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2024 is only a couple days old, but we’re already getting a steady stream of new stories to ring in the new year. And, as is ever the case with MMA, there’s a few things to get hyped for, and a whole bunch of stuff to treat with trepidation.
This week in Love/Hate to see it, we’re tackling a major payday for one of MMA’s best coaches and a little luck in love for one of Japan’s best fighters. We’ve also got another in a long stream of short-lived MMA retirements, and a UFC schedule that’s already starting to feel gimmick heavy.
LOVE TO SEE IT
Erick Nicksick gets paid
Long before he fell out of favor with UFC brass, Francis Ngannou was already running into trouble with his public image. Not from anything he’d said, or from any kind of criminal activity that so many other fighters seem to find themselves involved. Not even for any lackluster performance inside the Octagon (well, maybe tangentially that Lewis fight had something to do with it).
Mainly, the thing that got Ngannou put on blast was his decision to leave longtime head coach Fernand Lopez and his Paris gym, the MMA Factory. With not just a little help from Dana White, Lopez went after his once-prized pupil for what he claimed was an overabundance of pride and an apparent lack of gratitude for all the hard work his coaches had put into his career.
As always when these kinds of camp divides end up happening in MMA, I can’t help but look askance at any coaching or manager that so willingly burns a bridge with fighters in public. By all accounts, fighters are a fickle lot, often seemingly tending toward impulsive behavior, and in need of constant validation. But, that’s the nature of the industry, and (to some extent) also their right.
They’re the one’s taking the risks, putting their bodies through hell, entertaining the crowds. If maintaining that kind of life means leaving some partnerships and even friendships in their wake, then so be it. After all, a good coach will always have another new talent on the rise to work with. Their career can last decades, while an elite fighter is lucky if they have a really solid ten year run.
Of course, time has only made Ngannou’s decision making skills as to his own career look better, and Lopez has found himself with other, bigger controversies to deal with. So, it feels a little bit extra sweet then to hear from Ngannou’s current coach, Eric Nicksick at Xtreme Couture, who had no end of good things to say about the ‘Predator’ and his generosity after the Cameroonian-born athlete’s recent boxing match against Tyson Fury.
“It was the most money I’ve ever been paid by a fighter,” Nicksick said of his cut from the Fury/Ngannou bout. “It was unbelievable. It was more than I expected. I wasn’t expecting—obviously Francis has always taken great care of me, but it floored me. I saw my Wells Fargo account that morning and it literally brought me to tears. That’s a true story; literally brought me to tears. Because, he changed my life.
“Not only from a professional standpoint, but a monetary standpoint; allowed me a lot of financial freedom to be able to enjoy my coaching, enjoy being a dad and a husband… allowed us to buy a new car. There’s a lot of things that just, with Francis moving over to boxing, and the way he takes care of his team? He loves every single one of us and he shows it. He takes care of us, and I couldn’t thank him enough.”
Nicksick even went on to add that, despite being really only an assistant for the bout, working behind Dewey Cooper—who acted as Ngannou’s head coach—he made more money for this one fight than he did as head coach for Ngannou’s title fights with Stipe Miocic and Ciryl Gane combined.
“If he wants to box,” Nicksick concluded, “I’m all for it.”
Nicksick has built one hell of a reputation over the past few years as one of MMA’s most well prepared and invested coaches, with multiple UFC title winners operating out of his gym in Las Vegas, NV. It’s not always the case that a rising tide raises all boats, but it seems Ngannou isn’t forgetting the people that have helped make him one of combat sports’ most dynamic forces. That’s always awesome to see.
Kyoji Horiguchi gets another W
It was to absolutely no one’s surprise when, after exiting the UFC on his own terms back in 2016, Kyoji Horiguchi immediately took over bantamweight MMA in Japan. Still at the time in his mid-20s and already a former UFC title contender, ‘The Typhoon’ rattled off 10-straight wins, picking up victories over Manel Kape, Ian McCall, Shintaro Ishiwatari, and Darrion Caldwell, among others, and not just winning gold in RIZIN, but in Bellator as well.
The years since that run have been a bit less kind, however. Horiguchi suffered a shocking upset to Kai Asakura at RIZIN 18 (later avenged), suffered an ACL injury, vacated his Bellator title, and then lost back-to-back fights stateside against Sergio Pettis and Patchy Mix.
An attempt to kickstart a new flyweight division for Bellator and RIZIN in 2023 fell to pieces after a first round eyepoke from Horiguchi rendered his opponent unable to continue. Fortunately, this NYE in Saitama everything got put back in its proper place.
A now 33-year-old Horiguchi defeated Makoto Takahashi, handing the 23-year-old just the second loss of his pro-MMA career, and snatching the title of RIZIN’s first flyweight champion in the process. But that wasn’t his only win on the night. After the victory, the American Top Team talent celebrated with a in-ring proposal to his longtime girlfriend.
Public proposals are always a little fraught, since the proposed always has that much more pressure to say yes, but this one is really, entirely just adorable. Right down to the hilariously stereotypical Japanese bullishness of his “Will you marry me!?” shout. Real cute stuff Horiguchi, here’s hoping to a long and happy marriage.
HATE TO SEE IT
Jorge Masvidal un-retires
I’m not going to pretend it’s any sort of big surprise, after all Jorge Masvidal was fighting dudes in Florida backyards as a teenager even before he ever started competing in MMA—and then he fought for another 20 years, mostly at the highest level. If ever a guy wasn’t going to make a clean break with combat sports, he seemed like someone who would hang on longer than needed.
Still, after suffering four-straight losses between 2020-23 and slowing his appearances in the cage down to just one a year, it really felt like ‘Gamebred’ had picked the right moment to call it quits on fighting. He was running up on 40 in a hurry, dealing with more injuries than ever, and even got clean KO’d for the first time in more than 50 fights. The message couldn’t have been clearer, Jorge Masvidal was a spent commodity as an elite competitor.
Hell, he even appeared to have a retirement plan in place. Gamebred FC may not be any kind of household name, but it gave the former multiple time title contender something to put his energy to—and the cards he put together were a reasonably fun blend of boxing, bareknuckle, and MMA.
The message, however, delivered over social media was simple:
I have no idea what he’s unretired for, only knowing that Masvidal was very clear that he was still under UFC contract when he made the decision to hang up his gloves last year. So if he wants to box, as he’s expressed some interest in doing, then he’ll have to hash that out with Dana White.
If that’s the kind of bag he’s running after, I guess it’s fine. There’s clearly money to be made in watching former MMA pros struggle with 10oz gloves, but it rarely ever means watching a good fight.
And if it’s MMA he’s running back to? That’s a hard pass from me. Outside of just the wear of age, Masvidal seemed more gunshy and more checked out in the final fights of his MMA run. A guy looking for a few big moments to put on a technical punching display against his younger opposition, and otherwise uninterested in all the other dynamics that make up the sport. I can’t imagine a few months off have re-lit his fire to be grappled against the cage for 15 minutes.
What’s up with UFC 300?
Conor McGregor made his big NYE announcement and, as expected, he’ll be headlining one of the year’s biggest PPVs at UFC 3…03??? There were whispers a few weeks ago that the UFC were thinking of keeping McGregor off their centennial card, with the thought that that PPV will sell big no matter what, and putting McGregor on another, random PPV event would give the promotion another top drawing event in 2024.
It’s an idea that always rang a little hollow to me, if for no other reason than looking back at UFC 100 & UFC 200, the reasons those events sold big was not because they were centennial shows, but because the promotion tried to stack them with every notable talent they had available at the time. Even with two big main events falling apart for UFC 200, that was still a card with bonafide PPV stars Brock Lesnar and Anderson Silva on it.
Right now, for UFC 300, we’ve got a Jiri Prochazka fight against a guy whose biggest win is laying on Anthony Smith, and Mr. Box-office himself Aljamain Sterling against Calvin Kattar. Oh wait, and there’s Leon Edwards saying he’ll defend his belt on the card… maybe against Belal Muhammad. A lineup crafted to get fans drooling if ever there was one.
As for the idea that the UFC would put McGregor on a smaller show? International Fight Week is pretty much THE guaranteed big card of the year every year. So, there’s no real extra ‘big card’ apparent in this plan. Although, I guess the only thing booking McGregor this way suggests is that Jon Jones won’t be ready to go soon enough and probably won’t be fighting until next fall… maybe, probably.
To cap it all off, the fight itself between McGregor and Chandler has slipped into complete carnival mode with McGregor opening as a favorite despite the ‘Notorious’ Irishman having picked up just one win (over the shell of Donald Cerrone) in the past seven years. I get that the lines are set to reflect the fact that McGregor’s fan base will almost certainly be betting on him in droves, but that also means the discourse is probably going to get insufferable. That’s all without even noting that the fight is apparently happening at middleweight of all places.
Just a couple days ago, I was talking about my hopes that 2024 would serve fans better than 2023 did, but now the new year is here and it’s already pretty hard to take it seriously.