Are we headed for trouble with all these fights in the Middle East at a time of increasing armed conflicts? Was UFC president Dana White really totally incapable of recognizing a top-five heavyweight with a decade of UFC experience when he was standing right in front of him?
Plus, what would the ideal four-man grand prix look like in the UFC's light heavyweight division right now? All that and more in this week's mailbag. To ask a question of your own, hit up @BenFowlkesMMA on X or @Ben_Fowlkes on Threads.
@LCombatsports: If the Canelo-Mbili fight and WWE Crown Jewel happen in Saudi Arabia, and someone gets injured or killed because of the conflict, would there be a lot of negative coverage of the events and parties involved? Do you fear mainstream media would just brush it aside?
Even in our fractured media environment, where the scandal of the morning is wiped out by the scandal of the afternoon, I have to think it would be a very big deal if something bad happened at one of those events in Saudi Arabia. Injuries or deaths would be awful, but even just a disruption caused by the ongoing conflict there would be major news. And I suspect that if something bad did happen, that would be the point that a lot of the non-combat sports world would go: "Wait you guys decided to hold sporting events there? Now? With everything that's going on?!"
A problem would seem obvious and almost inevitable in retrospect, is my point. And it wouldn't take long before the suits in charge were forced to answer questions about why they apparently valued the safety of their staff and athletes so little that they sent them into what is essentially an active military conflict zone.
The United States is pulling its diplomats, their families and non-emergency personnel out of Saudi Arabia as I write this. More people were killed in another strike on another Saudi airport just last night. To even consider going there right now for the sake of a sporting event — an event that could just as easily happen in Las Vegas or New York — is absolutely ridiculous. I hope someone explains that to them soon.
@Beastin364: Prolly too late but did you see Volkov show up at the press conference? Dana definitely did not know who he was. Should we even be surprised? Think it's a good idea to embarrass the boss in public like that?
There are some convenient outs here, should White choose to avail himself of them. He could say the bright lights up on the dais made it hard to see clearly into the crowd. He could say he didn't recognize Alexander Volkov in street clothes with no cornrows. I mean, I'm not sure I would recognize Volkov either if he walked up looking like a banker rather than the tall blonde Russian dude with the huge backpiece tattoo, which is how most of us are used to seeing him.
The trouble for White is that this whole thing plays perfectly into an existing and well-established narrative. He simply does not seem to know or care all that much about the happenings within the UFC. He's checked out, man. His mind and his interests are elsewhere, and have been for some time. So no, I'm not surprised he didn't recognize a ranked heavyweight who has been in the UFC for10 years now.
As for the second part of your question, no, I don't think White will be all that grateful to Volkov for, intentionally or not, making a fool of him in front of everybody. But maybe the upside of his apathy is that he won't care enough to seek reprisals? Still, ya boi "Drago" probably better go out and win this one.
@nickj812: Crystal Ball Time.
In 5 years, what role & ongoing impact will Zuffa have on professional boxing?
For an operation still trying to get the car out of the garage, as Eddie Hearn might say, five years is a lifetime. TKO's promise to investors with this whole thing was that it wouldn't use its own money and would instead rely on the sweet, sweet Saudi oil money to fund it. If something changes there (and a lot could change there pretty quickly), it's possible TKO just pulls the plug and focuses on its extremely profitable MMA and pro wrestling businesses.
Then again, after going through all that work to create bespoke legislation tailored directly to Zuffa Boxing's interests, maybe they'll opt to stick it out and see if a takeover of the entire sport is indeed possible. It does seem, however, like the rest of the sport might finally be waking up to that threat and reacting accordingly.
@adamwassam: If you could pick a group for a UFC Grand Prix, who are the fighters?
First of all, I love the idea for a light heavyweight grand prix to both keep things interesting and anoint a challenger for when Carlos Ulberg is ready to return. And when I heard that the UFC's original plan might have included a middleweight like Dricus Du Plessis, I took that as a sign that they didn't think the division had enough relevant names for a larger field.
Still, a four-man mini-tournament to find the next title challenger? Sounds great to me. And since Navajo Stirling vs. Jiri Prochazka is already booked, seems like it would only make sense to add Magomed Ankalaev vs. Paulo Costa as the other side of the bracket.
@AzzaHausen: UFC Qatar has the unfortunate position of being the first UFC happening after GTA 6 release.
If you didn't have to do it as a job. Would any fight card stop you from playing GTA 6 to watch it?
Can I be real with you here? I have never played a GTA game all the way through. The closest I got was Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Something about those games just feels too … aimless. Wandering around and committing various vehicle-related crimes? That's fun for a little while. But it doesn't give me the same thrill as hitting a walk-off homer in MLB The Show or sniping cultists in Far Cry 5 (which totally nailed the look and feel of Western Montana in early summer, by the way.)
So yes, I'd still take a UFC event over a new GTA game. But if you wanted to play until your thumbs are sore and circle back on the event later, when you skip through all the ads and filler and get straight to the action? I wouldn't judge you one bit.
@ChrisKirk_ASP: How sorry should we feel for fighters being criminally underpaid when they themselves repeatedly refuse to unionise or do anything else to improve their conditions, whilst many of them actively campaign in favour of the people who criminally underpay them?
I think it's a bit of a copout to blame individual fighters. I understand the argument and I don't entirely disagree with it. It is frustrating to watch different generations of UFC fighters go through the same life cycle, resulting in the same complaints, with no movement at all toward anything that might actually change it.
But we also have to remember that they are individuals confronting an entire corporate system that was designed to do exactly what it's doing. Back when the Fertitta brothers sold it, the new UFC owners told investors that fighter pay would never rise above 20 percent of total revenue. The contracts and the structure of the sport were set up to prevent that, and they have. Fighters have even less leverage now than they had then, because there are no more pay-per-views to sell and therefore less need for individual stars to generate interest.
So what do we want fighters to do, start a one-man union? Stage individual work stoppages in the desperate hope that it catches on? The UFC workforce is such an array of nationalities and backgrounds and personalities, and they're all at different stages of their careers. Fighting is a selfish sport. If the guy ahead of you in line falls down, you step over him to get what was once his. That's not the kind of environment that makes it easy to all band together to improve conditions.
@screenplaya: Can you ask Dana, "Why are you afraid to move official weigh-ins to immediately pre-fight?" What I'm really asking is, "Can you make him bully himself into banning weight-cutting?" <quest delivered>
Of all the ideas I've heard to address weight-cutting, I think moving the weigh-ins to right before the fights might be the worst. You think fighters won't still cut weight, even if it leaves them in a weakened state? It will just increase the risk to their bodies and brains, because so many of them will still think they can pull it off and be just fine.
I like the practice of weighing fighters on fight night, just to get a sense of how much weight people are cutting. But just because you make it a really bad idea for fighters to cut weight doesn't mean they won't still do it.
@GabeDert: Is the contender series fairly comparable to a lot of the apex cards at this point?
No, because they're trying to do entirely different things. Dana White's Contender Series is about shuttling fresh talent into the UFC on entry-level contracts. We're not really supposed to know who they are. The whole point is an introduction and a tryout, with White playing the role of the emperor who gives the gladiators a thumbs up or thumbs down.
UFC Fight Night events are supposed to be populated by the fighters who've already proven they belong and are trying to fight their way to that next tier of UFC programming — the numbered event. Where the two start to blur together is in a) pushing for a certain kind of fighting style that leads to certain kinds of results, and b) matchmaking toward that desired outcome.
How many times have we heard White tell some 34-year-old fighter who just won his Contender Series bout that he's not looking for 34-year-old fighters? That forces us to ask why he invited them on in the first place, and usually the answer is that he was hoping they'd lose to the young guy in spectacular fashion. Lately we've seen the other UFC events lean toward a similar model. But the thing about this sport is you don't always know what you're going to get until the cage door closes.