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411 Fact or Fiction MMA: Who’s Next for Jeremy Stephens?

February 28, 2018 | 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 another round of Fact or Fiction MMA. By the way, thank you, for your votes and comments last week, it is appreciated. Last week, Wyatt Beougher and Jeffrey Harris locked horns overs topics like Derrick Lewis’ prospects, the UFC taking up boxing, and Will Brooks getting his walking papers. As usual, Jeffrey came out with his unorthodox tactic, throwing Wyatt off his horse as he struggled early to counter Jeffrey’s attacks. Fortunately for Wyatt, he withstood the early storm and bounced back to grab the bull the horns. Congratulations, Wyatt, and thank you both for your efforts and contributions.

This week, the hard-hitting, arm breaking, neck snapping, Mark Radulich returns to challenge the gritty, unrelenting, Evan Zivin. This should be one for the books as these two powerhouses lock horns over legal and illegal elbows, Jessica Andrade wrecking her division, Sara McMann dropping ball, and much more! Grab some grub and sit back because it’s time for another round of, 411 Fact or Fiction MMA!

TALE OF THE TAPE
RED CORNER
Evan “White Tiger” Zivin
Contributor, 411 MMA Zone
7-6-1

VS

BLUE CORNER
Mark “Headshrinker” Radulich
Supreme Overlord,
Radulich in Broadcasting Network
5-10-1

Any elbow that Jeremy Stephens threw and landed to back of Josh Emmett’s head were not intentional but a result of Emmett moving his head, and thus, not illegal.

Evan Zivin: : FACT The finish to the fight, between the elbows and the knee, which was totally illegal whether it landed or not, has been dissected to death since Saturday. Watching it back, I’ll give the benefit of the doubt on the elbows as, while at least two made contact with the back of Emmett’s head, they did land while he was attempting to move forward and stand up, so the movement is at least partially responsible for where the elbows hit. Either way, the end to that fight was bananas. How does Stephens not know that a knee on the ground equals a downed opponent? That rule is the same in both sets of Unified Rules. I don’t get the impression that Lil’ Heathen is the sharpest knife in the drawer (not that you need to be to mess someone up…).

Mark Radulich: FACT I was there live and in pretty decent seats and from what I saw/remember, the problem wasn’t the errant elbows but the knee when it looked like Emmett was grounded. As near I could tell, Stephens was aiming for the face and Emmett moved his head in a way that caused Stephens to land on the back of the head. Again, I would not have faulted Stephens for the elbows. The knee looked sketchy until it was pointed out that Emmett was crouch and not on the ground per se.

Jeremy Stephens vs. Jose Aldo is the fight to make while the featherweight division sorts out with Brian Ortega, Frankie Edgar, and Max Holloway.

Evan Zivin: : FICTION I would absolutely be okay with that fight getting booked but, if Edgar and Ortega are fighting to determine Holloway’s next challenger, I think Aldo should fight Cub Swanson in the meantime. Both can be argued to be a fight away from a title shot, based off their ranking if nothing else, and I’ve been interested in that rematch for a long time (not to mention UFC loves booking fighters coming off losses). Of course, if Cub chooses not to re-sign, then Aldo vs. Stephens is the fight to make but I hope Cub sticks around because I want to see if he can get a title shot before exiting the UFC. Or at least a discount on one of those replica belts on the UFC’s website. Something. Hook him up, Dana.

Mark Radulich: FICTION Slow down. Cub Swanson is currently ranked above Stephens and has a win over him from Dec 2014. Maybe Stephens needs a victory over Mr. Swanson before taking the #2 ranked Featherweight in the world. Now if Swanson fights Nate Diaz or takes a different fight then fine, as a second option with everyone else engaged in other fights or out with injuries, Jose Aldo vs Stephens makes sense. But if Swanson is willing and available, I’d make that rematch first.

Jessica Andrade’s impressive two-fight winning streak demands that we acknowledge that she has a better chance of winning the strawweight title now than when she first challenged for the title.

Evan Zivin: : FACT I’d say so but a lot of it has to do with the fact that the woman who defeated her is no longer champion. Since Andrade fought for the belt, Joanna lost to Rose Namajunas and, if Thug Rose can beat Joanna in the rematch and remain champion, I think Andrade’s chances of winning the title improve a lot, although who knows. Maybe she is a better matchup now for Joanna than she was a year ago. She looked pretty motivated in her win over Claudia Gadelha so, if she can keep that momentum going, she may be wearing gold regardless of who is holding it by the time she gets another shot.

Mark Radulich: FACT Sure, she beat two tough opponents in Torres and Gadelha. In 6 fights she only lost once and that was to the formerly undefeated champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk. Andrade proved she can be a vicious force to be reckoned with. A fight between her and Thug Rose should be beautiful violence and she has a must better chance now of capturing the title.

SWITCH!

Formally, the UFC would cut fighters like Mike Perry, and we would deduce that Perry has to make changes to his craft; however, these days, an entertaining fighter like Perry can entertain a losing streak, not improve his craft, and remain on the UFC roster.

Mark Radulich: FACT In all fairness, this is only his 3rd loss ever in his MMA career. But to answer the question, yes, as long as he entertains the fans the UFC will keep him around. As I told a friend of mine, the UFC isn’t pure sport (for that, see the Olympics) it is sports entertainment. It’s about butts in seats and eyeballs on the television. Pure sports fans of MMA are a niche market. For the UFC to succeed you have to get the casual fans who don’t necessarily appreciate the finer points of MMA. Those people want entertaining fighters like Mike Perry.

Evan Zivin: : FICTION Hold up. Perry has only lost two fights in a row and one of those was to Santiago Ponzinibbio, was is in the Top 10 and on a big winning streak. The majority of fighters tend to get three tries at a win before questions about being on the chopping block start popping up. Yeah, Perry got his ass handed to him by Max Griffin, but I don’t think Perry’s pissed off the UFC enough to not give him one more chance at a win. I mean, he’s a welterweight. There are tons of welterweights who have no business being in the UFC they can match Perry up with.

That’s not to say he doesn’t need to improve his game. He does. A lot. Maybe his personality will help him get more chances than other fighters may get but I see no concern for Perry getting cut, or any other fighter that might be in the same situation as him.

Sara McMann is the biggest disappointment in women’s MMA.

Mark Radulich: FICTION Sara McMann has not had a stellar career in the UFC, that much is for certain but there’s an even worse disappointment in the UFC. Her name is Holly Holm. Let’s consider the following; Sara McMann came over with a slew of other women when the Bantamweight division was created around Ronda Rousey. Since entering the UFC she’s had a few wins, lost to Rousey in a PPV main event (along with many others) and has since gone on to have as many wins as losses in the UFC. She’s not blowing anyone away but I’ve seen worse in the division. And as far as losses are concerned, she lost initially to Rousey, Tate and Nunes; not exactly bums. Now let’s look at Holm. She came over with a ton of fanfare and presumably a big contract. She proceeds to win without impressing or entertaining anyone in her first two fights and then she killed the golden goose, Ronda Rousey. Now you might argue that beating Rousey would make her a valuable commodity but it didn’t. In one kick to the head she took away one of the few real draws the UFC had. Holm is not now, wasn’t then and never will be the draw Ronda Rousey is. Credit where it’s due, it was an impressive win but it only elevated her stock going into the next fight where she lost to Miesha Tate. Her stock never recovered and now the UFC is down a draw. She’d continue to lose (in a stinker) to Valentina Shevchenko and then lose in the inaugural Featherweight title fight against Germaine De Radamie. No other woman in the division has had the chances Holm’s has had and then subsequently blown. She is the Alistair Overeem of the women’s divisions. She came in as a potential star with some name value and failed at nearly every turn, including her win against Rousey. By comparison, McMann doesn’t even come close to being a disappointment.

Evan Zivin: : FICTION Oh, I hate hyperbolic statements. The biggest disappointment in all of women’s MMA? You mean, ever? In every weight class? In every promotion? I don’t know about that. She hasn’t had the greatest UFC run, especially once Ronda Rousey ended her undefeated streak, but she’s still had some quality fights and has stayed active for the most part.

If I have to pick the biggest disappointment, not that I’d want to, I’d say Cat Zingano fits the bill a lot more. She looked so promising when she took out Miesha Tate in her UFC debut before missing a year due to injury. Then she came back and finished Amanda Nunes (aka The Current Champion) before losing to Ronda in 14 seconds. Since that loss 3 years ago, she’s only fought once, losing in one-sided fashion to Julianna Pena. Zingano gained all the potential in the world to run the division, only to have it zapped away just as quickly. There aren’t too many other stories as disappointing as that not involving a drug test failure or a call out from Floyd Mayweather.

Leslie Smith’s quest to form a fighter’s union will not get any further than previous efforts by other fighters and organizations/associations.

Mark Radulich: FACT I don’t see a fighter’s union being very successful. Bloodyelbow.com ran a piece on this issue in which Leslie Smith said the following:
Smith is keeping her expectations low when it comes to the support from fighters, but thus far, she’s been “pleasantly surprised,” she said.
“Leading up to this, I’ve had tons of fighters come up to me and tell me they really appreciate what I’m doing, they really like the spirit of it, and that they would love to be part of it, but they’re scared for their jobs,” Smith said.
“The UFC has a lot of people scared to speak up, and that’s what I want to change. We don’t need a climate of fear that’s governing the fighters and the UFC. We need a climate where fighters’ opinions and rights and desires and needs are valued and weighed in when making decisions.”
I think that sums up the problem nicely. Unless the big draws like Conor McGregor opt to take part and rally the troops behind this cause the UFC can just do away with those fighters who are not nearly as crucial to the company and are making noises about a union.

Evan Zivin: FICTION I don’t know if my mind is clouded because I want to see one of these unionization efforts actually work so that fighters can get the same rights other athletes get, assuming Dana White still wants to pretend that the UFC is as big as the NFL or NBA, but I feel like Project Spearhead has a better shot because it’s following a simpler and more honest agenda than previous efforts and it’s being led by a current UFC fighter who has been a part of previous unionization efforts, so you know they are serious about their stated goals and aren’t just lending their names to garner headlines. If anyone is going to make things happen, it should be the fighters. I also like the plan that Leslie has laid out, getting authorization cards signed and taking them to the National Labor Relations Board, who would decide if UFC fighters are contractors or employees, which determines how things move forward. I’m interested to see if that plan works and I hope it makes it as far as Leslie wants it to. It’s going to happen eventually. We’ll just have to see if it’s going to happen now or if we have to wait a little bit longer. Either way, it’s going to happen, at which point the UFC can finally say they are on par with other pro sports. So congrats, Dana. You’ve earned it.

So who won? You’ve got until midnight eastern on Tuesday 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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