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Mania Mailbag: If Mac beats Max, who got next?
Mania Mailbag: If Mac beats Max, who got next?
It’s Friday and that means its time to answer your mailbag questions!
The MMA Maniacs delivered, again, this week with lots of interesting things to pose our staff. We’ve got questions on UFC 329, hot prospects and fantasy match-making. But we’ve also got questions on the World Cup, sumo (finally!) and a very strange query about drinking stout and attacking municipal property.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementCheck that all out below.
Question: Does anyone else feel that while there is more hype than what we’ve seen in the last few years, the patina has worn a little and less excitement than what we used to have with a Conor fight? It’s going to be successful no doubt but realistically he’s never gonna be champ again, hasn’t fought in 5 years, is basically 38, has ruined his rep with most fans, etc… Do these things mean anything to the casual? (Chucs)
Andrew Richardson: Based on the success of Rousey vs. Carano, I think fame lasts a long time in combat sports, and McGregor’s return will be a huge event despite the circumstances. You gotta remember, most of us in the know who are complaining and care about his decline are the same people tuning in for Apex cards …
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementTim Edwards: The promotion for this fight feels a lot like when Ronda Rousey returned to fight Amanda Nunes. It feels like everyone is just trying to get this one over the line so they can then move on. McGregor has this and another fight on his deal. I think he’s desperate to get out of it so he can go on the Jake Paul circuit or perhaps even cherry pick opponents to beat in BKFC.
I think a lot of fans are over the McGregor show at this point, too. I’m definitely reading and sensing a lot less enthusiasm for his return than I had expected. I honestly think Max Holloway is pulling a lot of weight in this match-up, as far as generating something people actually want to see. I think lots of casuals are going to tune in for this, but I don’t think there are nearly as much casuals around this sport as there were five years ago, let alone ten years ago when McGregor was relevant.
I think a lot of the casuals who were watching him back then have fallen out of love with the sport (and him). McGregor became tough watch pretty early on in his career for just how unlikable he was. Now, after a court found him liable for rape, his toxicity is at an all-time high. Personally, I don’t think he, or anyone else with his record, should have a platform to perform professional violence. I’m sure I’m not alone in being totally turned off of this fight because of that.
Jesse Holland: I think there is definitely a downgrade in pre-fight buzz and that’s for two reasons. First, McGregor is not an active fighter and is not part of the regular coverage, he just kind of showed up a few months ago to fight and nobody was even convinced he would make it to fight night. Secondly, he’s a piece of garbage who made a limp effort to rehab his image to help get this fight off the ground. I feel embarrassed to be covering this sport when I have to give real estate to dirtbags like McGregor; but not unlike that classic Teddy Atlas rant, I’ve been doing this for 20 years. I’m a lifer. Where am I gonna go?
What’s next for McGregor?
Q: Say that Conor manages to win this fight against Max. He shouldn’t get a title shot, so who would you have him fight next? (cavemanoncomputer)
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAndrew Richardson: Charles Oliveira would be an appropriate next matchup, though I think it’s likely that McGregor does receive a title shot with victory …
Anton Tabuena: McGregor is not winning. If he somehow does though, I wouldn’t immediately dismiss a title shot, because that’s what will solve UFC’s “problems.” Conor wants to complete his contract and look for bigger money fights outside, and UFC wouldn’t want that unless they’ve already squeezed out all the juice they can get. UFC putting him in a title bout would either get them one last big money McGregor fight before he loses and leaves, or it locks him up in that championship clause if he somehow wins. Win-win for the UFC as always. But more likely, Max just runs him over, and McGregor probably retires or gets another terrible match up to close out his contract with the least leverage and value.
Alex Behunin: Paddy Pimblett.
Jesse Holland: Conor claims he doesn’t want to go back down to lightweight so he would have to accept a title shot at welterweight. Islam Makhachev would do him dirtier than Khabib did and if Ian Garry wins at UFC 330, you could sell the “who is the real Irish legend” storyline. Conor doesn’t deserve it and I hope it doesn’t happen but this is a business, not a sport, so it would not surprise me.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementTim Edwards: McGregor is getting another fight after this, win or lose. I think all parties are looking to squeeze the last drop out of him in UFC and then move on. He’s too expensive for the UFC to keep around and UFC fights aren’t the biggest thing he can profit with at the moment. The question for both the UFC is how do you want him walking out the door? They don’t want him walking out like a superstar and leaving any reputation damage on anyone they want to promote later. I think they’d love to set him up to get killed by a Ruffy or a Prates, but the risk might be too high just in case he does uncork a lucky punch. McGregor likely wouldn’t take that fight anyway. I think they need to match with someone who is also long in the tooth, has a shot at beating him and is someone McGregor thinks he can beat. Enter: Mike Chandler. It’s finally your time, buddy.
Francis Ngannou: good or not?
Q: Was Ngannou ever that good, or was it more a case of right place, time and physical gifts? (atcr)
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAndrew Richardson: Ngannou at his peak was a physical force with dangerous kickboxing, unreal KO power, and very solid offensive/defensive wrestling. There is not an era at Heavyweight where he would not have been a title contender/champion.
Alex Behunin: I think Ngannou had the chance to become one of the best UFC Heavyweights of all time if he hadn’t gotten on Dana’s bad side. He is a physical freak and only got better with age. Ngannou vs. Aspinall? C’mon on, man. We got robbed of it.
Jesse Holland: He was definitely as good as advertised, though I do think he had an easy schedule. Most of the legends he defeated were already old and beat up by the time he got to them – and Gane can’t wrestle.
Tim Edwards: No, he was good. Punching power isn’t just about how big your muscles are. It involves timing, composure, vision and intelligence, too. His physical gifts helped him a lot, but there’s also talent there and dedication to the craft, too.
Q: If you were in charge of the UFC, would you change the size of the roster and/or individual divisions? If so, how? (cavemanoncomputer)
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAndrew Richardson: Moving Welterweight to 175 and creating a 165 division would make a lot of sense in my eyes. There’s an abundance of talent at 155 and 170 that could support the new division and create avenues for exciting super fights/double champs down the line.
Anton Tabuena: I completely agree with Andrew on the long overdue 165 division, and I would also add women’s atomweight. I would also just close down and consolidate the heaviest divisions to have men’s 205+ and women’s 125+ as heavyweight. Instead of having paper thin heavyweight (or WBW) plus light heavyweight divisions, we’d get one much deeper division for the biggest athletes, and also get to see more talent at 165 and atomweight. I never understood the obsession with heavyweight, but those who crave one punch KOs from the biggest dudes can still watch 205 lbs and up, while the rest of the sport gets more fast paced, high level fights as a whole.
Alex Behunin: The roster is incredibly bloated right now. I believe they are at 800 fighters under contract – and while on one hand, I’m happy fighters are getting the opportunity to fight in the UFC, there are easily hundreds of fighters who are not UFC caliber (also it’s harder to get everyone on the roster more than two fights a year). I would probably axe the roster to 500-650
Jesse Holland: I might be in the minority here but I like boxing weight classes. What hurts boxing is that every weight class has 47 different belts. More weight classes means less missing weight. Give me a roster of 500, 18 weight classes (gotta have bridgerweight), one belt for each division, and a minor league feeder system like the old WEC.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementTim Edwards: Remove light heavyweight and make heavyweight start at 225 lbs. Then cut every heavyweight who gasses out after five minutes. Jokes aside, capping every roster at 20 fighters would be a dream come true. But the UFC would never allow that much talent to be off their books and fighting somewhere else.
Prime vs. Prime
Q: If you could take fighters from any era in their primes and put them against each other, who would your dream matchups be? Tony v. BJ Penn, Izzy v. Silva, etc. (cavemanoncomputer)
Andrew Richardson: I mean, does prime Tony vs. Khabib count? That’s my No. 1 pick from any time or place. As far as fighters from different eras, it would be really cool to see Georges St. Pierre against the various WW champs that came after him.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAnton Tabuena: Hmm. I’d pick former teammates Shogun vs. Wanderlei under PRIDE rules, Prime Anderson Silva vs. Prime Fedor at light heavyweight, and maybe Kimbo Slice in an early UFC tournament for the lols.
Alex Behunin: Anthony Johnson vs. Alex Pereira, GSP vs. Usman, BJ Penn vs. Anthony Pettis, Cain vs. Stipe
Jesse Holland: Prime Frankie Edgar vs. Prime Eddie Alvarez.
Tim Edwards: This isn’t terribly imaginative, but there’s so many heavyweights who need a Fedor test. Randy Couture, Brock Lesnar, Francis Ngannou, Jon Jones… pick any big guy who had a belt and have him fight prime Fedor.
Q: Who is your must see/best bet future star or champ/prospect that has 3 or less fights in the UFC? (Chucs)
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAndrew Richardson: This is hard. I’ll shout out my boy Issac Thomson, a guy he knocked out in Lerryan Douglas (that Erosa KO was INSANE), and Abdul-Rakhman Yakhyaev.
Tim Edwards: Hard agree with Andrew’s pick of Lerryan Douglas. That man is dangerous. Michelle Montague is two fights in and I think she’s definitely a title challenger at Bantamweight. You’ve also got Hokit and Steveson out there, of course.
Alex Behunin: I’m very interested and high on Jacobe Smith. He has elite wrestling that he’s hardly even shown because he’s knocking people out. I’m bummed because I think he was going to run over Kevin Holland next week.
Jesse Holland: If you can’t stop Gable Steveson’s wrestling, you can’t stop Gable Steveson. Let’s just hope he can take a punch better than that other Gopher.
Takedown defense rules the world
Q: It used to be that “The better guy on the ground wins” was a pretty solid rule, but it seems like that’s not as true anymore. do you think it still holds as a general rule or has the game evolved beyond that? (ex. Joshua Van, his TD defense is amazing and he’s the champ, same with Strickland) (LoneCowboy)
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAndrew Richardson: I think it’s still true often, but the sport has developed too much for any one rule to always be true. The elite Russian wrestlers are still doing pretty dang well overall! I also think
Alex Behunin: I think it all comes down to wrestling. If you are a savage wrestler, sorry, you’re going for a ride and staying on the ground.
Jesse Holland: Seems like fewer and fewer fighters want to prioritize wrestling or jiu-jitsu these days. For some reason, most fighters are obsessed with becoming shitty strikers. I’ll take Sean Sherk’s 16 takedowns landed on Hermes Franca over Sean Strickland’s “raise a knee for no reason then flick a limp jab” any day of the week.
Tim Edwards: Strikers are definitely having a moment. I think wrestling/grappling training has gotten so much better over the last few years and it’s becoming difficult for the wrestle/submission heavy guys to get off a lot of their stuff.
Is footwork the new head mooment?
Q: Every week it seems we see someone with just awful footwork, who simply can’t cut the cage off. Do they not teach this? How can you get to such a level and have such a poor understanding of footwork? Is this due to one style of striking dominating in mma gyms? (LoneCowboy)
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAndrew Richardson: A lot of gyms don’t actually train in cages that often. Imagine an MMA class with 50 fighters in it: how does everybody get cage time? In many cases, it simply doesn’t happen.
Alex Behunin: I’ll let Andrew answer if gyms teach it, but Alexa Grasso’s lack of being able to cut off the cage is truly incredible, especially because she’s a great boxer.
Jesse Holland: Footwork is like the jab, such an important (and effective) foundation for every standup attack. Here is a dirty little secret they won’t tell you – most fighters don’t want to take the time to practice the science, they just want the sweet. Smash pads, clobber the heavy bag, dodge the pool noodles. That’s why I laugh when they give you an MMA fighter’s reach. LIke it even matters these days, nobody can throw a decent jab. Those fighters who actually do want to learn how to strike the right way also have to dedicate time to wrestling, jiu jitsu, Muay Thai, etc., just not enough time in the day.
Thomas Myers: Sounds like someone bet on Andre Lima recently? Run, Kevin, run!
Finally!
Q: How would a sumo wrestler, at the Yokozuna level, do in RAF? Any chance we could see this type of crossover match and who would you recommend be sent over from the sumo community. (King7)
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementTim Edwards: Thank you for giving me license to wax lyrical about the best combat sport on the planet.
With how RAF is going, I think it’s just a matter of time before they try something like this. However, you’re not going to get a yokozuna out there. Grand Sumo is a closed society and the only sumotori who end up in MMA are either retired, disgraced or both.
Our current yokozuna, Onosato and Hoshoryu, are amazing athletes for very different reasons. Onosato has incredible size and athleticism. But he’s a pure sumo wrestler. He attacks hard, fast and high. A big freestyle wrestler would get under him and dump him down easily.
Hoshoryu has the upper-hand on Onosato because of this. Though, he’s not a freestyle guy, he has a judo base to his sumo. Go look up his highlight reels on YouTube for some of the best big man judo throws you’ll ever see. He would also struggle against top freestyle wrestlers, too, since it’s just not his sport.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIn sumo you lose if your hands touch the ground. The hatakikomi (slap down) is one of the most common kimarite (winning techniques) in the sport. Because wrestlers prioritize defending against that, they often leave their lower body pretty open for attacks. Things like watashikomi (a single leg takedown) and sotogake (outside leg trips) happen, but they are rare.
He’s not a yokozuna, yet, but Aonishiki might provide the answer to this question. Aonishiki was a junior national level freestyle wrestler in Ukraine. He moved to Japan as a refugee to pursue sumo and has taken the sport by storm. His sumo has a lot of freestyle DNA in it. He leans over into his opponents and attacks the lower body. His signature move is the uchimuso (inner thigh propping twist down). His style, paired with amazing athleticism and agility, helped him whip through sumo’s lower divisions and win two back-to-back top division titles in November and January. In March he had a shot to become the sport’s 76th yokozuna and the first yokozuna born in Europe. He fell short of that, though, due to both an injury and the fact that guys are finally starting to figure him out.
So, in short, an Olympic heavyweight freestyle wrestler would totally wash a yokozuna in freestyle wrestling.
Sumo still rules, though.
Q: How many guinnesses would it take for you to punch a fire hydrant? (Wild_Thang)
Andrew Richardson: I love doing stupid things but I would need some kind of carrot at the end of this stick. What’s my motivation? Enough to black out, I guess.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementJesse Holland: For me, Guiness is more like a dessert beer, not sure I could tolerate more than two. But for the sake of your question, I would probably pass out before getting drunk enough to punch anything. I’m not an angry drunk. That said, I do tend to get philosophical about topics that do not require philosophy, like “How many sheep are killed each year to satisfy the demand for sheepskin condoms?”
Q: If you’ve been watching what are your predictions for World Cup champion and why? (Chucs)
Andrew Richardson: I cannot name a single pro US soccer player, male or female. Apologies …
Tim Edwards: I’ve been watching the premier league since I was a kid. I watch my club (Chelsea), religiously. But I’ve never been that big a fan of international football. That being said, France are probably my pick to win it Despite being an Englishman, it would be fun to see Haaland-mania to reach its final form and then a Targaryan lifting the World Cup.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementJesse Holland: I don’t even know who is playing at this point but my daughter is in love with Erling Haaland so I have to hear about his every move in her daily report.
Q: If you could move one active fighter to train with a different team, who would you send where? (FKA Pudge)
Alex Behunin: I would send Mackenzie Dern to train with Team Alpha Male or AKA so that she could actually learn wrestling. I fully believe if she could take her opponents down, she would be a truly elite champion because he BJJ is so elite.
Anton Tabuena: Yeah, Dern with a Demian Maia game plan should’ve been done a long time ago. I’m also curious on what CKB and Bareman can do with Jiri and O’Malley.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThomas Myers: I would send Jamahal Hill to Dagestan, two years, just because.
Q: What do you think about a UFC “Pro Bowl”, where once a year, their athletes can sign up to participate in various things such as a strongman-type competition, races, skills, etc. Just a little something extra for fun (let’s pretend it wouldn’t interfere in upcoming fights). (UnderdogFan)
JESSE HOLLAND: I think the risk of injury is too great and the top stars fight so infrequently as it is. I would hate to think we lost out on the Ciryl Gane vs. Tom Aspinall rematch because Gane dropped an Atlas Stone on his big toe. Outside of that, it would still be fun to see a “Battle of the Network Stars” type of competition.
Alex Behunin: I actually pitched the UFC to do a skate competition during last years International Fight Week between Jalin Turner, Marcus McGhee, and Payton Talbott – they were afraid of injuries.
Thomas Myers: UFC refuses to do anything fun or innovative, ever. Letting UFC fighters wrestle for RAF is the closest we get.