The Sunday Junkie: Sept. 1 edition

Here’s a simple question with potentially complicated answers: Should the UFC match up featherweight champion Jose Aldo with recently crowned lightweight titleholder Anthony Pettis?

In this week’s edition of The Sunday Junkie, MMAjunkie.com’s weekly reader-feedback feature, we got two sides of the argument, and both were good ones. In fact, it forced us to declare two winners this week.

Georgia’s Justin Sumner argues that it’s too soon while Australia’s Andrew Ponton believes the time is right. Check out both of their arguments below.

For their winning entries, Justin and Andrew both win a free year’s subscription to “Fighters Only,” the world’s leading MMA and lifestyle magazine.

Want to submit to next week’s edition of The Sunday Junkie? Scroll to the bottom of the page for instructions.

Also, as a reminder, please be sure to include your hometown and stick within the 150-word limit (and include your submission in the body of an email, not in an attachment). Many quality submissions this week didn’t meet those minimum guidelines and couldn’t be considered for publication.

(Pictured: Anthony Pettis)

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SLOW DOWN, PETTIS

Anthony Pettis showed Saturday at UFC 164 what I have been saying for a while: He is the best lightweight in the world. However, after the fight, he proceeded to call out Jose Aldo. Pettis vs Aldo is a great fight, one that I cannot wait to see, but I think that it is too soon to be making it. T.J. Grant has earned his shot at 155 pounds, and until he gets it, there should be no talk of Pettis vs Aldo. Finally, when Pettis vs. Aldo does happen, it should happen at 155 because unlike Aldo, Pettis has not defended his belt enough to warrant him moving down in weight and trying to capture another belt. Either way once Pettis gets past Grant, he will handle Aldo just like he did Benson Henderson.

Justin “The1? Sumner
Jackson, Ga.

NOW’S THE TIME FOR PETTIS VS. ALDO

Anthony Pettis claims the lightweight title and immediately calls for a super fight against Jose Aldo. Perhaps, this is the only way of securing a super fight. Perhaps, the idea of “clearing out” the division before a super fight is not possible in a fiercely competitive environment such as the UFC. Longtime welterweight champion George St-Pierre has been champion since 2008 and has still not “cleared out” the division. Just when you think he has, A Johnny Hendricks, Matt Brown or Damian Maia adds intrigue into a potential championship matchup. Pettis and Aldo do have unfinished business – and both are in their prime. I am excited at the prospect of seeing this fight without having to wait five years, and I hope that other UFC champions follow Pettis’ lead.

Andrew Ponton
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

PETTIS THE CHAMPION WE DESERVE

Watching Benson Henderson vs. Anthony Pettis 2, one thing became clear after the mid-point of the first round: “Showtime” deserves the belt more than Henderson. After consecutive defenses of his belt with decisions – and close ones! – the lightweight division needed a champion with finishing power. I am still giddy (yes, I said giddy) after watching Saturday night’s fights, and I can’t wait to hear Pettis being mentioned in the pound-for-pound best rankings – after a couple of defenses of his much-deserving new belt. Bruce Buffer needs to change his cage announcement to, “It’s Showtime!”

Thiago “Diabinho” Chaves
Bayside, N.Y.

YOGI BERRA AND BENSON HENDERSON

Yankees great Yogi Berra is thought to have said that “baseball is 90 percent mental, and the other half is physical.” Well, apparently Yogi knew something about MMA because we just witnessed, within a few weeks of each other, another UFC belt changing hands due to mental lapses. Unfortunately for him, Benson Henderson didn’t get to mimic Anderson Silva’s championship record, but it seems like he did mimic Silva’s loss of focus on fundamentals. Where Silva was caught up with his own standup prowess, it seems that Bendo was lost in his own track record on the ground. If the GOAT made himself vulnerable to a knockout by a wrestler, no one should be shocked that a newly minted BJJ black belt with a history of nearly inhuman submission defense was too distracted by the chip on his shoulder to execute basic armbar defense with a primarily taekwondo fighter. And yet, by contrast, just like we saw with Chris Weidman, Pettis now has the belt because he, too, stayed focused on technique and executed the fundamentals well. Henderson will be backm but congrats to Pettis. Yogi’s words are the key to success in the octagon, on the baseball field and probably everywhere else in the world.

Anthony Barr-Jeffrey
Seattle, Wash.

JOSH BARNETT SETS BACK MMA

Following his impressive win over Frank Mir at UFC 164, Josh Barnett proved to the world he still has something to offer and could possibly emerge as a contender in the shallow heavyweight division. However, his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan was a disaster for the MMA community. Sanctioned fighting is still in its early stages of being accepted by the mainstream as a sport, and it is still banned in certain states. Barnett’s post-fight comments about wanting to fight anyone in the parking lot and how he was thinking about killing Frank Mir when he went down is exactly the image the MMA community is striving to move away from. Barnett’s comments on a live PPV unfortunately served to only send the movement backward and give critics and detractors of the sport more ammo.

“GrapeDrink”
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

CHAD MENDES HAS EARNED HIS REMATCH

If you’re a contender and you lose a title fight, how can you possibly get another shot the champion? It’s easy: You win, and you win in really dominant fashion. Can anyone doubt that that’s exactly what Chad Mendes has done since he lost to UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo? Mendes has smoked four straight opponents, and all of them were knockouts. He’s clearly the No. 2 fighter at featherweight, and not only is winning fights by stoppage, but he looks like a much better fighter as he’s been doing it. What more can a guy do to possibly prove he’s ready for a rematch? Mendes has earned it. Yeah, they need to sort out the division, and other guys may be next in line. But you can’t say Mendes hasn’t done his part.

Brent Tyler
Atlanta, Ga.

BEN ROTHWELL’S WIN IS TARNISHED

As good as many people thought he looked on Saturday at UFC 164, I can’t take Ben Rothwell’s win over Brandon Vera too seriously. That’s the problem with using testosterone-replacement therapy. In the press conference after the fight card, Rothwell talked about his conditioning and how he works and eats right. He talked like he was Mr. Clean and Healthy. However, is that really the reason, or is it the steroid he’s legally injecting into his body? No matter what fighters he beats and how high he gets on the heavyweight ladder, many fans like me are going to have to assume TRT played at least some part of it. You can say it’s unfair, but it’s not going to change the mind with a fan like me. You can say they have the right to use TRT, but I have the right to say the wins are dirty and shouldn’t be taken seriously.

Dom Spokes
Albany, N.Y.

CARLOS CONDIT AND THE CASE FOR FIVE-ROUND TITLE ELIMINATORS

This past Wednesday, we were given a driven and dominant winning performance from Carlos Condit in his victory over Martin Kampmann, after suffering a rough first round. However, he hit the gas going into the second and began dominating Kampmann, getting the finish in the “championship” rounds. We saw a similar pattern emerging in his fight with Johny Hendricks, as he had two rougher opening rounds but began dominating in the third. However, being a three-round fight, he lost and Hendricks moved forward to his title shot. Had he had two more rounds, those title hopes may be derailed. This raises a solid argument for five-round fights, provided that they’re title eliminators. If you can’t win a five-round fight, you shouldn’t be able to earn one.

“Ken M.”
Simcoe, Ontario, Canada

GASTELUM PROVES HIS WORTH

This past Wednesday at UFC Fight Night 27, in the UFC’s return to Indianapolis, there were a few “TUF” winners placed on the card. However the man who stood out the most and seems to be hitting a mild stride in his early UFC career, Kelvin Gastelum, displayed why he belongs. In his “TUF” stint, everyone had him as a massive underdog to the extremely popular Uriah Hall, but since his departure from “TUF,” Hall’s gone 0-2, including his loss to Gastelum. On Wednesday Gastelum put heavy hands on Brian Melancon and rocked him but chose to finish up by taking the back and securing a beautiful choke. His credentials, strong grappling and underrated hands seemed to have eluded everyone going up against a hyped fighter. I feel he has a lot in him and will show off his growth in the years to come.

Joshua “Massacre” Morales
Coram, N.Y.

A NEW WAVE OF MMA IS HERE

In November the UFC will celebrate its 20th anniversary with a stacked card in Las Vegas. I think it’s time to talk about the new landscape that MMA has taken during that duration. We are in a spot now where this sport has grown quickly and globally. I strongly believe it is going to be harder to remain a dominant champion such as a Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva for much longer. The new wave of fighters in every single division is coming in numbers. Divisions with multiple top contenders, titles changing hands – we are among seeing the evolution of a whole new world of fighting in MMA. Silva and Benson Henderson have been dethroned in a matter of four months, and this is only the beginning. Be ready for more dominant contenders, more incredible fighters displaying strong skills and high intensity title fights to come!

Albert Cavallaro
Long Island, N.Y.

TAKE OUT TRT BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE

A shortlist of fighters on or have used TRT: Vitor Belfort, Dan Henderson, Chael Sonnen, Frank Mir, Forest Griffin, Shane Roller, Todd Duffee, Ben Rothwell and Lavar Johnson. In a recent interview with Tim Kennedy, he was quoted as saying, “If you have a guy who can only fight in a scenario where he’s injecting synthetic testosterone into his body, he shouldn’t be fighting.” And that is at the heart of the problem. These fighters should be done fighting. They are trying to prolong their careers by using TRT, which in my eyes is just sad. They are PEDs in every sense of the word and should be treated as such. This TRT issue needs to be stopped before it gets out of hand, and 90 percent of the UFC roster is using TRT. If you cannot fight “naturally,” then you shouldn’t be able to fight.

Otis Edgecomb
Yuma, Ariz.

ARE KICKS TO THE KNEE TOO DANGEROUS?

As this wonderful sport has developed into what it is, we have seen many techniques added and some disbanded, whether through ineffectiveness or by being banned due to the consequences they have. We have seen beautiful techniques like spinning wheel kicks, front kicks and flying elbows – which were once considered useless flashy movie stuff – turn into devastating techniques. We have also got rid of stomps, soccer kicks and downward elbows because of the repercussions they hold. So where does that leave this knee kick that many fighters are adopting? There are so many more techniques to apply to rendering an opponent’s legs useless than to have to take to trying to kick them straight in such a delicate part of an athlete’s body.

James Watterson
Coogee, New South Wales, Australia

DRAMATIC ACTION OR ACTION DRAMA?

This upcoming season of “The Ultimate Fighter” has questions about the focus of the show. Last season was a phenomenal display of fighting, dedication and focus with minimal house issues to distract from what is supposed to be a focus on fighter development. This season looks to be an attractive version of “Tito and Shamrock” with the potential for the fighters competing to be overshadowed by the drama of the coaches. As a fight fan and student of the art, I hope I am wrong.

“Aaron G.”
Meridian, Idaho

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