We’re still a few weeks away from UFC 329 and the return of Conor McGregor, so let’s talk about a wide variety of things, including Dustin Poirier’s very bad day, what lies ahead for MMA fans, and the Year of the Unc.
Is Dustin Poirier struggling to adjust to post-fight life?
I don’t want to spend too much time talking about this, because we discussed it plenty on Between the Links, but Poirier’s unfortunate incident at the Atlanta Airport is one of those things that often portends something much worse.
Athletes in all walks of life often have a hard time adjusting to life after sports, especially if they didn’t necessarily leave it on their own terms. While Poirier technically did leave of his own volition, the truth is that he left MMA for practical reasons, not because he was done with the sport. He was no longer in title contention, and the risk was not worth the reward. That’s extremely sensible, more sensible than most fighters are, but it also seems obvious that he still has the itch in him, and that itch can turn into something bad.
My biggest concern for Poirier is that this all happened despite Poirier having other things in his life. Just a few days before this happened, Poirier gave an interview where he talked about needing focus and direction to keep himself from falling into bad habits, and the reality is, he has all that. Poirier has a hot sauce business, he is active in his community, he works on the analyst desk and on a UFC show, and he still helps with training some of his ATT teammates. All of that should, on paper, help him transition to this new phase of life. And yet, it seems not to be enough.
I don’t know what the answer is for Poirier, but I hope he finds it. And the positive side of this whole thing is that, while unfortunate, it’s ultimately not that bad. No one got hurt, or even came close, and he’s not looking at real jail time or anything. As far as these things go, this was about as good as you can ask for, and, more importantly, appears to have served as a wake-up call to Poirier to get some help. That’s all extremely good, and hopefully it all works out for him.
Now that some of the more anticipated fights have happened, I need something to look forward to. What’s the most exciting fight ahead of us?
As far as what’s actually on paper, man, there ain’t a lot.
UFC 329 and the main event between Conor McGregor and Max Holloway is certainly the biggest thing awaiting us. That card is going to feel like a huge event because anytime Conor fights, it is big. But the fight itself is not one I find particularly compelling. Fun, sure. But I think Max is going to chew him up. The co-main event between BSD and Paddy Pimblett is also pretty good, but again, not exactly Fedor vs. Cro Cop.
After that, DDP vs. Kamaru Usman is fun but questionable, Ankalaev vs. Rountree is undeniably solid but lacks pop, and Uros Medic vs. Daniel Rodriguez is super fun, but not really a main event.
That leaves, I guess, UFC 330. Islam Makhachev vs. Ian Machado Garry is an excellent fight, even if it might not be the most fun one to watch, and it’s historic, because Makhachev will attempt to become one of a very small group of fighters to ever defend a title in multiple weight classes. And should he succeed, I think Makhachev will be the best of them, as the others — Jones, Cormier, Nunes, Cejudo — all had some pretty major asterisks on the quality of their opponents in one of the weight classes. Makhachev beating Garry will be something nearly unprecedented.
So, if I’m coming at this with rose-colored glasses, I’d say that in a couple of weeks, we will have a big event that is fun because a wide swath of casual fans will be interested. And then a month after that, the best fighter in the world is pursuing history. That’s a slate to get excited about.
Twice in 6 days we say fights stopped and in the finishing sequence illegal blows were landed. In your opinion, how SHOULD refs handle sequences where a fighter is on the way out but takes an illegal shot in the process?
I actually think this is a really difficult question, and it’s part of the reason why I’m less inclined than many to rip Herb Dean for the Ciryl Gane-Poatan situation. I think everyone can agree that shots to the back of the head are incredibly dangerous and should be outlawed. I think most people can also agree that, unlike boxing, this is a little more difficult to adjudicate in MMA while upholding the spirit of the sport.
In boxing, it’s pretty hard to hit someone in the back of the head because the sport is mostly forward-facing and linear. But in MMA, when fighters get hurt and start wrestling, back-of-the-head shots are much more easily available. If you want to take a hard-line stance and say that any illegal shots, no matter the circumstances, force a break in the action, I don’t think that’s wrong. But I also understand a “letter of the law vs. spirit of the law” interpretation where a few errant shots during a flurry after rocking an opponent is given a long leash.
Ultimately, I think it’s probably best to have a hard-and-fast rule about it, because then fighters won’t be so reckless with their elbows or punches. But I just want to be clear that I was there when Jon Jones got DQed for 12-6 elbows on Matt Hamill, and that’s basically the same thing. Under the letter of the law, Jones deserved to lose because, in the middle of a flurry, he did an illegal maneuver, and his opponent could not continue afterward. And people hated it. They still do, with many people ignoring that it ever happened.
This is the same boat. Either all of it counts, or none of it counts, but we can’t pick and choose when we want to enforce things because we like a fighter or not. That’s just not how things work.
The UFC currently doesn’t have a UFC Champion below the age of 33 except Joshua Van and 7 of them are over the age of 35. Is that more of a product of the time it takes to develop the skills to be a champion in modern MMA or lack of young talent?
I don’t think people understand how wild a stat this is. For a vast majority of MMA history, basically since it got out of the Gracie ages, MMA has been a young man’s sport. The heavier weight classes have been a bit more accommodating for the old guys, but anything under 185 pounds has almost exclusively been the purview of youth. But no longer. And I’m not entirely sure what the cause of this is.
My guess is that it’s some combination of the two theories you postulated, tied together by this being a transitional age for the sport. It does seem like MMA is currently in the middle of a shortage of young talent, which isn’t entirely unheard of. All sports ebb and flow in this manner, and it’s probably a coincidence and not some structural thing with MMA right now. But also, the barrier to success in MMA is higher than it’s ever been. Sure, almost anyone can get to the UFC these days, but actually succeeding is another thing entirely.
Sports are always a dichotomy between age and experience. The older you get, the better you get technically, but the worse you get physically. And in the earlier years of MMA, you could go a lot further with raw athleticism and a few specific tools. Now, though, fighters are better. Everyone has a basic level of ability, and camps are as smart as they’ve ever been with specific game plans. If you have weaknesses, they get exposed much more quickly than they used to. And that means older fighters are going to have more success than ever before.
Also, there’s an improvement in training and information. Fighters are having longer careers than before because they know how to take care of themselves better. Once upon a time, training in a gym meant, essentially, fighting. People learned by doing, and that racks up damage quickly. Now, fighters take better care of themselves physically and prepare smarter, saving wear-and-tear. All these things add up.
That being said, it’s hard to know if this is a long-term shift or just a flash in the pan. If this time next year, every champ is younger than 30, we may look back on this as a magical Era of the Unc that came out of nowhere and left just as quickly.
Thanks for reading, and thank you to everyone who sent in questions! Do you have any burning questions about things at least somewhat related to combat sports? Then you’re in luck, because every week I put a prompt into The Feed for your questions. Fire them into there, and I’ll answer the best ones in the Mailbag, and try to get to the rest in the responses.
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