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411 Fact or Fiction: Was Letting Gegard Mousasi Go the Right Move?

July 19, 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 the fact and the fiction in the world of professional mixed martial arts. Thank you, for your comments and votes last week! It is appreciated and I encourage to bring the thunder this week. Last week, Jeffrey Harris and Alex Rella showed up ready for war. They tackled subjects like Amanda Nunes dropping out of her UFC 213 title defense, the possibility of Michael Bisping choosing to fight GSP over Robert Whittaker, and Dana White’s Contender Series in addition to other topics. Jeffrey blasted forward out of the gate but Alex immediately countered with a thunderous right that sent Jeffrey tumbling to the mat. Jeffery was never able to completely recover and Alex grabbed an upset victory over “The Vile One.” Congratulations, Alex, on your 30-to-12 victory and thank you both for your effort and contribution.

This week, the “Handsome” one, Dan Plunkett steps up to the plate to try to dethrone the king, Dino Zee. These two will collide over Gegard Mousasi jumping ship to Bellator MMA, Fabricio Werdum crying about his loss to Alistair Overeem, Conor McGregor getting other boxing related offers after his fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr., and much more! Grab some grub and strap in because it’s time for another round of, 411 Fact or Fiction MMA! Let get things going…

TALE OF THE TAPE
RED CORNER
Dino “Salad Bar” Zee
Contributor, 411 Wrestling Zone
9-1-0

VS

BLUE CORNER
“Handsome” Dan Plunkett
Contributor, 411 MMA Zone
3-7-0

Gegard Mousasi jumping ship to Bellator MMA isn’t that big of a deal like it is being made out to be; in other words, the UFC middleweight division isn’t going to suffer too big of a loss and it will do fine without him.

Dino Zee: FICTION An easy FICTION for me, if I’m being honest. Regardless of how the UFC Middleweight division fares without him, this is absolutely a big deal. Mousasi is a Top 5 fighter who most recently dispatched of Chris Weidman (your take on the circumstances may vary) to cap his 5 fight winning streak. And, for some reason, the UFC let him go. To me, this is a big deal because this isn’t the UFC letting someone like Fitch or Okami – two top fighters, but with clear ceilings – walk. This isn’t a guy like Benson Henderson who may have reached his highest point, and the money just isn’t worth it in their eyes.

Mousasi is a guy currently on the rise, still beating their top fighters. And they just let him walk. Is it his perceived “boring” personality? Maybe. Is it how freely he speaks? I wouldn’t put it above the UFC to be petty (heaven forbid!), but man, that’s a silly reason to let someone go. And if it’s simply about the money, then Bellator outbid the UFC on a top fighter. Which, to me, is also a pretty big deal.

Sure, at the end of the day, I expect the UFC to be just fine. The middleweight division will move on. I bet Weidman might be somewhat peeved that he can’t avenge that loss, but overall, yeah, it’ll be fine. Still, from where I sit, this is a pretty big deal.

Dan Plunkett: FACT I think the signing of Mousasi is a clear win for Bellator and a loss for the UFC, but only by the exact wording of this statement am I going fact. Mousasi is a solid television headliner at the top of his game that has become very compelling over the past year. Those fighters are valuable to both UFC and Bellator, and now he is under Bellator’s banner. However, I do think the UFC middleweight division will be fine without him as it is still strong on top. There are certainly fewer great fights to make, but the division will soldier on.

By winning the 2017 “Best Fighter” ESPY Award Demetrious Johnson is finally getting the recognition he has rightfully deserved over the last few years.

Dino Zee: FACT I really hate to put so much into an ESPY award, but yeah, he beat Conor for the award, so he’s clearly getting some respect. Of course, we can wonder if those votes were purely based on his ability, or if it was a little bit of that sympathy vote from the contingent that loves to see UFC fighters rage against the machine (I absolutely belong to that camp). Maybe they felt bad seeing a historically great champion being treated like shit by the promoter and some guy in a higher weight class, and felt the need to make a stand for Mighty Mouse. Which, again, I absolutely support.

I still wonder how well his next headlining show draws. I still wonder how many fans go out of their way to watch him fight from here on out. I know there are many of us that most certainly *do* love the man, and I did say FACT to this because I do believe that he’s getting the respect and recognition he deserves… I just wonder if it’s coming from a place of 100% appreciation of the man, or if it’s a mix of that and the hatred of corporate jerks. Ah well, I guess it’s moot for the purposes of this question. Pardon me.

Dan Plunkett: FACT I was shocked that Mighty Mouse won a fan vote on a mainstream sports network over the better known Conor McGregor and Gennady Golovkin, but it appears the world’s best fighter is finally getting some respect. Perhaps, it’s because he has gained fans by being more outspoken lately, or maybe people recognized him defending his championship for the tenth time. In any case, it’s remarkable that the award that an MMA fighter could not win for years before its most famous stars broke the barrier, has now actually been won by the sport’s best fighter. Johnson has deserved this award for the past few years; it’s about time he starts getting recognized.

https://twitter.com/MMAFighting/status/887016527987396609

Eddie Alvarez and Justin Gaethje coaching The Ultimate Fighter 26 is a total a waste of time and actually sets Gaethje back, somewhat, after an impressive debut.

Dino Zee: FICTION Gah, this would be an easy Fact if not for the “total waste of time” bit. I mean, is getting to see Alvarez/Gaethje a waste of time? Is seizing the moment, and giving fans who may have never watched World Series of Fighting a longer introduction to Gaethje, instead of just the 10 minutes of epic violence he brought against Johnson, a waste of time? We (the general group of MMA fans) always complain that UFC doesn’t do enough to create new stars, but now we’re going to get angry that they’ll take a hot new commodity, give him a ton of TV time, and then have his second fight in the promotion come against the former champion of the division? We’re not happy about that? That’s a waste of time??

Nah, no way. It may suck to not have Gaethje get right back in there, but I’m willing to wait it out and get the crazy brawl that he and Eddie will deliver. I’m totally fine with this.

Dan Plunkett: FICTION The Ultimate Fighter has become completely worthless as a vehicle to build a fight between the two coaches. In that sense, yes, the coaching gig is a waste of time, however, I think Alvarez and Gaethje staying outside the cage until December is a good thing. Both Alvarez and Gaethje were hurt badly in their last fights, and both rely heavily on their recuperative abilities, which will only fade the more damage they take. A rest will do them both well before what promises to be a concussive bout. As far as this fight and show setting Gaethje back, I completely disagree. Alvarez is a step up from Michael Johnson and a bigger name. A win over Alvarez would be the biggest of Gaethje’s career.

SWITCH!

Fabricio Werdum is being a bad sport by appealing his loss to Alistair Overeem; although, the fight was close, the decision was not a robbery by any means.

Dan Plunkett: FACT This is the dumbest appeal of a decision there has ever been. Werdum’s first round against Overeem was very close and could have gone either way. I fully understand a fighter in the heat of the moment giving himself more credit than duly earned and believing he won a round decisively that he did not; that is a common occurrence. Even if that was the case, Werdum’s corner should have made him aware that the round was anything but decisive and he needed to perform bearing that in mind. In the third round, when Werdum had Overeem in a bad spot, he made a poor decision to take him down and ride out the round, thinking he’d secured the decision. That was not the case, which, depending on what he was told, may be more of a knock on Werdum’s corner than Werdum himself. It’s completely fine that Werdum felt he should have won in the immediate aftermath of the decision. However, after the fight he likely became aware of the reality that it was a close fight that most people scored for his opponent, and despite this, he is choosing to appeal the decision. The appeal is within his right, but it is a waste of his time and the commission’s time, and makes Werdum look poorly.

Dino Zee: FACT Yeah, I don’t know what his beef is here. The fight wasn’t that great, and I could see either guy feeling like he won it. But, this isn’t the first time a fight may have been decided incorrectly, nor is it even really any degree of robbery. I usually hate comparison games where one thing can’t be bad because something else was worse, but in this case, Werdum would be smart to look at precedent, and realize that “I just don’t think I lost” is really a good reason for an appeal. There was nothing underhanded here, just a lackluster fight where neither seemed willing to really go for the kill, and sometimes things won’t go your way when you play it safe.

Honestly, I don’t think he has anyone to blame for this but himself. He knew the stakes, and he fought to not get KO’d instead of fighting for the win. In my opinion, of course.

Sarah Moras starting a GoFoundMe page to help pay for her training camp has more to do with her two-years away from the octagon than issues with fighter’s pay.

Dan Plunkett: FACT My response would likely be different if Moras was in a different stage of her career. Without direct knowledge of Moras’ exact situation, I’m going to make some general assumptions. Even if fighters were receiving a 50% portion of the revenue, while Moras would be better off, she would still be a low level preliminary card fighter with two pro bouts since 2012. Perhaps under that more generous revenue split she’d make an okay living fighting 2-3 times per year, but likely still not enough to hold her over for a few years. For that reason, the Go Fund Me campaign appears to be more of a reflection of Moras’ lack of in-cage activity.

Dino Zee: FACT I wasn’t familiar with this story when I read the question, but with the very little research I’ve admittedly done, I feel that’s a fair conclusion. Sarah fought once in 2014, once in 2015, and hasn’t fought since. I’d have to imagine that the money from those fights is gone, and that it wasn’t ever that big to begin with. Thus, yeah, heading into an expensive training camp might be a little more difficult than usual.

Now, this could still have some to do with fighter pay, but as the question posed this as a “more to do” scenario, I’m fine with saying that yeah, I feel it has more to do with her inactivity as a prizefighter more than anything else. I should also say that I don’t think she’s some sort of villain for the GoFundMe, either.

The Mayweather vs. McGregor world press tour gave some of the biggest names behind the curtains in the boxing arena a look at what McGregor is all about and, hence, should McGregor beat Floyd, he will not immediately return to MMA because he will have huge money offers coming to the table allowing him to pave an unprecedented path as a professional boxer.

Dan Plunkett: FICTION This is a really interesting scenario because if McGregor gets huge money offers from boxing promoters after fighting Mayweather, it could lead him to using the Ali Act in court to challenge his UFC contract, since his MMA promoter is unlikely to acquiesce to McGregor’s request for a longer boxing career. However, I don’t expect McGregor to look toward a boxing career win or lose; he’s much more likely to retire either way. A challenge of his UFC contract could tie him up in court for years, which he will have the money to sit through comfortably, but would keep him out of the ring and the cage. More likely, if McGregor wins and fights again, it will be in an octagon, albeit with far richer terms than his last UFC bout.

Dino Zee: FACT I’m going to go all Cool Kid here, but if McGregor beats Floyd, the offers he gets that keep him from MMA will have nothing to do with the ringside view the World Tour provided some suits. If McGregor beats Floyd, he’s a generational legend, and of course he won’t return to MMA for paltry paydays when he can go make truckloads of money doing anything else he wants, including boxing if he so desires. No, I don’t agree it has anything to do with the tour, but yes, I agree that should he do the impossible, the offers will roll in and MMA will have to wait.

So who won? Did Dan do the unthinkable and tumble Dino? Did Dino walk thru another game opponent? 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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