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411 Fact or Fiction MMA: Was Khabib Nurmagomedov Cheated out of a Title Fight?

August 23, 2017 | Posted by Lorenzo Vasquez

Welcome back to another edition of 411 Fact or Fiction MMA! I’m your host, Lorenzo Vasquez III, and it is my pleasure to bring you another battle between the fact and the fiction in the biosphere we call professional mixed martial arts. By the way, thank you, for your votes and comments last week, it is appreciated and I encourage you to do the same this week. Last week, I jumped into the flame and tried my hand at defeating the Fact or Fiction Great, Dino Zee. We locked horns over topics like the released sparring footage of Paul Malignaggi and Conor McGregor, Paige Van Zant fighting Jessica Eye, and UFC fighter contracts. I rushed in like a bull and hit Dino with everything I had. I had him cornered and back pedaling but his game was slick. He countered and broke my soul. By the end of the game, I was a defeated man while Dino stood tall. Congratulations, Dino, and thank you for your efforts and contribution.

This week, I’m lacing the boots back up as I get ready for the war of all wars against “The Vile One”Jeffrey Harris. We will lock horns over Junior dos Santos failing an out-of-competition drug test, a potential Rory MacDonald vs. Michael Chandler fight, Tony Ferguson vs. Kevin Lee, and much more! It’s time. Grab some grub and sit back because it’s time for another round of, 411 Fact or Fiction MMA! Let’s get it going…

TALE OF THE TAPE
RED CORNER
Jeffrey “The Vile One” Harris
Contributor, Various 411 Zones
2-6-4

VS

BLUE CORNER
Lorenzo “Corpse Grinder” Vasquez III
Host/Contributor, 411 MMA Zone
10-6-1


Tony Ferguson vs. Kevin Lee at UFC 216 is terrible booking when Khabib Nurmagomedov would have been ready for Ferguson a month later, in November.

Jeffrey Harris: FICTION Major league fiction right here. Khabib Nurmagomedov disqualified himself from the title conversation when he failed to show up and make weight for UFC 209 earlier this year. He hasn’t fought or made weight at 155 pounds at that time. Not to mention, he missed weight at 155 pounds once before. He’s also only fought twice in the last three years. Meanwhile, Kevin Lee has been taking the lightweight division by storm as of last. He’s been on the warpath in the division ever since his loss to Leonardo Santos at UFC 194. He’s won five fights in a row in a highly competitive bloody division. He’s scored over the likes of Francisco Trinaldo and Michael Chiesa. Say what you will about Trinaldo, but the man was riding a seven-fight win streak when he fought Kevin Lee. That’s seven fights at lightweight in the UFC. Lee has earned a big fight and match-up like this. Nurmagomedov should be put back in the line and prove he can safely make weight again without issue before he’s put back in the title conversation. As far as I’m concerned, he fails to make weight again, the UFC should cut him loose. So going down the list, Tony Ferguson deserves a title fight next. It was Nurmagomedov’s fault that Ferguson didn’t get his title opportunity. There’s no way Justin Gaethje should be ranked in the top five, even with such an impressive and entertaining win over Michael Johnson. Nate Diaz isn’t really fighting right now and hasn’t fought in over a year. I would say Kevin Lee should arguably be in the top five right now, and he deserves this opportunity.

Lorenzo Vasquez III FICTION I hate to call this fiction but it is absolutely fiction. I really wanted to see Tony Ferguson vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov but it wasn’t in the books. I’ve enjoyed Nurmagomedov’s rise but he’s let us down one too many times, be it injury or missing weight. The Eagle left the UFC with no choice but to stop taking chances on him. His reliability is unproven. Now, not that Kevin Lee is ready for the No. 2 shark in the lightweight division but he’s been steadily making the climb and building his brand. Ranking wise, this makes little sense but with the division in the shape it is (Gaetjhe, Alvarez, and McGregor tied up and Daiz taking a sabbatical, etc.) it is actually a decent fight as Ferguson looks to remain active and grab interim gold while Lee looks to prove his doubters wrong. It’s not the best option but Nurmagomedov has only himself to blame and I’m sure Lee can make it fun in the run-up to the bout and maybe he can unseat Ferguson from the No. 2 spot.


When it comes to potential USADA violations, if any one fighter is innocent, it’s Junior dos Santos; hence, with the recent revelation that JDS was notified of a potential violation, it is safe to believe JDS and his manager that the violation was not due to PED usage nor done with the idea of cheating.

Jeffrey Harris: FICTION It’s the same old song and dance for every fighter or athlete who gets caught with a failed test. It’s always everyone else’s fault except they are own. I’d like to give these guys the benefit of the doubt and believe they are clean. However, the MMA media liked to tout stats that over half the industry is doping. Other fighters like Mark Bocek claimed it was an issue, and you could tell when guys at the gym were doping. So, if there’s truth to any of those stats, then it’s highly likely that a lot of fighters we really like are taking things they shouldn’t. Also, it’s in Junior dos Santos’ best interests to say it wasn’t cheating.

Lorenzo Vasquez III: FACT I’m going to give JDS a break this time and go with fact. The big man seems like a genuine guy. But, it’s a tough call when you traverse the sport’s history and see it is infected with fighters who are/were “juiced to the gills.” Steps have been taken to clean up the sport but we sure as hell aren’t out of the woods just yet. Nonetheless, JDS seems like a humble human being. I’d tend to believe him over the majority of fighters. In addition, the diuretic he was popped for, hydrochlorothiazide, shows up unknowingly in supplements and non-steroid anti-inflammatories available in pharmacies. But, even then, I go back to his character and he seems to be a stand-up guy with a solid work ethic…but I guess you never know.


Fabricio Werdum made the right decision in declining a fight with Mark Hunt and, instead, accepting a fight with Derrick Lewis at UFC 216.

Jeffrey Harris: FACT I say fact here because it’s a fresher fight and match-up. We’ve seen Mark Hunt vs. Derrick Lewis before. Plus, Werdum already defeated Hunt before and finished him. Lewis vs. Werdum might be an ugly clash of styles though. The issue here is that Werdum wants to get closer to another title shot. Even if it’s Hunt, that won’t necessarily get him closer to a rematch for the title against Stipe Miocic. If Overeem were to win the belt, after they’ve had two awful fights outside of Pride FC, that would lessen his chances even more. Lewis has the loss to Hunt, but he’s still ranked in the Top 10 just one spot below Hunt. So, it doesn’t make that much of a difference. Plus, both men are coming off losses right now, so in terms of typical UFC matchmaking, it makes a lot more sense. A better fight for Hunt right now could be Francis Ngannou or even Cain Velasquez if the man is able to fight again. That is to say, that fight could happen depending on how Hunt’s fight in November against Tybura goes.

Lorenzo Vasquez III: FACT Mark Hunt rematching Fabricio Werdum is interesting. If you remember, Hunt was getting the better of Werdum at UFC 180 until Werdum caught him with a knee. I always wonder if Hunt would have won the interim heavyweight title had he had a full training camp. Unfortunately, there is no reason for Werdum to rematch Hunt when he has an uncontroversial TKO win over “The Super Samoan.” It makes sense for Hunt to go after the No. 2 guy but not vice-versa. Plus, after losing his last fight, Werdum needs a winnable fight to get back on his feet. And, while you can’t sleep on Derrick Lewis, he is the safer bet.


SWITCH!

Fighters, to include Rory MacDonald, becoming impatient with Bellator MMA over a lack of fight bookings may be a sign that while Bellator contracts may appear lucrative the promotion tries to cut expenditures by limiting the number of times fighters with more lucrative contracts fight per year.

Lorenzo Vasquez III: FACT I don’t think it has everything to do with the lack of fight bookings; there is more at play than just trying to save money. I’m sure trying to save fighters for future booking in big events has just as much to do. You know, saving them for the one big show. Nonetheless, I imagine it is a large piece of the pie. Obviously, if fighters like Rory MacDonald are signing these lucrative contracts there are some green pastures but you still have to keep in mind that Bellator MMA is nowhere the size of the UFC; and therefore, is not bringing in revenue close to what the UFC, the biggest dog in the MMA market, does. So, I can see where the promotion will offer a nice looking contract with a nice base pay, a promise of so many fights per year, etc., with the catch, unbeknown to the fighter at the time of the signing, that the promise of so many fights per year is nothing more than a lie. Rory MacDonald signs a nice green contract. It’s going to cost Viacom (Bellator’s parent company/corporation) X amount of money if he fights 2-to-3 times per year. So, to prevent X amount of money from going out, Rory MacDonald will only fight once or twice a year and if possible, for a big show in some kind of co-headlining or headlining capacity to capitalize on his name value. In short, Bellator MMA isn’t selling like the UFC who can afford their biggest star to fight 3 or more fight per year. So, it is possible they hold back on the number of times some of their fighters fight per year to cut expenses.

Jeffrey Harris: FACT As the old saying goes, if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, walks like a duck, and swims like a duck, it ain’t a freaking goose. Rory MacDonald was a huge free agent signing for Bellator MMA. The dude was still a top-ranked welterweight in the UFC. Young and arguably still in his prime. He fought in May, and he’s eager to fight again this year, and they have no fight lined up for him in 2017. You could arguably set him up to fight Bellator welterweight champion Douglas Lima, who only fought in June of this Year. Why not go ahead and line this fight up for before the end of the year? It just goes to show that fighters trying to follow the money for these “lucrative” deals doesn’t always turn out sterling results. Look at how over-hyped King Mo was as the “double superstar” for wrestling and MMA in Bellator and TNA. King Mo never wrestled a single, solitary match in TNA. He did jack squat in MMA. Randy Couture supposedly signed this huge deal with Spike TV that caused him to put in the bad graces of Dana White and the UFC. He did it to get a coaching gig for a Bellator MMA reality show that was cancelled after one season, a gym rescue show that hardly got any play on the network at all and was released over two years after it was announced, and a narrative series that never got made. I’m not saying fighters don’t deserve to get paid, that fighters shouldn’t explore free agency to get more money. But now we are seeing that trying to stick it to the UFC for more money and so-called better sponsorships won’t always work in your favor. It’s still Bellator at the end of the day. Bellator’s scope is limited. If it annoys you how secretive the UFC is about their numbers and the financial split with the fighters, does anyone know what Bellator MMA is making or isn’t making? I’ve yet to read any concrete numbers on the Bellator 180 PPV event, but the numbers I’ve read getting tossed around ain’t good. They ain’t good at all. It’s good that fighters have another option where they can fight and get paid and build their fanbase. At the same time, the top fighters signing to Bellator seem to be going for a short-term fix of cash infusion, while it doesn’t really help their careers in the long term. But that’s just one man’s opinion.


Rory MacDonald vs. Michael Chandler would be a compelling and profitable matchup; however, Bellator MMA would potentially stand to lose Douglas Lima vs. Macdonald and/or Brent Primus vs. Chandler and for this reason would not risk making MacDonald vs. Chandler happen.

Lorenzo Vasquez III: FACT I keep going back and forth on this one. By booking MacDonald vs. Chandler you risk dimming the momentum behind MacDonald vs. Lima and Chandler rematching Brent Primus. At this moment, it makes little sense as MacDonald and Chandler are just gunning for the fight because they are growing frustrated while they wait for Bellator to schedule their next fight. Don’t get me wrong, it sounds like a fun fight, but it’s not the right time.

Jeffrey Harris: FACT Michael Chandler is a career lightweight. Rory MacDonald is a career welterweight who hasn’t fought at lightweight since he was 18 years old and outside of the UFC. Why waste MacDonald on a non-title super-fight? MacDonald vs. Chandler isn’t going to draw huge, earth-shattering numbers. It makes no sense to book such a fight.


Francis Ngannou vs. Alistair Overeem is now the fight to make at heavyweight; not necessarily at UFC 215 where Ngannou was scheduled to fight JDS before the Brazilian’s falling out, but sometime between UFC 215 and December.

Lorenzo Vasquez III: FICTION Francis Ngannou is looking like he’s the next big thing in the heavyweight division. But, of course, that is a product of a shallow division. It’s unfortunate. It’s difficult to say he does not belong in the octagon with likes of Alistair Overeem, Fabricio Werdum, and Cain Velasquez when he also doesn’t belong in the octagon with the other end of the top ten because those aren’t much of a test. That’s really what he needs, a stiff test but not a title eliminator bout. It’d be a shame to rush him into a title fight only to lose a potential big divisional player because he wasn’t ready. I hate to say it but it’s almost as if Overeem is the only guy available unless the UFC puts Ngannou on the shelf while a more suitable challenger becomes available. But I’m going fiction because I believe Ngannou should have a steady climb to the top instead of jumping right in there with the No. 2 heavyweight and losing momentum if he were to lose the fight.

Jeffrey Harris: FICTION Not necessarily. It depends on how long the UFC wants to wait to re-schedule Francis Ngannou. Ngannou does need a bigger test for his next fight. It could be Overeem. But it could also be someone such as Cain Velasquez, who unfortunately might’ve derailed his career with his constant injuries. It could be someone like Aleksei Oleinik, who claims he was offered the fight with Ngannou. I’m not sure the Overeem fight is “the” fight to make for Ngannou right now. Ngannou has been very impressive in the UFC so far, but I’m not sure if his next fight should basically be a title eliminator just yet. I mean, the UFC very well could make that fight. But, I don’t think it’s the only one to make for Ngannou right now. Another fight I wouldn’t mind seeing him in are Derrick Lewis either, or the winner of Mark Hunt vs. Marcin Tybura.


So who won? Did I strangle Jeffrey or was he able to get the win with his vile ways? 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, as always, we’ll be back next week with another contest! And please, be sure to vote!

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