Mailbag: Is UFC serious about ditching PPV in next broadcast rights deal?

Is the UFC serious about moving away from pay-per-view with a new broadcast rights deal? Is Khabib Nurmagomedov wrong to advocate for Arman Tsarukyan over Ilia Topuria in the next lightweight title clash? What chance does TKO have of turning MMA fans into boxing fans? And how much would it hurt your feelings to be called some made-up insult by Paddy Pimblett?

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All that and more in this week’s mailbag. To ask a question of your own, hit up @BenFowlkesMMA or @benfowlkes.bsky.social.

@justlikelasagna: If the UFC eliminates PPV how will we ever know what’s a big card? Will they go back to naming them cool names like Bad Intentions or Bitter Rivals?

As those of us who lived the era of named UFC events no doubt recall, you run out of good names really fast. You start out with Cold Fury and Final Countdown, but before you know it you’re doing stuff like UFC 76: Knockout. (That event had six decision finishes and zero knockouts, by the way.)

I think the numbered naming convention, along with the names of the headliners, could still work to signal which UFC events really matter. If the APEX era has taught us anything, it’s that we are all perfectly capable of discerning between the various tiers of UFC content even if the company never comes right out and says it.

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As for the chance the UFC will actually move away from pay-per-view entirely with a new broadcast rights deal, I’ll believe it when I see it.

@shadore66: Do you think TKOs bet that UFC fans will watch boxing is correct? I watch ufc and never watch boxing. Or power slap.

No one actually watches Power Slap beyond the clips that force their way into your phone. Because it’s so incredibly dumb. But boxing? Sure, I think it’s entirely possible to turn MMA fans onto that. The question is how and with whom.

Simply calling it TKO Boxing or whatever and having Dana White shout about how great it is will only get you so far. You need boxers people care about and connect with. You need personalities. Fight sports will always be a star-driven business. The UFC has done a great job of making its brand the star in MMA, so that it can slap those three letters onto almost any fight card and fans will see it as instantly meaningful. That’s not going to be enough when starting fresh in boxing.

@Beastin364: What’s your argument for saying Khabib is wrong about Arman being most deserving of a lw title shot? Why does Ilia get to jump him in line when Arman actually earned it

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I never used the d-word. Deserve? In this business? Just like William Munny said, deserve’s got nothing to do with it.

Look, Arman Tsarukyan earned himself a title shot. No one’s disputing that. And he got his title shot. Then he pulled out the week of the event, and we had to watch Islam Makhachev make easy work of Renato Moicano instead. It was kind of a bummer.

That was Tsarukyan’s chance. He missed the opportunity, and now Ilia Topuria’s move up in weight has given the UFC a chance to make a genuine mega-fight that will bring in way more viewers and money than Makhachev vs. Tsarukyan could ever hope to. Why? Because more people will care about this.

An exciting knockout artist who looked like he was on his way to being an all-time great in one division suddenly moves up to face a genuinely scary champion who’s bigger than him? Hell, yes. That’s the way you become a legend in this sport. It’s a daring choice by Topuria, and we’ll all want to see if he can possibly pull it off. By contrast, Makhachev vs. Tsarukyan is just another title fight. It’s … fine. It’s not special, though. And that’s what matters.

@TallBrian11: Can you please give me a brief ranking of Paddy Pimbletts non-insulting insults? Calling someone a mushroom, or a lizard, or a Whopper etc.

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I cannot give you a ranking because I cannot remember them all. But I love it, honestly. He starts calling people these names, and I’m never sure if this is something that’s in heavy usage over in Liverpool or if it’s just stuff Pimblett has made up.

Which, if you’re on the receiving end, has to make it worse, right? Call me any of the usual names that I might be called in traffic or on the internet on any given day, and it just rolls off my back. It’s dead language, in a sense. We’ve all heard it so much that we barely even hear it anymore. But call me a little mushroom? Then you’ve forced me to think about what that means. You’ll have me examining my face in the mirror. Is it my nose? Is it my haircut giving my head the shape of a mushroom? What does he mean?!? Then I’d have to admit that he really did it. He got to me. Checkmate, lad.

@EyeofMihawk: How do you balance quantity vs quality in GOAT discussions? What about losses? Aldo still has a couple more defenses than Volk at 145, but Volk beat Aldo and Max 3x. But then if you go solely quality, you have McGregor and Topuria ahead and that doesn’t seem right.

The first thing to remember is that the point of these GOAT debates is that they’re debates. Like pound-for-pound rankings, they exist primarily to be argued over. That’s their value in our lives. That’s what we like about them (and also hate about them).

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That said, I think there’s a balance. If a champ defends his title 15 times against a bunch of jobbers, who cares? I don’t think that outweighs three solid title defenses against guys who seemed like champions themselves. But I also think that a dominant champ sometimes creates an atmosphere where no one ever gets a chance to build themselves up too much. Then the title defenses might seem less impressive just because we ran out of challengers and had to throw in everyone we could find. (See also: The long UFC title reign of Demetrious Johnson.)

@Jietzsche: Why is it that so few MMA fighters implement a good jab? It’s a low risk game winner when done well. Rob Font gets it but even he applies it inconsistently at times. It may not be glamorous but many fights could seemingly be won with a jab and calf kick strategy well implemented.

How dare you come in here and say this right after we saw Alexander Volkanovski do great work with his jab in that win over Diego Lopes at UFC 314. In fact, Volkanovski is a prime example of all the things a good jab can do for you in MMA, as far setting up counters and building a whole offense around it.

I remember Trevor Wittman used to tell some of his guys they could be champions on their jab alone if they’d only use it right. He also told some of these same guys they should never again in their lives throw an uppercut. Then I watched at least one of his guys get knocked clean out while ignoring that advice. You can lead a horse to water, as they say, but you can’t make it jab.

@jmprobus: Who would you like to see Pico matchup with in his debut?

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Probably not Movsar Evloev, who could reasonably argue that he should be doing something other than welcoming newcomers with his undefeated record and nine straight UFC wins. Instead, how about someone like Arnold Allen? That seems like a fun pairing that would tell us where Aaron Pico stands in the UFC’s featherweight division.

@shonplant: Any chance you Petesy and Chuck ever link up for a live episode of The Craic? Truly my favorite MMA show on air, shoutout to y’all

But … but every episode is live. Oh, I see. You mean in front of a live audience, the way people sometimes do podcasts in a theater like they’re a Vaudeville-era variety show. I don’t want to speak for the fellas, but I think we’d love that. Just make sure there’s plenty of Guinness on hand or else Petesy will never show up.