There’s nothing of note going on in the cage this holiday weekend, which leaves plenty of room for Twitter chit-chat to fill the vacuum.
And this week in the mixed martial arts news cycle . Jose Aldo’s out of the his highly anticipated UFC 189 title fight with Conor McGregor. Chad Mendes is in. An interim title is on the line. Frankie Edgar is still on the outside looking in. Oh and the new UFC Reebok kits (don’t you dare call them uniforms) were rolled out.
So let’s chat about that and more in this week’s edition of Fightweets.
What about Frankie?
@MalmstromJason: So where does Frankie Edgar stand in all this?
I think at this point, the UFC should just take out a billboard in Toms River, NJ that reads “Hey Frankie, go to bantamweight.” The UFC going with Mendes over Edgar at UFC 189 is surprising in one respect: The potential next step should McGregor lose to either fighter.
Obviously, the best thing for the UFC’s business going forward is for McGregor to defeat Mendes, then set up a fight with Aldo that will be even bigger than it already was. If Mendes wins? Then UFC is stuck with Aldo-Mendes 3 after Aldo already beat Mendes twice, the latter fight coming just last summer. Had the UFC gone with Edgar against McGregor, and Edgar won, you’d have a red-hot Edgar with five straight wins, having only fought Aldo once and given him the tightest challenge of his title reign. That would seem an easier sell than Aldo-Mendes 3.
So what to do from here, then? Edgar’s clock is ticking and this set of events only pushes a potential title fight back even further. Maybe seeing if he can make 135, a division which needs headliners, isn’t the worst idea at this point.
Interim titles and injuries
@NiallOrmond: Do people not realize without an interim belt McGregor v. Mendes would be co-main, 3 rounds most likely
First things first: Aldo really broke his ribs. No doubt about it. It’s highly likely those casting aspersions on Aldo’s manhood have never injured their ribs in their life. A couple months, back I took a spill off my bike and hurt my shoulder and ribcage and had trouble simply getting to sleep at night for awhile; I can’t even begin to imagine competing in a combat sport against a trained killer under those circumstances.
That said, Aldo is, in fact, injury prone. And Nova Uniao has a well-documented string of mishaps, from Aldo’s injury history to Renan Barao’s horrific weight cuts and so on. No, Aldo doesn’t deserve to be shamed for getting hurt training, but if creating an interim title gets the attention of a gym which has developed quite a track record and makes them rethink the way they think their approach, then I can live with that.
As for keeping Mendes-McGregor the headliner, I can live with that, too. We finally seem to be getting away from the notion that a title fight automatically should be the card’s headliner. Of course, in most instances, it should be. But it doesn’t need to be an etched-in-stone commandment. If there are more people in the arena to see Conor McGregor than Rory MacDonald (or Demetrious Johnson), then put McGregor in the main event, title belt or no. If Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock brought the fans to the arena and two million sets of eyeballs on to Spike, then it’s the main event, not a Patricio Friere title fight (even given how memorable his win over Daniel Weichel turned out). The vast majority of the time, the title fight is the biggest draw, but that doesn’t mean we have to act like making it the main event is some sort of holy obligation.
What if McGregor loses?
@chjobin: Let’s say Mendes demolishes McG and exposes him badly because of the wrestling, is there a bandwagon anymore?
@sandher1: If @TheNotoriousMMA loses who would he face next or would it be like Nick vs. GSP still gets the title shot
Related questions, so one answer for both.
If McGregor loses, well, it depends on how it goes down.
If Mendes smokes McGregor, McGregor’s next fight will still be a big deal because there will be interest in how he rebounds. But he’d still have to take a solid step backwards in the pecking order. If there’s a controversial finish, or a split decision, or something along those lines? Damn right UFC will figure out a way to keep him in the title picture. As St-Pierre vs. Diaz and Jon Jones vs. Chael Sonnen show, they’ve got a track record with these sort of things.
@Philmcmasters: The injury will potentially push Aldo’s transition to 155 waaaay back. Do you think he still moves up eventually?
He has to at some point. He’s been talking about it for a couple years, and he’s looked like death warmed over at several of his weigh-ins during his title reign. But there’s no way it happens until he meets McGregor one way or another and gets the big paycheck that goes with it.
@Dpop2: Not really a ?. What’s good for the sport won’t always be good for fighters and vice versa. #reebok
I can see both sides of this. Part of the reason we’re drawn to combat sports is because of the uniqueness of the individual, right? “The Iceman” Chuck Liddell with his mohawk and blue shorts; Shonie Carter dressing up as a pimp on his way out to the cage; Anderson Silva looking like a murderous honeybee; hell, you still remember Akihiro Gono’s entrance at UFC 94, right? And. despite with Dana White told Ariel Helwani, having been there in Mexico City for UFC 188, Henry Cejudo’s Aztec warrior entrance was awesome. If you strip the individuality away from this sport, you kill a part of its soul.
That said, I mean, the sport needs to grow up a bit, too. The Condom Depots, Dude Wipes, and other low-class sponsors don’t help MMA’s image much (seriously, imagine, for a moment, the Masters’ winner putting his green jacket over a Condom Depot logo).
Side rant: I also don’t never bought the complaints against the old sponsor tax. Why? For the same reasons I can’t arrange my own advertising on this page, keep all the money, and not give any of it to Vox Media. UFC provided the platform; it was fair for them to ask for a cut and set the bar high enough to weed out the Condom Depots.
Rumble’s return
@Kumar7521: What is next for Rumble?
Good question. Anthony “Rumble” Johnson has said that he wants to return by August. Problem is there are no fights that seem to make sense at the moment. His past two opponents, Daniel Cormier and Alexander Gustafsson, are on track to fight next. His teammate Rashad Evans appears to be ready for Ryan Bader. Ovince St. Preux will tangle with Glover Teixeira. Jimi Manuwa’s on the shelf. Beyond that? I know Jacare Souza has said he’s open to fighting at 205 if he can’t get a nice fight at 185, but, I mean, there’s a reason he’s middleweight to begin with, you know? If Rumble is intent on getting back in the Octagon sooner rather than later, his best bet might simply be staying in shape and getting ready to answer Joe Silva’s call at any moment.
@joeburgers: What’s next for TUF: Gym v. gym, Fighter v. fighter, retired fighters, another acquisition (i.e. Invicta division)?
I dunno … maybe take the time slot and make weekly mini-documentaries on what people are doing with their time instead of watching TUF? I have not watched a minute of TUF 21 and could not name a single fighter on the show without looking it up, and don’t care who knows this. They’ll keep making TUF as long as it’s profitable. They’ve tried mixing things up, they’ve brought women on to the show, they added the significance of the women’s strawweight title tournament, they’ve had camp vs. camp. Basically, they’ve run out of ideas.
The only thing that would pique my interest again is another comeback season, I understand the UFC’s rationale against doing this is that TUF 4’s ratings were disappointing by the standards of the time. But that was 2006. In 2015, Bellator has proven retro is in. Get the right names. Bring back a couple fan favorites or cult figure or two. Not only would you keep some guys who could sign with Bellator away from them, but you might be able to squeeze one more race out of this wheezing horse of a television franchise.
Got a question for a future edition of Fightweets? Got to me Twitter page and leave me a tweet.