Twitter Mailbag: On UFC 176, and the difference between cancellation and postponement

All right look, I’m not even going to pretend that I don’t already know what you fine people want to talk about this week. The UFC “postpones” UFC 176, and that pretty much guarantees what half the TMB questions will be about.

So, yes, we’re going to do that. We’re also going to discuss Ronda Rousey, B.J. Penn, and some other stuff, too. It’ll be fun, trust me. But first, about this postponement …

(Psst, got a question of your own? Send it to @BenFowlkesMMA. Don’t be scared, homie.)

@benfowlkesMMA Why does the UFC keep using the word "postponed" in way other than what it actually means?—
Jay Bradley (@jmichaelbrad) July 09, 2014

This is as good a place as any to start with this UFC 176 mess. Ever since I heard the UFC’s peculiar choice of phrasing surrounding this, I’ve been trying to think of ways that this postponement would be different if it were an outright cancellation.

I mean, if it were canceled then you’d have to give refunds to ticket-buyers, right? Oh wait, that’s already happened. But then, if it were canceled due to an injury to one man in one fight, the other bouts on the card would be quickly rebooked on other upcoming cards. What’s that? Oh, that’s happened too? Huh. Well, the real test would be what they do with the event name. Because, hey, if UFC 176 does actually happen some day, then (and, really, only then) we’d be forced to call it a postponement. But then, here’s UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta going on “FOX Sports Live” to quip that UFC 176 “will probably become a question on ‘Jeopardy!’ at some point as the event that never happened.” (Side note: Alex Trebek will also accept, “What is UFC 151?”)

Come on, Lorenzo. You’re giving everyone their money back, rebooking the other fighters on the card, moving the main-event bout, and skipping right over UFC 176 to UFC 177? That’s a cancellation, my friend. When you refuse to call it what it obviously is, you force the rest of us to step in and correct you. Much like “featured prelim bout,” it is a use of language that invites us to consider to what degree the speaker is trying to deceive us. That’s a bad idea. If your fans are smart people – and, for the most part, they are – they’re going to see through it. Call it what it is, take your lumps for it, and move on.

@benfowlkesMMA wouldnt it have made sense to move Lawler/Brown to 176? FOX card with weak main event (Rumble/Nog) is better than no PPV #TMB—
Lou Giordano (@NYR30_) July 09, 2014

Better for whom? Definitely not for the UFC’s TV partners at FOX, who would probably much rather have a network TV card headlined by a crackerjack of a fight between Robbie Lawler and Matt Brown instead of one headlined Anthony Johnson and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. It’s also not better for those poor souls who bought tickets to UFC on FOX 12 in San Jose thinking they were going to get to see Lawler and Brown trade cannon fire. Sure, “card subject to change” and all that, but it’s one thing when an injury scratches a bout from the lineup and quite another when the UFC reshuffles its own main event after you’ve already paid for it, purely so it can get other people’s pay-per-view money a week later.

Without Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes going at it, UFC 176 is left with Ronaldo Souza and Gegard Mousasi at the top of the card. Which, hey, good fight. I’m into it. If that were the main event of a Fight Pass card, I bet a lot of non-subscribers would be getting out their credit cards, if only for that one month. But as a pay-per-view headliner? I’m not sure it’s worth 55 bucks for the fans at home or a smog-choked traffic snarl for the ones attending live at the Staples Center. No offense, “Jacare.”

@benfowlkesMMA Regarding the cancellation of UFC 176, how bad does this make the UFC 151 "Sport Killer" incident look?—
Asaph Bitner (@AsaphBitner) July 09, 2014

I don’t think it would’ve been a good look to jump out there and bury one of your best fighters and potential biggest stars regardless of whether you ever had to cancel another event, but this does put that incident in some perspective, doesn’t it? At least this one didn’t end with UFC President Dana White having a public aneurysm via media conference call.

@benfowlkesMMA I was going to be at 176. In VIP seating. Sadness set in real quick. No question, but maybe you can pity me.—
Jeff (@HipsterBoiJeff) July 09, 2014

That’s a bummer, man. My advice to you is to look at this not as a major, depressing hit to your social calendar, but rather as one Saturday night in August that the MMA gods, in their infinite, baffling wisdom, would like you to spend in some other way.

With no UFC 176, maybe you go out and do something amazing, something you never would’ve done if you’d been in the VIP at the Staples Center, shouting at Aldo not to grab the fence this time. Maybe it’s the night you meet your soulmate, or somebody way better than the person you thought was your soulmate. Maybe it’s the night you stay home and sort through some deep-seeded psychological issues. Or maybe it’s just the night you don’t die on the 110 freeway. Point is, don’t question the MMA gods, Jeff. Think of this as a gift that you just don’t understand yet. And stop sulking. Your soulmate is watching.

@benfowlkesMMA UFC 176 revived as 1 night, 8 man Tournament. Unified Dundasso Rules. Longo/Serra commentate. Discuss?—
Cameron Chapman (@Chapperton) July 09, 2014

@benfowlkesMMA 2 PPVs cancelled recently, yet some days we have 2 watered down events. What will it take for UFC to address over-saturation?—
Brent (@_quikfingers_) July 09, 2014

That’s the big question, isn’t it? If you’re waiting for UFC executives to throw their hands up and admit that they were wrong, so very wrong, about the problems associated with over-saturation, well, you’re going to be waiting a while. Fertitta shot that notion down immediately on FS1. Even mentioning it to Dana White makes his head change colors. A reasonable outside observer might see how fight cards become more vulnerable to the whims of training injuries when the talent is spread so far and so thin due to the frantic, never-ending avalanche of UFC events all over the world, but to the UFC that statement is a form of heresy.

“This kind of (expletive) is stuff I’ve heard for years and I’m just sick of listening to it, because it’s so (expletive) stupid and wrong,” White told Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole in a story declaring that the UFC’s business is “booming” thanks to Fight Pass events and a global expansion plan so ambitious even Alexander the Great might be tempted to slow down and reevaluate for a second.

“People are (expletive) without any facts,” White said. “We built this business in the U.S. and everyone kept telling us we couldn’t. Then we built it in Canada and Brazil and now we’re doing the same thing around the world. This is how you invest and build your business to make it strong for the long haul.”

In other words, suck it up now because it’ll pay off later on. But that makes you wonder, who’s it paying off for, again?

Because when you hear White making the case that live gate receipts for dueling events in New Zealand and Texas justify the UFC’s decision to run two mediocre events in one day rather than one really good one, that kind of makes it sound like the UFC has figured out that it can make more money by sacrificing a little bit of fight card quality in favor of fight card frequency. Which, I guess, good for the UFC and its already mega-wealthy owners, but I’m not sure why White thinks this is an argument that will satisfy fans.

That’s an old-fashioned MMA mindset. Back when the sport was struggling for a foothold and the UFC’s survival was an uncertain prospect, you could rally fans behind your profit motive with the argument that whatever was good for the UFC’s bottom line was also good for the sport, since without the UFC the sport takes a nosedive. That’s no longer the case, though. The UFC is successful. Its owners drive around in Ferraris and import snow to Las Vegas. MMA is on network TV – and not just one network, either. If you want us to believe that less is really more, you’re going to have to make the case that it’s more for someone other than just you.

So far the UFC hasn’t done much of that. Yelling and swearing at detractors, however? Insisting that they don’t actually like the sport or don’t understand the business? Yeah, plenty of that. But we don’t watch this sport for the guys in suits. We watch it for the people in shorts and gloves. Sometimes it seems like the UFC forgets that.

@benfowlkesMMA Does Ronda Rousey need to beat Cyborg to confirm her status at the greatest female Mixed Martial Artist of all time?—
John Jay-c Carlin (@Rear_Naked_poke) July 09, 2014

Need is a strong word. If Ronda Rousey beat Cat Zingano and Holly Holm and retired at the age of 28 with a 12-0 record, all without ever having faced 145-pounder Cristiane Justino, I don’t think you could criticize her too severely for that. She seems to have a future in the movie biz (or at least, she seems to now, although all I’ve seen is her glowering her way through the previews, so who knows if she can really act), so I wouldn’t blame her if she decided to call it career and go make her money in an industry where a successful day of work doesn’t end with her getting stitches. If she retired tomorrow you’d still have to call her the most influential women’s MMA fighter of all time, and possibly also the greatest.

Of course, that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t love to see Rousey fight “Cyborg” at some point. That’s a mega-fight, right there. That’s the kind of thing you reschedule your wedding over, or delay a trip to the emergency room for. It’d be huge, both for the fighters involved and the women’s side of the sport in general. But Rousey’s not obligated to stick around for it, especially if Justino can’t make 135 pounds first. What Rousey has already accomplished is impressive enough. It’s just a matter of whether she could ever be satisfied if she left this one question unanswered.

@benfowlkesMMA how will you remember recent retirees BJ Penn and Jens Pulver, and latest HoF inductee Pat Miletitch?—
John-Jo Carter (@dreadhead1336) July 09, 2014

I’ll remember B.J. Penn as the greatest lightweight MMA has ever known. At least until someone comes along who’s better for longer, at which point I’ll remember him as the greatest of a certain era, the way Matt Hughes was the greatest welterweight and Chuck Liddell the best light heavyweight. I’ll also remember him as a man who loved challenges more than he feared failure, whose reach often exceeded his grasp, and who at times seemed as fascinating a mystery to himself as he did to us.

As for Jens Pulver, the journalist in me will probably always remember him as a reliable source of great quotes, but the fan in me will remember him as a tough guy who started this sport when there was no good reason to expect anything good out of it, yet somehow carved out a place for himself and the others who followed in his wake. I’ll also remember him as a guy who probably outperformed his natural athletic abilities, and, where a lot of guys would’ve ended in bitterness or self-destructive despair, somehow maintained a positive, healthy attitude after being dealt some difficult hands in life.

And finally, I think I’ll remember Pat Miletich as much for his contributions as a coach and trainer as for his performances in the cage. He was one of the fighters who heralded the change to a more well-rounded rather style-versus-style approach to MMA, and he crafted a team full of killers simply by getting everyone together in a converted racquetball court and beating each other up until the only people left were bad mofos who’d already been through the worst. Did they take that mentality too far at times? Absolutely. Did they also produce some great fighters? You bet. In this way, one of MMA’s first super-camps was formed.

@benfowlkesMMA What are you expecting from @TheDomin8r ? Will his hunger and discipline be enough to come back from everything?—
Jeff (@jeff_weinrich) July 09, 2014

Assuming former UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz remains healthy enough to follow through on his plan to return to action against Takeya Mizugaki at UFC 178, I’m expecting … well, I’m expecting to wait and see. There’s no way for us to know how a layoff this long and a physical struggle this prolonged will affect him. Cruz is a fighter who relies heavily on his speed and athleticism. If his body isn’t receiving the commands exactly the way his brain is giving them, his style won’t work very well.

That’s why I think it’s smart for him to ease back into competition rather than trying to fight the champ right away. Even Cruz has got to be wondering how it’s going to feel to get in there again. You can’t know until you do it for real, when everything counts. That’s why we should keep our expectations manageable, especially at first. Even if he doesn’t have a great first night back, that doesn’t necessarily mean he won’t return to form eventually.

@benfowlkesMMA out of the current crop of UFC commentators, what would your ideal combo be? #tmb—
Paul Duckworth (@Paul_D86) July 09, 2014

Jon Anik on play-by-play and Brian Stann as the color commentator works pretty well, from what I’ve heard. I wouldn’t be opposed to throwing Joe Rogan in there as a third man on the mic for a really big event. I think that combination of the professional broadcaster Anik, the free-wheeling comedian/fight nut Rogan, and the retired fighter/shockingly reasonable human being Stann could be magical. Just as long as those jokers in the truck don’t mess things up again.

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