Mailbag: Did Arman Tsarukyan’s UFC title hopes vanish with wrestling event brawl?
Did Arman Tsarukyan simply get himself pushed even additional down the contender listing whereas producing headlines with a wrestling mat brawl? Are Max Holloway and Charles Oliveira getting much less consideration than they deserve for the UFC 326 BMF title combat? And which fighter would you most (and least) need to should defuse after a couple of too many on the native watering gap?
All that and extra on this week’s mailbag. To ask a query of your personal, hit up @BenFowlkesMMA on X or @Ben_Fowlkes on Threads.
@ewillcock: So Arman went and had himself a enjoyable weekend at Real American Freestyle.
Do you assume his put up match habits will assist or hinder him going ahead with the UFC?
They say any publicity is nice publicity, and normally that is true in professional preventing. But I can not see it serving to right here. When persons are already taking a look at you such as you’re a accountability they do not belief with the accountability of a headlining title combat, you do not do your self any favors by appearing like a person who can’t management himself.
commercial
It’s additionally not just like the UFC has any specific cause to miss these dangers proper now. A light-weight title unifier between Ilia Topuria and Justin Gaethje would play higher with the informal followers and likewise make a sure diploma of sense, plus it would not ask the UFC to probably put the 155-pound belt on a man who looks like he is at all times a hair set off away from new assault costs each time he leaves the home. Starting brawls at wrestling occasions may be good for the social media profile, but it surely would not precisely make you appear to be Mr. Dependable.
@zainbando99: Ben, it looks like there is not as a lot buzz for this March’s Vegas-numbered UFC event as there was up to now. Have you seen this, and do you truly assume the UFC is placing its eggs in a single basket for the White House card, or is there one thing we do not know?
If we’re not holding again title fights for the sake of that White House card, then what are we doing? There is so little on the calendar at this level that the one acceptable clarification is an enormous blow-off event in June absorbing all the massive fights. The different is that the UFC is just not reserving title fights, which might make no sense in any respect, particularly within the first few months of a brand new broadcast deal, while you’d anticipate there to be an enormous push for brand spanking new subscribers.
UFC 326 is definitely a strong card, thanks largely to what Max Holloway and Charles Oliveira convey to the desk as former champions. But there’s an entire lot of individuals with UFC gold proper now ready on assignments. If we’re not saving them up for one particular evening, then somebody has a variety of explaining to do.
@ElMexicanZombie: Top underdog decide?
Reinier de Ridder. I do know he seemed dangerous towards Brendan Allen, however his postfight excuse/clarification (exclanation? expluse?) is one I’m truly inclined to imagine. He seemed like a person who saved his foot on the gasoline within the health club for too lengthy and did not have it come combat evening. I nonetheless assume he is a deceptively harmful fighter on this division and may spoil some events for individuals who aren’t ready to fight his difficult type.
@meek_nhercheeks: You should relax one in all these ufc fighters who’s belligerently drunk on the bar. Who are you selecting between Khamzat, Arman or McGregor?
This is a very tough query. Both Khamzat Chimaev and Arman Tsarukyan look like they’d be very prepared and capable of slam me by means of the sticky flooring of any native tavern. Conor McGregor looks like he’d be extra more likely to hit me with the traditional Ibiza sucker punch after which look forward to safety to pull me (and someway not him) out the entrance door.
commercial
When confronted with these decisions, I’ll take McGregor. If that distinguished gentleman he punched within the Dublin bar that point might eat the punch and go proper again to his pint, I’m betting I might too.
@nickj812: Does the shortage of present US UFC champions pose an issue for matchmakers of the WH card?
Presumably there shall be a excessive expectation of native success which presumably explains the reemergence of Jonny Bones who would in all probability begin favourite.
Dana White has mentioned he would not plan to make this a USA-vs.-The World combat card. That’s good, as a result of proper now it seems to be like The World would win. It additionally would not work all that nicely if the purpose is to placed on an event with a ton of UFC title fights, since there are solely a pair American champions and never many extra American contenders in or close to the highest spot.
Jon Jones vs. Alex Pereira looks like a should for this card now. And, even after seeing him get burned on a put up route in a well-known flag soccer sport, I nonetheless favor Jones and his creaky, arthritic hips over Pereira, based mostly purely on stylistic variations. If getting a win for America is vital right here, that is simply another reason to make this combat.
@MGriffe3: This is the second straight numbered card with no ladies’s bouts. Is this a expertise/marketability subject or a UFC choice or different?
All the ladies’s divisions appear to be experiencing a little bit of a lull proper now. That’s a bummer, but it surely occurs. This is why it is much more stunning to me that the UFC handed on an opportunity to make that Ronda Rousey-vs.-Gina Carano combat. Outside of Kayla Harrison and Amanda Nunes, there is not a lot on the ladies’s facet of the game proper now that I see actually thrilling followers. Rousey and Carano won’t be a really related combat for the game in 2026, however a minimum of it will have been a short-term shot of adrenaline. Instead we get this finances method to matchmaking, which is lots much less enjoyable for the followers.
