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Mailbag time again, kids. We’ve got questions regarding combat sports miscreant Jake Paul (and his brother), UFC shenaningans, the new Road House, and what constitutes modern era MMA.
As usual, please submit any and all questions — fighting-related or not over to [email protected]. Keep your expectations low, and I’ll still disappoint you. It’s kind of my brand these days.
And before we begin, some recommended listening music:
Jake Paul knows what he’s doing
Tim Bissel asks: Re: Jake Paul’s strategy of fighting no-names, what are the pros and cons of this?
This one’s fairly simple. The pros are the fact that Jake Paul is getting fights against guys he knows he can beat and is more than just favored to beat. It keeps him in the conversation as a “success” in boxing. That makes public perception of him a little shinier as a guy that’s got his fingers in various business ventures, irrespective of how legitimate they may be.
It works on raising his profile as the Jake Paul brand. Yes, I realize it’s gross to refer to people like that. But let’s be real — that’s what a lot of modern celebrities are. It’s not an accident or something they just stumble upon. Some folks straight-up build to that for a reason. That alone doesn’t make you a bad person or a fraud, it’s just business. And that’s fine. It’s good for the brand because he’s still racking up wins, even if it’s some washed up part-timer from the middle of nowhere. He’s the A-side anyway.
The drawbacks are a different story. Hardcore boxing fans aren’t paying attention in the first place outside of some minor morbid curiosity, so count them out of the conversation. But people already invested in this are gonna tune in regardless. The act doesn’t really get tired or old for a lot of them. There’s really not much of a downside for him at all now.
I’ve mentioned this plenty of times, but this isn’t the Celebrity Boxing days of the 90s. The Paul brothers have built and are banking on the parasocial relationship their fans have with them going back well over a decade. Some people were basically raised watching these guys. They don’t care. Again, they’re a brand. It’s kind of how The Rock basically plays the same guy in every movie. Here’s a great primer in case you needed a more airtight case.
You get big enough, and you can pretty much do the same song and dance. He’s basically done what the UFC has done in making himself bigger than whatever the event is. Those three letters overshadow any fighter of any era. Jake Paul (and to some extent his brother Logan) overshadow whatever opponent they face.
Either guy could fight Conor McGregor or Chocolatito tomorrow, and they’d still be the more recognizable face to millions of young people all because they poisoned the well early enough and got a decade and a half as a head start for a more pervasive form of fame.
Every other month there’s some controversy with a YouTube creator you’ve never heard of with billions of fans, subscribers, social media followers (and Patreon followers) you’ve never heard of. Now you have two guys that pierced the veil of the mainstream and put on fights. There’s no real cons for Jake Paul until they pick the wrong guy that actually puts him on his ass for good. The way they book matches, that doesn’t seem likely to ever happen.
It ain’t looking too Hollywood, chief…
Tim Bissell (Again? Shakes fist angrily towards Canada): What’s your grade for the UFC 300 card right now?
Man, listen… I like what I see so far. It’s shaping up really nicely as of the time of this being written. Is it good? Absolutely, without question. This is a great event. It’s also an example of the Devil’s Bargain that the UFC business model requires. First, they set themselves in a way that (as mentioned above) the company overshadows any stars under the UFC umbrella.
Combine that deliberate form of “promotion” with an event schedule that runs at a breakneck pace like Rebney-era Bellator tournaments. It’s hard to keep track of who’s who and who beat who in the UFC sometimes. Harder still to remember how it even happened. So that leaves us with less stars for what should be a star-studded event.
McGregor is unpredictable and requires ample time for fight prep. Jon Jones is on the shelf. The other bigger and more reliable PPV sellers like GSP and Ronda Rousey have been retired for what seems like eons. And Brock Lesnar? Bruh. He’s got bigger things to worry about. Way bigger.
It’s a weird place to be in, because we’re spoiled for riches with what has been announced thus far. But there’s not any major earth-shaking announcements because most fighters get drowned in the noise of the UFC machine, the schedule doesn’t help and there just isn’t the same level of box office appeal “legend” status for most fighters.
While I love the card so far, is it what the UFC has accustomed us to when it comes to milestone events? Not really. It’s good, but I’m not more jazzed for it than some of the other unquestionably good PPV events we’ve seen in recent years.
Wishful thinking
Stephie Haynes (a.k.a. Crooklyn) asks” Should Jim Miller get his wish to have Bruce Buffer announce him as Jim “Fu—ing” Miller at UFC 300?
He should, but he won’t. Curiously enough, just as I sat down to answer these I did a bit of doomscrolling on the hellsite and found that Buffer has an aversion to cursing as part of his job. I get it, and I respect his choices. Doesn’t mean I wouldn’t love to see him do it. It would be such an appropriate send-off to an innovator and mainstay that has done so much in the game.
Fingers crossed, we get Bruce swerving on fight night and making a one-time exception for a guy that deserves it. Besides, it’s not that bad in the grand scheme of things. Not holding my breath, but it would be great if Bruce did him (and the rest of us) a solid just this once.
Already setting a countdown
Jack Wannan asks: How long do you realistically think Kayla Harrison’s UFC run will last?
I’m really bothered by the fact that Kayla Harrison coming over to the UFC should be a bigger deal and a cause for celebration. Instead, the focus is largely on whether or not she can even make 135, and then actually compete at a high level. She’s not being welcomed with gimmie fight, Holly Holm is tough as nails and a far more precise and varied striker.
At the same time, it also means we don’t get to see her fight Cyborg. Plus, Amanda’s gone now and there was never really a 145lb division in the first place. it was Amanda and a small cluster of opponents around her. Kayla’s not a dummy, I totally believe she’ll have a nutritionist on hand and has done test cuts to make this feasible. It still doesn’t feel quite right.
Maybe this is all an overreaction. But getting older tends to make weight cuts tougher. And that extra component could add to the miles and miles that a lifetime of Judo and a run in MMA put on anyone’s body. It’s tough to say, because she hasn’t said anything about having a foot out the door. I’ll spitball her UFC run being around 3 years or five fights, whichever comes first.
Look, it ain’t Citizen Kane
Evan Zivin asks: What’s your hype level for ROAD HOUSE?
It’s a comfortable “meh” for me. I never saw the original, so I don’t care about this being a remake or any of the differences. It seems fine. I trust Doug Liman as a director and it looks like it can be silly fun. They know what they’re aiming for, and it’s not high cinema. This isn’t supposed to be Parasite set in the Florida Keys.
If it had been released in theaters and not on streaming, I wouldn’t leave my house to watch it. But I have Prime anyway, so it’s not a big deal. I have zero hype, but rather a mild interest since I like Gyllenhall and the fight choreography looks like it might be good outside of the UFC segments.
Tough crowd
Bilal Yusuf: When will people realize that watching Holly Holm is less entertaining than doing the dishes?
Nah, that’s kinda harsh. There’s kind of a universal consensus that outside of her sensational finished over Bethe Correia and Ronda Rousey, Her UFC run hasn’t been the most action-packed. And that’s fine. No fan I either know or can think of thinks they’re gonna see fireworks when Holly steps into the cage, but she’s good and appreciated by technique nerds like me.
What I wonder is why this same level of scrutiny isn’t applied to other fighters in the UFC. Not calling anyone a misogynist, but there’s a weird hyperfixation on Holly. Check out any Arlovski fight in the last few years or the more recent bantamweight women’s championship bout. There’s just no guarantee on excitement, it’s part of the game.
Drawing the lines
Community member Khamzat, Shavkat and Abednego asks: When is a good cut off point to say “Modern MMA” begins? The start of the Unified Rules, start of Zuffa era, Spike/TUF era, or does it start with a later point, Fox era…gulp…ESPN? or the end of Strikeforce?
Traditionally in the TUF era the Zuffa era/Unified Rules was seen as the start of modern MMA, but nowadays the Spike TV years are treated like the tournament/dark ages by newer fans. In 2024 how do we categorize our sports history?
I love this question, because it really hinges entirely on what “modern” means to different people. Personally, I’d say the most modern MMA gets is the ESPN era. Not just because of distribution or branding, but technique, evolution and awareness of both the business and the downsides of the game being way more complete.
But that’s just me. I can totally see a valid argument for the modern era being the Fox Sports and Fight Pass era, allowing for far many more viewers to enjoy MMA more broadly. I only exclude Strikeforce and Bellator from this conversation because they were largely relegated to premium cable and didn’t exactly lead the charge in terms of expanding into other markets in hopes of fostering future talent, etc.
If you have to go back to anything prior to the Spike TV days, you’ve gone too far. You gotta come up for air at that point.