Trading Shots: Is Stipe Miocic vs. Daniel Cormier the best kind of fun, or just desperation mode?

With a superfight booked for UFC 226 in July, the next move in two divisions is now a settled matter. But is that a good thing? MMAjunkie columnist Ben Fowlkes and retired UFC and WEC fighter Danny Downes discuss in this week’s Trading Shots.

Fowlkes: I don’t know about you, Danny, but I received the news of the UFC’s next heavyweight title fight with great joy.

You’re telling me that after fending off Francis Ngannou and breaking the record for consecutive UFC heavyweight title defenses, Stipe Miocic (18-2 MMA, 12-2 UFC) will now defend his strap against current UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier (20-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC)? Yes, please. I will take a heaping serving of that, and I won’t even complain about the extra five bucks tacked on to the pay-per-view price without explanation.

But I hear that some people aren’t quite as pumped about this one. I hear them complaining about holding up divisions. I hear them saying it’s just more champion-vs.-champion superfight stuff, designed to do nothing more than make a cheap buck to help a company that’s in need of fast cash.

And here’s the thing, I don’t really disagree, especially with that last part. I also don’t care. Not when the result is an awesome, legitimate fight like this one. Is the UFC doing it just because it’s popular and it will sell, at least way more than anything these two could do separately at the moment? Absolutely. But the reason it will sell is because it’s a fight people actually want to see.

You tell me, Danny, what’s wrong with that?

Downes: Do you remember Dug from the movie “Up,” Ben? He was a lovable, loyal golden retriever who had a bit of a problem concentrating. You remind me of him, minus the lovable or loyal parts. Instead of focusing on what’s important, you get distracted by whatever SQUIRREL happens to jaunt by.

I agree with you that Miocic vs. Cormier is an exciting fight. It’s also something fans will want to see. What you fail to realize, though, is that this fight is not some promotional genius. It’s a necessity.

You casually throw in that this fight is a better option than anything either one of them could do separately, but you don’t explain why that’s the case. The reason this fight exists is because there is nobody left for either one of them to compete against. The light heavyweight and heavyweight divisions are so barren there’s no other choice but to book champion vs. champion.

Doesn’t that strike you as the bigger story? Heavyweight has never had the deepest talent pool, but all it took was an incredible title defense run of … [checks numbers] … three … to wipe out all contenders. Three.

Now I may not have Bodog fight posters hanging up in my bedroom like you, but that doesn’t strike me as a particularly historic run. Miocic vs. Cormier is a product of desperation. Shouldn’t that be concerning?

It’s perfectly fine to get hyped for this fight. I’m not denying that it could/should be entertaining. Instead of being preoccupied with the shiny, new fight announcement, we should look at what brought it about. Don’t you find the shallowness of these two divisions concerning?

As we discussed last week, I can think of six other divisions suffering from the same problem. There are only so many champion vs. champion fights you can make. These systemic problems are not tenable in the long term. Did any of these thoughts cross your mind, or were you too distracted by the SQUIRREL!

Fowlkes: Why you gotta be so gloomy about this? We can’t even have one great blowout party without you standing around with a broom and dustpan, reminding everyone that this is going to hurt in the morning?

By calling it a “necessity,” you also might be underplaying the whole thing. You think it’s simple and easy to put together a fight between the light heavyweight champ and the most dominant heavyweight in UFC history? (And by the way, regardless of what you think about it, Miocic’s title run is historic, because no one else has ever done it before.)

Tell me, if it’s all so easy then why hasn’t it been done before? If it’s just a backup plan borne of necessity, why is this the first time we’re seeing it? What, you think the UFC has never been in need of a killer pay-per-view headliner until now?

But I don’t even care about that. I also don’t care about your argument that both divisions are too shallow. If that’s the case, it’s an argument for this fight, not against it, since it might actually give some fresh contenders time to make their case in both weight classes while we entertain ourselves with a fight for total supremacy.

For me, this is one time when the UFC’s motives don’t really matter. Of course it’s doing this because it’s the best available option, but so what? If the end result is that fans get to see the best available option, and if the best available option is actually really compelling and not some farce driven by celebrity or phony hype, what can we possibly complain about?

It’s one thing when the UFC signs someone like CM Punk in a desperate bid for attention. That deserves to criticized, because there the result of the UFC’s hunger for easy money is a weaker product. But here it’s the opposite.

Miocic vs. Cormier is exactly the kind of thing fans have been clamoring for. And if it took the UFC slipping into desperation mode in order for us to get it, I’m fine with that. Worst-case scenario, the UFC will be forced to give us what we want. Is that so bad?

Downes: I like how you consider being the voice of reason and (correctly) pointing out the situation at large a bad thing.

Me: Ben, I don’t think you should eat that Tide pod.
You: Nerrrrrrrrd! Do you know how many Instagram likes I’ll get?!
Me: Yes, I’m sure you’ll get a lot of traffic, but have you looked at the ingredients? They’re literal poison.
You: Danny Downer! You hate fun!

I’d accuse you of being short-sighted, but you just admitted it. A responsible, rational commentator can look at a fight from a number of angles. A responsible rational commentator doesn’t get caught up in the hype of a fight announcement. You may be “getting what you want,” but it comes at a cost.

Also, no fight exists in a vacuum. For every match you make, there are reverberations throughout the divisions. In two consecutive sentences you called this fight both “desperation mode” and claimed that the worst-case scenario is you get what you want. That’s some impressive MMA myopia.

I’ll tell you what the worst-case scenario is. It’s that you completely neuter two divisions. It’s that you become so hungry for short cash infusions that you do nothing to build new stars and disinterest grows even more. It’s that you further erode the importance of titles and the entire way you’ve structured your organization for years implodes. But hey, at least it’ll be a fun night!

I know that looking at the big picture will require some critical thinking skills that you’ve seem to misplaced, so I’ll try to couch it something even you can understand – “The Simpsons.”

It’s February 1994 (a month before UFC 2, to set the timeline). Little Lisa Simpson is upset with the makers of the Malibu Stacy doll. It seems that the corporation behind it has produced a stale, uninteresting product that insults customers’ intelligence. As consumers start to question their loyalty to the product and consider moving to a competitor, the Malibu Stacy Corporation unleashes its “new” doll. It’s the same Malibu Stacy, but this time, SHE HAS A NEW HAT! Everyone rushes to buy the new doll and forgets why they were upset in the first place.

Point is, I understand the compulsion to rush toward the new toy, but I expected you to see past it. I wonder how many other accessories the UFC can sell you (at an increased price) before you come to your senses.

And for more on UFC 226, visit the UFC Rumors section of the site.

Ben Fowlkes is MMAjunkie and USA TODAY’s MMA columnist. Danny Downes, a retired UFC and WEC fighter, is an MMAjunkie contributor who has also written for UFC.com and UFC 360. Follow them on twitter at @benfowlkesMMA and @dannyboydownes.