What are we supposed to make of Conor McGregors retroactive 18-month UFC suspension? How seriously should we take post-fight excuses from either of the two principals in UFC 320’s main event? Plus, what does the ideal UFC White House card look like?
All that and more in this weeks mailbag. To ask a question of your own, hit up @benfowlkesmma.
One thing I like about this particular Conor McGregor story is that it exists at the delightful intersection of stupid and funny.
Youre telling me that the guy who jumped out of the drug-testing pool after a serious injury, packed on a bunch of muscle while making comments that strongly suggested he was on something stronger than creatine gummies, has now run afoul of the UFCs anti-doping program? And the way he did it was not by failing a drug test, but simply by no-showing the sample collection process? Hilariously dumb. Five stars.
Heres what I dont understand about this whole thing, though. According to the statement put out by the UFC, McGregor missed three tests in June and September of 2024. The first was right around the time he was pulling out of that fight with Michael Chandler. The next two were on consecutive days three months later.
All of this happened a little over one year ago. So why did it take so long to announce a reduced, retroactive suspension? A whereabouts failure is supposed to be one of the more automatic situations. Its not like we need to test the B sample and litigate questions of contaminated protein powder. He was supposed to be available for testing and he wasnt three separate times so why let an entire year go by before even mentioning it?
What makes it even weirder is that, by the time the UFC did get around to announcing a suspension, its been conveniently reduced so that it ends well before the UFC White House event that McGregor says he wants to fight at. In other words, the suspension meant absolutely nothing. It encompasses a period of time when he didnt want to fight anyway, and its been shortened so it wont interfere with the event he actually does want to fight at. The public didnt even learn about it until it was close to its end.
The whole thing is one giant LOL. Though, on the plus side, it is the rare McGregor news story that doesnt even him doing something bad to other humans, so maybe we should be grateful for this bit of harmless stupidity.
The problem with accepting every fighters post-loss excuse is that almost all of them have one. Just look at Magomed Ankalaev. He got beat by Alex Pereira in the rematch and in no time at all his manager was out there saying he was hurt and shouldnt have even fought. So then what? Pereira didnt really lose the first one, since he had an excuse. But Ankalaev didnt really lose the second one, since he also had an excuse.
Excuses serve a vital psychological role in this sport. When you go out there and lose a cage fight, you have to tell yourself something. And that something cant just be that the other person is better than you. Not when the whole thing this sport is built on is everyone trying to be number one. Thats why almost every fighter has an excuse. Some are true masters in the art of the excuse. Others settle for he was the better man tonight. But rarely will you ever hear a fighter tell you he had everything going for him and still got knocked out.
I see what youre thinking, Gabe, and I get it. It does verge into pure fantasy with the addition of Francis Ngannou (even if the UFC could re-sign him, you think Dana White wants to put an immigrant from an African nation on Donald Trumps happy-birthday-to-me event) and Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano (neither of them is an MMA fighter and both are better off staying that way).
Also? Ilia Topuria would wreck this version of McGregor and it would be the easiest fight hes had since middle school.
As for Pereira vs. Jon Jones, the only way that makes sense is if Jones cuts back down to light heavyweight to fight for Pereiras title, which Im not sure hes willing to do. It would be silly to have Pereira go up to heavyweight and fight anyone but the reigning UFC heavyweight champ. Plus, I think Jones just takes him down and elbows him in guard until Pereira loses consciousness or gives up a submission. So youd have destroyed the 205-pound champ in a non-title fight, and most likely Jones would just moped back into retirement after. Thats assuming he makes it to the fight at all, which the UFC doesnt seem entirely willing to bet on.
Theyre all extraordinary talents. Thats the common thread. All four of them are or have been at one time the very best in the world by a lot. It shouldnt surprise us that four guys who were already better than everyone else at one time in their careers could also age better than everyone else.
Theres one thing I admire about Joe Silva. For years he said that, if/when he got that big payday, hed stay home in Virginia and read his books and never be heard from in the halls of MMA again. Ive heard many people say such things over the years. Then they get their money and find a reason to stick around for a little more, and then a little more after that.
Silva is the only person Ive ever known who did exactly what he said he would. He cashed out and then stayed gone. You could certainly argue that his legacy is not an entirely positive one. He did a lot to help establish a system that kept fighters hungry while the owners feasted. He was not exactly beloved by fighters or their managers, and he knew that. Part of his gift was that he did not mind.
I remember once suggesting to Joe that he write a book about his time as UFC matchmaker. After all, he has time now. He rejected that idea because, as he explained, he didnt trust his own (or anyone elses) perception of objective reality enough to set something down in print and say this is the absolute truth about the way it was. In actuality, I think maybe he just didnt want to relive it all through the process of writing it. I think he was that glad to be done with this world.
I dont, and I was disappointed to see Don Fryes remarks. They seemed … ungenerous. To say the least.
Maybe its just sour grapes. Maybe he looks at Mark Kerrs career and thinks, why should he get a movie about him? Why not hire Tom Selleck and make a movie about me? Which, hey, Id probably watch a Don Frye biopic. Im not sure how many others would, though. And after some of the reports about the poor box office performance for The Smashing Machine so far, we might have seen the last MMA movie for a little while.
Dont pander. Dont cozy up to any specific promoter thinking that will be the ticket. It never is. Not for very long. The UFC has tried to lure in so many different journalists and entire media outlets by offering the safe, warm spot under the dragons wing. Its a mirage. The dragon will get bored of it and eat you eventually. Always.