Twitter Mailbag: Jon Jones soap opera rolls on, 'Bendo' still searching for decisive win

This week’s Twitter Mailbag overflowed with questions about the ongoing Jon Jones-Alexander Gustafsson-Daniel Cormier love triangle, and I can’t say I blame anyone for that.

But don’t worry, this week’s edition still finds time to examine Benson Henderson’s precarious position, and Vitor Belfort’s impending day in commission court. It’s a good time for all, is my point.

Got a question? Fire it off to @BenFowlkesMMA on Twitter, or forever hold your peace.

@benfowlkesMMA How bad will Jon Jones look if he fights DC next instead of Gusty? #TMB—
Wayne (@thewayne687) June 03, 2014

I don’t see how opting to fight an undefeated former Olympic wrestler who was also the last reigning Strikeforce heavyweight champion makes Jon Jones look even a little bit bad. I just don’t. Why, because the UFC said Alexander Gustafsson is next? Because Gustafsson earned that distinction with a win over Jimi Manuwa, who was so far from title contention at the time that he needed a metal detector to know where the UFC title was?

Granted, you can lob similar accusations at Cormier, who’s beaten a barista and an ancient middleweight since dropping to 205 pounds, but it’s not like he’s a significantly easier opponent for Jones. Seems like we all want to see Jones fight them both, so why are we stressing so much about the order? Jones already has one win over Gustafsson. What would be the travesty in seeing him fight the other hot challenger in the division before lapsing into reruns?

@benfowlkesMMA Jon Jones posted and deleted a classic video. He is already hated by many, should he just go all in and stop deleting stuff?—
Noah Hubbs (@buffaloblue) June 04, 2014

At this point, deleting the videos right after he posts them has become Jon Jones’ calling card. We used to think that he was either embarrassed after the fact or just didn’t understand how the Internet worked, but by now he’s got to know that there’s no deleting anything. He does it anyway because he thinks it’s cool or cute or funny or … whatever, but it’s definitely become a recognizable part of his digital signature.

As for whether he should go all in as the bad guy, it kind of seems like he already is. The question is whether he’s doing it on purpose.

You ask me, that makes him so much more intriguing as the champ MMA loves to hate. With Chael Sonnen, you know it’s a routine. With Jones, you’re left to wonder whether this is his real personality peeking out from behind the carefully crafted veneer of the humble boy wonder. It’s like he’s got this Incredible Hulk-type personality disorder, where most of the time he manages to keep the force of his own ego in check (and let’s be honest, few of us would manage to do that well if we could rightly claim to be the baddest man on the planet), but every once in a while, often after he’s been forced to take just a little too much crap from fans and/or the UFC, the monster breaks free from his chains. It just so happens that that monster looks like a smirking, superior, playfully arrogant kid wielding the body of a juggernaut. It’s actually kind of awesome, in its own way, and definitely way more interesting.

@benfowlkesMMA If Henderson loses on Saturday how close is he to the Fitch/Okami zone?—
  (@joelsellsout) June 04, 2014

Tough to take a guy straight out of the main event and put him on the unemployment line, so I’d say Benson Henderson has some breathing room. At the same time, probably better not to find out just how far he can push it. Did you hear the promo spots for UFC Fight Night 42, the ones where Henderson says that he goes out there to finish people? The audio sounded like something the UFC recorded on Opposite Day, especially considering the fact that Henderson has finished exactly zero opponents in a little over three years with the UFC. When the promoter can’t even have you spout the same old tired pre-fight cliches without the audience being struck by the incongruity of it all, you might have a problem.

@benfowlkesMMA after his last fight Dana denied bendo his title rematch, does Ben have to win decisively to finally get his shot at Pettis ?—
EliteRousey_JD (@josephdiano77) June 05, 2014

Even if Henderson wins decisively and puts Rustam Khabilov away, he’ll still have to wait for Anthony Pettis to settle his impending business with Gilbert Melendez, and that’s going to be a while. He’ll almost certainly need to take another fight in the meantime, and since Pettis is already 2-0 against him, Henderson will probably need another decisive result to keep his claim alive if Pettis retains his title against Melendez. And since finishing fights hasn’t been Henderson’s greatest strength lately, maybe the best he can hope for is a Melendez win in that eventual lightweight title showdown. It’s a lot easier to convince the brass to give you another crack at the guy you narrowly beat than it is to be the boy who loses a best-of-three series and says, ‘OK, best three out of five.’

@benfowlkesMMA Rogan recently said Vitor failed that test. Will what happens with Vitor dictate the direction of the "new NSAC"? #tmb—
Michael Black (@mblack87) June 03, 2014

Ignoring for the moment the very real possibility that Joe Rogan maybe isn’t the most rock-solid source here (just saying, do you think it’s more likely that he fact-checked the hell out of that claim before repeating it, or that he heard it from someone and then passed it on, middle school rumor-style?), you raise a good question. If Vitor Belfort had passed that surprise drug test in Nevada with flying colors, chances are he’d have thrown that all up in our stupid, skeptical faces by now. So if he didn’t pass, does that mean he failed?

It’s a trickier question than you’d think, and UFC president Dana White’s comments in a recent media scrum give us a clue as to what approach the pro-Belfort lobby will likely take.

“Here’s the reality of that test,” White said in Berlin last week. “Doctors disagree with the result of that test. Doctors who matter disagree with the results of that test. And here’s the problem: No one knows what the f–k they’re talking about when it comes to TRT and testing.”

See what’s happening there? We have disagreement. Confusion, even. No one knows what they’re talking about. Expertise on this topic has suddenly ceased to exist. Guess we’d better throw up our hands and give the guy a license, right? If the Nevada State Athletic Commission agrees, it’ll tell us that it’s in as big a hurry as the UFC is to pretend like TRT was never a problem that it helped create and exacerbate. And if I were a betting man, I’d put money on it to do that very thing.

@benfowlkesMMA #TMB DC's not getting any younger and MMA isn't exactly a money sport – you think it's smart to take another fight or wait?—
Nate (@BurgersMMA) June 04, 2014

Right now it seems like Cormier is choosing between a title fight and knee surgery, depending on what options the UFC gives him. But you raise an interesting question about MMA financials. Say Cormier has the chance to fight one more time against a legit contender like Rashad Evans while he waits for Jones and Gustafsson to do it again, brother. Should he do it purely for the paper? The conventional wisdom says yes, by all means, go get paid. But I’m not so sure.

For his last fight against Dan Henderson, Cormier made a disclosed $85,000 to show and another $85,000 to win. Good money for MMA? Sure, but it’s not life-changing, especially once you factor in expenses and taxes. In order to get to the point where he’s making the kind of money he can realistically retire on, most MMA fighters need to get that UFC belt. A fight in the meantime might pad Cormier’s bank account in the short-term, and also bolster his credentials as a challenger if he wins, but it’s not a total game-changer financially, and it’s not without risk. What if he loses? What if he gets injured? What if he gets the flu three days before the fight and just looks really, really bad?

There are so many ways for that window to the really big paydays to slam shut. I couldn’t blame Cormier one bit if he wanted to bide his time and fix his knee so that he’ll be fully prepared to squeeze through that opening when the time comes.

@benfowlkesMMA Tito and Stipe get no respect in their latest Ws, and yet D.C. gets heaps for rag-dolling a 1-3 199 lber. What gives?—
Nocturnal Emission (@Follow_The_Noc) June 04, 2014

@benfowlkesMMA Is the UFC going way too far with the amount of events they are holding? 2 events in one day is not good for anyone.—
Jimmy (@jimmychaillot) June 04, 2014

It might be good for the UFC’s bottom line. At least, that seems to be the idea behind it all. It’s certainly not a response to the great tidal wave of fans who cried out that an event every single weekend simply was not enough MMA. If anything, it’s like the UFC is purposely doing more just to prove how unconcerned it is with complaints that it’s doing too much. It is turning MMA into a volume business, which in turn has an effect on the entire MMA ecosystem. In this excellent story by Shaun al-Shatti on regional MMA promoter Roland Sarria, we see a familiar lament among the small-timers who groom future UFC talent.

“These little regional shows, if you look around, they’re becoming less and less,” Sarria said. “We’re going to be extinct. Too many cage fights. You can see MMA on television, so why go watch nobodies or beginners and pay 35 bucks? My tickets are expensive, so why? You could sit home and just watch UFC.”

Here’s where the skeptical reader could point out that this makes for a convenient excuse for a failing fight promoter who’s looking for someone other than himself to blame, but it’s also a very common complaint. All the small, regional promoters I’ve talked to in the last year or so have brought up the same point. There’s so much MMA out there right now. Keeping up with the UFC is practically a full-time job, so who has time or money for the little guys?

The UFC will tell you that market saturation isn’t an issue. Matter of fact, Dana White will tell you that you’re “crazy” if you think otherwise. Of course, he’s the head salesman here, so that’s obviously what he’s going to say. Whether you think it’s too much or too little or just enough, however, don’t look for it to slow down any time soon. In 2010 the UFC promoted 24 events. Here we are roughly halfway through 2014, and we’ve already seen 18 shows this year – with 26 more to go.

@benfowlkesMMA Is the whole reason UFC wants Jones/Gustafsson so bad because they're on the cover of the new video game? #tmb—
Nerd Hapley (@nerdhapley) June 03, 2014

That strikes me as a really dumb reason, which is not to say that it’s not at least part of the reason. Another part might be that the UFC has already publicly said that Jones-Gustafsson II is up next, and the UFC doesn’t like to be told no. The flip side of that is, the UFC went ahead and announced this pairing and a target date for the rematch before Jones had signed on to it. We also know, despite White’s recent claims, that the UFC was very recently trying to tie a contract extension into these negotiations.

That all makes it seem like the UFC unwittingly gave Jones more bargaining power than it wanted to, and now he might be putting it to work for him. The UFC response? Use the company website to make him out to be a cowardly prima dona who ducks tough fights. If it’s doing all that over the cover of some video game, it deserves every headache it gets as a result.

@benfowlkesMMA Do you think Nick Diaz would return to fight Anderson Silva? If so who wins?—
Morgan Waltz (@MorganWaltzUFC) June 04, 2014

For enough money I think Nick Diaz would return to fight anyone who wasn’t family. I just don’t know if the UFC is willing to shell out that kind of cash, since what message would that send to other fighters? Both Diaz brothers seem to be testing the UFC’s resolve at a time when the organization is light on bankable stars. Give us more money than you are contractually obligated to, they say, and we’ll consent to give your fans something we both know they’ll actually pay for. But if the UFC gives into that, it tells everyone else on the roster that it pays to flip your contract the bird and flex the old popularity muscle (assuming you’ve got enough of it to flex).

I’m not sure the UFC wants to send that message, but I am sure that a whole lot of us would watch a Nick Diaz-Anderson Silva bout on pay-per-view. And really, if all Diaz is asking for is the same money the UFC gave James Toney to come in and embarrass himself, is that so outrageous?

@benfowlkesMMA because they are in the same city should bellator try to make 123 a stacked card or just accept everyone is gonna watch ufc?—
Kurtis Bouchard (@KurtisBouchard) June 04, 2014

There’s only so much Bellator can do to stack a card at the moment, and it will probably prefer to save that sort of effort for pay-per-view, preferably on a night when it has the attention of MMA fans all to itself. In a head-to-head battle like this, Bellator is going to lose to the UFC every time. For crying out loud, the main event of Bellator 123 features James Irvin, a guy who was bounced out of the UFC shortly after being used opposite Anderson Silva when the UFC wanted to counter-program a different (and now defunct) competitor. The UFC doesn’t even need to call up its A-team to beat that lineup, and both organizations know it. What’s Bellator going to do, overpay Tito Ortiz to get in there just so it can lose by a slightly smaller margin?

If you’re Bellator, you’ve probably already given up on this particular head-to-head battle. If anything, maybe you’re just encouraged that the UFC is sweating you enough to bother coming to Connecticut on a Friday night. Remember that stuff White said recently about not even considering Bellator to be real competition? This booking tells a very different story.

@benfowlkesMMA Ben, did you ever find a winning formula to get the gym funk out of your gi? #TMB—
International Texan (@lynn_lruss1980) June 04, 2014

Thanks to the help of Twitter friends, yeah, I think I did. After months of training in a sweaty basement dungeon, one of my jiu-jitsu gis had become … offensive. I washed it in vinegar, rinsed it with baking soda, stuck it in the freezer for a couple days, all the usual stuff. Finally I tried a method suggested by UFC fighter Jason High, which involved a combination of Tide Sport, baking soda, and hot water. I also added another step, suggested by several others, involving OxyClean. I don’t want to speak too soon, but I think it worked. That Tide Sport is some good stuff. Recommended for my fellow gross people who sweat a lot. You know who you are.

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