mma / Columns
411 Fact or Fiction MMA: Is Cyborg Justino Done With the UFC?
Welcome back to another edition of 411 Fact or Fiction MMA, and I’m your host, Wyatt Beougher! Last week, Scott Kuczkowski and Eric Moore discussed UFC 197’s potential buy rate, Rizin Fighting Federation’s future in America, and more, and while Eric was able to get two more votes than Scott last week, the top vote getter was the “DRAW” option, meaning each guy gets a point towards their overall standing in the upcoming tournament seeding (wins are worth two points, draws are worth a point, and losses are worth zero points). This week, I originally had something special planned for you, as I learned from my mistakes and followed the old fight promoter’s motto: “Make the fights when you have them”. Specifically, because my annual tournament always falls during Wrestlemania season and Larry Csonka is almost never able to compete in it as a result, I decided that I’d put Larry up against the other undefeated Fact or Fiction competitor, Dino Zee. Unfortunately, Larry’s schedule this week wouldn’t give him enough time to participate, and I didn’t really think it was fair to feed someone else to Dino on short notice, so I decided that I’d be the one to step up. Considering my 1-1-1 record is significantly less impressive than Larry’s 4-0-0, I can understand, dear readers, if you are disappointed, but I have endeavored to do my best, so please don’t take to the comments to accuse Larry of ducking Dino. (Actually, do just that, because it’s the MMA way!) This week, we’re going to be talking about Cyborg’s future, Holm’s questionable endorsements, and more, so let’s get to the action!
TALE OF THE TAPE
RED CORNER
Wyatt Beougher
Host/Reviewer/Columnist, 411 MMA/TV & Movies/Wrestling Zones
1-1-1
VS
BLUE CORNER
Dino “Salad Bar” Zee
Contributor, 411 Wrestling Zone
6-0-0
1.) With yet another successful Invicta featherweight title defense under her belt, it’s no surprise that Cristiane Justino has declared that she’ll never attempt to make bantamweight; however, she is costing herself money in the long run and will be released from her UFC contract.
Wyatt Beougher: FACT First off, let me state that I have no idea on the particulars of Cyborg’s contract, specifically with regards her being a UFC-contracted fighter who fights in Invicta. On a basic level, I can understand the reasoning behind it – rather than let her fight for a promotion like Bellator (now run by Scott Coker, who originally signed Cyborg to his Strikeforce promotion back in 2008), it made sense for Zuffa to stash Cyborg in Invicta, giving their shows, which air on UFC’s Fight Pass, a marketable name while continually trying to convince the Brazilian to drop to 135 for a superfight with Ronda Rousey. With Cyborg now unequivocally stating that she won’t be dropping to 135, though, I’m not sure how much longer this current deal will remain in place.
Looking at it from various perspectives here, for Justino, the only reason she considered making the cut to 135 was because Rousey refused to fight at a catchweight, and, as the most popular star in WMMA (and arguably MMA), she really had no reason to. With Rousey now dethroned by Holly Holm, a fighter who boxed at weights as high as 154 pounds, I can certainly understand why Justino would table the idea of dropping a weight class, seemingly permanently, and resume pushing for a catchweight bout at 140 pounds. From that perspective, it seems the most fair to all parties and makes the most sense for Justino, who arguably has more bargaining power than Holm. The biggest sticking point, though, remains the same as when Rousey was the centerpiece of the bantamweight division – the UFC has no women’s featherweight division and seemingly has no interest in fielding one, so pitting their marketable female bantamweight champion against a fighter who fights on the same platform as their preliminary fights simply does not make sense, no matter how sterling Cyborg’s record is (or perhaps precisely because of how impressive that record reads). So if the UFC is not going to budge on a catchweight bout, and Cyborg is not going to drop to bantamweight, then her only value comes as a name on Invicta cards, and I don’t imagine most Fight Pass subscribers are doing so solely for Justino’s twice-annual fights. For that reason, I feel like if Cyborg is truly serious about never dropping to 135, it is only a matter of time before Zuffa cuts her loose and lets her try to hand on the open market.
Dino Zee: FICTION I can see where FACT would be the enticingly easy answer, but that answer is simply assuming things to be written in stone that very well may not be at all. Sure, for now, she’s definitely not making as much money as she could were she able to hit 135 and join the UFC. I think we can agree that UFC Money > Invicta Money, yeah. However, the idea that 135 is the only way she can get into the UFC seems a bit closed-minded. We’ve added a 115 class, and there’s murmurs that 125 is coming to the UFC as well. Is it really so hard to picture the UFC adding 145 to the women’s mma picture? Maybe not this year, but what about halfway through 2017? Start of 2018? Hell, maybe it happens even sooner. 145 is where women’s MMA really got its traction, so there’s got to be plenty of people to draw from.
So, unless I know for sure that 145 is not a future possibility in the UFC, I just can’t say that Cyborg is going to get released. They’re going to hold onto her for as long as they can, even if it means keeping her in Invicta, I’d wager. Definitely costing herself some short-term money, though.
2.) Regardless of a statement to the contrary, the UFC will intervene and force Holly Holm to drop her endorsement deal with Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals, considering the supplement maker uses DMAA, a stimulant that is banned by the UFC and considered illegal by the United States Food & Drug Administration.
Wyatt Beougher: FICTION Honestly, the only way I see the UFC stepping in and making Holm drop this contract is if she were to have a testing program failure for DMAA or another banned ingredient in this supplement. Considering Holm has been tested a reported seven times since the UFC’s new testing program went into effect and has been clean every time, I very much doubt that is going to happen. Plus, there’s the fact that prior to the fight that saw her claim the women’s bantamweight championship, Holm was sponsored by Intel Pharma, another company that produces supplements that are banned by WADA (whose guidelines the USADA, and, by proxy, the UFC, follow).
Now, does this mean that Zuffa won’t pressure Holm to be more selective about her sponsors whenever this deal with Hi-Tech is up? That’s a scenario that seems a lot more likely to me, as they can shift the blame for any bad press related to this signing to the new champion’s management team, so long as she never actually fails a test. “The new champion had no idea of what exactly she was endorsing”, they could spin it, “and we fault her management team for giving her bad advice”. But considering the ripples that this story has already made, that kind of excuse won’t fly a second time around, especially if Holm remains women’s bantamweight champion in two years, when her deal with Hi-Tech is reported to expire. That would mean at least one more fight with Rousey and another round of extremely high-profile media scrutiny, effectively taking naivete out of the equation as it pertains to potential excuses. So while I don’t believe that Zuffa will go out of their way to force Holm to break her contract with Hi-Tech, I absolutely feel like they will be watching any and all future endorsement opportunities for the champion very, very closely.
Dino Zee: FACT Have to be honest here, I didn’t know anything about this story when I first read the question. Following some minor research, I think FACT is the fair answer here, if for no other reason than the UFC really enjoys overstepping boundaries lately. I can see, from the UFC’s point of view, maybe not wanting someone to be associated with a company that makes an illegal supplement. However, this apparently wasn’t a big deal when Holm was getting ready to fight Ronda Rousey, as she was apparently sponsored by another company that made illegal supplements as well (Intel Pharma), so probably not.
I could see the UFC eventually bending to public scrutiny, or maybe they’ll just overstep their bounds when it comes to sponsors as they’ve done recently. It may seem like I’m just hating on the UFC here, but I’m leaving the possibility open that they’ll go back on their statement and force an end to this sponsorship.
3.) Considering the sometimes-strained relationship between the UFC and former featherweight champion Jose Aldo, if Aldo is true to his word and refuses any fight other than a rematch with Conor McGregor, he will likely find himself in a situation similar to the one Wanderlei Silva just got out of – still legally bound to the UFC, but with no fights scheduled and no way to get out of his contract.
Wyatt Beougher: FICTION While the entire relationship between Aldo and the UFC is extremely bizarre to me, with both parties at times acting seemingly at cross purposes with one another, I just can’t see the UFC successfully keeping Jose Aldo on the sidelines for any significant length of time. Yes, they did it with Wanderlei, but he was indefinitely suspended by the NSAC, making it unlikely for him to get licensed elsewhere in the States, so it’s not like they were outright blocking him from making money by keeping him under contract and not booking him in a fight. And yes, they were able to keep Couture from jumping to another promotion and fighting Fedor, but he was also the UFC heavyweight champion at the time and was refusing to honor the final two fights on his contract, which gave the company all the legal recourse they needed once lawsuits were filed. Theoretically, they could keep offering Aldo undesirable fights and using any refusal offered by Aldo as a reason to keep him under contract, but that strategy would also leave them open to Aldo getting frustrated and just finishing out his remaining fights on preliminary cards before testing the open market.
And while Aldo says and does a lot of things that make me believe he is probably difficult to deal with, most notably vocally proclaiming that he would continue to rehydrate intravenously even after that practice had been banned, and essentially daring the UFC to catch and punish him, it still blows my mind that Dana White seems so dead-set against giving Aldo a rematch, considering the champion was 10-0 under the Zuffa banner dating back to June of 2008 and the nature of his loss to Conor McGregor. For comparison’s sake, Aldo had defended his UFC Featherweight title seven times prior to his flash knockout; Cain Velasquez, who is currently scheduled for an immediate rematch against Fabricio Werdum after the latter pretty soundly handled him for the better part of three rounds, only managed two title defenses prior to running into Werdum. And Velasquez fights in a similarly shallow division as Aldo. Realistically, the only way that I can see the UFC forcing Aldo to take a non-title fight would be if McGregor sustains an injury during his fight with Rafael dos Anjos that leaves him on the shelf for multiple months, and even then, the only way I can see Aldo agreeing to it is if he’s guaranteed a title shot with a win. So while both sides certainly do appear to be antagonizing each other yet again, I feel like cooler heads will prevail and Aldo will get his title fight, rather than ending up in limbo.
Dino Zee: FACT For the record, I do not think that Aldo is going to hold true to this proclamation of “Title fight or bust.” I think he may hang tight for a few months, but UFC is going to force his hand, and so I think he’ll be back in the cage, in a non-title fight.
That said, just using the wording of the question, yes, of course, if Aldo doesn’t want to play ball, the UFC is going to let him rot on the sidelines. He won’t get to leave for Bellator, or World Series of Fighting, or even Craig’s Omaha Backlot MMA. Aldo, if he wants to fight again, will fight who the UFC puts in front of him, or he’ll not fight again. And that’s why I think that, eventually, he just sucks it up and moves on. I feel bad for Aldo, given that he’s apparently the only champion the UFC won’t give an undeserved rematch to, but I’m also happy to see that we’re not doing all rematches, all the time. Aldo would need one win to get another crack at the belt, so I hope he realizes his situation, and doesn’t try to get a full-fledged staring contest going.
SWITCH!
4.) Regardless of Kenny Florian’s explanation for the plagiarism charges leveled against him by British boxing writer Lee Wylie, he will not return to FOX Sports as either a columnist or an on-air personality any time soon.
Dino Zee: FICTION Erring on the side of caution here, but I really don’t think Florian has earned himself a lifetime ban from FOX for his infraction. Whether he missed a citation or was caught in the act, the fact is that this is Florian’s first incident, and that alone should earn him a shot at redemption. On top of that, Florian is rather well regarded both by fighters and fans alike, so I think some outside pressure would allow for his return, too. We also have Chael Sonnen working for ESPN, so it’s clear that unsavory characters can also find life.
I’m still not sure that Florian’s plagiarism is as accidental as he’s making it seem, but I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, if only because he hasn’t done anything to betray my trust previously. It’s not a good look, and I’m sure everyone will double down on their diligence to make sure all material is original or cited properly, but no, I don’t think this is the last we’ve seen of Florian on FOX.
Wyatt Beougher: FICTION Here’s where I draw back the curtain a bit on the Fact or Fiction statement selection process – when I’m putting these things together on Sundays to send out to the participants, I often leave time periods like this one purposely vague, as it allows me to better understand what competitors believe a certain time period to be, and since not everyone has the same interpretation, it generally promotes better overall discussion. In this instance, I’m using “any time soon” to mean between now and UFC 200 (a little less than six months from now), and I believe that to be false for a couple of reasons. First, while I don’t agree with plagiarism in any form, Florian has generally proven to be one of the better members of the UFC on FOX team – he’s well-spoken and clearly intelligent – and I would take his commentary over either of the main card morons any day of the week. With the aforementioned milestone card now less than six months away, keeping Florian suspended for that length of time is actually going to hurt the run-up to UFC 200, and I don’t think Zuffa or FOX is going to do anything to potentially harm that show’s buy rate.
Secondly, it’s FOX Sports – if their sister station FOX News suspended on-air personalities every time they did something stupid or questionably moral, they’d be unable to staff even a single program after a week or so. So yeah, I look for Florian to be reinstated as soon as some of the (very mild) furor over his plagiarism dies down, definitely sooner rather than later.
5.) Tim Kennedy refusing the FBI’s assistance in regards to the recent threats that ISIS levied against him shows a wanton disregard for his own safety.
Dino Zee: FICTION I think it just shows that he’s a) not afraid and b) probably not taking the threats very seriously. Besides, he’s too busy trolling a guy that knocked him out nearly a year and a half ago on Twitter, so he’s clearly got bigger fish to fry. No, I don’t think this is a “wanton disregard for his own safety” as much as it’s him not giving ISIS any credit at all. I actually dig the move by Kennedy, which isn’t something I say very often.
Wyatt Beougher: FACT Had I known I was going to have to respond to this statement, I would have left it out entirely, as I waffled back and forth about how I felt about Kennedy’s bravado and wanted to see what Larry and Dino thought about it. From Kennedy’s background as a Special Forces operative, I can assume that he’s as highly-trained and highly-skilled as American troops come, which would certainly explain his bravado, and from his comments, it seems like he has all of the angles covered in terms of home surveillance and security. That said, responding to the threats by calling a radical terrorist cell “feeble children”, refusing assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (which I can only assume has more resources available to them than Kennedy himself does), and essentially challenging ISIS to attack his home by talking about how difficult a target he would be, all adds up to make Kennedy seem very reckless, and worse, he’s basically putting the lives of his family and neighbors in danger as well, as they could realistically become collateral damage should ISIS decide to follow through on their threats. And while I’m sure the FBI is going to continue investigating this matter with or without Kennedy’s blessing (they’ll just be a little more covert since he refused their help), the simple act of turning them down is enough for me to call this a FACT.
6.) Phil “CM Punk” Brooks is correct – booking his debut fight in the UFC for UFC 200 makes the most fiscal sense for both Brooks and Zuffa.
Dino Zee: FACT: Another deep, intriguing thought from The Big Tantrum himself. Yeah, obviously, UFC 200 is seen as a card that’s going to do crazy business. CM Punk’s debut is seen as an event that will do crazy business. So, after crunching the numbers and doing some advanced algebra, Phil has realized that if you merge the two things that are seen as Crazy Business Doers, then maybe that combined event will do SUPER DUPER CRAZY BUSINESS!!!
But yes, all sarcasm regarding his deep level of analysis aside, this is absolutely a FACT.
Wyatt Beougher: FACT This is a pretty easy FACT for me. Sure, Punk is no Brock Lesnar, and there’s only the very slimmest chance that he’ll bring in anywhere near the numbers that Lesnar brought to UFC pay-per-views, but the simple fact is that he will have a similar appeal to Lesnar, who was one of the biggest reasons UFC 100 became the most-purchased UFC PPV of all time. Punk still has his supporters amongst the ranks of professional wrestling fans, but more importantly, there are a lot of wrestling fans who like to slag him for the way that he left WWE (and professional wrestling as a whole) and a lot of MMA fans who think that he’s getting an unfair shake because of Lesnar’s success, and both of those groups are going to be very, very interested in watching him lose. Punk’s most vocal detractors tend to think that he won’t fight more than once, so why not make them pony up for what they believe will be his only fight? Whether you like the guy or not, it’s both a smart and simple business decision, and I think there’s very little chance that Dana White does not follow through with it.
So who won? Did Dino continue his run to the tournament unabated, or was my short-notice effort enough to throw a speed bump in his path? 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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