Twitter Mailbag: Main event dead zone, women's featherweight rankings woes, and more

In this week’s Twitter Mailbag, are there any upcoming UFC main events worth getting excited for? Should a website editor take a retired fighter up on his offer to scrap for charity? And should a history of failed drug tests prevent a fighter from being regarded as the best in her division?

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

So I guess you weren’t aware that social media guru Derrick Lewis is slated to fight weirdly problematic giant Travis Browne in Nova Scotia on Feb. 19, huh?

But OK, if I’m honest with myself, I can admit that I’m “excited” for that one the same way I might be excited for a Rizin FF tournament. Same with Vitor Belfort vs. Kelvin Gastelum in March. This stuff is fun enough to temporarily get our attention, but it lacks the I-wouldn’t-miss-this-for-my-own-wedding feel that truly big fights have.

And you’re right that, as we scan the horizon, we don’t see an abundance of UFC main events that give us those sorts of tingles. (Though Bellator’s recently announced Rory MacDonald vs. Paul Daley fight is pretty intriguing.)

This is kind of a dead time for headliners. The big stars are temporarily absent or suspended or retired or at retirement age and refusing to admit it. That leaves us with main events like Jimi Manuwa vs. Corey Anderson, which is less a headliner than just the fight that happens last.

But on May 13 the heavyweight title goes up for grabs on the same fight card on which the dark lord Ben Rothwell is slated to take on Fabricio Werdum, the man of the going horse. It’s a heavyweight combo attraction, and it comes right as we’re set to ease into a summer that, for a variety of reasons, ought to be better than this winter of our main event discontent. That’s what I’m telling myself, anyway.

You’re really going to make me flip the heavyweight coin, huh? Even when we both know good and well that any time two big men stand there and throw hammers at each others’ heads, absolutely anything can happen? OK, fine.

My brain says Stipe Miocic wins this fight. He’s looked sharp lately, whereas Junior Dos Santos has looked like he could do the old win-one-lose-one routine for the next five years while his head gradually changes shape. If each guy does all that he’s capable of, Miocic should win.

But then, this is heavyweight. And it’s not just any heavyweight fight, either. This is the UFC heavyweight title, the hot potato of the combat sports world. If Miocic wins this, he’ll have two straight title defenses, which is usually when things get weird. This is prime time for getting hit by a falling satellite or mauled by a roving pack of wild dogs. Or, more realistically, losing the belt via flash knockout.

But you know what, I’ll still say Miocic wins it. Then he’ll tie the record for successful UFC heavyweight title defenses. And then he’ll get lost at sea. But not before he beats JDS.

The UFC website shows seven confirmed fights for UFC 209. There are three more that have been announced in one capacity or another, bringing the total to 10, which is pretty close to a full house. A UFC official told me this week that there’s one more “fun” fight to be added soon, and one that is likely changing due to injury.

But even as it stands right now, you’ve got the welterweight title rematch between Tyron Woodley and Stephen Thompson, plus Tony Ferguson vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov and Mark Hunt vs. Alistair Overeem. As long as those three hold together, I’d say you’ll get your money’s worth. More isn’t always better.

It might be sad if Tim Kennedy weren’t making it so fun. When last I looked, Kennedy had countered Deadspin editor Tim Marchmann’s request for a Ted Cruz supporter to meet him in the cage with an offer for a charity bout with some interesting options available. Kennedy said he’d tie one hand behind his back, or limit his mobility inside a sumo suit, or restrict himself to landing only one strike for every 10 that Marchmann lands.

Personally, I’d opt for one round of each, like a game show that someone’s sadistic big brother would invent when their parents were gone for the afternoon.

I like Kennedy, despite major differences in our political views, but with all those fun choices even I’d be tempted to take him up on the offer. How much damage could he really do to me from inside a sumo suit, anyway? A part of me doesn’t want to find out. Another part of me is too curious for my own good.

You know what those are? Those are fights that make too much sense. They’re matchups that treat former champions like they’re just anybody else, pitting them against opponents who seem reasonably competitive, given the circumstances.

Anderson Silva vs. Derek Brunson? According to the UFC’s own internal rankings, that’s No. 8 vs. No. 9. It veers away from the fun/weird territory that Silva seemed to drift into in the last year or so, and instead returns him to the general population at middleweight.

And Rashad Evans vs. Daniel Kelly? That’s a guy who’s lost two straight and is new to the weight class going up against a guy who’s won three straight despite constantly seeming like he doesn’t quite belong. It’s a logical litmus test for both guys at this point. So logical, in fact, that it seems to be kind of freaking us all out.

I’m all for a three-man team consisting of Jon Anik, Joe Rogan, and Brian Stann. Frankly? It feels like everything I’ve ever asked for from UFC commentary.

You’ve got Anik as the professional, experienced play-by-play guy. You’ve got Rogan there to lend some humor and color and to freak out in an entertaining fashion if someone spills a bag of ice. Then you’ve got Stann to give the fighter’s perspective and do detailed technical analysis. What else could you want?

Well, maybe Randy Couture. Fair enough. But that ain’t happening as long as Dana White is above ground, so this is the next best thing.

Fair point. To that I would say: 1) We still need more information on this most recent “potential anti-doping policy violation,” and 2) Cristiane Justino’s first failed test was slightly more than five years ago.

That doesn’t wipe the slate completely clean, but it should give us some pause before writing off everything else she’s done in the division. “Cyborg” has absolutely annihilated everyone she’s faced in the last decade. Not just beat – annihilated.

Are we supposed to tell ourselves that that was all the steroids at work? If she’d undergone one of those infamous body transformations, then maybe I could see it. But she’s been so consistent that it seems like she either got better at beating the tests (and USADA tested her 11 times in 2016 and three times in 2015), or else her greatness isn’t entirely chemical.

I’d also ask, if we’re going to remove Justino from consideration in the greatest female featherweight conversation, who takes her place? I’m willing to listen to arguments, but not a lot of names leap immediately to mind.

One fight at a time, I suppose.

I’d like to tell you that we’re getting better all the time on this issue, but it seems like we’ve still got a long and winding road ahead of us. Hopefully we can work it out, because it’s only been a few weeks of this and already I am so tired.

Without a doubt, it’s Johny Hendricks. In 2013 he very nearly dethroned an all-time great in Georges St-Pierre, then won the vacant title a few months later. He went 1-4 in his next five fights. He also missed weight for two of those bouts, and was pulled altogether from another one after his weight cut landed him in the hospital.

That’s about as sharp and sudden a decline as you’re bound to see in MMA. And for all we know, the fall isn’t over yet.

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