This Saturday night, I’ll be doing a POST show after UFC 224 and since it’s been a while since I’ve done an MMA focused show, I wanted to dedicate part of the show to questions.
If you have any MMA related questions, post them here and I will get to as many as I can on Saturday after reviewing the UFC card and going through the Bellator 199 results.
I’m also open to suggestions regarding our MMA coverage and what you will like to see & hear.
John
(thanks for answering my 50% missing weight question … I still believe this should be the case. I don’t think any fighter is ‘stopping 5 pounds short on purpose and just paying the 20% so they don’t have to complete the cut’. The problem is almost every fighter is ‘fighting’ at a weight class below what they should be at. Guys walk around 30+ pounds above their ‘weight class’ and then try to ‘game the system’ by doing a ridiculous cut at fight time and sometimes it’s just too much. Make it 50% and fighters wouldn’t cut ridiculous pounds at the last minute. Plus, I could say the 20% is not deterring enough as people are still missing weight all the time. (and of course I would have exceptions for last minute replacements) Yes, I realize this is a chuck of coin, but fighters would make way more money if I were in charge of the UFC (but 50% would still majorly hurt) which leads me into my actual question here).
Hi John,
My UFC viewing completely nosedived with the Reebok deal as I’m all about the individual (in this case the fighter). In your view, wasn’t there a compromise in which Reebok could handle the clothing (which is still MAJORLY boring with 1 company doing it), but still allow the fighters to obtain sponsors on their own? I always enjoyed the ‘sponsor banner’ that each fighter brought out and it seems to be both of these things could have been done to the benefit of everyone.
What are your thoughts on the Yair Rodriguez situation?
In terms of suggestions: always hoping for more MMA related content. I felt as though the MMA Report was really hitting a groove during its final few weeks. I understand that you’re short on time to put it mildly, but your MMA coverage has always been insightful, unbiased and interesting, and you still seem to be watching every card, so I’m always hoping for more content.
How successful to do you feel the heavyweight grand prix tournament in Bellator has been?
How do you think on average Bellator stacks up to UFC in business, production and fight quality?
Hi John
I am curious what you’ve heard or believe to be the feeling by WME on their prurchase of UFC so far. Has it been considered a good return on investment or is it a case where they are now stuck between cutting costs at the risk of hurting the upside of the company? I don’t see anything new or creative happening but perhaps these new TV deals will change that. 4 billion is a lot to spend for a company that can’t even get its biggest draws in the ring - Conor and Jones being two that at the time of the deal I imagined were thought to be instant big draws with a bunch of fights left.
As for MMA coverage. I found myself most into UFC when you were doing the card rundowns and I got to hear a fighter talk for a few minutes with you. I’ve pretty much all but stopped following outside of the biggest news stories. I would not expect we get the interview type shows like in the past but quick run downs of cards would be cool and it could be just 20 minute short pods - nothing to lengthy.
Hi John,
What are your thoughts on the rumored GSP vs Nate Diaz fight and The UFC-ESPN+ deal?
For show suggestions i think a monthly MMA show with guest/s from MMA Media members where you go over news, recent/upcoming fights, and a retro fight of month watch along.
I want to thank you & Wai for continuing the great podcast! I have been a fan since 2015 and I’m happy to give you guys my first patron pledge!
Since the UFC has never punished Conor McGregor for either the incidents at bellator 187 or before ufc 223. Do you think he’ll get away with any sort of punishment from UFC?
Hi John, always love hearing that there is some MMA coverage when it does come along, would love to hear even just a monthly round up of MMA news and questions, if you are able to fit it into your already uber busy wrestling schedule. I hope you can answer these couple of questions please
I was wondering with the ESPN+ deal and, what seems to be a likely increase in their rights fees, do you see any of this money trickling down to the lower end fighters or are we about to enter a place in UFC especially where there will be the haves, those with brand names like Diaz, McGregor, GSP, Lesnar, etc, and those who don’t receive regardless of what they achieve? Also how many shows do you believe UFC will be doing next year, with the 15 from ESPN+ and surely a few on Fight Pass and PPVs before even getting to how many there will be within the new TV deal, will UFC start putting on shows weekly or will the get such an increase in TV rights fees that they may cut down the number of PPVs and load up the TV to build to massive roughly 6-8 massive PPV shows
Thanks,
David from Potterton
What do you think is the future of women’s mma? 145 is a one woman division, 135 has been cleaned out (holly holm is somehow ranked #1) and has basically just become a feeder for Cyborg, and 125 has been completely dormant since they did TUF last year. Can the UFC sustain these 3 womens divisions like this?
Bonus question: your favorite and least favorite UFCs ever?
Hi John, Ive fallen off in the Reebok/USADA era, I just hate what the sport has become. The UFC has made it clear that money is the only thing that matters especially if it means not giving it to the fighters. Can you talk about where you see the UFC and MMA in general going in the next few years? Do you think the fighters will unionize before the TV deal is finalized and if not what does that say about the athletes?