put it into the endzone.” But, he says, “in mixed martial arts, the purpose is violence.” Absent from this interview are a discussion about the evolution of competition, the philosophical revision of safety and sportsmanship or the fact that soccer is still not broadly welcomed in America.
In the countries where the UFC is rooting, however, these same things are integrated into the history of MMA. While others can speak to the modern view of the sport in these countries better than myself, for this has likely evolved in various ways only known to members of the respective cultures, it’s certain that Americans still have a nearly xenophilic attraction to the lore of fighting from other countries. Reilly speaks to this as well.
“All of the mixed martial arts, there’s a great history to them because the mixed martial arts developed over literally centuries in some cases based on a philosophy of making your body and your mind stronger and, in many cases, as a defense.”
What the casual viewer of MMA often misses is the demonstration of this “great history” present in every fight. Admittedly, it does take a certain knowledge of the sport to notice and understand this history within the stylistic hybridity displayed by fighters. Regardless, people do witness it, and the resilient presence of MMA in the U.S. is nothing if not a testament to that. Welcoming other countries into the UFC, many of whom have founded these histories, may be the best way—the only way—for Americans to realize it fully.
But to date, advancing the sport around its critics has proved challenging. The enthusiasts of MMA in America remain a small group of dedicated fans, but it has gained a certain position of prominence thanks in large part to White’s partnership with major advertisers and greater marketing through television presence. Such moves bring to mind the tactics of George Lewis “Tex” Rickard, the man credited with bringing boxing from the barbaric bare-knuckle sport of the late 19th century to the star-studded spectacle of the 20th.
Like Rickard, who saw potential in developing stars like Jack Dempsey over a series of fights, White has been able to use television and the Internet to develop similar hero-like stars who vie for title shots and defend their rank against a ready squad of contenders. Moreover, White is also willing to take risks on fighters who promise a good fight, much like Rickard who offered huge purses to attract fighters like Jack Johnson, Jess Willard and Dempsey, and still made a profit to continue similar promotions.
Furthermore, the popularity of training camps is essential to the success of their fighters’ branding. White understands this like Rickard did, who developed Dempsey’s name along with his manager, Jack Kearns. White has been sure to use social media and television presence to keep the fighters in the public mind, a move that no doubt piques interest in the sport among a larger audience.
Despite this historical precedent of boxing’s evolution, uncertainty still remains about the potential for the UFC to make MMA the popular arena for global competition. But the UFC is growing at a time when a connected world is a more globalized world, and the organization never misses a chance to focus on the resulting nuances. Unlike boxing, a sport that gained its modern professional perception through a generally European influence in its rules, MMA pits styles against styles more than fighters against fighters. The fighters are simply vehicles for a number of identities, including their countries, their fighting styles and training camps and their own histories.
Nevertheless, it is only through promoting the fighters themselves that we are able to understand these varied identities. In the aforementioned countries, there are a number of representative fighters that have made a name for themselves in the UFC and have become household names for MMA fans. Even when this isn’t the case, White has expressed interest in introducing TUF to these countries in order to not only expand the UFC’s presence, but to develop talent while he’s at it.
Such a strategy will work remarkably well in a country like India, where the Super Fight Leauge, India’s first MMA organization, is already beginning to establish an MMA fanbase by introducing them to ex-UFC fighters, including Trevor Prangley and Todd Duffee. Interestingly enough, the Super Fight League is introducing MMA to India with desperate slogans like “Come for the concert, stay for the fight” that remind us of UFC 1’s selling point marked prominently on the cover, “Unedited! Uncensored! Unleashed!”
What White has been able to do so well is market MMA effectively as a sport as opposed to a simple spectacle like that advertised at the video release of UFC 1 or recently in the Super Fight League. We get to watch these fighters train like athletes via pre-fight promotions. Many of the sponsors of an event and its fighters are health supplement companies or major sponsors of other sports. All of this together makes a night of UFC fighting a grand event that showcases raw athleticism in a way we’re used to seeing in similar events.
Not one to completely sacrifice the brand, though, White continually caters to his fringe audience with his notorious attitude that pervades every fight at every event. Although this is no secret, the sentiment was revealed most recently by Jon Jones during an interview with Ariel Helwani: “It’s Dana’s world when you’re a UFC fighter and we live in it.”
Regardless, for America to both join the historic world of MMA and host it, “Dana’s world” might be the place to be. Not only has he been able to market MMA as an increasingly globally-sanctioned sport, he is finding global markets that are willing to invest in the development of athletes to participate in this arena; moreover, White is offering TUF to those countries as a development plan should they have none.
It’s expected that MMA won’t become the celebrated spectator sport we hope it will be in the foreseeable future, especially against the likes of American football or soccer everywhere else. Nonetheless, White’s encouragement of the UFC’s global presence has paved the way for an organic arena in which worldwide talent can compete both in the U.S. and abroad. It’s the participation of these fighters’ homelands as hosts for such events that place MMA on a truly global level of participation.
Ask any fan of U.S. soccer during a hopeful World Cup run—the significance of this level of participation and competition is hard to deny. But the intermittency of UFC events and the dramatic involvement of global identities can be made all the more appealing when a country is able to watch fighters develop and their stories evolve as representatives of both a certain culture and the general human condition. This is especially true when the telling moment is determined through the martial arts, that form of combat that defines the purpose of all competitive sport in its very nature.
If the UFC’s global arena continues to expand as it has most recently, this sport of worldwide acclaim may be able to achieve some international unity that allows MMA to appeal to a greater audience if for no other reason than that it can offer the most distilled and regular form of contest on the grandest scale by appealing to both an individual and national sense of competition.
As the MMA community turns over Alistair Overeem and his failed pre-fight drug screening, Junior dos Santos has finally spoken about the spectacle. Today, dos Santos released this brief statement on Twitter:“I am professional and I’m [the] champi…
As the MMA community turns over Alistair Overeem and his failed pre-fight drug screening, Junior dos Santos has finally spoken about the spectacle.
“I am professional and I’m [the] champion without ever having used anything for better performance.”
He continued, “When you guys see me fighting that’s really me.”
While the Overeem camp remains silent about the fighter’s 14:1 ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone, an amount well over Nevada’s 6:1 limit, dos Santos revealed he too knows little about the situation.
“About what happened to Overrem [sic] I don’t know anything more than you guys know and for me. It’s between him and the Nevada Athletic Commission.”
Simple words from the current heavyweight champion, who is forced to hang tight while a new contender is chosen.
There’s also a chance that Overeem will opt to have the B-sample tested by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, though every silent passing hour makes this exponentially less likely.
In the meantime, dos Santos awaits alongside UFC fans to see who the champion will fight at UFC 146 on May 26.
According to Internet chatter, it seems most likely that Dana White will pull Frank Mir from his fight against Cain Velasquez, which was scheduled for the same card.
Some have even revisited that old dream of Fedor Emelianenko joining the UFC, especially at such an opportune time.
Still, this prospect is extremely unlikely given White’s recent disinterest and the guaranteed contract battle that wouldn’t be completed with any amount of ease before May.
Regardless, there are few contenders who are thought to be up to the challenge against dos Santos more than Mir.
While dos Santos’ striking and power will likely prove too much for Mir, his smart wrestling will at least place dos Santos in an interesting battle of style and power.
Given this and, more importantly, the lack of time until May, it’s sensible that Mir will replace Overeem.
Whatever the case, dos Santos doesn’t have an extremely strong contender biting at his heels, and the self-assessed “professional” can rest assured things will stay business as usual.
