Twitter Mailbag: Conor McGregor's next move, and Yoel Romero's rule-bending problem

Have we reached the point where the man with two UFC titles must defend one or else risk making a mockery of all we hold dear? Also, is the top middleweight contender a lifelong cheater? And if you could only watch one of the two UFC events slated for this weekend, which one would you choose?

All that and more in this week’s Twitter Mailbag. To ask a question of your own, tweet to @BenFowlkesMMA.

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I understand where your despair is coming from here. I really do. But allow me to play devil’s advocate for just long enough to ask: How did we go from praising Conor McGregor for breaking out of the typical UFC fighter mold to complaining about his refusal to play by the same old rules?

On one hand, I get it. McGregor (21-3 MMA, 9-1 UFC) has two UFC belts now, which means he could potentially hold up two of the most talent-rich divisions in the entire sport, especially if he decides to do something crazy like pick a fight with a true welterweight next.

On the other hand, wasn’t it also crazy to win the UFC featherweight title and then immediately go after the lightweight strap? Wasn’t it crazier still to do back-to-back fights with Nate Diaz at welterweight? I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but crazy has been a top-seller for McGregor and the UFC lately.

Still, I too would like to see him defend one of those belts next. Ideally, he’d defend the lightweight title and release the featherweight belt back into the wild, because I suspect he’d be perfectly happy if he never had to cut to 145 pounds ever again. Also, lightweight has so many interesting possibilities.

But come on, James. If you heard whispers of McG vs. GSP next, don’t act like you wouldn’t be into it. You would. You might hate yourself a little, but when has that ever stopped us in this sport?

Yoel Romero’s savvy veteran craft could stand to get a little less crafty. At this point, his tendency to color outside the lines is in danger of becoming an inextricable part of his story, which is a problem if he manages to fight for and maybe even win the UFC middleweight title.

The thing about gaining a reputation for breaking the rules is that it makes it too easy for people to discredit your accomplishments. Romero’s (13-1 MMA, 8-0 UFC) win against Tim Kennedy? He had some help from that stool. Against Ronaldo Souza? He wound up popping positive in a drug test shortly thereafter. This latest one against Chris Weidman? Somehow he ended doused with water between rounds.

Individually, maybe it wouldn’t look so bad. But when it keeps happening? Pretty soon it becomes your thing.

The irony is that the person most vocal in his criticism of Romero’s Dundasso tactics is UFC middleweight champ Michael Bisping, who’s been known to bend or rule or two himself. He’s poked eyes, kicked groins, grabbed fences, and even landed one pretty intentional looking illegal knee.

One thing Bisping never did, however, is fail a drug test. But I’m sure he won’t continue to hold that over Romero’s head or anything.

Well, when you put it like that…

Fact check: Ryan Bader’s main event bout at UFC Fight Night 100 will be his 20th fight in the UFC. True, he’s beaten two former UFC champs (Rashad Evans and Quinton Jackson), as well as one former Strikeforce champ (Rafael Cavalcante) and a current Bellator champ (Phil Davis). You’re also right that his losses include some great fighters, and a couple other occasional contenders. He doesn’t get beaten by scrubs. At least not so far.

So why doesn’t he get more love? I guess it’s because people have made up their minds that Bader (21-5 MMA, 14-5 UFC) is not championship material. We feel like we have seen the ceiling for him, and the important question is therefore answered. Also, he’s more likely to grind out a forgettable decision than to add to any highlight reels (though his last fight broke that pattern in a major way).

But you’re right that anyone who’s been at it this long, and has lost this seldom, deserves some credit. The UFC needs its Conor McGregors and its Jon Joneses. But as this weekend reminds us, it also needs its Ryan Baders just to keep the machine moving in between mega-events.

Oof, that’s a tough one, mainly because I’m not exactly pumped for either one. Two events in one day is already a stretch, and even more so when you look at the lineups and realize that the UFC could have consolidated its assets and had just one really good event instead of two mediocre ones.

But if I have to choose, I’ll go UFC Fight Night 99. For one thing, it’s got Teruto Ishihara (9-2-2 MMA, 2-0-1 UFC) on it, and I don’t get sick of watching that guy. For another thing, the whole card is on UFC Fight Pass, which means the pace will probably clip right along from one fight to the next, reminding us that this sport does not need to be an eight-hour slog every single time.

UFC Fight Night 100, on the other hand? That’s a six-fight main card on FS1, and it’s one Brazilian vs. non-Brazilian matchup after another. So get comfortable. Or get smart and DVR it for later.

You’re doing the thing. You know that thing where a fighter loses one fight and we all decide he’s garbage and always has been and oh my god I’ve been saying this for years how did anybody ever think he was good?

That thing. You’re doing it.

McGregor was a bad style matchup for Eddie Alvarez, and Alvarez (28-5 MMA, 3-2 UFC) also played right into his hands with how he fought at UFC 205. But don’t discount everything else he’s done in his career, or write off any possibility of future glory. I seem to recall people doing the same thing to Alvarez when he lost his UFC debut against Donald Cerrone. Two years later he was UFC champ.

I never thought I’d have to admit this, but right now? Chris Weidman vs. Anderson Silva III? Yeah, I could get into that. Such a strange world we live in.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the dueling doping cases of Jon Jones and Lyoto Machida. I’ve concluded that this disparity in punishments actually makes sense while also being kind of ridiculous.

Start with the facts. Machida (22-7 MMA, 14-7 UFC) knowingly and willingly took a substance that was on the banned list. He says he didn’t know it was on the list, and there’s reason to believe that, since why else would he admit it on his paperwork, but you don’t escape punishment just because you didn’t do the required reading.

Then there’s Jones (22-1 MMA, 16-1 UFC), who took a pill he got from a friend. If the pill had been what he thought it was, he’d be in the clear. But it wasn’t, and it had unlisted ingredients in it, not that Jones ever asked to see the packaging or attempt to verify what it was he was putting it into his body.

The difference here is a willing use of a banned substance vs. a recklessly accidental one. Where it gets weird is when you start thinking about what Machida actually took. He got popped for 7-keto-DHEA, which arguably has no place on the banned list at all. You can see why Machida wouldn’t think it was a problem (again, he should have checked), and you can sympathize with him for getting it wrong.

Still, it doesn’t change the fact that one guy purposely took a substance that was banned and another accidentally did the same thing when he took a pill he got from a friend who got it from the Internet. Basically, it’s two different kinds of dumb. Which, I suppose, is how they wound up with two different punishments.

Danny, if it wasn’t for my mother’s cornbread dressing, I wouldn’t even bother showing up to Thanksgiving dinner. What else is there? Turkey is a dry, dumb main event. Mashed potatoes are played out. Green bean casserole? Oh, I didn’t realize I’d suddenly been transported to the middle of Iowa. You going to offer me some Jello salad next?

Child, please. I’d rather spend Thanksgiving at the Chinese buffet. At least it’ll be nice and quiet.

That punishment for Roy Nelson feels appropriate. You can’t go around kicking refs in their butts, no matter how mad you are about man’s inhumanity to man. If the UFC hadn’t seen fit to level a much harsher penalty when Jason High shoved a ref under much more forgivable circumstances, we’d probably call it good.

But come on, man. We all see what’s happening here. UFC President Dana White cut High (20-5) before he even saw the infraction for himself. With Nelson (21-13 MMA, 9-9 UFC), it seems like everyone is just staying quiet and hoping people ignore the obvious double-standard. And, honestly, they probably will for the most part. Which, frankly, kind of sucks.

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