In this week’s Twitter Mailbag, what lesson(s) should we take away from UFC 196? And what should become of the UFC featherweight title now? Also, is “Dancing With The Stars” the best move for a fighter coming off a loss, with a lot still to learn in this sport?
Ask your own question by tweeting it to @BenFowlkesMMA on Wednesday of every week.
Can’t it be both? Going up in weight was a bold, risky move by Conor McGregor, and I think you have to respect not only his willingness, but his eagerness to challenge himself. That said, it didn’t go so great. Had he fought Rafael dos Anjos, as planned, I suspect it would have gone even worse.
Things we learned about McGregor from his fight with Nate Diaz: 1) His punching power doesn’t necessarily retain such devastating, fight-changing force outside his own division, 2) When he meets opponents who push back and put the pressure on him, he may crumble, and 3) His ground game, at least after he’s been punched in the face a few times, is weak.
The big question is what McGregor learned from this experience. Clearly, he’s got some work to do. Having your weaknesses exposed isn’t such a bad thing if it shows you what you need to work on. The problem is, now everyone else knows where the holes are. And if you’re going to stop a guy like Frankie Edgar from taking you down and wearing you out, you’re going to need more than some guy with a pool noodle in your corner.
Miesha Tate’s best chance is to fight Ronda Rousey as soon as possible. Get her while she’s fresh off a movie set, still racked with self-doubt after her loss to Holly Holm, then push her into the later rounds to see whether she really got “back to work” when she said she would. The current state of Rousey’s life and career might be the best weapons Tate has.
A close second, however, is Tate’s own ability to hang around in fights and find a way to win. She’s done it throughout her current winning streak, and she did it again to Holm at UFC 196. Who’s to say she couldn’t do it to a very busy, recently shattered, and possibly distracted Rousey? I mean, third time’s the charm, right?
We wade into difficult territory when we start using words like “deserves” in this sport.
Should winning five in a row over the likes of Chad Mendes, Urijah Faber, and Cub Swanson get you a featherweight title shot? Probably, yeah. Did UFC President Dana White promise Edgar “whatever he wants” after his last win? Yep. Should we know by now that this means absolutely nothing? Definitely.
Then there’s Jose Aldo. Yes, he was knocked out in 13 seconds, but he was also the champ for four years. He defended his UFC title seven times before losing it to McGregor. Champs with much shorter reigns have been given immediate rematches, so why not him? Doesn’t he deserve it, considering that precedent?
The reality we have to face here is that, one way or another, a deserving fighter is going to get screwed. I see no way around it. But maybe that frees us to ask other questions, like what we’d rather see as fans.
Personally, I vote for giving Edgar the shot. That’s partly because I still feel like I have McGregor-Aldo fatigue after the world tour debacle, but also because I think it creates interesting questions that I’d love to see answered right now.
McGregor’s woes against Diaz make you wonder how he’d hold up against Edgar’s wrestling and his pace. Would he get taken down and schooled on the mat? Would his power be his savior back home at 145 pounds? And if Edgar wins, then fine, he rematches Aldo, only now with the belt on the other waist. If that also gives Aldo a little more time off to let his brain heal, so much the better.
My first question when I heard this news was whether Paige VanZant really counted as a “star” in the mainstream TV sense of the word. I mean, MMA hardcores know her, but beyond that? Then I saw the this season’s cast of “stars” also includes Kim Fields (no idea who that is), Ginger Zee (not even gonna Google it), and Geraldo Rivera (hahahahahaha). If these people can get their star dance on, why not PVZ?
As far as your concern about the time away from the gym, I guess I’d be more worried if “Dancing With The Stars” was a 10-month ordeal on an isolated island in the Pacific. But it’s not. It’s a few weeks of dancing and smiling for the cameras, both of which VanZant has plenty of experience with.
Plus, she’s 21. She’s got time to become a better fighter – or, more likely, to use fighting as an eventual springboard to another career that doesn’t involve being punched in the face. And if that’s her goal, as I suspect it is, DWTS makes a lot of sense. And you know she’ll be better at it than Chuck Liddell.
The talk heading into UFC 196 was that, with a win, McGregor would face Robbie Lawler at welterweight at UFC 200. That seems insane now, right? Maybe even borderline irresponsible? If Diaz the younger took the starch out of your legs with his punching power, there’s a good chance Lawler would knock your head clean off.
Now the UFC is talking about giving that opportunity to Diaz, which would be kind of weird, but OK. A lightweight beats the featherweight champ and thereby earns a shot at the welterweight champ? Logically, it makes no sense. But we all know logic is not what drives ticket sales or pay-per-view buys, and it is those forces in turn which drive matchmaking decisions.
Lawler did get knocked out by Diaz the elder, back in the day. So there’s that angle to sell. Plus you know Nate will go into it with a fatalistic sort of whatever-ness, which is always fun. Not to mention, right now there’s no undeniable welterweight contender who people are absolutely dying to see against Lawler. If we have to do a just-for-funsies title fights while we wait for one to emerge, it’s not the worst thing that can happen.
Ben Fowlkes is MMAjunkie and USA TODAY’s MMA columnist. Follow him on Twitter at @BenFowlkesMMA. Twitter Mailbag appears every Thursday on MMAjunkie.
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