Latest news with #BenFowlkesMMA
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Mailbag: Is a UFC 313 win (or loss) sending Alex Pereira to heavyweight?
Is an Alex Pereira move to heavyweight in the making with a win (or a loss) at UFC 313? What does Justin Gaethje really get out of this rematch with Rafael Fiziev? And who has the best nickname on Saturday's pay-per-view fight card? All that and more in this week's mailbag. To ask a question of your own, hit up @BenFowlkesMMA or @ If Chama man wins, and Jones still wants Wilder money.. Can we all agree a super fight vs Tom is the biggest fight that can be made? — Titan Mars 🚀 (@titanmarsXS) March 4, 2025 @titanmarsXS: If Chama man wins, and Jones still wants Wilder money.. Can we all agree a super fight vs Tom is the biggest fight that can be made? First of all, any time someone brings up the claim that Jon Jones asked for 'Deontay Wilder money,' I feel obliged to shout in all caps: AS HE SHOULD. Seriously, ask yourself who is better at their respective sport, as well as a bigger star in their respective world. MMA fans have been programmed to believe it's absurd for any UFC fighter to think he should be paid like a top boxer. It's not. Not at all. For the past year or so UFC CEO Dana White has been screaming at us that Jones is the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world. And, what, it's absurd for him to want to be paid as much as a boxer who was never anywhere near that even at his peak? Get out of here. But on to your actual question. If Alex Pereira beats Magomed Ankalaev and retains the 205-pound title at UFC 313 on Saturday, I think we'll have to consider the light heavyweight division officially cleaned out. Who else is there for Pereira to fight? It's just reruns of old matchups until some new contender emerges. If that's where we are come Sunday morning, then I'm all in favor of a move to heavyweight. However! If Jones is going to defend that UFC heavyweight title, it needs to be against Tom Aspinall next. After that, if Pereira wants the winner, I'm all for it. But if Jones doesn't fight Aspinall some time this year, that's it, the UFC has to strip him of the belt and move on. And, just saying, Aspinall vs. Pereira would be a pretty good consolation prize. What do you do with Perieria if he gets wrestle f***ed and loses the belt in a fairly dominant fashion, where it makes an immediate rematch hard to justify — Tinoladobo (@Tinoladobo) March 4, 2025 @Tinoladobo: What do you do with Perieria if he gets wrestle f***ed and loses the belt in a fairly dominant fashion, where it makes an immediate rematch hard to justify And there's the other side of the coin for this weekend's main event. Ankalaev is a real threat to Pereira, mostly for stylistic reasons. But even if he does become the champ, then what? I don't think there are really that many people dying to see him do it again with Jan Blachowicz. Unless Ankalaev completely destroys Pereira, I wouldn't be surprised if the UFC opted for an immediate rematch. It's either that or throw Jiri Prochazka back in there next, hoping that he can snatch the belt back and call for a Pereira trilogy (which you just know he would do). Who has the best nickname on UFC 313? — Wolfeman (@wolfe_was_here) March 4, 2025 @wolfe_was_here: Who has the best nickname on UFC 313? This fight card actually features a couple people willing to lean into the word play opportunities provided by their last names. There's Curtis 'Razor' Blaydes and Francis 'Fire' Marshall, so that's fun. You also have a guy who's really living his own nickname in Jalin 'The Tarantula' Turner, who has been known to show up to weigh-ins with a pet spider in his pocket. (I honestly hate even thinking about that.) I think my least favorite is probably Mairon 'The Legend' Santos. Just because, no, you're not. Not yet, anyway. The thing about being a legend is that's for other people to say about you, not for you to say about yourself. As for the best, it's hard to beat 'Poatan,' in part because it's one of those nicknames that is now so well-known that it can sometimes be used in place of Pereira's actual name. Once you get there, you're practically in 'Shogun' Rua and 'Rampage' Jackson territory. Poaton is definitely losing the belt via eyepoke , isn't he? — Dillon Armoogam (@DOGYEE) March 4, 2025 @DOGYEE: Poaton is definitely losing the belt via eyepoke , isn't he? Don't you do this, Dillon. Don't you put that evil on us. TKO chief Mark Shapiro recently said the UFC would make more money if they cut back on stadium shows and ramped up Apex cards? Doing some napkin math ($4 mill for UFC Seattle gate, for example) how is that possible? Are arena and travel costs that gargantuan? — Jay Pettry (@jaypettry) March 4, 2025 @jaypettry: TKO chief Mark Shapiro recently said the UFC would make more money if they cut back on stadium shows and ramped up Apex cards? Doing some napkin math ($4 mill for UFC Seattle gate, for example) how is that possible? Are arena and travel costs that gargantuan? What he actually seemed to be saying is that it would be better for profit margins — not gross revenue. That makes sense, because when the UFC stays home at the APEX, it saves a lot of money. Then again, TKO has also increased site fees, so more and more the UFC is getting paid just to show up in some of these cities before a single ticket is sold. But Shapiro also claimed recently that, for people watching the UFC on TV, there's really no difference between the 'small but mighty APEX' and a full arena somewhere else in the world. This, of course, is straight nonsense. No one who has ever watched the UFC could possibly believe it. APEX fights feel like they might as well be exhibitions. Actual arena fights feel like genuine events. I don't expect those UFC Fight Night events at the APEX to ever disappear, but let's also not pretend like we don't all know that it's the lowest tier of UFC programming. Am I the only one who doesn't see what Justin Gaethje really gets out of fighting Fiziev again? — Chris Lox (@Beastin364) March 5, 2025 @Beastin364: Am I the only one who doesn't see what Justin Gaethje really gets out of fighting Fiziev again? You are not alone. What Justin Gaethje gets out of this is a fight and a paycheck to make his training camp worthwhile. That's about it. Beating Rafael Fiziev, who is 0-1 since the first time he fought Gaethje (and lost), does nothing for him. The thing about Gaethje's career at this point is that his fights don't really need to be for anything. His reputation as a crowd-pleasing slugger is enough. Give him a dance partner who can match that energy and we're all satisfied. Dan Hooker was the perfect choice for that right now, but a broken hand is a broken hand. Personally, I'm still wondering why the UFC wouldn't take Arman Tsarukyan up on his offer to fight at a 160-pound catchweight. Would anyone really care if we got a Gaethje fight just five pounds outside of his usual weight class? Would it harm anyone's future title hopes just because this one fight wasn't perfect on the scales? No way. Instead we get this fight, which seems to amaze and surprise even Fiziev. Why does Henry Cejudo being eyepoked call for this level of vitriol from the fanbase, right or wrong, but when Michael Chandler or Jon Jones do it for years on end, it's just swept away as not worth arguing about? Especially considering how Henry's own arrogance is also a factor? — KOGrave (@grave_ko) March 4, 2025 @grave_ko: Why does Henry Cejudo being eyepoked call for this level of vitriol from the fanbase, right or wrong, but when Michael Chandler or Jon Jones do it for years on end, it's just swept away as not worth arguing about? Especially considering how Henry's own arrogance is also a factor? I don't know about you, but I've seen both Jones and Michael Chandler take plenty of crap from fans about their tendencies to bend the rules of mixed martial arts. Still, you're not wrong that sometimes in this sport the question of how bad a foul is depends on who did it and who they did it to. Ben, in honor of The Hulk fighting Superman this weekend, which Marvel vs. DC matchup would you most like to see in the world's mightiest APEX, and who wins? — Jed Meshew II (@JedKMeshew) March 4, 2025 @JedKMeshew: Ben, in honor of The Hulk fighting Superman this weekend, which Marvel vs. DC matchup would you most like to see in the world's mightiest APEX, and who wins? For those unaware, the big homie Jed is referring to Saturday's fight between Bruno 'The Hulk' Ferreira and Armen 'Superman' Petrosyan on the UFC 313 underdcard. For me, the Marvel character who leaps to mind is Squirrel Girl, since my daughters read those and leave them lying around all over the house. Maybe we put her up against Catwoman for a classic animal kingdom matchup. When we get to UFC 1000 in 60yrs, will the landscape be filled with the grandchildren of currents greats? Cejudo Jr vs Aldo Jr? Or will the next generation run from the legacy of their insane fisticuff ancestors? Will Dana be in better shape and more angry at the AI journalists? — Sly (@SlyBoston) March 4, 2025 @SlyBoston: When we get to UFC 1000 in 60yrs, will the landscape be filled with the grandchildren of currents greats? Cejudo Jr vs Aldo Jr? Or will the next generation run from the legacy of their insane fisticuff ancestors? Will Dana be in better shape and more angry at the AI journalists? Any time I've talked to MMA fighters about this they all seem to agree that they wouldn't want their children to pursue this as a career. Even Antonio McKee, whose son A.J. has already eclipsed his accomplishments in the cage, has said that he really, really tried to talk the kid into pursuing some other career path. The people who have lived this life, they know how hard it is. They know how much it takes from people and how little it often gives back. Thing is, the people who have it in them to do this are rarely talked out of it. Even by people who know what they're talking about.
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Mailbag: Is the Valentina Shevchenko superfight the only thing left for UFC champ Zhang Weili?
What's next after Zhang Weili's dominant title defense at UFC 312? Will Dominick Cruz's retirement be the kind that actually sticks? And how might having friends high up in the U.S. government shape the future of combat sports for the UFC's parent company? All that and more in this week's mailbag. To ask a question of your own, hit up @BenFowlkesMMA or @ Weili vs Valentina at 125lb is the move right? — Now Boarding Flight 209 (@jmprobus) February 11, 2025 @jmprodus: Weili v s Valentina at 125lb is the move right? It definitely is, and for the simple reason that neither of them has anything else remotely interesting to do at the moment. Seriously, who could Zhang Weili fight now? She's beaten four of the top five women in the current UFC strawweight rankings, with lopsided wins over both the top two fighters in her past two outings. As for Valentina Shevchenko? She got her belt back from Alexa Grasso and is now looking at a pretty uninspiring field of potential challengers. I mean, I guess you could make Shevchenko vs. Manon Fiorot next, and that would be just fine. But it would also not be anything better than just fine. A champ vs. champ superfight, on the other hand, is always a big deal. It's instantly a big deal, and there's really nothing else for either of them that we could say the same about. Usually the big challenge in making this type of fight is convincing the smaller fighter to leave behind a division she's dominated to take the risk against a larger champion. But then here's Zhang, who seems pretty into the idea. So why not? This is a chance to make a really big fight in the women's divisions, and that's something the UFC hasn't had much of lately. Now is the time, so let's hope it happens. Am I a bad person for"Dom, enjoy your retirement, but Aldo will be there when you're rested"Speaking of Dom I'm convinced Keith Peterson DID smell of alcohol & cigs but it was from hand sanitizer gel, as it start of the pandemic and it stunk then due to supply issues! — Conor (@NeedXtoseePosts) February 11, 2025 @NeedXtoseePosts: Am I a bad person for "Dom, enjoy your retirement, but Aldo will be there when you're rested" Speaking of Dom I'm convinced Keith Peterson DID smell of alcohol & cigs but it was from hand sanitizer gel, as it start of the pandemic and it stunk then due to supply issues! That is a very generous interpretation of Dominick Cruz's comments about referee Keith Peterson. I can't say you're wrong. I can only say that Cruz was so mad about the stoppage (which was entirely justifiable under the circumstances, by the way) that he wasn't necessarily limiting himself to olfactory facts in the moment. As for your prediction that he'll come out of retirement for a battle between WEC legends of a certain age, I can't rule it out. But when a guy retires because his body simply can't get through a training camp and make it to fight night in one piece, that's not so much a decision that can be easily reversed as it is an admission of cold, hard realities. The spirit is willing. We know this. The flesh is almost 40 — and as you'll recall, it struggled to stay healthy even in Cruz's prime. If you were Dana and needed a few (regulatory) favors from Big Don, what would you ask? On that I suppose the bigger Q is do you expect any changes in the power balances of boxing / MMA during this Presidency? — Nick Jolly (@nickj812) February 12, 2025 @nickj812: If you were Dana and needed a few (regulatory) favors from Big Don, what would you ask? On that I suppose the bigger Q is do you expect any changes in the power balances of boxing / MMA during this Presidency? I can't really think of much that the UFC could ask for that it doesn't already have. There aren't really any government restrictions on it at all. Anything it asks for from state athletic commissions, it pretty much gets. Even when the National Labor Relations Board seemed briefly willing to consider whether the UFC has been misclassifying fighters as independent contractors all these years, that too eventually got slow-played into nothing. It's boxing where I'd expect TKO Group Holdings Inc. to call in some favors. We just heard TKO CEO Ari Emanuel suggest that something might 'happen' to the Ali Act, which currently protects pro boxers from at least some exploitative business practices. He said the Ali Act has 'hurt' the sport. I find that interesting, since boxing as a sport seems to be thriving right now in a whole lot of ways. What I suspect Emanuel means is that the Ali Act has hurt the ability of one promoter to seize control of the sport and keep all the money and talent for itself. I would say that even with a friend in the White House, it would be hard to undo a federal law that's existed for nearly 25 years now. But then, I look around at the current functioning of the U.S. government and there's not much I'm prepared to say couldn't happen. What would you add to the presentation of the apex to make it look more interesting? A ramp? — keith (@MMAFAN2019) February 12, 2025 @MMAFAN2019: What would you add to the presentation of the apex to make it look more interesting? A ramp? Whatever the WWE did when it showed up there and held a pro wrestling event that actually looked like an event, I'd do that. We know it's possible now. We've seen it. The half-empty warehouse vibe just drains away the energy on the broadcast. It sends an instant visual message to the audience that these are not fights that matter. That sucks for the fighters. They deserve better. And if the UFC can make an APEX event seem more like an actual event, it can only help interest and viewership. So let's get some people in there and get to hootin' and/or hollerin'. @ Have we reached the point in MMA where talking about it is more interesting than being about it? To wit, I listen to your podcast and read your articles, but I haven't watched a full PPV in almost five years. One thing I took away from UFC 300 is that the UFC is still very capable of putting together a full pay-per-view event of must-watch fights. There was not one bit of filler on that lineup. Every fight was meaningful in one way or another, and almost all of them were a ton of fun to watch. That tells you that the talent is there. It's just being spread pretty thin by the hectic events schedule, so loading up one fight card means leaving the cupboard a little bare for others. Take UFC 312, for example. There was an event where you definitely did not need to watch the full pay-per-view. The top two fights mattered. A scattered few on the undercard ended up being worth checking out. The rest was basically UFC Fight Night: Sydney, but dressed up as something else. So no, you don't need to sit there and watch every fight on every fight card. But there are still great fights happening almost every weekend. It's just that you have to sit through a lot of filler to get there — or circle back on Sunday morning with a cup of coffee and skip to the good stuff.
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Mailbag: Does Dricus Du Plessis finally feel like the man at middleweight ahead of UFC 312?
The people have spoken … and they are not terribly impressed with the lineup at UFC 312. Is there a good reason to spend the big bucks on Saturday's pay-per-view from Sydney, Australia? Does Dricus Du Plessis finally feel like the man at middleweight, or are we still waiting for a champ with more of an elite aura? And what would it take for the UFC to crack down on a fighter spewing ridiculous hate speech in his spare time? All that and more in this week's mailbag column. To ask a question of your own, hit up @BenFowlkesMMA or @ Is it just me or does Dricus still not really feel like the real champ? I don't know why but he seems like a placeholder to me. Am I crazy? — Chris Lox (@Beastin364) February 5, 2025 @Beastin364: Is it just me or does Dricus still not really feel like the real champ? I don't know why but he seems like a placeholder to me. Am I crazy? You're not crazy. I get where you're coming from. But at a certain point I think we have to ask, what more do we want from the guy? Dricus Du Plessis has already done what Sean Strickland never successfully did, and that's defend the title. He's never lost in the UFC. He's finished four of his last five opponents (another thing he has over Strickland). Truly, how could he reasonably have done any better than he already has? I understand that people look at him in the cage and think that he just doesn't seem like he's that good. But he's also beating – and finishing – people who we do think are good. He knocked out Robert Whittaker. He submitted Israel Adesanya. Are we really going to say he's won eight straight UFC fights, captured and defended the UFC middleweight title, all through sheer luck? It's fine to want to see him face new and different tests, but he can only win the fights he's been given. And in the UFC, he's won them all. I remember way back at ufc 311 when the card was stacked with great fights. Now this? — matthewpizana (@justlikelasagna) February 4, 2025 @justlikelasagna: I remember way back at ufc 311 when the card was stacked with great fights. Now this? Yep. Now this. Look, we all know how it works by now. The UFC comes up with dates and locations long before it's even begun to think about the actual fights. Between site fees and broadcast rights fees, there's a lot of money for the UFC in just putting on some fights. Especially in a place like Australia, where there's an energetic fan base that will scoop up tickets without knowing who's on the card, there really isn't a ton of financial incentive to make sure the lineup is anything beyond just barely passable. The added twist is that it's Super Bowl weekend. There was a time when the UFC really went hard on this weekend. Georges St-Pierre and B.J. Penn fought for the welterweight title all those years ago on Super Bowl weekend. I remember because I was at that one, up all night trying to report on 'Greasegate,' then fell asleep during the game the next day because I was so exhausted. But at some point UFC executives seemed to realize they were better off saving the really good stuff for weekends they had all to themselves. I mean, do people really have a huge appetite for pay-per-view sports this Saturday night? The next day is basically Sports Christmas in America. People are probably more than happy to take that pay-per-view money and spend it on chicken wings instead. Can you give two reasons why a person would pay 70 dollars for a ppv headlined by Sean Strickland? — Scott Gray (@shadore66) February 4, 2025 @shadore66: Can you give two reasons why a person would pay 70 dollars for a ppv headlined by Sean Strickland? My two reasons to pay for UFC 312 go like this: Zhang Weili and Tatiana Suarez. For me, they're the main draw. I think Weili doesn't get enough credit as one of the most dominant and thoroughly well-rounded fighters on the roster. As for Saurez, she's been through so much just to get here. As a fellow sufferer of bad discs in the ol' vertebrae, I feel for her. But I'm also invested in her personal story and I really want to see how it plays out in her first UFC title shot. As for the rest of the card? Du Plessis vs. Strickland 2 feels like the rematch no one asked for. The other fights on the pay-per-view main card feel like UFC Fight Night: Sydney. There's just not much else that feels like must-see TV. Outside of criticizing the UFC, TKO, their execs, or their sponsors, what would a fighter actually have to *say* (not do) in order to get cut immediately here and now in 2025?Say 'Free Palestine' too many times?Admit to cannibalism?The mind fairly boggles. DISCOURSE — trauma ray dudley (@RealFakeSamDunn) February 5, 2025 @RealFakeSamDunn: Outside of criticizing the UFC, TKO, their execs, or their sponsors, what would a fighter actually have to *say* (not do) in order to get cut immediately here and now in 2025? Say 'Free Palestine' too many times? Admit to cannibalism? The mind fairly boggles. DISCOURSE First of all, the idea that UFC CEO Dana White just loves free speech too much to take any action is obviously ridiculous. The UFC has fired or otherwise punished multiple fighters in the past for saying (or tweeting) the wrong thing. The UFC has also basically blacklisted journalists for saying or writing things it doesn't like, even when those things are simple facts. The UFC has banned fighters from bringing certain national flags to the cage. It's edited out political comments in post-fight interviews. You can't even mention Francis Ngannou's name at a UFC function without the company's internal censors jumping into action. 'Free speech' is just an excuse. Really, the UFC just doesn't want to do anything that might create a precedence which would require it to act in a certain way in the future. It wants to keep its options open. If you cut this middling fighter for a racial slur or some garden variety Holocaust denial, does that mean you'll have to do the same when a superstar does it next week? As for what it would take to change that, it would have to be something that threatens to mess with the money. If sponsors started speaking up or pulling away. If broadcast partners exerted some pressure. Then the UFC would take notice and might even take action. The idea that the UFC is guided by some principle in this regard is laughable to anyone who's been paying attention lo these many years. It's guided purely by money. Same as it ever was. What kind of a montage does Pavlovich need to get back to his skull smashing ways? I feel like his new fighting style does not put him on a rocket ship to the top. — Chap (@Chapperton) February 4, 2025 @Chapperton: What kind of a montage does Pavlovich need to get back to his skull smashing ways? I feel like his new fighting style does not put him on a rocket ship to the top. Before we pile on Sergei Pavlovich let's remind ourselves that he was carrying a two-fight losing streak into that fight. We all know three in a row is where things get dire. Jairzinho Rozenstruik got his walking papers for losing that one and he'd won two straight before that. Pavlovich needed a win by any means necessary. He did what he had to do to get it. I'm not going to hate on the big fella for that. Is this the weakest heavyweight has been aside from Jones and Aspinal? Think back to the days of Cain, DC, Werdum, Fedor, Overeem, Stipe, Mark Hunt, Arlovski, Nganno…. It just seems like after the top two there's such a steep drop off. — Ihab (@ihab23) February 5, 2025 @ihab23Is this the weakest heavyweight has been aside from Jones and Aspinal? Think back to the days of Cain, DC, Werdum, Fedor, Overeem, Stipe, Mark Hunt, Arlovski, Nganno…. It just seems like after the top two there's such a steep drop off. You're not wrong, but it's also not exactly unprecedented. I'm old enough to remember when the UFC's heavyweight division was just Tim Sylvia vs. Andrei Arlovski over and over again. Also? If we're going to sit here wondering where all the good heavyweights went, let's not forget that the UFC fumbled the last true undisputed heavyweight champion (fella by the name of Francis Ngannou) and then badmouthed him all the way out the door and beyond. It's not like we just woke up one morning with the heavyweight cupboard bare. Choices were made. Hi Ben, are the UFC to blame for bad weight classes?You would think a monopoly could get the best people, incentivize them to be interesting in & out of the cage, and have a steady flow of upcoming talent. When does the UFC need to change something? — jona freedman (@JonaFreedman) February 5, 2025 @JonaFreedman: Hi Ben, are the UFC to blame for bad weight classes? You would think a monopoly could get the best people, incentivize them to be interesting in & out of the cage, and have a steady flow of upcoming talent. When does the UFC need to change something? I think at the core of your question is a misunderstanding of the UFC's own incentives. Ask yourself, how does the UFC suffer as a result of the shallower talent pool in certain weight classes (like heavyweight)? The answer is that it doesn't. The UFC has spent the last 20 years or so making the brand (and the CEO) the star. The UFC sees the fighters as mostly interchangeable. They come and go, rise and fall. The brand continues. It's the brand that brings in the guaranteed TV money. It's also the brand that convinces fans to take one fighter more seriously than another. I think the UFC actually does do more than people realize to cultivate talent (at least the talent that can get to a UFC Performance Institute), but at this point the UFC makes money because it's the UFC. If there are only a few good heavyweights because the true elite athletes of that size are off making real money in the NFL or boxing or the NBA, so what? The machine still churns along. And that machine is not running out of lightweights or featherweights or bantamweights any time soon.
