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What should the UFC do now with the winner and the loser of the UFC 229 main event? And how did we come to this fight choice for the heavyweight title for the UFC 230?
All this and more in Twitter Mailbag this week. To ask your own question, tweet to @BenFowlkesMMA.
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No, I do not accept the premise of your question. I will not start by assuming that an immediate return match between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor is a foregone conclusion. I … I just can not.
Why? Because the fight was not in the least competitive. It was a free kick. The result was clear and unambiguous. There is no reason to think that it would not be exactly the same if they did it again in six months. Plus, you can not convince me that we would discuss it even though McGregor won.
This division was held too long. We spent almost two years between battles in light weight worthy of the name. Want to know what Tony Ferguson should do next? He should fight with Nurmagomedov for the lightweight title. End of the story.
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Listen, that's one reason the UFC has not adopted a clear and formalized code of conduct that applies equally to all its fighters, and it's not because it has not just not reacted. The UFC leadership wants the freedom and flexibility needed to suddenly challenge the minor characters while keeping the cash cows in circulation, no matter what they do.
Is the injustice obvious? Of course. Jason High was banned from the UFC for slightly pushing the referee right after having TKOd. UFC President Dana White admitted that he had not even seen it when he made the decision to cut High. Meanwhile, McGregor can throw a hand truck through the window of a UFC bus and Nurmagomedov can start a fight on the floor of the arena and is not a reason for termination.
The UFC likes it that way. It will not change him of his own will. If this change were to occur, it would have to come from the outside.
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It may be because he spent most of the first lap on the mat. Trying to repel the ground attacks, and then not to be beaten when you get crushed anyway, it can make you lose a lot of noise.
And when you look at McGregor's resume, you do not see a lot of late wins from TKO. According to the way Nurmagomedov spent the first round trying to control McGregor, did not really open with the ground and the pound before, so it seems that he knew it.
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I think it is still too early for that. He has a ton of wins on his record (and zero defeat), but what he does not have is a ton of awesome names. McGregor and Rafael dos Anjos are by far his two biggest victories. And even if they are big players, I'm not sure it puts him in front of a B. B. Penn, at least when you compare their victories in the context of division at the time.
You know what could change my mind, though? A victory over "El Cucuy" then.
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Yesterday, I wrote a little about it, but I am especially surprised that it is a late race for a main event less than a month.
Do you remember when the UFC at Madison Square Garden was only a distant dream? I do. I even remember getting fed up hearing these constant updates on the battle to get the MMA sanctioned in New York. I also remember seeing the projections of the UFC for all the extra money it could earn through events in the New York market.
But now, just a few years after the UFC finally entered New York, an event at MSG is treated almost like an afterthought. Like, hey, do not worry, we'll think of something. And when something original was so uninspiring that even UFC commentators scratched themselves publicly, it was a headache to think of something else.
It may just be a study of how quickly you can learn to take something for granted. Even after spending years chasing him.
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I do not hate this idea at all. I do not want to hate a trilogy with Nate Diaz, now that none of them stand in the way of progression of a division. I could even talk about a fight by Georges St-Pierre, although I'm a little odd to admit it.
Just, please, anything but an immediate revenge with Nurmagomedov. This is the only way to go wrong here. And now, I'm convinced that's what's going to happen …
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Looks like you're trying to convince me that it would be fun to watch Derrick Lewis after months of Brock Lesnar's memo on Instagram, which, of course, would be. And, with the way this fight has taken place, it's hard not to root out Lewis, who is so neglected, even though he did not think he deserved a game for the heavyweight title.
But for a bit of insight, Witness Lewis commented on MMAjunkie Radio's comments, in which he accidentally fell on the UFC's thoughts about the match.
"If they're still trying to make the Brock affair work, what's the sense for me to fight" DC "before it fights Brock," said Lewis . "Unless they really think" DC "will beat me?"
Yes that's all. That's what they think, Derrick. And the gods of the MMA sometimes have the means to punish those who think so. Such divine intervention could even be his best hope against Daniel Cormier.
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The fact that Anthony Pettis did not beg Duke Roufus to let him continue to fight indicates that it was the right decision. He could not do much with his right hand and he hurt himself in the second round. If anyone can look at Pettis and say that he is not himself, that is Roufus, who has been in his corner since the beginning.
We complain enough when corners do not stop fighting. We should also offer praise when they do it.
Ben Fowlkes is MMAjunkie and MMA columnist for USA TODAY. Follow him on Twitter at @BenFowlkesMMA. Twitter Mailbag appears every Thursday on MMAjunkie.
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