Twitter Mailbag: Does Dana White's vocal support for Donald Trump risk alienating fans – or certain fighters?

Did UFC President Dana White wade further into the political fray with his recent comments in support of Donald Trump? Is UFC 220 a blockbuster offering or a top-heavy mirage? And is Ferguson-Nurmagomedov really going to happen this time? Like, really?

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

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You must have tweeted this before UFC President Dana White went on Boston Herald Radio and voiced his support for Donald Trump, who he insisted is “a stand-up” guy even if he “says some crazy things and does some crazy things.” White also said that the opposition to Trump is “disgusting,” so that right there is pretty much wading into a political minefield just a couple days before the UFC promotes what should be one of its biggest events of the year.

We all know White is a big Trump supporter, seemingly more of out personal friendship than any deeply held political beliefs. Trump’s been good to him, White likes to say, so he’s all-in for Trump.

There are a lot of Trump supporters among MMA fighters, so I’m sure plenty of White’s fighters have no problem with the boss man getting behind a historically unpopular U.S. president.

But then there are guys like Francis Ngannou, who hails from one of those African countries that Trump recently disparaged. He clearly took those comments hard, so how’s he supposed to feel about his boss cheering Trump on?

Then there are the Muslim fighters, the Mexican fighters, the fighters who were once refugees themselves – all of them would have good reason to feel negatively about Trump, considering his past statements and policy positions.

If you’re a salesman trying to appeal the largest possible audience, you don’t want to get into a polarizing political discussion. And, as I’m sure the comments section here will reflect, there’s no way to say anything about Trump that won’t anger someone.

Fortunately for the UFC, no one buys these pay-per-views because they want to see White, or even because they want to support him. And if you’re of a mind to disagree with him on politics, chances are this won’t be your first time forcing yourself to ignore the UFC president because you enjoy the UFC product.

Saying that a card is weak except for its two title fights (one of which is the most interesting heavyweight fight in at least half a decade) is a little like going shopping for a new car and then complaining that, once you ignore its reliability, great gas mileage, and stylish interior, this particular model really isn’t so great.

Of course the undercard isn’t loaded with big name talent. It doesn’t need to be. It’s got champion Stipie Miocic going for the title defense record when he meets Ngannou while titleholder Daniel Cormier tries to revive himself as UFC light-heavyweight champ against Volkan Oezdemir. We’re going to buy it for the top two fights, so it makes sense that the UFC would devote much of the rest of the lineup to mid-level fighters with local appeal.

I don’t have a problem with that, at least in this scenario. It’s just a good thing those two title fights have held together (so far), because booking an event this way means you’re never more than one injury or bad weight cut away from having a disaster on your hands.

The UFC, but not by much.

If you give up Mike Goldberg and get Jimmy Smith, you got the better end of that trade deal. Jay Glazer jumping to Bellator is notable mostly because it makes you wonder what it says about the state of things with FOX, but not because he adds so much to any particular broadcast. John McCarthy is an excellent pick-up for Bellator, and I think he’ll surprise a lot of people with what he brings to the table as a commentator. Then again, I was similarly surprised with how good Paul Felder has turned out to be for the UFC.

What’s really surprising to me is how both promotions seem to rely so heavily on just trading the same few people back and forth. Are there really only half a dozen people alive who can talk about MMA into a microphone in a competent fashion? Seems like the talent pool for broadcasters must be deeper than that.

First of all, can we all agree that Cormier absolutely nailed the reaction to it? Comparing your rival to Ted Bundy right before you walk off grinning kind of makes it seem like you’re getting the last laugh in this whole thing.

But does it actually mean anything for Jon Jones to have passed a polygraph? Not really. Those aren’t completely reliable in either direction, and we don’t know what exactly he was asked about during that exam – only that his team paid for it and he supposedly passed it.

If you’re going to make the case that you didn’t knowingly take steroids, you usually need to be able to offer a plausible explanation of where the steroids came from. I know we get sick of hearing the old tainted supplement excuse, but at least it’s a verifiable hypothesis.

At best, all a lie detector can do is suggest that aren’t actively deceiving us. But in situations like this one, that leaves a lot of questions still unanswered.

I could work up a little more outrage if the broken arm had left Paige VanZant unable to capably defend herself, but it didn’t. The last round was her best round, even with just kicks and left hands to work with, and even before that she was getting out-grappled and controlled rather than beaten up.

We also should give fighters a little more agency in situations like this. If you’re aware enough to tell your corner that you think your arm is broken, you’re capable of telling them whether or not you want them to stop the fight. It’s when a fighter is getting battered so badly that they may not be capable of it that we should rely on corners to make the call.

I see your point, but future contenders eliminating each other is pretty much the name of this game. That’s how you figure out who the real contenders are. If you’re not willing to risk that, then all you’ve got is a series of contests between the person who’s supposed to win and the person who isn’t.

That said, you sometimes get to a point where two contenders have separately proven their worth, so it makes more sense to give one a shot while the other one waits rather than matching them against one another just to prove what we already know.

But is either Colby Covington or Kamaru Usman at that point yet? Seems to me that the person most deserving of a welterweight title shot right now is Rafael dos Anjos. These two guys could still stand to firm up their respective cases, and I can’t think of a better way to do it than against each other.

It would be nice for the UFC if the stars aligned and Khabib Nurmagomedov got to fight for a title in the Russian debut, but it’s not going to make or break that effort. Typically, the first UFC event in a new market that’s hungry for one will be a hot ticket no matter what, just for sheer novelty value alone. Plus, it’s not like the UFC has a shortage of Russian fighters to sprinkle throughout the card.

And let’s be honest, if you’re depending too heavily on any particular outcome in the meeting between Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson – if, in fact, you’re even banking on it to happen as scheduled after all the times it’s been canceled – you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. You’ve got to think the UFC realizes that. You’d hope, anyway.

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