Mania Mailbag: Do we trane UFC?

MMA Mania Mailbag Questions

Please write your answers in the following format:

NAME: Answer.

Please prioritize ‘Top Priority’ questions. Though, answers on the low priority list are also appreciated.

What does it mean for Ilia if Justin pulls off the upset? (Chucs)

Ryan Harkness: The UFC is clearly hoping that Ilia Topuria becomes their next Conor McGregor, but McGregor’s potent star power was apparent even before he knocked out Jose Aldo to take the belt. Topuria is already a two-division champion and still unknown enough outside the MMA bubble that the White House element of UFC Freedom 250 has completely overshadowed his participation. Simply put: the world will not care if Ilia Topuria loses to Justin Gaethje on Sunday, because the world doesn’t care about Ilia yet. For those of us in the bubble, Topuria will keep his top star billing and may become a more interesting watch without his aura of invincibility. The saddest result of a loss would be the end of Topuria vs. Makhachev talk, which would be a real tragedy. Any time you can get the No. 1 and No. 2 pound-for-pound guys to fight, they should fight. So for the sake of that bout, I hope “El Matador” doesn’t stumble.

Was Bonfim that good or Belal that washed? (LoneCowboy)

Andrew Richardson: Likely, a bit of both. Bonfim has definitely elevated his game and composure since the Dalby loss and even the Wonderboy win, but he also wasn’t pushed at all by Belal Muhammad in this fight. It remains a concern that if he were facing someone like Sean Brady who really forced him to wrestle that he would collapse in a pile of fatigue — he still hasn’t proven otherwise in that regard. After three losses and very little successful wrestling, meanwhile, we have to assume that Belal’s wrestling skill has effectively vanished at this late stage of his career.

Did Brendan Allen make the statement he really wanted to? (seemed like a meh to me, certainly doesn’t scream “title shot” (LoneCowboy)

Andrew Richardson: The statement Allen made is, “I’m still a good Middleweight, not a serious contender for UFC gold.”

Is Iwo Baraniewski just beating up on the slugs of LHW (of which there are a lot) or does he actually have a shot to get to top 5? (LoneCowboy)

Ryan Harkness: We won’t know until his slug smashing days are over, but I assume the UFC is doing something similar with Baraniewski as they did with Josh Hokit. “The Incredible Hok” destroyed his first two opponents in four months, both bottom of the barrel heavyweights, before getting a massive jump up to face No. 4 ranked Curtis Blaydes three months later. Baraniewski’s three fights took place over six months, and if there’s one thing that often precedes big opportunities in the UFC, it’s quick turnarounds with violent outcomes. Not everyone gets the chance to cut through relatively flimsy opposition on an accelerated timeline. It’s a safe bet that UFC matchmakers are pushing Baraniewski towards something bigger. Whether he’ll pass that test when it comes remains to be seen.

How many of the mmamania staff have been in a fight before. I remember reading one of the writers used to train at team alpha male. It seems like a lot of mma fans have never trained or been in a fight (the Smokin Salmon)

Anton Tabuena: My Tapology page isn’t as pretty or extensive as my fellow flyweight colleague Andrew here, but I regularly train for fun and have competed a few times through the years. I’ve had two amateur fights in the Muay Thai Nationals, one in kickboxing, one in MMA, plus one professional Muay Thai fight in Thailand. There’s also jiu-jitsu tournaments and coaching sprinkled in between those. I did some creative writing to document all the events and emotions involved in these unique, high stress situations, until we lost Bloody Elbow (RIP). I should probably revive this “From Writing to Fighting” series somewhere, but here’s one edition at least if you’re curious.

Ryan Harkness: Way way back in the 00s I spent a year and a half training jiu-jitsu and even did a few months at Tristar MMA, home to Georges St-Pierre and his coach Firas Zahabi. I did not last long. One class was split above or below 200 pounds. My soft ass was put in with the heavyweights, and some Goliath of a man got me in a guillotine and lifted me three feet off the ground by my neck. I felt every disc in my spine pop one after another, and I spent a month worried I’d never tie my shoes again without pain. After that, I decided to leave the hurt game before I took permanent damage. The time I spent training taught me a lot about how tough the sport is, and how everyone in it is constantly injured.

Andrew Richardson: I started jiu-jitsu in 2009, boxing in 2012, and began training MMA full time at Team Alpha Male in 2014, where I was an active amateur and then professional until 2022. I fought ten times total, putting up a 4-1 record as both an amateur and pro. Prior to retiring, I was ranked by Tapology in the Top 15 Flyweights of the California regional scene … I’m pretty sure. It’s been a while! I was somewhere in the teens or top ten. Nowadays, I still train roughly once a week, more if I’m cornering a team mate and helping them prepare for a specific fight.

Alex Behunin: I’ve never fought in MMA, even though MMA coach Sayif Saud really wanted me to a couple of years ago. I wrestled in high school and was very good (they called me cradleboy because almost all my wins in my Freshman and Sophomore year were via cradle) until I quit because I thought football was my calling – it wasn’t.
I started jiu-jitsu in 2022, but I am a filthy casual white belt.

Is there a championship scheduling problem across the board in the Paramount+ era? Below: List of all the championship fights in 2026, including the scheduled/announced fights: (VeeDrawStuff)

UFC 324 : [Interim] Gaethje v. Pimblett
UFC 325 : Volkanovski v. Lopes
UFC 327 : Ulberg v Prochazka
UFC 326 : [BMF] Oliveira v. Holloway
UFC 328 : Strickland v. Chimaev
—————— Scheduled Championship Fights
UFC Freedom 250 : Topuria v. Gaethje
UFC Freedom 250 : [Interim] Pereira v. Gane
UFC 330 : Dern v. Robertson (August 15)

Ryan Harkness: Yes, yes, 100% yes. It’s not your imagination, and it goes beyond just championship fights. The top fighters across all weight divisions are fighting less. We’re past the halfway point of 2026 and the list of top athletes who haven’t fought in this calendar year is depressingly long. Whether it’s just poor scheduling or a more nefarious attempt to keep the number of fights involving high paid fighters low, something is up. The way TKO runs the WWE roster makes it clear: every nickel that can be squeezed will be. That doesn’t give me confidence that things will get better.

Genuinely asking, do you guys ever use AI in any parts of your work here? (Caveman Computer)

Ryan Harkness: I’ve been writing my articles in Notepad and pasting them into WordPress since 2007, and I accept the fact that I may be too old to ever change my process. I don’t use A.I., but not because I outright hate it. I do hate how tech companies are shoving it down our throats. I hate how Google is replacing search with A.I. answers that scrape MMA Mania while destroying the web traffic our site needs to survive. But I’m open minded about the tools. I just think they’re way too janky right now. A.I. messes up. A lot. I’ve got enough knowledge about MMA to pick out half a dozen mistakes in any given A.I. answer to a UFC query. Any time saved having it help generate articles would be lost having to fact check everything it wrote. That’s kind of a big problem when a single factual mistake could turn off a visitor to the site.

Andrew Richardson: My “About Last Night” articles publish at 3AM EST, which means there’s no one awake other than myself to proofread them before they air. By the time I’m finished watching the entire card, my brain is fried, so I will use AI to check for grammar errors in those articles. I’ve also used AI to help find old links to plug into articles, like in the Beef Explained series. But for the actual writing: never!

Alex Behunin: I use AI to check grammar sometimes and to write my SEO headlines.

What happened to Danago? (Dread Pirate)

Andrew Richardson: I wish I knew.

Without conor kabib will not be this famous (Icedrocket)

Andrew Richardson: Of course not. Beating up Conor McGregor added millions of fans to Khabib’s legion, but he was already a significant star as well..

If you could force one fighter to go up a weight class and one to go down, who would they be? (FKA Pudge)

Andrew Richardson: Rafael Fiziev feels too small for 155 pounds right now, while Alex Perez is killing himself to make Flyweight.

If you could move one active fighter to train with a different team, who would you send where? (FKA Pudge)

I would send Mackenzie Dern to train with Team Alpha Male or AKA so that she could actually learn wrestling. I fully believe if she could take her opponents down, she would be a truly elite champion because he BJJ is so elite.

What’s the best event you covered in person? (Caveman Computer)

Anton Tabuena: My favorite event to have covered live was Manny Pacquiao’s bout in Macau. This was back in 2014, before the Mayweather fight and still arguably close to Pacquiao’s peak. It wasn’t even an iconic fight or opponent, but those match ups had all been reserved for major arenas in the US. It’s hard to describe the insane cultural impact he had to those who weren’t around that time, but as a Filipino, it was pretty cool to at least witness (and take photos) even a small part of that run in person. That event was also memorable for me as I got to watch and interview a relatively unknown 2-1 boxer on the undercard, whose style and movement had me mesmerized after seeing it for the first time. You may have heard about him soon after, a guy called Vasiliy Lomachenko.

Alex Behunin: I would have to say UFC 300 just because of how good the card was, plus I vividly remember watching UFC 100 with my buddy Jordan and screaming at the top of our lungs when Hendo slept Bisping.

Thomas Myers: Kimbo Slice vs. Seth Petruzelli in Miami. Pure pre-social media CHAOS. And the Gina Carano towel incident happened just days before, too.

Who’s your favorite fighter to have interviewed? (Caveman Computer)

Alex Behunin: I have very good chemistry with a few fighters. Obviously, Sean Strickland and I have gone viral a few times because he was making fun of me (but that was Apex Strickland)
I love chatting with Jordan Leavitt, Khalil Rountree and Adrian Yanez.
Cub Swanson is super raw once you break down his wall.
But to answer your question, Carlos Prates is probably my favorite as of today.
https://youtu.be/9WUr2thigdE?si=g2vLER3YEtS07B3B

Do you realistically think another promotion will be able to compete with the UFC at some point, or will other promotions only emerge if the UFC breaks apart? (Caveman Computer)

Alex Behunin: Nope. Never.

Maybe this one is better as a poll, but who is the greatest trash talker in UFC history? Conor and Chael come to mind, of course, but who else would you put on the Mt. Rushmore of trash talkers? (Adam Wagner)

Alex Behunin: Conor McGregor, Chael Sonnen, Michael Bisping, Colby Covington/Dominick Cruz.

Thomas Myers: Chael Sonnen. But Dricus is the best in the sport, currently. Hands down.

Why does WMMA at the UFC level still exist???????? We’re off woke devil mouse (ESPN), the woke stuff is over, no one cares and no one watches? why isn’t this experiment over? (LoneCowboy)

Andrew Richardson: The UFC likes to have title fights atop numbered events. It’s less important now that the days of PPV are over, but pairing a mediocre men’s title fight with a women’s title fight is a way to act like a main card has depth.

With Conor McGregor’s [37] potential last fight in MMA coming soon, will another MMA mega-superstar emerge in the U.S. any time soon? (I doubt it.) Topuria, Makhachev and Chimaev are global stars but I don’t see strong evidence that they’re extremely popular in the United States. (VeeDrawStuff)

There are no more PPV events, no more PPV buy numbers. How would you determine a UFC star in the Paramount+ era, based on what metric? (VeeDrawStuff)

Andrew Richardson: At this point, Google Search trends are the most reliable indicator of a fighter’s stardom and drawing potential. It is much, much murkier!

Any insights on Conor’s new contract and what the numbers might be? (Chucs)

Alex Behunin: From my understanding, he didn’t sign a new contract with fights. He still has two fights left – Holloway, and one more.
As for his pay, I have no idea but it’s gotta be upwards of 5-7 million right?

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