Twitter Mailbag: Cung Le's physique, Eddie Alvarez's release and more

There’s a little bit of everything in this week’s Twitter Mailbag, from a highly speculative analysis of Cung Le’s physique, to a sober look at Phil Baroni’s claim that he was fired for being War Machine’s pal.

Plus a lot of other stuff. You can read about it yourself. You can even ask your own question for future installments by tweeting it to @BenFowlkesMMA. It’s fun for all (and by all I mean some).

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@benfowlkesMMA Cung Le is jacked! Are you buying his explanation of clean living and exercise?—
John-Jo Carter (@dreadhead1336) August 20, 2014

I’d really like to, but you always have to wonder in this sport. For those who missed it, Cung Le told MMAjunkie’s John Morgan this week that the photo of him looking more like an action figure than a 42-year-old man was essentially the MMA equivalent of a misleading OkCupid profile pic. It was taken at just the right time, in just the right light, so maybe don’t expect him to show up for the first date looking exactly like the guy in the photos.

Here’s the video:

Reasons to believe him: Le said his physical transformation was due in part to good (natural) habits, but also to eliminating bad ones, which he’s been known to struggle with. Remember when he TKO’d Scott Smith in their rematch and couldn’t stop talking about all the pizza and cookies he was going to eat? That’s a man who’s been dreaming about food, and such a man might occasionally binge on the stuff of his nightmares.

He’s also dealt with a series of injuries that he said have kept him from training as hard as he’d like to, and there’s ample evidence for that, too. Dude was engaging in an extreme treatment he referred to as “bloodletting” not too long ago, which sounds gross and also like something you wouldn’t do if you were 100 percent healthy. So there’s that.

Reasons to doubt him: You saw the photo, right? Most people do not suddenly get super shredded and extra veiny in their early 40s without some pharmaceutical help. There’s also the fact that this is MMA, where drugs are clearly a problem, and this fight is in Macau, which has not always been known for its strict regulation of, well, anything.

Plus, Le’s a film actor these days. And do you know how 40-something male action stars get ripped for roles that require taking their shirts off? It ain’t Bowflex and protein shakes, I’ll tell you that much.

According to “UFC Tonight,” the UFC will conduct both blood and urine tests for this fight. That’s cool, but it’s also a little late. Anyone who knows what they’re doing ought to be able to beat even the most stringent fight-night tests. Remember Ali Bagautinov, who just recently passed his fight night test at UFC 174, only to be nabbed later when results came in from a surprise test conducted weeks earlier.

When you have the date of the test circled on the calendar, beating it gets a lot easier. That’s not to say the UFC doesn’t deserve at least a mild attaboy for ramping up the testing, but it’s probably just throwing money away here in the hopes of winning a minor PR skirmish.

The time to ask the incredibly jacked 42-year-old man for a blood sample was weeks ago. Maybe if the UFC had done that, Le wouldn’t have to defend himself so vigorously now.

@benfowlkesMMA Did Bellator release Alvarez to say "Under New Management: We're much more fighter friendly now, not like those old jerks"?—
  (@joelsellsout) August 20, 2014

That was probably part of it. I think Scott Coker is also smart enough to know that once a fighter has made it so very clear that he doesn’t want to work for you anymore, you don’t gain much by forcing him to.

One of Bellator’s problems among fighters right now is the perception that it will sink its hooks into you and never let go. That level of commitment frightens some fighters. Even if they’re not trying to use Bellator as a launchpad to the UFC, they are understandably concerned about spending their primes in frustrating battles over contracts rather than real fights for real money.

Letting Eddie Alvarez go and wishing him well on his way out the door was a classy move by Coker and Bellator. It was also a shrewd one.

@benfowlkesMMA #TMB If Alvarez beats Cerrone is he deserving of a title shot?—
Clayton Cox (@cdcgratefl) August 20, 2014

You kidding? Whoever wins that fight is deserving of a title shot. That’s what an awesome fight it is. If Alvarez wins, he’s the Bellator champ who came in and put the stamp on one of the UFC’s toughest, busiest lightweights. If Donald Cerrone wins, he knocked off the Bellator champ and extended his winning streak to five fights in the process.

With guys like Khabib Nurmagomedov and T.J. Grant still on the shelf with injuries, and with Benson Henderson still on his Contender Beatdown Tour ’14, it would only make sense to take the winner of Cerrone vs. Alvarez and throw him in against the champ – whoever that is after Anthony Pettis and Gilbert Melendez do their thing.

@benfowlkesMMA what effect does @MieshaTate and @Cowboycerrone signing with @kevinharvick have on other #UFC fighters? #TMB—
David Boyd (@DavidBoydComedy) August 20, 2014

My guess is it makes some of them look at the caliber of sponsors that Miesha Tate and Donald Cerrone are pulling and then reconsider whether it’s really such a great idea to be represented by some lawyer friend of a buddy at the gym. That’s pretty much how it started for Tate, from the sound of it. After noticing that Cerrone’s sponsors were “way cooler than everyone else’s” in recent fights, she said, Tate reevaluated her own situation.

“‘Cowboy’ was very positive about his management, which to be honest, is not something you hear a lot in MMA,” Tate said. “You don’t hear a lot of MMA fighters bragging about their management and how great their management is. It’s actually pretty rare. So when he spoke so highly of them, it kind of piqued my interest.”

Expect Tate’s signing to further pique the interest of others. While the overall state of MMA management has certainly improved over the last decade or so, it’s still got a ways to go. Hopefully more real professionals continue to get involved, and hopefully the fighters are the ones who ultimately reap the rewards.

@benfowlkesMMA #TMB Bisping has lost to the best 185lb PED users but only beaten lower top 10 or below. Gatekeeper, overhyped or contender?—
Jeff Larsen (@LarsenJeff) August 20, 2014

I feel like we ask this question every time Michael Bisping fights, and I also feel like we never arrive at an answer everyone can agree on.

It’s true that, with the exception of Tim Kennedy, who is one of a very few fighters that I absolutely believe when he says he’s fighting clean, Bisping’s recent losses have come almost exclusively in fights against known performance-enhancers. Then again, you try to find active, top-10 middleweights he’s beaten recently, and you come up empty.

That makes him look worse on paper than he really is. As guys like Kennedy and Chael Sonnen will tell you, he’s a tough dude with very real skills. He also seems increasingly unlikely to ever find himself in a UFC title fight, which leaves him in gatekeeper territory. Again, I don’t necessarily think that’s always a bad thing. Bisping has made a good living as a UFC gatekeeper, in part because fans want to watch him and other middleweights always want to try to beat him up. He has genuine value. He’s just probably not ever going to be UFC middleweight champ, or anything close to it.

@benfowlkesMMA So, Hector "Showeather" Lombard huh? I'm sure you've got a suitable reaction to that announcement.)—
Paul G (@weepaul7) August 20, 2014

@benfowlkesMMA Does it seem to you that the UFC is content to keep Bendo a gatekeeper (Trading Shots reference) while Pettis is champ? #TMB—
International Texan (@lynn_lruss1980) August 21, 2014

It seems to me that the UFC is not exactly sure what to do with Henderson as long as Pettis, who has two wins over him, is champ.

That’s understandable. Henderson has never been a huge fan favorite. After three years in the UFC, he only recently finished a fight for the first time. In order to make his case for a third shot at Pettis, he’ll probably have to knock off every conceivable contender until he becomes the top choice by default. Or, you know, hope that Pettis loses the belt to someone else so he can make a brand new case against that person.

Since he has no control over the latter option, he might as well focus on the former. And, to his credit, that seems to be what he’s doing.

@benfowlkesMMA The Poet is out of a job. Justified? Isn't talking signing Mayhem then double standard of UFC proportions? Just sayin. #tmb—
Til Breidenbach (@tilmobaxter) August 20, 2014

I reached out to Bellator Director of Communications Anthony Mazzuca to ask if Phil Baroni was, as he claimed on Twitter, released for his support of War Machine. Mazzuca’s response was that while Baroni has a strong fan following and a long history in MMA, “with Bellator moving to 15-16 shows in 2015, the roster needs to be scaled back accordingly.”

And yeah, that sounds pretty legit to me. Baroni got knocked out by Karo Parisyan in the first round of his Bellator debut. It was his third consecutive loss, and his fifth in six fights. While it might be comforting for Baroni to believe he was fired for being too supportive a friend to the wrong people, the truth is that it probably had more to do with wins, losses and the diminished scope of available opportunities.

@benfowlkesMMA if you're @TheDomin8r , is it insulting, as the once and future champ, to be the "featured prelim bout" at UFC 178? #TMB—
William Recker (@HumbleMrRecker) August 20, 2014

First of all, I am obligated to repeat once more that “featured prelim” is not a real thing, but just some term that George Orwell would’ve come up with if he’d lived long enough to write novels about the fight promoters of a dystopian future.

Second, as much as I want to say yes, it’s a total screw-job to put the return of the UFC bantamweight champ on the prelims, look at that main card and tell me who you’d bump off in favor of Dominick Cruz vs. Takeya Mizugaki.

Cat Zingano vs. Amanda Nunes? The UFC needs to showcase that fight since it might very well determine the next challenger for champ Ronda Rousey. Tim Kennedy vs. Yoel Romero? No way, that’s way too much of a middleweight crackerjack. Dustin Poirier vs. Conor McGregor? With the removal of Jones-Cormier, that just became the people’s main event. Alvarez vs. Cerrone? Make that a prelim fight and you’ll get yourself committed to a mental institution.

So sure, Cruz can be a little annoyed at the lineup, and I wouldn’t blame him too much. But insulted? Really it just tells you what a strong fight card it is, even if it does lead up to a main event that is probably one of the least intriguing matchups of the night.

@benfowlkesMMA 1of2 Should we be worried by what Krzysztof Soszynski is saying? I know brain damage is part of the sport but the way he—
Jeremy Booher (@TheJeremyBooher) August 20, 2014

@benfowlkesMMA 2of2 nonchalantly discussed his lack of short term memory led me to feel a little uneasy since the man is only 37 #TMB—
Jeremy Booher (@TheJeremyBooher) August 20, 2014

Good. You should feel uneasy. That is the appropriate response to hearing an athlete in a sport you’re a fan of describe the damage that sport has done to his brain. It’s scary stuff.

It’s also the reality of the situation, and it’s good for us to be reminded of it. This is a dangerous, violent sport. It has lasting consequences for the people who do it. I don’t want to get too weird, but that’s also part of its appeal. Like Georges St-Pierre used to say, you might play basketball or play tennis, but you don’t play fighting. This stuff is serious, and the high stakes of each fight – both physically and career-wise – is part of what makes it so compelling.

In the years to come, I suspect we’ll hear more stories like Krzysztof Soszynski’s. MMA is still young enough that, until recently, most of the older fighters we saw were guys who either didn’t fight for long, or didn’t fight enough real competition to give us a preview of what MMA could do to a person. But now that what I’ll affectionately term the “Chuck Liddell generation” is aging out, we’re finally seeing fighters who fought for a decade or so, mostly against real, trained fighters at the highest level. Now we’re going to see what the after-effects of all the damage looks like.

Some will fare better than others, just as some did better than others in the fights themselves. Some guys trained smart and quit in time. Others didn’t. Genetics probably also plays a role in how your brain responds to years of ritualized abuse, but you won’t know if you’re one of the lucky ones until it’s too late to do anything about it.

It’s important for us to hear from the Soszynskis of the MMA community, because it reminds us of the need to make the sport as safe as it can be (which is still not that safe), and also of the need to establish some way of helping these guys once they get to that point. We like to soothe our collective consciousness by looking at broken-down fighters and saying, “Hey, they knew what they were getting into.” But if that’s true, it’s also true that we knew as well. So did the people who profited from their self-destruction, which is why they should at least a little bit of the responsibility for dealing with the aftermath.

Ben Fowlkes is MMAjunkie and USA TODAY’s MMA columnist. Follow him on Twitter at @BenFowlkesMMA. Twitter Mailbag appears every Thursday on MMAjunkie.