Twitter Mailbag: Fowlkes on GSP's Rightful Next Challenger, DQs and Marijuana

TWITTER MAILBAG: FOWLKES ON GSP'S RIGHTFUL NEXT CHALLENGER, DQS AND MARIJUANA
BY BEN FOWLKES ON NOV 29, 2012 AT 9:15 PM ET

When trainer Firas Zahabi says Nick Diaz should be next in line for UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, is this a sign that he is a visitor from outer space? And what, exactly, determines the difference between a disqualification and a no contest?

This week's Twitter Mailbag tackles these big questions with all the fury it can muster, and still finds time to poke fun at those poor, poor blokes in the U.K. who never get any good UFC cards anymore.

To ask your own question, or just gawk from a distance, follow @BenFowlkesMMA on Twitter. The adorable photos of my dog are included at no additional cost.


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George Wells @gwells_1979
@benfowlkesMMA #tmb Zahabi said that Diaz is the #1 contender, on what planet does this make sense, he lost! Bring on the next challenger,JH

Krypton seemed like a wacky planet, so maybe Firas Zahabi's reasoning makes sense there. It also probably makes a lot of sense in the 209, which is not technically its own planet, though don't tell them that. Here on Mother Earth, however? Yeah, it's a tough sell.

Look, I want to see GSP fight Nick Diaz as much as the next guy (unless the next guy is Cesar Gracie), but the fact is that he's coming off a loss and a long suspension, while Johny Hendricks has been knocking people stiff on a pretty consistent basis. It doesn't have quite the same promotional oomph behind it, but St-Pierre vs. Hendricks is the next fight to make at welterweight. Diaz should focus on coming back, getting a win under his belt, and not self-destruct in a dazzling, Krypton-esque explosion in the meantime. If he can do all that, his time will come. I just wish that wasn't such a big if.


Baltasar Shepard @BaltasarShepard
@benfowlkesMMA If it were up to you, would you rather feed Ronda cans in order to build a Tyson-like aura for her, or pit her against the best-of-the-best to put out the best contests. Would only the hardcore truly know the difference? No disrespect to Tyson, btw

First of all, way to accuse Mike Tyson of being a total can-crusher, then adding "no disrespect" at the end. Hint for future use: Any time you have to specifically say that you aren't disrespecting someone, you probably are.

But on to your question: Should the UFC build up Ronda Rousey with a bunch of armbarrable nobodies? To that I would reply: What makes you think that's necessary? Look at Rousey's record of late. Both of her most recent opponents – first Miesha Tate, then Sarah Kaufman – were right there at the top of the 135-pound division. She smoked them anyway, and with the one move they knew to look out for. After that, it seems like finding someone who can give her a fight is a much bigger challenge than finding someone who won't. Maybe what the UFC should be more concerned about is burning through potential challengers too quickly. As long as "Cyborg" Santos is waving her doctor's note around as a "get out of profitable superfight free" card, there's Sara McMann, Shayna Baszler and not a whole lot else before you start getting into reruns. Yet another reason why it might not be such a great idea to focus exclusively on one weight class if you want to promote women's MMA.


Duncan Priebe @DuncanPriebe
@benfowlkesMMA Aldo mentioned the comradery of former WEC fighters. Will Strikeforce guys be proud or try to forget their past? #TMB

Nothing brings people together like suffering. At first, I think the Strikeforce fighters will try to spread out, go their own ways, forging a new identity for themselves as UFC fighters as if they've been there all along. But even as those old wounds heal, they'll know each other by the scars that are left behind. In hotel elevators and after-party bars, they'll lock eyes and immediately recognize the look they see staring back at them. It is the look of people who have been dumped on by a metric ton of crap and are still trying to get clean. It's a look that will let them know they have a friend, or at least someone who knows what it's like to almost get scorched by those pre-fight pyro displays along the Strikeforce walkway.


Abdullah Mohammad @abdullaham1
@benfowlkesMMA #tmb if you were Anderson Silvas management team, what would you advise him for his next 2 fights on his contract and beyond?

The first thing I'd advise Silva to do is get that cake, son. But I guess that's not really very helpful advice, which is probably why Silva opted not to hire me (or RZA) as his manager. Instead he hired Ed Soares, who seems to know a thing or two about how to milk the UFC cash cow without slaughtering it. When Soares and Silva spoke to reporters before UFC 154 in Montreal, mainly so Silva could make a case for the superfight with Georges St-Pierre, Soares told us that the champ had two fights left on his current contract, "and that's what we'll talk to Dana about."

In other words, if the UFC wants him to fight the big fights it might have to make some changes to his deal first. Of course, GSP seems like he's in no rush to make this superfight happen, so then what? The fight fan in me wants to see Silva take on Chris Weidman, maybe also Michael Bisping and/or Alan Belcher. The fight fan in me definitely does not want to see him jump weight classes again unless it's to fight the champion in that weight class. But the fight fan wants great, meaningful fights, whereas the manager wants great, meaningful paychecks. From that perspective, I think the smart managerial move would be to try and make sure Silva's next fight is either 1) a superfight with GSP, to be preceded by new contract negotiations, or 2) a fight against one of the more beatable middleweights (not Weidman, basically), followed by new contract negotiations.

As his manager, I would also advise strongly against wasting time with movies. It so rarely goes well.


Lee Futcher @Futch6
@benfowlkesMMA #mailbag w/ PPV king GSP back, who do you think is a dark horse in the UFC that will come to prominence + help lead PPV buys

Once people realize how good Jon Jones really is, and once he gets some competition that seems worthy of being in there with him, I don't see why he couldn't take over the title of "king of pay-per-view" as GSP and Silva begin to slide out of the picture. But then, Jones is already a champion and a star in his own right, and you did ask for a dark horse.

If you want to see me climb out on a limb here, I'll go with Daniel Cormier. I think he stands a very good chance of coming to the UFC, becoming the heavyweight champion, and charming the nation with his personal story of struggle and survival and his natural charisma. Once fight fans really get to know this guy, they're going to want to see him again and again.


Jared @ruralmurder
@benfowlkesMMA I still want an answer to my question last week about the Toe-Hold and how it doesn't violate small-digit manipulation. #tmb

You ever been in a toe-hold? It's not really about your toes. A toe-hold is a footlock. You're putting pressure on the toe area to make it work, but you're not really attacking the toes. If a fighter were to grab onto his opponent's big toe and twist, that would be a) hilarious, and b) an example of illegal small-joint manipulation. But that's not what happens in a toe-hold, which you feel in the tendons in your foot and ankle way more than in your toes. You know what else doesn't happen much with toe-holds in MMA competition? Submissions.


Kevin Mills @godsdog44
@benfowlkesMMA #TMB what causes a fight to be ruled a "No Contest" as opposed to a "DQ" (disqualification if you wanna be a jerk about it)?

According to the unified rules, a lot depends on the distinction between an intentional foul and an accidental one, which in turn means that a lot depends on the referee working the fight. Everything from determining whether a foul even took place to determining whether the fight should be stopped is within the ref's discretion. If the ref decides that the bout should be stopped as a result of an intentional foul, that's cause for a DQ (disqualification, for the jerks out there). If the ref stops it but decides that the foul was accidental rather than intentional, then it depends how much fighting we've already logged. As the unified rules state:

"If an injury sustained during competition as a result of an accidental foul, as determined by the referee, is severe enough for the referee to stop the bout immediately, the bout shall result in a no contest if stopped before two rounds have been completed in a three round bout or if stopped before three rounds have been completed in a five round bout."

So basically, if we're closer to the beginning than the end when the fight-ending foul happens – and if the foul is ruled accidental – it's a no contest. If it happens in the last round of a three-round fight or in the last two rounds of a five-round fight, then we go to the scorecards, at which point, "the bout shall result in a technical decision awarded to the contestant who is ahead on the score cards at the time the bout is stopped..."

So take the Patrick Cote vs. Alessio Sakara mess at UFC 154, for example. That one was stopped in the first round by referee Dan Miragliotta after Sakara landed several blows to the back of Cote's head. In order for that to end up in a disqualification, as it did, the ref would have to rule that the stoppage was a result of an intentional foul on Sakara's part. The rules clearly state: "If an injury sustained during competition as a result of an intentional foul, as determined by the referee, is severe enough to terminate a bout, the contestant causing the injury loses by disqualification." Had Miragliotta ruled that the blows were accidental, it would have been a no contest, since the fight was stopped in the first round. Once again, so much depends on how the ref sees it when it happens.


Matt Giesbrecht @MattGiesbrecht
@benfowlkesMMA Do any of the Strikeforce champions deserve immediate unification bouts when they're absorbed? Or an entry fight first? #TMB

There's deserve, and then there's want. I think you could make a strong case that a guy like Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez deserves an immediate title shot when coming to the UFC, but I'm not sure if he'd even want it to happen that way, considering how long he's been out with that shoulder injury. And, I know, there's a chance that he's simply not too enthusiastic about making his return while Strikeforce is still alive and kicking, and maybe that (lingering) shoulder issue isn't quite as bad as it's made out to be. Still, he hasn't fought since May, so a tune-up fight to get him back in the groove and introduce him to UFC fans wouldn't be a bad idea.

The same could be said of Luke Rockhold, who is also out with a (lingering) injury. Even guys who are likely to come into the UFC off a recent win, like Daniel Cormier and Nate Marquardt, could probably still use at least one build-up fight in the UFC to demonstrate that Strikeforce titles actually mean something.


Jason Rule @JasonRule
@benfowlkesMMA if a fighter has a medical use card for pot they still can't fight if they get popped. Do they still have to do the program?

That's the part of Marc Ratner's "rehab for weed" philosophy that makes very little sense, Jason. Sending someone to rehab implies that their goal should be to get off the drug they're using. But for legitimate medical marijuana patients, that may lead to more problems than it solves. Matt Riddle, for instance, detailed a long list of side effects he suffered from the drugs he used to take for ADHD, and then the drugs he took to combat the side effects of those drugs. That's the problem with prescription drugs: you start taking one, and before you know it you're taking four. Now Riddle smokes marijuana (legally, in Nevada), and that's all. As long as he's not driving or operating a bulldozer while he's under the influence, why should it matter to the UFC or the state athletic commissions if the leftover residue is still detectable in his urine by the time he shows up to fight?

Then again, you could make the argument that anyone who can't stop smoking weed when their job is on the line is a person who has a problem. Even if they're getting it legally, that doesn't mean they can't abuse it the same way some people abuse alcohol. Although, if you drank every day during training camp and quit two weeks out, the commissions probably wouldn't know or care, even if it would likely be far more detrimental to your health.

Still, the message the regulators are sending is that, even if you're a known marijuana user, with your picture on a card and everything, you have to hide it from them. They want you to trick them, which puts everybody in this weirdly dishonest situation. And, if you get caught doing what everyone knew you were doing, the UFC will ask you to go through the motions of pretending you want to quit, which you don't. How does that help anyone? How does it help the sport? If you ask me, this is energy that would be much better spent combating the real problem drugs in MMA.


Aaron Davison @aaron_davison
@benfowlkesMMA #TwitterMailbag Any ideas on a main event that would delight the UK fans, for UFC London?

My research suggests that U.K. fans will never be "delighted," not even if Michael Bisping fought for the middleweight strap at an Oasis reunion concert. That particular set of MMA fans has gotten so used to complaining about not getting what it wants that the habit will be hard to break. Put on a big fight in London and they'll be complaining in Manchester. Go to Northern Ireland and they'll be fuming in Scotland. That's just how it is, so the UFC might as well accept it.

That said, some of that complaining is justified. This crowd used to get big fights, and now it's FUEL TV-quality cards with a bunch of Brits stuffed into the lineup to placate the locals. If we've learned anything from the UFC's Brazilian invasion, it's that crowds do want to see their countrymen fight, but they don't only want that. They also want big fights, title fights, something that feels worth the price of admission. It just doesn't work with the UFC's current TV model, since you're not about to see a belt go up for grabs in the cable TV nosebleed section that is FUEL.

So sorry, U.K. fans. You're probably going to get screwed again. All I'm saying is, as long as you're not going to get a major fight, you might as well push for a fun one. Something like Matt Riddle against "butter-toothed Brit" Dan Hardy, perhaps? Just think about it.