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411 Fact or Fiction MMA: Was Holm vs. Rousey The Right Call?
Welcome back to another edition of 411 Fact or Fiction MMA, and I’m your host, Wyatt Beougher! Last week, Jonathan Solomon and Mark Radulich discussed a potential CM Punk/Cathal Pendred fight, the prominence of marijuana use amongst Zuffa-contracted fighters, and more, and when the ballots closed, Jonathan was able to sustain the early lead that he had jumped out to, hanging on to pick up a 24-20 win. A big thanks to both guys for their participation, and a huge thank you to everyone who voted. This week, Dino Zee returns from the Wrestling Zone to take on Dan Plunkett, and this should be an evenly matched affair, as both guys are carrying undefeated records into the Fact or Fiction cage!
TALE OF THE TAPE
RED CORNER
Dino “Salad Bar” Zee
Contributor, 411 Wrestling Zone
2-0-0
VS
BLUE CORNER
“Handsome” Dan Plunkett
Contributor, 411 MMA Zone
2-0-0
1.) While it is terrible for Miesha Tate that she was told, repeatedly, that she would be Ronda Rousey’s next challenger and then had to find out otherwise from Ronda’s appearance on Good Morning America, Zuffa made the right decision in choosing Holly Holm as Ronda’s next opponent, especially considering the fight will be headlining its own card and not serving as co-main event to Jose Aldo/Conor McGregor unification fight.
Dino Zee: FACT This one is really tough for a lot of semantic reasons, but in the end, I’m going Fact here. For me, the “right decision” has less to do with giving Holly Holm the title shot, and much more with taking it away from Miesha Tate. In two fights with Ronda Rousey, all she’s really demonstrated is a better-than-others ability to scramble out of nearly completed armbars, and that’s it. She’s not had one moment in either fight where it looked like she was winning, but she’s managed to mind trick many fans with her “I lasted longer than anyone else!” routine. Chael Sonnen offered much more to Anderson Silva over the course of their two meetings, but after that second loss, he had to head to 205. Miesha Tate, for some reason, gets a third crack? No thank you.
I do think that Holm is being given this shot sooner than would be optimal for her, but you take what you can when you can get it, and I don’t fault her in this at all. Perhaps Amanda Nunes would’ve been the better replacement for Tate, but just for not giving the shot to Tate, we’ll call this right decision and go Fact.
Dan Plunkett: FICTION Holly Holm, as a former world champion in boxing, is very easy to sell as an opponent for Ronda Rousey, who could draw 500,000 buys against a potato. However, the history behind the Tate fight and the Rousey-Tate feud make that the more lucrative fight. Personal feuds sell PPVs, and that’s absent from Rousey vs. Holm. Granted, they may do one million buys anyway, so they aren’t switching it for box office poison, but Rousey vs. Tate would be bigger. My feeling is the switch happened because Rousey preferred a first-time opponent with an unbeaten record, which is perfectly fine. She has proven herself against Tate twice over. However, the UFC is in this as a business, and the better fight for business is Rousey vs. Tate 3.
2.) Conversely, since Tate has said she would fight Cristiane Justino, Zuffa should contact Cyborg and attempt to make that fight, either for the same show (which already appears to be WMMA heavy) or for a show that happens relatively soon before or after it, in order to truly determine the next challenger for the women’s bantamweight title.
Dino Zee: FACT Sure, why not? I definitely wouldn’t mind seeing this fight, and if Tate actually pulled out the win? Then fine, give her another chance to get thrown all over the cage against Rousey again. It also allows Cyborg the opportunity to prove she can make weight, while also defeating one of the top fighters in the division, without sacrificing a different contender that has yet to face Rousey.
Dan Plunkett: FICTION That’s a fight I’d like to see, but it’s extremely risky and invariably knocks off one very lucrative potential opponent for Rousey. Ronda Rousey vs. Cris Cyborg, if it was made today, would probably be the biggest single fight in the history of the sport. Cyborg destroying Tate on UFC television would make that more certain. However, Cyborg destroying Tate isn’t a given. In fact, Cyborg beating Tate isn’t even a given. But the worst case scenario would probably be this: Cyborg beats Tate, knocking her off as a title contender, but looks very much human and unimpressive in doing so. The money in Rousey-Cyborg, in addition to the years long personal feud, is largely predicated on Rousey fighting someone just as dominant as her. If I’m the UFC, I don’t want to risk Cyborg’s image, I don’t want to risk a Cyborg loss (and in turn the loss of a historically big fight), and I don’t want to risk a Tate loss.
3.) Zuffa would be wise to feature a main card made up only of women’s fights at UFC 195 in order to increase the exposure of a lot of their female fighters who are not named Ronda Rousey.
Dino Zee: FICTION They’d be wise from the standpoint of trying to put the focus on the women, sure, but I don’t know that the card would draw so well, and as we’re constantly reminded that this is a business, I have to go Fiction here. Let me make clear that I am not predicting that the show would draw poorly; I’m merely saying that I don’t know that it would draw well. So, while I as a fan would love this card, and I as an individual would absolutely order it, I don’t think it’d make much sense from a business standpoint. Throwing a bunch of fighters that have been (to this point) poorly promoted onto a main card just doesn’t seem like the smartest move to me.
Dan Plunkett: FACT It’s a very different dynamic from the successful all-heavyweight main card UFC ran in 2012, but it will work. Ronda Rousey is a mainstream star that draws more women than any fighter in UFC history. However, by and large, other female fighters, namely UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk, aren’t huge attractions. An all women main card at UFC 195 is a good way to change that, and would be another selling point for the card. Perhaps some of the people that only watch for Rousey will become more frequent customers after being exposed to more female fighters. Jedrzejczyk in particular is a tremendous fighter and personality waiting to breakout, and tagging her to a Rousey fight will get her a lot of attention. Certainly, nothing negative will happen if UFC 195 is an all female main card, and some very good things may happen. If they have the fights, there’s no reason not to do it.
SWITCH!
4.) With six straight wins and a 9-1 record in the UFC overall, with a win at The Ultimate Fighter 22 Finale, Tony Ferguson would be as deserving of a lightweight title opportunity as his opponent, one-time contender Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Dan Plunkett: FACT I don’t necessarily think Ferguson would get a title shot after beating Nurmagomedov, but he’d be very deserving. There aren’t many fighters at lightweight with long winning streaks. Aside from upcoming title challenger Donald Cerrone, the list is essentially Nurmagomedov and Ferguson. Ferguson has been impressive in recent wins against Josh Thomson, Gleison Tibau, and Abel Trujillo, so it’s not as though his pieced his streak together by squeaking past low-level fighters. If Ferguson gets passed the undefeated, bear-wrasslin’ Nurmagomedov, he’s due a title shot.
Dino Zee: FACT I’m a big fan of El Cucuy, and while at this time I don’t see him beating the absolute top fighters in the division, there could be no denying him a title shot if he were to beat Khabib. The winning streak itself is good, but the best name on his list at this point is Josh Thomson, who was in the middle of a losing streak himself at the time of their fight. Gleison Tibau and Abel Trujillo are good names to get you into the contender category, but not to be seen as a top contender. But if Ferguson can pull it off against Khabib, I can’t think of a more deserving fighter in the division, especially with Michael Johnson being derailed, garbage decision or not. You beat the guy that beat the champ, and yeah, I’d say give him an opportunity to prove how good he really is.
5.) Frank Mir makes a valid point in suggesting that a fight between he and Andrei Arlovski at this point is essentially going to kill one of their feel-good comeback stories, and that Zuffa would have been better served making Arlovski Fabricio Werdum’s next opponent, rather than Cain Velasquez.
Dan Plunkett: FACT Frank is right, and this is classic UFC booking. While there have been notable exceptions (Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos, for one), UFC likes to match two rising contenders against one another. That’s great in some respects, in that it ensures we’ll see the best fighters fighting for the title. However, the other option is to keep the contenders apart so now there are two potential title matches. That’s good because we won’t end up with as many sub-par title fights. The heavyweight division in particular is in need of fresh title fights, since 2011 it’s been a constant cycle of Velasquez, Dos Santos, Bigfoot, and Werdum. Although Mir and Arlovski are hardly the biggest title threats at this point, they are fresh fights for Werdum and good stories for fans to follow. Plus, I’d have preferred if Velasquez fought once before getting back to Werdum.
Dino Zee: FACT It’s barely a good point, but I’ll give it to him. But really, no one cares about killing one of the feel good stories. We care about seeing good fighters fight each other, and those good fighters earning new opportunities through their wins. Did Cain deserve the immediate rematch? I’d say no. Would Arlovski have made for a fine challenger? I’d say so. But if Frank wants to earn another shot, he’s going to have to have to beat top guys, whether they’re also part of a feel good story or not. He had no problem smashing Todd Duffee’s feel good story to pieces, after all.
6.) After Mitch Clarke had an acupuncture needle break off and slide deep enough into his arm that it required surgery that caused him to miss UFC Fight Night 74, it would not be surprising if Zuffa banned these types of alternative treatments for their fighters.
Dan Plunkett: FICTION Thank you, Wyatt, for coming up with this statement and ensuring that I stay far away from acupuncture therapy. I suppose one could argue that you shouldn’t be surprised by Zuffa’s tightening restrictions on fighters, but I don’t see them banning acupuncture therapy. The Mitch Clarke incident, while disgusting and affirming of my fear of sharp objects, is more of a freak accident than an indictment on the therapy. A ban would be impossible to enforce unless fighters start tweeting pictures of themselves with hundreds of needles in their backs. If things like this start happening more often, Zuffa would likely take action, but it won’t happen after one incident.
Dino Zee: FACT The UFC overreacting and making rules that far exceeds their reach will never surprise me, and it’s really that simple. I’d like to hope that they wouldn’t ban something like acupuncture just because of an accident, but I also know better than to expect sane judgment from the company that has its president talk shit to fans who express displeasure in their fighters losing money.
So who won? Did Dan or Dino maintain their perfect record? You’ve got until midnight eastern on Saturday to vote, so make sure you make your voice heard!
And that’s it for today, but we’ll be back next week with another contest! As always, if there’s anything you’d like to see featured in a future edition, leave your statement in the comments and I’ll add it in. Let me know what you thought in the comments or on Twitter. And please, be sure to vote!
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