In this week’s Trading Shots, MMAjunkie columnist Ben Fowlkes joins retired UFC/WEC fighter Danny Downes to talk about the beef between Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes, and wonder when trash talk crosses the line.
Fowlkes: So Danny, this week we saw UFC featherweight champ Jose Aldo respond to claims of injury fakery by accusing challenger Chad Mendes of being everything from a fraidy cat to a possible abuser of “supplements.” Mendes responded with a “deez nuts” jab and some proof that he was good at wrestling as a kid, proving, I guess, that he’s stuck in the past in at least two different ways.
Obviously, this is great stuff as far as fight hype goes. It also might be a genius move by Aldo, making sure people don’t forget about Jose while the bout is put off for a couple months. But what do you think when you hear a champ calling his opponent a coward and speculating about his drug use? Similarly, what do you think when you hear guys accusing one another of faking injuries just to get a fight moved? Fair game in the larger PR war, or dirty tricks that should be avoided?
Downes: Normally I fall on the side of anything goes with mental warfare. In this case, neither fighter seems to be really going for the jugular, so it’s hard to call them “dirty tricks.” Mendes says that Aldo is ducking him. Aldo retorts with the go-to from my 6th grade class and a steroid accusation. This isn’t Machiavellian-level manipulation at work.
We often hear fighters accuse opponents of avoiding them by faking injuries. Does it happen as often as fans may think? No, but I know a lot of guys that have pulled out of fights claiming non-existent problems. There are a lot of reasons for this. Maybe they’ve been struggling in camp and feel unprepared. There may be personal issues that have distracted them and they’re not mentally ready. And yes, sometimes they don’t like the matchup and hope something better comes along.
In the case of Aldo, that last one doesn’t apply. He’ll have to fight Mendes eventually. Now could one of those first two options be possible? Yes, but this is one of those situations where we have to give the champ the benefit of the doubt. Mendes clearly struck a nerve, though. What say you, Ben? How much “respect” should exist in pre-fight hype?
Fowlkes: I’m not too concerned about a lack of “hespect” between two dudes who are going to try to hurt each other for our entertainment, but I do think it’s a bit of a questionable move to lob a thinly veiled doping accusation at someone with absolutely nothing in the way of the proof. Especially now, with stuff like EPO showing up in surprise drug tests all of a sudden, we’re already a little too comfortable with the idea that more UFC fighters are using than aren’t.
Seems like every time some fighter provides an estimate on what percentage of his peers are on some sort of juice, it’s always well over half. When you point to some guy with a great motor and a chiseled physique and start talking about his use of “supplements” – air quotes implied, if not always attached – that can stick. You could end up drumming up questions where none belong, and why? Because you didn’t like what he said about you?
I don’t blame Mendes for feeling frustrated at the fight being postponed (and UFC 167 being straight-up canceled, regardless of the UFC’s attempt to spin it otherwise). I also don’t blame him for being pissed off about the rematch potentially moving from the U.S. to Brazil.
If you were conspiracy-minded to begin with, as many fighters are when it concerns their opponents, you could see this injury delay as suspiciously fortuitous turn of events for the champ. I just happen to think there’s more smoke than fire when it comes to the accusations on both sides here, and while it makes for fun pre-fight hype, I can’t help but wonder to what extent Aldo and Mendes actually believe what they’re saying about each other. Have they talked themselves into it, do you think? And if so, is that for our benefit or theirs?
Downes: There are some fighters out there who toss insults out to tease their opponent or create an easier sell for the promoter, but that’s not the case here. This may come as a shock to fans out there, but many (male) MMA fighters out there can have a machismo problem. Some even consider themselves alpha males and don’t take kindly to being challenged. That’s what happened here.
Mendes must have been reading the Ben Fowlkes newsletter on MMA conspiracies and thought he was getting a raw deal. He accused Jose Aldo of essentially being scared. You can call fighters a lot of things, but the two things that they take the most personally are 1) belittling their achievements, and 2) calling them scared. Aldo felt insulted and had to lash out, so he said that Mendes didn’t earn his accomplishments. He’s been juiced up this whole time. I’m sure the insults will escalate the closer we get to fight day, but once the fight is over, they’ll bro hug and talk about how much they respect each other.
Every fighter relies on a different mental state to perform at their best. Some guys will be pacing back and forth in the locker room freaking out. Others hang out, crack jokes and you’d never guess that they’re fighting that night. I even know a few who take naps beforehand and need to be woken up for warm-ups. Each person has a compulsion to fight and that fire can be stoked by a number of different things. Maybe this time around Mendes needs a little extra anger to get to the level he wants.
Is this acceptable conduct from fighters, though? Whether it’s Chael Sonnen talking about Brazilian kids having to play in the mud or Ronda Rousey’s insults geared toward Cris Justino, MMA fighters have been able to say whatever they want. Is this something that should change, or is it just part of the fight game? Do we need grudge matches for fights to be interesting?
Fowlkes: I’ve never felt like we needed them, but it sure doesn’t hurt when we get them. All I ask is that they spring from something organic, which, in this case, it sure seems like it does. Mendes gets mad about the delay. Aldo gets mad about the things Mendes said when he was mad, and so he lashes out with a steroid accusation. Mendes replies by tweeting out an old newspaper clipping that reveals he was once a member of something called the “Leemore Farm Boyz wrestling club.” So basically, a good time was had by all.
Even if unsupported, steroid accusations, like broadly offensive statements about an entire culture, are something fighters should probably stay away from (though, side note, if you’re that worried about it, maybe do the thing where you both opt in for supplemental pre-fight testing?), I don’t mind a little acrimonious back-and-forth from two men who both want something that only one of them can have. It feels real. It makes me even more excited to see them fight each other. Most importantly, it doesn’t feel like something they’re doing solely because it will make me more excited to see them fight each other. When you’ve still got a couple months to kill before the the bout takes place, what more do you want in the meantime?
Downes: Good thing this MMAJunkie gig has worked out for you so far. I can’t imagine you as a journalism professor. “Listen kids, libel may be illegal, but it’s a great way to sell newspapers. Besides, it sure is fun!”
What more do I want in the meantime? I’m not 100 percent sure, but I think it’s something greater than a guy getting called a p–sy. I’m not naive enough to think, “Hey, we’ll just have the fighting speak for itself.” Combat sports need to blend elements of entertainment in order to keep fans’ attention. In fact, I would say that many fighters still neglect the entertainment side of fighting to their own detriment. Having said that, I don’t think this type of interaction is best for the sport.
We don’t need to hold hands and be respectful all the time, but a title fight deserves more. I don’t know what that is, but this whole situation just feels kind of cheap. Maybe exploding heads would help, but there’s no way something like that would ever happen. If you want to be UFC champion, you have to train like one. We all have an idea about what a champion needs inside the cage, now we just have to decide how we want him to act outside of it.
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