This past weekend, UFC 321 went down, and it was horrible. Actually, I quite enjoyed the card, but the Tom Aspinall-Ciryl Gane eye poke shenanigans are all anyone has been talking about this week, so let’s (hopefully) put a cap on this unfortunate debacle in this week’s mailbag.
Who is to blame for UFC 321?
Does it feel like there’s an overcorrection from the initial sentiment of a tiny to nonexistent part of the fanbase that thought Tom quit? It feels like a strawman that media/fans are arguing against. The most reasonable take to me was Demetrious Johnson. Gane threw a leg kick and posted off of it. He’s responsible, but it was a valid technique with obviously botched execution. It seems like everyone is trying to displace frustration, but it’s getting in the way of just accepting the situation for what it is.
No. No no no no no. No NO no. No. NO.
I do not mean to pick on you, but this is the exact sort of mentality that gets us into situations like this in the first place. The idea that “ Well, sometimes stuff happens” is a perfectly fine philosophy to approach life with in the face of an ineffable and inscrutable existence, but it’s decidedly not acceptable for a closed system of rules and regulations. It’s a “Sometimes a meteor falls through your ceiling; can’t do much about that,” vs. “My neighbor accidentally burning my house down when he cooks out in his backyard” situation. You can’t do much about an act of God, but you certainly can do something about a negligent neighbor.
The entire issue with adjudicating fouls in this sport boils down to a few very simple issues. The first is the matter of intent, which is a fundamentally flawed construct. Basically, no fighter ever intends to do an illegal action, and if they do, the answer should not be to take points, but to disqualify them immediately. This is combat, with real, life-altering stakes; if you are knowingly attempting to harm another person outside the scope of the rules, you lose. End of discussion.
Instead, “intent” should simply be adjudicated as “did you intend to do the action you did?” In other words, unless you slipped on some blood in the cage and did a Looney Tunes pratfall that resulted in you punting someone in the groin, there’s no grace here. You intended to throw a leg kick, it landed low, maybe don’t do that unless you’re sure it’s going to work.
Seriously, can you imagine officiating any other sport like MMA is? “Well, Max Verstappen, you went careening into the first turn and ran three cars off the road, but since you were just trying to get around the corner and didn’t intend to hit anyone, that’s OK! No penalty, carry on.” Do you see how ludicrous that is?
The fact of the matter is, whatever your “intent,” the result is what is important. On Saturday, one fighter suffered an injury, and the result was that both fighters had the same outcome. The guy who did nothing wrong had the same result as the guy who did the bad thing. In what universe is that fair? If I’m shooting guns in my backyard at a target and a bullet ricochets and hits my neighbor, it’s not just tough noogies for my neighbor.
And I think the thing that grinds my gears the most is this erroneous idea that “It’s just a reaction, can’t help it.” Yes, you can!
This shouldn’t need to be said, but apparently it must be: professional fighters are professional fighters. These are people whose job is to do combat with other people. They have spent their lives learning how to do this. We can, and should, hold them to a higher standard of behavior in the confines of the cage, because it is their job.
If you or I are running out there, sure, we might do random, errant stuff. But it is absurd to suggest that professionals can’t stop themselves from doing it. For one, plenty of them do, as Jim Miller correctly pointed out, and for two, they do it all the time. A ton of stuff you do in training is not a natural reaction; it’s a learned one. Fighters spend their careers rewiring their brain and instincts to act without thinking. If you can train yourself to check low kicks and dig underhooks, you can train yourself to close your friggin’ hand when you’re near someone. Or, if you want to push off, turn the thumb down! That dramatically lowers the risk!
And lastly, the idea that enforcing the rules to the letter of the law will ruin MMA has no basis in reality. Every sport has rules, and every sport enforces them, and they’re all doing fine, because when you enforce rules, athletes stop breaking them. I GUARANTEE you that if tomorrow the ABC comes out and says the new policy is point deductions for every infraction, penalties will fall off a cliff, because fighters will actively work to avoid them.
Ciryl Gane was not attempting to poke Tom Aspinall in the eyes; it just happened in the course of action. But I do not care. The fact of the matter is, Gane did something illegal, and Tom Aspinall paid the price for it. The frustration, at least from me, isn’t about the unsatisfying lack of a result, but about the unsatisfying way MMA continues to operate in the dark ages because of some belief that the integrity of the sport will be ruined if we enforce rules.
Why is Gane not catching strays for committing the foul that stopped the fight? Everyone seems ready to jump all over Aspinall, but no one’s said, “Wait a minute, if Gane was cruising toward a heavyweight title, why would he risk poking his fingers out there?”
Because the culture of MMA is messed up. I don’t know how we got here, but this is the room we’re all in right now. A fighter gets fouled, and the only punishment that happens is that fans rip that guy for not being a warrior, or whatever. We live in The Upside Down.
And that part that really gets me is that this is not a new occurrence. As Aspinall noted after the fight, Gane had been warned multiple times in the first round about extending his finger! As mentioned, I’m a firm believer in taking a point every time, but if you’re not gonna do that, you HAVE to levy some sort of punishment for repeated infractions and reckless endangerment. These are not toddlers you’re trying to prevent from running around the house; they’re fully grown professional athletes. Hold them accountable for their actions.
Alexander Volkov. With Aspinall and Gane seemingly set to run it back and Jon Jones and Alex Pereira looking to fight each other, where does that leaves the talented Russian?
Waiting. If I’m Volkov, I’m not taking another fight until it’s for the belt, and fortunately, he’s in a good position to do just that. Heavyweight is buns right now, and he’s the only viable title challenger. The man can simply wait his turn, and maybe try to weigh in as the backup fighter for the inevitable Aspinall vs. Gane rematch.
I seriously doubt that Larissa Pacheco could safely cut to 135. If the UFC makes it clear that they’re not going to have a 145-pound division with a champion, would it make sense to sign her with the understanding that she could fight at 145 in “feature fights?” If Kayla Harrison doesn’t eventually face Amanda Nunes, Kayla vs. Larissa could make for an interesting non-title fight at 145. (Marina Mokhnatkina is also available and is the only woman to go the distance with both Harrison and Pacheco.)
I wouldn’t be so sure about that first part. I’m in no way saying it would be easy, but I don’t know if it’s impossible for Pacheco to make 135 pounds. For one, she has fought there before (a lifetime ago, but still), and for another, I thought there was no way in (Mike) Heck that Harrison would get to 135, but here we are. And Harrison competed at 170 in judo. Never say never.
But let’s say she can’t. I do not care, sign her anyway. Harrison probably only has 4-5 more fights MAX, and right now, she’s got no one to fight other than Amanda. Even if that ends up being a pair of fights, we still need compelling names for Harrison, and Pacheco is certainly that. But we don’t have to do “feature fight.” No, the answer is something I’ve been calling for for years now.
It’s long past time that the UFC did the sensible thing and replaced their bantamweight division with “women’s heavyweight,” 126 pounds to 170. Once upon a time, bantamweight was the premier division in women’s MMA. That time is no longer, and there are barely two dozen good women to fill in the spots. But you pool all the 135ers and the few 145ers together, and you’ve almost got something there. Plus, less weight cutting usually results in better fights.
If I could run for President of the UFC, my platform would be making women’s heavyweight (and getting rid of win bonuses to implement a finish bonus, but that’s for another column).
Thanks for reading, and thank you to everyone who sent in tweets (Xs?)! Do you have any burning questions about things at least somewhat related to combat sports? Then you’re in luck, because you can send your tweets to me, @JedKMeshew, and I will answer my favorite ones! Doesn’t matter if they’re topical or insane, just so long as they are good. Thanks again, and see y’all next week.
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