Twitter Mailbag: Another UFC doubleheader, for better or worse

In this week’s Twitter Mailbag we take a look at another UFC doubleheader, the featherweight title picture, and whether it’s really worth all that cash to go nuts in Vegas on a big UFC weekend.

Got a question of your own? Tweet it to @BenFowlkesMMA. Clarity counts.

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@benfowlkesMMA Is the NZ card the worst the UFC has ever put on? It's hard to think of one that's worse (or come up with a reason to watch).—
Jay Bradley (@jmichaelbrad) June 25, 2014

It doesn’t have a whole lot going for it on paper, that’s for sure. Any time you’ve got a main event between two guys who could both realistically be cut with a loss, it’s probably a sign that this isn’t the best the UFC can do. Going by the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA Power Rankings, there’s not a single ranked fighter on this card. That’s not to say we couldn’t still see some interesting, exciting fights, but it is pretty clear that the UFC is banking on novelty value and the power of local draws to sell tickets in New Zealand.

As for those of us in the rest of the world, it doesn’t really seem like the UFC cares if we watch. We’re talking about a fight card that streams over the Internet in the middle of the night. Remember that thing UFC President Dana White said about the events the UFC does in [insert foreign country here] are for [insert foreign country here]? I’m starting to think he means it.

Thing is, though, here’s where I’d be wondering what I’m getting for my money as a UFC Fight Pass subscriber. This is the only Fight Pass event in the month of June, which makes it essentially a $10 pay-per-view. That might not be so bad when you’re getting Alexander Gustafsson or Gegard Mousasi or even Roy Nelson. But this? This is a card a lot fans wouldn’t wake up (or stay up) for if it were free on FOX Sports 1. It’s reasonable to ask what you’re getting for your money at this point, and why the UFC doesn’t seem more concerned with making sure it’s a transaction fans are pleased with.

@benfowlkesMMA As a capoeira player, I noticed a bunch of capo kicks in the UFC game. Think capoeira will ever be super effective in UFC?—
Logan Smith (@LoganasaurusRex) June 25, 2014

Ha, I almost fell for this one. There’s no such thing as a “capoeira player.”

@benfowlkesMMA Now that we have InvictaFC on Fight Pass, what other promotions or events would you like to see added? #tmb—
Morgan Waltz (@MorganWaltzUFC) June 25, 2014

I heard the idea floated that the UFC might look into adding something like Metamoris, which has quickly become the stylish little boutique of the submission grappling world. I’d be into that, and it’d be just the sort of thing that makes it easier to justify the cost of a Fight Pass subscription.

I’m also into the UFC’s recent decision to stream White’s media scrums. Why not go a step further and stream all the fight-week festivities? And as long as we’re streaming state athletic commission meetings, how about streaming contract renegotiations as well? I know I would’ve paid a few bucks to be a fly on the wall when Jon Jones finally sat down in the same room as the UFC brass.

@benfowlkesMMA Why is the Las Vegas experiance something so special to fight fans? Is the money for lets say ufc 175 worth it? #TMB—
Mikael Jansson (@Phantom_83) June 25, 2014

The thing about Las Vegas is that it’s awful, but in such an American way. It’s like a love poem to overconsumption, only someone took that love poem and turned it into a pornographic screed, written in glitter on the bathroom wall of a McDonald’s inside a strip club that is itself inside a shopping mall.

I realize you might not get the appeal of that, Mr. Jansson, since the number of consecutive S’s in your name and the abundance of Alexander Gustafsson love on your Twitter feed suggest that you might hail from the fine country of Sweden, but to Americans, Vegas is the place where you’re kind of obligated to visit and throw up on at least once in your youth.

For fight fans though, it has an added appeal. It’s the UFC’s home base, and you can count on at least a few events a year there that will definitely be worth leaving home for (card subject to massive, devastating change). Is it worth it? I guess that depends on what it costs you, and what money means to you. Looking on StubHub, seems like UFC 175 tickets will run you at least $300 a pop. Factor in airfare and a decent hotel (just saying, don’t overlook that Motel 6 right across from the MGM Grand on Tropicana), plus a couple buffets and novelty alcoholic beverages in comically oversized plastic receptacles, and before you know it, you’ve topped two grand just to hear Bruce Buffer scream his way through the terrible fortress of your hangover.

Worth it? Kind of, yeah, especially if you’ve never been. I think every MMA fan should get the live UFC event experience at least once, and Vegas promises a few strong lineups a year (which really means something in the UFC’s Saturation Era), plus a destination that encourages you to act like the kind of person you’d despise in your own hometown.

Don’t forget to pack your TapouT tee and Axe body spray, bro.

@benfowlkesMMA Why put Urijah Faber on the prelims? Why not boost a weak card or exploit him at UFC 176 in California? Is he in limbo? #TMB—
Michael Tse (@dafunk1184) June 25, 2014

I wouldn’t look at the UFC’s decision to stick the Urijah Faber vs. Alex Caceress fight on the UFC 175 prelims as a judgment on his standing with the company so much as a strategic attempt to try t0 boost impulse-buy pay-per-view sales.

Why else would Faber-Caceres close out the FOX Sports 1 card while Marcus Brimage and Russell Doane kick off the PPV? That makes no sense. Unless, of course, the UFC thinks it can get some people on the couch and in front of the TV with the promise of a free Faber fight, and once they’re there, hey, at least you have a chance to sell them on the night’s main attraction. It’s at least worth a shot, right?

If you’d buy the PPV to see Faber, then you’re probably the type who’d also buy this one. This way, maybe some people will come for Faber and stay for Ronda Rousey and Chris Weidman.

@benfowlkesMMA: What are the chances Sonnen gets Eddie Bravo’d by Royce at Metamoris 4 & reprimanded for promoting drug use?—
  (@abramvaldezCS) June 25, 2014

Based on his own personal history, seems like Royce Gracie doesn’t have such a problem with performance-enhancing drugs. It’s only the recreational ones like marijuana that seem to bug him to the point of an irrational outburst.

@benfowlkesMMA I hear that strippers will be fighting in the @ufc soon. Cool. Seriously tho, wtf is Ediane Gomes trying to accomplish? #tmb—
jeremy orris (@drummin_fool) June 25, 2014

Maybe she’s already accomplished it. Seriously, how many people were talking about Ediane Gomes before she came out with her remark about the UFC’s female fighters being “more worried about showing their asses than actually fighting”? It’s the kind of statement where, if you think she’s right, you just became a fan. And if you think she’s wrong, you now have a reason to want to see her fight, if only to see her get beat up.

In that sense, it’s kind of a brilliant move. I just don’t know that it will help her any when she fights for the Invicta FC featherweight title. Against Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino, you’d better be more concerned with the state of your head than the visibility of your tail.

@benfowlkesMMA If Cub Swanson finishes in dramatic fashion, do you think he'll be in title contention? And if so, does he take the title?—
International Texan (@lynn_lruss1980) June 26, 2014

According to Jeremy Stephens, the winner of his fight with Cub Swanson will, in fact, get a title shot. But come on, we’ve seen how that goes, right? You win your fight and think you’re at the front of the line, but while you’re at the post-fight press conference telling everybody your belt size, White is on the FOX Sports 1 post-fight show telling them that he thinks it’d be a big mistake for you to wait for that title shot rather than taking another fight in the meantime.

That’s because title-shot promises are for before the fight. They lend meaning and importance to a main event like this one, and that makes them a handy promotional tool. What it doesn’t make them is a rock-solid guarantee fighters can count on, and we all know it.

But let’s talk about this Swanson-Stephens bout, since it’s probably going to be the most fun and almost certainly the most meaningful thing that happens in MMA this weekend. As a style match-up, it feels a little like sewing a badger and a wildcat up in the same sack, which is to say it promises a level of violence that seems like it ought to be criminal. Thankfully it’s not (I mean Swanson-Stephens, not the animal-abuse thing, which is probably still pretty criminal), and so the long UFC Saturday ought to end with a fistic bang.

Swanson is my pick in that fight, but not by much. I wouldn’t be surprised to see either man win this one, though I would be surprised if it turned out to be Stephens who presented the tougher challenge to the champ right now. Swanson just seems like he can do more and do it better. It also seems like he’s finally found the sweet spot between too much and too little aggression, and the result is a fighter who is always looking to finish, but never rushing things to get there.

Before we go booking a Swanson-Jose Aldo rematch though, let’s remember that the featherweight champ will have his hands full with Chad Mendes soon. I can think of at least three or four ways that that fight could send ripples through the featherweight pond resulting in a longer than planned wait for the winner of Saturday night’s fight.

@benfowlkesMMA #tmb What do you make of Barnett ducking Big Foot? Fair, or should he take the fight against another top 10 HW?—
Nigel Rhodes (@jesterx7769) June 25, 2014

I’ll admit I was surprised that Josh Barnett didn’t leap right out of his souped-up muscle car and tear his Goatwhore T-shirt off at the first mention of a possible fight with Antonio Silva. I seem to recall a time when they were both in that Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix and Barnett loved taking pot shots at “Bigfoot” in the press (after Silva took exception to one Barnett quip, the “Warmaster” replied: “I didn’t know gigantism made you so sensitive.”).

But these days it seems like Barnett has other interests. He’s slated to get his submission grapple on opposite Dean Lister at Metamoris, and he’s apparently the latest UFC fighter to be handed a podcast by FOXSports.com. The more you hear the 36-year-old Barnett talk these days, the more it seems like fighting is one aspect of his life rather than the dominating force in it.

That’s fine. That’s probably healthy. It also seems like it might be the beginning of the end, which is also probably fine and healthy, given Barnett’s age and the years he’s already put into this sport. As for Silva, he might have to look for another dance partner. And oh yes, “Bigfoot” do like to dance.

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