Is the deck stacked against grapplers in today’s UFC?

Is this only getting harder for an injection-based fighter whose focus is on winning fights on the mat? Plus, will the results of the US midterm elections affect the UFC’s own right-wing push?

All that and more in this week’s mailbag. To ask a question of your own, ask up @BenFowlkesMMA on X or @Ben_Fowlkes in the thread.

@SeanSheehanBA: When people are ready to have the conversation that jiu-jitsu doesn’t work in MMA

First, how dare you. Second, how much do we give to chance these days? And yes, I’m thinking specifically about last weekend’s headliner between Tom Nolan and Renato Moicano.

Advertisement

Moicano had the better jiu-jitsu in that fight, and allowed him to dominate the first round and half of the fight. He was on Nolan’s back, locked in a body triangle, peppering him with punches as he looked for an opening to slip in for a choke. He then got up by referee Dan Miragliotta. His entire fight plan was essentially a refereeing intervention – and up until this point it was working!

I do not say that Miragliotta Moicano cost the battle. Nolan was doing a good job defending against the submission, plus he started standing up all round and was clearly the better fighter out there. Perhaps Moicano would finally escape on his feet. Or … maybe Moicano would just get his back — a dominant position that you can’t really “fix” at all until he gets his opinion. But he did not get the chance, because Miragliotta stopped him.

Obviously, jiu-jitsu works best on people who don’t know its tricks and tricks. It is easier to develop a basic competency in submission defense than it is to become a good wrestler or a slick striker. Those who know they don’t want to mess up the game with the ground at all, just focus on shutting it down and stalling the action, especially if they know the refs are only giving the grappler so much time to do his thing.

Advertisement

This game began to prove the concept of all styles of martial arts, when it intentionally left the rule open to find out who would fight to win the “real”. Ironically, this promotion started out as an engineering blueprint for Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, only for the rules and awards to gradually favor every other style over that one. It seems to me that artificial forces are making it harder and harder to succeed in slimming in MMA.

@TitansOdysseyXS: In light of these midterms, does the UFC continue to embrace Trump or do they begin to distance themselves?

I have never felt that the UFC has become so vehemently and visibly pro-Trump because of the exact reasons surrounding the American electorate. It’s always been seen as the main things: 1) Dana White is a longtime personal friend of Donald Trump, and 2) Trump is in a position to be in the UFC here and there — and vice versa.

None of that changes. Even though the polls have shown that the American people have generally turned against Trump’s actions and their effects on their daily lives (personally, I have never known a car to hold even $85 worth of gas), Trump still has a White friend and still has enormous executive power in the next two years.

I’m slightly hoping, however, that the UFC’s trumpet help will be a little less overwhelming and a little easier to ignore now, because there’s nothing they can sell us on advertising. They are over midterms. Trump can’t run for president again. There is no immediate Trump-related news for the UFC to push for now. Hopefully we can go back to fighting for peace.

@pal20755694: Usyk wants to go to cruiserweight to fight Benavidez. He was almost 40 and looked bad against Verhoeven. Is there a good fight for him here, or is the same old story of the old hero lingering too long?

The version of Oleksandr Usyk who fought Rico Verhoeven in the shadow of the Pyramids of Giza (I still can’t believe it actually happened) I don’t see anyone advising him to drop weight and fight a champion 10 years younger. But then there was only one battle. Don’t put it in the tank. Against league opponents who, to be honest, Usyk can be taken too lightly.

Advertisement

Still the big question is why? If you go down to cruiserweight and hold that title more than once, what does that do to your legacy that hasn’t already happened as an undefeated heavyweight champion? If you only have money, there are more profitable options. This feels like an attempt to prove a point that really doesn’t need to be proven.

@Beastin364: Dana saying they should do Justin vs Volk next. Is Arman ever going to get that title shot?

No great need. According to what White told Jim Rome this week, he’s waiting to see what Justin Gaethje wants to do. He said he would “do something very nice” to Alexander Volkanovski, to give him a crack at Gaethje, but it’s not even clear if Gaethje wants to fight again.

Arman Tsarukyan bad news, man. The UFC doesn’t even seem to be entering the equation. For what else could he do but change it? He won all the fights that were supposed to make him a top contender. He made himself a big name that people recognize and talk about even when he doesn’t have something to book. He did everything! And it still looks like the UFC is trying to pass him up for reasons.

The good news is that Volkanovski spoke to Gaethje about this fight in the last dance for both of them. Whatever happens then, this can only go on for so long. In the end, Tsarukyan would be the only top left. Then you will only have hope, not waiting for the best years.

Advertisement

@Screenplaya: Ref pay! Do it well! How? WHO? Fire!!!

There is obviously better reporting money to be paid. Do you know how I should know? Because every time TKO’s deliver quarter wins, the big takeaway is that the UFC is essentially a machine on the front lawn of the parent company, and it’s spitting out cash at an increasing rate.

Fighting MMA, even at the highest level, is now a part-time gig. If we want people to do it like full-time professionals who do nothing but focus on this incredibly difficult job, maybe it’s in the organizers’ interests to cough up the money that makes it possible.