Twitter Mailbag: Best UFC vs. Bellator title fights, Daniel Cormier’s legacy, more

What would be the most competitive UFC champ vs. Bellator champ cross-promotion title fight? That and more in this week’s Twitter Mailbag.

Questions on your mind about recent happenings in MMA or the sport in general? MMA Junkie’s Twitter Mailbag is here – and this week it’s @MikeBohnMMA to answer:

  • What does Daniel Cormier’s legacy look like after losing his retirement fight?
  • The future of women’s featherweight after Amanda Nunes vs. Megan Anderson at UFC 256?
  • Which UFC champ vs. Bellator champ fight is most competitive?
  • Who has the better light heavyweight division between UFC and Bellator?

Those are answered in the video above. You can also read on a few more topics below.

****

If Colby Covington beats Tyron Woodley, will he get the Kamaru Usman rematch?

There’s a lot of ifs involved with this, but it’s definitely a possible scenario. If Covington can impressively beat Woodley on Sept. 19, he would put himself in the running for a title shot, but the queue at welterweight is growing.

Usman has a lot of challengers knocking on the door to fight for his belt. Unless something radical changes, it appears the next man up is Gilbert Burns. If Usman wins that, though, then Covington’s opportunity could be there. The top three candidates after Burns would have to be Covington, Leon Edwards and Jorge Masvidal, all of whom have already lost to “The Nigerian Nightmare.”

Who would UFC be most incentivized to give a rematch? It’s hard to say. Covington was the only one among the group to be finished by Usman, but he also offered the most competitive test to the champion. Covington has launched all kinds of storylines about why he was cheated out of a win when he challenged for the belt at UFC 245 in December, and those could help build a second fight, along with all the other elements Covington brings with him ahead of stepping in the octagon.

A roadmap to Usman vs. Covington 2 seems to be right there, but some stars do have to align. I think it eventually happens, though, because for my money, these are the two best welterweights in the world right now.

Who would make the final four and win a hypothetical UFC open weight grand prix?

Tricky question, largely because the lack of details. What’s the starting field for this tournament? 16 people? 32? That plays a big factor. For simplicities sake, let’s say we picked two fighters out of each of the eight male weight classes to make up the 16-man field and matched them up as reasonably as possible.

When all is said and done, our semifinals likely feature all fighters from the higher weight classes: Jon Jones vs. Francis Ngannou and Stipe Miocic vs. Israel Adesanya would spell your final four, with Jones vs. Miocic being the final and Jones emerging on top. Sure, it would be fun to think Deiveson Figueiredo could topple Jones or Kamaru Usman could grind out Izzy (much more realistic), but when we’re talking about the highest level of fighters, which this tournament would exclusively feature, the difference between winning and losing can come down to the smallest of attributes.

Khabib Nurmagomedov’s wrestling would be effective against anyone from flyweight to middleweight, but is he holding down Miocic for an entire fight without getting clipped with fight-ender at some point in between? Doesn’t seem probable.

Anyway, we know something like this would never happen, especially in the UFC. It would be utterly insane if it did, but unfortunately the closest will get is tournament mode in the EA UFC 4 video game.

Do you miss not being able to get in fights with drunk fans at live shows?

I assume this question is in reference to my wonderful experience at November’s UFC 244 in New York, when I tried to make my way down from the media balcony to the media room inside Madison Square Garden after Masvidal beat Nate Diaz for the “BMF” belt. What was for sure a very sober and rational man didn’t like me trying to weave past him in the crowd so I could make it down for the start of the post-fight press conference and decided to get in my face about it. Thankfully some more kind-hearted people in the area saw me holding my laptop and with a credential around my neck and helped deescalate the situation.

But in all seriousness, I do miss the live shows, and I do miss the fans. Pandemic era MMA has brought on a whole new feel to the live events, and I honestly haven’t minded it. There’s an eagerness to get back to normal life, and (if we ever get there), I’ll certainly have a different perspective when the blackout drunk fan behind me on press row yells at every fighter to “just knock him out” or “put him in a body bag.” But I’m sure that will only last a couple minute before I revert back to hating that person.

[vertical-gallery id=394066]